Memories: B'Day 2011

B'Day 2012

Last year for my birthday, I invited my girlfriends over and prepared a meal for them. Everyone kept asking if I was sure i wanted to be in the kitchen, cooking on my birthday, the answer was yes. I love to try new recipes and I love to entertain small, intimate groups of people.

I remember that days so well. I had gotten up early because for some reason I had a lot of errands to run (which seems strange now, because I would never want to have a hassle of a day on my B'day). Anyhow, I had a lot to do, which included going to the hair dresser and getting home in time to prepare the meal.

Needless to say, the day was crazy and I barely made it home in time to cook. But it was a great day none the less, I cooked, my friends came, we eat and drank, reminisced and made a new memory.

I had a lot of fun hanging with my girls at home last year, and I plan to have even more fun with them this year. However we would not be staying at home. You'll know the saying 'what happens in Vegas stays in Vegas'? Well, we're not going to Vegas, but we are to have a Vegas moment....what happens in.....

Below is the link to the main dish I made. I found this recipe on a blog about food, the person is from South Africa, but sadly that's all I remember, I don't even remember the name of the blog. But the great thing is this recipe is great and we truly enjoyed it.

Greek Pastitisio

How do you prefer to spend your birthday?

Much love,

Greek Pastitisio

I made this dish last year for my B'Day lime with my girls. I found this recipe on a blog about food, the person is from South Africa, but sadly that's all I remember, I don't even remember the name of the blog. But the great thing is this recipe is great and we truly enjoyed it.

Greek Pastitisio (Baked Pasta with Ground Beef)

Makes about 8 large servings

For meat sauce

• 2lbs beef mince (ground beef)
• 2 large onions, finely chopped
• 3 large carrots, peeled and finely chopped
• 3 celery stalks, finely chopped
• 4 garlic cloves, crushed
• 2 bay leaves
• 2 tins Hunts fire roasted diced tomatoes
• 2 tbsp tomato paste
• 1 1/2 cups warm water
• 2 Beef maggi cubes
• 1tsp dried mint
• 1tbsp dried oregano
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp ground cloves
• 1tsp ground cumin
• 2tbsp brown sugar
• 2tbsp flour
• salt & pepper to taste

 For the Béchamel sauce (white sauce) 

• 4tbsp butter
• ¼ cup flour
• 2 ¾ cups milk, heated
• 1tsp ground nutmeg
• 1tsp paprika
• 1 cup Gouda cheese, grated
• salt & black pepper to taste
• 1 pk penne pasta, cooked

1. Start by making the meat sauce. In a large pot, fry the minced beef until browned. Remove from the pan and set aside.
2. In the same pot, fry the onions, carrots, celery and garlic until soft and fragrant. Add the bay leaves. Add the minced beef back into the pot and add the tomatoes, tomato paste, beef stock, herbs, flour and sugar. Allow to come to simmering point and turn the heat down.
3. Place the lid on the pot to simmer gently and allow thickening for 30 minutes.
4. Pre-heat the oven to 180°c and grease an oven proof dish (make sure it’s big enough).
5. To make the bechamel, gently melt the butter in a saucepan ensuring it doesn’t change colour. Stir in the flour until a glossy paste is formed.
6. Slowly pour in the warm milk. Only pour in a few tablespoons at a time and make sure that it’s well incorporated before adding again. When half of the milk has been incorporated, switch to a balloon whisk and add larger amount of the milk whilst whisking. The sauce should be thick and smooth.
7. Remove the saucepan from the heat and stir in the spices and cheese. Season to taste. At this point, also check the seasoning of the meat sauce and adjust.
8. To assemble the Pastitsio, combine the cooked pasta with just over half of the Béchamel sauce.
9. Pour all of the meat sauce into a prepared oven dish and smooth out. Follow with the pasta and finally the remaining of the Béchamel sauce.

10.  Place the assembled Pastitsio into the pre-heated oven and allow baking for 25-30 minutes until golden brown and bubbling.

11.  Remove the Pastitsio from the oven and allow to rest for 5 minutes before serving.

Hope you enjoy this recipe as much as I enjoyed it.


Much love,

iRant

This would be my first rant post. Why am I ranting you may ask? Simply because it threatens the fun packed weekend I have planned.

It all started on a dark and rainy night....lol....I kid, I kid (is it weird that horror stories always start that way). It was actually midday on a cloudy, cool Friday.

Anyhow, me being in preparation mode for the highly anticipated weekend, and wanting to look my best (after all, it's 'my big three O'). I decide to pay a visit to the beauty spa, this is a place I frequent almost every month to get a facial and some minor waxing done. 

STOP!!!

Hold on, wait a minute. Let me start by saying upfront, the service I recieved here has always been good, and on that day, the actual facial was the BEST I have ever had at this spa. The young lady was very pleasant, gentle and she took her time with me.

Ok...back to the RANT

So there I am lying on the bed with my eyes closed. The beautician comes in ever so quietly that I didn't even realize she was in the room till she started coughing. We exchanged some pleasantries (how are you,  which type of facial, when was the last facial etc), then the facial started (she has the most gentle hands). 

Cough, cough, cough....cough, cough, cough. Me, "are you alright?" to which she replied "yes". Me: *raised eyebrow* Ok, she said she's OK, probably she just has that annoying, non-contagious, non-infectious, nothing to worry about cough, that cough everyone was left with after the flu has left them. However, as the facial progressed, the cough persisted. That coughing spell lasted the entire appointment, the ENTIRE appointment!!! 

