mainan syaitan

tahu, sy sgt terganggu dgn mimpi buruk 2-3 hari ni.
bkn mimpi hantu, worse than that. tak bersambung. tp, penat.

tadi... on the way ke office.
utk pertama kalinya dlm hidup sy, bnda ni jd dkt sy...

traffic light merah. berhenti. lampu bertukar hijau.
sy pandang. dan oh baru perasan, kereta depan dah jauh berlalu.
tgk cermin belakang, nasib baik tiada kereta.
pertama kali terjadi pd sy. hurm.

ok la. gotta get back to work. take care.

If I don't live today, then I might be here tomorrow...

I'm so sorry for being a bad blogger in the last few weeks, but as I'm still searching for a job and prepairing a stand at a manga convention here in Barcelona, I'm really busy!

Yes, I'm selling lots of handcrafts from Bunnies are Pirates too!; I'll show them in the next days... but there's lots of Halloween stuff and cute (& funny) things that you would love! If you want to know what's new as sooner as I blog it, join the facebook group!

(a few things more and an outfit here!)

I'm also busy with a fashion photoshoot that we're doing next November 13th, so that's why today (after about 5 or 6 days at home leaving it only for job-searching) I had a coffee with Laia and Jana; and met Charlie, a very nice girl!

Laia, as cute as always!

And here I am. I dyed my hair red again a few days ago, and bought this wonderful blue hat when Rose was here... You already know that Zara blue dress, but I really love it!! And I'm so happy because now that it's cold, I can use my beloved boots that I bought last January at Berlin!!

Dress - Zara

Tights - H&M

Boots - Aces of London

Hat - H&M

Once again, I would like to apologize myself for being so absent. But you should now that I read all your blogs everyday, even if I don't leave a comment, I read them! I like to know about all your lifes, because that's all about this, isn't it?

Have a great wednesday!!

PEANUT CHICKEN CURRY

PEANUT CHICKEN CURRY

This recipe is adapted from the palm oil chicken curry.I used to cook this when I was living in Nigeria.Palm oil is extracted from the kernel of oil palm and is reddish in colour. It is commonly used for cooking in Africa,Southeast Asia and Bahia (Brazil).Here in this recipe I had to substitute it with normal cooking oil as palm oil is not available and I have used palak (spinach) in the place of African greens.(You may use any other green leafy vegetable too).
Ingredients:

Chicken .... 1 kg

Onions ...... 2-3 (finely chopped)

Tomato puree ..... 1 cup

Red chilli paste .......... 1 tbsp.

Spinach ...................... 1 cup

Roasted groundnuts .... 1/2 cup ( blend into a paste adding water)

Garam masala ........... 1 tsp. (not in the original recipe but I like to add it)

Salt ........................... to taste

Oil

Method:
1. Heat a little oil and stir fry the onion until pink in colour.
2.Add the chicken pieces and garam masala and stir fry for 5 minutes.
3. Now add the tomato puree and chilli paste. Add sufficient water to cook the chicken and let it simmer.
4. When half done stir in the peanut paste and chopped spinach leaves. Add salt and let it simmer till done.
Serve with plain boiled rice.
(This dish is usually eaten with pounded yam in Africa.)

as my memories rest

"don't leave me"

"i won't"

"don't leave me"

"i won't, i won't"

awake at 1:51am. with a nightmare.

u leave me here.

Smoky Shrimp and Chorizo Soup

  

 

A new restaurant in my neighborhood is a casual joint, relatively speaking.  It is part of a family of restaurants that includes a very upscale restaurant downtown featuring French-Belgique cuisine.  Its sister restaurant is located next door to this local place, also very fine.  The casual third restaurant is no out-of-place step-child.  It is warm with booths, a bar, a high table with tall chairs, heat and light from the open brick oven.  It is also sophisticated, in part from the menu of flatbreads and mussels.  If it’s one thing Belgium knows it’s mussels, and beer of course.  This place keeps a dozen or more beers from Belgium that you've never heard of, probably to build mystique.  Whether those are actually for drinking or not, the food is definitely for eating.  They offer gourmet flatbreads with ingredients such as prosciutto, goat cheese, and forest mushrooms.  They also serve several different mussel combinations, including one with chorizo sausage that I order regularly.  Pork and seafood is a classic combination.  Portugal features pork and clams, the pork marinated in paprika and white wine, and then cooked together with the clams in a stock and tomato broth.  Of course, the Iberian peninsula is also home to chorizo, so smoky and rustic.  I’m a mussels fan too, which is why I like the mussels and chorizo dish. 

   

All of these thoughts and flavors return to my mind and palette in the recipe below from Food and Wine.  The smokiness of the chorizo is combined with the bread-dipping good broth, and the shrimp provides an easy seafood partner, as well as a nice additional firm crunch.  Topped with luscious avocado slices and this dish is creamy, spicy, hearty, savory, smoky, all wonderful tastes and feelings.  Did I mention quick too?

