Abercrombie & Feast

We went to Japan for 16 days last October and we loved it.  We loved the order, the flow, the rituals, the attention to detail, the quirks, the kind people and the food.  Oh, the food!  Each meal was an opportunity that we seized with relish!  We couldn’t speak the language and there were a few inevitable mistakes (see below for my reaction to the accidental ordering of squid balls in mayo), but from our first meal at a tiny local ramen house to our final sip of green tea the morning before our flight, we were enraptured.

And here are a few more pics from our trip to Japan, just because I can’t resist!

When we returned to Sydney we ate at our local Japanese restaurant at least once a week.  We spoke to the staff in the tiny bits of Japanese that we’d picked up and we’d slurp our noodles and talk about moving to Tokyo tomorrow, or at the very minimum returning ASAP.

And then, disaster struck.  We moved to the UK.  We were warned that Japanese food over here wasn’t up to scratch.  In fact, because we have lovely friends who understand and support my culinary obsessions, the dismal state of Japanese food in England was one of the things we heard about most as we were planning our move.  We assumed everyone was overstating the case and didn’t cancel our move. 

Now that we’re here, I think I know what they were talking about.  It’s not that the Japanese food available is terrible, it’s that there are so few options.  The only place in our town that sells sushi is the local mini-mart.  I am not so hard up for Japanese food that I’m going to eat mini-mart sushi. 

As we near our 3 month anniversary in the UK I decided that I wasn’t going to just skip out on Japanese food for the length of our stay.  I mean, we live one hour outside of one of the greatest cities on the planet.  Japanese food HAD to be available… and I set out to find it.

Forgive me, I’m going to stand up and do a wiggly victory dance.  I’ll be right back…

Ok!  I found Japanese food!  I found excellent Japanese food.  Some of the best we’ve had outside of Japan.  It took some mad internet research skills, but I can report that London is not void of all Japanese deliciousness.

We went to dinner at Asakusa last Saturday.  The menu on the walls is entirely in Japanese.  The staff is entirely Japanese.  We felt right at home!  We ordered all of our favourites and tried a few new dishes.  There were two lovely ladies sitting at the next table and they even let me try the spinach right off their plates (yes, if you offer me a taste of your food I will probably take it!)  The spinach was delicious and we ordered some for ourselves.  We also ordered the tasting set of sake, which may explain why we left feeling so happy and smiley.  Although, it may have also been the shatteringly crisp soft-shell crab karrage.  Here are some of the photos from the evening:

I was going to line up some of our photos from our trip to Japan next to the photos from our dinner in London, just to prove how authentic the food was, but I don’t think I need to.  Those skewers really speak for themselves. 

Asakusa
265 Eversholt Street, Camden, NW1 1BA
Tel: 020 7388 8533/8399

A few years back we took an Italian cooking class.  The class met once a week after work in a local junior high school.  After hours the school was quiet and sort of creepily empty.  Our little classroom was a warm pool of light in the otherwise darkened school halls.  

We would all divide up, cook different parts of the menu and then enjoy the meal together at the end of class.  Some people would bring bottles of wine to share and we would listen to a CD of opera while we ate.  It was good fun and I learned a lot.  One of the most memorable things I learned was how to knead. 

I know, it’s so basic, but I had never kneaded anything until this class.  I was afraid to make my own pasta and the idea of anything requiring yeast and rising time scared the pants off of me. 

Our Italian cooking class taught me that it’s really not hard to knead things.  In fact, it can be therapeutic and quietly enjoyable to get your hands busy in piles of wet ingredients, working out any stresses on a smooth ball of dough.  I enjoyed it!

But the thing is, I don’t always want to knead.  Despite the undeniable tactile benefits of kneading dough, there are times when you just don’t want to get involved in that process.  Maybe you don’t have time.  Maybe you just got a manicure and don’t want to get your hands dirty (what??)  Maybe you just don’t want to clean off the inevitable bits of dough and flour that seem to cement themselves to your counter tops as you knead (don’t tell me that I’m the only one this happens to??)

With this bread, there is no need to knead.  The bread is fast to assemble and smells amazing while it’s in the oven.  It won’t rise as high as bread made with yeast and kneaded properly, but the flavour is so savoury and hearty, you won’t miss the loft.  Plus, this bread combines four of my favourite things: almonds, olives, cheese and clean counter tops. 

