So many cookbooks, so little time!

The photos are just a part of my cookbook colloction........i guess it's an addiction!

CUPCAKES: will the trend end?

Guess what? cupcakes are just not for kids anymore. this traditional home baked desserts has undergone a make over and made a huge come back. The ones shown in the photos called vanilla cheesecake crunch-topped cupcakes from Elinor Klivans "CUPCAKES!" cookbook.

This time of the year

If you had a chance to visit one of the Arabian gulf countries, I'm sure you will instantly notice that the date palm is the most common tree. In fact the date palm is one of the oldest fruit trees in Arabia, and played a key role in the life of it's people. Dates (pronounced tamer in Arabic) were concederd the desert man fuel because of it's nutritious benefits.

This kind of tree likes to grow in a dry and warm climate with lots of sun. There are too many varieties of dates with different names, ours is called barhi and it goes throughout steps to ripen as shown below:

first stage called khalal in Arabic, has ahard flesh but edible

second stage called monasef in Arabic which means half dry -half soft

third stage called barhi in Arabic, it has a sweet soft flesh

Date palms are picked individually by hand several times during the harvest season since dates don’t all ripen simultaneously. After, they are cleaned and packed in boxes. It's a traditional habit that you send dates as a gift to your neighbors, friends and very close family members annually. Then store the rest in your house for Ramadan month.....or even to bake a simple date cake!

Sugar High Friday #43: CITRUS !

Two weeks ago while i was browsing the food blogs which is a part of my daily routine, i found out by coincidence that this month's SHF theme is all about the bright colors of summer "citrus" and it's being hosted by Helen from Tartelette. If you are new to food blogging events then i should mention that this monthly sweet tooth extravaganza idea was created by Jennifer from domestic goddess in 2004 to make your best dessert and share it internationally .

As a busy working mother, my cooking opportunity is limited to week ends, and i prefer to spend this spare time on my favourite hobby "BAKING" desserts primary, breads and casseroles secondly.

For this SHF event i selected two zesty desserts. The first one is lemon curd cake, a recipe from william-sonoma web-site. My family loved the cake in general but couldn't torelate the tartness of the lemon curd, so i'm thinking to test it a gain with orange curd. The second recipe is fresh rosemary lemon cupcakes featured in better homes and gardens web-site, but i replaced the rosemary with 1 tea spoon ground lavender. The mini cakes were light and not too sweet.

Thailand remains heaven on earth

Happy holidays from Phuket....

إحذر أوانيك المنزلية

اتفقت ثماني شركات أمريكية مؤخراً ومنهم شركة دوبونت العملاقة القضاء تدريجياً على مادة كيميائية مضرة بالصحة تدخل في صناعة التفلون وذلك بحلول عام 2015

التفلون والتي تم اكتشافها بالخطأ سنة 1938 من قبل شركة دوبونت على يد الكيميائي روي بلانكت تستخدم كمادة مانعة للإلتصاق في الكثير من السلع الاستهلاكية أشهرها الأواني المنزلية الخاصة بالطبخ. إلا أنه ولسوء الحظ عند تعرض التفلون لدرجة حرارة 600 فرنهايت فإنها تبدأ بالتفكك وإفرازالمادة الكيميائية

وفي تجارب مخبرية للشركة اتضح أن هذه المادة الكيميائية قد تسبب أعراض شبيهة للإنفلوانزا على الانسان وأمراض السرطان على الحيوانات. كما تم العثور على آثار للمادة الكيميائية في دم 95% من الشعب الأمريكي

وفي الوقت الحالي يمكن للمستهلكين تجنب مخاطر هذه المادة بعدم تسخين المقلاة الفارغة إلى درجات حرارة عالية وأيضاً عدم وضع الماء البارد على سطح المقلاة الساخن

أكو شيء مو ضار بالصحة هالأيام؟؟

Sweet Seduction: SHF# 28

To me participating in Sugar High Friday's has always been a wish waiting to come true. In fact SHF event which was created by Jennifer from the domestic goddess is the one and only reason that forced me to publish a blog and enjoy it.

Unfortunately being a busy mother i could not catch up with all the past SHF's, but since i found out that this months theme had a romantic sense hosted by jasmine from cardamom addict ,i decided to post the most delicious, irresistible arabic dessert for this special occasion called WARBAT.

"Warbat" are basically baked filo pastry triangles filled with fresh cooked cream "Ashtah", drizzled with sugar syrup "Atar" and sprinkled with ground pistachio. These sweets mostly eaten in Ramadan and the home baked ones of course are much better than the store bought.