She is woman, she is life.
Wednesday, November 20, 2013
Bread square
Friday, November 15, 2013
The magic of Halloween
Visit to pumpkin patch
The pumpkin patch is a field where pumpkins are grown and
sold during the fall for decoration.
Since long my son had been constantly asking his father to
take him to pumpkin patch. He wanted to buy a pumpkin. However, his time didn’t
permit his father to do the same. Anyway, at last he got the chance to visit
the pumpkin patch with his classmates. It was a great fun. We visited there and
took a pumpkin from there; it was a part of the field trip. All children got a
pumpkin each. The next day they did some math with those pumpkins. The pumpkin
my son picked up weighed 6 lb.
Wednesday, November 13, 2013
Pasta with mushroom gravy
Monday, November 11, 2013
Basil pasta and meat ball gravy
Off late I wanted make some variation in cooking pasta.
Usually I cook pasta in very simple way. Yet I to do any experiment with pasta.
I usually cook with typical tomato-pasta sauce. However, everybody at home was
already bored with that kind of pasta. Anyway, few days back I wanted to cook
pasta for dinner. I thought that after coming back from market I would cook.
Tuesday, November 5, 2013
Stuffed baked tomatoes
Long back I cooked this very dish. However, I forgot the recipe. Few days back I was going through my recipe smash book and found the recipe there. I got this recipe from newspaper. It is very easy to cook, yet it is very tasty.
Two large tomatoes
One cup small curd cottage cheese
Half cup finely chopped fresh basil, spinach or arugula (I used spinach)
Two crushed garlic cloves
Half grated Parmesan cheese
Preheat the oven to 400 degree F. Cut tomatoes in half horizontally. Combine remaining ingredients; stir gently. Divide among four tomatoes. Bake for fifteen minutes or until hot and brown.
P.S. I carved out the seeds from each of the halves, and put the stuffing.
Thursday, October 17, 2013
Corn fritter
One cup corn
One small onion
One cup chopped cilantro
Pinch of red chili powder
Enough Bengal gram flour to make a tight dough
Salt to taste
Oil for deep frying
Method:
If you are using frozen corn, then you only need thaw and wash the corn. If you
are using fresh corn, then you need to boil for a while to make them soft. Mix all
the ingredients, and make tight dough. Make small balls out of the dough and
slightly flatten them. Heat enough oil in a heavy bottomed wok, in medium heat.
Deep fry the fritter. Serve hot with tea. It is a very mouth watering snack
during afternoon tea.
Tuesday, September 10, 2013
Egg-paneer roll
Egg-Paneer roll (egg-cottage cheese roll)
Off late I was feeling too debilitated to do anything,
specially working on my blog. Suddenly I became irregular in posting to my
blog. Even I was unable to gather much energy to photograph my dishes,
whichever I cooked in those days. Like, two days back I cooked a simple but
tasty pumpkin curry, but I didn’t take a snap. Anyway, the long we enjoyed the
long weekend in LA with our friends.
Going back to LA is always exciting to us. We never feel
bore to going there. Rather we try to go there at least once a year, after all
that was the first place in the USA where we start our family. Anyway, this
year this was the first time we visited there. One evening, I told my hubby
dear that I needed a brake very badly. Promptly he suggested going to LA. So,
we decided to visit there in the long weekend of September. My son was also
extremely excited, because he could meet with his friends there, especially A.
My husband wanted to go on Thursday, because he wanted to avoid the long
weekend traffic. However, the problem was to get leave from my son’s school.
Anyway, we didn’t face any problem to get one day leave from school. The first
thing in LA hit us was the temperature. I couldn’t imagine that LA could be
that much hot. When we reached at our friend’s home in the night, still it was
extremely hot outside, and it seemed that the air condition was not working. However,
the temperature couldn’t daunt us enjoying. After a long time I met with my friend,
we chatted endlessly, while she cooked many delicious dishes amid the heat.
Though we talk with each other almost every day, but meeting had a different
kind of excitement. My son also got chance to meet with his friend A after long
time. Unfortunately after coming back all of us were down with bad cold and
cough. I had been just dragging myself through the daily cores. At last,
yesterday I woke up from slumber and took a snap of the afternoon snacks. Here is the recipe
Serving size 2
Ingredients:
For the flat bread:
One egg
Half cup all purpose flour
One tbsp. oil
One tbsp. of water (if needed)
salt and sugar to taste
Two tbsp. oil for frying
For the feeling
Half cup very small cube of paneer (cottage cheese)
A very small tomato (finely chopped)
Half cup coriander leaves (finely chopped)
One tbsp. of oil
¼ tsp. nigella seeds
Salt to taste
One green chili (finely chopped, if you want more hot, then you can add more
green chilies)
Few fine slices of onion
Method:
Knead together egg, flour, one tbsp. oil, salt sugar and
water (if needed) to make a dough. Cover the dough and set aside.
