VanillaStrawberrySpringFields

A WEDDING STORI , A VALENTINE WEDDING CAKE COOKIE & 4 AWARDS....

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sat, 13 Mar 2010 22:25:00 +0000

A CELEBRATION OF MY BLOG HERE...

A BABY.............my baby AT VANILLA STRAWBEERY SPRING FIELDS...
.
I'LL ALWAYS MISS VSSF BUT AM HOPPING TO BRIGHT MORNING STAR AND HOPE U'LL BE THERE TO HOLD MY HAND AND WALK THE WALK WITH ME......

LETS CELEBRATE MY LAST POST HERE WITH COOKIES ,A FEB COOKIE ACTUALLY and A FEW (long overdue) AWARDS.....

Now to EATING MY WORDS.....

Now TANGLED NOODLE and SAVOR THE THYME has this super fantastic EATING UR WORDS CHALLENGE....... every year and this year is no different.....

What were my words here....below the ones to my mommy......''im going to make a wedding cookie''.....the words that this creation bring to my mind are ....Chocolate.Chip.Cookies ....wedding tired cakes......birthdays.....and celebrations of love........

Make a wedding cookie........fall in love....................right here...@365.......

And since HEART = LOVE= language of love ...the universal LANGUAGE of LOVE ...... THis is what i say >>>LOVE THRU HEARTS>>>>DOESNT IT SPEAK VOLUMES ALREADY..........

SNOW WHITE HAS A STORI TO TELL U WITH GLEE........

A WEDDING COOKIE STORI.......AND WHILE THE BRIDE READIES FOR A VALENTINE WEDDING.....

I'LL TELL U THE STORI TOO.......

AND THE WEDDING MAIDS OF HONOUR WILL JOIN IN THE FUN.......

AS MUC AS WILL THIS ABSOLUTELY ADORABLE LITTLE FLOWER GURL......

Im going to make a wedding cookie....i announced.......

now dont get me wrong...

i aint as confident t0 take up a huge order ,though do bake for family n frens and nobody that close to me is getting married either..........

So where did my wedding cookie pop from .......

Oh well....from a tired wedding cake ...:-)))))

Cookies stuck to gether ,stacked with a bit of NUTELLA butter cream.......

NICE THICK FAT ,CRUNCHY ....OVERLOADED WITH CHOCO CHIPPY COOKIES........

My Inspiration....love....read on..................

Oh i feel it allright....not only here but everywhere around........

The love ...

the romance ...

the love is in the air feel......

now dont get me wrong ...

im all for love,in love @365 days.....

but the month of feb is like the time when my Christmasy mood is mellowing a bit and am bang on in to the month of LOVE

Ofcourse long walks on the beach under the moon lit ,star sparkling sky are fantastic....

as the waves lash by,the sound a music to ur soul......

the sea breeze blowing thru ur long curled hair and ur a happy happy soul........

And however much i believe in LOVE @ 365,i love the month of feb coz for me its LOVE'S BIRTHDAY....well sort of ....

LIke aint i alive and kicking the whole year thru....but i have a day singled out,the day i brought joy
(ok i aint being modest here but how about some honesty :-))) )

to the lives of my parents....
my first wail (or more like a howl)
that brought that smile on my mommys lips .......yeah thats my birthday.....

So also the month of feb is LOVE's BIRTHDAY....well whole month???

Not fair but then the whole world enjoys so one whole month babes.......well maybe this sounds so silly but its my romantic exciting take on it and am loving every moment.....

And so to its credit here's another bout of hearty cookies galore but with a little twist...yeah they are 3 tired....a little idea i tried in and it quite worked yeah.........

Ofcourse im still on the lookout for the perfect choco chippy cookie and with so many recipe's around it aint easy for a cookie lover to narrow down to one aint it..........

And this a chocochippy am baking the third time round......baked it the first time when i first joined a group called sweet and simple bakes and

HERE"S MY BASIC rounded cookie with the same recipe....

And then the 2nd time i excitedly baked 'em was a DOUBLED ZESTY TRIPLED CHOCO CHIPPY COOKIE....and u'll find it here.....

And this the third time round the same recipe is a valentine delight with an overload of choco chippys
(oh yeah trust me to hover around choc chippys for all my bakes......) and heart shaped .....

Yeah my over active taste buds always gear to an over drive with cookies(and loads of other goodies :-)))v)

and add a heart shape and u'll have me all weak in the knees and butterflies in my tummy till i gorge on a few...........

..and then skip dinner story, to supposedly "make -up" but not good to skip meals so down a hot chocolate with a few more cookies and the next morn if the instructor aint looking at gym class double my treadmill timer..
hehehehehehe.............

RECIPE
115g unsalted butter, softened
200g caster sugar (I used icing sugar)
1 egg
Grated zest of 1 orange (2 to 3 tsp)-did not add this one
1 tsp vanilla extract
200g plain flour
½ tsp bicarbonate of soda
¼ baking powder
¼ tsp salt
300 grams white,milk mixed chocolate chips (milk or dark chocolate)

Preheat the oven to 190oC/170oC fan oven/375oF/Gas mark 5.

Beat the butter and sugar. Add the egg, orange zest and vanilla extract.Sift together the dry ingredients.

Stir the dry ingredients and chocolate chips into the butter mixture and combine.

Roll into balls. Use your fingers to flatten onto a non-stick baking sheet 5cm/2in apart.-
Iused different sized heart cookie cutters to bake 'em.

Bake for 8-10 minutes. Cool for five minutes and transfer to a cooling rack.

I Used Nutella buttercream to dress up these cookies when totally cooled.with a little red food color ofcourse

Stuck the cookies with buttercream as well and let the buttercream set over night.

AND HAD A few sandwhich cookies ,all wrapped with a layer of red nutella buttercream and plain nutella buttercream....

And with these delight full cookies i celebrate 4 awards ....

4 beautiful awards..... to celebrate THE WEDDING VALENTINE COOKIE.....and love......

Where have to pass 'em on to 7 + 7 + 7+ 7 wonderful bloggers.........

And well tell u guys 7 things about myself...........(i will soon i promise...this post is already soooooo sooooooooo longggggggggggggg)

BEAUTIFUL BLOGGER AWARD.....

THE LOVELY CHAYA ,OF COMFY COOK HERE PASSED THIS WONDERFUL AWARD TO ME.......

Instructions for the award:
1. Thank the person who gave you the award
2. Paste the award on your blog
3. Link the person who nominated you for the award
4. Tell 7 interesting things about yourself
5. Nominate 7 bloggers or less
6. Post links to the 7 blogs you nominated

A SPECIAL HAPPY BLOGGERS LOVE AWARD FOR UR HAPPY BLOGGING PALS

KREATIV BLOGGER AWARD...
JOY,WHO WRITES AT KRAZY KITCHEN PASSED THIS ONE TO ME FOR PARTICIPATING IN HER DESSERT PARTY...THANX A TON SWEETY.....

JOY HAS A WONDERFUL BLOG -JOY OF DESSERTS TOO!!!
The Kreativ Blogger Award rules.
1. Post the award.
2. Thank and mention the person who gave you the award.
3. Pass the award on to seven blogger's who you think embody the spirit of the Kreativ Blogger Award.
4. Name seven things about yourself that others don't know.
5. Don’t forget to notify the your seven Kreativ Bloggers about their AWARD and post a link to their blog.

HONEST SCRAP AWARD

By a dear fellow blogger COOL LASSIE

And now i add my own little rule,i enjoy receiving and passing these lovely awards ....

well if u dont ...u dont have to but well u can try receiving 'em graciously with a smile maybe...:-))) LOL...

ok am kidding but i so want u to enjoy these awards....

not to be a burden as i repeat everytime and will again coz i have loads of 'em lined up....

I want them to fill ur day with sunshine and love and bring smiles that last forever to ur sweet face....

and with that intention with loads of love i hand u these precious babies...

the next time i post awards i'll probably be at Bright Morning STAR....an extension of me....of my baby VSSF ...moving on to brighter pastures......

NOW 7 + 7 *7IS EQUALS TO 14 PLUS A FEW MORE... SO HERE'S MY LIST ......

CHAYA OF SWEET AND SAV SAYS IT ALL

Ofcourse officially or unofficially ....i so do wanna pass all my awards to my sweety pal Chaya.....everybodys sweety heart ....AND YEAH THE HAPPY PAL and honest scrap and kreativ blogger is all urs Chaya ...with loads of love dear.....

ISABEL OF O SITIO DAS DELICIAS
My dear sweet Isabel,the writer of my site of delicacies....her portuguese recipes have me craving our muc loved portuguese cuisine and have tried her recipes too...she rocks......
A creative blogger n beautiful blogger rolled in to one, i have a special pst coming up for this angel of my fren with a few awards from her along with her recipes and our frendship....cheers babes.....com mutinhos grandos bejinhos e abracoa e amor...

JAGS OF JOY OF COOKING

if the blog tittle doesnt already bring u joy...well her posts sure will....the love filled stories and her travels that introduce her to amazing food promptly re created in her kitchen....
and the puff pastry delights or a chocolaty semolina sweet.....or Spinach cottage cheese in a jiffy....its all right there ....jus for u.....
And she's my sweet happy pal too.....and yeah i hve loads of awrds from her too and will post em soon.....

MARY OF ONE PERFECT BITE................
An absolute array of deliciousness ,always and with frequency u'll simply love.....all u need to know about some deliciousness is always right there for u...right from the history to the know how to yup...the recipe.....
And a sweet swwettt heart to boot.....need more reason.....no...u'll love her too...

KRISTY OF MY LITTLE SPACE....

Oh i simply cant stop raving about her sweet Logo.....and if that aint enuf .....hop by her posts and u'll find it topping with deliciousness galore....
I did try her potato stew (ofcourse i plan to post it ) and it was a real real good recipe....
She got it amazingly perfect with her recent Chocolate croisannts....intirgues with her sweet potato and cardomon ice cream....oh the yummy'ness galore...

Pierce of Life in the slow lane at Squirrel Head Manor

Oh it was her site that inspired me to make the Delish NL pineapple upside down cake.....

thanx for inspiring me and yeah i did go ahead with the cherries:-))))

and a hI5 to our delightfull fantastic upside down cake....

RITA of ONE2TRY
Chances are if u have been a part og the friday follow hop ...u definately stopped by and are following one 2 try...
She has the most delicious give aways and fantastic ones too and a sweety of a blog....
And yeah i love that u love chocolate too.....

PAM of LOVE FOR NEW recipes
Bursting with positive energy, her smile tells u a happy stori as muc as do her words to u and pam ...they have begun to mean so muc coz u really care and have a wonderful heart.....

RoSA OF ROSA's YUM YUMS

Deliciousness coupled with stunning pics from her travels...cant ask for more and with an adorable cat...this anglo swiss gurl...sure gets it right and every time round....

BARBARA OF MOVABLE FEASTS

Her sprinkles ring with laughter....or they have me giggling and make my day...she's kind...she's sweet and and has me up ,if am ever beat.....
Whether its her onion jam or her writing or her smile i love hopping to movable feasts and feasting not jus my taste buds but also my heart...that smiles for hours after.......
She makes me grin and my heart swell....a doll she is.....
I never saw a maple tree until on her blog and with her maple muffins she had summer bursting in my mouth -for once i loved summer.....

KRISTA of RAMBLING TART...
For a gurl who's gone thru a lot...she shines.....her stunning pics are a feast to the eyes and the splendid flowers make me wanna tell her that her life as beautiful and she'll only keep blooming.....
she attends the most fantastic foodie meets and whips up delicious days too...thats our Kristy for u.....
And my first follower at BSM ...thanx a ton sweety and u deserve all the awards in the world....

GERI OF HEART N SOUL COOKING.....
My first follower at VSSF,hope she does walk with me at BSM too....coaz i'll really miss u if not :-(((((
amazing cookie recipes or her lemon tart rocks too ...(coming soon with awards at BSM)

GULMOHAR OF COLLABORATIVE CURRY

3 wonderful pals began this blog and the delicious magic continues....

Gulmohar these are for u too....enjoy 'em.....

NADIJIBELLA OF Saveurs et Gourmandises

Delicious french desserts and loads more awaits u right here...hop by and be prepared....to savour some delicious galore...

PJ OF GINGER & GARLIC

lOve PJ ,aint that a cute petname? Her posts make me love her...with detailed intensity of cuisines and her recipes ....she makes u come back for more ....and i love that about her...

FAITH OF AN EDIBLE MOSAIC

Whether its her holiday in FLorida or her arabian cuisine...she excels and i love her creativity too...she loves grilled as muc as i do and boy i so agree when she's says great minds think alike...:-)))

LISA MICHELLE OF PARSELY , SAGE,DESSERTS &LINE DRIVES

Food ...glorious food ...she says and honestly if u wan some inspirational ideas that top right from tiramisu's to mezze's to cheese cake ...well u have 'em all here.....i know u'll love to add these too to ur awards page cutey pie....

MALOU OF SKIP TO MALOU

Food with passion and a zest for life...i love her sunshine smile as much as all those cuteys she has attached to her name and her comments....an a amazing heart ....with a combi like that i only wanna hop by her blog at all times....and the music in her voice that i can almost hear when i read her kind words...sweet heart she is....always...

SARAH OF MOM ON THE RUN

She loves sprinkles as much as i do coz they brighten her day too....join the gang....and she has delicious recipes with oodles of health....

Hop on to see what am talking about...u'll love her as muc as i do....

SARAH OF BLOG OF FUN
Jus got to meet her thru Friday follow and i love her enthu about the blog for sharing loads of goodies and fun to us all in blogosphere...this one's for u too Sarah.....

NATASHA OF 5 STAR FOODIE

Given a choice i'll re name her blog to 7 star, honestly a web designer who visits the best restaurents in town and out....gives us amazing reviews...comes up with excellente cullinary skills and has wanting to buy that bottle of POM to make those jewel beauties(ok i dont like callin em tears) and comes up with fantastic makeovers ...month after month....and introduces us to spectacular stuff...(eg.lecithin and more)...if this isnt creativity in top gear ...what is...)

ELLIE OF ALMOST BOURDAIN

a stunning photographer and absolutely amazing foodie from Sydney...there's so muc i've bookmarked from her blog that wanna re create everything right away....

And if i as so muc come close to that....i'll be thrilled ....honestly ,i dont know what with the blog name,but i sure do know whats with her blog...its super deliciously delightfull

VINNI OF AMEHLIA DIGITAL

My sweet darling of a fren ,Vinni from brazil....she's an adorable darling and i can nver ever leave her out.....love her style of writing and her portuguese is so so cutey.....

FIMERE OF AUX DELICES DES GOURMETS

Delicious french food and other delights.....yummyluscious blog she has here and i love hopping by her space so muc....

KATY OF FOOD FOR THE HUNGRY SOUL

FResh clams in wine and more....oh yeah ....its her delicious blog that has me drooling and she's a sweety too

SUSHAMA MALLYA...OF AUTHENTIC FOOD DELIGHTS

I met her at Joanne birthday party and somewhere he tugged my heart and now i simply cant stop hopping by her blog to indulge in some delicious indian foods...

CHEF AIMEE OF A TWIST OF SPAGHETTI

THE DELICIOUS TWISTS N her fantastic takes on pasta are always welcome ,whether she cooks for her nephew ,she's baby sitting or welcomes her brand new neice....and well theres loads more to her too...

TAMI OF HEARTS MAKES FAMILIES

She one of the fantastic gals responsible for the friday follow hop ...love the blog button she proudly displays and yeah i sure do agree with u that HEarts Do Make Families...

One fantastic mommy and neice and daughter and wife and good fren ,as she puts it,not necesrly in that order:-)))) i so agree....

BURMESE MOM OF MADE WITH LOVE
Cooked with love-thats what we all do and love dont we ....u take an instant liking to her ,her recipes and her angelic daughter as u hop by......
yeah would love to send all the love awards here way...
Cheers and here's to u too....

KRISTEN OF CREATIVE MINDS

Flea markets ....stews...pastas and more ...cooked with love for her sweet Bf and her too....options are endless...creativity at her best...she has me drooling....happily....

LARANA OF LARANA E TACHOS

delicious portuguese food topped with loads of love...shes am absolutely cutey creative happy pal and a beautiful blogger too,.....

INGRID OF 3 B'S
Dear dear Ingrid, the 3 b's stand for baseball,baking & books ..she's kind and sweet and always has a sweet kind word to say-i dont know if you really like awards but i hope so so muc u do and enjoy them to....wonderfully ....jus like u....

MEGAN OF SHABBY BLOGS

she helped me shape my new blog ,to which am moving now with her fab tutorials ,htmls codes and downloads ....if i could do it ....well she's absolutely fool proof:-)))

and i so do highly appreciate that she does this jus so we can shape our blogs beautifully...THANK U MEGAN AND THESE AWARDS ARE FOR U TOO COZ .....

XIAOLU OF 6BITTERSWEETS
I know her since the time she won the wonderful Cup hero award for the fab banana cuppy cakes and rightly deserved them so...right from the ferrero-rocher-cupcakes- to any cupcake -u rock gurl ...top that with a kind heart and always a sweet word and u have a winner-u did prove it too...cheers and these are for u too....

COOL LASSIE OF PAN GRAVY KADAI CURRY

i love this one blog-its cutey ...and i have a sweet award from her too......will post soon......and yeah i love the cute way she said she aiont getting my feeds....yeah im sad about them too dear and thats why am hopping to BRIGHT MORNING STAR after this post....

AMEENA OF FANCY THIS ...FANCY THAT....

Swweeety Ameena, whether its her take on laundry basket or POM juice...or she breaks he william Sonama Bowls, love her blog ...................and her and little Maya...a cute household on a wonderful blog...here are 4 awards for u too Ameena...

NAZRINA OF GIDDY GASTRONOME

Whether its her moon cookies or exotic holidays or absolutely kind and sweet words ,she not only has ur attention but makes ur day too ...and id love to offer u 4 awards too dear .....

SIDDHI OF COOKED DIL SE

hER strawberry icecream floats had me drooling recently and pinged me to fix some immdtly...jus my kinda drink honestly...these are for u too SIddhi....

JOANNE OF EATS WELL WITH OTHERS....

Everybodys sh, she now has a monthly regional fest going....i guess smeday she'll be on food network talking about time mangement and optimum health habits....ie when she aint at the anatomy lab in medical school or writing her amazing blog.......last but def not the least....i so love U Wen n saved the Best for last and thats why had u here.....4 awards to u too..........to enjoy ......

XOXOXOXOXOXO...TO EVERYBODY HERE......

LEAVING YA WITH SOME MORE WEDDING LOVE.................

GRILLED DINNERS - GRILLED SEAFOOD & A BLOG HOP......

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 12:54:00 +0000

Grilled dinners and grilled seafood....a perfect combi we love ...............so so very much.............well here a few grilled pics that actually have this post pending since Dec.......

Actually have a few drafts here that i do need to post specially since have been forced to leave my baby here and move to a Brighter BRIGHT MORNING STAR since my feeds here have so let me down......

Cant post new posts as of now...little laptop niggles that am trying to jiggle out of but will definately post all my drafts here and then move to BMS.....yeah have already begun posting ther but not the proper posts and have jus about tweaked to the lay out am loving.......

Well this seafood ,grilled fish,MACkrels here. needs nothing but a salt and lemon rub.........

ANd the shrimps a delightful garlic ,lemon ,pepper, thyme rub...with salt yeah and u grill em to perfection......

With mashed potatoes and a quick greens salad ....u have dinner in a jiffy........

And now that summer has dawned in....oh lunches are more of fruits and juices and grilled seafood for dinner is so so perfect.......

Have a few recent pics lined up too but need to get going and have a few urgent posts too ...like my double R2R post.........

cheers and enjoy......

And have a rocking happy day.....

And yeah have loads of awards lined up too ...and yeah will post a few here ........

I miss being around as usual ad so hope will be soonnnnn.................now to hop by my reader and catch up with all u posts......love all u happy pals....

This surely wasnt an easy move...this is my 102 nd post...i have 82 followers here and yeah 95 readers in my feedburner (ok i know it aint a big number but to me ...the world.....)

Imagine ur jus building up ur sweet world and have to move on....pretty much like life aint it......

HAPPY DAY GUYS..........

AND HERE'S THIS FRIDAY WONDERFUL BLOG HOP....OH I LOVE BEING A PART OF THIS HOP AND HAVE MET MANY A WONDERFUL BLOGGERS I FOLLOW HERE....

NOW A HOP TOO.....MAMA MIA ...HERE I COME ....HEY HEY....HOW CAN I FORGET THIS....TROPICAL PARADISE PARTY.....

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sun, 28 Feb 2010 18:03:00 +0000

FAith...Nutmeg Nanny and Brandy.............................this one's for u super gals.....some Spring into The Easter Celebrations....

Thats right these goodies...go right to the Easter Party of All thru the year Cheer and im so looking foward to the super party.....

these treats are perfect for Easter ...to welcome spring or Island life.....love them all......

Pinacolada and A Pinacolada....

Did Sugar Plum make a mistake????

No i sure didn and we talking carribean and ISland life and tropical life here, exactly the reason by i begin with my
JUS BEFORE TROPICAL SUNSET pics , take from a hill ,overlooking the seas and another islandy mountain...ENJOY....

ANd wait a min before we go on.......
Before u proceed u must stop by HERE for a low down on Island Life and the pleasures of sun ,sand n sea n golden tans and coco bananas n hawain hawanas.....

BELIEVE ME ITS BEAUTIFUL HERE.....and there ....

Ha ha,........No nO , and no double mistake here ....jus a double take on PINACOLADA here...
a cuuppeyy cakkeyy and a drink...
minus the alcohol.......and delicious tropical truffle or loads of colorful truffles .......

as u read further i'll begin to sound more and more like am on a holiday in hawai or goa....i truly am....forever holiday.....

And Tropical carnival.......sounds good????

Tropical paradise carnival....even better????

Back to Tropical paradise Carnival for a Suprise Party for a housewarming........Oh my my.....ayayaay...this is super fantastic???

Well thats exactly what i thought too.......

Min left me a note to email her saying she has a 'secret' for me.a secret i'd love to know about and boy she had me at once.........

