Homemade Sweet Potato Ravioli

Tuesday, September 21, 2010 Anya 1 Comments

After I had cleaned my kitchen spotless on Friday I came up with the great idea of making home-made ravioli on Saturday. I knew it would mess with my kitchen, but I had no idea. I am still trying to get rid of flour all over the place. :)) It's a shame that my love for cooking comes with piles and piles of dishes that I have to fight for days, especially when I'm cooking back to back twice a day. It can be overwhelming at times, especially with a dishwasher that is barely functioning. I saw this tasty looking recipe for Sweet Potato Ravioli the other day and was really eager to try it.



I have made raviolis from scratch only once before and so it's still quiet a task for me and I'm sure it's taking me much longer still than it should. The dough consists only of flour and hot water and next time I'll try it with a different ravioli dough recipe in order to enhance the dough itself a little bit. I had a hard time to use this kind of dough with my KitchenAid Pasta Attachment and it might just have been something I have done wrong, but I want to confirm this.

The filling and sauce is really easy to make. If you didn't have too much practice with making your own ravioli it might take you a while. For me it took really long but it turns out very 'gourmet!'

I will use a little less of the herbs next time and change up the dough but it's a real treat. The sweet potato taste combined with the nutty butter flavor works very well and cheese makes everything better, especially Parmesan. :)

Have you made your own raviolis from scratch yet? Any good recipes to share with me? Now let me go back to my kitchen and dust off all the flour.....

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Military Style Fashion

Saturday, September 18, 2010 Anya 0 Comments

I haven't set foot into Armani Exchange until very recently and I have to say, it was a nice surprise. They have nice pieces for women and men and my lovely husband even picked out a couple things for himself. We are talking about somebody who literally 'hates' shopping - if there is any way out - he'll come up with it. So seeing him going through the shelves instead of following me through the hangers like a bored puppy was very surprising to say the least. :) I like what he found too and ran into this wonderful military inspired jacket with criss-cross zippers. Tried it on, put it down, tried it on again and...fell in love. It's very black/gold - so very me. :)) I decided to build an outfit around the sweater.

Military Look
Forever 21, Marc by Marc Jacobs, Aldo, Marc by Marc Jacobs
Look built around this exceptional Armani Exchange Military Sweater.


I don't like everything with the current military style in fashion but I certainly like some of the green colored jackets and definitely the belts.

Did you buy something military inspired yet?

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Sandcastle Competition

Friday, September 10, 2010 Anya 0 Comments

San Diego hosts the annual sandcastle competition which as far as I know is the biggest in the country. The event is held in Imperial Beach / Chula Vista - close to the Mexican border and in my fourth year here in San Diego I finally managed to go see it. There were a lot of visitors this year and traffic and parking was kind of a headache - no doubt.

It's really impressive what people can do with sand in very little time and while most of the castles weren't as big as I had imagined them, some were very artsy. The weather was absolutely gorgeous - we are so spoiled down here in SoCal.

The pier in Imperial Beach looked really pretty and we had a good work-out walking around all the sandcastles. There were vendors and a lot of food along the street.

While I really enjoyed the castles I still thought they were bigger and more impressive. Part of why they weren't bigger is that each team is assigned a couple of hours only and due to the tides the castles won't last too long. The time factor plays a big role I'm sure. For a very impressive and large castle you probably need more than just a couple of hours and a safe place on an open beach so that the castles will last. We have seen very pretty ones in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico before.


I am probably just underestimating this thing - I'm sure it looks much easier than it is. It looks like fun though and you can actually win money with your team in this competition.


Some companies worked on their logos - one of the local pest control companies for example was working on a giant sand mouse.


This really inspired me to give it a try and see how difficult this really is. I have been known to ruin one or two bikinis in my day during fun in the sand. It's not recommended to wear light colored bikini bottoms when sitting in the wet sand for a while. ;) Whenever my nephew is in town and we start building sandcastles with him he is interested for about 5 minutes and we end up building castles alone - must be a funny scene for by-passers who can't see a child around and probably wondering why grown people get so excited about building a castle. "Hey, I get carried away sometimes"

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Brownie Heaven

Tuesday, September 07, 2010 Anya 0 Comments

I entered Brownie heaven this weekend when I gave Ray Romano's Raspberry Cream Cheese Brownie recipe a try. Who would have known that a funny man can come up with such a heavenly brownie recipe. He probably has this from his Grandma' and it should really be 'Grandma Romano's Brownie recipe'. Or maybe he had a dream..... however he acquired this recipe - it's a real treat!


The brownie batter turns out very fluffy and moist. The raspberry adds a very nice hint of fruit, although mine were a little 'sour' when they first came out, but got better over night. I am looking forward to trying this with other fruit too. The white batter was meant to mix more with the brown batter...I have a feeling it could have to do with me using 'Light Cream Cheese' that it didn't mix as it should have. It doesn't look as pretty as it should have, but it looks all that delicious nevertheless. (Doesn't it?) I always try to exchange for low-fat ingredients if possible and of course this can take away from the taste here and there - not in this brownie though.

The last wonderfully in the fridge and I warm them up in the microwave for one minute when I feel like having a brownie. (Every day could/should be a Brownie day) Talking about this...I'm fairly sure my gym doesn't miss me. They are very happy with me paying without showing up. I'm so far from causing machine-wear to their treadmills..shame on me. ;) Hey...how would I find these recipes for you if I was at the gym all day?

Love,

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Beach Wedding Guest Outfit

Saturday, September 04, 2010 Anya 0 Comments

Why is she proposing an outfit for a beach wedding, now that we are getting so close to fall? - you might be thinking. The truth is here in Southern California you can wear this kind of outfit almost year round. During the colder season or for later at night you might just want to combine it with a cute cardigan and you are good to go. I looked into a possible guest outfit for a beach wedding this April (you can read more about the wedding here) and I decided to create my outfit around this beautiful J.Crew Maxi dress that I ran into browsing their homepage. I am absolutely in love with this tone of grey and I decided to pair it with turquoise in order to make it 'beachy'. The J.Crew dress is stunning - it almost feels more like a gown than a maxi dress and that way makes it perfect to attend a beach wedding in my view.

I just recently tried this new DKNY fragrance called Pure that is new in stores just now and I am absolutely in love with it. I think it would match this outfit perfectly.

Any good outfit ideas for a wedding at the lake in California in October? :)
Let's hear 'em...

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Chicken Tikka Masala

Thursday, September 02, 2010 Anya 1 Comments

I have never tried to prepare an Indian dish on my own but I can sure say that I'm a fan of Indian food. Tikka Masala is always one of my go-to menu choices at Indian Restaurants and it was time to try it out on my own. After finding this recipe here I felt inspired to give it a try and I have to say that it worked out great.

It's such a blessing to live in a country and state so culturally diverse that you'll have no problems to find all the ingredients. One of the main ingredients of course is Garam Masala, which I was able to pick up at the International Market around the corner but you can also order it online if necessary.


Can I just say that I love the huge rice bag with the handle? Very convenient!! We got Basmati Rice, Garam Masala spice (which you can also mix yourself), Yogurt, Diced Tomatoes, Half and Half, Chicken Tenders, Onion, Garlic, Butter, Cumin, Ginger, Ground Coriander and Turmeric. Adding peas and turmeric to the rice turned this into a colorful and appealing dish with great taste.

                             

I'm amazed on how well it turned out the first time considering my frustration with Asian dishes. I highly recommend that you try it out if you like this kind of food. It's just as good warmed-up! Do you like Indian Food and have you tried to prepare it at home yet? Any good recipes you'd like to share?

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