My new additction !!

I always liked pretty things ... Pink, teddy bears, flowers, stars, really everything that's pretty !! And now I found something that combines every pretty and sweet thing there is !! 


CUPCAKES !!! 


I could stare at cupcakes all day, eat cupcakes, breath cupcakes, dream of cupcakes ... I don't remember how the interest started but at this point I cant go a week without cupcakes ... I actually thought about doing the "Eurostar" in one day juste to go buy some ... because in Paris, choice is limited and prices are high ... 

From my experience in Paris, I can give "Miss Cupcakes" the number #1 place, the cupcakes are very good, not english good but very good.The prices .... Ouchhhh! Get ready to give at least 18€ if you buy 6 or 3.50€ for one cupcake and dont expect it to be the "english size" either ... smaller than the regular cupcake. Also it opens at noon, so dont count on it for breakfast :) No special box, so you either take your own carrier or you get home with your 18€ beautifull cupcakes all smutched up. And seriously, who wants to eat that ? The service is nice tho. And that's really important ! I go there when I really want cupcakes and I dont feel like baking and if I have a lot of money hahaha.

"Miss cupcakes" in Paris ... Don't forget to take your box !

Considering that I can make 32 or more cupcakes with less than 18€, I had to get to work ! 

But we'll get to that. Now number #2 "Berko", the one at Gare de Lyon ! If you're desperate and have no where else to go ... 12,50€ the 6 miniatuuuureee cupcakes with a kind hole in the bottom, taste is not remarquable but I cant really tell because they were so small ! Service is "no thank you", she smutched the sides putting the cakes in the box, she didn't even put them in the carrier correctly so I got home and they were a disaster. Not even a smile and when I asked the flavours it was like I was asking her to give me a kidney !!! Positive things, the diversity. Nutella,Oreo, Red Velvet, etc, and they open earlier than "Miss Cupcakes".

Tears ....

But wait for number #3 "Chloes cupcakes", its a Noooooooooooo!!! You know in the horror movies when the girl goes in the room where the killer is and you wanna scream : "Nooooooooo dont go in there !!!"? That kind of noooooooo.

It's awful from the moment you enter untill you get home and put the cupcakes in your mouth. You just put your hands behind your head and say : "Fuckkk!! I paid 14€ for these 4 crappy cupcakes ?"... You feel like crying :( The service is awful, no choice, I had 5 miserable cupcakes to choose from, and the worst cupcakes I ever had. They were supposed to be fresh baked, but they were frozen, hard as rocks from 2 or 3 days maybe and tasteless and the little taste you can get out of it was from the chocolate mousse frosting. And don't you dare ask if they have anything else in store, you will get the ugliest "I hate you" face you'lle ever see. Also opens at noon. So do yourself a favour and never go there. There are two other cupcake stores around the corner, it's not worth the trouble, trust me. I got out of there wondering : "Did I say something wrong ? Was I not nice ? Do I smell bad ? "

So here we come to my quest, the quest for the perfect CUPCAKE ... I launched myself on this adventure around November 2013 after that awful experience and never stopped since. I do cupcakes every week. I don't change a lot because the kids have their favourites and so do I.

I recently discouvered a recipe in a great site http://thecafesucrefarine.com/ .

The kids say that they are the best muffins I ever made so far and they are delicious indeed.

I will post the recipe later, since I'm having a bit of a problem with the cake flour conversion, but as soon as I get them straigth I'll be back. I'll leave some of my "works of art"in the meanwhile :

This week's "swirl 

roses" Vanilla muffin and vanilla /strawberry frosting

Chocolate muffin and strawberry jam frosting

Trying to swirl ... Plain vanilla !

I have any many more, I will try to post one recipe a week, but no followers, no promises ;)

Till then, XoXO !!

My lOve 4 ShoeS

Hello again !! I'm feeling creative these days, maybe it's the vacations, maybe it's the heat that doesn't let me sleep, I don't know... The point is, I made a new wallpaper for my PC. 

It shows exactly how I feel about shoes and their effect on me ...

