Creative cafe

Simple Lasagna Recipe (grandma style)

2020-03-26T20:04:00.001-07:00

My Dad's chauffer in Canberra was from Italy and during one of my visits one Christmas, I had the chance to learn how to make authentic lasagna from his wife.

We've never liked anything from any restaurants after trying her recipe. Now this recipe is a staple in our household.
Today I am sharing the recipe with you all.

Caution: this is not a low calorie food!

Lasagna

[Makes two half tray]

Boil 6 to 8 eggs. Peel and dice.

Keep aside.

Cook 3lbs ground beef until brown. You can drain the oil if needed)

Add garlic powder, Italian seasoning, black pepper.

Add two jars/cans of crushed tomatoes. You can use fresh tomatos as well. Just add enough Italian seasoning to bring out the flavor in the beef. You can even add tomato paste to intensify the flavour.

Check salt, add if needed.

It should look like meat sauce for pasta.

Keep aside

In a separate pot, melt 1 stick of butter (½ cup)

Add ½ cup of flour and mix until incorporated,

Gradually add 4 cups of milk.

It will form a nice thick sauce (similar to alfredo sauce).

Keep aside.

Take two ½ size aluminium trays (or whatever you want to use) like a baking dish for lasagna.

Add a little meat sauce at the bottom. Add a layer of lasagna sheet. I use the “ready for oven” kind. Fresh pasta sheets are even better if you have the patience.

Add some more meat sauce, White sauce, eggs, mozzarella cheese (feel free to add any other kinds of cheeses if you want in the layers.) Then cover with another layer of lasagna sheet. Continue building layers until you reach the desired thickness.I usually do 5 tp 6 layers.

Here is a quick clip of how I do it.

Top with a little bit of meat sauce, white sauce and mozzarella. Grate in some permeason.

Cover with aluminium foil and bake according to the package (or 60 mins at 375º).

Uncover and broil until the top is nice and golden (about 5 mins).

Serve & enjoy!

If you want to freeze the second one, wrap the tray well with plastic wrap after covering with foil and keep in the freezer. Refrigerate the day before you are planning on eating so the lasagna has time to thaw. Might need additional baking time. Check the centre to see if it's properly melted with a butter knife.

DIY Pinata

2015-03-31T13:16:00.003-07:00

My girl turned 10 this month!

My kids love pinata! So when ever there is a birthday they have to have one.

Well me on the other hand hate to spend $20 for an empty decorated box which they are going to hit and break in 10 mins.

Whats the solution then? Well, I had to DIY one of course.

I was actually meaning to do this post about two years ago. But as always I get too excited when I am doing a project and forget to take enough photos for a post.

This time too, I forgot a final picture :(

Well gotta do with what I have in hand. That should give you the overall idea.

Here we go.

Supplies needed:

Dollar store gift bags. I had one in hand already - $0

Tissue paper. I used scraps from my paper pompoms :)

Any cardboard

I don't know what these paper rolls are called but you can find them at the Dollar store. They are 2 for $1!

Any craft glue

Scissors of course ;)

Candy of your choice

Process :

Cut the cardboard pieces to size so that fit the bottom and the sides of the bag

Set them inside

Fold and cut your paper roll like this. then open the fold

and glue them in place

Keep building layers from bottom to top

Once done, fill in the candies and shredded tissue

Staple the top to close and hang with the handle of the bag to your desired height :D

As usual I forgot to take a close up pic of my finished product but here is one I found.

Can you spot the pinata?

Total cost of the pinata less than $2

Happy kiddo happy me :D

Enjoy!

Easy piesy chicken recipe

2015-01-17T12:45:00.001-08:00

So I forgot to marinate the chicken last night and it's almost lunch time.

I don't feel like cooking anyway :(

What to do... What to do...

Let's pour some ketchup, soy sauce, honey, garlic and hot sauce on the chicken :D

That was my bright idea! And my o my was it a delicious one ;)

Here is the detailed recipe for you all.

