Did you ever think that there is such thing as bread addiction? If you did, then the next question would be, did you ever search for or found someone who has this type of addition? In my case I didn’t think of it at all till I decided to go raw, I [...]]]>

Did you ever think that there is such thing as bread addiction? If you did, then the next question would be, did you ever search for or found someone who has this type of addition? In my case I didn’t think of it at all till I decided to go raw, I didn’t search for someone who is addicted either; however, I know very well someone who is addicted to it! ME. If you never heard or read about bread addition then, let me explain it to you from my personal experience. First of all, I need to clarify an important point here. The addition that I’m going to talk about is not a type of a disease or something! It is just that I used to prefer bread more than anything else, who doesn’t, it is one of the most enjoyable eating experiences in this world.

Let me tell you how bread, used to, affect my life. Sometimes when I face a situation that there is nothing for lunch more than a piece of bread that would not bother me at all, for me that is more than enough. On the other hand ,whenever I sit on a table full with plenty different delicious dishes with the bread not being there , the meal won’t be satisfying.

When I decided to go raw for the most of the week I faced a big challenge. Not eating bread, looked like I’m going to starve myself instead of following more healthy pattern.  I couldn’t imagine it at all. I couldn’t live with the idea that I eat breakfast, lunch, or dinner that wouldn’t include a warm piece of bread. To be honest, this bread adoration delayed my “going raw” decision for a while. It was so hard at that time to breakup my relation with bread. At the end, I told myself that maintaining my health is more important than eating a piece of bread! Besides, I still can eat bread in the weekends. Today, I’m proud to say that I can manage and handle not eating a piece of bread for few weeks.

It is nice to discover that you are more stronger than what you thought you are. More capable to do things you couldn’t imagine that you can do them. In addition, what I came to know after this experience that, most of our fears are created mentally. We are judging ourselves, and blocking the way by illusions, which we discover in a late stage, that they were not real. Therefore, whenever you really want to do something all you have to do is ignore your fear and do it.

Piadine Turkey Pizza

Piadine soft unleavened Italian bread, cooked directly on the hob, were originally cooked on a hot stone over an open fire. They are best eaten while still warm. As the author suggested you can try them as an accompaniment to soups and dips. What I did was of course completely unexpected for the author! I used this bread recipe to make a pizza dough, create my own easy to do pizza sauce, and utilize the smoked Turkey I bought couple of days ago as a topping for it.

The reason behind using the Piadine bread as a pizza dough is that, I like my pizza dough to be very thin. And the Piadine bread makes a perfect fit.

Pizza dough Adapted from Bread by Christine Ingram and Jennie Shapter. Makes 4 Piadine Turkey Pizzas, each is 7  inch in diameter approximately.

Dough Ingredients

1 1/2 cups unbleached white flour

1 teaspoon salt

1 tablespoon olive oil

7 tablespoons lukewarm water

Sauce Ingredients

3 small tomatoes, smashed

2 tablespoons tomato paste

1 tablespoon olive oil

salt and pepper

Topping Ingredients

4 thinly sliced smoked Turkey breast

1 teaspoon oregano, you can add more as your preferance

1 cup mozzarella cheese (), you can increase or reduce the amount as your preference

1 cup parmesan cheese (), again you can increase or reduce the amount as your preference

Making the dough

1. Sift the flour and salt together into a large bowl; make a well in the center.

2. Add the oil and water to the center of the flour and gradually mix in to form a dough. Knead on a lightly floured surface for 4-5 minutes until smooth cover elastic. If your dough is still hard you can add 1/2 teaspoon of warm water and knead again till the dough gets smooth. Repeat the process as long as you need to.

3. Place in a lightly oiled bowl, cover with oiled clear film (plastic wrap) and leave to rest for 20 minutes.

4. Heat a griddle, or a flat pan, over a medium heat. Divide the dough into four equal pieces and roll each into an 18cm/ 7 inch round. Cover until ready to cook.

5. Lightly oil the hot griddle, or a flat pan, add one or two paidine and cook for about 2 minutes, or until they are starting to brown. Turn the piadine over and cook for a further 1- 1 1/2 minutes.

