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I noticed, that I was lacking of a pasta dish on my blog. And been italian, I really need to catch up, don’t you think?? So let me share with you a fancy version, that is still terribly easy and incredibly quick! You can serve this dish quicker than the pizza guy will deliver you your order. Ready?

Grab the ingredients, serving 4:

250 g of tagliatelle or tagliolini (alternatively 360g of normal pasta)

200 ml of (cooking) cream

1 tablespoon of butter

Juice of 1 lemon and zest of half of it

12-16 prawns, clean (or switch with shrimps, but then take about 200 g)

1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive

1 clove of garlic

thyme and oregano (fresh if you have them, otherwise dried)

salt and pepper

Put around 3 -3,5 liter of water in the saucepan and bring it to a boil, then salt.

While the water comes to a boil, prepare the sauce:

Take a wok or a big pan (we are going to pour all the cooked pasta in there when it’s cooked), put 1 tablespoon of butter and melt on medium heat.

Once melted add the lemon zest (remember to zest the lemon BEFORE cutting it, as it is way easier! and only use organic lemons that are specifically good for using the zest).

Then add the lemon juice (possibly without seeds, so use a small strainer, or your hands to catch them) and a pinch of salt.

Let it cook for a couple of minutes, then add the cream (200 ml) and stir well on medium heat for 2 minutes, then turn it off.

Add a teaspoon of thyme and one of oregano.

Let’s move on to the prawns:

Take a non sticking pan, pour 1 tablespoon of extra virgin olive oil in it and turn the flame to medium-high.

Add the garlic clove peeled and slightly pressed (with the back of a knife, just make some pressure on it as to help it release its flavor).

Add a teaspoon of thyme and one of oregano.

When the oil is hot, add the prawns, de-shelved and clean (if you washed them, dry them on a paper towel, this way you won’t get splashed with hot oil).

Cook them on high flame until golden, turning them avery now and then, takes about 5 minutes.

Turn off and set aside.

When the salted water boils, you can add the pasta. Check the cooking time on the package and stick to it (if you like al dente, reduce by 1-2 minutes).

Stir from time to time. When the cooking time is up, take a cup and pour some of the cooking water in it, set aside (careful, really hot!!).

Turn on the flame under the wok (with the lemon-cream sauce in it).

Drain the pasta and pour it in the wok with the sauce, stir as to allow the sauce to “marry” the pasta, add some cooking water (that you set aside in a cup) if it seems too dry, you only need a couple of minutes here, just to bring all the ingredients together.

Turn off.

Plate.

Add the prawns on top and garnish with some fresh thyme if you have it.

Enjoy!

If you are looking for the quickest and easiest cake that requires no baking and just 6 ingredients, look no further, I have the recipe.

I found it in a very precious book I bought at a Christmas Fair in Singapore, it’s called “The Red Dot Melting Pot Cookbook” and it is a huge selection of the favorite recipes of the International Cooking Club Singapore (which I am proudly a new member of – stay tuned I’ll definitely blog about it soon!)

It calls for an american key lime cheesecake pie. If you have been to the Keys in Florida, you know how delicious this is!!

But, no Key Limes here and no organic limes widely available (so, not able to use the zest) – that’s why I adapted the recipe slightly.

You don’t like limes? Or you don’t find them? No worries, you can totally omit them and add other citrus fruits or just a vanilla essence. The beauty of cooking is that you can change the recipe to adapt it to your taste or pantry!

This recipe is super easy and requires no baking, but you will have to let the cake rest in the fridge for at least 6 hours, actually 12 would be better! So plan ahead.

Ok, here we go, you won’t believe how simple this is! Let me give you your short shopping list:

INGREDIENTS:

160g of digestive biscuits

50g of melted butter

250g of cream cheese (Philadelphia)

380g of sweetened condensed milk

100ml of lime juice (or lemon or orange juice or simply omit, about 5 limes)

a splash of lime essence (if you have it) or 1 teaspoon of lime zest

INSTRUCTIONS:

Start by melting the butter in the microwave. Get your digestive biscuits (160 g, 10-12 pieces), put them in a ziplock bag, close it and smash them (yeah! have fun or get your kids on it) until they are crumbled (I don’t mind having bigger pieces here or there, it’s up to you how long you’ll do the smashing).

Pour the biscuits crumbles in a bowl and add the melted butter (50g) once it is cooled down, mix well. Take a round baking tin (20cm), cover it with wet and squeezed parchment paper and pour the biscuits/butter mixture on it. Spread it and press it down using the back of a spoon.

Done with the crust, let’s move on to the yummy filling.

Beat the cream cheese (250g) and the sweet condensed milk (380g) with a mixer at low speed until it’s nice and smooth. Stir in the lime (or whatever) juice (100ml) slowly while the mixer is still running on low speed, add the zest or lime essence if you have them and incorporate.

Pour the gorgeous cream on the biscuits base and place it in the fridge. That’s it, you are done!

Serve with slices of lime and fresh whipped cream or just dig in as it is – a refreshing and delicious treat, you’ll see!

Thanks to the International Cooking Club Singapore, its founder Michelle Pilarczyk and Diane Price for sharing the recipe.