Meanwhile, in a wok,
over medium-heat, heat oil. Add nigella seeds into it. When the seeds start crackle,
add all the ingredients of feeling, except the onion. Fry for few minutes stirring
continuously. Then cover the wok and keep it over slow flame until the paneer
cubes are well cooked. Keep the wok aside.
Make two small balls from the dough. in a frying pan, heat
oil, over medium-heat. Cover the frying with oil by moving the pan in circular
motion. Flatten the balls using a rolling pin. Fry the both side of the breads.
Be careful, not to over fry the breads, then they will be brittle, and you
cannot roll them. So, try to remove from the pan, still they are very soft.
Then put the feeling one the middle of the breads in a line. Put onion slices
over the feeling and roll the bread. You cut the roll from the middle to
decorate. Serve hot with salad and mustard sauce.
One egg
Half cup all purpose flour
One tbsp. oil
One tbsp. of water (if needed)
salt and sugar to taste
Two tbsp. oil for frying
For the feeling
Half cup very small cube of paneer (cottage cheese)
A very small tomato (finely chopped)
Half cup coriander leaves (finely chopped)
One tbsp. of oil
¼ tsp. nigella seeds
Salt to taste
One green chili (finely chopped, if you want more hot, then you can add more green chilies)
Few fine slices of onion
Thursday, August 8, 2013
Spicy Fish Curry
The other day while I was cooking fish, I wanted to make a
little twist in the normal fish curry with mustard paste. I already made a
paste of onion and tomato to cook cottage cheese. So, I thought to use the rest
of that paste in the fish curry. Again I thought that; then the two curries
were going to be of same taste. I needed to use some more extra spices with
that paste. I found a small container of mustard paste in my refrigerator.
Mustard paste, tomato-onion paste, and what else? Why not a little bit of
coconut paste? Yes!!! The final dish tasted awesome.
The other day while I was cooking fish, I wanted to make a
little twist in the normal fish curry with mustard paste. I already made a
paste of onion and tomato to cook cottage cheese. So, I thought to use the rest
of that paste in the fish curry. Again I thought that; then the two curries
were going to be of same taste. I needed to use some more extra spices with
that paste. I found a small container of mustard paste in my refrigerator.
Mustard paste, tomato-onion paste, and what else? Why not a little bit of
coconut paste? Yes!!! The final dish tasted awesome.
Monday, July 15, 2013
Sedona trip, December 2012
Sedona 2012
Like the previous years’ this year too we decided to spend
our Christmas holidays away from home. My hubby suggested me many places, but I
strongly wanted to go to Sedona . It was my dream, I waited for a long time,
and this time I didn’t miss the opportunity to go there. Those red colored
layered rocks were mesmerizing. At last he agreed with me. However, his intention was totally different; he only wanted to rest and have great food. I
didn’t want that at all. I wanted to drink the beauty of the place to my
fullest.
Towards Sedona
We left home on the 28th of December in the morning. We decided to
go via Phoenix, because that was more economic than going direct to Sedona,
though it was a 100 miles drive from Phoenix. Our flight was on time, we reached
Phoenix airport hassle free. It was a hot sunny afternoon. Outside the airport
the Saguaro Cacti welcomed us to phoenix, and showed us that we reached a very
different place from ours. As far as I could see there were only rocks and cacti,
and nothing else. However, the desert also had its own beauty. The rocks, acre
after acre of empty lands, and of course the Saguaro created a different kind
of beauty. Mother nature was probably in a rough mood while creating the place,
she didn’t show any kindness. It was a harsh beauty. Though in the beginning I
really enjoyed the harsh beauty, but sometimes later I started feeling
suffocated, my eyes wanted to see some greenery, some wetlands; my heart wanted
the din of the human beings. Anyway, as we traveled in the daylight, so we
couldn’t see any coyotes, though I heard about the coyotes of this harsh land.
