Unconventional...

This weekend was very unconventional in many sense. We or rather S rose early both days of this weekend and we did lot of things over this weekend in addition to enjoying good afternoon naps as well (after a looooooong time!)

We visited 2 temples on a saturday early morning. That being Poornami, we headed to Adambakkam Bhuvaneswari amman temple. Its considered auspicious to visit the temple on a poornami day. (this temple was suggested by my office friend). We also visited the famous nanganallur anjaneyar temple and gobbled some hot/ghee pongal.

S had promised me to get a silk saree for my birthday! (I know the reason to shop this weekend doesnt sound that convincing, considering my bday is more than a month away). I did do some brain storming sessions with my lunch mates in office and had decided on going to Mokshaa for a silk saree purchase. When I proposed the same to the 2 important men in my life, it was immediately "VETO"ed by both :(
They didnt appreciate the idea of shopping for a traditional silk saree from an exclusive collection (unconventional)shop!
We finally bought a silk saree from old "Nalli". I am always a big fan of their collection. We tried to beat the T.Nagar crowd by starting early on Sunday morning and ended shopping peacefully(amidst taking the car -again unconventional of S ;) He hates driving on the crowded lanes and always doubts of finding a good parking lot!)
For a person who has shopped an umpteen times in T.nagar, a new find are the neat toilets in the side of Old Nalli shop. Well maintained by them! You can definitely try them if you happen to spend more time splurging or window shopping in that area ;) Nalli does have ample parking lot at the behind of the shop as well!
Another unconventional event was to eat in a not so often tried place for lunch. Its the "Woodlands" hotel in the beginning of Venkatnarayana road. As we were very hungry and had no energy and patience to wait for a seat in the crowded, more expensive HSB, we headed to this place. I recollected the visit to this place for a buffet dinner arranged for my friend's parents anniversary :) Their phulkas were too soft/hot and was accompanied with good side dishes(homely -less oily/spicy) as well!

If we happen to get up early more often ,we can look forward to more such unconventional weekends ;)

All that starts well, ends well :)

Spicy crackers.

I had checked out Suma's post on wholewheat crackers. I just tried to modify her ingredients a little by adding ajwain (as suggested) along with fresh ginger-chilli paste, hing powder, kasturi methi and ghee instead of butter. I had in my mind something like "Aliva".

It could be a little more soft. May be should try with more butter?? What makes the "Aliva" biscuits so soft ??!

Deriving Inspiration...

Inspired by my enthusiasm to bake, S decided to try something by himself !!!! I wondered how it would turn up ;). First of all to think S would even attempt to enter the kitchen on a weekend, is itself a distant dream and so on hearing that he wanted to try something , surprised me!

I made it very clear to him that he gathers all the ingredients at the beginning itself and not come and pester me again and again(as he often does when I ask him to prepare something when I am bored!)

Well, it was probably one of those days, when S was in a lighter mood and so he seemed quite excited to try this out. He hooked himself to his(or rather mine!) ipod and went about with the task of baking nankattai.

He followed the receipe verbatim and landed up preparing some small size balls of the dough he had prepared. Even though, I told him I would not come and disturb him, curiosity got the better of me and I went into the kitchen , only to see S put the small balls on the greased tray !

I told him we need to flatten the balls to get to the shape of the nankatai ! Without any remark, he gladly accepted (i wish he does this more often as he always questions me on everything ; although i must admit most of the time his questioning makes sense !)

Finally he got the tray completed and put it in the oven for baking ! It did turn out well for a first attempt. More so i took some of them over to my grandmother, uncle and aunt who were so thrilled to hear that it was made by the Son-in-law of the house and enjoyed the same.

Wish more of these attempts are made by S - at least i can see him a bit relaxed and enjoy doing something other than sleeping and sitting on the sofa on weekends !

Here goes the receipe of the same.

Ingredients:

Refined flour(seived) -1 1/2 cup

Powdered sugar - 3/4 cup

Ghee melted - 1/2 + 1/8 cup

Vanilla essence - 1/8 tsp

Method:

1. Grease the drip tray and keep aside

2. Mix together all the ingredients and form a soft dough

3. Divide the dough into equal portions and shape into balls

4. Place the balls on the drip tray.

5. Bake at 160c for 15 min or till the top is light brown in colour

6. Similarly bake the rest of the Nankatais. (S had doubt on this point ! ;))

7. Cool on the wire rack and store in an airtight container.(if anything remains ;))

Baking for this weekend....

Homemade Pav and bhaji inspired from Purnima's blog. Her measurements are perfect. I still will need to adjust the baking time based on my oven. I think I could have left the pav still more in the oven for a glazing golden brown top. There is always scope for improvement... ;)It was not very soft immediately , but with time it become more softer...

