cool creepy designs for your Haloween delight

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by Marq Spusta

'Necromancer' by Florian Bertmer

'The Hart of Valhalla' by Godmachine

'Redrum' by Michele Boscagli

'Oscarvorus Grouchamaximus' by Rhys Cooper

 

Zombie Art Show in Los Angeles

'Poltergeist' by Ken Taylor

Egg Salad

This is my basic Egg Salad recipe

that I often pull out at Easter.

I was making it for eight people on

the day I took these pictures, but

you can easily half the recipe for less people.

Basic Egg Salad

(serves 8)

2 dozen hard boiled eggs

2 stalks of celery diced

2 tsp. dried minced onions (found with herbs and spices)

2 tsp. dried dill weed (found with herbs and spices)

1 tsp. garlic powder

1 cup mayonnaise

Hard boil the eggs and peel them after they cool.

Chop them in your food processor,

I like the eggs a bit chunky.

If you don't have a food processor, chop

with a large kitchen knife.

Put the dried minced onions in

a measuring cup.

Add enough water to cover the onions

and set aside for the onions to rehydrate.

Chop the celery.

Mix the celery with the chopped egg

in a large bowl.

Add the dill weed and garlic,

plus salt and pepper to taste

and stir well.

Drain the water from the rehydrated onions

and add them to the salad.

Mix in the mayonnaise.

Serve with toast, bagels or English muffins.

Delicious for a brunch or special luncheon.

Oriental Surf and Turf - Chicken and Shrimp with Cubed Potatoes

I realise that I hardly have any chicken recipes, so going into this weekend, I was pretty determined to create a chicken dish.

And, I have also been quite let down by a number of surf n turf dishes when eating out, which is usually a lackluster steak and seafood combo.

Pauline has also been wanting to eat healthy and been very weight conscious recently, so my final product was a consideration of all of the above factors.

To prepare the cubed potatoes, diced some potatoes and saute them in a pan. Let them cook until they are nicely caramelised. Add in some butter to enrich the flavors and sprinkle some seasoning (salt and pepper). When they are about right, add in some thyme for the perfume and color.

Tip: Whenever you are using herbs like thyme or basil, it is always best to break the herbs at the point you want to use them, for when you break the herbs, it is at this point that the perfume and aroma is the strongest.

Prepare a mirepoix of onions, celery, carrots and leek. Saute the ingredients until the flavors emerge and add a dash of white wine and let the alcohol burn up. Add in sufficient chicken stock until the vegetables are fully covered.

Peel the shrimp shells and add in the shells and tails into the mirepoix mix and bring the mixture to a boil, after which let it simmer for about 15-20 minutes. Season the shrimps with pepper, salt and thyme (or tarragon). Set aside.

Season some chicken thighs with sesame oil, soy sauce and chinese wine and let it marinate for at least an hour. Heat up a pan with some oil and fry some diced garlic. Put in the chicken skin side down first and let it cook for at least 2 and a half minutes, depending on the thickness of the meat.

Flip the chicken thighs over and cook for another 2 minutes or so. Add in a lemon's worth of lemon juice. Once the chicken is cooked, set aside and let it rest for at least 5 mins.

Strain the mirepoix mixture and add in a knob of butter and some flour to thicken the sauce. Add some ginger also to give that taste of the orient.

In another pan, melt a knob of butter and add in some more garlic and ginger. Once the butter is melted, fry the shrimp for about a min or so each side and remove from the heat.

To plate, place the potato cubes first, followed by the chicken thigh and the shrimp right on top. Sauce the mirepoix mixture around the plate.

The final plate should be both visually appealing and a nice and refreshingly light alternative to your usual surf and turf.

German Grandmother's Saurerkraut Ball

Ingredients

3 pounds of pork sausage/1 cup of onions, chopped/4 pounds of sauerkraut, drained and chopped/1/2 cup plain dry bread crumbs /2- 8 oz packages Neufchatel cheese/3 Tbs. parsley/2 tsp dry mustard/1 tsp. garlic powder (or more to taste)/1 tsp. Tony Chachere's Creole Seasoning (or seasoned salt for milder flavor)/1 cup of flour/1 cup of skim milk
pepper (black or red) to taste/For coating:2 1/2 cups flour/2 1/2 cups of bread crumbs
4 eggs beaten with a 2 tbs. water

Peanut Oil for frying

Directions

Brown sausage with onions and drain well. Add rest of ingredients and stir well. Refrigerate until cool. Roll into 1 inch balls. Dip in flour, then egg mixture, and coat with bread crumbs. Fry for 3 minutes or until browned and hot through.

Makes 11 dozen, 1 inch balls. Balls can be reheated on a cookie sheet at 375 degrees for 10 minutes, or microwaved for 30 seconds. Serve with a BBQ sauce for dipping, if desired.