You think she spilled the beans all at once.....no no........

She held my rapt attention with a 'hint' of a blog party thats super secret..........

THANK U FOR HAVING ME OVER TO ADD TO THE STARS N SUNSHINE MIN....

And here it was.....happenning.....

And before i head to the main stars or desserts lemme leave u with a delicious drink....

A HAWAIN PINACOLADA

All i did was mix absolutely chilled coconut milk n pineapple juice till it satisfied my taste buds right
-i think it might be around 3 parts pineapple juice for 2 parts coconut milk

aND bring out my mini ikea hand frother and chill it again in the freezer this time and u have some PINACOLADA SLUSH to enjoy.......

And garnish with pineapple and cherries and the strawberries i couldn find...:-))))

I would love a big blog of vanilla ice cream and sprinkles here too.....

Ever since i saw this NIGELLA LAWSON PINEAPPLE cake at TINA"S blog for IHCC,i so wanna bake it......and this was it........and sounds like a good choice for tea time treats too.....

Well its been awhile since me baked a cakkey and i love this idea of a cake.... a delightfully moist cake that not only brings sunshine weather to ur mind but sunshine in ur heart with every bite too......

ABSOLUTELY DELISH PINEAPPLE CAKKEYS

INGREDIENTS for the delicious cake

butter for greasing
2 x 15ml tablespoons sugar
6 slices pineapple from a 425g can, plus 3 x 15ml tablespoons of the juice
a few sliced to chop and add to the batter
coconut milk
11 glacé cherries, approx. 75g total weight
100g flour
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon bicarbonate of soda
100g soft butter
100g caster sugar
2 eggs

METHOD


1.    Preheat the oven to 200°C/gas mark 6. Butter a tarte Tatin tin (24cm wide at the top and 20cm diameter at the bottom) or use a 23cm cake tin (neither loose-bottomed nor springform).

Ofcourse i used a muffin tray for this one and it worked real good.and got around 18 different sized mini cakkeys....

2.    Sprinkle the 2 tablespoons of sugar on top of the buttered base, and then arrange the pineapple slices to make a circular pattern as in the picture.

3.    Fill each pineapple ring with a glacé cherry, and then dot one in each of the spaces in between.

4.    Put the flour, baking powder, bicarbonate of soda, butter, caster sugar and eggs into a food processor and run the motor until the batter is smooth.
I used self raising flour instead.
Then pour in the 3 tablespoons of pineapple juice and coconut milk to thin it a little.

5.    Pour this mixture carefully over the cherry-studded pineapple rings; it will only just cover it, so spread it out gently.

6.    Bake for 30 minutes, then ease a spatula around the edge of the tin, place a plate on top and, with one deft – ha! – move, turn it upside-down.

Theres barely a coconutty pineapple flavour here so maybe i try this next time would love to add pineapple extract or something and maybe a few chopped nuts too ....

AND A COCONUTTY ISLAND HOME MADE TRUFFLE-DELICIOUS BITES...

ME- hola hola ...jamican fiesta ...here are some tropical truffles for u......

YOU - Tropical? Tropicana?

ME - yeah yeah .....try em ....

YOU - from which angle do they seem tropica .....:-)))))
they appear like some sprinkle covered ...chocolatey fantasie.....

ME- see there u got it..ita a fantasie all right .....but with all the tropical flavours....yeah there's coconut cream powder added with the cream and flaked lightly toasted coconut too,along with the hazlenuts

and some dried pine apple........are u convinced?

LOL....well do hope ur and the dried pine apple bit didn go into the chocolate ok.....

And ofcourse dont all these sprinkles look like a tropical fiesta...OH MAMA MIA>>>>>>>>>>

I LOVE SPRINKLES AND IF THEY go tropical all the more delightful aint it.......

1)ROASTING HAZLENUTS

Detailed roasting right HERe as i did for the Valentine chocolates...

2)FOR THE CHOCOLATE-

Heat 1/2 cup thick cream (i mixed lite cream w fresh cream powder) with a little coconut cream added to it...

Pour over 1 cup of chocolate callets(milk and semi sweet)+2tbh butter
Add 2 tbh heaped of nutella , toasted flaked coconut,

And loads of the roasted hazlenuts....and vanilla beans .scraped

3)BISCUITY BITES

125g digestive biscuits (Marie gold biscuits...love 'em)

75g soft butter

2TBH icing sugar(optional)

90 grams cashewnuts/hazlenuts(optional but an absolutely delicious addition)

vanilla extract

PROCESS ALL THE ABOVE IN A GRINDER TO A FINE PASTE,ADDING BUTTER TOWARDS THE END. Refrigerate.

You may leave out or keep the biscuity bites ,i added loads of cashewnuts too so it was more like a marzipany filling in the truffle.....

or replace with a whole hazlenut ,that makes it so muc like a bon bon...

4) ASSEMBLE

GEt all those sprinkle's n nut powders organised ,

OH YEAAH...I MADE SURE THE SPRINKLE GALORE HAD THE CARRIBEAN TROPICAL COLORFUL TOUCH TOO.....

ARENT THEY DELIGHTFULLY COLORFULL......

Roll truffle into balls around the biscuity marzipany balls and roll in icing sugar and powdered nuts and sprinkles and what have u and refrigerate these amazingly delightfull truffles.....

AND YEAH AM SENDIN THESE TRUFFLES FOR WHAT SEEMS LIKE THE LAST FOTM ,OH i miss u already and there's so so muc i wanna n need to learn about chocolates n their makings......

Hop bu to drool over some gooey chocolatey delights.....

Do hop by at KRAZY KITCHEN AND CATCH ALL THE FUN OF ALL WHO POPPED IN WITH LOADS OF ELICIOUSNESS FOR THIS SUPRISE FOR DAVE & JACKIE....

aND THIS IS FOR U MIN.....CHEERS....

hOW CAN i fail to mention MIN , oh i simply cant fail to mention is MIN....she's really a sweet heart to go all out and organize this complete with a badge et all...

these are all for u too MIn,someone coz of whom this has happenned today...

And a few more little pics jus for -who coz of a very special gesture up her sleeve...

..............had so special a party for someone to make their day brighter than the pineapple banana sunshine......

Dave owes u big time Min:-)))))) ,with loads of gratitude and i jus think ur a wonderful pal to have and person .....

Thanx a ton loads of inviting me over....u were way too cute for me to say no to!!!!!

IF ANYBODY LOVES EXHIBITIONS IN FOODIES WORLDS HERE'S SOME NEWS ABOUT THE FANTASTIC AHAAR EXHIBITION...
GNG TO KEEP A RESOURCE PAGE AND UPDATE WHENEVER A LITTLE BIRDIE TELLS ME SO....

BLOG HOP, FRIDAY FOLLOW...ALL NEW TO U????
WELL IT WAS TO ME TOO TILL I GOT TO KNW AND BELIEVE ITS SO MUC FUN.....

I MET THE MOST WONDERFUL BLOGGERS HERE AND AM ADDING THE HOP HERE...

aM SURE U WANNA BE A PART....CLICK BELOW ...ADD UR LINK AND CHECK OUT A FEW DO'S OF THE FUN HERE.......ADD U LINK BELOW AND GET GOING.....

U'LL LOVE IT....I DO!!!!

JOANNE'S BIRTHDAY & MIDDLE EASTERN CHICKEN, CANJINHA DE GALINHA(a portuguese chicken soup) & CHAYA'S TAG AWARD....

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 25 Feb 2010 06:53:00 +0000

Glitter Text @ Glitterfy.com

Glitter Text @ Glitterfy.com

Ok.....HOLA EVERYBODY AND ALL U HAPPY PALS AND JOANNES PALS.......

today is JOANNE"S BIRTHDAY and u all are invited and since this post is for her regional fest , as muc as her Birhtday ,so am dedicating it to her wonderful birthday.......

Coz birthdays are wonderful arent they?

So here's to the little Party am having jus for u JOANNE,all my sweet darling frens are here begining Winnie the Pooh and He even took a little holiday break in the middle ,jus so to collect Honey for u- Knowing him he ate ur sweet gift on the way....LOL....

And please bring along ur frens too,so that we all can wish u right here together and have some sweet fun....

Thanx to ur direct and little hints dropped along the way()enjoyed em with a grin as do all ur posts) ....got to do a little event mangement here and so love the suprise element ....

Hope u do too....

I have cakes for everybody...blow a candle ...make a wish....and let us all gorge...

Also as much as some delicious eastern chicken and some fantastic of goodies everbodys bringing along ....SO wish could add a linky here so that everybody could add their goodies for u....

And i have taken care of the take aways too ...ballons for all and Winnie will jus be back in a bit with cute little jars of honey too....

And yeah we have party caps too n loads of lemonade and chocolate delights.....

Come one .....come All......TO EXPIRIENCE A FEST OF LOVE AND.....

AND WE ARE SOON GOING TO CUT THE BIRTHDAY CAKE TOO.....

Middle eastern festival,fest and carnival......FULL OF MIDDLE EAST LOVE.........AND A HAPPY BIRTHDAY AND EVERYBODY HERE SINGING ...."LETS ALL SING THE BIRTHDAY SONG....."

LETS ALL SING ALONG....LETS ALL SING HAPPY BIRTHDAY ...HAPPY BIRTHDAY TO U......

With music ,dance and song.......
and belling dancing too....
And delicious fingerlicking food.........

AND LOADS OF DELICIOUS CAKE & BALLONS TOO........

Is that how Joanne's ad would go like if she were having a festival in reality....ofcourse she is having a festival in reality in the virtual world.....

And that too she negotiated very well with a super recipe,that if not for her would never find online for sure,but she has the best books yeah......

AND MAKES ME LOVE MY POOH BOTTLE OF HONEY ALL THE MORE.

So here's my chicken which we all so lovedddddddddddddd coz it simply , deliciously satisfied our sweety palate .....

Can a combi of honey and pepper go wrong????

Add caramalised onion and baby u have an way excelled perfecto combo.......

Its middle eastern so all i could think of was mashed potato with loads of tahini & cilantro......in a thumbs print scoop of mashed potato.....

Can it get any better ....yeah it sure can ....if u skip to ur kitchen right now...ofcourz u'll have all the ingredients in the pantry and hop by to EATS WELL WITH OTHERS and join in the fun too.....

And with Joanne around....it'll sure be fun fun fun......

For now am going to feast on the leftovers and maybe fix my self a pita sandwhich with hummous....sounds goooddddd.........
it sure is......

Chicken with Caramelized Baby Onions and Honey

Serves 4, adapted from Claudia Roden's Arabesque (an AMAZING cookbook)
FOR MIDDLE EASTERN REGIONAL FLAVOURS

ADAPTED FROM JOANNES @ EATS WELL WITH OTHERS BLOG...

1 lb pearl onions/shallots/babyonions
1 onion

(I CHOPPED NORMAL PINK ONIONS IN SLICE N CUBES FOR BOTH)

2 tbsp olive oil
a pinch of saffron
1 tsp ginger
1 tsp cinnamon
1 1/2 lb chicken (I used breasts FILLETS)
salt and pepper to taste
1 1/2 tbsp honey
1 bell pepper

NOTES-

*HAD MARINATED FILLETS(BREAST) PRICKED ALL OVER, WITH THE SAME FLAVOURS-

SALT(or stock powder) ,

*Freshly crushed ginger,

*white , black & pink pepper crushed ,

*lime juice ,honey & sesame oil.

*A little bit of it all an hour or so before cooking.....

HERE'S WHAT THE MARINATED FILLETS LOOK LIKE.....

AND HERE TOO.....

Peel the pearl onions. Chop the onion and the bell pepper.

Saute the chopped onion and pepper until softened in the oil over a medium heat in a pan or casserole large enough to hold the chicken in one layer. Stir in the saffron, ginger and cinnamon, then put in the chicken pieces. Season with salt and pepper and turn to brown them lightly all over.

A PINCH OF SUGAR N SALT DOES HELP IN CARAMALIZING THE ONIONS REAL GOOD.......

Add about 1 cup water(added the juices of the chicken marinade) and cook, covered, over a low heat, turning the pieces over, for 15 minutes, or until the chicken breasts are done. Lift out the breasts and put them to one side in a glass bowl and cover with foil...

Add the shallots or baby onions.

Stir the honey into the pan. Check the seasoning. You need quite a bit of pepper to mitigate the sweetness.

Cook, uncovered, until all the water has evaporated and the onions are brown, caramelized.

Return the chicken to the pan. Spoon the onions on top of them and heat through. Serve.

ABSOLUTELLY DELICIOUS FLAVOURS....THE SWEETNESS OF THE HONEY HEIGHTENED BY THE DEPTH OF THE CARAMALIZED ONIONS....AND BITE OF THE CRUSHED PEPPER AND WARMTH OF THE GINGER.....

A DEFINATELY MAKE AGAIN...SO QUICK TO PUT BY TOO....IE IF JOANNE DOESNT COME UP WITH ANOTHER ELICIOUS RECIPE TO NEGOTIATE NEXT MONT...:-))))))))))

CANJINHA DE GALINHA....

THought i'll add this to this post ,not only coz we had it the same day as the middle eastern chicken but also coz its kinda regional....portuguese is regional aint it?.....

Which is simply basically a delicious chicken soup , with rice added , where all the ingredients in a pressure cooker and serve it wit PORTUGUESE OILVE OIL (extra virgin) and PORTUGUESE OLIVES......

Am sure there are as many variaitons as households who simmer this one and i think this is so good for a slow cooker too.....

We have a few variations oursleves and this is one.....

1) a few pieces of chicken(any cut or boneless as desired)
2) some basmati rice
3) a few cloves pierced to halved onions
4)some crushed garlic
5)salt to taste

~~~Place all of the above in the pot ur cooking in and ur done......

SERVE WIT EXTRA VIRGIN PORTUGUESE OLIVE OIL or ANY OF UR FAV AND LOADS OF PORTUGUESE OILVES....

Healthy, hearty and filling too.......

MY TAG AWARD

CHAYA OF SWEET AND SAVOURY.....my dear sweet happy sweety pal gave me this sweet award.....(and another which i saved to post with special cookies) passed this on to me and was very happy with this kinda award......coz i love posting pics.....

CHAYA SAID ....that would probably be food and we share those photos, all the time.
The recipients of this award, please post a photo or photos that you particularly like......

sO ME TOO DECIDED TO share THESE SUNSET PICS OF THE SECOND DAY OF LOVE @365
IE 15TH FEB.......

A sunset that saw mom and me sitting on our sit out sipping chazinhos(chai) and black coffee and out cookies......and what a breezy evening it was........

Love ...oh love.....the magic of love in SUNSETS I so love........and the lovely soft winds heighten the romantic part of it......specially if u allow it to blow thru ur loose left hair.......

Now, I am going to pass this on and tO THE first 7 blogging sweet pals who are fascinating ..........

And so here's my list of bloggers who arent only fascinating but who also i think will enjoy this award.......

1)JOANNE OF EATS WELL WITH OTHERS

well cant miss this sweety missy out can i...and this post too happenned coz of her.......am sure she'll love posting a pic for this tag award...as much as she loves doing so muc that she's ace at....AND ADDING THIS TO MY LITTLE BASKET OF BIRTHDAY PRESENTS FOR YOU JOANNE.....

2)ISABEL of O SITIO DAS DELICIAS
IF u knew an angel in blogosphere ,this is one....an adorable angel i so muc love and who loves me too...
Her gentle and amazingly love filled words enrobe u with warmth that only ur heart can tell...
Love tops her list for family and frens and her actions ,words and messages scream that out aloud......
Makes my day and delights me and love to read her portuguese -its so so adorably sweet and darling .....makes me feel like am in disney land ...cute
A treasure so precious..like a pearl in the ocean....

3)GERI OF HEART N SOUL COOKING

A sweetheart who enjoys awards as muc as i do.....am sure she'll love posting her fav pic too...always does...
And pals she is having a GIVE AWAY AT THE MOMENT....hop rite by and try for the fantastic give away (she always has amzing give aways)
her super recipes make me wanna rush to bake right away and her words are always so sweet n touchin ...this one's for u too sweet Geri....

4)KRISTY OF MY LITTLE SPACE

Oh she has the most delicious recipes and i think have bookmarked almost every recipe from her fascinating blog and yeah has reall good pics too so am sure she'll love this one too....

5)JAGRUTI OF JOY OF COOKING....

In a mood for some fantastic indian food....hop right here and u wont be dissapointed .......am sure she'll love this award too....
hOPE u do ...adding to ur big booty of wonderful awards dear.....

6)MARY OF ONE PERFECT BITE

Cant forget Mary...she fascinates me too and if u hop by to her blog her recent pasta pic totally convinced me that she deserved this tag award.....

7)KRISTEN OF CREATIVE MIND....

A creative mind like hers would love to be fascinating and post her fav pic...her recent pizza pics were sure delicious......

Now all u need to do guys ,is post ur fav pic or pics as i did above (go rite ahead and copy ur fav love sunset above too....) and pass it on to 7 bloggers who fascinate u....

Thank the blogger passing on this to u and inform ur happy pals u pass on this award to.....

LEAVING U WITH SOME MICKEY MOUSE LOVE....(POOH'S ON A HOLIDAY ON HONEY......COLLECTING HONEY IE) TILL NEXT TIME......

XOXOXO.....

HEART RAISIN POCKETS FOR A COOKIE CARNIVAL

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Mon, 22 Feb 2010 20:27:00 +0000

It was time to go to bed....close my eyes.....put on a DO NOT DISTURB board around my neck....coz if somebody wakes me by mistake ,nobody will be able to sleep........specially if am high on laughter.....

And about to step into dreamland but my mind wanders to a cookie store instead.....yeah jus 2 cookies left in my little tin and i dont wanna run outa cookies.....

Ofcourse i wont run outa cookies... how can i?

After all there's the Cookie carnival and my second month here ....and has a wonderful new host.....

TAMI from TAMI"S KITCHEN has taken over this month to keep the carnival going ,doing us all a favour....

KATE from CLEAN PLATE CLUB had it going strong all this while.....

And these cookies head right through for dear FAITH n BRANDY's ALL THRU THE YEAR CHEER FOR EASTER.....
Am loving to be a part and wanted to churn out muc more that am able to...but have a small leg injury and it sure has slowed me down a bit:-)))

HOP BY RIGHT HERE SO U TOO CAN BE A PART OF THIS FANTASTIC CARNIVAL EVERY MONTH.....

Thanx to both u gorgeous guRLS....

And the recipe for this months so so so good...not the type i might wanna give a miss...no way.....

And if u have home dried Raisins ,topped with loads of mothers love ....oh then u jus cant miss this one.....

Yeah these are RAISINS,HOME DRIED ONE'S ,by mommy dear...took many days of basking in the hot afternoon sun on our back sit out...with warm lite winds too and here i was.......

LOVE THIS PIC SO MUC,SCROLL DOWN TO NEXT PICS TO SEE WHY......
DOESNT THE SPARKLE LOOK LIKE UR FAV DIAMONDS???

An amazingly fantastic recipe jus for the SPECIAL Raisins......

ADAPTED FROM THE FABULOUS MARTHA STEWART

Ingredients

Makes about 1 1/2 cups

    * 1 2/3 cups raisins
    * 1/2 cup water
    * 1/3 cup packed dark-brown sugar
    * 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour(didn add this-it came together pretty well)
    * 1 1/2 teaspoons finely grated lemon zest
    * 3/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    * 2 tsps vanilla extract(i added a whole vanilla bean)

Directions

1. Combine the raisins, water, sugar, flour, lemon zest, and cinnamon in a small saucepan over medium heat. Bring to a simmer. Cook, stirring frequently, until most of the liquid is absorbed, 3 to 5 minutes. Transfer to a food processor. Process until smooth. Refrigerate filling until cool and thickened slightly, about 1 hour.

LOVE HOW THE CAM CATCHES THE SPARKLE ON THE RAISINS OF THE REFLECTING SUN.......THESE ARE THE RAISINS AFTER SIMMERING,JUS BEFORE GRINDIN 'EM SMOOTH........

DELICIOUS YUMMY NOTES

oH this is a delicious jammy raisin delight and with home dried raisins.......aww ...perfect......

THE COOKIE ADAPTED FROM THE OVENS OF MARTHA STEWART

Ingredients

Makes about 30 cookies

    * 2 2/3 cups all-purpose flour
    * 1 1/4 teaspoons baking powder
    * 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
    * 1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
    * 1/2 teaspoon salt
    * 1/4 teaspoon freshly grated nutmeg

    * 1 cup granulated sugar(half icing sugar and half granulated sugar)
    * 3/4 cup (1 1/2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature
    * 1 large egg
    * 2 tablespoons whole milk yogurt
    * 2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
    * 1/2 teaspoon finely grated lemon zest, or more to taste

    * Raisin Filling for Heart Pockets, or 1 1/2 cups lekvar (prune paste)
    * Confectioners' sugar, for dusting

Directions

   1. In a medium bowl, whisk together the flour, baking powder, baking soda, cinnamon, salt, and nutmeg; set aside.

   2. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, beat together the granulated sugar and butter on medium speed until light and fluffy, about 2 minutes. Add the egg, yogurt, vanilla, and lemon zest, and beat to incorporate. Reduce speed to low, and gradually add flour mixture, beating until combined.

   3. Divide dough into quarters. Place each quarter between 2 sheets of parchment paper. Roll out dough 1/8-inch-thick. Stack packages of dough on a baking sheet and refrigerate until chilled about 1 hour (or freeze for 30 minutes).

   4. Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Line baking sheets with Silpats.

   5. Remove one package of dough from refrigerator. Remove top piece of parchment, and then gently pat back into place. Flip entire package over, and peel off and discard second piece of parchment. Using a 3 1/2-inch heart cutter, cut out 15 cookies and place half of them on a prepared baking sheet, leaving 1 inch between cookies.

6. Place a generous tablespoon of filling in the center of the hearts on the baking sheet. Spread filling leaving a 1/4-inch border. Top with remaining hearts. Use the tines of a fork, to decoratively press the pocket edges together. Re-roll and chill any remaining dough scraps. Repeat process until all the dough and filling is used. If at any time dough becomes too soft to work with, return to refrigerator until chilled.

7. Bake until golden around the edges, 12 to 14 minutes. Rotate pans once after 7 minutes to ensure even baking. Let cool on baking sheet for 5 minutes before transferring to wire rack to cool completely. Dust with confectioners' sugar. Store in an airtight container for up to 1 week.

DELICIOUS DAYS NOTES & TIPS....

