vgnmf16 | Emily N Cannon

According to Antipodr, the direct opposite of my locale in Northern California is somewhere in the middle of the Indian Ocean – but near enough to Madagascar to … well, let’s say I wouldn’t want to be left in open water here, but we’ll make Madagascar our “dig a hole through the Earth” destination for today.

I went searching for Malagasy cuisine and found a few simple, vegetable-based recipes to try: pumpkin stew with peanuts, and avocado salad. The ingredients were all familiar, fresh, and colorful. And the result… lovely.

To make a complete meal out of it, I served the stew over brown rice and added some simple braised kale on the side. The tangy tomato “dressing” (more like a salsa) really tied things together. And the peanuts in the stew were a nice, gentle crunch – it wasn’t super heavy like other peanut stews I’ve made.

Whether or not this is remotely representative of the food eaten on that faraway (to me) island, it was a nice lunch here in California.

Honestly, I don’t make a habit of eating after dinner. But sometimes I get a bit peckish, like if we ate an early dinner and I’m up late watching TV. If I don’t have sugary snacks handy – and I’m trying not to – I’m most likely to make toast.

For the past year, I’ve been learning how to make bread. We prefer whole wheat, and I’ve got a lovely whole wheat sourdough starter. I usually make my own variation on the Bread Baker’s Apprentice basic sourdough with a little rye flour and a lot of white bread flour and whole wheat flour, plus a mix of poppy, sunflower, and sesame seeds.

Obviously, the process of baking bread is itself not “late night snack” worthy – it’s a 2-day process and requires a frickin’ scale – but the result sure is. Smeared with a cashew cheese spread and sliced tomato and enjoyed with a nice cup of genmaicha, it hits the spot.