Banana Bread 2.0

Pumped, loaded, and delicious!
Topped it with shaved coconut, walnuts, and chocolate chips.

I made the Banana bread recipe many years ago, in 2018 to be precise, for a local baking brand using their products. We shot it then in the trendy style of the mid 2010; square videos, top view, less than a minute, and a quick edit.

I made the recipe many times after it and each time I change something in it. Sometimes I add more chocolate, more and different nuts, and sometimes I get naughty and add brandy or bourbon in the mix. Hence the Banana Bread 2.0.

Continue reading “Banana Bread 2.0”

Sourdough Bread

I recently read an article about how and why most of us resorted to baking during quarantine. Whether is it anxiety baking or procrastibaking, as the article states, it is an activity that we enjoy to let time pass during confinement and have a good delicious product, that is usually more delicious because we made it ourselves.

Sourdough bread recipe Bakalian mills cookin5m2 -EOS 5D Mark IV_1650

I was never really into baking bread. I LOVE eating bread, but when it comes to making it, whether it is our local thin chewy pita bread or a good crusty loaf, my motto was (a literal translation of an Arabic saying) buying it rather than raising it. That was until confinement hit us and I decided to start raising my bacteria pet: Quarant7ino (the 7 reads as the other H sound in Arabic, and t7in/t-hin means flour)
Yes, I started a sourdough starter from scratch.
I did a lot of research and checked out different sources, watched videos, read articles, asked people, got helpful replies and tips on instagram, looked into different flours and methods, and now I am finally able to say
I MADE A GOOD LOAF Continue reading “Sourdough Bread”

Three-way Breakfast Toasts

What is sleep if it weren’t a time machine to breakfast?

And breakfast is an appetizer to lunch. Dinner is a meal by itself.

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I seriously open my eyes, check my notifications, and go to the bathroom all while I’m thinking what to cook for breakfast. Pancakes…. Eggs…. Shakshouka…. Toasts…. Cereal… Anything. Anything with coffee. Continue reading “Three-way Breakfast Toasts”

Palestinian Msakhan; Pulled Chicken Wraps with Onions and Sumac

The draft for this post was written in 2015. I dug it up, edited it a bit, to post it in 2016 with more intention.

Palestinian Msakhan Chicken roll 2018 recipe cookin5m2-7477

May 15 marks a turning point in the course of history with massive consequences
It is the day Palestinians were forcibly expelled from their homes to nowhere
It is when Palestinians started looking for home, a shelter, a roof to stay under. For 68 years, Palestinians are being chased out of their homes and lands, tortured, imprisoned, mistreated, and killed.
Massacres are happening on a regular basis. The world has become so numb. We count numbers. Unless there’s a notable person among those killed, the death toll is meaningless

Photos from Dbayeh Palestinians refugees camp I took last year

As I probably have mentioned in previous posts, I am a 2nd generation Palestinian with a Lebanese nationality. I barely have any sense of belonging to neither. My grandmother used to tell me about how they fled and how they settled in the area that became the refugees camp of Dbayeh, the camp that neither most Palestinians nor Lebanese know about. Continue reading “Palestinian Msakhan; Pulled Chicken Wraps with Onions and Sumac”

Jamie Oliver’s Hot Cross Buns

Jamie Oliver's Hot Cross Buns recipe - cookin5m2-3Jamie Oliver's Hot Cross Buns recipe - cookin5m2-6

Happy Easter to those who celebrated Easter this past week.

Eventhough I am not a full time employee this year, but I enjoye celebrating both holidays. I am a Greek Catholic, and our holiday was last month. I like the traditions I grew up to especially when I was a devout church boy and the leader of our church choir. I love the chants from Good Friday; sad, melancholic, and glorious at the same time. I attended both celebrations. Can’t get more Easter-y than this 😋 Continue reading “Jamie Oliver’s Hot Cross Buns”