Ingredients :

Four chicken thighs

2Tbsp soy sauce

3-4 garlic cloves minced

1 small onion minced

2Tbsp hot sauce (adjust according to taste)

1/4 cup ketchup

1/8 cup honey

1tsp Italian seasoning

Instructions :

Mix everything with chicken.

In a cast iron Dutch oven fry the chicken 4 min each side but don't put the sauce in yet.

Once nice golden colour, pour the marinate on the chicken and cook covered in low heat for an hour.

After an hour, check the chicken and cook another 20 min covered at medium heat.

If you prefer thicker gravy, mix a tsp of corn flour with little water and pour in.

Enjoy your easy-piesy yummy chicken!

DIY Tufted Headboard under $40

2014-08-25T12:33:00.002-07:00

Remember my DIY Headboard?

I'll be honest, when I made that headboard, I wasn't 100% satisfied. I didn't like the fabric a lot [not for my bedroom, that is], I wanted to tuft it but had no clue how and I also wasn't brave enough to set it to a height I wanted it to be at.

So almost after 2 years, I finally updated the headboard with everything I wanted.

I decided I would reuse the old headboard so I took the old cover out. It was a breeze and I reused it for the purpose it was intended to be at the first place.

On My Dining Table!

Then I measured and marked the back of my headboard for where I want to tuft and drilled some holes with my trusted drill :)
The spacing I used was 7.5" by 8.5" for my 5'X2.5' headboard.

Just a heads up, trying to drill the board from the front with your batting still on will break your drill bits [lesson learnt the hard way].

Making the buttons for tufting wasn't that bad once I got the hold of it.

For my supplies I went to Fabricland and got myself some tufting buttons, some strong thread and the longest needle I could find there. Instead of using upholstery grade threads I used craft and button grade and it was still strong enough for all the pull and stretch.

Thread and Needle

Tufting Buttons

I also got my fabric from there. I used good ol' canvas this time and am so glad I did! I looks so sophisticated and chic!

I used the same process I used before and stapled the fabric to the board.

Following the instructions on the package, me and hubby darling tried finishing the buttons for tufting. But we had a really hard time as our fabric was very thick. So instead of using their hilarious blue pusher thingy, we used pliers to push the back down.

Once we had everything ready to go, I took out the needle and started the tufting process.

I inserted the needle through the holes I made earlier at the back, hubby got the tufting button in and sent it right back to me :)

Make sure you have a lot of thread at the back for tieing and pulling. I re-threaded my needle with long sections for each button.

We used all the old buttons lying around the house [and on hubbys shirts] to tie the tufts from the back. Got this tip from another blog, can't remember where but will link it as soon as I do.

And here is the end result

DIY Tufted Headboard

Something tells me, I forgot to iron the canvas this time...arghhhhh...hate to remove everything and start again :(

Will do so in time, but for now, this'll work :D
[update: you can steam the fabric to get rid of the creases too]

The total cost of this headboard for me was $38

Here is the breakdown:

Fabric 2 yard @ $12/yard - $24
Needle $2
Thread $2
Button kit pack $2.5
Buttons 3 pack of 5 buttons each @ $2.5 each - $7.5

Already had the staple gun, drill and screws and reused the board, foam and padding from my old headboard.

When I'll open the cover to fix the creases [if I do], I may add some more batting for that fluffy feeling. I may also add more tufts between the current ones if I feel like. hmm...that's a lot of planning :/

Enjoy!!

$2.5 DIY jewellery organizer

2014-08-21T12:51:00.001-07:00

So I have this HUGE collection of jewelleries which I rarely wore because they were all jam packed in a shoe case like this

I also had a Ribba picture frame from ikea with a broken glass.

And I also had a staple gun!

So I was brain storming....

And

Voila!

I rushed to the dollar store, got myself some cork boards and a pack of these

And got to work.

I stapled the cork board to the back of my frame and hammered in the pushpins.

And a few minutes later, I ended up with this

The push pins were used to hung the neck pieces.

