Petit Pain Au Chocolat!

What do you do when you feel like eating Croissant au Chocolat and it's sunday and you don't feel like going out, and you have puff pastry in your freezer and some left-over cooking chocolate?

Well...you do your own Pain au chocolat!!! Woohooo...

YES! This is how we do it! lol... Ok, this is just another one of my "a little bit of this, a little bit of that" recipe, so there is no actual measurement involved in this one! lol... Just do as you please! ;)

Ingredients:

Puff Pastry (I only had 2 sheets left...)
Cooking chocolate...or chocolate spread I guess would do it!
Sugar
Egg yolk

Step 1: Melt chocolate and sugar!

Step 2: Cut your pastry sheets in the size you want... I made a sheet into 3 parts! They're ok-size for me! I guess usually when they sell it, it's bigger than that :)

Step 3: Spread your melted chocolate on the pastry sheet

I didnt have enough melted chocolate, so I used one with cadbury bars... lol..improvising!:D I guess, any of your favourite chocolate bars would work! :D

Step 4: Roll the sheet up!

Step 5: Preheat oven to 180 deg! Line your pastry on baking paper, ready for the oven! Egg wash these babies!

Step 6: Pop in the oven for about 20minutes...

And watch it blow up!

Step 7: Take out of the oven! Eat up accompanied with a cup of tea !! Yumsi Dumsi! Careful though, very hot :)

Note: I had both the one with melted chocolat and the one with the chocolate bar... I much preferred the one with my melted chocolat, just because I guess the chocolate bars were not melted enuf, and it was too bulky (??) in my mouth! lol... But all up to u though! :) u cud do a mix of both! :D

Bon Apetit! :) 

The Last Days of Summer

Temperatures are cooling a bit and the first sienna-coloured leaves are starting to appear on trees...what does this mean? That these are the very last days of Summer and that it's high time you light up that final barbecue of the season! ;)

Here's a simple and relatively quick recipe that you can make in advance and serve hot or cold as a lovely side-dish to the juicy grilled burgers, chicken, sausages, lamb and skewers sitting comfortably on the barbie. Ratatouille keeps well and is a definite way to get those 5-a-day. I like serving them piping hot with meat on the first day, and the next day serving it at room temperature with lots of crusty bread! Hmmm...tuck in guys!

Ratatouille

* Aubergine

* Zucchini

* Peppers - I prefer using red or orange because they taste sweeter than the green ones

* Canned chopped tomatoes

* Onion

* Garlic - crushed or pureed

* Salt, pepper

* Balsamic vinegar

* Basilic leaves, thyme or any herbs that you like

1. Wash the veg, cut them into half length-wise and dice them into medium-sized chunks. 

2. Heat up your pot, pan or utensil. Add a good glug of olive oil and let it heat up. Add the garlic, onions and let it sweat. Once they've started browning, add the aubergines first as they take longer to cook. Once it starts softening, add the rest of the veg and cook for 5-10 minutes.

3. When the veg start colouring a bit, splash a decent amount of balsamic vinegar (I think it adds a nice tangy kick to the flavours). Add the tinned tomatoes and season with salt, pepper and herbs. 

4. Turn down the heat, cover and let it simmer until 3/4 of the tomato juices have evaporated. Serve, kick back and imagine that you're in Provence...

Bon appetit!

Life is short, Eat!

Fierce chicken wings eating skills

Hello hello. Anyone still read this blog?

Here's one random super short update. I saw this video earlier and I was actually impressed, go figure, -___- but I never knew that people could eat chicken wings like this. Anyway,  I thought i'd share it over here.

You know,when you're eating chicken wings, and there's some meat that remains stuck on the bone, such a waste, right? Here's a nifty little trick so you can now nomnom without wasting any of that precious meat:

Now you can go show off your fierce chicken wing eating skills xD

Bakerella's Brookies!

I've been wanting to try this recipe for a while now, but every time I took the courage to get to the kitchen and start baking, I realised that there were missing ingredients. Again today, while I was having a look in my pantry, there was almost no flour!! Thank god, the BF was on his way and I made him do a little detour to the supermarket! :)

So this recipe was taken from the very wonderful and inspiring Bakerella! She calls it "Brookies", because it's kind of a mixture of Cookies and Brownies! Ingenious, eh? :) Click here for the original recipe!

I didnt exactly use the same measurements as she did...here's what I used...

Ingredients:

 

 
2 cups of Flour
2 tbsp Baking Powder
150grms Butter Softened
250grms Sugar
3 Eggs
1 tbsp Vanilla
A lot of M&Ms...I didnt weigh them, and I dont think it really matters anyway :p lol...

Step 1:
Sift Flour/ Baking Power and set aside

Step 2:
Combine Butter/ Sugar with mixer (Or hand...depending on whether u're feeling like u can do it :p Im lazy :p)
Once this is done, add the eggs one at a time.

Step 3: Add Vanilla and mix. Then, add Flour+Baking Powder to the combination.

Step 4: Stir in the Choc Chips! I used M&Ms but as you can see from Bakerella's recipe, you can use anything from nuts to caramel bits ;p

 

Step 5: Spread it out in a pan. Make sure u butter the pan first (I didnt...and it got all stuck in there :S ) so its easier to remove later on.

Step 6: Bake in the Oven! I started out at 250deg for around 20minutes, then I reduced it to 200 for another 10 minutes, because it was starting to burn!! Lol :p I guess you'll just have to check and make sure! :p

Step 7: Cut, Serve and Eat! ;)

Savory crepes

Saturday’s lunch was savory crepes with creamy mushroom and ham. Mr. boyfriend was craving for crepes for a few days now. So just thought I’d throw away my laziness for today and make him some crepes.

