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A friend made the biscuits coz another friend likes them. On these, she used goat cheese but she thinks as the recipe mentions, blue or feta cheese would be a better option. She thinks biscuits lacked the punch of flavor :( Goat cheese biscuits She made the  blueberry  cake once for a dinner party & the guests wanted to take all of it back with them :D Blueberry bread

A friend gave us a bowl of dosa batter last night. In the morning daze, it took me a while to realize that I didnt have to wait for answer to 'what do you want for breakfast?'. And a while after that I forgot and asked again and later recalled that I didnt have to ask that question. Since the batter was already there, I wanted to take some extra pains and make the red color paste that goes with the dosa. I ended up making  red chutney, coconut chutney and the potato curry . The boiled potato curry that you can never mess up. Bangalore happens to be the place where I heard of and had set dosa.

Apricot Chutney and Mitho Titaura (Mango Candy). Both have a spicy addition to the sweet taste. Making of Titaura

My friend used Poblano corn and zucchini pizza   recipe for the base & made up the rest. Fried Onion, ginger , garlic & tomato paste for the sauce.  She said pizza making is fun if you involve other people in adding toppings.  She  was at the gym & one of the local channels had the cooking show where she got the pizza recipe from. She saw it & seemed very simple, so she had to come home and make it ;)

I have never made sugar cookies before. The recipe is from  Complete childrens cookbook . It was chosen by kids interested in baking. Cookies is the best thing to begin baking with for kids. I got each kid to add an ingredient so they would feel that they were contributing to it. Some of them were big enough to read the measuring cups and spoons and tell me, how much was right. When the cookies baked, after dinner, was the right time for them to put the easy  powdered sugar icing  (does not use eggs) and the chocolate sprinkles. The cookie dough itself needed some more flour so it wouldnt stick while rolling. A friend suggested rolling them out a bit thicker, which gave them the coveted shortbread texture. Some sugar cookie recipes seem to use baking soda and or baking powder. This book's didnt use that and was similar but half the quantity of  Best sugar cookie recipe  but it needed putting in fridge. It called for 2 tbsp maple syrup or honey, if skipped would that have avoide

For the potluck, I made  Dum Aloo  and Rajma There were some interesting twists. Eggplant curry with coconut milk, bajji with curry leaves. The eggplant had tasted very creamy and smooth. When I was asked to guess the ingredients, I made an unconvinced guess of sesame and poppy seeds. For the third time, when I gave an answer without thinking, it was right. Dum Aloo had a nice taste to it. When it got too watery, I added some besan to it at the end. Tastes like a kadi sabji without being too extreme. The potatoes too tasted good. My sister thought if it was arbi. There's another idea now. Dum Arabi. The night before, when I didnt have energy to boil potatoes. I used sauteed capsicum instead. Now I am always going to make Rajma this way. From my friend: Rajma –Recipe: I learnt making Rajma from Vahchef recipe online and now I just make it on the fly. Today I made it as follows: 1)        Soak Rajma (2.5 cups) overnight and add 5 cups of water and pressure cook it

Hot Tomatoes and Spring Onions curry Had to use up spring onions. Recently my neighbour gave me a box of spring onion curry that as green in colour. Liked this tomato and spring onions curry. Good change. Will try this  Green Onion Dal  next time.

Moong dal with spicy onion When I boiled the dal seperately on stove, it wasnt  enough. So I had to add some water after mixing it with onions. I should make it once more to get the consistency right. Its a quick curry. Reminded me of the overnight soaked chana dal with onion curry.

Itty Bitty Carrot Cake cookies Its so refreshing to add freshly grated carrot. More on the healthy side. 

I had suggested Mousaka for a friend at a Mediterranean restaurant. The menu said it contained meat. when I looked at this egg and yogurt based topping, I couldnt believe the ease with which it can be made. The original one has  bechamel sauce topping

We had some leftover syrup from gulab jamun ordered from a restaurant. The order was messed up, they totally forgot about it and made it then. Later when guests were eating them, one of them asked if it was made with bread. Many took umbrage that their soft gulab jamuns had been overtaken by bread. With syrup, I quicklt thought of gulab jamun, using it up as sugar in tea but there are  dozens of sweets that  Indian mums do with the surplus of gulab jamuns sugar syrup . A slightly different syrup is used to make  jelly beans with navy beans in sous vide method .

