Through the lens: Venice, Italy

Venezia

Venice was an absolutely magical place that firmly captured my heart. Not only was it beautiful in its own way, but it also had some of the most delicious food I've ever tasted, the most stylishly dressed people I've seen, as well as the friendliest people I met. That is a lot of superlatives for one little city yo!

Also, be sure not to miss Harry's bar. This is the original Cipriani's restaurant and where the carpaccio and bellini were born. Although you can find branches of Harry's across the globe which all serve delicious food, trust me when I say nothing beats the original. Hands down the best meal I've ever had! Evidently there are no photos, as we were incredibly hungry bunnies - so I didn't get to capture it by camera.

An introductory shot of the well known Venetian gondolas

A delightful berry and chocolate gelato from the iconic Florian Cafe

A gratuitous shot of the real Venice!

Did you know there are only 405 licensed gondoliers in Venice?

Sumptuous warm Bruschetta at a local favourite - Capavitti

Fried in extra light batter - calamari and vegetables

Best Tiramisu you'll ever taste!

Views from the Rialto

Stay tuned for my next post where I will whisk you away to Florence!

5 Things

Homemade Fresh Mint Tea

 Nauuughty PinkBerry vs. Squeaky Clean PinkBerry

Bateel Dates! So Delicious, and yet a healthy alternative to sweets! 

Burger & Lobster....just doesn't get old

My new friend....Meet Hendrix

The Good Girls Drug

I started getting into blogs about a year ago. 
I realised blogs gave a much more refreshing experience to browse the internet and find all sorts of write-ups from recipes to lifestyle tips, and all from people you can relate to.

Plus, once you find one you start to read regularly, the rest follow suit.

The Good Girls Drug is a blog written by my best friend, N and its one of those reads that never fails to make me smile by the end of her humourous posts. The blog was originally started as a way to unwind for the author, and I find that the readers can also easily associate with what she has to say.

You can check it out here. 

If you would like to take a look at some of the others that I follow, head to my Blogroll.

Top Banana

Ladies and Gentleman, I present you with a delicious recipe to the ol' classic Banana Bread.

This is an easy little loaf cake you can whip up in five minutes, pop in the oven and tuck into with a steaming pot of aromatic ceylon tea (or any other tea for that matter!)

All you need is:

4 ripe bananas
1/3 cup melted butter
1 cup sugar (use Demerara sugar for a slightly healthier alternative)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 teaspoon baking soda
pinch of salt
1 1/2 cups flour
...and your best Chef's apron

(N.B. No need for a mixer for this recipe)

Begin by preheating your oven to 175ºC. 

Grab a large mixing bowl, with a wooden spoon, start by combining your butter with the mashed bananas. Mix in the sugar, egg and vanilla, then sprinkle the baking soda and salt over the mixture and stir in. Add the flour last. 

If you are a fan of nuts, fold in some chopped walnuts at this point. 

Finally pour the mixture into a buttered loaf pan. Bake for one hour.

And hey presto, you're just in time for afternoon tea!

Banana Bread

Homemade Croissants

“One cannot think well, love well, sleep well, if one has not dined well.” - Virginia Woolf


Personally, I always preferred baking to cooking ever since I was little. It all began when I joined cookery club in Primary school and we would bake all sorts of sweet little treats every week, only to take them home to gobble down in a matter of minutes. That's not to say I have baking skills to rival Nigella Lawson but I do get a thrill out of making something delicious from scratch. 

Now since I've been in Baku-my hometown, for summer holidays, I've been having cravings for authentic French croissants. 

Regrettably I still haven't managed to find a decent viennoiserie to satisfy my doughy desire. After some trial and error, and a disastrous first attempt that ended up with dough as tough as nails, I found this gem of a recipe (that even includes supportive youtube tutorials). (N.B. A tip before you eagerly begin making your treats - the amount of work you actually need to do isn't too long, but you need to make these over at least two days due to the amount of chilling time the dough needs, so plan in advance!)

Ms. Sandra's recipe proved to be a success and I ended up making a dozen buttery, flaky croissants.

The recipe is for plain pastries but I added some ham & cheese, and grated some chocolate right before rolling them into shape. Enjoy!

Homemade pastries

UPDATE: Baku now has a very authentic viennoiserie, everything in store is baked by a French chef and trust me when I say it is absoluteley delicious, Bakuvians and tourists, if you don't believe me, you can find them here.