First Recipe from Super Natural Every Day

I am currently reading for the first time ever, from front to back, a cookbook. 

For most foodies this is the norm but for me it is very new but strangely very familiar. Once I got hold of Heidi Swanson's "Super Natural Every Day" I decided that reading cookbooks can be both educational and enjoyable - who knew? This is officially my first cookbook, not my parents or borrowed from a friend... mine. 

I choose it because I recently started following blogs and one was Heidi's: 101cookbooks. Her blog is beautiful and the food she makes is my type of food... whole grain, veggie rich, feel good food. When I got to know the creator behind 101cookbooks, I discovered she has written 2 cookbooks and it all started (probably for her love of food) with her lose-yourself-in-yummy-recipes-great-photography blog. I wanted to support this lady and learn from her.

The book is easy to read and she is constantly giving suggestions to how her recipes can be tweaked and how you can substitute some ingredients. I like that I can pick up this cookbook and find a recipe that I can whip together without having to go to the super market to shop for essential ingredients. 

Below is a dish I did a couple nights ago. I got home after the gym and due to the rumbling coming from my stomach I had to make myself something for dinner. I craved something warm, savoury, and healthy (I really didn't want to consume all the calories I just lost). After peering into the fridge and not seeing anything that fit my dinner criteria, I remembered a recipe that I read during my lunch break - "White Beans and Cabbage" in the lunch section. 

Since I read the recipe before hand and all the side notes that come with it, I remembered I could substitute ingredients which suddenly made this recipe doable. So instead of using potatoes I used sweet potatoes. Instead of using white beans I used Cannellini beans (still a white bean and she notes that chick peas are another substitute). And I used white instead of green cabbage.

It is a very simple recipe that calls for only 4 main ingredients: potato, onion, beans, cabbage. I tried to find the recipe on Heidi's blog (no luck) and typing it out will be time consuming and there is a glass of red wine out there calling my name... as it is Friday afternoon.

So simply I will encourage you to purchase the book and have a read. 

I loved this simple recipe. I found it amusing that my first recipe from this book was the recipe photographed on her cover... totally not planned. But totally cool!

The finished product topped with Parmesan cheese

I used this recipe to play with my 50mm 1.8 lens (only lens used for all these post's photo). It was hard without zoom but I managed. 

The 1.8 aperture is great when working in low light and with food - I have discovered.

My next cookbook most likely will be Good to the Grain by Kim Boyce... hope to get it very soon!

Eat, Pray, Love

A couple nights ago, I curled up and watched the movie Eat, Pray, Love starring Julia Roberts. The movie is about a married lady who realizes how unhappy she is in life and after her divorce decides to travel the world to rediscover herself. She travels to three places in the span of 1 year: Italy (food), India (pray), and Bali (love). Now I haven't read the book (which according to most is much better - I could have guessed that) but the movie still moved me.

Photo credit: www.good-wallpaper.com

As a individual, I was inspired to dream of the places I would like to travel for prolonged periods of time. And let us just say if I had to pick only three, I am not sure where I would start as about ten come to mind instantly. I was also inspired to look at myself and decide if I was happy with and really did love the person I am/ I am becoming. I feel like I am rambling a bit... but the movie did make me dream and reflect.

Photo credit: www.entertainmentwallpaper.com

All in all, these discoveries and rediscoveries will come and I will continuously reflect and dream. So far I concluded that I am content and anxious for the next phase of my life - whatever that might be. Now I am going to share my most favourite quote of the entire movie:

"'Dolce far niente', the sweetness of doing nothing."

This Italian saying is simple, and to the point. There are times that the best medicine is to enjoy life and take a seat, relax, dine, nap, lay on the grass and so on. I assume this was my favourite quote because I have a tendency to feel guilty when I am doing nothing (because I think I should be reading, completing chores, making something, crossing something off of that endless to do list) and I exhaust myself. And even when I have consciously decided to do nothing, I take a while to settle and relax. Does this happen to most people?

This saying makes me want to take a siesta every afternoon and read in bed every morning before breakfast. Sip rum punches and eat pasta everyday.

Photo credit: www.fanpop.com

Two other quotes that were great:
"Balance is not letting anyone love you less than you love yourself."
"Losing balance in love is living balance in life."

However I wouldn't know too much about this love area just yet... but the quotes are lovely!

Anyways, go and watch the movie or read the book... I recommend it highly!

