At the start of the summer vacation I had visualised such an ldyllic setting, no homework, no projects (not that I was doing any of these myself), agenda-free days, so much time to cook and blog. Happy Happy!
Some busy times at work, guests, day trips with the kids, a family vacation, and at time sheer laziness ensured that blogging out of the (happy) picture.
The problem with agenda-free days is that there is always time to fit in one more craft project/ book/ phone conversation/ TV show etc. etc.
Some busy times at work, guests, day trips with the kids, a family vacation, and at time sheer laziness ensured that blogging out of the (happy) picture.
The problem with agenda-free days is that there is always time to fit in one more craft project/ book/ phone conversation/ TV show etc. etc.
Though I wasn't able to cook anything from my new cookbooks (some bought, some gifted), I did get a chance to tackle the ever increasing must-try folder. The following recipes have been made so often that they are now a part of our everyday/ commonly made foods.
Here are some of them:
- A few days after I bought a microplace zester, ET posted a recipe for Cranberry-Orange loaf. This seemed like the perfect recipe to break in the zester.
I've lost count of the number of times I've made it. I've also lost count of the variations. Mostly I experimented with reduced quantities of butter, sour cream and sugar. Greatly reduced quantities of butter surprisingly didn't affect the texture or the taste. Since this loaf almost always disappears with amazing alacrity, it is difficult to know how the reduced butter would affect it's shelf life. - The only way I now prepare collard greens is Suganya's way. It comes together in a jiffy. Taste delicious with rice or on it's own accompanied with thinned buttermilk.
- Nicole's Silken raspberry mousse is ridiculously easy to make. It is the perfect warm weather dessert. I've tried this mousse with several fruits, but our favourite remains raspberry with an addition of orange zest (gotta use that new zester).
- The idea of steaming stuffed peppers before sauteing them is just ingenious. Such an idea had to come from Richa.
- Jugalbandi's chocolate rum cake is incredibly moist, rich tasting and quite guilt free. What more can one want from a chocolate cake?
- Shyam's tiger cake is by far the most spectacular looking cake I've baked so far. Whoever thought of this technique is indeed a genius.
