Ramadan Gathering

Three of my closest friends came over tonight for a Ramadan gathering. I decided to set the table in shades of white, gold, and cream.. but not overly so.. I made coconut ice cakes, fruity custard tarts (both first attempts!), tiramisu, and lemon jello! For savouries there were quesadillas, puff pastry, sambousa, & pasta. My friends brought some lovely hot chocolate, coffee, sandwiches, chocolate dipped strawberries, chocolate cupcakes with a lovely icing, lgaimat and knafa <3

The custard tarts were the most challenging of all to make. I think I may have processed the sugar, butter, flour, egg, and water a little too much so that instead of it just being crumbly and coming together, it was a full on dough. Anyways, the refrigeration really helped harden it up, as it usually does. But when I cut the rounds out to place them in the mini muffin tin they ended up squishing against one another and then I had to use my fingers to fix the shape.. that's why they look kind of funny.. and the custard was supposed to be refrigerated for an hour... I left it in for 45 minutes and when I removed it, it had.. solidified.. anyways I whisked it a lot for it to soften and then added some cream.

Pictures!

Iftar Cooking with my Girls

Two of my really good friends came over this afternoon to cook for Iftar.

They let me choose the menu and so it looked like this:

Starter- Tomato and Basil Soup

Main Course- Chicken Chilli Stirfry and Lemon, Mushroom, and Spinach Risotto, Vegetable Couscous

Dessert- Chocolate Self-saucing Pudding with Vanilla Ice Cream

Drinks: Lemon and Mint Spritzer

These were all some of my tried and tested recipes as we wanted a nice, fun, relaxing time to cook and not a crisis situation in which the stock overflows from the pot... (which it did!)

Here are some pictures of the food-in-the-making:

The vegetables for the couscous

Stirfrying the vegetables for the stirfry! Yes, that blurry thing is a hand!
Our little joke.
The vegetables all cut up and ready to be used!
My attempt of an artistic shot of the vegetables.

What the table looked like! Red, orange, and white!

The risotto!
Stirfry

Chocolate Selfsaucing Pudding! Looks messy, doesn't it?

Vegetable couscous

Chocolate self saucing pudding.

These last three pictures courtesy to F & A. :D

Lots of love,

Spontaneous Euphoria

xx

Somewhat Golden

Napkins!

Yes, this is a blog post about napkins. I personally prefer cloth napkins.. as in cotton and linen ones.. instead of paper napkins, but depending on the situation one might work better than the other! Here are some photographs I've taken of napkin rings and napkins. The first one is rotated on its head.. accidentally.. I'm not bothered to change it now so feel free to crane your neck.

Here's an interesting link about napkin etiquette to clear up any confusion you may have: http://www.realsimple.com/work-life/etiquette/manners/napkin-etiquette-10000000713965/index.html

Some people prefer not to use cloth napkins when serving dishes as it can be a headache to wash and clean. A friend recently suggested this: While you fold your cloth napkin, place a paper napkin of approximately the same size above it... Thus, when your guests unfold their CLOTH napkins, the PAPER napkins will reveal themselves and many people will automatically use the paper napkins as they are more convenient.. only... of course, pick a paper napkin in a plain or matching theme!

I've heard in some places that it's not polite to wipe your mouth with a cloth napkin and that although it's there for you to use, you're not supposed to do much with it except for placing it on your lap.. I'm not sure about this... either way, after the meal, all the napkins will be washed regardless of whether they're dirty or not, so you might as well use it! Only do so discreetly, please.

I kind of suck with paper folding and that sort of thing and I find that napkin folding comes under the same cateNapkins with a Twist: Fabulous Folds with Flair for Every Occasion" by David Stark. gory.. but it's a lot of fun to experiment with!

Here are some good books about napkin folding.

This is one I always use.. I personally favor the Prince of Wales and Throne folds.

http://www.amazon.com/Napkins-Twist-Fabulous-Folds-Occasion/dp/1579652964/ref=sr_1_3?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282322695&sr=1-3

This is another very resourceful book: http://www.amazon.com/Simple-Art-Napkin-Folding-Tabletop/dp/0060934891/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1282322695&sr=1-1

Click the "Look Inside" option and see what I mean!

