Sirloin steak with basmati rice

Hello!

So today is all about quick lunchs. You have 30 min to 1 hour, you DON’T have time to waist and with the current economy we can’t always eat out.

My advice is to to always have something that is quick and simple to prepare in yout fridge and fresh ideas, so you still can have a flavourish dish.

When this happens to me, this is one of my favourite recipes to use. It’s sirloin steak with basmati rice and of course my own twists. The good thing is that you can add anything according to what you like, but don’t forget that it can’t over power the flavour of the meat, but just enhance it.

I also made a simple basmati rice, because it’s my favourite. I also was doing it for me and my father, so the quantity you see it’s for 2 sirloin steak. Here it is…

Ingredients:

For the steak:

2x sirloin steak

1 tablespoon of parsley

10 gr of butter

a little of water

6 cloves of garlic

For the rice:

1 l of water

1 cup of basmati rice (4 cups of water=1 cup of rice)

Preparation:

For the rice:

1. Boil the water (it’s always quicker to boil the water in a kettle)

2. Add the rice and let it cook for 5-10 min.

For the sirloin steak:

1. Heat your fying pan till it’s very hot and then add the butter.

2. Put the steak in and the garlic, previous crushed.

3. When the butter as become a sauce, add just a little bit of water (and don’t worry if it gets a bit liquid, because it will eventually evaporate, its only purpose is for the steak not to burn)

4. Turn the steak  over and add the parsley, finely chopped. It takes about 4-5 min in each side, depending on the thickness.

5. Serve with the rice and you can sprynkle parsley on the top of the rice.

I also ended up adding a fryend egg, which doesn’t appear on the photos, but it is also a good addition to the dish. 🙂

Hope you enjoyed and leave your comments or questions on the comment box below. Happy lunchs!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

Funny Books – Confessions of a Shopaholic

Funny, funny books. 

What is the best way to cure you from “cloudy” mood than one of those. Well, they won’t help you get more intelligent and they sure are not going to win great literature prizes, but that’s not what a book is about, is it?

They are for making us travel to different worlds, different minds that just make our horizons go wider. Make us happy and take us from our own reality to the imaginary world of someone else. And if they are not a great classic or what your teacher wants you to read (nothing bad with those), who cares? If they make you laugh and they make your problems get away from your head for a couple of hours, then read them. I do and I can tell you I never get tired of rereading.

And for me the choice has to be Confessions of a Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella! She is a great writer, that really knows how to play with ideas and stories and in the end you will just love her and wish that the books would never end. Also the humor in the situations that the characters, in this case Rebecca get themselves in it’s just amazing. It’s so simple and yet so amusing, that you are in for a treat.

“Meet Rebecca Bloomwood.

She’s a journalist. She spends her working life telling others how to manage their money.

She spends her leisure time … shopping.

Retail therapy is the answer to all her problems. She knows she should stop, but she can’t. She tries Cutting Back, she tries Making More Money. But neither seems to work. The stories she concocts become more and more fantastic as she tries to untangle her increasingly dire financial difficulties. Her only comfort is to buy herself something – just a little something…

Can Becky ever escape from this dream world, find true love, and regain the use of her Switch card?

Confessions of a Shopaholic… the perfect pick me up for when it’s all hanging in the (bank) balance.” Amazon.co.uk description of Confessions of a Shopaholic

I read the first book after seeing the movie like most people, and let me just tell you that it was even better. The way that you see the bills stacking up and the mess that Rebecca get’s in, it would be in real life quite stressful, but for her it’s just hilarious. Instead of getting worried and panicking, she just goes to a store and gets what us women (and let’s face the truth, some men also) call “the best cure for everything”. And of course it helps, but is that what you would do if you were in her case? Probably no! It wouldn’t work, but Becca has what you can call a magical luck and also a special something, that makes you want her to make it out ok.

In the end she gets way to deep in to her bills and lies and ends up facing the cruel reality. Never the less, she is one of the most determinant characters that I’ve ever “met” and you know that she is going to be fine! She is after all Rebecca Bloomwood!

Of course, you shouldn’t expect to be a surprising story, it’s predictable (at least the end), but what makes it great, it’s that you almost cry with laugher and it’s worthy every penny, euro, dollar, whatever…you have!

The following books of the series are just as great as the first and you really can’t stop wanting to know more about the life of our dear Rebecca. After all she is the girl with the big dreams and the big heart, that couldn’t stop shopping even if her life depended of it.