Making the sauce

In a medium size bowl, mix the tomatoes, tomato paste, olive oil, salt and pepper together. Divide the sauce equally on the four pizza doughs. Using a small spoon spread the sauce and cover the dough completely.

Topping

Cover your pizza first with the smoked turkey breast. Then place 1/4 cup mozzarella cheese on top of the turkey for each pizza. Place 1/4 cup parmesan cheese as a third layer for each pizza as well. Garnish the four pizzas with oregano.

Preheat the oven to 375°F. Place the four pizzas for 5-10 minutes or until all the cheese melts. Remember to enjoy the taste with love.

Maryam

I remember that when I was a child, five or six years old, I used to adore Toblerone chocolate so much. Whenever we plan for an abroad vacation, I get very excited! Not for the sake of visiting a new place, no this was secondary on my list at that time. Though, [...]]]>

I remember that when I was a child, five or six years old, I used to adore Toblerone chocolate so much. Whenever we plan for an abroad vacation, I get very excited! Not for the sake of visiting a new place, no this was secondary on my list at that time. Though, the main reason for the happiness is that the Toblerone chocolate was only available in the airport duty free supermarket at that time.

Today I’m a grownup, who still adores Toblerone chocolate; however, it is not my primary thing on my list any more! Travelling became now on top of “what I love” list. Well, maybe I shouldn’t say that since I’m writing today about Toblerone hot chocolate recipe. But I did.

I have a big bag full with Toblerone chocolate. And since I started to go raw, I noticed that my carving for chocolate increased only in the weekends. I was amazed that many of my latest recipes were about chocolate. I didn’t know the reason for that yet.

If you noticed, I like to create new recipes for the things I like to eat and love it’s taste. That’s why I decided to create this hot chocolate recipe, prepare it, try it, and then share it with you if I succeed! Well, I think I did. But before that let me tell you something about today’s pictures.

The first and the last pictures were submitted for the food photography course second assignment. I think that, I was lucky with these two images. Ron, my photography instructor, told me that he liked the last one more. I disagree with him! I know he is much more professional than me, which is a fact more than a conclusion. Still I like the first one more what do you think?

It is the last week in the food photography course. I’m so happy with the information I have gained in this short time. Proud of my accomplishments as well. After Ron has checked my last week’s assignment, my third assignment, he left very encouraging comments. “Hi Maryam. I like your lighting and composition on this one.” he wrote. “The curve of the bowl is placed perfectly in the frame.” he added.

The last assignment is due 7th of March. Wish me luck, that’s all what I can ask for!

Toblerone hot chocolate

As I mentioned before I adore Toblerone. If you were like me and my sister, who like to enjoy their weekends by drinking or eating something delightful after a long week. This will be a good idea for you as well. 

Ingredients

50g dark chocolate (whatever kind you prefer)

50g Toblerone milk chocolate with honey and almond nougat

250ml whole milk or 2% milk

1/4 or less marshmallow (depends how many marshmallow you prefer to use)

1 or 2 tablespoons whipping cream

Chocolate syrup (optional; will be used only for garnish)

Making the hot chocolate

Bring the milk just before the boiling point, then add the dark and Toblerone chocolates. Stir continuously with adjusting the heat to low/medium heat. Turn off the heat when all the chocolate melts. In your cup put few marshmallow pieces and the whipping cream, then pour the chocolate milk on top of it. Stir slightly till all the marshmallows melt and the whipping cream mix thoroughly. Place some of the remaining marshmallows on top of the hot chocolate and garnish it with chocolate syrup.

enjoy with love,

Maryam

It is my open day “well, if you are new here .. you may notice that I’m following a raw food life style except for one day, which is today, to add a balance into my food diet! When I woke up in the morning, I found myself carving for chocolate cinnamon rolls. I [...]]]>

It is my open day “well, if you are new here .. you may notice that I’m following a raw food life style except for one day, which is today, to add a balance into my food diet! When I woke up in the morning, I found myself carving for chocolate cinnamon rolls. I don’t know why that I feel lazy in the weekends to do something major or, in another words, pretty complex. Making the rolls dough, leave it to rise and prepare the filling, it is not very good idea to begin my lazy day with. That’s why I decided to make my own waffles version of it.

