At this moment, I am trying to fight my lagging spirit and keep up with everything that I would normally do. True, the future looks bleak and worrying, but at the moment, there is nothing I can do. All I can do is to tie the camel and place my trust in Allah. He is our Sustainer, He is our Provider. If He forfeits, He gives us more than He takes away from us. With the way my life has gone, I have seen it and even though a part of mine acts human by feeling low, the other side reminds me that He has always taken care of us and He will, irrespective. All I need to do is to do what I am supposed to do, and be grateful for each and everything that He is giving us… Gratefulness is the key now. When everything exposes and…
Oats Apple Cinnamon Pancakes
March has been so hectic and overwhelming, to say the least. The Covid 19 pandemic has spread such havoc that it has disturbed all lives from the rich to the poor, turning everything upside down. I don’t think I need to mention how the overall mood is at the moment. As much as our normal daily schedules have been hit, things aren’t looking good anyway. The overall economy movements are going to affect everybody’s personal finances and that doesn’t spare us either. But we are just trying to keep calm and hope that everything will pass, just like all our previous tests from the Almighty has gone off. Maybe, it is a reminder from the above that there is some force that is beyond our imagination, and all of a sudden, human beings are feeling helpless. I only pray that this test passes away as soon as possible, and…
Upma | Easy Rava Upma
As the second recipe for this week’s theme of “Breakfast” in the Blogging Marathon #110, I have chosen to make a recipe, that is considered to be very simple but can drive you up the wall! Please let me know if you agree or disagree. 😀 Upma is considered to be one of the easiest breakfast dish that can be prepared in no time. Being a basic recipe, I have always struggled to make it the way I like it. In fact, I have a “love-hate” relationship with this dish. I never liked upma when umma would make it for breakfast. Hers is usually a little dry and used to get stuck in the throat. Each time I would see her large kadai with a lid on the stove top when I would walk the kitchen, the frown would start from the heart to the face. Hehe… It…
Jam and Cheese Sandwich
For the second week of the Blogging Marathon #110, I have chosen the theme of “Breakfasts”. Even though everybody would say that breakfast is the most required meal for the day, I am really not a breakfast person. I can’t eat really early in to the morning, neither can I have a heavy meal. Hehe… You can find some easy breakfast recipes already on the blog over here. Adding three more to it… Bread sandwiches are a repeat for my kids’ lunch boxes. They love bread, and they love it with any spread. Nutella and Biscoff is always welcome, and Rasha prefers peanut butter over jam and Azza is viceversa. I am someone who doesn’t like to have jam on its own. Either it needs to have thin slice of cold butter in it (are you salivating? I am!) or a nice slather of cheese. The saltiness of…
Kofte Dejaaj | Middle Eastern Chicken Meatballs/ Koftas
I really haven’t felt this empty in the near future. My head is just refusing to cooperate with my fingers, it feels. The current situation on the world, thanks to all the violence and virus, makes the mind feel disoriented. Is it just me, or do you all feel the same? When such instances happens, it points out to the fact again and again that we as humans are just helpless. There is a limit to what we can do. We may go on and on about the strength of the mind and the infinite capabilities of human beings, but when it comes to something as minute as a virus, we are nothing in front of it. We do not have the eyes to see it nor the capability to feel it. Anybody can catch it. The irony of the situation is that there are much more deaths…
Falafel {using Chickpeas}
While deciding on the recipes to try for this week’s chosen theme for the Blogging Marathon #110 of “Middle Eastern”, Falafel was surely on top of the list. I don’t know if you would find it a shocker but back home in Kotakkal, a little shop called Salsabeel sells such amazing Falafel sandwiches that sell like hot cakes! In December when I had gone home, we were on the way back after the doctor’s appointment for the TMJ, and D suggested we stop over to eat something. I am sure we all do that on long drives – at least one stop for a cup of chai and some munching. I was in this outlet for the first time so I let him do the ordering for me. We were served with hot falafel sandwiches, that were so mouthful and delightful – I am typing with this with…
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…
Mutta Omelet ~ Malabar Spicy Egg Omelette | Kerala Masala Omelette
