Monday, August 20, 2012

Jamie Oliver's Brownies

before baking

and after :)

It's been a while since i last bake a brownie. Well, they are good but too rich for my taste so it would be nice to indulge in this decadent dessert once in a while. Yesterday, my daughter was craving for brownies and i decided to try Jamie Oliver's version. It's rich and moist and crunchy on the outside. I used extra dark cocoa, just in case you wonder why it's too dark :). We just love the bitterness of it. Also, i have omitted all of the optional ingredients, just because i didn't have them in my pantry :)
want to try the recipe? CLICK HERE

Wednesday, August 15, 2012

BAKING my First Hokkaido Milk Bread






I found this wonderful bread recipe one day while i was browsing the internet. I am always interested in baking bread, since my sweetheart bought me a bread machine. I used to have a hard time mixing the dough and the bread turn out hard...hahaha. Thanks to my kitchen assistant, my humble bread machine, i always come up with a nice soft dough. Anyway, the original recipe is bigger. I wish i have a pullman baking pan to bake my bread with, however with my tiny loaf version the bread turns out good and soft, even after i put it in the fridge. What i like about this bread is that the recipe didn't use any oil at all. If you would like to try this please click HERE.

HAPPY BAKING!

Sunday, August 12, 2012

NICE SUPPER

home made bread

simple salad

broccoli soup from scratch :)

potato salad

BON APETITE!!!!

Friday, August 10, 2012

Fish head soup for dinner


Hi ya'all! tonight's dinner is this one yummy fish head.


this is how it's done. boil them in broth  add some greens and herbs, and spices..hmnnnn smells good in here! hello!!!! :)

giant veggie wonton soup sprinkled with fresh chive from our garden, trust me this is so good. two wonton is enough to fill you up!

and this one is Dessert. Turon as we call these yummy crunchy spring roll like snacks or dessert. It's made of plantain or saba banana, dipped in brown sugar then wrapped in spring roll wrapper and dip fried. Even nice with ice cream! hmnnnnn...Say GRACE!!!!!

Monday, August 6, 2012

THE TINY HOUSE

My husband and I stumbled upon this very nice documentary about people living in tiny houses.
From the moment we watched the video we fell in love with the idea of one day living in a tiny house like this. Right now, we are living in a three bedroom house and yet when we watched this amazing documentary we just fell in love with it and feels like we have found our dream home. We just realized that as we grow older we  really dont need stuff to fill your life with. We just want a simple and comfortable living, less clutter mostly stuff that we dont really need. I think this is just a wonderful idea for people like us, who seek a very simple living someday. We always have this idea in our mind that we wanted to live in a simple house surrounded by trees and plants and our vegetable garden. We love to get closer to nature, we love to see the stars at night and just admire the beauty of all this amazing element in nature. Living in the city, you dont get to appreciate really how beautiful it is to see the moon and the stars at night, or even the sound of the wind as it brushes through the trees. I dont know about you, but that's how we imagine our life would be not far from now. We were surprised to know that there are quite a few people who have moved into tiny houses like this, lots of how to's and move in videos on youtube.  We just can't wait to build our lovely tiny house someday:) We hope that this video by FAIRCOMPANIES.COM will inspire you as well : )enjoy watching.........

Saturday, August 4, 2012

HIBISCUS TEA

Have you ever tried these refreshing hibiscus tea? It is also known as Jamaica. They are most common in Latino stores, along with the other line of refreshing fruit drinks. I just found out, they also carry dried hibiscus flower. And since i enjoy the sweet tart taste, similar to a cranberry juice, i bought a whole pack and make my own drink.


dried hibiscus flower, about a handful

4 cups water

give it a boil

cool it down, add more water and add sugar, adjust the taste to your liking

put it in your pitcher and let it chill

And here you go! refreshing plus tons of health benefits. Hibiscus is widely used in asia as well. Hibiscus young leaf are also edible, eaten raw in salads or can be stir fried. According to some studies, hibiscus has vitamic c, helps lower cholesterol, maintain blood sugar level and good for your skin :)...CHEERS!!!!!

Wednesday, August 1, 2012

A Very lovely Rose

I got home this afternoon from running errands and found this lovely package from Victoria Camp.

This was a giveaway win from her beautiful clay creations.

This lovely white rose is very much dear to me. As you all know about my story of  the miracle of St. Therese, this particular prize is indeed a miracle. I have joined numerous giveaway before and this is my first win so far. I won this lovely rose just in the perfect time that i have finished my St. Therese novena for 9 days. St. Therese is known to show her miracles of letting you know through her shower of roses, and in my case she sent me a rose right after my novena by winning a giveaway. Thank you St. Therese and to Victoria Camp for this wonderful rose earrings which i will treasure forever. Miracles do happen :)


about Victoria Camp Designs
Victoria Camp Designs, handmade jewelry in Oakland, California. She offers Custom Jewelries for bridal, map Jewelry, Personalized Zodiac Constellation Jewelry, Everyday pieces, made with freshwater pearls, semi-precious gemstones and metals, vintage components and polymer clay.

www.victoriacamp.com

ETSY SHOP...please click HERE