Recently I decided that a few years without a good camera with which one can express a longing artistic streak are enough in any amateur photographer's lifetime. Those few years are up and so I have invested in Nikon's D7100 with which I hope to capture images which tell a story, food dishes that catch the eye, presentation demos which can be replicated by food lovers, as well as allow anyone who cares to follow a view of the world through my eyes, of which hopefully the camera will become an extension. Here are a few humble beginnings on the long road to perfection.

Oil Tower

 Bird Watcher 

Tal Karmnu

Solitary Shooter

September Morn

20^th September 2013

The world is suddenly full of new and wondrous things as I start to gear up for a new lifestyle which will hopefully leave me with more time on my hands to pursue what I really love doing most. I cannot really pinpoint what I love doing most because that mostly depends on the frequency of which I have lately been doing it. Variety is key for me. The interest I show in a project or activity is directly proportional to the novelty and infrequency of my exposure to it. 

That, in itself, should strengthen your resolve to keep coming back here and find out what has tickled my fancy in the recent past. You will eventually be building a mosaic of what my existence is really about because I shall be showing a glimpse of all the different facets that make up this unpolished, uncut, untamed, unruly yet kindhearted rebel.  

I am starting to prepare the re opening of a snack bar with a difference in old bakery street, Valletta. The Menu will consist mostly of recipes from around the world, with a selection of baguettes, wraps, ciabattas thrown  in for good measure. I shall be announcing opening targets in the near future and will create a fb page where we will eventually entertain comments and reviews.

Although this investment will not technically be a continuation of what The Perfection once was, some of the signature dishes of that Cafe will feature by popular demand. 

An Introduction to Cake Decorating

The first question you will ask yourself is “can I do it? “  The answer is Yes, of course.

As with most other things, one needs to start at a basic level and then build up. There is such a great number of methods and techniques that you are surely bound to find one which you will feel comfortable with and which you can adopt and perfect as you go along.

If you love art, you will love cake decorating but you do not really need to be a Matisse or aVan Gogh to produce a cake which is not only tasty, but also an eye catcher! All one needs to do is follow some basic guidelines and then let their own creativity and necessity guide them .

The frist thing we need to do is plan how we want our cake to look and feeling confident that we can do it. Next, we have to make sure that we have all the necessary equipment to obtain the results we want. After that, we need to get all the ingredients together.

There are many options of how we can decorate our cake and some of the decoration methods compliment also the texture of the cake itself. Forexample, it if we have a spongy light cake, we will most probably need a light creamy covering or a soft icing one but if our cake is of a dark rich fruity variety, a marzipan, sugarpaste covering will probably be more adequate.

Certain cakes are usually associated with specific occasions but we should not feel bound and restricted by tradition and if you can think out of the box and produce something outlandish and unconventional, go right ahead.

The presentation of your cake should make an impact. Cakes are by their very nature a focal point. All eyes are turned towards it during cutting and even before, it is usually displayed. Your cake should reflect not only the capability and versatility of the Chef, but also the occasion, the character and temperament on whose behalf the cake is made, and the guests who will partake of it.

All of these factors have to be kept constantly in mind. When putting all the ingredients together, there is one ingredient of which you need to have quite a substantial amount. This ingredient, which can make the difference between a hurried, last minute after thought of a cake or a well planned, carefully thought out and finely executed masterpiece is Time.

Initially, everything takes a bit longer so allow yourself quite a bit of undisturbed time and space so that you will not have unnecessary pressure.

At a later stage, when we become more confident about our capabilities and what we are going to do, we may opt to start a part of the decoration before even cooking the cake, but we shall leave that option for a future date to avoid confusion.

So now we have an idea of what we are going to achieve (it could be a picture, a design, or simply an idea of how we would like the finished cake to look), we have the tools, and we have the ingredients.

Let us start.