~~~I actually ran outa ap flour (whew!!!) for this one and realized midway so had no option but to reduce the amount of baking powder and soda and 2/3 rd of the cup was self raising flour.....
Actually i did need a wee bit more flour to bring it all together.

~~~i always roll cookies between 2 sheets parchment or butter paper but i love this here even better coz u roll out to a desired thickness and then refrigerate it-works real well and saves a lot of time...

~~~Now for the first batch of cookies ,i think i rolled it a little thicker ,though if u did take a scale,it would scale to 1/8 inch...stick to this if u like a soft cookie with a crisp outer...

~~~in the picture it looks like it s muc thinner sos jus do what u normally would....

~~~love the filling and it takes almost 2tbh for a size like this..

~~~would have loved to try pinwheels in this but the idea struck only once all the cookies were sitting pretty in the oven:-(((

~~~Honestly they are super and i drizzled 'em with a buttery cookie glaze ,some sprinkle

~~~Was supposed to get 30,so maybe 15 sandwhich cookies but got 9 with 7 little hearts with strawberry jam.......

And am sure am going to try this again soon with dates and figs in place of raisins.....Also reminds me of my new found love -RUGELACH.....

so may be apricots would work really well too.....

HELP................YELP....................HELP.............

AND LEMME END ASKING U HAPPY PALS FOR HELP- MY NEW POSTS AINT UPDATING IN BLOGGER LISTS NOR IN FEED BURNER ,I TRIED EVERYTHING POSSIBLE,PINGED AAND RESYNC ET ALL...BUT MY POST SHOWS AN OLD POST AND HASNT BEEN UPDATING FOR THE LAST 3 POSTS.....ANY IDEA .....HELP.......

Till then enjoy Mickey Mouse eating a cookie at COOKIE CARNIVAL........

NO BAKE COCONUT HAZLENUT LIME CHEESECAKE , PICANTE PRAWNS & CHICKEN SCHNITZEL

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sat, 20 Feb 2010 13:01:00 +0000

Kimmy called by the other day to ask if i was game for a potluck....

ofcourse i was ...

and it wasnt a weekend too...

i love to be home for the weekend.....

i know!!!! my idea of fun is very different....

and mouldable too....

i love what u love and am game for anything......

Potluck....dont u love potluck.........??????

when u carry a delicacy,a goody,a cookie or cakkey , u so love to realize that evrybody else loves it too and has carried the same over.........hahahahahha......

and i thought i was creative.......:-))))))

Ok Ok ....jus kidding ....

And arent these jus so so good for a EASTER brunch.......

So here i am gearng For FAITH's , NUTMEG NANNY"S and BRANDY's ALL THRU THE YEAR CHEER....

And i begAn with delightfull fried shrimpies.........

(ofcourse i grilled some too knowing our family love for all things smoky grilled with a dot of butter - d healthier lot skip that dot only to have a dollop on toast with jam and cream cheese)

And yeah end with a cheesecake or mini cheesecakes....

my first time with cheese cake and not baked this time around.....

Also inspired by my breakfasts these morns ... anything buttery right from cookies or scones or toast spread with layers of cream cheese ,butter and my chunky strawberry preserve which am so oooo in love with .........

And at the end of it it all inspired by nigella Lawson....

And for the inbetween scroll right...inbetween......

Ok lemme change it a bit...known for my sweet teeth or rather sweet mouth ....can i begin with cheese cake first?

CHERRY CHEESE CAKE.....ie now a

REAL GOOD MARZIPANY BASE,HAZLENUT COCONUT LIME OREO CHEESE CAKE.........WITH CHOCOLATE CHIPPYS TOO.....

ADAPTED FROM THE DESSERT TABLES OF NIGELLA LAWSON....

Back to ur delightfull dessert ....am in love with these little bites and they arent even baked....

they so so so remind me of many break-feasts and inbetweens and sitting under the star lit skies with my present drink of the moment---black vanilla laced coffee...

My fav drink of the moment - d last was hot chocolate with a varied variations which i never posted about but now its Vanilla laced black coffee.

My fav drink,which i love first thing in the morning or last thing at night or in between too......and the best part an=bout my drink of the moment ..

.it jus makes me feel love....feel romantic.....bring warmth ,sunshine..... (a heart heart warmth ,not climatic warmth) into my sweet joyful day......

An add a nice crumbly cookie with a dollop of cream cheese, butter and my chunky strawberry jam piled on and u have an energy infusing go getter for the whole day....with delicious buttery goodness.....

back to the cheese cake.........COZ ALL OF THE ABOVE DESCRIBES ITS FLAVOURS.....

Now the original recipe which i halved and made bite sized heart cheese cakes is below-to a part of the cheesecake i added WILTONS CHRISTMAS RED COLOR

(my first time ever with a wilton color product and feels so good to say that).....

Added toasted hazlenuts to the whole batter and powdered cashewnuts to the crumbs for a marzipany flavour....

And used these delightful MArie Biscuits that we find here,delightfull when dipped in black coffee ,drowned in buttercream and gorged upon........

INGREDIENTS

FOR THE BASE

125g digestive biscuits (Marie gold biscuits...love 'em)

75g soft butter

2TBH icing sugar(optional)

90 grams cashewnuts/hazlenuts(optional but an absolutely delicious addition)

FOR THE CHEESE CAKE

300g cream cheese

60g icing sugar

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 teaspoon lemon juice

4 tbh thick coconut cream/milk

lemon zest

250ml double cream

FOR THE FILLERS(these are jus options,i tried 'em all -u can try any or leave any out)

toasted hazlenuts

butter scotch (small)

mini oreo cookies

choco chippy's

gems or m&m's

Added WILTON red christmas color to a batch,which was more pink then red really......

1 x 284g jar St Dalfour Rhapsodie de Fruit Black Cherry Spread

(I DIDN USE THIS THOUGH I DID HAVE PRESERVE COZ THIS WAS SO GOOD THAT DIDN FEEL THE NEED TO ADD ANYTHING.......

METHOD

1. Blitz the biscuits in a food processor until beginning to turn to crumbs,(alongwith some icing sugar and cashewnuts) then add the butter and whiz again to make the mixture clump.

2. Press this mixture into a 20cm springform tin; press a little up the sides to form a slight ridge.

I USED A HEART SHAPED MUFFIN TIN FOR THE BIGGER ONES AND A CHOCOLATE MOULD FOR THE BITES.....)

3. Beat together the cream cheese, icing sugar, vanilla extract and lemon juice in a bowl until smooth.

(added some coconut milk/cream here,if using.....)

4. Lightly whip the double cream, and then fold it into the cream cheese mixture. (alongwith the roasted hazlenuts)

5. Spoon the cheesecake filling on top of the biscuit base and smooth with a spatula. Put it in the fridge for 3 hours or overnight.

6. When you are ready to serve the cheesecake, unmould it and ENJOY......

ADDITIONAL INFO

FANTASTIC ...THAT TOO NO BAKE.....

AND WITH EVERY BITE U HAVE A SUPRISE OF AN M & M OR OREO COOKIE OR HAZLENUT OR BUTTERSCOTCH.........

STARTERS
PINK PICANTE PRAWNS

ADAPTED FROM THE KITCHENS OF NIGELLA LAWSON

1 tablespoon pink peppercorns, plus more to crush to decorate

1 tablespoon Maldon salt/1/2 tablespoon table salt

1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds, or seeds from about 8 pods

1 teaspoon picante pimenton (hot smoked paprika)

2 egg whites (i used 3 but had leftover that happenned in a fluffy pancake)
750g peeled raw, medium prawns

2 tablespoons oil for frying or as needed

1. Crush the peppercorns, salt, cardamom seeds and picante pimenton in a pestle and mortar until you have an aromatic nubbly mixture, or you could grind the spices in a pepper or coffee mill.

All i did was pound em on our marble stone and crush 'em to release flavours and love the texture that reasulted in.......

Turn out onto a large shallow bowl.

2. Hand-whisk the egg whites until they are foamy, but not stiff. Dip the prawns into the egg white, and then toss them in the crushed spice mixture turning them so they are well coated.

Oh love this part,the first few prawns are very foamy allright and then ofcourse it settles a bit but the best parts the fluff that happens to the left over egg white when u fry 'em.............

3. Heat the oil in a large pan and fry the spice-coated prawns for 5–7 minutes each side or until they are cooked through. Remove to a serving dish and sprinkle with some more crushed pink peppercorns before taking them to the table.

4. You need provide no more than some good crusty French bread alongside: those baguettes must have been bought today, though.

ADDITIONAL INFO

NIGELLA SAYS-

"You could chop some fresh parsley or coriander and scatter it over.

It was for reasons of vanity rather than out of gustatory concerns that I left this out: it was about the green bits in the teeth after. As long as you designate someone to be on teeth duty – signing to you when you need to go and defoliate – it’ll be finE."

AS I DID MENTION ABOVE, i grilled some too knowing our family love for all things smoky grilled with a dot of butter - d healthier lot skip that dot only to have a dollop on toast with jam and cream cheese)

bOTH WAYS U HAVE A WINNER AT HANDS...DELICIOUS AND DELIGHTFUL.........LOVE THE CRUNCH AND BITE ALL THAT CRUSHED PEPPER PROVIDES...AWESOME FLAVOUR TOO!!!!

MAIN COURSE

CHICKEN SCHNITZEL( WITH OUT)BACON AND WHITE
WINE

ADAPTED FROM THE KITCHENS OF NIGELLA LAWSON

You wanna cook up this recipe so muc and jus when u have the perfectly marinated chicken........

(i had marinated it early morn while fixing breakfast ,after washing well with salt and lime,with some lime juice ,stock powder and crushed pepper-this way u can use the boneless chicken for jus about any recipe)

staring right at u and all u can think of is CHICKEN SCHNITZEL.......

Ok fine there's no bacon honey but nao e problemo....what are subs for if not times as these + a healthy dinner........

Ofcourse i love bacon but this recipe called to me like no other and simply had to try it....

does no bacon mean no delicious dinner....

no way....

and our freezer's loaded with seafood for another day or 2(yeah we buy around 2-3 times a week)

and chicken and some chicken cold cuts which i didn really wanna add

and ofcourse my chippy smiley's and animal shaped nuggets that are actually jus brought for the forever hungry me.....

And yeah had no white wine too so that got subbed for some red wine and i was along the way....

I love bacon and i also love a red n green pepper, spring onions , red onion, sweet corn combi so that replaced the bacon

and yeah instead of garlic oil used loads of fresh garlic to flavour the oil used to fry the prawns above-

no we dont re-use oil ever and definately not extra virgin olive oil but this oil for so so so flavourful that i even saved some for a pasta sauce ......!!!

Now here's the original list of ingredients woth my addition in the bracks or the recipe as i go and the original recipe stands down.....

INGREDIENTS

1 teaspoon garlic oil

4 rashers streaky bacon (STEAMED CORN,CHOPPED RED & GREEN PEPPERS,SPRING ONIONS ET ALL)

4 chicken escalopes approx. 125g each

100ml white wine(RED WINE)

1.My Barely there garlic oil with sugar to caramalize and loads of garlic and an onion.

2.Tip in the chicken marinated with lemon juice,crushed pepper and a wee bit of stock powder.

3. Fry well till well browned on both sides.

4.add finely chopped red n green pepper and spring onion...toss together well.

5. Place with all the delicious juices in a glass bowl and cover with silver foil to retain juices.

FOR THE SAUCE

6. In the same pan add red wine, paprika,sugar, stock powder or salt and crushed fresh garlic and a handful of green stuffed italian olives......

7. Simmer to reduce and ur dinners raring to go on a quick salad by the side...

(SALAD OF TOSSED STEAMED CORN,SPINACH,GRATED COTTAGE CHEESE N CARROT,TOMS,RED ONIONS,PURPLE CABBAGE ,ICE BERG ,PARSELY,CILANTRO W A FRESH LIME JUICE AND HONEY DRESSING)

ORIGINAL RECIPE

1. Put the oil in a frying pan and add the bacon.

2. Fry till the bacon is crisp and the pan is full of bacony juices. Remove the bacon to a piece of foil, wrap it and set it aside for a moment. (it remains juicy and moist this way)

3. Fry the chicken for about 2 minutes a side, until there is no pinkness when you cut into a piece. Make sure the pan’s hot so that the escalopes catch a little, turning beautifully bronze.

4. Remove the chicken to a serving plate and quickly crumble the bacon you’ve set aside into the pan, then pour in the wine, letting everything bubble up, and, finally, pour over the chicken pieces.

Ok ...what am doing of late is posting 2-3 recipes in a post instead of a recipes per post,makes it a little easier for me to post and spaces my posts ,which works real well for my schedule :-)))))

AND NOT LEAVING YA W/O SOME LOVE.........

HAPPY VALENTINES DAY, HEART SHAPED CHOCOLATES & A SUNSHINE AWARD, SPREAD SOME LOVE AWARD AND LOVE CHEER AWARD......

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sun, 14 Feb 2010 08:03:00 +0000

IF UR READING THIS...U'VE PROBABLY READ A FEW OF MY POSTS ON LOVE........

YEAH ...LOVE ...LOVE ...LOVE.....

LOVE & ROMANCE & LOVE @ 365.....

SO HERE I AM SPECIALLY TO WISH YA........

ALL U HAPPY LOVE PALS,SPRINKLE FARIES, WHO ARE HERE........

WITH A LITTLE GALLERY OF PICS I CHOSE JUS FOR U......

THE CUTEST ONE'S ON THE BLOCK......

SPECIALLY TO WISH YA A FANTASTIC VALENTINES DAY....@ 365 OFCOURZ......

OH YEAH...HAPPY VALENTINE'S MANY TIMES OVER......

Oh yeah....LOVE IS IN THE AIR....SO IS ROMANCE N WISHING YA ALL LOADS N LOADS OF IT @ 365

AND LEMME BEGIN WITH SOME SUNSHINE FOR U ALL ON THIS BRIGHT DAY......AN AWARD OR 3 ,SO LOVED AND SOME CHOCOLATES AND CHOCOLATE OVERLOAD COOKIES ALONG WITH 'EM........

Did u write a whole post (as i had this one) and wordpad decides to not save it......or it has been saved all this time and it jus simply opens to a blank page.....

Thats exaclty that happenned to me.....
that too with all my little research on chocolate making et all...and so wanted this post to be up by sat.....

Sigh ...sigh...still cant figure out what the prob is or was.....looked even in the recycle bin though the file was there but content wasnt but nothing happened or appeared.....

So was rambling away again ........................

It actually began with my SUNSHINE AWARD by the really sweet NADJIBELLA of SAVEURS ET GOURMANDISES...now i speak portuguese but not french and besides name of my fav perfumes like jadore and the like......i knew nothing more and as u guys know Google is a word for word translator not for grammar but yet i so enjoyed reading her blog and eliciousness and now this AWARD.......THANX A TON SWEET POO.....

And since Jan i so wanna try making chocolates and when i recieved a few choco moulds was more than delighted with the oppurtinity and yeah her blog had jus the recipes with the most beautiful CHOCOLATE CARAMELS & CHOCOLATE NUTS......

aND the translations are right here and here......

I tried a round of 'em...wrote all about it.read a few other sites with all i faced and was trying another batch today(11th feb as i write readying the post for 14th) and looked to update the post and whooooooooooooommmmmmmmmmmmmm ....the matter had vanished ......trying very hard to forget ,yet figure this ,here am i writing it all over again....with these delicious melt in ur mouth for inspiration....

Now they are so so easy peasy to make and delightfull too ...all u need is a set of some hearty shaped chocolate moulds and the best chocolate u have ....lets bEgin shall we???

what u could do with the remaining melted chocolate.........

CUTE LITTLE MELT IN UR MOUTH CHOCOLATE BITES-ROUND 1 ( 6th feb 2010 )

1)LETS BEGIN WITH MELTING CHOCOLATE TO LINE THE MOULDS....
Now what i did this time was ,melt some of CALLEBAUT ORIGINE MILK CHOCO CALLETS with a little of semi sweet coverture callets . with some butter...
(i think its better with oil but we had only extra virgin olive oil at home and when i did add a little,at first i thought that the favour didn go too well with the chocolate.....

Maybe am so wrong coz 2nd time round teamed the olive oil with salted butter and it was perfectly perfect.

i think, i maybe wrong again here that adding oil or butter (love the slightly salty twinge the salted butter adds) somewhere makes do instead of having to temper chocolate.

2)SO NOW U BEGIN LINING THE MOULDS WITH UR MELTED CHOCOLATE.
line the base and around the sides of the mould the best way you can, me took the help of a tiny spoon. .

set awhile till firm in the refrigeration or if you live in an extremely cold climate . . .Wow . .It'll set right there. . .

now for the choice of fillings. . .Place any of the fillings below . .Set a while and then fill the moulds with more melted chocolate. .
Set for a few hours till well set and yuppie there you go. . . Demould a delightful spread of bites.

WHAT I PICKED ALONG THE WAY. . .
and would love for you to share some tips too. . .

.1) Semi sweet or dark chocolate is so much easier to work with than milk but for milk lovers i think coverture works far better that orgine chocolate though origine is far more expensive. . .
Moral = expensive aint always best

2) the added oil or butter works in your favour here , makes it more workable kinda.

3) i had my chocolates sweating like crazy as you'd notice in the pics, due to change in humidity and heat . . .All my shuttling the moulds to n fro from the refrigeration to freezer and back. . .
i even wondered if that were any signs of sugar bloom and fat bloom. . . .

4) By layering with milk chocolate at the base and dark chocolate after the filling gives you a fantastic 2 tone chocolate.

5)----------------waiting to add ur inputs and update---------------------------

CHOICE OF FILLINGS

you can add em alone or combine any of em

1) MELTED CARAMEL BARS like mars and 5 star.melt in the microwave with some butter.

2) FAV ROASTED NUTS
I love hazlenuts and almonds with chocolate and here i roasted hazlenuts to team em with nutella( yeah absolute melt in your mouth goodness)
heat a flat pan on a gas top till very hot.
Switch off the gas and place whole hazlenuts on the pan.
Now with the help of a sharp knife (i make do with a old but very clean non stick) begin cutting em into 2 right there in the pan. . .

I use a pastry cutter here coz it not only cuts well but gives an excellent gripe too.
Keep cutting further till you have tiny pieces and with all the tossing they'll have crisped really well by now.

3) Nutella that pairs extremely well with hazlenuts and butter scotch.

4) Any caramel sauce or your home made one or any of those delicious toppings.

5) melted white chocolate.

6) lemon curd and nutella (yeah guys this combi is amazing) .

7)Any chunky fruit preserve.

8) your favourite cookie or choco chippy cookie or even red velvet cake , crushed.

9)dates and raisins or paste.

10)Praline and caramalized nuts ......oh whatever ur inspired with....

2Nd ROUND OF CHOCOLATE BITES

This time round i melted COVERTURE MILK CALLETS WITH A LITTLE OF SEMI SWEET CALLETS AND OLIVE OIL AND BUTTER.

FiLLED WITH NUTELLA AND ROASTED HAZLENUTS.. . .(and the remainig chocolte can make ur chocolate inspired cookies a little more chocolatey.....)

result. . .Divine melt in your mouth goodness.

NOW TO THE SUNSHINE AWARD....

SPREAD SOME LOVE AWARD......

AND LOVE CHEER XOXO AWARD............

Accept it,hope u do coz there are many who dont seem to really enjoy or pass on these awards and a few dont accept 'em too-i dont wanna burden anybody with something they dont really enjoy so keeping that in mind have made my little list.....

aND THANX A TON NADJIBELLA AND YEAH AM PASSING ON 2 OF THE OTHER AWARDS RIGHT FOR YA....ENJOY EM..........

So go right ahead,make ur rules...thank the pal u gave ya one and most importantly enjoy it......hope it does infuse sunshine to ur day as it did to mine....

COPY THE AWARDS TO UR BLOG AND PASS IT ON TO ANY NUMBER (IF YA WANS) OF UR FANTASTIC FRENS.....

AND PASS ALL THE 3 AWARDS TO ALL UR HAPPY PALS AND BELOW IS MY LIST OF WONDERFUL PALS WANNA PASS THE AWARD TOO AND IF UR A HAPPY PAL TOO AND HAVENT ADDED UR NAME ,JUS LEAVE ME A NOT AND WILL VERY GLADLY DO SO.....

SO LETS BEGIN WITH THE LIST AND THERE'S 3 AWARDS AND COOKIES FOR ALL OF YA..........

1. CHAYA of SWEET AND SAVOURY
A sweetie pie. . .My sweetie pie. . .She bakes as much as she cooks and writes and posts every one of em. . .topped with love and kind words. .and bakes the best goodies for her students too. . . Come fall in love.

And her really sweet and kind words never fail to make my heart smile....
And her actions really touch my heart ...like in her absolutely busy schedule she actually offered to type the chosen recipe for me to join a group coz i dont have books......
with a schedule like hers.....

And her school and students sure are a happier lot with her around....coz its a very wonderful her with love.....
Absolutely sweet and PALS PLEASE LEAVE a COMMENT RIGHT HERE on her blog coz for every comment u post she will donate the value of a non-perishable food to help the people of Haiti. eat for HAITI RELIEF and guys this is the absolute least we can do so please please hop right along.....

Come fall in love.

ISABEL OF SITIO DAS DELICIAS

NOT only an extremely delightfull blog with fantastic portuguese recipes but also a amazingly wonderful , large loving hearted gal. . . She really always tugs at my heart strings and love absolutely adorable style of writing portuguese........
You'll surely love her too.coz she's delightfull.....she's love filled and and absolutely kind and sweet........

2.) JOANNE OF EATS WELL WITH OTHERS
SHUttling between collage , running, frens, classes, exams, here's not only an amazing chef but fantastic baker too. . .Oh the number of caps she owns and each has loads of feathers in em. . And wait, she writes well too. . Never fails to bring a joyfull grin to your heart with her sweet ,kind n humour filled words.....

GERI OF HEART N SOUL COOKING. .
