Inspiring Movie .. a New Task is Born !

For Foodies & Food Lovers .. This is the movie to watch ! It's combines two stories of two women and their journey in finding themselves through food and recipes. Julie & Julia (2009)
The movie talks about a young woman who's frustrated with her government job, her & her husband's living arrangement in Queens and her purpose in life. She takes on a task of cooking 524 recipes of her idle's book; Julia Child's Mastering the art of French Cooking. She starts blogging about each recipe and the struggles, the accomplishments and all the emotional challenges she faces. The movie also takes us into Julia Child's journey in the making of the book and her career as a legendary chef.

This inspired me to do the same. I have many chefs that I'm inspired by and would love to try all their recipes. Nigella Lawson, Jamie Oliver, Todd English, to name a few.
I would love to start out trying to cook almost everything in Nigella Lawson's How to Be a Domestic Goddess: Baking & the Art of Comfort Cooking.. I already have tried so many recipes from it and why not go for the whole thing from cover to cover?!

So there, another task to add and another challenge to tackle. I'm contemplating the timing and the deadline.
This is a fun idea to take on, I'm still processing it.. so this is pending until I post the start & due date.

Pending until further notice....

Happy New Year 2011.. Blah!

Yeah well.. Happy new year & all that stuff! .. okay.. so I became such a boring writer.. But, hey, who said anything about being good in the first place ?!..

It's all game and fun.. isn't it? ... I guess..!

Anyways.. nothing special to write about, although a lot has been going on in my life, but, I'd rather keep that hush hush for the time being.. maybe share those things in later posts. At least that way I'd have something interesting to talk about.

As for general stuff, it's too cold to do anything except eat, so I've been doing a little bit of cooking and more & more eating.. less work and more sitting..

Having FB, twitter, a new iPad and a brand new iPhone doesn't help when it comes to moving !! I keep downloading applications for my iPad & iPhone.. don't feel like moving..

I should exercise more.. I know.. but really? can I? it's too cold :(

How about a song?..

Updates on Recipes:

Oktoberfest Bavarian Potato Salad

http://wellfedclub.blogspot.com/2011/01/oktoberfest-bavarian-potato-salad.html

بالعربي

http://wa9fa.blogspot.com/2011/01/bavarian.html

Eating is Believing ! a recipe blog

The well fed club.. my recipe blog.. updating it when I can.. and adding more recipes when possible..

A new post.. a new recipe.. it's been a while..

http://wellfedclub.blogspot.com/2010/09/syrian-oozie.html

Dear Diary, a.k.a. Blog .........after a bit of shopping we decided to.....

Day: Sunday
Date: August 3rd 2008
Time: (22:31) 10:31 pm
Location: Marina Crescent, Kuwait
Exact Location: ayyame Restaurant - Arabic Fusion أيّامي

picture borrowed from Google Image

Pre dining: Entered the restaurant..requested a table...sat down.. annoying waiter.. dirty napkin..waiter argued it was a print on the napkin.. I argued it was used napkin.. waiter agreed to get a new napkin.. went ahead and ordered...Order consisted of:

شــوربة حريره
شــوربة عدس
سلطة فلافل
كــشــري
2 عصير رمان

The order itself was a ticking bomb, never mind that.. it got worse..

picture borrowed from google image

we both had our soup.. a bit too much cumin but hey,, no biggi.
the salad was ok.. nothing special ..it was a green salad with falafel pieces and taheini dressing.

Kushari tasted like 3aish w daqoos..

so far no problem.. not a great experience but ..eh, what the heck it's a try out.
so while digging into my kushari and through my 4th bite I choked.. seriously choked!! I couldn't figure out what was that I sensed in the back of my throat.. sorry for being too graphic.. but I neither could swollow it nor could I spit it out !!

After 2 glasses of water and a few sips of my pomogrenate juice I was finly able to wash it down!
I was still puzzled by the sharp sticky object that I couldn't swallow.. so I did my little investigating technique and searched through the kushari bowl to find out what was this little surprise they served me.. it was a small piece that looked like a raw onion, yet not exactly?!..

So,, my partner in crime decided to dissect the object to find out what it was.. to our astonishment it was not a rough onion nor a cooked one!!!.. actually,, it was not food at all !.. and after all the smelling, pinching, bitting, nipping and tearing of the object.. to our surprise it was nothing but PLASTIC! yes ladies and gentleman plain old plastic.

picture taken by 3abeer

our conclusion was that while preparing the extravagant dish.. and putting the ingredients together .. some of those ingredients came in a plastic bag .. and ofcourse... a little plastic gift was stashed in there for me to discover

Ratings:

Service: Average
Atmosphere: Good
Food: Guess!!! Bad
Over all experience: in my case BAD


moral of the story: check your food prior to eating it.. you never know what kind of surprise awaits you !