Chocolate Chip Cookies

Chocolate Chip Cookies

100gms Brown Sugar

100gms Butter

Half Teaspoon Salt

50gms White Sugar

3 Eggs

Half Teaspoon Ground Cinnamon

 3 Tablespoons Scalded Milk

200gms Self Raising Flour

1 Tablespoon Sieved Cocoa Powder

100gms Chocolate Chips

50 gms Chopped Raw Hazelnuts

Beat the first three ingredients together.

In a separate Bowl, combine the second batch of ingredients, then fold in the first batch and finally the dry ingredients. Chill  dough for 1 hr, then roll out on floured surface and cut rounds. Bake at 180 C for 15 mins.

IN TUNE WITH OUR SURROUNDINGS

As a matter of principle, I usually draw a distinction between persons and things, in the broader sense of the terms. I believe that persons should have priority over things. That should sound quite easy to digest, but I have encountered numerous occasions where material consumables are given more importance than human beings, especially where money is concerned. How can we explain away war, for example, if not power, money, ideology over the interests of humankind?

To me, money is just money, a means to an end and definitely not an end in itself. The fact that I am not particularly attached to vast amounts of currency is evidence, if such is needed, that my top priorities lie elsewhere.

Lately, however, I have been thinking seriously whether places, stone, houses have a soul of their own! How else can we describe the feeling we get when we visit a place, whether that is familiar or otherwise? How can we become attached to a house, an area, a country even! Maybe one can argue that we become attracted to these by the same criteria with which we can become attached to a car, boat or other possessions, but I feel that stone formations, whether in their natural state or man-made emit quite a different sort of vibration than other non-persons.

I have always believed that where we go is not as important as whom we go with. Where we stay takes secondary importance to whom we stay with. Whether or not we enjoy where we live can be determined by our neighbours and if we work in the best of companies but do not get along well with either the boss or colleagues, than we cannot be really happy there. This means that I have in the past attributed the vibes we get from a particular location to the persons associated with our experience there.

Recently, I have had to rethink this in the light of certain emotions I have felt while visiting some places even in the absence of other persons. One may argue that persons do not have to be physically there to have an influence on our thoughts and perceptions. They may even be in our thoughts by their actual absence as in the case of the classic “I wish you were here” syndrome.

It’s not that! I have started to feel an affinity and attraction to certain locations for their own sake. For their purity, the tranquility they evoke; the touching of my personal inner spirituality. Our bodies, which are by their very essence as material as the earth itself, seem to communicate directly with nature, bypassing even our subconscious. This communication is what our mind needs to tap into. This, in my humble opinion, is the holistic approach to wellbeing.

Before starting to eat healthily, we need to have the right ingredients.

We need to be aware what the right ingredients are before we can acquire them.

Before all this, we need to find the right place to do it.

Warm Sesame Crusted Marinated Tuna Salad with Courgette Fritters and Aioli Globe Artichokes

For the Marinade:

1 Clove Garlic

Half Onion, Finely Chopped

1 Tsp Soya Sauce

1 Tsp Spicy Vinegar

1 Tsp Salt

1 Tbslp Olive Oil

Warm Sesame Crusted Tuna Salad

400 gms Fresh Tuna, cut into 2 cm Cubes.

50 gms Sesame Seeds

300 gms Potatoes ( quartered )

80 gms Sundried Tomatoes

6 Black Olives

1 Yellow Sweet Pepper

50 gms Rucola

Courgette Fritters

1 Shredded Courgette

2 Tablespoons Flour

Half Teaspoon Dried Thyme

Salt and Pepper

Half Beaten Egg

Aioli Globe Artichokes

1 Globe Artichoke

3 Slices Fresh White Bread

2 Tbslp White Vinegar

1 Tblsp Freshly Squeezed Lemon Juice

4 Cloves Garlic

1 Teaspoon Salt

1 Teaspoon Sugar

100 ml Olive Oil

2 Tsp Chopped Parsley

Put the Tuna in a Plastic Food Box, add the marinade and shake gently so that it will coat evenly. Let it marinate for at least 1 Hour.

Boil the Globe Artichoke in Salted water for 40 Mins until tender. You can test for doneness by making sure one of the outer leaves comes off easily. Once it is cooked, let it cool for a few minutes then cut it in half lengthwise. Rub the insides with lemon juice so that it will not discolour.

