Wine & Cheese Photography Video Montage

I made a video montage of some of my photographs using FlixPress Pro.  It was fun to make, easy.  It came with a ton of media in its library for me to use.

Anyway, it's just something fun to do to showcase my photos more professionally.

Cilantro Lime Rice

If you love Chipotle Mexican Grill as much as I do, you'll try to bootleg their recipes so you'll have an abundance in your refrigerator just for you to share.

One of my favourites, even though it's carb loaded, is the cilantro lime rice.  (pardon the photo above taken by my mobile)  Brought it to share for potluck yesterday.  I was practically the last person in line to get food and my dish was no where to be found.  Apparently it was forgotten inside the oven after being preheated.  When they finally took it out, the cilantro was wilted and had a dark shade of green.  Not fresh looking at all.  I was disappointed but we put it on the buffet table to serve anyway.  After about 15 minutes I went back to the buffet table and was surprised that my Cilantro Lime Rice was almost empty.  Not bad for a dish introduced late in the game.  It held its own deliciousness.  And yes, the recipe does taste like Chipotle's Cilantro Lime Rice.  LOVE IT!!!

Favourite Fonts

I have over 450 fonts in my computer - I just can't have enough.  Enough said.

How to install fonts - click here.

Download the Fonts (Alphabetical Order - Free):
Baroque Antique - Billabong - Budmo - Century Gothic - Champagne & Limousines - Coffee - Comic Zine - Easy Open Face - European Underground - Green Pillows - Impact Label - Jamaistevie - Lobster - Made With B - Maybe Maybe Not - Monbijoux - Rough Draft - Signerica - Snoopy Dings - The King and Queen

Chipotle Chicken

I LOVE Chipotle Mexican Grille!  I try to eat there every Sunday and order the bowl with: cilantro white rice, black beans, fajita vegetables, chicken, fresh tomato salsa, roasted chili corn salsa, guacamole, lettuce, and cheese.  Shame I can't find any of the pictures of the actual dish.

So here we are with a Chipotle Chicken recipe.  This version is still delicious considering it tastes nothing like Chipotle's chicken.  I still must search high and low for a recipe that comes close to Chipotle's Chicken.

In the recipe above, I used chicken breast instead of chicken thighs.  It still tasted pretty good.  I think next time, I'll try to add adobo flavouring to it as well.  All in all, it's not too shabby - but it's grilled chicken, so it still tastes pretty good.

Favourite Restaurants

I stumbled upon a food blog called, Food Stories the other day while searching for a recipe.  The blog is awesome - I love the writing.  It's maintained by a food addict (such as myself) from London.  She's pretty awesome and if we knew each other, life would be all the more a fantastic riot.  I am enamoured and smitten with her blog of colorful exotic food escapades.  My biggest regret is forfeiting to document my tryst with food throughout my travels - because looking back, it was utterly fantastic.

But I digress, her blog inspired me to make a list of my favourite chain restaurants, with the exception of the Trattoria Tiramisu Cucina Italiana, which is locally owned.

There are so many restaurants I've dined in that are far better than the ones listed above.  There was one charming little café in the thriving downtown district of Nikolaev, Ukraine where we ate al fresco.   The food was delicious.  They made the ordinary extraordinary.  For instance, their croissant was so damn good that it makes the fresh croissants here taste stale in comparison. There were also some street vendors (yes I'm that brave) in the Philippines that I've eaten at and the foods were bursting with flavoure.  And passing through certain states in the U.S.A. were some unforgettable experiences, like our run in run out of the Waffle House, or the ever exciting island food in Hawaii.  Good times.  I wish I wrote about all the experiences.  Darn those missed opportunities.

Below are some pictures from that little café in Nikolaev mentioned above.  They photos are from my brother's collection.  I'm glad he took pictures of the food.

My brother, Izzy, ordering from the gigantic picture book menu.

I think he is drinking a caffé latte here.

Mushroom soup - unlike any other canned mushroom soup I've ever tasted.

Their version of french toast.  YUM!!!

Caffé Mocha - unsweetened.

The best croissant I've ever tasted.