So the appointment is over now, I thank her, told her she did such a wonderful job. I get up, and looked at the her and realizes she looks ill, so I ask her again, " are you sure you're OK? do you have the flu?" to which she then replies "yes". 

YES??? WHAT!!!!!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!!!!!!!!! WTF!!!!!!! Y'ALL HAVE TO BE JOKING!!!!

If you are providing a service, especially one that involves personal hygiene, and your employee has the flu (the very contagious flu). Send them to F home until they feel better. So as to not risk paying customers such as myself being infected with the flu. And in my case being infected with the flu days before 'my big three O'. What the hell are you trying to do? Ruin my celebration?

I am very disappointed with the spa, VERY disappointed. It's Sunday, I'm on work, tired, weak, feverish, congested, I have a headache,  my nose and eyes are runny, my throat is sore; and i'm guzzling down Nyquil, Panadol and Chloraseptic lozenges hoping to get over the flu before the weekend. This is not how I envisioned my week. I'm supposed to be bursting with energy and excitement. 

Places such as these establishments need to be better business people and human beings and look out for the well being of there customers and fellow human beings.

I now wish I had noticed she was ill before the start of the appointment. I would have requested someone else do the facial.

END OF RANT

Have you ever experienced this, or a similar situation? Do you think places such as these establishments should be held accountable for public health?

Much Love,

Sun's Halo

Have you seen the ring around the sun today?

The talk of today happen to be about the ring around the sun. And after endless trips outside, the clouds finally cleared a bit for me to see this ring that everyone is talking about.

But what does it mean? 

After about an hour of searching the internet, it still isn't clear to me what exactly is taking place. All I have gathered so far is that it is called a halo, and a lot of people believe it means there would be a change in the weather. On other sites it was said be rings caused by cirrus clouds and moisture high up where the temperatures are well below freezing. The moisture turns into ice crystals, which reflects the sun light, creating a halo or ring.

Whatever it is or means, I think it's absolutely beautiful. I must say, nature is such a wonderful thing. 

Did you see the halo today? Have you ever seen a halo? Do you know what it signifies?

Much love,

Cake

For the last two months, I have been totally obsessed with cakes. I've been looking for the perfect cake for my B'Day. The perfect cake to reflect my transition in to womanhood, my new found maturity, my femininity. 

In previous year I' have always organized my own B'Day cake, simply because I know what I like and what would make me happy on MY special day. I'm not really a cake person, but at the same time, my B'Day cake must look and taste good, I must be happy and excited about it. There this one place here in Trinidad that I always get cakes from, whether it be for me or someone else. The Kiss Baking Company has some of the best cakes ever (in my opinion). The texture is soooo soft and moist (one of the best cakes in my book). 

Over the years I've gone through some many cake phases that every B'Day was just something completely different. I've had the plain and marble cakes covered in fondant and royal icing, a cheesecake sampler and a double chocolate fudge. I've even had a frozen chocolate cake (I didn't think I would like it but it was surprisingly good). Last year, because I felt playful, I had a plain cake covered in blue fondant with two little yellow ducks at the top. It was extremely cute and I was extremely happy.

My 2011 B'Day Cake

This year I've decided to have two cakes. Because I plan to be out on the day of my B'Day,  with my girls having fun, I'm having cupcakes; and when the weekend fun is over I'll have my real B'day cake at my parent's home with my brothers.

The cupcakes would be from Kiss, but my friend's mom will be making the cake for me. It  would be an 8" by 6" tall, Pineapple  flavoured, pink royal icing swirled cake.  The swirl design is pictured below. (I'm very anxious about this cake)

Pink Swirl Cake 

I came across this design months ago on Hostess with the Mostess. Since then, I've been obsessed with it. I've looked at the photo of this cake every single day, I can't wait to see it materialize. 

Are you a cake person? Do you prefer cupcakes over normal cakes? Which do you prefer fondant, royal icing or butter cream? 

Much love,

April

The month of April has finally started, a month of bubbly excitement and enthusiasm, a month I've always been crazy in love with since I was a child. 

Almost 30 years ago, some time around now, my parent were excited as well. They were excited about the birth of their first born. Will it be a boy or girl, will he/she be healthy, or happy. Who would  he/she look like, how would  he/she do in school? when he/she is an adult what would  he/she be? Will he/she be successful in life?

Then, on that glorious Wednesday morning, almost thirty year ago, they had ME!!!! A beautiful baby girl with big eyes like my mom. (I LOVE my parents soooo much)

They had all the trials and errors of a first born with me, the ups and downs, the fun memories and the sad times. And guess what? For the first born, I turned out damn fine, I'm happy, healthy and got my my head in the right game.

Source

This year is my big "three O", I'm very excited, I feel like I'm becoming a new person. I would no longer be a girl or lady, I would become a woman. (Everyone I tell this laughs at me, but that's how I feel, I feel as if I'm changing, as if I've matured...lol)

I don't think I ever been this excited about a birthday. It's going to be the BEST ever. And me being the planner I am, means I have already bombarded my family and friends with party ideas (where, who, how, why), given instructions, bullied them for suggestions, issued threats, etc...the full nine yards. (I'm 99.1% sure of what I'll be doing)

This year is gonna be GREAT!!!! Can't wait to share it with you guys.

Were you this excited about your thirtieth birthday? Or are you going to be?


Much love,