Banana Pancakes

 Hey there! I miss writing on Pretty Capricieuse, but you’re always on my mind. I really wish for you guys to follow me on Snapchat at Prettycap where you can follow me wherever I go, and it’s really my fastest way to reach out to you. Today, I want to share with you one of my favorite recipes. First of all, it’s super easy to make whether you’re a foodie or just a mere beginner, at home or cooking in a kitchenette at a rented flat or hotel room, this recipe is just filling, fast, and delicious. You can find the ingredients anywhere.

  Usually my mom cooks lunch on Sundays, (she’s a really good cook, so I’ve got this passion for cooking from her), and one Sunday I slept in until noon and I still wanted to have breakfast although lunch was going to be ready in 2 hours. I wanted to make these pancakes, we had bananas at home. Mom was discouraging; she thought that it was going to make a mess in the kitchen for just one portion of pancakes. I just didn’t listen to her! I made my pancakes and once done, she could not believe how, in the blink of an eye, it was there dripping with warm honey and topped with butter bananas—just like I remember them in my childhood cartoons, do you know the Berenstain bears?! This little cute family of grizzly bears, so cute! Given it’s Sunday tomorrow, trust me on this one and please yourself with a quickie royal breakfast with these Banana Pancakes! 

Ingredients:                                                                                       

2 small sized bananas (or one big banana)

2 eggs

1 tsp white vinegar for the smell and the taste

1 ½ sachet of vanilla sugar or the equivalent of 1 tbsp

3 full tbsp flour

1 tbsp baking powder (optional)

2 tbsp of butter

Honey or maple syrup for garnish

Preparation:

1- Smash the bananas until it becomes like a puree.

2- Add the eggs, the white vinegar, and the vanilla sugar.

Mix well until it becomes homogeneous.

3- Add the flour; you can add more gradually depending on the portion size of the bananas and eggs.

Add baking powder if you wish your pancakes to swell when heating.

Mix well.

4- Melt the butter on a pan and pour in the pancake dough.

Use a cup to measure the amount of batter for every pancake to have them all of the same size.

Once you pour the batter on the skillet you can flatten the pancake with a spoon in circular moves.

5- When you see bubbles forming on the surface of the pancake, you can flip it to the other side. You can also check for when the side turns golden.

Usually the other side doesn’t take as long as the first side to cook.

6- Spread the pancakes on a platter once you get them off the heat—if you just stack them directly on top of one another, they will be too humid and personally I don’t really like it that way.

7- Once they are cooled off, yet still warm, put the pancakes on top of each other and drizzle with honey or maple syrup. You can also add tiny squares of butter and bananas. Feel free to eat your pancakes with fruits, ice cream, or even Nutella!

I hope you try and love this recipe; it’s really one of my favorites!

                                                       

                                                       

Christmas Downtown Stroll

   This Sunday, I afforded to stroll downtown and check out my favorite stores for Christmas gifts. Even though I had some work to be done, I committed time for shopping before everything gets sold out and I am seriously studying for my final exams.

   That look was all about fringes, they were there on the front of my white shirt as well as on the back and the sleeves of my suede jacket. The reason why I love fringes so much it's because it gives you this soft rock look without the studs and the leather, which I like to leave for a night out. At the same time, fringes are kind of flirty; it somehow gives off a poetic and nearly bohemian vibe to a rather monochrome, colorless and poker face outfit.

  I was wearing a Zara fringed white shirt, Diesel Pants, Maje black fringed suede jacket, Ash suede wedge pointed booties, and Chloe Paraty bag.

TSC Signature Sushi Bar

   One of the best sushi places that make it in my top 3 list is found at TSC signature’s sushi bar. TSC Signature is a high- end supermarket in Beirut Souks, downtown, where you can find a wide variety of grocery products as well as imported and unique goods. Despite the fact that it is located in a supermarket and it’s not very common to eat there, TSC’s sushi bar is also one of the favorites for the friends of mine whom have tried it. The sushi bar, whose sushi and other specialty dishes are delivered along a conveyor-belt system, offers guaranteed fresh products right from the shelves with affordable price relative to the quality it offers. Also, the bite size is large enough to fill up your entire mouth and enjoy a generous tasteful experience at every bite. You can be sure to leave TSC full and happy.  You can also pick up your sushi meal from the sushi bar in less than 5 minutes if your work offices are nearby in downtown or if you’re going back home.

Otherwise, you can treat yourself at TSC to Grill, Pizza, Hot Food, Lebanese meals and salads in a charming and welcoming ambiance. During the day, TSC signature is crowded with business people wearing suits. 

  I met with Christine and enjoyed a lunch with her discussing her career in marketing and my future plans once I graduate from AUB with a BBA in marketing and entrepreneurship. We also spoke about my French accent that is present in both my English and Arabic language, but you can really notice it when I speak Arabic, for instance I can’t roll the “r” like you do.  And I told her how I didn’t use to speak Arabic that much as a kid; Christine has this concern now with her young daughter. You see, there are in fact 2 Arabic we know, written Arabic and spoken Arabic that we often call Lebanese. What they teach at schools it’s the written Arabic that is somehow difficult to speak. Lebanese don’t speak Arabic the way it’s written, it would be really weird/funny for someone to speak like that, unless it’s the news or my Arabic teachers at school. Later when I grew up, I learned to speak Lebanese from my friends when I heard them speaking. The YouTube cooking videos I shoot where I speak in Arabic have actually helped me a lot in ameliorating my Arabic level. At first, we used to prepare the recipes in English and then my mom or the translator would actually turn them to Arabic! Now I got familiarized with the technical cooking words in Arabic so we don’t always prepare a script in Arabic ahead of time!

   Back to the food, we started our meal with a savory specialty salad from the chef, including smoked salmon and avocado. We then had some sushi and explored some new things I haven’t tried before on their menu. I also tried from the sushi bar Chinese sweet and sour shrimps (second favorite after BBQ yum!) and fresh Saint-Jacques scallops sitting on a bed of lime topped with green wasabi and black tobiko caviar. A glass of white wine was the best to pair with this seafood.

We concluded our meal with Mochi, Japanese flavored rice pillow stuffed with ice cream. And like every Lebanese loves to rest over a cup of coffee before leaving the restaurant, we enjoyed a Turkish coffee from the drinking hub Café Najjar along with profiteroles from TSC’s bakery.

Considering how happy I was when I left the place, the cleanliness and quality of the food and then the taste of the food, the fast service because it is a sushi bar, the convenience of the place, which is in fact downtown,   it’s a 5/5 for me.