Spinach and Blue Cheese Scrambled Eggs

Now to make this perfectly portioned breakfast for two follow this recipe:

(Some of the measurements below are approximations since the recipe was written after the fact)

6 slices of bacon

2 cups spinach roughly chopped

1 onion chopped

1 clove of garlic

4 eggs

2 tbs milk (indulge with cream instead)

3 tbs blue cheese crumbles (plus some crumbles for garnish)

2 slices of toast (your choice)

Salt to taste

• Fry bacon in a large pan
• After the bacon has finished to your likeness, drain off most of the bacon fat leaving enough to lightly line the bottom of the pan
• Add a chopped onion and a pinch of salt to the pan and saute
• Add 1 crushed clove of garlic continue to saute on medium heat
• Before garlic browns add spinach (I like it chopped because it then distributes more evenly amongst the scrambled eggs)
• In separate bowl lightly whisk eggs with milk
• Turn the heat on the pan down to low and add whisked eggs
• Stir gently and cover the pan (this is my secret to great eggs: low low heat and cover on equals perfect eggs every time)
• Stir occasionally and just before they are finished add blue cheese crumbly bits
• Remove from heat when the eggs are at your desired cooked consistency 
• Toast bread
• Serve by stacking the scrambled eggs on the bacon on the toast and finish with a few more crumbly blue cheese bits and fresh herb of choice (for my recipe I used dried parsley - it was available to me) 

Sunday feasting

Sundays were invented to indulge in big hearty meals that were made with love and with the ultimate goal of undoing the top button of all pants in pure satisfaction. Now I do not particularly get satisfaction from undoing my top button but I speak metaphorically (otherwise with every Monday will come the sudden desire to calorie count - not fun!).

Yesterday I spent the day at home with my mum so it was an overall wholesome day and despite it just being the two of us, we devoured two healthy meals, sipped some tea, had a gin and tonic (my mum's official Sunday drink) and enjoyed some Bardolino wine with dinner.

So to begin our day I made eggs and bacon for breakfast. Now I do not believe in eating food if there isn't a vegetable present on the plate - the truth! So I incorporated spinach into our scrambled eggs (the most popular ingredient for the past week since dad bought two large bags of the leafy green). To make the meal more of a Sunday treat, I added blue cheese... the combination was quite glorious. Afterall who doesn't like Danish Blue. Recipe for the spinach and blue cheese scrambled eggs to come...

 

We love love love a fussy Sunday breakfast... fussy meaning that the breakfast is not just another weekday-like breakfast. Mum and I munched on this stacked breaky at about 11:00am and as a result we are able to hold back our hunger until dinner time. But since we do not get many Sunday afternoons with just the two of us, we indulged in tea.

For tea we pulled out Mum's china, that was handed down from her great grandmother on her maternal side (my great great). I loved it and I even made a point to mismatch the tea pot with the cup and saucers - eclectic of me. I believe that even though these china pieces are treasured they should be used because treasures are not loved unless they are enjoyed!

 

We sat on our patio and sipped Lipton tea and munched on toast with black currant jam and butter. Tea was followed by leisurely reading and the very necessary Sunday gin and tonic with lime from our lime tree out back.

Great Great Gran's tea cups and saucers

When it finally got dark (about 7pm here in Barbados) after tea we settled down to watch Black Swan and eat a chicken curry that we had stewing for at least 2 1/2 hrs. It was divine. The meat was falling off the bone and the dish like most others that weekend featured spinach. On the side we had coleslaw with fresh dill and to drink I choose Bardolino (a red wine that pairs well with poultry and other light meat dishes - accordingly to the label). To top off a perfect Sunday of feasting we each had 2 squares each of 70% dark chocolate made by Green & Black.

Our curry and coleslaw

ps. Be mindful of what you are eating when choosing your napkins.... let us just say that we were happy we choose dark napkins for this curry dish.

Pizza Pizza

A couple weekends ago, while my mum was frolicking along the streets of New York, my dad and I attempted to make some home made pizza. We were really adventurous that night. Firstly we only decided at about 6:30pm that we wanted pizza for dinner, secondly we needed to make the crust and sauce from scratch, thirdly I wanted to document everything for blogging purposes.

Winnie captivated by www.allrecipes.com

I learned from making my Hot Cross Buns, that yeast recipe's rest periods need to be taken into account... or else you risk starting a recipe and not being able to eat your creation until hours later (or even the next day). So I began to surf the trusty world wide web for a recipe that did not require resting of dough, pacing back and forth or drumming of any fingers. 

