1/4 cup margarine
In a medium bowl, cream margarine and sugar; beat in egg.
Sift together flour, baking powder and salt in a separate bowl. Add to creamed mixture alternately with milk. Stir in vanilla extract. Pour blended mixture into prepared pan.
To make topping: In a small bowl, mix together sugar, flour and cinnamon. Cut in margarine with pastry blender or fork. Spoon half over batter and swirl. Spoon remaining topping over batter and sprinkle with nuts. Bake for 30 minutes.
- Take a litre of milk (any kind), add the juice from one Indian-sized lemon (like half a North American lemon) and one spoonful of yogourt as a starter.
- Leave the mixture in a warm place overnight (not too warm though otherwise the milk won't turn into yogourt and you'll just have a weird paneer-tasting thing that just won't do for cheesecake. That's what I got the first time I made it.) If your oven has a setting for 50 degrees Celsius, then that'll work nicely.
- Put a cheesecloth in a large bowl and pour the mixture into it. Hang the cheesecloth with the mixture inside for 1-2 hours and let the liquid drip out. If you want a more solid quark (but less of it), then leave it hanging for longer.
- After that, it's done. It should taste like plain yogourt (with a touch of lemon) and should have the texture of a soft cream cheese.
Don’t they look good!
They tasted pretty good actually, not at all slimy and wriggly as I was expected. Cooked in garlic butter, and still sizzling on the plate, they are quite firm and are almost like eating mussels.
The most interesting thing about them was the tools you get to fish the little buggers out of the shell. There are some crazy tongs that are counterintuitive, so you look like a fool trying to manoeuvre the shell around to get the open bit in the right position to use the not-quite-long-enough fork to get a grip on them.
I also had some Alsatian food in Strasbourg (as in from the Alsace region… not dog food), home cooked no less – there was a vegetable soup with dumplings whose name I don’t know, and a filo pastry/cream cracker type base with crème fraiche and local cheese and vegetables on, called flammenkuche (tarte flambée). Neither of which I have a photo of thanks to a temperamental camera.
And finally, on the way out of Paris, I picked up some l’eveque cheese from the Normandy region. It has texture not unlike brie, and quite a mild taste, but with a smell that still occupies the kitchen. It goes perfectly on oatcakes, and slightly melted over bacon, it makes an amazing sandwich.
Coming from a land-locked rural area, where fish comes only in blue boxes adorned by a dude in a yellow slicker by the name of "Captain Highliner"- cooking fish seemed quite intimidating. In a fit of Sunday-afternoon boredom, I decided that the day to learn had arrived.
As it appears that I lived to tell the (delicious) tale- I present to you my success.
Feast your eyes on Maple Glazed Atlantic Salmon, served with baby potatoes and steamed asparagus. Yum!
Beshemel (Yellow plate), Ba'amiya (Red Stuff), Chicken, and Salad 
Rice Pudding topped with Cinnamon
Beshemel is like Egyptian lasagna, but with less cheese and more congealed milk. Ba'amiya is an okra soup-like mixture. Rice pudding is a classic here...made of rice, sugar, and milk.
These two bento boxes (Japanese lunch boxes) belong to a fellow AIESEC member whose mom prepares for him every morning. The first one has a pickled plum in the middle of the rice to make it look like the Japanese flag. It looks like a lot of work is put into this type of lunch since there is so much variety packed into a small box. I am sooo envious...as I stare at my peanut butter and jelly sandwich. Yes, peanut butter and jelly, apparently it's not the thing to do in the UK or the states.
Shopping for a bento box is hard if you are in a department store basement and there are about a million choices for you to choose from. The store opened at 10am and right away, it was flooded with people looking to buy their lunch for the day. You can get cheap ones that come in foam boxes made to look like wood, or you could buy more expensive ones where the box is actually made out of wood and it's wrapped in a nice piece of cloth. The food is also more detailed, you get your vegetables carved into pretty things like flowers and leaves.
My bento box was a simple one that came in a foam box, but I chose one with lots of variety. I really love that wagon wheel looking thing. It's crunchy and absorbs flavour really well. Actually, I loved everything in here!
My friend chose a nicer meal that came in a two tier box. Ooo fancy. I got to keep his pink cloth though.
A meal on a boat. 
Fish from the oldest lake in the world (ironically, it's in the desert). 
Glorious fish served at a great seafood place on one of the islands in Cairo. I will be going back there. Check out Snowflake and Senor Ping at RV-Having-Fun! for the goods, including a good-looking photo of something Mom never made when I was growing up...fish.
Been awhile since I’ve posted any of my food escapades here but then again I spent the last two weeks roaming from buffet to buffet in what essentially was a giant hotel while on training with my company.
On the weekend I set out to remedy my lack of cooking and headed to the market to stock up on tasty ingredients to inspire the week to come. In the cheese shop I was seduced by a sign that said 2 wheels of French brie for $5 but when I asked for it the chubby cheese man informed me they were out. His recommendation, 2 wheels of camembert that he would also part with for $5. A little further down at the produce store I found some slightly beat up pears on sale. Not being one to pass up a sale I got them and then headed to the bakery for a focaccia.
All these things came together last night when rummaging through my fridge I realized I have way to much cheese. Next thing you know I created a new recipe I will be revisiting.
Open Face Pear and Camembert Sandwich (sorry forgot to take a photo so just imagine and drool)
Core and slice a pear
Cut camembert in slices (I think brie would be nice for this as well)
Chop a handful of almonds and add with the sliced pear to a warm pan with a touch of olive oil and sauté. Add a shake of nutmeg, cinnamon, salt and pepper and sauté until soft. When finished add a sprinkle of balsamic vinegar,
Lightly toast pieces of focaccia and then while still warm place the camembert on top.
Top the bread and cheese with the sautéed pear and almonds and enjoy.
The sandwich turned out to be a warm and silky pleasure with sweet pears, a little tang from the vinegar and luscious half melted camembert. The rosemary on the focaccia worked perfectly with the flavours and brought it all together.
From the top.... 
In for a closer inspection...
I think I did pretty well with this. What you see is a simple bed of basmati rice, a brilliant tomato/onion/garlic puree, lemon-thyme chicken, and brocolli strewn about. But let's focus on the puree...
Fry up onions, garlic, and tomatoes in plenty of olive oil. Add some chili pepper powder, salt, and pepper. When the onions are clear and your kitchen smells ridiculously good, transfer the contents of the pan into a blender. Add oil (remember, oil thickens purees) and lemon juice, then commence blending. When the taste is right and the consistency is smooth, take out of the blender and do whatever you want with it.
It makes a great sauce for rice, and I imagine it to be a great sauce for white fish or chicken. Heck, you could just eat it on its own.
A couple days ago, I went for Indian food and had some curry that I thought was spicy. The conversation turned to Japanese curry and I remember trying it so I thought, why not blog it to make Kent happy? My boss took me to one of the curry fastfood chains called Coco Ichiban Curry House...actually, not sure if that is the one I went to and I can't read the Japanese on the plate...but, my curry was just right. As in, not spicy but tasty. I got shrimp in mine, my boss had calamari in his. Just a simple meal.
