It’s a fishy affair

After a month of working in safety boots, my feet needed some TLC. And Groupon came to the rescue with an offer for a fish spa & pedicure not to far from me. So I bought it, and booked it. And then one Monday it was time to go to my first ever fishy pedicure. And where was this? At Beauty Studio Fauvelle, (also on facebook), in Eeklo.

I was received with a smile by Chloe, the owner, and directed to a nice private room, with low light, a comfy  chair, and my personal tank full of hungry fishies. After cleaning my feet with a nice warm moist towel, I got to immerse them and say hello to the fishes, that then went happily about their business of nomming my toes, I mean, sucking the dry skin from my feet. They did a great job of it! I also got a free coffee to enjoy while those little friends did their work.

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After 15 minutes of relaxing that passed rather fast, I slowly pulled my legs from the tank, and got them dry. We then went to another room, where the rest of my pedicure took place: filing whatever was left of dry skin, trimming & filing nails, nail polish and a nice foot massage with cream.

You can also can enjoy this, for the reasonable price of 40€ (35€ for fish spa and pedicure, 5€ for the nail polish). And she also has a fish spa for two, so you can go with your best friend!

It must be autumn

And all I can think of is pumpkin. Ok, not really, but there was some in my mind. So I bought one, and made a risotto and a soup with it. Recipes have been requested, and here they are.

Pumpkin Risotto

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Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp (~10 gr) olive oil
  • 2 cloves of garlic, minced (or use a garlic press)
  • 2 shallots (~100 gr) , peeled and chopped finely
  • 400 gr pumpkin, in 1 cm cubes
  • 1/2 tsp dry thyme
  • 130 gr arborio rice
  • 1/2 glass dry white wine
  • 1 l veggie broth (from a cube, can, home made, I won’t judge you), simmering
  • salt & pepper
  • 50 gr parmesan cheese, for serving

Make it:

  1. Bring broth to a simmer and keep it simmering.
  2. Meanwhile, heat oil in a wide heavy bottomed pan (I prefer non-stick, requires less stirring). Add shallots & garlic and cook on medium heat until a tiny bit golden. Add the pumpkin & thyme and stir for a few minutes.
  3. Add the rice to the pan, stir to cover all grains with the oil, about 1 minute. Add the wine, stir and let the rice absorb all of it. Then start adding the broth by the ladle, stirring after each addition, and let the rice simmer and absorb the broth before adding more. Keep doing this until rice still has a tiny bit of a bite left. It should take about 20 minutes,
  4. Taste and adjust seasoning (salt & pepper).
  5. Serve warm with cheese on top.

Serves: 2 as a main dish. (Approx.: 450 calories, 72 gr carbs, 12 gr fat, 15 gr protein each)

And the second recipe is

Pumpkin soup 

(no picture of this, sorry, just imagine a bowl full of pumpkin orange soup!)

Ingredients:

  • 2 tsp oil
  • 2 cloves garlic, roughly chopped
  • 1 onion (~130 gr), roughly chopped
  • 550 gr pumpkin, in 2-3 cm cubes.
  • 1 l broth
  • 2 tsp soy sauce
  • salt & pepper

Make it:

  1. In your favourite soup pot, heat up the oil. Once hot, add the onion and garlic and cook until it starts to turn golden. Then add the pumpkin and cook a couple more minutes.
  2. Cover pumpkin with broth, bring to a simmer, and let cook for 30 minutes.
  3. Using an immersion blender, mix soup until smooth. You might need to add more liquid to get a soup consistency instead of a puree.
  4. Add soy sauce & mix. Taste, adjust seasoning, serve hot.

Servings: 4 bowls (Approx.: 72 calories, 12 gr carbs, 3 gr fat, 2 gr protein each)