Ingredients for the crepes

100g plain flour
Pinch of salt
1 egg
300ml milk
Oil

Method

1. Sift the flour and salt into bowl and make a well in the centre. Break in the egg and beat well with a wooden spoon. Gradually beat in the milk, drawing in the flour from the sides to make a smooth batter.


2. Heat a little oil in an 18 cm heavy-based frying pan, running it around the bse and sides of the pan, until hot. Pour off any surplus.

3. Pour in just enough batter to thinly coat the base of the pan. Cook for 1-2 minutes until golden brown. Turn or toss and cook the other side until golden.

4. Transfer the pancake to a plate and keep warm. Repeat with the remaining batter.

Ingredients for the filling

1 tablespoon butter
½ onion, finely chopped
1 ½ cups mushrooms, thinly sliced
6 slices of chicken ham, shredded
½ cup grated Swiss cheese
¼ cup heavy cream
Salt
Pepper

Method

1. Saute the chopped onion in the butter until soft
2. Add the mushrooms and cook for 1 minute.
3. Lower the heat and add the shredded ham.
4. Pour in the heavy cream and cook until the mixture thickens. This usually takes around 5-7 minutes.

5. Adjust the seasoning and add salt and pepper to taste
6. Place a spoonful of the mushroom/ham preparation on each crepe and roll over.
7. Arrange the crepes in a baking dish and top with grated Swiss cheese.

8. Bake just until cheese melts. Serve warm.



Bon appétit!

Gummy Bear

Haribo Gummy Bears 

Cute gelatin based rubbery textured confectioneries similar to jelly babies, shaped in the form of little bears in 5 flavours: raspberry (red); orange (orange); strawberry (green); pineapple (colourless); and lemon (yellow)

I'm actually not a big big fan of Gummy bears, but how cool is this Gummy Bear art: 

"Chandelier," 2005, 45"X21"X21", gummi bears, beads, monofilament, plastic, metal and light bulbs. (via)

"Constellation of Tartrazine" 2008, 40"X40"X22", gummi bears and paint on acrylic dome. (via)

Each Candelier is made of 5,000 hand-strung gummi bears. One takes over two months to complete. (via)

World’s Largest Gummy Bear. Topping the scales at 5 pounds, this mammoth mass of sugar comes in a variety of flavors and is the equivalent of 1,400 regular sized gummy bears. (via)

Oh,i'm a gummy bear yes,i'm a gummy bear

Oh i'm a yummy tummy funny lucky gummy bear

Weird Green Gummy Bear on crack

Ba ba bidubidubi yum yum,Ba ba bidubidubi yum yum, 

Ba ba bidubidubi yum yum three times you can bite me 

gummy gummy gummy gummy gummibear 

Badia

Super random post. Maybe it's because of the cold weather, but I have this really really bad craving for hot  plump oily badias tonight. And don't forget the satini. So typically Mauritian, yummmmmmmz

Ingredients

225g gram flour (besan)
2 large onions finely sliced
1 green chilli finely chopped

2 tsp chopped coriander leaves

1/2 tsp cumin seeds coarsely crushed

1/2 tsp chilli powder
1 tsp turmeric powder (saffran)
1 tsp baking powder
1 pinch salt

Vegetable oil for frying

Preparation

1. In a mixing bowl, mix the gram flour, chilli powder, turmeric, powder baking powder and salt.  Then add in the cumin seeds, onion, chilli an coriander leaves. Mix mix mix.

2.Add just enough water to make a think batter

3.Drop heaped spoonfuls of the mixture in hot oil, and deepfry until golden brown. Drain and serve hot

4. Life is short, eat eat eat :)

 

Mamie Kloune - Badia song

Koster manger, guetter la main briler, ala li la so so

badia mo larguer, ki oulé ti badia gro badia, manger mama

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia

5 roupies Badia

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia

Mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa satini

(3X)

Mwa mo ti ale dan Port Louis, mone finn joine Jovani

li ti pe mange roti ek so madame ki appel Cindy.

Ti ena Dadie, ti ena mawsie, ti ena Chachi, ti ena Didie

Zotte tou finn reuni en famille

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia, (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia (donne mwa lotte la)

5 roupies badia (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia

Mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa satini

(3X)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia,

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia

5 roupies badia

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia,

Mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa satini

(3X)

Sweety ki pe rode briani, Marie Claire ti pe envie mange mine bouilli.

So piti dir macaroni, pou lé cou bel bel dibruit

Ti ena Dadie, ti ena mawsie, ti ena Chachi, ti ena Didie

Zotte tou finn reuni en famille

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia, (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia (donne mwa lotte la)

5 roupies badia (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia,

Mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa satini

(3X)

(Aller guetter guetter guet mo la malle couma rempli mama prend,

ki ouler 2roupies, 5 roupies, tou modele ena papa,

satini rouge satini vert)

Mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa, mette so sa sa satini

(3X)

Partout dan quatre coin la rue va trouve marchand dhall pourri

Ici ti pe vand ti pourri, lotte coter ti pe vand channa pourri

Ti ena mamie, ti ena papi, ti ena piti, ti ena Charlie, ti ena Chungli

Mo dir tou viniiiiiiii

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia, (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies Badia (donne mwa lotte la)

5 roupies badia (badia)

Donne mwa 5 roupies badia,

Aller papi, aller mamie, aller dadie, aller mawsie, aller didi

Ala, la finn fini