I'm Sending A Letter (Link) to Santa!

Dear Santa, 

Here's my grown up Christmas list and I don't think I'm asking too much. I've been good this year!

The bitching has been kept at a minimum and I've been doing good deeds at least once a week and I have been watching you on Christmas24 since November. I'm pretty sure that should put me back on your list.

Clockwise: Uniform Wares 300 Series Chronograph Wristwatch, Alexander McQueen Needlepoint Slippers, Bette Davis 100th Anniversary Collection, KitchenAid Electric Mixer, Game Of Thrones Season 1 Boxset, Linda Farrow for Alexander Wang, Bobbi Brown Caviar and Oyster Travel Brush Set, Bobbi Brown BBU Palette, Alexander Wang Tote, The Little Black Jacket by Karl Lagerfeld and Carine Roitfeld, Irreverent by Carine Roitfeld, Grace, A Memoir by Grace Coddington, Chanel Coco Noir Eau de Parfum... and NOAH MILLS (preferably like THAT) 

As for the second list...well, that's only if you're feeling extra generous this year. 

You haven't been for the last seven years but gotta ask to receive....right? RIGHT!?

Chanel Boy Bag, A set of Louis Vuitton Luggage, and an audience with the great Mao Asada (perhaps by way of a ticket and a VIP pass to the 2013 World Championships, or if she makes it, to the Sochi Winter Games) and my ultimate diva- Christina Aguilera. A tweet, a tour, a personal lap dance complete with ass less chaps...whatever! I need me some XTINAAA!

Lots of Love,

Be Italian! Buono Appetito.

Today I felt like having Italian for dinner. Although I am completely aware that having carbs and dairy in the same dish will not help me in my bid to lose a few pounds, I thought- fuck it. It seems to be the case with me and food at the moment, but you know what? At the end of the day, it'll just be an extra twenty minutes on the spinning machine and I will go to bed happy. Diet and exercise can wait a day right? I am not about to give up some decadent kitchen time and a major nom nom moment.

After going through my usual repertoire of pasta recipes, I figured I need to try something new- or at least something that isn't Carbonara Alfredo or Spaghetti Bolognese. I remember making Spinach and Ricotta Cannelloni before and it was delicious so I decided on that. As it turned out, I didn't have cannelloni in my pantry. I'm very skint at the moment so I couldn't be bothered (can't afford really...!) to buy the damn thing. I did have lasagne sheets however, and what are lasagne sheets if not flattened cannelloni, si? 

The recipe is simple. In fact, I only made it up after seeing someone on TV make it. I can't remember what it was exactly so I resorted to my can-do, easy-breezy-beautiful attitude and winged it. Who doesn't? I'm not baking so precision wasn't a priority. Anyhow, here's my recipe for Spinach and Ricotta Lasagne. Try it out and let me know if you like it. I know I did!

Czar's Take on a Filipino Feast

Yesterday my parents threw me a Graduation dinner party so that we could share the celebration amongst our family and friends. It was fun, especially since I did all the cooking- as dictated by our party agreement; they will agree to host an event so long as I do the cooking. It's actually not that bad since I prefer cooking everything I serve to my guests and just like at school, I like the pressure of hosting a party. The menu last night was a fusion of Mediterranean, Italian and Asian cuisine, which still has some familiar elements to it, only its hardly traditional. There was Piri-Piri Chicken with cooling Coriander Yogurt, a Summer Cous Cous Salad bejeweled with fresh peppers and cherry tomatoes, my take on Filipino cured sausage (longganisa), Bacon and Parmesan stuffed Mushrooms, Saffron Tatties and Roasted Pepper Bruschetta. I like to change my menu up a bit because I get bored easily. Also, in most cases I find that Filipino parties tend to serve the same cuisine almost every time. Not that there's anything wrong with that- I love my cultural repertoire of dishes, but serving them like clockwork makes it less special I feel. I mean, personally, I find it even better to stave off Filipino specialities like Caldereta, Dinuguan, Lechon de Leche, and the rest of the usual suspects so when I do have them, the experience will be superlatively sublime. After all, you don't really eat soul food every day do you? It's also good to try new things, so whenever I host a dinner party I mix it up and fortunately for me, my guests seem to agree :)

Bon appetit!

