A Happy New Year And A Happy Breakfast

Wishing all my readers (yes, all three of you) a very happy new year!! I can't believe it's already been a year since I started blogging. And what a year it was. This last year was full of ups and downs for us and for the most part of it, it was a great year. I learnt a lot of new things in the kitchen and came out of my comfort zone. I joined the daring bakers, learnt how to make bread at home, made my own sugar cookies (and decorated with royal icing!!!), decorated a cake and even made cupcake pops! There is still so much more to learn and do and I really wish that I can pursue this passion of mine. So what are the things that I want to do this year? Let me list them down (in no particular order) Mind you, these are not any resolutions but just stuff I would like to do-

1. Learn swimming - seriously, its high time I know how to swim.

2. Get pregnant - Why do the virgins on T.V always get pregnant on their first time? No one tells us what hard work this is!!

3. Take up a cake decorating course - Any sponsors??

4. Lose weight - O.K. I know I said this last year as well, but I did manage to join the gym and lose a good 7 kgs. BUT. I stopped going and nothing has been the same since :(

5. Visit a new country - hubby and I have been planning this since forever but we never make it out of here.

6. Pray more - I have complete faith but when it comes to practice I am LAZY. If I don't want to reach hell I need to act fast!

7. Clean my house more often - Or better yet, get a maid! ha ha. (Hubby, are you listening?)

8. Make Marshmallow Fondant - Hello Crisco and mini marshmallows lying in my cupboards!

9. Learn to make better lists - I know this one is damn boring.

10 . Stop boring readers - No more lists, I promise!

Well that was my pretty boring list. What is not boring is this Stuffed French Toast. A great way to jazz up that plain morning breakfast. Instead of using french bread I used half of the Stollen that I had made for daring bakers. It was yummy! But I will make a few changes to it the next time I make it. Here is the recipe

Recipe Source - Given as is from Tasty Kitchen by Manda2177 with my notes in red.

Ingredients - Makes 6 Servings

1 Loaf French Bread - I used the stollen.
3 Tbsp Any Flavor Fruit Spread (You Can Also Use Jelly, Jam, Or Fresh Fruit)
1/2 Package Cream Cheese (100 Gms), At Room Temperature - Next time I will reduce this amount as it was too tangy for me
2 whole Eggs
1 Tablespoon Cinnamon - Omitted this since the stollen already had cinnamon.
1/2 Cups Skim Milk
2 Tbsp Butter
Golden Syrup for serving

1. Heat skillet or electric griddle to 325 to 350 degrees.

2. Cut french bread into 2 inch wide slices. Then, with a paring knife, go back and cut halfway into each slice, in the center, creating a ‘pocket’ that your fruit mixture can be stuffed into.

3. In a bowl, place the room temperature cream cheese and three tablespoons of fruit spread of your choice. (I used mixed fruit jam.) Combine well.

4. In a separate bowl, break 2 eggs; add cinnamon and milk and combine well.

5. Now, take fruit mixture and stuff into the ‘pockets’ of your french bread slices. Place on a baking sheet.

6. When done stuffing each piece of bread, completely coat each piece in egg mixture. Make sure all sides are covered. Do all pieces before starting to fry.

7. Put 2 tbsp (you can use less!) of butter into a hot skillet and melt completely. Add all of the bread to the skillet and cook roughly about 3-6 minutes on each side, until it reaches a nice golden brown. You want to make sure the cream cheese mixture heats through.

Serve hot with golden syrup or maple syrup.

Happy Eating!!

Who Is A Daring Baker

I am a daring baker! Yes, I am. For over a year I had been ogling and marveling at the wonderful creations of the daring bakers. Never in my dreams did I think that I would have the guts to join this group. For those of you who have no clue what I am talking about, let me explain. Daring Bakers is an online baking group started by the genius duo of Lisa and Ivonne and together they run the website called The Daring Kitchen (which also includes Daring Cooks), wherein on the first of every month a challenge recipe is given to the group and this has to be kept a big secret until the reveal date. On the 27th of the month all the participating bloggers (and non bloggers) post their creations on their respective blogs. So, after months of dilly dallying I finally jumped the gun and joined the group.

