…………..that you may or may not know, but are true. Yup! that’s the tag passed on from Goofy. I’m glad she did too because vimmuuu would have chewed my head off for putting all the recipes and pics which he can see but cannot eat. So, yup…you’re gonna read some stuff about me, but first the rules:
- Tell your readers 10 things about you that they may or may not know, but are true..
- Tag 10 people with the award, and be sure to let them know they’ve been tagged (a quick comment on their blog will do).
- Link back to the blogger who tagged you.
Ok…..rules done, now those things about me, here goes
1:- I love waking up to music in the morning…..blues, jazz, country, soft rock, hindi…and surprisingly I just realized a couple of days ago that besides me, only two other people know about this! Now you all do too 
2:- When I’m not sitting in the front seat of a car, I need to sit on the left side near the window, else I feel uneasy. what drama, no?
3:- I almost changed my name in standard 10. But my dad said it would hurt the sentiments of a few people. I love my current name…and I love the nickname that would have been of the other one 
4:- I love buying scented candles. I have more than I need at home.
5:- I drank my very first cocktail (not first alcoholic drink), a screwdriver, on a very memorable trip to Pune during my engineering days.
6:- I once asked direction from a statue. The bloody thing looked so real standing at the entrance of a mall. It was very embarassing! I pretended to be goofying around and laughed !
7:- When I have shopping urges, I go on a spending spree and then return all the shopping the next day! that’s the best part about return/exchange policies in the US
8:- I love reading books. I love reading books so much that I read everywhere and anywhere. A long time ago, my mom forbade me to read in bed after midnight and took away the flashlight I use for reading under the blanket. When she went off to her room, I lit a candle, pile a few suitcases near my bed to place the candle and somehow felt asleep while reading. I woke up the next morning with candle wax on my hair and a big hole on one of the suitcases. Some of my mom’s best sarees were in the top suitcase and there was a neat hole in them :rolling:.
9:- During my dating years, I often praticed signing my name along with my then boyfriend’s surname to see how good it looked. I ended up marrying the guy whose surname I never tried with my name. what does that tell you???
10:- I like giving exams. yes! weird but true
This was great fun….took me back here and there
Now the people I’d like to know a little more about are:-
Doli –she all about reviewing books, would love to know a little about you too
Nisha –she has numerous travel tales, how about some tales about you
Tara –there’s a certain kind of mystery to this girl. i’d love to know more.
Anjuli –I am humble by your experiences and there’s a flavor of you in each of your tales. tell us more.
IHM — there is no denying that we all know a lot about how you feel on so many issues. tell us a little about the lady behind those thoughts.
Vimmuuu–you sure have variety in your stories and some weird ones too. how about something only on you?
Dee — there’s so much to read and learn about you from your blog but that would mean diving into your archives, sigh!, difficult task, so how about a post on specific things about you in ten bullet points.
Saima – - all I remember about you honey is that you’re a lawyer. it’s been a while since you’ve blog. how about coming back with a tag.
Reema - - all i know about you is that, you like photography, tweet a lot and you’re a teacher . please do this tag to help me bridge a little of the gap.
RWS – - I’m eager to see what you do with this one and how you spin the wit on yourself, though you’ve done it many times before.
adios till tomorrow! comments on previous post will be attended soonnnnnn. busy busy day!
Remember the Goodies Basket you saw here? Well these simple and very very tasty cookies made it to my Christmas 2009 Goodies Basket, which I gave away to my friends on christmas. These cookies are quick to make and very flexible in terms of the flavors you can use. They taste awesome with coffee or cocoa and are pretty good with tea too. I’m sure the kids will love it with their milk as well.
I found this recipe on the Taste of Home website. The recipe was made with butterscotch pudding mix but I’m not very fond of butterscotch and since I had pistachios at home, I decided to make pistachios cookies. Thankfully I found Pistachio Pudding Mix at my local grocery store. Although the few reviews of the cookies on the Taste of Home website were not very encouraging I made them anyways and I’m glad I did because they tasted great.
Pistachio Pudding Cookies
Makes: 16 cookies (original recipes says 12 cookies)
Prep Time: 15 minutes
Bake Time: 10-13 minutes
Here’s what you’ll need:
INGREDIENTS:- 1 stick butter softened or about 3/4 cup (I used Smart Balance Butter Blend Sticks)
- 1 package (3.4oz) Jell-O Fat-Free Instant Pudding & Pie Filling, Pistachio
- 1-1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 1/2 cup chopped pistachios
PREPARATION
- In a small bowl, beat butter and pudding mix until smooth. Do this for about 3-4 minutes to get really fluffy and smooth mix.
