Purple Blueberry Cheesecake (no-bake)

For my dear Aunt's birthday I decided to make her a cheesecake, a purple one since it is her favourite colour. I wanted to use blackberries and blueberries to make a sort of ombre layer effect but since there were no blackberries in my local supermarket I used purple food coloring and blueberries instead. I used a 24" cake tin for this recipe.

Ingredients:

For colouring:
50g blueberries
Purple food colouring

For crust:
300g digestive biscuit
170g unsalted butter (melted)

For Filling:
600g cream cheese (room temperature)
2 tablespoon gelatin powder
350ml hot water
2 tablespoon vanilla extract
110g icing sugar

Directions:

1. Blend all the digestive biscuits into crumbs. If you don't have one, put them all in a large zip lock bag and hit it with a rolling pin.


2. Mix in the melted butter with the biscuits.

3. Flatten the mixture onto the cake tin and poke holes with a fork. Cling wrap it and leave it in the fridge while making the cheesecake filling.

4. Add gelatin powder with the hot water and set it aside to cool.

5. In a big bowl, combine the cream cheese, vanilla and icing sugar. Whisk it until it is soft and fluffy.

6. While whisking, add in the gelatin a bit at a time.

7. Split the cheesecake filling into two bowls and add the blueberries (I blended to make it a puree) in one and some food colouring in the other.


8. Pour in the bowl with the food colouring first, followed by the blueberries bowl. In the middle, I laid some fresh blueberries.


9. Leave in the fridge overnight.


* I accidentally erased the overall photo shots ( sorry! ) but I have one with my beautiful Aunt cutting it*




♥ Jess

Edo Cafe | Al Safa, UAE

I traveled quite a bit to get to this place to have some mochi. For those who don't know mochi, it is a Japanese sweet made from glutinous flour with a creamy filling inside. I have been a huge fan of Edo cafe when I used to live in UAE, so I was utterly upset when the Mirdiff branch closed. I visited the one in Al Safa to satisfy my craving.

The place was certainly very cute and better decorated than the one in Mirdiff, it was chic with adorable Japanese decor. The place was very empty and we were the only customers there, that being said you would think the service is faster since there is nobody else but that was unfortunately not the case.





My mouth was watering while I stared at all the colourful mochi's. However, I was not too eager on the price. Since I left they have increased each mochi to 12dhs! I mean sure they taste amazing, but I could fit the whole thing in my mouth. It was quite a steep price to pay.

I ordered a lychee, green tea and chocolate mochi.



I was highly disappointed.. Well, maybe I'm exaggerating. The mochi's were ALRIGHT it's just not how I remembered how Edo's mochi's used to tasted like in the Mirdiff branch. If you've never tried a mochi before, you should. They taste unique and like fluffy flavoured clouds you can eat. For those who already know what they taste like, this place is too overpriced for an OKAY tasting mochi. Probably would not come back again unless the prices go down or a groupon deal is out.

Btw, for those who want to try click here for a mochi deal.

♥ Jess

Location: City Walk Avenue Mall, Al Safa
Opening hours: Everyday 10am - 12am
Phone: +971 4 3440833
Website: http://www.edosweets.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Edo-Cafe-334600226659657/
Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/edocafe/

Breakfast smoothie recipe

I love smoothies because they're so easy to make, very filling and a great start to your day. J

Ingredients:

• 2 tablespoon chia seeds
• 1 cup almond milk
• Honey (to taste)
• 1 tablespoon cocoa
• 1 cup of green grapes
• A handful of spinach
• 1 1/2 frozen banana
• Toppings

Directions:

1. Mix 1/2 cup of almond milk with the chia seeds and honey. Refrigerate while doing the next few steps.
2. Blend 1 frozen banana with 1/2 cup almond milk and cocoa. Set aside.
3. Blend the grapes then add 1/2 frozen banana and spinach.
4. Assemble however you want. (I did Step 2 à Step 1 à Step 3)

I decorated mine with strawberries and pomegranates.

 ♥ Jess

Chocolate Chia Seeds pudding

I know I'm a tad bit late on the chia pudding wagon but here is my recipe on my version! 
This serves 8 shot cups, I enjoy having small amounts but if you would like to make it in cups just double the recipe, it should make 2 cups. :)

Ingredients:

• 1 cup chia seed
• 1 1/4 cup almond milk
• 1 tablespoon honey
• 2 tablespoon cocoa
• 50g dark chocolate (optional)
• Hazelnuts (optional)
• Toppings

Directions:

1. Mix all the ingredients together

2. Put 1 tablespoon of the mixture in, then add pomegranate (This step is optional).

3. Fill the rest of the cup with the remaining chia seed mixture then put any toppings you wish. 

4. Refrigerate for a minimum of 4 hours. 

I like to leave it overnight and have some for brekkie, but only if you can help not grabbing it in the middle of the night!

