So just like that the Eid holidays are over. This year’s Hajj was very special. Unlike having millions every year, thanks to the Covid, there were only blessed selected 1000 pilgrims from various nationalities residing in KSA were selected this year. Unprecedented, in all terms… When Hajj was supposed to be cancelled, it still went ahead with all the rituals. I can’t imagine how the selected ones must have felt to be selected during this time. It has been more than six years since we had gone for Umrah and everything is very fresh in our mind despite not having any pictures with me regarding those 10 days that we spent in the journey and going towards Madinah first and then to Makkah. Umrah is nowhere near the rituals of Hajj but the whole experience of seeing the Kaabah and the Masjid Nabawi with one’s own eyes is overwhelming,…
Simple Cocoa Cookies
When the Blogging Marathon #114 was declared with the theme of “Cookies”, I had to include this one into the list. Those who read my blog regularly will understand how much I love food with memories. And there aren’t much of food with memories for me, since umma’s cooking repertoire was limited, but I guess that is what makes memories… Limited yet plenty… 🙂 Umma used to have a small OTG. She had got it at a very low price – I am sure you all agree how our parents were when it came to putting in their money on anything. They realized the value of money so much because it came hard for them. Sometimes, I do feel that we don’t appreciate it as much as they did. OK, that is a different discussion all together. Hehe… My sister and I would bake something or the other…
Brownie Butter Cake
This little break has actually broken off my mojo. When I thought I wouldn’t be able to rustle up much posts during last month because of Ramadan, I ended up posting almost every alternate day. I was really looking forward to continuing it, since I have overflown my drafts and have a lot to post onto the blog. But at the same time, I don’t want to pressurize myself just because there are too many drafts staring into my face… Having said that, somehow the current times and incidents are constantly pointing towards one side… I always wonder what the current situation has taught us. With Covid wrecking havoc in many ways in many lives – people losing jobs, taking salary cuts, businesses shutting down irrespective of how long they have been in the market, life to a standstill, paranoia setting into our minds in every way –…
Chocolate Dates Truffles | Chocolate Date Bliss Balls
Dates are always associated with Ramadan. Somehow, it pops up first! Eating dates during suhoor and Iftar is considered to be one of the best Sunnahs. The Prophet ﷺ said: “How excellent are dates as the believer’s suhoor.” [Abu Dawood, Ibn Hibban and al-Baihaqee; saheeh] (Source) Anas ibn Malik said: “The Prophet ﷺ used to break his fast before praying by eating fresh dates, and if there were no fresh dates he would eat dried dates; if there were no dried dates, he would have a few sips of water.” [al-Sawm, 632; classed as saheeh by al-Albani in Saheeh Abu Dawood, no. 560, Islamqa.com] This year, we actually didn’t have to buy any dates. We had received a huge box of lovely dates from HD’s local friend, that I had thought would take majority of it for my parents and mattamma – a huge date fanatic – when I would be going home for…
White Chocolate Sago Pudding
Do you see the flow in this week’s Blogging Marathon #109 theme “Anything and everything with chocolate”? It is going from dark to milk to white. 😉 Just saying… So after the French Hot Chocolate and Milk Chocolate Brownies, here is the final recipe for this week’s theme… Initially I had decided that I would make a white chocolate rice pudding with a jam topping. I remember seeing it on some blog eons ago and it had such amazing clicks that it stuck to my mind. I have to agree that food, if clicked beautifully, does stick to your mind. I have not achieved that level and there are so many reasons to it, first being my lack of patience and my lack of interest too. I feel I do take decent pictures but I am just not able to push to the next level, or rather not…
Milk Chocolate Brownies
Haven’t I always mentioned that my girls are hard to please? And that applies very much to my bakes as well. If you thought that kids would eat any brownies baked, then you are wrong. My girls won’t. They seem to have a criteria for their brownies – shouldn’t be too dark in color, shouldn’t have any bitter cocoa taste, shouldn’t have anything to bite in between, etc. etc. My problem is I tend to like more of dark chocolate and the girls end up not eating my brownies. I always tell them that everybody loves my brownies but not them, but they care a hoot. So while thinking of what to make for the theme of “Anything and everything chocolate” for the Blogging Marathon #109, I had decided to make these brownies that have been on my to-do for quite a long time. There is a reason…
French Hot Chocolate | Paul style Hot Chocolate
Here I am with the next week of recipes for the Blogging Marathon #109. I chose a theme that I totally love. There are no points for guessing – it has to be chocolate! The theme is aptly called “Anything and everything with chocolate” and I had no qualms about choosing this. After all, chocolate is something that we all love and would love to incorporate it into our daily eating, if life permitted. Thankfully, scientists have declared that dark chocolate takes care of your happy hormones, so that gives us permission to include at least one square into our daily eating. What say? 😉 The first post is a recipe I have been wanting to try since ages. I always enjoy my home made hot chocolate, either made this way with chocolate chips or simply with cocoa powder. When I am haunted by outdoor cravings, there is…
Red Velvet Mug Cake