- Gradually beat in flour.
- Fold in the chopped pistachio and mix well with a spatula.
- Roll into balls, about 1-1/2-inches.
- Flatten to a circular flat shape
- Place on a greased baking sheets, about 2 inches apart.
- Use a blunt knife to make design of your choice on the flatten cookie dough. I made 3 parallel lines. make sure your lines are not too deep, else the cookie will break while baking.
Ready for the Oven
- Bake at 375° for 10-13 minutes or until light golden brown.
- Remove from pans to wire racks and cool before storing it in air tight containers
Cookies anyone?
Pistachio Pudding Cookies
PS: My christmas 2009 recipe marathon will resume on Saturday, 16th Jan ‘10. A change of topic for the next post will be good, methink!
The second entry for the recipe marathon is the Mango Mousse from my christmas 2009 dinner menu . I picked this recipe from a video inYou Tube. The recipe is very very very simply and quick to make.
The mousse has a dash of cardamom which makes the taste heavenly and a match made in heaven. There are some combinations that are electrifying together and for me cardamoms and mango pulp is one such.
Yum!!
Mango Mousse
Serves: 24 people (when using small glass about the same size as the one in the picture)
Prep Time: 5 min
Cook Time: 5 mins
Freeze Time: 1 hr
INGREDIENTS:
- 1 tin Mango pulp (I used the Kesar Brand..and it’s about 3 ½ cups)
- 1/4 cup water for adding to mango pulp
- 2 packet Fruit Pectin. I used the Mango flavor. (Vegetarian who don’t mind using gelatin can go ahead and use 2 packet gelatin). I use pectin because it’s made from plant source while gelatin is believed to be made from animal source)
- 1/4 cup water to dissolve the pectin. If there are lumps warm the pectin for few seconds on the gas till the lumps dissolves. Ensure NOT to boil the pectin.
- 1/2 teaspoon cardamom seeds, crushed to powder form.
- 1 pint of heavy whipping cream (you can also use store bought ready whipped cream….about 2 cups)
- 2 tablespoon sugar
- Few strawberries for granish
PREPARATION:
- Pour the mango pulp in a non stick pan and heat on gas at medium flame.
- Add 1/4 cup warm water and the sugar to the mango pulp, stir.
- Add the pectin packets to the remaining 1/4 warm water and let it dissolve.
- Add the cardamom powder to teh mango pulp and stir
- Add the pectin dissolved in water to the pulp and stir till the pulp thicken slightly , for about 5 minutes or less.
- Remove from gas and let it cool down.
- While the mango pulp cool, make the whipped cream.
- Whisk the heavy cream with a whisker, either hand or electric. I used an electric one and I whisked for about 90 seconds. Take care to ensure that you don’t over-whipped the cream else it will turn to butter. When the heavy cream starts forming soft firm peaks the whipped cream is ready.
- Make sure the Mango pulp is at room temperature before adding the whipped cream.
- Fold the whipped cream into the mango pulp slowly to avoid bubbles.
- Pour into mould or glass for serving.
- Garnish with strawberry or mango strips.
- Freeze for about 1 hr or more.
- Serve Chill
Lip Smacking Good!
The first dish from my christmas 2009 dinner menu , for the recipe marathon is the Eggplant and Potato Moussaka. I chose this dish as the first one because it’s flexible for both vegetarians and non-vegetarians and it can be made 24hrs before the party and actually taste better too. For my christmas party, I made the vegetarian version of this dish, although the moussaka in it’s better known Greek version is a layered dish of ground meat (usually beef or turkey) and eggplant and is baked. Some version of the moussaka is also layered with potato in addition to the eggplant. The layers are toped with tomato sauce and a bechamel sauce (white sauce). [added later] This is a main dish and sides like garlic bread or bread rolls or garden salad can be good accompaniments.
In addition to the greek version which is popular in the west, moussaka is also made in Turkey and other Arab countries. In the Turkish version, the moussaka is not baked but sauteed and in addition to the eggplant, bell peppers can also be used. The Arab version of the moussaka is served cold as a salad and consist of eggplant as the main component.
I picked the outlined of this recipe from the food network site. This is my version of the Eggplant and Potato Moussaka, adjusted to my taste. I’ve used soya granules instead of ground meat. [added later] For non vegetarian, replace the soya granules with ground meat of your choice. Lightly fry the meat as outlined in the recipe below or semi cook the meat the way you would make keema but reducing the indian spices to a pinch.