If you haven’t read it yet, just go grab a copy and spend a little money. It’s not like you are going to become Rebecca Bloomwood, are you? 😉

Lot’s of love and keep on reading,

Paradise of Words

My Angel Cake

So, yesterday I made Angel Cake. 

It’s soft and light, just like an angel should be. 😉

It’s great for a simple snack in the afternoon, sitting with a hot cup of tea and a good book in your hands and what better way to start Autumn and say goodbye to our beloved Summer, than this?

Also I made this cake thanks to a stupid and unknown mistake while doing chocolate mousse and you may ask how do I go from something like that to a cake? Well, apparently when the moment came for me to mix the eggs yolks to the melted chocolate , I used the wrong instrument and the eggs cooked. Also the chocolate might have already been spoiled, so as you can see it was a mess, trying to find a recipe with egg whites, since I had already done them. Just insane, but we are human and we all make mistakes. I will definitely not make the same mistake next time, I have learned 🙂

Ingredients:

8 white eggs

90 gr melted butter

140 gr sugar

140 gr flour

1 teaspoon of baking powder

 

Preparation:

1. You beat the sugar and the butter.

2. Beat the egg whites till their form peaks.

3. Alternating between the whites and the flour with the baking powder involve in to the mixture.

4. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for 20-30 min.

As you can see is an easy recipe that turns messy difficult moments to relaxed and yummy ones.

I hope you enjoy, and please tell me how it went and if you have any questions just ask in the comment box below. Smile and cook!

 

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

 

Duck Rice Portuguese Recipe

Today I bring you a portuguese recipe. It’s duck rice!

It’s really delicious and always makes me go back to Christmas days. It’s good as family dish and will make your table look beautiful. You first cook the duke and then take it to the oven, same thing with the rice, so both stay crispy and juice. It’s really good!

I don’t have much to talk about it, so I’ll just leave the recipe speak for itself.

Ingredients

1 big onion or 5 small ones

1 duke

500 gr of rice

1 bay leaf

1 chorizo

a pinch of salt

Preparation:

1. Heat enough water to cover all the duck and put the onions, previously sliced and the bay leaf in it.

2. Once it as come to a boiling point add the clean and washed duck. Season it at your taste.

3. Let it cook till it’s almost done (I can’t say an exact time, it really depends on its size).

4. Transfer the drained duck to a tray and take it to the oven at 180º C till its skin is in all sides golden-brown.

5. With the stock of the duck and after taking the onions and the bay leaf out of it, cook the rice in it. 2 cups of stock =1 cup of rice

6. Drain the rice and place it in another tray with the chorizo (cut in slices) on the top and take it to the oven till its crispy in the top and the chorizo is cooked.

7. Take the rice out and serve the duck on top of it. 🙂

Hope you enjoy and please use the comment box below to tell me how it went and for any questions.

Happy cooking days!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

The Most Amazing Almond Tart

The most amazing delicious almond tart that you ever taste, this is the recipe that I’m going to show you!

Picture in your mind, you and a plate of it. It’s just a dream, that came true on your computer screen and that will come true on your kitchen.

It as the soft texture in the “cake” part and the sweet and crunchy feeling in the topping. In my house let’s say 6 hours and it’s bye bye and run for the last piece. So if I do it in the afternoon, like most times, it’s very rare that there will be still anything left at lunch the next day.

I’m also someone who normally cuts on sugar and butter and I did the same in this recipe, but sometimes you just have to go along with it. If I start cutting too much, its just looses its essence. And believe me it’s not that sweet, unlike most desserts with a caramel topping.  I’ll advice you to try, it’s so worthy of one more hour in the gym! And read it first, maybe for you it’s just your normal recipe when you use topping. You see it’s the only recipe in wich I use it. 😉 Like I said I do care about my health, but I like sweets also, so I try to combine both.

So here it goes.

Ingredients:

For the “cake” part:

150 gr sugar

140 gr sugar

150 gr butter

2 eggs

1 teaspoon of baking powder

For the almond topping:

100 gr sliced almond

90 gr sugar

90 gr butter

3 tablespoons of milk

Preparation:

1. Mix the eggs and the sugar.

2. Add the butter and proceed mixing.

3 Once it gets to a cream, add the flour and the baking powder and involve.

4. Bake it in the oven at 180º C for 30 min.

5. After taking the cake out of the oven, start getting your topping ready. Melt the sugar and the butter in a frying pan.

