Yeah, because THAT's what Christmas stands for...

I was pretty shocked when I saw the branding done by Leather Collection/ Cotton Collection with huge Christmas baubles with the wordings I Need...I Crave...I Desire...

Seriously thought, where has the meaning of Christmas gone to? It's full of cheap marketing consumerism and women dressed as sexy santas. Eugh. I guess Jesus Christ is not 'cool' enough...
Religious holidays should just remain as simple as possible. I always think Jesus/ Buddha or even Allah would seriously be face-palming themselves, at the rate people bastardize the simple truth of the religion for the pettiest reasons.

Wanderlust

Not all those who wander are lost - J. R. R. Tolkein

BEST RED VELVET CUPCAKES!!! EVER!!!!

I was always intimidated by cream cheese frosting so I never got around to making anything which I could use it on... but then A super close friends birthday came along and I decided to try something special... (also because I had cream cheese at home :) )

So here's my recipe with a few tweaks (from lanka)



Best Red Velvet Cupcakes
This recipe for originally adapted from Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook, which is pretty neat… (however I stole it from the internet) J
This recipe makes one dozen cupcakes.  Double the recipe and you’ll have either two dozen cupcakes, or enough batter to make 2 9-inch layer cakes.  Which is quite awesome?

• 4 Tablespoons unsalted butter, at room temperature
• 3/4 cup sugar
• 1 egg
• 3 Tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder ( I used motha cocoa powder)  
• 2  Tablespoons red food coloring (unless you want to buy wilton gel paste which is awesome, I used starbrand food colouring)
• 1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup buttermilk OR 1 cup Yogurt
• 1 cup plus 2 Tablespoons all-purpose flour
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon baking soda OR 2 teaspoons of baking powder
• 1 1/2 teaspoons distilled white vinegar

Place a rack in the upper third of the oven and preheat oven to 350 degrees F.

In the bowl cream the butter and sugar until light and fluffy, about three minutes on a low speed. Turn mixer to high and add  the egg.  Scrape down the bowl and beat until well incorporated.

In a separate bowl mix together cocoa, vanilla and red food coloring to make a thick paste.  Add to the batter, mixing thoroughly until completely combined.  You may need to stop the mixer to scrape the bottom of the bowl, making sure that all the batter gets color.

Turn mixer to low and slowly add half of the buttermilk.  Add half of the flour and salt and mix until combined.  Scrape the bowl and repeat the process with the remaining milk and flour.  Beat on high until smooth.

Turn mixer to low and add baking soda and white vinegar.  Turn to high and beat a few more minutes.
Spoon batter into a paper lined cupcake baking pan and bake at 350 F for 20-25 minutes or until a skewer inserted into the center cupcake comes out clean.

Let rest in the pan for 10 minutes, then place them of a cooling rack to cool completely before frosting.

Cream Cheese Frosting (My version of it)

The original recipe calls for ground cinnamon powder but since I'm not a big fan I used my own recipe.

double the recipe to frost a 2 layer 9-inch cake

• 1 3/4 cups confectioners sugar, sifted
• 3 Tablespoons butter, room temperature
• 2 ounces cream cheese, cold 
• dash of Milk 
• Pinch of salt

Beat the sugar and butter together in the bowl .  Mix on medium-slow speed until it comes together and is well mixed.
Add the cream cheese all at once and beat on medium to medium-high until incorporated.
Turn the mixer to medium-high and beat for 5 minutes, or until the frosting becomes light and fluffy.
Do not over-beat as the frosting can quickly become runny.

Light up a life!!!

I received a mail today from a friend about "LIGHT UP A LIFE" this Christmas - Kiddies party organised by the Rotary Club . I dutifully forwarded the mail to my colleagues and something my colleague said brought a tear to my eye.... and I quote "OK I know how my sons Face light up when we take him places or get him even a 50 Rupee plastic Turtle so YES!!!" 

