Baking and Birthday

Another year gone by. A happy year I would say.

So to make the day happier I started with baking some stuff. It had been ages since I baked and I just loved it! After baking three things I wanted to bake some more!! Hahaha...

So I baked a banana-walnut cake, a batch of oatmeal raisin cookies and a chocolate layer cake.

Seeing the awed look in betu's eyes made it all the more worthwhile. And the way Nishka relished both the cake and the raisin was the final stamp of satisfaction for me.

Here are the pics -

I also baked a simple cake and layered it with whipped chocolate cream. The look isn't great as I didn't know how to smoothen the cream.

As it is every year was flooded with emails, SMSes and calls from friends and family. It just overwhelms me. Every year.

Ended the day with a dinner out at DimSum Bros, New Friends Colony. The food there was great and so was the ambiance and the staff.

So like always a day well spent!

Ooh..I love this!

What about you?

http://www.retronaut.co/2012/10/turniture-by-lester-walker-1970/

The bundt marble chocolate cake

Remember the bundt cake I had written about in this post but couldn't post pictures?

So I made that cake again yesterday and here is the pic of it :)

Looks beautiful na? :D

Edited to add: The recipe had been posted long ago here. I made 3 times the portions mentioned in the recipe.

The picture tag

I was tagged to do the picture tag by a few of you (and I've forgotten who all had tagged me :(..sorry) and today I'm finally getting down to it when Mimi also tagged me on this one :)

So I had to pick and post the 4th pic from my 4th folder in the pictures directory. When I went to the said folder I saw it had ONLY 4 pictures :D

So here it is:


This is Anirudh's baby foot. I had clicked this on June 26, 2004. And if I look at the date, it has an interesting twist to it. He was 3 days less than 3 months on this date. Interesting..isn't it? :D

Mixed Vegetables Souffle

After Manasi asked to post some non-sweet stuff, I made this today and had it for dinner -

This is a mixed vegetables souffle which was polished off by hubby dear and moi in 15 mins flat! :D

After the success of this one I want to try many more. And with that my plans of loosing those extra kilos just flew out of the window :P

P.S. Recipe will follow soon.

This was my dinner yesterday - Palak Paneer with Makke ki roti!

Do I have to add that it was droolicious? :D

It was an impromptu menu. I had palak in my freezer. I asked hubby if he wants to have palak with corn or with paneer. He opted for paneer. I had corn in my freezer but not paneer. So hubby went to buy paneer from the local grocer and bought makke ka atta as well. And so I ended up making this yummy combination.

And eating makke ki roti garma garam with lots of ghee on it, even though lethal, was heaven!

Baking rendezevous

As you can see I'm going through the baking mania phase these days. I keep trying different recipes from either the internet or from my previously collected recipe library. There are days when its a flop show and there are days when they come out really wonderful. Leaving me wondering if I really baked that cake *wink* :D

So today I happened to see this apple raisin cake recipe and I decided that I had to make it today in any circumstances. The cake rose just right, it browned just right and it was spongy and well moist too. Just the PERFECT cake.

So without holding back any further, I present to you the pictures of the cake:

I poured a bit of honey on the slices and it tasted even more delicious.

Want the recipe? Here you go.

Happy baking!

Pictures from the Manali Trip

Here are the pictures from the Manali trip that I wrote about earlier.

Morning sky enroute to Manali

A submerged temple in river Beas

River Beas

Hot Water Spring @ Manikaran

Evening Sky enroute to Manali from Manikaran

View of snow caped mountains from our room

Me and Betu all set for zorbing

Betu enjoying the snow

Ooh..the snow is sooo cold..brrr...

My cake baking rendezvous!

What are your first thoughts looking at this picture? Are you thinking on the lines - looks yummy, so well baked, wanna dig your teeth into it?

But wait..hold your horses. The phrase "Looks can be deceptive" fits so aptly here. This cake was a total fiasco.

So what went wrong? For one, it had very little sugar so it kind of tasted very bland. Second it just didn't rise. Reason? Even I don't know :|

But you know what? My Betu still eats it with enthu that it just melts my heart. He goes "Wow! Cake" and gorge on. His expressions are priceless. As if he is really really enjoying the cake and as if the cake is really really delicious. That makes me feel so guilty because he so wanted to eat a cake and I told him I will make one instead of buying. And eventually it turned out to be such a flop show :(

Betu, next time I promise I will bake you a better one.