Serves 4.

      

Ingredients:

1 lb shrimp, shelled, shells reserved

1 quart low-sodium chicken broth

1 tbsp olive oil

4 oz dry chorizo, peeled and sliced

½ large sweet onion, diced

1 garlic clove, minced

½ tsp sweet smoked paprika

1 14-oz can diced tomatoes, drained

2 tbsp flour

2 tbsp butter

salt/pepper

avocado slices

   

Directions:

In a medium saucepan, simmer the shrimp shells in the chicken broth for 10 minutes.  Strain the broth and keep the shells.  In a large pot, heat the oil over medium-high heat.  Add the chorizo and cook a few minutes to brown slightly.  Remove and reserve.  Turn down the heat to medium and add the onion, garlic and paprika.  Soften the onions for 5 minutes.  Add the tomatoes and cook a further 5 minutes.  Add the chorizo to the pan along with the broth and bring to a boil.  Reduce the heat to a simmer and cook for 25 minutes.  Meanwhile, in a small pan melt the butter and stir in the flour to make a roux.  Cook the roux for another minute to reduce the flour flavor, and then whisk into the soup.  Simmer a few additional minutes to thicken the soup.  Ladle into bowls and serve with the avocado slices.
     

Hazelnuts for Henry

There isn't much Henry won't eat (except for maple syrup   ...   really, Henry?) but he does have a few favorites, like duck (not my fave) and capers.  He would probably eat cardboard if capers were involved.  He would also walk through fire for hazelnuts, which are the subject of this post.

A friend of mine who lives in Oregon recently lamented the fact that she couldn't find Georgia pecans.  I responded by sending her a bag and she reciprocated by sending me these big beautiful hazelnuts from Oregon.  Already skinned, no less!  Everyone should have a friend like this - thanks, Carol!

Now when you're given a gift like this, you don't want to bury it in your freezer, to be unearthed in a couple of years when those hazelnuts will be hard little dried-out pebbles with no flavor.  Heck no!  Instead you set yourself immediately upon the task of using them in everything you can think of.  Sooner rather than later. 

Let's start with a tart.  As you know, chocolate and hazelnuts are a match made in heaven and this (heavenly) creation does full justice to that.  I would even go so far as to say this would be worth it even if you had to skin all of the hazelnuts yourself!

CHOCOLATE HAZELNUT TART (adapted from Giada DiLaurentis)
  

For the crust:

1 1/2 cups all-purpose unbleached flour

1/4 teaspoon salt

9 tablespoons unsalted butter, chilled and cut into 9 pieces

3 to 5 tablespoons ice water

Place flour and salt in food processor and process for about 10 seconds. Place butter evenly over flour and process until it resembles coarse meal, about 15 to 20 seconds. With processor running, pour 3 T. of the water in a small steady stream through the feed tube and process just until dough comes together. Add a little more water if needed until it just forms a smooth ball.

Remove from processor and knead for several turns then flatten into a disk, wrap in plastic and refrigerate for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out onto floured board and ease into a greased tart pan.  Trim edges and refrigerate at least 30 minutes before proceeding with recipe.

Yield: enough dough for one single crust 9-inch pie

For the pie:
1/2 cup granulated sugar
2 T. all-purpose unbleached flour
3 extra-large eggs
1 1/2 cups peeled and chopped hazelnuts
1 1/2 cups bittersweet chocolate chips (or chunks)
1 cup light corn syrup
2 T. butter, melted
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
1/4 teaspoon salt

Mix all of the ingredients and pour into an unbaked pie crust. Preheat oven to 325-degrees and bake for about 45 minutes, until slightly puffed in center and golden brown. Let cool for 30 minutes before serving.

Serves 8 - 10

BTW, this pie crust recipe (not from Giada) is the one I have used for years.  It's pretty much foolproof, so don't be afraid to try it.

One down, three more (hazelnut recipes) to go!

Baked Potato with Simple Beef Chilli and Cheese

A baked potato is a wonderful idea for dinner, or even for lunch. Baked potatoes are so versatile in what they can be made to accompany that they need never be served precisely the same way twice. On this occasion, I have served the baked potato with a simple beef chilli and some grated cheddar cheese. The chilli can either be prepared in advance and reheated before being served with the baked potato, or prepared as I have done in this instance while the potato is baking.

There are two very common problems experienced when baking potatoes. The first is that the potato remains hard in the middle, while approaching being overcooked on the outside and the second is that the potato is cooked for so long - in order to soften its centre - that the skin and outer part are inedible. There is a very simple way in which I get around these potential problems.

