Saturday Song: Summer Wine by The Corrs & Bono

In the morning today I woke up to the happy surprise of having some amazing looking strawberries that my mum had bought, since she had found them in a shop and they weren't too expensive, and while I was washing one, the first line of a song came to my mind "Strawberries, cherries and an angel's kiss in spring..." and I knew what song I had to share with you all today as Saturday Song!





This is the first time I had heard the song, the version of The Corrs, with Andrea singing with Bono (from U2, in case there's still someone who doesn't know who Bono is...) and fell in love with the song! I know it's a version from an older song, and I heard the original while waiting for a lift in a mall in Delhi (of all places) but maybe cause I heard it first, or maybe cause I like Andrea's voice better, this one remains my favourite version!


Have a good Saturday!

Traveling Thursday: Scotland, part 1: Edinburgh!!

Hey there everyone! This week I'm a bit more motivated to blog, so I'm keeping up a bit better with my blogging.


Today's Traveling Thursday is gonna be part 1 of a series of 3! I want to share photos of my trip to Scotland in 2006, and even though I didn't visit as many places as I wanted, I want to share many of the photos  I took with you guys!


Back in 2006 one of my best friends since childhood was living in Edinburgh to improve her English, so in July I used my vacation time to spend a week there with her! Today's photos are from Edinburgh itself, and in the weeks to come I'll share some photos of Rosslyn Chapel and Stirling and the Wallace Monument.

 Patri and me in Victoria Street

 With the Bobby dog

 Braveheart Cow! Freedoooooom!

 Carlton Hill

 Edinburgh city centre

 A view of Edinburgh from  Carlton Hill

 Going up to Carlton Hill and the view!

 Yep, that's a Vader tee I'm wearing, yep, total geek!

 A flower clock in the park at the centre of Edinburgh

At the entrance to Edinburgh castle, we wanted a pic with men in kilts!

Wearing Handmade Wednesday: Fabulously Fierce and my Kitchen Aid!

Hello everyone! I'm finally returning with a Wearing Handmade Wednesday entry this week!

As you might already know, I got an awesome purple KA for Reyes, and soon after I opened it, I got a package from Kylie from Fabulously Fierce with a new awesome embroidered apron (that I will show off properly along with another super cute apron from her when I get my new camera remote) and a special white kitchen towel embroidered with a tower of cupcakes!

You might be wondering what is the KA doing covered with said kitchen towel? Well, when making buttercream, the cover that comes with the KA is no use to avoid getting the whole freaking kitchen (and yourself) covered with icing sugar, and after seeing Alma from Alma's Cupcakes use a kitchen towel that way to avoid the icing sugar storm, I knew it was an idea to add a cute touch, and that a white towel with some cute embroidery was a must!

Don't those cupcakes look absolutely delish? Aside from keeping my kitchen safe from the icing sugar storm (already tested yesterday while making Mimosa cupcakes, recipe next Monday here!) they kinda inspire me to keep on making more!

Monday Munchies: Veggies & beef!

Hello everyone! Monday is here again, starting a new week, and I'm finally returning to blogging again. Last week was a busy week for me, and work was leaving me completely drained and tired.

I had plans to have shared a recipe of my own creation I was planning on working on Sunday for Mimosa cupcakes, but come Sunday I realized I had not enough butter... and not enough motivation to get in the car and drive to look for a place open to buy it. But, I'll make them sometime this week for sure, so I'll probably share it next Monday! So, for this week's Monday Munchies I have another non-cupcakes recipe!

Veggies & Beef

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 800 gr thin beef steaks

- 1 medium size zucchini

- 2 carrots

- 2 chives

- 1 green pepper

- 2 garlic cloves

- 1 spring of parsley

- Olive oil

- Salt & pepper

Method:

- Wash and cut the ends of the zucchini. Scrape the carrots and wash them. Wash the pepper, cutting off the  seeds. Cut everything in stripes.

- Wash and clean the chives, cutting the roots and the less tender green parts, slice them but not too thin. Cut the beef into thin stripes. Reserve all the ingredients separatedly.

- In a deep frying pan or a wok, heat up enough oil to cover the bottom of the pan and sautee first the pepper for a pair of minutes on high heat, add salt and pepper to taste and remove from the pan, draining well. Saute the rest of the veggies separatedly the same way.

- Add the beef stripes to the same pan and saute till they start turning brown. Add salt & pepper to taste and the reserved cooked veggies. Stir everything together for about 1 minute and serve immediately, sprinkled with some chopped parsley.

- Enjoy!

Monday Munchies: Curry Pasta!

Monday is here again! And if for quite a number of people it can be a bit of tough Monday, going back to work after the Xmas break (here in Spain), we should always look forward to a new week that starts!

