How Olive oil made my Sunday

It was Sunday afternoon. The kids had been pestering us since many weeks to go out for an outing. So my husband and I had planned a trip to the nearby amusement park. Regarding lunch, we decided to pick up something on our way.

Everybody was getting ready when I heard the thunder outside. In no time it started to drizzle. And before we could move out it was downpouring. I could see my kids had pulled up faces. The disappointment was clearly showing on their faces.

It was painful to see their hopes dashed down. Joe jumped in to save the situation. He consoled the kids, took them to the sofa and switched on TV to engage them. "Don't worry! Mom is giving you a surprise today!", he said, and winked at me. What?...that uttering was a surprise for me!

I had not planned any surprise. I took my husband aside and asked what this was all about?

He reminded me of the recipe I had picked up from the internet a few days back. "It would be wonderful. They will relish it...will help lift their mood", he said.

The next minute I was in kitchen looking for the ingredients. Joe requested Toy Story 2 on DTH for the kids. I had recently become enamored with another way to make savory tart crusts, using wheat flour and olive oil. The other ingredients are salt, dried herbs and cold water. It's that simple!

I combined the flour, salt, and herbs in a mixing bowl. Joe came in and added olive oil and mixed it in with a fork. After kneading the dough into a ball, I transferred into the prepared pan. Then I put the pan in fridge to rest and caught some of the movie with kids. They could not hold their excitement about the surprise. After about half an hour I served them Olive oil tart crusts. My kids just loved it! They even asked for more. I was glad to see my kids cheered up again.

Thank you Olive oil.

Confessions of an Olivolic

Last night, we threw a surprise birthday party for my husband. It was a surprise alright. There we were, getting ready to go out to our favourite Mediterranean restaurant to celebrate, when all of his friends landed at our place and decided to get the party started, right at our home.

They brought the cake. They brought the music. They brought the wine. They also brought their hungry stomachs.

The only problem was, except for a bag of tortilla chips, we had no food whatsoever to serve immediately. Worse. It was after 11, so we couldn’t get anything home delivered.

I rushed to the refrigerator and tried to mentally cook something. There were plenty of veggies, mushrooms, two large loaves of French bread (Baguette), lots of cheese and a jar of black olives.

What can I cook up with all of this that won’t take up too much time, so I can play host as well? I peeked out and counted 18 people, all holding their glasses of wine.

Wine! That’s it! What goes brilliantly with wine? Mediterranean of course!

I pulled out a box of some bow-shaped pasta I’d picked up the other day, found my trusty bottle of extra virgin olive oil, some garlic and a bottle of balsamic vinegar.

5 minutes later, I had left the pasta and veggies to boil and was out of the kitchen with the starters. I placed on the coffee table two things: a large platter full of the sliced-up bread with a dip that was just balsamic vinegar in olive oil. And another plate with a dip I made with crushed black olives, finely shredded garlic and some olive oil - served with the tortilla chips.

Everyone threw themselves at the two platters and threw several compliments my way. I was sure it was just their hungry tummies talking till one of the friends asked me where I’d bought the crushed black olives’ dip!

Midnight came. The cake was cut. The last of the wine bottles were emptied.

And dinner was ready. Subtly flavoured veggies sautéed in olive oil. Black olive and mushroom pasta covered in cheese. Some more sliced bread.

I had spent precisely 15 minutes in the kitchen. And that’s how long it took for the gang to polish-off the food. It was a great sight to see.

In fact, it was by far the best surprise birthday party I’ve ever been too. Thank you olive oil.