The Czar's Choice: Mademoiselle Poirot

Hello lovelies! I hope you are all having a fantastic summer so far, despite the lack of sunshine, but hey- that's England for you. I for one am joyous at the fact that I have finally secured a job and received my Classics degree all in the same week. I can't say I'm going to miss sleepless nights over Ovid's whiny antics in exile, but I am going to miss being a student up in fabulous Leeds. It's been a great three years my friend, and I am sure the city has not seen the last of me. 

This month I've decided to begin a series of featurettes showcasing some of my favourite blogs to read. Over the past year I have met some fabulous people who happen to share the same love of blogging as I do, and I just thought it would be awesome if I could share the reasons why I love their work. You may have come across them before and if you have, well then, isn't it obvious why they are featured? Some of my personal favourites on the blogsphere offer not only their love of fashion but also art, design, travel, and food amongst other things. It's just inspiring looking at their enthusiasm and genuine passion you know? So here goes. 

The prestigious title of being the first featured blog goes to....Mademoiselle Poirot! Woop! :)

Carole Poirot is the author of her blog Mademoiselle Poirot, a space that allows her creative genius manifest and a great site for those of you who like interior design, crafts and great photography. A true arbiter of all things chic, this Parisienne's personal style and great taste has received significant recognition from the media, not only for her blog but as Heart Home Magazine recently discovered, her fabulously decorated abode. Just absolutely beautiful! You can see the photos here. Her style is whimsical, yet classically romantic and it is this combination that truly makes Mademoiselle Poirot exceptional. 

An Ode to Coffee Lovers...

For a self-proclaimed foodie/domestic goddess, I have been quite bad at documenting my feats. Most times I miss a good Asian-food-photo moment- perhaps out of sheer embarrassment at the thought of taking photos at a fancy restaurant, while sometimes I simply cannot be bothered to blog about my cooking. It did not really help being in a student setting either. True, a limited budget for chow can make for a great opportunity at creating something genius (or a disaster), but other elements such as the lack of space, time and equipment does put a damper at any possibility for a veritable culinary moment. Now that I have finished with University and have settled back home, I can finally recharge my inner Nigella Stewart (get it?) and try out new recipes, create bizarre concoctions and to put it simply, eat. 

I was a bit restless tonight and I wasn't sure why. Maybe it was that I now have nothing but time in my hands, seeing as I am now finished with school...for a long while. Perhaps it was caused by the eight cups of strong coffee I've had since I began my day at 1pm, which would make sense since my right eyelid has also started twitching again. Don't worry, it is not THAT creepy. It just tends to happen when my body feels like it's on caffeine overload. Or if it needs more. Whatever the case, I decided to bake something since it has always been my go to treatment. It's my Chicken Soup for the Soul if that makes sense. There's something in the formulaic chaos of it all that just gets me all Zen-esque. Not to mention, it was around 9pm when I started so the family were all resigned in the salon and I had the quiet kitchen all to myself. It was going to be either a classic Victoria or Vanilla cupcakes since I was really just looking at doing something and I did not want any extra fuss for the time being. However, while I was getting my stuff prepared, I spied about a cup of coffee left from this morning's pot. I thought about Tasha and how the last cake she made was a coffee cake, et voila, I went for that option. It was only going to be a case of substitution anyway so it was still a no-fuss recipe. I referred the Joy of Baking's Stephanie Jaworski's Vanilla Cupcake recipe- only instead of using milk, I opted for Starbucks' Pike Place Roast. Here's a quick run through of the technicalities...

