TAIWANESE MANGO SHAVED ICE

Of all the food in Taiwan, I miss mango shaved ice the most.

Photo via http://claudialiu.pixnet.net/blog

 I can give up all other food for a whole day just to have this.

COLOR BLOCK YOUR NAILS

Thought I'd give this whole color block thing a go.

(Reverse) French tips have been ever so easy to do at home since my discovery of the alternative use of hole punch stickers via Vogue Style Hunters!

For French Tip:

1. Start with a base coat

2. Paint on the first color (2 thin coats) then wait til it dries (preferably over night since you'll be putting the hole punch sticker directly on top)

3. Place the hole punch sticker where your heart desires

4. Paint on the second color (2 thin coats) and wait until it dries completely before you rip off the sticker (you may wish to use cold air to accelerate the drying time)

For Reverse French Tip:

Simply place the sticker further away from your nail edge!

For the nails pictured above, I also used a toothpick to place individual glitter chunks along the edge where the colors met to produce a cleaner line.

SPINACH AND GOAT CHEESE QUICHE

I want to thank my flatmate, Ola, for making this quiche for me and for sharing her amazing recipe.

This quiche recipe is light on the eggs and cream unlike a traditional quiche so you actually get to taste the spinach and goat cheese. On top of that, the pastry base just dissolves in your mouth! You can modify this recipe to include other veggies or meats that you like but I really do believe that the simplicity of this quiche was where it scored points with me.

For the crust:

200 g flour

100 g butter (room temperature)

few tbsp water

pinch of salt

For the spinach filling:

1 kg spinach

3-4 cloves garlic, minced or crushed

1-2 tbsp olive oil

salt and pepper to taste

2 eggs

3 tbsp heavy cream

Extra toppings:

8-10 oz goat cheese

12 cherry tomatoes (optional)

10 asparagus, split lengthwise

Note that this recipe creates two small quiches (as pictured above) or one big quiche.

Crust:

1. Preheat oven to 180 degrees C.

2. Mix flour and butter then add water to get a cookie dough-like consistency.

3. Roll out dough to roughly 0.5cm thick.

4. Place rolled out dough in a greased form then pierce several times with a fork.

5. Cover with baking paper and bake for 20 minutes.

Spinach Filling:

1. Heat olive oil in skillet and saute garlic.

2. Stir in spinach. Add salt and pepper to taste when spinach begins to wilt.

3. Drain spinach then set aside.

4. In a bowl, whisk together eggs and cream. Add mixture to spinach and thoroughly combine.

Combining Crust and Filling:

1. Place spinach mixture in the crust. Add cherry tomatoes, goat cheese, and asparagus.

2. Put back in the over for another 20 minutes or until the cheese is lightly browned.

3D PANDA GAZING IN STYLE

Inspired by Sonia Rykiel's 2009 round pearl sunglasses above, I decided to dress up my 3D glasses. Just in time for some 3D panda action coming to cinemas this Friday!!

DIY just doesn't get easier than this. This mini project only requires 8mm flat back pearls and a hot glue gun!

CRÊPE CAKE VERSION 2.0

Made crêpe cake for Mike's birthday.

I tried a different recipe for the chocolate filling a few weeks back and ended up with a crêpe cake land slide. Not pretty!!

So fingers crossed for it to hold up tomorrow!!!

TADAAAAAA

I alternated between cream and bananas for the layers but decided to throw in a layer of Nutella at the end for a happy surprise! These take forever to make but well worth the time and effort.

QABILI PALAU AT AL-SAFA: BEST RICE IN CURRY MILE

Ate out at Al-Safa in Rusholme tonight to celebrate after the's last exam of his life. You can always count on Al-Safa to serve up the most amazing rice (with the exception of a few times when I went for lunch and the rice was not yet ready).

Qabili Palau uses seasoned broth from onions and meat (lamb, chicken or beef) and a few spices to flavor basmati rice. The dish is topped off with fried carrots and raisins for sweetness then baked.

I usually order the roasted half chicken with rice (change back with 4 quids!!) but the roast chickens were still being prepared so I decided to splurge and ordered myself the kobeda and chicken kebab special mix with rice (£5.95 + 1.00 extra to substitute naan for rice and worth every damn penny). He tried the grilled half chicken with rice (£4.50). Al-Safa gives a generous portion of rice (as in I've never left with room for dessert/drink/anything else) which is ace since all I had today was a mini sandwich. The meats and salad played good supporting roles, but to be honest, I go back just for the rice.

Top: Grilled Half Chicken with Rice
Bottom: Special Mix with Rice

If you ever get a chance to visit Manchester, be sure to stop by Al-Safa in Rusholme for the best Middle Eastern food in town!! It is the ultimate cheap (what I ordered was probably the most expensive thing on the menu) quality meal.

For those that are interested in attempting this dish at home, you can try the recipe over at Recipes Wiki.

Cheers!

GOODBYE VAN DER SAR. GOODBYE SCHOLES.

 

I wish I can move like you when I'm 40.

You sneaky old sod. We didn't say a proper goodbye.

Too many goodbyes this year at OT. 

ManU, it has been brilliant watching you live all year. I will miss you for sure.

COUNTRY (USA) SAUSAGE GRAVY FAIL

Had a ridiculous craving for country sausage gravy. Should've know failure was inevitable as they use completely different spices to prepare the sausages here in the UK and back home.

2 cups of milk

1/4 cup of flour

1 tbs of butter

3 strips of bacon

1 lb of pork sausage (doomed from here)

Salt and pepper to taste

Really thought I was making the right choice by picking the sweet chili sausage. Oh, the regrets.

Pan fry the bacon then remove from pan.

While the bacon is going, cut a slit lengthwise down each sausage to remove the casing.

Brown the sausage in the bacon grease then remove from pan.

Chop up the bacon while browning the sausage.

Add butter to all that grease then add the flour and fry for a little bit (don't burn it!)

Now slowly add 1.5 cups milk in batches. Stir until smooth.

Dump back all the meat and let the flavors mingle (Again, wrong freak'n sausage thus so not the flavor I'm after).

Add the last wee bit of milk and stir until incorporated.

Add salt and pepper to taste.

Serve it up while hot! 

I was originally going to bake some buttermilk biscuits but used up all my milk for the gravy. I substituted two slices of toast for the biscuits (double fail).

All in all, though the gravy is quite good, it's no comparison to the real American beauty. I guess nothing lives up to the expectation when you are homesick cooking.

COLD BREW YOUR ICED COFFEE

If you're an iced coffee addict, you must must must try this!

The coffee is smooth and sweet unlike what you'd get from letting a pot of hot brewed coffee go cold.

OXFORD ROAD, MANCHESTER

Whitworth Park, Manchester

Dilworth Street, Manchester

Rain

When the rain falls

They talk of Manchester

But when the triumphant rain falls

We think of rainbows

It's the Mancunian way

The Manchester Museum, Manchester

Panther Chameleon. I want one.

The Manchester Museum, Manchester

Spot it: Camouflaged Argentine Horned Frog.

SUNNY MANCHESTER

http://www.pixelovely.com/gesture/figuredrawing.php

BUY, SELL, EXCHANGE

Northern Quarters, Manchester