I am actually not so fond of challenges ending. Especially if I enjoy participating in them, I feel a tinge of sadness. I felt it when we had to end the MFB challenges. I felt it when Sarah had ended her old challenge. I was pretty excited when she started the Fantastical Food Fighting Challenge, but unfortunately due to priorities, she has decided to give this challenge a break. I am sure it is not with a happy mind, but when life gives us some exciting challenges, we definitely need to balance out to ensure that life doesn’t get too hectic and unmanageable. Wishing Sarah all the very best for her upcoming endeavor… Since this one is the last, I wanted to make sure I participate in it. Oh, I forgot to mention the theme! Since February is the month of love for obvious reasons, the theme she…
Chocolate Mousse Cake
I can’t believe I am stuck for words when I am completing 7 years of blogging. 7 years! Wow! I think I should give myself a pat on my back. When life has been in general difficult yet worth fighting for, I have still kept my wits to continue cooking, clicking and blogging. I guess that just shows how much I love this little baby of mine, despite sometimes feeling that it hasn’t been fair to me. But having said that, I always believe in whatever is meant for us will come our way, come what may, so I guess I am happy with the little that is coming my way. 🙂 The last two years has marked a known push from my side to reduce my blogging in every way. I have gone from posting almost every day to posting twice or thrice a week. I feel…
Wholewheat Chocolate Chip Tahini Cookies
As much as my girls and I love homemade cookies, I have an aversion towards baking them. Somehow I find it easier to bake cakes, not even muffins. Imagine the height of my laziness! For a cake, usually you just need to make the batter, pour into one pan and forget about it in the oven till the timer buzzes. For a muffin, an extra work of lining the pan needs to be done, even though it takes lesser time to get baked. For cookies, more than the dough part, the shaping part is what irritates me. I start off with shaping them well and then it just gets bad. The last cookies are always the worse looking. Does that happen to you? My girls always say that my cookies are the best. In fact, it finishes faster than my cakes. Yet, I don’t make them as frequently…
Chocolate Creme Caramel
One thing I love about participating in challenges is that it does help you tick your to-do list earlier than later. Ever since I mastered the Creme Caramel, I have been wanting to make the chocolate version of it. I am a chocoholic and so is my elder one. When I had made the creme caramel, Rasha had told me, “Ummi, please try a chocolate version for this!” It’s been a long time since she said that, but when I was planning the Bake-a-thon posts, this request was right up there. I feel that my Creme Caramel is a slightly complicated recipe, so I wanted to make the chocolate version with just pantry essentials – milk, eggs, sugar and cocoa powder. But I was really nervous while making it, since my earlier simple versions have always flopped. I have already noted down that I need to make the…
Chocolate Coconut Cake
I have been on a dry spree as far as my thoughts are concerned. Somehow my head is quite empty. It is not that there is nothing much to share, but it is more of my head being empty most of the time. There are few tension filled moments happening, but then I guess the best way to live through life and not stress yourself is by looking at what you already have – four walls that protect you, food to eat, a nice bed to sleep, your family, your parents to talk to, your good friends to fall on to, etc. After all, didn’t Allah tells us that we are created of haste… Of late, the stress has getting on to me a bit too much. I have been mentioning that I am trying to hold on to my lost weight, but as soon as I came…
Classic Marble Cake
Getting back to blogging seems to have been far more easier than getting back on track. Even though I have been home for the past few days, the mojo for cooking has been totally missing. We have been just eating this and that and pushing through days. Of course, HD looked a bit irritated though he didn’t show his feeling profusely. So whatever he showed, I chose to ignore. 😉 When you come back from vacation, everything seems different. The eye cooling greens and the cozy breeze has given way to the browns and heat. Naturally, that sags your mood. For me, UAE is always like home since I have spend my whole life over here. Still, the feeling after vacation is always different. I always dread going back home and settling down, since every single thing will be a learning curve for me. Life here makes you…
White Chocolate Goji Berry Blondies
At times, ideas play constantly in your head for a long period of time, but it doesn’t necessarily get materialized immediately. It always happens to me. Before I used to put into immediate action any craving or any idea I would have. But now, due to time constraints and other priorities, I often put my ideas onto the back seat. Sometimes I note it down, sometimes I simply forget. This white chocolate blondies were one that have been playing in my head since very long. I had picked up a couple of packs of cooking white chocolate that was up for a good deal. I had this pack of goji berries that Zerin had given me some time. The girls wouldn’t eat it since it had a sour after taste. I would nibble on them when I would remember that it was sitting in the fridge. When the…
Eggless Nutella Brownie Shortbread Bars
I actually had other plans for the second post for the theme, “Bring Some Brownies” for this week of Blogging Marathon #102. I was in fact planning to make some gluten free brownies with rice flour, since I have been intrigued by it for quite some time. But then the plan was not supposed to pan out as such, I suppose…. Ever since I had baked the Brookies, I wanted to try an eggless version. I mean it always helps to have options all the time, right? 🙂 During the similar time, my head was telling me to bake some Nutella brownies for the girls. Somehow, what happened is that both my thoughts amalgamated into one bake, and that is what I am going to post today. 🙂 Last Saturday, we had a lovely time at Fajee’s house. It had been long since we had all met…
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