Chocolate Cinnamon Waffles ..  sounds great, and it seems more easier than the cinnamon rolls. Although I didn’t know from where to begin or where to end. After some search and googling here and there,  I decided to use a basic waffles recipe, easy and simple one of course,  and make my modifications starting from there.

So, I adapted the basic waffles recipe from baking and books, and made my own changes by adding cinnamon and unsweetened chocolate powder. Then, I created my own chocolate-cinnamon topping for it as well. I like to make experiments on every recipe I make, I rarely stick with the original recipe in the end.

Chocolate Cinnamon Waffles

This experiment  was one of the most delicious experiments I have done for me and my sisters. It makes 6 large delicious chocolate cinnamon waffles.

Waffles ingredients

1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour

1 1/2 teaspoons baking powder

1 tablespoon plus 1 teaspoon sugar

1/2 teaspoon salt

2 large eggs

1 1/4 cups whole or 2% milk

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

6 tablespoons melted butter @ room temperature (reserve 1 tbs to brush on waffle iron)

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla extract

Topping ingredients

4 tablespoons sweetened condensed milk

1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa powder

1 tablespoon cinnamon

2 tablespoons whole or 2% milk*

Making the waffles

Preheat the waffle iron**. In a large bowl mix the dry ingredients together thoroughly using a wooden spoon. In another bowl beat the eggs, milk, butter, and vanilla using electric mixer. Then pour the beaten eggs mixture onto the dry ingredients. Again, mix everything together using the electric mixer until there are no large clumps, but as with pancakes, don’t over mix.

When the iron is ready, brush some butter on the top and bottom of the iron, repeat for each waffle. Pour just enough batter so that it won’t squirt over the edges when you close the iron. Take the waffles out when they have been cooked to your liking. Serve them with the topping recipe below or with Nutella chocolate. I have tried both .. and both are AMAZING.

Making the topping

In a medium size sauce pan, pour the sweetened condensed milk on a medium heat. Then, add the cocoa,cinnamon and milk. Stir frequently, till all the ingredients melt and mix together. Turn off the heat when small bubbles start to appear. Immediately pour the hot topping on top of the waffles and serve.

Notes

* If you are a vegan person, still you can enjoy this recipe. Just replace the dairy with soy milk, and butter with margarine.

** Check the manufacturer’s setting and adjust it according to how well done you like your waffles.

On Foodbuzz top 9

I’m so glad that this waffles recipe reached the top 9 for today! Thanks for everyone who buzzed the recipe.

enjoy with love,

Maryam

Feb, 25th is one of the  most special days for Kuwait and Kuwaiti people. Celebration is held everywhere by everybody. The joy touches everyones’ heart, and draws a smile on their faces. Two weeks ago, Kuwaiti flags started to appear on the top of different buildings, houses, malls, complexes, towers, etc.  Today it is so common [...]]]>

Feb, 25^th is one of the  most special days for Kuwait and Kuwaiti people. Celebration is held everywhere by everybody. The joy touches everyones’ heart, and draws a smile on their faces. Two weeks ago, Kuwaiti flags started to appear on the top of different buildings, houses, malls, complexes, towers, etc.  Today it is so common to notice these flags hanged on most of  the houses in all the areas and in every street. You cannot miss a street without noticing the huge lights that are shape the Kuwaiti flag glowing with pride.In fact, it’s more than pride, it is a bliss.

Kuwaiti flag is available everywhere and on almost everything .. If you want to buy a Kuwaiti flag hat or a dress it’s available. You can also find accessories or whatever it is with the main four colors ..  Black .. White ..  Green ..  and Red.

In 1897 Sheikh Mubarak Al-Sabah, president of Kuwait, asked for British protection to prevent the country from the dominance by the  Ottoman Empire, Turks at that time. Since then Kuwait, which is an independent country, became under the British protection and continued to be till 1961.

On June 19, 1961 Kuwait declared its independence, and the relation between Kuwait and the Great Britain changed from protection-ship to a friendship.

There was a reason behind shifting the original National day to Feb 25th. The reign of Sheikh Abdullah’s Al-Salem was so central to the evolution of modern Kuwait. As a gratitude of what he has done to his country and his people, the national day became the same day which he had ascended the throne in February 25, 1950.

