I am working on a few of my last posts before I proceed on my annual leave. Every year, usually I schedule a few posts for my readers and go. I have never left the blog empty in my absence. I have been mentioning from the beginning of the year that I am facing a lag in my blogging mood. Alhamdulillah, I have a lot of drafts and some intermittent cooking that has filled my blog and hasn’t shown up as yet. But you may have noticed that from having posts every day barring the weekends, the frequency has now gone down to three posts a week. It was my way of slowing down, breathing in and breathing out… Of course, the blog did cause me to burnout. I am putting in a lot of efforts in trying out new recipes, clicking and saving them up. Unfortunately, it…
Sticky Date Pudding
After a lot of deliberation, I got to doing the Blogging Marathon #90 this month. Two reasons – this month-end, I am travelling home and I won’t be able to participate. Also, September is the mega marathon, and I won’t be able to take that month as well, considering I will still be in my holiday off-mood. So I thought, instead of giving a long break, I will jump in and do it this time. I wasn’t sure how I am going to handle it, but wanted to do it, come what may be. The first theme I chose was “Single Serve Desserts”. I had far too many ideas and it confused me all the more. I tried to keep it as simple as possible not to defeat the purpose of the theme. 😀 With everybody exercising portion control these days, desserts being made for single servings is…
Lemon Chia Bundt Cake
As we age, our taste buds change as well. Have you noticed that? There are some foods we were so fond as children, but as we grow, it falls out of favor. That happens vice versa too. As a child, I was more inclined towards anything with chocolate. I see that trait in my elder one too. For Rasha, cake and ice cream is chocolate, nothing else. Slowly, she is admitting coffee as a flavor too. But nothing else qualifies. But now I seem to prefer more fruity flavors in my cakes and desserts. I totally love any banana bread, apple cake and even cakes with pear and apricot. They are just so delicious that I can sit and have a few slices without a stop. How many of you are fond of fruity flavors? Do drop in your comments below and tell me your choices, I would love…
Baked Yogurt Curry Chicken
I love quick fix meals. All of you must be knowing it if you are regular readers of my blog. Anything that just needs a mix and cook qualifies as a super easy meal for me. I found this recipe in the same booklet which had the Malai Chicken recipe. I have been eyeing it for so long, but I have no clue why I didn’t try it earlier. I truly believe now everything has a time, right… 🙂 The beauty of this recipe is that you don’t have to slog in the kitchen for too long. We are having peak summers and standing in the kitchen is becoming a nightmare. I haven’t experienced this kind of heatwave in all these years. I am attributing my hotter-than-usual kitchen to the construction that is happening in the little stretch facing the area. It used to be an open car…
Medovic/ Medovik | Russian Honey Cake
Ramadan and Eid, all came and went. I have no words to say. The feeling of emptiness and numbness is real. The difference in the atmosphere when the devils are tied up during Ramadan and when they are free is totally to be felt. We had a very silent Eid. On Thursday night, we went over to a friend’s house to apply some henna and came back really late, so we hardly slept for an hour and a half. Then up and awake, to get ready to go the masjid for the Eid prayers, breakfast at my ammayi’s house and eventually we stayed there for lunch too. It was my cheat day after so long, but I made sure I didn’t go overboard, hehe… Ate whatever was in offering but very limited portions. The second day, we started our Shawwal fasts. For those who don’t know, here are…
Ghorayeba ~ Arab Shortbread Cookies
I can’t mention how relieved I am. My blogging mojo has just not picked up as much as I would have loved. Last year Ramadan, if I filled my drafts with as much as clicks I could take before the sunshine vanishes, this year, I have done nothing. My blog is moving with drafts that I had clicked last Ramadan – I am being very honest here! This Ramadan, I have been time tight and locked. Over and above that, I have no mood to click anything new or cook anything new. I am sure, this too shall pass… So when I put up the Muslim Food Blogger challenge post for this month, which is based on the theme “Eid Specials from Around the World”, I searched up a bit and pinned up on my kitchen notice board the easiest cookie recipe in the world! But I procrastinated…
Mince Puff Tart
