0 American Breakfast

• The most popular weekday American breakfast is a bowl of cold cereal and a cup of orange juice for school children, or a pastry and cup of coffee (sometimes just the coffee) for a working adult.

• A weekend or restaurant breakfast may include eggs (usually prepared sunny-side-up, scrambled, or in omelet form), sausage pattys or links, bacon, ham, toasted bread (with butter, jam, peanut butter, or honey), hash browns, and pancakes or waffles with syrup. Sunday breakfasts are usually the grandest, as most people take the day to lounge.
  These are all common staples over the entire US, though the southern half would add biscuits covered in sausage gravy, and a bowl of grits (prepared either sweet or savory) as a popular morning dish.

• Regardless of the meal, breakfasts are rarely seen without orange juice (the nation's most popular fruit juice) and/or coffee to drink. It is common to add sugar and cream (which can be regular or flavored) to the coffee.
  Blueberry pancakes (complete with blueberries and butter on top) bacon, scrambled eggs, maple syrup, and slices of pineapple, grapefruit, and orange.
  
  
  Other Breakfast Types
  
  Country breakfast
  Urban commute breakfast
  All-day breakfast

0 FULL BREAKFAST

• Full breakfast is originally common in Britain and Ireland. But it can be preferred by Americans too. The full breakfast is traditionally served at breakfast time, but it is also popular at other times, usually replacing lunch. Rarely is it now served every day of the week, reserved instead for the weekend or on vacation in hotels

• Continental usually means coffee, tea, rolls, butter and jam. Full breakfast means the addition of juice, eggs and possibly some kind of meat. Breakfast may begin with orange juice, cereals, stewed or fresh fruits but the heart of the Full breakfast is bacon and eggs. They are variously accompanied by sausages, grilled tomato, mushrooms, tea, toast and marmalade. A cup of tea is a popular and traditional drink with breakfast, though coffee is also served.

0 CONTINENTAL BREAKFAST

Continental Breakfast Items

A continental breakfast typically includes fruit and several types of baked goods, including sweet and savory options. It also includes a few different types of beverages.

Fruit

Whole apples, fresh fruit salad, oranges, and/or bananas may be eaten at continental breakfast.

Baked Goods

Bagels are a very popular continental breakfast item. Mini bagels are often preferable to the full size option. Small bagels are a good choice when there are several items available for guests to sample. If you serve bagels, be sure to include a few different types of cream cheese and/or jelly.

It's also a good idea to include a few types of sweets on your continental breakfast spread. Many people enjoy doughnuts and muffins, and these items can be a great way to round out a selection of bagels and fruit. As with bagels, you can go with full size options or miniature muffins and doughnuts.

WHAT IS BREAKFAST?


When we search on Internet we see some definitions like these:

• an early morning meal; the first meal of the day (usually in the morning)

• Breakfast is the first meal of the day. The word is a compound of "break" and "fast," referring to the conclusion of fasting since the previous day's last meal. Breakfast meals vary widely in different cultures around the world but often include a carbohydrate such as cereal or rice, fruit and/or vegetable, protein, sometimes a dairy product, and a drink.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakfast
wordnetweb.princeton.edu/perl/webwn

0 CARROT BUNDT CAKE - CAKE BUNDT

I have always been a big fan of carrot cakes (be they Swiss, American, Swedish, etc..., you name it!), but growing up as I child I very rarely got to eat that delicious speciality as my family didn't like that treat. And until now, at home, I never made any as "supposedly" my boyfriend doesn't like them...

Well, the other day, I was able to prove him that he did like carrot cake and that his aversion to this baked good was based on stupid preconceptions. Never had I seen a carrot cake hater GOOBLE a carrot cake with such enthusiasm LOL!

You see, with the arrival of spring, I had been craving carrot cake more than usual as I have been seeing it everywhere lately. Magazines, blogs, sites, stores, all present their own version. After seeing countless pictures of carrot cakes and having been deprived of that goodie for so long, it was impossible not to cave in. I HAD to bake a carrot cake no matter if I was going to be the only one eating it...

