Andy's Wedding Gift

I am so rusty at painting but the significance of me being able to sketch and paint again overshadows the quality of the work. Andy and I have gotten married a couple of months ago and I promised I would "make" my wedding gift to him. Ended up painting an abstract with only 2 discernible figures - a huge fish, and a family. I want it put up in the baby's room, if we ever do have one of our own or we adopt, it doesnt matter.

I love you little fish, happy wedding.

I dream in yoga

I have not been painting for awhile. I miss it and it because I remembered how it used to me happy - today (that Andy's gone) I had some alone time to do a couple of sketches.

I found myself drawing some figures of women in yogi poses. It happens to be Shane's birthday so I have decided to dedicate the 1st sketch to her and calling it "Tree Pose" - this still lacks color, but I need another round to do that. I also think I need to fix the figure of the woman show right now as she seems a little bit anorexic. I saw some really cool art that looked like postcards or wallpaper in the 70s which I soooo love, so maybe will color it this way...it's sort of a practice run as well for the 3 canvasses I have for Andy. The idea is to make a happy painting we can eventually hang in the baby's room if and when we ever have one.

Skateboarding pictures

Andy gave me a cool camera for my birthday and I have not been able to use it much. The few times I have used it I realized I like taking photos of people - I really want to take photos of people wherein they know I take their photo but I am too shy to ask because the question is specific, "please dont smile and just look at the camera" The photos posted here are also one of my favorites, I Like taking pictures of odd things put in one frame - these were taken in a skateboarding competition we went to in abu Dhabi. We watched, we're old geezers who can only ride longboards.

Tiger Prawns with Garlic

Ok, so now I am no longer strictly vegetarian. For the sake of harmony and peaceful eating, I have (through Andy's request) began to eat seafood again (won over by the argument that most fish is virtually free-range and scallops have no pain sensors).

I don't look for it, but I do enjoy eating sashimi, shrimps and scallops. I went to dinner with friends in a Japanese restaurant called Zuma (Moustafa, I know you thought it was appetizers, haha) and they served some grilled Tiger Prawns. It looked relatively easy to do so I made some for Andy.

Really easy - all you need to do is

* de- vein the tiger prawn and slide in the middle (so it looks like a butterfly)

* take out the shell if the head but not the inside

* put in boiling water (water should be boiling already), for 15secs (yup this quick)

* sautee garlic, onions and mushrooms in olive oil, salt and pepper to taste

* pan fry the shrimps in high heat (for about 45 secs) on both sides

* top with the sauted mushroom and garlic mix

Elise's French Courgette Tart

One of my best girlfriends here in Dubai is Elise - she's french, has small feet and is a really good cook. One of our favorite dishes that she whips up is her french tarte. I particularly like the courgette tart with tomatoes - she's shown me how to do it, and tonight she went over the house and we cooked some dinner for Andy and Georgenes (who is Brazilian and only eats meat, well not this time).

Neither Elise nor I have the patience to make the pastry - so we bought a ready made one. For tonight, we also substituted Rouqefort cheese with gorgonzala (I like smelly cheese)

French Courgette-Tomato Tart

* 1 courgette, sliced

* 2 eggs beaten together with 1/2 cup fresh cream

* season with pepper, salt and spices

* top with tomatoe slices

* french pastry (not puff) for the base

* 150 grams smelly cheese (we used gorgonzola)

Beat the eggs with the fresh cream, salt, pepper and whatever spices you like. Place the sliced courgette at the bottom of the pan. Pour in mixture. Top with the cheese then the tomato slices.

Nico's Prosciutto Bread (Modified)

A lot of my friends have gone into cooking - and one of the discussions I had with Shane and Nico was how difficult (it seemed) to make bread. Between us three - Shiang and I like to cook and bake, but Nico was the only one who was super into bread and actually had a lot of experience on it. He gave me two recipes and told me to try the prosciutto as a start. I was very scared that I would mess up as bread is a very simple recipe fo flour, water, yeast and salt - and most often than not, unexperienced bakers get them wrong - - -> so I opted to try it for the sake of trying instead of baking it for a meal for say Andy and myself.