6. Add the almond and stir constantly . If it starts burning, reduce the heat to low.

7. When the almond starts getting gold-brown add the milk and keep stirring, till it gets to consistence of caramel.

8. Take it off the heat and pour it on the top of the “cake”. Put it again in the oven for 5-10 min or until it gets a golden colour.

9. Serve and enjoy! 🙂

I hope you enjoy and use the comment box below for any questions and to tell me how it went.

Good kitchen days!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

Conspiracy 365

Hi!

Today the book that we are going to be talking about, or should I say books is Conspiracy 365, by Gabrielle Lord!

I absolutely loved this collection. We have a different concept on the graphic image than what we are used to. The number of the pages start in reverse, each chapter is a day of the month, and each book is a month. So for example the first book is called Conspiracy 365 January, the first page is number 181 and the first chapter is January 1.

It’s an action/adventure series, that combine mystery and teen spirit and friendships.

“On New Year’s Eve, Cal is chased down the street by a crazed man with a deadly warning:

They killed your father.
They’ll kill you.
You must survive the next 365 days!

Forced into a life on the run, Cal finds himself hunted by ruthless criminals and the police. Somehow he must uncover the truth about his father’s mysterious death and solve the Ormond Singularity, a secret from the past, before the year is up. But who can he turn to when the whole world seems to want him dead?

The clock is ticking. Any second could be his last.

Callum Ormond has been warned.

He has 365 days. The countdown has begun … ” amazon.co.uk description of Conspiracy 365 January

Is so easy and quick to read, that you won’t even notice. The plot is interesting and the characters are well built. Also you feel that is very authentic and is passed in the modern days. There is the use of text messages and the places that he stays can be found in any city in the world. Also at the end of every book there is always a cliffhanger. Something to try to keep the readers engaged, that actually works and doesn’t get boring or unnecessary.

There is an Australian Tv show based on the books being aired this year on Australia. One episode for every month. It seems good for what I could see and I hope that they’ll soon release for other countries.

You should really read the books if you like this sort of action, mixed with almost death-experiences and the care for loved ones. If it’s not your style, or you think that you are too old for it, give it try at least. My mom read it and loved it. And for me it was a nice refreshing stop from YA novels and classics.

I don’t have a lot to write, because I don’t want to spoil them for you. Just give it a go, they are fun and a good reading.

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

Tuna Pie

Hi! Today’s recipe is Tuna Pie!

It’s a fresh and light first or main course and you can eat it whenever you want. The important part of it, is not the pie itself, but the filling.

This is an adaptation to a Bimby magazine recipe. If you have never heard of this “food processor” you should really check it out (photo on the end of the page). It’s amazing and a great help for people who have a small amount of time to cook. You can make cakes, you can cook vegetables in steam, you can chop. It can do anything and truly is a machine that you should have on your kitchen, I just love it. I might even do a post about it one day. But moving on…

The original recipe was with a wrap (if you want the recipe for the dough, just ask in the comment box below), and i changed it to puff pastry. Just like a pie.

I do this recipe a lot, for its simple and has few ingredients. It’s great for Summer, because it’s fresh, but you can eat it at any time of the year, like me 🙂

It’s hard to think about something to do, when you have unexpected guests coming over. You need something quick, that doesn’t take you a long time, so you can have time to organize a little your house and get ready. I find this recipe the one that you need to have at those moments.

Ingredients:

1 medium onion

1 clove of garlic

1 medium carrot

parsley

20 g of olive oil

a pinch of salt

4 cans of tuna

1 small can of corn

Preparation:

1. Chop the onion, garlic, carrot and parsley finely.

2. Saute the previous mixture with the olive oil and then simmer for a few minutes.

3. Add the salt and the tuna well-drained and let it cook for 3 to 5 min.

4. Once that is done take it out of the heat and add the corn. Mix well.

5. Roll the pastry and cover a cake pan with it.

6. Fill it with the mixture and bake it in the oven for 30 min.

The original recipe also had red and green peppers, but since I don’t like it, I don’t add. Never the less for all of you who like, it’s added in point n.º1 and it’s 1 slice of each pepper with 1 cm thick, finely chopped.

The good of the recipe for me is really its diversity. You can use whatever secondary ingredients you like, and take those you don’t. You can also use whatever pastry you like, since phyllo pastry to the original wraps. It’s your choice.

