Hummingbird Cake

It seems that i've lost my touch =/

the last two dishes that i've made were not that good.. not wow-worthy..
they weren't that bad either..
but heck, i'll post them anyways! ;p

so today i tried the hummingbird cake (bananas and pineapples cake).. the problem is that it turned out a bit dry.. i guess i over baked it =/

the recipe said "crushed pineapples" but i couldn't find them bil jam3iyah or sultan center .. so i took the ordinary sliced ones shown below and put them in a blender until almost smooth with chunks in it..



mashed the bananas with o fork..



mixed the dry ingredients with the eggs, bananas, pineapples ..etc.





divided the batter into two greased pans..
here are the pans all ready to bake.



did the frosting while the layers were baking..



waited for the layers to cool off before spreading the frosting all over..



aaaand the final result



too bad all this effort was partially wasted =/

Beggars

today our doorbell rang and our maid went to open the door.. a few seconds later she came back and told me that it was some beggars asking for money and she told them that no one is in the house..

after a couple of hours she was chatting with me 3ala salfat il beggars oo she told me enna they were a bunch of kids dressed nicely and she was surprised that they were asking for money..

JE: wait.. what did they say exactly?
Maid: they didn't speak english, but they said something like "gerger"

turns out kanaw ga3deen egargi3oon misakeeeen!! hehehe!
it was her 1st year over here so she's not familiar with this custom! heheh!

Just Wondering

Watching those bedouin sereis on tv made me wonder... how can old bedouins stand all that heat bil 9a7ra while wearing all black..oo many layers?!
i mean black absorbes the heat from the sun ma e5esoon?!

Pasta with pesto sauce

it's easy and delicious! oo takes almost 15 minutes to make (the time it takes to cook the pasta)

so all u need is:
basil (the recipe said 4 cups but i only used shadda wa7da)
2 garlic cloves
1 cup + 3 tbs freshly garted parmesan cheese
1/3 tsp salt
1/4 tsp back peper powder
2 tsp lemon juice
1/2 cup olive oil
6 tbs pinenuts

put 1/3 kamiyat il olive oil in the food processor.. add all of the above ingredients..



mix for 5 seconds.. add another 1/3 of the olive oil .. mix for 5 seconds.. then add the remaining 1/3 of the oilve oil and mix for another 5 seconds..
the sauce now is ready..



while doing the above, boil the pasta until al dente (i've noticed they use "al dente" alot when cooking pastas oo tara i don't really know what it means, but i love the sound of it.. very sophisticated ;p)

il muhim, when the pasta is ready just mix it with the pesto sauce



and garnish with 2 tbs of roasted pinenuts and some parmesan cheese and voila!



fee as'hal min chithy?!

oh and i got the recipe from 3abeer il-rashid newest cookbook "the gourmet 3" aw "il thawaqah 3"

Going big screen

Remember my old post about the shopaholic series??
well I've just found out that they'r turning it into a movie!

6ab3an they'r doing the 1st part illy ohwa esmah Conffessions of a shopahoilc and it's going to be released on Feb 2009..

it will be starring Isla Fisher as Becky Bloomwood oo Hugh Dancy as Luke Brandon.. can't wait to see it!!

Black Bottom

So today i've decided to do Black Bottom Cupcakes.. i got the recipe min nafs il site illy i got the carrot cake's from.. gosh this site has some really good recipes that are kindda easy to make.. which suits me just perfectly ;p

il muhim, i followed the steps one by one..

placed the mixture bil muffins tray



and added the filling



oo since the batter 6ala3 wayd fa i put the rest in a mini cupcake's tray..

in goes the 1st tray:



here's my muffins half way through



bs as i watched them bake, il cream cheese filling did not sink into the middle like it's supposed to, and the batter did not become like "a shell for the cheesecake filling" .. fa radait 3al recipe wila maktoob "place it into the center of the chocolate mix" wana 3abaly onto! =s

good thing the minies are still unbaked.. fa 7awalt adiz il cream cheese lai da5il bil spoon ;p

my minies:




aaaand here are the muffins all ready for me to eat! :





i know the filling is on top of them.. but they sure do taste goooood!

the mini ones turned out to look a bit messy on top .. but they were better than the big ones.. so if u ever wanted to make these cupcakes use the mini tray ..



oo allah esallimkum that's all for today! ;)

Dishes to come

ramadan is the time to practice ur cooking skills.. and i intend to take full advantage of this month and the fact that there are many things on the table to coverup for my mistakes.. my dish could easily blend in ;)

so today i went to Sultan Center & bought the stuff that i'll be needing for the few upcoming days.. ya3ni tewaqa3aw a6baaq ma 7a9alitsh ;p

i'll keep u updated with every dish i make.. fa this blog might turn into a food blog this month but hey.. whats better than looking at delicious dishes when ur hungry and fasting?! ;p


image's source