World Top Luxury Hotels Photos

World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
amoa accommodation can be found mostly in Western Samoa which has some lovely town hotels in Apia as well as beacvh resorts around the coast. American Samoa has limited accommodation aimed mostly at business people.

We have put together this comprehensive collection of accommodations throughout the islands for every type of traveller. We offer over 50 different properties, from the most expensive to the cheapest. Whether you're looking for a week of relaxation on the beach, a surfing adventure or wanting to explore the rich Samoan culture and interact with the people, we offer you the best places to stay with the highest standards of service. We have listed most accommodations so you can find out the true facts, but we haven't listed every single beach fale - there are simply too many - and those we don't list fall short in standard, hygiene or service and these we would not consider promoting to you.
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos
World Top Luxury Hotels Photos

WISDOM OF THE WORLD - WEEK 122

Doilies

Thanks to Penny for the pic...

There was once a man and woman who had been married for more than 60 years. They had shared everything. They had talked about everything. They had kept no secrets from each other except that the little old woman had a shoe box in the top of her closet that she had cautioned her husband never to open or ask her about. For all of these years, he had never thought about the box, but one day the little old woman got very sick and the doctor said she would not recover. In trying to sort out their affairs, the little old man took down the shoe box and took it to his wife's bedside.
She agreed that it was time that he should know what was in the box. When he opened it, he found two crocheted doilies and a stack of money totalling €25,000. He asked her about the contents. "When we were to be married," she said, "My grandmother told me the secret of a happy marriage was to never argue. She told me that if I ever got angry with you, I should just keep quiet and crochet a doily." The little old man was so moved, he had to fight back tears. Only two precious doilies were in the box. She had only been angry with him two times in all those years of living and loving. He almost burst with happiness. "Honey," he said, "that explains the doilies, but what about all of this money? Where did it come from?" "Oh," she said, "That’s the money I made from selling the doilies."

Fondant Cake - Purple Yam Cake with Coconut Cream Filling

So I went into the realms of the artistic side of baking again... My 'July fondant cake project' has completely overwhelmed me; the satisfaction of finishing a work of art was addictive. I have been constantly gushing over my fondant cake for the past two months... I know, I know, self-praising! But hey, people who know me knows I'm very critical of myself, so self-complimenting is a rarity. So I think I have a free pass on being self-absorbed occasionally! Anyway, I've moved on. I've created my new obsession, my teacup cake project!

I have always been fascinated with teacups, or tea sets for that matter. So I took that as an inspiration for my cake. At first, I was being ambitious, and I was thinking of making a floral porcelain like teacup cake. But after some reality check, I settled on a simple casual teacup design.

As for the inspiration of the cake itself, it came from my recent trip from the Philippines. One of my favourite cakes is ube cake (purple yam cake), so when I was back home, I purchased a bottle of purple yam flavouring. The filling, I chose coconut cream filling simply because coconut compliments purple yam really well.

Now for the baking side of this post, you'll need:

• Three inch round purple yam cake; I used a third of the Lemon Cake recipe, and took out all the lemon related ingredients, then replaced it with about 1/2 tsp purple yam flavouring.


• Coconut cream filling; I made pastry cream, but used coconut milk instead of milk.


• Swiss buttercream.

For a quick run through on the cake assembly (Detailed version --> 'July fondant cake project'):

1. Put the filling in between layers of the cake. Make sure to pipe the perimeter of the cake with buttercream as a guide of the thickness of your filling, and as a protection to stop the filling oozing out of the cake.


2. Spread the filling, and make sure it's level with the buttercream guide.


3. Now you have your filled cakes. I suggest chilling the cake for at least 30 minutes to make the whole cake less delicate, but if you're saving time you can skip the chilling part.


4. Carve the cake to your desired shape; in my case teacup.


5. Coat the cake with a thin layer of buttercream; this will help keep the crumbs intact (hence, crumb coating). Chill the cake until the buttercream doesn't smudge on your fingers when touched; maybe around 30 minutes.


6. Do the second coating of buttercream. This time thicker, and the purpose is to shape the cake as perfect as you can, so as to make a nice smooth silhouette once the fondant is draped over. Make sure to chill the cake until the buttercream is set before covering with fondant.

