Senay happy moments ...

Hello January!

2014-01-02T13:08:00.001-05:00

These are not paintings ...

2013-12-27T11:07:00.000-05:00

Plants affected by Ice storm that hit Toronto On Dec 21st 2013… All plants, tress covered in ice ...

Always beautiful

2013-12-27T10:54:00.001-05:00

Frozen Roses …

Walking on the streets of downtown Toronto on the first week of December ...

Red Iyv and grey wall

2013-11-17T16:29:00.000-05:00

Autumn Colours

2013-11-13T12:15:00.000-05:00

Autumn Roses

2013-11-09T12:02:00.001-05:00

Pacanga Boregi

2013-11-09T11:12:00.001-05:00

Pacanga Boregi - Phyllo pastry with pastrami and mozzarella

Börek (also burek and other variants) is a family of baked or fried filled pastries made of a thin flaky dough known as phyllo (or yufka). It can be filled with cheese, often feta, sirene or kaşar; minced meat, or vegetables... ( ref wikipedia )

Today for brunch I made baked phyllo pastry filled with Turkish pastrami, tomatoes, pepper, and mozzarella cheese.

Ingriedients:

Store bought phyllo pastry sheets ( only few are used from 1 package)
Thin slices of Turkish pastrami (pastirma)
250gr of grated Mozzerella
1 medium size tomato (wash, remove skin and seeds, and dice)
1 green cubanelle pepper (wash, remove stems and seeds, and dice)
1 egg (separate the yolk from white)

Directions

Divide rectangular phyllo sheets into half. On the end/corner of one phyllo sheet put one slice of pastrami, 2-3 pieces of small diced tomatoes, 2-3 pieces of small diced pepper, 1 tablespoon of grated mozzarella. Fold in triangle shape, square shape, or roll. Wet the end of pastry with egg white make sure it sticks. Repeat with each sheet, make as many as you wish. (I made twenty small pieces, until my ingredients were finished.) Place each phyllo shape to a lightly greased oven pan. Brush each phyllo with egg yolk and sprinkle with nigella seeds (optional). Bake until golden. Serve warm.

Enjoy!

An Autumn Rose... and I Love it!

2013-11-06T23:23:00.000-05:00

I captured those images while enjoying walking in a neighbourhood on a bright sunny day. On this beautiful autumn day I was so happy to see gorgeous blooming red roses. So happy! Love!

Sunshine

2013-11-05T12:44:00.000-05:00

This morning I am enjoying the sunshine in my office and sketching while sipping my favourite black tea...
Today it's all about yellow colour - happiness, confidence & optimism.
Thanks for stopping by and Have a Happy Day!

Artichoke

2013-11-03T14:32:00.003-05:00

An inspiring nature! After taking few pictures of the beautiful flowers and an amazing nature we went shopping for artichokes :). I was inspired to cook artichoke dish, a recipe from Eagan coast ...
Artichokes flower stuffed with rice

Ingredients
2 medium size whole artichokes
1 lemon
1 cup rice
1 cup diced white onions
1/4 cup pine nuts
1/3 cup golden raisins
1/3 cup ground walnuts
1/2 cup chopped fresh parsley
1/4 cup chopped fresh dill
1 tablespoon dried mint
1 tablespoon salt
1 teaspoon all spice
1 teaspoon black pepper
1 teaspoon sugar
1 teaspoon pomegranate molases
3/4 cup extra virgin olive oil
water