And I just pushed in the earrings in to the cork board.

I didn't cover the board up with fabric or anything cause I wanted the jewelleries to be the focal point here.

The total cost for this project is $2.5

Here is the break down:

Picture frame - already had

Cork board - $1.5

Push pins - $1

Staple gun - already had in hand

If you don't already have a frame in hand, you can thrift pretty frames at a very low cost.

Now as I can see all my lovelies, hopefully I'll wear them more often.

Enjoy!

How to Paint Laminate Furniture

2014-03-12T16:27:00.000-07:00

I needed two night-stands. Matching pair is not a must but was preferable.

So I was hunting for a very long time. What I liked was way out of my budget and what I got for budget was way out of my taste. You get the idea.

Finally few days ago I found a matching pair in local Value Village. It had nice details, but was a laminate piece :(

But I loved the drawer pulls and for $3.99 each [yea, you read that right] I was ready to give it a try and girl am I glad that I did!

In my sheer excitement, I forgot to take any 'before' picture [as usual] but i have these snaps taken from my cell phone of how they looked like when they got home.

The drawer pull I fell for

The frame

As you can see, it was brown, some laminate was chipping and it needed a lot of work.
I did some research online on how to paint laminate furniture without much luck except this blog.

The idea is pretty simple though. The key ingredient to have a nice finishing is to use a primer that will adhere to laminated surface and give your paint a good grip.

So I bought the Zinsser 1-2-3 primer and gave it a good coat.

Gave it a light sanding.
Then I used a small foam roller to paint the pieces. I used the leftover paint from my Daughter's room makeover.
Sanded again and used another coat of paint.

So here is the final result

Hubby got the other piece of the pair but my next hunt is to find us a nice pair of lamps :D

I am on that!

Enjoy!

The Third Bedroom Makeover

2014-03-11T09:24:00.001-07:00

Things have been pretty hard for me last few weeks. I have been trying to establish myself in the RealEstate business. I have this intense passion for RealEstate which even I can't explain.

So I was busy doing Open Houses, Generate Leads, Build my professional Website etc.

I still am occupied with those, the website is still undergoing lots of modifications but is open to public.

In midst of everything, my little one demanded she wants the third bedroom as her 'own room' and she no longer wishs to stay with her elder sister.

I said - Well, thats good! Go ahead!

She said - No!

I said - Why?

She said - That room is blue. I want ... ... ... WHITE!

I said - Are you sure you don't want like Pink or Purple?

She said - No. I want White!

My reaction was ........ ~_^

Well, as I said I was busy but she kept reminding me every week, every day, every hour till I finished her room 'top to bottom'.

First I showed her some white paint samples and she choose 'Stowe White' for the walls. Though the color was from CIL we had it tinted on Premier paint because of the quality.

I decided to go with eggshell base for it was a white room of a 6 year old.

I placed the curtain rod little further than the window frame to create an illusion of larger windows. Then I got some very light grey-ish 'Dhupian' curtains for her windows to match with the existing closet wallpaper [which I do not intend to change now or anytime soon].

Then I hunted on kijiji for a bedroom set suitable for my little kitten [which had to be 'white' too as my princess requested] and fortunately found one soon enough for only $100 and it's all wood and didn't need a refinish! **Happy Dance**

We shopped in ikea for all the bedding materials [I wanted 100% cotton for my teeny-tiny budget]. The bed sheets were all plain beige and the duvet cover was one of their basic 100% cotton ones!

So here is the Before and After:

I tried putting a pink tutu on top of that canopy but my little kitten strongly protested!

Could not resist putting a pic up of this gorgeous wardrobe <3

Hope you like the makeover and pick up some ideas for your next room makeover :)
Enjoy!

Framed Thermostat

2014-03-10T20:54:00.002-07:00

I have been Lazy and Busy, Both.

Thus my absence.

Well, lets re-start by sharing a small project I did after changing my 40 year old Thermostat in to a programable one.

