Monday, 25 April 2016
The One Pot Wonder- Ultimate Prawny Pasta!
When it
comes to cooking, there is an innate sense of laziness I resign to. The one
dish lesser to wash up or the 5 minute sooner the cooking is done or even quarter of an onion lesser I need to chop up, all sounds delightfully thrilling especially when time is of
essence on a weekday cooking drill.
Being the
extremely optimistic (lazy) Chef I have grown to be, I have discovered some super-easy
to cook weekday wonder recipes! This one is an all-time favorite of mine –The (Ultimate)
Prawny Pasta!
With minimal ingredients, you will be elevated to food heaven
with this one. The magic of the recipe is that, it even converted ‘non-prawn
lovers’ to ardent ‘prawn lovers’!
Cooking time
20 mins
Serves: 4
Ingredients:
Prawns -180
grams
Chilli Paste
-1 tbsp.
Tomato Paste:
3 tbsp.
Fish stock:
1 stock pot
Paprika -1 tbsp.
One white
Onion
Olive Oil -3
tbsp
Few cloves
of garlic
Parsley
Salt to
taste
White vine (optional)
Cream -3 tbsp
Water -1 cup
Water -1 cup
Finely chop
the onions and crush the garlic till it’s nice and fine,i used a whole garlic(this can be adjusted based on your preference) alternatively you can
also use garlic paste.
Pour the olive oil onto a pan and once it is hot add the
onions and crushed garlic, sauté until the onions are translucent.
Add the
tomato puree, chilli puree, paprika, and sauté for a few minutes, until the
bright red colour turns to a mild brown colour. At this point, you can add the stockpot,
add some water and the prawns, and allow the mix to simmer for a while.
Once it
is reduced and the prawns is tender, you can add a nice glug of white vine and
let it cook for another 5-8 mins.
Finally, in
goes the cream to the mix, allow it to go warm but make sure it does not boil.
Add salt to season and top it with some freshly chopped parsley.
Whilst the pot is bubbling away, you can even toast some garlic bread with parsley. Some tender greens of spinach and rockets, with a light lemon dressing goes beautifully well with the dish.
In under 20 mins, your weekday dinner is ready! With as little as one pan to wash up, minimal chopping, and very little faffing around-it is a total winner!
We would love to hear about your cheat’s dinner recipes! Do you enjoy the weekday cooking drill or would you rather cook up over the weekend!
Until Next time!
Take care!
Friday, 22 April 2016
Weekend at Cotswolds
With the
(almost)summer sun slowly settling into scene it was decided to escape into the
countryside! A 2-hour drive and we discovered another side of England with Quaint
little towns, tea houses, miles of green pastures-blue skies, bursting farms and taverns, poles apart from the cozy city life and bustling crowds.
Be it beyond
beautiful Burford or the ‘mini Venice
like’ Burton on Water- I promise you
will fall in love with the place! The
promenade by the Montpellier Gardens will bring back memories of French mansions,
open café’s and lovely freshly baked buttery croissants! With blooms in wildest
pink and ochre yellow –the garden at Bibury was almost heaven on earth-One could
easily lose track of time in there!
Cotswolds offers
you more than just food for soul, With proper pub grub and immaculate patisseries’
everywhere you go, it’s no surprise that it’s hit amongst visiting bunch.
Sporting my
recent buy from zara this stripe Knit is growing to be a big favourite of
mine!
The courdroy skirt is an oldie from zara, love this jersey skirt from ASOS.
My obsession with loafers is official now!! Got these shiny babies from Zara
and I am seriously contemplating these tassel ones
Bag:Tory Burch
We stayed at
Tewkesbury,the quaint little town stands
at the confluence of the River Severn and the River Avon. Our little room with a view
overlooked a sprawling golf course and it was delightful waking up to the sound
of chirping Robbins.
It was truly, a splendid break-with lots of sun, boundless blue skies with the calming peace of
picturesque outdoors. Cotswolds would be an obvious Yes, if it were for my
recommendation!
Would you
love an escape into the countryside or would you rather prefer the buzzing city
for a break! We would love to hear about your ‘ adventuristic getaway tales’.
Until Next
time!
Take care!
Tuesday, 19 April 2016
Hedonista Face Souffle Review
Hello,
Hope you are doing well! It’s been crazy manic this side- in a
nice way of course :)
With a weekend visit to one of the island resorts in Qatar, it was
the much-needed break from the weekday mundane routine!
