Strawberry Fields Forever!

How is it going mates? My arvo is heaps busier compared to all Sundays I had :-)

So today, I miss blogging and I realized it's friggin' August already. How time flies so fast when you're busy and when you are preoccupied about accomplishing a lot of things in a small amount of time. Yes I am a great crammer. I thought I am prepared for all the things I have planned way back January, thinking everything is just like peanuts. I hope so... I have one month to deal with those things anyway. So veering away from those in the meantime, I just have to put here one of my favorite quotes which I tweaked a bit to fit in my favorite fruit and for my post for this evening.

" Life is like a basket of strawberries, you'll never know what you are getting until you taste it. Sometimes it's sour and sometimes sweet."

Since today is a busy day for me, I have a lot of random things to share that I was very happy to be busy about. Like my UK and ITALY visa are still a work in progress given the tight schedule but I am claiming everything will fall into place in no time. Next to that was the arrival of my Dad and sister here in Saigon to bring home some of my stuff. They brought home two giant boxes and 3 luggages. Only one luggage belongs to my Dad and sister and the rest are few of my bags, shoes, clothes and kitchen stuff. I played the role of a city tour guide for a couple of days and what I like the most was our lunch buffet at Hotel Sofitel. So yesterday morning my Dad & sister left Saigon and as for me, back to normal phasing.

Today, I miss The Artist Chef intimate dinner stint that I've been doing for more than two years in Manila. I only stopped when I left for Saigon on 2009. After that I had four special stints for special couples. All of those stints were done by requests. How I miss my sweet & thoughtful customers and the people who featured me. (from all mediums from TV, magazines and internet) There are still a lot of customers who write and book some reservation, I miss doing it and I realized how lucky those one hundred couples whom I spent time with and served sumptuous meals.

And also today I met Lyra (a writer by passion/business consultant at COWAN Design) who interviewed me for a magazine article. As I share her my life I was reminded that I am off to another journey pursuing another dream by obeying the desires of my heart. They are all about ART & FOOD. Those two basic and essential ingredients of my life. Like strawberries, I hope I'll pick more sweet ones in the coming days to come. Meanwhile I want to share you a special recipe that I really really like. This time inspired by Nigella Lawson :p

STRAWBERRY FRENCH TOAST DOUGHNUT

Ingredients:

• Fresh Strawberries
• Sliced Loaf Bread
• Eggs
• Milk
• Vanilla Syrup
• Icing Sugar
• Whip Cream
• Frying Oil
• Salt
• Butter (of course)

Procedure:

Beat eggs with milk and a pinch of salt. Add in some icing sugar and vanilla syrup and beat it again. Grab some sliced bread and soak it over the mixture. Heat pan with butter and mix with frying oil in medium temperature. Fry the soaked bread and flip until both sides are a bit golden brown. Get a blender or food processor and put some strawberries with icing sugar and pureed it together. Thinly slice few strawberries and place it on top of the bread. Pour or drizzle the pureed strawberries and top it with some whipping cream and serve. A must try this lip-smacking dish!

This post is for my Mom and Adrian's birthday...

Buon Compleanno to both of you!

big hug,
joanie xxx