Quick bread

I have been on a spree borrowing baking books from our library. The most recent one I borrowed is "The baker's bible"

This has a whole lot of easily do-able recipes. Most of them are really simple, and for people like me who prefer to bake eggless, this is a good book. All recipes use very few eggs and can easily be replaced. Last weekend I baked a low-fat raisin bread from this book and it turned out absolutely amazing

Thanks to my baking spree, I have a new addition to my library

This is another book loaded with absolutely easy and do-able and yummy recipes. It's loaded with pictures, so a feast for the eyes too.

I am definitely making a steady progress, though a slow one, on seashells. Well, that's a very quick update from me.
Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

TUSAL and Gaming!!

Yes, that's precisely what has been keeping me away. Thanks to Fruit Ninja, Tetris, Subway surf and my new jigsaw apps, I have hardly made any progress with my stitching.

Let me show you my orts for the months first

All orts are from december cottage, just a few from seashells

We just removed the training wheels from V's cycle and she just can't stay away from it.

I tried this new recipe - corn pudding.

I found this recipe in one of the women's magazines, while I was enjoying a mint pedicure at the parlor. Here it is:
Boil a cup of corn in a cup of milk till it is well cooked and soft. Cool this and grind to a smooth paste. Pass this through a sieve. I skipped this step (out of sheer laziness). Pour this corn mixture into a heavy bottomed vessel, add more milk, 1 cup sugar, 1tbsp butter and cook till the mixture is thick. It should look like custard. The original recipe called for cinnamon for additional flavor, but I used cardamom and saffron. This gave a real nice touch. Chill and serve.
This is a very quick and easy dessert.

As the months fly, it's time to display the "finished" September cottage.

Just 3 more to "finish" and they will be done for good. I have gathered all the materials required to finish them all and hope to get that done by this week.

Though I have not made much progress with seashells, here's where I am with it.

I have not been baking the last few weeks at all.

I promise to make more progress and put down my games from now. Till my next post, hopefully with more progress.. Take care.. Be Happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

A b'day and a finish

What a busy 2 weeks it's been. There was so much work at work, at home. everywhere. Just seemed endless!! But looking back am happy and satisfied with whatever happened

So, let me start with the birthday. V turned 9 on 19th!! My little baby is now 9!!

It has been 2 years since we had a party for her birthday, and this year she was sure she wanted one. Not just any party, according to her she wanted the "best party ever", whatever that meant.

I had already decided that I wanted to move out of my comfort zone and try something new for her birthday cake. So, I ventured into trying a shaped cake

I did not have a cake board big enough to hold the cake. So, I had to prop it up on a circular tray. The cake was yummy and the kids just loved it. It was a basic vanilla sponge with buttercream frosting.

You can view a video of how to make a simple butterfly cake here  It is really simple

V and I made ear-ring for the girls as a return gift.

And guess what dear friends.. I have finished my cottage series!!!

Atleast the stitching is all done. Am soooo thrilled with finishing december, but can't believe that the series is over now. I will put up a picture of all finishes once I proper finish them into ornaments.


I am going to pick up seashells again now. That's about it from me today friends. Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

A finish, some baking, some progress and Tusal

Has been quite a while since I posted last. So, there's been quite a bit of activity happening at my end.

First the Tusal for the month

All Orts here are from December of course. 



Here's the August cottage in all its glory.

Am really proud of the Indian flag, has turned out really well too. Not bad at a first attempt at changing a pattern to suit my need

Do you remember I posted a recipe for Choco-nana crinkle cookies a few weeks back. I tweaked the recipe to make lemon-choco chip cookies.

It was a suuuper hit. The change I made was skipped the cocoa and used flour, lemon juice instead of vanilla extract. For some extra spice, added half tsp of nutmeg powder

Another new trial was a potato bread

It tasted real yumm. Only it was not fluffy :( Am planning to bake this again for sure.

Guess what arrived by mail. My order from 123.