Coconut cookies  from  Complete childrens cookbook Family and neighbours liked the crunch and the granola like texture. To get the burger patty like shape, I pressed the mixture into a cupcake liner in a muffin pan. I might have over melted the butter, but even the smaller drop cookies tasted and looked good like Hershey's kisses. Since this does not use egg, I shared it with my neighbour who doesnt eat egg. She said she'll share some  makhaniya biscuits  that go very well with tea.

Vadi Biyyam We do this for the 21st day of baby's birth. The rice is then cooked in a couple of days, with all neighbours invited for lunch. number of times a woman can receive lap rice odi biyyam songs

Assault on Salt As a kid you learn that curd rice tastes good not only because your mother feeds you, but because it has salt. In high school, you then learn of its chemical nature in chemistry class as newfangled NaCl. Later as a grown up, if you cook your own food you learn from recipes to add salt for taste or if you use processed foods that they add salt for taste.

Beans Chatpata Aloo Korma By a stroke of luck, I searched for green beans curry and came across Beans Chatpata. I thought of making aloo fry, but with samosa on the menu, it would be a repeat of the stuffing. Looking for a gravy recipe for aloo, I looked at Sanjay Thumma's aloo korma recipe and gave it a try. Gravy is my bete noir. Even with this aloo korma at first it tasted bland and watery. But with some boiling, the poppy paste unleashed its magic. Everybody liked the aloo korma. Later I realised that I missed putting coconut in the Beans Chatpata. What fun it is to try new recipes and when they turn out good. Ok here, the picture doesnt show the said gravy, cause its all gone for a good cause. In this, I had to fry the aloo which I have never done before. For all the times, that you are tied, and cant get yourself to cook, I suggest 'try a new recipe'. Sounds ironic like the Antoinette's 'Let them have cakes' when they cant afford bread. But it works.

Snakaroons from Laughing Giraffe Organics taste good and are not too moist, which is how they taste good. Not too sweet.

Grease spoon with oil before measuring maple syrup or honey What are the skills that cooking needs? First off, there are different styles of cooking. Lets take the example of baking. If you are going to make a layered cake, how will you ensure that you have split the batter equally into two pans. I never faced this problem, as I never made layered cakes this way. But author Jessica Fechtor in her book Stir offers cute ways of doing so. First, stick toothpicks into the pans after pouring the batter, and then make sure that both are in upto the same level. Another is use a ladle and measure the batter by ladles to ensure that both pans have same amount of batter. So see, cooking will put many challenges in your child's way which they can solve in any ingenious way up to them. Complete Children's Book starts with many easy kid friendly recipes like Granola and Granola Bars. It has 'Four ways with..' section after the recipes which will enforce to kids that they dont

I came across Layne Mosler's work in  Best womens travel writing vol 8   by  Lavinia Spalding Mango butter White dog cafe The idea of taking dining tips from cabbies is interesting. The Cabbies in all the three different places that the author has been display a good understanding of how their nations/cities work. The author has a way of expressing herself with sentences like my emergency contact is millions of miles away. The Buenos Aires section is well put together. But after her disenchantment with that place, it never again reaches that peak with her subsequent adventures in new places. If Buenos Aires was her astronomical moon flight, then every other attempt dims out in comparision. Perfect as travel anthology essays. "The future never has the nerve to be the present completely without first trying things out, and that trying things out is hope" - Borges, "The Full extent of Hope" essay.

Walking on eggshells is hard but so is walking with them. Try holding a  carton of eggs in a hand and another egg and a vessel/bowl in the other. Your mind is bound to get confused and try to hold the flimsier one stronger and thus break it.

My friend made this chicken soup.

If you have ever wondered what the barista is doing behind his machine station, you will get an idea of it with this KitchenAid Nespresso machine. You will also appreciate the steps involved and the time it takes to make your satisfying drink. There are start and Instruction manuals on the operation of the machine. When you are looking at the step which shows how to insert the capsule into the the machine, note that it is the top view of the machine and not the front. The setup is fairly easy. For the first time you fill the water and run it out 3 times and then insert the capsule. Then you have your chosen size Ristretto, Lungo.. flowing into your cup. Do look at some videos on the net to find what drink you like and how to make it. Latte Macchiato, Cappucino, Genuine Macchiato. This is where the Aeroccino frother comes into picture. You can froth the milk in heat or cold settings. It is indicated by red or blue LED respectively. Also look online for care instructions of the fr

 My neighbour got this  Great harvest cinnamon chip bread  from a Farmer's Market. The bread tastes best toasted and is not sweet. Cinnamon Chips

My neighbour made this  Bhakri . She uses a special earthern stove. It tastes like jowar roti with oil and salt rubbed on it.