truly goodies from the heart and soul and my first ever follower. . . Love her cookie recipes as well as many bakes. . .Coming soon right here another bake from her with an award. . . Stay tuned. .

3.) PRAJAKTA of GINGER AND GARLIC
A feast and spread of fantastic veggie fare brimming with creativity. . .Always a kind and sweet word. .No wonder she's to many a sweet heart.
Truly a cook with passion as she says....

VINNI OF AMELHIA DIGITAL
an extremely sweet blogosphere pan who has me radiating with giggles with all the love she writes. . . . ..oh adore her blog as much as i do, her.:-)
And i she jus passed on a very sweet meme to me,which still have to post about......

4) RACHEL OF RACHEL'S RAMBLINGS
A very new world have just stepped by but already brings lovely sunshine all over my life. . . Very sweet. . .Very kind. .And with loads of eliciousness too. . .need i say any more....

LISA OF PARSELY,SAGE,DESSERTS AND LINE DRIVES
Lisa, a absolutely sweet gal with fantastic baking topped with creativity and u have the most fantastic bakes galore....cant get any better can it?..........
And truly the queen of choco chippy cookies....amazingly so....
Had her very first giveaway recently that had a whole load of Panko crumbs and that too flavoured....can it get better....couple that with fntastic bakes and u jus have to stay tuned to her blog....

5)ARLENE OF THE FOOD OF LOVE

Arlene a very dear and as Chaya would put it...has the bestest smile in blogosphere and has amazing hearty dinners ,all warmed and ready ...jus for u an me......

)KRISTY OF MY LITTLE SPACE
Absolutely delightfull cookies...have bookmarked most of 'em and all her eliciousness galore....right from butter cookies to pineapple cookies to london cookies to rainbow chocolate chips.....she has me drooling.....and the first time i ever saw pink choco chips was here and now i kinda figured i could get 'em too......
The first thing that strikes u is the absolutely cutey pic at her blog tittle.....actually describes my little space in the cutest way possible.

6) MARY OF ONE PERFECT BITE
Absolutely sweet...a sweet heart to the core ,she whips up many a varied delicacy....and a painful shoulder or no ...u'll find her right here in blogosphere-oofcourse i so encourage her to take the muc needed rest....hop over to her blog and check her pic on the profile and u'll know how muc she loves too cook, as u do too!!!!

KATHLEEN OF WANNA WANT SECONDS....
Her coconut white chocolate cookies make me wanna rush to bake right away...as does the smile behind so many a fantastic post....
Whether its Sake HAlibut or Scotcharoos....she tops.....

7)JAGRUTI OF JOY OF COOKING....
A fantastic site for indian recipes galore ...delicious indian flavours and a spiced variety...right from a dal makhani wothout the butter and chana palak mushroom and yeah have to add she's in blogosphere jus this jan 2010

SARAH OF MOM ON THE RUN....
Not jus delightfully healthy recipes but also a certifief trainer on board with her ,jus waiting to answer all ur fitnees queries-so shoot.....

8)ELLIE OF ALMOST BOURDAIN

TAlk about stunning pics with amazing recipes and ur search ends right here and to top that always a sweet word for everybody....never fails to make me smile.....

LARANA OF LARANA E TACHOS

A real good fantastic portuguese foodie blog with varied cuisines right from pavlova to ground meats...kind at heart and always a sweet word...she rocks!!!!
And dabbles in art too........ANOTHER of my really really sweetie pie friends in blogosphere.....

10) KRISTEN OF CREATIVE MIND....
An absolutely creative mind with fantastic healthy recipes too....hop by jus to know what am talking about...

FIMèRE OF AUX DELICES DES GOURMETS
An absolutely interesting site i love ....am wanting to make her verrines forever now but for the glasses have to hop by to our other residence thats a good 2 hours drive away and unpack a few boxes and re-pack 'em too....whew....!!!!

11.) BARBARA OF MOVABLE FEASTS.......

Have jus about met her but she's really really sweet too and i so love kind and sweet gals and here are the awards for her too!!!!!

SOOK OF MY FABULOUS RECIPES

Dear dear sweet Sook who loves disney as muc as i do and lives up to her her blogs name with so muc gusto with her elicious spread of goodies galore.....u'll love maore than most of her delight ful recipes and lets begin with her latest pepper chicken,sall we?
aND LOVE HER SMILE TO....SWEET N ADORABLE......

12.)KRISTI OF MOTHER RIMMY

My brand new sweet follower ,who has joined in the fun.....sweet and has loads of goodness on her blog too!!!!!

KIM OF STIRRING THE POT........

Have so grown to love her blog & her..... and what always catches my attention is the absolutely cute pic and her smile as she posses with her little angel on the little corner on her blog.....sweet!!!

13)TINA AT Life in the slow lane at Squirrel Head Manor

Have jus begun following her blog and her fantastic ultimate cookies are real real good....and she's one of the few sweety's who was sweet enuf to thank me for following her blog.....

14.KATY OF FOOD FOR A HUNGRY SOUL

Delicious days and sweeter moments...all this and more for a hearty feast.....am a new follower to her lovely blog and am here to stay.....

THIS LIST WILL BE UPDATED IF HAVE LEFT ANY OF U.....COZ I DID ASK A FEW OF U HAPPY PALS WHETHER GAME OR NOT COZ ,I KNOW SOME OF U DONT FANCY THESE AWARDS :-)))))

AND I SO SO SO DO...........AND WANT 'EM TO BE ENJOYED NOT BURDENED FOR ANYBODY OF U SWEET HAPPY PALS......

YUPPIE AM LINKING TO FOTM...WHICH MAYBE THE LAST.........AM SO MISSING U ALREADY.....

oFCOUSRE AM LINKING TO FIRST FRIDAY FAV TOO......

A LITTLE ROMANCE SALAD & COOKIES FOR VALENTINE'S AT IHCC

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 22:42:00 +0000

LETS TALK ABOUT LOVE...SHALL WE...I LOVE LOVE TOO!!!!

Love floats my boat...rocks my life....has me cheerfull and joyfull all day....

Love keeps me on top of the worls and makes sure i stay there full of the joys of spring....

Love meets u up with 7th heaven on cloud 9,till ur jumping w glee n joy and stay right there * 365

Love makes me happy....love makes me gay and wipes all the tears away........

EVery body in love * 365 right from Winnie DE Pooh and gang(see tigger and eeyore below.....)to snoopy and the tweety and the whole disney gang...cheerssssss.....

I love the month of love...the month of hearts and the month of joy and to me its by 365 times coz i feel this way all the year thru....

Dont we all feel tickled pink or like we are floating in air.....and can i link that only to a romantic love....

no the love my parents shower

AND so do my siblings

and close frens

and all the happy pals i meet here

and all the lovely farmers n local ladies i meet selling produce...

Yeah Valentines is a time which has me giddy and has me high and i try more than ever to do something with love for everyone in our lives....actually u dont try ....the high of the season jus makes u do it allright.......

or all the people that cross my path many a times to make my day happier and many more than that a time for me to make their world happeir.....

or they all make my world go round....
beautifully round....

And to begin with am taking a batch of these cookies to our local farmer where part of our veggies come from,the prev ones(not posted yet)goes to our other veggies supplier and a few more around for everybody......

Enter Romance.....and u'll be giddy and high and love will fill the air again for 365 days.........

YEah romance and somebody really special to that and u have a world that not only goes so round but sprinkles fresh rose petals on u as u do......

after all LOVE IS IN THE AIR W LOADS OF ROMANCE N DONT WE ALL WANT THE MOST OF IT..........

If u havent guessed it by now a LITTLE ROMANCE is plying via IHCC this week and with loads of plans that i do so hope to continue next week too........

And now its that time of the year for the EAT UR WORDS CHALLENGE......co-hosted by the lovely gals of TANGLED NOODLES and SAVOR THE THYME .............

And to have Andrew Zimmern to judge....wowowowowwAAAA.....I JUS GOT to know about this fun challenge today (and its already the 31st now)....

So here i have V FOR VALENTINES ....and X for the ''x'' part OF ''XOXO"".....for u gals and Andrew too.....oh dont we love the universal language of love............

This isnt my first time with these cookies,2nd actually,awhile back hAd tried em out....would love 'em to be a little more buttery though but the buttery cookie glaze did balance 'em out.....

wanted to try these little ideas pooping in my head on some butter cookies and though these would be perfect......

LETS BEGIN WITH.....

A DELIGHTFULL HEARTY SALAD....

A "V'' FOR VALENTINE

But to begin with we have a real healthy salad with everything in that ur heart loves or rather loves ur heart....after its the only sweet heart we have to love ...love...and love......

ADAPTED FROM NIGELLA EXPRESS VIA KAHAKAI KITCHEN

ALL U DO IS TOSS ALL OF THIS IN ANY ORDER OR JUS PICK THE STUFF U LOVE...JUS ADD IN ANY QUANTITY AS PER THE FLAV U WANT...IT ROCKS AND IS QUITE FILLING TOO....

Nigella says, "This has always been the Italian antipasto but although traditionally you are more likely to come across it as the combination of tonno and cannellini, I love the flecked terra-cotta of cranberry beans, giving you the colors of Tuscany on a plate. And if you are feeling less formally Italianate in mood, then this makes a simple speedy supper for two; all I'd want alongside is some good bread."

Actually with such a fantastic filling salad u need nothing on the side...and u dont need to toss all the ingredients....jus toss what u have in the veggie tray and ur ready to go.....

1)4TBH OF RED BEANS SOAKED IN WATER(changed water many times in between whenever popped by) OVERNIGHT AND PRESSURE COOKED TILL SOFT.
alonwith a handfull of soaked almonds(leftover from brEakfast actually) ...

they are amazingly soft and lovely this way-if u want a crunch then go for toasteD flaked almonds or nuts or u can leave 'em out.

ALL THE ''X'' & ALMOND ''O'' FOR UR HUGS N KISSES

2) FRESH AMERICAN CORN,POTATO &

SOME SWEET POTATO STEAMED.

3)PORTUGUESE SARDINHES OR ANY OF YR FAV(would try this with fresh flaked fish next time round or maybe grilled chicken bites)

4)RED,GREEN,YELLOW PEPPER CHOPPED.
FEW SWEET LIMES N APPLES CHOPPED.

5)ZUCHINI n SPRING ONION n RED ONION CHOPPED.

6)GREENS CHOPPED

(spinach.cilantro.parsely.)

7)DRESSING OF VINEGAR,NATURAL SUGAR,LIME JUICE &SALT.

(the sardinhes were in oil so i left out the olive oil)

A FANTASTIC ,ABSOLUTELY HEARTY SALAD THATS FATASTIC...WOULD LOVE TO TRY THIS WITH SHRIMPYS OR MUSSELS OR CALAMARI/SQUIDDYS OR OYSTERS OR EVEN FRESH FLAKED FISH...........

DELIGHTFULL HEARTY COOKIES

NOW LETS BEGIN WITH HEARTY COOKIES SHALL WE......

A CUT OUT COOKIE N A FEW HEARTS FROM NIGELLA'S FANTASTIC KITCHEN....

6 tablespoons soft salted butter(90 grams)
1/2 cup sugar
1 large egg(i used only half-i tend to use half the desired amout coz i usually find it a wee bit too eggy)
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon salt(only if using unslated butter)

A VALENTINE ANGEL....A VALENTINE MASCOT

Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and moving towards moussiness, then beat in the egg and vanilla.
(i love the mousiness part which actually heightens with the addition oF the egg)

In another bowl, combine the flour, baking powder, and salt. (honestly i jus tip it into the butter mix :-))) )

Add the dry ingredients to the butter and eggs, and mix gently but surely.
If you think the finished mixture is too sticky to be rolled out, add more flour, but do so sparingly as too much will make the dough tough.

Form into a fat disk, wrap in plastic wrap, and let rest in the refrigerator for at least 1 hour.(i did overnight).

Let sit a little in room temperature before rolling to avoid too much cracking...

Sprinkle a suitable surface with flour(i tried icing sugar this time round...works well), place disk of dough on it, and sprinkle a little more flour on top of that.
Then roll it out to a thickness of about 1/4-inch and i hardly need any coz i roll between parchment paper.

Cut into shapes, dipping the cutter into flour/sugar as you go, and place the cookies a little apart on 2 parchment or silpat lined baking sheets.

Now the fun...i had my VALENTINE ANGELS-THE MASCOT FOR VALENTINE,

...

THUMB PRINT A FEW CUT OUTS....THIS STRAWBERRY PRESERVE N U HAVE THESE CUTEY HEARTS....DOUBLE LAYERED WITH DIFFERENT SIZED HEARTS

THUMB PRINT A FEW OF THOSE DOUBLE LAYERED HEARTS,FILL WITH THIS CHUNKY STRAWBERRY PRESERVE N U HAVE A FEW JAMMY BITES.......

LAYERED HEARTS IN DIFFERENT SIZES GALORE TOPPED WITH A CHOCO BUTTON AND DRIZZLED WITH A BUTTERY COOKIE GLAZE(not buttercream)

DO I CALL THESE JAMMY SANDWHICH COOKIES OR HEART LINZERS....OR MAYBE HEART CUT OUTS SANDWHICHED WITH THIS ELICIOUS CHUNKY STRAWBERRY PRESERVE

HEARTS LAYERED IN DIFFERENT SIZES AND DRIZZLED AGAIN WITH A BUTTERY COOKIE GLAZE......

AND A FEW HEARTS UP CLOSE....

MINI LAYERED HEARTS ......

A COLLAGE OF HEARTY DELIGHTS....INSPIRE ME TO POP A FEW RIGHT AWAY....

MINI TRUFFLE HEART COOKIES.....

UTHAT ARE PERFECT FOR UR VALENTINE HAMPERS PLACED IN LITTLE TRUFFLE CASES OR MINI CUPPY CAKKEY CUPS...

AN ARIEL TRUFFY LITTLE HEARTS VIEW BECKONS....

OH THE QUEEN OF HEARTS SHE BAKED SOME TARTS....

mR. & mRS. COOKIE TRUFFLE HEARTS....

A JULIA CHILD OMELETTE,GRILLED SHRIMPY PRAWNS aND AN AWARD I OUGHT TO B HAPPY ABOUT....W A FAIRY TALE...

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 12:44:00 +0000

A VERY HAPPY FAIRY TALE........

A JULIA CHILD OMELETTE,GRILLED SHRIMPY PRAWNS aND AN AWARD I OUGHT TO B HAPPY ABOUT....
oK here's my second award of feb with a rather different twist....(first one will be posted in a bit)

And as i tell u a few stories or rather facts about the Award..u can drool over these GRILLED SHRIMPS marinated in a little bit of LITE SOY,OYSTER SAUCE,HONEY/SUGAR,VINEGAR,BALCK PEPPER CRUSHED,7 OLIVE OIL.
u CAN BRUSH A LITTLE BUTTER WHEN GRILLED TO TASTE ...

Now why diD i chose to feature grilled prawns too here....coz its A YEAR ON THE GRILL ...DAVE who besttoed this tittle upon me....
Grill grill grill...and we all love grilled....

Flattering and puts u on a tight spot too but dont worry am aiming,hopefully at making this an interesting read and i do so hope it is very much.....

Actually Dave(FROM THIS FAMOUS GRILL N DRILL BLOG) left me a note to be honoured about this award but it took me awhile to be 'happy' and thrilled about it....and there began my first lie..(jus kidding)but as i played along with happy i actually njoyed coming up with this.....really did and hope u do too...

What i felt about the award wasnt really interesting... though didn think of it as exaggeratn the truth.(as Joanne puts it-she confirmed my not being happy baout it fears:-))) )..not even slightly but took me awhile to be 'happy or honoured about this one but i skipped along being happyy and actually enjoyed writin the post on this....had fun and was giggling all the way thru.....

So after reading Dave's un truths was a little or rather totally lost in the big bad world in my tiny cocoon but regained composure soon enuf to write and all s left is a cook up for the post...hehehe

aND trying my best at that moment to be happy and thrilled this is what i replied to DAVE....

"HA Ha,Dave,ur riot ....a good riot....am sur honored to have someone with a blog as fantastic and rocking as ya to give me.....
I sure will take time to post this one and u'll soon know why realyy....hehehehehe...
and am hopping right about ur blog now looking for valentine recipes...well any that catches my fancy 'read easy" goes....into a valentine recipe....thanx a ton loads and congrats to u too...."
(actually was jus edging my self pushing to be honoured at this point)
Now that list is something else.....

SO HERE ARE THE RULES OF THE AWARD...

1.Thank the person who gave this to you.
2.Copy the logo and place it on your blog.
3.Link to the person who nominated you.
4.Tell us up to six outrageous lies about yourself, and at least one outrageous truth.
5.Allow your readers to guess which one or more are true.
5.Nominate seven "Creative Writers" who might have fun coming up with outrageous lies.
6.Post links to the seven blogs you nominate.
7.Leave a comment on each of the blogs letting them know you nominated them.

Am here to fall in love with love and fairy tales and dreamz and put 'em all together and we dance with delicious glee.

So let my imagination take over at this award where i came up with OUTRAGEOUS UNTRUTHS to entrtain and give ya a good laugh and take u along for a walk along a winding path covered with gems and precious stones and red poppys growning along either sides......

..................that over look and a gold line pool where peacocks breed
(the fish peacocok ,which are live bearers and give birth to baby peacocks and dont lay eggs....)

Beauty to watch em swim along and thats what u see on the right side of the path jus overlooking the poppys and in the pond next to that a few swans and ducks preen as they watch over their young.....

and on the left its the beauty of the animals that enthrall and excite....

as they look after their young and come to greet and welcome u with a nudge as u stroll by.....

Now have to list a few outrageous untruths and am trying to revolve 'em aroud truths ok ......]
and have fun guessing which ones are a yard stick close to a wee wee truth....

1)I LIVE ON A very scenic & BEAUTIFULL HILL.,A LONG DRIVE UPHILL...SURROUNDED BY WELL KEPT PINE AND FOREST TREES,WITH HARMLESS SWEET ANIMALS RUNNING ALL AROUND AND BIRDS CHIRPING BY MY WINDOW THE FIRST THING IN THE MORNING AS THE SUN RAYS ,AWAKEN ME WITH A SWEET LULL....AND SCENT .OF THE VANILLA PODS JUS RIPENING BELOW.........:-))))))

(farahniet,pleasures,dune ,flower and dot dot dot...cease to be my fav perfumes here...they pale in comparism to nature scents....)

pIP AND TOMMY,MY PET SQUIRRELS WHO ARE NOW DATING PIPPY AND JERRI respectively ....HOP ALL AROUND ME FIRST THING IN THE MORNING TOO...AND CHIP N DALE TOO.

ENJOYIN A GOLDEN SUNSET......

2)A SEA VIEW,A RIVER VIEW ,A VALLEY VIEW ,A HILLY VIEWAND PIC PERFECT SUNSET ENTHRALL ME EVRY EVENING WHILE I SIT AT OUR SIT OUT...
SIPPING ESPRESSO,HOT CHOCOLATE ,VANILLA MILK OR CHILLES PEPSI AND A PLATTER FULL OF ELICIOUS COOKIES.........and sometimes a good movie....

AND YEAH ALL MY PETS THAT SURROUND OUR HAVEN...CHAT WITH ME EVERY EVENING...........:-)))))

and even trail behind me when i walk down the sandy path to our private beach below..

3)MY GOLDEN HAIR ,FLOWS TO ANKLES AND BIRDS AND SQUIRRELS ADORN NATURAL 'FLOWERY BUDDY JEWELS' IN 'EM...AS IT DANCES TO THE MUSIC OF THE COOL BREEZE......as they comb thru it too :-))))

and THE BEES SOOTHE 2 PAMPER MY DEWY SKIN WITH HONEYMILK.....

4)I HAVE BEEN HOME SCHOOLED WITH A SYLLABUS FROM CAMBRIDGE,HAVARDS AND OXFORD(i know!!!!)

AND CHIIPY & DALE AND PIP & PIPPY PEEP FROM THE LAPTOP AS I SIT TO STUDY A BIT.....

AND AM SURE HOME COLLEGING TOO...the best of all worlds......

AND I WEAR MY SUNDAY GOWNS EVERY SUNRISE DAY...

WITH RUFFLED FRENCH LACES....

LAYERED ORGANDY....AND FLOWING BABY PINKS...AND BLUE'S TOOO.....

GET THE DRIFT???....while i sing portuguese love songs......

5)I HAVE MY OWN SWEET PERSONAL TRAINER AND LOOSE WEIGHT QUICKLY AND PUT ON TOO ...YET I DO MISS GYM CLASS SOMETIMES...though aerobics aint what i love to miss...

coz its all about dance and music and tangos and waltlz's and jives while jumping all over the place .....

NOR ARE BALLET CLASSES... TO BE MISSED.....

6)I PLAY THE MOZARTS AND BEETHOVENS ON OUR OLD GRAND GOLD PIANO ,SEATED BACKWARDS OR BLINDED WITH A SOFT SILK SCARF...........

ALWAYS ...and the normal way too....

7)YEAH ,U GUESSED RIGHT ...

I LIVE IN A CASTLE ,

A SPLENDID PALACE....

AND AM A PRINCESS....

WAITING FOR MY HANDSOME PRINCE CHARMING ....

TO COME GALLOPING THRU THE SUNSET ACROSS THE HORIZON ON A WHITE HORSE.......

If ur shocked(in a happy fairy fairy very way ie) after reading this please scroll a bit up and learn the 'outrageous un truths ' about this award....

and guess which one is correct here.....

if ur giggling with glee and thinking of this as a bedtime story....well i am with u too....jumping excitedly with joy....

Yeah i do live in a fairy tale world and...

.....yeah life is sure a bed of beautiful roses and yeah roses have thorns dont they?

But if somebody else gives 'em to u on a platter minus the thorns why not???

AND YEAH I DO LOVE MY FAIRY TALE LIFE...DONT U....

NOW A FEW HAPPY PALS AND MORE WHICH AM LISTING BELOW WHO I WOULD LOVE TO GET CREATIVE AND AROUND......

in whatever way ur imagination fires.....

1) SWEET CHAYA OF SWEET N SAVOURY SAYS IT ALL

The very sweet Chaya who cooks up a storm and passes us the best and most awards to...this one is for u dear ...with loads of love and am looking foward to ur post with all the wonderful cook ups et all u come up with alomost every day or more....

2)NEEL OF LEARN PHOTOGRAPHY

a most amazingly beautiful world of photography i came by...i mean there is so muc even for someone like me who has jus begun using a point and shoot camera and in plain enlish...hope u love this award....AND U deserve many more an award for ur lovely site.

3)FUJI MOM

For u Rachael ,my very wonderful new mentor,who's taken me under her expert wing for the next 3 months for a wonderful adopting programme....i mean jus hop by to her blog and u'll know how grateful im for the oppurtinity to learn loads of stuff i know not from someone as good as her....

4)RAMBLiNG TART

Long drives....delicious food recommended by locals-yeah a sure fire way to great flavours in local food-beautiful locales and the golden setting sun...could it get any better...yeah it could if u read rambling tarts travel tales.....beautiful pics and more...yeah thats so muc and more about rambling tart and do hope u enjoy this good award too....

5)PJ OF GINGER & GARLIC...

PRAJAKTa...my new happy pal has a world of real good eliciousness to share right from citrusy delites with a twist to a very very rare veggie...i love hopping by her wonderful blog....

