Swallows, Banana nut Muffins and the perfect fried egg

Banana nut muffins recipe (with yogurt)

Musings as I cook: Swallows and star, a plan for the next tattoo

Mabel slept over last night, she brought Japanese food and we watched Lovely Bones and Julie/Julia (wonderful cooking movie) until she fell asleep (haha). I woke up early - as is the tradition we are seeming to have, I cook for two of my favorite people in the world in the morning and they happily eat.

I had made banana nut muffins last week and it was hard as rock - no one ate it and I wanted to re-do it to perfection...I think it needs a little more work (and Andy wishes there were chocolate chips) but all in all it's 85% there. Also, I made fried egg but it was not perfect...the eggs I want to make resemble a breakfats I had in Paris - it had a runny yolk, perfectly formed whites and it tasted vaguely of butter and pepper! I guess the sign of being a good cook is perfecting cooking the simplest food and the simplest ingredients - needless to say I am far away from it.

Secrets for the muffins:

* use yogurt instead of milk

* use olive oil instead of butter

* DONT use Whole wheat flour through and through; makes it too heavy

* Mix DRY ingredients: 3/4 cup brown sugar, 1 1/2 tsp cinnamon, 1 1/3 cups Flour; 2 tsps Bakin powder; 1/2 tsp salt

* Mix WET ingredients: 1/2 cup vanilla yogurt, 1 large egg, 4 tbsps olive oil, 2 bananas (mashed)

* Fold in the dry over the wet ingredients; cook at 375 for 15-20 mins ( I like to undercook so it's chewy)

On another note: I am planning my next tattoo, (left ankle) and it seems like it will be that of swallows and stars. These are old sailor tattoos...before navigation devices were avaialble

a swallow was a sign that a sailor was coming home.

Cookie-Dough Chocolate Chip Cookies

Cookie Dough Chocolate Chip cookies & musings about androgynous dressing

I love cookies! For a time I kept on baking them back in Bangkok but never really ate them, giving them away to friends because of fear of being fat. Today I still wont eat a full cookie, but I can eat atleast 1/2 without the guilt - it's a wonder how growing old helps you forget about meaningless numbers like height, weight, age, salary. It's a wonder as well how a partner in life who genuinely appreciates you for more than just your looks can help normalize abnormal habits and beahviours. Andy often teases me that 1/2 of the reason of why he married me was because I was hot - ofcourse it is a joke as I truly do not think I am...the other 1/2 is because I am crazy, artsy-fartsy and a good cook. He also says I do not have a mean bone in my body...maybe that is why my cooking is so sweet!

In life - really you can have your cookie, and eat it too!

The secret to making a really good cookie are 3 things!

1 under cook it, 6mins only instead of the usual 8min;

2 Make BIG balls 1/inch in diameter, they make the cookies fat and moist inside; and

3 Once you make the dough, refrigrate, I dont know why but it makes it chewier

I made these tonight during our barbecue for a friend leaving for NZ - no one wanted to bring home the cookies because they were too yummy!!!!

Ingredients

3/4 cup packed light brown sugar
¾ cup granulated sugar
1 cup (2 sticks) butter, softened
1 tsp vanilla
1 egg
2¾ cup all-purpose flour
1 tsp baking soda
½ tsp salt
12 oz. bag semisweet chocolate chips

* combine sugars, vanulla, eggs and softened butter (I melt this in a pan)

* combine APF (I use whole wheat), salt, baking soda and salt

* FOLD in the wet inside the dry

* Refrigirate for 30 mins!!!

I am currently in love with all the fashion I am seeing in http://www.thesartorialist.blogspot.com/ aaaahh, love, love , love. All the androgynous dressing and male shoes make me love my Oxford Steve Maddens and Boyfriend Jeans even more.

Cooking and Art

Cooking and Art

The bad thing about being in Dubai is this artificial place lends you inable to go out and do the things you are passionate about w - being in a lovely yoga scene, shopping in markets, cheap massages, friendly people and observing and participating in the ever interesting asian fashion! The good thing about the absence of these distractions and hobbies is that I am forced to concentrate on married life, discovering my own self practice in yoga and trying to grow artistically even without very strong external influences. Cooking and Art has taken a forefront in things I wanted to explore and enhance...and by the end of the year, I would want to have tried most recipes I have seen in Tastespotting and Shane's blog, and atleast paint 3 more paintings.

Cooking Breakfast

Cooking to me is something very personal - I just do not want to cook good tasting food but I want it to look appetizing as well. So, I carefully arrange and photo my food - today's breakfast was some Peach French Toast with Salmon, on the side.

Andy also made me a yogurt banana smoothie on the side! YUM!

My Artsy Daily Planner- made by hand

I like to surround myself in art as well, and for this reason i began to make my own personal daily planner. I was scrounging around for a Starbucks one but since they do not sell it, I could not get one - so i made my own. I stuck it with pictures I liked, prints of art, drew some...it's a lot of fun and I am happy with the ouput.