I first stumbled on Heidi Swanson's declaration of the Best Pizza Dough Ever which looks amazing (and one day I will have to give it a try) but I due diligently read the whole recipe. Thank goodness! When you get to step 3 it casually mentions that the dough should rest in the refrigerator overnight. On to the next recipe.

Luckily recipe number 2 was a go... no waiting for no yeast. The recipe that was posted on www.allrecipes.com by Gudny Bjorg Kjaerbo was the winner "Pizza Dough I"... simply due to the recipe's short description: "this one is a quick recipe that merely involves mixing a few basic ingredients and patting the dough into the pan. No need to wait for the dough to rise with this approach". Boom Baby!!

While Dad started on the sauce I started on the dough:

For the sauce we simply blended together:

• 2 chopped tomatoes
• 1 can diced tomatoes
• 5 cloves of pressed garlic
• 1 sauteed onion
• 1 teaspoon of italian seasoning
• 1/2 teaspoon of garlic powder (can't have enough of garlic really)

In retrospect, there are a few things that I would do different when it came to the dough. Below is our modified recipe:

Ingredients:

• 3 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 (.25 ounce) package active dry yeast
• 2 tablespoons vegetable oil
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 cup warm water (110 degrees F/45 degrees C)

I added: 

• some garlic powder (approx. 1 teaspoon) extra for dusting
• some onion flakes (approx. 1 tablespoon)
• olive oil for brushing the crust
• corn meal for dusting

Directions

• Combine flour, salt, sugar, and yeast in a large bowl. 
• Mix in oil and warm water. 
• Knead on a lightly floured corn meal surface. 
• Knead in garlic powder and onion flakes.
• Spread out on a large pizza pan.  
• Pre-bake crust (I did it for about 5 minutes - which was definitely not long enough - as it was not crispy in centre when complete which is how I prefer it).
• Top as desired.
• Bake at 375 degrees C (190 degrees C) for 20 to 25 minutes.

Now for the toppings we experimented. It included bacon, sliced onions, green sweet pepper, cheddar cheese (so far it sounds pretty normal), and then we threw on grilled eggplant, and chunks of blue cheese (yum!)

A fun pizza topper :) - I recommend

All in all it was a grand attempt and I will most likely use this you-do-not-have-to-wait-for-me-to-rise dough recipe again. The most interesting thing that happened was that the blue cheese actually foamed when it baked... it was weird but when devouring this pizza, a joyous smile crossed our faces whenever we reached a piece of blue cheese treasure - cheesy but true.

So go be ambitious and decide last minute that you want pizza for dinner :)

Leave your shutter open

On the same Sunday after the pig roast, I experimented with leaving the shutter of my camera open to capture some of the Cattlewash scenery. The shutter speed is one of the camera's manual settings that allows you to manipulate light: how it enters and is registered by your camera. Your shutter speed can be slowed down to show movement in your shot, which is what I did below.

Some tips/pointers when shooting with a long shutter speed:

• Shutter speed is measured in seconds. So you can freeze a motion by only letting your shutter be open for 1/1000 (one thousandth) of a second or show movement (motion blur) by leaving it open for 8 seconds.
• When the shutter is open for 1/60 of a second or longer it is essential to use a tripod or makeshift tripod (some sort of device to keep it steady because the human body is not that reliable). This way objects that are not in motion are clear, crisp and in focus.
• A long shutter speed is also ideal for low light environments. It allows more light into the camera and can make darker places appear lighter on film.
• It also presents a great opportunity to paint with light. You can use a single light source (to write words or draw pictures - an upcoming project) or multiple light sources (a street of moving traffic - many light streams). The possibilities are endless - and I cannot wait to try new things.
• Many photographers use it to show movement in water (a waterfall, a babbling brook, etc.)

In the photos below, I primarily used a slow shutter speed because I was in a low light situation (twilight-ish time) and wanted more light to enter my camera. The photos have movement - whether it is the ocean, people, or palm trees but because I used my trusty tripod, everything that was motionless is crisp.

Fisherman. Soft ocean. Some ghostly people (oh well!)

Much darker but having the shutter open for 16sec (if I recall correctly) allowed me to get this shot.

Check out this website for amazing (or as they title it - BREATHTAKING) examples of using a slow shutter speed. Before you know it, one will be mine! :)

PS. doesn't the term "babbling brook" make you smile... or is it just me.

