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Monday, January 17, 2011

Aubergine Caviar


Aubergine is one of my favorite vegetables. The most fascinating purple edible living creature that is way better than Grimace from the American Mickey D's! This vegetable served its useful purposes through a lot of dishes around the world that made this as one of the ingredients. From main dishes, pastas, salads, pies, I am sharing you a dip recipe that uses aubergine as the hero ingredient. I have done this concoction several times and it never fails to amaze people who tasted it. The simple preparation surprisingly creates a magnificent flavor. I sold a lot of containers of this dip when I had it in my first bazaar last 2008 and for the second time around I had it again in my bazaar Christmas of 2010. It was another sold out dish among the food I was selling.



AUBERGINE CAVIAR

Ingredients:

• Aubergines (grilled and peeled)
• Cream Cheese
• White Onions (minced)
• Plain Yoghurt
• Turmeric
• Curry Powder
• Paprika
• Ground Black Pepper
• Salt
• Virgin Olive Oil
• Butter (of course)

Procedure:

After grilling and peeling the Aubergine, place them in a huge bowl. Mash it using the potato masher and set aside. In a medium temperature, heat pan with butter then add minced onions. Saute for a few minutes then sprinkle a little amount of turmeric, curry powder, paprika, salt and pepper. Add yogurt then fold it. Allow the yoghurt to acquire the flavor of the spices and onions. Turn the temperature into a low heat then add the mashed eggplant. Add in some olive oil until it generously covers the entire mixture. Turn off the heat then add the cream cheese and mash it. Fold it all together then put it in a jar or ramekin. This dip can be served hot or cold with flat bread, ciabatta, foccacia or even baguette.



This recipe is requested by my dear friend who is all the way from Montreal, Canada. I am sharing this dish so he can try it since he cannot taste my cooking. I hope he enjoys eating this one and I hope the rest of you guys will do.

This post is dedicated to KYRKE
:-)

big hug,
joanie xxx

Friday, January 07, 2011

New Year's Eve Turkey for 2011


Hello mates! Allow me to say Buon anno a tutti!

Year 2010 was the best year of my life so far. It's just hard to say goodbye to the year that was very amazing, fantastic, superb and euphoric! No sufficient adjectives to describe what I have learned and experienced the past months. The turn of events and scenarios tremendously accelerated as the year ends. And to give the exclamation mark for this year---it was about the magical moment of meeting the one and only person I admired the most and he's none other than Mr. Jamie Oliver! Since he's my inspiration about my great passion in cooking, I have finally tried doing turkey for the first time. Definitely I followed the Jamie's variety of turkey recipes he had in his cookbooks and website. I also did his roasted vegetables recipe although I didn't copy his gravy but came out with my own version. And thank God I can say it's also a gravy that is to die for!


To recap what happened in 2010, I remember it started with my barbecue cooking for Australia day on January then followed by my very adventurous jungle trekking. Came February I visited the world's famous Angkor Wat in Cambodia and experienced the Vietnamese holiday during their Lunar New Year. The next month was March, which is the most challenging part of my life because I have to undergo an operation. It was a successful operation and my father came here in Saigon to take care of me. After March came April-- my most favorite month of the year because it's my birthday. It was a different birthday because I spent it on the beach with my friends and did parasailing for the first time. Then the middle part of the year arrived between the months of May and June where in I was able to get my UK visa. Third quarter is another travel experience for me when I visited Singapore for the first time to catch up with some friends and rode the Singapore Flyer. July swiftly ended and before I knew it--it's already August.



August was the time of the year where I had to go home to Manila and fixed a lot stuff as I received my Schengen visa for my Europe trip. The arrival of September means excitement because of my first solo painting exhibition. But at the same time itwas the toughest month because of my new job and then I have to take off for a month long vacation by October. The most difficult situation I had was to bargain my unpaid vacation leave to my boss. In the end I victoriously win and went for the October UK-Europe trip.

The most special month for last year was October. I travelled to UK and European countries then experienced a lot of new things, met a lot of amazing people and of course as I always repeat---I met my one and only idol Jamie Oliver! November was just about rejuvenising and reminiscing the best 25 days of my life in UK and Europe. Certainly December is for Christmas and it was my first here in Saigon and just spent it on the Beach and got a bit of a tan.

That's pretty much for the year that swiftly went away. I already said my farewell to 2010 and toasted for the new year with a few good friends in Saigon with my lips-smacking turkey for New Year's eve dinner night!

Here's to an exciting 2011 that ROCKS! :-)


big hug,
joanie xxx