Quickies Noodle Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  6  very interesting entries! Thank you very much and remember this is open to everyone, worldwide, so keep them coming! As this may be the last Quickies Challenge for a while,  we really hope there will be a fantastic turnout. Of course, if you really want more challenges, let us know and we'll do our best to oblige! Send in as many entries as you like, just remember to get them in by midnight of  December 14...

Prunes really get a bum rap.  Who doesn't associate them with dentition-challenged grandmas and grandpas who can't chew much except pudding and.... stewed prunes? They're also unfortunately stuck with the unglamarous but very true reputation of being an ace laxative. Sorry, needed saying. Last week, out of the blue, I was hit by an inexplicable craving for this dark, sticky, chewy treat. Yes, I said treat.

Forget everything you thought you knew about them and start thinking of them as dri...

Today, I'm going to show you my extensive pumpkin-themed collection, starting with this pumpkin and squash salt and pepper shaker set.....

KIDDING!!!! I get it - enough already with the pumpkin and the kitchen paraphernalia !! We're doing mushrooms today. My apologies for the pumpkin scare up there, but it feels good to have your blood actually reach your extemities, doesn't it? ;)

When it comes to things I really love eating,  like mushrooms, my patience goes out the window, along ...

Hubby's incessant calls from work, yes, on a Sunday, took all the pleasure out of a late lie-in, so I decided to get started on breakfast at eight-thirty; sacrilege on a weekend *grrr*  Out came the pumpkin I'd bought about two weeks ago, and had left by its lonesome under the ironing board. Oh, the joys of cramped apartment life; my tiny, three bedroomed kingdom for a proper pantry. The microplane grater fell off its hook and onto the pumpkin, as my baby walked in, all tousled hair and sleep...

I could quite happily live on nothing but bread, cheese, coffee and bacon. Hmm... "not even chocolate, or chilli?", you'd probably think. Well, not so much those, though I'd see your point, but maybe, I'd need a bowl of soup too, every now and then.

Too many seem to view the soup pot as an edible recycling bin and fair game for every imaginable scrap that issues from a kitchen. It is tempting to throw ingredients that have seen better days, or that you can't think up any better use for, int...

Hello my lovely readers and blogger buddies! I have been scarce the last week or so - it's exam season at our house and having two boys taking very important exams during the same week is nerve wrecking, to say the least. Sadly, posting and visiting all your gorgeous blogs, had to take a backseat.

But, (this is a good "but" trust me) I do have a treat for you today. My lovely friend Biren from Roti n Rice invited me to do a guest post on her blog, a little while back and of course I gladly ...

Becoming a food blogger and rubbing virtual elbows with so many like minded souls, has opened up my food universe and introduced me to things I might otherwise have never known, existed! Take instant pudding for example. This wonder of food science (some may  say culinary abomination, but, potayto potahto..... meat, poison) requires no cooking and sets instantly on contact with water! I might actually be spooked, if I were not so curious and amazed.

I'd read about it on Rick's blog, Bitter...

My son and hopefully, protege, Joseph, turned 12 two days ago and he requested his all time favourite dessert, Oreo cheesecake, like he's done every year, since he could speak.

I usually make a single large 23 cm (9 in) cheesecake. It's big, beautiful, and such a temptation, though I don't favour it above all other desserts, that I often will skip at least one  meal when I know cheesecake is coming to dinner ;) Then, I wantonly have three servings of it! For shame, for shame, except, I'm to...

QUICKIE CHALLENGE UPDATE :  I'm pleased to announce that we've now received  14  very interesting entries! Thank you very much. Keep them coming guys and remember to send them in by June 7 2010  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on June 8 2010  !! What's your motivation? Not one, but TWO fabulous prizes - a gorgeous cookbook (take a detailed peek here) and a guest blogger spot on the fabulous blog Lazaro Cooks! And now on to the d...