{la vida loca} december bits : our Christmas in Macau + boxing day in HK

Holidays´ celebrations started quite early for us this year, we have had a non-stop social gatherings  which I cannot complain about and Christmas Eve/Day were not the exception. 

I meet up with Juliana for a casual lunch over noodles and pork chop but seeing that the eatery Miss Loh recommended was closed we opted for your typical all-sorts-of-chinese-esque-touristy-restaurant in Rua da Cunha or more commonly know as the sweet´s street. (I think my new love is  stir fried french beans à la chinese) 

Paris {ville gâteau} fav pâtisseries + salons de thé: La Pâtisserie des Rêves [Pierre Conticini] + meeting Cristina Lasarte

To be honest this Pastry Shop with an ultra modern design was not on my list of Incortournables because as you can see on previous {VG} editions I have a fondness for old school Pâtisseries. So, yes I think we can say in terms of pastries and desserts I heart vintage (and pedigree).

However I ended up at this sort of ultra-minima-meets-girly-pink cake shop when Cristina Lasarte (from Buenos Aires to Paris food blog) proposed their cozy and  zen salon de thé for the setting of a short but heart felted rencontre. As hundreds of other food writers and bloggers Cristina and I have an online friendship but wasn´t until this past June that we had the chance to finally meet each other. And so we did. We talked about family, expat life, our home countries and of course la Ville Lumière et les Gourmandises!. (As a side note I must say meeting someone from your online world on the real world is a quite bizarre but fun experience. I was so nervous when I first meet her!)

{eating out} La Cantine Vegetarianne - Aix en Provence, France

{recipe} Yotam Ottolenghi´s corn fritters for breakfast, brunch, diner or the art of versatility - {Receta}... Tortitas de elote (maiz, choclo)

What a surprise, non?. Days are flying away and I´m finding it difficult to make time for all the things I want to achieve before the year ends. Chances are you´re in the same position?. Welcome festive season stress....

To avoid stress, today I´m sharing a super easy (really easy) recipe that I have been preparing quite often. Although fresh corn is officially out of season, if you´re lucky and can get your hands on a couple of corns on their cobs, voilà!, here´s the recipe you need to make those sweet kernels shine.

Also, just in case you need more `selling´ in order to jump from your coach towards the kitchen, let me add I believe this is one of those perfect-for-every-occasion-dishes. While presented as mini portions they can be easily enjoyed as hors d´oeuvres, if you serve them at a normal size (palm hand size) they become just the proper side dish to complement fish (I´m thinking salmon burgers or even  grilled red snapper) or if you´re vegetarian, serve these cakes with a copious amount of greens.