Quick almond, olive and buttermilk bread
(adapted from Delicious magazine)

 Makes one loaf

One of the main reasons that we left Australia and moved to England back in April was to be closer to Europe.  We explored Asia for four years from our home base in Sydney and now we’re hoping to explore Europe from our new home base here in Winchester.  We can’t wait to take ferries to France, planes to Portugal or drive to Denmark.  None of which explains why we are about to get on a flight and wing our way to the bright lights of… Gainesville, GA?? 

That’s right, folks.  Our first international trip since our arrival in the UK will be to go home to Georgia.  You see, my little brother is getting married to a wonderful girl.  I can’t imagine a happier reason for a trip across the Atlantic.   We are so thrilled for them and so excited about going home for a few days that we have ALMOST gotten over the fact that our flight will not be destined for Milan or Amsterdam. 

As you may remember, I don’t do airline food.  So I will be packing a salad to eat during the flight.  Something hearty and tasty that travels well and makes my little economy-class seat a happier place to be.  And, due to recent events, that salad will contain bulgar. 

I have developed an obsession with bulgar.  It happened totally by accident.  I went to the local health food store to buy some quinoa, which I often use as a salad base.   But on this fateful day, they were out of quinoa, so I bought bulgar instead.  And now I am totally hooked.  Bulgar is a common ingredient in Turkish and Middle Eastern food.  It’s a whole wheat that has been cleaned, par-boiled and dried.  It’s got a nutty flavour and texture like quinoa or cous cous. 

I like to use bulgar in soups and salads, such as this one, which I will be taking with me on my flight.  It’s full of protein and fiber and lots of tasty ingredients like toasted almonds, smoky cumin dressing and peppery fresh radishes.  I know this salad will be an ideal travel companion for a flight to Gainesville or Germany or Greece or any of the other fabulous destinations that I know we’ll get to eventually.

Congratulations, Noah and Dana!!  Love you both tons. 

Bulgar and veggie salad with cumin dressing

Serves 2

For the bulgar:
1 cup bulgar wheat
2 cups water
1 chicken stock cube (you could also use a vegetable stock cube)
1/2 tsp salt

For the salad:
6 radishes, finely sliced
1 red bell pepper, finely sliced
1/4 cup flaked almonds, toasted
1 handful coriander (cilantro) leaves, chopped
1 chicken breast, poached and cut into bite sized pieces (optional)

For the cumin dressing:
1 tbs dijion mustard
1 tbs white wine vinegar
1 pinch salt
1 tsp ground cumin
2-3 tbs olive oil

To make the bulgar, combine the bulgar, water and salt in a small sauce pan over medium heat.  Crumble in the stock cube.  Bring to a boil and allow to boil for about 5-7 minutes, or until the bulgar is tender.  Taste for seasoning and set aside. 

To make the dressing, add all ingredients to a small, clean jar and shake well.  Or you could whisk all ingredients in a small bowl.  Either way, taste the dressing before adding the 3rd tbs of olive oil.  The dressing should be tangy, but not overly sour.  Add olive oil bit by bit until you reach a flavour you like.  Keep in mind that it will lose some of the sourness when combined with other ingredients, so leave it just a bit too sour. 

Assemble the salad by spooning some bulgar into the base of a bowl or plate.  Top with radishes, pepper, almonds, chicken if you’re using it, and a sprinkle of coriander.  To finish, drizzle the cumin dressing over the whole salad. 

AbercrombieandFeast is one year old today!  And may I just say… wow.  It has been a memorable year, to say the least.  We’ve tried new foods, visited new countries and moved to a new continent.

I’m going to keep this short, but I did want to share a few thoughts.  I started this blog as a place to come to write and to be a bit creative.  There is only so much time you can spend telling your friends and family about your new soup recipe before they get painfully bored.  I started AbercrombieandFeast as a place to expand on the things I was learning and experimenting with in the kitchen.

One year on and I’m still doing just that, and loving it.  This little blog has become a place where I can tell stories and ask questions and be a little silly.  I’ve learned a lot about cooking and writing and photography this year, and that’s just great, too. 

When I started writing here, I genuinely thought that my mother might be the only one who read my musings (Hi Mom!)  And, whilst my mother is usually the first one to comment on most of my posts, I’ve also gotten to know a lot of you out there, writing and cooking in your own kitchens and sharing the results, which has been an unexpected and very welcome surprise.   

