Student chefs in Columbia created a dessert using multiple aphrodisiac-style ingredients, one of them being Viagra. They made a pudding-like sweetness with chocolate, whipped cream and passion fruit that was showcased at a Gastronomy Show in Bogota. Unfortunately it cannot be sold in restaurants because it contains a prescription drug.

Oh snap need to write a blog today. Os I decided to fill it with my quick wit and sharp humor. See it’s there already. I’m just sitting in my dorm room and my roommate is watching a movie. I’m listening to music, Imogen Heap to be exact. My favorite song is “Come Here Boy” at the moment. Anyways, I went to the president of my college’s house tonight. It was nice. We had some good cake. I thought so at least. I had this passion fruit cream on it, yummy.

Passion Fruit

When I was in Colombia, we had it all the time and it was banging. It looks like and has the consistency (NOT THAT I WOULD KNOW) of buggers and snot. I know pleasant, right? Don’t let that stop you from going out and trying it though, because it is delicious.
Anyways I felt bad because she was asking us why we chose to come to the college and I was thinking, man I had some different crazy thoughts when I decided to come here. I want to transfer to a bigger school. Yes, my school is small enough that we all got to go to the president’s house and and just have a chat and dinner with her. One class at a time of course, but still that’s how small it is. I love the classes and I get awesome grades, but the social scene is a drag. I have other reasons too! Don’t judge me!!! I am not excited for going on the college hunt all over again, but it’s nice to be redeemed for my mistakes. I actually think I was meant to be where I am at the moment though. So I don’t feel like it was a mistake to come here at all. I got a lot of things straightened out in my head. It’s pleasant. I suppose.

You know what you should do for a little pick-me-up? Call your grandma, or any person like that. I called mine and I felt awesome, so I am going to do that at least on a weekly basis. I need to call my parents more, but I always procrastinate about that. I really do want to talk to them though. Odd.

I love to cook.  I love to eat.  Anyone that knows me knows this about me.  In another life I would be the next Food Network star, wearing vintage patterned aprons and chatting about organic produce while I braised some fennel.  Or something like that.  :)  As busy as life gets, it is so therapeutic for me to wind down in the kitchen, stirring a pot of tom kha gai or mincing cloves of garlic.  I love trying out new recipes, creating my own, and watching the delight on Erik’s face as he bites into something extra delicious.  And of course, I love those moments when *I* bite into something and sit there, mid-bite, in awe…shocked that *I* could have made this tasty morsel!!

I experienced one of those fabulous moments last week when I made (for the first time!) this banana cake and passionfruit icing.  It all started with these two passion fruits I found at my local market.  I happen to LOVE passion fruit-flavored anything, but I had never eaten (or even seen!) a real passion fruit.  It was a fairly unattractive thing, all purple and wrinkled (apparently the wrinkles mean the fruit is ripe!), but the sweet perfumed scent of the fruit was intoxicating. It won me over.  I put two in my basket with no idea of how I might use them.

After scouring the internet and discovering a dozen recipes I’d never want to make, I read an article about bananas and passion fruit making an excellent flavor pairing. And suddenly, a light went on!  I looooove bananas. Banana milkshakes, frozen bananas, deep-fried bananas, banana cream pie!  If it has bananas, I’m all about it. Combining two of my favorite fruits of all time into one tasty dessert?  brilliant.  I set to work to tweak a few recipes I found online for banana cake, and then went to town. The result was phenomenal. Seriously, I’m allowed to say that because I am not suggesting that I am somehow responsible.  In some wonderful twist of serendipity, my banana cake with passion fruit icing turned out to be the most delicious cake I’ve consumed in recent memory.