Form this:

To this:

It's very convenient and energy savvy and I chose a model which isn't very fancy but gets the job done. So price savvy for me :D

But do you see the problem?

Yeap, the shape and the paint gap behind. So not OK!

So I did this:

A simple fix for a itchy design problem.

Enjoy!

A Lesson

2014-01-16T15:40:00.001-08:00

The things I did today...

Well, to begin with, I woke up and send the kids to school, drank my tea and went to my workplace to pick up some 'open house' signs.

Then because I was feeling Low, I went shopping :D

Then my friend called and asked if I could meet for lunch. Well, when you are low and your friends ask you to join, what do you do? You say ' Heck yea!'

Then after lunch I picked up the kids and painted my kitchen cabinets. They were looking Ugly and Dirty. So I painted them white, my favorite color in whole wide world.

Then I fixed a hole in the wall my hubby darling made when he fell from the stairs few days back [ouch].

Both the kitchen cabinets and the wall are in the process of drying as I write this post.

So... it was pretty fun.

Then my hubby darling showed my this video.

That is when I realized, how blessed I am. Al hamdulillah.

I had a good day today.

Get the slow cooker, pull apart meat in half the time

2014-01-15T19:03:00.001-08:00

Yeap, I did it and you can too. Slow cookers apart from being 'working women friendly' is also knows for cooking mouthwatering, pull apart, melt in your mouth meat.

BUT, it's just too much for me to add another gadget to my 'kitchen gadget collection'. So I was googling [;)] how to achieve the same result another way & I found nothing, absolutely nothing.

Then I thought to myself, what makes the meat so juicy, so tender, so .... Yummy?

I thought and I thought and I thought.....until I figured it out and went running to my kitchen literally screaming "EUREKA", in my head and in full cloths if course.

Took my cast iron Dutch oven [oh!cant even describe how much I live this baby].

Heat to medium high and seared the meat. Added all the ingredients as you would in the recipe you choose. Make sure there is some liquids, cover the super heavy lively lid. And put the heat down to simmer. I cooked my chicken for 1 hour in simmer and it was just amazing. Totally amazing. I believe I'll take about 90 to 120 minutes to cook beef depending on the type if meat.

So now, off you go go go and get cooking.

Basement Haul - The Big Reveal

2014-01-14T08:28:00.003-08:00

Remember how my basement looked? For a quick refresh check my previous post on the 'before' pictures.

So after the contractor finished the wall and ceiling [with spot lights :D], me and my hubby darling got to work. For the flooring, after considering all the options available in the market, we went for 12mm Laminate with pre-attached pad. Because we don't have any pets we didn't have to worry about getting it scratched. But with two 'Jungle' kids in the house, we needed something sturdy, thus the 12mm.

For the color and finish, we choose the 'weathered' look matching our wall color.

And.... we installed the flooring ourselves, in two days. [still patting my back for that :D]

Then we wanted to do the built-in, inspired by "just a girl".

So, we headed to ikea to get four Billy bookcases, just to find out the total width is 2" wider that our space! I'll write all about that another day.

Finally, we managed to finish the built-in and installed baseboard all around it to complete the look.

Did all the trims [still need to do the caulking and painting, lazy busy me!].

Got my ikea karlstad in sivik gray [need to do something about those hideous legs.grrr.]

And here how it is now.

The built-in, still filling in

Got French door for my office. Happy me!

No more 'door-less' closets and rooms.

I'll finish the 'in-progress' tripod lamp, someday, soon...

I promise

There is a lot more to do in there, But for the time being, I think it'll do.

Dining Room Chandelier Update

2014-01-13T14:56:00.000-08:00

When we bought our place, it had lots that needed to be updated.

The Dining room chandelier for example.

I believe it was there ever since the house was built almost 40 years ago.

Never updated. Never changed.

Before

After moving in, I searched through different websites and shops but as usual, the ones in my budget are not what I like and those I like were not in my budget. Sigh.

So I planned a DIY. Yeay!

