Immersive Experience

 Hola friends! Hope you are doing well and have settled into 2024. I felt Jan was ok, was neither too fast nor too slow.

To update you on some of the interesting happenings from my end, here we go..

I am an art admirer, but only know a handful of artistes, definitely none of the contemporary artistes. When I visited my cousin in New York in 2001, he took me to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, which I loved. I was attracted to a certain kind of art and he pointed out that they were all by Van Gogh. That's when I started reading about Van Gogh. Since Last year, the Real Van Gogh immersive experience has been travelling around India and I have been waiting for them to come to Chennai. Guess what, they finally are in Chennai!!

V and I had to go the first week itself for sure. I am totally camouflaged in this picture 😄

This was the view from our corner. We were there for an hour, and did not feel like coming away. It was an absolutely magical experience. We hope to go atleast once more

Baking

I finally got down to baking the 'Christmas' fruit cake! I never ever have baked it in time for Christmas, though I soak the fruits well ahead. This is an eggless, non-alcoholic version and here is the recipe I always use

Stitchy Update

Relatively lesser stitching in Jan due to life happening. I need to plan things better to be able to stitch some more. 

That's it from my end today dear friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!!

Of Birthdays and stitching

Hola friends. It's festive season here and we are well into Navratri (which literally means 9 nights) where we worship the divine Goddess for 9 days. This year we have kept the golu and we have loads of golu hopping invites to do, which in turn mean loads of dressing up and loads of yummy food :). Will post pictures from all the festivities in my next post

We celebrated the man's 52nd birthday earlier this month..

..and he chose a coffee flavor cake. We decided to skip the frosting and go for a coffee glaze instead

On the stitchy side, I completed page 11 and into page 12 now

Here's the pic of when I moved the QSnap. Am totally thrilled with how Amma is coming up. 

Here's the ORTS from all of last month's stitching

..and this is where I am right now

So, that's the quick update from me today. Until next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!

Of Families, vacations, birthdays and stitching

Hola dear stitchy, bakey, crafty friends!! Am back after being MIA, from the blogger world, for 2 months. That's because life has been crazy busy in a good way. July/August is always like that when cousins and families, brother and family all come from several parts of the World and hence the busiest months of the year for us. By the end of August, they all return to their worlds and we to ours hungover from the holidays holding on to the energy till the next year

This year we all went on a very short trip and almost all of us cousins were there, making it even more special. We travelled to Pollachi, a short drive from Coimbatore. The resort where we stayed was a quaint little one and we had the resort almost to ourselves, so we could make all the noise without fear of disturbing other guests. 

There was beautiful river flowing right behind the resort and we had full access to it. A very scenic place and so many peacocks around

It was a very nostalgic trip - recollecting childhood memories, catching up with the new members in the family, getting to know them all better. Our kids enjoyed themselves too, with so much open space to run around and no fear of traffic etc

We celebrated a few birthdays too in August and September

August is V's birthday. I baked a pinacolada cake this time with fresh cream frosting

Dad turned 76 last week. As his birthday coincided with Ganesh Chathurthi this year, we decided to bake a Kozhakattai cake

Amidst all this I did manage to stitch some the last 2 months

That's the progress on project Amma. I have progressed 2 more pages since my last post and can say that I am a little more than half way through

..and here's the ORTS for the last 2 months

That's all that's been happening in my part of the world the last 2 months dear friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!

Of Bakes and Stitches

I did not even realize that I missed last month's post, till it was time to post progress this month! That's how fast time seems to be flying

It's vacations everywhere but India, and many of my cousins and families are here for vacations. So, a lot of activities and get-togethers happening here

V's college re-opened in the 2nd week of June and she's in her 2nd year now. Amidst all this, we have been baking quite a bit

Here's a mango crumb bar that V baked 

Chocolate Zucchini bread has been on my to-bake list for a long time and ticked that off. I added lemon extract and some spice and topped with walnuts and blueberries. The flavours worked very well together. Here's the recipe link 

Time for a stitchy update

Here's the ORTS from last 2 month's progress. The jar has YTD progress

..and a full view before I move the qsnap. I am done 50% and am really excited how project Amma is coming up

That's from me today dear friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!

Monthly Progress

Hello dear friends.. can you believe that February is almost over! Another new moon is gone and it's time for our monthly catch up

I am on a mission to clear up my pantry of existing baking supplies before buying new ones. First to be used up is coconut flour that's been lying in the freezer.  