Style For Style - Summer

The summer months, ah yes.  The sun on my skin, the warm breeze combing through my hair, and the lightness that comes when wearing the perfect outfit is... divinely priceless.

I don't know what it is about this year but I've been obsessed with maxi dresses.  Even though it's long and out of the ordinary sun dress that shows a lot of skin, it feels good to wear and has this classy and elegant feel to it.  I've been voraciously trying on maxi dress after maxi dress trying to find the perfect fit and have actually FINALLY gone shopping for myself.  Wow, it only took about 6 months!  But I've also been nostalgic of the beach and walking a board walk since we don't have any here.  It's too bad.  But yes, I'm also in love with the color blue and its family (reminds me of the Florida Keys), orange, and gold!!! What a summery combination!

Spicy Thai Noodles

From A Small Snippet's Blog

I cooked this over the weekend and shared it with the family.  Although I loved the clean taste, it didn't go as well as I thought it would.  I got mixed reviews from, "I don't like it" to "It's not bad but not my favorite" or "It would be better warm and not so spicy."  Nonetheless, I still like how fresh it tastes... so kudos to that.

A few changes made:

• I used 1 tsp of crushed red pepper and left in the mix.  To me, it adds character and I like the spiciness to linger even though I only used 1 tsp.
• I didn't crush the peanuts.  It's still good that way. 
• Used low carb. pasta instead of regular pasta.
• Can be served hot or cold.

Evolution of Scent

Picked up my Miracle perfume by Lancome a few weeks ago, sprayed it on and was immediately taken back go my grad school days when tears, sweat, and blood was shed and spilled over my MBA text books.  Ah... those were the days when I finally proved to myself that I achieve a high GPA.

So the scent took me back to the time I first cared about how I smelled like and thinking what would lure the boys to me... ha ha.  Just kidding.  But it took me back to 5th grade - my middle school years to be exact - when I asked my parents to get me Malibu Musk.  During that era, I also wore Charlie, White Musk, and Exclamation.  Oh the good old days of innocence.  By 7th and 8th grade, I wore mens cologne because it was so hip hop and I wanted to be one of the fly girls from In Living Colors with the big hoop earrings, high bangs, and permed hair.  I don't know... it was a phase.  In high school I became more feminine and toned it down.  By college, I became obsessed with many other scents that didn't make the list.  Grad school was a whole new story since I got a full time job and could purchase the latest scents.  Now, I'm a little more reserved with my spending and actually just wear the scents I've purchased in the past or scents that have been given to me.  Having a child truly changes a person.

Saturday's List: Things You Lose

From left to right:
keys, handbags, hair ties, rings, wallet, bobby pins,
wrist watch, mobile smart phone, CDs, DVDs.

I'm notorious when it comes to losing the items above.  It happens only at home though, so that's a relief.  As organized as I am, there are moments when my mind escapes to Arcadia and reality is diminished into the oblivion.  That's what happens when one has multiple neurosis accompanied with schizophrenia a lot on their mind.  But in all sincerity, who would commit to inscribe the locations of some of these things to long term memory?  For instance, the hair ties and the bobby pins?

In our house, there are three locations I usually set my handbag and my rings and things... but there are times when they're not there and I panic with jargon escaping out of my mouth.  Also, we don't have a land line so our smart phones can be anywhere.  Once again, they're not committed to one location - which is the problem.  But as frustrating as it is to lose these things inside our house,  I'm happy with the way things are - because somehow, I always find them.

Photo A Day May: Something New

#PhotoADayMay - Something New - Way To Go Head Support

I am now following Fat Mum Slim's blog and participate (as much as possible) in the Photo-A-Day list of daily photos to take via Android Instagram.  All my PhotoADay photos are in my tumblr account, but here it's much more detailed.

So, something new.  We received our order from amazon.com yesterday of the Boppy Head Support and some Multi Sensory Silicone Teether.  Decided to take a photo of the head support since it's easy and I'm just not in the mood to post something philosophically new.  We decided on the Bobby Head Support since Maksim's head is all over the place when in his stroller and car seat.  He wants out of both and ends up bopping his head all over the place.  We're also very uncomfortable seeing his head angled, not supported.  But it's funny that ever since our baby was born - most of the things purchased and being purchased are for him.  It's like all interest shifted to our little boy and our wants got put in the back burner... and we're perfectly satisfied with that.  Parenting, it truly changes a person.

