I <3 Froobie & Choowy Goowy Cafe

Every time I go to 52 Degrees (every single time) I have to get myself a medium size cup with two side-by-side icy yogurt flavors from froobie!

First time it was watermelon and peach

Second time it was watermelon and original – I ordered espresso this time too (check out the cute cup) and LOVED it… I think they use illy coffee if I am not mistaken! One of my favorites ❤

And last night it was again watermelon and

Spotted: Sugarcane Juice in Syria

While in Syria I spotted a juice vendor selling Sugarcane Juice (عصير قصب – Aseer Asab), which brought back old memories!! I haven’t had sugarcane juice since for ever!

It is made by pressing juicer (in the machine above) when you place your order to ensure freshness…. the juice that comes out is greenish yellow – it taste sweet (of course) but not too sweet as the name suggests 😉 It is also refreshing

As advertised on their machine, it is supposed to be very good for your health; strengthening your liver, giving instant energy to your body (Oh yeah), helps in digestion, stimulates the blood circulation, and prevents atherosclerosis.

Price tag? SYP75 (around 450 fils)

Salep – a la Ansam518

A couple of weeks back, I posted this Salep (sa7lab – سحلب) recipe on my Facebook Group, Ansam’s Kitchen

Makes up to 8 cups (small coffee cups)

Ingredients:
**********
*4 Cups of Milk
*4 Tbs Cornstarch
*4 Tbs Sugar
*1 Tsp Cardamom
*2 Tbs Rosewater
*4 Pcs Grounded Mastic (optional)
*2 Tsp Vanilla (optional)
*Cinnamon, Grounded Pistachio, and Sliced Almonds for Granish

Method:
*******
*Heat 3 cups of milk, add sugar, mastic, and cardamom – stir
*On the side, mix the cornstarch with the remaining cup of milk (cold) well
*When the milk on the stove start heating up (before boiling), add the milk and cornstarch mix to it – stir in well
*Keep stirring slowly and non stop till it starts boiling – lower the heat and keep stirring. You will feel the texture getting thicker (around 2-3 mins)
*Take it off the stove and pour it into your cups. Let it stand for about 20-30 seconds before you sprinkle it with shredded almonds, ground pistachio, and cinnamon
*Serve it hot/warm

Enjoy 😉

For more recipes, you can check out Ansam’s Kitchen Group (link)

Breakfast at PQ

One of my favorite places to have breakfast at is PQ – Le Pain Quotidien 😉

I love their food… their organic food! I just miss the spreads they used to offer 😦 Not anymore….

Anyways… I went with Luluscious for brunch and while we were placing our order, the waiter goes “Too bad we will be closing soon” I gasped!! Turned out he was teasing us… they are closing down at The Avenues phase I and moving to phase II 😛 *whew*

Anyways… I always get their hot chocolate – its my favorite place to have hot chocolate 😉

I order it skimmed and enjoy it to the last drop! Knowing me, I favor paper cups for hot drinks, but not in PQ 😉 I love their huge bowl-like cups so much 😀

Our brunch consisted of three dishes… two open sandwiches (one is kashkawan cheese/mushroom, the other was turkey, cheese, and chicken) and egg Benedict

Lulu snapped this amazing pics for me… LOVE the natural light effect in it ❤

Their open sandwiches were fabulous… Luluscious approved 😉 The cheese is heated/melted just right, and the mushrooms were a great addition! Turkey and chicken one was good 🙂

As for the egg Benedict, perfect hollandaise and the egg was just perfect – I asked for it to be without spinach 😉 I just like it better that way!

There are three locations for PQ that I know of, The Palms, The Avenues, and Marina Crescent. Their tel numbers respectively are: 25633684, 24954631, and 22244942

Turkish Coffee at Cham Hotel – Syria

Every now and then we sit in the lounge area in the lobby when waiting for someone or waiting to go out…

Its an open area with  a very high ceiling…. decorated to resembles a courtyard of the typical Arabian Syrian house – with the fountain in the middle… lots of people from all over the world are there chilling out… most of them would order coffee while waiting…

They offer different kinds of coffees…

I, for one, like to have Turkish Coffee every once in a while… but while here in the hotel, I have been ordering it a lot

Its perfectly made… one of the best I’ve had actually! I order it plain with no sugar at all, and its just a tease. Makes you wanna come back and sit in the lobby for more!

The Khan – Part II – Syria

So after a very beautiful tour in The Khan (first part)… I went upstairs to take more pictures of the upper level part of it.

The first couple of rooms I went to were for new designers “Createurs” in the region. Beautiful clutches, accessories, clothing, and more…

Very nice collections of

Bubble T

Not too long ago my friend Yuni told me to try out Bubble T’s lychee iced tea. Now I have never been to Bubble T before but I was so anxious to try this iced tea…

To my luck, my other friend Shushu was invited to do hair nails in Galleria 2000 at around 11:30 last weekend. We decided to meet at Bubble T at 10:00am before her appointment

The mall was

The Khan – Part I – Syria

After a long day at Hameediya and Bakdash Booza,Mrs. Sandra -the very very sweet Sandra- picked me up from the hotel to take me to her store, The Khan (link).

We walked in, she gave me a tour – in the middle of which her husband, and co-owner, Mr. Amjad joined in… they were very friendly and very happy to show me around the place… I was over the moon! The place is really hip and old – in terms of history! Its rich of culture… every room, every wall, every corner has a story! I can’t help but admire such places… they retain the history and culture so well, yet they are welcoming visitors from all over the place in!

Then they let me be…. free with my camera all over the place! I took so many pics so I wont post them all in one blog post 😉 Today is part one 😉

I will start with the side entrance to The Khan..

We will start here, with the

Las Iguanas – Milton Keynes

If you are looking for a casual Latin dining, Las Iguanas is the place 😉 We love this restaurant that we make sure to dine in there at least once while in Milton Keynes. They offer a variety of dishes, yummy dishes I must say. The staff members are so friendly… and the place is quite nice – very retro-like lamps and art deco-y wallpapers… very spacious too 😉

Looking into their menu – they cater to all tastes, many options for vegetarians and nut-allergic diners!

We started off with

Food Maestros – Day I

Last night I went to Food Maestros with my mom. The place was set-up nicely… with somehow interactive (cooking/food preparing) booths outside, and the rest (selling ready made food or services) inside.

So I will take