mayurisjikoni

Enjoying the cold weather      I am thoroughly enjoying the cold weather in Bangalore. Makes me feel more energetic. While my family is posting pictures of still hot summers in UK, hubby is saying that weather is getting hotter in Mombasa, Bangalore seems to be getting colder. We get the occasional showers and its pretty windy where we are living. Cold weather means cups and cups of hot drinks, mostly green or herbal tea or plain hot water.(can't drink those in Mombasa!) I love sipping on mint tea. The 'sabjiwala' who comes thrice a week to our complex to sell vegetables and fruits has a policy of not giving small bunches of coriander and mint. I have to buy a fat bunch and land up using the mint for tea. What a change from the few stems of coriander, spinach and mint I get back in Mombasa to these fat bunches.     Our #FoodieMonday#Bloghop team decided on #stuffed vegetables as our 59th theme. I've already blogged stuffed bhindi and brinjals (photos need seri...

A different taste    The August theme for Shhh Cooking Secretly was exciting. Participating pairs travelled to different parts of the world. We're going to be able to see dishes that are prepared in Indonesia, Brazil, Morocco, Sri Lanka, France and Mediterranean. I'm eagerly waiting to see what they all prepare. My partner for this month is the talented and friendly Shobha Keshwani. Her blog Shobha's Food Mazaa has different types of recipes ranging from simple chutneys to complex breads.If you're ever looking for some authentic Sindhi recipes then be sure to check out her blog.   Shobha and I got Moroccan cuisine. She gave me couscous and olives as the ingredients to prepare some Moroccan dish and I gave her lentils and tomatoes.Must admit that though I have heard a little bit about Moroccan food, I never really checked out the cuisine in detail as most of their dishes are meat based. So having couscous as one of the ingredients I was really happy. Couscous is a staple...

Angels are often disguised as daughters     The week just goes by so quickly. Every day I wake up and say to myself,  2more months, few more weeks before the wedding and so much to do. Yesterday when we were discussing with my future son-in-law and his mum what happens after the wedding ceremony, so it was like bidaai (farewell to the bride) will happen and we take Nami (my daughter) with us. I wanted to burst into tears at the moment, as reality is fast approaching that she will belong to some other family. I had to be really strong and keep a smiling face, but am sure that if hubby dear would have been with me I surely would have burst out crying. As I am writing this, I do have tears in my eyes and right now(Sunday night) am sitting along at the dining table and writing this post and can cry openly.      I nearly was going to skip this week's #FoodieMonday#Bloghop, our 58th one with the theme tea time savouries. But, as my blog is not only for food...

  Italian Pumpkin Bread/ Pane di Zucca#Breadbakers    I love these monthly themes that we have in our Bread Bakers group. For the month of September Kylee of Kylee Cooks suggested we bake with pumpkin or pumpkin spices or both. I nearly skipped this round as I have already baked quick pumpkin breads and pumpkin muffins. Pumpkin pancakes didn't sound that interesting. Then I came across this interesting yeast bread on Chef Bikeski's website. Fell in love with the lovely sunshine coloured bread. Baked 2 small loaves of this bread. Gave one as a present to a family friend and the other one we enjoyed it toasted with some butter, cheese and soup. Semolina adds an extra crunch to the bread. Eating the bread without toasting makes it taste like a normal bread but toasting it makes it crunchy. I didn't have any hazelnuts so I added walnuts instead. I love pumpkin but usually use it make soups or as a curry. Here in Kenya we tend to get pumpkin mostly whole year round. The lo...

A New Home   Moving homes is not a joke at all. In fact its very stressful. When one accumulates all the things one has into boxes, you realise that its a lot of stuff! How much can one person own in a lifetime? A lot! New gadgets, new crockery, new clothes, new shoes, all with different designs and colours and we  buy it. The world of advertisement is certainly doing a very good job. Though I may own a frying pan which can double as my tawa and use it to roast rotis on, I still want one for the parathas, one for the eggs, and perhaps different sizes too, a small for the fried eggs, a medium for the chilas and perhaps a big one for the dosas or crepes. Our wants and needs are endless.    We had got the removal company to help us. I realised that they didn't really understand the concept of packing a box to the maximum, using every empty space to fit in all the goods. They just dumped everything in the box and packed it up, half empty or with still with a bit more spa...