Around the world...

I love taking photos of food, so I was happy to help when a friend called and said she was hoping I'd pop down and take some photos of a world food fair she had organised!  I was delighted!  

The fair took place in Microsoft, Sandyford, and was an amazing smorgasbord of cuisine from all around the globe.  Staff members were asked to bring a traditional dish from their home country and for a small cover charge, they could then try a little of each! 

What a great idea! The different colours, textures and smells from all over the world spread before me like a patchwork quilt made me glad I'd skipped breakfast!! 

My favorites were the Custard tarts from Portugal, and the Cabbage soup from Slovakia which I MUST have the recipe for immediatley!! 

My photos can not even tell half the story, it was such a wonderful fair and such an amazing idea,  hopefully a good chunk of money was raised for charity! 

OCD - Obsessive Cullen Disorder!

I know its been uber quiet on this blog lately, and well I feel I should explain.  I should 'fess up.

My name is Lisa and I'm a Twilight addict.

Every spare minute I have is spent reading the rest of the saga... and I haven't had time even to cook anything very exciting!

However I am on the last, and rather far fetched, last book, so things should be back to normal soon!

Well until November anyway... 

I want...

K, so the weather is easing up and we are starting to think about going camping.  Ladybird is still happy to hold us and we're not ones to waste opportunities! Anyhoo I've been surfing online to see what gadgets await! 

I love waffles, don't eat enough of them actually, there is nothing as pleasing as a waffle with clotted cream, jam and fresh strawberries (Yes Ciara and I am looking out for gluten free waffles so we can eat this together...!) all piled high with a steaming cup of tea and a fork in hand.

So I was looking for waffle recipes and then I spotted this!

A camping waffle iron! I must have one! Oh you know me - I love cooking anything the hard way so why not cook waffles over the fire, can you think of anything more hardy and outdoorsy? I'd be "mom/wife/camp neighbor" of the year! 

Marvellous! I'll let you know when I try it out!

Lasagne Primavera

I've baked this style of lasagne for a good few years after eating something similar in Italy, but I'd forgotten about it until lo and behold I was watching a digital food channel that shows Rachel Ray and she was baking it on air!! I felt cheated but then delighted, a family favorite reinstated, and ours is a little different from Rachels so its all good!

Lasagne PrimaveraYou'll need
A pk of ready to bake (is there any other kind?) lasagne sheets
4 tins of tomatoes
3 courgettes, grated
500gms ricotta, mixed with 1 egg and 80gms grated parmesan
400gms lamb mince
1 mozarella ball

2 cloves of garlic
Handful each of basil, mint and parsley.

Method

Cook the lamb mince with the chopped onion until browned. Stir in 1 tin of tomatoes and leave to simmer until thickened. Add the fresh basil. Chop the mint and parsley and stir into the ricotta cheese.  In a separate pan, chop two cloves of garlic and stir fry in olive oil, adding the courgette, with salt and pepper after a few moments.  Stir in the hot oil until coated and remove from the heat.Pour some tomatoes from a tin to coat the bottom of the dish, then layer the lasagne, pasta, courgette, ricotta, pasta, meat, courgette, pasta and so on as you wish.
Top with a full tin of tomatoes and slices of mozarella.
Bake at 200c for a 40 minutes or until the cheese is golden and the dish is bubbling.
Wait ten to fifteen minutes before slicing.