Also here is the picture of Bimby!

Hope you enjoyed and please use the comment box bellow to tell me how it went and for any questions you might have.

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

Yogurt Cake

Hi, everyone!

Today the dessert is Yogurt Cake, probably one of the most easy cakes to do and of course a very yummy one!

It’s very known in France, and the recipe that I’m going to give you came from my great-grandmother sister, who worked there.

Besides being very soft and light to the taste, it’s also something that makes you able to play with flavours, all because of the yogurt. You can try with strawberry yogurt, plain yogurt, whatever you want and like, of course… 🙂

I always do with plain natural yogurt, and this time I also added some orange zest. It was just a little, not even half of an orange, because it was the first time and I would have prefered using a lemon zest, but I didn’t have lemons, so… but in the end it was good.

My mom used to make this recipe for my birthdays parties when I was little, because it really is a crowd favourite. And I can not express too often how easy and fast this cake is. I’ll say that 30 minutes was the time that took me to get the ingredients ready, prepare the mixture, put it in the oven and clean the kitchen. It is that simple and you will be praised for your cooking abilities by your friends and family members without having done that much work.

Besides being somehow good for you, because of the yogurt it is also again a quick cake for you to make for yourself and take to work or school for an afternoon/morning snack. (but not all days 😉 )

We also have the part that every measure of it is made in the same cup that the yogurt came in (so, no scales!). It is just amazing!

Ingredients:

1 Yogurt

1/2 cup of oil

1 cup of sugar (be careful with the amount of sugar, when you are using a sweetened yogurt)

1 cup of flour

1/2 teaspoon of baking powder

2 eggs

orange zest (I used this time. You don’t have to to add it, if you don’t want to.)

Preparation:

1. Mix very well in a bowl the oil, the yogurt and the sugar.

2. Add the eggs and whisk all together.

3. Once that is done, stir in the flour.

4. Bake in the oven at 180ºC for 40-50 min (really depends on what size of cake pan you use)

As I said really, quick and simple. It seems like the mixture is small, but in the end, I made 6 good portions.

Hope you enjoyed and leave your comments (how it turned out, questions, etc) bellow.

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

The Hunger Games

Hi, everyone! So today the topic is Hunger Games. 1 NEW YORK TIMES BESTSELLER and a book that blew my mind away. I’m not going to say, that you should read it, simply because at this point someone have already  told you that. And why did they? Well, because it is just that good!

I first came across it, when I was scrolling trough the amazon bestsellers last november. And yes, I never had heard of it before. I’m not going to say that I fell in love with the book from the first page, because that never happened to me. However I fell in love with the history, the beautiful way that was written and the power of each characters. It’s not every day that you find a heroine, that doesn’t have confidence problems, that knows who she is and doesn’t put herself down to please others.

All tributes fight for staying alive, and of course that is something that I think everyone can relate to. There is so much that life has to offer, that we wish to stay one more day here and sometimes we take that for granted. Also Katniss fights and tries to stay alive for her family. And like many books have taught us, love is our strongest weapon. I really advice you to read and once you have, comeback and comment. 🙂

“In the ruins of a place once known as North America lies the nation of Panem, a shining Capitol surrounded by twelve outlying districts. Long ago the districts waged war on the Capitol and were defeated. As part of the surrender terms, each district agreed to send one boy and one girl to appear in an annual televised event called, “The Hunger Games,” a fight to the death on live TV. Sixteen-year-old Katniss Everdeen, who lives alone with her mother and younger sister, regards it as a death sentence when she is forced to represent her district in the Games. The terrain, rules, and level of audience participation may change but one thing is constant: kill or be killed.” Amazon.com description of The Hunger Games (book 1)

Other dystopian books were written before this one, like 1984 by George Orwell, which was the inspiration to the worldwide Tv franchise Big Brother and others will be written after. Still I find this book a good way to approach this subject, not to smooth but also not to harsh either. It’s known that it’s violent and just like description says it really ends up being about to kill or get  killed. Never the less it’s all shown to us by the eyes of the kind and very human Katniss. We know by her actions that if it was her decision she would never kill anybody but this is to protect her family.

So I liked the contrast of the brutal deaths to the humanity of Katniss that prevailed in that pressure, where it would be easier to just shut that part of her. When Rue dies, it’s like the game just got real, because she was someone who you got to meet and like. It’s like everyone’s little sister. So that part was really sad, but it was the best way to make her see what the Capitol was really about and plant the seed that would eventually make her act against it. And in my opinion is one of most heartbreaking and touching scenes in the whole book.