If you like to bake, or if you want to try your hand at it!, give this recipe a whirl and let me know what you think.  :)

sweet & simple banana cake

you’ll need…

• 1 ¼ cup of flour
• 1 ½ tsp of baking soda
• pinch of salt
• ¼ cup of unsalted butter (softened at room temp.  don’t try to cheat and put it in the microwave… it will melt and get gross!)
• ½ cup of white sugar  (i used turbinado sugar)
• 1/3 cup of brown sugar
• 1 large egg
• 2 ripe bananas, mashed
• 1/3 cup of buttermilk
• 1/3 cup of walnuts (“optional” — i see them as essential)

1. Preheat your oven to 350 degrees F.
2. Mix the flour, baking soda and salt in a small bowl and set aside.
3. In a large mixing bowl, mix both types of sugar and softened butter.  Cream until well integrated and smooth.
4. Add egg and mix.
5. Mix in mashed bananas.
6. Little by little, add a little of the flour mix, and then a little buttermilk, and then a little flour mix, and then a little buttermilk, until fully incorporated.  I like to do three “rounds” of integrating…  It’s one of my crazy kitchen tendencies.
7. Add the walnuts and mix well.
8. Pour your batter into an 8″ round pan and bake at 350 degrees F for 30 minutes.  Check at 20 and 25 minutes just in case…  Mine was done in exactly 23 minutes.

While the cake is cooling, make your icing!

tart & juicy passion fruit icing

you’ll need…

• one “bar” of cream cheese, softened
• ½ cup of icing sugar (aka powdered sugar, confectioner’s sugar)
• 2 ripe passion fruits

1. Rinse the passion fruits and cut in half.  Scoop out all the fragrant pulp and put into a small bowl.  Pour all the pulp into a fine mesh strainer and strain out the seeds.  Use a spoon (or similar tool) to get every last bit of juice from the seeds.  (Note: the seeds are edible but I prefer a smooth, seedless icing.)
2. Make sure your cream cheese is COMPLETELY softened and at room temp.
3. Mix the cream cheese, icing sugar, and all the passion fruit juice (your yield will vary depending on the size of the fruit and your elbow grease! ) until smooth and completely integrated.
4. Taste and add additonal sugar to taste, if necessary.  (You will need more sugar if you don’t like a true cream cheese taste to your cream cheese frosting. My passion fruits were soooo ripe and sweet that their flavor took over and I did not need additional sugar.)

Once the banana cake is completely cooled, frost your cake and enjoy!  (Note: I like to keep my frosting separate and frost each slice as I consume the cake, little by little.  LOL.  It keeps my frosting fresh since I knew I wasn’t taking the cake to a party.  Nope… I am just eating this cake slice by slice on my own!  haha) **Update: the cake is now gone.  Come to your own conclusions.  :)

The recipe will yield an 8″ round cake, but feel free to double the recipe and make two round 8″ cakes for a layered cake. There is probably plenty of icing for 2 cakes. I like to slather mine on, thankyouverymuch.  :)

Hope you all are having a wonderful week!  Coming soon: vendor roundup for Jessica & Jeff’s wedding!

P.S. Happy Veterans Day! I am so grateful for the service & sacrifice made every single day by our service men and women. My father is a highly decorated Vietnam War veteran (who served three tours there in the Big Red 1) and he is a true example of an American hero.  Love you, daddy.

xoxo,

angel

This passion fruit muffin is not sour, so don’t worry. I like the texture of the muffin. Being soft and a little spongy, the passion fruit seeds give the crunchy bite. So eating it is not boring! However, you may not like this muffin if you’re a person who likes strong/heavy taste.

This muffin sure goes well with a cup of afternoon tea. =)

Recipe (from Asia Food Channel):

Ingredients:
1. 2 eggs
2. 1/2 cup sugar
3. 1 cup plain yoghurt (if you used flavoured one, the muffin will not taste of passion fruit)
4. 60 g butter, melted
5. 1/2 cup dessicated coconut
6. 1.5 cups self-raising flour
7. 1/2 cup passion fruit

Method:
1. Preheat oven to 180 degree Celsius and grease 12 hole muffin cups.
2. Whisk eggs and sugar till frothy.
3. Add yoghurt and melted butter and mix well. Add in the passion fruit, coconut and flour. Mix gently.
4. Fill muffin pans with mixture.
5. Bake 15-20 minutes.

“Look at the view from my office!” Abelle exclaimed as he pointed out towards the lush rolling mountains high in central Costa Rica.

Abelle lives on a farm at the end of a high road in central Costa Rica with his wife, Ellie, three grown children, two dogs, one cat, a handful of trout, and plenty of cows.  