I said I was going to keep this short, and as usual I’m rambling.  But before I wrap up I want to thank a few people.  I want to thank Jason, for hosting my blog, and warning me gently when I’m doing something wrong.  I want to thank all of you who leave comments, they make me so happy!  I want to thank all of the friends who have been over for dinner or out to dinner and not been allowed to eat until I’ve photographed the food.  And, I want to thank Andy, for coming up with the title of the blog and eating all of the experiments. 

I once read that if you don’t eat cake on your birthday you’ll be hungry for the rest of the year.  Well, I’m already hungry most of the time, but I figured a celebratory cake for the blog-birthday couldn’t hurt. 

Blueberry tea cake with cream cheese icing
(from Delicious magazine)

Makes 16-20 slices

For the cake
180g butter, at room temp, plus extra for greasing
210ml sour cream
1/2 tsp bicarb of soda
330g caster sugar
2 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
3 medium, free range eggs
250g frozen blueberries
375g plain flour
1 1/2 tsp baking powder

For the icing
250g cream cheese, room temp
100g butter, room temp
1 tsp finely grated lemon zest
1 tsp vanilla extract
250g icing sugar

Preheat the oven to 180C / 320F / gas mark 4.  Grease a 23cm x 33cm baking tin and line with baking paper. 

In a bowl mix the sour cream and bicarb of soda and set aside for 5 mins.

Beat the butter and sugar in a large bowl until light and creamy.  Add the lemon zest and vanilla and beat to combine.  Beat in the eggs, one at a time.  Add the sour cream mixture and beat until combined. 

In another bowl, toss the berries with a little of the flour.  Sift the rest of the flour and the baking powder into the cake mixture and carefully fold in with a rubbe spatula or wooden spoon.  Gently fold in the berries and mix until just combined.

Spoon the mix into the tine and bake for 40-50 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean (except for a little blueberry juice.)  Cool the cake in the tin for 10 mins, then turn out onto a cooling rack and allow to cool completely before icing.

To make the icing, beat the cream cheese, butter, lemon zest and vanilla in a bowl until light and fluffy.  Sift in the icing sugar and mix until smooth.  Top the cooled cake with this icing.

Just dropping by quickly to share some very good news.  After months of eyeing each other up, longing looks at stolen moments and dreaming about how good we could be together… I’ve got a new pan in my life!

I’d like to introduce you to Griddle Pan Man.  He’s blue (azure according to the box, but let’s not be poncy about it.)  He’s from France (Le Creuset to be exact.)  He’s solid and dependable and dreamy (if you’re into that kind of thing.)  He was an anniversary gift from the man in my life, and I’m smitten with them both! 

I’ve only been with Griddle Pan Man since Monday, but we’ve already spent some real quality time together.  Just look at this dinner we made together tonight… talk about team work!

So, be prepared to hear lots of sappy stories about our happy relationship and all of the exotic things we’ll be cooking together.  I think we’re going to live happily ever after.

Red Curry Pork Burgers
I should have given you this recipe a long time ago.  This is one of those “everyday” recipes that I make fairly often, but never think about sharing here.  Which is a shame, since these are easy and really good.  Especially if you have a Griddle Pan Man to make them with and a lovely husband to feed them to! 

Serves 4

500g (1lb) lean ground pork
2 tbs chopped coriander (cilantro)
1 tbs freshly grated ginger
3 tbs Thai red curry paste
Chopped chilli to taste
Peanut oil

Combine the pork mince, coriander, ginger, curry paste and chillis if using in a bowl.  Shape the mixture into 12 patties.  Place the patties in the fridge for about 10 mins to firm up.

Heat a griddle pan (or a regular frying pan, if you haven’t yet met the Griddle Pan Man of your dreams) over medium heat.  Brush the pan with peanut oil to prevent sticking.  Cook the patties in batches for about 5 mins per side (or until cooked through.) 

Serve the patties with Jasmine rice, a salad of shredded cucumber, carrot and radishes and chilli dipping sauce.

Oh, I am just so excited to tell you about this soup.  I know, I know… you’re probably sighing to yourself.  You’re saying, “But it’s hot outside and I don’t want to hear about soups and oh my GOD woman, could you lay off the soups for a while?”  Wow… you’re very worked up about this.  I think you might need a bowl of soup to calm you down.