6)RACHANA KOTHARI OF VEGGI FARE FRM HERE & THERE :-)))

Oh veggie delites and RACHANA keeps 'em splendidly elicious...her jus posted nutella cuppys have me drooling all right and so do loads of other recipes.

HAVE HANDED OVER THESE AWARDS TO MY HAPPY PALS WHO I GUESS WILL LOVE & ENJOY THIS AWARD AS I DID...ONLY WHEN BEGAN TO WRITE....HOPE AINT WRONG HERE :-)))

AND THOUGHT MY HAPPY PALS WILL ENJOY AND BE HAPPY TO WRITE THIS.....

IF ANY OF U HERE...AND SINCE UR HERE ...UR MY HAPPY PAL TOO.....WOULD ENJOY THIS AWARD....
PLEASE PLEASE TAKE THIS AWARD TOO....WOULD BE HONOURED AND DELIGHTED IF U DO(lemme know too so can hop by and read ur post...)

I did think of HANNAH SOMERVILLE. CHAYA. INGRID. ISABEL. MARI(once upon a plate).ROSA. MO DIVA. CHEF AIMEE. LISA.(think lev cookie) AND OFCOURSE JOANNE (but Dave beat me to it)

SO IF U WILL ENJOY THIS AWARD...PLEASE LEAVE ME A NOTE AND I'LL LINK U ASAP.......MAKE MY DAY IF U DO.....

and DAve...u wanted a few outrageous un truths....i hand u a story ...a script and a laugh....did i live upto even a little of ur expectations....

And as i always love a cook up of the pal who hands me the award ...here goes 2 recipes that i tweaked down to one....and thanx to Dave i jus stepped thru the threshold of the world of JULIA CHILD w my very first of her lovely recipes...if u hop by to his blog u'll see the video too.....

THis JUlia CHilds Ommey....

AND U'LL FIND THE WRITTEN RECIPE HERE

Its easy peasy..take it easy and perhaps the best french ommey....i love the way she swirls the pan right to left and round & around ......

Ingredients

    * ¤ 2 Eggs
    * ¤ 1 Pinch of salt
    * ¤ Ground Black Pepper
    * ¤ 1 Tsp of Water
    * ¤ 2 Tsp of butter

Instructions
Place a non-stick omelette pan over high heat.

Meanwhile, whisk together eggs, salt, and pepper until whites and yolks are nicely blended. Add water and whisk again briefly.

Melt butter in the hot pan, tilting to coat sides. Before the butter starts to brown, dump in the eggs.

NOW I HAD A FILLED VERSION SO HERE I SPRINKLED SOME COOKED CHICKEN CUT INTO BITS,SPINACH SHREDDED AND GRATED PARMESAN ON THE OMMMEY.

Holding the pan by its handle, move it in a swirling motion to shake the eggs loose from the sides and into a central pile. Then, as it firms up, use jerky movements to get it to sort of roll over onto itself.

nOW HONESTLY I DIDN GET IT TO ROLL SO WELL HERE SO USED A LITTLE HELP FROM LITTLE SPATULA AND YEAH HER VIDEO HELPED ME KNOW EXACLTY WHAT I WANTED...I BROWNED IT A BIT BUT IF U LIKE,U SHOULD TAKE IT OFF EARLIER.

gRATE LOADS OF PARMESAN TO COVER THE OMMEY AND SERVE WITH CILANTRO,SPINACH AND SOME MORE CHICKEN.....

OH FRUITS FOR A SUNSHINE VALENTINE....WHATS UR NAME........FRUITFULL DELITES BRING SUNSHINE FOR VALENTINES...

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 19:50:00 +0000

DO u love to blog?????

the strawberries asked me....oh yeah i sure do,i answered as much as u all my happy pals do too.....

do u love sundays????

the purple hue'd grapes pointed at me...

ofcourse yeah i do so muc.....the waking up at the crack of dawn(honestly that aint true...its a wee bit later)....have a cafe or chocolate milk and driving to church and the lovely colorfull village market we visit later....where evrybody gives u their best smile,even if they have seen u the first time in their lives......

And the sweet little elderly lady gives u a flower or 2 and u say ur hi and good byes with gusto and love and head back with a back full of goodies to the car (oh yeah i stop at the general store to pick a few caramels too....) and drive to the highway home....

now this is exciting,yeah it sure is...we are soon gonna stop by a farmer on the highway who's really a sweet sweet man and i so enjoy greeting him too as i pop my head outa the window and then in a jiffy am right next to his basket to pick some loads of sweet potatoes and raddish ,right picked a little earlier from his farm....

u dont have to chose....he smiles and gives u his best...infact this weekend am going to carry a hamper of heart sahped cookies jus for them all.....

And then all scamper in the kitchen to fix the big brunch that extends to lunch.......

and yeah b4 we know ...siesta time or no ...its going to be a sunset soon and yeah time for the sunset drive to another winding village that leads to the most serene beach ever....

and then as we drive back ....oh that fruit stall loaded with the freshest produce....

And that dear pals brings us back to d strawberries......why do i love to blog......oh the reasons are endless and we all can write a blog am sure about why we all love blogs....and blogging....

Oh i love u all happy pals and gals who have met thru blogging...and the fact that i can talk about any sweet or sour or tangy topic under the sun and not feel silly or a little froggie in the well or palace......

and in the same note ,i shot this little fruit,ofcourse the yellow watermelons above too i met for the first time in my life...

And without beating around the bush too long and yeah thats bean a long intro ,this post is actually dedicated to this little fruit that ...that.....I DONT KNOW THE NAME OF........AND NEED UR HELP......

Maybe u saw it somewhere or its in season at ur home too....i know nothing about the origin about this cutie but when i look at it or take a shot....the first thing that pops in my mind is FLORIDA....ok no connection but jus the way it pops in my heart......

Isnt it a sunshine fruit ....i love to call this cutie a TOmCHErry....like a cross between a cherry and a cherry tomato.....

But yet the fact remains that I DONT KNOW WHAT ITS CALLED...and am sure all u happy pals will enlighten me more on this one......

Coz of the lovely rocking darling pals u are,i honestly dont feel silly or froggiev(i know!!!) about not knowing this one....

And yeah all u guys who have suc suc lovely wonderful blogs and my internet has really been snail slow from sunday......so am going to right now sit and visit suc wonderful amazing posts out here.....specially all the fantastic blogs i follow and a few more i meet along the beautiful path of bloggiingg....

And thanx a ton for all the pats on the back...oh u guys make my day....and make it frolicking rocking happy and gay......

So here's a few of my SUNSHINE FRUIT shots for valentines.......

And so hope that all u my dear happy pals will help me with loads of tidbits on this little TOMCHERRY SUNSHINE FRUIT bursting with tangy flavour galore.....

And to begin with whats ur name dear??????

aND A FEW MORE PICS GALORE.............

SURE DANG CUTE ...ARENT THEY.........

I THINK THEY MAKE FOR A CUTE PICTURE........

AND NOW SOON I'LL KNOW THEIR CUTE NAME TOO.....

DONT THEY REMIND U OF A CHEERY TOM?????????????????????

A YELLOWY CHERRY TOMMY.....

THERE IS SO MUC OF LOVE IN THE AIR...AND I WISH U SUNSHINE LOADS OF IT....

SO IS THERE SO MUCH OF ROMANCE IN THE AIR AND I DO WISH U SUNSHINE LOADS OF THAT TOO......

VALENTINE COOKIES AT A COOKIE CARNIVAL

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 28 Jan 2010 19:50:00 +0000

Cookie carnival....does that sound familiar.................

or does it ring a bell in ur ears......

or does it make u leap for joy.....

For me its all 3 coz i awhile ago i named a batch of cookies as ,CARNIVAL COOKIES ,as i dressed em up and yeah so do ring a bell or 2 and sound familiar too and leap for joy coz its a cookie and with some more dressing up experiments and yeah my first heart shaped bake of the season and plus got to use some of my new goodies.....

It all begun when THE CLEAN PLATE CLUB happenned one brite day this (or last)december and i was a wee bit late for their last months bake....

This month here was i at the threshold of baking with them and boy they chose a chipotle cookie,wherever was i going to find chipotle now.....

But yeah i couldn miss this cookie could i?.....no way ...so when ahead rite w/o it.....

and with the excitement of valentines building up(well mommy says i always have some silly reason or the other to be excited about but that said she's excited with me too....)i feel like cookies all over.....

Our shopping differs a bit,we shop all we want and then i look for recipes(though i have a few things vaguely planned or know what am going to work around but with thousands of recipes bookmarked ...really)ofr come up with something nice in our kitchen and it always works though for awhile now,it a wee bit different coz of me blogging(oh i so love it....dont ya?)

WHy am i saying this coz its the history behind my other tweak-the chocolate called for the original recipe-read along....

KATE,@Clean Plate Club chose a Nantucket Cookie Co. recipe via the Food Network.

My other tweak is that i used Arriba Milk Origine chocolate callets coz i have a little(or quite a bit)left in my bag and am nearing the best before date(i somehow prefer the coverture milk for hot chocolate so this one takes a back sit at times).

So i subbed all the dark chocolate for these milk callets and loved the welcome change and besides i am a milk chocolate lover though i do indulge in 70% coco chocolate for a few bakes......

ANd here begins my valentine's baking with a flying start....

ADAPTED VIA FOODNETWORK by RACHEL RAY

1)~~~125 GRMAS IE 1 STICK BUTTER-softennned

Cream well till light and fluffy(if u have a stand mixer place it by while u get by with getting around with the rest.)

2)~~~~ADD 1/2 CUP BROWN SUGAR

6 tbh WHITE SUGAR

2 TBH COCO POWDER to the lovely whisked butter and beat again till fluffy.(Now if u plan to use milk chocolate u'll have to cut down a bit on the sugar here but this amount worked perfect for us)

3)Add 1 EGG(3/4 OF LARGE)

1tsp VANILLA

1 TSP WATER

beat again till well combined.

4) ADD AROUN 6O GRAMS CHOCOLATE MELTED(i weighed out 75 grams coz a little gets eaten along and the bowl gets licked too:-))) )
blend evenly well.
Boy ,its already begining to taste elicious.....(jus forget about the raw egg for a bit here...)

5)SIEVE TOGETHER-3/4 CUP FLOUR

1/4 TBH BAKING SODA.(honestly i never use my TCM flour sifter ...so muc for tools)

mix till well incorparated.

6)Now TIME TO ADD 3/4 CUP BITTERSWEET(I ADDED MILK) CHOCOLTE CHUNKS/CALLETS/BUTTONS....mix well.

7)REFRIGERATE FOR AN HOUR(the dough should be fudge like not very hard)

8)NOW HERE'S WHERE THE FUN ALL BEGAN.....

While the oven sat warming up to a good 350*,i got out my brand new silicone and non stick tart moulds and,yeah sprinkled them all with sugar and yup...thats where i baked my cookies....

And one batch wen in to the chocolate mould too...and one got rolled into cute little buttons....

considering i quartered the recipe ,i got quite a number of cookies.

9)Baked em all together for almost an hour though the original calls for 12-14 mins coz i love 'em nice and crisp and crunchy ....and yeah my oven takes a wee bit longer to fire up anyway....

Oh these delightfull crunchy bites with acrunchy layer of sugar are really fantastic.....

A great recipe ....a keeper.....

A drizzle of semisweet chocolate,milk chocolate,nutella & butter ,all microwaved in a bowl and a few sprinkles later ....i was done....

oh yeah it was fun all along...

With a few of my new sprinkles and candy cupcake papers i was having a ball with ''FAITHFULL'' playing in the back ground....

Dont know what it was that set the mood on for a love is in the air....the cookies or ''faithfull''....

Maybe both.....

Done to indulge and give in to all those sugar and chocolate cravings......

I think i would love to call these a DELIGHFULL MILKY CHOCOLATEY SWEETY CHIPPY COOKIES FOR UR VALENTINE....

DO u wanna be a part of the fantastic COOKIE CARNIVAL TOO?
Well hop in right HERE for all the details...u'll love it......

MUTTON RIBS/CUTLETS/CHOPS @ IHCC @ NIGELLA LAWSON

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Wed, 27 Jan 2010 04:12:00 +0000

I have as many a take on happy hour as maybe i'd have for decorating cookies. . . Ok ok. . .not very sucessfull comparism there.. .

The first picture that swims across my eyes is the 7pm happy hour. . The delicious 7pm happy hour which most cake and dessert pastelaria's at most resorts here keep to, yeah 50% off on all their goodies till closing time. . .

My cookie baking and decorating hour too is happy hour to me. . .

All my blogging hours too are very happy hours even as i pop in to say hello to everyone of you happy pals, slow internet or no. . . .

And all that goes into keeping that dinner table going too and yeah tweaking recipes, which we all do yeah, also makes my happy hour and on that note i have combined 2 of nigella's recipes for a single one. . . . Double the deliciousness in one happy plate. . .so much like 2 for the price of 1 . . .A 50% discount. . .

sounds fun? It sure is not to mention really really good . . ..........

Had the previlage of watching Nigella cook up 2 gorgeous recipes in her own very kitchens. . . . Aint it a delight to watch her at work?

Sure is. . .

The 2 recipes combined are chicken nuggets which i already actually baked awhile ago and .........

SO the marinade in the butter milk comes from the ritzy chicken nuggets baked and the dipping in egg and panko crumBs with parmesan form the pork chops/cutlets/fillets...

So this is what i played with for our HAPPY HOURS this week ,at I HEART COOKING CLUBS.....

SImple and easy and quick,if u jus keep the muttom marination overnight....

1)PLACE A FEW MUTTON RIBS(ofcourse u can use pork or beef too)IN A PLASTIC BAG AND POUND EM WELL.

2)SEASON WITH LIME,SALT AND PEPPER(i sometimes use a stock powder here w a pinch of sugar-love the different resulting flavs) AND PLACE IN A GOOD BOWL OF BUTTERMILK SO THATS IT FULLY COVERED.refrigerate overnight.

3)WHEN UR READY TO FRY KEEP
A)A PLATE OF FLOUR
B)A BOWL WITH EGGS BEATEN WITH PEPPER,MUSTARD AND WEE BIT OF SALT.
C)PANKO CRUMBS MIXED WITH DRY PARMESAN CHEESE...(the green n yellow kraft bottles work good)

4)NOW DIP THE MARINATE RIBS IN FLOUR,THEN EGG ,THEN COAT WITH THE CHEESY PANKO ,PRESS LIGHTLY TO ADHERE AND WELL FRY 'EM IN A PAN OF HOT OIL.
SO ITS EASY AS A)....B)....C)........

5)SERVE WITH A SALAD OF UR CHOICE.....

A LENTIL CURRY /SIDE WITH LOADS OF GREEN-SPINACH&feNUGREEK

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sun, 24 Jan 2010 18:16:00 +0000

Taste and create....does that fire ur imagination?????

Well it certainly fired mine and ofcourse it revolved around food....

Yeah the whole show,a beautiful food show right up in all our kitchen every month is run by the lovely NICOLe of LOVE OF FOOD and hosted at TASTE & CREATE.

I am and would love to be a part of this wonderful monthly fun where all who register(by 8th folks) are paired up and u cook something delicious from ur partners blog as so does ur partner from urs....

How cool is that......

And cooler still were the yummiest veggie fare at my partner blog this month ie THE FANTASTIC SINGING CHEF AT WORK....THE VERY LOVELY RAAGA...

Boy she has so muc of fantastic recipes ,very nutricious too and so easy to put by and elcious ways to get ur daily quota of veggies...i had initially planned to have atleast 7 of her recipes but not possible this time round....oh yeah i fix dinner almost every day....but my camera goes into the kitchen with loads of caution and care(remember it aint even a month old),oh the laptops a frequent visitor all right.....

Oh i love photo graphy but my styling takes me bit coz aint no expert and am yet a little clueless about a few functions too...

And i do take time to photo graph and its dinner time even before i know it or lunch for that matter but i intend to not only cook up but also post a couple of her recipes-they are simply fantastic...

Thats probably the reason why our grilled fish dinners(yeah its been a lot of seafood of late)and tandoori grilled fish dinners with curd salads and afew other salads didn find their way up here.....

Well my time for excuses galore is up now but in defense they arent excuses dear...cant i share my life with my sweet happy pals ,and in an absolutely cheerful state of mind ,body and soul ,mind u........

So the first recipe i chose is -A FANTASTIC COMBO(OH The lovely RAAgA has loads of 'em)of LEntils with spinach and fenugreek leaves....delicious combi that we do have every so often at home but this was a little different in preparation but in flavour....well finger licking good and lentils usually has leftovers but this one didnt and i see myself making this ever so often again....

All her spinach recipes are fantastic and have to make 'em all truly......She's got the most amazing collection of really excellent veggie recipe and honestly i simply wanna try 'em all.......

Tweaked it a wee bit in the sense doubled the greens in the recipe so had to up the seasoning quotient a wee bit ,but not the chilly part though i did add a whole (not very spicy but flavourful)chilly.

ADAPTED FROM THE SINGING CHEF AT WORK

1)Soak 1/2 CUP ORANGE LENTILS(MASOOR DAL) & 1 TBH EACH OF YELLOW SMALL(moong dal)& YELLOW BIG (chana dal-aint sure about the names though) LENTILS the previous evening,changing the water ,when required(when that foam kinda arises)

Pressure cook the next morning ,after washing well,in 1.5 CUPS WATER.

2)HEat 1 tsp olive oil in a pan.

3)ADD THE FOLLOWING IN THIS ORDER, BROWNING EACH FOR A FEW SECONDS TO RELEASE FLAVOURS....

1.5 TSP CUMIN SEEDS
2 TSP ASAFOETIDA

when this releases a fantastic aroma...the next ingrdients now-

LOADS OF FRESH GARLIC CRUSHED(or garlic paste as per taste)
SOME FRESH GINGER CRUSHED
SMAIL PIECE OF GREEN CHILLY(i always use a wee bit of the tail for a little bite w/o upping the pungency)

u'll already begin to very much enjoy the fantastic aromas here...

2 ONIONS FINELY CHOPPED(meduim)
1 TSP TURMERIC
A WHOLE RED CHILLY DE-SEEDED OR THE MILDER VARIETY
SALT TO TASTE & A LITTLE(BIG REALLY)PINCH OF BROWN SUGAR....

4) fRY WELL FOR A MIN OR 2 AND TIP IN ONE CUP EACH OF SPINACH AND FENUGREEK LEAVES,CHOPPED.

5)cOOK A MIN OR 2 AND ADD THE COOKED LENTILS WITH THE SOME WATER IF REQUIRED(lentils really thicken as they cool)

BRING TO A QUICK BOIL AND SIMMER A FEW MINS TILL DONE....

fANTASTIC EITHER WITH STEAMED BASMATI RICE OR ROTIS....

You wanna have a peekabo of all the delicious then stop by right HERE

Am also linking this lovely lentil with greens to the lovely Chaya's blog,sweet and savoury for MEATLESS MONDAYS....if u have a recipe do link up to so we can have a delicious potluck of veggie delights........

NIGELLA LAWSON'S STIR FRIED MUSHROOMS W PASTA @I HEART COOKING CLUBS

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 20:26:00 +0000

Its Potluck time again at I HEART COOKING CLUBS again this time guys and though usually am all excited to get my post up as soon as possible,am lagging this time around...well my pics are done
(i usually cook up the week before)and the recipe to but havent written in a bit and thats what....ok theres absolutely no pressure here...and i so love to indulge in the delciousness of all the rest of the gang bring in so head in I HEART COOKING CLUBSto catch 'em all....

But can go on rambling some gibberish about how busy it was with college and attending classes and working on assingements,doing as muc as house work as can (my mom to me is my princess,a princess i adore and love and with our househelp not around i do it all for mom-we actually fight over doing the dishes but not the way u think...we fight to do ;em :-))) )))

And then the dinners and lunches and breakfasts and in betweens that we share...

Ok,does this sound like am cribbing...no absolutely not coz i dont usually indulge in that activity :-))))..Im sahring with u my happy pals coz aint that what blooging is about..(too,with a host of other goodies...)

And yeah am sure that all u my happy pals are far busier and come up with fantastic deliciousness and posts in a jiffy (ok ok hold ur horses gurl,i tell myself,now aint the time to 'share' about ur hanging laptop that needs a boost more often than considered desirable enough to be put up with...)

And today have been jumping around excitedly with a goody parcel i recieved....yeah right from picking it up to the drive home---oh was already unpacking it on the back seat even before we got home,even had a siscor carried in my havasack to assist in stubborn packaging material....

Now i got a few moulds and hearty tart forms and silver and goldd papers and my fav cookie cutters and yeah...sprinkles.....And u'll see 'em all in the coming weeks as i use 'em and i got this cute pink digi weighing scale and a few cup cake liners too.....

Ok it aint any wilton or amazing amazon goodies but for me the world and the best i could find in another city and my family got it down for me...so half the day in filling every nook ,corner and drawer of the kitchen which i seem to be evading with my tools,so that it looks neat and i dont clutter up and yeah am geared for another shopping trip already.....:-))))).....

Ok now back to I HEART COOKING CLUBS,which is what this is about really and this weeks potluck.....

This is a rocking group where we cook any of NIgella'a recipes evry week ,fitting to the theme chosen by the lovely trio who keep this great group going eith their wonderfull collages and posts every week.

I chose this recipe ,inspired by DEBS KAHAKAI KITCHEN,which she coincidently cooked up for last months potluck(this wasnt planned i promise.i made it awhile ago...:-))) )

This is a fantastic recipe and i tweaked it good ,in the sense i replaced the fish that go with the mushroom stir fry with PASTA...hehehehehe....and the greens(bok choy)with spinach(ok aint it green too???)

But we had these wonderful button mushrooms and have been wanting to stir fry this one evr since i saw it ...infact even Chaya @ sweet & savoury says it all had this one up....

A NIGELLA LAWSON RECIPE ADAPTED FROM DEBS KAHAKAI KITCHEN
1)BOIL A CUP OF FUISLLI PASTA AND AMERICAN CORN EACH-A CUP EACH IN V LIGHTLY SALTED WATER.

2)HEAT 1 TBH OF OLIVE OIL..
ADD 4 CLOVES OF GARLIC MINCED
(i also tipped in a few de seeded(catch the flavour not the spice)fresh red chillies,green onions and red peppers chopped fine)

