{1000 friends giveaway}

JÁ SOMOS MAIS DE 1000 no Facebook!!! Muito obrigada pelo tempo que passam aqui comigo, pelas palavras queridas e por todo o vosso apoio. Estou mesmo feliz! Para celebrar os 1000, vou sortear 10 caixas de pipocas personalizadas + 10 palhinhas de papel às riscas, a condizer. As cores disponíveis são: verde, azul, laranja, rosa, framboesa, cinzento, amarelo e turquesa. Eu escolho o padrão das embalagens (espero que confiem no meu gosto!) e vocês escolhem a cor dentro daquelas que disse atrás, assim como a mensagem personalizada que querem nas etiquetas das embalagens. Claro que serei flexível quando for para definir o resultado final!!

Apenas têm de:

1. partilhar este post :))) (insistente!!)
2. deixar um comentário aqui ou no Facebook (eu preferia no blog, mas vocês é que sabem! :))
3. escreverem no comentário a vossa cor preferida, dentro daquelas
4. e esperar pelo final da semana, altura em que anunciarei o vencedor ou vencedora.

Está bem assim? [Nota: as embalagens terão que ser montadas (super fácil, basta ter cola)]

WE'RE OVER 1000 on the Facebook page!! Yay! Thank you all - for the time you spend here, for your kind and sweet words, for spreading the word! ♥ I'm super happy! And so here's a little giveaway: I'll be giving 10 personalized popcorn boxes + 10 stripped paper straws in matching colours. I choose the pattern of the boxes (hope you trust my taste!) and you choose one of the following colours: green, blue, orange, pink, raspberry, gray, yellow or aqua. You also choose the message on the boxes tags, of course! 

So all you have to do is:

1. share this post (I know, I keep asking this!)
2. leave a comment here or on the Facebook page (I would prefer the blog, but that's up to you)
3. in your comment, please tell me which colour you pick
4. and then wait until the end of the week for the results of the randomly picked winner!

Is this ok for you? Hope you enjoy! [The popcorn boxes will have to be assembled - super easy, you'll just need glue]

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Chocolate Peanut Butter & Oat Snack Bars - Secret Recipe Club

It's time again for The Secret Recipe Club reveal!  It gets so exciting, doesn't it?  Amanda was the one who kicked things off with the whole thing!  Tina from Mom's Crazy Cooking is helping out for Group B.

This month I am paired up with Averie from Love Veggies and Yoga.  She has an awesome blog with tons of healthy foods! Healthy AND super delicious I should say!  I saved several recipes. I've already made the Banana Brulee Oats and she has a bunch of other oatmeal recipe I want to try! 

These oat bars were awesome. They kids loved them and we ate them all the first day. These will be made again and again!

Chocolate Peanut Butter & Oat Snack Bars
Adapted from Love Veggies and Yoga

1/2 cup semi sweet chocolate chips
1/2 cup peanut butter, I used chunky
1/3 cup milk, 1%
1 1/2 cup oats, quick cooking
1/2 tbsp. vanilla extract
2 tbsp. splenda
1/4 cup pecan halves, rough chopped
1 tbsp. flaxseed meal

Melt chocolate chips, peanut butter and milk in the microwave in 20 second intervals, stirring and checking.  Once melted and stirred together, add the rest of the ingredients.  You want this to be fairly dry, if it's not dry enough, add more oats one tablespoon at a time. 

Press mixture into an 8 x 8 pan sprayed with cooking spray.  Refrigerate for about 30 minutes or until cooled and firm.  Cut into 10 slices.  You could also roll into balls as well for a finger snack. 

I put it through Sparkpeople.com recipes and these are the stats that I came up with.

Nutrition Facts
10 Servings
Amount Per Serving
Calories 205.4
Total Fat 12.6 g
Saturated Fat 1.4 g
Polyunsaturated Fat 2.8 g
Monounsaturated Fat 4.5 g
Cholesterol 0.4 mg
Sodium 187.3 mg
Potassium 163.3 mg
Total Carbohydrate 19.4 g
Dietary Fiber 2.8 g
Sugars 2.4 g
Protein 5.7 g

One Year Ago...

