Red Lucky Parcel - Sent

It took me a while to put this package together due to medical reasons, but I’m happy to say that I will be mailing it to Anicka this Monday!

The theme of the Lucky Parcel was Red, so I have included the following:

-          A strawberry themed dish towel

-          An apple themed pot holder

-          A notebook

-          Red cupcake liners

-          Three red pencils

-          One red pen

-          A small coin wallet

-          A hair accessory with strawberries

-          Small wooden fasteners with ladybugs

-          A red metallic decorative basket

-          Two heart shaped candles

 All the above went in a transparent red box.

I hope that Anicka likes it!

It's wedding time!

So many friends of mine are getting married this summer and some of them have also their children baptized, which is a big deal here in Greece. I have just received this cute invitation from a couple, which is for both their religious wedding ceremony and the christening of their baby boy. Lovely, isn’t it?

Easy & filling chef's salad

In order to make this easy, yet extremely delicious salad, you will need the following:

- Lettuce 

- Half cucumber

- Few cherry tomatoes

- 100 grams of smoked turkey

- 100 grams any yellow cheese (edam, gouda...)

- 2 hard boiled eggs

For the dressing:

- Mayonaise

- Ketchup

Wash thoroughly the lettuce and chop finely. Cut the cherry tomatoes in two and the cucumber in bite size pieces, add to the lettuce. Cut the turkey and the cheese in small cubes and also cut the boiled eggs in eights. Add to the salad. Add salt according to your taste.

For the dressing: Mix mayonnaise and ketchup until you get a dressing with a pink color. Experiment with it, some like more ketchup and some less, some more mayonnaise and some just a little. You can substitute with low fat mayo for a healthier version. Pour on the salad and give it a good toss. This is a very filling and quite heavy salad. You can serve it as an accompaniment to a dish or as meal of its own, with some crusty bread. 

This is how your salad should eventually look like:

The ABCs of me

I saw this ABC game going around in various blogs and decided to share a few things about me. So, here it goes:

A. Age: 37.

B. Bed size: Regular double.
C. Chore that you hate: Ironing. I hate it with a passion I cannot even begin to describe.
D. Dogs: Wieners. They have stolen my heart forever.
E. Essential start to your day: My coffee. My brain refuses to function without it.
F. Favorite color: At this point, orange.
G. Gold or Silver: Definitely silver.
H. Height: 1.67 cm.
I. Instruments you play: My music education is non-existent.
J. Job title:  The Goddess of everything lol. My colleagues from my previous jobs still call me when they want to have something translated.
K. Kids: I am warming to the idea.
L. Live: In a landlocked city in central Greece.
M. Mother's name: Eleni.
N. Nicknames: My boyfriend calls me affectionately“buffeo”. Apparently, this is a river dolphin living in the Amazon river. It’s a long story. 

O. Overnight hospital stays: 3 weeks, when I suffered the first bout of fatigue. I was hospitalized at the local University hospital and turned into a guinea pig.
P. Pet peeve: So many I cannot even start listing them. I’m really annoyed by people with Higher education who cannot spell properly.
Q. Quote from a movie: “Don’t think you are. Know you are” (from the Matrix).
R. Right or left handed: Right.
S. Siblings: 1 brother.
T. Time you wake up: On weekdays usually around 6 (the hour that my boyfriend starts snoring in my ear) or if I’m lucky and he doesn’t, at 7.
U. Underwear: Black.
V. Vegetable you hate: Okra.
W. What makes you run late: Being slow lol.
X. X-Rays you've had: I had a few of them; teeth, head, torso.
Y. Yummy food that you make: I make a decent chilli con carne, mince filled cannelloni, chicken tikka masala, chicken a la crème and all sorts of salads. I love pastry making and I’ve been told that my bannoffee pie is to die for.
Z. Zoo animal: Penguins. When I was little, I actually got to feed one with fish. But zoos on the whole make me sad, I don’t like the idea of animals living in captivity.