Make the Aioli by putting all the ingredients except the olive oil in a blender and while whizzing on number 1, add the olive oil in a trickle.

Drain the Tuna from the marinade and pat dry, then press all sides in the sesame seeds to which some seasoning has been added. Fry , turning to colour all sides, for 1 minute each side and keep warm. Throw the rucola in the same pan where you fried the Tuna Chunks and stir to mop up all the juices and sesame seeds.

Boil the quartered potatoes in Salted water to which some Coriander seeds have been added.

Slice the Sundried Tomatoes into Julienne ( Strips )

Cut up the Yellow Capsicum into large dice and add to the boiling potatoes at the last minute.

For the Courgette Fritters, Combine all the ingredients gently together and shallow fry in oil for 3 mins on each side until golden brown.

Drain the potatoes and sweet yellow pepper and combine with the Sundried Tomatoes and Olives.

For plating, while still warm, start with the wilted rucola at the bottom,add the other salad ingredients and the Tuna Chunks on top. Place the Globe Artichoke Half on the side and fill with the Aioli.

Leave some space where to put the Courgette Fritters. Decorate with Lemon Slices and Parsley.

OF WELLS AND FOUNTAINS

I guess we have all experienced the sensation of involuntarily applying a notion to ourselves when we read about it for the first time. Allow me to elucidate.

You read that some people are Night Owls and others are Early Birds and you try to pigeonhole yourself into one of those two categories whilst deep inside you know that you can actually be both, according to necessity. Whether one stays up late or rises early is mostly determined by the work one does. I have had the opportunity to do both, at some times even concurrently (which amounts to burning the candle at both ends) and I must say that after a few days, my body, metabolism, motor functions and alert phases adjust pretty easily. I can understand that not everyone adjusts as well as I; reasons may be myriad but the most important one is motivation or the lack of it.

There are three types of people in the world, those who can count and those who can’t. I am not sure into which category I can place myself. Ther are two kinds of righters, too: thos who can spel and thos who canot.

It always simplifies matters when you give folks just the two options, doesn’t it? Black on White is so much more easy to understand and identify ourselves with than shades of grey. Is it a coincidence that shades of grey are more appreciated by individuals who make more use of their grey matter?

There is one thing worse than a person who can’t and won’t cook; that is a person who can’t cook, and does. Joking apart, most humans cook because they have to, not because they want or love to, and it shows! (tastes too)

Never has the maxim “if you can’t do what you like get to like what you do” been more appropriate than in this instance.  Those who for some reason have to cook for themselves and others need to put their heart in it. You can’t just do it for the money or because you have to eat something!

Going off at a tangent on the same subject, I had read that certain personalities from which we can draw a certain amount of enlightenment are similar either to fountains or to wells. Thus, we can use phrases like “a fountain of knowledge” or “a well of wisdom”. This doesn’t mean that only these two types exist, mind you! It’s just that I chose these two types to focus on.

If you stand under a fountain (or even near, if the wind is blowing in your direction) you will get soaked, even if you just sit there passively. Fountains are mostly shallow but they continously recycle the water which is filtered along the way. These types of personalities could be school teachers who build up their knowledge during their formative years and impart that knowledge throughout their working career. They only need to top up to compensate for natural spillage and evaporation.

Wells, on the other hand, are deep, usually covered resevoirs. To tap a well, you need to first discover it, dig deep or uncover it, then you have to use some method to draw water from it. The well needs to have a way of replenishing itself with new water to replace the water that is drawn from it. If you draw water at a faster rate than it can refill, the well will empty. If it refills at a faster rate than is being drawn, it will overflow.

I DO feel like a well in character. I can output , give of myself, teach, show, communicate, write , paint, cook for a period of time but at a certain point I feel the urgent need to replenish myself, learn something new, new ways, methods, updates, info, news, read….any source really. The more I give of myself, the more I need to top up. I need to keep the well topped up, otherwise I feel empty.

That is the balance in life which I have continually sought for many years.