 

First one in the series is coconut flour shortbread. I added mint extract and mint chips. Coconut and mint flavours work so well together. Here's the original recipe link - https://www.kingarthurbaking.com/recipes/coconut-flour-shortbread-recipe

On the stitchy front, the last month has been a great stitchy one. 

Here are ORTS from the month's progress

This is where my mystery project is. I have finished 6th page and half way through the 7th page. I guess you might have guessed by now that it's a picture to pattern that I am working on. I am thoroughly enjoying working on this

So, dear friends that's the updates from my side of the world today. Until next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir

A sweet, a cookie and some stitching

Hola, dear friends! Being Thanksgiving weekend, I want to start this post by saying a huge thank you to all my virtual friends here, who have kept me going and motivated me to keep posting! 

Recently my cousin had come from Australia and had bought an insta pot for her sister. Her sister did not want it and asked me if I wished to buy it at a lesser price. Of course, I grabbed it with both hands! Now, the insta pot was sitting pretty like a dinosaur in the room, both of us staring at each other. I would google easy desserts and then say 'ok, I will make this soon'

Finally, last week I took the leap and made moong dal halwa/Ashoka. It turned out absolutely divine and even the method was quite simple. Recipe source - https://myheartbeets.com/instant-pot-moong-dal-halwa/#wprm-recipe-video-container-15021

It's the season of cookies and baking

My first bake for the season is a very chewy eggless oatmeal chocolate chip cookie. I had saved this recipe several years ago in one of my FB baking groups

I have been able to make some progress on Mystery project too, amidst all the other activities 

Here's a pic of where I am at currently at page #6. On the side are all ORTS from last month's stitching

 So, dear friends, that's the update for today. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep sticthing.. Au Revoir!

A birthday and some stitching

Hello dear friends. It is the festival season and also season of birthdays in the family. It was dad's 75th birthday on the 18th and we threw a surprise party with a few very close relatives. Dad was totally overwhelmed and extremely happy

We ordered a blackcurrant cake which was absolutely delicious

V started college last month. She's now doing her undergrad in BSc psychology and she's loving it so far

After quite a long gap, V baked these delicious snickerdoodles - the recipe from my William Sonoma's Baking

I was able to catch up on some stitching this month

..and here's the Orts from the month's progress

..a closer look at the progress. I am almost done with the 4th page now. With the holiday season coming up, hope to get some more stitching done

That's the update from me tonight dear friends. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!

All About Vacations and some Stitching

It has been a very happening July and August in my side of the world. Being vacation time in all places but India, this is the time when cousins and family living in Dubai, USA etc come here for vacations. 

This year we went to Pondicherry for a week. While my niece attended an eye camp, it was a workation for me and vacation for the daughter and cousin

Our guest house was exactly opposite to the beach and we spent every evening there

some of the very different unique shells that we collected at the beach

We witnessed an absolutely brilliant sunrise

Being a sunset person, and being so close to the beach, how could I miss this wonderful scene

Some baking happened too. One new flavors that we discovered in London is Elderflower. We found this quaint little home run store at Borough market, where we got some Elderflower syrup

V baked this Elderflowe lemon bundt 

.. a slice of the cake and the extracts in the background

The daughter celebrated her milestone birthday last week and I baked her a lotus biscoff this year for her birthday

With so much happening, progress on my Mystery project has been quite minimal

This is the moving the QSnap picture

..and the current progress picture with the ORTS

So, dear friends, this is my story for today. Till next time.. take care.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!

First Post of the Year

We stepped into a 2021 on a very holy note with a visit to our Kula deivam temple and our Guru. For the last 4 years, every time we planned a visit to our Kula deivam temple, something would come up and the trip never happened. Finally, all graces worked to make it happen. 

Work suddenly picked up pace too all of a sudden after almost a year's lull. Schools are gradually beginning off-line classes. Vs classes will be beginning on Monday, thrice a week. Offices have not opened yet, but I did visit office once this month to pick up my laptop

Front line workers slot for Covaxin will come to an end by end of February and people over 50 years of age will get their chance. Probably rest of us will get our chance around May, fingers crossed 🙏 

Baking

I wanted to bake these cookies around Christmas, but it's never too late for these 

Peppermint cookies. I could not wait to find the traditional striped candy canes, so used Andes mint chips instead. Here's the link to the recipe

 V and I have been watching The Crown on Netflix, because of which we get a lot of suggested videos and facts about the royal family. One that caught our attention was about the royal family's favorite food. 