P.S. Its a Chocolate Yogurt Cake.

A fractal broccoli!!??

How cool is that?

Read the details here.

Celebrating Lohri

Not so long ago I had posted how we celebrate all the festivals of all the religions at our place. We went and celebrated Lohri with our punjabi friends today evening. Betu was super excited and when he saw we were among the handful ones who had arrived at the celebration point, he started to shout at the top of his voice "Happy Lohri". When I asked him to be a bit quiet he told me "Sab log so rahe hain. Lohri manani hai na isliye sabko bula raha hoon." I had no words looking at his enthusiasm and I let him shout and call out to everyone :)

Here are the two pics from the celebrations -

Does this make you drool?

It was really yumm and polished off in flat 5 mins by Beturam, Hubby and moi.

Click here to view the recipe.

2009 has arrived...

..and somehow it feels no different than any other day. But then is it supposed to?

Anyhow...we had a wonderful impromptu celebration with a cousin bro, Avi bhaiyya, who stays close by. And when I say close by, I mean a 2 min walk :)

We had no plans of going anywhere and I was busy making the eggless orange cake when he called to ask our plans. When we said none, he called us over for some soup and macaroni salad. Who would have said no to that :D

So off we went to their place with my just out of the oven orange cake which was devoured and finished within 10 mins. It was then followed by some good Indian white wine and must say it was awesome.

After licking the soup bowls clean and eating yummy macaroni salad, we came back home by 11 PM and I promptly dozed off while putting Betu to bed and woke up only around 8 in the morning.

Here is the pic of the orange cake that I've intentionally mentioned too often ;) Although the picture doesn't do justice to the cake. Am planning to make it again on Sunday and shall click a better picture of it then.

I burnt my brownies...

While going through my recipes sheets yesterday I found a quick easy recipe for blondies (a kind of a brownie). So when I reached home I saw that I had all the ingredients at home to make them. Me and Betu together worked on it and got the batter ready. I spread it on the tray and kept it for baking. 7-8 minutes later I could see that the living room was getting a bit smoky. It took me about 5 seconds to realise what was happening and I ran to the kitchen but alas..it was a bit too late.

I had actually forgotten to turn down the temperature knob after setting it at highest when I preheated the oven.

But I still managed to save 6-7 of them from the sides and for the rest I scraped off the darkened tops. It wasn't as soft as it should be because instead of baking at lesser temperature for longer duration they were baked for shorter period at high temperature. Here is the pic of the 'saved' ones -

I'm definitely going to be making these again coz if they can taste this good the way I baked them, they would taste heavenly if baked properly. Here goes the recipe for those wanna try-

Ingredients:

• 2/3 cup vegetable oil
• 2 1/4 cups light brown sugar (powdered)
  
• 2 2/3 cups plain flour
• 3 eggs
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 cup chocolate chunks
• 1 cup chopped walnuts; optional

Method:

• Preheat oven to 180C.
• Grease a 13×9 inch baking pan or line the pan with parchment paper.
• In a large bowl, mix together oil and brown sugar. Then add the eggs one at a time and beat until smooth.
• In a separate bowl, sift together dry ingredients and then add them to the brown sugar mixture. Mix well.
• Stir in chocolate chunks & walnuts, if using.
• Spread batter into prepared baking pan. Batter will be thick!
• Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, about 25-30 minutes. Remove from oven and let cool. Cut into squares as desired.

Personal Notes:

• I used only 2 cups sugar and still found it to be a bit too sweet.
• Since I didn't have brown sugar, I used normal sugar and added 2-3 tbsps of cocoa powder.
• I used raisins instead of walnuts and chocolate chunks since I didn't have any of both.
  

I would love to have such shoes thrown at me :)

And I doubt who wouldn't? :D

swedish illustrator/ designer olle hemmendorff was commissioned, together with 7 other creatives (patrik söderstam, hanna wieslander, marguerite seger, jonas wiehager and fredrik skogkvistby) by nike to interpret a nike sportswear icon. hemmendorff created a burger sculpture of nike's 'air max 90'.

'in the tradition of material innovation of AM 90, I constructed a running shoe using the most powerful, must durable and most delicious material known to man: hamburger.' OH

Read about it here.

Janmashtami

Yesterday i.e. August 24, 2008 was Janmashtami. I had kept a 'vrat' (was fasting).