Feb 26^th, is another day to celebrate. Well, it is another happily ending story. In this date, the Iraqi invasion on Kuwait ended. Again Kuwait became independent free country. And it’s people came back to their country, land and home safe and happy.

HAPPY NATIONAL DAYS EVERYONE ..

Pistachio cup cakes

Usually here, in the gulf area most of the traditional desserts contains dates, pistachio, saffron, walnuts, almonds or cardamom as main flavors, ingredients. Therefore, whenever I find a cupcake recipe contain some of these ingredients I don’t hesitate to try it .. it will always taste good that’s for sure.

Ingredients

5 eggs

1 cup icing suger

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3/4 cup oil

1 cup ground digestive biscuit

1 cup ground pistachios

1 1/2 tablespoon baking powder

1 teaspoon ground cardamom

Making the cup cake

Preheat the oven to 350°F. In a larg bowl mix both the dry and liquid ingreadients together until the mixture is homogenized very well. Divide the batter into the molds, you can use muffin cups, then bake in the oven for 20 to 30 minutes or a tester inserted into the center of cupcakes comes out clean.

Remove the cup cakes from the oven and keep aside to cool for 5 mintues. Then turn them out on a wire rack to cool completely. For garnish sprinkle the icing sugar on the surface of the cup cakes, although I didn’t do this step I mentioned here.

enjoy with love,

Maryam

Yesterday.. I planned to start doing my second assignment. I know it has been so long since my first assignment was submitted. However, I was so busy the whole week. I didn’t find free time to continue my readings for the second lesson or even take a look at it.

Yesterday my plan was [...]]]>

Yesterday.. I planned to start doing my second assignment. I know it has been so long since my first assignment was submitted. However, I was so busy the whole week. I didn’t find free time to continue my readings for the second lesson or even take a look at it.

Yesterday my plan was like this .. Today, I will start reading the whole lesson including the part that I have read before. Then, I will post my questions in the PPSOP website discussion section.

For the next day, I will read the assignment. Know exactly what is required to be done, and implement it in my practice. In addition to that, I will check my PPSOP account in case I get answers for my questions. In case I finished before the dead line, I would do  more trial and error picturing in the remaining time!

“Two days more .. wait a moment!” I thought .. I knew that the submission is on 21^st. In fact, I forgot what was today’s date? maybe 18^th or 19^th, or even 17^th I don’t know exactly .. actually I don’t remember. So very quickly, I checked the date in my laptop and I came to the realization that it was 20th!

“This must be a joke” I thought, “how come .. there is no time to do anything” I told myself. Then I remembered, the day before yesterday I have shoot some images for one of my new recipes. “I can use them!” I thought while considering all available options. “but first I need to take a quick look at the lesson and the assignment, this will help me to decide whether the taken pictures are helpful or not” I thought weighting the pros and cons. I started flipping the pages of the printed version of the lesson so quickly in a fast read.

Well .. the lesson was really interesting, although I didn’t have the time to understand every information mentioned in it!

Lens selection was part of the subject. Ron , the instructor, said that selecting a lens is one of the most important topics, and it must be taken in consideration if you want to take good shots. Before learning which lens to select, we must have a thorough understanding of the depth of field (DOF). In addition, we need to know how it is affected by aperture size, lens type,  and lens construction. This understanding will help in getting a sense of what to expect when we  use different lens or different apertures.

I just came to know that we can get different DOF for two lenses  with the same field of view and aperture! this difference occur to the lens type and lens construction. Which means, if I take a 28-70mm lens and a 70-200mm lens and set them both to 70mm I will get different DOF! the question in this case is, which one will have more DOF? simply we can say that the 28-70mm will have the more DOF.

By picturing the same image with different apertures Ron showed how the changing in the aperture affects the DOF! to get a sense of that you can try it with your camera and compare the results.

Spinach Salad with Mushroom and Parmesan

I used to eat cooked spinach with onion and lemon, put it in bread and enjoy. I didn’t ever imagined that I would eat fresh spinach one day. Today I tried to have some courage and did it. I ate fresh non-cooked spinach salad and guess what! I enjoyed every bit, every leave, every moment.