Royce Chocolates

When it comes to chocolates, I always find Pauline, and ladies in general, succumbing to the intoxicating nature of this wondrous dessert.

So, this post is actually meant for the guys, for if you ever need to appease your lady, you should go on reading ...

And for me personally, nothing tops making the woman of my life smile more than putting a pack of Royce chocolate in front of her.

It is something about the comforting effect that chocolates have, especially for women. It is like an instant reliever for many, the moment a piece of chocolates disappears into her mouth, her face breaking into some form of unrestrained ecstasy.

But I digress, Royce I believe, comes from Japan, and they are extremely popular here. They do have an outlet in the basement of Ngee Ann City and another in Suntec City, near Carrefour. They always come immaculately packaged, and have a wide assortment of chocolates.

Champagne Nama Chocolate

Their most popular range is the nama cholocates, which comes in a variety of flavors, from au lait, to bitter chocolate. Our favorite is the champagne flavored ones. As you can see from the photo, it comes in a pack of 20 chocolate cubes.

What is so exquisite about these cubes is that they are so smooth and buttery that it literally melts in your mouth. It has cocoa powder coated on each cube to give it a slight bitter fragrance, and every Royce newbie who is having this for the first time will never stop at one!

Orange Truffles

My own personal fav is this box of orange truffles that comes in a very beautiful box. It only contains about a dozen truffles, but it is absolutely heavenly!

Each truffle is also cocoa coated, but within, there is a very delightful concoction of orange peel and liqueur that will literally explode in your mouth when you pop one in. You only wish there were more of these in every pack.

Nutty Bar Chocolate

Pauline always cannot resist picking up an extra box of nuttty bars as well. It is a waffle like stick which contains almond and hazel paste (among an assortment of other nut paste), and I think, almond puff inside, making the texture crunchy yet chocolatey smooth.

So guys, do not hesitate. This is the perfect gift and perfect way to get into your lady's good books. There are many more delightful and colorful selections from Royce, and I doubt that you can go much wrong with any choice.

Just be cautious though, as this is also sinfully addictive. Nevertheless, this is something we should indulge in, every once in a while, especially over a brew of tea on a warm autumn evening like now.

Royce Chocolates
Basement 2, Ngee Ann City Food Section near Cold Storage

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe

Ahhh, the traditional morning breakfast of Singaporeans have over the years progressed from classic open air kopitiams to modern air-con outlets of Ya Kun, spread all over the island.

Yet, even more amazing, more and more new brands have sprouted offering very identical experiences, and Good Morning Nanyang Cafe is one such new offering.

We found this quaint cafe whilst at Chinatown Point one weekend, and it was certainly very well furnished, much more comfy and spacious than the typical Ya Kun outlet.

Tea and Eggs

For those not familiar with Singapore, this tradition of having tea, half boiled eggs and toast with kaya dates back many decades. It is only during the last decade that brands like Ya Kun, Toastbox and Killiney Kopitiam have franchised this into a blooming f&b business.

Runny Soft Boiled eggs

This is our morning staple, which is basically 2 eggs that is lightly boiled and once cracked open, it is still very runny, which gives it almost a soupy nature. Add a touch of white pepper and dark soy sauce for some seasoning and it is very hearty and gives the morning a much needed boost.

Ciabatta with Orange Zest and Kaya

Most times, these sort of cafes will serve toast with butter and kaya spread. Kaya is a form of coconut and sugar jam which is very aromatic and is greenish in nature. The uniqueness of Nanyang is instead of using regular toast, they use ciabatta bread instead.

Because of this, it has a smoother and less toasty texture, and as the ciabatta also came with some orange zest, it gives a very refreshing twist to the palette and dampens the sweetness of the kaya, which can be quite overpoweringly sweet at times.

This is a nice find for those seeking that 15 min break, and the ciabatta is certainly a fine alternative. Elsewhere, the fare is quite standard, which in itself, is not a bad thing.

Good Morning Nanyang Cafe
133 New Bridge Road
Chinatown Point

victorian naturalist

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I love old Victorian illustrations...their attention to details... And they always make me think about adventurous explorers discovering new species! Such wonderful times...now it seems there's not much left to discover.... :P

And while searching for these illustrations I found this wonderful shop - stellanova jewelry - inspired by the etchings of Victorian naturalists. Enjoy!

Holes Of a Donut

•a tube of buttermilk biscuits
•oil for frying
•sugar

Pop the tube of biscuits. Cut 1 biscuit in 4 quarters. Roll each quarter to form a ball.
Fry the donut holes in oil until golden brown. About 6-8 minutes or so. You’ll probably have to do this in batches. Drain the excess oil.
Divide the donut holes in half. Add some in the sugar and cinnamon mixture, cover the container, then shake shake shake. Do the same thing with the other half using the sugar mixture.
You can use powdered sugar too if you want. I ran out because I made cupcakes for my son’s school days prior. But yes, that’s an option too.