For this week's Monday Munchies I'm gonna take a break from all the cupcake recipes I've been sharing as of late, and share something a bit more healthy and more everyday like meal, which combines two of my fave things: pasta and curry! I love the smell of cooking with curry and spices, it makes me think of India and the bf!

Curry Pasta

Serves 4

Ingredients:

- 300 gr farfalle (or any other pasta you have around).

- 2 onions

- 2 apples

- 1/2 lemon

- 1 teaspoon curry (or more, as you like it)

- 1 teaspoon corn flour

- 150 ml cream or double cream, the one for cooking only

- olive oil

- salt and pepper

Method:

- Peel, core and cut the apples in bite size bits. Squeeze the half lemon and pour it over the apple so it doesn't darken. Peel the onions and slice them, so you get long but thing onion bits.

- In a deep pan, heat 4 tablespoons olive oil and saute the onion for about 8 mins until it is soft and transparent. Add the apple bits, and also add with curry and pepper. Cook for 2 minutes, stirring carefully with a wooden spoon. Disolve de corn flour in the cream and add it to the pan. Cook in low heat for about 12 minutes stirring with the wooden spoon.

- Boil the pasta in salted water, according to the packet instructions. Drain them and mix them with the onions and apples. 

- Serve hot & Enjoy!

Don't worry if you don't like onions much, I don't and I love this dish! The onions aren't the main flavour here, and if you cook them right, they won't have the crunchy taste you might dislike!

Saturday Song: These Walls by Dream Theater!

Hi there everyone!


Today I was almost expecting not to have a blog entry for you all, but then I started listening to Dream Theater's Live At Budokan, and I knew I needed to share a very special song of them here, so there's a Saturday Song post after all!





These Walls, a fantastic song, and one that I relate quite so much, or should I say, I used to... in the early days, before G & me put the cards face up and told each other we were in love, this song was my inner shouting out my doubts and a way of not going crazy, so when I finally listened to this song live last summer with G by my side, it was such a glorious feeling, cause finally my walls were down, cause there were no need for them anymore!

Friday Photos: I got a KitchenAid for Reyes!!

Hello everyone! Happy Friday!! Today in Spain is gift's day, ¡Día de Reyes!!

So today, I want to show off my gifts, or at least, the big one: My KitchenAid!!

Finally, I can make proper buttercream for my cupcakes without losing my arm! And frankly, it looks so super cute in purple! It matches also my Dolce Gusto coffee maker! I'm really really happy and soooo excited to finally have it here!! I'm thinking of naming her Miss Marple, since it rhymes with purple, and I feel like giving her the name of a British character!

 My dear KA aka Miss Marple with my embroidered apron by Fabulously Fierce and Cookie Girl's cook book!

 These awesome French Toast cupcakes are from Cookie Girl's book: Eat Me!

Monday Munchies: Chocolate with Fluff and Nutella Cupcakes!

Hey there! Late Monday today entry today, cause I've gone to have breakfast with my friends with uni (I took some carrot cake cupcakes with me for them) and then came home for lunch and then straight to work, so I'm just sharing my first improvisation for cupcakes that I made for my youngest nephew, Alex!

So for Monday Munchies: Chocolate with fluff & nutella cupcakes! For the base cupcakes, I used the chocolate recipe from Alma's Cupcakes (from the little booklet with recipes that she gave us during the beginners' course).

Chocolate with fluff & nutella cupcakes!

Makes 12

Ingredients:

- 115 gr butter, room temperature

- 220 gr granulated sugar

- 2 medium sized eggs

- 240 gr plain flour

- 30 gr cocoa powder (without sugar)

- 1 teaspoon baking powder

- 120 ml semi skimmed milk

- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method:

- Preheat the oven at 180ºC (350ºF). Line the cupcake pan with paper cases.

- Cream the butter with the sugar till whitens and is well mixed. Add the eggs one by one, beating well after each one till it's well combined.

- Sift together the flour, with the baking powder and cocoa. In a glass mix the milk with the vanilla extract.

- Add half the flour to the mixture and mix well, then add half the milk and beat till well combined again, then add the other half of the flour, beat well and lastly, add the rest of the milk.

- Distribute the mixture on the paper cases, till about 2/3. Bake for about 22 to 25 minutes, or till a toothpick comes out clean,

- Let cool in the cupcake pan for about 5 mins, and then place in a rack to let cool completely.

Once cooled off, with an apple corer, take a bit off each cupcake, taking care not to get to the bottom of the cupcake!

Then fill them up (not till the very top!) with Fluff! (Marshmallow cream, yum!), I used a pipping bag to fill them up.

Once they're full with Fluff, it's time to put back the chocolate bit we took out, though the Fluff might pop it out a bit! To fix that, I melted a bit of Nutella (I did it in the oven, since it was hot from baking them), and I used it to cover the cupcakes, to keep the chocolate bit in and to finish it off! I added a few snowflake sprinkles!

They looked pretty nice, and Alex absolutely loved them!!