My Journey…

I love making guacamole. It’s easy to make and tasty.

A photo of what’s left of the guacamole I made

2 Avocado
1/2 small spanish onion - chopped (amount depends on how much onion you like in your guacamole. My youngest sis does not like much and eldest sis love plenty, so put in as much as you like)
1/2 can Petite-diced tomatoes
Lemon juice
Salt

Place chopped onion and tomatoes into a bowl. Add salt.
Scoop the avocado into the bowl in big chunks, does not need to be nicely cut.
Add lemon juice.
Mash with fork if you don’t want it chunky. I like my guacamole chunky so I just stir the ingredient together.
Taste and add more salt or lemon juice to your desired taste.

To ensure that the colour of your guacamole does not turn dark if you want to make it ahead of time, place a cling wrap over the guacamole. Yes, onto it so that there’s no air in between the wrap and the guacamole.

Give it a try!

The breakfast, lunch, tea, dinner and supper that I know is totally different to what Adam calls them. A conversation with Adam at 5pm while driving home after shopping a long time ago.

Adam: Darling, what are we having for tea?
Me: Tea? You want tea?
Adam: Not tea, tea… but what are we having for tea?
Me: I don’t get it. What do you mean by tea? You want scones and cakes and cookies?
Adam: No, I mean what are we going to have to eat this evening
Me: You mean dinner right?
Adam: We call it tea in England
Me: Are you people confused?
Adam: My sister calls it supper
Me: What?!?!

So here’s the explaination why.

Breakfast is the first meal of the day, typically eaten in the morning. The English word derives from the idea of breaking the involuntary fast of sleep, thus signifying the first meal eaten after awakening. - Adam and I have the same understanding what breakfast is, so that’s good.

Lunch actually is an abbreviation of luncheon, meaning a midday meal BUT English-speaking countries during the eighteenth century originally called it "dinner".

Why? In the United Kingdom, dinner traditionally meant the main meal of the day and since alot of people have their main meal in the afternoon, our lunch is their dinner. At schools in England, meal provided to students at school is called a school dinner because that is typically their main meal.

So what is dinner in the UK? It’s a formal evening meal that you have out.

And what is tea? It is actually High Tea, typically eaten between 5 and 6 o’clock in the evening

In parts of Scotland, the Midlands, South Wales and North-West of England, the term ‘dinner’ replaces lunch and ‘tea’ is synonymous with the main evening meal, which is why Adam calls dinner, tea.

Supper is the last meal of the day. So if dinner is the last meal of the day, they call it supper, which explains why Adam’s sis calls dinner supper but for me supper is the meal that comes after dinner.

Now that I have confused you enough, what meal are you having?

I need to stop planning the wedding for awhile, it’s giving me nightmares. I think I should start planning holidays instead, it’s a happier thing to do right now.

I am usually the holiday planner at home. Half the time Adam tells me we are going to this place and I do the rest. I am quite a professional I have to admit.

Adam and I made a resolution to visit 2 new countries every year. To date I have only been to 1 (England) and Adam has been to 1 too (Bahrain). We have recently worked out the places that we will go this year to achieve what we had planned to do.

Adam is going to Mexico next week for work, that means that’ll be Adam = 2 and Yvonne = 1. Adam asked me to go with him but since the cities that he will be visiting isn’t that exciting, I decided to skip Mexico this round.

We have planned a trip to France in October. We are going to Paris and Champagne via England. That is my first trip to France, so that will be Adam = 2 and Yvonne = 2. Mission accomplished!

But we are still abit itchy, still want to have at least 1 more holiday before the year ends. We are now torned between 3 places.

1) Turkey and Greece: Adam’s dad has a new house in Turkey and has invited us over so see some of Turkey and also to go sailing with them to Greece. This sounds like a perfect holiday since I don’t have to do any planning and sailing sounds awesome but I think since Adam’s dad and Turkey will always be there, it can wait and maybe we can go somewhere else first?

2) Colombia: A few friends are planning a trip there in August and I think it would be alot of fun to go with friends whose main intention is to party and since one of them is local, it’s great to have someone showing us around. Thing is Adam has been to Colombia and would rather we go somewhere else.