Directions
Wash the artichokes. Using a pair of kitchen sheers, trim off the tips of the leaves. Using your thumb gently separate the leaves. Pull out the purple tipped leaves from the centre and several surrounding yellow leaves until you reach the fuzzy choke. Using a small spoon, scoop out the choke until no fuzzy remnants remain. Then squeeze some lemon juice inside the cavity to keep it from oxidizing, or turning brown. Place artichokes in a dish half filled with water and squeeze more lemon juice to keep artichokes from oxidizing.
To make stuffing, place 1/2 cup olive oil and diced onions in a skillet over medium high heat until onions turn little golden. Add pine nuts and keep mixing until nuts are golden brown. Reduce the heat to medium, add rice and stir occasionally for 1 min. Add 1 cup water and let simmer for 1-2 minutes. remove the skillet from the heat. Add and mix well ; raisins, walnuts, parsley, dill, dried mint, salt, all spice, black pepper, sugar, pomegranate molasses.
To stuff the artichoke begin by placing 2-3 teaspoons of rice mixture into he cavity to prevent from leaves closing up over it. Using your hands fill each leaf with about 1 teaspoon full of rice mixture.
To cook the artichoke use a large deep pan. Place stuffed artichokes in the pan, and fill the pan with water to the half of the artichokes (2-3 inches of water). Drizzle each artichoke with remaining extra virgin olive oil. Cover with lid and bring to boil. Then lower the heat to medium low and cook, covered, for 1 hour, or until leaves are tender. Let cool. Transfer cooked artichokes to a large plate or shallow bowl. Serve in 5-15 minutes while warm, or keep refrigerated and serve it next day in a room temperature (remove from fridge 2 hours before serving). Serve with lemon and drizzle with parsley or dill and a bit extra virgin olive oil (optional)

Enjoy!

Poached Sugar Pears

2013-10-29T13:17:00.002-04:00

Classic and simple delicious fall dessert...

Ingredients
1 cup sugar
2 cups water
1 spoon vanilla extract
4-6 sugar pears
1/3 cup ground walnut
1/2 or 1 small tea spoon cinnamon

Directions
Bring the sugar and water to boil in a saucepan over high heat, stirring to dissolve the sugar. Add vanilla extract or vanilla bean. Wash, core and peal the pears leaving the steams attached. Place in the saucepan and reduce the heat to medium. Simmer the pears turning them occasionally about 20-25 minutes until tender. Using a spoon transfer to a dish and let cool. Before serving fill the cored pears with walnut cinnamon mix. Serve each pear in a shallow bowl with the simple syrup from the saucepan
and drizzle, sprinkle ground walnuts (optional). Also good with chocolate sauce, or vanilla ice cream.

Enjoy!

October Sunshine

2013-10-29T12:41:00.004-04:00

Baked Golden Nugget

2013-10-27T13:37:00.000-04:00

I love baking or cooking with seasonal produce. On Fall and Winter season one of my favourite produces are squashes, so many great choices here in Ontario. I really like simple made foods and what's more delicious than caramelized honey baked squash. My favourite baked golden nugget or baked butternut squash... This weekend I made baked and caramelized golden nugget squash.

Ingredients
1 gold nugget squash
2-4 tablespoons white or brown sugar
1 pinch cinnamon
honey

Directions
Wash the squash, cut in half lengthwise, and scrape out seeds and string portion.
Cut lengthwise in desired portions and arrange squash pieces in a baking dish. Sprinkle each squash with a pinch of cinnamon and 2-4 tablespoons sugar. Pour boiling water into the pan to a depth of 1 inch. Bake in a 400F one for 30-40 minutes, or until squash is tender and a bit caramelized. Serve warm or cold. drizzle with honey (optional)

Enjoy!

Autumn leaves always so beautiful! ...

2013-10-24T11:05:00.003-04:00

Natural dried fall leaves can be beautiful! I love Nature and natural things and the Fall season in Ontario is so inspiring. I Love it!... The other day I collected some leaves from the park and I've been enjoying the beauty of leaves...

Inspired by Autumn ...

2013-10-23T12:57:00.001-04:00

"Autumn Leaves" & "Hello Autumn" pillows / watercolour artwork inspired by Fall season ...

www.senaystudio.com or @ etsy/senaystudio

Beautiful Autumn day ...

2013-10-23T10:20:00.002-04:00

I love all the colours during this season. Beautiful nature! Like a beautiful painting ...