While the oven is preheating to 400F/200C/Gas Mark 6, the potato should be scrubbed under running water and thoroughly dried with kitchen towel. A thin metal skewer should then be carefully driven through the lateral centre of the potato until it protrudes from the other side (see image above.) The metal skewer conducts the heat right through the centre of the potato, allowing and ensuring more even cooking. A fork should be used to pierce the skin of the potato several times to allow steam to escape during cooking and the potato should be loosely wrapped in aluminium foil, to form a sealed tent. It should then be put on to a baking tray and in to the oven for an hour and a half.

The simple beef chilli will take around five minutes to prepare and twenty minutes to cook. Starting to prepare the chilli after the potato has been baking for about an hour should therefore be perfect for having the meal's two principal components ready at the same time.

Ingredients (Serves Two)
1/2lb minced (ground) beef
1 14oz can of chopped tomatoes in tomato juice
1 8oz can of red kidney beans in water
1 yellow bell pepper
1 red chilli pepper
1 clove of garlic
Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

The first step is to quickly brown the mince in a large, dry pan. The yellow bell pepper should be deseeded and roughly chopped. The red chilli pepper should be finely chopped, with the seeds left in for maximum bite. The garlic clove should be peeled and finely chopped. The red kidney beans should be drained through a colander or sieve and washed under running cold water.

When the mince is browned, the peppers and garlic should be added to the pan to sweat off for a couple of minutes before the red kidney beans and chopped tomatoes are added. The heat should be turned up until a simmer is achieved, before being reduced and the chilli left to simmer for around twenty minutes. Seasoning with salt and pepper should be undertaken at the end of the cooking process.

When the potato has been baking for its alloted time, it should be removed from the oven and - before being unwrapped - carefully and gently squeezed (wearing oven protecting gloves) to help fluff up the inside. It should then be carefully unwrapped and if it is cooked properly, the skewer should very easily be pulled free.

The baked potato should be sat on a plate and cut in to quarters, not quite all the way through. It should then be opened up and the chilli spooned on top, before the optional grated cheese and a couple of basil leaves are added as a final garnish.

Creamy Red Pepper and Pumpkin Soup

I have been waiting for pumpkins to burst on the scene in all their glory before posting this recipe which I mentioned in a previous blog. My corner pumpkin seller Metin is now ensconced under his protective umbrella so today I went along to say hello and buy half a kilo.

here he is

 It is so easy here as the pumpkin is cut and peeled for you so not arduous at all to prepare.  He himself has a little saw with which he cuts away the pieces. He has a mobile phone so you can ring him up and place an order which he will personally deliver if you live nearby!  In Turkey interestingly enough, pumpkin is regarded more as a dessert than a savoury. Whereas we would perhaps instinctively think soup or oven-roasted, here it is  kabak tatlısı, a traditional syrupy delight served with scattered coarsely chopped walnuts on top.

But back to the soup: this recipe was given to me by my French cousin, Michele, and is a fine dinner party starter. It is so seasonal because of the vibrant autumnal colours and of course the main ingredient is only available at this time of year.

Ingredients for Creamy Red Pepper and Pumpkin Soup

Serves 4

25g/1 oz butter,

1 large onion

500g/1 lb 2oz pumpkin, peeled, deseeded and chopped into chunks

I red pepper, deseeded and chopped

2 vegetable stock cubes, dissolved in 450 ml/ ¾ pint hot water

200g/ 7 oz cream cheese

450ml/ ¾ pint milk

2 tbsps chopped chives

Salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method

·         Melt the butter in a large saucepan. Add the onion and fry gently for about 3 mins until softened but not browned.

·         Add the pumpkin, red pepper and vegetable stock. Heat until the mixture is just simmering, then turn the heat to low and cook gently for about 20 mins, partially covered, until the vegetables are soft and tender.

·         Transfer the mixture to a blender or food processor and add about half the cream cheese. Blend together till completely smooth.

·         Return mixture to the saucepan and add the milk and half the chives. Stir thoroughly and reheat till piping hot. Taste and adjust seasoning.

·         Ladle the soup into warmed bowls, then top each portion with a dollop of the reserved cream cheese. Sprinkle with the remaining chives and a little extra ground black pepper, then serve.

Tips

1.       The recipe says that the red pepper can be omitted but I think that would be a real shame as it adds a definite sweet flavour to the soup. The smell while cooking is most inviting. I used the larger variety as it is sweeter than the smaller, more pointed local ones.

2.       I put half the cream cheese in the soup as per the recipe but used a swirl of natural yogurt as a finishing touch instead of more cheese. I also used spring onions instead of chives. Chives would be better but we don’t get them regularly.

3.       This soup freezes very well but since the quantity given is so little, I think you would have to double the amounts in order for there to be any to freeze!

4.       Turks love to eat the seeds of the pumpkin especially in front of the TV! They are available everywhere, shelled or not, but according to my husband, all the fun lies in cracking the seed between your teeth and somehow extricating the inner kernel.  It is a skill I do not possess! You can dry your own seeds on a sunny windowsill or, in a dry frying pan, toss them with a little salt. They are supposed to be effective against tapeworms!