Everyday life is the special occasion!

February 03, 2016

Cozido à Portuguesa

I love cooking meals for family get-togethers, specially during summertime and during harsh, cold winter days, specially if the meal involves comforting food, where I put my heart on the plate. This typical dish, Portuguese "cozido",  has its origins in the Beira region and is commonly made from shin of beef, pork, and Portuguese smoked sausages and in some regions chicken, served with cabbage, carrots, turnips, rice and  potatoes. Traditionally a well plated dish will consist of some quantity of one of everything mentioned below albeit in a smaller cut up portion, but go with what you have, as I did and you'll surely won't regret it. Have fun in the kitchen!

Ingredients:
  • stewing beef (whole piece not cut up stew meat)
  • pork ribs
  • pork neck bones
  • morcela sausage (a Portuguese blood sausage)
  • chourico sausage (the Portuguese equivalent to chorizo)
  • salpicao sausage (a Portugese sausage)
  • farinheira sausage (a Portuguese mealy sausage)
  • lean unsmoked bacon slab, in one piece
  • turnips
  • potatoes
  • white cabbage
  • carrots
  • rice

Place all the meat except for the sausages in boiling water enough to cover all and allow it to  cook at a low boil. Add salt and chili to taste. As each item of meat cooks, remove it from the broth into a separate dish.Please note that different meats will cook differently.  Check your meat periodically for your desired tenderness [I like it super tender].When all the meat has cooked thoroughly place the white cabbage, potatoes, carrots and turnips in the broth and cook.  Remove vegetables [as they may cook at varying rates check periodically] as they are cooked and set aside with the meat.  Finally add the sausages and boil until cooked being careful to watch the farinheira as it can explode.When the sausages are near being fully cooked gently place the meat back into the broth pot, along with vegetables so that all the ingredients can come up to temperature. Place the vegetables last into the pot.To plate the dish place the cabbage into a platter. Slice the beef, pork, chicken and sausages into manageable small pieces and place on top leaving the bone in pieces a little bigger so as to not distort the natural shape of the meat.Garnish the dish with the remaining vegetables around the platter and top with slices of sausage. I always like to reserve some of the broth and cook the rice in it, so I took  some broth out to cook the rice in it, before adding all the ingredients back into the pot to reheat. 

 Ingredientes:
  • carne de vaca para estufar (peça inteira)
  • costelas de porco
  • ossos de porco do pescoço
  • morcela
  • chouriço
  • salsicha salpicão (uma salsicha Português) 
  • farinheira
  • toucinho
  • nabos
  • batatas
  • repolho branco
  • cenouras
  • arroz
  • sal
  • piri piri

Coloque toda a carne, exceto as salsichas em água suficiente para cobrir tudo e deixe cozinhar em lume baixo. Adicione sal e piri piri a gosto.À medida que cada peça de carne for cozendo, retire-a do molho da cozedura, para um prtao à parte.Lembre-se que as  diferentes carnes vão cozinhar de forma diferente. Verifique a carne periodicamente para que fique com a textura desejada [eu gosto da carne super tenra].Quando toda a carne estiver cozinhada, colocar o repolho branco, batatas, cenouras e nabos no caldo e cozinhe.Remover vegetais [como eles podem cozinhar a medidas variáveis ​​verificar periodicamente]à medida que estiverem cozidos e reserve à parte juntamente com a carne. Por fim, adicione os enchidos e deixe ferver até ficarem cozidos tendo o cuidado de ir verificando a farinheira, pois pode rebentar. Quando os enchidos estiverem perto de estar totalmente cozidos, coloque delicadamente a carne de volta na panela do caldo, juntamente com os legumes para que todos os ingredientes possam voltar a ficar à mesma teperatura . Coloque os vegetais por último na panela.Para o empratamento coloque o repolho num tabuleiro. Corte as carnes e  os enchidos em pedaços em pedaços pequenos, deixando o osso nos pedaços um pouco maiores, de modo a não distorcer a forma natural do carne.Guarneça o prato com os restantes
legumes em torno do prato e cubra com os enchidos. Eu gosto sempre de reservar algum do caldo e cozinhar o arroz nele, por isso, tirei um pouco de caldo para cozinhar o arroz nele, antes de acrescentar todos os ingredientes de volta na panela para aquecer.

February 02, 2016

January Beauty Buys

This month I've chosen three different range of products to suggest you - a wonderful mask to pamper your skin, a bold but universally flattering lipstick to revamp your make up style and  a neutral nailpolish to give your nails a timeless chic feel. I hope you enjoy them!



1. This is a sheer pink, but it has just enough beige to keep it classic. This is a beautiful neutral for my pale skin tone. It's very complementary, doesn't make my hands look ruddy or yellowish. If you are looking for an opaque nail polish, Bubble Bath isn't a good choice. Even with three layers, I can still see the whites of my nails.With one layer, the polish may sometimes look a little streaky. I usually apply two to three layers to avoid streakiness and to get the colour to show. The wide brush of OPI also makes the application very easy. With a good top coat the result is so polished and with just a hint of shine.

2. Rebel is a really unique colour. It looks dark and purple in the tube, starts as berry on my lips, and fades into fuchsia. It's bold but not overwhelming. I often get a compliment when I wear it.  "Rebel" may seem dark in the tube, but you can really play with its intensity and build the colour as you like. The lasting power of this lipstick is like nothing I've seen before - it will fade but it will leave a pretty pink stain that won't disappear even when you eat and drink. Besides, you can wear it with whichever fashion look or style you have, whether it's classy and sophisticated, fun, sensual or edgy. Great for the upcoming Valentine's day!

3. This is not a cheap product I know, but wow does it work! The Glam Glow's Youthmud Tinglexfoliate treatment mask  smells so fresh and wonderful! It's a clay mask with chunks of leaves in it - don't be alarmed, they come in handy when exfoliating! It spreads over the skin nicely, pulling out all the gross, and after it dries it becomes an exfoliating mask when you dampen your face and scrub the mask off in circular motions!My skin looks soft, super fresh, reinvigorated, smooth, radiant and so nourished! I would wear it every single day if this was allowed, so I get to stick with just an appliance a week or two if it really must! I would highly recommend this product.

February 01, 2016

The Half-Bun Weekend Hair

On the weekends, lately, when my hair isn't falling the way I'd like it to but I don't want to totally give up with a messy ponytail, I've been embracing this effortless stylish hair look - the half bun [ when you wear the top half of your hair in a mini bun, and let the bottom half flow free and loose]. It's not a ponytail, yet it's also not a full-fledged bun, but it's a great hairdo if you're looking to switch up your ordinary top knot and it's so easy that anyone can nail it. Here are my steps to avhieve a nice, effortless but still super feminine half bun:

1) Add some texture to hair by backcombing or ruffling vigorously with fingertips. If you have a texturising spray, all the better [I swear by the Oribe Dry Texturising Spray] 

 2) Section the top layer of hair with fingertips into a roughly inverted V by running fingers from the tops of ears to the crown of your head

 3) Tie in a pony tail after finger-combing any really wild bits [but remenber that your goal isn't necessarily to get it super neat]

 4) Pull the hair coming out the pony into a circle around the band, pull it into the shape you’d like and secure with a couple of kirby grips. 
You're good to go!

This Too Shall Pass