And I guess for so many women !!! I have this  theory that if U ask a woman what would be the first thing she wouLd get if she won the lottery or something like that, the most repeated thing would be a pair of Louboutin's.

Hope U Like it :)

Saw the phrase on Pinterest when I was browsing, got the photo on GoogLe, a LittLe Picasa on it and  voiLà !! 

xOxO

Peach Muffins !

Hello there !! Again I bring U some muffins, so gOOd that if it wasn’t for this pain in my wrist (because of the muffin batter) I wouldn’t believe they were mine. The recipe’s quiet easy so here goes.

No camera yet so the pictures are kind of crappy:

Peach Muffins

1/2 cup butter, softened

3/4 cup sugar
1 egg
2 cups flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/2 cup milk
1/2 tsp vanilla
1 1/2 cups chopped peaches
3 tsp sugar
1/2 tsp cinnamon

Cream butter and sugar. Add egg and mix.

Sift flour, baking powder, and salt in a small bowl. Add flour mixture and milk alternately to butter mixture. Add vanilla. Gently stir in the chopped peaches. You can also add chocolat powder and make plain chocolat muffins.

Spoon batter into muffin pans.

Combine sugar and cinnamon and sprinkle over muffins (I didn’t use the cinnamon).

Bake at 400º for 20-25 minutes.

Makes one dozen muffins. And great cupcake batter !!

                           Enjoy the muffins, puff puff and pass ;)

xOxO !!

Vania's Chocolate Cake

Hello there !!! After a long period of absence due to my lack of camera ( I kinda broke the screen uppss ) I decide to return anyway, no photos just the recipe !! After all it’s such an easy cake :) Promise !





I have 2 best friends ... My cousin Telma and Vania, a girl I met when I was a teen and to make a long story short (maybe one day i’ll get a chance to tell it) a dumb ass took her life and she’s shinning up in the sky with Patricia and all the other stars ...


She used to make a cake that everyone loved ... The recipe’s so easy U can do it in no time, no photo tutorial required but one day I’ll update the post.



So here it goes :


My bFF’s “Chocolate cake”


Cake batter :
1 cup powder chocolate
1 ½ cup white sugar

2 cups all purpose flour
½ cup vegetable oil
5 eggs (separate the yolk from the egg whites carefully)
1 tablespoon of baking powder
1 cup of boiling water

Chocolate sauce :150 gr sweetened condensed milk
60 gr dark cooking chocolate
2 tablespoons unsalted butter


In a bowl, mix all the ingredients with a wooden spoon except for the egg whites.

Beat the egg whites firmly then gently poor and incorporate them into the cake batter.

Heat the oven up to 180°.

In a round baking tin. I recommend something like this :




Butter up and sprinkle with some flour.


Poor in the cake batter and into the oven for about 50 minutes.


You can get 2 amazing cakes out of these quantities J. That’s the kind of person she was, a cake for the family, one for the friends. I’m so lucky because I got to eat from both of them ...


Now for the chocolate sauce, so gOOOOOOOd it should be forbidden !!!

In really low heat, melt the butter and then add the chocolate thorn into bits. Don’t stop stirring.When th chocolate’s completely melted add the sweetened condensed milk and stir for another 5 minutes. It should be shiny and silky.


Drop it over the cake, sprinkle with icing sugar and anything you have in the house it enjoy !!

I sometimes fill the hole with gummy bears (Wait untill it's cold)...


Here’s the photo !!!





It’s so yummi I cant keep my hands off it and my face looks like a puberty war zone !! Pimples everywhere !! Hahahaha!!

This one was for my princess 3 year old party <3

Time flies ! Where did this little thing go ?




She turned into this little woman, so sweet, always with a smile



Well down the memory lane we went and now here we are back into the present, never knowing what the future is gonna bring ...


To U my dear friend Vania Miriam Moniz Cam Fok :

Miss U every day my friend
Ur one the angels I miss the mOSt Take care of my baby girl Sister



XoXo

Lasagna chicken ... Good memories from Italie...

