Ingredients (for 2):

- 1 Tbsp butter and 1 Tbsp olive oil
- 275g boneless chicken breasts, cut into strips
- 2 Tbsp flour
- 250g fresh white mushrooms, sliced
- 2 garlic cloves, minced
-  1/2 cup water
- 2 Tbsp vinegar
- 2 Tbsp low salt soy sauce

Method:

1. Salt and pepper the chicken strips and then lightly dredge in flour.

2. In a wide pan, heat the butter and oil and then cook the chicken until slightly golden. Save aside.

3. In the same pan, put the minced garlic and mushrooms and cover the pan until the mushrooms let out their water and lovely aroma.

4. Pour the water and vinegar onto the mushroom mix, salt and pepper and bring to boil. Leave the mixture boiling on medium heat until the liquid evaporates to half.

5. Add in the chicken strips and give it a good stir, around 5 minutes.

6. Finally, add the soy sauce and keep everything cooking for an additional 2 minutes.

Serve hot with white rice on the side or green peas.

Here are a few photos highlighting the beautiful memories of 2011:

weekend mornings by the sea

family summer vacation in Spain

the BEAUTIFUL San Sebastian (Spain)

fun with R.

drinking a lot of tea in Istanbul with mom

the Bosphorus

BERLIN!

Paris with Mounir & Aida

friends

I don’t know what to expect from you 2012, but I sincerely hope that you are gentler than your sister 2011.

For my part, I am going to follow my dreams and live a little. I will not let insecurity haunt me or anxiety pin me down. I am going to live and chase my future like a beautiful free-flying kite.

Happy 2012 everyone. Take it easy and don’t forget to live life the way you want to.

It might not be the right weather for this drink in most parts of the world, but I’m sure there is a place right now where the weather permits to enjoy this iced coffee drink!

Ingredients (for one mug):

- 2 scoops of coffee-flavored ice cream (or vanilla ice cream if it’s easier to find)
- 1/2 cup cold milk
- 1/2 cup strong coffee, two times stronger what you’d usually brew
- 5 ice cubes
- Sugar to taste (I don’t usually add sugar to my coffee so I didn’t use sugar in this recipe)

Method:

Put all ingredients together in a blender and blend until smooth and homogeneous. ENJOY COLD!

Can anything be simpler and more delicious?!

Susuru only serves noodle soups and appetizers, but that won’t matter to you because you wouldn’t want to have anything else anyway!

We started with shrimp dumplings that were very light and perfectly steamed. Then I had the chicken curry udon soup and R. had a shrimp udon soup, both were delicious and the portions were generous. (And yes we slurped!) For dessert we tried the green tea ice cream and the chocolate spring rolls with vanilla ice cream, and needless to say they were both very special.

A small and funny detail about the restaurant: there are kitchen aprons hanging on little hooks on the sides of the tables to protect your clothes while you slurp!

So again if you’re in Berlin and in the mood for Japanese food, try Susuru. Here’s the address:

SUSURU
Rosa-Luxemburg Strasse 17
10178 Berlin

Ingredients:

- 15og butter, melted
- 175g sugar
- 4 eggs
- 250g flour
- 1 tsp baking powder
- 1/2 tsp baking soda
- Zest of 3 lemons

- Juice of 3 lemons
- 150g of icing sugar or caster sugar

Method:

Preheat the oven to 375F/180C.

1. In a bowl, whisk the eggs and sugar well. Add the butter. Whisk again.

2. Add the 3 dry ingredients gradually and mix the batter until it is silky smooth.

3. Add the zest of the lemons.

4. Pour the batter in your cake mold (I used a loaf pan) and pop in the oven for 45 minutes.

5. While the cake is baking, make the syrup by mixing the icing sugar with the lemon juice.

6. When the cake has properly baked, take it out of the oven, poke it with a skewer several times in several spots and while it is still hot pour the lemon syrup all over.

7. Let the cake cool before you take it out of the baking pan and serving.

CHAI MASALA (for 2):

- 2.5 cups water
- 1 tsp grated fresh ginger
- 2 cinnamon sticks
- 1 tsp crushed cardamoms or cardamom powder
- 5 cloves
- 3 whole black peppercorns

- 1 Tbsp black loose tea
- 2 Tbsp brown sugar (or 1 heaped Tbsp white sugar)
- 1/2 cup hot steamed milk (or to taste)

Method:

1. Pour the water in a small coffee pot or rakweh (check Taste of Beirut coffee post and see the rakweh she used to make coffee) and add the 5 spices. Bring to boil then lower the heat and simmer for ten to twelve minutes.

2. Now raise the heat, put the loose tea in and the sugar and stir. Count to ten and then turn off the heat.

3. Using a strainer, pour the tea into coffee cups and then add hot milk. Adjust the sugar to taste.

Very easy to make using fresh spices that you would probably find in your pantry right now! Get up and get warmed up with a cup of chai masala!

Ingredients:

- 115g flour
- 4 Tbsp dark cocoa powder
- 1 tsp baking powder
-  1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/4 tsp salt

- 2 eggs
- 1/2 cup caster sugar
- 100g of butter, melted
- 1 tsp vanilla

- 2 ripe bananas mashed

- 30g hazelnut powder (I ran a handful of hazelnuts in the food processor and took 30g of the result)

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to 350F.

2. In a bowl, mix the first five dry ingredients.

3. In another bowl, whisk the eggs and then add the sugar and whisk well. Add the butter, whisk some more.

4. Gradually, add the dry ingredients from the first bowl onto the egg mixture in the second bowl. With a spatula mix everything well.

5. The mixture will be dry, so add the mashed bananas and mix well. Then, add the hazelnut powder.

6. Pour the batter into a loaf pan or a cake tin and pop in the oven for 30 minutes. Test with a skewer before taking out.

ENJOY! Thanks Maria