It's been deliciously cool and crisp for almost two weeks now. I couldn't be happier and relish the opportunity to not just eat but cook lots of soup - something that at other times of the year, would heat up the kitchen to sauna levels! Nothing beats a bowl of steaming hot, home-made chicken noodle soup when it's nippy outside. I get bored easily though, and wondered how the taste of jasmine green tea which I can't get enough of, would work in a chicken soup.

The broth is not green as you...

Quickies Cocktail Challenge Update : I am pleased to announce that we've now received  16  great entries! Thank you very much and please, keep them coming guys. Send in as many entries as you like,  just remember to get them in by midnight of September 27 2010 (EST)  - we're looking forward to shouting out the winner and showcasing a fantastic line up of entries on September 28 2010 (EST)  !! What's your motivation? A gorgeous cookbook! (take a detailed peek here) And now for today's post....

I'd been harbouring this jar of tahini in my kitchen cupboard and had completely forgotten about it until yesterday when I opened a door and realised there was no way I was going to manage squeezing in the groceries I had just lugged home. Oh my God. It hit me anew how much of a pack rat I am. *sigh* After the cleaning "expedition" I ended up with almost one and a half grocery bags of expired goods and a sense of shame I haven't experienced in a while. All of them were promptly and sadly disc...

QUICKIE CHALLENGE UPDATE :  I'm very pleased to announce that we've already received  3  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 ...

I found myself alone at home yesterday - a very rare occurence for me. I can't remember the last time I was alone, since I got married and became a mother. It was a treat to potter about the apartment, doing exactly as I pleased, listening to Jeff Buckley, Ella Fitzgerald and Antonio Carlos Jobim, singing along at the top of my lungs, without eyeballs rolling left, right and centre, while sipping a little wine, just before lunch, in between the laundry, ironing and scrubbing.

Of course I l...

I'd like to say a quick but heartfelt thank you to all of you, my dearest readers, for the wonderful show of support for both Lazaro and myself, when I did a guest post over at Lazaro Cooks. Thank you for all your delightful and heartwarming comments! I hope that having had a taste of Lazaro's genius, you will now follow his marvellous kitchen exploits! And now, on to today's post :





Jenn from Defunkt Gourmet and I, share an obsession. Yoghurt. It's always in my fridge and I cook and bake with ...

I've been approached by friend and fellow foodie Lazaro Bernal about a guest post for his wonderful blog, Lazaro Cooks. Thank you Lazaro for the the thrill, the honour, and the privilege! How could I possibly refuse?

If you haven't already checked out his blog, please, go take a look. I cannot say  enough about it but I will say this, what Lazaro does is a labour of love and it shows in everything that he posts. I have found reading Lazaro to be an enriching experience. I hope you will too....

You will probably be seeing more fish posts here soon, for a very good reason. One of my boys has been diagnosed with learning difficulties and we've been strongly advised to include much more fish oils in his diet, as they're believed to significantly help children with learning challenges, both from supplementary as well as dietary sources. The  next step would be Ritalin therapy, and for us, that would be an absolute last resort. Absolute.

We do everything together; when my mum was advi...

Eversince I made this cake, I've had pink on the brain. Truth is, I've never thought much of the taste of beetroot -  each time I've eaten it, I just haven't been able to get away from the association with sugar and earth. Beetroot is often described as "earthy" but the first time I tried it, I was quite surprised to find that it was an almost literal description of the luridly bright tuber.

Now the colour, oh, the colour, is something else altogether! I've always adored the vivid, almost vi...

I hate talking about the weather -  the final destination for any conversation on its last legs, drawing it's last, choking, rasping... breath. I can hardly believe though, how crazed the weather here has been. In the last 3 weeks, I've felt like a jetsetter, going through 2 or even 3 countries in the space of a day. Scorching afternoons have given way to blustery evenings, followed by torrential 30-second downpours that have finally settled into muggy, sweat-soaked restless nights. Would y...

I was planning to make roast chicken and this salad a while ago when I chanced upon an article (an extract from "Eating Animals" a book by Jonathan Safran Foer) posted by a fellow foodie Sara, about the present state of commercial farming and it's supposed dirty secrets. Just a few short years ago,  I thought that well known claim about battery reared chickens having barely the space taken up by a sheet of copier paper, in which to spend their short miserable lives, was just urban legend. I'd...

After the satisfying stodginess of the pot pie, I wanted something fresh and light. I'd been following and enjoying the fish related posts of a foodie friend, Biren, who does amazing Asian food, and my thoughts were turning to all the briny delights of the sea.

Providence was smiling down on me when I saw these plump, daisy fresh razor clams on a morning jaunt to the market. They were larger than the ones I'd eaten before and looked too tempting to pass by.

My mother, who is not as much a s...

When was the last time you had a really good, sizzling plate of Sze Chuan chicken in a Chinese restaurant? If your experience was anything like mine, you probably enjoyed the first few mouthfuls, relishing the crisp exterior of the chicken and the yielding, tender flesh inside, all bathed in a rich, dark, unctuous gravy heavily inflected with garlic... and oozing with oil.

I'll bet though, that once the dish (and your ardour) cooled down and the gravy began to congeal, what was left on the pl...

Looking at this, through glass, glinting in the sun, you may wonder if you’re about to eat a fruit salad or a heap of crimson and violet jewels. What a sight to wake up to! Wonderfully refreshing and cleansing especially on a weekend morning following a night of alcoholic and other excesses.  If you can’t get red dragon fruit, substitute with red plums, cherries or just double the amount of your favourite of the other fruit.  The smidgeon of alcohol this contains is my brand of “hair of...