Disney and some baking lessons

We did some mall-ing on saturday. It's the one closest to our place and also the newest one in town. As it's quite close to where we live (about 10 minutes by vehicle during off-peak hours), we decided to take our motor-bike. I think that was a very bad decision, as it took us about 45 minutes to reach the place!! We were totally dead by the time we even reached there.

Disney channel had a lot of activities planned the whole of last week at the mall starting on the 7th. We just decided to visit and see if we could take a few pictures. V was quite put off by the queue and did not want to take a picture with them. I managed to take a picture of them anyway

Disney's brings out the kid in each of us, doesn't it? There were a few stalls where the girls could be dressed up as their favorite princess. Again the build up of queue was quite long. So, just took a picture of V along one of the "walls"

By the end of it all we were famished and wanted something to eat. Again the coffee shops were full and no place to sit!! Finally managed to get a few seats in one of them. After being refreshed it was time to go grocery shopping at the new hyper market in the mall. Auchan (a hypermarket chain from Europe) has opened a branch here, and obviously we have to check that out, don't we. I was expecting a few imported brands, but was disappointed there. I am happy with the freezer section though, as I got some varieties of cheese and Khoa there.

V and I are back to our baking days, and no more cold desserts, as school has started. V wanted to bake something completely on her own. So we picked up a recipe from Rachel Allen's bake series - peanut butter and white chocolate blondies

V worked on it completely, with me only helping with checking if it was done. It came out quite well, except that I think it could have been baked just a little longer to be completely done and be firmer.

The recipe for these can be found here

I have put in the first few stitches on December cottage, but not enough to post a picture yet.

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

TUSAL and a finish

It's once of those few months when I post the Tusal on time!!

All orts this month are from November cottage.

Speaking of which, I managed to finally finish November :)

Isn't it a beauty? I am all set to start December. When I was kitting for December, I realized that I miss one of the shades - a crescent Spinach!! Yikes!!!! I have to figure out a way of getting that.

Last night I baked these "emergency brownies", which is a blessing for sudden chocolate cravings and for people like me who are constantly craving for chocolates

Here's the recipe

That's the latest from me

Mid-year post

We are in the 6th month of the year already!!! And so, time for me to put up the next month all done up

I almost forgot that May was over and I had to finish up June. I had just enough card board for the finish, phew.
I am not very happy with the red cord finish. By the time I could stick the cord to the piece, it losened up a bit :(



I tried another mango dessert over the weekend - Mango mousse

The recipe source was an old newspaper cutting.

I have cut down on my gaming time and have made a little progress with November. I now have only the border at the bottom left. Will post a finish soon.

That's about it from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

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