 

so if you'd like to help out please read the mail I received...  I directly called Chris (who generated this mail) so you could do that too :)

Help out!! Its Christmas after all!!! :))

------------------------------------------------------------------

Hi Guys,
I’m writing to you with my usual Christmas time request for help with the annual Kiddies party organised by the Rotary Club of Colombo Regency of which I’m a part of...
With Christmas around the corner and our lives getting busier than ever with wonderful events to celebrate with our loved ones, we could easily forget the ones who are less fortunate than us.
We, at  RCCR  would like to give a little bit of Christmas magic to other children who are less fortunate than our own children. In order to do that, this year we have decided to support a great event organised by the Rotary Club: a Christmas party themed “Light up a Life” to shine the light of love on 250 underprivileged, differently abled, special needs and orphaned children between the ages of 5 – 15.
The sponsorship value of the ticket is a mere Rs200 which will light up a child’s life at Christmas. This will ensure that one child is sponsored, and if you choose to, you too are welcome to attend the event.
Please help as you can to make this great event a success.

These children are from the following child development centres: Prithipura Infants Home (Wattala), Anandapura Home (Negombo), Asokapura Home (Kotagala) and the Sri Senerath Gunawardhana Development Centre for Elders & Boys.
Your support will enable them not only to buy the children gifts and meet other project related expenses such as food and drink, transport, and cost of activities, it will also enable them to look into the needs of the homes they come from.  Accordingly, surplus donations which are not absorbed by the event itself will be used to purchase the operational supplies and resources required by the children’s homes.
Any questions please do not hesitate to contact me.
Also hope to see you at the Kiddies Park at Havelock Town from 2:30 pm onwards on the 29th of November. That is next FRIDAY . Bring your kids and family as well and be part of Rotary in Action
>>> Happiness
The link above has pics and details of our last kiddies party for which most of you helped us.. :)
Thanks,
Christo

Best regards,
Christopher Stephen
Director
-------------------------------------------------------
Construction Managers & Planners (Pvt.) Ltd.
No. 21, Castle Street, Colombo 08
Tel : 5 832508 Fax : 5 856397
Mob : 0712 304748
chris@cmpl.lk

The Ombré Project!!!

So my friend is heavily pregnant, and her sister and I decided to throw a baby shower...

I've been wanting to try out this amazing cake that I keep seeing on blogs, the Ombré cake... What is Ombré you ask... well that was my question too... Basically, it is just a fancy name (french of course) for faded.... I made a pink Ombré cake, and I am proud as punch that it came out oh so awesome as it did....  After searching HIGH and low for a good/easy/practical recipe I came across Tummy Train This site is amazing and includes step by step pictures too!! (HURRAH!!!) Which the author got off  Le Cordon Bleu

The cake is super soft and moist.... and salted icing is amazing and the fact that the layers are sandwiched with jam makes it nicer to eat, not as sweet as it would be....

For the cake

1. 355 grams (about 2 3/4 cups) all-purpose flour*
2. 1 tablespoon baking powder
3. 1/2 teaspoon salt
4. 225 millilitres (less than 1 cup) milk
5. 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
6. 400 grams (about 1 3/4 cups) caster sugar
7. 225g (2 sticks) unsalted butter, softened
8. 4 medium eggs
9. Pink food colour
10. Strawberry Jam, to spread between layers

For the icing

1. 400 grams (about 3 1/2 cups) confectioner's sugar, sifted
2. 200 grams (about 2 sticks) salted butter, chopped into cubes and softened to room temperature
3. Extra table salt to taste
4. Sprinkles, to decorate (optional)

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350°F (180°C) and grease whatever 7 or 8-inch round cake tins you have. You may or may not line the base of your tins with baking paper, but make sure to properly grease and dust the tins (and paper, if using) with flour. Tap out the excess flour.

Make the cake

1. Combine flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl. Set aside.
2. In a measuring glass, mix milk and vanilla together until vanilla is fully incorporated.
3. Using electric mixer on low speed, beat sugar and butter in a large bowl until blended. Increase speed to high and beat for 2 mins or until pale and creamy.
4. Reduce speed to medium low. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
5. Add a third of the flour mixture into the bowl, alternating with half the milk mixture. Add half of the flour mixture again, then pour in the last of the milk mixture. Scrape the bowl before adding the last of the flour mixture, beating until smooth. Make sure to begin and end with the flour mixture.
6. Divide mixture evenly into 5 medium bowls. Leave one bowl of batter white, then very gradually add colouring to each bowl and gently fold it into the mixture, adding slightly more colouring as you do each bowl so that the 5 bowls give you a even gradient of colour.
7. Pour batter into prepared tins and bake each layer for about 15-20 minutes***, or until a toothpick inserted into the centre comes out clean and the outside is golden. The sides of the cake would have begun to pull away from the tin as well.
8. Cool cakes in the tin for 5 minutes and then turn out onto wire racks to cool completely.