The farm is his office.  

There, in this magical wonderland, where the sun casts warmth and nourisment upon it’s land, alchemy is created.  

Ellie and Abelle have been making a living off their farm since before time.  Their land is chock full of blackberry bushes, apple tress, passion fruit vines, lettuce, herbs, kale, chard, tomatoes, and the list goes on.  Also smack in the center of their hill facing the sun, a solar dehydrator, to ensure none of their prolific fresh produce goes to waste. 

But what roams the land, is the most important part – cows, “plenty of cows,” says Abelle.  The cows are milked twice a day and Ellie and Abelle make four rounds of fresh cheese daily, to age for months in their cheese cellar, and eventually to be sold to gourmet restaurants in the capital city of San José.  Small slices of artisan cheese and whole grain crackers was our appetizer for lunch that day.

Aside from how they make their living, I was so lucky enough to be invited to their farm for a lovely, home-cooked, homegrown meal.  We started out the day by catching the trout – rainbow trout, which is prolific in these parts of Costa Rica.  Then we ventured over to the garden to grab some lettuce, kale, cherry tomatoes and fresh herbs, stopping to crack open a passion fruit and grab a blackberry or two.

Upon arriving inside their modest home, hands chock full of garden edibles, we prepared a simple, nutritious meal with olive oil, fresh lemons, sea salt, fresh herbs, salad fixings, trout, and couscous.  We sat down to enjoy it, valuing the hands that grew it, prepared it, and now those that were eating it. 

It was a slow afternoon, we didn’t do much.  It was one so rich in community, simplicity, food and friends.  But in my mind, there’s nothing quite like it.

I haven’t been updating because I felt that those days just weren’t worth updating.

So anyway, I love weekend, because these are the 2 days where I can slowly enjoy every meal (i.e. not having to rush through my meals), and most importantly, able to whip up a nice and warm meal and enjoy it.

I was supposed to work today, but my VO cancelled it last minute. I was kinda pissed because he cancelled it at 9.30am, which made me couldn’t rush down for spanish lesson as well. And, I’ve to miss another lesson next week for work because of him. Nonetheless, I continued with a good breakfast albeit feeling really horrible.

Kashi H2H, rice milk, strawberry preserve, raisins, cranberry juice

Yeah, when I first started the box of warm cinnamon oat cereal, I didn’t really like it. But as I eat them everyday, I’m starting to fall in love with them! Love Kashi’s H2H, but unfortunately they don’t have it here in SG.

Watched Law & Order SVU on ch 99 till 12+ before heading to the kitchen to prepare lunch – veggie soup with penne. I also had dessert at the side!

aubergines, carrots, cauliflower, tomato, a few chunks of sausage

This picture was after I scooped out the penne into another bowl as it was too full, haha. The flavor from the sausage blended well into the soup, and made the soup so tasty! I enjoyed every bit of this soup!

diced strawberries, passion fruit, dollop of cottage cheese, strawberry preserve

after mixing up

I had this for dessert, and ooh was it a nice and simple dessert, though I know it doesn’t look that appetising after mixing everything together. The passion fruit and strawberries went well together surprisingly! Initially I was still afraid that the overall taste would end up rather weird.

After lunch, I headed down to the library to return my book. Finally, my loan wasn’t overdued. I’ve been always late in returning library books, be it school’s or NLB. Haha.

I headed home aftermath and caught another show on the tv before heading out again to NTUC to buy the necessities for mum’s dinner tonight. But before that, I had a bar, which ended up as dinner for me :X.

Kashi Raspberry Chocolate Bar!

just look at those chopped almonds!

I’ve been dying to try it ever since I bought it from Cedele last week! Well, it didn’t disappoint me. The chocolate part wasn’t too sweet, and the grains were crunchy! The best part of the bar’s got to be those chopped almonds, which added extra crunch to the bar.

