mayurisjikoni

Back To Normal Routine    Its after a very long time that I had a very relaxing holiday. Relaxing means no cooking at all, no blogging and just lazing around doing what I want. I slept, I read, I walked a bit and spent quality time with my eldest son, daughter in law and her parents. Visiting Bali was a truly a surprise for me. When I use to see postcard pictures of Bali, blue seas, sandy beaches it was not really on my wish list. When you have sandy beaches and blue sea and sunshine in your backyard, Bali was not that alluring. I think if my son and daughter in law had not decided to settle there, hubby and I would probably not have visited Bali.  However, I am so glad that we went there last December. Though we were not able to see much of Bali because of my daughter in law's accident, we managed a few day trips.     Bali is a predominately a Hindu island. However, their customs and rituals are so different from the Hinduism practiced ...

Food Blogger Recipe Swap -November Partner :Luca - Simply Delish Eats    Its my first time to post a recipe for the Food Blogger Recipe Swap . I've always been interested in trying out recipes from other bloggers blogs. I wanted to join the Secret Recipe  Club but it shut down. I came across this group by chance and requested Amber Dawn who blogs at Simply Made recipes  to enroll me as a member. My first post and I'm a bit late but then better late than never. The other participants posted their recipes before Thanksgiving Day.     How does this group work? Well, its quite simple. Every month (except during holiday time), Amber will ask who would like to participate in the event for that particular month. We add our names and she pairs us up. We then visit our partner's blog and make something from there in our own way, style and post it on our blogs and linking it to the original recipe.    Luca lives in California (that's so ...

Happy with my "Princess"    A weird title, right? Well, Princess is the name I've given my sourdough starter. At first I thought it like a weird idea to name the starter. Everyone who successfully makes a sourdough starter at home names it. I was wondering why. Now I know. You actually nuture it like a pet. Feed it and make sure its in the optimum environment.     Most days Princess is happy sitting idle in the fridge but on occasions I take her out and actually make something. This time round I made sourdough pita bread. I used a combination of wheat and plain flours. The pita bread turned out super yummy. I love the slight sour taste and did I mention it was so much lighter on the tummy than the normal pita breads?     Go on make pita bread and enjoy it with some falafels or use it to make your favorite sandwich or just enjoy it with a dip.  I had one left over and next day I enjoyed it with a cup of masala tea. I warmed it up on a frying p...

Happy Diwali    For most Gujaratis the Diwali celebrations began from yesterday with  Rama Ekadashi, whereby if you fast on this day, all your sins are forgiven and you attain salvation. However, in typical Gujarati style, fasting food or agyaras food is prepared. No grains or beans, onion, garlic, many vegetables are not allowed. However sabudana khichdi, moriyo, potatoes, etc are prepared.      Today is Vagh Baras or Vase Baras. On this day the cow and calf are worshipped. Vagh means debt and today all debts are cleared and new transactions are done in new ledger books after Labh Pancham. The word Vaak Baras is mispronounced as Vagh Baras. Vaak or Vani means  Goddess Saraswati, the one who blesses us with language and knowledge. On this day Goddess Saraswati is worshipped. It is believed that Goddess Lakshmi only comes to bless our homes if before we worship her, we worship Goddess Saraswati. One must worship Goddess Saraswati on this 12th dark day o...

Anytime snack time       What is a snack? A snack is any sort of small amount of food eaten in between meals. It can be fruits, veggies sticks, to fried bhajias, baked goodies or even sandwiches. It all depends on individual tastes and requirements. When we were growing up, my mum would give us a glass of milk and leftover rotis with chevdo. We would put the chevdo in the middle of the roti, roll it up and it was the yummiest snack ever. In our house, bateta vada, bhajias, kachoris, samosas were mostly served at dinner time with parathas and vegetable curries.              Once a week we would walk with my mum to the Westlands shopping area.It was a day when we would go to the supermarket, go to the veggie market and a visit to the famous Oven Door Bakery was a must to buy some cookies, breads and some light yellow coloured rusks. I used to love those rusks. Back then we  were not allowed to drink tea or coffee but we would dunk the...