Orzo Salad with Sundried Tomatoes

I've been trying meal prepping and it's working quite well. It's time consuming the first day (because not only am I meal-prepping for me, but also for Mr. Boyfriend) but in the end you're saving a lot of time. And it forces me to only eat what's in my pot rather than having multiple servings... Ah, self-control!

Through Google researches, I found a recipe for pasta salad that was different from the usual mayonnaise-based tomato salad. I adapted it (because I can't follow instructions) and that's what I came up with.

Edit: Apparently, the recipe I saw was also adapted from Ina Garten. I just found out!

Ingredients:

15 sun dried tomatoes in oil
4 table spoons of red wine vinegar
10-ish table spoons of olive oil (I mostly used the oil from the sun dried tomatoes)
2 cloves of garlic
2 table spoons of capers
Sea salt
Freshly ground pepper, to taste
500 g of orzo, dried
1 package of cherry tomatoes
Half a package of vegan shredded cheese
4 tablespoons (or more) of vegan parmesan cheese
20 fresh basil leaves
1 average size jar of sliced black olives

Instructions:

1) Cooking the orzo in boiling water. Drain and reserve.
2) Meanwhile, make the "vinaigrette" by putting 10 of the sundried tomatoes in a blender along with vinegar, oil, garlic, half of the capers, salt and pepper. Whizz until relatively smooth.
3) Halve the cherry tomatoes and slice basil in chiffonade
4) To help the orzo to cool off, rince it off under cold water. Transfer to a bowl and poor in vinaigrette, cherry tomatoes, basil, drained black olives, cheese and parmesan.
5) Mix until well combined and verify seasoning.

Enjoy!

P.S. I am terrible at remembering to take pictures. I'll update this next time I make the recipe.

Schnitzel, pizza and ribollita

Again, long time no see.

My dad came to visit me in Germany for two weeks. Then I went to Italy with my cousin.

Culinary-wise, I've tried mushroom schnitzels from a Schnizelerei near from the Airbnb room in Berlin. Schnizels are typical for meat-loving (and asparagus-loving) Germany--I just didn't get the chance to try it yet because...well... you know... meat.

The mushroom schnizels were delicious, and served with lemon wedges and a warm potato salad, and beer (which is also normally vegan-friendly here).

By the way, my dad says Germany has the best beer he's ever tasted!

Now, for Italy, my cousin and I went to Florence first. I fell in love with the ribollita and kept ordering it in every restaurants we were. A soup thick enough to be eaten with a fork (although they still serve it with a spoon).

My cousin didn't enjoy the food there, though. Saying that she's had better carbonara in Canada.

We also tried pizza and that was all very disappointing. In Brazil, I've had much better pizza than in Italy. They are quite skimpy topping-wise. And that's even worst for me because I was also asking without cheese.

The best pizza I ate was in Rome. In a pizza kebab. They had these squares of pizza with only tomato sauce on it. Then, I asked them to add eggplants from their salad bar on it. The eggplant had been marinating in a oil and spices mixture, so it gave the pizza some kick. Delicious!

We also tried gelatto, but I was again disappointed. Only two vegan options in a store that found pride in having vegan options. Hazelnut and chocolate. It was good, but I was hoping for something fruity.