Saturday's List: Medicine Cabinet

It's amazing how much stuff we can accumulate through the years.  Even I'm surprised that our medicine cabinet holds items of cumulative value greater than $400.  WOAH is right.  The list above doesn't even include all the other colognes and perfumes cached in there either.  It's embarrassing how much money we I inadvertently spent on products often used.  I'm scared to list the dollar worth of what is inside my purse - and then adding the value of that purse on top of that.  (Don't even get me started on my makeup collection) So much for being a disciple of the, "Less Is More" mantra.  It's pretty disturbing... and humbling. 

I'm sure we're not the only ones who have an extraordinary stash of items in our medicine cabinet.  But at least now there is no reason to complain about money.  Live and learn.  Live and learn.

? ? ?  Question  ? ? ?

Have you looked at your medicine cabinet and assessed the cash value?

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino

I got this recipe from YumSugar.com and it is SUPER easy!  I added my own ingredients to make it my own and BY GEORGE, it tasted fantastic!  It literally took me 15 minutes to make this.  While the pasta was boiling I minced the garlic, cut the sun dried tomatoes, and then measured out the crushed red peppers.  I added the ingredients to the cooked pasta and then drizzled the olive oil, salt and pepper to taste - mix and  VIOLA!  Simple, delicious, low-carb pasta dish for dinner.  I served this with grilled chicken breasts and steamed broccoli.

Spaghetti Aglio, Olio, e Peperoncino

By YumSugar

The measurements in this recipe can be shifted depending on your taste preferences.

Sun Dried Tomatoes

Ingredients

1 box DreamFields Spaghetti (healthier pasta)

15 Half sized Sun Dried Tomatoes (sliced in strips)
10 large garlic cloves, minced
1 1/2 Tbsp of Red Pepper Flakes
2/3 cup of extra-virgin olive oil
Salt to taste
Pepper to taste

Directions

1. Cook spaghetti according to the directions on the package, until it is al dente.
2. Strain spaghetti and place in a large serving dish.
3. Add sun dried tomatoes, minced garlic, red pepper flakes, olive oil, salt, and pepper, and mix together well.
4. Serve warm or at room temperature.

Saturday's List

Magazines, magazines, magazines - I adore them.  Above are the magazines we subscribe to.  Some of these are subscribed gifts from my sister-in-law.  She's great!

Anyhoo, I prefer tangible magazines over the intangible digital versions.  I like the thought of snipping pages, making collages, putting together a color palette, and sniffing the pages (weird but admit it, you've done it too).  One of my favorite things to do in the world is going to a bookstore, getting coffee, and reading stacks of magazine ranging from domestic, food, technology, entertainment, and fashion.  My ultimate ME time.

One bad experience with magazines - a little girl knocked on our door raising money for a school fundraiser, we subscribed to the Home and Garden magazine that never made it in our mailbox.  Never again will we be suckered by DTD (door-to-door) sales people... I don't care how cute they are.

German Semolina Pudding

Semolina Flour has many health benefits including having a low glycemic index (slow carb release); source of dietary nutrients: B vitamins, fiber, magnesium and iron; protect immune system from toxins, deceases, and ultraviolet damage; has a rich source of protein compared to other flours; and decreases the risk of diabetes 2, some cancers and heart disease. 

My husband grew up in Ukraine eating a similar semolina recipe as shown in the picture above.  It's a popular versatile hot cereal item in European countries.  When we traveled to Ukraine in 2010, Andrey's mother cooked us a similar recipe below.  It was delicious and versatile in a way that you can top it with anything.  Thus far, I've had it with numerous flavoures of jam, honey, pears, bananas, strawberries, blueberries, blackberries, and have sprinkled cinnamon and pumpkin spice to it.  It's so good.  