Food

baby potatoes that I boiled. Cut them open and stuffed them with sour cream and mayo. I just realized they look like Pac Mans.

Tomato bruschetta! Enough said!

Up next, English trifle... custard with berries really. Then, a dish that I cannot remember the name of! I can't even decipher what's in it by looking at this photo.. Aaaand a calzone... the first thing I cooked in 2009. Stuffed pizza.. heaven..

Vanilla Cupcakes with Chocolate Buttercream

Two Table Themes: Summer Picnic and Beachy

For some reason gingham, this checkered pattern, reminds me of summer so much! The theme for this table was summer picnic. Red and gingham.. plain steel cutlery, simple glassware.

Close up shot of the napkin.. yes, it's from MYDRAP.com! <3

One of my table themes was beachy. The weaved straw layer at the bottom is a placemat! I combined lots and lots of them to form the "tablecloth" or base, if you will. I then took starched white napkins and ruffled them around the center for a "windswept" look.. and crisp white things are very beachy, don't you think? This was one of my little "accents" on the table. An IKEA candle holder filled with decorative pebbles and topped with water! Some people said it looks misleading in that people might take it for something to drink out of! Anyways I had a couple of these pebbled-and-watered glasses scattered around the table. With this beachy thing I could scatter just about anything.. Pebbles, rocks, turqouise beads, napkins, candles, water!! All beachy, empty glass bottles (nope, no message in it, sorry to disappoint you! but now I realized that would have been an interesting twist... maybe I could have placed the menu inside the glass bottle)! However, there weren't any shells here... I don't believe in buying shells when the sea is across the street! I can go scavenge for them!! Except that I don't have a shell collection and this table idea was very last minute so I didn't have a chance to go to the beach to get them! However, most shells are broken on our beaches... Anyways, knowing me I might just impulsively buy some... to keep it for when it's " needed ".. the excuses I give myself when I shop.. *sigh* :)

Colourful candles and fun paper napkins finished this look! You can see the centerpiece with the candle and pebbles around it! I poured some water over the pebbles in the centerpiece but I'm not quite sure whether they're clearly visible in this photograph!

Dinner Party

These pictures are from a dinner party that I hosted two weeks ago for some very good family friends who had come over to Dubai. Yes, the theme yet again is very feminine, but only because I was asked to! I had initially chosen a scarlet, ivory, and gold theme but switched after I was asked to! Feminine themes seem to be my speciality...

This is a close up shot of the crockery/cutlery/glassware. Since the table was predominantly pastel shades of pink, I placed white roses at each individual setting to break up the color. White roses are my favourite. I can use them everywhere.
Close up of the napkin fold. This was placed on top of the soup bowl! I'm always at a loss where to place the napkin. Big dilemma, I know. These gorgeous pearly napkin rings are from John Lewis. *advertises*
Yes, I like having the foreground in my photographs blurred.
Similar trick done with the chairs as I did for the tea party! These sashes have little cream- coloured pouches with potpourri in them strung to the knot.

Another closeup of the rose and glassware.

What this side of the table looked like.

The glasses. Those papers in them are the placecards!

What an individual setting looked like.

I would love to post pictures of the centerpiece which was a wickerbasket filled with flowers in a contrasting HALF and HALF theme.. half of the basket had an abundance of pink, white, and yellow roses, chrysanthemums, and carnations and the other half just had leaves and some baby's breath (breadth? sp?) There were also cream colored candles scattered around. The pictures of the centerpiece TURNED OUT CRAP. So I won't upload them :) Enjoy.

Baking pictures

Entertainment Tidbits

Here are some photographs from random things I've done to dinner tables. This is more "dramatic".. i.e. not feminine as such.

The floral arrangement was one I made inspired by Paula Pryke, the renowned florist. This arrangement is called the "birthday cake" as the flowers are arranged in such way to resemble a cake and the candles look like candles on a birthday cake!