One of those is this super easy, no-bake dessert. It is so rich and chocolate overload. V made a white chocolate topping to add to it. Here's the recipe link

Stitchy Update

I already have my first finish of the year!! Unfortunately, it is a secret project and I cannot share pictures in any social media till I am able to give it to the recipient

But here are the ORTS from my first finish. It is going to be a gift to a very special person 

So dear friends, that's the update from me today. Till next time, take care.. stay safe.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!! 

A Finish and a start!

Hope all my dear blogger friends had a Merry Christmas!! We are finally in the last week of the year

Baking

V and I wanted to bake Christmas cookies this year

Linzer cookies and 'snow' cookies as we called it. We did not add food color to the icing, and with the silver balls topping, don't they look like snow :)

Stitchy Update

Put in the last stitches in Coffee last weekend. I am very happy with how it has turned out. I will be taking this and a few others that I finished earlier this year to the framer later this week

Started on a new project, which is going to be a gift. So, I am not going to talk much about this or post any further update pictures, till it reaches its new home :)

So, that's from me today dear friends. Enjoy the rest of your holidays. Till next time.. Be Happy.. Keep Stitching.. Au Revoir

A Finish!

It was dad's 73rd birthday on the 18th. We had a small cake cutting at home with my brother's family joining us over zoom

We wanted to try a new flavor cake this time - use some recipe that we had saved but not tried yet. Dad is not a great fan of chocolate cake. So that was out. I had some mawa in the fridge and dad likes the Indian flavor. 

                                                        

                                            Eggless Goan Mawa cake with saffron buttercream frosting

Another cake V baked was this apple dates cake. Link to the original recipe is here - https://www.davidlebovitz.com/apple-date-cake-salted.../

                                                

The changes we made are - use whole wheat flour instead of apf; olive oil instead of butter; flaxseed powder instead of egg

And yay, I have a finish!!

Snowy Day by Lizzie Kate. I used 18ct Aida from my stash. All threads are anchor from my stash too. I do not have the shade numbers as that's how I got them from the nearby craft store. He had just kept them in a cardboard box and sold them all to me. So, some of the skeins do not have the numbers on them. I tried to pick the closest match based on colors

Here's the ORTS from last month's stitching. The jar has YTD 

I have not yet decided what to stitch next. Probably I will do some beading before the next stitchy project

So friends, that's the update from me today. Till next time.. stay safe.. be happy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Sweet 16!!

Guess who turned 16 this week.. that's right, V is sweet 16 now!! 

She wanted a chocolatey cake this year. A friend had shared this recipe for Salted Caramel chocolate cake sometime back and I had a bottle of store bought salted caramel. 

Basic recipe idea is from this link - https://bakerbynature.com/salted-caramel-chocolate-cake/. I used my go-to eggless chocolate cake recipe from Nita Mehta's Eggless Bakes book. Used the buttercream frosting recipe from this link. For the first time, tried caramel shards as topping

Chocolate Cake with Salted Caramel buttercream frosting

Stitchy Update

Here's progress on Snowy day

All I have left now are the whites. Hope to finish it by next weekend

So, that's the update from me today friends. Till next time.. be happy.. stay safe.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Lockdown.. Cooking.. Stitching

Hope all my dear blogging friends are safe and healthy

As almost everybody, we have been cooking quite a lot during the lock-down.

Cooking
Normally, we would only order things like burger, pizza, falafel etc. from a restaurant, as we think these are difficult to prepare. But only when we actually make them at home do we know how simple they actually are. In addition to a hygienic home-made meal, we also get the satisfaction of learning something new

Here are some of the dishes that we tried

Falafel sandwiches

Veggie Burger - the buns were store bought. We do want to try making the bun at home too once 

Banana chocochip cake with peanut butter frosting. Originally, we did not want to do the frosting. Then, V wanted to go the full length and decided to make that too. Wow, were we glad that we made the frosting too. What a divine combination it was. Here's the recipe link - https://www.bonappetit.com/recipe/banana-chocolate-chip-cake-with-peanut-butter-frosting. 

We used flaxseed powder instead of egg and yoghurt instead of sour cream. We did not powder the sugar for the frosting, but that added a lovely crunch 

Stitchy Update

I started stitching Snowy day by Lizzie Kate

Though the progress is much slower than the earlier finishes this year, I am totally loving working on this. I picked up all floss from my stash, with shades as close as possible to the one in the picture

ORTS - the lose ORTS on the right are from progress for the month and the jar is year-to-date

So, that's from me today dear friends. Till next time.. stay safe.. stay healthy.. keep stitching.. Au Revoir!!