If you have leftover  imli chutney  and are not going to make nay chaat any time soon, a good way to use it up is to mix it with water and ice for a refreshing drink in summer. Your taste will guide you as to the ratio of water and imli chutney.

Before this I dint know that there were ceramic knives and that chef knife is a specific thing. The T-fal Zen Ceramic Chef's Knife meets the promise of thinly sliced zucchini pictures shown on the product packaging. The tomatoes cut as thin ear. Even the unwieldy carrot slices thin effortlessly. Cutting cabbage has always been a nightmare, But now I am going to bask in the ease. The knife does not touch the counter top when laid down, so you dont have to worry about cleaning it or messing the counter top if you have to stop cutting in between. Cutting seems so easy with this knife. Since its a chef knife, you can handle large amounts of vegetables easily and quickly as you start getting proficient with it.

Whole Wheat Chocolate Chip cookies  from  Stir .  If whole wheat can work so well for cookies, no reason to use all purpose flour. Usually I shy away from recipes that go to the tune of anything more than 2 cups of flour. But now I have so many boxes to return to neighbors and they cant be returned empty. For that express need, these cookies serve a good purpose.

These oatmeal cookies are from  Stir . The recipe is similar to Quaker Oats Vanishing Cookies  but the ratio is half. so it goes 1/2 cup firmly packed brown sugar ½ c. granulated sugar 1 egg 1 c. all-purpose flour 1 tsp baking powder 1 and 1/2 c. rolled oats (not instant) And the oven at 325 F for 18-22 min. I used instant oatmeal. And they tasted crisp and yum.

I got the recipe for  Marcellas Butter Almond Cake  from  Stir . I would have baked the cake over 25min than the recommended, as it felt a little wet at the bottom. In which case, it has to be eaten very fast. If you wait long enough, it gets too hard but tastes good nevertheless with a bent towards shortbread cookie.

A friend was talking about  Bellam jalebi  in which the syrup is made from jaggery.  His grandfather had a sweet business. Dachepalli sweets where they made panchadara chilakalu  or birds of sugar candy sold at fairs. For some occasions they made big sugar candies of about 3-4 ft in height. They had to be made using wooden moulds. With time, the moulds would degrade. After some restorations, the confectioner couldnt find experts who could fix the moulds.

My brother in law made this Chicken Biryani. I was surprised by the scale of it. I got a whiff of it as my brother had asked last night, if I was eating non veg. The fried chicken legs that I had at the hospital had methi in its marination.

I came across the recipe of  Whole Wheat Banana Bread  in  Stir . Today as we reach 100 in phoenix. Its good weather for warming some butter at room temperature. With ripe bananas, I am always looking for banana bread recipes with 1 cup flour. This one calls for 1 cup all purpose flour and 1/2 cup wheat flour. I want to see how that changes the taste. I didnt realise that this recipe calls for yogurt. Never made such fancy banana bread. Have you ever been able to not stop yourself from tinkering with a recipe. When it was time to pour in the 1 cup sugar, I thought it wont need that much and started rationing it. And then it struck me that it has 1 and 1/2 cup flour, so it definitely needs that much sugar. Imagine me scrambling to try to figure how much sugar I tried to put back into the sugar jar. And bringing it back in by spoonfuls. The batter tasted very good. Reminiscent of the sooji, banana, sugar prasadam during Satyanarayana Vratam. Coming back to the taste of the cake. Mois

Maplehurst everyday favorites mini gold cupcakes Finding these in the fridge, with that chocolate frosting, I had to eat them. At first I thought, I will take just a bite of it, but then I wouldnt stop at short of finishing the frosting, That would be inconsiderate for the person who has to eat the rest of cupcake like a muffin. So I used "mini" as the ok to eat all of it. Another advantage of a mini cupcake is the frosting to cupcake ratio seems more than 1.