July Nibbles

• Favourite July meal - It's a tie between the Pecan Cream Mushrooms and the Mushroom Galette. Step forward to receive your crown, oh humble mushroom!

• Clearly I'm not the only one who enjoys odd food combos, just take a look at these strange (but yummy) food combos . Though I can't help but notice that Putu Pap with milk & salt was not included on this list. Neither was Egg, Cheese & Bovril on toast. Strange indeed.

• Cookbooks you didn't know existed - Seriously, what kind of dishes are in the Twilight book? Bludwurst? Black pudding? Anything else?

• And the FFF* for July? Indian Simmer. Featuring dreamy photographs of both Indian and non-Indian food (recipes included of course), this US-based new wife and new mom shares her life with us via food. And if that doesn't win you over, this post featuring her little girl's chubby toes definitely will.

• Butch it Up Buttercup! - Yet another reason why NY City is awesome. (via @CabrnetCasanova)

• And while we're on the subject of cupcakes, if you haven't mastered the skill of cupcake icing (join the club...) take a look at these videos:  from simple piped decorations, to the classic sky-high soft-serve style icing, a smooth glass-like finish to an elaborate flower petal cupcake, complete with butterfly. But my favourite has to be this simple, yet elegant swirled topping achieved using just a palette knife - ingenious!

• In other news, you have spoken and the email subscription poll results are IN! It seems you like things just the way they are, so nothing will be changing around here then.

• Last, but not least, topping my "to make" list for August - Luxurious Caramelised Orange & Cream Pots. I have been playing around with this idea for some time now and hope to perfect (and post) it in the coming month.

* Favourite Foodblog Find

Zilzil Alecha (Beef in Greenpepper Sauce)

Some things just grab you, know what I mean? In my case it's chocolate, endless repeats of my favourite girly guilty pleasure movies (Ten Things I Hate About You and Dirty Dancing for the curious amongst you), and seeing our kitten curled up in a ball on the couch. Cuteness, thy name is JD.

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Marrakech Lentils

Sometimes we need to atone for our sins. Perhaps you spent a weekend bending your plastic with some serious shopping, inhaled an inordinate amount of the alcohol variety, spent the better part of your Sunday in a horizontal position watching The Office or consumed your body weight in vanilla crunch ice cream. I may or may not have indulged in most of these activities over the past two days. If you follow my tweets, you probably have a pretty good idea of what went down this weekend.

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Mississippi Mud Cupcakes

Happy birthday to me, happy birthday to meee, happy birthday dear Marisaaaaaaa, happy biiiirthday to me! I decided to take a day off work on Wednesday (it's criminal to work on your birthday don't you think?) and spend the day  surfing the web and baking cupcakes.

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Thai Inspired Zucchini & Waterblommetjie Soup

Sometimes recipes can be intimidating. I get it. No really, I do. But fortunately Nina at My Easy Cooking always steps up to the plate, inspiring us mere mortals with her easy-to-make-at-home recipes. And not only are they a cinch to make, I'm sure they taste just as mouthwateringly good as her spectacular photos make them look. Nina - you inspire me!

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Mesir Wat (Ethiopian Lentil Stew)

The experts will tell you that babies don't like spicy foods, so pregnant women are encouraged to avoid spicy foods, breastfeeding moms are warned to avoid garlic like the plague and moms of toddlers are told to prepare spice-less versions of the food they're eating for their young 'uns.

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Chicken with Pecan Cream and Mushrooms

When I think of nuts, my thoughts invariably wander to chunky chocolate brownies stuffed to the gills with nuts, asian stirfries featuring cashews or a simple snack of wasabi peanuts (my latest guilty pleasure). Not to mention peanut butter - a sandwich filling hero for kids around the world. Never in my wildest dreams did I imagine I would be making a nut butter from scratch though. 

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Mushroom & Blue Cheese Galette

Have you ever donned a beret, smudged your eyeliner, put on a some red lipstick and pretended to be French? Strolling along the imaginary river Seine while nibbling at a baguette topped with some stinky cheese. Or perhaps your fantasies veer more towards the cheeky Italian type - your Vespa snaking through the streets on your way to meet your Italian Stallion.

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Black & White Choc Chip Muffins

Don't ever be fooled. The people you meet on twitter are not your friends. They line up with their pretty avatars, make you laugh once in a while, even share the occasional nugget of wisdom, but ultimately they are plotting against you.

Point in case:

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Chicken Breasts with Drunken Figs

I don't know if it's just me, but the thought of drunken anything-edible is pretty dang appealing. Just imagine - *insert your ingredient of choice here* soaking in the fruit of the vine and  wallowing in it's goodness. Culminating in you eating up all that goodness of course. Yeah, I knew you'd come round to my point of view eventually.

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Pastrami on Rye

"New Yooooooooooooooooooork, concrete jungle where dreams are made of, there's nothing you can't do..." ~Alicia Keys (Empire State of Mind).

Wherever you live, you have to admit: one city in the world has an  allure like no other. New York. The city that never sleeps, rich with culture, diverse with people and attitudes. The city seems to crackle with possibility and and I don't think there is a person out there who doesn't find the thought of living there - or at the very least visiting it - extremely appealing.

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Albóndigas con pasas de uva (Raisin Meatballs)

Fancy a bite? Well you'll have to pop on over to LadyRaven's blog, Add to Taste, where I am guest-posting about this Uruguayan favourite.

See you there!