mayurisjikoni

Merry Christmas Everyone   This Christmas I'm celebrating it in the Exotic Tropical Island of Bali... yes the Bali where Julia Roberts finds inner peace and balance of love in the movie Eat, Pray and Love. Spending this holiday season with my eldest son, his wife and her parents. The #124th theme Christmas for FoodieMonday/ Bloghop group has come just at the right time. Last week before traveling I baked an Easy Christmas Cake and some Cookies. So for this post was contemplating whether I should post the cake first or the cookies. The cake won and the cookies will be posted a bit later.    The last time we spent Christmas with my daughter in law and her parents was in Dubai. Family time together is fun and makes any festival more meaningful. My family is spread all over the world and for us to get together as one becomes very difficult because of jobs and number of days they can take off. For quite a while we were planning that the whole family gets together in Bali for C...

Baking is therapeutic    I nearly skipped the 96th #FoodieMonday #Bloghop theme Baked as I am just too busy and didn't have time to bake. Weddings are fun but at the same time stressful. Bangalore traffic makes the tension worse as one has to be on the road nearly 1 hour or more to reach the venue on time. I was feeling sad when Waagmi chose baked as the theme. I so wanted to bake something (I've missed the 2 cookies theme!) but knew it was not going to be possible.    I thoroughly enjoy baking. I find its so relaxing and fun. If all the ingredients are at hand, then its pretty easy. Baked goodies make great presents for any occasion, a nice treat for picnics, a tea time snack and they can be stored for later use.    So you may be wondering how come I have this post. Well a few weeks ago was my best friend's birthday and I had made these muffins for her birthday. I hadn't tried out a new muffin recipe for a long time and decided to try this one out. The ...

Superlicious  Theme: Explore Latin American Cuisine BM #77 Week 2 Day 1    Its my first time to join the Blogging Marathon . I've known about this group for quite a while as I follow most of the members. However, all this time I did not join the group as I found that perhaps blogging 6 new recipes in a month on specific days is a big challenge. However, I've just taken the plunge and am going to try out the waters.    So what is this group all about? Well, it was started by Srivalli who blogs at Cooking for all Seasons and at Spice your life . Members blog for any 2 weeks but for 3 consecutive days on chosen themes. For my first theme I chose to explore Latin American cuisine and you'll be surprised how many different varieties these countries have to offer. I wanted to make every veggie dish possible but was limited to the availability of ingredients.    My first choice for the Latin American Cuisine is a Mangonada or Chamango. Can you see the word ...

Happy Holi Everyone   Any festival celebration means food and lots of it. Food, fun, colour, rituals all make a successful celebration. If one is missing then the celebration or festival is not complete. Our #FoodieMonday #Bloghop group decided on #Holi as our 83rd theme . With Holi it means that I've been with this wonderful group for now a year. My first post for the group was a fusion Holi theme . I remember preparing the dish not knowing exactly how it will be received by the other members of the group. Must say they were a friendly group and immediately felt as though I'd known them for years. Its been a great journey of learning new recipes, new cuisines, how to improve photography, drawing strength from eachother in times of need and sharing our lives.       We are constantly chatting over whatsapp in spite of the different time zones. When its our bedtime, Preethi all the way from Singapore will send us a good morning message. When we are awake, Rupal in US ...

HAPPY NEW YEAR     Write it in your heart that every day of this new year is the best day.           A new year has begun, time to reflect on what we achieved last year, what we didn't and  what we would like to achieve. Like every year I continuously make a resolution to lose weight, which so far I haven't; not get so emotional if my kids don't call regularly, which is pretty difficult to stick by and have more patience with my hubby's weird, out of this world ideas. However, I still get angry and try to retaliate them with all my energy :)     This year I've not made any resolutions as I forget about them even before the 15th of January. Desserts, chocolates, good fried food, chaats still tempt me to no end. Perhaps I will try and take baby steps or make small mindful changes every day. However, it can only work if I continue with the change and not forget about it after a day. Lets see how it goes.    But changes I...

Vande Mataram                          What does independence mean? According to the Cambridge dictionary it means freedom from being governed or ruled by another country. Independence means living a life without being influenced or helped by others. On 15th August, India will celebrate its 70th Independence Day or Swatantra din. India got its independence from the British Empire. With each Independence Day we are also reminded of the Partition of India and Pakistan. Every Independent country or State that looks after its citizens, makes its citizens to feel proud and patriotic. As an Indian born in Kenya, what are my feelings and thoughts for India? I am lucky to have a strong connection with India though having been brought up in Kenya. My mother was born and brought up in India. My father sent me to a boarding school in Mt.Abu when was only 12 (Uganda exodus scared all the Asian communities in East Africa). I got admiss...