Showing posts with label General. Show all posts
Showing posts with label General. Show all posts

Friday, October 16, 2009

Wishing Happy Diwali To All

 Wish all my readers, followers and visitors a Happy, Healthy & Prosperous Deepavali


Quality Scrap Greetings from SetOrkut.com




Hi friends, I'm back from vacation in my hometown, Kolkata as promised just before diwali...spent a great time with family and relatives and had loads of fun during Durga Puja in Kolkata..had no time to miss the blogging world but still missed it a bit. Now I've to catch up with all of your wonderful posts and hope soon I'll be back too with my posts.

Don't forget to send in your entries for my ongoing event "Sunday Snacks - Festive snacks for Navratri & Diwali"

Friday, August 21, 2009

Sorry for unannounced break and a remainder

Sorry for this unannounced break, friends. My whole family with me are down with Viral flu...we all recovered while my twins are still down...hope to come back soon and peek in your yummy posts

Just a simple remainder........
Looking forward to your submission to my event Spotlight : Fish, the deadline is 31st August.

Friday, August 14, 2009

Happy 62nd birthday, Mother India

A VERY HAPPY 62nd INDEPENDENCE DAY
TO ALL INDIANS
AROUND THE WORLD

Send Orkut Scraps


Send Orkut Scraps

Celebrating India's 62nd Birthday with Carrot burfi...I made 30 pieces of Burfis for my daughter's School celebration of Independence day


Saffron carrot burfis decorated with white coconut and over that green pistachios....just yummm.....
Please have a bite..........


Check out MY last year post on INDEPENDENCE DAY, here and the carrot burfi recipe here



Tuesday, August 11, 2009

It's award and tag time...........

Oh Lucky me!! My sweet blogger friends are showering awards on me. It feels so good when you get recognision on what you love to do. My two blogger friends, Sunanda of Sunanda's Kitchen And Malini of Khana Khazana with Malini have showered me with these 3 awards and tagged me with a long list of questions about me. Thanks a lot both of you...........................




Here goes the meme :
1. What is your current obsession?
Definitely blogging
2. What are you wearing today?
Top and capri
3. What's for dinner today ?
Still thinking....may be Egg curry and broccoli-bringal fry with chapati
4. What's the alst thing you bought?
Toys for my twins

5. What are you listening to right now?
listening to Jagjit Singh
6. What do you think about the person who tagged you?
They both are very creative and excellent cook and above all wonderful persons
7. If you could have a house totally paid for, fully furnished anywhere in the World, where would you like it to be?
In any small town in Germany, most loveliest and peaceful place on earth
8. Whata are your must-have pieces for summer?
T-shirt, capris, few shorts, Sunglass & sandal
9.If you could go anywhere in the World for the next hour , where would you go?Greece
10. Which language do you want to learn?
French
11. WHo do you want to meet right now?
My parents
12. What is your favorite color?
Sea green
13. What is your favorite piece of clothing in your own closet?
My magenda-blue jordousi salwar suit
14. What is your dream job?
Love to work as a florist or a flower organiser
15. Whatis your favorite magazine?
Ophra's O magazine and Reader's digest
16. If you had $100 now, what would you spend it on?
A DSLR camera for blogging ........... selfish me :))
17. What is your favorite pass time?
Reading a mysterious novel with a cool drink
18. Who are your style icon?
Sushmita Sen
19. Describe your personal style?
Simple and sofisticated
20. What are you going to do after this?
Going to clean my messy rooms, my two little brats have made
21. What are your favorite movies?
Any romantic and comedy movies
22. What inspires you?
sweet comments of yours
23. Give us three styling tips that always works for you?
Be simple, confident and always wear a smile on your face
24. Coffee or Tea
Both
25. What do you do when you are feeling low or terribly depressed
Go for shopping
26. Which month is your birthday?
June
27. Which other blogs you love visiting?
All food related blogs and humor blogs
28. Favorite dessert/sweet
Soan Papdi and Misti Doi(bengali sweet yoghurt)
29. Favorite season?
Spring
30. One thing you love about yourself?
I'm an easy going and friendly person
31. What is your favorite line?
"The purpose of life is a life of purpose" by Robert Byrne
32. What is the meaning of your name?
Indrani----I'm a goddess, wife of Lord Indra and another name of Goddess Durga
This is my add-on question:
33. Who do you love the most after your kids - your husband, your parents or your siblings and why?
My parents, b'coz of them I exist and without their love, Life is impossible.