Prepare the icing

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer, beat butter on high until smooth and fluffy. Reduce speed to medium-low to prevent the sugar from flying everywhere, and gradually add the confectioner's sugar until combined.
2. Increase speed to high and beat until icing is pale and fluffy, about 3 minutes or so. Gradually add any extra table salt to taste if needed.

Prepare cake for icing

1. Depending on the size and shape of the tray you use, you may want to trim the tops of your cake layers a bit to make sure they are level, but it's all right if you don't. Layer cakes with jam (or more icing), using a spatula to gently even out the filling. 
2. You may stack the cakes according to your preference, either from the dark colour up or starting from the light colour.

Quick Tips/ Things to remember

• Before you start >>> 1 stick of butter = 100g
• Remember to dust your cake trays with flour 
• Break egg in to a separate cup and then add to the batter. (to avoid any unwanted bits going in to the cake batter)

I cane bake one for you!!!

Just let me know!!

xoxo
 D

lazy sundays...

Lazy sundays bring Lazy moments. however  while at ammas lazily I might add I watched 5 ingredient fix The recipes are super easy to make... Yet as Claire Robinson went on convincing me that I HAD TO BAKE THIS MUFFIN, I was thinking BARF! I.HATE.BANANAS!!! BLEURGHHH!!! so what goes well with bananas >>> YAY CHOCOLATE!!! Everything chocolate is a WIN in my book!

Ingredients

• 4 ripe bananas
• 1/3 cup honey
• 1 stick unsalted butter
• 1 large egg
• 1 3/4 cups self-rising flour (incase you don't have this, use same quantity of flour + 1tsp baking powder + 1 tsp salt)
• Milk Chocolate - I used ritzbury chocolate and cut it up in to chunks
• 1 tsp vanilla 

Directions

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees F. Line a 12-cup muffin tin with paper muffin liners.

Peel the bananas and add to a large bowl. Add the honey and mash the bananas with a fork until very liquefied but still a little lumpy.

Melt the butter in a small saucepan or skillet over medium heat. Cook, stirring occasionally, until the milk solids have turned a nutty golden brown.

To the brown butter, add about 1 cup of the mashed banana mixture and whisk to combine. Cook for a few more minutes until a darker golden color is achieved. Add to the remaining mashed banana mixture and whisk to combine, then whisk in the egg, add the chocolate and vanilla. Fold in the flour, in 2 batches, with a rubber spatula, until just combined; do not over mix. With an ice cream scoop, evenly divide the batter among the muffin tin cups.

Bake in the center of the oven until golden brown and the tops spring back when pressed, about 25 minutes. Cool for 5 minutes in the pan, then transfer the muffins to a rack to cool completely. Serve warm or at room temperature.

TADAAAA!!! the muffins are done!

 

 

What were you up to this weekend?

 

xoxo

D

nomnomnomnom the husband has already requested for it... which is a first because he's super health conscious and would die before munching away on something unhealthy/carby/sweet/ etc!

Pavlova you say?!

Hello world... :D 

Sorry we've both been quiet for the past few days... (MONTHS) its been a busy couple of weeks (months).... 

But I've been baking and cooking and freezing and frying and icing :D 

so I was bored one day... what do I do when I get bored and fidgety ?! I bake!!! Made a pavlova. Came out quite well I must say (at least since it was my first time eva)

The recipe was adopted from Donna Hay. Quite easy really!!!

Pavlova

• eggwhite (approximately 4 eggs)
• 1 cup (220g) caster (superfine) sugar
• 2 tablespoons cornflour (cornstarch), sifted
• 2 teaspoons white vinegar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• I used a small pack of anchor whipping cream.. which works fine.. you can even use the kothmale heavy/double cream.  
•  You can use any fruit you want. I used mango and passion fruit ( added a wee bit of sugar to cut the tartness)

 How to Make... in a few easy peasy steps!

• Place the eggwhite in the bowl of an electric mixer and whisk until stiff peaks form. 
• Gradually add the sugar, whisking well, until the mixture is stiff and glossy.
• Add the cornflour and vinegar and whisk until just combined. 
• Shape the mixture into an 18cm round on a baking tray lined with non-stick baking paper.