3)FRY 1 POUND(450 GRAMS-BUT I USED ONLY 400 GRAMS) MUSHROOMS TILL JUST DONE( MINS)
(pre-cooked mushrooms-jus placed the mushrooms chopped in a pan and they got well pan grilled as the water released dries up)

4)NOW ADD 3 TBH SOY SAUCE + 1 TBH SESAME OIL AND STIR FRY TILL WELL BLENDED AND DONE.(Arnd 3 mins max)
5)ADD AROUND 2CUPS PALAK ROUGHLY CHOPPED(instead of bok choy in the original recipe).COVER THE PAN FOR A MIN OR 2 till they jus wilt.

6)DID ADD A PINCH OF SUGAR AS WE DO FOR MOST OF OUR COOKING OR LOCAL PALM SUGAR AT TIMES OR A SQUEEZE OF HONEY-WE LOVE HOW IT HEIGHTENS THE SWEET UNDER TONES OF A SAVOURY DELICACY.

7)SERVE ON A BED OF PASTA WITH A SQUEEZE OF LIME AND GARNISH OF RED PEPPERS ,OLIVES AND WHATEVER CATCHES UR FANCY IN THE KITCHEN.....

A Perfect hearty dinner with a tossed salad of colored peppers,steamed sweet corn & sweet potatoes,cherry toms,shallots ,parsley with a dressing of cream and lime and honey.....

VERY STRAWBERRY DREAMZ WITH A VANILLA BEAN for Feasting on Art Recipe Contest.’

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 13:39:00 +0000

Pink candy floss......baby dresses w teddys.....red roses...pinky promises.....oh la la la tra la la la...the strawberry season is...not round the corner but right here....

Love is in the air and its raining pink all around(red for me its still christmas till i officially enter the lovey dovey season of valentines...)and it wouldn be fair not to dedicate a post ....or 2 or.....whatever to all the strawberries and the strawberry lovers all around the globe.........

And for the sake of the cute strawberry,aint going to delete but have all the pics here...doesnt our dear sweety strawberry deserve all this from us and i do hope u guys find her cute...i've done the best i can....coz i love the STRAWBERRIES TOO....DO U????

AND NOW INSPIRED ON THIS BEAUTIFUL PAINTING ,A WORK OF ART , ARE THESE STRAWBERRY DELIGHT WHICH AM ALSO SENDING TO A FANTASTIC SUPER BLOG ,FEASTING ON ART...FOR THE SUPER CONTEST ...HOP BY HERE TO KNOW MORE.......

MEGAN ,IS THE SUPER GAL BEHIND FEASTING ON ART AND SHE REACHES OUT THE GLOBE OVER , RIGHT THERE FROM SYDNEY........

AINT THAT A VERY BEAUTIFUL INSPIRING PICTURE......

And its thanx a tons loads to a dear BLOGGING BUDDY JOANNE, that am here at this amazing contest today....art inspired ...aint it simply wonderful......

There's a basketfull...no truckload full...no no.....globalfull(ok thats jus made up-dont look up the dictionary :-))) )of ideas u can have with strawberries besides dipping 'em in ur fav chocolate or a chocolate butter gooey melt down and i sure am going to make the best of 'em...

And every one gorgeously cute(all of u have the most gorgeously cutey hearts) gets a expansive / extensive photo shoot once in their life so doesnt the cutie strawberry deserve one too?Ok Ok u have loads of pros who have shot the strawberry so so beautifully but here's a photo shoot and some delciousness with the WONDERFUL STRAWBERRY.....

We jus got a more than a couple of boxes(the small ones)of our first strawberries and we had a feast on 3 versions of my

BERRY STRAWBERRY DELITE.....
thats a basic strawberry shake in 3 different ways......

1)SKIMMED MILK WITH HONEY AND ALL THE STRAWBERRIES U WAN for a healthy twist.

2)SKIMMED MILK,CREAMY POWDER MILK ,STRAWBERRIES AND SUGAR or ICING SUGAR.

3)LOADS OF ICE,CREAMY MILK POWDER,ALL THE STRAWBERRIES U WANT N SOME SUGAR.

GET UR BLENDER OUT AND WHIP UP A BERRY STRAWBERRY DREAMZ DELCIOUS CREAMY STORM AND ADD SOME CREAM IF U FEEL LIKE IT..

Also another facts that (as far as i know and have experienced and even jus read it in a mag)is that strawberries dont ripen after their plucked-they live their life ...head straight to tantalize ur taste buds or spoil....yeah thats right!!

So well u store 'em rite away in ur refrigeration in a single layer(like my iced cookies outa the refrigeration)and relish 'em..well the sooner the better and if its later...well sauces and jams do great too!!!!

So even while ur getting ur storage right lets get going with a delcious home stirred jelly/jam /preserve or thick sauce as u'd like to call it or actually u can jus control whatever consistency u want...

DELCIOUS HOME STIRRED CHUNKY STRAWBERRY JAM/JELLY/ PRESERVE/ SAUCE/TOPPING WITH VANILLA BEANS.

2 CUPS STRAWBERRIES CHOPPED AS U LIKE

1/2CUP SUGAR OR ICING SUGAR(AS PER TASTE)-u can decrease this if the strawberries are really sweet or increase if sour but 1/2 cup gave a very sweet preserve.

INNARDS OF 2 WHOLE VANILLA BEANS

JUICE OF 1 LIME(AS PER TASTE) AND ZEST....

1)pLACE ALL THE ABOVE INGREDIENTS IN A GLASS BOWL AND GIVE IT A GOOD STIR AND LET STAND FOR A FEW HOURS(I ALMOST TOUCHED 5 HOURS)

THIS HELPS THE RELEASE JUICES AND DEVELOP DELCIOUS SWEET FLAVS ALONG WITH THE SUGARS....U CAN USE IT AS A PANCAKE TOPPING HERE.....

2)nOW KEEP THE WHOLE PINKY BEAUTIFUL MEELE ON THE FLAME ,IN A HEAVY BOTTOMED PAN AND KEEP STIRRING AND STIRRING ON A MEDIUM OR LOW FLAME TILL DONE.

3)TOOK ME ALMOST AN HOUR TO GET THE MIX REDUCED TO HALF-IT WAS QUITE SAUCY IN CONSISTENCY-U CAN STOP HERE OR CONTINUE FOR A FIRMER JELLY AND REMEMBER IT CONTINUES THICKENNING AS IT COOLS.

This recipe is based on my experiments with mangoes last year(no i didn post then)and u can flavour this with cinnamon for warmth,cloves or star anise for a hieghtenned spice sweetness or cardomon for its unmatched flavour.

And yeah would love to add some lemon zest in too-next time or maybe orange ......

Though i did recieve a nice hamper this christmas of a few jams/preserves/jellys -oh those cute tubes i will always love making those delcious home stirred jams et all(i know u do too).

And they are so so good for a season of cookie making(coming soon)

and here perfect for THE THUMBALINAS HERE or

RUGELACH (delcious buttery tender melt in ur mouth cookie) HERE.

SO HERE'S TO A WONDERFUL STRAWBERRY WORLD OF STRAWBERRY DREAMZ WITH VANILLA BEANS IN IT-DO I MANAGE TO LEAVE UP TO MY NAME ...........

STRAWBERRY DREAMZ...PINKY FLOSS....

WANNA JOIN IN MY FIRST PINKKI SATURDAYS WITH THIS POST BUT WILL FIGURE IT OUT IN A BIT AND LINK THIS POST SOON......

BABY RUGELACH-HAVE THE CAKE BAKES A BUTTERY TENDER MELT IN UR MOUTH COOKIE THIS MONTH

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 13:17:00 +0000

A BUTTERY TENDER MELT IN YOUR MOUTH COOKIE

Am very thrilled with this months choice of RUGELACH by MICHELE at HAVE THE CAKE though when i first read about it i was so lost with something i had never had nor heard about and there was i shooting questions evrywhere and yeah googling way.....

Thanx a ton Michelle for introducing this to my little far away world and i so love ur stori of a little girl(u)festing on these gorgeous melt in ur mouths as ur grandmom baked with all her love....

And there were 2 kinds of rugelach,as u see here,some the pinwheeled ones and some with rolling a round and cutting pie kinda wedges and rolling 'em around but all the dough crusts were almost the same give or take the addition of sugar.

The recipe at have the cake suggests a pie crust and i did wonder if i should go in for my all butter pie crust but all the pics i saw had a different story and yeah i stuck to this cream cheese dough ......

Most of the site i checked have similiar recipes ,infact of the lovely cookie or pastry crust is a ever so flakky and light (as in texture) butter & cream cheese dough

These are the site's i went thru were at INA GRATENS RECIPE HERE , DEB AT SMITTEN KITCHEN WITH HER PERFECT PINWHEELS HERE (every one of my were different ) and KAF HERE

And finally but not the least but one of the first sites PETE'S BAKES, i hopped by which really hellped me in getting a clearer pic of rugelach thats neither seen or eaten in my part of the world and Joanne(of eats well with others)too suggested the same site and gave a me a few inputs coz though most sites said it as a cookie the original recipe ,on Have d cake said pie crust which for me would be my all butter pie crust whereas most here have a cream cheese butter flour crust or cookie dough,i chose to make it the sweeter way by adding a bit of powdered sugar and there i was...

Now lets begin working with the lovely cookie dough first
8oz cream cheese
2 sticks (250 grams butter)
1/4 cup icing sugar(optional but i think i would increase this quantity the next time)
2 cups sifted flour
1tsp(or2)vanilla extract(i know it aint authentic but would love to try this some lemon zest too)

1. Set the cream cheese and butter in a bowl so that its really soft ant then cream well with extract if using till fluffy.

2.Add icing sugar and beat in well.

3.Now beat in flour to 3 to 4 batches and work to a lovely dough.

4.Roll into 2discs,wrap in butter paper and then cling wrap and refrigerate for an hour(well i did for almost a week)

Now to begin with the actual cookie making...
I just divided the dough into 2 (i halved the above recipe)-
tried pinwheels with a mix of blueberry and strawberry preserve/jelly /jam where u roll the dough into a rectangle say 1/8 th inch-i jus rolled it comfortable enough not to break and had to refrigerate it later-maybe coz its been a real warm day here today...

THESE WERE MY PINWHEELS -Oh yeah they could have been bigger but i heard someone exclaim aloud that good things come in small packages... :-)))and i overdid the jammy part but we love it this way...

The second disc i rolled into a not very perfect circle and kept it in the refrigeration awhile...cut 'em into very uneqaul wedges-like u would for a pie (yes gurls this is absolutely easy even for my kinda not too perfect baking) and a few were stuffed with CHOCOLATE /JAM/JELLY CINNAMON SUGAR...then the wedges rolled ,begining with the larger side and rolled the cookies too in CINNAMON SUGAR for a little traditional touch.(for the chocolate i used ,milk chocolate callets)

And i baked them to a GOLDEN BROWN as KAF says....took my oven around almost 45 mins(yeah it takes time to fire up-dont know why...)

The options are really endless with this one,i mean u can do so so muc..maybe a jam and ur fav nut taosted and chooped filling...an apricot preserve for a traditonal touch...and loads of chocolate chippys with sugar...and maybe lemon curd too...have to try it out all the options and wont be suprised if i bake these again before the month ends......

These are so so so so good and buttery and flaky-loved them...have had or seen them first time in my life and would love to introduce these around someday

Why did i call 'em baby rugelach...coz they are so so cute(even before going into the oven) and so tiny and delicate and come with a stamp handle with care-the pinwheels ie..specially since i overloaded the jam...

And every single one was a different shape-all very cute...even my dear non cookie lovers around loved these melt in the mouths.

The next time i surely plan to picture these step by step.

PESTO'N AN 'UN-PESTO'D' @ NIGELLA @ I HEART COOKING CLUBS...

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 14:18:00 +0000

Exotic destinations :) greece. . .israel. . .scotland. . Spain. . .big apple(hi joanne), hawai(ola deb). .brazil(ola vinni), portugal.(isabel bejinhos). . prague......bahamas(Joanne pops in a hi w tiffany frm her cruiseliner). . . . N italy(NW NW Joanne pops again as an 8yr old doll). . .

So lets stop at italy and begin about some gorgeous italian food shall we. . .pastas and linguine. .

Olives n oilve oils . . . .garlic n herbs. . . .luscious sauces n tomato based ones. . .sun dried tomatoes e jalpenos. . .and and and. . . . .the bestest of 'em al. .pinenuts e basil w a sprinkling of sea salt n garlic. . . .n olive oil..mama mia A PESTO. .

So for this week @ I HEART COOKING CLUBS for the theme EXOTIC DESTINATIONS...I couldn look further than italian exoticness cuisine unfolded..begining with a pesto....

All that said i think something really special is equal to exotic for me would be being closer to the north pole for the winters and during holidays and yeah wouldn santa land be the best of em all. . . Where i can actually sing. . . Snow is falling. . And binge on hot chocolate with vanilla and marshmellows...

stuffed one whole fish with pesto..opened it after grilling n grilled with the filled side opened again...i love the pairing of the pomo seeds-brings about a welcome sweetness and with a squeeze of lime...perfeto...

And more often than not ,im happier where i am and for me the best holidays are loaded with being around my family ,a cold terrain(as in the weather ie)and loving every moment be it exploring the place,shopping for momemtos alike(well thats a rather long list here...),exploring the exotic cuisine....or sleeping(ofcourse there are loads of things we do on hols but more on that later...)....

(the calm seas above-and the trees swaying in delite at the warm sea breeze)

I love and enjoy where we live now though it does get warm at times but then what are the air conditioners for....and its beautiful here....(ok i cant even find a few wilton or any decent sprinkles and silicone cup cake moulds(heart shaped)and cookie cutters and those fancy icing tolls here(not even the basic disposable bags yet...but have got a lead and maybe richer with my goody bags jus in time for valentines baking...)

a flower i jus shot on sun along the highway...

And from the first time in dec i cooked up this nigella delight have had requests sice..and our sunday dinner saw us with loads of grilled fish and mussels with mushrooms...all pesto'd -pairs fantastically with a tossed salad and pasta...

and last night again for dinner we had chicken pesto'd with pasta.
The pics with the main recipe are my first hand at it and i begin with seafood & and will have the chicken inbetween with the mushrooms and below.....exotica itself-pesto'd mussels....

Only Nigella Lawson can 'unpesto' a pesto sauce-oh she's adorable with all that conjures up in her kitchen......

But here i am about to 'pesto' her 'un-pesto' ,linguinne pasta...

I love a lingine pasta-our current hot fav(the last hot were the large 'shelly' pasta as i loved to call 'em)

And combine that with a pesto and some fresh chicken and u have some yummy dinner going....

Its been awhile i wanna whip up a pesto and since we are cooking NIGELLA(oh am so gald am a part),i tend to look out more than i ever did for Nigella's dinner ideas.

And thanx to IHCC ,me will get down to replicating all of the fun that happens in nigella's kitchen...

And yeah before u begin dont forget to move ur 'music' ,as in only carols now with a tango thrown in my playlist,to the kitchen.....(WHIPPED this one up in dec)

I love to jiggle and hop around to a tune while cutting up a salad or stir frying a veggie for dinner or lunch or breakfast or a snack(d other way round...).....

Ok ok ,we are far from the high way again arent we....trust me to steer away,thank GoD aint driving at the moment...so steering back to the pesto(have absolutely fresh basil at hand),browsed around for Nigella's pesto,wanted a chicken with linguine...

and yeah found this 'UNPESTO'DD PESTO' so i turned it around and pestoed it-perfect....

and added some chicken for a complete hearty begining that ended with hot choco-cafe & brownies.....

My not very wide spectrum of knowledge of pesto is that ,though pine nuts are the main nuts traditionally used(i have some yummy mix of pinenuts soaked in a little jar in olive oil,vinegar,whole and crushed garlic,pepper,sugar & i dont know what...i fixed this mix many a weeks back and its delightfull-must sit with the jar,pic it and write an article but in next year that'll be,oh yeah new years jus a few days ago)

this is a portion of chicken,which i fried in olive oil ,instead of grilling...honestly could do w/o the extra oil...no difference both are great if (the grilled version above )not better...

ADAPTED FROM THE KITCHENS OF THE GORGEOUS NIGELLA LAWSON

FOR THE PESTO SAUCE.
2 bunches Basil leaves only
1/2 cup cashewnuts/walnuts/pinenuts or a mix
14 cloves of garlic(almst or rather a whole bulb)
1 c extra virgin olive oil.
1)bLItz the nuts,garlic and basil,in a blender,and in a stream add olive oil,like u would fo myo kinda.
Add parmesan cheese(1/4 cup)
MARINATE SOME SEASONED WITH SALT AND CRUSHED PEPPER CHICKEN WITH SOME OF THE PESTO SAUCE...

AND EITHER BAKE OR grill as i did and put all the marinade with a little in a pan and bring to a boil and simmer for awhile for a thick gravy.

the cut mushrooma marinated in the pesto,a few hours before i grilled 'em...

marinated mushrooms grilled just right.......

and few grilled crisp for the crispy lovers like me.....

2)FOR THE PASTA
---LINGUINIE COOKED AS PER DIRECTIONS
---1/4 CUP OLIVE OIL
---7 CLOVES GARLIC
---1/4 CUP PINE NUTS LIGHTLY TAOSTED
---A FEW BASIL LEAVES TORN
---LOADS OF GRATED PARMESAN

***HEat oil ,add the garlic& FRESH RED CHILLIES and toss around till the aromas fill the air and dont take too long a break to enjoy the heady aroma-----coz u need to toss in the pasta now and coat evry slippery strand w the
aromatic garlic oil....

(HERE I HAD A TWEAK COZ STIR FRIED ZUCHINNI,MUSHROOMS,PEPPERS,BABY CORN & CARROTS IN THIS OIL AND TOSSED ALL THE LINGUINE INTO THIS YUMMY FRAGRANT MEELLEE)
***tansfer to a warm bowl,sprinkle with basil,pinenuts & parmesan,leaving some for garnish..toss well

***Keep warm with a silver foil or to serve make a bed of the pasta tossed in flavoured oil w veggies(if using) and scoop in some pesto gravy IN THE MIDDLE &chicken around the middle.

garnish with the rest of the basil,pine nuts and parmesan...

and here the marinated mussels pesto'd and grilled to perfection....

.......fingerlicking good........perfect with any pasta or mashed potato or as they are....

a very lovely post with perfect pictures awaits u at I HEART COOKING CLUBS,by Natashya(i so love what u did...amazing and yeah inspiring too!!!) and if ur looking foward as muc as i am to what the rest of the gang will cook up (more drooling...more recipes)this week head over to EXOTIC DESTINATIONS ...right HERE in the comfort of ur home...and that said my home always is where my heart is and my heart is with family and i make every destination home= love,peace,joy bubbling and skipping along with a gay heart and bursting laughter on my lips.....come fall in love......

RADDISH OF THE FIELDS........

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Sat, 09 Jan 2010 08:18:00 +0000

Riding along the long winding roads i m so enjoying this morning drive, surrounded on both sides by paddy fields that now grow fresh veggies.Each road ends only to lead to another delightfull village and the early airs is cool and fresh , and its great to drive wo having to turn on the air conditioning. . . .now i love a sunset drive or afternoon drive or moon light drive as much i love hanging out at home too. . .if i sound like am a morning person. . .well am a morning , afternoon, or evening sugar plum too. . .as the need arises. . . .i love a good under the star lit sky or the setting rising sun drive as much as i enjoy catching up on my beauty sleep. . .and actually need 10 hours of sleep that aint always 10hours. As we step up a bit and touch the highway again. . .i spot him and fall in love. . . . .

Yeah i fall in love (i fall in love everyday.....with a whole load of ....saved for another past...another time) with all the freshest of the fresh local veggies spread of a sack cloth or two or three and in the locally woven wicker basket. . . . . Green veggies still fresh with the morning dew and freshly washed root veggies. . . . . .and we picked a few bunches of everybody's fav:-):-) RADDISH. . .still very wet of the water that helped scrubing of all the mud. . . .

And tastiest when prepared simply by placing the chopped white and greens discarding the stems, in a clay pot with a few tablespoons of freshly squeezed coconut juice or grated coconut, a few onions and loads of garlic, finely chopped and a pinch or three of crushed root turmeric. . . Oh there are loads of ways there can be done with loads of additions and a base of sauteed onions too but i love it best simple. . . . Didn some one say that beauty (delicious beauty here) lies in simplicity. . . .no? Ok me am saying it now. . . . And to sum lemme use a simple word but one that speaks volumes. . . .TASTEE E. . .ok delighfully tastee!

Honestly this happenned last month when didn have the cam nor the cell i used to shoot with while on the drive so no pics of the whole episode. . . But did make up by have a photo shoot of the very inspiration didn i:-)

A MULTI COLORED CARNIVAL COOKIE & MY SECOND HAPPY 101 AWARD...

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Tue, 05 Jan 2010 22:03:00 +0000

`http://heartnsoulcooking.blogspot.com/ Has honoured me with my second award and as a big thank u and little gesture am baking THESE COOKIES from her blog with a twist...now more on that in a bit....

She's my very first follower and(meant so muc for a nobody even leaves me a little hi blog!!!) visiting her delights me -love her cookies and everything else.I have said this and i say it again -i love how she captures the whole essence of a cookie with one single cute picture what i cant with so many!!!!

And now about these lovely cookies have bookmarked on her blog along with loads of other goodies and chose this one though had to tweak it coz its difficult ot find pecans here so was shuttling between walnuts and hazlenuts and finally narrowed down on hazlenuts and am so glad i did...

Next is that i substituted both cream of tartar and lemon extract with lemon juice coz i have none of 'em...

AND i doubled the amount of choco chips in white& semisweet & milk..mixed-not intentionally but ended up doing just that...

And i used all butter and baked 'em to a golden brown for a really good crunchy crumbly buttery cookie..

I think i can call 'em THE CRUMBLY CRUNCHY ,ALL BUTTER ,GOLDEN BAKED ,ROASTED HAZLENUT,LEMON DOUBLE CHOCO CHIP COOKIES WITH A LITE COCONUT,CARAMEL GLAZE COOKIE GLAZE DRESSED WITH CUT SOFT CANDIES AND SPRINKLES....

ADAPTED FROM HEART & SOUL COOKINGS LOVELY BLOG..

2 cups all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon cream of tartar (lime juice)