I also tried to make nankattai or butter cookies. Its a simplest I think for anyone to start with an oven. It can be be prepared in 15-20 min like our kesari which is made instantly when someone visits our home. :)

Relaxation - at the cost of whose effort?

I somehow managed to squeeze in time on a week day evening to visit a parlor. I have been thinking of getting a pedicure done for quite sometime now. It’s mainly for removing the dead cells and to get a good scrub done rather than for aesthetic reasons.

I was happily sipping a cup of hot tea and glancing through the pages of a women’s magazine. (I would have to accept that it’s the only place I read such magazines! I try to be a little girly girly). A pedicurist was holding my complete leg weight and was giving a good scrub/massage for my feet. She also attended to the minute details of my toe nails. In the middle of her work, she kindly enquired if I was done with my tea, I nodded- she got my cup and kept it safely and continued with her work!
Everytime I return from a parlour, I feel I should not go again for a pedicure. I can very well get my feet soaked on hot water tub with rock salt and vinegar on a daily basis to maintain it properly. For the past one year, I have been trying to put this routine into practice, but somewhere down the line I have been going completely out of track and the cycle of another visit to the pedicure specialist pops-up.

In the name of my mother...

Jun 9 is the birth date of my mother.

I felt it’s apt to remember my mother’s birthdate by writing about “Shanthanjali” trust which was started in the remembrance of mother to do something from our end, for this society.

Father has got a website as well in which he shares to his well wishers informative articles on a monthly basis(18th of every month) and also uses that to keep everyone updated on the trust activities.

If you want to know more about the trust operations or would like to make any contributions, get in touch with us through this website.

My father had also started a blog in the memory of my mother and vented out his feelings on how he managed his first one year in this world without my mother. Currently, father has felt that he is destined to do more service to this world and trying to accept the harsh reality of my mother’s demise.

My mother’s motto has always been “Joy of living is through joy of serving!”

I am very proud to have got them as my parents.

Sand Temple

We revisited our childhood days when we used to go to the beach and play with the water, build tunnels :).

Today me and S decided to build a tunnel and see if we had the patience to do so. We were successful and able to connect with our hands!

We decided to decorate the tunnel with some sea shells.

I wish everyday is like today where we were so engrossed and didnt even think about the end of the weekend! :(

All Excited...

I am all excited about my new OTG of Morphy Richard (28ltr) in Chennai. I have to definitely thank S for driving on a peak Saturday evening to Adyar to buy the OTG.
I did the official inauguration of my OTG with my first baking receipe-Oaty Anzac cookies. If you wish to know the background behind the name of the cookies- refer the link above.

Here goes the receipe for the cookies..

Ingredients:

1 cup (90g) rolled oats

1 cup (150g) plain (all-purpose) flour

⅔ cups (150g) caster (superfine) sugar

¾ cup (60g) desiccated coconut

2 tablespoons golden syrup

125g butter

1 teaspoon bicarbonate of (baking) soda

2 tablespoons hot water

Procedure:

Preheat oven to 160°C (320ºF). Mix the oats, flour, sugar and coconut in a bowl. Place the golden syrup and butter in a saucepan over low heat and melt. Mix the bicarbonate of soda with the water and add to the butter mixture. Add to the dry ingredients and mix well. Place tablespoons of the mixture, leaving space between each one for spreading, onto baking trays lined with non-stick baking paper and flatten to about 7cm in diameter. Bake for 8–10 minutes or until a deep brown. Cool on trays for 5 minutes, then transfer to wire racks to cool completely. Makes 28.

Today I had to used honey instead of golden syrup. Also, I used freshly grated cocunut instead of dessicated cocunt, as I could not get hold of either of these ingredients in my neighbourhood. This post goes as an entry to "Baking from the book" event. This is the first time I am sending an entry to such a blog event. I have also tried to take a photo of the front cover page of the book I had referred to prepare the same. This book was gifted by my husband while we were in Singapore. :)

I made paneer at home and also tried to prepare paneer tikka for dinner using my new OTG-grill option ! The paneer pieces had got broken when I tried to insert the skewer! I had finally put them directly in the grill tray and it ended up with lot of pieces getting stuck to the grill. :(
It have still a long way to go in grilling.... I think I should marinate the paneer and other vegetables in the freezer , so that the ingredients get hard and don’t break while using skewer??!!
I would be very happy to get inputs on how to use the OTG grill option for making good Tikkas?

Menu of the day..

You might be wondering why am I writing a hotel buffet menu here.

No - This was a heavenly home prepared food. The menu was part of my Chithi(mother's sister) 20th Anniversary celebration at home! All the above mentioned items were completely prepared at home by my Chithi for a big group of 22 adults for dinner!

Kudos to the energy and enthusiasm of her! It was a very delicious dinner served with lots of love. :)

Many more happy returns of their anniversary(May 20th) to my Chithi and Chithappa . I am a little late to write about this post..