Black and White

It's a sleepy Sunday morning of a rain-soaked weekend. I'm bumming it on the couch with a cup of coffee trying to come up with something concrete to write. It's one of those weekends, where the time just slipped through my fingers. It seems like I've been doing stuff. What was it again??

I'm not baking. Instead, I'm having store-bought cantuccini for breakfast (yes, cookies for breakfast) and watching the Diamond Jubilee Thames flotilla on the telly.

 I thought it was fitting to say "telly" in this instance :)

Tongue Twisters and Coincidences

Good evening friends,

I am scrambling to put together a little presentazione for my Italian lesson tomorrow, and not much time is left to blog.

This language learning thingie has taken a considerable bite out of my time, as I'm really doing my best to get past this awfully awkward first stage, where one gets incredibly tongue-tied, red-faced and intimidated at the precise momento when one wants to say something utterly brilliant. My brain resembles a large but disorganized kindergarten, where no matter how much you practice with the kids  (i.e. words and phrases) for a big occasion, something always goes pear-shaped when the big moment arrives.

The biggest mine field for me now is probably numbers and verb conjugation. Che sorpresa!

Singing to a New Salad

Fat Tuesday, they say. Hum, it's not just Tuesday, it's a fat Wednesday too now. Not entirely sure why, I've been having two "fat days" in a row. You know, those days when for no good reason you suddenly feel five pounds heavier. Maybe it's the sodium overdose or the spontaneous party we had last night with the neighbours with lots of wine and less-than-healthy snacks. Regardless of the cause, I've been feeling inflated and blah.

In my books, the solution for "fat days" is extremely simple: just eat a bit less, go to the gym and continue with proper meals with lots of vegetables as usual... Except, I didn't quite succeed with the first part given a batch of fresh banana cookies I baked last night and today's all-staff meeting with a spread of muffins, scones and more cookies.

Oh well. Such days happen to all of us. I just wanted a friendly ear to complain :)

Bialetti

I'm a proud owner of yet another kitchen gadget. I'm saying it half-mockingly because I already own a tons of stuff, but then again, if one cooks as a hobby, one needs the right tools to do it. I think that it's okay having many kitchen paraphernalia, as long as they are not there just to collect dust.

What's your most embarrassingly unused - or a totally useless - kitchen gadget? The proverbial bread maker given to you for your wedding by an elderly aunt? A pasta machine, perhaps? Or maybe an electric table sweeper that just spreads crumbs around instead of cleaning them?

Our most useless food-related tool must be the ceramic cheese fondue set that someone gave my boyfriend years ago. Since we moved in together exactly two years ago (yay, contacts to us!!), it wasn't used once. We simply don't make cheese fondue. Hey, does anyone here want it??

The Best Exotic Socializing Weekend

Happy domenica friends!

On Friday, the thunderstorm was brewing all day and it finally got me right after my Italian lezione. I was stuck at La Bottega waiting for the downpour to ease.

Admittedly, it wasn't the worst place to be stuck at.  I wondered from aisle to aisle exploring stuff I usually pay little attention to, such as different kinds of salts (sea salt is best, and I found one brand at only $1.29), cocoa powder (got one from Poland at $1.49) and stove-top Bialetti coffee-makers on sale for $19.99! More on Bialetti later. Hunger eventually forced me to get going. Half-way home the rain intensified again and I got soaked to the bones. Ahaha. So much for the careful planning. The umbrella was utterly useless.

Show Me The Money

Hi guys,

I've been running slightly behind my one-new-recipe-per-week mantra mostly because we were away and, hence, eating out a lot. Also, in this weather my enthusiasm for the hot stove has dwindled a bit: I just want sit outdoors with my laptop or a book and a chilled drink. The BBQ use has gone up as well - I crave everything grilled, especially my delicious juicy homemade turkey burgers. Mmmmm. H. has been complaining of me wanting to eat burgers all the time. Ironic, isn't it?

Nevertheless, last week I got my hands on some very cheap raspberries and made this Berrylicious Breakfast Loaf (☜ click for a full printable recipe). If muffins are your weakness, this is probably the healthiest breakfast alternative without compromising either the moist texture or the flavour.

Eating Our Way through Montreal

I'm loving the heat and even the humidity. It hasn't been to oppressive so far, and I like how warm moist air feels on the skin - like lukewarm mist. My boyfriend - errrm. No so much. He'd be happy blasting air-con 24/7 and keep the temperature at 21C. What is it with North American men?!

Back to work after the long weekend of epicurean fun and back to home cooking. We managed to have four meals out in three days! This may not be that excessive for some, but it's definitely a lot of restaurant dining for us. Needless to say, it adds up, so some restraint is now in order.

After the pizza lunch in Montreal's Little Italy, we radically changed cuisines and took my mum and grandmother out to Yuukai for sushi.