Hawaiian Rum Marinated Pineapple

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Menu Plan Monday ~ September 19 - September 25, 2011

Vacation is over and I'm ready to cook again!  I have a bunch of new recipes that I want to try this week.  Plus, I have a whole bunch of ground turkey and I plan to do some freezer cooking.  I want to get the freezer stocked for the next couple of weeks!

Monday: Hamburger Salad & Apple Pockets



Tuesday: Orange Barbecue Cashew Chicken

Wednesday: Southwest Smothered Chicken

Thursday: Steaks & Sweet n Sour Zucchini Salad


Friday: Leftovers


Saturday: Spaghetti


Sunday: All Day Meatballs, brown rice & veggies


This is linked with Menu Plan Monday at I'm an Organizing Junkie

One Year Ago...

Cheesy Chimichangas

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{Vintage shelf}

Esta foi mais uma das aquisições apaixonadas na Retrovilla. É uma estante antiga, forrada com papel-de-parede vintage, com o bom gosto da Helena sempre a dar cartas... A decoração ainda não é a definitiva, até porque já ando com umas mastrioskazinhas roxas debaixo de olho, mas quis mostrar-vos o que lá temos, para já. 

{A Carlota adora brincar com a estante, como se fosse uma casinha :)}

  

This was another passionate purchase at Retrovilla. It's a vintage shelf, decorated by Helena with pieces of old wallpaper. The decoration is not final (I'm with some purple matrioshkas on my mind), but still I wanted to show you how it looks like today.

{Carlota likes to play with the shelf, pretending it's a little doll's house :)}

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Retro japanese

Gosto de bonecos antigos de borracha. Aliás, gosto de bonecos e bonecas antigos. Na minha opinião, hoje em dia não há brinquedos tão bonitos como antigamente. Pode ser saudosismo, não sei. Por exemplo, eu acho que a Nancy antiga é bem mais bonita que a actual. A Sindy é mais querida que a Barbie. Quando vou às lojas de brinquedos com as minhas filhas, é cada boneca mais feia que vendem!! Não consigo entender porquê, mas deve haver alguma razão económica subjacente - de certeza que são produtos que se vendem!

Os japoneses são exímios em fazer bonecada querida e eu, como tenho particular propensão para tudo o que é bonito, fico fascinada com brinquedos de borracha com carinhas amorosas... Então tenho conseguido encontrar alguns, que trago para as minhas babies e que deliram com eles (também os mostrei em posts anteriores). Mas, enquanto que há bonecos antigos relativamente baratos, os de borracha devem ter-se tornado collector's item e não são tão baratos quanto isso...

E qual é a vossa opinião? 

 

I like vintage rubber dolls. Actually, I like all kinds of vintage dolls. In my opinion, they don't make beautiful toys like they used to. For example, I find the old Nancy doll much prettier than the new one. Sindy is cuter than Barbie. When I go shopping for toys with my kids I sometimes get scared with such ugly dolls!! I can't understand why, but there surely must be an economic reason behind this - these toys must sell!

Japanese are on top when we talk about cute toys and I get attracted to all things pretty, so I've managed to find some vintage and reproductions of old japanese toy,s like the ones on the photo (and some on previous posts). The kids love them, but some of these rubber toys are expensive - I guess they have become a collector's item and while you can find some cheap vintage dolls, these rubber ones aren't that cheap...

What's your opinion on this?

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Fusion 9

Getting invited to Dine out midweek at a new swanky restaurant is definitely one way to perk up the week. I was headed to Fusion 9 in 2nd floor in Tulip Aruna Hotel, looking forward to meeting other bloggers and foodies.

The lunch started at 1.30 and went on till 4.15 or so, there was plenty of conversation, interesting discussions, and ofcourse good food.