Last week I was making a fairly boring dinner (baked chicken, roasted potatoes, steamed broccoli), and I had all these bits left over.  I looked at my counters, still covered with chopped up broccoli stalks and a few less-than-perky potatoes and I thought, “I bet I can make soup out of that.” 

I must admit that I do not have thoughts like that often.  I usually find a recipe that looks good, buy all the ingredients required, make the dish and throw away the bits that aren’t needed.  This sudden impulse to make soup from scraps was very unlike me.  But, sometimes you have to break your own patterns, if you know what I mean.

So, make a soup I did… broccoli stalk and blue cheese soup, to be exact.  It was satisfying on multiple levels.  Not only had I created something full of flavour and good to eat, but I had also created it from scraps, for free.  I think that made it taste even better.  I don’t mind telling you that I felt a bit smug as I sat down to eat my lunch the next day.  I looked out the window at all the people passing by, people who had to pay for their lunch, and I slurped my free and fresh soup with a feeling of pride. 

Ok, ok… now I’m done telling you about the soup.  I’ll move on to more seasonal, summery food in the next few weeks.  But admit it first… you’re a little impressed with my soup from scraps, aren’t you?  I thought so. 

Broccoli stalk and blue cheese soup
I am going to tell you what I did here, but please adapt this to whatever scraps you happen to have lying around. 

Serves 1

1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 tbs butter
1 tbs olive oil
1 small garlic clove, finely chopped
stalks from 1 large bunch of broccoli, chopped
2 small potatoes, chopped
1 chicken stock cube
water
salt and pepper to taste
1 tbs blue cheese (sharp cheddar would also be excellent, I just happened to have blue cheese in the fridge)
sour cream and watercress, to serve

Add the butter and olive oil to a small saucepan over medium heat.  Once the butter has melted, add the onion.  Gently fry the onion for about 2-3 mins, then add the garlic.  Fry for another 2 minutes. 

Add the broccoli stalks and potatoes to the pan.  Stir until coated with the butter and onions.  Then add the chicken stock cube and enough water to cover the vegetables.  Put the top on the pan and reduce the heat to medium-low.  Allow to simmer until the vegetables are very tender. 

If you have an immersion blender, remove the soup from the pan, pour into a large bowl and blend until smooth.  If not, pour the soup into a blender and allow to cool before blending. 

Pour the soup back into the pan.  Taste and adjust seasoning.  Just before serving, crumble the blue cheese into the soup and allow to melt.  Top with sour cream and watercress and enjoy!

A few weeks ago, when we were walking around Borough Market in London, I stopped at a stall to sample a few lovely olives.  The gentleman manning the stall was chatty and friendly and insisted that I try one of the marinated garlic cloves as well.  They were whole garlic cloves, smooth and white as a pearl, in a marinade of chilli flakes and other tasty bits.  I think that many of you know about my well-documented love of all things garlic, but I wasn’t sure I wanted to be walking around London all day with the type of breath one acquires after eating a whole clove of garlic.  However, the nice man assured me that the marinated garlic was mild… and so it was. 

The garlic cloves still had a slight crunch, but they were yielding and mellow, sweeter than I expected.  They were full of flavour from the marinade and I could already think of a dozen uses for them.  I asked him how they were made and he gave me a detailed answer, including the amount of time needed to blanch them, various marinade ingredients that could be used, etc.  He was most encouraging when I said that I would like to try to make this type of garlic at home.

Well, true to form, I promptly went home and forgot all about my goal of making marinated garlic.  Until… we went to our local farmers market a several weekends ago.  I saw another stall selling very similar garlic cloves.  They were not available for tasting, but I mentioned to the stall-holder that I was thinking of trying to make these marinated garlic cloves myself.  He was selling stacks of garlic, so I thought I might buy the needed garlic for my experiment from him.

But, oh no.  When I announced that I wanted to try making marinated garlic, he looked at me like I was fully crazy.  He said, “Oh, you can’t make this yourself.  It’s too hard and really complicated.  You can’t do this at home.”