How could I just order spinach?? It's not fair right, hehe

Finally, some progress in December

After  I took this picture, I've made a lot of progress and now just have the border at the bottom left

So, that's allll the updates from me today :)
Till next time.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

Some more desserts

I really seem to be on a dessert roll, thanks to all the inspiration from the FB group Home Baker's Guild. I tried a new dessert and an old tried and tested recipe.

The already tried is carrot cupcake.

I was going to make them into a cake, but V preferred cupcake. The idea is to prepare something every week for V's school snack. Something interesting.

I tried a no-bake chocolate tart.

I have been wanting to try chocolate tart for years. This dessert makes me extremely nostalgic, as it goes way back to my college days. There used to be this bakery near my college called Baker's Inn, which sold the best ever chocolate tarts. Ever since we moved to Chennai in 1996, I have been on the look out for tarts that taste atleast close to this, but have only faced disappointment every time I buy one. Having gained so much confidence in desserts now, I decided to try making these myself. Pardon me if I sound conceited, but I am happy that I tried. Finally I think I have (almost) matched the taste of my favorite dessert.

I was too lazy to bake the tart shells, so used the digestive biscuit+butter as base. For the filling, made chocolate ganache using the recipe from Martha stewart. It was an instant hit with the family as well. And so simple to make.

And guess what my new toy is

Isn't it a beauty?! V says "Amma this is too much, you have not put your phone down ever since you got it". I am addicted to it. Have been fidgeting with it non-stop. And I have not even started downloading any apps or music!!

Having said so much, you would have guessed that I have made zero progress in december cottage. I have picked it up again, and am making slow and steady progress.

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

Lots of baking and Tusal

Whooo am reallly on a baking spree now. Last week I tried 2 new recipes - a cookie and a pudding.

The cookie is part of a challenge hosted by the Homebaker's guild - a group of bakers on FB. The challenge is called the choco-nana crinkle cookie challenge

It's an absolute yumm recipe and a must-try. The recipe is from here

The pudding was something that I've been wanting to try for a very long time. So finally I put this together, literally on Friday night for dessert.

This is what I did:
Line the baking dish with bread slices, pour cooked custard covering the bread layer completely, top with raisins and nuts of your choice and bake in a preheated oven for 15-20 minutes. I sprinkled some cinnamon and also added a few strands of saffron to the custard. Server warm. The hubby and V totally loved it.

Now for the Tusal

There's not much progress since my last Tusal. I have just managed to put in a few stitches on December cottage.

Here's where I stand with it now

I am taking it really slow for a few reasons - this is the last of the cottages and am cherishing it and also, am waiting for the arrival of Spinach 

And here's my July in all its glory

 That's all from me for today dear friends. Till next time with more baking and stitching.. Take care.. Be happy.. Keep stitching.. Au Revoir

The Vegan kitchen and a few other books

Oops, it's already July 1st and I do not have the cottage of the month all done up :( And this time even V forgot to remind me!!!

While I put July together, I thought I'd write about this new recipe book I borrowed from the library. It's called My Vegan Kitchen by Anuradha Sawhney.

I was looking for a book that suggests quick lunch box recipes and found this one.

The cover was quite interesting, unlike the usual which made me pick this up.

And also I liked the different desserts under the dessert/sweets category. On going through it though, I was slightly disappointed in that, most of the dishes are the ones we are already familiar with in the kitchens of India. There was nothing different, nothing that I HAD to try from the book.

Apart from this I also borrowed a few other books - The baker's dozen (which is a collection of short stories written by Indian authors), US edition of good housekeeping (I love that magazine) and Pure sequence.

I liked Pure sequence - this is a very different novel about how 4 ladies in their twilight years accept their current situations and how they make the best of them. I really enjoyed reading it. For once, this was not yet another love story.

Thanks to all this reading, I guess the crafting has taken back stage. I tried my hands at baking cinnamon rolls again last weekend

and the family loved it. Though they did not specifically say so, I did not have any left to bring to work the following monday. I guess that's a good sign?! ;) For better effect, I tried to show the pictures from my first trial and the one I made last weekend. The recipe I used was a no-yeast one from Joy of baking. The recipe can be found here.

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