So as I said, after having the bar, I headed out and thankfully I closed the windows because it started to pour so heavily! AMK Central was literally flooded, up to my ankles, and it was so hard to walk. Ugh, I headed straight to the toilet upon reaching home to wash and scrub my legs. Then, I started preparing mum’s dinner – Wanton Mee!

minced pork, carrots, preserved lettuce, scallions

First, I marinated the filling for the dumplings, then sliced the char siew before doing up the dumplings. I totally had no idea how to wrap a nice dumpling, so it was really anyhow!

homemade wanton mee!

The was the end result. I’d prepared 2 types of dumplings for mum. I know, the fried ones look like nuggets, don’t they? Haha. Well, I thought my soft dumplings didn’t look too ugly though. It was really a huge plate and mum didn’t finish the dumplings. I mean, I didn’t expect her to polish off the whole plate too. But we had a little tiff because I realised she hardly ate the roasted curried aubergines that I also prepared. It was really a misunderstanding because she thought I wanted to force her to finish up the dumplings, but actually, I just wanted to know if she didn’t like the aubergines. I felt irritated, yet on my side I refused to explain myself, so..

Anyway, it’s okay now. Ok well, it’s been a relatively long entry. Nighty lovelies!

(*Reader Recipe)

I believe every party should have at least one mystery guest, so as I usually do at the U-C Dinners I asked a couple of my friends to bring friends nobody at the party knew. Nancy brought Pauline, a neighbor with whom she became fast friends after they discovered they were both food writers, and she made this amazing Pavlova with Passion Fruit. I’ve had strawberries and raspberries, but never passion fruit…and was it great! No wonder–Pauline has completed a family cookbook (as well as Young Adult novels)  and obviously knows her way around a kitchen. The tart passion fruit with its gooey texture was perfect with the meringue and whipped cream, and we all wondered aloud why it isn’t used more often in a pavlova. You mustmustmust try Pauline’s pavlova…and also check out www.artsbeatla.com, her site that keeps us all up-to-date on the cultural goings-on in LA.

4 egg whites

Pinch of cream of tartar

1 cup superfine sugar

1 teaspoon cornflour

1 teaspoon white wine (or champagne) vinegar

1 teaspoon vanilla essence (or scrape the seeds from a dried vanilla pod)

About ½ pint heavy cream, whipped

Pulp of 2 or 3 passion fruit

1 or 2 bananas, sliced or sliced strawberries (optional)

Preheat oven to 250 degrees for at least 10 minutes before cooking. Have all your ingredients measured and laid out before you commence (mise en place). Eggs should be at room temperature and carefully separated, with no trace of yolk (perhaps make some chocolate pots de creme, sabayon or mayonnaise with those yolks).

Whip egg whites and cream of tartar, building to high speed, until they are stiff. Gradually add the sugar, a little at a time, beating well to dissolve each addition.

Add the cornflour with the last bit of sugar. Meringue will be smooth and glossy.

By hand, gently fold in the vinegar and the vanilla, lifting as you go to preserve the fluffiness of the meringue.

Pile the meringue in the middle of a cookie sheet covered with lightly greased parchment paper, shaping the mixture into as high a dome as possible. Meringue will expand a little bit and crack as it is cooking. It may also sink a bit in the middle once cooled, but that’s the part you fill with cream.

Bake for 1½ hours. Turn off heat and let cool in oven for three hours.

When cool, decorate with whipped cream (lightly sweetened with powdered sugar and vanilla essence) and passionfruit pulp. If you care to go overboard,  top with fresh, sliced strawberries or sliced bananas, too.

Food is something new, different and usually delicious while you are traveling. It always shows part of the culture of a group of people or it represents part of the culture from a place. I remember once someone told me that is not only important if you like or not a specific food, it is important know why people have chosen that food to represent them culture… Someone who have tasted sushi knows that Japaneses used the rice to fermented fish, then it was taken out of the rice and only the fish was consumed?

On Tuesday 23rd we went to a bbq with the first family that hosted us, it was beautiful. They had invited friends and relatives because we were going, for us was like Christmas. Vaughn cooked a great bbq and we had the opportunity to taste kangaroo (there are 26 millions of aussies and 58 million kangaroos, that I don´t know how they census them). For dessert we had toasted bananas with ice cream and maple.

