How to Make Hallacas - Venezuelan Christmas Food

The most important dish at Christmas in Venezuela is without doubt the hallaca, a cornmeal-dough pocket stuffed with a host of tasty ingredients, wrapped in a plantain leaf, and boiled.

Culinary legend has it that the hallaca originated from the tradition of the plantation owners giving the leftover scraps from their Christmas banquets to the slaves, who would use them to spice up the boiled

Venezuelan food now on sale in Southampton

Hot and tasty Venezuelan snacks are now available in Southampton on Saturdays, after Yasmily Barrios Teran decided to open a stall selling traditional food from her native Venezuela at the seaside city's popular Bargate Market.

Teran, originally from Maracay, only started selling Venezuelan empanadas (fried cornmeal turnovers with savoury fillings) and arepas one month ago.

The empanadas on

Fantabulous Cricut Challenge

Sorry this post is a few hours late, we just got back from a glorious Thanksgiving weekend at White Point Beach with my Mum and Dad and the kids. The weather was INCREDIBLE!! Unfortunately, I didn't have time to work on this post before I left, but here it is now...

Yesterday, I the honor of being a Spotlight Sunday designer on Fantabulous Cricut, and am a guest designer for this week's challenge. The challenge was to do a project you could hang on the wall. Here is what I did:






A few weeks ago on Pinterest, I came across this frame, that someone had converted into a weekly calendar. I always have a hard time keeping our week straight, and the kids never know when I'm working, or what nights Mike has meetings, this seemed like the perfect option :)

I found a frame at Walmart for about $15. I cut out Our Week with Pooh Font, and the days of the week were cut with various cartridges - Robotz, All Mixed Up, A Child's Year, Baby Steps, Gypsy Font and Opposites Attract. I used 8 different patterned papers that I had in my stash for the backgrounds and adhered the titles. Each frame is 4x6. I then attached a dry erase marker to the side with a ribbon so i wouldn't lose it, and voila! The perfect weekly organizational tool for my busy family.

I hope you all come play along today at FCCB, and that all my fellow Canadians had a fantabulous Thanksgiving :)

A la prochaine...

Michelle

Happy Owl -oween!

It is challenge day over at Cardz TV! Today Mary challenged us to create a halloween card with an owl on it. This stumped me, it took me ages to come up with an idea. My husband finally said, why don't you just dress up an owl. That's when the the ghost idea hit me. Here it is:



Pretty cute, huh? You can't really see the owl, but it's the one from CAC, as is the branch. The ghost costume is from Paper Doll Dress Up. I manipulated the shape on my Gypsy, so I could make sure it fit the owl. The sentiment is from My Pink Stamper.

I hope you all come play with us over at Cardz TV! Can't wait to see what you come up with :)


A la prochaine...

The history of the Venezuela arepa (documentary in Spanish)

This excellent documentary by the Universidad Monteávila in Caracas charts the history of the humble Venezuelan arepa - a local maize-flour alternative to the bread roll - from its indigenous origins to today.

Experts in Venezuela's food history and gastronomic traditions discuss the boom in arepa bars, called areperas, that occurred in the 1950s with the arrival of Italian, Spanish and

Cricut Cardz Challenge

It is challenge day over at Cardz TV - Cricut Cardz Challenge. The challenge is "Things that go Bump in the Night". Mary challenged us to make the scariest card possible! This was a bit of challenge for me - I tend to like cute more than scary, but here is what I came up with:



I made a shape card from the haunted house on Mini Monsters. The ghosts and bat are from Simply Charmed. I used my Peachy Keen Stamps to cute up the ghosts, and My Pink Stamper stamps for the "eeeeek". Pretty scary AND cute, isn't it!

Some challenges -
Crafty Emma - spooky
Squiggles and Giggles - spooky fun
Simply Sundays - halloween
Floweret - halloween


A la prochaine...

Monsterrific

It is challenge day over at Paper Playtime. Today's challenge is to make an easel card. Here is what I came up with:



Pretty cute eh? The cut is from Mini Monsters and decorated with a cute little Peachy Keen stamp. I discovered last week that my LSS just started selling PKS, I am in such trouble!! The cute little saying is from My Pink Stamper. I pulled out my spots Cuttlebug folder to embellish the bottom half of the card, and my threading water punch to decorate the base.

Come play along with us at Paper Playtime. We would love to see what you come up with :)

A la prochaine...