Yo Gabba Gabba Halloween

My son is obsessed with Yo Gabba Gabba. He loves to dance to all the songs when the show is on, and his Yo Gabba Gabba sticker book is one of his favorite things to play with. Don't even get me started on the over sized Foofa doll that (with Lamby of course) now goes to bed with him every night.
I decided this year I would match my son for trick-or-treating. He is going to be DJ Lance. His outfit is awesome and ended up costing about $35 (after shipping). I couldn't see paying for an adult costume for the short amount of time I'll be wearing it so I decided to make one myself.
I chose Brobee. You know the green thing with the long arms?! I figured I have to be able to make something for under $15 that would look like Brobee to kids. This was what I did.

I found a green shirt in the men's department at Target for $5. Perfect! I'll just turn it inside out!


I then found this great sticky felt at Michael's for $.99. Since I'm only wearing this once and for all of a few hours i figure I'll just stick the face on the shirt and then remove them after and have a big t-shirt. Works for me!


Next I free hand cut out the shapes to make the face. I used my son's sticker book as a reference and peeled the backs off and applied the face. Okay, this was seriously too easy! And it's looking like Brobee!


Next I needed to make a 3 cone head band. I already had a glue stick, a stapler, and red construction paper, so all I needed to buy was the birthday hats. I found these also at Target for $1.99.


I cut the B-day hats down and removed the elastic bands saving 2 to tie together on my new hat.


The last step was to use the glue stick and stapler and wrap the cones in red paper. This was a bit more time consuming then expected. I guess it's been a while since I've used a glue stick! ;) I stapled each cone to the next and tied the elastic band so it would stay on my head.


So that's it! I made a Brobee costume for about $11! My son loves it! What do you think?

Soy and Sesame Beef Strips

We happened to have some left over sirloin, and decided to do a quickfire dish for supper one night, as sort of a finger food thingy.

And to make it more interesting, I decided to end it with some oriental dressing to give it a lighter touch, making it a light supper to go easy on the tummy.

Season the beef with salt and a generous amount of pepper. Our beef was slightly aged over a few weeks, but fresh beef would do just as well.

Pan roast the beef as in my previous post on Sirloin with Wine Infused Bacon, and turn it over once and bast it with butter until the meat is cooked. Once done, let it rest for 5 minutes.

Slice the beef into thin strips and take special attention to cut the meat at an angle instead of vertically straight down. Plate the slices on a long plate as shown in the photo.

Drizzle soy sauce and sesame oil and add in some additional pepper. Finish the plate with one last garnish of chopped coriander leaves for color and a slight herb perfume.

Simple, tasty, and a touch of the Orient.

Marion Cotillard is A.M.A.Z.I.N.G.

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She is such a great mix of strength and vulnerability...she's so beautiful and she's French! who could ask for more? :D
She's the best thing about the whole 'Nine' movie. I love this song.
And I can't talk about Marion Cotillard without thinking of my favourite Oscar moment, and if this doesn't move you, I don't know what will. Here's the link:

Marion Cotillard winning Best Actress for 'La Vie En Rose'

*****

Obsessing over lace this season

I am LOVING the lace trend for this holiday season! Here are a few of my favorite finds. Be sure not to mix too many lace pieces at one time, but it really is a must try in every wordrobe! Try a beautiful lace top or dress with curly hair or an up do and a red lip! Stunning!!!


Items in this set:


Lady Jane Dress | Mod Retro Vintage Dresses | ModCloth.com
$105
modcloth.com

Nude Lace Back Top
$47
missselfridge.com

KENNY 5709 BLACK SILK LACE COMBO BLOUSON TOP
$187
farfetch.com

Alice + Olivia Tiered lace skirt
$200
net-a-porter.com

Tibi Lace and silk shorts
$285
net-a-porter.com

dELiAs Cheryl Lace Butterfly Tank
$35
delias.com

Juicy Couture Lace bodysuit
$68
net-a-porter.com

Betsey Johnson set of 2 - black solid and black lace net tights
$20
bluefly.com

Simone Perele Nina Demi-Cup bra
$89
journelle.com

Faux Leather Floral Lace Pump
$20
amiclubwear.com

Jeffrey Campbell Tabitha
$79.90
lorisshoes.com

Diane von furstenberg bags BLACK CREAM
$460
matchesfashion.com

Santi CPM4301 Clutch
$138
endless.com

Victorian Square Lace Ring
$20
1928.com

Rainy day (Love England - part II)

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Sometimes I enjoy walking in the rain... Today I found red bricks, Tudor beams and autumn leaves... :)

polaroid coasters :)

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Love Polaroids?  These ceramic coasters feature fun original photographs by the designer, shot with an analog camera.
Instrustions for use : 'Leave it scattered around the table for instant happiness!'  :)
you can find them here ($10)