By Thao Uyen

​Today I return with an unusual recipe because it’s a drink. And it’s not just any drink, soy milk is yummy whether it is served hot or cold and it’s also packed with nutritions and thus very beneficial for health. I presented another drink before which is corn milk. It is another delicious drink yet you may not often have heard about it. You can find the link to that recipe here.

Okay let’s get back to soy milk. We call it milk as it looks like cow milk but it is actually just a mixture of blended cooked soy beans with water.

Here we begin a new journey, a new year, a new era at Nomades Gourmandes, and what better way to do it, as far as Romanian cuisine goes, than to inaugurate the ciorba on our blog. An essential dish and experience, festival of flavors, heat and health. When you think "ciorba", you think hot, sweet, salty and sour, a luscious garden, herbs and the flowing river of water. This is why I thought and mentioned health, this is what makes ciorba so healthy: the boil, the steam, the water. A giant teapot of vegetables, meat, herbs.

Hi guys, how have you been? I have been running left and right to prepare for the biggest Vietnamese celebration of the year: TET. For those of you who don't know, TET is the Vietnamese lunar new year. In some Asian countries where the people still use the Lunar calendar (along with the Gregorian calendar), this occasion is celebrated with events enriched with traditions. Of course no two countries have the same traditions, but the principle of the Lunar new year is for families to be reunited, and also to pay respect to the elders in the family. 

TET is fast approaching. In fact, it will begin next Saturday and will last at least for 1 week. Usually Vietnamese consider that TET lasts until the Lunar 10th of January. Last year I spoke about TET and its traditions (you can read about it here). This year I want to present to you a traditional TET dish that every household in Southern Vietnam has for this occasion: braised eggs and pork belly. 

​Zazulete Ynn Anuca Romanța Ion

I love the cold, the snow, the awakening air of winter!
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But as it crawls in, we do feel this hunger for light, for vitamins, for strength. Maybe not yet, maybe winter is too young for us to long for the sun hidden in colors of fruits and vegetables, but this is one of the most important times of the year when we need to pack our cells with bricks of health and inner anticold furs helping us to be out there and enjoy snowball fighting until the birds come back, like the inherent kids we are.

Speaking about kids, you may have hated it when you were a little one, but spinach is an all-seasons favorite, a bundle of health, a superfood. In my country, we usually eat fresh spinach in spring, cooked with tomato and lemon juice, which makes it very refreshing and tasty, and ever since I was a kid myself, I have associated the taste of spinach with lemon and even find it funny to eat it without the citrus flavor. Lemongrass is an adulthood discovery (not being common as herb or ingredient in Romanian cuisine) and I had this idea it must compliment what I know and love about spinach very well, the way I've known it.  l love the result and I hope you will enjoy it too. 

​Zazulete Ynn Anuca Romanța Ion

Season your juicy beef steak with this heavenly combination:

-less salt (but make it a quality, flavor salt, such as fleur de sel, charcoal or Himalayan salt; remember each one is or can be a gourmet treasure in itself)

- butter

- thyme (dried or fresh, depending on the season)

-and PARMESAN! It gives the steak a smokey, cheesy, pungent flavor that you will want to taste again. 

Hey Nomades Gourmandes squad,

Today it’s not about food recipe but a travel guide post. As my travel to Japan has been the best adventure for me so far, I decide to write a Japan travel essential guide for folks who plan to visit this summer. I’m not one to stress out about packing, so these are my 4 absolute tips for an enjoyable trip to Japan. Let’s get to them right away! 
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​Zazulete Ynn Anuca Romanța Ion

When summer feels close, one of my favorite dishes for enjoying fresh herbs and other goodies is zucchini croquettes, an easy and quick recipe that you can enjoy both hot and cold, as a simple crunch or with your favorite dip (such as any refreshing yogurt or cheesy dip). I often cook them through summer and autumn and they are a tasty and nutritious alternative to meat. I prefer to cook them as deep fried in vegetable oil, for the extra crustiness, but if you prefer the healthier version, cook them in your oven, over parchment and sprinkled with some olive oil. 

Moreover, you can use this recipe as veggie burger idea. Quite a versatile dish, when it comes to its uses, possible combinations of veggies or when it comes to the sauces and dips you can enjoy it with.  And a great addition to any party, you know me, a part girl, always thinking of party food!

Thao Uyen

Finally it gets hot! And that means I can show you all those fast and light dishes guaranteed to be perfect additions to your weight-loss diet. This one has to be my favorite because not only it is fast and easy to prepare, it’s also packed with nutrition and flavors using only 6 ingredients, and I already counted the olive oil. Another reason is because of the chayote.

For those of you who don’t know about this beloved vegetable of Vietnam, this is one of the magic 3 vegetables in Vietnamese cuisine, along with potato and carrot. They’re the magic 3 because they’re so versatile, can be found all year round and they don’t need lots of spices to be made into satisfactory meals. Chayote (also chayote squash or chayote fruit), in Vietnamese is called su su which is a French word (chouchou: beloved), is a plant in the gourd family. What we use in this recipe is the fruit of this plant. Vietnamese also eat the chayote young stems but that’s another story, let’s get back to our fruit. (At first you won’t find it look like a beloved fruit but wait till you taste it)

This fruit is rich in water, potassium, zinc, dietary fiber, vitamins B6 and C, all of those make it weight-loss diet friendly. When cooked, the taste of chayote is naturally sweet. Depends on how you cook it, chayote can be juicy and crunchy or buttery and sweet. I read that in some other countries, people eat the young chayote without removing the skin. In Vietnam we only eat big juicy chayote so if you know how young chayote tastes like, I’d love to hear about it. Big juicy chayotes (the ripe ones) mean you need to peel their skin in a certain way to avoid sticky-hands-disaster, but first let me share with you how to choose a good chayote.
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Barbecue season is officially open! Now, you know you can grill anything and everything, but one of the stars of my barbecues is a vegan recipe, that you can try each season in its specific combination, a salad made of grilled veggies and seasonal greens.
The smell of veggies and legumes inaugurating the barbecue on a fine May day, with birds singing, passing clouds, roses saying "hello!" is one of those rituals telling you: "and now everything will be all right, baby!"