Note to self: NEVER go to ayyame again!

Word of the day...أمخر عباب

Update

We are taking Arabic classes!!
our appologies for being on the ignorant side!

So.........

we go out..

just the two of us..

in slacks..

decided to eat..

Craved Chinese..

went to peacock..

ordered food..

enjoyed food..

yummy food..

done.

left restaurant..

heading out.. we spot a funny looking statue resembling a woman holding a tray..

on it ..

scattered flyers..

about a trip on Al Ghazeer..

Radisson SAS..

nice idea..

but..

what the hell is..

أمخــر عبــاب ؟

- to know what I'm talking about.. please double click on the image to enlarge

To M.

a little Amkhar 3abab dedication.. feel better.. soooooooooooooon..

and remember..

ma ye7la el tan ella fog el so6ooo7i..

moral of the story...

READPROOOOOOOF people!

Back with a vengeance..

I'm baaaaaaaaaaaaaaack..................................... if anyone gives two quids (a quid is a pound - British slang)

oh .. and don't mind the title.. it just sounded catchy.. I love drama..

So my trip to London went successfully.. the weather was amazing and it was two weeks of fun, laughter and intense shopping ;)
and since I came back it's been partying.. partying.. beach and more partying.. so I'll just post some pictures and you'll get the "picture" ;P

Cheers..

we take off.. mind you I have fear of flying.. but I still took this picture..

The first thing I pick up when we arrive..

Oxford Street people.. and there's Selfridges - far left..




China Town..



Yummy don't ya think ?!! eewww


So .. take a look..


I wouldn't be a true tourist if I didn't head to Madame tussaud's..


and for the 3agad..



Train station .. on our way to Bicester.. a (shopping) mission....




and ofcourse .. couldn't miss Les Miserables The musical.... it was breath-takin'..




BUT.. while heading to Camden I came across this shoe shop.. and I couldn't stop myself from crackin up! offensive .. yet funny..

London in a nutshell..

Beautiful weather..Oxford Street..Selfridges..Laughter..Fendi..Sofra Restaurant..lack of sleep..St.christophers Place..rain..Chinalife..ipod..Piccadilly Circus..Trocadero..Tottenham Court..Harrods..Eat Thai..Christian Lacroix..Tube..Goofiness..Naval Piercing..walking, walking and more walking..London Theatre..Book shop..oyster card..virgin..Bicester village..a few hours of sleep..Haruki Murakami..Bond Street..Saturday Market..Covent Garden..Pret a Manger..Reiss..sexy shoes..AbdulJabar el 7mar..Edgeware road..Dune..House of Fraser..Body Piercing..Harvey Nichols..Slot machines..Sha7en wi jnaaaa6..Flu..London Terminal to Bicester North..no tattoo..nap..HMV..Green curry chicken..reading..Baker street..Madame Tussauds..London eye..Les Miserables..Puma..Borders..ta3ab..safa restaurant..nina..wi bas kafi.

bas te3abt..

3abeeriyat

I was on a Bike hunt!!..been looking for a decent bike for the longest time, and I finely managed to find one..yaaay! my new 2007 trek 3500.
but the weather is not being very friendly lately, and I'm recovering from bronchitis..! can it get any worse??
Mother nature.. please have mercy!!.. enough with all the dust!! .. I make believe it's only fog! delusional .. aren't I?!

on a more interesting note...

Heard of the term Metrosexual ?!

man of any sexual orientation (usually heterosexual) who has a strong aesthetic sense and spends a great amount of time and money on his appearance and lifestyle. He has a sense of fashion and a taste for culture, who loves to shop and look good. Do you know anyone like that? I do ..hehe

I googled it.. and my favorite description was... " it cracked me up..hehehe"

"The typical metrosexual is a young man with money to spend, living in or within easy reach of a metropolis — because that's where all the best shops, clubs, gyms and hairdressers are. He might be officially gay, straight or bisexual, but this is utterly immaterial because he has clearly taken himself as his own love object and pleasure as his sexual preference. Particular professions, such as modeling, waiting tables, media, pop music and, nowadays, sport, seem to attract them but, truth be told, like male vanity products and herpes, they're pretty much everywhere.
—Mark Simpson, "Meet the metrosexual," Salon.com, July 22, 2002



question....
is it ok to have icecream when you have bronchitis??..if not.. what do you do with such a craving ?!

