Christmas, New Year’s and all that jazz

Happy New Year folks!! The New Year is already 15 days old and I am just getting around to wishing you guys. Terrible, I tell you, terrible. Thank God, I subscribe to the philosophy “Better late than never” so I am very easily able to forgive myself.

So, how was Christmas and New Year’s, did you guys have a good break? Like i said in one of my earlier posts, DD had 2 weeks of vacation while DH and I got a week off. It was a long-awaited, much-anticipated break because, get this we had NO plans. The last 2 years we have traveled during Christmas break. In 2010, we went to visit my cousin in the East Coast for a week. It was a time for the kids to get to know each other better. We watched movies, played a lot of scrabble, saw the nation’s capital and generally basked in the warmth and affection that only family and some very close friends can provide. Last year, we did our big Disney trip. While both trips were fantastic, coming back to regular life was painful.. We were tired (both times we came back with just a day to go before school and office reopened). That one day,we spent taking down the lights and the Christmas tree and locating lost library books and finishing pending homework. Not a very fun day.

This year, in a complete reversal, we stayed home, slept in, ate, met a few friends, put together a 500 piece jigsaw puzzle, watched movies and ate some more. I made a couple of things for which I am going to share recipes below. We strayed from tradition and took our Christmas lights and the Christmas tree down on the 27th of December itself. Since we were all to go back to regular routine on the 2nd of January and we’d get a late start on the 1st thanks to the New Year’s eve party, we decided to wrap up all the Christmas stuff prior to New Year’s. DD was not too happy but on hearing our explanation she was a good little trooper and helped us too.

In keeping with the theme of rest and relaxation, for New Year’s eve we met at a friend’s house for a pajama party. There was food, drinking, music, some dancing and a resolution to raise strong, independent daughters (Everyone at the party is the parent to a young girl) and events towards the end of the year brought home to all of us the importance of teaching our daughters to be strong, self-reliant and to not think of themselves as second class citizens.

Thus ended Christmas and New Year’s. Now for the recipes, I promised to share. The first recipe is a really old one. When my maasi (mom’s older sister) was getting married in the 1960′s, at the wedding reception the chef served a cutlet that was the talk of the evening. My mother, being very interested in cooking asked the chef how he had made the yummy stuff. He elaborated the following recipe for her

This recipe makes about 60 medium-sized cutlets.
beetroot, medium-sized 2, peeled and grated
Carrots – medium-sized 6, peeled and grated
4-5 medium-sized potatoes, boiled and peeled
1 tsp grated ginger
2 finely chopped green chillies (Serrano or jalapeno peppers) (use less, if you’re not a fan of spicy food)
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder to taste (can also use paprika or cayenne)
Cornstarch dissolved in water to form a thin liquid (in India, use arrowroot powder) about half a cup
Bread crumbs 1 cup
Oil for frying

Fry grated ginger and green chillies/peppers. once the chillies/peppers are slightly browned and the ginger becomes aromatic add the grated beetroot and carrots to the frying pan. Add salt and cook on a medium flame stirring ever so often until all the water in the mixture evaporates. This can take a little time so be patient. Once all the water evaporates, mash the boiled, peeled potatoes and add to the mixture. Adjust salt to taste after adding the potatoes, also feel free to add red chilli powder (or cayenne or paprika) if the spice level goes down after the addition of the potatoes. Once the potatoes are nicely integrated into the beetroot-carrot mixture, take the pan off the flame. Wait for the mixture to cool and then shape into flat rounds or ovals (any shape that suits your fancy is fine).

Once you have shaped the mixture, dunk it into the liquid made with cornstarch and water (or arrowroot and water), then roll it in breadcrumbs and deep fry it in oil. If you are calorie conscious, you need not deep fry it. instead fry it in a shallow pan with a little oil. The latter process will take longer so make sure the cutlet is well cooked before you remove it from the flame. Here are pictures of how my cutlets looked.

The beetroot, carrot, potato mixture

The mixture shaped into cutlets

The final product – serve with chutney or sauce of your choice

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We also baked up a storm of cookies using this recipe. I didn’t use the recipe for the frosting mentioned here, using store-bought instead. This is what they looked like

Cookies – ready for baking

Cookies, baked and some, frosted

This last recipe that I am sharing here is what DH called my piece de resistance. I found the recipe on the Huffington post. It took a looong time to make. My arms hurt from all the stirring – not an issue for you if you have an electric mixer. I knew it would be rich thanks to all the eggs and the cream etc. However, I had my doubts as to how the cake would rise without any baking powder in the recipe. I wasn’t sure of the proportions in the glaze, either. All my doubts were laid to rest though once I saw the end product. This is what it looked like. It tasted heavenly, not too sweet with just a hint of the citrusy fruits coming through in every bite.