Adapted from marthastewart, Serves 4

Ingredients

3 tablespoons olive oil

coarse salt and ground pepper

2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice

5 ounces baby spinach

5 ounces cremini or button mushrooms ( you can use any kind of mushrooms)

2 ounces Parmesan cheese, shaved with a vegetable peeler

Making the Salad

Wash the baby spinach thoroughly. In a medium bowl, whisk together lemon juice and oil; season with salt and pepper. Add spinach, and mushrooms. Toss gently, then place them in the serving plate. Add the Parmesan on top.

My food photography instructor, Ron, was very happy with my performance in the first assignment.  In fact, not all the three submitted images were great. One of them was a total mistake, but the other two showed “outstanding work” as he commented. Still, I didn’t master the lighting professionally, however I have gained a [...]]]>

My food photography instructor, Ron, was very happy with my performance in the first assignment.  In fact, not all the three submitted images were great. One of them was a total mistake, but the other two showed “outstanding work” as he commented. Still, I didn’t master the lighting professionally, however I have gained a great sense of lighting effect whenever I take pictures these days. You can see one of these two successful images in the Molten Chocolate Cake post (hint: it is the one which the chocolate chips are on the scale) .

The second lesson for this week subjected on camera angles  and lens selection. Oh .. it seems difficulty and complexity started to show up! don’t know what I would do for the second assignment. I don’t want to judge right now, since I didn’t even read the first page of the lesson .. what a shame.

While I’m writing the previous paragraph, I decided to open the printed lesson pages and read. After two small paragraphs my eyes stopped at this sentence “one of the biggest mistakes we see over and over again is that people tend to shoot all of their images from the same angle of 45° in relation to the subject. Essentially the same angle we see everyday when we are sitting at a table looking at our breakfast, lunch and dinner” do I do this a lot, I thought, I don’t think so. Oh my God, the most pictuers of this post were taken at that angle, this was so clear. At the end I knew that I was one of the people who shoot most of their images from the same angle of 45°. “I told you I needed a food photography course” I told myself.

Ron said in his second lesson that, as we lower our cameras angle from 45° towards 90° we will increase the perceived depth, hight, and width of the subject. This is interesting, I didn’t know about this fact, though I took some good shots at this position.

For the flat subjects Ron said, shooting from directly overhead works perfectly fine. If the object has height and you still want to shoot from that angle, Ron suggested to be very careful with the aperture selection and point of focus.

Cookies ‘n’ Hot Chocolate

Usually my carvings for chocolate starts Thursday night, you know Friday is my open day;  which means tomorrow! Every time I search for a recipe I end up with an invented one! Simply, I carved for a hot chocolate, searched the internet, didn’t find something satisfying, so I decided to go and try my imagined recipe .. the result was Cookies ‘n’ Hot Chocolate, unbelievably fantastic.

Ingredients

500 ml milk ( you can use whatever type of milk you prefer)

1 medium size mars bar

1 table spoon unsweetened chocolate powder (I used hershey’s)

1 medium size Cookies ‘n’ Chocolate hershey’s bar

Whipping cream for garnish (optional)

Making the Cookies ‘n’ Hot Chocolate

In a saucepan, heat the milk till boil.  Add the mars, hershey’s, and unsweetened chocolate powder. Readjust the heat to low. Start to stir the chocolate combination with spoon or by using wire whisk. When all the chocolate melts except the Cookies ‘n’. Trun the heat off, and pour the hot chocolate into two meduim size mugs or one big mug. Spare one inch on the top for the whipping cream.

This step is absolutly luxurious! Garnish the top of the mug using whipping cream maker/dispenser and very little amount of podwer chocolate. Serve immediatly and enjoy the taste.

Remember ..  enjoy with love,

Maryam

“I wish that I can go somewhere in Europe soon” I didn’t know why exactly I said this out loud while I’m sitting alone in my room. All I knew that I should say it and some how it would come true in the near future, I didn’t expect that it will [...]]]>

“I wish that I can go somewhere in Europe soon” I didn’t know why exactly I said this out loud while I’m sitting alone in my room. All I knew that I should say it and some how it would come true in the near future, I didn’t expect that it will be very soon!

