Colorful low-fat muffins! (Why not baking them to celebrate Carnival?)

Tomorrow it's carnival! We normally don't do much on carnival, we don't disguise ourselves except our kid who goes to school in costume. We also brought him to see some funny parades; however we've never been to a famous one like the Venetian one yet. I just learnt that the word "carnevale" means "farewell to meat". Some years I helped my mom-in-law making the classical carnival fried pastry called "Frittelle" or "Chiacchiere" or "Bugie".

Two days ago, I baked some of my-styled muffins. Then I thought it wouldn't be a bad idea proposing them in the occasion of the carnival celebration too. My muffins are not the same muffins you know because I replaced butter with low-fat white yogurt for the reason that all my family members could have them without worring much about their health and weight! They came out to be very light and not less yummy than those made of butter. I decided to make some with cocoa powder and the few with matcha green-tea powder. I love every food with green-tea flavour such as spaghetti, ice-cream and cakes. How I adore its scent and taste!

This's my recipe. 
Ingredients:
(I measured everything by the cup of yogurt)
1 cup of low-fat white yogurt
3 cups of flour
1 1/2 cups of sugar
3 eggs
1 cup of vegetable oil
4 tea spoons of baking powder
1 1/2 table spoons of matche (green-tea) powder
2 table spoons of cocoa powder
sugar grains and tails for topping decorations

Before baking

Preparations:
1. I used 2 large bowls where I put half of sifted flour and baking powder.
2. I added the cocoa powder into one bowl and the matcha powder into another bowl. I mixed the ingredients well.
3. In a large bowl I whisked the yogurt with sugar, then I added eggs and vegetable oil and I mixed them well.
4. I united half of the well-mixed wet ingredients to the bowl with cocoa powder and then I mixed them very well until it became smooth. As well I poured another half of wet mixture into the bowl with matcha powder and mixed well.
5. I filled the mixture into muffin-sized containers for oven. At last, I put the sugar grains and tails on top.
6. I baked them for about 18 min. at 180°c.

The final result!

Have a great time on Carnival!

Christmas in Thailand

Christmas is intensely in the air! Yesterday, I and my two great friends met up in the centre of the city. It was full of people and "lives". The atmosphere of the greeting seasons was perceived and I love this feeling very much. It was such a cold day but I somehow felt warm and embraced by all people around. We had so many conversations and some good laughs.

I've always been in touch with all my family and friends in Thailand for nowadays we've so many rapid ways to contact people around the world. Thanks to the hi-technologies the world's getting smaller. You can reach the other side of the world in a second! Certainly at the moment everyone of us talks about the up-coming holidays. Although the majority of Thai people is Buddhist, Christmas is very celebrated! We love every joyous celebration. Thai people have accepted various foreign cultures and we sometimes go crazy about them! You won't have too much difficulty if you want to have success in my native country because people are mostly open-minded. They welcome new things quite eagerly.

Christmas celebration in Thailand is however different from its original tradition where the birth of Jesus Christ is celebrated and the family get united as the most special moment. For us it's a joyful moment when you can see lighting decorations everywhere (especially in big cities). We love to exchange gifts among family, colleagues and friends. At school, a male teacher is dressed up as Father Christmas and give away candies to children. I still remember how I and classmates enjoyed Christmas together. We didn't have lessons but played a lot of games. Some families began to buy a Christmas tree for their home. Why not enjoying things at most?

I attach here a picture of a big shopping hall at Bangkok (my favorite place!). I got it from a Thai website (hoping the owner won't mind!). Oh...how I miss this place. My husband and my son love it too and they can stay therein all the day.

The origin of the picture: http://www.2how.com/board/28814.html

Merry Christmas to everybody! 

Wishing you a great time with all your beloved ones ;)

How we celebrate the Chinese New Year

Tomorrow is the greatest day for Chinese people, it's our New Year's Day! They're celebrating not only in China, but also in countries where there're many Chineses such as Hong Kong, Singapore, Thailand, etc. I'm imagining what my parents and grannies have prepared to celebrate the New Year. This fact makes me feel a little bit homesick as it's time that every family member get together. I mean the "whole" family which includes grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins, grandchildren, etc. We're quite numerous. The feeling is something similar to Christmas day but not really. According to the tradition, we offer food to gods andour deceased ancestors on a table in front of the altar. (The Chinese normally set an altar in the house.) We light candles and incense sticks in order to invite gods and our passed-away beloved ones. Each food, vegetable and fruit has the meaning. I'm posting here some pictures found in some websites as examples.

Oranges must be found on the table. We beleive they bring good luck and prosperity. Everything is in red theme, from decorations to the outfits. Wearing red color makes a good beginning of the year.

This year is the year of rabbit. The Chinese zodiac signs change each year and they're 12 in total. The signs have animals as symbols. Who are born in this year have the rabbit as zodiac sign. (I'm a dragon!)

Another thing I miss is dancing lions and dragons. The dancers wear masks. There's a type of long costume worn by more than one person. They dance along the streets with an orchestra composed by Chinese instruments. People drop cabbages into lion's and dragon's mouth and give red envelopes of money as a tip to dancers. When I was a child, my mom let us (me, sister and brother) wait at the terrace of the top of the house (it has 3 storeys). When the lion and dragon arrived, they saw us on the top so they climbed up to reach us. (The dancers are acrobats.) Small kids sometimes are afraid of them but bigger kids enjoy giving cabbages and tips very much.

Yet, kids are very happy when they go to meet relatives because they receive red envelops with money from adult relatives too. I remember that after the Chinese New Year's Day, at school children didn't talk about anything else, but how much they got in total. Classmates who were non-Chinese origin felt a bit envious towards the Chinese ones.

Before leaving, I'd like to wish my followers, Chinese or not, much happiness and luck in the rabbit year!

Happy Chinese New Year 2011!