 ♥ Jess

How to make a watermelon cake

Hey lovelies!

I was super excited to make this (Yes, I made my own birthday cake), I LOVE watermelons so I was extremely eager to make this cake. I topped it with fresh fruits, I did not put the quantity down since it obviously depends on your watermelon size but read below to see how I put it together! 

Ingredients:

• A big juicy watermelon (I bought a 7 kg one)
• 500 ml whipping cream 
• Almond slices
• Strawberries
• Kiwi
• Pomegranate
• Blueberries

Directions:

1. Cut the top and bottom of the watermelon(I used the leftovers to juice because I could not bear to throw away the unused watermelon).

2. I was not sure whether I wanted to make a cylindrical cake or keep the original shape so I cut the outer skin of the watermelon before I decided to make it a cylinder.

3. Lay a clean towel under the watermelon and pat it dry. I recommend to leave it under the towel while you beat the whipping cream. I did not, and it end up soaking the cake plate while I was decorating it...

4. Cover your cake with cream. Make sure you have thick whipping cream or it will slide off, I would use the liquid whipping cream that you actually whip rather than the ones in a spray can since it didn't work out for me the last time I tried to make this.

5. Have fun and decorate it however you want!

I covered it with almond seeds and put my favorite fruits on top. :)

Have a fantastic day guys~

♥ Jess

Easy Peasy banana oatmeal pancakes

These yummy pancakes are a good, economical friendly breakfast for students. The best part? Super simple to make. It contains banana so it's got a naturally sweet taste which means no need for added sugar making it a healthy option as well!

Ingredients:

• 1 chopped banana
• 1/2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 1 large egg
• 1 1/4 cup rolled oats

Directions:

1. Put the rolled oats in a food processor (or blender) and blend until it's fine.

2. Add in the chopped bananas, egg and cinnamon then blend it again until you get a smooth texture.

3. Set fire to medium heat, use butter if not using a non-stick pan. Make circles about 1 tablespoon each.

4. Flip when you see small bubbles.

5. Serve with whatever you like!

                                                                                                               

♥ Jess

China Times Review | Dubai, UAE

My dad is an avid lover of Chinese cuisine and so he took me to try China Times in Deira City Centre. I had an absolute lovely time with my family here, the place was very empty so we had tip toe service for everything. The place was certainly very modern and chic. It's called China Times but it serves Japanese cuisine as well with a sushi train inside.

We ordered a large variety of food since we were seven people. For starters, my sister and I shared chicken corn soup (22dhs). This is, without fail the thing that we just MUST order if we go to a Chinese restaurant. However, when I first tried the soup it tasted so plain! There was so many chunks of chicken and I think the corn flour that was not mixed properly and was just downright not pleasant.

The rest of the food came at the same time, their service was super fast (probably because we were the only table being cooked for) and the china time dim sum basket we ordered (55dhs) came with three sauces.

 The hamour fish with mandarin and xo sauce (58dhs) tasted very peculiar, nothing that I was used to and it didn't exactly tickle my taste buds. I probably took a bite and couldn't bring myself to swallow another. 

So, this is sizzling tofu with vegetables. I guess I'm so used to the sizzling tofu they serve in Asian restaurants in Perth that I was disappointed when I saw this on the table. Taste-wise it was not that bad, but not that good either. It was quite bland, the only thing I could taste was pepper. Lots and lots of pepper.

As for the chicken noodles (38dhs) and mixed sushi, I was too full when I reached this dish so I didn't get to try it to make any comments. It looks great though, and nobody complained so I'm assuming it tastes decent.

This was the main star at the table for me. It was the first time I tried fried eggplant (33dhs) and the honey chilli sauce that went with it, nailed it. I thought this tasted amazing but my mother thought it tasted normal. I have no other eggplant-y dish to compare it to, but it's yum.

 All in all, the dishes were mediocre but I probably would just come again to have the eggplant with rice.

♥ Jess

Location: Level 2, Deira City Centre opp. Cinnabon
Opening hours: 11am-12am daily
Phone: 04 2952515