Saguaro Cacti
I was eagerly waiting to see the red rocks, one of the
Mother Nature’s finest creations. She created the rocks and painted with bright
vibrant red color. What a creation!!! When from distant I could see the red
“Bell Rocks”, I jumped on my feet like a child. It was the month of December;
Sun god started preparing to go to bed, when we reached our hotel. Below the
saffron sky the red rocks were standing tall with their mystical beauty, a
heavenly situation; I felt a strong urge to run to the foothill. I already
fastened invisible roller skate on my feet, so I didn’t want to spend much time
just sitting at the hotel. The lady at
the counter of the hotel was telling about all the attractions around the
place, but nothing was going through my ears, all I could see were the red
rocks. It was chilling cold outside along with strong wind, which was totally
an unfavorable condition to go out, but I didn’t want to stay back in the
hotel, though the hotel was very cozy. Usually I research about any place
before going, but this time my hubby was so reluctant to visit the place, that I lost my
enthusiasm to research. The lady at the counter gave us complementary tickets
of a lighting show in a neighborhood hotel, my husband was in dilemma, whether
we go or not.
Christmas lighting show
When we at last got ready to go there, it was dark outside, and
it was extremely cold, but we couldn’t realize the intensity, though we went
there armed with all kind of winter garments. After reaching there, when we
came outside the car, the chilled wind blew over the faces, and we were almost
frozen. Full of enthusiasm, we started walking. A little later we really felt
difficulty in moving our hands and feet. Our bodies became totally numb, and my
son was constantly whimpering and wanted to go back home. It was just for him
we went to see the show, but he didn’t enjoy it. Somehow we managed to finish
the whole spectacular show, and literally ran into the car, and put the heater
in full. When we reach our hotel, we were still shivering. My husband couldn’t
move his fingers to drive the car. After getting back to hotel we put the
heater in full and gradually started feeling better. Since the last few days our
son was suffering from cold, and his condition was worse than us. He felt so
home-sick that every now and then he wanted to go back home. I’d never seen him
so home sick ever before. We already did a little grocery in Phoenix on our way
to the Sedona.
Bell Rock Vista
So, after coming back to hotel my first job was to cook the
dinner.
Next day, my hubby was not at all in a mood to go out, but I
desperately wanted to go. My hubby dear tried to assure me that we had one more
day in our hand. Actually I wanted to go hiking on any of the trails. I looked
forward to this trip so that we could go hiking.
Court house butte
30th December, the weather was little bit warmer
than previous day and sunny also. At last we decided to go out and see around
the Sedona town. Since morning the weather was sunny, we thought the weather is
going to be comfortable. However, Mr. Weather was all ready to prove that
wrong. We started our day in a teeth-tittering cold. Sun god seemed to be too
meek to bite the cold. We were already provided a map of the place, as we
didn’t study about the place before, so the map was our only hope.
Anyway, after studying the map we found that it would be better
to start our tour from “Bell Rock Vista”, which was the point from where the
Bell Rock could be seen. The dark rust colored layered rock named due to the
shape of it. The Bell Rock was the first major rock site that we came across in
Sedona. It would be very unfair if I didn’t appreciate the unique and massive
rock formations. From there we could see the rare side of the Courthouse butte.
We didn’t have much time in our hand, so we couldn’t stop at any of sites for a
long time. After that we went to the courthouse vista, from where the
courthouse butte could be seen very clearly. From there we started towards
Cathedral rocks. We passed the little horse trailhead and took left turn on
Beck o’beyond Road, without knowing, where we were going. Actually we wanted to
go to Cathedral Rock, but the route was different. However, suddenly we found
that we were standing at the trailhead of Cathedral rock.
Cathedral Rock
I was extremely eager
to go hiking there, but with a sick child it was not possible. Still my hubby
dear suggested me that I could hike as long as I wish. Without watching behind
I almost started running towards the top in the chilling cold, but it seemed
that it was receding more and more from me. After few minutes I looked back I
found that I already had gone far bottom foot of the hillock. So, it was the
time to going down, as we had to cover a lot within one day. Our next
destination was Chapel of Holy cross. The chapel was situated on a mound.
Chapel of Holy cross
We
parked our car on the foot, though there was small parking area behind the
chapel we decided not to go there, because it was a difficult task to going in
and out in the parking lot. So we parked the car a little far from the chapel and
we walked up to there. From deck of the chapel the view was spectacular. From
the top was visible one unarguably beautiful house just below the chapel.
