Good Morning! My Daily Dose

I bet everyone of us has the normal morning routine that we follow to start of our day.  Well, for me, life never start before my usual peanut butter (chunky) spread brown bread, coffee and of course my daily read, The 7Days!

I never actually care about newspapers before coming to Dubai but for the past 7 years, it has become a routine to read during breakfast.  This morning newspaper called 7 Days (but available for only 5) arrives my house without fail from Sunday to Thursday.  How convenient!  Some of the stories are appalling and make your heart ache and some could make me laugh my head off!

'The I don't know whether to laugh or cry'

'The Pet Patrol'

My favourite page - 'The Letters'

'The Justice for All'

'The Painful Reality' - Makes me wonder what ever happened to heart? 

Maybe there was no heart to begin with :(

This is when the coffee became tasteless... 

FOODIE WEEKEND - Party Food Part 1 – Crunchy Healthy Salsa

I love to organize parties.  Not the ‘jump on the table, free flow booze till 3 in the morning’ kind of parties but more on the ‘get together and catch up over some party food and drinks’ kind of parties.  Among my expat friends here in Dubai, we have this kind of parties all the time and once in a while, I too would have some guests over for this kind of gathering.  One item in the menu that never fails to make an appearance over and over is this simple salsa. 

The salsa is so versatile, it can be used as side dish for dumplings or spring rolls, act as dipping for the good ole chips or in my household we use it to roll in tortilla like we would do burritos over some grill chicken slices and fresh herbs!  It is refreshing, crunchy with very little calories!

Crunchy Healthy Salsa

Ingredients

Half an onion, diced

1 carrot, diced

1 cucumber seeded and diced

1 red fresh chili, seeded and diced (optional)

3 plump tomato, seeded and diced

1 tablespoon of white vinegar

2 tablespoon of finely chopped flat leaf parsely

1 tablespoon of finely chopped fresh mint

1 tablespoon of tomato ketchup

Sugar

Salt

Method

Put all diced ingredients in a bowl and add in salt.

Tip :

Pour the mixture into a strainer and leave over a small bowl.  Tthe cucumber and tomato will release water with the help of the salt and this water will seep through into the bowl. 

Leave for an hour or so.  This way, your salsa will not be watery or soggy!

Later add in the rest of the ingredients and mix gently. 

Add sugar to taste.  The salsa should have the sweet and sour taste.

To guarantee the freshness, serve immediately.

FOODIE WEEKEND - Beef and carrot ragu

If there is one thing that I have mastered (cooking that is) after years of being married to an Italian man, it would be this dish – Ragu.  Ragu is basically a type of meat sauce in tomato base that can be eaten with pasta, layered in lasagna or just 'mopped' like that with some bread.  We cook this every week as it is a favourite in my household. 

Some people prefer their ragu more on the drier side but for us, we like it juicy and sinful!  Sometimes I mix beef and lamb for variety but it is all up to your preference.  If you decided to mix, the ratio should be 70% beef and 30% lamb or it would be too over powering as lamb has a stronger flavor.

Here is the recipe for my interpretation of Beef and Carrot Ragu!

Beef and Carrot Ragu

Ingredients (serves 8-10)

1 kilo of minced beef (I usually use low fat)

1 whole big onion, diced

1 fresh red chili, seeded and finely chopped (optional)

3 clove of garlic chopped

2 carrots, diced

1 liter of tomato sauce

4 bay leaves

2 tablespoon of chopped flat leaf parsley

½ a teaspoon of nutmeg powder

2 tablespoon of sugar (optional)

Salt to taste

Freshly ground black pepper

Extra virgin olive oil

Method

In a big pot, heat some extra virgin olive oil and add in the onion

When the onion started to change color to transparent and produced an aroma, add in the garlic.  Cook until soft.

Then add in the carrot and chili

After cooking for about 2-3 minutes, add in the minced beef.  Cook for 5-6 minutes.

Add in the bay leave and cook for another minute.

Pour in the tomato sauce and mix well.

Add in the nutmeg, sugar and leave to boil.

Leave the ragu to simmer on slow heat for half an hour.

Later, add in the salt, parsley and pepper. Leave to cook for another 5 minutes and it is ready to serve.

Sprinkle some shredded parmesan cheese before eating and enjoy!

The trusted Old Remedy

Hi, everyone!  Easter came and went and we are all now back to our usual.  My Easter was good, playing host to my in-laws and cute little niece, Frances but it could have been better had I not have my back pain.  The injury I had (I had a protrusion of disc from my injury during a yoga session a few weeks ago) became worst at the worst time possible, when the house was full with guests and as if that was not enough, the anti-inflammatory medication I was given messed up my system so bad that I was so bloated and put on at least 1.5 kilos of mostly water.  