Simple lemon cake

For this very simple and easy lemon cake, you will need the following:

-          250 grams of self raising flour

-          200 grams of white sugar

-          125 grams of margarine

-          2 eggs

-          A mug full of milk

-          One lemon

First of all, bring all the ingredients to room temperature. Switch the oven on at around 180 Celsius (moderate). Mix the margarine with the sugar until fluffy and then add the eggs. Whisk some more. Add gradually the flour and the milk (it is possible that you will not be using the entire mug). Add the lemon rind, grated, and the juice of the lemon.

Prepare (line) a smaller size cake form (I use an oblong one) and bake for around 45-50 minutes. Do not open the oven for the first half hour and as usual, insert a toothpick in the cake towards the end of the baking time. If it comes out dry and clean, your cake’s ready.

Enjoy!

Seriously...

...can it get any cuter than this..? I have a well known fixation with wiener dogs and I'm sharing some photos, just to make your day!

 

S.P.R.I.N.G. swap

This is my version of the S.P.R.I.N.G. swap that I still owe Patumma.

I have included the following items:

Sharpie
Pin
Recipes
Icecube tray, ink pad
Notebook, nail file
Gum, gummies

I have the package nicely assembled and ready to go, I just need to find the strength to take it to the post office! :-(

Red Lucky Parcel - received

This is the lovely red lucky parcel that I received yesterday from Ayates on Swap-Bot.

Anna took time to go through my profile and included the following: A flower shaped lip gloss, a cookie cutter, a red nail polish, some sticky notes, a red pen, a red pair of scissors, some cute wooden toadstool embellishments and an ink pad. She also included the following notecard: 

Thank you Anna for the lovely package!

Lenna’s chicken a la crème

This is a relatively easy dish that I made yesterday for lunch-it is my interpretation of chicken a la crème, a favorite dish for many.

In order to make it (for two people), you will need:

-          2 large chicken breasts

-          3-4 large peppers

-          A bottle of cheap white wine

-          250 ml of single cream

-          2 garlic cloves

-          Salt and pepper to taste

Cut the chicken breast in bite-sized cubes and sauté in a pan. Add the peppers, cut also in bite-size pieces and the crushed garlic cloves and sauté for a while, until the peppers become tender. Cover with white wine and allow to cook thoroughly, until there is almost no wine left. Then, add the cream and some salt and pepper and boil until the cream thickens. Serve with rice and a very easy and crisp Greek lettuce salad.

In order to make the salad, slice some lettuce and a fresh spring onion. Add also some cherry tomatoes, cut in two. Sprinkle with salt and toss. Add some olive oil and a drizzle of wine vinegar and you’re ready!

S.P.R.I.N.G. swap - received

Yesterday I received this lovely package from Maggmurp, all the way from the United States. For this swap, we had to send our partner items beginning with the letters found in the word S.P.R.I.N.G., so here is how everything looked together:

The package contained some sweet cookie cutters that will be utilized soon...

...some cupcake themed napkins...

...some stationery items, which will definitely come handy...

...and some really great recipe cards, with individual "pockets" of spices you can mix to make Chicken Tikka Masala (which is my favorite dish, how did you know?) and Carribean Grilled Steak:

Thank you so much Maggmurp for making my day!

Finally...

...this is what I did with them!

Extremely simple, yet at the same time, mouth-watering!

Homemade banoffee pie

A while ago I was invited by a friend to dinner at her place and as I always like making something to offer the hostess, I made this easy banoffee pie.

To make this, you will need the following:

- One and a half packages of petit beurre biscuits
- Half cup of lukewarm milk
- A shot of rum
- A can of dulce de leche 
- 4 bananas
- 400 grams of whipping cream
- some confectioner's sugar
- grated dark chocolate


For making the dulce de leche:

Buy a few cans of sweetened condensed milk. Fill a large cooking pot with water and place inside the cans. I usually make 4 at a time and keep the rest in my cupboard, they keep for 3-4 months. Simmer the cans-closed-for approximately two and a half hours and make sure that they are covered by the water at all times. Add some extra water as needed. Remove from the pot and allow to cool.

Mix the lukewarm milk with the rum and dip the biscuits. Arrange them in two layers in a tray. Open the can with dulce de leche and spread on top of the biscuits. Cut the bananas into slices and arrange on top of the dulce de leche.

Whip the cream and add confectioner's sugar to taste. Spread on the dessert and finish with grated dark chocolate.

Guaranteed success!