The bread turned out to be wonderful!!!! I made the dough this afternoon, headed for dinner with a friend and when I returned back home I popped it in the oven. It's funny tasting bread at 12midnight but man it ROCKED! I ommitted the lard in favor for butter and sundried tomatoes instead of bacon. I think it should have been baked longer(I turned it over to late for the other side), but it ended up moist ( a bit too moist I think becauase of too much sundried tomatoes - I should have put 175g because sundried tomatoes I used was soaked in olive oil and added oil to the bread).

Nico's recipe is below!

Mix the dough - Hand MethodIn a large bowl, whisk together the flour, honey, pepper, yeast. Then whisk in the salt. This prevents the salt from killing the yeast. Add the water and lard and stir with a wooden spoon or your hand until the flour is moisted.Empty your dough onto a counter and knead it for 10 minutes or until it is very elastic and jumps back when you pressed with a fingertip. If it is very sticky, knead in a little flour (that is after 10 minutes. it IS very sticky to start with).Dust the dough lightly with flour and cover with a plastic wrap. Allow it to relax for 20 minutes.Shape the dough and let it rise.Turn the dough out onto a lightly floured counter. if it's not already on the counter. Roll it into a 18-inch long rope. Shape it into a ring, overlapping ends by 2 inches and press lightly to seal them. The ring will be about 7 inches in diameter and 1 1/4 inches high, with a 3-inch hole in the center.Set the bread on a parchment and cover it with a large container or oiled plastic wrap. Allow the dough to rise until almost double about 1 hour. It will be almost 9 inches across by 1 1/2 inches high, and when it is pressed gently with a fingertip the depression will slowly fill in.Preheat the ovento 450 F 1 hour before baking Have an oven shelf at the lowest level and place a baking stone or baking sheet on it and a cast iron skiller or sheet pan on the floor of the oven before pre heating.Glaze and bake the breadShortly before baking, brush the dough all over with melted bacon fat or butter. Do not slash the dough. Peel the dough from parchment and put it on to the baking stone or baking sheet. Toss 1/2 cup ice cubes into the pan beneath and immediately close the door. (This is to build vapor). Bake for 20 minutes. Turn down the heat to 400F and continue baking for 10-15 minutes. or until the bread is deep golden brown. Halfway through baking with a heavy pancake turner, lift the bread and set it directly on the stone, turning it around as you do so for even baking. When the bread is baked, turn off the oven prop the door slightly ajar and leave the bread in the oven for 5 minutes.Glaze and cool the bread.Remove the bread from the oven and transfer it to a wire rack. Brush with another coat of melted bacon or butter and cool completely. The texture of this bread is most appealing when torn rather than cut.

Nico's note: I have few of all the gears mentioned. I put just one layer of butter. I got just a wire rack that I cover in foil paper to put the bread on. I do preheat but just 10 minutes to reach temperature. I tried the vapor thingy but my oven is not hermetic. Anyway even with all these technical deficiencies it turned out damn good. Due to the size of my oven and proximity to the heating element, I got to cook it to a very dark color to cook it through. I will try a little less this time!!!

Red Velvet Cupcakes

I picked up the recipe from the Food Network website, and boy was it yummy. It was Lama's birthday and I decided to make it for her as a gift. The secret as you will read in the recipe is sifting all the dry ingredients well (I did so 3 times) -> I didnt make variations such as changing it to whole wheat flour, as if I've never baked a cupcake before I find it best not to change the recipe first until I taste it.

The icing was also a bit too buttery and less cheesy for my taste, so I think I need to put more creamcheese next time. This is my favorite cupcake (I've ever made)!

http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/paula-deen/red-velvet-cupcakes-with-cream-cheese-frosting-recipe/index.html