Recipe: Great breakfast in under 6 minutes!

Weekday mornings are usually get ready, get out.

On such mornings, it's just so easy to miss the day's key meal - breakfast. Or, to just push down spoonfuls of cereal and scram.

One quick fix breakfast-on-the-go is grilled tomatoes on whole wheat bread. It's yum, it's filling and it's ready in less than 6 minutes!

All you need is -

• Cherry tomatoes
• Whole wheat/ brown/ multi-grain/ white... bread
• Olive oil
• Cheese (I used vintage cheddar but anything goes, including cheese slices)
• Salt
• Freshly ground pepper
• Dried herbs - parsley, oregano or anything else you like 

Now, just cut the tomatoes and cheese into slices, put them on the slice of bread, drizzle with olive oil and sprinkle herbs, salt and pepper. Pop it into the microwave and grill for 3-4 minutes.

Ta-da! Breakfast is ready in approximately the same time it takes for you to apply your make-up. :)

Breakfast guarantee: Puts a smile on your companion's face and makes you feel super efficient!

Recipe: Chilli grapes and cheese

We hosted our first lunch at home in HK yesterday. While it wasn't the way I usually do things i.e., cook everything myself, it was fun nonetheless! 

We ordered in some Indian food and did the starters at home. I was delighted that nobody had to go running to the supermarket to get ingredients, everything was available at home! Starters included nachos and home made salsa dip, onion flavoured macadamia nuts, roasted almonds, fresh fruits and my favourite, chilli grapes and cheese.

Came up with the chilli grapes idea while staring at a box of grapes... very simple, very spicy, very fun.

Here goes the recipe -

Ingredients -

• Washed seedless grapes, green or black
• Assorted cheese, we used to smoked cheese and emmental
• Olive oil
• Paprika
• 1/4 tablespoon granulated sugar
• 1/2 tablespoon salt
• 3 tablespoon lime juice
• Pepper
• Lemon pepper

Method -

• Take 1 tablespoon of olive oil
• Add paprika, granulated sugar, salt, pepper, lime juice, pepper, lemon pepper to olive oil and mix
• Let sit for 10 minutes and then pour over grapes
• Toss the grapes in the oil mixture and put in the freezer about an 45 minutes before serving
• Keep cheese in the freezer as well, this will make the cheese easier to cut
• Before serving, take out grapes, toss again and serve with cheese on the side!
• Make sure you pour out the remaining oil mixture on the grapes - this will really bring home the tanginess and the cheese will pick up the flavours too! 

Do let me know if you liked this quick and easy snack! Did you make any changes to it?

Presentation makes all the difference!

Presentation surely does make all the difference! It can make humble smoked cheese, grapes and olives look really appealing; everyday pancakes seem exotic; an ordinary pear unique and make a mundane activity like tea drinking, exciting!

Do share your thoughts and tips on presentation! What are the tricks and tools you use to make your food look fancy and appealing?