I actually presented this recipe at a, "Cooking Healthy: International Cooking Class" yesterday.  Small samples topped in cinnamon spice and strawberries were passed out to the audience while I was presenting.  I got mixed reviews since the sour strawberries overpowered the taste of the semolina pudding.  I should have gone with bananas for the topping.

German Semolina Pudding
Serves 2

Ingredients
2 cups milk
1 1/2 tablespoons white sugar
1/3 cup semolina 

In a small saucepan, stir together the milk and sugar. Set over medium heat, and bring to a boil. Milk tends to boil over as soon as it boils, so stay with it! When it boils, immediately remove from the heat. Stir in the semolina, and return to the burner. Bring to a boil over medium heat, stirring until thickened but still pourable. Pour into serving bowls, and top with your favorite hot cereal toppings.

Tips:

• Use skim milk to make it healthier.
• Stir in the semolina using a whisk otherwise it gets clumpy.
• Substitute white sugar with honey.  Add the honey to taste after cooking. 

Easy Chicken And Mushroom

Superb, if I don't say so myself.  I made this for dinner tonight and it's bursting with flavor.  Kalamata olives are just a wonderful addition to such the dish.  It's also easy to make.  I get many compliments whenever I cook this.

Just a few tips:

• Add 1/4 cup of the juice that comes with the kalamata olives
• Add more kalamata olives
• Double the amount of garlic recommended
• Saute the garlic first to get the flavor out and then add the rest
• You don't have to pound the chicken breast.  Cutting it flat in half serves the purpose.  You just have to cook it longer.
• Goes well with a side of rice and asparagus
• It's still delicious without parsley.

An Alternative To Boiled Eggs

We had some almost expiring eggs in our fridge.  The thought of boiling and then tediously peeling them made me want to cringe.  I thought about frying them but I just cleaned the stove top and didn't want to dirty it up.  Then I got hungry for an egg sandwich.  To kill two birds in one stone I decided to put some eggs up in that Sandwich Express.  All you need is spray oil, a spatula, and eggs.  This Sandwich Express cooks 4 eggs evenly in 3 minutes (depending on how cooked you want them).  So win!

Weight Watchers 0 Point Cabbage Soup

I was looking for a low carb recipe and stumbled upon this WW 0 Pt Cabbage Soup.  I believe it's the ultimate guilt free soup.  I've already had two bowls of this already.  My only regret is not cooking more because this will go fast with the family.  This soup is extremely easy to make and you can be flexible with what you want to put in it.  Next time I'm going to add more tomato paste and crushed red peppers.  I like it quite spicy. :-)

Weight Watchers 0 Point

Cabbage Soup

Ingredients

• 3 cups nonfat beef broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat vegetable broth (beef is the best) or 3 cups nonfat chicken broth (beef is the best)
• 2 garlic cloves , minced
• 1 tablespoon tomato paste
• 2 cups chopped cabbage
• 1/2 yellow onion
• 1/2 cup chopped carrot
• 1/2 cup green beans
• 1/2 cup chopped zucchini
• 1/2 teaspoon basil
• 1/2 teaspoon oregano
• salt & pepper 

Directions

1. Spray pot with non stick cooking spray saute onions carrots and garlic for 5 minutes.
2. Add broth, Tomato paste, cabbage, green beans, basil, oregano and Salt & Pepper to taste.
3. Simmer for a about 5-10 minutes until all vegetables are tender then add the zuccini and simmer for another 5 or so minutes.

French Baguettes

Fresh out of the oven.

Before going in the oven.

Oui oui.  Délicieux.  Arome.  Amour.  Ladies and Gents, these French Baguettes are excellent, especially straight out of the oven.  My love for breads is growing and I just love learning to cook different kinds.  I'm still intimidated with making sourdough, but soon, soon.  Nonetheless, enjoy!  The batch I made above are one and a half of the recipe below.

