Author: Simonette

A year and a half ago my husband and I moved to Korea. I wanted to write about my life and experiences in Korea along with my current interests. Initially we came to Korea to use it as a stepping stone to immigrate to another country. But now since we’re here we are thinking of making it our new home even if it is just for the next few year as no one knows what the future holds. If you told me ten years ago I will be living in Korea now I would have called you out for bullshitting me. My brother always quotes Robbie Williams by saying “I sit and talk to God and he just laughs at my plans”. This is absolutely true. We have made so many plans with our lives but in the end its not up to us, no matter how much you try to take it into your own hands. So… here we are in Korea, living it up

5 Ways to spice up Banana bread.

October 27, 2016October 27, 201612 Comments

We all how to make a basic banana bread. It is easy and delicious.

Basic Banana bread recipe.

INGREDIENTS.

6 ripe Bananas ( most people use 4 but 6 makes it moist)
2 cups flour
1 cup sugar
250 grams butter
2 eggs
teaspoon vanilla essence
pinch of salt

Preheat the oven at 180 degrees. Mix all the ingredients together. Scoop into a bread pan and bake for 20 minutes or until ready. I usually have to bake mine for longer because I have a tiny Wiswell oven.

The Chocolate Chip Banana Bread

Add some cinnamon and chocolate chips to your banana bread and there you’ve got it…

Recipe Here

Nutella Banana Bread

INGREDIENTS

4 large ripe bananas { mashed }
1 Cup Butter { room temperature }
2 Eggs
2 Cups of Sugar
4 Cups of Flour
½ tsp. Salt
½ Cup Warm Water
2 tsp. baking soda
1 Cup Nutella
1 Cup Chocolate Chip

Recipe Here

Cream Cheese Filled Banana Bread

For those cheese lovers out there, this one is for you.

INGREDIENTS

Cream Cheese Filling
1 large egg
4 ounces softened brick-style cream cheese (lite is okay)
1/4 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons all-purpose flour

Recipe Here

Pumpkin Spice Caramel Banana Bread.

With thanksgiving coming up, this might be the ideal recipe for your holiday.

INGREDIENTS

2 cups all purpose flour + extra to coat pan
1 teaspoon baking soda
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/2 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice (I used McCormick)
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/2 cup unsalted butter + 1 Tablespoon to coat pan
3/4 cup light brown sugar
2 large eggs beaten
6 mashed bananas
1/2 cup caramel bits (I used Kraft Caramel Bits)
1 teaspoon vanilla

Recipe here

Banana Bread Doughnuts

Last but not least, if you’re not in the mood to make a whole banana bread, why not make some doughnuts then.

INGREDIENTS

Blend:

½ C butter
½ C applesauce
3/4 C sugar
2 whole eggs and 4 egg whites
Add:
2⅔ C flour
Add:
2 Tbsp fresh lemon juice (about ½ a lemon)
2 tsp baking soda
4 overripe bananas- add one at a time

Browned Butter Glaze:

¼ C butter, browned on stove
2 C powdered sugar
¾ tsp vanilla
2-3 Tbsp lowfat milk

Recipe here

Planning the perfect High-Tea

October 26, 2016October 22, 20164 Comments

Even before Alice in Wonderland people have been enjoying High-Tea parties. In the past the High tea was more of an afternoon treat to ease the hunger as dinner use to be served at 8pm. Nowadays however we can’t afford the luxury of tea time snacks during our busy work schedules. Therefore High-tea is reserved for special occasions and holidays

High-usually consists of sandwiches, cakes and scones served with tea.

Decor

Table arrangements

Food Display

The food display will be one of the most important things to get right. You could either display all the treats on the guest tables or have a separate food table.

rustic woodland wedding cake and dessert table

For great ideas on how to decorate a food table you can buy Amy Atlas’s book ‘The Cake Parlour Sweet Tables’.

Food

Sandwiches

Adding some colour to the sandwiches always makes it look more edible. The idea is to keep these sandwiches small, and simple but visually appealing

Cakes

Even Marie Antionette knew how to enjoy proper cake. Instead of going for a full sized cake, these bite size cakes are perfect for your guests.