Another 21st Birthday - A Pig Roast

So the following photos are from Joe's 21st beach side pig roast. The roast was the Sunday day after Ally's cocktail fete (big dance party), so most of us were a little rough around the edges, but lounging under casuarina trees and sipping Spanish vino was the perfect antidote to the previous night's drinking/dancing/overall-a-late-night escapade.

A party after a party also falls into what many West Indians (or just us Lewises) call a "pong party". A pong party is getting together after "The Party" (of any kind) to discuss what happened at "The Party". Who danced with who? Who drank too much? Who drank too little? How was the DJ? And so forth. The entire saying originating from the sport Ping Pong.

So at "The Party" you: PING
The next day you: PONG

We ponged (oh yes - I turned it into a verb) at a beach house down Cattlewash ("down" meaning located in), which is on the East coast of Barbados and resembles what most people refer to as cottage country. Here is where we get the opportunity to swim in the Atlantic Ocean which is much wilder than the Caribbean Sea. The whole East Coast is pretty rugged and a little further from civilization than is desired for everyday living, hence Bajans use it as a chance to have a getaway from realty. Overall Cattlewash is a great place to rent a basic beach house and just be.

The whole day was idyllic. It was a fantastic location, there was plenty of good food, and the best company. I got some decent shots, so hope you enjoy!

Location: house down Cattlewash

My Dad and Joe (birthday boy) and the other star - The Pig!

Quite the production

Some of the spread - Breadfruit, Pork, Channa (chick peas)

The most popular member of the fam: Cassius (more photos found on his mum's blog: Tinker)

A Toe-riffic Sunday!!

ps. I googled the Plural of Lewis and it was Lewises - in case anyone was wondering :)

A weekend of celebrations

Over the weekend, our family celebrated the 21st birthdays of two April born hotties (two of my cousins). They have separate birth dates but since they are both studying abroad, we needed to postpone the family celebrations to this past weekend when they both happened to be on island.

Saturday night we danced the night away for the lovely Ally's birthday and on Sunday we limed under coconut trees and roasted a whole pig for handsome Joe's. Below are photographs I took pre and during Ally's cocktail party.

I learnt that night that taking photos at a party is stressful. I was missing good photo ops, I was producing blurry photos (apparently I had it on the wrong setting all night - just my luck), and foremost I risked missing the party. I have drawn the conclusion that there needs to be 2 photographers and luckily there were that night: myself and my aunt. She was able to get more of the candid, dancing, need-a-camera-quick shots. And I was able to work on ambience, detail, quirky shots.

I also played around in photoshop to get this dreamy feel. It was a lovely evening and as such the photographs need to reflect it.

Paper dahlia hanging from the chandelier

Ally's citrus mint punch

Ally in the middle with her girlfriends

Ally and I worked on the paper dahlias/tissue paper pom-poms the night before. They came out great (thanks to Martha Stewart) but our only recommendation is to do rounded edges not pointed ones and that you can definitely use more tissue paper (the suggested 8 sheets was the perfect amount to make a half dome not a whole one).

Photos from Joe's beachside roast coming tomorrow :) 

Check out Ally at her blog The Ruffled Lace :)

The Updated Fortune Cookies

I remember as a kid loving getting Chinese food, simply for the final treat - the Fortune Cookie. The cookie that held your fortune, the fortune that was specifically for you and no one else at the dinner table.

Yesterday, I packed a lunch for work (as I am trying to cut back on grabbing fast food), and was pleasantly surprised when two items in my paper bag had messages to be revealed. After devouring my grilled fish and wholewheat pasta leftovers, I cracked opened my Dannon Light & Fit Vanilla Yogurt, proceeded to lick the cover and discovered a lovely little message/fitness advice.

"Dance your way to fitness - get started with 10 minutes a day."

Brillant!

Wonder if the next yogurt in the fridge, will have the same message or if Dannon actually dishes out different tidbits of fitness advice.

Next was my lovely YOGI Green Tea Pomegranate that I brew at around 3pm on a weekday. Now I have been sipping and enjoying this tea for a little while and have never noticed the same message twice. My message yesterday was humbling and perfectly simple:

"The best way of life is to be, simply be."