Yesterday while I’m selecting some pictures to submit my photography course assignment, I felt strange. I didn’t know what it was that I felt. The only thing I knew, is that I should make my wish. After five minutes I forgot all about it and started to continue what I’m doing. Today morning my wish came true. I’m going to Poland, the central of Europe.

Longtime ago, traveling to Europe was one of the top 10 wishes on my wishing list. In fact, I was born in London and lived there for two years. So you can say that the first and the critical two years of my life were in the most well known place in Europe. I think that can be considered as a reason of wanting to be there for a second time at least. I love Europe, I don’t remember anything from my childhood but I know it is something I will love from the first sight. Even though I don’t know why, I did. Maybe the rich nature, maybe the ancient buildings arctic, or simple both of them.

Everyday before I sleep I imagine myself in a small cottage beside a river or a lake, in a very beautiful place in Europe. I always consider it to be one of the impossible to ideas on my wish list. One day I told my father my wish, I knew that he will laugh at it once he hear it. His reaction on my idea was certain ,at least thats what i thought, not that of uncertainty. It was shocking when he listened while I’m describing my wish for him without even seeing a small jeering smile on his face. In a blink, and before he starts to speak, I knew that I was wrong all the time! There is nothing impossible, my imaginary cottage can be a reality one day. Who knows, you can never tell!

Then my father told me ” you can buy an apartment beside the Nile rive in Egypt” I think he thought that will be more reasonable idea to consider, cottage-river combination can be converted to apartment-river combination. The whole discussion between us was really encouraging  if you neglect the location part.

Molten Chocolate Cake

When my sister, Hessa, started to review this recipe she told me ” Oh, this is the delicious dessert I ate”, I told her “Yes, it is .. I think the best thing is to be served with a scope of an ice cream!” I commented.

Adapted from Closet Cooking, makes 3 servings

Ingredients
100g bittersweet chocolate (I used semi-sweet chocolate chips)
1/2 cup unsalted butter, room temperature 
3 egg (yolks and whites separated)
1/4 cup sugar (I used light brown sugar)

Making the molten

Preheat the oven to 400°F.

1. Using a basting brush lightly grease three ramekins with butter.

2. Using a skillet, melt the butter and the chocolate chips over low heat. Stir continuously till all the chocolate and butter mix together. Then,turn off the heat let the mixture cool for a minute.

3.  Using a electric mixer (I used manual the one), beat egg yolks and sugar together. Then add them to the butter-chocolate mixture in the same skillet.

4. In a big bowl, beat the with electric mixer egg whites until they form a soft peaks. Fold the chocolate into the bowl and mix with the egg whites.
5. Pour the chocolate batter into the ramekins, no more than 2/3rds full.

6. Place the ramekins in the oven top tray. Bake for 7-10 minutes maximum. The outside will be set and possibly crack and the inside will remain in liquid form.

7. Let it cool for a two minutes, then run a knife around the edges and tip onto a serving plate.

Note:

As Kevin said “feel free to eat it right out of the ramekin with a spoon”

enjoy with love,

Maryam

Starting from today, my food stuff photo collection has been created. Since my enrollment in the food photography course, which was last Friday, till today morning I couldn’t implement any principle I have taken in the first lesson at all. There were two plans at the beginning of the course. The number one plan [...]]]>

Starting from today, my food stuff photo collection has been created. Since my enrollment in the food photography course, which was last Friday, till today morning I couldn’t implement any principle I have taken in the first lesson at all. There were two plans at the beginning of the course. The number one plan and the  number two or backup plan. The number one plan was like this: spare one to two hours per day, or every two days, to practice the lighting concepts of the first lesson and try to master them as possible. The backup plan was to implement what I learned from the lighting lesson in my shots for the blog.

At first, I tried my best to stick to number one plan. I think it is more concentrated, effective, and it may improve my lighting skills very fast. On the other hand, its time and effort consuming. Well, I’m okay with the effort part, but the time part ..  is a big problem. Sometimes I wish that I can work 24 hours per day which is not going to happen for sure. There are a lot of things that want to do and experience in these limited years given to me, though the best thing at the end of the day to make your best and let go of the rest. That was my decision. I let the number one plan go and follow the backup plan.