I ate one pear for breakfast, sabudana khichdi for lunch, sabudana-aloo cutlest for evening snacks and had kuttu poori with curd and aloo halwa for dinner. I know eating such rich food can hardly be called fasting :)

I also made the panjeeri (a sweet dish) that Ma always used to make on this day besides the other delicacies like "Makhaane ki kheer". I am drooling just writing about it. Anyway coming back to the panjeeri, this is one thing that I always make every year on this day just like Ma.

Although this year I goofed up a bit as my sugar syrup guesstimate was a little off and instead of the dish taking proper shape, it ended up as crumbles. For few minutes I was at a loss not knowing what to do and then I thought of trying to make some more sugar syrup and add it to the mixture. And the idea worked :) Call it fluke or whatever but for me its was great coz it worked! Here is one picture of the mithai -

And I made Anirudh wear a new Kurta-pajama set that I had with me instead of dressing him up up in Kanha dress like I usually do. And he still looked cute in it :)

What did you have for breakfast?

We had some yummy cheese toasts! I know I'm blowing my own trumpet but they were actually quite yummy! Don't believe me? Ok. Then take a look a look at this picture of the cheese toast.


Want another proof? Ok. Here is the ultimate one which no one can defy :)

Now I hope you believe me 200% when I say they were yummy!

So what did you have for breakfast?

P.S. You can find the recipe here - on my food blog!

Tamatar-pyaaz chutney

Ever had this chutney with a nice just-off -the-tawa parantha? Its simply heaven!


Aug 11, 2008: Edited to add - The Recipe:

On special demand here is the recipe :) Its fairly easy and takes about 20-25 mins.

Ingredients

1. 1 cup diced tomato
2. 1/2-3/4 cup diced onions (optional)
3. 2-3 cloves garlic (optional)
4. 2-3 green chillies
   
5. Mustard seeds
6. 2-3 tbsp sugar
7. 1 tbsp garam masala
   

Steps:

1. Put 1 tbsp oil and when hot add mustard seeds till they splutter.
2. Add garlic and saute slightly. (this step is not required you are not using garlic)
   
3. Add onions and saute till translucent. (this step is not required you are not using garlic)
4. Add tomatoes and green chilies.
5. Add salt and half cup water.
6. Cover and let it simmer
7. When it gets a little pasty, add sugar and garam masala.
   
8. Let it simmer till the water is almost gone. (If you feel the tomato is not properly done and you need to add more water, do that!)
   

You can eat it warm or eat it cold! It tastes good anyways :)

Its raining....yay!!!

Finally after having such a humid day with cloudy skies but no sign of rain, it has started pouring....finally!!! :D

Betu always gets so excited whenever it rains. The moment he realised its raining, he went peeping from the netted main door of the house and came back to say "Mumma baarish!"

Again he went outside to take one more peep and came back even more excited "Mumma lighting!" He meant lightening :D

How I wish it was daytime and I could have floated some boats in the rain water that usually collects in the aangan. Night or day..who cares was Anirudh's thought as he rushed to dance in the rain while I was busy writing this post!

After jumping for a while I called him in lest he gets unwell. He bought some more time saying "Mumma 5 min?" and I let him. He came back in himself in less than 2 minutes saying "Main to poora bheeg gaya. Aaj to mausam kitna achha hai!" :D

Indeed Betu..it sure is a lovely weather! Enjoy the monsoons everyone!

Sunday dinner special

On special demand from Hubby I had made Paav Bhaji for Sunday dinner. Couple of weeks back...err...almost 3 months ago he had asked me to make but then I had ended up making pasta instead! This time his request was duly honored! :D

I usually avoid making food items which I know Betu won't eat happily and I would end up forcing him to eat. But this Paav Bhaji is one dish which he also enjoys thoroughly!

One has to look at this face to see how much he enjoys it! And that's why I love cooking such dishes. He is always so vocal about his likes. If he appreciates he will surely let you know about it as well! So on hearing "Arre waah! paav Bhaji!" and all my mehnat seemed so worth it!

I keep teasing hubby that at least there is someone in the house who at least appreciates what I do and hubby once said, "Akhir beta kiska hai! Mere ko hi to dekh kar seekha hai." and I just roll my eyes and walk away!

So here is the pic of the yummy paav bhaji -