INGREDIENTS:

BATTER:
113g butter, room temperature
3 large eggs
130g caster sugar
195g flour (I used self-raising)
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/4 tsp. salt
60ml (1/4 cup) of coffee

GLAZE:
2 tablespoons of Jack Daniel's Whisky
A shot of espresso (or more...depending on consistency and volume you want)
Icing sugar

TOPPING:
Peanut Brittle, roughly pounded

I started thinking of how I could vamp it up a little bit. Buttercream seemed too heavy for the evening and I realised I didn't have enough butter for the batter and the frosting- just one or the other. So, on a Nigella-esque move of making things work, I grabbed the icing sugar, mixed it with a bit of instant espresso and a couple of tablespoons of Jack Daniels I found hidden by my dad behind the cereal boxes. I call it my Irish Coffee Glaze. Snazzy huh? There was no measuring involved as it was a no-brainer type of thing. Just do as you like and feel for the consistency that you want. I wanted a glossy glaze so I stopped mixing as soon as the glaze covered the back of the spoon a little richly and held its place. And what of a finishing flourish? God forbid Nigella or Martha leave a finishing touch out of the equation! I checked the contents of my pantry and there rested a jar of Salted Peanut Brittle from the Philippines. Bashed quickly in the mortar and pestle, and presto! Crystalline brittle sprinkles. I think I'll have one for breakfast with an espresso. After all, to a real caffeine lover, is there really such a thing as coffee overload? ^^

Until next time! Try out the recipe and tell me what you think.

Love,

Litte Tokyo

I have been dying for some unagi lately, and since my dissertation and Plato essays have been submitted already, I thought it would be a nice treat to go out for some Japanese cuisine to celebrate. Small victories you know? My friend Leanne has been telling me nothing but wonderful things about Little Tokyo, a small Japanese restaurant right smack in the middle of town. It's unimposing from the outside but going in, it was like walking in a nice, authentic Japanese restaurant, with Geisha hostesses, koi ponds and bridges and all. Well, I guess relatively authentic in a Northern sense. I am in Leeds after all. Needless to say, halfway through our meal I spied a queue growing from the door all the way to the Coopland's bakery adjacent to the place. That's saying a lot, especially since most of these hipster wannabees made up for the bulk of the queue (^.^) I would definitely recommend the restaurant, especially if you are after great food on a budget, Little Tokyo is fairly reasonable. 

Rating: 4*/5

After dinner, we walked through Victoria Arcade and since it was empty, I asked Leanne to play how-would-you-pose-for-the-paparazzi with me. She was my pap for the evening.

Procrastination At Its Finest

With an essay to hand in 24 hours and an exam waiting around the corner, you'd think I'd have have more sense than to just set off for Paris and forget about everything. Well, I didn't forget about work- I finished my essay two hours before my train was due for Gare du Nord, and I've started revision the minute I got back home this morning. If anything, I think the four days I spent with my friends Tash, Laura and Jess at Rue de la Rouchefoucauld were the most therapeutic since the start of the Christmas holidays. There was no stress, no fatigue, no worries. I also loved that this time around, there was a sense of familiarity in the air.

The Domestic Goddess V.S. The Prudes of the World

Prominent TV chef and one of my favourites, Nigella Lawson, has recently come under fire over a rather provocative photograph taken for the cover of London magazine, Stylist, wherein the said culinary vixen was the guest editor. On the cover, the divine La Lawson is shown to have a copious amount of salted caramel, dripping over her immaculately shadowed eyelids and her lips, coquettishly parted with a look of ecstasy, enough to drive men all over the world crazy. Be it as it may, it is not unusual for Nigella to have a sexy and seductive approach to her cooking. In fact, that is the reason why we all love her! So why get all the scrutiny now, after all the years she's been on our television screens, eating her way through every dish with her signature wanton gusto?