Our second bbq was in Saad´s house, a good friend from Saudi Arabia, who is Juan´s classmate. In one moment we were more than 18 and there were people from all over the world.

Yesterday we had a delicious spice chinese dinner with friends from Taiwan, we drank oolong tea and plum juice whit more than 5 different traditional meals. I really don´t know what I have eaten but it was fantastic and today I feel well.

Some new fruits that I have tasted while I´m traveling are:
Pepino melon
Passion fruit
Carambola

• Mama Marta y Mama Monica no se preocupen que estamos muy bien alimentados!

My kitchen is full of raw stuff. I really need it because I ate noodles the last days and Im really sick of it now. Maybe thats why I  bought so much fruit 2day. And added something new: passion fruit. Never eaten b4.

And Im planning to do the mono-stuff. Every day another fruit. I still love bananas and pineapple. Well see how I feel about that.  I will do it next week.

And I will drop down soymilk soon. Still have some at work but I wont replace it when finished. It causes an awful feeling 2 my stomach.  I feel tired and heavy. Maybe because I fell off raw…

And that coffee thing is still in my mind too… I dont think its doing me any good. Exept the taste.  But that are only thoughts until now.

Ray and a display of "value added" honey and honey products that will be produced at Timothy Centre.

Another productive Saturday. I had a very fruitful discussion with Mr. Ray Sutton, the Executive Director of Pacific Academy Outreach Society, Canada. Timothy Centre is one of the many projects that he oversees. Its another one of his babies.

Our discussion touches on the development of agriculture products that will be exported to Canada and North America once Timothy Centre has fully develop the sector.

Meanwhile, honey products is already underway and this time round Ray will be introducing honey and beeswax candles into Canada and North America market. Following suit will be coffee and passion fruit as discussed with Karl earlier.

As our discussion took us further regarding the development of Timothy Centre, we concurred that we should also develop the eco-tourism sector where tourists can experience farmstay feeling. Waking up in the morning, strolling into farm, getting fresh vegetables and fruits, harvesting fresh raw honey for breakfast.

When I left Ray and his team in the evening, this thoughts came to my mind. In this fast pace society, Uganda should not be looking at production level only. Quality plays a vital role as well. This is where I feel financial institution can come in to assist the farmers financially in getting, not the most expensive equipment or tools but the RIGHT and appropriate equipment and tools, where the farmers are more adaptable and able to handle. We should help them with what they are familiar with and fine-tune from there, rather than giving them what we want them to have. Sadly enough, some financial institutions who engaged in such assistance got burned because they were not given the proper direction by the right people, ending up with bad debts. Those giving out the monies do not even understand a single bit of what is on the ground. They just simply wore their grey suit, sitting behind their grey desk, inside their grey office under the grey sky, waiting for their grey papers to be laid on their grey table. They only know how to  engage PAPER, they don’t engage PEOPLE.

Many a times when I moved around the villages, I do come across a lot of “Signboard Projects”. The signboards are there but you don’t see any projects. One reason it could be that the project had ended, so are the equipment. The locals do not know how to use them but since it is free, might as well take it. After which the tools and equipment might had found its way to a nearby market.

Uganda should also start picking up ideas on value adding in order to be more competitive with the rest of the World. Once I met an old man and he shared this with me, “The earth is always revolving forward. We have to keep pace with time and not to stand still. If we were to do that, we are in fact moving backwards”. Interesting analogy.

I felt that I am very blessed to be invited to work with Timothy Centre. It is well organized with an achievable and amazing vision. I can foresee Timothy Centre will be one of the most talk about destination in Uganda once it is fully developed.

“Global Servants in Christian Education”

I cannot believe that I posted everyday for an entire week. We have come to the end of creole week and it was fun while it lasted right. We learnt lots of valuable info and shared ideas. I honestly enjoyed this week as there was a lot of feedback (Thank you guys) and I saw that this week really peaked the attention of my international readers and it also allowed my Caribbean readers to comment. I hope to be having more events like this in the near future especially one that showcase my homeland Barbados. The last fruit that we will look at is the Passion fruit.

Passion Fruit (Passiflora spp.)