Bored..bored..bored... enough with the bed rest!!! I'm hyper by nature and this bed rest thing is KILLING me.


oh.. and one more thing... color me sick
Note: Alia.. Rome was very helpful.. merci darling
.. and a little thank you note for a certain blogger (you know who you are) thanks for your sweet gesture and offer for help.. it did help.

Rain ... a must ... maybe one day ...

Asian Fusion Restaurant

Rain...

Chef Guy Rubino - Co-owner and Head Chef

All dishes are inspired by traditional Asian cuisine such as Japanese, Chinese, Veitnamese, Korean and others.

Eating is believing ! a recipe blog

I'm a recipe collector, so this is going to be my digital kitchen. posting recipes that I love and some that I recently tried.

Link

I love trying different types of recipes and experimenting with flavors.

This will be my archive for all my recipes because I'm sick of stacking them!
and why not share them with everybody? sharing is caring you know. those recipes come from different sources...famous chefs, places I visited, family recipes, friends and books.

so check it out...

it's a work in progress

عيــــدكم مبــــــــــــــــــــارك

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50 things you should eat before you die !!

BBC Food has posted the 50 things you should eat before you die! voted by people that recommend it atleast once in a life time.

I highlighted the ones I tried in Yellow

1. Fresh Fish - ofcourse, do I have to name them? waayed



2. Lobster - yummy



3. Steak - medium well is the way I like it.



4. Thai Food - a certain someone got me addicited to Thai food, especially green curry chicken and papaya salad



5. Chinese Food - everywhere I go there's a chinese food restaurant! not a huge fan though



6. Ice cream - addicted to it - my favorite is green tea and ofcourse chocolate



7. Pizza - NewYork style? you betcha!



8. Crab - again.. yum



9. Curry - I like indian food



10. Prawns (shrimp) - with a classic fettucine alfredo



11. Moreton Bay Bugs - I might've I'm not sure it lobster's first cousin



12. Clam Chowder - tried it once, didn't like it.



13. Barbecues - I like barbecues



14. Pancakes - with berries



15. Pasta - if I wasn't Kuwaiti, I'd be Italian.. I'm a Pasta lover, and I can kiss the no-carb-diet goodbye!



16. Mussels - I like'em with pasta



17. Cheesecake - I make a killer banana chocolate cheese cake



18. lamb - roasted



19. Cream tea - who hasn't?



20. Alligator - it tastes like chicken!



21. Oysters - uuuh yes... too fishy



22. Kangaroo - never had it.. can't say I wouldn't give it a try.. * animal rights attack



23. Chocolate - hmmm... chocoholic!!!!



24. Sandwiches - almost everything comes in a sandwich.. and almost everyone had a sandwich!



25. Greek food - our regular hang out used to be a greek restaurant :)



26. Burgers - do I have to name my favorite burger place?



27. Mexican food - yup



28. Squid - I don't like it battered, I like it Sautéed



29. American diner breakfast - Diana ... I miss you



30. Salmon - a very oily fish, but I love it



31. Venison - I had it machboos !!



32. Guinea Pig - eeewww NO!



33. Shark - I fear it.. so I ate it as a form of therapy :P



34. Sushi - since forever and ever and ever.......



35. Paella - my distant cousin's wife is morrocan, she cooked us Paella once, not bad..but I like it with seafood only which defies the whole concept :P



36. Barramundi - I'm not sure :/



37. Reindeer - nope I had deer



38. Kebab - 6ub3an!!



39. Scallops - I love all shellfish



40. Australian meat pie - not yet



41. Mango - I'm allergic...and I can never have enough



42. Durian fruit - and I thought I tried almost all kinds of fruits!! this... I haven't.



43. Octopus - yes I tried it, and I have to say I liked it ... weird?



44. Ribs - I like'em barbecued



45. Roast beef - depends on the recipe



46. Tapas - well, hmmmm .. vague! I guess ...yes!?!



47. Jerk chicken/pork - never had it



48. Haggis - I don't have the stomach for this !! YUCK



49. Caviar - Baluga! on toast



50. Cornish pasty - I'm willing to try it

There are many varieties of food that I have tried or willing to try that are not on the list, such as mushrooms, ostrich, Pomegranates, Quails, escargot, frog legs and truffles .. and many more that I can't recall right now.

If you have any food items that you have tried and are not on the list please do share them :)

Heard of it??

back in the days it used to be Gatorade.. then came along Red Bull... I guess the rush you get from those energy drinks is not enough !!