I bought a drum shade slightly larger than the glass shade that was on there.

And I simply removed the chandelier from the ceiling, disassembled, and replaced the glass shade with my drum shade.

After

Heavenly Delicious Caramel PopCorn

2014-01-11T18:51:00.001-08:00

You know those caramel popcorn you get at the movies? Imagine that flavor, just WAAAAY Better!

All you need is this

3/4 cup Packed Brown Sugar
3 tbsp Corn Syrup
1/4 tsp Salt
1 tsp Pure Vanilla
1/4 tsp Baking Soda
8 cups of Plain Popcorn [about 3/4 cups kernels]

and 1/3 cups Butter of course! What would be some caramel popcorn without butter!!

Before you start anything else, get the corns all popped

Then melt Butter, Brown sugar, salt and Corn syrup in a non-stick pan over high heat.

After it starts to boil, turn the heat off and add vanilla and baking soda

It'll start to get all bubbly and foamy

Pour the mixture all over the popcorn. CAUTION: DO NOT TOUCH THE CARAMEL!!! It'll burn your skin in seconds.

Layer the popcorn in a baking sheet

and bake in 325F for 10 minutes

Remove from oven and ENJOY the heavenly deliciousness :D

My Beautiful Mirror Broke :(

2014-01-11T12:59:00.000-08:00

I got this beautiful mirror from ikea :) I was happy and gay until ...

UNG DRILL Mirror, ikea

the mirror fell and broke.

I sobbed, I cried and then I wiped my tears and got to work.

Went to Dollar store to get one of those wooden sign things, painted it with blackboard paint and rearranged the hanging chain so that it hangs vertically rather than horizontally.

And hung it in the middle of the frame.

After

Now I am happy again :D

Basement Makeover Haul

2014-01-10T11:26:00.000-08:00

When we got our place, the basement looked sad, depressing and unfinished.

Well, it had no floors, partially done ceiling which had stains and was falling apart in places.

Here is a glimpse of what it looked like before

During Home Inspection

The 'Listing' Photo

There was a good size recreation room, an office room [with no door what so ever], a laundry room [ no door again] , a huge storage space under the stairs [clever but with no door :P] and a regular size closet [guess what was missing? DOOR!]

The walls were UP but not finished, Half the floor had some kind of vinyl sticker thingy on and the rest was bare concrete [tell you what, not ideal for a country where temperatures go below -30].

Well that ain't gonna stop us :D

The second thing we did after the purchase was hire a contractor to do the ceiling, install the office room and laundry room doors, two closet doors and finish the walls. What was first thing we did?

We changed the 40 year old furnace with a high efficiency one of course :D

I'll post you another update on the basement soon. till then, stay good :D

DIY Paper Pompom on a Fallen Tree Branch

2014-01-09T20:34:00.000-08:00

Last week we had this terrible terrible storm in Ontario. Many trees fell. Sad really sad.

But I jumped [a little] with joy as I was looking for a good looking tree branch for quite a few time now. So once the power was restored [yeap, we didn't have power for more than 6 hourse] and everything was under control, I went outside around 1AM in the morning in freezing cold and wind chill to grab one of those gorgeous babies :D

Why you ask?

Well for crafting of course!

Here is what I did with the fallen branch

Boy Oh Boy

Well, how did I make the paper pompoms you ask?

Well I took inspiration from here and below is a step by step illustration of the 'do how'.

I used papers came along wrapped around our house warming gifts :P

You can use any kind of paper as long as it's not too heavy.

Paper pompom DIY

Lets make a Bar Table!

2014-01-09T19:38:00.001-08:00

I got so inspired by Ana White I just assumed I can make anything just like her :D
But deep inside I knew, I wasn't nearly as good as her :(

So when we needed a bar table of definite length and height and type and color and way out of our budget, I thought to myself "hey girl! you can do this ;)"

So I came up with this super easy plan.

