marmite et ponpon

Savoury Christmas tree – feta and thyme filling

Posted on December 23, 2016 | 1 comment

I bet on a Lebanese Christmas dinner table you can find 10452 kind of food, it’s not that we eat a lot, but we love and cherish good food. And since it’s a night for family reunion, all tastes should be satisfied!

I am someone who likes entrées, amuse bouches, salads…. and i like to add the festive look on the presentation for this special night that i believe it’s like no other! This year, I will be celebrating with my small family as we are not going home for this Christmas. My tiniest fans who are the most sincere fans and speaking the truth straight forward; it’s either yummy or yaki. So i had to try this feta zaatar (thyme) tree to see how many thumbs up i will get from Nady and Joud to avoid disappointment on Christmas eve! And lucky me I got 6 thumbs up counting in my husband 🙂

It’s very easy to prepare and can be presented in less than 20 minutes, to be eaten in 2 minutes 🙂 Few ingredients are needed, as: puff pastry, zaatar, olive oil, feta cheese crumbled or cut in small cubes, and one egg for the wash.

Roll out the dough on a parchment paper and cut 2 equal tree shape. Brush one tree with zaatar and olive oil, sprinkle the feta and cover with the second tree. Cut parallel and equal lines on both sides of the tree as the photo shows. Twist each part to do the branches and press it down to the parchment paper. Brush with the egg wash and bake on 200°C for 15 minutes or until golden brown.

There is no accurate amount for the ingredients, as you can make the tree the size you want, and put zaatar and cheese as per your taste! I told you it’s very easy and quick. Try it, i am sure it will add more fun to your Christmas table, and more yummy to your tummy.

Don’t forget to add some decoration on the side. Beauty is in details!

If you really like this post give it many likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More festive posts are yet to come. Ho Ho Ho!

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Posted in j delights, special occasions

Tagged christmas food, design, doha, easy cooking, feta cheese, food blog, food blogger, food photography, food porn, how to do, jaymmy, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, puff pastry, qatar, quick recipe, recipe, thyme, tree, zaatar

kids want to have fun! Kit Kat Christmas treeTs

Posted on December 22, 2016 | Leave a comment

It’s the season to be jolly … I think it can be also it’s the season for serious chocolate lovers! When you say Christmas you think chocolate, they come together like best friends. Kids and adults indulge in all kinds of chocolate desserts with no guilt, it’s Christmas!

This is an easy kit kat chocolate dessert with lots of fun preparing it with your kids. Not just looking cute, but it tastes nice also.

You will need Kit Kat chocolate bars (the one of four parts), as many as you want, depending on how many piece you want, keeping in mind each one makes 2 to 3 trees.

White chocolate melt colored green.

Confetti and stars (made of sugar), you can also have any small sugar Christmas decoration, as cane, santa, snowmen….up to you.

Cut 2 or 3 triangles out of each Kit Kat bar, keep the trimmed edges to make the tree trunk. Place on parchment paper. Put the green chocolate melt in a ziplok bag and make a very tiny cut at to pipe the garlands. Sprinkle the confetti (and the decorations you find), and finally place the star.

PS: to attach the trunk to the tree put a little chocolate melt

Place in the fridge for 15-20 minutes before placing them on a tray, using a little chocolate melt that serves like glue to prevent the trees from falling. Sprinkle coconut powder to look like snow between the trees.

So cute to be eaten! Try it with your kids and have fun, these are the best moments spent with your kids especially during the magical Christmas season. Enjoy!

How to DIY an angry birds birthday party decoration

Posted on December 19, 2016 | 5 comments

19 december 2012, a miracle was born and my world hasn’t been the same since! Today my first son, Nady, turns four.

Four precious years with you my son, gave to love different meaning and to life new dimensions. You are my joy, my best genes, my faith and my eternity. If the earth turns around the sun, then the sun must turn around you or else where he will get his radiance from….

Nady is a big fan of angry birds, lately everything in the house turned to be branded as angry birds star wars, angry birds space, angry birds go…. We are living in an angry bird world, so it wasn’t unexpected to ask for an angry birds birthday. I guess i said angry birds six times in one sentence, so imagine how many times i hear it in one day !

I wanted to surprise him with the decoration, cake design, animation… basically with everything! All i wished for is to see that awesome look on his face when he sees the set up and i believe i succeeded. It was a very nice party, and I would like to share with you some nice decoration ideas that i crafted myself and made all the difference!

Angry birds star wars banner, calling for action!

Click here to download the high resolution file 2×1.3 meters without the typography, to add your personal text!

Angry birds lanterns! All you need is to cutout the faces i prepared for red, chuck and pig.

I prepared vector files, easy to be resized without affecting the resolution. To download them, click on chuck, pig and red. Resize it depending on your lanterns sizes.

Angry birds flags, four colors/birds design. Green for pig, red for red, yellow for chuck and blue for jay, jake and jim!

Click on red, green, yellow and blue to download editable vector files for the buntings!

TNT boxes for more action!

Very simple, just get some brown boxes and stick TNT stickers, pile them and you get a nice decoration element, to add more fun and action! And here is attached a printable tnt-sticker.

Cupcake angry birds star wars toppers! Glue two circles on a wooden stick and insert it in a cupcake to see this beautiful display!