 

•  Reduce oven to 120°C (250°F) and bake for 1 hour 20 minutes.
• Turn the oven off and allow the pavlova to cool completely in the oven.

•  Whisk the cream until soft peaks form. Spread over the pavlova with fruits you pick.

Serves 8–10.* You’ll know when the meringue is stiff and glossy because the mixture will have tripled in volume and stands up when the beaters are lifted.* The low heat puffs up the meringue while the long cooking time dries it out to give you a lovely crisp shell.* Store your pavlova, undressed, in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 5 days.

Quick tips for the meringue

●Make sure the eggs are room temperature before you start whisking.
●Make sure there is no water in the bowl you use to make the meringue.
●only top the pav with fruits and cream just before serving.
●If its left over, don't worry just keep it in the fridge. Will stay unspoilt for 2-3 days (with fruit topping)


Let me know how it comes out!!

xoxo
D 

YOGASTIC!

Yogastic is happening this Saturday morning and it's completely FREE.

If you're not there to experience the awesomeness of yoga (free yoga at that)...you're just lame.

:I

Event page here!

Pusswedilla

Ok, so I'm a sad little Pusswedilla noob. But BY GOD that play was awesome!

Such good acting and great lines and flow. The only complaint was that it was a little but too long, and at one point there were close to 12 people on stage at one point, masking each other and looking really awkward and distracting.

I really don't know why I haven't checked it out earlier and I fully understand the crazy long lines during the ticket rush.

I guess its just comedic relief to all the crap happening in Sri Lanka, put forward in a lighthearted way. Its like we're laughing at our own downfall, with not much we can really do about it.

Good stuff. 

Check them out on Al Jazeera

Eating, Sleeping and NOT surfing in Arugam Bay

You know what? So I totally went to Arugam Bay and it was fantastic. Fantastic in a rugged, you're-way-too-pansy-to-swim-in-my-waves kinda fantastic, because the surf season has just started and the waves are NOT...I repeat, NOT for swimming. You will either die by hitting your head on a sandbank (recently had happened to a foreigner we heard) or just really lose your shorts - whichever you do not prefer.

 So anyway, here's some things we did in A'bay...

Pass by the infamous Thanamalwila! It's a beautiful area really...very lush..and...green. Ahem.

Aaand after 5-6 gruelling hours of listening to 3 boys talk about cars and more cars, we finally ended up at The Hideaway in Arugam Bay. By far the BEST, most tasteful place in Arugam Bay, well worth for what you pay for. 

 

We got two wonderful upstair rooms which overlook their garden. The rooms were perfect with all amenities, bathrooms were super (this matters a whole lot to me!) but only downside was the mid-day heat which turned the room into boilers, mainly due to the asbestos sheets overhead!

Local flora and fauna...awww

 

We didn't eat much at the Hideaway due to the boys to girl ratio during our trip (3:1), and they obviously went for quantity and more quantity (more on that later)...but I did order breakfast on the last day and it was just OK for a good Rs. 800. Depends I suppose, what you're really after. But I was told by the lovely host and owner that they made an excellent rice and curry... 

SURF'S UP!

So more on quantity... 

Next we found an amicable looking fellow and said Hi, where can we find good curry then, and he pointed us towards The Beach Hut.

 

A nice hippy little place which smells a little too mildew for my taste serves us awesome paratas (I mean AWESOME PARATAS THAT MAKE YOU WANT TO WRITE IN CAPS) with killer pol-sambol and dhal curry for breakfast. Oh and that sugary sweet plain tea which makes you think of Mom. (Not my mom though, she forces uber-healthy food to all of us....but you get the drift.)

We also wound up eating there quite a bit during our stay. 

Here's lunch...not as great as breakfast though. Prawns were a little over-priced, doused in chillie-paste and set fire. Meh meh. 

There's another place called "The Green Room" on the landslide which had awesome seafood fried rice. Yum. 

 

Arugam Bay...beautiful....

We explored a few beaches too. Like Whiskey Point...where we met a Iranian kite-surfer who wanted to know where the best winds were. I connected him with Dilsiri... 

And Panama Beach (Paa-nama...not Panama Canal)... just isolated, wild, beach. Nothing more, nothing less.