The baked cake

With the glaze

I loved it enough to add another picture

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

With that I hope I have added a little bit of sugar and spice to your New Year. Have a good one people. As to what has kept me so busy the first 15 days of the New Year, I will have to do a separate post.

Oh, just in case you were curious here’s the puzzle we did over the break. Sudha and Bik, you are going to love this one

The frustrating period when a puzzle won’t just come together

All complete

‘Tis the season of giving

Christmas is a season for giving. Actually all festivals have an aspect of giving to them. Friends and family meet over Diwali, Holi, Id, Lodhi to share happiness, offer prayers, shower blessings, give thanks. Christmas, though, is especially symbolized by the spirit of giving. Whether it is piling gifts under the Christmas tree or kids waiting for Santa Claus on Christmas Eve to see what he gives them or people donating to charitable organizations – giving is an integral part of Christmas.

In my previous post regarding the arrival of the festival one of my best blogging friends asked me what i was giving her. Since I am saat samundar away from most of my readers, I have had to think long and hard about how to give gifts. I know, I know, you all think my writing is gift enough but phir bhi gift toh dena padega na. So this month, I want you all to go call/email this woman I am going to introduce to you. For now, you will have to pay for your gifts yourself but when I come to Mumbai next, I promise you all a big box of her goodies.

Everyone, meet Kamini. When I first met Kamini, over 2 decades ago, she was this itty bitty thing with 4 massive, heavy backpacks. I wondered how she managed to stay upright under all that weight. She was coming back from some trek. She was and is an environmentalist and I had imagined her future would consist of staging protests and dharnas ala Medha Patkar. However, what she does today and does incredibly well is something I would have never imagined her doing. Now make no mistake, she was and continues to remain passionate about the planet we inhabit. Although today she combines that passion for the environment with raising two adorable kids and the biggest collection of cacti I have ever seen, collecting owls and capturing and releasing snakes in her spare time. All this is not even the reason I am introducing you to her. The following is why you need to get to know her better

Spiderman & Batman cake for a little boy’s birthday

A cute little elephant made from Fondant, I think. It was one of the decorations that went on one of her cakes.

A North Pole cake with the cutest penguin to boot

A mermaid cake that she baked for her daughter’s birthday. She also had pearl in oysters cupcakes to send home with the kids once the party was over

Just in case you thought popular characters were not her thing, she nails this Dora right down to the last strand of dark hair

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only does she do birthday cakes beautifully and so prettily that you’d have a hard time cutting into them, she does cakes for grown ups that immortalize their objects of affection in cream, butter, sugar and icing (well, they are immortal until you start eating them)

 

A designer purse in chocolate!!

Run a marathon recently?? Want to thank your shoes??

Flowers for the lady, please

Love the movies?? Look at the clapper she’s embossed on there and tell me this isn’t art

Want to give the (wo)man in uniform a cake that stands for honor, integrity and service, well, here you go!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Not only is she a good baker or cake maker, like DD likes to call her, her repertoire extends to baking cookies, cupcakes, breads, garlic rolls, vegetable buns. You name it, she does it.

 

Garlic bread….yum yum!!

Hungry for a snack??

These are my personal favorite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In her own words, “I am congenitally shy about promoting myself” – she puts up pictures on Facebook and relies on word of mouth to build her business. She does all the baking out of her house. Hers is not a big, impersonal store where they have some standard cakes that you have to pick from. She will actually take the time to call you and figure out what kind of ingredients you want, what colors your child would like etc. For instance with the Batman & Spiderman cake, the little boy was unable to decide between his 2 favorite superheroes, so she did both for him. She’s the only baker I know who will stay up until 11:45 PM so you can pick up your cake and surprise your loved one at the stroke of midnight. She does marvelous eggless cakes if eggs are not your thing.

Let the emails fly, she can be reached at 22bakest.gmail.com. She’s doing some awesome fruitcakes for Christmas plus cookies that will make wonderful gifts for friends and family and coworkers. Go forth and enjoy her creations, let those waistlines widen. We can then legitimately make losing weight a New year’s resolution.

I am leaving you with a couple of more pictures to drool over

 

Cookies for a child’s 3rd birthday

Awesome fruit cake, the fruits have been soaking in rum for 6 months

P.S: Kamini operates out of Mumbai, right now she’s able to provide service to most parts of Mumbai. With all your support and patronage we hope she will soon be able to expand her business nationally and internationally. Amen!!

All pictures here are the property of 22Baker Street – Holmemade Cakes and have been used with permission from the owner. Please do not copy or reproduce.

Christmas is almost here…

and we have been busy preparing ourselves for its arrival. Here is some of what we have been doing.

Christmas Tree with the carousel, train set and the hot air balloon

 

 

 

Here’s a video of how everything looks when we turn it on. I hope you are having fun prepping for Christmas as well. I plan to inundate you with pictures of the gifts, the cookies we bake and of course the stocking. Keep visiting!!

