Never knew a cake would taste better when cooled. Broke the myth that fresh-from-oven-tastes better. Actually the more the cake was let to sit it out, the better it tasted!
http://www.foodnetwork.com/recipes/alton-brown/free-range-fruitcake-recipe/index.html
For one, this cake is loaded with ingredients....and it made me a fruit cake convert.
Yet again no pictures...One of these days I need to spend time in researching how to take good food pictures.
My pictures actually ends up making the dish look less appetizing..Booooo!
Finally got to put together a potluck...Its been a while...
Company was great...Cranium was fun...even the little one had a blast :)
Menu:
Almond Milk
Spinach Articoke Dip - Frnd's
Pav Bhaji
Channa Masala
Lemon Rice
Paneer Masala - Frnds
Raitha - Frnds
Naan - TJs
Gulab Jamun - Frnds
Rasmalai
Guess the recipe at the back of the box works for Pav Bahaji mix :) Turned out pretty well..beginners luck?! Gud for first time try out I would say....Can't say the same for Channa Masala....cud have been better....Lemon Rice was last minute addition, which turned out quite alright....Almond Milk was gud to have on the cold cold evening....Well...I did make Naan frizbees :(...Kept it too long in the oven...Kinda used Pav for the dinner....
These Kings Hawaiian Rolls are so good...reminds me of sweet bread from back home...Think its been a while since I had any white bread, am hooked to this thing...Been eating it for a while now :|...It will make good sliders, for the next dinner ofcourse.
Got to put up lights and decorate the house with lots of candles...Even colored sand to out up rangloi...I mean, I litterally colored sand :D...interesting experiment, which turned out quite nicely...We also lit a couple of sparklers, mainly for taking pictures.. :)
Cranium was good fun too...Esp when the great me did not remm any of the rules! DUH!!..But we pulled it off my making our own rules...It was a fun evening...thing everyone else felt the same....Too bad the next day was a monday :P
Outdoor climbing is so very AWEEESOMEEEEeeee!
ie if you don't fatally hurt yourself.....
Well...having stated the disclaimer...what a wonderful experience....rather what a differnt experience...
This is nothing like climbing in the gym..nothing like it wht so ever....
All I wanted was a pepsi - 5.6
Frictionary 5.9!!!
Deprived Child - 5.6
Dusty Bowl - 5.7
Over the span of 6 hrs....not bad eh?!..ok it is more than not just bad....outdoor 5.9 are u kidding me!!?!
I did not know I could do that...I shd add that's becos this was a slab area...the holds are teeny-tiny...and the rock inclines inwards...so its supposed to favor ladies, who don't have much upper arm strength and have to rely on technique and positioning...
Say whtever...it was my fingers and toes which were more tired than my forearms.....which is so not the case in the gym.
The first climb, to start with, it was freaking flat!..I dont even know howI started up!!..I need to put up pictures...It's like u have to figure out the holds like reading braile....the first site I saw when I looked upwards were circling hawks!!! hehe ..that did scare me I shd add.
The feeling of real climb is difficult to express...Scary , Exciting, infuriating (esp when its a FLAT flat rock)....you need serious belayers..:)..Feeling of being outside to do this is great...Glad I got the oppurtunity.
I almost bailed out of 'Dusty Bowl', but somehow made it...Actually that was the climb I enjoyed the most...Apart from the fact my toes were burning bad, and I had a sore on my sole....
The climbing trip did leave me SORE..so so sore...but it did wonders to lift up my spirit...5.9!..I am still repeating it to myself.....
The gravel drive to the climbing place was not fun...my poor darling car..somehow made it up there and back.....also met some interesting and nice ppl...and hmm I was in one piece after the climb. :)
The view from the top was really serene...reminded me of some english country side they have in the movies. The climb down to the climbin site was steep!..did not see that coming...but all in all...one luvly trip.
For starters the dinner did not turn out to be a perfect 10...but the company did :)
Menu:
- Caramelized onion, spinach , mushrooms, and pineput puff pastry
- Ina's potato and Fennel soup
- Ina's corn pudding
-'For the love of cooking' stuffed peppers (I used red quiona instead of rice)
- Pionner Womens pumpkin cake.
Pioneer womens cake was close to a flop, thankfully a friend got some amazing cheese cake to salvage the situation...
The appetizer I would say came out to be the best....easy and yum!
Corn pudding came out good...but I forgot to steam the whole pan, and baked it instead..result -> little runny corn pudding...but the taste was good, after all it's Ina's :)
Potato -Fennel soup...hmm...taste was good...peeling potatoes took way too long for my liking...further more, this was supposed to be made with leeks, which I happily substitued fennel.....was alrite I guess....
Stuffed peppers.....another near flop...the red quinona is perhaps healthier....but was gave a more rustic feel to the dinner...did not have the wow factor...need to come up with better ideas for main course...or shd have few more options...this is wht happens if u go off the beaten path.....but it was alrite..