Don’t get put off by the long list of ingredients or the process. In its entirety it’s very simply. Tara, you must try this
Ready to eat, Eggplant and Potato Moussaka
Served: 4 adults and maybe 1 more
Prep Time: 20 minutes
Cook Time: 30 minutes
Baked Time: 50 minutes
Can be made 1 day in advance.
Ingredients (for the layers):
- 1 large globe eggplant sliced into long strips. If using a round or oval dish you might need to cut the slice in half to fit the dish, else for rectangular shaped dish keep the slice long.
- 2 large baking potatoes, peeled and sliced lengthwise about 1/4″ thick
- 1 teaspoon dried basil
- 1 ½ teaspoon dried oregano
- olive oil, as needed
- Salt, as needed for seasoning
- 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese (please note there is another 1/4 cup for the sauce, as below)
- 5- 6 pieces of sundried tomato (optional)
Ingredients (for the tomato sauce):
- 1/2 a medium onion, grind to a fine paste
- 8 pods garlic, grind to a fine paste
- 2 tablespoons tomato basil paste OR (2 tablespoon regular tomato paste + 1 teaspoon dried basil leaves)
- 1 teaspoon dried oregano
- 1/2 teaspoon ground black pepper
- ½ teaspoon red chilli powder
- 1 tablespoons dried parsley leaves (OR a twig of fresh parsley)
- 1/4 cup dry red wine (one that you like drinking) OR 1/2 cup apple cider
- 1/2 cup vegetable broth (I used Swanson organic vegetable broth)
- 1 cup Soya granules (Nutrela) OR 1 ½ cup ground meat of your choice.
- Salt, as needed for seasoning
Ingredients (for the béchamel sauce):
- 1/4 cups all purpose flour
- 2 tablespoons unsalted butter (unmelted) or ½ a stick
- 2 1/2 cups milk
- 1 teaspoon sugar
- 1 egg, lightly beaten
- 1/4 teaspoon white pepper
- ½ teaspoon nutmeg
- 1/4 cup grated Kefalotiri cheese, or Parmesan or Romano (I used parmesan)
- pinch of salt.
PS: IMP NOTES
Please note that in each step of the cooking process, you will be adding salt and oil. Keep in mind to add in moderation so that they dish does not become overly salty or oily. While making the béchamel sauce, do not multitask because this sauce needs constant stirring.
PREPARATION:
Layers:
• Grease a non stick open pan with 1 teaspoon of olive.
• When hot, lower heat and roast (not fry) the eggplants on each side till brown. Sprinkle salt on both side. Take care not to overdo the oil here. If too dry just brush the eggplant lightly with oil using the tip of a brush.
• When the eggplants are all roasted do the same with the potatoes.
• While roasting the potatoes sprinkle each side with the dried basil and a pinch of salt. Roast the potatoes till lightly golden. (take care not to overdo the salt)
• Keep aside
• While the potato and the eggplant are still roasting start the prep for the tomato sauce.
Potato & Eggplant
Tomato Sauce:
• Soak the soya granule in water for about 10 minutes or until soft.
• Heat 1 tablespoon olive oil in a nonstick pan.
• Add the onion and garlic paste and fry till slightly brown
• Add the tomato basil paste.
• Add the chilli powder
• Stir for 2 min and then add the oregano, black pepper and parsley.
• Squeeze the water out of the soya granules (nutrela) and add it to the paste. OR if using ground meat add it now to the sauce, after frying it for 10 mins in 1 teaspoon oil with 1 teaspoon garlic, ½ teaspoon black pepper, ½ teaspoon chilli powder, a pinch of garam masala and salt to taste.
• Stir till a little dry and then add the red wine. (TIP: Always remember to cook with wine that you like to drink!)
• Add salt to taste. Stir
• Add the vegetable broth and let boil for few minutes till the rawness of the tomato ease out and you can taste the flavors.
Tomato Sauce
Béchamel Sauce:
• Dry roast the flour for 10 seconds
• Add the butter. Stir continuously to avoid lumps
• Add the milk and keep stirring at medium heat till the sauce thicken.
• Add a pinch of salt.
• Add the beaten egg. For those who don’t eat egg leave this step out, thought there might be a change in sauce consistency and taste.
• Add the sugar, white pepper and nutmeg. Stir well at medium heat.
• When sauce bubbles and thickens add the cheese.
• Make sure no lumps are form. The sauce should be medium – thick consistency.