I went to HomeDepot and got the followings:

1 pc 1x10x12' [for the top]

1 pc 1x8x20' [for legs]

1 pc 1x1x10' [for support and joints]

I asked an associate to cut them to sizes:

A. 2 X 1x10x6'

B. 4 X 1x8x4'

C. 2X 1x1x1'

and D. 1X 1x1x5.5'

C & D

First I aligned and joined two "B" with a "C" with 2.5" wood screws for the legs.

Then I aligned the two "A" together and attached the legs with wood 2.5" wood screws.

I left around 1.5" space from the ends of the top for the legs.

Then I screwed in the support bar "D".

flipped it over, sanded the whole thing, filled in small gaps and holes with wood filler, let it dry, sanded again, wiped it off with a wet cloth, stained the top with This Minwax Dark Walnut stain and painted the legs and the support with white paint I had in hand.

Next day, when the stain dried, I coated the top with this stuff called Plyurethane :/ which actually smelled Terrible and the smell stayed almost for three days :/

Well, that was it though. After the Polyurethane dried, completely, I had my own Bar Table just the way I like it.

And last but not the least, thanks to my friend Samiya for the suggestion on the finishing :D

Love you for that.

So there you [I mean I, ha ha ha] have it folks, the easiest DIY furniture on the whole wide world!

Pantry door makeover

2014-01-09T07:20:00.001-08:00

We recently bought a house! I am so excited!!!
our own little place where I can do any design experiment I want!
Is that not exciting? [and horrifying for hubby darling at the same time :D]

Well to start with, I picked a small area, the pantry door. Which despite being small is visible from my living room and by everyone who'll come visit.

That's just PERFECT :D

So I just painted the whole boring off-white door with black chalkboard paint and decided to write down few things I want my kids to learn and grow up with. Which I prefer to call the LIFE RULES!

Here is the After

Powder Room Stencilled Wall

2014-01-08T20:06:00.004-08:00

When we got our place, it was cute but lacked any character. For instance, our powder room looked like ... blah!

Before

One afternoon I was bored and free so I decided to give my powder room wall a makeover inspired by Jones Design Company.

So I cut out the stencil provided by Emily and drew the pattern on the wall with a pencil.
Then just painted over the drawn lines with paint I had in hand. I used a 1/4" brush as that is how thick I wanted my lines to be.

I also replaced the 'tiny' mirror with a bigger one [which I am still not very happy with]

And here is the final result.

After

DIY Headboard in six easy steps

2013-08-11T05:48:00.000-07:00

DIY Headboard in six easy steps

Materials needed:

1. Any particle board cut into one 5'x2.5' and two 0.5'x3' pieces - mine was OSB 7/16 4x8 Oriented Strand Board from Home Depot cut into desired sizes in store. costs $11.25.
2. Memory foam mattress topper as a base - this is the cheapest option for this project. You can use a twin size mattress topper for a queen size headboard costs around $15 but guess what? I got lucky and found one at the local thrift shop for 4.99!
3. Batting - costs around $12 and you can find them in your local upholstery shops.
4. Fabric of your choice - I found mine at HomeSense. It was a cotton ... wait for it... table cloth(!) by Ralph Lauren for $20.
5. Staple gun - Already in hand
6. Drill - Already in hand
7. Screws - choose the size depending on the width of your lumber.

Total cost - less than $50!

Instructions:

1. Iron your fabric so there are no more cresses.
2. Lay the foam on a flat surface and place the 5'x2.5' board on top. stretch the foam to back and secure in place with the help of staple gun.
3. Repeat with the batting and fabric. Remember to start them from the centre working towards the outer corners and cut off the excess as you work with it.
4. Once everything is in place, take your 0.5'x3' pieces and put them in place with screws. The height depends on the height of your bed so measure you bed height first, then measure your bed height and then measure your bed height.
5. Put your soft-goodlooking upholstered headboard in place
6. Enjoy!