COCAINE is the newest thing on the market! yes!! it's called Cocaine and what better name than this to describe the legal alternative to the drug?!! The drink's manufacturer promises the red-colored beverage gives a bigger, better and longer energy boost than other drinks on the market.

Right now, the energy drink can only be found in bars in New York and Los Angeles.It will be unveiled in San Diego later this week.


what's next???

a little bit of everything...

القاهرة، مصر (CNN)

توفي الفنان المصري الكبير فؤاد المهندس السبت، عن عمر يناهز 82 عاماً، بعد أن ترك تراثاً كبيراً من الأعمال الفنية في المسرح والسينما والتليفزيون والإذاعة، على مدى أكثر من نصف قرن ... التفاصيل
http://arabic.cnn.com/2006/entertainment/9/16/almouhandes.dith/index.html

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Tuesday's recipe will be by Nigella Lawson whom I think set new standards for cooking, or did she just follow her instinct? she has a unique outlook on cooking, her role and the audience. The following is a juicy quote from a one of her books to give you a better idea of her philosophy.

"...Cooking is not about just joining the dots, following one recipe
slavishly and then moving on to the next. It's about developing an understanding
of food, a sense of assurance in the kitchen, about the simple desire to make
yourself something to eat. And in cooking, as in writing, you must please
yourself to please others. Strangely it can take enormous confidence to trust
your own palate, follow your own instincts. Without habit, which itself is just
trial and error, this can be harder than following the most elaborate of
recipes. But it's what works, what's important."

This is the recipe I picked and I hope I will be making today..

PRAWN AND BLACK RICE SALAD WITH VIETNAMESE DRESSING

Ingredients:
For the Vietnamese dipping sauce/ dressing

2 cloves garlic, minced or crushed
2 fresh Thai birdeye chillies or other red chillies, finely sliced
approx. 4cm fresh ginger, finely minced
4 tablespoons fish sauce
2 tablespoons lime juice (about 1 lime)
4 tablespoons water
2 tablespoons caster sugar

for the salad
250g Nanking black rice
500g raw, peeled prawns
salt
juice of half a lemon

Instructions:
To make the sauce, simply mix all the ingredients together. It doesn?t get much less complicated than that, frankly.Well, there is the small matter of the rice and prawns. The rice you just cook by following the instructions on the packet; the prawns you poach in some simmering salted water, to which you?ve added the juice of half a lemon, for 5 minutes or so or until just cooked through but still very tender. Let both rice and prawns cool, then give the sauce a quick stir and spoon some over the rice, fork this through and then tumble the prawns on top, spooning a little more sauce over as you go.


* The black rice is real black rice, not wild rice and not white rice dyed black with squid ink. (if you can't find it you can settle for wild rice)

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and finely... Quote of the day..

"Ability may get you to the top, but it takes character to keep you there."

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Tuesday...... here comes the recipe..

“Where Cuba meets Italy”

Ingredients:

1 tablespoon olive oil
¼ cup diced sun-dried tomatoes
2 tablespoons vinegar
1 lime, juice
¼ cup chopped basil
1 tablespoon chopped green onions
2 tablespoons diced green bell peppers
1 tablespoon chopped walnuts
2 tablespoons minced cilantro
1 small avocado, diced
¾ pound fettuccine
Salt & pepper to taste
½ pound turkey bacon, cooked and crumbled

Combine olive oil, sun-dried tomatoes, vinegar, lime juice, basil, green onions, green peppers, walnuts, cilantro & half the avocado in a large bowl. Toss well.
Cook the fettuccine in a saucepan in boiling water for 3 minutes; or until al dente, drain.
Toss with the avocado mixture while still hot. Place mixture on a serving platter. Top with the bacon and remaining avocado.

Enjoy….

Tuesday Recipe: Herbed Risotto

I'm not feeling very well today, and my gathering is cancelled.. but I'm still going to post the dish I was supposed to cook..

"A delicately ~ scented dish"

Ingredients:
1 1/2 tablespoons unsalted butter
1 small onion, diced
3/4 cup arborio rice
2 cups hot chicken stock
salt & pepper to taste
1 pound mushrooms, diced
1/2 tablespoon olive oil
1 large ripe tomato, diced
1/4 cup heavy cream
1/8 cup chopped basil
1 tablespoon fresh rosemany, minced
1 tablespoon grated parmesan cheese


Melt the butter in a large skillet. Saute the onion until tender. Add rice, and cook it for 1 minute. Stir constantly.
Add chicken stock, salt & pepper. Cook, covered until rice is tender on the outside and chewy inside.
While rice is cooking, saute mushrooms in olive oil. When rice is done, fold in the mushrooms, tomatoes, cream, basil, rosemary & cheese.