Tarts

Over the years mini tarts has become extremely popular. You could serve anything from apple pie to lemon marangue at your High-Tea

strawberry-and-champagne-truffle-tart-11

Scones

Never underestimate the basic scone with cream and jam but you could also bake blueberries or orange into your scone to give it a special touch

May your High-Tea be a sweet success!!!

Dependant Personality Style

October 25, 2016October 25, 2016Leave a comment

Many people exhibit dependant traits but those with Dependant personality disorder have and excessive need to be taken care of which result in submissive and clinging behaviours, regardless of the consequences. They are overly dependent on others to make their decisions for them and are generally unable to make decisions for themselves without advice and reassurance from others (Kaplan et al., 1994).

This fashion style stems from the idea that a person with Dependant Personality Style is a fashion follower. She will know exactly what’s in style this season and what’s not. She will be reliant on the styles of her friends and on others, will often dress to fit in and follows trends religiously.

Friend style reliant

Fashion straight from a fashion magazine/blog

Follows trends

Dress to fit in

vogue_swish-nba-star-russell-westbrook-s-5-tips-for-a-winning-new-york-fashion-week

screenshot2012-09-23at122126pm_zps19474c0a

When it comes to style we all are dependant from time to time. Adding your own flare to trends makes that style your own.

How dependant is your style?

Read more about other personality related styles here, here and here

My frustration with so-called fashion bloggers.

October 24, 2016October 23, 20167 Comments

I understand the fact that everyone, eventually, wants to make some money out of their blogs. But that doesn’t mean that you should only try and link things from the affiliate programs that you are part of.

I recently saw a gorgeous dress on Pinterest. I clicked on the link and it took me to the Asos website. Stupidly, I bought the dress without properly checking that it is the same dress because I was sooooo excited to get this lovely dress. It was only when I opened the package that I realized that this was not the dress I wanted. It was however, the dress I ordered.

The Dress I saw…

The dress I got…

I realize that it’s my own fault for not looking at the details, but at that moment it looked like the same dress. I am just annoyed that someone would link something totally unrelated and say that this is what they bought from a particular shop. This is just one example. The other day I also saw a blogger wearing a lovely jersey but none of the products that she linked was the jersey she was wearing.

So please don’t just link stuff to get sales. There is a reason we follow these bloggers and it’s because they have great style and typically, if we like something that they are wearing we would like to buy the SAME thing. Not something similar….

Here is what the dress looks like.

The Accountant – Review

October 21, 2016October 19, 2016Leave a comment

A movie about loyalty and Asperger’s.

Plot

Christian Wolff ( Ben Afleck) is an accountant for some of the most dangerous people in the world. As a Ray King(J.K Simmons), the head of the department of treasury Crime enforcement division, is preparing to retire he is adamant to find out who ‘The Accountant’ is. Christian takes on a legitimate client, who’s accounting clerk found an in discrepancy in the books amounting up to millions of dollars. As Christian uncovers the truth, the bodies start to drop.

The movie is deeper than the plot suggest. My one friend commented that the accountant is the nerdy Batman, which was pretty funny at the moment. The movie however is about a man with Asperger’s, an Autism spectrum disorder. He was raised in an Army family. His mother left him and his brother with their father when she couldn’t deal with the pressures of having a son with Autism. His father was more of a ‘no pain no gain’ kind of guy and believed that instead of creating a sensory environment for his son where he won’t have to deal with sensory overload, he believes that ‘if bright lights and loud noises bothers his son, then those are the things that needs to be increased because the world is a noisy place’. He sends his sons to various martial arts institutes to train with masters from different art forms. Therefore making him a ‘killing machines’.

The movies touches on some aspects of Asperger’s in a way I haven’t really seen in a movie, it also gives the world some information on what a person with Asperger’s goes through socially.

The movie was interesting and there were sufficient action, it also had a good story line for an action movie.

If you are interested in Asperger’s and don’t want to read psychology books about it you can always read HOUSE RULES by Jodi Picoult. She gives us a deep look into the lives of Aspies, their families and the communities they live in.