3) Bolivia: We both have not been to Bolivia but why it is on the list is because Adam’s stepsis and her bf is on their trip around the world on their BMW bike and are now in Bolivia. Having not seen them in 2 years, it will be great to meet them up and see some of Bolivia with them. If you would like to read about their trip, click here.

Either country works for me but I know Adam would like to do some sailing in Turkey and would love to see Emma in Bolivia. I think I’ll let him pick this round since he’s letting me pick a holiday for Thanksgiving in November. Now I am considering either Barbados or Belize.

I have started my research on Belize and will now start with Barbados. Some work is needed for our trip to France since we don’t know where we will be staying in Champagne nor how we decide to get there. I will get along with my work now.

Sample # 15 - Ben & Jerry’s Cinnamon Bun Ice Cream (Cost $3.00)

Love the smell of cinnamon? Love cinnamon buns with it’s sugary streusel? What about having them with vanilla ice cream? Try this! Try this!

Caramel ice cream with cinnamon bun dough and caramel streusel swirl

Verdict: Love. Love. Love. The caramel ice cream is really soft and creamy. With each bite you get either some cinnamon bun dough or the sweet sugary streusel.

The smell of cinnamon is heavenly. Very good ice cream, one of my favourites for sure. Everything blends in so well, every bite is delicious! The best thing is when all comes together, it’s not too sweet at all.

What happens when you have the intention to go for a walk to lose some weight but then you came across a bar?

Erm, you get in to get a drink or two.

So what happens when the following weekend you want to go out for a walk to lose some weight but halfway through the heat is killing you and you need a cold drink?

Erm… you go back to the bar that you came across the week before!

Yup, that was exactly what happened to us. We had all the best intentions to live a healthy life and lose some weight but damn those people who opened a bar within walking distance to where we live.

Good thing the bar is 30 minutes away by foot, at least some calories are burnt but since it’s getting hotter by the day, Adam suggeted we drive this weekend. Gosh.

I watched a cooking program on the Food Network and was inspired to try my hands on some Texas barbeque for Friday’s dinner. This is my first attempt and did a swell job! (beginner’s luck?)

I whipped up BBQ ribs with coleslaw, potato salad and biscuit. YUM!

It’s really easy to make, all you need is time but very little work required.

BBQ Ribs
Rack of baby back ribs - you can use spareribs but it requires more cooking time and is less tender
BBQ sauce - buy a bottle of your favourite barbeque sauce.
Salt
Pepper
Olive oil

First, season the ribs with salt and pepper and drizzle with some olive oil.
Bake ribs at 250F for 1 hour.
Remove ribs and baste with barbeque sauce, return to oven for another 30 minutes.
Remove ribs and baste again, return to oven for 15 minutes. Repeat this step and bake ribs for another 15 minutes.
After 2 hours of slow cooking, crank the heat up to 450F and bake the ribs one last time for 5-10 minutes until the top part of the ribs is charred and crispy.

Coleslaw
Cabbage - shredded
Carrots - shredded
Granny Smith’s apple - shredded
Mayonnaise
Sour cream
Salt
Pepper

I bought the shredded vegetables from the store, so I just made the dressing according to how I like it and add in the shredded vegetable and apple.
Toss and keep them in the fridge until it’s ready to serve.

Potato Salad
Potato - cubed
Bacon - diced
Mayonnaise
Hard boiled egg - chopped
Vinegar
Lemon juice
Parsley - chopped
Onion - chopped
Salt
Pepper

Boil a pot of water, once boiling add salt and potatoes.
Cook diced bacon until crispy
Mix all other ingredient except bacon and potato to make the dressing. Adjust to taste.
Once potatoes are cooked, drain and mix to the dressing.
Add in bacon bits and mix well.

Biscuit is US Southern food. It looks like scones but is much softer and fluffy. It’s like a dinner roll but taste really good. I bought pre-baked ones at the store so no effort required to make them other than putting them into the oven.

This meal is really quite simple to make. You only need 2 hours to bake the ribs but other than basting them, you are free to do whatever you want. This is going to be my favourite dish to make for dinner parties from now on.