View of the beautiful house from the Chapel
We
were talking about the house while going to the chapel, and both of us wished
to see the house in details, and from the top we could do that. Then we
decided to go southbound. I was watching the map in my hand to figure out where
actually we were going. Suddenly my husband tapped me asked me to watch, but I
couldn’t understand what to watch. Then I saw a spectacular scene. Clouds were
hovering through two of the buttes. I was just staring at the scene, I couldn’t
move my eyes, but the sound of snowflakes put me back to reality. However, it
was very exciting to me and my son, because both of us never have seen
snowfall, but we realized it wouldn’t be wise going further. The place is
unknown to us, and it was snowing. I asked my husband not move further, but as
usual he didn’t listen to me. We crossed Morgan road, Broken arrow vista and
went up to high cloud trail. Then he realized it wouldn’t be wise to go
further. We came back, and went to have lunch at Sound bites Grill. We were too
hungry to wait, so, without thinking about expenditure, we decided to have
lunch there. When we parked our car, it was still snowing. We just ran in the
restaurant. so we had a stomach and heart feeling lunch. After lunch obviously
a cup of coffee was needed. Why?? The Starbucks was adjacent to the restaurant.
When we were waiting in the queue for coffee, again it started snowing. I started
jumping like a child. Both mother-son ran outside of the shop. I started
clicking snaps of snowing. My son too excited to stand with me. He sprang
outside and started jumping on snow. My enthusiasm became so much that I
couldn’t resist me, and also went outside to jump with my son.
Let it snow, let it snow
It was a great
fun-time. My son, who was cranky just few moments back, was very happy when he
got chance to jump on the snow. However the snowing didn’t last for a long. We
decided to go further.
We started driving towards Sedona airport. We passed Crest
view church, Sunset Drive, Seventh day Adventist church. Both of us were
delighted when we saw the Cuisines of India in between the route. We took left
turn on airport drive. It was a serpentine road with many offshoots. We didn’t
know which road we would take. Luckily one open tourist jeep was going just
before, we blindly followed them and we reached the small airport. It was an
amazing view as we could see the whole Sedona town from the top. There was nothing
much to do, we decided to towards Oak Creek canyon. The mountain road was very narrow;
there was no room for error. We reached the Midglay Bridge. It was an amazing
view from there. My son fell asleep. So we came out of car in turn to watch the
beauty. Just to the west of the bridge is Wilson Mountain; a hiking trail began
just next to the parking lot. The Huckaby
Trail, took under Midgely Bridge to Oak Creek, but unfortunately I couldn’t
explore that .
Midgely Bridge
Passing Huckbay trail vista, Grasshopper point we reached
the Oak Creek Visitor center. Then it again started snowing heavily. It was not
wise to go further uphill. We started coming down and reached a very beautiful
small town. It reminded us our visit to Gatlinburg near Smokey Mountain. As we
reached the town again sun god showed his face. So again we changed our mind
and started driving towards another side instead of going back to the hotel. We
entered the Red rock state park through Upper red rock loop Ed. Actually we
enter the park from the uphill and started driving downhill. The elevation was
so much that the car was rolling down by it, it was difficult to control the
car. We entered the Yavapai county.
I wondered, how they climbed to the top?
While crossing Tortuga trail I saw three
people on the top of an unknown butte. I wonder how they climbed there.
While crossing Caberello trail again it started snowing. Though the road was
not dangerous but it was very bumpy. Then we saw Cross creek ranch. From
outside it was looking very nice; we thought we could go inside. However, after
going up to the gate we realized that it was a private property. The entrance
was so nice that I couldn’t resist myself from taking some snaps. Then we
started hotel bound. Before going to hotel, my husband wanted to explore a
little more. Without knowing we enter Canyon drive and reached a dead end. That
lane was so narrow that it was hard back our car. Anyway, somehow he managed to
do that, and then we went the opposite side of the road. Again we reached
another dead end, but we found a way to direct 179 express-way which directly
led to our hotel.
Courthouse butte in the evening sun
Next day morning we left Sedona. Our flight was in the
afternoon from Phoenix. Again we hit the desert road full of cacti. Just before
reaching there we were caught up in traffic, which we feared but we reached on
time. That was the end of the trip, but I would love to come back again and
again.