 The main seating area

 

 The candle stand on the table

 

 Herbed bread

 Veg Dimsum

 Almond & Basil soup

 Bang Bang Mushrooms

 Veg Sushi served with pickled ginger, Wasabi and soya sauce

We were seated in a smart private room, and were given free reign to order whatever we wanted. We all decided against the Buffet and went A la carte. The last time i was here with a friend, we ordered some dishes from the menu and they were quite good.. The portions i discovered were quite large, which made the price they charged seem worthy!

Anyways, today, we were a near even split between Vegetarians and Non vegetarians... We opened with a soup- Almond and basil soup, that was served with a interesting flavoured bread stick in the soup. The soup tasted good, but was quite thick and not very hot, not really my kinda soup... We were then served a plate of Veg and Non veg dimsums...

These were quite nice, the veg dimsum had onions, garlic, ginger and few finely chopped vegetables in it.  Within minutes they were devoured and we were all set to order few more starters. In the veg category, we sampled Bang Bang Mushrooms, Chilli Paneer Sticks and Veg sushi, oh not to forget the Mezze platter.

The mezze platter had pita bread... hummus... curd mix.... small steamed samosa like things with spinach stuffing.. and then ofcourse there was the infamous Baba ghanoush...

After an hour or so, as the conversations flowed, so did the main courses we had ordered.....

 Potato Gnocchi

 Arabian Platter [Shish taouk ,kafta kabab, Samak Meghoui(fish), Grevettes Malaki(mutton)]
Info source: Chennai Food guide on Facebook]

 Parmesan Risotto

Swiss Roasti Potatoes
[Info source: Raghu on Facebook]

I quite enjoyed my Parmesan Risotto, it was quite rich and filled with flavours.. The potato gnocchi was ok, the sauce was a little runny and the gnocchi felt a little heavy... The other potato dish was yummy, especially the way the vegetables served along with it had been cooked, so light and yet a burst of flavours when they hit the mouth...

I did sneak in a few fries from Ali's plate and sampled Rocket leaves from Doc's prawn dish... It was the 1st time i was seeing and tasting Rocket leaves, and must say they have a wierd taste... :-)

For dessert, we each ordered something different, though Shalini and I ended up ordering the Apple Tart, which was good, but i dint like it enough to wipe the plate clean.. I prefer my apple pie and tarts hot , and so this tart was served cold and kinda limp.... The Brownie was divine, and so was the Caramel Custard... Dint try the Tiramisu, though the look on Ali's face said it all :)

 Creme Caramel... aka Caramel Pudding

 Apple Tart

 Brownie with Ice cream

There was one other dessert on the menu, which i had sampled during my earlier visit. it was the German Chocolate Cake, and must say it was quite divine... but a tad sweeter than what i like... was deliciously sinful... :)

German Chocolate Cake

Oh, i nearly forgot.. Towards the end of the lunch, we all ordered a glass of Lemon Iced tea- which was alright...  it was less tea, and more lemon juice..

So, the Lunch was fairly good... Food was delicious, and i felt this was a restaurant was true to its "World cuisine/multi cuisine" title, especially in Chennai.... Though its a tad expensive when compared to other restaurants, the food portions as i mentioned are large and so it works out well at the end..

The main seating area is well lit and quite spacious. There is a bar island in the center of the area, and a buffet lunch daily.

Make a reservation before landing there, especially over the weekend, have heard the place gets quite full.. The seating options are sofa and normal table chair style with plenty of natural light floating in...

Food 8/10
Iced tea 7/10
Ambiance 9/10
Service - The 1st time i was here, the service was very good- 8/10, and 2nd time was for a review, so i shall not rate the service!

Fusion 9
Tulip Aruna Hotel
Sterling Rd, Nungambakkam
Chennai, Tamil Nadu

044 42664299

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My Bambi just cares for me

Já vos tinha dito que adoro o Bambi... o "Bamba", como a Conchinha lhe chama...


P.S.: Se alguém souber onde consigo encontrar mais fronhas de almofada com rosas lilás ou roxa, é favor de comunicar! :)

I've already told you how much I love Bambi... "Bamba", as Conchinha calls it.

P.S.: If any of you knows where to find pillowcases with purple or lilac roses, please do tell me! :)

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