1/4 teaspoon salt (no salt coz i used salted butter)
1/2 cup butter, softened
1/4 cup vegetable or butter flavored shortening(i used all butter)
1 cup sugar
1 egg
2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon grated lemon peel
1/2 teaspoon lemon extract (lemon juice)
1 cup pecans, toasted and finely chopped(hazlenuts)
1 cup mixed choco chips(the original recipe suggests 1/2)
Preheat oven to 375 F. Lightly grease baking sheet.

In a small bowl, stir together flour, baking soda, cream of tartar and salt.

In a medium bowl, beat together butter, shortening and sugar until fluffy. Add egg, honey, lemon peel and lemon extract. Beat until smooth. Add flour mixture, stir until a soft dough forms. Stir in toasted pecans.

Drop dough by measuring tablespoons 2 inches apart on prepared baking sheet.

Bake 7 to 8 minutes or until a light golden color (do not overbake). Cool cookies on the baking sheet on a wire rack 2 minutes before transferring to wire racks to cool.

Makes about 3 dozen cookies.

NOTES: Because nuts are rich in oil, toasting brings out the flavor and aroma. Toast them in a 350 F. oven in a single layer in a shallow pan 5 to 10 minutes, stirring at least once. Smelling the aroma of toasting nuts is a signal that they are ready to use. Once at this stage, they will scorch easily. Toasting pecans extends the flavor of the pecans and makes it seem like there is more than a cupful in the recipe.

You can also add 1/2 cup of mini white chocolate chip to this recipe.(I ADDED 1)

Ok now for the HAPPY HAPPY AWARD 101,it ofcourse really made me happy thanx to Geri and wanna honour her right back officially coz what ,ade me so happy jus a bit back is making it to the THROW DOWN OF I HEART CUPPY CAKES and its thanx jus coz of all u guys....

There were 71 voters and for ur support i got 31 which is 44%,it aint over yet coz JAmieAnne ,will baKe my cupcake alongwith Catie's and the tester will decide which one wins...wish u all were the testers...well dont they say that if wishes were horse's beggars would ride but i always said that if wishes were horses there wouldn beggars....

So back to award i wrote THIS POST ,requesting u all for votes little knowing that all u sweet hearts would actually take the time to vote for me and here i am(hope that in a bit i tell u guys that yipeeeeeee i won.....)
So am passing this award very happily with a gay heart and song on my lips ,not necesarily in this order....with a cookie for each one of u....

1) NATALIE OF NAT'S BAKING IN NEW YORK CITY
Natalie said...
YOU SAID-So sweet ! I am on my way tro vote for you right now !! :) Good Luck !
and she was one of my first voters-thanx a ton Natalie-u amde me really happy and over the top so here's ur HAPPY AWARD...

2)ISABEL OF SITIO DAS DELICIAS

.YOU SAID..
Minha linda amiga, já acedi á página e votei no magnífico cake!!!
Um grande beijinho e espero que ganhes!
-mutissmo obrigado mia amigimha ajingha e bejinhos para ti tambem....e meu segundo selinho tambem...
and so for my dear pal Isabel who also made my day and was responsible too,for me reaching the finals as would love to call 'em here's ur HAPPY 101 AWARD .O queridinha isabel,esta e meu segundo selinha tambem..bejinhos grandes e abracos...

3) OF SAVEURSETGOURMANDISES...

YOU SAID J'ai voté pour toi. J'espère que tu gagneras.
A bientôt-
Yeah she voted for me and expected me to win and thats what she says in the message-so sweet and we had barely met in blogosphere and so here's the HAPPY 101 AWARD FOR U

4)VINNI OF AMELHIA DIGITAL

YOU SAID Obrigada por visitar meu blog! :D :D
Eu votei 'too'. (sweetestkitchen.com)
I wrote the blog:
========>Hello! Olá!
Meu voto: ( I voto for: )
Batica – A Gorgeous Rich Delicious Goan Portuguese Coconut Bolo
(vanillastrawberryspringfields.blogspot.com)
Kisses! (Beijos!)
Vinni/ Brasil
http://amehliadigital.blogspot.com/ <======
Kisses for you!!
Vinni
now isnt Vinni our sunshine gurl-hey yeah she'll make ur day so hop straight by...SO HERES UR HAPPY 101 AWARD TOO...
Vinni ,uma 'HAPPY101 AWARD' (SELINHA)para linda Vinni.
bejinhos

5)CHAYA OF SWEET AND SAVOURY
YOU SAID You are way in the lead. I think it is 41 percent. Good luck. It looks good now.
You bake beautifully...
Oh Chaya,our lovely domestic godess bakes so good herself and her note with the vote made my day too-thanx Chaya i made it with ur vote too.
ANd heres ur HAPPY101 AWARD TOO.

6)JAONNE OF EATS WELL WITH OTHERS
YOU SAID I still maintain that your cupcakes look fantastic. And so of COURSE I voted for you. Good luck sweetie! You're doing really well so far.
Joanne,a sweetheart...no no...evrybodys sweetheart and this is her 3rd award in a row,if somebody doesnt beat me to it ie,thanx for that pat Joanne...i needed the boost and yeah ur vote made me happy too so heres ur HAPPY 101 AWARD.

7)HEATHER OF GIRLCHEF
YOU SAID I voted for ya...good luck! Looks like you're doing great so far :D
HEather also one of the lovely gurls behind i heart cooking clubs,a doll and yeah thanx a ton for ur vote and here's ur HAPPY 101 AWARD TOO....

8)LISA OF PARSELY,SAGE,DESSERTS AND LINE DRIVES
YOU SAID You got my vote, chicky!! Now, did you say there was something else you needed an answer about regarding the cookies? :)
The genius of re working choco chip cookies and the Levian bakery one no less, and cant forget the gingerbread lighthouse surely..that pat and all ur pats meant so muc ...thanx a ton and for making me happier here's ur HAPPY 101 AWARD TOO

9)ROSA OF ROSA'S YUMMY YUMS
YOU SAID Those look so pretty, moist and delicious!
Best wishes for 2010!
cheers,Rosa
Thanx to u too Rosa,the really very sweet anglo swiis gurl whose passionate about cooking and photography and is a sweetheart.
Hers is a much loved blog...
Thanx a ton and for making me happy too here's ur HAPPY 101 AWARD...

10)ARLENE OF FOOD OF LOVE
YOU SAID Your cuppies look delicious. I voted for you. Good luck. Thanks for visiting The Food of Love.
Am a frequent flyer ,as i love to quote u,to ur blog now and thanx a ton for ur vote too and love hopping by ur blog too ...truly food cooked with loads of love aint it?
Here's ur HAPPY 101 AWARD TOO...

10)Ok it supposed to be 10 but i really cant miss out MANDY FROM MANDYS RECIPE BOX
An absolutely sweet city gurl ,now farmers wife so a true country gurl with fresh country food in a fresh country kitchen...howzattt.....
Thank u for making me happy too and here's to u a HAPPY101 AWARD...

NOW HERES WHAT U DO WITH UR AWARD-COPY IT TO UR BLOG,
TELL US 10 THINGS THAT MAKE U HAPPY-WE ARE ALL EARS....AND AWARD 'EM TO 10 OF UR FELLOW BLOGGERS WHO MAKE UR DAY A SUNSHINE DAY..(and yeah thank the pal who passed 'em on to u).
I do ,personally pick out a recipe from the blog of my pal who passed on this award to me but thats coz i chose to do it...as a little thank u and anyway have bookmarked so much so many of ur lovely blogs..jus that it gor done earlier...

AND TO BEGIN WITH 10 THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY....
1.When you leave a sprinkle (comment)for me, oh i dont have to elaborate how good it feels to read what your heart says thru your sweet comment on my blog.

2.Girlie activities with mommy . .catching coffe at the coffee shop of a lazy lunch at the waterfront, shopping and marketing w her, cooking with her in the kitchen where the helper me disappears a few times, and cuddling up in bed with her for the most blissful sleep. .and her dimpled smile first thing in the morn...am so in love...

3.My colored rubberbands on my braces,specially when my dentist gives in to my color combos..red & green alternately for christmas ,now the next change will be pink(valentines u see...)

4.When i8 and opera and blogger dont bug together and hang up my poor laptop.

5.When i get the lite and angle rite for my pics, i never use a flash for pics so need that rite....

6.The fragrance of my fav pleasures or farahniet or dune or flower wafting all around after a generous spray after a warm shower.

7.The first rains after a very warm summer bring respite with cool winds and the landscapes slowly turning into lush green.

8.Christmas day,holidays,fathers and mothers day,docs day,new year day,valentines day and yippeee its my birthday..

9.Suprises..we are a suprise family here....

10.That said,the romantic in me tells me that one of the happiest days for me will be the drive from home to my where i walk down the aisle and when i have my first babies or rather babies...yeah would twins...date not known...for now any drive whether thru the villages to gape @nature or the sea side to see the waves lash by or marketing with mom...

FINGERLICKING GOOD DEEP YELLOW,PUMKIN @ CHICKEN THAI COCONUT CURRY @ NIGELLA LAWSON-@I HEART COOKING CLUBS..

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Mon, 04 Jan 2010 19:58:00 +0000

Bdw, i now blog at Bright Morning Star!!

I aint a resolution making kind . . Now now do i wanna send a not very good impression . .no but thats the truth. . . But i love to look forward to a great year and a happily gay one at that . .and yeah go to gym or aerobic class regularly and ok ok looks like am already making some resolutions aint i? And jus a bit back who was it that said. . I dont make any resolutions. . . That said lets wander a bit towards our exciting topic of interest shall we or its more like to the main point of interest is it?

I tried this a bit back and was more than thrilled to find it at Nigella Lawsons cook along this month here.

SO u will have better pics ,then these taken from a cell phone!!!

Will definately try this delicious curry and if i do will blog about it again on this blog

And the RESOLUTION THEME is the party theme of the week at I HEART COOKING CLUBS ....(what do we do???oh we have tonns of fun cookin nigella in our kitchens every week or sometimes several times a week)this week and yeah i hop skip jump all along very happily....

And why do these little Pumpkin pics adorn all around...well coz fell in love with this little pumpkin carriage as soon as it walked in that door...cute aint it???Will it turn into a sleigh to take sowman around at midnight...lets wait and watch....

One thing i would resolute every single day is to blend eliciousness with flavour and say cut down on the fat or cal a bit. .like say maybe olive oil for butter. .(so muc for everything cant think of any more for now) every drop makes an ocean so i begin with this lovely coconut curry with an absolutely lite coconut milk that yet retains it great flav and yeah despite this change nigella rocked again.

Now where baked goods go its all butter coz i dont eat 7 or 12 cookies or cuppycakes in a day (lets forget about the days i do for now and finish off with a nice mug of hot chocolate and marshmellows for now shall we? ) does this sound any where close to a resolution post? I so hope it does. . . . Oh and im ever so determined to find a few cookie cutters , cute heart shaped and teddy bears and all those shapes that spell cute. . . . . . Candy and sprinkles this year. . . .

And try to get as much as baking goodies as possible so that these not being around limit my baking. . . I have no walmart or one of those bakery supply delightful stores that i can just wallk up the aisle with all my pocket money and mommy jus round the corner and drop all those goodies right into my basket. . . You get nothing here and at times takes me months to get my hands grabbing an ingredient or tool but of course i survive....

Now didn i just make a 100 resolutions just now. . And i think i make a few every single day and my to do list is updated all the time too. . .

So much for all said i am after all a resoluting gal aint i ?

Now for the recipe i actually cooked it up last year with this lovely pumkin and twice round and now if last year sounds like a long time. . . .was just a few days back . . .i find myself taking over lunches and dinners more often with a few cookies in between and tend to sway towards Nigella's recipes and truly wanna explore her exciting whole world before we wind up this term so truly there's no missing any week for me. . . . Hopefully. . . . . .and we have just begun our 2nd week of jan and the eager beaver me already wonders, now aloud, what the next four themes will be. . . .

Was chosing for a nice lunch curry and this one seemed apt to the t,i had a pumkin sitting pretty in the kitchen anyeah all i had to do was replace all the seafood with chicken and add some veggies...yeah we did have shrimps sitting in the freezer but its been a few days of seafood(i havent been able to post our italian grilled fish com crosto e parmesano and lemon garlic grilled fish and herby grilled fish with greens coz i couldn take pics but believe me these will all be repeats and will post em soon) and today was decided as a meaty day and here i was...

I dont usually get attracted to packaged pastes as i love to grind my own but dunno why i picked this tiny packets of thai tom yum paste & green curry paste from our supplier last week-maybe coz i found 'em cute ...and here they were actually usefull now coz i didn have galangal(though the sustitute for that is sadi to be gonger with fresh turmeric root-similiar flav,i did try this one)

And i wasnt going to buy the red or yellow curry paste so i mixed the 2 i had in stock,jus a wee bit...not to up the spiciness they lend...

ADAPTED FROM THE GORGEOUS KITCHENS OF NIGELLA LAWSON

Marinated 2.5 cups of bite sized cut chicken in a little of the following
~~~~chicken stock powder
~~~~fish sauce
~~~~dash of turmeric
~~~~dash o sugar
~~~~lime juice
~~~~1/2 tbh of green and red curry paste

So my marinade had all the flavours of the curry seepin happily into the chicken as it sat in its glass bowl,under cling wrap in the refrigeration

2)PLACE ALL OF THE FOLLOWING IN A POT AND KEEP ON THE FLAME...
~~~~400 ml coconut milk mixed with 700ml water and stock powder(chicken)-this i did coz wnted a v lite(somebody who cant eat too muc coconut stopped by n dis worked well),not creamy curry so for a creamy curry increase the coconut milk/cream and reduce the water
~~~~2 pink shallots cubed
~~~~2 stalks lemon grass cut into 1/3rd and bruised with a flat knife to release th aromatic flavours
~~~~3 kaffir lime leaves crushed(dried)
~~~~1 tbh sugar
~~~~2 tbh fish sauce
~~~~1/2 tsp turmeric
~~~~a few curry leaves bruised(optional)

As it comes to a boil whisk with a whisk until smoth and combined and add in the marinated chicken.
Simmer till chicken is almost done.
NOTE-The curry leaves get added coz little b was nostalgic about moms lovely goan chicken curry and i was cooking nigella(ofcourse mommy gave me a big fat green signal) and so in when those fresh ,garden picked curry leaves that he cycled around and picked(ofcourse the goan curry will be featured soon too)

3)Add 1 cup of pumkin cubed,green peas and robustly simmer till just done coz the pumpkin will continue cooking as it cools.

Serve with loads of cilantro/parsely/chopped spinach

A decilious curry even with a thinned out coconut milk....everybody loved it and it tasted fantasticly better the next day(always the case with a coconut curry)

THE LAST DANCE...@GLORIOUS SUNSET OF 2009

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 18:04:00 +0000

A picture speaks louder than words and these pics are very special coa they are the last sunset of 2009

...i love sunsets with a good espresso & a good brownie or cookie in hand(oh a sandwhich should do too,depends on the taste buds at that moment)

A golden sunsets heralds in a beautiful moonlit sky to a glorious morning and here a morning welcoming a brand new year....

A sunset is a beautifull glow of nature-an example of Gods splendid creation galore.

Whether its simply gazing into the fading orangey glow or sipping expresso,i love a good sunset-every sunset is that!!!

Memories that are etched by a sunset are like none other and the gold lends a glow to ur face too.

Oh love to sit by the beach,as the winds are cooling,watching the beautifully gorgeous sun setting -whats in hand aint important,only the sunset with the waves lashing by the shore almost forming a background more than foreground as the golden hued rays reflect with crystal like perfection.....

And here's wishing u all a rocking ,fantaboulous new year with joy and laughter bubling thru and great sucess in all you do.....

APPETIZERS @ CHICKEN CROQUETTES @ RECIPES2 RIVAL

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 17:40:00 +0000

Now on 7th december my inbox read an email to me that i have been accepted at recipes to rival..... Yippeee ...i was wanting to be a part of this lovely group since october or earlier -they have these most delicious recipes.
We had 3 recipes given to us this month and if not for the want of ingredients,i'd tried am all three...
For this month of recipes to rival LORI OF LORI'S LIP SMACKING GOODNESS,was the host and she has a collection of some scrumptious recipes on her blog and these lovely ones prove that....
Now will post in some more details and the lovely recipe in a bit ...for now here are the pics...

here are the ones all ready to fry.........

and here is the batch to be grilled(without the flour & egg coating)

the same before grilling 'em

and here they are jus outa the griller w/o a drop of oil-experiment sucessfull

and here are the fried ones all dressed up to serve-they are really good....

and shaped them in 2 shapes -both are great

and they go really well with some crunchy ice berg ,pomogranate seeds & parsely

OK ..THIS POST WILL BE UPDATED IN A BIT.....

and do hop by HERE for fantastic RECIPES FROM RECIPES TO RIVAL....

MY VERY FIRST SUGAR DOLL AWARD ALONWITH A YUMMY HONEY GINGER CHICKEN STIR FRY.

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Fri, 01 Jan 2010 14:52:00 +0000

MY FIRST EVER AWARD IS PRESENTED TO ME BY A BEAUTIFUL PERSON,CHAYA ,WRITE OF THE LOVELY BLOG,SWEET & SAVOURY SAYS IT ALL!!!!!
oH MY very first award and am so so excited and thrilled-actually got an award....OH Chaya,she a sweet heart and i love her blog and before rambling on-THANX A TON A GRATEFUL HEARTFUL POOHY HUUGGY TO YA!!!And congrats on ur award and thanx a ton for passing it on to me!!!!
You are so sweet and made d days of us so many and also gave us the oppurtinity to makes another 10 lovely bloggers days.
Another wonderfull pointer is the lovely little note she wrote about each blogger-so so sweet and cute!!!
And i'm going to do exactly the same!!!
If someone can tell me where i can find a domestic Godess award i would love to give that to CHAYA@SWEET AND SAVOURY SAYS IT ALL-coz she truly is ones-she not only bakes and cooks a lot but manages so well to put up her delicious posts for us all to share and cooks gluten free and healthy too...all thru a busy schedule and has a class whom she bakes cookies for(oh i always imagine 'em smiling at the cookies she brings)and she gives the ones no remembers too-so muc to learn!
I would have loved to put up this post earlier but didn coz i wanted to put it by alonwith a cook along from something from Chaya's post-wanted to make it a little special and though there is a lot lot(almost evrything really),i have bookmarked from her blog,she jus posted this one and there were exactly fillets to be cooked up for lunch today so i thought this would be perfect and yummy...

And it reAlly was....fantastic finger licking good-cant wait to try a few more of ur recipes Chaya.

Honey Ginger Chicken with Peppers (stir-fry)
ADAPTED FROM CHAYA'S BLOG

Ingredients:
1/4 cup honey
2 tablespoons rice vinegar
2 tablespoons soy sauce
2 tablespoons Canola oil(i used olive oil)
1 pound chicken cutlets, sliced into a quarter inch strips
1/2 teaspoon ginger-fresh,finely chopped
1/2 teaspoon garlic powder(used fresh garlic here)
1 red pepper, sliced thinly(green pepper coz we didn have red pepper)
cooked rice (basmati rice)

NOTES-
The chicken was already defrosted and i had around 3 hours before we had this so what i did was take a little bit of evrything from the ingredients and marinated the chicken in it and there it sat in the fridge till it was time to stir fry it
this one's really quick to put together and all u need is to keep the peppers cut and garlic & ginger minced.

METHOD
In a small bowl, stir together honey, vinegar and soy sauce.
Heat a large skillet and add one tablespoon olive oil.
Add chicken and stir until opaque but not cooked through. (3 minutes)
Transfer to a plate. Put aside.
Add 1 tablespoon oil and ginger and garlic. Stir for thirty seconds.
Add peppers and stir for two minutes.
Add soy mixture and bring to a boil.
Return chicken to skillet and toss until sauce thickens and chicken is cooked thoroughly. (3 minutes)

I served over a garlic onion rice with almonds & rasins...

This is really delicious-thanx for the rcipe Chaya...its really good...

And now for this lovely SUGAR DOLL AWARD THAT I WANNA GIVE 10 WONDERFULL SUGAR DOLL BLOGGERS WHO NOW TO ME ARE MY DEAR FRIENDS...ALL SPECAIL IN THEIR OWN WAY AND THEY DO ROCK BLOGOSPHERE....
CHAYA OF SWEET&SAVOURY SAYS IT ALL-
i dont know if i can pass one of these awards to her but if i do ,maybe we'll be passing 'em on to each other till one of us stops... :-)))
So can i give u this award say unofficially or something?
The more i say about her the less it is,she's amazing and not only cooks and bakes a lot but posts 'em all too ,to share every delicious meal with us.ANd she cooks gluten free and really healthy for her dear hubby and to top it all-all with loads of love!!!
And she bakes all those lovely cookies ,for her Class-i can only imagine 'em smiling with a heartfelt joy.
And above all she's a wonderful human-yeah she tops!!!
aND NOW FOR THE 10 LOVELY BLOGGERS(am sorry if i missed any one but i have another one lined up)

1)ISABEL OF SITIO DAS DELICIAS
which really applies to her lovely blog as it means a site for deliciousness
Oh she's my portuguese friend and an absolute darling-her words are so so sweet ,like honey and her recipes are delicious.
Ola Isabel,este award de SUGAR DOLL e para uma amiginha queridinha,anginha como muitos grandes bejinhos e abracos.

2)JAONNE OF EATS WELL WITH OTHERS