Go have a look at their amazing website www.iccs.org.sg and reward yourself with a book!

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Sunday is for baking! This Blueberry Crumble Cake is perfect.

I found a bargain on blueberries at the supermarket, so I bought way too many! Is it just me?? Or does it happen to you too? I was actually planning on doing my lovely blueberry muffins, but I found out, that I forgot my recipe notebook in Austria! ? I did panic at first, but then, hey, what better occasion to try out a whole bunch of new recipes?? So, here we go! Made this yummy blueberry crumble cake! Doesn’t it look beautiful?

You have to try it yourself! Easy easy, as usual!No more Blabla.. let’s get to baking!

Ingredients: 190g of flour for the cake + 65g for the crumble 90g of sugar for the cake + 80g for the crumble

2 teaspoons of baking powder A pinch of salt 160ml of milk

55g of melted butter for the cake + 55g for the crumble 1 egg, slightly beaten 1 teaspoon of good vanilla extract 250g of fresh (or frozen) blueberries

Grab two bowls, one big, one small.

For the cake batter: combine flour (190), sugar (90), baking powder (2tsp), salt (pinch), milk (160ml), melted butter (55), one egg slightly beaten and vanilla extract in the big bowl and beat until well blended.Get your cake tin, cover it with wet and squeezed baking paper, pour the cake batter in it, spread evenly and top with the blueberries, trying to cover the whole surface.

In the small bowl combine sugar (80), flour (65) and butter (55), toss with a fork until crumbly and then sprinkle with your hands on the blueberries.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180 degrees for 40 minutes or until lightly browned.

Serve it with fresh whipped cream if you feel like indulging even more!

Pair it with natural greek yogurt and fresh blueberries for a decadent breakfast!

I never thought that I would actually go to the Fiji Islands one day! I mean, from Europe it’s like flying all over the other side of the world and even further..

BUT from Singapore it is “only” a 10 hours direct flight to Nadi, the main Island of Fiji. So, we booked it!

We landed very early in the morning, like at 4, so we got to see the sunrise from the beach where we were stranded before having a very early check-in and access to our amazing room – many very grateful thanks to the Hilton Nadi, the upgrade was great and we really enjoyed our short stay with them!

And this sunrise and beautiful calming view was already a proper reward for the long flight, don’t you agree?

So, as I was saying, after the 10 hours flight we thought we might need a break before taking the ferry to our final destination on Tokoriki Island. And traveling with two children, this was definitely the right decision. We enjoyed the time on the main Island, did some shopping and were lucky to have great pools at the Hilton.

On the next day in the afternoon we then headed to the ferry Terminal (actually, they picked us up at the hotel) and after almost 2 hours, we were in paradise!

Do you want to see more pictures? Because they definitely say more then all the words I can put together.. I have never seen so many different blues at once! And the colors, their depth and intensity kept changing like every minute, I was never tired of looking at the view!

See? Amazing, isn’t it?? The water was obviously crystal clear, perfect for snorkeling at the coral reef just a few hundred meters away from the coast, accessible by the complimentary jet ski service provided from the Sheraton, great especially for our 8 year old son, so he didn’t have to swim all the way, but was able to enjoy the snorkeling and of course the jet ski ride!

Every night gave us a different sunset, the sky would slowly turn from blue into warm tones of red, pink, orange and yellow. And yes, some guests would arrive by helicopter!

By the way, do you see the island on the picture? That’s where Tom Hanks was stranded while producing the movie Castaway!

Ok, so not only the view, the sea, the vegetation, the underwater life was amazing, but of course the food as well.

The Fiji kitchen has been influenced from the indian one, so we tasted very mild curries and dishes that reminded us of the indian cuisine. They use a lot of coconut – I love it, so it was perfect for me! We also found a lot of Taro and other roots and the interesting (and yummy) thing was that they use the leaves as well, they turn out to be a kind of spinach, mostly sautéed and then enriched in a coconut gravy sauce.

The food at the Sheraton was really really good! And as it sometimes happens, good food is not necessarily photogenic, so, before you have a look at the pictures, bear in mind that it tasted amazing!!

This Entree was really interesting and tasty: scotched eggs with potato and mustards seeds, tamarind chutney, pickled onions and chimichurri.

The picture above and below are the same dish, first before adding the fragrant curry sauce and after. It was a wild fish in fragrant curry sauce (mild, lovely!), aloo chop (an indian spiced potato dumpling) and jasmine rice on the side.

An international cuisine with local flavors, offered also the dish above, squid ink linguini with smoked paprika and lobster bisque, mussels, prawns, fish and cherry tomatoes.

I’m Italian so I usually never order italian inspired dishes as I have certain expectations, but I have to admit, that this was really good, also the linguini were fantastic!

And you see what I mean when I say that the dishes just don’t look pinterest worthy?? But believe me, this Tuna was sooooo good! That even in the darkness I had to take this terrible shot to share this amazing dish with you: freshly caught local tuna in coconut broth with palusami (taro leaves with coconut and onions) and snake beans.

You could really taste the freshness of the tuna and the portion was big enough to feed two hungry adults!!