Merry Christmas!

Well, the first of December has come and with it comes the time to put up the Christmas tree and start the Christmas party season.


With the work Christmas party out of the way (with a very dusty hang over to follow), the tree is officially up and my Christmas gift baking has begun. Each year I make numerous gift bags filled with various baked treats, and this year is no exception.


The first recipe on my list for this years baking are mini Christmas fruit cakes. I decided to cook friand size cakes and I couldn't resist placing a heart shaped piece of marzipan icing on each one (the icing was store bought). Stay tuned for more Christmas baking to come!

Bibimbap

This is incredible comfort food, and yet it is healthy. The best of both worlds!

It's a korean dish called Bibimbap. Ingredients can vary from restaurant to restaurant. In my version, I added: sushi rice topped with stir fried beef, shitake mushrooms, matchstick carrot sticks, finely sliced nori, wilted baby spinach and sesame seeds. Lastly a fried egg is placed on top, and the dish is served with a glass of miso soup and hot chilli sauce to add to taste. Then, the fun part begins; you mash it all together, add the chilli sauce, and eat.

It's very much a dish influenced by Japanese flavours. In most restaurants you can order it with either a fried or raw egg. In the version with the raw egg, the dish is served in a hot stone bowl, so that the heat cooks the raw egg as you mix it through. The best thing I love about this dish is, it's tasty and contains only a small portion of meat with a large amount of vegetables, which is why I call it healthy :)