Towards Sedona |
We left home on the 28th of December in the morning. We decided to go via Phoenix, because that was more economic than going direct to Sedona, though it was a 100 miles drive from Phoenix. Our flight was on time, we reached Phoenix airport hassle free. It was a hot sunny afternoon. Outside the airport the Saguaro Cacti welcomed us to phoenix, and showed us that we reached a very different place from ours. As far as I could see there were only rocks and cacti, and nothing else. However, the desert also had its own beauty. The rocks, acre after acre of empty lands, and of course the Saguaro created a different kind of beauty. Mother nature was probably in a rough mood while creating the place, she didn’t show any kindness. It was a harsh beauty. Though in the beginning I really enjoyed the harsh beauty, but sometimes later I started feeling suffocated, my eyes wanted to see some greenery, some wetlands; my heart wanted the din of the human beings. Anyway, as we traveled in the daylight, so we couldn’t see any coyotes, though I heard about the coyotes of this harsh land.
Saguaro Cacti |
Christmas lighting show |
Bell Rock Vista |
Court house butte |
Cathedral Rock |
Chapel of Holy cross |
View of the beautiful house from the Chapel |
Let it snow, let it snow |
Midgely Bridge |
I wondered, how they climbed to the top? |
Courthouse butte in the evening sun |
Thursday, July 11, 2013
Baked chicken chops
The other day I asked my husband that I would like have something to have with tea in the evening, but I was not in the mood to cook. My hubby dear, who loves eating out, literally sprang on his feet and went to take out something which could go with tea. After a long time he came back with two patties, but unfortunately those tasted awful. Our tea drinking session became a flop show due to that. We vowed that not to buy those very particular patties in future. So next day, before he could suggest anything I decided to bake chicken chops. The previous day I couldn’t do the same, because I didn’t thaw the chicken. And it was a real hit. Anyway, it is one of the easiest things to cook with minimum effort. Only thing is that it takes half an hour to bake. Here is the recipe.
One cup thawed ground chicken or turkey
One egg
One tsp. ginger paste
One tsp. garlic paste
One tbsp. butter in room temperature ( I used margarine)
Salt to taste
Enough bread crumb to make a thick dough
Method:
Wash a ground chicken, and try to drain the water fully. I put the chicken in the big sieve, and put it on a sauce pan. Take a big bowl; put everything into the bowl except bread crumb. Start folding, adding bread crumb slowly until the dough becomes tight. Make small ping-pong ball size portion, give a shape of ball and slightly flatten them. Preheat the oven at 350 degree F. Take a cookie tray, lay a parchment paper on it and arrange the chops. Bake for 20 minutes, and then flip the other side of the chops and bake for another 10 minutes or until the chops become hard. Serve hot with tea or coffee.
Sunday, July 7, 2013
Chestnut cake
Few months ago we three of us had been rambling around
Costco and feeling our shopping cart with different items, and Mr. S and I were
discussing about our son’s eating problem. Every day I struggle with this very
picky eater. He didn’t like to eat any kind of nuts because, he had to chew.
Anyway, this time we decided to take chance and we bought a packet of chestnut,
hoping that this time he would eat those. However, he dashed all my hope and
simply turned down to eat. He was even reluctant to taste the nut. Since then
the packet was just lying idly in my refrigerator. One day Mr. S opened the
packet and showed the nuts were getting spoiled. Now what to do with a packet
of chestnut? I had to rescue them,
oops!!! We had to consume them, but how to consume a whole packet of nuts? I
didn’t know any kind of recipe. I tried to think many things, but every time
ended up thinking about baking a cake with chestnut. Lastly I gave up creating
recipes in my mind and baked a cake with those chestnuts. First, I was not
confident enough to bake a cake, but I thought to give a try. Once I bake a
financier with almond, so why not with chestnut? The cake turned out fine. Here
is recipe of chestnut cake.
Ingredient:
One packet of chestnut (500gm approx)
Half cup all purpose flour
One cup sugar
Half cup melted butter
One and half tsp. baking powder
Half tsp. baking soda
Three eggs or egg-white of four eggs
Method:
Dry roast the chestnuts. Coarsely ground the chest using a
mixer.
Take a big bowl, sift flour, baking soda, and baking powder, and keep
aside. In another big bowl whip egg-white (or eggs) , and sugar with a electric
mixer, until fluffy. Add the dry mixture into it. Again, whip to make a fine
batter. Lastly whip the chestnut powder in the cake batter. Preheat the oven at
350 F. Grease a 9”X11” baking tray, pour the mixture into it. Bake for 50-60
minutes or a fork comes out clean. The chestnut cake is ready. Eat with hot
coffee or tea.
Half cup all purpose flour
One cup sugar
Half cup melted butter
One and half tsp. baking powder
Half tsp. baking soda
Three eggs or egg-white of four eggs