Well hello again my friends (me) !!! Today there was a super promotion on the lasagna sheets so I bought 2 boxes (even tough I'm tOo lazy to do my own lasagnas and I so know it). 

Hummm.... What to do ? What to do ? I'm not a big fan of the regular lasagna (2 much tomato sauce makes me sick !!) I started remeniscing on my one-year volunteer career in Italie... and I remembered this amazing creamy chicken lasagna I had so oftem when I was in the center with the "ragazzi" ("boys" thats what we called the "kids" that we helped) !

Got to say, I gained like 9 kgs (almost 20 pounds) in my first month there... I was huge... but to me, italien food is like american food... IRRESISTIBLE !!!!

Me and one of the "ragazzi" .... Summer of 98 ... OMG !!! I was so fat !!!
I had 2 chins loool !!!

Back 2 the lasagna !

I did a little montage 'cause it's easier ... 

Ingredients and processus :

250 gr of peelled pre-cooked chicken (1st image)
1 onion ( sliced and diced) 

In a frying pan, mix it up with some 50 gr of unsalted butter and add 1 can of mushrooms (or sliced real ones if u have the courage).

When the chicken has some colour, add the cream. The recipe I had said 50 cl, but I put half of it and I'm glad I did because 50 is just too much !! S&P 
and ...

... Now just let it stir for 10 to 15m and get ur Béchamel Sauce ready (or buy it, whattever !!)

Forgot to take the pictures on this one ... Upps !!

50 cl milk
Flour
50 gr butter
S&P and Nutmeg

Sometimes I also mix an egg yolk to the béchamel sauce but this time I didn't think it was necessary 'cayse the whole lasagna is pretty rich itself.

NOw all the ingredient layers are ready to be applied :

Start like this : 

- Lasagna sheets
- Béchamel
- Chicken Mix
- Gratted cheese (I use emmental, but mozzarela's fine too)

... until there's no more ingredients!!

Just keep in mind the last layer has to be :

!! Lasagna, béchamel, cheese !!

Put it in a pre-heated oven at 180°C (350°F) for 30m at least ... Keep an eye on it. I had some special lasagna sheets that don't require pre cooking, so it didn't take long.

And voilà !!!!

It was AWESOMEEEEE !!!! and the watercress/sweetcorn salade made it AWESOMEEEEEEER !!!

Enjoy it and have a nice day !! Don't hesitate to ask or give suggestions !!

XoxO !!

Sand Cookies 4 Santa !!!

HeLLoOoOOOO !

Here I am, back again from the "dead". 

Guess now I know why the other blogs didn't work :(

The thing is :

 - I'm not a SAHM, I work, and a lot !!

I know it's not an excuse but sometimes I'm so tired that when I get into bed, my eyelids shut down even when I say nO :(

This is my Christmas break, so I'm gonna try to write a little bit more :)

These last few weeks I worked on my special "Sand CoOkieS" !!!

Really easy to do, to bake and to eat ... Yummiii !

Suki 's Sand COokieS !!

Basic ingredients :                         Special flavours :
* 320 flour                                    * Grated lemon (my favourite)
* 150 sugar                                   * Vanilla scent (My collegue Steph's favourite)
* 200 butter                                  * Cinnamon (yummi too)

Mix everything in a bowl with your hands till its nice and soft !! On a table just spread it with a roll dough and with some cookie cutters finish the job :)

Pre-heat the oven to 180°C and then place the cookies in the oven plate over some non-stick paper and flour for 10 to 15 m  !!

And the end, while they're still hot, roll the in some granulated sugar or sprinkle with powder sugar and eat up !!!! Delicious !!

For The holidays Season I went nuts and decorated !!! Thanks to these babies and www.scrapcooking.fr 

Hope U enjoyed the "Comeback" !! 

Wish  U all a MERRY CHRISTMAS  !!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

XOxO !!!