The big news this week is my little soldier Ian, joined school! In
the blink of an eye, it feels like he is all grown up. He was truly brave and
beyond excited about school! With beaming smile and shiny shoes and not a
single tear shed, we were indeed super proud of our boy! I must say, the early
morning 4.45 alarm drill has been a bit brutal- not really the morning person! Nevertheless,
hey, you need some challenge to jazz up life don’t you ;)
In today’s post, I am featuring this amazing Face Soufflé from Hedonista.
It was part of my June Envy Box package and had saved it for later
only to end up forgetting about it!
I have always loved products with chocolate- Be it pedicures,manicures
or even facials, it’s an absolute delight!The face soufflé is one of the best products
I have used and as you can guess, it smells absolutely divine!
With a lovely smooth mousse texture, it makes it easy to apply
onto your skin. With no tingling sensation, it leaves your skin feeling fresh
and revitalised. True to their claim –It did feel like my skin was deep cleansed.
Make sure to apply the product on clean skin and for best results leave
the product on for a good 15mins, followed by a proper rinse off.
It’s perfect to brighten up dull skin-giving you the all-important
glow! It did help to reduce my sun tan as well. Chocolate mask is said to be
effective for skin brightening and anti-ageing! With promising results, I will
surely be buying this again! It is priced at Rs1650 for 115 gms.
You can buy directly from their site here .
or you can get it as part of your envy box over here
We would love to hear about your skin care routine! Would you like
a bit of a chocolaty indulgence!
Until Next time!
Take care
Tuesday, 12 April 2016
Say Hello to myUS.com
Hope all is well that side of the world! As promised in my previous post, I am bringing you my 'hacky' way to getting things delivered all the way from US to your post box. As the saying goes, dire necessity and desperation paved way to me discovering this amazing site! It was one of those ritualistic buys from Urban Decay when I was re-directed to their website and Ladies, I have never looked back since then!
At the other side of the hassle free sign up process, awaits your
custom mailbox and bespoke address that gives you the license to shop away! Even
some of the popular brands do not ship outside of US and having lived in India
and now in Qatar, shipping arrangements has always been a pain!
They have partnered with a lot of retailers and on setting up your
account you can get hold of the full list that includes the likes of MAC , Amazon,UrbanDecay,
ColourPop, GAP et al.
As for the membership, they
offer three different packages to suit
your requirements- Basic,
Premium and Premium+Mail. All three includes a onetime registration fee.
The Basic plan has an annual fee, with 5 days of storage offered
as part of the plan. This will be ideal for the occasional once in while buys.
For all the regular ardent shoppers out there, with 30days of
storage -Premium and Premium+Mail Plans might be the more financially viable option. These schemes have monthly-based
subscription charges.
They also offer Personal Shopper service, with a
slim processing fee, under this service on sharing details of your product or the product number with myUS.com
they will do the purchase on your behalf and handle the pickup and manage the payment transaction in the mandated way as requested by the retailer.
With notifications to your mailbox at every stage of the shipment,
you can have your peace of mind! Once your shipment reaches myUS.com ,they will upload
a picture of the order and at that point
you can either enter the approx. value
of goods either manually or send across screenshots of your products and they will do the
calculations for you. Once this is reviewed another notification will be sent out
confirming dispatch of your package from their hub.
For the cross-country delivery, you have five couriers to choose
from or alternatively you can choose the least expensive method and US.com will
do the math for you and get you the cheapest option. My package was delivered in
less than 10 days and I did incur a tiny duty fee of 10QAR.
Considering the drama and anxiety involved in a cross Atlantic
parcel delivery, myUS.com totally makes it an easy and much joyful experience!
Having my fair share of bad correspondence and crappy customer service with several
popular courier services, myUS.com is a breath of fresh air. Its reliable, consistent
and most importantly its great service that is reasonably priced!
Sign up for US.com over here
With more hauls and finds coming on this space- Until Next time!
Take care and Happy Shopping!
Thursday, 7 April 2016
ColourPop Haul
Excitement is probably an understatement, when this little delivery made
its way home! I have been eagerly looking forward to trying the ColourPop range
and I must say, they surpassed my expectation!
With tempting beautiful shades of lippies and eye shadow colours to
match the mauvest of your makeup fantasies and Brow goals, its literally a
makeup lovers haven!
I picked up a few products across their range and as always, a review I
Promise!