So, I looked a round and found a recipe that would both fulfill my carrot cake and Bundt cake (remember, I am also a Bundt cake amateur) cravings. Nicole Weston's blog "Baking Bites" offered the solution: a delightful "Carrot Bundt Cake" with icing.

This "Carrot Bundt Cake" is without a doubt very delicious and is a lot fluffier than classic carrot cakes baked in sheet cake pans. It is incredibly moist, super tender without being chokingly compact, heavy or annoyingly wet. It also has a wonderful buttery taste and is perfectly spicy. Not forgetting that the orange flavored icing adds some extra oomph to it. A well-balanced and lipsmackingly luscious cake that will disappear fast!

~ Carrot Bundt Cake ~
Recipe taken from the blog "Baking Bites" (USA) and slightly adapted by Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums 2010.

Makes 1 cake/serves 12-14.

Ingredients for the "Bundt Cake":
2 1/2 Cups All purpose flour
2 Tsp Baking soda
1/2 Tsp Sea salt
2 1/2 Tsp Ground cinnamon
1/2 Tsp Ground allspice
1/4 Tsp Freshly ground nutmeg
2 1/2 Cups Sugar
3 Large eggs
2/3 Cup Unsalted butter, melted and cooled
1/2 Cup Orange juice (fresh, if possible)
zest of one organic orange
1 Tsp Pure vanilla extract
3 Cups Shredded carrots (from about 4 large carrots)
1 Cup Raisins
Ingredients for the "Orange Glaze":
1 Tbsp Unsalted butter, very soft
2 Tbsp Orange juice
A few drops orange extract
1 Cup Powdered sugar
Food coloring

Method for the "Bundt Cake":

1. Preheat oven to 180° C (350° F). Grease and flour a 10-inch bundt pan.
2. In a medium mixing bowl, whisk together flour, baking soda, salt and spices.
3. In the bowl of a mixer, whisk together sugar, eggs, butter, orange juice, orange zest and vanilla until smooth.
4. Pour the dry ingredients into the wet mixture and stir until almost combined. Stir in shredded carrots, followed by raisins (Batter should have carrots and raisins evenly distributed and no dry streaks of flour remaining).
5. Pour cake batter into prepared pan. Bake for 45-50 minutes, until a tester inserted into the center of the cake comes out clean.
6. Let cake cool in pan for 10 minutes, then turn cake out onto a wire rack to cool (cake will be dark on the outside from the caramelization of sugar against the pan; don’t worry if it looks a bit darker than you’d expect) completely before frosting.
Method for the "Orange Glaze":
1. Whisk all ingredients together until smooth. Add in a few drops more orange juice in the event that the frosting is too thick to pour easily.
2. Scrape glaze into a plastic bag and snip off the corner. Drizzle over finished cake (it is best to have the cake on a serving platter or on a wire cooling rack, where the excess can drip off if it runs down the sides of the cake) as desired.

Remarks:
You can replace the raisins by any other dry fruit or nut of your choice.
This cake can be left plain, but I find that the icing is a great addition.

Serving suggestions:
Serve this cake with whipped cream and a cup of coffee or tea.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

~ Cake Bundt Aux Carottes ~

Recette tirée du blog "Baking Bites" (USA) et légèrement adaptée par Rosa @ Rosa's Yummy Yums 2010.

Pour 1 cake/pour 12-14 personnes.