My Pommes de Terre Golden

Tonight's dinner was the leftovers of the week and some delicious baked potatoes (or in a fancy way "Pommes de terre Golden") ! Not difficult to cook, maybe except the cutting the potatoe in slices part ! Got the recipe from this great site : http://foodgawker.com

Here Goes :

Recipe :

6 Medium Size Potatoes
2 - 3 Cloves Garlic, thinly sliced
2 Tbsp Olive Oil
30 g Butter
Maldon Sea Salt
Freshly Ground Black Pepper

Preheat the oven to 220˚C (425˚F). Put the potato on a chopping board, flat side down. Start from one end of the potato, cut almost all the way through, at about 3 to 4 mm intervals.

Arrange the potatoes in a baking tray and insert the garlic in between the slits. Scatter some butter on top of each potato. Then drizzle the olive oil and sprinkle some sea salt and freshly ground black pepper.

Bake the potatoes for about 40 minutes or until the potatoes turn crispy and the flesh is soft.

Slight Change in my version : I mashed the gralic with the butter (Like when I do Garlic Bread) !

The Result :

And they were absOlutely delicious  ...

Nightty night !

Crumble Porc ChOps and Dry Carrot Rice

As promised, I brinG U the dinner at the Mendes' house tonight. The carrot rice is mine, the crumble porc chops tOo : )

First the rice :

Dry Carrot rice :

1 or two cups of thai rice
1 minced onion
2 minced garlics
1 chicken stock cube
4 olive oil tablespoons
1 or 2 grated carrots ( I always do 3 or 4 for the salad or somme carrot cake I'm going to make later )
Water
Salt

The 3 secrets to my dry tasty rice (and that wont break ur teeth, that's nice tOo :s) in this order, is to let the rice  really soaking in the  olive oil, water 1 cm above the rice and cuver it with a dish wraped in a transparent plastic bag on the minimum temperature possible. When U see the holes like in the last picture its gOoD, just mix it and turn of the heat (but don't remove it).

Crumble Porc Chops :

4 thin-sliced, boneless center cut pork chops
2 cups buttermilk*
2 cups bread crumbs
1/3 cup flour 
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1/2 cup grated parmesan cheese + a little more for garnish
3 tablespoons olive oil
3/4 cup chicken stock

Tenderize and trim fat from pork chops if you’d like.Add pork chops to a baking dish and pour buttermilk over top. Soak for at least 2 hours, or over night. Remove pork chops from fridge 30 minutes before you plan to make them.In a bowl, combine bread crumbs, flour, salt, pepper and parmesan. Heat an over-safe skillet on medium-high heat and add olive oil. Grab a pork chop from the buttermilk,* letting any excess milk run off. Dredge through panko mixture, coating completely. Lay down in skillet and repeat with remaining chops. Brown pork chops for 3 minutes on each side only!After six minutes, turn off heat and add chicken stock to pan. Sprinkle a little parmesan on pork chops and cover skillet. Bake for 20 minutes. When U take out of the skillet you'lle under stand why I call It Crumble Poc ChOps :)

Since I don't know where to buy the buttermilk in Paris, I searched for a substitute. Lucky for me it's so simple to make ... It's a pinner ( Buttermilk Substitute ) ! That's the "It's a keeper" expression substitute ;)

And there U gO :

Serve it with a nice carrot salad (S&P and a drop of olive oil)

Children had seconds and I had dinner wich is rare these days ! 

Bisouxx !

ChOres BOard

TOday I had the time to go to the store and get the blackboard wallpaper I wanted. This was just a try out. I intend to change the frame on the board as soon as I'm little less poor ;)
It was simple to make and I hOpe it's gonna be useful in the future ! The plan his to make a chore board and the next one is going to be a menu board, but I have a special idea for that one !

I bought a roll of 0,5mm X 45cm for 10,90 €, used some old gift wrapper from Christmas 2011, scotch, double-sided scoth and patiente...

Here's the stOry in images :

Now I don't have to remind them what's their chore of the week !

Bisouxx !!

PS : Special dinner tonight ;) See U Later !!

Parents find out

Up next a great passage from episode "Parents find out" . I think were all smart enough to know what they found out this day !! Hahaha !

Just smile to this demonstration of brotherly love ( kinda reminds me of my of me and my sister ... ) :

SO2 E19 - Parents Find Out

BisouXX