The end was a big exciting scene and I loved it. Actually all of the ends in the 3 books were amazing. The sacrifice that Peeta and Katniss were about to do, reminded me a lot of Romeu and Juliet, but of course it wasn’t ruined by the classic tragic end. I haven’t talked much about their romance in book 1, because while I was reading it, it always seemed to be just for the audience and never for themselves. Not that I’m saying that she wasn’t keen on him, it was more like friendship with kisses involved. Besides who would blame her, she was trying to live to support her family and she didn’t know him for that long. But don’t get me wrong, I was always for their “ship” and never for Gale. He lived for the purpose of breaking the Capitol and that made her more a second priority to him and let’s not forget that sometimes he was too hasty in his decisions. While Peeta saw the truth in people and took the time to think about his actions and the people that he could trust. So he really was the match for her.

Someone that was also an important character was Haymitch, that even though he was most of the times drunk, he knew clearly what were the most intelligent moves to do, to make them stay alive. He was also the demonstration of what the Games did to the winners. Nightmares, the guilt of those who were dead, etc. Sometimes I think that being killed was a gift, to what was the hell that you had to live, once you got back. Having kids, was like giving a sentence to someone who wasn’t even born yet and you wouldn’t have anybody to talk that would understand you. I imagine that I wouldn’t be that fine either.

About crush, I have to say the name of Finnick. He is funny and also smart. He can be sweet and brave, like we saw him be to Annie and he is hot. So… 🙂

Let’s just say that there is a reason why it’s a bestseller, turned into a movie and has a massive fan base. I just loved it and I’m really waiting for the second movie to come out. I know that I didn’t write about everything that happened in the books, but there is so muchhh, that I wouldn’t stop writing and you wouldn’t have the patience to read it.

Next week I hope, I will do one of the occasional movie reviews about the very own Hunger Games movie, to celebrate the released of the DVD’s . So stay tuned! 😀

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words

How I Met Your Mother

So I can say that after 7 seasons, my favourite series is still How I Met Your Mother. It’s hilarious and I know that I can and have watched episodes over and over again, without getting bored. 

The characters form a group of 5 friends, that have everything to make you a fan. From the sweet maternal Lily to the “Casanova” Barney, passing by the optimist Marshall, the  ex Canadian pop star turned now tv anchor Robin and the helpless romantic Ted that tries to find love in New York. So honestly if you haven’t seen this yet, just go! Because you are missing on one of the most amazing fun tv shows that are still airing. 😀

*Spoilers Alert*

Ok, so let’s start! First of all, they have had their share of crazy and insane experiments and I couldn’t pick just one as a favourite. I loved all. The fails and finally successful marriage of Lily and Marshall and the moment where they finally know that they are pregnant; every time that Barney used one of his strange yet effective methods to get a girl and his relationship with Robin; and of course the socially and awkward moments with Ted and his recurring way of doing big romantic gestures, like stealing a blue french horn for Robin.

And even though this is a comedy series, it feels authentic, because they put in real life moments, like the death of Marshall’s father, the moment where Ted his left at the altar and the difficulty of Lily to get pregnant and of Robin to get the job of her dreams.

Now going to the romantic stuff. I’m so for “ship” Barney/Robin, so I’m really crossing my fingers for both of them to end up together. I think that Quinn, just makes Barney not be truly himself… and there is a reason why he still hasn’t told her that they used to date. Still the writers say that this is not going to be a smooth wedding. But like they say hope is the last one to die. So I’m for Barney/Robin or Robin/Ted! I mean Robin though that she was pregnant and then she wasn’t, but made her change her perspective of having children, and we can’t deny that Barney is still in love with her… and now they have the idea of getting married, we will see…

They also said that they are wrapping some loose ends this season, so I suppose everyone is sharing my tought… the Pineapple 🙂

Whatever happens, I know that this season is going to be awesome like the others. After all, we are talking about freaking HOW I MET YOUR MOTHER!! So I lay all my hopes in their hands and I’m super excited to meet Lily and Marshall’s baby!

Oh, yeah and finaaallyyy meet Ted’s wife. I can’t even wait! The new season starts September 24. Just 3 weeks left!!

Tell me what were your favorite moments and I leave you here with season 8 preview!

Lots of love,

Paradise of Words