This tart and sweet fruit with its intoxicating aroma has won over many tourist who visit the Caribbean. There should be a chewing gum with this flavour. Passion fruits are sought after in the Caribbean as they are used to make refreshing bevergages  and jellies. The passion fruit comes in many interesting colours. Some are reddish-purple and some of bright yellow. The interior of the fruit houses a gelatinous matter of juice and seeds. The seeds can be eaten but there are indigestible. To get the juice from this gelatinous mixture you has to mix with a little water and strain through a cheese cloth. This concentrate can be then diluted and mixed with some sugar or agave nectar and be used as a refreshing cocktail. In Guadeloupe I noticed the vendors sold an alcohol beverage called “Planteur” made with passion fruit. I went to get one for the giveaway but the market was closed so I had to do the guava stuff. Sorry! In Barbados my dad use to give me passion fruit jam with peanut butter as a little girl which I loved this for breakfast.When I first met my bf who is now my husband I saw him eating the passion fruit just like that with a spoon something that would make me gasp as the juice in itself is very concentrated. It is like eating passion fruit  times 1000 . Maybe some of you eat it like this? Let me know.There is no recipe today unfortunately as I had a big baking night preparing some breads and cakes for the book. There is however two passion fruit desserts in  my book.

Where to find it ?

Always check your Asian Markets they are known for having these tropical fruits but the fruit has to be in season. I just checked Amazonand there are many passion fruit syrups concentrates etc on there.

I had to draw the contest earlier because I have some unexpected travel coming up and I would not be able to get the winners stuff to them in time. I made the draw this morning and I have two winners. There were 16 entries plus 2 pingbacks so I put the numbers though the random generator and voila.  The first winner is Mary from Mitten Machen and the second winner is Queen. Congrats to you all. I will be contacting you to get your mailing address and I will try to ship the winners asap.

Now I am going back to recipe development and I will definitely be posting  again at  least once per week. Thank you again for all the comments and participation for Creole Week

Tay

I am so excited to finally be able to share with all of you my photo exhibit that is currently hanging at
UCSF’s Children’s Hospital–505 Parnassus Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94143. Half of the exhibit is on the first floor by the main Moffitt Elevators and the other half is on the second floor inside the Moffitt Cafeteria dining area. If you are able to actually physically go and see it, PLEASE DO! All of my photos are available for purchase; The prices that are posted are negotiable, just make me an offer and we’ll work it out.. All of the prints are also available without the frame or only with matting if you’d like. Please tell your friends or family etc. The photos make great gifts. Also, I’m looking for more photo subjects so if you or anyone you know is interested, let me know!

I’d love to hear your comments about these photos, so…PLEASE LEAVE COMMENTS!!!

Without further adieu, here are the photos in my exhibit. I’ve placed them by category so they are a little more organized.

SKY

This first one is my favorite one:

Dawn of a New Beginning

This picture is completely unaltered.

Another Day Soon to Hatch

I love this picture because the sun looks like a little egg yolk to me. I love egg yolk and allow myself to eat it every now and then. Thanks cholesterol!

Breaking Through the Dark

This picture is completely unaltered.

Day at the Beach in SF

God’s Cloud Art 1

"To view the work of the Greatest Artist, look up." - Daly City, CA

Through the Dark

"The darkness can blind us but it can also open our eyes." - Daly City, CA

SAN FRANCISCO

Where I Left My Heart

This is a gigantic sculpture in which the artist based his work on the song by Frank Sinatra entitled

“I Left My Heart in San Francisco.”

"Where have you left your heart? ...or with whom?" - Rincon Park in San Francisco, CA

Where Dreams are Made

Other than changing this photo from color to black and white, this picture is unaltered. I love how the suns rays on the ocean created the magical stars.

"Expect the worst but always always hope for the best." - View of SF from Berkeley, CA

San Francisco Silhouette

Golden Gate

"Even color is in the eye of the beholder." - San Francisco, CA

Flowers

Purple Passion

For some reason, this picture makes me want some candy.

Osteopernum or African Daisy - Half Moon Bay, CA

Center of the Universe 1

"Where, what or who is the center of your universe?" - Daly City, CA

Daly City Love 2

"Every beauty has its blemish but every blemish has its beauty." - Daly City, CA

Natural Beauty

I think it is very important to find the beauty around us. You never know when you’ll find something unexpected if you keep your eyes and mind open.