French Baguettes
makes 2 baguettes
from allrecipes.com

Ingredients

• 1 cup water
• 2 1/2 cups bread flour or all purpose flour
• 1 tablespoon white sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 teaspoons bread machine yeast
• 1egg yolk
• 1 tablespoon water

Directions

1. Place 1 cup water, bread flour, sugar, salt and yeast into bread machine pan in the order recommended by manufacturer. Select Dough cycle, and press Start. (Tip: You don't need a bread machine - I used my Kitchen-aid - otherwise get dirty and use your hands, it's fun)
2. When the cycle has completed, place dough in a greased bowl, turning to coat all sides. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for about 30 minutes, or until doubled in bulk. Dough is ready if indentation remains when touched.
3. Punch down dough. On a lightly floured surface, roll into a 16x12 inch rectangle. Cut dough in half, creating two 8x12 inch rectangles. Roll up each half of dough tightly, beginning at 12 inch side, pounding out any air bubbles as you go. Roll gently back and forth to taper end. Place 3 inches apart on a greased cookie sheet. Make deep diagonal slashes across loaves every 2 inches, or make one lengthwise slash on each loaf. Cover, and let rise in a warm place for 30 to 40 minutes, or until doubled in bulk.
4. Preheat oven to 375 degrees F (190 degrees C). Mix egg yolk with 1 tablespoon water; brush over tops of loaves.
5. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes in the preheated oven, or until golden brown. 

Rolls, Bread, and Veggies

These Soft Yeast Rolls were loved by the whole family.  There was no hesitation to reach for a second and third serving.  They're THAT good.  They go well with butter, cheese, and of recent I've had them with Nutella.  Absolute YUM!!!

Soft Yeast Rolls
By The Virtuous Wife

Ingredients

2 cups of lukewarm water (105 degrees) 

3 Tbs dry yeast

1/3 cup powdered (dry) milk

5 cups flour (separated)

1/2 cup cooking oil

1 Tbs salt

1/2 cup sugar

Step 01

In a bowl, combine the water, yeast, dry milk, and 2 cups of flour. Let sit for 5-8 minutes. This is called preparing "the sponge" for the dough.

Step 02

After the "sponge" has risen and puffed up, add to stand mixer. Add the oil, salt, and sugar.

Step 03

Begin mixing in the remaining 3 cups of flour, one cup at a time. It will be an elastic, sticky dough.

Step 04

Grease a bowl with cooking oil (1/4 cup of a cup, usually) and put the sticky, unkneaded dough in the bowl. Cover with saran wrap and let rise until double in size (about an hour).

Step 05

Once it's risen, punch down, and turn it out on a floured surface. Knead the dough once or twice, just to get it shaped into a ball. Divide the dough in half to make it more manageable. 

Step 06

Roll the dough into a log shape and begin pinching palm-full sized rolls off the log. Shape them into circles and lay them in a greased baking dishes (I used a 9X13 and an 8X8 dish). The sides of each roll should just touch the others.

Step 07

Cover the dishes with saran wrap and let rise in a warm place for 20-25 minutes. Until double in size.

Step 08

Bake at 400 degrees for 15-20 minutes until tops of rolls are golden brown. Butter the tops of the hot rolls when they come out of the oven. Let cool for 5-10 minutes and enjoy!       

The rolls before going in the oven.

Also made Baked Veggies.  Simple and extremely easy.   Choose any veggies you like: asparagus, tomatoes,
onions, zucchini, assortment of colored peppers, and carrots.  Cut and mix in a bowl with olive oil and garlic salt.   Place in baking sheet.  Bake at 400° F until potatoes are soft.  Broil for 4-5 minutes.  Add salt as desired.

My mom's secret banana bread recipe.  The recipe usually call for crushed walnuts but I was too lazy to
go to the grocery store.  Nonetheless, the banana bread is moist and delicious.  Secret recipe indeed.

 

Let's Go Out To The Kitchen

When I was 8 years old, new to the Americas, I saw this commercial on television and got hooked singing the song "Let's go out to the kitchen..."  I remember being thin and getting criticized for it.  Adults kept telling me to eat because I looked anorexic.  As a young impressionable kid who sought love and approval, I made myself eat even though I didn't want to.  Then I gained the weight and was still criticized for being chunky - by then the damage was done - I couldn't get out of the kitchen.  ha ha!  So I stayed to this day.  :-D

In essence, I love the kitchen and all the cool stuff that can be created there.  It's not only a form of art, but a party for my taste buds.  One of the most satisfying things in the world is to taste a variety of impeccable foods.  Even to travel and dare to risk eating street vendor foods with optimistic caution is exciting.  Hopefully one of these days I'll be able to travel to do so - then blog about it.