So cake is now done. Time to decorate! I used Marshmallow Fondant for decorating for two reasons. First, it's hard to find the ingredients to make a proper fondant here in Korea; second, I think marshmallow fondant has a nicer taste compared to a proper fondant. Decorating with fondant is almost like playing with playdough. Now I wasn't exactly good with sculpting playdough when I was a kid, so fondant cake decorating isn't exactly an easy task for me. However, I really like playing with fondant; just too bad I don't have many people to feed so I can't really attempt to make three tiers of cakes.

For now, I'm happy with making mini fondant projects. Plus, I have a long long way to go, and loads of improvement to do. I know my teacup cake is not the most polished art, but for an amateur starter, I'm happy with what I've created!

Now I have to consider if I'm going to do more fondant cakes in the near future, because if I am, I have to start thinking of investing on cake decorating tools. Trust me, I don't have any sorts of cake decorating tools in making this project as well as my first fondant cake project; I just made use of whatever I have in my tiny cozy kitchen.

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

The Cranberry Sauce Conundrum

I have a really bad habit of letting food go to waste. I know it's a terrible thing to do, and I feel guilty every single time I throw away uneaten food that has gone bad in the refrigerator. I'm trying very hard to mend my ways, but sometimes it just isn't easy.

The other night, I had half a can of whole-berry cranberry sauce in the fridge. I had tried to use half of it in a recipe that failed miserably (not the recipe's fault--we had an ingredient go bad and didn't realized until it was too late in the process. We ended up eating grilled cheese for dinner that night.). So, there sat half a can of cranberry sauce. To be completely honest, the jelled consistency of the stuff grosses me out. But, keeping in mind that I have been trying so hard not to throw food away, I started looking for a recipe to use it up.

There is a new-ish website out there called Eat Your Books. I signed up for a lifetime membership back in May. Basically, they index cookbooks. You create a bookshelf with the cookbooks you own, and viola--you have a searchable database of the recipes on your cookbook shelves. Right now, only about 50% of my cookbooks are indexed. That's still a lot of recipes to search from--according to the website, when I log in, exactly 22.465 recipes, to be exact.

I performed such a search and found the perfect recipe to use up the cranberry sauce. As a bonus, it would also use the juice of the orange that was sitting in fridge, divested of its zest. The recipe was for Orange Cranberry Muffins from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food.

So, I quickly mixed together the streusel topping, whipped up the muffin batter, scooped them out, sprinkled the topping on as well as I could (the muffin cups were over-full, so it was hard to make the streusel stick), and popped them in the oven in time to sit down and watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory on DVD. While I watched the hilarious antics of the ever-endearing nerds, my house started to smell ridiculously good. The kind of good that makes your stomach rumble and your mouth water, even though you just ate dinner an hour ago.

These muffins were a wonderful solution to my cranberry sauce problem. As a matter of fact, they were such a good solution that they have created their own problem. When I make them next, what will I do with the other half of the can of cranberry sauce? I guess that just remains to be seen. In the meantime, I would strongly urge you to make these muffins when you get the chance. They have the perfect fall/harvest taste. They are tender, and buttery, with a subtle crunch from the streusel topping. And, every now and then, if you are lucky, you bite into one of the whole cranberries, which gives you a joyful tart pop on the palate.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

adapted from I'm Just Here for More Food

The Streusel:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped almonds

3 Tbs butter

The Muffins:

8 Tbs unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp orange extract

1/2 cup plain yogurt

orange juice from 1 orange

3/4 cup canned whole-berry cranberry sauce

1. Mix streusel ingredients until cohesive, but still crumbly.

2. Preheat oven to 350, and grease a muffin tin.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.

4. Cream together the butter and sugar.

5. Add the eggs and mix until combined.

6. Add remaining wet ingredients. Then dump all the wet ingredients into the dry. (I do this the other way around--dumping the dry into the wet, and I'm not sure it makes any difference. Alton would probably disagree, though.)

7. Scoop the batter into 12 muffin cups. The book says to fill them to the top. Mine crested over the top. They still turned out great.

8. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

10. Allow muffins to cool before taking out of the tins.

Yield: 12 muffins

Cost: $0.36 per muffin

The Cranberry Sauce Conundrum

I have a really bad habit of letting food go to waste. I know it's a terrible thing to do, and I feel guilty every single time I throw away uneaten food that has gone bad in the refrigerator. I'm trying very hard to mend my ways, but sometimes it just isn't easy.