After much research – I went for ColourPop
X Karrueche Super Shock Shadow Range- an epic collaboration effort by the
brand with Karrueche Tran. The duo have produced some great pieces at affordable price. Sunsetblvd and Beverly
are lovely shades thats part of this.
Sunsetbvld is all about beautiful glow, baby! With warm golden hues,bronze tones
and pearly shimmer sheen its perfect to glam up your look! It has super nice pigmentation
and was hassle free to apply with fingertips rather than a brush, the brand
recommends the same if you are aiming for an opaque finish!
 |
| beverly,sunset blvd |
Beverly is a deep blackberry .It has a semi matte finish and the colour has semi opaque coverage and a smooth creamy texture that makes it easy to apply!!
 |
| beverly,sunset blvd swatch |
Hustle –is a burgundy lover’s
dream come true! With Feather like texture, it applies with much ease. I would
recommend a double coating for a super dramatic look!
 |
| bandit,hustle,central perk |
CentralPerk -well it’s
not just the name that’s a total winner –this shade is described as dirty maroon
matte by the brand. A medium to dark burgundy with lovely warm undertones and a
semi opaque colour payoff. With the smooth and velvety texture, it is a total
winner.
Bandit –is the perfect rusty shade I have ever come across, it has a medium dark brown hue with, red orange undertones. Applies amazingly and blends in beautifully onto your skin!
 |
| bandit,hustle,central perk swatch |
Mittens , a warm brown with red violet undertone and matte finish. it’s
a dark burgundy brown with warm red undertones with a satin effect! Like central Perk it has an opaque colour payoff and super easy to blend, making it a perfect
crease colour.
 |
| mittens,cornelious,kathleenlights |
Cornelious is said to be a
mid tone warm caramel with a matte finsih. A lovely medium brown shade with
warm undertones and again has a Matte finish. Great pigmentation and with
velvety texture the possibilities are endless with this shade!
 |
| mittens,cornelious,kathleenlights |
Kathleenlights a golden Copper, Yes you read that right, its Copper! Bright copper and warm red undertones coupled with gold metallic and shimmer finish!
It’s nicely pigmented and has a creamy texture and blends like a dream! It can totally brighten up your eyes and you can achieve the Greek Goddess worthy eyes everyday ;)
With around 10- 12 hours, it lasted really
well and there wasn’t any ugly smudge or smear! I got mine from their site.
They deliver only to US alone, but don’t you
worry ;) there is a way around that, so stay tuned for more;)
So you might have concluded this already,
without a shadow of a doubt (;) literally) these babies have won me over! Simply
put, it is an amazing product at a super affordable price!
Are you a bronzy brown or a burgundy hues
person!
Have you tried the ColourPop range before? We
would love to hear all about your shadowy
tales!
Thank you for stopping by !Until next time
Take care!
Monday, 4 April 2016
It’s a Black and White affair!
Bonjour!
March has
been an epic month-with sleep all caught up, a lot of eating(!), serious ‘series binge watching’, a lot of
eating(!!),some outdoor drizzly rain walks, a lot more eating(!!!!) and there was some dramatic Easter cooking action
in my kitchen and of course there was a lot of hogging(!!!!!!!)
Aye aye! Stay tuned to this space, I promise to share the ‘block buster’ worthy recipes!
Celebrating
the rocker month March was, we bring you some great finds.
The Top Shop Saddle Bag
There is no denying that I am hooked onto this
one!
Choker Necklaces from Forever 21
This buy is a part
of the summer conspiration I have been scheming.It can totally had some punk and
jazz to your outfit and I definitely think it is a must have for the
summer wardrobe!
Loafer Love
Well, these
Zara babies-was almost love at first sight! Shining bright (literally) –it
melted my inner resolve and Hey, you can never have too many shoes can you ;)
Shiny
sparkle
Shimmer and
shine and all things bright-for all the Gothic,dark nail lovers out there-this nail paint is surely a
winner!
Western 'Buckly' Belt
Yonder, the
awesome Western buckled belt from Topshop, I love a good belt with a bit of
detailing. Buckled belts is trending at
the moment and who knows it might even unleash the cowboy spirit in you and get
you Yarn
the hours away ;)
We would
love to hear all about your Easter holidays!
Loafers or
strappy heels-which one would you go for!
Until Next
time
Take care!
PS:
clickable links to similar products under each image-Thank me later ;)
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