mayurisjikoni

Double Treat Theme: Kid's Delight - Chocolate Dishes BM#85 Week 2 Day 2    I often bake chocolate cakes, cookies and muffins for my niece and nephew. Whenever hubby and I visit his uncle, I take either cookies, muffins or cakes for the kids. For my nephew its the more chocolatey the better. I still remember when he was in hospital with dengue fever, he wanted to have chocolate cake and asked me to put chocolate pieces in them. That's how much he loves chocolate. The next few days the only food he'd eat was cake. My niece now tries out some of the cakes that are on my blog. Its such an overwhelming feeling; the niece that I used to bake for now bakes for her family.     When I chose the chocolate theme, I didn't have any specific recipes in mind. I then realized that though I bake a lot of cookies, I don't have  chocolate chip ones on the blog. I baked these cookies and immediately took photos as they were fast disappearing. I had to hide some of them for my...

Healthy Red    Mondays comes just too fast.Imagine we're already into the second month of the year. In just a month, the other Presidential Election candidate, who lost the second round of election that took place in Nov, was 'sworn' in as the 'People's President'. In their battle to win the powerful chair, the country is still battling with basic needs. High Food Prices, clean drinking water, better roads, proper sanitation, a cleaner environment to name a few issue needs urgent attention. So many issues to tackle. Mombasa has trash dumped all on roadsides and the hills are going taller by the day. I wish the politicians would for once with dedication just get on with what their tasks are instead of wasting time and useful resources in battling for the cogent position. The people of this country can but wait patiently to see how the rest of the year will pan out. The other event, a blue moon, lunar eclipse, a red moon... we missed it. Kept on staring out of the...

A big green berry       Yes you read the title correct. Botanically speaking an avocado is a berry and thus classified as a fruit. It is a single berry fruit. There is much confusion as to whether it is a summer fruit or spring and nowadays its available in winter too. However, in Kenya where we don't really have our climate divided into 3 or 4 seasons like winter, spring, summer and autumn, avocados are available mostly throughout the year. Some countries classify it as a summer fruit. So as far as I'm concerned summer fruit or not I decided to use it for our 93rd theme on FoodieMonday Bloghop group. The theme is Summer Fruits suggested by our group member Pushpita. It certainly isn't hot here as we're into the rainy season.          Basically the only locally grown fruits available in abundance during this season are watermelon, banana, papaya and avocados. Didn't want to do another watermelon recipe, the papaya is still not ripe and banana.......

Happy Uttarayan Guest post for Pushpita Aheibam     Come fly a kite      And watch it sail     Across the sky,     Waving its tail.     By Jean Warren    Once again it Uttarayan or Makar Sankranti. Uttarayan is the Gujarati name for the festival celebrated all over India. Be it Pongal, Lohri,Magha Saaji,Suggi,Ghughuti or any other name, it basically celebrates the transition of the sun from the Tropic of Capricorn which is in the south part of the world to the north. It marks the ending of the winter solstice. The festival is also dedicated to the Sun God. It marks the end of the evil Poush (Kamudta) month. It is believed that Bhisma Pitah in spite of being on a bed of arrows and in grave pain, waited for the sun to be in Uttarayan to willingly die. Its also the period when the Gods awaken from their deep slumber. This festival is celebrated with a feeling of anticipation, joy and jubilation.        Guj...

There's a leopard in my kitchen!         When Aparna suggested a leopard patch or leopard spots bread for our March challenge in We Knead to Bake group, I felt right at home. Leopards are not new to me, as I have seen them in the National Parks and at the Animals Orphanage in Nairobi. Years ago it was pretty easy to spot these animals in the parks but these days its pretty difficult because of poaching. Leopards are different from cheetahs. Leopards are nocturnal cats while cheetahs are diurnal. Leopards have shorter legs and more stockier whereas cheetahs have long legs and are slender to enable them to run fast. Now coming to the spots, cheetahs have black spots all over. Leopards have spots that are brown in the middle and black at the edges and are always in clusters, more like rosettes.                                    This monkey thought the Leopard's spots    ...

Still catching up!    Yes I am still working on the backlogged recipes. Sometimes I get the feeling in my over enthusiasm have I joined too many groups? Maybe but don't feel backing out of any. They all offer different challenges.The baking eggless group was back in February after a short break. I couldn't do the Feb challenge but made the March one. The brownies are extra chocolatey, loaded with nuts and so delicious. The brownies turned baked well, and just as I turn it out onto the wire rack, the glass tray in which I had baked it fell and broke! The baking tray belonged to my mother in law and have been using it for over 32 years! Did feel bad. I found that my 8"X 8" baking tin was all rusted. We get salty water in our taps and everything rusts so quickly. We have to buy bottled water for cooking and drinking. Anyway next trip to the supermarket I am buying a 8 X 8" tin.    Coming to the brownies, the challenge is that we are given a recipe which has eggs. W...