Joanne has a wonderfull world @ EATS WELL WITH OTHERS and her every elicious creation,every single one of them ,begins with a very cute humourous story ,that leads to the path up her kitchen to the table with great food and she write it so well....with apt describtions...
And boy,besides studying at medical school,she runs and i dont mean running other crazy(with her cuteness)but running marathons...whew...if i took my gym classes that well!!!!
And jus a bit ago Joanne i got to know ,hey it Joanne's blog birthday and she's got cake for us all so here's my little present for her along with her lovely cake...

3)GERI OF HEART AND SOUL COOKING .
She's a doll my very first follower and(meant so muc to a, 'nobody even leaves me a little hi blog!!!') visiting her delights me -love her cookies and everything else.
Ofcourse i follow her blog as i do every single one here and i love how she captures the whole essence of a cookie with one single cute picture what i cant with so many!!!!

4)VINNI FROM AMEHLIA DIGITAL
My newer pal,oh what lovely thoughts of love and care fill her beautifull blog and we have a common love-JESUS,besides other things...and loads of delcious recipes too!!!!
Loved reading her recent article recipes of friends.And the whole write reflects what a beautiful person with a lovely heart she is....
She's a doll and u'll love her too!!!

4)THE LOVELY RENA & GANG AT HAVE THE CAKE
I dont know if i can, but i simply cant help awarding this lovely baking group i was introduced to thanx to Jaonne and i surely can pass this to 'em! Oh yes ,am a part of it too!!!!
Rena is the sweet one who let me in here and am so so glad to be baking with HAVE THE CAKE where she brings together the bakers around the globe to bake a goodie....truly a sugar doll...
Every month one of the members choses a baking delight and we all bake it and i like the way she says-no bake or cake police will come at ur door if u delay....Love 'em!!!

5)I HEART COOKING CLUBS
This really would go the lovely gurls who keep this site and yeah their individual blogs rock too....
And they are http://girlichef.blogspot.com/, http://livinginthekitchenwithpuppies.blogspot.com/ AND http://kahakaikitchen.blogspot.com/ are the ones who plan the lovely posts for each theme and the layouts too....GREAT GALS and they hae great individual blogs too.
And yeah its not only about savoury but loads of sugar dolls popping in with dessert and in betweens too.
They work hard to keep a great spirit and come up with lovely posts ,pics and collages in line with the theme ,every single week,where we cook up nigella's recipes & yeah a great blog to find elicious nigella's creations & meet lovely people too!!!
Yeah i met a whole world of wonderful bloggers here who are fantastic gals too.

6)LISA OF PARSELY,SAGE,DESSERTS AND LINE DRIVES
U know i met Lisa thru Chaya -Chaya has been researching choco chip cookies and she mentioned Lisa's levain bakery CC cooj=kie and i hopped by and now i'm hooked-not to cookies but her blog thats filled with sweet delights.
What i love about this sweetie is that despite having loads loads of bloggers writing in to her and asking for tips,she replies to evry single one and helps us all in solving out sweet problems-a sugar doll too aint she?
Oh and dont forget to check her absolutely cute and beautifull gingerdoll lite house while u r there.
YEah every body here are jus so wonderfull persons that am loving doing this post.

7)ARLENE OF THE FOOD OF LOVE
Im a new flyer on her blog and will sure be frequent one ,not only coz her recipes are so so good and her pictures ozze deliciousness...but also coz her smile is so infectious ...jus speaks a lot...a whole lot of wonderfulness about her...
and i follow her blog too,so wont miss out on any goodies here nor her!!!

8)JAIMEANNE OF THE SWEETEST KITCHEN
This gorgeous gal is all about cuppycakes and simply the best -u'll love her to droll for cuppy cake pics-and she is also last months winner who chose the wonderfull coconut as this months ingredient.
And she's a sweetheart too-as if all her cuppycake adventures werent enough to make her a sugar doll,well she's a lovely person and has really been there for me thru this cuppy cake event when my system has been down and wonky and driving me nutty.

9)GIRLICHEF WHERE ALL ROADS LEAD TO THE KITCHEN
Heather is girlchef and girlchef is Heather and she's really cute-a suagr doll too-and love her take on food and how she landed in culinary school.
Hop on to her blog to get to know her better-she got loads of delicous stuff with super pics just for u....
I wait to droll over the nigella stuff she comes up with every week.

10)AND LASTLY BUT DEFINATELY NOT THE LEAST IS NATALIE FROM NAT'S BAKING IN NEW YORK CITY
Her blog is 'girls are made of sugar and spice'...aint that perfect for me to add sugar dolls.
Oh baked goodies flood her lovely site-from muffins to really cute cookies. Dont know her muc yet but so looking foward to the list of 10 things about her we dont know.
The joys of spring really overtake me here and also in a hurry to get this post up asap ,am sorry if have made any mistakes and point 'em out to me and will correct 'em asap.

Now what u do is,save the picture of the award and copy to ur post,write about 10 things about urself-oh we all wanna know the wonderfull u better and pass on the award to 10 wonderfull bloggers
And to begin with here are 10 sugar doll facts about me at random..
u may know a few of 'em if u read my journey of love and more about me in the right hand columns.SO here goes...

1)Im a total romantic and fall head over heels or truly madly deeply in love as u say ,every single day, with love ,life ,food,music and my family and to sum that up my days beginsand end with love, zest, zing and passion:) . Oh the things that make my world go round and gourmet does too...
And yes i am a total candy pink floss romantique,round the clock ,i am so in love all the time & i think my heart love me for that-everythings as the good side of it is!!!

2)I love love love ballroom music(alongwith with slow & all the my fav movie tracks et all) as in all the waltzing,tangos and the like so yeah that includes dancing too...

3)I love winnie the pooh and have a little of his parenphalia too which i love love love collecting.

4)My christmasy mood begins in november ans ends somewhere in feb when the valentines mood begins so dont be suprised to continue seeing all the reds in my pics.

5)The year has seen me at the recieving end of goodies galore-my 1st 160gb ipod,my first computer ever -this cute laptop, and now a camera.And yeah a hamilton beach is already brought in buts its in another state,so will have to wait.

6)I love and am so enjoying bogging though i just signed in outa curiosity in june 09 but actually began blogging in mid september when my family gifted me this laptop and i so ove the wonderful pals like u that am meeting here.

7)My journey of being a foodie began before i walked(or rather ran) into my teens and have written a bit on that in my right column in 'the journey of love'.

8)I live in a state where even to buy basic sprinkles i have to research,leave alone all those cute stuff at kaf and in my wishlist.

9)I have this inbron quality of writing really really long statements and thats why this list is sooooooo lonnnnnnnnnnnngggg.

10)And most importantly i love Jesus,and He's my reason to say yes to love...yes to life and having me enjoy life in any given situation and loving every moment of my joyous ,bubbling with laughter from within days of my life...

I REALLY wanted to get this up in dec2009 ,on the day i got the award but couldn the main reason being i wanted to cook up something from Chaya's blog and secondly my laptops being truly a bad bad girl the last few days coz of which i am behind posting-for the last 2days of dec, i have cut down on so muc sleep to get my posts up coz it not only hangs every so often but also refuses to upload pics-what a combination ....
But now have just downloaded i8(blogger doesnt work well on the opers browser i love to use-the blogger comments boxes simply refuse to open up)and have discovered i can load pics directly thru picasa so hopefully things will be so much smoother.
Also linking this post to OUR KRAZY KITCHENS to Chaya's post who hosts evry monday...
And wishing u all a fantastically great happy new year dearies...
love u all....

A PORTUGUESE COCONUT CAKE &CUPPY CAKES-QUEQUINHOS ESPICAIS DE ISABEL

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 18:12:00 +0000

This post is very special not only coz i bake it for a special day in my life but also the heaRtfull story it comes with....

This is how ISABEL,OF THE WONDERFULL BLOG began her post about these cakkeys that she specially baked for me-i was so so so touched and overwhelmed with my adorable virtual pal and now we r in each others heart as well.....

Para uma linda amiga virtual que me solicitou uma receita com Crunch, a Sugar Plum, autora do lindo Blog vanillastrawberryspringfields, hoje pus em prática esta receita. São bolinhos obtidos da junção do coco àquele chocolante crocante que fazem as delícias de miúdos e graúdos: o chocolate Crunch. Aconselho vivamente para quem gostar de um bolinho estaladiço com sabor a coco. Sugar, espero que gostes, assim como todos os visitantes do Sítio das Delícias que resolvam experimentar.....

Honestly Isabel had me at Queques Crunch Sugar Plum,which translates to "CAKKEYS CRUNCH SUGAR PLUM"..........

Worst parT here was coudnt comment awhile on her post coz many a time the profile box doesnt open for blogger blogs where commenting is embedded below the post -it jus gets stuck and i have to keep re loading the page till it goes thru and it could take a few days too for this....

So i darted her an email which she was sweet enough(as ever)to post.....

Her heartfelt love over whelmed me-we barely connected awhile ago thru r blogs and a few emails and me casually asked her for a specific portuguese recipe,she went all the way....

Not only emailed it to me but posted it too and specially for me and i wanna dedicate this post right back to her....her as a wonderful human,

Isabel as a woderful blogger who has all the gorgeousness that portuguese delights have to offer and its a wonderful world at her site O SITIO DAS DELICIAS-rightly named as a site for delicacies galore......

O Isabel, mia queridinho amiginha virtual-muitissmo obrigado para esta recieta delicias

Isabel tu es uma buneca-AND THIS IS THE MESSAGE I WAS SO TRYING TO LEAVE @ HER LOVELY BLOG-she's so loving & affectionate & sweet.....and really tugged hard at my heart strings and really my first portuguese blogging buddy...
tu es uma anjinha-primera te tudo i'm sorry para repondera tao tarde
mais nao posso commentara sobre pocos blogues de blogger ,nao sei
porque porciso estou escrevera email com muito muito amor para ti
amorzinho que tu mia desta.....
esto momento estou tentar Enviar um comentário sobre o blogue mais nao
posse(am trying at the moment to leave u a note with all my love on ur
blog but it just aint going thru)
podos postar mia esta message para seu blogue(can u post this message
to ur blog till i get my laptop or settings sorted)
eu adoro tudo de sitio das delicias de isabel.....

Que lindos e maravilhos esta quequinhos....gostei muito e vou fazera
para toda familia que juntna na 28th dec....
nao se commo para desser obrigado.......
tambem para palavres genti
delicia, adorei.com muistismo amor e grandes bejinhos muitos e abracos

AND MY DEAR ISABEL REPLIED SO SO SWEETLY ,I MEAN HER WORDS ARE SO FILLED WITH HONEY ,REFLECTING THE AMAZING PERSON SHE IS....
obrigada pelas plavras amáveis que me enviaste. és uma pessoa formidável! Eu peço desculpa por não escrever em inglês, escrevo pouca coisa, coisas simples e para te agradecer, não podia me limitar a palavras simples. Assim, quero dizer-te que talvez não fossem esses bolinhos que tu procuravas, pois tu és capaz de muito melhor, pois tens tantas receitas lindíssimas no teu blog, com fotos belíssimas, mas foram feitas com todo o carinho a pensar em ti!
Decidi postar o teu comentário nos comentários, pois queria deixar arquivada a tua mensagem carinhosa no meu cantinho, já que a tua amizade já está arquivada no meu coração!
beijinho muito grande!

a few of 'em all together.........

Oh her portuguese is absolutely adorably sweet and love her for that and more and i simply had to bake these adorable cakkeys and a little heart too 4a special midnight cut between jus a handfull of us @fly and though we had loads of cakes comong thru out the next day,this one was very very special...
Obrigado O mia amiginha isabel,
muitos muitos grandes bejinhos ....

ADAPTED FROM ISABEL'S BLOG FULL OF DELICIOUSNESS
3 ovos(EGGS)
150 g de manteiga amolecida(BUTTER SOFTENNED)
150 g de farinha com fermento(SELF RAISING FLOUR)
100 g de coco ralado(GRATED COCONUT)
140 g de açúcar(SUGAR)
150 g de chocolate Crunch(OR CHOCO CHIPS)

1)pRE HEAT THE oven to 180*c.
Break up the crunch chocolate into pieces if using.
2)Beat the eggs with the sugar till it pales in color.
3)Add the flour & really soft butter and fold in well.
4)TIp in the grated coconut and beat in well & lastly add the choco chippys or chocolate crunch
5)Pour into prepared cupcake tins or a small heart cake tin and bake till springs back to touch

(I got my heart as well as 4 small cuppys)
The only change i made is added a few lightly roasted hazlenuts and some vanilla extract and cardomon for flavour....

FROSTING....

Very similiar to this one i used for these cookies here ,except that i warmed up a little coconut milk with water & vanilla and added to the confectioners sugar that i ground with a few cashewnuts...

Oh this frosting born in my kitchen today was so so good ...its jus a keeper...and yeah have fun with the toppings...

Oh the coconutty flavour totally shines thru the next day....

u know i scrapped a few crumbs-ok quite a bit actually and made 3 balls ,like cup cake pops kinda and kept 'em in and believe ,they were so so good the next day that there was no time to dip 'em in chocolate and dress 'em up.....

I AM ALSO LINKING THIS LOVELY BAKE FOR 'WHAT DID U BAKE TODAY' @ KRAZY KITCHEN WHERE THERE HAVE A PARTY WITH A LITTLE THEME EVRY SINGLE DAY...HOP BY TO DROLL OVER DELICIOUS INSPIRATIONS

AND ALSO TO THE LOVELY FOODIE FRIDAY...JUST FOR FOODIES LIKE U AND ME!!!

AND TO A CARNIVAL(i love carnivals with the word food in 'em)FOOD ON FRIDAYS

AND YEAH HOW CAN WE MISS OUR LOVELY CHOCOLATE RECIPE FRIDAY.

AND FRIDAY FOODS HERE....

ANH YEAH WE HAVE THE LOVELY FRIDAY FEASTS TOO...HOP BY...

HO!!!HO!!!HO!!!I DID IT TOO.....THE TRADITIONAL ITALIAN WAY

noreply@blogger.com (♥Sugar♥Plum♥Fairy♥) — Thu, 31 Dec 2009 15:12:00 +0000

Whew....i actually finally did it what with my lappy bugging and dont ask me how many times it hung and how many times i uploaded the pics and how many drafts got saved w/o the pics,with me jus trying to save one....whew!!!!

And though my i did it!!! inspiration was Chaya..i actually did it -applies to my whole situation here....

Italian biscotti has held my attention from my very first crunchy bite...its different and didn think one day i'd bake 'em some day and here today on the thresh hold...no no...have crossed the thresh hold of baking 'em...

I say this coz a few decembers back,i think it was high school,i looked in awe at the biscotti lined up at an absolutely cute chocolatey quaint hand baked stuff home bakery and in awe of the gorgeous baker too-she's really good and we have picked up her goodies many a time...

I dont have any kiddy memories of biscotti ,like sitting on my moms or dads lap n drinking high tea with 'em-actually more like watching- and dipping the ends of the biscotti ever so systematically into dark italian shots or espresso's and biting into thes crunchy delights....no these werent one of the things mom baked really or we sighted at any high tea's.....

And here we get biscotti only at the resorte cake shops otherwise and then i read about this great biscotti maker in new delhi who baked for the who's who and page 3 of delhi ,even Mrs.SOnia Gandhi...need i say more....i had his number too but never did really end up ordering from him....

sO for me it was an elegant ,far away food perhaps that went well only with all those delicious movie sets ,where English stars had their afternoon tea's attended by ladies and assitants, in perfectly placed cups on perfectly matched trays with perfected blended deco..... Not a delicious cooki i would bake some day in my own kitchen with my own hands....

THere are 2 reasons am baking a biscotti,ofcourz i always wanted too but this month at this LOVELY GROUP-HAVE THE CAKE-which am so proud to be a part of -Collen picked on biscotti and i was very thrilled about this one but u know coming from a land of more chai than cafe drinkers i still haven spotted chai spice on the shelves so was on the look out for a good recipe...and am more into a bite of choco chips and jam yeah....

On my journey of baking 12 cookies i bumped into another fantastic blog-SUSANS...and she had a cookie festival on...its great and i send all my cookies in there and so did she have a great post on biscotti making......
And honestly she had me at 'traditional'.......
Loved her step by step recipe-a first timer needed it & it had me going the nutty choco way jus what i had planned in for and the tweety tweaky that am i halved the almonds to accomodate my mix of milk & semi sweet choco chips.....gorgeous truly.....

Though i would love to try all the options in the world 4 this one though i dont know when coz have so muc to try n bake.....

RECIPE ADAPTED FROM SUSANS BLOG
3/4 CUP ALMONDS
3/4 CUP CHOCO CHIPS(MILK & semisweet)
1/2 CUP CONFECTIONERS SUGAR
1/2 CUP LIGHT BROWN SUGAR
1/2 TSP GROUND CINNAMON
A FEW PODS OF CARDOMON SEED WHOLE(great addition of flvour)
1 TSP BAKING SODA
1 1/4 CUP AP FLOUR
1.5 JUMBO EGGS OR 2 SMALLER ONES
1 TSP VANILLA EXTRACT
4 TBH MELTED BUTTER

1)Preheat oven to 350 degress f.
Place almonds in a single layer on a baking sheet and toast for 10-14 mins.

2)In a small bowl whisk eggs with vanilla ,till well blended.

3)Now i a large bowl.hand mix toasted almonds(now a little cooled),choco chips,sugars,cinnamon,flour and baking powder.
Add the whisked eggs.(SAVE A WEE BIT TO BRUSH THE TOPS)

4)Work batter together with lightly floured hands and it'll be sticky here but keep going by squeezing the batter with ur hands till a dough starts to come together
(i love these little but v imp details Susan has taken care of coz for a 1st timer like me i know exactly what to expect)

5)Once the dough is nice and firm,divide into 2 equal pieces and shape into logs.-Its does stay a little sticky but lightly floured hans do the trick here.(2.5 inches wide and around

6)Now here what i did was that since my dough was already kneaded well instead of adding my choco chippys to in corporate to the dough i dug 'em in between for a chocolate layer.(didnt get the chocolate layer throughout though)

7)Brushed the tops with beaten egg(i saved a bit of the egg beaten with vanilla)

8)Now bake in a pre-heated oven for around 35mins -4o mins and cool for 20-30 mins before u begin to slice 'em.

9)Now my slicing wasnt perfect and i did have a few breakages ,though i did follow the cutting with a serrated knife in a see-saw fashion and however much id love to blame the poor knife guess it was me!

10)Bake again for 30mins and let cool in the warm oven-they were just right for our crunchy crispy palatte.

Love the word Biscotti -twice baked -coz this is what i do all the time coz i love 'em crunchy cookies so so much....

Ok the melted butter is an addition to the recipe after i read Chaya's post-infact almost had made her recipe but my next biscotti is definately from kaf,thanx to Chaya..they look good.

I substituted baking soda for powder coz the best cookie i have baked have soda in'em and then thought maybe im wrong and added a pinch of baking powder but guess my pinch wasnt really a pinch coz when they were warm they had this barely there after taste which vanished later,thank God!

A few things i learnt about melting chocolate ,was melting milk choco for these cookies the other day and added a few drops water instead of the butter i planned and there i had a roughly mess so added a few tsps of milk and the damage was reversed....

So though i had thought i would dip a few in chocolate i thought a simple coconut sugar frosting would go with the taste so had confectioners sugar with warmed coconut milk and a vanilla bean and loved this flavour so muc-it wen well with my biscotti...

AInt very happy with my pics this time ,though have jus been gifted a digi cam by my fly-maybe its me ,have yet to get the hang of macro shooting,i hope its me and not the camera :-(((

aND friends will u please please please take a few moments and vote for me HERE for this months I HEART CUPPY CAKKES...please dont say no and the deadlines 1st Jan...

Or head straight to SWEETEST KITCHEN and vote for me at the right hand side poll.(sugar at vanillastrawberryspringfields)yeah i do value ur time and am grateful for ur vote-thanx a ton....

AND A HAPPY BRITE LOVELY NEW YEAR!!!

And i simply am too bubbling over not to mention this one,have just recieved .....

My VERY FIRST AWARD from Chaya @ Sweet and savoury(her lovely biscotti is jus next to mine at have the cake) and within a few hours (ok say 24)
i recieve my second from Geri of Heart and soul cooking-oh i cant thank u'll enough ,both wonderfull buddies whose blogs i love but yeah will post all about it soon ,am working on it already and th little delay is for a little gesture am going to do along with the posts so u will read about it in a bit(please give me time)and yeah will pass on both the awards to my wonderful friends soonnnnnn......

And yeah am on FOODIE FRIDAY this week,i mean how can i miss this lovely foodie's day...i cant....

And then there is the lovely STOP AND SMELL THE CHOCOLATES with WOULD U LIKE CHOCOLATE WITH THAT?

AND FRIDAY FOOD that comes with loads of tip and a really looking foward to interveiw this week.