Finally, I'm done.....now it's your turn(in bengali we'll say,"tomar holo suru, amar holo sara")
The rules are:
Respond and rework – answer the questions on your own blog, replace one question that you dislike with a question of your own invention, and add one more question of your own. Then tag eight or ten other people.
I will be delighted to share these awards along with the tag to the following blogger friends…...

1. Renu of Renu's Kitchen
2. Pinky of Esho-bosho-aahare
3. Sharmistha of Cook-A-Doodle-DO
4. Sowmya of Creative Saga
5. Parita of Parita's World
6. Usha of Veg Inspirations
7. Suparna of Food fascination
8. Ann of Happy & Healthy Cooking
9. Chitra of Ratatouille - Anyone can cook
10. Supriya of Redchillies

Congratulation to all of you, you all deserve these awards...................





Monday, November 3, 2008

Visitor's tips: How to make plain chapatis that stay soft for long time

I need useful tips from my visitors and readers.....how to keep plain chapatis soft for long time say 6-7 hours or more? I make my chapatis soft but it doesn't stay that way for long time. I heard some people can make chapatis that stays soft for more than 24 hours. If you know, then share with me how you make your chapatis that stays soft for long time. Write down your tips in comments section of this post and I will share those tips with everyone.


Anuvidya shared her tips...thanks a lot, Anuvidya...your tips surely will help lots of us...
Anuvidya of ...a little bit more...says :
Some that I know but don't follow:
While kneading:
Using whey (water left over from making paneer)
Using milk or yogurt
Using one small boiled potatoes (I know for a fact this works)
I don't use any of the above, except potatos occasionally. I knead with a tbsp of oil and water into a nice smooth ball (about 10-15 min), rest for 30 min.
Roll them out fairly thin. Cook both sides on a tawa without oil.
Take it out and brush some oil or butter on top.
Keep stacking them one on top of the other and store in an air tight container, with a small paper towel to absorb any excess moisture. Works like a charm everytime.
Hope this helps!

Purnima of Fantasy Cooking shared her tips as well......Thanks for your step-by-step instructions, Purnima..It's a treasure

Kneading - With water - proportion 1 1/4 C to 3 C of flour, substitute half C milk for softer ones. Mix the flour uniformly a tsp of salt n two tsp oil. Make a well, add all the liquid (water/milk) circular hand motion, make a soft dough, if needed add water little by little, till smooth dough obtained. Brush the top of dough wt around a tsp oil, cover the vessel with lid, resting time - 30 mins.(a must)

Rolling - Use minimum flour to dredge, that makes chapati hard. Make disc puri size, brush two drops oil surface, fold to half, again brush whatever oil left on finger,fold again..u geta triangle, pinch the edges together at center from top, keep aside, repeat with all remaining dough.
Dip in flour and brush the remaining flour off, start rolling in a manner where the sides/edges are rolled thinner than the center.Ensure it doesn't hv extra dry flour.