And then we took a really random road to nowhere, which took us through a narrow ridge of road between a lake, Kumana National Park and paddy fields as far as the eye can see. The road ended in an area which had strange animal droppings, and where 3 tipsy men in sarongs popped out of nowhere ("after a party" apparently) and told us to move along as wild elephants and sloth bears apparently frequent the place. That's Sri Lanka man...I doubt any of us have even scratched the surface of it!

Back in A'bay, the late evening and night brought out the surfer boys and girls who roamed around looking for a bite to eat. We were told by friends to try Geckos, right opposite Hideaway. We missed their recommended home-made ice cream, but did have beer in tea-cups (in lieu of Vesak.. lol) and bland burgers.

The last day at A'bay had me pondering life on a hammock at the Hideaway while the boys hit the Beach Hut . We also managed to drop in at the Mihindu Maha Chaitya, a Buddhist temple where the princess Vihara Maha Devi was supposed to have landed after being sacrified to appease the gods when a tsunami had occured. I'm sure there's a lot of historical sites in the area which needs a little more time than 2 nights to explore.

Back in Colombo with the Vesak weekend coming to a close!

The boys are already planning another trip to the East coast. Can't wait...it's definitely something you gotta do!

xo
Dee

6 days and counting!!!

I changed my mind about food after reading just a few words, "you can not differentiate and justify that the animals on your plate and the ones in your homes are different..." for me, that changed the way I ate. This has nothing to do with religion, or health or diet, just that animals have a right to live too!

Going Vegan....

Is it doable? Well since of late (say around 6 months to a year) I've been juicing, green juice to be exact. Morning and night, It actually helps with weight loss, gives you clear skin, great bowel movement =D, you actually start to glow a little, You feel light, active, and the list goes on and on...

I've considered going vegan/veg a few times and I was a vegetarian when I was 15 to about my early 20's till I got chicken pox and then my mother insisted I took some protein i.e MEAT! for some people giving up meat is unheard of, like my husband. He would NEVER in a million years do so.

So i'm going to try to give up. again! TRY to convince the husband to do so too! Reasons to give up!!!lets see how it goes!!!


Vegan recipes for wanna be vege fooodies!

Disclaimer: Foodie post ahead!

So, Beet get his British-food cravings once in a way. Last time it was chips and gravy. He set out to replicate the same in our kitchen. He fried the chips (nothing close to the wedge-chips you get there apparently), made a gravy (no idea how he did it) and then mixed the lot with onions and lots of cheese. Not bad...It could even be a hit in pubs I reckon...and call it Beet's Binge or something...

Jagro's new outlet is AMAZING. Each thing I've ever ordered never fails to disappoint. The latest was their "Vanilla sandwich" which had a moist, light sponge cake which wasn't overly sweet, sandwiched with strawberry jam, cream and their gorgeous strawberries on top! Yum! The pic below of their strawberry tart was taken when we met CJ at his office. MAN. Strawgasmn is not the word. I could eat the little things by the handful.

Suro had been bugging me to go for this wine and tapas Happy Hour at Sugar Bistro for weeks and I finally had the time to do just that. We were there by about 5.30pm (bebaddo!?) and ordered the rose wine which came nice and chilled at 50% off (yay!)
We left around 8pm but were little annoyed because the tapas were not 50% like their advertising claimed. A little misleading but what the hey, it was good fun and good food - so can't complain really. 

Dilgirl and I met up randomly as I was picking up a gift for a friend from Paradise Road on Alfred House Garden. We ho-hummed at going to cricket club (bit dull - they really need to update their menus)...and Paradise Road Cafe (lil' expensive for a small meet up)...and I suddenly remembered The Boulevard opposite to Cricket Club. Now I'm a firm believer of the Tasty Caterers, I mean look at La Rambla and Crossroads... really good food at good prices! And Boulevard didn't disappoint either.

We ordered a appetizer, which was battered prawns with an awesome mango sauce and really great chicken skewers with a peanut sauce. They had a nice salad to go with it with raw papaya cut like a lattice. Nice touch. 

And we shared a quesadilla from the main menu... so good :D Their juices are super as well...and large potions. 

 

Anyone tried the new McDonald's "Hot Cakes"? I had to whine my way to buying it, with a super "let's eat healthy" hubby around. Bah. Basically it's 3 fluffy American pancakes, butter and maple syrup. We had it for tea at home and it's really great. Not too great for calorie counters but a nice treat to share for sure...

Happy day foodies! :*
Dee