Saw this helpful little snippet on pinterest about finding your mistakes into baking the perfect chocolate chip cookie from the website itself.  It's very useful and good for someone who loves to bake cookies such as myself:

PROBLEMS

From the Perfect Chocolate Chip Cookie

 There are many variables in baking.  Pictured are cookies with various problems using the same dough (with flour adjustments in numbers 3 &4).

1. This cookie is done just right. It is pictured to compare with the rest.
2. This dough was not refrigerated.  It is still good but a little flatter than it should be.
3. This dough contained too much flour and did not spread much at all. It is interesting to note that the dough looked identical to the correct dough, but was much stiffer and drier.
4. This dough had too little flour.  It spread too much and didn’t bake evenly.
5. This dough was over-mixed.  It had a poor color, baked flat and had a strange consistency. 
6. This dough was formed too small.  It was overcooked at eight minutes. It is fine to make smaller cookies, just bake them for less time.
7. This dough was formed too large.  The outsides were done while the middle was too high and underdone.
8. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too hot.  The outside was overdone and the inside was slightly underdone.
9. This dough was baked in an oven 25 degrees too cool.  It fell flat and became too crisp without much of an inside.
10. This dough was frozen when baked.  It took longer to bake and didn't cook as evenly.  To use frozen dough, set on cookie sheet at room temperature while oven is preheating, 15-20 minutes.  It takes the frost off and bakes perfectly.

Check out the website, it's pretty awesome - and don't forget to follow me on pinterest.

The Look of Spring 2012

At VV Park.
Looks like heaven on earth.
Magnolias in Bloom

Like I said in my other blog,  I made a BIG (rookie) photography blunder.  I learned something new with my Nikon so I decided to test it out and many of my photos turned out blurred.  Total failure.  It taught me a lesson though, never experiment with photography during important events (my mother in law is visiting from Ukraine).

Anyway, some photos were salvageable so here they are.  It's nice to take photos again.  I thoroughly enjoyed it.  It was so relaxing.

Downtown Bank Entrance

Another view of downtown

Trees budding

Allergy season looks so beautiful

Down by the Riverside

We went to the Putnam Museum where they have dozens of life size animatronic dinosaurs in their exhibit.
It was too cool.  There were a few occasions that caused me to jump.  It was scary yet exciting.

From Mess To Success

When we moved in our house (newly weds) I didn't really cook much so we only had the staple spices:  salt, pepper, garlic salt, and oregano.  Then all of the sudden I was cooking like a mad chef and buying different spices left and right - spices I've never even heard of.  Then we had a baby and everything got shoved here and there.  Suffice it to say that it became a mess that it finally pissed me off.  From a mess to success - the small spices are arranged alphabetically, and the bigger spices are arranged by how often they're used.  The 3-Tier Spice Racks are inexpensive.  One costs less than $3.00 at Wal-Mart - prices may vary.

One small step for me, one giant leap to being a new mommy.  There's still a lot of cupboards to organize, so let the Spring cleaning begin!

Candies From Heaven

Russian candies are where it's at!!!  We got a call from our friends, Angie and Jenica, a few days ago asking if we wanted something from a Russian store in Colorado.  Um... ABSOLUTELY!!!  And might I add, we stocked up big time with these treats.  I hope it will last for a while... right?  lol.  We're now thankful to have someone to supply us with goodies.

The above are Chocolate Covered Plum and Chocolate Covered Apricot Russian candies.  The plums are my favorite.  What's awesome about Russian candies are that they're not too sweet - gotta love them.  There are other types of Russian candies out there but these are what Dre wanted.  Hopefully next time we'll order an assortment of goodies.

Family Updates:
Well, we had a baby boy - the most adorable baby boy EVER!!!  He keeps life interesting and busy.  Visit our baby blog and check it out:  http://ellababybump.blogspot.com.