More mango...

Yes, I tried my hand at another mango dessert. I am not quite sure what to call it though (a mango cheese tart maybe??)

 I adapted this idea from a recipe I saw on a TV show - David Rocco's Amalfi getaway. The recipe that was shown was called Cassata Rustica. You can find the original recipe here.

These are the changes I made in my recipe:
- Skipped the sponge cake
- For the filling, I mixed ricotta cheese, mango puree and sugar

I am sure it could do with a few extra flavors, will work on that next time. Also, the pie shell could have been baked some more, was too white for me

V and I went mall hopping last Friday. There's a new mall that's opened near our place, so we decided to drop in and had lunch there.

I do not have any stitchy updates this time. I have not picked up November at all since my last post. V introduced me to this new game on the kindle - Subway Surfer.

I have been addicted to the game ever since and November lies untouched. Hope to finish it during the week

Well, that's all from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Another mango dessert

I am making most of the mango season this year. It's almost like I have made a resolution to try a mango recipe every week.

This week I tried mango souffle

I did not expect it to be so easy to make. The hubby and V just loved it. V said of all the mango dishes so far she liked the cheese cake and the souffle the best, and she even wants me to make them again!!!

On the stitchy side, I decided to post a pic of November cottage at its current stage, though I only wanted to show a "finished" one.

I love the colors in this. They are so different from the others

The temperature went to the 40 degree mark yesterday and is expected to stay that way for atleast a week!! God help us all!!

So, that's all from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir.. And if you are in Chennai, stay indoors if possible!!!!

TUSAL and cooking

Before I go into my vacation (well V's vacation rather) updates, let me show you my TUSAL for the month

 The heat and humidity are very irritating. Our inverter's battery died and we are waiting for the technician to turn up and replace it. He was supposed to finish that over the weekend, but when do they ever come at the promised hour?! Luckily our scheduled 2 hour power cut has not been happening since the last 3 days (touch wood for that).

Despite all this, am really enjoying V's vacation. V and her friend decided to have a sleep-over last Friday. That's right, they just decided on their own and did the entire planning. They "asked" us for permission after all that, if you know what I mean. So, V and I picked up her friend last Friday afternoon and she was with us till Saturday evening.

On this occasion, I baked a veg bolognese for dinner on Friday

I was very pleased with the way it turned out. The best award was the fact that the kids literally licked their plates clean and their faces were glowing after the mean.

They then watched a movie while having dessert - a take-away family pack of black forest ice cream.

Before picking up her friend, V and I visited our craft's supply store and bought some stuff to organize my beads.

I am a lot relieved to just look at all my stuff like this. These are just the gold and silver findings. I still have stored my beads in individual Ziploc bags.

V has been asking me for this hip-belt, we call it the oddiyaanam. This is a traditional kind of belt, usually worn over a saree or a lehenga.

So, we bough the beads needed to make this and V came up with the design. I just helped attach the hooks.

Keeping up with the mango season, I tried out a new mango recipe - Mango muffins

Though it was slightly dense, I liked it. Here's the recipe for the muffins.

On the stitchy front, I have completed about half of November cottage. I will show a picture when it is all complete
Now, that's the story from my end tonight. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

More on Summer

I had taken almost the whole of last week off to be with V. We normally do not go anywhere for summer, but have a nice relaxed stay-cation. Last week was a good stay-cation for us with some trying-to-catch-up-on-local-events.


V finished painting the sun/moon figure and it's ready to be put up on her room door. She's thrilled with the outcome.

 We went to the beach 

and V had her first ever horse ride.

She was terrified and would not climb the horse. With some coaxing, she finally agreed and though a little scared she did enjoy it.

Cashing in on the mangoes, I made some mango kulfi.

This is my second attempt at kulfi and I should say it came out very well.

Here's May all done up.

I did not have a suitable ribbon or an embellished cord. So decided to make one with the 3 main colors used in the pattern. I love the effect the combination of the colors create.

I have now started November and as luck would have it, the ugly frogs paid me a visit. I did the flowers along the border in the wrong shade!! Ugh, so much for concentration

Well, that's all I have for today. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Summer is here

Ohh yes, that's right.. it's May and very much into the summer.
Vacation has started and it's time to think how to keep V occupied, something that interests her, something useful, but not related to studies. Now for a girl, there are a whole lot of things that could be done.

So, we have been to the library once so far and borrowed a few books. For the first time I allowed her to pick the books that she wanted, so am I learning to let go?? I don't know, but it was a lot less stressful to allow her to handle even the smallest thing. We then went to this fair, where self-employed ladies, who were mostly home makers, had made kits of various kinds. We bought one of those, which had a finished shape of moon/sun made of plaster, but had to be painted. Now, that's how the vacation started.. let's see how the rest of it goes.

Summer and mangoes go hand-in-hand. I decided to try my hand again at mango cheese cake.

I used britannia cream cheese this time (I had used home made paneer the first time) and the result was awesome.

Tried the coffee milkshake last sunday afternoon.

Added a liii'll bit of chocolate ice cream to it and topped with hershey's syrup of course.

Also baked a savory bread for breakfast

This is a tomato herb bread. It was great, but I think a little more kneading would have been good.

Now, on the stitchy front.. I have (finally) completed October

I changed the color of the cottage and made it all white as the original color was the exact same shade as my fabric. Also, this was stitched on jobelan. That's what 123 sent with my order instead of the regular linen. Jobelan is so smooth and soft to touch, loved the feel of the fabric.

I have now started working on November. And, oh I have to "finish" May!! Gosh, how fast a month can go by.

That's all from me today dear friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. And happy holidays :) Au Revoir