Béchamel Sauce
The Layering Process:
Preheat oven to 350 F
• Take a round or a rectangular dish which is oven safe.
• Layer it with half potatoes and half the eggplant.
• Pour half the tomato sauce over this layer and top it with the béchamel sauce.
• Sprinkle some oregano
• Layer it again with the remaining potatoes and eggplants.
• Pour the remaining tomato sauce and spread evenly.
• Then pour the remaining béchamel sauce and spread evenly.
• Place some sundried tomatoes (optional)
• Sprinkle the shredded parmesan cheese all over.
• Bake for 50 minutes or until evenly brown. Take care not to burn.
If it is not yet brown and you’re serving it the next day…it’s ok to take it out…But if you’re serving it that same day few hours before the meal then bake for another 15-20 minutes and lower the oven temperature to 325F
• Let it stand of about 20 minutes before serving.
If cooking 1 day in advance take it out of the refrigerator and let it stand at room temperature for 30 minutes. brush the top lightly with butter. Put it in the oven for 20 mins at 350F and serve after standing for 10 mins or so.
ENJOY!!
Ready to Eat, Eggplant and Potato Mousaka
This picture was taken at the Metropolitan Museum of Arts (METs), NY. The artist was one of the many talented sketch artist creating another piece of art. Her pencil moved so swiftly and gently over the paper, it looked like she was sketching in the air. Most of these artist are either art degree students or hobbyist. The METs also sometimes hold special events for school children and it’s amazing to see the creativity and talent of these kids. It was marvelous just standing and watching. I didn’t know what to admire…the beautiful sketch or the beautiful sculpture!
Artist Sketching at METs
The Sculpture the artist was sketching
On a very exciting blog start to the New year, I received two awards. A Kreative Bloogger Award from Nancy and An International Bloggers Community Award from Anjuli. You can see them here on my Sunshine Page, and in due course I’ll pass them along to all you lovely friends. Thank You guys for thinking of me. I feel so honoured and loved.
PS: on another note, I intend on starting a Recipe Marathon every alternate day from Monday onwards so that I can share with you all my christmas dinner menu recipes and finish off with that. Watch out .
Happy Weekend!
Ever since I started the Friday Pic(k) series, I’ve been posting only on Fridays. Really pathetic of me. But then again the last couple of weeks have been crazily busy with the holiday season. So much of shopping, eating out, parties, late nights, birthday bash, baby arrival, group cookout, movie nights and what not, there was just no time to blog. Thanks to the iPhone, I could blog hop a little. Now everything is settling down to regular routine again and I can breathe normal. It’s time to crack that whip and shed out all the holiday flap, because pictures are not good liars. I’m joining Monu and a bunch of other people on the couch to 5k running program (C25K) just so that I get back into some routine.
The christmas week and new year eve was a blast. My christmas party was a great hit and the dinner menu and goodies basket item was extensive. I do hope all the recipes see the light of this blog because some were really awesome, if I may say so myself.
The goodies basketwhich you can see here had yummy stuff like plum pudding (which is a cake really!!), rum cake with nuts, pistachio cookies, some red/green christmas almond cookies, cashew date roll slice, kulkuls (a konkani/goan sweet/namkeen), walnut fudge, and of course my now legendary rum balls. Sighhhh…hmmmm I love baking.
The highlight of my christmas dinner menu was the leg of raan (whole mutton leg) for the non veggies and an eggplant potato moussaka for the veggies. I also served chicken in tomato basil and tartar sauce, mushroom and babycorn curry, slow cooked tenderloin pork, two types of salad, pasta, rice pilaf, stir fried veggies and kale with garlic. Am I bragging? sorry if it sounds like that…I’m just so proud of myself for accomplishing all of this and serving really good food. I did have some help from some really good friends towards the last couple of hours with last-minute chopping of course and FAB helped with the gift wrapping for all our friends and the grocery shopping and running errands. Please please bear with me for a little while longer while I rattle the appetizer….which consisted of keema spiral rolls, spinach and cottage cheese wraps, shami kebabs, mozzarella wrapped in basil leaf and red pepper and charcoal crackers (store bought) with cheddar cheese and olives toppings. Pheww!!!!! OK done….ohhh there was mango mouse for dessert . Without a doubt there was plenty of alcohol doing the rounds.
New Year’s eve was spent clubbing in the city till early morning and some more crazy dancing at my place till dawn. I’m still recovering from the fatigue and my house is almost back to its clean and tidy self.
I feel very positive about 2010 and I’m hoping it’s a good year.
