Quote of the Day...

"No one is born a great cook, one learns by doing"--- Julia Child 

Moist Chocolate Cupcakes

 Ok, so let's get one thing straight, I'm not a big fan of chocolate, I don't go crazy about it and I can live my life without it, having said that, these cupcakes blew me away! The reason I knew I might like these cupcakes even before making them is because of two ingredients: unsweetened cocoa powder and coffee. I would not skip making the cream cheese frosting because First: its cream cheese frosting! Second: it complements the cupcake so beautifully because the cupcake itself isn't too sweet so the frosting provides enough sweetness. You can spread the frosting using a spoon or pipe it using a piping bag (what I went for), whatever your heart desires!

It is an easy recipe to follow and the result will surely be delightful!  

For recipe, click here!

Meal of the Week: Rashta (Laiyan's Version)

Ok, so this particular dish has a back story to it. 

For the past couple of months, I've been making this dish frequently ever since I got the recipe from my husband thinking that it was the original Lebanese dish "Rashta". Well, it turns out that I haven't been making the original dish but rather making my version of it and I think this is even better! Before knowing the truth, I've always wondered why haven't I had this back in Lebanon and now I know why! This has become one of our staple weekly meals and we prefer this to the original version so thats a BIG WIN!

It's such an amazing meal because it consists of ingredients that are normally found in your pantry and the end result produces an array of prominent flavors. The sour from the lemon juice and the sweetness from the fried onions is just beautiful! I hope you try and enjoy this dish as much as we did! 

For the recipe, please click here!   

Recipe: Rashta (Laiyan's Version)

Ingredients:

1. half box of pasta (you can use any shape but I usually use the "Bowtie" shapes)
2. 200 grams or around 1  1/2 cups of lentils
3. 2-3 medium to large onions (it may seem a lot but once you fry them they shrink) you can fry more if you like more onions.
4. 1-2 cloves of garlic, minced
5. freshly squeezed lemon juice (2-3 lemons)
6. salt
7. vegetable oil for frying
8. garnish: chopped cilantro (if you're feeling fancy!)

Directions: 

1. Wash the lentils and boil them adding salt till they become soft. Keep the water. 
2. While lentils are cooking, slice onions into halves, then slice each half vertically. 
3. Fry onions in vegetable oil (don't let the onions get covered completely with oil), when done, remove onto plate with paper towel to soak excess oil.
4. Boil pasta according to package instructions and drain. 
5. Once the lentils are done, add drained pasta with lentil (with its water) and bring to a soft boil. 
6. Add chopped garlic, some of the fried onions, salt and some of the lemon juice and mix well so everything is incorporated. 
7. Let it boil to reduce some of the liquid (the fried onions will transfer some of its color and make the dish brownish and a bit of the starch from the boiled pasta will make the entire dish hold together).
8. Once some of the liquid reduces remove from heat. 
9. Serve and sprinkle remaining fried onions on top. Add additional lemon juice and salt if you need. Add chopped cilantro if you are feeling fancy but its totally ok to skip this and serve! 

Communicate

Life happens and problems arise.
I always try to remind myself to communicate and express myself with friends, family and loved ones. Don't keep quiet and expect the other person to know what you want or how you feel because they are not a mind reader (even though we usually assume or wish they are). It can be hard at first, but if the other person truly cares about you, the process will become easier and in return your relationship will flourish and grow even stronger.