Company was fun....guess we can talk with no TV to provide entertainment......well house is really small...and I do need to get the other two charirs upholstered for next time...and oh yea...I need new cutlery...
If not for the impending work that had to be done after everyone headed back, which went well into 3am...guess it was a good dinner nite. Well....it was either this, or nothing...
Need to plan a nicer menu , on a quiter nite....soon :)
I have been meaning to put up this dinner -party menu with recipes for a while now...
- African Peanut Soup
- Simple Salad with home-made dressing
- Eggplant Parmesaen
- Cauliflower Au-Gratin
- Tre-Leches Cake
African Peanut Soup:
Turned out pretty well..I enjoyed it....Had a lot of underlying flavors and had a good blend of spices, that got along with each other quite well. The peanut butter, added a 'Thai' kinda flavoring...but end result was totally YUM
Home - made vinigeratte dressing:
Now..I have no idea what I added into this.But it was great! :(
No chance of me reproducing this now! Booo
Eggplant Parmesaen
Thank God for TJ's. :) Their spaghetti sauce adds so much of delish into any meal. Was a little more time-consuming owing to the shallow-fry. But hey, can anything taste bad after it's been fried? Probably not...(Even peanut shell tastes good..u gotto try it to believe it!). The cheese from Whole foods is another fail-safe for any dish :):)
Cauliflower Au-Gratin
Ina Garten's recipe...and hmmm hmm. HM. The cheese and cauliflower kindof complemented each other. Pepper added a little spark. It was a hit too.
Tre-Leches Cake
Now for the best part. To be honest, of all cakes I have made so far, this is right at the top (for now). It was moist, It was sweet, It was a little piece of heaven :)
What more to add...
Bummer: No photos here. Kinda was in a rush for the dinner party, and missed taking pictures of the food.
Upper: The company was good, and food was well liked :)
My fav and most complex earring creation so far!...Well..when I make stuff for my friends it turns out so much more prettier :)...It was an interesting project....not complicated...just time consuming. It took some planning too....another thing I don't do for most art projects. It does help to plan, wonder why I never do!!
I have been looking to inagurate my new cupcake pan, and I found the perfect recipe. A generic receipe which can be catered based on what you feel at the moment. I tried chocolate chip and apple-nut-spice. Completely mess free process. Well..I do think it needs to be more sweet. Perhaps frosting wud make it better? For the time and effort, these make real good cupckaes. But...well..nothing exotic or exciting. I did manage to take pictures though. :D.
Pro: Quick, Easy, Good base for interesting cupcakes
Con: Plain vanilla...dare I say boring?
Well, I need to learn to take more appetizing pictures as well...
My next venture will be Tre Leches cake...in baking...For this weekend...I have plans for some salmon. I made this real goooood marinade once...ofcourse totally by luck...and hopefully I remm what all I added.. If this turns out half as good as that one...I sure will put that one up here :)
Recipe can be found at http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Best-Ever-Muffins/Detail.aspx
NOTE: Don't bake at night, else you end up eating half the cake at the middle of the night and won't be able to go to sleep. This is not good for you in so many different levels!
I love cookies...I just do...a LOT actually...most people who know me, know that I can down an insane amount of cookies at any given time....Well...This post is about two of the recipes I tried out. Both are based on orange , one is 'healthier' than the other, in the fact that it uses agave nector. I have been using TJ's almond meal in my baking these days...and boy it adds a new 'yum' factor to baking. Also I have been using 'whole wheat pastry flour'...Well..with the amount of butter and sugar that goes into baking...guess there is nothing like 'healthy baking'..heh!..atleast it gives a strong illusion of healthy food :)). Oh yea...I also used the multi-grain oatmeal. It adds a chewy texture different from plain oatmeal, because of the differnt types of grains...Its an interesting texture.
I have to try making cookies using 'shortening'. Apparently shortening, makes cookies more chewy, differnt from the crunchy butter cookies. Once the sugar rush from these cookies run out, I'll put the shortening sitting on my shelf to good use :)
I used fresh orange zest...boy! does it pump up the flavor or what....The 'pioneer women' receipe called for orange extract...which I did use. But in the other receipe I used the real deal, and I am a convert to using fresh zest. Always.
Pictures are from respective websites. Just to add some appeal to the post! Obviously I ate the cookies before I took pictures..Next time..Next time I shall take pictures!
http://thepioneerwoman.com/tasty-kitchen/recipes/desserts/pecan-cranberry-oatmeal-cookies/ (Healthier)
http://allrecipes.com/Recipe/Cranberry-Orange-Cookies/Detail.aspx
Happy Sugar high!
Never did I think this day wud come..literally. Took forever to finish 'Chrysanthemum' graduation painting.. I need to put up a picture to justify myself.
