Morning at the market

A few days ago our grandpa took me and my siblings out to have breakfast near a really pretty market. Then, we walked around the fruit and flower market for about an hour. It was just wonderful! So many things to look at and photograph as well. This will be a very. long. post. Get ready for many, many photos.

♥

How about a big cup of hot chocolate in the morning? I love this stuff. It's so rich, and tasty.

After breakfast, we started the long walk around the market. Lots of things to photograph!

I saw these amazing, dry tree branches. I loved how this picture turned out, and I barely had enough time to point, focus and shoot it since my grandpa and siblings were already a couple feet in front of me...

These handmade baskets are very common here in Mexico. We actually own some.

Anyway, done with the black and white! Off to all the color...

It is amazing how many flowers this market has. All kinds, pretty much. 

This next picture might make you feel dizzy... Don't look at it for too long :)

Sorry about that. But I got excited experimenting with my camera lens... (It is not photoshopped or anything.) I thought this effect would work great with the flowers, and it did! But it makes my head spin... Just a little.

They had some beautiful birds too! Couldn't resist. And I love how its feathers match the cage.

Jamaica flowers. I think in the USA they are known as Hibiscus? I am not so sure, but they are delicious. Mix them with some hot water and sugar, and you get one of the most delicious drinks! It is traditional in Mexico. Everybody has it, probably like four times a week. It's great.

Bright green and red, spicy hot peppers. And by hot and spicy, I really mean hot and spicy.

I loved these price tags. 

 These lemons were so unbelievably green and big. I love lemons... sometimes. But you are probably thinking, "Why is Annie calling them lemons? They are limes." In Mexico, we call the limes from the USA lemons, and the lemons limes. I have no idea why, but that's just the way it is- funny, right? :)

These looked delicious too. And don't worry, we do call these ones oranges.

I posted many pictures in this post... but I think it was worth it. 

Hope you enjoyed these. ♥

-Annie

Saturdays are sweet

Are you a dessert lover? If so, keep on reading.

Are you a sugary cream/cheesecake lover? If so, keep on reading.

Are you an Oreo lover? If so, keep on reading.

Are you hungry right now? If so, then you should probably stop.



This, is what I call a good dessert. Oreo cheesecake bars. They are creamy, sweet, tasty and delicious. Yum.
If you want the recipe, just click here. My sister and I were in need of a dessert today, and I mean, it's Saturday. Could there be a better day to spend some time to make something as good as this?

 I recommend this recipe to any of you who answered "yes" to the first three questions of this post :) Preparing it is also not hard at all, and it only takes about thirty minutes. Nothing to worry about, because the fridge will do the rest of the job for you.

What do you think? Are you in desperate need of some?
Happy Weekend! ♥

-Annie

Perfect tea time

This Christmas, my little sister got the prettiest tin tea set. She asked me one evening to go outside to our backyard, and have a "perfect tea time picnic." And so we pulled out a blue picnic tablecloth, brought hot, spicy mangoes (a delicious classic treat),  and the tea set. She was afraid to pour hot tea into the cups, so we used apple juice instead.

I love playing with little girls. I know how much fun they have. 

♥

She was happy. Very, very happy :)

We started to run out of tea... But nothing to worry about! We still had the camera... why not shoot a little more? 

"Annie, take a picture of me pretending to sleep. But let's pretend I am not pretending to pretend to sleep."

Okay then...

"What is your favorite kind of tea, Isabel?"

She gave me this look....

And then for some reason, this one...

I thought it was rather cute. It made me laugh :)

♥

What would I do without this little girl around? 

Happy Thursday! ♥

-Annie

A little holiday treat

Christmas is my very favorite holiday for various reasons. And one of them is the part that has to do with cooking and baking. Every year, I make the same kind of cookies. I once found the recipe in a Martha Stewart Christmas magazine, and decided to try it out. It was worth it!
If you are a chocolate lover, this is for you.
If you are a peppermint lover, this is for you.
Or if you are just a sugar lover, then this is for you too.
I'm talking about chocolate peppermint cookies. They are one of my absolute favorite Christmas treats! And because I like them so much, and think you would too, I'm going to share the recipe in this post.

♥

You will need:
1 cup of flour
1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
5 tablespoons unsalted butter
3/4 cups of sugar
1 large egg yolk
1 large egg
3/4 teaspoon of pure peppermint extract
25 crushed peppermint candies
1 1/2 pounds of white chocolate

Directions:
1. Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. In a medium bowl, sift the cocoa powder, flour, baking soda, baking powder, and salt.
2. On a separate medium sized bowl, beat the butter and sugar with a mixer on medium- high speed for about a minute. Reduce the mixer's speed and add the egg yolk, the egg, and finally the peppermint extract. Slowly add the flour mixture, and beat together. Make sure all of the ingredients are mixed up well! Refrigerate this dough for at least 1 hour.
3. Roll out the dough on a lightly floured table. Using cookie cutters, (or any round object that can cut), cut out dough circles and set on baking sheets.
4. Bake the cookies for about 12 minutes, pretty much till they are dry when you touch them.
5. Crush the peppermint candies till they are almost like dust. (I usually use a food processor, it works fairly well.)

For the chocolate coating:
1. Melt the white chocolate using a heatproof bowl set over a pot of warm, simmering water.
2. Once the chocolate is melted, and you have the baked cookies next to you, dunk them separately into the bowl of chocolate, and when pulling them out, make sure to let the excess drip off.
3. When the chocolate on the cookies is still melted, sprinkle about 1/4 teaspoon of the crushed peppermint candy powder.
4. Once the chocolate has dried, serve the cookies or refrigerate them for about 3 hours.
5. Eat and enjoy :)

It is definitely not a complicated recipe. It's really easy. Probably the *hard* part is when it comes to coating the cookies with the chocolate. At least for me. I'm not the best when it comes to "perfect cookie decorating." My cookies will probably rarely ever have the perfect smooth chocolate covering. But it's still fun. Isn't their flavor what really matters anyway?
Oh, my dad was a little too inspired when he helped me with these pictures. He wanted me to take one of a cookie that he would spin. So just for the fun of it....

 In short, these cookies are just wonderful.
What are your favorite Christmas treats? ♥
-Annie

Salty pumpkin seeds

Here in Mexico City, one of the really cool things you can do is go buy pumpkin seeds. Usually in the streets, you may see vendors with a "comal", a smooth, flat, iron griddle used to heat food. These vendors take the natural pumpkin seeds, sprinkle them with salt, put them on this hot comal and toast them. Then they are served in small paper bags. Ah, how delicious. They are warm, crunchy, and salty. Kind of like popcorn. Maybe even better :)

Who knew Mexico sold such tasty food in streets?

♥

These are the pumpkin seeds being toasted on the comal

Want to go pumpkin seed shopping with me? ♥

Oh, and happy thanksgiving!

-Annie 

Red Strawberries

So I have decided to enter Carlotta's food photo challenge, so here is my entry! Don't you just love the vivid color of strawberries? They look so beautiful, and taste delicious. Yes,  most definitely one of my favorite fruits. 

What is your favorite kind of fruit? :)        

                                                                       ♥

-Annie

Chocolate Ice Cream. With Raspberries.

If you know me well, you should know that one of my favorite desserts is a scoop (or two... or three) of dark chocolate ice cream, topped with lots of fresh, red raspberries. The combination of the richness of the ice cream with the sweet and sour taste of the raspberries is absolutely perfect. If you haven't tasted it, give it a try. It is delicious.

What is your favorite dessert?

-Annie-