Click cake-topper and cake-topper-2 to download the printable files.

If you are wondering where i got the display boxes from, you can find them in Ikea!

Here is a nice way to display the marshmallows and pop corn!

Stick pig face on a bucket and put a catapult!

To make these TNTs, you need to roll 5 or 6 red cardboard into cylinders and stick them together with black tape. Glue beige thread on top of each to make them look realistic.

M&M bottles as angry birds food!

Click here to download the high resolution file of the bottle tags!

Angry birds nest!

A creative and fun way to present the pretzel sticks and nuts!

Angry birds water! Click here for the printable tag design.

Giveaways bags!

I chose two characters, red and bomb and stick their faces on the corresponding bag color, red for red and black for bomb. (I’ve attached already the faces printable files in flags)

And finally, the t-shirt design as per nady’s request! Click on tshirt to download the high resolution file to be printed on a white tshirt.

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Posted in design, DIY, special occasions

Tagged Angry birds, angry birds bags, angry birds banner, angry birds birthday party, angry birds flags, angry birds lanterns, angry birds M&M, angry birds nest, angry birds pop corn, angry birds star wars, angry birds star wars birthday ideas, angry birds TNT, angry birds tshirt, art and craft blogger, birthday, blog, craft, design, DIY, doha, food blogger, high resolution, lebanon, marmite et ponpon, party, printables, qatar

Advent calendar – Santa claus beard

Posted on December 1, 2016 | 1 comment

Welcome to that time of the year that works magic on my serotonin! They say in each one of us there is a hidden child… mine really likes to have an appearance around Christmas time.

…Everything gets dressed in festive look; windows at the shops are more joyful, same food and desserts taste better, red and green are not just ordinary colors anymore and all eyes are on that enchanting sky hoping to see the red nose between the stars…

It’s the time when we all pause and reconsider our values, belief and attitude.

It’s the perfect quality and happiest time with the family, especially for those living abroad, but unfortunately this year we can’t make it back home for the reunion… It’s sad we are not sharing this Christmas with the family, but thinking positively, Santa got me an early gift this year, I have a new friend. And this is what Christmas is all about; something new and precious is born…

Today is the first day of the festive month and i am aaaaaaall ready for Christmas, this buzzword “Christmas” you will be reading zillion times in my posts during December until we reach the D day. So let’s start the countdown folks!

This year i have to prepare 2 advent calendars, one for Nady and one for Joud! They are both about Santa’s beard; one is trimming it while counting down to reach Christmas and the other about growing it, since Joud is only 16 months and can’t use scissors, sticking cotton balls on the beard was a good and fun idea for his age.

If you are wondering about the fun part, the daily sweet or toy, Nady will find it written behind each strip he will cut and Joud will collect it from the christmas tree 🙂

If your kid’s age let you take the advent calendar to the next level, don’t just offer sweets or toys, you can teach them the real meaning of Christmas by putting words of values (such as faith, forgiveness….) instead or along with the daily surprise.

Click here to download the trimming option and click here for the growing one.

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Posted in design, DIY, special occasions, way to play

Tagged advent calendar, art and craft blogger, beirut, christmas, countdown, craft, create, design, DIY, doha, festive season, kids activity, kids blog, lebanon, qatar, Santa Claus, santa's beard, way to play

A five minutes lazy cake bahamas

Posted on November 23, 2016 | 1 comment

This lazy cake (some call it biscuits au chocolat or gateau froid) without doubt, will be a staple in your fridge. When talking about winning combos, we shouldn’t undermine the marriage power of chocolate and banana!

A classic lazy cake is already a hit, I always wondered how it will turn out if i stir in some bananas, and here is the day i dared trying it. Trust me it’s heaven in your mouth.

All you need is:

75g butter
200g dark chocolate chopped
1/2 cup good quality cocoa powder
1 cup caster sugar
2 bananas ripe (mashed with a fork)
40 pieces biscuit marie

Heat butter and chopped chocolate until melted, you can do it in a heat prood bowl in the microwave or simply in a pot on a medium heat. Stir in cocoa powder and sugar, whisk until sugar is melted. Take off the heat then add bananas and finally crush each biscuit in 4 and toss in the chocolate banana sauce.

Fold gently so you don’t crush the biscuits in tiny pieces until all of them are well coated. Line a loaf pan with plastic wrap to put the biscuits and chocolate, this way it will have a rectangular shape, easy to cut. Depending on how thick you want your cake to be, use the convenient mold size, mine is 11¨. With the back of a spoon (or your hand) shape the mixture in the loaf pan.

Refrigerate at least for 3 hours, take it out, unwrap, cut in slices using a sharp knife and savor!

Some people like to sprinkle over icing sugar before serving, it’s not a bad idea actually, it makes it look more festive and appetizing. You can serve with roasted walnut as well, it goes well with chocolate and banana.

It’s a new recipe to add in my creations, i am sure i will revisit more often, it’s a real pleasure to the palate. When you try it, i would love to have your opinion, don’t hesitate to write for me.

If you really like this post give it many likes and shares to spread the joy. Don’t forget to like marmite et ponpon facebook page and follow on twitter. More interesting posts are yet to come.