Ingrédients pour le "Cake":
320g de Farine blanche
2 CC de Bicarbonate de soude
1/2 CC de sel de mer
2 1/2 CC de Cannelle en poudre
1/2 CC de Poivre de la Jamaïque en poudre
1/4 CC de Noix de muscade en poudre
525g de Sucre cristallisé
3 Gros oeufs
160g de Beurre non-salé, fondu et à température ambiante
120ml de Jus d'orange (frais si possible) Le zest d'une orange bio
1 CC d'Extrait de vanille naturelle
315g de Carottes rapées finement (~4 grosses carottes)
158g de Raisins secs
Ingrédients pour le "Glaçage A l'Orange":
15g de Beurre non-salé, très mou
30g de Jus d'orange
Quelques gouttes d'extrait d'orange
120g de Sucre en poudre
Colorant alimentaire

Méthode pour le "Cake":
1. Préchauffer le four à 180° C. Beurrer et fariner le moule à Bundt (25cm de diamètre).
2. Dans un bol moyen, mélanger la farine, la bicarbonate, le sel et les épices.
3. Dans le bol d'un robot de cuisine, battre ensemble le sucre, les oeufs, le beurre fondu, le jus d'orange, le zest et la vanille afin d'obtenir un mélange homogène.
4. Incorporer les ingrédients secs au mélange et mélanger. Ajouter les carottes et les raisins secs (les raisins et la carotte doivent être bien distribués dans la pâte).
5. Verser la pâte dans le moule et cuire pendant 45-50 minutes, jusqu'à ce que la pointe d'un couteau enfoncée dans le cake en resorte sèche.
6. Faire refroidir le cake dans le moule pendant 10 minutes puis le démouler sur une grille afin qu'il refroidisse complètement avant de le glacer.
Méthode pour le "Glaçage A l'Orange":
1. Mélanger tous les ingrédients afin d'obtenir un glaçage homogène. Si le glaçage est trop sec, ajoutez un peu de jus d'orange.
2. Glacer le cake.

Remarques:
Si vous n'avez pas de moule à gâteau Bundt, alors un moule à Kougelhopf fera l'affaire.
Vous pouvez remplacer les raisins par d'autres fruits secs ou des noix.
Ce cake peut être servi sans glaçage bien que je pense que ça serait dommage car le glaçage se marie parfaitement au cake et ajoute une touche gourmande.

Serving suggestions:

Servez ce cake avec de la crème chantilly et une tasse de café ou de thé.

0 KIRMIZI BIBER - TURKISH CHILI FLAKES

Today, I am once again going to talk about another fabulous goodie that my friend Jessica (from Maryland) brought me back from her trip to Istanbul...

"Kirmizi Biber" are Turkish red pepper flakes (this name is also used to describe whole chili peppers). It is one of the most useful and popular spices in Turkish cooking. The flavor of this fine blend of chilli peppers ranges from mild and sweet (the version I have) to fiercely hot. The peppers are rubbed with olive oil and gently roasted until dark red giving it an unmistakable as well as unique flavour and aroma.

Try sprinkling "Kimzi Biber" over your dips (hummus, baba ganoush, tzatziki, etc...), sauces (tomato sauces), soups (hot yoghurt soup, tahini and chickpea soup, etc...), stews, vegetables (imam biyaldi, baked potatoes, etc...), salads, pasta (Italian or Turkish like Manti ravioli), cheese (halloumi, feta, fresh cheese), seafood (scallops, any fish, etc...), grilled meat (kebabs, steaks, etc...) or in your sandwiches (Turkish fish sandwich). It's unique smoky sweetness will enhance any dish with it's irresistibly round flavor. It is without doubt a very convenient condiment to have in the kitchen!

0 WEEKEND CAT BLOGGING #252

This week, Nikita Cat at "Meowsings Of an opiniated Pussycat" (USA) are happy to announce that they are hosting Weekend Cat Blogging #252...

To submit your kitty picture(s), you can either leave a message in her blog's comment section (with your permalinks) or contact her via e-mail without forgetting to give all the needed information.

Fridolin is still doing very well.
It seems that what the healer did had a positive effect on him...
He is very active, full of energy, extremely talkative, hungry and fit like a baby kitty.

HAPPY EASTER!