While coming to the office in the morning, usually I listen to the Quranic recitation of either Sheikh Sudais or Sheikh Mishary Al Afasi. If you ask me who I prefer, it is the latter, but the Quran is beautiful to listen to in whosoever’s voice it is, especially when recited in the way it should be. 🙂 Some verses tend to hit your heart more, maybe because of the situation you may be in. Off late, the below verse has affected me a lot: “Let a man of wealth spend from his wealth, and he whose provision is restricted – let him spend from what Allah has given him. Allah does not charge a soul except [according to] what He has given it. Allah will bring about, after hardship, ease.” (Surah At-Talaq: 7) Many times, I feel I am not doing enough. Alhamdulillah, I mentally empathize…
Chocolate Brownie Cake
How do you treat your wedding anniversary? I treat it more like a day for introspection. When life starts for a couple, it is all rosy, irrespective of how rocky the start may be. We started our married life on some twists and turns but we lived through it, we enjoyed through it, we took life one day at a time. 3 years later, Rasha showed up into our life. I don’t know if I will call her the turn-around point, but how much ever I think otherwise, she is. HD started going into his own route of doing business and it is the same till date. Life has been a bit too fast, with very limited time that we get to spend with each other and more often, it is a fight for that little time we get. It is not easy if the hard work you…
Sticky Date Flapjacks
The dates for the MFB challenge seems to be coming one after the other at the blink of an eye! Before I even realize, I am mostly skittling through to cook and finish the post for the challenge. You can see the previous challenge posts here. This month, our challenge was to cook from a food blog run by a Muslimah and this month, we chose “This Muslim Girl Bakes“. This is one of my favorite blogs to gawk at. She has a very impressive Instagram presence as well. Apart from Pakistani delicacies, she posts a lot of lovely bakes that you can resist. Most of her posts are accompanied by step by step pictures, followed by a lot of pictures of the final product itself. I had a hard time trying to select one recipe from her blog. I have already tried her Pakistani Chicken Pulao and…
Vegan Chocolate Beetroot Muffins
Since I had the BM posts scheduled, I haven’t posted any happenings in my life in the past week. 🙂 I wouldn’t talk about the climate, as it makes me sad but let me talk about something else that made me really happy over this week. The last weekend, on Saturday, we all went for a trip to Global Village. A trip of bloggers was in pipeline from last year, but it took time to materialize and finally the last Saturday, we made it happen. Huma was our main guide and Priya, Zerin, Anamika, Jaleelakka, Fajee and our new UAE-ian Prema joined us for a little fun. We roamed for close to five hours, prop hunted, picked up interesting stuff, watched a few shows, chatted and ate through some of the delicacies. I have always gone to GV before but this time, the experience was quite different. Huma is…
Brazilian Carrot Cake | Bolo De Cenoura
It’s been a few months since I have participated in the Fantastical Food Fighting challenge. The reasons were many but I wouldn’t like to loiter around it. The best part is that you can choose to participate if you feel the theme is interesting. This month’s theme was one where everything came into one – a personal favorite and a date where I had no other posts scheduled! Hehe… This month, the theme is “Carrot Cake”. I have already mentioned before that carrot cakes are my favorite – not the American style cream cheese frosted ones – though it is on my to-do list – but the homely cake umma used to make. I can sit and eat the whole cake in one sitting, if I got a chance to do that! But then that’s not how life is, right? You take and enjoy one piece at a…
Be My Guest – Escargots Briochés
We are so quickly on the third Saturday of the month! And I can’t be more excited… I have one of my favorite bloggers, somebody whose consistency and style of blogging I look onto. She is someone who has an unending passion for blogging that despite having a full time job, she still cooks and blogs so many recipes on her blog. She is in her tenth year of blogging and she boast of more than 3000 recipes, ranging from French – where she is based, to Indian and Tamilian – her true blood, to so many international recipes. I better not talk about her bakes – I keep looking at them and drooling, plus hoping that she was my neighbor! Who wouldn’t want one like her? 🙂 Are you wondering who I am talking about? It’s none other than Priya Suresh, someone I respectfully call Priyaakka, who blogs…