The backup plan also has its own pros and cons. One of the best advantages is that, you can do two things in one action, multi-task shots. This turned to be also the worst disadvantage. The best way to describe what I felt at that moment is that, your best friend is your worst enemy.

“I am not too concerned with your subject at this point … Keep it simple for now” the instructor wrote in the assignment instructions. Wow .. this is easy, concentrate on the lighting and put anything as an object;  I can do this, use an orange for example and that’s it!

While preparing a recipe, I’m not dealing with one orange only. I’m dealing with different ingredients in the same time. I have to finish my meal within a limited time. I have to be synchronized between shooting and cooking. Some of these ingredients are easy to deal with and some are not. In the end, all I can say is that I did my best. Although, I ate my lunch after my family finished theirs.

The last day to submit this assignment is Feb, 14. Hopefully by that day I would’ve shoot good lighting photos.

Rocolla with Parmesan Salad

The first time I tasted this salad was in Dubai.  There is an Italian restaurant in Atlantis, the Palm hotel.  One of the many people who told me about this restaurant told me “I have been to too many restaurants in Italy, and this one is the best in the Gulf”. I decided to give it a try since I was there. The salad was delicious. After finishing the whole plate I started to guess the its ingredients. When I came back to Kuwait; one day I found the same leaves in LuLu Hypermarket. I picked up the leaves at once and decided to enjoy the taste for a second time. I wasn’t sure that my guessed ingredients will give the same taste. I knew that I was so lucky at the end when they did.

Ingredients

3 cups rocolla

2-3 tablespoons Parmesan cheese, grated

2 tablespoons extra virgin olive oil

1 garlic clove, grated

making the salad

Wash the rocolla thoroughly with filtered water. Place the leaves in a medium to big size bowl. This bowl will be used for mixing the leaves with the dressing you are preparing in the next step. In another small bowl, mix the Parmesan, olive oil, and grated garlic using a wooden spoon. This mixture will be the salad dressing. Pour the dressing on top of the rocolla. Thoroughly mix the leaves with the dressing until you are sure that all the leave got the flavor of the dressing. Place the salad into a medium sized serving plate and serve immediately.

enjoy with love,

Maryam

The first class has just started .. Last week when I joined the PPSOP, The Perfect Picture School of Photography, I knew that I’ll have lessons each week and assignments will be given to me as well.  But I didn’t know what to expect more than that. When the first Lesson was published online as a PDF format [...]]]>

The first class has just started .. Last week when I joined the PPSOP, The Perfect Picture School of Photography, I knew that I’ll have lessons each week and assignments will be given to me as well.  But I didn’t know what to expect more than that. When the first Lesson was published online as a PDF format file, I made a print and took a brief look at it. It was interesting. Our instructor told us about the equipments which we will need to have. “First and foremost, you will need to use a tripod” she wrote in her lesson. Thanks God I have one! Then she went through the benefits of using a tripod while taking photos. I didn’t know that the use of tripod has many benefits out there! It just seemed to me easier to take photos with it, which you can count as a benefit.  Eliminating camera shake, studying your subject, making adjustments are few things that can be done if you have a tripod. “If I didn’t have my camera on a tripod, I would spend hours on just getting the composition the same between every shot” our instructor concluded in her lesson.

Another equipment we need to have is the cable release. Well, nowadays there is a remote version of it, which I’m planning to buy soon! Our instructor also told us that if we don’t have one then we can use our camera self timer option and still get the same results. In fact, I did that once with my sister while taking some full moon shots; it really made a huge difference in the quality of the picture.

The first lesson concentrates on lighting. The instructor gave us a thorough idea about the reflectors, diffusers what are they and the differences between them, and how to implement them in our practicing. She also wrote about the qualities of light, different light sources and how to differentiate between them. She mentioned types of lights (hard and soft, warm and cool), quantity of light and direction of light as well. I think at the end of this lesson I should be professional in lighting effects, just kidding! I know I need a lot of practice on this topic. The problem is that I’m busy these days, I even didn’t get the chance to find some time to take few shots for my assignment and practice what I have learned. I’ll try my best that’s for sure.

Peach Papaya Drink

Sweetness from Heaven.