Well, my friends… he said the magic words.  No one tells me that I “can’t” cook something.  I promptly went and bought a ton of garlic (not from him!), some vinegar and spices and set to work.  I’m not sure if I would have ever gotten around to marinating my own garlic if it wasn’t for that cranky man, but he spurred me to action and really, I must thank him. 

The marinated garlic was simple.  Really easy.  And it looks so impressive on salads or on cheese platters.  I encourage you to try it.  And if you think you can’t handle it… you’re probably right.  Don’t even bother. 

Marinated garlic cloves

You will need a clean, sterilised glass jar for this project.  To sterilise your jar, wash it in hot soapy water, then put it in a pot of boiling water for a few minutes.  Remove and dry thoroughly with a clean towel or paper towels. 

This recipe doesn’t have a lot of specific measurements.  Basically, I don’t know what size jar you’ll use or how big your garlic cloves will be or how you want to flavour your marinade.  Don’t let the lack of specifics deter you.  Just use this a guide and make these to your own tastes. 

2-3 heads of garlic, cloves separated and peeled but left whole
1 packet of Pickling Spices, or mustard seeds, peppercorns, coriander seeds
2 birds eye chillis or other small chillis
sea salt
white wine vinegar
mild tasting olive oil

Bring a small saucepan of water to a boil.  In batches, par-boil the garlic cloves for 30 sec to a minute.  Remove from the water and drain thoroughly on paper towel as you do the next batch.  Once all are par-boiled allow to cool and dry.

Place the spices  and salt to the bottom of your jar.  Put the garlic cloves into the jar, tightly packed.  Add the chillis on the sides.  Once you have all of these ingredients in the jar, pour in the vinegar- enough to fill the jar to 1/4 full.  Then add olive oil to fill the rest of the way. 

Seal the jar tightly and place in the fridge to marinate for at least 1 week, but more is better.  These should keep for several weeks. 

I had a small dinner crisis last weekend.  Despite having been to the farmers market in town on Saturday, I didn’t really have anything to cook on Sunday night.  This always happens to me with farmers markets.  I get all eager and excited and I buy whatever looks good.  Then I get home and I realise that I have no complete meals, just random bits of deliciousness. 

I suppose there is nothing wrong with that.  I know that the French shop like that every day… they wander around their local markets to find out what’s fresh and in season, and they build their meals around those ingredients.  I aspire to be like that some day.  But my personal problem is that I forget to build a meal around the stunning ingredients that I find.  I just buy them on their own, with no friends or mates to serve them with.

So, I waltzed home from the farmers market last weekend with the following in my bag:
3 bunches of British asparagus
2 venison shanks
1 packet of free range smoked bacon
1 piece of local goat’s blue cheese
1 jar of homemade onion marmalade
1 punnet of cherry tomatoes
1 jar of asparagus pickles
1 loaf of bread

On Saturday night we had a sort of mezze dinner of cheese with the onion marmalade, char-grilled asparagus, fresh sliced tomatoes and chunks of fresh bread.  It wasn’t what you’d call a well-planned meal either I guess, but it tasted great.  Then on Sunday afternoon I was squatting down to look into the world’s smallest fridge, trying to figure out what we could eat for dinner that didn’t require me to trek back into town. 

Now, let’s play a game.  Assume that you want to save the venison shanks for another night, and your fridge also contains a small head of lettuce, mustard and garlic… go back to that list above and see what you would serve…. I’ll wait here…..

Welcome back… what did you come up with??  I’d love to hear your ideas, because the foods on that list are amongst some of my favourites in the world and I’m always looking for new ways to combine them. 

Here’s what I came up with… BLT salad.  The bread was slightly old by this point, so I cut it up and made croutons.  I fried up the bacon, made a super tangy dressing of mustard, white wine vinegar, olive oil and garlic and tossed the rest together.  It was a satisfying dinner and truly tasted like a BLT.  I must admit, I was rather pleased with my fridge-raiding efforts.  So perhaps my farmers market strategy of buying whatever looked good did pay off! 

Homemade croutons

Day old bread
Olive oil
Salt
Pepper
Chilli flakes (optional)

This recipe is too easy… I feel silly even giving it to you.  But these are so good and are much lighter and less greasy than store bought croutons.  I’m not giving specific measurements because this all depends on how much bread you have to use up.