How to make a sun-burst mirror for $2

2013-08-11T04:05:00.001-07:00

How to make a sun-burst mirror for $2

Materials needed:

round mirror from the dollar store: 3 for $2

skewers: 1 pkg. for $1

glue gun: already have

Instructions:

Mark the centre of the mirror at its back

Start to glue the skewer sticks until you have no more space to glue them anymore

AND

you are Done!

Enjoy your sun-burst mirror!

Three dollar dinning table update

2012-04-23T21:12:00.001-07:00

When we moved to Canada, I rushed buying my dinning table set and sofa set. As a result I ended up hating both purchases over time.

So I was looking for a quick and inexpensive way to fix my disliking and after keeping my eyes and ears open for quite a long time, I found this piece of cloth in the local Thrift store today.

THE SHINY FABRIC

It was just the perfect size for the upholstery of my four dinning table chairs :)

and the best part was this...

YEAYYY

So without any second thought I grabbed it and ran to home (almost).

Once I was home, I had the second thought.... and found the fabric was way too shiny for my taste.

I hold the piece of cloth in my hands and did some meditation.....and then flipped it over.

DON'T YOU LOVE THE BACK TOO?

I really liked the back of it. Its light, its bright and just perfect enough to FIX my disliking towards this.

BEFORE

I know, it screams depression and sadness, atleast to me it does.

So I took out my weapons :D

MY SCREW-DRIVER AND STAPLE GUN

and got to work.

ALL YOU NEED TO DO IS STAPLE THE FABRIC TO THE BASE

It was really that simple and I am so excited to show you the end result :D

D-R-U-M-R-O-L-L

AFTER

And all four chairs done upgrading for only 2.99!

Crispy easy fried (baked) chicken :)

2011-11-14T07:05:00.001-08:00

As you know I am always up for yummy easy recipes cause I hate to work hard.so I have this one hidden in my kitchen diary for quite a long time.i hate to let the recipe go but I think its time you should get a taste of those crispy fried chicken just like kfc without the pain of going out, spending money and without the DEEP FRYING!

Yea, for that you can thank me :)
So have your chicken quarters or pieces ready.leave the skin on, or else how can you expect it to be deep fried without the deep frying? duh!
Preheat your oven say 375F.
In a small bowl, mix the following ingredients:
1/2 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon dry garlic powder
1/4 teaspoon dry mustard powder
1 or 1/2 teaspoon red pepper depending on the heat you like
Remember, the dry ingredients are the key to your crispy chicken!
rub your chicken with salt inside the skin and coat them with your dry mixture.
Place in a lightly oiled baking sheet or place a piece of parchment paper to avoid the oil.
Also make sure your baking sheet has some rim around it to capture the oil and juice from the chicken during baking.
Set the timer for 1 hour :)
But check on your chicken after 40 minutes to brush on with the juice in the tray. that juice has all those amazing flavors you know! So it's very important that you brush that on your yummy chicken to be!
infact, brush them a few times.
After an hour, take your fried chicken out, let it rest for a minute (now that's the hardest part) & your crispy fried chicken is ready to eat. Enjoy!

2nd Solo Art Exhibition of Lucky Nasreen and info you did not know!

2011-07-11T11:39:00.000-07:00

We arranged an Art Exhibition for my Mother-in-law, who is an artist and I would like to share her art works with all of you.

So here is your peak :)

Now for the information, 100% of the money raised from selling these paintings go directly to a welfare project called 'Shishur Hashi' (Smile of Children) which is designed to take care of poor kids. Those kids, whose parent are out for work all day long and can not afford a day care or a school. Unfortunately they are left on the streets unattended whole day without proper food and care. Shishur Hasi take care of them, provide them with education, food and proper care.

I hope to post more about this soon. Till then Enjoy the fabulous paintings!

Day & Night

2011-05-10T22:12:00.000-07:00

I couldn't sleep last night.

Instead I started playing with my
camera. took some snaps from my balcony on the 16th floor where I nest.
I try doing this whenever the weather is nice or different or I am bored.

this is what it like during the day

now check this out

another day and night shot

Isn't it a beauty?

you have a good night sleep though.