Ingredients

2 medium sized peaches

1/2 small sized papaya

2-3 tablespoons honey

1/2 cup water

500 ml milk

making the peach papaya drink

Wash the fruits thoroughly. Cut the peaches into quarters, then cut the papaya into half. Peel the half of the papaya you are using and then cut it into medium size cubes. Place the peaches, papaya cubes, and pour the milk into the blender. Blend until you get smooth homogeneous mixture. Melt the honey into the half cup of water using small spoon till full mix. Add the honey-water mixture to the peach-papaya juice in the blender and blend for another two minutes. Pour your drink into two cups. Add ice cubes if you prefer your drink cold. Or you can place it in the fridge for 15 minutes.

After a long busy day taking pictures I end up with only three, which you can call them semi-successful shots. I have taken more than 50 pictures for this recipe. Telling myself while shooting that, this post will be one of my best posts ever. I was excited, thrilled and I really spent a lot [...]]]>

After a long busy day taking pictures I end up with only three, which you can call them semi-successful shots. I have taken more than 50 pictures for this recipe. Telling myself while shooting that, this post will be one of my best posts ever. I was excited, thrilled and I really spent a lot of time and effort trying to get good results. Well, the ruined results I got today weren’t that bad. At the end it helped me take a decision I couldn’t make since last November!

Four months ago, I heard about the PPSOP, perfect picture school of photography, it is an online photography school which offers a lot of specialized photography courses. The good news was that, I found food photography course listed as one of the many photography courses on that website. The bad news was that, I didn’t know if I really need a food photography course! I’m not saying that am an expert. I’m not even satisfied with the quality of my pictures yet. My idea was, I would consider taking a photography course when I find that my photography skills improvement stopped in one level and I couldn’t get over it, even when I try harder.

When I started this blog, I knew nothing about food photography. My camera at that time was Olympus Stylus 830, I love it, that’s why I’m keeping it till today. All what I knew was when I cook I feel happy and that’s it. Since then, I told myself and many people told me that, practice makes perfect. What happened in those few months was amazingly shocking. I found my pictures are getting better dramatically within a very short time.  I read a lot, searched a lot, asked a lot, and tried a lot. My goal is to get very delicious step by step pictures, so people can enjoy the taste of the recipe and the taste of my work as well.

But what happened with this recipe made me realize that there are some holes in the way I take pictures.  I don’t know about them but I need to fill them with a good knowledge. That’s why I took my decision and enrolled myself in this course.

Would I gain the knowledge I’m expecting from this course? would I notice a difference in the quality of my pictures within this month? many questions in my mind waiting for answers which I don’t have right now. Hopefully these questions will get answers soon enough.

I’m feeling optimistic, registering in something I like, especially when it not related to work, spending extra time and effort to learn more about what I feel passion about, all that give me a good reason to do my best.

Risotto with Parmesan

Adapted form 365 Main Courses.

Ingredients

4 cups beef, chicken, or vegetable stock

5 tablespoons butter

1 small onion, finely chopped

1 1/2 cups risotto rice

1 cup freshly grated Parmesan cheese, plus extra to garnish

basil leaves to garnish

salt and ground black pepper

making the risotto

1. Heat the stock in a pan and leave to simmer until needed.

2. Melt two-thirds of the butter in a large, heavy pan or deep frying pan. Stir in the onion and cook gently until soft and golden.

3. Add the rice and stir to coat the grains with butter. After 1-2 minutes add one small ladleful of the hot stock. Cook untill the stock has been absorbed.

*4. Gradually add the remaining stock a little at a time, allowing the rice to absorb the liquid before adding more, and stirring constantly. After about 20-30 minutes the rice should be creamy and al dente (underdone). Season to taste.

5. Remove the pan from the heat. Stir in the remaining butter and the Parmesan cheese. Taste again for seasoning. Leave the risotto to rest for 3-4 minutes before serving, garnished with basil leaves and shavings of Parmesan, if you like

Notes:

If you run out of stock when cooking the risotto, use hot water, but don’t worry if the rice is done before you have used up all  the stock.

* What I actually did was this : I used large pan, or flameproof casserole, and cook the rice with all the stock in one shot, over low heat till all the water was absorbed. This is good because it is easier, but if the stock is more than what you need then the rice would be very soft.

enjoy with love,

Maryam