Preheat your oven to about 350F or gas mark 6.  Cut the bread into bite sized chunks and place in a baking tin or on a baking sheet.  Pour a little olive oil over the bread and toss to coat.  The bread does not need to be soaking with olive oil, just a light coat.  Add sea salt, pepper and chilli flakes if you’re using them and toss again. 

Put your pan in the oven for about 10-15 minutes, or until the croutons are golden and crunchy. 

You can also make these with various flavours, such as sprinkled with cumin for a roasted pepper soup, or tossed with basil and parsley for an Italian flavour.  The combinations are endless!

You can smell it long before you see it.  From blocks away come the scents of roasting coffee and grilling chorizo.  As you get closer to Borough Market you get wiffs of curry powder, fresh fish and spilled wine.  It all made us hungry, even though it was still a few hours before lunch.

Borough Market is also known as “London’s Larder.”  There has been a market on the site for hundreds of years.  We spent a Friday in London recently and our first stop was Borough Market.

It’s early spring here in England, which has taken some adjustment on our part as we left Sydney at the end of the Southern Hemisphere summer.  At Borough Market we saw the last of the winter root vegetables right next to the first of spring’s asparagus and greens.  Beautiful. 

We shared a juicy and savoury corned beef sandwich and a tangy and crunchy organic falafel for lunch.  To have had either of these delicious sandwiches for lunch would have been a treat… but to get half of each… well, I felt spoiled. 

We walked around and sampled cheeses and olives and whisper thin slices of salty cured ham.  We admired the brightly coloured tomatoes and the glossy piles of sunshine-bright lemons. 

I was impressed by the amount of organic produce and the emphasis on local foods.  There was literally something at each stall that tempted me.  I could have strolled around the market all day, but the rest of London was calling.  So, we headed off, with a creme caramel to eat during our walk!

It’s lucky we won’t be living in central London or I would find excuses to visit Borough Market every day!  As it is, “London’s Larder” will be on the agenda for everyone that comes to visit us here in the UK!

Andy started his new job last week.  I was so excited for him… it’s great fun to take on a new challenge, to meet new people and to learn new skills on the job.  So far his  job is going really well, so HURRAH!

I was also excited for me.  I’m not working yet (I’m looking… but nothing great yet), so I’m around the flat most of the day.  I’ve been very busy unpacking our things, finding things we need for the flat and getting our stuff organised.  It’s been fun!  And the best part of my day is… lunch time!

When I’m on my own all day I can have whatever I want for lunch.  More often than not I make a little salad with beans or warm up some lentil soup.  But last week I was feeling adventurous and I decided to cook something for myself.  I opened the fridge to see what I might rustle up and there, on the door of the world’s smallest fridge, was 1/2 a red bell pepper*.  It was shiny and red and practically purred… “Stuff me!” 

Well, who can argue with that?  I had some tomatoes, some coriander, some leftover rice and some feta cheese kicking around the fridge as well so I threw them all together with  1/2 a chopped onion and a clove of garlic.  A drizzle of olive oil, a shower of sea salt, a crack of black pepper and a dance in the oven later and I had the perfect lunch for one. 

Stuffed pepper for one
(Bell peppers vary a great deal in size so adapt these measurements to fill the pepper you have)

1/2 bell pepper- any colour
1/2 onion, finely chopped
1 clove garlic, finely chopped
2 medium or 8 small tomatoes finely chopped
1/4 cup cooked rice
1 large handful coriander (cilantro), chopped
2 tbs feta cheese, chopped
1 tsp olive oil
Salt and pepper to taste

Preheat the oven to about 250F or 120C (or gas mark 5 if you’re me and getting used to a new, crazy gas cooker.)  Line a small baking dish with tin foil and set aside.

Mix onion, garlic, tomatoes, rice, coriander and feta together.  Place this mix into your bell pepper.  Make sure you really fill the pepper, as the mix will shrink a bit as it cooks. 

Drizzle the olive oil over the pepper and add salt and pepper to taste. 

Place the pepper in the baking dish and wrap the foil around the pepper to form a little package.  Place the baking dish in the oven.  Cook for 20 mins or until the pepper is soft.  Allow to cool for a few minutes before enjoying on the couch, perhaps whilst watching day-time cooking shows? 

*Now that we’re in the UK I can say bell peppers, instead of capsicum.  I do try hard to use the right terms for the country I’m in.  This means that eggplant and zucchini are both about to change.*