Sylvanian Families Kitchen Cooking Set

Dear Readers,

I would like to show you in detail the Sylvanian Families Kitchen Cooking Set that I am giving away to one of my dear readers. This set makes a wonderful addition to either a home kitchen or a restaurant. I have displayed the items on a typical kitchen set from Calico Critters. 

Included in the set are :

• 1 kettle with lid
• 1 pot with lid and stew
• 1 pan with lid and 6 ravioli pieces
• 1 skillet with omelette
• 1 oven tray with 2 rectangular bread (or fish cakes?)
• 1 oven tray with 5 round biscuits
• 1 plate with pasta and tomato sauce
• 1 flour canister with a lid
• 1 salt shaker
• 1 pepper shaker
• 1 pair of oven mitts
• 1 spatula
• 1 ladle
• 1 kitchen thongs

But strangely, I cannot find the 6 ravioli pieces anymore!  I don't know what happened to them... Maybe one of my critter ate them all ^_^

All the lid and food items are removable which increases the possibilities of display.   I really like the soft green color of the pot, pan and kettle.   They look very similar to the life-size enamel cooking ware!  The word "COOKING" is engraved on the lid of the pot and pan.  I think that is a really nice design and gives the cooking ware a "real" look.

The scale is about 1:12.  It is made for the Sylvanian Families/Calico Critters but it will also fit small dolls that are 4 to 5 inches tall.  

My Littlest Pet Shop Blythe doll has nicely accepted to model the oven mitt for you to see.  She is a newcomer in my dolly world and I'll post more about her and her friends soon.

Little Dal Humpty Dumpty wasn't to happy though.  She wasn't impressed by the set.  Especially the omelette ^_^.

Another type of doll that fits well with this set is a Mimiworld doll!

The set that I will send to the winner of the giveaway will be in a brand new sealed package.

And you'll be sure to receive the 6 ravioli pieces that I was missing in my set!  You can enter the giveaway by leaving a comment in my post HERE or by leaving a comment in this post as well.  This giveaway is open to my present blog readers only to thank them for their continuous support!  Other prizes will be posted next week and it will be open to existing and new readers.   The participation period ends on Saturday 8th November 2014 at 9pm CET.   I will announced the winner that night (if I am still awake, if not, I'll announce on Sunday!).  

I was going to post a review of this set on the Sylvanian Families Forum but since it is missing pieces, I'll have to find another item to review.  Don't forget you can still have a chance to win a cute fridge (donated by the generous Mariana  from Sugarbush Valley: an Ideal Life) if you submit a review in the REVIEW SECTION of the Sylvanian Families Forum!  Closing date 23 November 2014.  Good luck everybody!

Disclaimer: All opinions are my own. I was not paid or received gifts to write this or mention any stores or website. You may find a better store in your area.

Japanese Beef Curry

Dear Readers,

I love Japanese Beef Curry but I have never cooked it myself.  It's apparently a staple in Japanese cuisine and it's like the comfort food by excellence loved by kids and adults alike.

So popular that Re-ment has created many incarnations of this fabulous dish!  Here below is only a few of them!  (yes, there are even more curry miniatures! O_O)

Re-ment Curry Pot from the "Is Dinner Ready?" Collection

Re-ment Curry Plate from the Strawberry and Bean Collection

Re-ment Curry Pot from the Hello Kitty Kitchenware Collection

Re-ment Curry Plate from the Hello Kitty My Meals Collection

Re-ment Curry and Rice from the Doraemon Collection

Re-ment Hawaiian Curry Meal from the Airplane Meals Collection

Aren't those awesome miniatures?  I especially like the Hello Kitty Curry Pot and Plate!  What's your favorite?

All these photos were making me crave for a sweet Japanese curry plate with steamy hot white rice... so I decided to cook some!  It was a lot easier than I thought.  I used the recipe from this website: Japanese Cooking 101.

The recipe says to let it simmer for 45 minutes but I think 1 hour would make the meat more tender.  I also used a pre-packaged curry paste from S&B Golden Curry Sauce Mix which I found in a Korean grocery store (although I bet you can find it in the International Food section of any grocery store as well).  

It comes in four different level of "hotness" : 

1. Mild
2. Medium Hot
3. Hot
4. Extra Hot

I don't mind eating spicy food but I wanted the kids to try it out so Mild was the safest option.

Well it was a success!  All the children loved it, even my super picky boy!   

I will probably try to be more adventurous next time and make my own curry roux from scratch instead of using the pre-packaged one.  I will also try to substitute the beef with chicken or tofu to make a change :)

Do you like curry? 

The Joy of Cooking

Dear Readers,

How was your weekend?  Mine was simply fabulous!  The weather was perfect! The sun came back and it was finally warmer.  I took my children to a kite festival on Saturday located in a beautiful park downtown.  And on Sunday, we went to another park and took our bicycles along.  The children's cousins were there as well so they just ran around and played for 4 hours each day.  We came home exhausted but happy.  Everybody slept very well at night.

The running and fresh air did good to my old body LOL  My cough is still there but I feel less dizzy than usual and it was a good workout to run around with the kids.  

I came home more energized than ever and did something I don't do often: cooking!  I am not a good cook and I dread cooking meals because I am so afraid it will turn out bad.  I grew up never learning to cook because my mom didn't want me to "waste" my time in the kitchen while I should be studying to earn my university degree instead.  So she never taught me and never wanted me in the kitchen with her.  She firmly believed that cooking could be learned later.

She unfortunately passed away before teaching me any of her wonderful recipes.  I don't know if that's why I was always reluctant to want to cook, because it would always remind me of my mother and how I'll never know how to cook the meals she cooked for me.

Also, I used to have to share my home with other people and my kitchen was never really my kitchen.  The "others" cooked ALL THE TIME so I didn't feel it was my place at all to cook and I didn't even have any space left for my own food.  But there are excuses really.  I am just a failure at cooking!

I am lucky to live next to my relatives who cook for the whole family and my children are always eating at their cousin's house where they stay while I am at work.  But my boy is getting increasingly picky with his food and my baby girl is growing up quickly and wanting to eat adult food now.

So I finally decided to buy a good cookbook: the JOY OF COOKING by Irma S. Rombauer.  There are so many cookbooks out there so I didn't really know what to get but I trust Melissa's advice from JULIA'S BOOKBAG because she often shows wonderful pictures of food she cooked based on the recipes from that cookbook.  

Photo credit : Amazon.com

I didn't think getting a cookbook would matter.  I always relied on recipes found on the internet or recipes from colorful cookbooks I already have at home.  But I lacked the technique and I also lacked the inspiration.  Joy of Cooking if a very heavy book, full of tips and information on how to cook almost everything you could think of.    

The first time I opened the book, I read it like it was an encyclopedia.  Very interesting read and not dry like I thought it would be.   I cooked a few recipes and my family seems to respond well.  I will have a lot to learn still so I can't say I am a good cook (yet) but this book sure helps me getting a decent meal on the table for my family :)

I have JULIA'S BOOKBAG to thank for this change in my life!  Big hugs to you Melissa! xoxoxo

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