Manly Valentine's Coupons

Valentine's coupons are all over the internet, but how about a simple black and white iteration that your man will actually enjoy looking at? All it takes is some heavy cardstock and marker! And if you're feeling extra fancy, you can trim the corners.

Baked eggs

The first time I heard of baked eggs was when reading blog posts about breakfast at Lantana Cafe in London. Their version had chorizo in it and was topped with rocket salad - not bad!

I love how easy it is to make baked eggs - you can pretty much throw whatever you want in your creation. You don't even have to bake it in a dish - back in my superlazy days I would crack an egg on top of toast, sausages and pasta sauce from a jar...

It's like how you can splatter paint onto a canvas and call it abstract art, except unlike Pollock I ain't winning any awards with this mess.

Then I stopped living by myself and figured I didn't want to scare people off with my food; luckily it's easy to make baked eggs look half-decent.

Here I just used avocado, cheese, ham and mashed potato, anything I had in the fridge really.
Just bake at around 350 F until the eggs are done and you're good to go!

-S

Puff pastry, 2 ways

Lobster bisque in puff pastry pops up a lot in my childhood memories. I LOVED the stuff. Perfect comfort food for when you're still young and don't know the price of things.

Fast forward around 10 years and I've come to realise that it's not commonly served in restaurants. Sure, everyone sells a lobster bisque... but why not add a magical layer of fat on top? Hey chefs, does it seem tacky to you? Do you think it looks ugly? Because it's not and it doesn't! It makes everything better.

Well, I finally bought some puff pastry to make my own. Of course I wasn't going to risk making a failed lobster bisque (read: laziness and apprehension took over) so I got some ready made soup from the supermarket. I didn't buy the cheapest one. Oh no. I got the one that looked the most gourmet and cost the most, because you know packaging and marketing is 100% honest.

I just plopped the pre-rolled pastry on top, spooned some beaten egg onto it (not fancy enough to have a brush) and baked it at 200 C / 400 F for 10-15 minutes.

Voila! An abundance of unctuous soggy bits to accompany the lobster bisque.

After this trip down memory lane, I still had some puff pastry left over. I was inspired by Luxirare's simple breakfast tart - it's not so simple by peasant standards, but I tried making my own anyways.

I just added whatever there was in the kitchen. Some leftover homemade onion marmalade, blue cheese and canned chopped tomatoes. And lastly, some egg spooned onto the edges. Honestly? It turned out surprisingly tasty.
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Framed Fendi

Vintage scarf + square frame = geometric art

Framing square scarves is nothing new, but this is my take on it. I bought this lovely Fendi scarf on etsy and it looks great! I feel so fancy just by looking at it. Large and dramatic.

This works best with a thin frame so that it doesn't overpower the scarf itself.
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Fresh basil pasta

We recently bought some basil from the farmer's market to grow ourselves.

Now I can pretend to be Jamie Oliver and pluck things fresh from the little patch of soil in front of our house! SO gourmet, daaahhling.

I've always used dried basil for the Easiest Pasta Ever, but I wanted to try it with fresh basil.

The Easiest Pasta Ever is made with heavy cream, shredded parmesan, lots and lots of basil, salt and pepper. I just dump the freshly cooked pasta onto everything else and let it sit for a while before mixing.

Verdict: I didn't use enough basil! But by the time I'd realised this I couldn't be bothered to get some more.

Yea I'm lazy. Why am I so lazy? I don't know.

I tried to pick some fresh basil again a week later, but there was a wasp outside so I resorted to dried basil. Oh well... there's always next time!
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