You know how sometimes, in the morning, you feel you should eat something because it would give you energy, but you’re not actually that hungry? Or maybe you need to get out of the house early, and you would rather have something later, when you get into work, but something un-complicated and un-messy?

These are the very situations when you’ll be glad you’ve befriended this tahini and date coconut smoothie.

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Gâteau au yaourt

Maxence is a big advocate of the adage “if it ain’t broke don’t fix it”. In other words, when a classic recipe is fabulous, don’t meddle with it, and just do what you’re told. Obviously I have trouble following that piece of advice, and more often than not I’ll surrender to the urge and tweak a little something here and a little something there — substitution is my middle name.

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I have been wanting to share this recipe for ramen-style pork belly with you for, oh, two years and a half, ever since I made it for the first time, using Camille Oger’s excellent directions in her post Easy braised pork and quick rāmen.

Camille Oger is a French food writer and journalist who travels extensively to visit growers and producers and chefs. She has spent a lot of time in Asia, and in Japan in particular. Her blog posts are extraordinarily well researched* and her photos are an armchair traveler’s dream come true.

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Picture in your mind a love story between a Belgian waffle, square and sturdy with deep grooves, and a chouquette, puffy and dainty with a soft heart.

Immediately they would see that they have pearl sugar in common. The waffle would make the chouquette feel safe, and cared for; the chouquette would give the waffle a sense that life is full of whimsy.

Now, what would happen if they had a child together?

This is what would happen: a chouquette waffle, crisp around the edges, tender inside, easy to love, with sugar crystals.

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