Enjoy..

TGITuesday! a recipe is in order...

Tuesday is gathering day..and every Tueasday is recipe day for me.. so today will be my first tuesday of recipies here ;) ok.. I hope I didn't lose you with that comment. anyways, since it's my first, it should be special.. and what's more special than a recipe by the British celebrity chef Jamie Oliver. I'm a big fan of the naked chef.. his recipies are exquisite.. his TV shows include...Oliver's Twist, Jamie's School Dinners, Jamie's Great Italian Escape, Naked Chef and Jamie's Kitchen.

Since this is a start.. the recipe I picked for today is a starter.. taken from the Jamie Oliver official website
Grilled Marinated Mozzarella - serves 4



Ingredients:
1 loaf of ciabatta bread - could be found at the sultan center or any bakery
8 thinly sliced turkey bacon
zest of 2 lemons
4 large buffalo mozzarella cheeses
8 sticks of fresh rosemary
1 clove of garlic
extra virgin olive oil
3 handfuls of mixed fresh herbs (chives, mint, basil, parsley)

for the dressing
1 good handful of nice black olives, stones removed
1 fresh red chilli, deseeded and finely chopped
5 tablespoons lemon juice
5 tablespoons extra virgin
olive oil
sea salt and freshly ground black pepper

Method
Remove the crusts from the ciabatta and tear up into rough 2.5cm/ 1 inch pieces. Mix it in a bowl with the bacon and lemon zest. Divide each mozzarella into 8 similar-sized pieces and add to the bowl. Keeping the leaf tips on the rosemary sticks, remove the lower leaves and then smash these up in a pestle and mortar with the garlic. Stir in 8 tablespoons of olive oil, then pour this mixture over the bread, cheese and bacon. Marinate for anything from 15 minutes to an hour.
Thread your mozzarella and bread on to your rosemary sticks, weaving the bacon in and around. Line up the kebabs on a wire rack and place under the grill on a very high heat until the bread and bacon are golden and crisp and the mozzarella is nice and gooey. While this is grilling make sure you keep an eye on it, as it can turn into a charred kebab very quickly. To make the dressing, chop up the olives and mix with the chilli, 5 tablespoons of the lemon juice and the same of olive oil. Season to taste.

To serve the kebabs, dress the herbs with half of the olive dressing right at the last minute so the leaves stay nice and fresh, then use the other half of the dressing drizzled over the kebabs.

Fondue Party...

I've been in a good mood lately, I'm not sure why! but hey, I'm not complaining.
I haven't seen my friends in a while because everyone's been busy with work and doing their own thing, so I thought to my self "why not host a fondue party tomorrow and envite everyone over?!" for the sake of a nice get together, catching up on things and enjoying a nice fondue pot filled with a sumptuous Sauce were we dip delicacies into it, pop in a nice movie, could be a classic, and talk all night. Sounds like a plan?? aha, tomorrow, Aug. 22nd, starts at 7 pm and ends.....?? well, whenever!

I'm still debating on what kind of fondue to make. I'm thinking maybe a chocolate fondue with a twist..

To pull it off, here's the plan:

I'm going to go get my old fondue pot that I got back in the states and neglected for the past ...."God only know how many years" . wash it, clean it, pat it dry and set it aside until it's action time.

Ingredients:

2 pounds grated chocolate bars
1 cup whipped cream
2 tablespoons instant coffee powder (optional)
1/4 cup hot water
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
pound cake cut into cubes
a few marshmallows
Peeled & sliced red apples
Peeled & sliced green apples
Sliced bananas
Sliced pears
Sliced Strawberries
Chunked Pineapples
Grapes would be good too.

and now for the preperation:

Cut pound cake into 1-1/2" cubes. Arrange the cake on a serving plate with the marshmallows, apples, pears, strawberries and pineapple and the rest fo your fruits
Meanwhile, combine the chocolate candy bar and whipped cream in the fondue pot. Cook over very low heat until the chocolate melts while stirring constantly.
Dissolve the instant coffee powder in hot water and add it to the chocolate mixture (again the coffee is optional) with vanilla and cinnamon; mix well.

After that I should be ready for my guests. Using the skewers, we'll dip the cake and fruit into the melted chocolate.... Yummy :)


oh, and the movie... I don't know?! any suggestions???




Fondue sets:
http://www.cooking.com/products/shprodli.asp?Keywords=fondue+pot