Unaltered picture of a leaf I saw while walking to campus one day. - Davis, CA

Passion Fruit Green Tea

Passion Flower or Passiflora Incarnata - Half Moon Bay, CA

JAPAN

Kinkakuji (The Golden Pavilion)

"Learn from the phoenix and know that every ending promises a new beginning--a chance to start again." - Kyoto, Japan

Life of a Geisha

I stumbled upon one of the last standing Geisha houses. You can see an American photographer that I met taking a picture of the geisha. This picture of the back of the geisha’s neck and the red material in her hair is actually a very interesting picture to those who know about Geisha’s makeup. Geisha’s are NOT prostitutes…see this link.

"In one way or another, we are all misunderstood." - Kyoto, Japan

Todaiji (Great Eastern Temple)

The largest wooden building in the world, housing the largest gilded bronze Buddha - Nara, Japan

Lotus Blossoms 1

"Most of us have to learn to crawl before we can run but we all have to start somewhere." - Kyoto, Japan

Lotus Blossoms 2

"Wait for the right moment." - Kyoto, Japan

Lotus Blossoms 3

"Everyone is unique but we're all the same." - Kyoto, Japan

That’s it! Please go see my exhibit in person if you have time. Also, remember that all these photos (and all the photos on this site) are for sale. Please contact me to let me know if you would like to purchase a print. I would love to also hear your comments about the photos. Hope to hear from you soon! Until then, stay tuned for more of my photo endeavors.

]]> http://eatwright.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/the-good-life-begins/ Wed, 09 Sep 2009 21:53:00 +0000 James http://eatwright.wordpress.com/2009/09/10/the-good-life-begins/

When I announced that I was going to grow some veggies at home my friend likened me to Arthur Fowler, “Pauline, I am going down the allotment, I need time to think”. Now I hope that my wanting to try growing some veggies isn’t the sign of old age kicking in or my working class roots coming through. I am thinking of it more as an extension of my passion for food and if I am going be associated with popular culture I am more of a Barbara (aka Felicity Kendal from The Good Life) than Arthur from Eastenders thank you very much!

Just like cooking, where the buzz for me comes from creating something from ingredients that is far more than the sum of its parts. I am hoping that growing some veggies gives me the same pleasure; creating something from nothing. Who knows I might end up with a small holding one day in Tassie…

The last time I grew my own I was at university and failed dismally to harvest Cannabis. We had the whole set-up, UV lights from our aquariums (that we hadn’t used since we were 14), grow bags and watering systems. After about three months once we’d dried the leaves and buds on the radiators in our Manchester dwellings (the UK doesn’t lend itself to tropical crops) we managed to roll about three joints all of which were pretty uninspiring. In fact the money we had saved not going to the guy next door for the quality stuff was probably spent on additional electricity to encourage faster growth with the UVs.

Veggies in Australia on my sunny patio in Bondi should be a lot easier. I spent just shy of $150 in Bunnings and cheated a bit by buying a trio of small tomato plants, two passion fruit trees, some chilli seedlings and herbs as well as a whole loads of seeds. I didn’t want to be looking a dirt for six weeks before any started to show signs of life. Buying plants spurred me on to plant the seeds as well. I now have rocket, four varieties of lettuce and edible flowers (Nasturtiums) growing as well.

The Nasturtiums are already showing signs of growth after just a week and can be planted straight into the pots they will blossom in. The tomatoes have all gained a few inches too and you can see the flower heads starting to form. I have a feeling that the passion fruit trees are going to be the most frustrating, but if they do their stuff, probably the most rewarding as well.

I used an organic compost and mixed it with some traditional Blood and Bone (that I remember the guy next door, Eddie, using on his veggies and allotment when I was growing up).

Now we wait, and hope that I remeber to water them regularly.

Went for Ice Monster for some desserts before we left the place. I was telling him that the mango ice-cream here was superb, tasted like like a real mango. So AC was tempted to try it out.

