Our Daily Bread

Bread is one of the oldest prepared foods. We dutch people are real bread-eaters. We seem to be the only country (with Belgium) that eats bread for breakfast and as well lunchtime. It was just lately when I saw this interview with Alain Coumont, the person behind the now international chain of Le Pain Quotidien. It sells organic bread and cakes in a homey, rustic style. 


Alain Coumont learned about bread as a small child, standing on a chair every Sunday watching his grandmother bake bread. As a young chef in Brussels, Alain could not find the right bread for his restaurant.

Passionate about quality, he returned to his roots and opened a small bakery where he could knead flour, salt and water into the rustic loaves of his childhood.

It looks like the kind of guy that always has done it's own thing despite what others think. A bit against the grain. I like that. Or maybe it's just the french accent? Oh, I love that. You? Maybe it is just me. 


I always thought I would marry a french man, but I ended up with a kind of german husband instead. How did that happen? Sometimes I joke to O, my husband that he should talk french to me if he wants to seduce me.
But getting back on the interview, I thought it was great. It made me have a smile on my face afterward. I hope you will have too.

Here is the link: http://foodinspiration62.shootmyfood.net/#/6/Alain-Coumont

The introduction is in dutch but the interview is in english.

   [ The interview was made by the Food Inspiration magazine.]

Comforting Ratatouille Soup

Concerning health, the new year didn't start too great here at home. With the colder days, temperatures below zero and lots of snow and ice. My son got the chickenpox, then straight after that he got the flu with high fever. Actually, I think I was the one who caused it, because I was feeling awful since the last days of 2012. Headaches, coughing like crazy and muscle pains. Now, half of January we are getting back on track, luckily. I know I'm not the only one feeling like this. So I thought of sharing so you feel not alone there. 

If you feel like this, don't you have cravings for soups aswell? I ate enormously amounts of different kind of soups. Lentil soup, green vegetable soup (like zucchini with broccoli), chickpea soup with leek,  tomato soup and ratatouille soup. These comfortable meals, are just the kind that make you feel instantly better and warm inside. I hope you will too. 

Below is my recipe for the ratatouille soup, it deserves a rank among my favorite soups.  I love the creamy taste that the eggplant gives. 

I know it's a bit late...but I wish you all the best for 2013. That it may be a healthy, successful and a happy year.