First was the outline which took more than one class....just because if you don't place the right markers then your layout will be messed up, and next thing you know there won't be place for that single leaf or that thorn branch (Ahem..ahem...which anyways happened after all that measuring...I even used a measuring tape for heaven's sake!!!)
Then comes the color ..You got to mix the right green for the lighter leaves, else your darker leaves are not going to stand out...The 'mother color' is the base color from which you mix all your greens off, which my itself is an art. It can be therapeutic or a stress level 5, based on how you mix the colors. Oh yea, another thing..if you don't soften the colors the previous day, you can kiss the part of mixing colors far far far away.. Actually you just can't do any mixing. And the veins, if you are not careful, they can look bulky and that will take away the tenderness of the leaf. For some you need to go over twice the dark green and the black, for some it needs to be grey. Hmm..and the strokes have to have the smoothness....phew!!!
Ofcourse not to mention all this should be in addition to the basics, the lighter elements Vs darker elements, bleeding if brush is overloaded, flying-white when you don't need it, paper tearing, unwanted bumble bee spots and the list goes on and on.
Moving on, next came the flowers ..ahh the spider mums..used to love that flower on paper, past -tense because they literally made me cry. First the outline, you got to have the dimensions, the order of petals matter trust me on that, and ofcourse the way the flower folds or rather the grouping, and yes, the 'three point rule' else its going to look like a single file (that can be quite ugly). So we make templates, then trace the flowers using the 'correct' color. The petals need to be filled with color. The shading is essentially how you load the brush and how the brush is layed down on the paper. No mutiple strokes, no touchups. Hey! you can try to do that, and that'll stick out more so as a sore thumb ( you are better off not trying to correct things and end up making it worse) . By the time you are done with the spider-mums, you'll be thinking those simple mums shd be a breeze. right? No wrong! very wrong!. The yellow shading is not as simple as it looks, the way the brush needs to be loaded to prevent smudging at the same time to have the color variation was a killer.
By now, its time to put in the branches, the 'bone-stroke'. Normally speaking this is not a too difficult of a task. But knowing you can mess up your painting adds to the stress. The branches need to be a light grey, so as not to over-power the flowers. Then comes the beauty...the rocks!
Rocks - only one word to explain rocks for me. Pure torture. The outline has to be ragged and of the right color, so that the facets of the rocks are set correctly. Since the color is dark you really don't want to mess it up. The filing inside the rock should have texture, variation and color. Not to mention if you are not careful, its very easy to tear the soggy paper; and that would be game over.
By now, you can go and add the while lines on the flower, i.e ultr-fine lines on each petal. It sounds simple, but not so when there are more than 50 individual petals. The stamens for the simple mums are simple black dots. But they need to be random in arrangment, and should vary in size, else it'll look too uniform. the ink needs to be really thick for this. As for the spider mums, the 'comma' shaped stamens have a white background, then go over them with yellow tipped in red. This part was not too bad, except that I think I was a zombie, chantting to myself 'it is what it is'.
The last not the least is the moss underneath the rock. Simple dabbing. but the color needs to be correct, the spacing 'random' with adequeate white spaces. Guess what, I tore a piece of paper in this part (duh! its not enough if you are careful about the brush tearing the paper, apprently you should not even be moving the paper!).
I almost forgot the thorn stem in the middle. Good god, after all that measuring I still didn't have the correct spacing. Kinda stuffed it in. The bone stroke and the fine thorns need some TLC. Well at this point I just wanted to finish and move on. For heaven's sake...all I wanted to is to just move on to Lotus. and so I did :)..Finally yes finally I had completed my graduation painting.
YAY!!!!
PS: We always do more than one copy, becos as you can see there is more than one place you can mess up the painting. There are a brave few who do three copies. I started with three, but didn't have the energy. To be honest I don't know how I did two.
The experimental bread pudding with french baguette. I was too hungry (as you can see a piece already gone in the picture) and didn't have the patience to make the bourbon sauce. Am sure this will make for a good brunch menu someday. I added a couple of cranberries to the receipe (Just becos I saw them when I reached out for the raisins). hmm.. I soaked the raisins in bourbon for abt 15 mins (not overnite as the receipe mentions) but it worked out alrite.Altogether this made for a quick, easy and delicious bread pudding. :)The receipe can be found at http://simplyrecipes.com/
Finally ..Finally put together a bit of color and sparkls for my e-scrapbook. :)
I didn't know I would have to meddle with so much CSS to get what I needed in terms of template/font/colors etc. Phew!
Well am srue this look will change over time...BUT, now I need to start adding more meat to the the blog and give the fluff some rest.
What can I say am too tired with all the formatting ..I am off to make some bread pudding with rum sauce with an orphaned french baguette ( It decided to stick on top of my fridge, rather than go with the one who bought it).
If it turns out alrite, it sure'll find its picture under 'Eat Me' Section.
Chao!
Dabbler Dot 2.
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