Apple Upside Down Cake

We had some guests over for lunch yesterday and these were the desserts. They were apple upside down cake.

Say Cheese....

I could have a craving for cheese bread sometimes. Like the the other day. I just wanted it and the easiest way for me to get it was by baking one myself. My way.

After the bread was ready and I sliced it, I realized that I could use more cheese inside. It doesn't look generous does it? But when I ate it, it's not too bad. It's cheesy to a reasonable extent!

One Tortilla....

I dislike wasting food, so when I saw one piece of Tortilla left for two days, I thought of using it for breakfast. I warmed it up using a pan, while I tossed some spinach with olive oil, salt and pepper. I cut the tortilla into four pieces and divided the spinach equally. I put four cherry tomatoes that were left in the vegetable drawer, after slicing them. I love avocado and I added some on every piece. Next, I topped them up with some light spreadable cream cheese that has been very slow moving too and yum..... the best part....., some bacon....!! Finally, I drizzled a bit of olive oil on top.

In case you wonder why there are only three pieces on the plate, let me tell you the reason. I put one piece on a smaller plate and passed to DH who was reading his newspaper and let him try one. Therefore, I would not have to eat all, it's a bit much, I thought. 

Bigger Adenium ....

My Adenium plants, about 11 of them, if I am not mistaken, have grown bigger. Every now and then, I re-pot them to bigger containers to allow them to grow bigger. After they get bigger, I need bigger containers. This game goes on and on. I am a bit behind at this moment, the plant above is in need for bigger space, I have not gotten time to get go to the nursery and get some bigger pots.

Pan Fried Gnocchi With Mushroom Sauce

We had home made gnocchi for dinner last night. We had them pan-fried before serving them with the sauce made with porcini mushroom, grated cheese and cream.

Prata And Curry Chicken

We have a bunch frozen Roti Prata in the freezer, lots of them. The person who normally eats them is away for college, the movement of our Roti Prata has been very slow. I have served some to the guests that came to our house at the end of last month and that's just about it. To make it a little more interesting, I cooked some Curry Chicken to be served with the Prata. That's dinner!

Periwinkle In BW

This is a black and white photograph of the periwinkle flowers that are growing in our garden.

In The Center....

 

We attended a wedding reception last Sunday, it was the wedding of DH's niece. The solemnization of the marriage was done before the start of the dinner, something that I did not know that it could be done that way. I really thought that the signing and everything else need to be done at the Registry of Marriages office. I never really knew what the rules are anyway. The decoration of the party room was dominated by the colors of white and green apple. The picture above is the centerpiece on our table. Yes, all about white and green as well.

Transforming...

These are cream cheese cookies, made by using the leftover cream cheese frosting that I made for the cupcakes a few days ago.  I added an egg, enough flour and grated cheese to the batter. They are jolly-good-addictive ones!

Turmeric Flower

It was a case of serendipity that I encountered this morning. It was a shady morning, it rained on and off over the past two days and while I waited for the something working in the kitchen, I decided to pull some weeds in the garden and did general cleaning there. Just a figure of speech, I must write: " Guess what I found??" Sure, the title of the post gave it all, it was a big turmeric flower by the fence.

Make It And Eat It!

It's no longer that much fun decorating the cupcakes the day after they were made and when there was not any special event for them. I used the sprinkles that I got from Sur La Table in Westfield, San Francisco. I simply squeezed out the cream cheese frosting that I made the day before, topped it with some dino-shape sprinkles, took some pictures and ... ate it! Done.

Continue Unwrapping...

Here we are, a week after this picture was taken, my new ZZ plant stalk still continues to unwrap itself. It's getting taller and some leaves are open up, but more are coming out in the coming days...

Cupcakes!

We are sometimes too easily affected by what we watch on TV. Miss K watches DC Cupcakes and I am guilty of dropping by and sitting across to watch a bit here and there. Soon after, especially Miss K, want to have some cupcakes. This led me into making these cupcakes this afternoon. The cream cheese frosting was made too and we decorated some. In fact, we ate some. We just have not taken picture of them yet. Maybe tomorrow, because we still have the cupcakes and the icing.

Pandan

Pandan leaves are used a lot in cooking and baking in the region around here. I got my plants from my mother in law and they have grown well and many more since. It is very handy to have them around the house. When I was growing up, I remember my mom used to get the essence of the leaves for making some desserts. I prefer getting the essence or paste from the supermarket, it is so much more convenient although it may not taste as good.

Beancurd With Mushroom Gravy

Staying only with little Miss Italian these days, we hardly have Asian food. She goes for Japanese food after Italian and some Western Cuisine. I decided to have a little change and went a little bit Chinese last night, hoping that she would be hungry after school, followed by swimming practice.

I cooked some Bean Curd, cut in small cubes and deep fried for a short while prior to mixing them with the gravy. The thick gravy was made with mushroom and minced Chicken. White rice was steamed and all were ready.  Little did I knew that she went back and craved for ham and avocado sandwich. She said, she craved for them the whole day. How was I supposed to figure that out, huh? Being a nice kid, she had a little bit of rice and the Bean Curd that I cooked.

Unwrapping...

We are having a new stalk of ZZ plant in the container. It is slowly coming out, up and unwrapping itself. The young leaves in light green have started showing up. This whole container is originated from two big leaves that I picked up from one nursery that we went to, more than a year ago.

Yellow Alder

Yellow Alder is so self sufficient, the plant is easy to look after as it practically does not require much attention. Everyday, it gives me these lovely yellow flowers. I propagate by cutting and simply water them. They grow. I have many of them in the garden.  This picture was taken using my new lens.

Egg Plant

It has been my intention to stay away from growing my garden to larger scale. I want to keep the size and if possible, I'd like to minimize it. I am keeping my herbs and some easy-to-deal-with flowers. I am also keeping the basic plants that keep the ground green and my less-maintenance indoor plants.

We went to a nursery just to get some fertilizer, my plants were in dire need of them. We saw these eggplant plants. It was my first time seeing them and I must admit there was a little spark of excitement!

A New Company

I finally got my new Canon EF 24-105mm f/4 this morning and am still exploring its use..... Hope we'll become best friends in no time!

Mooncake Time Again....

Mid-Autumn Festival is around the corner again. When you go out, you can find so many outlets around that sell all sort of mooncakes. We have gotten ours delivered to our door just recently. A business partner has sent 4 pieces of Mooncake from a restaurant at Conrad Hotel. They are delicious!

I love the box more than anything else. It's sleek and simple and can be used to store things when we are done eating the mooncakes inside.

Three Types...

This was one of the two Antipasti we had when we had lunch at La Nonna a couple of weeks ago. They were Bruschetta topped with Tomatoes, Sauteed Porcini Mushroom and Goat Cheese with Truffle paste.