Now I feel like Chinese ;)

Photography: New Member of the Barbados Photographic Society

Today I received an email that confirmed my brand spanking new membership to the Barbados Photographic Society. It has taken me a few months to finally get my Registration form and fees in but now I can scratch that off the TO DO LIST! Everything is in and now I am a member... WAHOO!

I am a newbie to the world of photography. In the summer of 2010, I participated in a 12 week photography course. The course was once a week for 3 hrs and it really jump started my photo-taking skills. Today, I am totally comfortable with my Canon Rebel XS on manual mode (with a capital M). Currently I am participating in a Photoshop course to help broaden my skill set. So far so good... will show some of the things I am learning in a later post.

Otherwise I am glad to be part of this 82 member strong society in this small island. I want this membership to really push me to excel and also to expand my networks :)

Getting to know my new friend - August 2010

Pivotal Blog Moment: 1st Follower

Jar of life as of this morning has its first follower: My lovely dad!

The photograph below was at our monthly beach lime (lime: gathering/get together). I baked the yummy pineapple upside down cake for this good-looking gent's birthday.

It was a toss up between Paula Deen's recipe or Emeril Lagasse. Emeril won my vote in battle: Pineapple Upside Down cake.

Welcome to the club Dad!! :)

Dad and I and Pineapple Upside Down Cake; photo credit: Jacqui xx

 

Recipe: Homemade Oatmeal

My homemade oatmeal, at the moment is one of my favourite breakfasts during the week. It is quick, healthy, and can be made to your taste. These days I am making my oatmeal like this:

Yield: 1 bowl of oatmeal

Ingredients:

• 3/4 cup of jumbo oats 
• 2 cups almond milk 
• 2 tablespoons of currants
• 1/2 teaspoon of cinnamon
• 1/2 teaspoon of nutmeg
• 1 teaspoon of wheat germ (extra fibre)
• honey to sweeten
• sliced almonds to garnish

Directions:

• Put the oats, currants, cinnamon, nutmeg wheat germ, and almond milk into a bowl and stir together
• Cook in the microwave on high for 4 minutes
• Stir and then cook for a further 2 minutes
• Sweeten with honey and garnish with almonds

You can alter this recipe many ways to suit your taste. So go crazy and make yourself some oats.

As a side note, I looked up the top reasons to eat oatmeal for breakfast and the reasons that appealed to me are:

• Save money and time - Oatmeal is a quick, cheap, breakfast meal.
• Oatmeal is versatile - It can be hot/cold, add spice, add sweetness, add fruits, add nuts... and so on.
• Oatmeal can help control your weight - which is always a bonus!!
• Oatmeal may help lower cholesterol and reduce high blood pressure (none of which I suffer from but still a pretty big positive).
• Oatmeal contains many vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. It is also a great source of protein, complex carbohydrates and iron.
• Oatmeal can reduce the risk for Type 2 Diabetes.
• It might also reduce certain types of cancers

GO OATS!!

Royal Wedding Viewing Breakfast

On Friday April 29th, my mum and I hosted 10 ladies to a Tiaras and Pajamas Breakfast to watch William and Kate tie the knot. The spread consisted of homemade scones with clotted cream and black currant jam, smoked salmon and capers on homemade bagels, bacon and cheese homemade quiche, fresh fruit and numerous bottles of Prosecco to toast to the happy couple.

Our Invitation to Breakfast

We started the morning with a lot of freshly brewed Blue Mountain coffee (extremely necessary caffeine at 4:00am) and cozied up in front of the television.

For viewing, we went back and forth between BBC (English station) and NBC (American station) and the comparison was like day and night. The English broadcasters were tame, modest and unobtrusive; it was very similar to the commentary at a cricket match. NBC's broadcasting on the other hand was lavish, and over the top; they had lip readers, the two balcony kisses compared on screen, trumpet music, adverts and the overall commentary similar to that of the Oscar's red carpet. We preferred BBC but ultimately they complimented each other.

The men in our lives thought that we were mad to get up that early and make such a fuss, but this is our kind of sport: wedding dresses, horse drawn carriages, princesses and princes, fairytales, and happy endings.

It was nice to entertain at the crack of dawn and have a room filled with like minded individuals, each contributing to the conversation and genuinely happy to be there watching the Royal Wedding together.

Freshly baked scone (made by my cousin Jessica) with clotted cream and black currant jam... YUM!

Mum and Aunty Jacqui sipping tea

Fresh watermelon on an Earthworks Pottery platter

My good bud Ann-Marie and I