Cheers Friends!
It’s not to late to wish you a Merry Christmas. Hope you had a good one.
My Christmas Tree
This Christmas Goodies Basket which I baked for christmas is for You.
Christmas Goodies Basket, 2009
………and I’m right on time to wish you a very very Happy New Year. It’s a new dawn, It’s a new day, it’s the time to create new memories.
May all that your heart desire, come true this coming year! Have a great one.
A new day, a New Year
………….I see you!! Out of the blue, I see you!
Sunrise over the Hudson River
SUNRISE
(lyrics of the song, “Sunrise”, by Uriah Heep)
Sunrise, and the new day’s breaking through.
The morning of another day without you.
And as the hours roll by
no one’s there to see me cry
except the sunrise,
the sunrise and you.
Tired eyes drift across the shore.
Looking for love and nothing more.
But as the sea rolls by
no one’s there to see me cry
except the sunrise,
the sunrise and you.
Sunrise, bless my eyes.
Catch my soul, make me whole again.
Sunrise, new day heed my song.
I’m tired of fighting and fooling around.
But from now until who knows when?
My sword will be my friend.
And I’ll love you…love ya
for all of my time.
Sunrise, bless my eyes.
Catch my soul, make me whole again.
(Repeat)
Sunrise.
Song on YouTube
© Picture, is Copyright of ‘colormesunshine’. Please, Do Not Copy, without my permission.
I’ve realized that I can be pretty lazy when it comes to putting up a post, so I’ve decided to start a weekly ‘must do’ post and call it “Friday’s Pic(k)”. This will be along the lines of wordless Wednesday that I’ve seen in a few blogs, but my post might or might not be wordless.
I’ll put up a picture from my collection. Some may have a story, some maybe just good memories, some maybe just clicks I feel good about, some maybe weird and wacky, some maybe interesting and some maybe just random stuff.
Today’s, pic(k) is from an all girl’s trip to Goa. It’s one of my most memorable vacation. I wish I could do it again.
5 girls gone wild. From long drives to long siesta on the beach, from massages and tattoo(got my first real tattoo in Goa) to late night drags and binging, from bike accidents and blaming it on the cops to getting high on wine drank out of besleri bottles, from splashing around in the sea to getting splashed with muddy water and drenched in the rain, from drop dead shopping to head dropping hangovers, we did it all! Miss those days and the girls.
Photographically, there is not much to write home about in these pictures. But what I like most about them is the timeless moment they’ve captured, and that’s what memories are about.
Goa Railway Station
Us Girls @ Fort Aquada
:)
Footprints on the sand
© Pictures are Copyright of ‘colormesunshine’. Please, Do Not Copy, without my permission.
Hi everyone. What’s up. I know I have been missing in action in the blog world. But the urge to write has been rather low though the thoughts and stories were plenty. Anyways, rather than let my blog (and me) dwindle away, I decided to incorporate the recipe page, I’ve been meaning to do for a long time. Hopefully this way, I start writing again as well.
I found Monika’s idea of incorporating her recipes as part of her regular post in the same blog to be very clever. After all, a blog is a blog and a post is a post. It’s been difficult for me to maintain one blog let alone two! Most of the time I don’t end up documenting my recipes and my food blog remains barren for most part of the time. So I decided to import my food blog (Yeah, I have a food blog too ) from Blogger to WP, create my recipe page and hopefully this way I post more often and I’m not torn between two blogs. It made sense to have it all in one place. I took the plunge today and I present to you, My Cosmo Kitchen [Page on top]. Though the transfer was not 100% successful, i.e all the comments were not imported 
, at least all the post were . So if you find your comment missing in the recipe posts, please excuse me. I tried several times, but no luck!
With the holiday season in the air and Christmas round the corner, I have lots of baking and cooking to do. We’ve decided to celebrate Christmas like we do every year. That’s what Dad would have wanted us to do, get on with living life to the fullest. So my Mom will be celebrating Christmas with her sisters and family, my sis with her friends and me here with my family and friends. I have very little time to plan for the days ahead. I still have to figure out the goodies that will go in my goodies basket this year. I have to outdo my last years’ goodies basket lol. This year I intend on adding a small bottle of wine and some flowers for aesthetic. I have to plan for the Christmas dinner menu, decorate my tree and buy Christmas gifts for everyone. So little time so much to do. So expect to see a lot of recipes coming your way.
Thank You for asking about me and my family’s well-being. Thank you for emailing, twittering, commenting and being around .
Hugs