So, when my guests retuned to Italy, I decided to do something about the water retention problem at hand and turned to the remedy I trust –

 

The Cranberry Dandelion Water Buster! 

Ingredients

 

Pure concentrated cranberry juice, no sugar added about 2-3 tablespoon

2 dandelion tea bags

2 tablespoon of fresh lemon juice

1.5 liter of water

Leave the tea bags in a cup of hot water for 10 minutes.

Mix the rest of the ingredients together in a jug.

Then add the tea mixture (i usually put the bags in as well) in the jug.

Chill if you like.

Drink the mixture throughout the day for a week and the water will go slowly but surely and yes, you will ‘go’ a lot too!

And the award goes to....

Guess what?  I was tagged and awarded by fellow blogger Sarah of Sarah Savvy Style , The Tell Me About Yourself Award!  Might not be as glamourous as the Oscar but hey, for fun why not?   Thanks, Sar!

So, the rules for accepting this award are :

1. Thank and link back to the person who awarded you.
2. Write 7 random things about yourself.
3. Spread the love to 15 more bloggers.  

 So, lets get straight to the point, shall we?  Here are 7 random things about me :

1)       I have a special pillow which I have been having for over 20 years.  It is soft and according to my husband and sons, smells like me.  I travel with it and won’t be able to sleep without it.  Shame!

My beloved pillow in her 'Aliens' outfit : )

2)     Before I ended up as a TV Producer, I was doing a  teeny weeny bit of acting.  Well, it happened when a friend who was a Production Manager of a TV show asked if I am interested in doing a few scenes in that show.  The person that was suppose to do it pulled out last minute and he was desperate!  I figured why not?!  I did it just for fun but the director offered me another role in his next project and so from there it started.  Well, I was not exactly Angelina Jolie or Julia Roberts but I appeared in a few small shows back home.  It was a good stepping stone and an excellent 'school' for me to learn about show business and benefit me as a producer later on!

image via www.dreamstime.com

3)     I met my husband at an international airshow where he was performing an aerobatic presentation for the Italian air force and I was freelancing for a defense magazine.  It was like a chapter from a story book, seriously it was.   *Sigh* ... good things happen when you least expected!  I wish I could relive the moment over and over again…

Eurofighter 2000

4)     I don’t like chocolate, I’m a vanilla girl and the whole house love chocolate!  Story of my life..

5)     I am not IT savvy at all and I am still struggling with this whole blogging business.  When others are making money with their blogs, here I am still trying to figure out what is Printerest and what is Instagram!  Sad, isn’t it?

6)      My dream is to learn how to surf and scuba but here's the catch.... I don’t swim!  The closest to swimming I’ve ever done is snorkeling with the vest! Pathetic, I know.

7)     I’m the worst sales person.  When I was 12, I used to buy this nice red bean filled buns to bring to school and my friends loved them!  They suggested I should sell the buns at school and I did.  The bun cost me 25 cents each and I sold them at 20 cents each!  When asked by my mom why did I do that I told her that 25 cents was too expensive, not fair to my friends!  Well, nothing much has changed ever since..

     

      So, there they are 7 boring facts about me.  And here are the 15 bloggers I'd like to mention in no particular order what so ever.  Now, it would be nice to read a bit about you all :) I'm sure your readers would be thrill!

Fash Boulevard 

Chic Pear

Forever in Blue Jeans

Front row of Style

Happy Ever After Bride

White Roses and Coffee

Mom and Son

Mac in the City

Feather Factor

Beck's Pick

Chocolate cookies and candies

Just Tututiny

Wendy's Lookbook

Her Waise Choice

Fashion Spot

New purchases!

Dubai is truly a shopping heaven.  There are so many places to shop, so many labels, boutique and department stores.  One of my favourite places to shop here is Aizone boutique.  There are many boutiques of its kind like Boutique 1, Etoile and Sauce but Aizone is the one that I like the most.  I especially love its 'Jeans Bar' where you can shop jeans from most brands - Siwy, Seven, Rock Republic, True Religion, Rich and Skinny, Juicy and Current Elliot to name a few, in one place!

The other day I paid Aizone and few other boutiques a visit and bought a few new things!

Rich and Skinny burnt red jeans to replace the one I bought from Forever 21 that does not fit too well.  Love the burnt red, gives the jeans the subtle worn out look.

Current Elliot Cargo Jeans.  Was surprise that I had to go 3 sizes down from my normal jeans size. 

This is my first from Current Elliot.

Armani Exchange light jacket perfect for Dubai weather.

Massimo Dutti 'sailing' jacket light enough for Dubai spring/summer