The other night, I had half a can of whole-berry cranberry sauce in the fridge. I had tried to use half of it in a recipe that failed miserably (not the recipe's fault--we had an ingredient go bad and didn't realized until it was too late in the process. We ended up eating grilled cheese for dinner that night.). So, there sat half a can of cranberry sauce. To be completely honest, the jelled consistency of the stuff grosses me out. But, keeping in mind that I have been trying so hard not to throw food away, I started looking for a recipe to use it up.

There is a new-ish website out there called Eat Your Books. I signed up for a lifetime membership back in May. Basically, they index cookbooks. You create a bookshelf with the cookbooks you own, and viola--you have a searchable database of the recipes on your cookbook shelves. Right now, only about 50% of my cookbooks are indexed. That's still a lot of recipes to search from--according to the website, when I log in, exactly 22.465 recipes, to be exact.

I performed such a search and found the perfect recipe to use up the cranberry sauce. As a bonus, it would also use the juice of the orange that was sitting in fridge, divested of its zest. The recipe was for Orange Cranberry Muffins from Alton Brown's I'm Just Here for More Food.

So, I quickly mixed together the streusel topping, whipped up the muffin batter, scooped them out, sprinkled the topping on as well as I could (the muffin cups were over-full, so it was hard to make the streusel stick), and popped them in the oven in time to sit down and watch an episode of The Big Bang Theory on DVD. While I watched the hilarious antics of the ever-endearing nerds, my house started to smell ridiculously good. The kind of good that makes your stomach rumble and your mouth water, even though you just ate dinner an hour ago.

These muffins were a wonderful solution to my cranberry sauce problem. As a matter of fact, they were such a good solution that they have created their own problem. When I make them next, what will I do with the other half of the can of cranberry sauce? I guess that just remains to be seen. In the meantime, I would strongly urge you to make these muffins when you get the chance. They have the perfect fall/harvest taste. They are tender, and buttery, with a subtle crunch from the streusel topping. And, every now and then, if you are lucky, you bite into one of the whole cranberries, which gives you a joyful tart pop on the palate.

Orange Cranberry Muffins

adapted from I'm Just Here for More Food

The Streusel:

1/4 cup all-purpose flour

1/4 cup brown sugar

1/4 tsp salt

1/4 tsp cinnamon

1/4 cup chopped almonds

3 Tbs butter

The Muffins:

8 Tbs unsalted butter

1 cup sugar

2 eggs

2 cups all-purpose flour

1/2 tsp baking powder

1 tsp baking soda

1/2 tsp salt

1 tsp orange extract

1/2 cup plain yogurt

orange juice from 1 orange

3/4 cup canned whole-berry cranberry sauce

1. Mix streusel ingredients until cohesive, but still crumbly.

2. Preheat oven to 350, and grease a muffin tin.

3. Combine the dry ingredients in a bowl.

4. Cream together the butter and sugar.

5. Add the eggs and mix until combined.

6. Add remaining wet ingredients. Then dump all the wet ingredients into the dry. (I do this the other way around--dumping the dry into the wet, and I'm not sure it makes any difference. Alton would probably disagree, though.)

7. Scoop the batter into 12 muffin cups. The book says to fill them to the top. Mine crested over the top. They still turned out great.

8. Sprinkle with streusel topping.

9. Bake for 30 to 35 minutes, until a tester comes out clean.

10. Allow muffins to cool before taking out of the tins.

Yield: 12 muffins

Cost: $0.36 per muffin

Travel Food Blog: Philippines

Like most travelers, visiting famous landmarks is almost mandatory for me when exploring new places. Aside from that, I really associate food with travel. For me, food says a lot about a place's history and culture; there are reasons behind classic dishes as to why they are cured, pickled, shaped in a certain way or served in a certain way. It's not just about the taste; although taste is important to enjoy any feast! When I travel, I do make a little research of what traditional food there is or what food is a must try on the area I'll be in, and I make a little list of must eats! Food is definitely just as important as the beautiful sites, sceneries and activities there is when traveling. Plus, who doesn't like yummy authentic food!

Food, food, food...

I recently visited my homeland, Philippines, and one thing's definite - I've indulged myself with some good old Filipino food! For some reason, Filipino food hasn't been able to make it's name globally unlike Thai, Chinese, Japanese or Indian cuisine. But one thing's for sure, Filipino food is really really delicious; it's prone to get anyone to over eat. Philippine eating culture involves varieties of meat and vegetable dishes that we call ulam, and these could not be well complimented other than RICE... and lots of it! 