Diwali and its aftermath

So the festival of lights has come and gone. The house looks bereft without its lamps and the candles that lit the various corners. The sweets have been distributed and  the friends have all gone back to regular life. There is almost a feeling of incompleteness like the one day we spent celebrating one of the biggest Indian festivals is just not enough. To be honest, it isn’t. Particularly since the morning of the festival which is spent greeting people and meeting family and looking forward to the celebrations is spent sending kids to school and getting dressed for work. Evenings are slightly better since a visit to the temple and meeting friends for dinner and some fireworks does somewhat resemble what happens back home. The house is decorated with lamps. We all wear new clothes. We go to the house of a friend for the Lakshmi Puja and dinner. The kids all play together, there is sharing of sweets and savouries and music.

But it is what it is and I am glad that within the close set of friends that we have here, we have managed to retain the spirit of the festival. We are providing our children with a glimpse of the festivities back home. And in my opinion we have retained the best aspects of the festival. There isn’t the mindless eating or the shopping or the keeping up with the Jones-es attitude. We manage to buy one Indian outfit for the festival, some years we have recycled clothes since said child outgrew the Diwali outfit due to a sudden growth spurt. Only enough mithais are made to share with friends and family. And the whole fireworks part of the day is restricted  to a mere half hour where kids use up the fireworks left over from the 4th of July celebrations. City ordinances do not permit noisy crackers or ones that fly into the air so the children’s idea of fireworks include sparklers, and phuljharis. Plus most fireworks are noise-free. So it makes for a light-filled, peaceful Diwali.

The evening involves reminiscing about how we celebrated the festival when we were kids. The unique customs and traditions that each of us followed in our respective homes, how we are trying to include some of those traditions in our households now. We share the festivities with family back home by way of pictures. Looking at all those smiling faces, the lamps, the goodies made by moms and aunts makes the distance seem lesser, fills up the empty spaces in our heart, some.

In that same sense, here I am sharing Diwali with all of you by way of pictures. Please feel free to include a picture or two in your comments so I can feel that I was part and parcel of your celebrations, too.

DD’s dress

The rangoli in the prayer room

Omapudi, thengvazhal, ribbon pakoda and chakli

The sweets – Gulabjamun, Besan ka laddoo and Thirattipaal

Diye jalte hain

The rangoli outside the house

In case you were wondering about the aftermath of Diwali that I mentioned in the heading – in addition to going through Diwali withdrawal, we are also dealing with the stomach flu. DD brought the bug home from school and has now passed it onto me. So we have been dealing with stomach aches and feeling yucky without the aid of all the food made for Diwali. Ugh!!

Happy Diwali

It’s here, the festival of lights is here. My favorite time of the year has finally come. The house looks like a tornado hit it. There are signs of work in progress all over the place, chandeliers being cleaned, bulbs being replaced. A little more elbow grease is being put into cleaning up the messy stains on the carpet and on cupboards. The kitchen countertops are chock full of ingredients that will go into the making of yummy (at least I hope they will be yummy) Diwali mithai. I have dispatched DH to the store several times since my list is always one ingredient short of what’s needed to whip up the crunchy, savory, sweet goodies.

DD’s dress is all silk and shimmer and she has run excitedly to the closet several times to see it and imagine herself in it. I have to buy her the accessories that go with the dress. DH keeps coming round the kitchen asking to taste all that comes out of my kadhai and I have to brandish my hot karchi (ladle) at him and shoo him out with severe admonishments that he has to wait a couple of more days. To be honest, I’d love a teeny tiny bite of the thengvazhal and the chakli too – just to make sure they taste good, mind you, not because I can’t resist the lure of the Diwali bakshanam. Soon enough, I tell myself, I will be able to dig into the laddoos and the lick scrumptious kalakand off the spoon.

Truly, the festival of lights is one that warms the hearts and lights up the soul. Houses are resplendent what with a fresh coat of paint and all the cleaning. They smell heavenly thanks to the aroma of cardamom, nutmeg, saffron, cumin, butter. There are sounds of laughter and joy as families and friends get together to wish each other and shower affection and blessings. There is a whirl of color with women draped in wonderful pinks, reds, purples, oranges, children sport bright shades of yellow and green while the men make it all look sophisticated with their shimmery grays and tans. With all the happiness in and around us we include the earth and the skies in our celebrations too. We adorn the ground with beautiful rangolis and lamps. How beautiful they are is only limited by one’s imagination and creative capabilities. We set off fireworks that dazzle the night sky. It’s almost as if we’d like to Gods to join us in our moment of celebration.

From our hearts and houses to yours – Happy Diwali, all!! May this year bring untold joys and happiness, success, peace, prosperity, health and togetherness.

Image courtesy: Updatesvilla