... mango flavoured ice-cream on the front and passion fruits flavoured ice-cream on the back.

Rating: 5.5/10

The mango ice-cream was indeed very mango-ish. There were even fibres in the ice-cream itself. Though I wonder how’s the mango sorbet would be like. AC had the passion fruits. Which was a tad sourish and very sweet. Tasted more like syrup ice-cream than authentic passion fruits ice-cream. I guess the one from Haagen Dazs was just so much better.

No i w końcu zamieszczam zdjęcia tych owoców od środka . Wyglądają dziwnie, czy też niezbyt ciekawie ale smakują rewelacyjnie. Pierwsze wrażenie – smak jak sok multiwitaminy.

Summer. Friends. Music. Smelly Cat. BoO. Adinutzi. Necty. Pârâul Rece. Braşov. Predeal. Azuga. Buşteni. Vatra Dornei. Chitara. Pepene rosu. Pepene galben. Porumb fiert. Gogoşi. Clătite. Motzless. Dark blue. 10 thing I hate about you. BSB. Nothing else matters. Nirvana. Twilight. Munte. Telecabina. Mov. Pictures. Passion Fruit. Ploaie. Fret. Coarda. Do major. Tenis. Federer. Vama Veche. Literatura. Somn. Pietre. Pepsi. Un long dimanche de fiançailles.11:14. Rock. Primola bar. Champagne. Writing. Tren. Coshtel. Leagăn. Foc de tabără. Memories. Nameless stones. Sick as my secrets. Sunny days. Hologram. The never-ending why. Placebo. I’m sleeping with my feet on air. Milutzi. Pizza. Ludwig. Piatra Craiului….

Fruit. It’s the season of passion fruit Boy do I know it. There are passion fruit seeds and pulp on pretty much everything we own, courtesy of the girls. It smells delish, but is sticky and gooey and looks a bit like snot. Not to ruin your fantasies of the tropics or anything. I’ll try my best to think of something else it resembles other than boogers. Passion fruit trees line the border of our park. They sprout gorgeous red flowers before they turn into little round yellow fruits. The girls can’t get enough of stuffing them in their months, especially the rotten ones covered with ants. Mmmmmm. Here’s Mumu holding one up, delighted:

I don’t have any of Lulu and passion fruit, which is kind of shocking because she’s rarely without it, but in the interest of time and fair play, here’s a pic of her laughing while walking at the park (probably thinking about how she’s going to smear passion fruit pulp all over my couch).

Last week was pretty crappy, yesterday was not promising, but today was magic. Glorious sunny day. The girls frolicked with abandon. Dragged around bamboo, picked orange orchids, ate passion fruit, and laughed, laughed, laughed.

It’s like a burst of summer in every bite!

Ingredients:

Pastry:

125 g (4 oz) butter
1/2 cup caster sugar
1 egg
1 tsp vanilla essence
1 1/2 cup plain (all purpose) flour
1/2 tsp baking powder
A pinch of salt

Filling:

4 eggs
1 cup sugar
1 cup shredded coconut
1/3 cup plain (all-purpose) flour
1 1 /2 cup (12 fl oz) cream
160 ml (5 1/2 fl oz) coconut milk
juice and zest of 1 lemon
1/2 cup (4 fl oz) passionfruit pulp

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 180C (350F). To make the pastry, place butter and sugar in a bowl and beat until light and creamy. Add egg and vanilla essence and beat well.

2. Add sifted flour, baking powder and salt, and stir until combined and the mixture forms a sticky dough. Flour hands and press pastry evenly into the base of a greased and baking paper-lined 23 x 23 cm (9 x 9 in) tin*. Bake pastry base in the oven for 15 minutes.

3. To make filling, place eggs and sugar in a bowl and whisk until pale. Add coconut, flour, cream, coconut milk, lemon juice, zest and passionfruit pulp, and stir to combine.

4. Pour filling over pastry base in the tin. Bake for 35-40 minutes or until golden. Remove from the oven and allow to cool completely in the tin.

5. When cool, slice into squares. Makes 20 squares.

* I didn’t have a tin that size, so I just pressed the dough up the sides of a rectangular one.