Unfortunately, I'm not an avid shutterbug, so most of the time I've forgotten to take pictures of the food especially when I'm so engrossed in devouring the feast set before my eyes. Actually, I was just able to manage to take pictures on one occasion because I saw one of my friends do it first... 

Crispy pata - deep fried pork leg usually served with vinegar, soy sauce, chili, and garlic dipping sauce; very similar to German pork knuckle

Chicharon Bulaklak - deep fried pork intestines

Bopis - pork lungs and heart (sometimes liver) sauteed in garlic, onions, chilies, and bell pepper then seasoned with vinegar

Bicol Express - spicy stew dish made with coconut milk, chilies and shrimp paste

Kare-kare - stew made with peanut sauce that may have oxtail, beef, tripe, large intestines and different vegetables; always served with shrimp paste

Sisig - pig's head and liver sauteed in garlic, onion and chili, then seasoned with vinegar

Turon served with ube ice cream - banana jack fruit spring rolls served with purple yam ice cream

Polvoron with pinipig - made with toasted flour, powdered milk, sugar and melted butter then flavoured with pinipig (immature rice that has been pounded to look like flakes); I brought this snack back to Korea intending to eat it sparingly... finished in 2 days!

Of course going back home won't be complete without paying homage to my Chinese roots by devouring a succulent Chinese feast (courtesy of my friend's wedding reception)! Lack of photos... blame my hungry tummy... 

Suckling Pig and Assorted Cold Cuts; I spy century egg, yumm!

 Steamed Garlic Prawns

 Winter melon Stuffed with Scallops

Seafood Noodles

Steamed Garlic Crabs

Almond Jelly with Mango Puree

Lastly, disregarding authentic and traditional food, food is food, and I love delicious food. So for some miscellaneous food from different cuisines...

Sirloin steak grilled at our backyard; after eating this, I understood what it meant when they say the steak melts in your mouth!

Keftedes; was on a beach, and I was just craving for a nice Greek food to accompany the sea breeze

Oddly, there was a deli by the beach. And since I love my cheese and my H loves his cured meats, we gave in to a sandwich lunch. Prosciutto Gruyere cheese sandwich for me, and salami Milano Edam cheese

sandwich for my H.

Cocktails by the beach... what more can I say? Not exactly food, but food and drink does go together, yeah? Piña colada and margarita.

Coconut Seafood Pasta

Baked Ribs, sooo tender!

Pizza margherita - my absolute favourite pizza!

Well, enough of food blogging... it's making me so hungry! Good thing it's dinner time; perfect timing!

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte

Scone

My H has been persistently asking me to make scones like forever! So I have finally gave in. I made a plain scone though because I'm not so much a fan of scones with dried fruits.

Scone is quick bread of Scottish origin, but is now synonymous with the whole of Britain. It is usually eaten at breakfast or afternoon teas served with clotted cream and jam. The shapes of scones may vary from round, square, triangle or diamond. Originally, scones were made with oats and cooked on a griddle, but nowadays it's made with flour and baked in an oven.

For my scones, I used the recipe from joyofbaking. It came out really really good. I just used half of the recipe and I was able to produce four scones.

Now what is scone without clotted cream? I know finding clotted cream here in Korea is impossible, so I didn't even try looking for one. Instead, I decided to make my own. Although, I'm not sure of the quality of Korean creams, I still gave it a go. There's not much variety or shall I say no variety at all of creams in Korea, or at least in the city I live in. They only have whipping cream, and I pretty much use that cream whenever a recipe calls for any sorts of cream. This is when I do miss England where there are single cream, double cream, half and half and the list goes on. Anyway, my clotted cream didn't turn out the way it should have. The color was immensely pale and anemic, and the taste was so sweet. I ended up discarding the clotted cream, and had to settle for butter. 

 my uber pale and sweet clotted cream :(

Despite the mishap, my H and I really enjoyed our scones with a nice cup of tea. Just remember to eat the scones fresh out of the oven! If not, you can always throw the scones back in the oven for like 3 minutes to warm it up, and it would go back to it's soft yummy state!

 my scone with 'clotted cream' and raspberry jam

scone from The Orangery at Kensington Palace with really silky scrumptious clotted cream and blackberry preserves; had this at my bridal afternoon tea last year

Bisou bisou,

Charlotte