Some say what she's doing is food porn. What, with each seductive glance at the camera and every finger lickin' good opportunity to play with her food while at the same time savouring the joy of eating, its does not come as a surprise to me that the British public has now changed its tune. They are all prudes. No offence, but it is true. And the sad thing is that these critics have gotten so caught up in all the sex that they have completely missed the point of the image. Food blogger Erica Rivera, author of the memoir Man Eater, sums it up perfectly, "This image evokes the intense sensations that people who love food experience. For me, cooking and eating are very sensual and tactile. Those who want to see something erotic in this image will find the eroticism. What I see is a powerful image of a gorgeous woman in a state of ecstasy. Why that's immediately slapped with the 'erotic' label is beyond me. If Lawson did a full-frontal shot that included her slathering the caramel on her breasts, then, yes, I'd call it erotic. This is just an image of a woman enjoying something she loves. What's offensive about that?"

My sentiments exactly. Personally, I think the cover is fabulous and very fitting. Editorially, it would not look out of place in the pages of Vogue Paris. She is a beautiful woman and she is just naturally sexy. Show me a woman (or a man, whatever.) who does not get some sense of nirvana when eating a nice piece of chocolate, and then I'll rest my case. 

As far as pushing the envelope is concerned, is there anything wrong with pushing it at all? Whenever I watch UKTV Food and Nigella's show is not on, I feel as though these TV chefs prove to be as ironically bland and stale. Truth be told, as much as I respect the likes of Delia and Martha, I would much rather watch Nigella immodestly devour a chunk of a doubly decadent chocolate cake with her bare hands than sit through half an hour of clinical kitchen work. It's boring and it takes the fun and attraction out of cooking. It's bad enough that most people now have gotten so obsessed with weight and eating that the act always proves to be more of a chore to them, done out of necessity, and it is sad. Rachel Krammer Bussel of the Huffington Post comments, "You don't have to be a splosher or a glutton or a television chef to admit that, whether it's an explicitly sensual food like oysters or caramel or a burgers, a vegetable, a cheese, a chocolate mousse -- pick your favorite -- the experience of placing food on our tongues, of taking the time to taste and savor and appreciate what it offers not just our mouth, but our soul, is a powerful act. You can enjoy the meal version of a quickie or a Tantric session of extended, elaborate, sultry enjoyment. But you're denying an elemental part of yourself and human nature when you claim that the pleasure of food is divorced from its sensual side".

We need the likes of Nigella to remind us that even in the most mundane acts of life there is joy. There is a reason why it is called 'the culinary arts', and just like any other piece of artwork, food solicits appreciation and delight in its existence. Now whether or not she is deliberately pushing her sexuality up to new stratospheres is trivial. So what if she does? It makes for good TV, she's hot and it's not her fault she exudes sex appeal naturally. Whoever disagrees obviously is just not ballsy enough to admit that they would very much like to emulate La Lawson. Just admit it, you love it really. 

Thoughts?

xoxo

Man V.S. Food (Almost!): Tropeiro

When my sister asked us to pick her and her things up at Nottingham today, she promised that after all the labour we put in; trying to fit four years of her life inside a Ford Galaxy, she would take us to the new Brazilian culinary hotspot Tropeiro for a rewarding lunch. We she described to me how the whole things worked, it brought to mind the recent Judd Apatow blockbuster Bridesmaids. It was a traditional Brazilian Churrascaria restaurant. You know, when they sit down and they have these men carrying ginormous skewers of meat, carving away at your plate, for as much as you like? Yep. So of course with that in mind, those who saw the movie should know what came next. I wasn't worried about food poisoning, partly because its unrealistic and the fact that they are not allowed to serve steaks that are still a wee bit too pink. Instead I kept trying to think of how to sit down and eat without popping off the button on my chinos and still look like I haven't eaten a whole cow. 

Champagne BK à la Peers

I woke up to the smell of fresh pain au chocolat, buttered toast, a pot of tea and champagne mimosas. Classy! Pretty good breakfast wouldn't you say? Of course, to give credit where credit is due, the lovely spread was courtesy of Tasha, who continually insists of social formalities such as breakfasts. Plus it wasn't too early to drink seeing as we all started nomming at around 1pm. True to form however, Vicky and Jon, and Stef never failed us, as they indulged in some greasy yet scrumptious take-aways from the local chippie. Pretty standard Sunday really, but with a bit o' class. ^^

xoxo