It feels like it has been ages since I participated in the Fantastical Food Fight which is hosted by Sarah. When this month’s theme was declared, I had to be a part of it. It seems the month of January is “National Omelet Month” in the USA and therefore the theme has to be related to it – omelettes! Now, how easy can that be! When eggs are a staple of your breakfast day in and day out, thanks for it being a powerhouse of good protein and fat, then making something for this theme is a very easy task, isn’t it? 🙂 If there is one food that makes HD happy at any time, then it is a sunny side up or an omelette. He would really love our style of omelette with onion, tomatoes and loads of bite, however I, being a lazy-head, always resort to…
Honey Kiwi Walnut Salad
I literally feel like I finished an assignment right before the deadline. Hehe… Before that, a quick look into the scenes out here. We have had an awesomely wet weekend, with heavy rains, that caused total water clogging in most of the parts of the city. On Friday, we took a drive towards the outskirts and seriously enjoyed the rains. However, on Saturday, it caused a lot of trouble, but that comes with the enjoyment, isn’t it? The girls had their madrassa closed yesterday, and have their schools off today, so they are pretty excited about what the rains have offered them. 🙂 The rains are expected to be on and off for this whole week. Thankfully, slowly it is feeling like winter, and I hope this chill stays well till March or April. It’s been long since I have participated in the AtoZ Recipe Challenge hosted by…
Kheema Toasties | Minced Meat Sandwich
Are you among those who love to go on picnics? I do love to go for them, but unfortunately HD isn’t very keen on it. I feel his disinterest actually makes me feel jittery if we need to plan a picnic, because my head goes blank regarding the snacks to carry. I don’t have a head that functions immediately when a plan is thrown at me. I suffer from inertia, and then slowly it gets into the mould. I guess it has got worse with age. Hehe… I always feel I need to bake some cake and cookies, make some sandwiches, fill a flask with some hot chai and some hot chocolate, and just move out for a quiet time. But then the lazy me wouldn’t want to bake and take the extra effort to make all and pack, so I would still prefer the prelude of being on…
Mutta Porichathu ~ Malabar Fried Eggs
I decided to have a 3 back-to-back series this month. Can you guess what is the theme? The weather over here is quite apt for “chai and pakoda”, and hence I decided I will share three chai time snacks. Even though I am someone who likes to enjoy my chai on its own without anything alongside, at times, I crave for snacks like ulli pakvada or pazham pori. This egg fry is something I learned when I get married. We would only boil our eggs, peel it and have it as it is. When I married HD and came towards his side, I was intrigued by this glamorous avatar of boiled eggs, that would get served in every second house we visited. I used to call it “monjathi mutta” aka “pretty eggs”… hehe… The eggs are boiled, peeled and slashed. You can either coat it with a masala…
Apple Pola | Apple Kums ~ Malabar Apple Egg “Cake”
Starting the year on a sweet note is usually what everybody wants to do. Sometimes we don’t realize that the upcoming year is usually a repercussion of what has already happened in the previous years. I really don’t want to muddle over it, but would rather leave you all with a little poem that really made an impact on me during the end of 2019: Miss Me, But Let Me Go When I come to the end of the road And the sun has set for me, I want no rites in a gloom filled room Why cry for a soul set free! Miss me a little, but not for long, And not with your head bowed low. Remember the love we once shared, Miss me, but let me go! For this a journey we all must take, And each must go alone; It’s all a part of…
Baked Chicken Toast
I am breathing a sigh of relief. 2019 has been a rather rough year. I wouldn’t want to sound pessimistic but it wasn’t a happy year. There were too many downs than ups, but Alhamdulillah, we faced the tide and rode against it. As much as challenges arose, we fought it and downed it, only to be faced by more. I guess with passing days, tests leave you becoming a little paranoid when little joys come your way. It is during those times I remind myself of the immense number of verses in the Qur’an, where Allah warns us of hardships. He promises His Jannah for those who are steadfast and patient. It is difficult, but not impossible. We all very well know that this life is transient, yet we do not want to accept that fact… I guess I wouldn’t want to think too much about this year….
Goji Berry Breakfast Cookies
If anybody enters my kitchen, they will think they have entered an office. I have a white board on the side of my fridge with full of scribbling, a cork board on one of my cupboard doors with lots of cut outs pinned to it and a sticker hanger with even more papers clipped onto it. Anyone new who comes gives a very curious look at them to see what I have spread on them. Obviously, they are recipe printouts and cut outs that I pin up so that I try immediately. That “immediately” has no specific time frame – it can be a week, a month or even years. But I must say that this recipe I am posting today didn’t have to wait indefinitely to be tried, thanks to the Bake-a-thon. 😀 I mentioned about receiving a small pack of goji berries from Zerin, while I…