Heating : Tawa shd b on medium high, with a cloth brush the tava with light coat of oil, when hot, place the rolled out dough. When the surface side rawness has vanished, flip it. It will start balooning, with help of cloth/flat spatula, gently press the flat part of chapati, keep a cloth ready in the dish, place the chapati, smear a drop or so of oil if needed with back of the spoon, cover. Repeat. B4 placing the next chapati, just to get rid of any flour on tava, which subsequently gets burnt and ruins the flavors of next batch, run a cloth with which initial oil was applied on tava on a low flame, then place next one. Stack it one above other, cover it. After maybe 10-15 mins, transfer to a round vessel with airtight lid. Ensures to maintain softness..but again 7 hours not sure.
Place the rolled out chapatis b4 roasting between waxed paper sheets n freeze them , 15 mins thaw b4 roasting so u save time on kneading,resting, rolling out part, plus just cooking time wd b taken. (If this is too much for a comment, pls reject it! :D Very bad at Preci-writing)

Tuesday, September 16, 2008

Durga puja is on our doorstep


Hurray!!!! It's finally the time of the year, all bengalis can't wait for. It's our Durga Puja, the most important festival of bengalis, the worship of Maa Durga, the divine power. It is worshipped in the Autumn(in bengali "sharat") season. When you see the golden sunshine, fluffy white clouds allover the blue sky and the mild fragnance of 'Shiuli phool' , then you know that autumn has arrived. Every bengali, no matter which part of the world a bengali might be in, awaits for this time of the year, to be with their families and can't wait for long 'adda'(chat) sessions with families and friends.
The rituals of Durga Puja
Once a year, in the autumnal month of ASHWIN, she comes on earth, together with her four children, Ganesh, Laxmi, Karttik and Saraswati, and enjoys all the love and attention lavished on her. Seven days before Her arrival starts the Devipaksha. The day is known as ‘Mahalaya’. On the dawn of ‘Mahalaya’, every homes in Bengal listen to the enchanting voice of Late Birendra Krishna Bhadra, who recite hymns from the scriptures of Devi Chandi(Chandipath). Thousands offer prayers to their ancestors at the city's river (Ganga) banks, a ritual called 'Tarpan'. The inauguration of the Goddess idol('Devi Bodhon) starts on Mahashasthi. Unveiling the face of the idol is the main ritual on this day.The main puja is for three days - Mahasaptami, Mahaastami, Mahanavami. Mahasaptami is the first day of Durga puja. The second and most important day is Mahaastami. Kumari puja, the worship of little girls as the mother goddess is a special part of mahaastami puja. Another important ritual is Sandhi Puja, that means the end of Mahaastami and the beginning of Maha Navami. The main Mahanavami puja begins after the end of Sandhi Puja. All three days, devotees come to the puja pandals (the place where goddess is worshipped, a special kind of tent with lots of decorations and lightings) to offer Anjali to the goddess and take her blessings. Dashami, the last day of the puja, when she starts on her journey back to her husband's place in the mountain of Kailash. With a heavy heart bengalis immerse the clay idol of goddess in the sacred Ganges saying her goodbye and start counting days for the next year when 'Maa' will come again to us.

(source : Google image)
"Sindur Khela" is a major part of Dashami puja. Married women first apply vermillion to goddess before she is immersed and take her blessings and then they apply to each other.
(Source : Google image)
After the immersion, bengalis greet each other with sweets and men follow the customary 'Kolakuli'(embracing each other).
(click on the picture to see the animation of kolkakuli)

Unfortunately, this visit lasts for only four days but in these four days, bengalis enjoy fully. Afterall, it's a celebration of family reunion, celebration of good food and celebration of lots of happiness...... HAPPY PUJA GREETINGS to all the bangalis allover the world...I wish Maa bless you all and answer all your prayers.........

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Clicking a Smiley Citrus

I am an ameteur in food photography. But participating time to time in Click : The photo event, I'm learning a lot. Thanks to Jai & Bee, the photography guru and host of Click : The photo event. This is my 2nd attempt in Click event. I think this is such a lovely opportunity to learn for people like me who love photography.
If you are one of those people like me, please visit Jai &Bee's Jugalbandi. This month the theme is CITRUS. So this click is a humble entry from me as an experiment to learn photography.



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