mayurisjikoni

First attempt at crackers         Priya challenged the Home Bakers Challenge members to bake crackers. As usual the first few days are spent on deciding which recipe to follow, this one, no that one, try them all! Usually don't have time to try them all but the recipes keep on piling up in the bookmarked section. I finally decided on the poppy seeds and sesame seeds crackers. After baking them, I was wondering why I have never tried baking crackers before. They are healthier than the normal cookies and loved them. I use to love the dinner crackers made by House of Manji when I was a kid. These days the dinner crackers have no taste and I have stopped buying them. I baked them two days ago and already they are nearly over. Will have to bake some more.          Here's the recipe and they are very easy to make. You can use them as canapes for your party. Place small cubes of cheese, olives, a dollop of flavoured cream cheese, salsa. Anything act...

Nami's banana nu shaak!   In the Gujarati language there is a saying 'ena ghar ma ghee keda chhe', meaning that that person is pretty much well off, wealth wise. When I was growing up, Saturday would be the day of the week that along with the usual full lunch of dal, shaak, rotli and bhaat, we would have some sweet dish like shrikhand, lapsi, meethi sev or ghee kera. When my kids were growing up, I would give them ghee kera often with roti but on the condition that they would also eat the vegetable we had made. My daughter Nami called it banana nu shaak. After the kids left home, I don't make it that often but today I made some. Brought back fond memories of my childhood and my kids. After the ghee kera would be all over, my mum or dad would put hot kadhi in the bowl, swirl it around and then add it to the rice. It tasted so sweet and yummy.    Its a quick fix when you crave for something sweet and go on try and bribe your kids with it, the way I use to. I could eat ghe...

Cooling and filling       Last Friday and Saturday were very hot and humid. I made my regular lunch on Friday... roti, sabji, dal and chaas, but didn't feel like having that. So opened to the fridge to make a smoothie but got some yogurt and cucumber in my hand instead. So the smoothie was side lined for a yummy raita. I prefer the banana cucumber raita  but didn't have bananas. So I made it with pomegranate and cucumber. It was a cooling and filling treat. Suddenly the weather took a turn on Sunday and its been raining till now. Watching the rains from my window is fine but getting out is yucky! Today, I had to go out to do some veggie and fruit shopping, got wet and feet were dirty. Why don't we dress up according to the weather in the tropical countries? In the western country umbrellas, raincoats, rain boots, slacks etc comes out whereas I have noticed in Kenya and India, we still wear open sandals, carry a mini umbrella and that's it. Seriously these umbrellas o...

For my eldest Foi    My eldest Foi, my dad's older sister, turned 85 this year. She is still strong and independent. A woman with talent, she has instilled a few values in me, like how to keep a home spic and span. At 85 she still goes around the house with a duster and hates to sit idle.She constantly keeps herself busy, reading both English and Gujarati magazines, newspapers, doing pooja, watching telly and chores in the house. She was a teacher for many years, knows how to knit, crochet, and embroider. Nowadays she does not do the latter two but still knits.New born babies in our family get a sweater or booties from her.She also taught me that when travelling with jewellery, be it real or fake, its best to put the earrings, chain link, and the bangle through a safety pin and then put it in its pouch or bag. This way even if the custom people go through your stuff, there are less chances of anything going missing. I haven't seen anyone pack a suitcase so neatly. She is also ...

Get ready for Diwali      Now that Navratri and Dussera is over, its going to be a mad rush to get ready for Diwali. House cleaning, making savouries and sweets, buying gifts and new clothes, getting all the decor out, competitions, rangolis and so much more. How much ever planning we do, it does seem like a mad rush towards the finishing line! By next week I need to get the parcels ready to send it off to my kids before Diwali. A parcel each to Bangalore, Dubai and Montreal. My new daughter in law, French by birth but becoming fully 'Patelized' as we say, loves chevdo and bhusu.... what she calls Bombay mix. I usually give order for the huge amount of chevdo and bhusu required but bake the cookies, make the chakri, farsi puri and other savouries at home. Bhusu is a mixture of rice flakes,sev, dals, tiny namakparas etc. Frying all these things makes my apartment all oily and smells of oil... so prefer to support needy women by giving them the order.     Whe...

Event Announcement I am happy to announce that I will be hosting  Favorite Recipes Event  for the  month of  October 2014 . The theme for the event is Diwali  Recipes .This event was started by   Swathi Iyer  of   Zesty South Indian  Kitchen .   I am hosting an event for the first time and  I would really appreciate if you support me by  participating  in this event.  Thanks Swathi for giving me the opportunity to host the event.  The event rules are as follows - * A linky tool will be open from 1st of October 2014 to 31st October 2014. * Multiple entries are welcomed.   Any number of new recipes and two recipes  from the archives .  Please update the post with logo or worded link. * Recipe can be  gluten or vegan free. Only vegetarian recipes please     but eggs allowed in baked dishes. * Using the logo is welcome but not mandatory. Using the logo helps to spread  ...

Narendra Modi rocks!        Last night got back from a late show of the movie Equalizer and couldn't fall asleep immediately. One shouldn't watch violence before bed time as sleep disappears. I decided to check out my facebook page and the first thing I see was the speech by Indian Prime Minister, Narendra Modi at the Madison Square Garden shared by a friend. http://goo.gl/47tJIi      A true leader, a great orator and a humble man. His speech captivated the audience and was inspirational. For a person who wants to do so much for India its every Indian's duty inside and outside India to support this great cause. We all dream of a better, cleaner India and if we put our minds to it, it is possible.      I am usually not interested in politics as everywhere in the world, politicians promise a lot and leave the people disillusioned. However, what I have noticed about Narendra Modi is that you cannot help but get capitvated by what he says. T...