I'm happily home, having driven 500 k in 6 hours today, and my knee has got its knobs back!

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I love it when crazy ideas get implemented. And this one did. Visits to a couple of places in Northern Uruguay inspired my latest adventure. One was Bio Uruguay, an organic farm near Tacuarembo, 400 k north of here: a beautiful place, lovely vegetables ... but not much creativity. The second was an inn in my favourite place in Uruguay, the Valle del Lunarejo, another 100 k further north ... wonderful cook, great motivation, but few ideas ...

So off I went last Monday with Alicia, an excellent Uruguayan cook, and the car packed with folders we'd created, and boxes filled with soy sauce, spices, herbs, and all sorts of ingredients. Our mission: a course in both places called 'Cocina Sana y Artesanal' ('Healthy Home Cooking', more or less)

At the first place they had recruited about a dozen enthusiastic participants, mostly connected with the project. They even called in the local TV, and produced certificates for the participants and us!

The second place, really far from anywhere, managed to get together five enthusiastic ladies. We had real trouble finding vegetables here, and even a drive to the nearest big city (Rivera, on the Brazilian border, 70 k away) only resulted in a few bedraggled pumpkins trucked up from Montevideo.

But we managed to produce a huge amount in four half-days - perhaps 20 different dishes. Some of our recipes:

Banana Bread
Stuffed baby marrows
Pasta with vegetables julienne
Rice with pesto
Black bean salad

Alicia had never been so far from Montevideo, and loved the experience. We had a bit of free time and toured around (some of you may have already read my Lunarejo pieces).

Anyway, I'm exhausted now, but please look at the photos.

For the food, this is the link:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40744&l=7902c&id=664241054

Bio Uruguay is here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40741&l=8f6b3&id=664241054

And Lunarejo is here:
http://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=40743&l=c1fc2&id=664241054

Stories will follow once I figure out how to organise them!

PS I'm still a vegetarian!