I registered after the deadline (2 am on 28th) and was expecting my first challenge to be in October. But somehow due to the time zone differences I lucked out and my entry was counted and here I am with my first challenge! Since the reveal date is tomorrow I just wanted to post an intro about the group. So stay tuned for the reveal tomorrow!! In the meantime, do check out the website for all the past challenges and wonderful creations and to know more about the group.

Bangalore!! Here I come!!

20 January 2010. Time - 22:55. Me on a plane. To Bangalore. To have FUN. To EAT. To SHOP till I DROP. To meet FRIENDS. To see PLACES. To take a BREAK from WORK.

With HUSBAND. HOTEL ROOM. No Cleaning, No Dishes, No Laundry. Me and Him. Him and Me.

exams :(

books .. Reading after 2 years.. Not Exciting..

Sigh!! Why do all good things come to an end?

15 Days, 6 Exams, Two cities. With some of my favorite memories. Cant Wait!!!

Another year is over...

The year has come to an end and I look forward to a new beginning. Though this year was not very eventful it surely had its ups and downs.

He looks so adorable... Love this pic of his (yeah pls ignore the chubby lady)

Well, first we decided that we want to start a family!! Yay!! So we are trying and let’s see how that goes... (With sufficient pressure coming from all the relatives and 'well wishers' ahem...)

We moved into our new place (rented) and spend a good time decorating it to our satisfaction and are glad with the results. The gardens are pure heaven in this part of the world for someone who loves greenery. It’s so peaceful and serene at nights. I just love to take a walk in the big ground with Latif. Of course we still haven’t made use of any of the fantastic facilities there but we are still happy about the place.

On the job front things are very dicey. While I still have my job, hubby unfortunately lost his and is in a bit of a funk lately... Or maybe he is just pretending so that I give him a lot of love!! he he.. The recession did affect a lot of people much worse than it hit us and I am thankful that we are at least on better grounds than most.

And of course I managed not to lose a single kilo which I had promised myself coz I have happily managed to gain a LOT of unwanted weight :( I am planning to cut off meat and poultry from my diet for some time and focus on eating more veggies coz yesterday when I went grocery shopping I realized I just didn’t cook enough vegetarian food. There are so many vegetables available in the market and I hardly bring them home citing the same reason every time that I don’t know how to cook them. (Of course you don’t know that you dumb A**). So, I am going to buy new kinds of veggies and try to cook up good healthy stuff. Hopefully that will help me with some weight loss.
Otherwise All izz well (haha corny I know, but can't help it) and look forward to a good year of blogging. Cheers!! And yeah.. Happy Eating :-)

3 Idiots and a bag of popcorn

I love eating theatre popcorn. What is theatre popcorn you ask? Well, its popcorn made by heaps and eaten while watching movies!! I absolutely love caramel popcorn. The warm, crispy, sweet temptation always makes me happy (along with a sugar overdose) and completes my movie experience. I saw a recipe for it on Annie's Eats and hopefully when I have kids [to share the guilt with ;)] I will enjoy making and eating this with them.
Yesterday we went see 3 Idiots. Going in at 10:30 pm we came out only by 1:45 am (phew). It was a long movie but well worth the time and money! Total Paisa Vasool!!! I was actually holding my sides and laughing in a few scenes. The film has done a refreshing take to show what is wrong in our education system. The mindless lectures without understanding, by rote learning and even sensitive topics such as student suicide and ragging. I hope by watching this movie students do learn that getting good grades and coming first is not the only thing. Its the experience that matters and what you eventually gain from it. Yes, I did get good grades in college and was one of the top three ranks but I was very lucky to study in a college that belied conventional means of teaching. We had only 12 students per class and instead of lecturing us our professors believed in group discussions, brainstorming and seminars by the students themselves.
After finishing my degree I emerged as a much more rounded individual who thoroughly enjoyed her 3 years of college.
Well, enough of my banter for now. Make sure you watch this movie as it is truly an enjoyable one. And don't forget that bag of popcorn. Theatre popcorn to be exact :)

Happy Eating!!!

I LOVE HATE LOVE FOOD

I have a love - hate relationship with food. You see, I love eating. But I hate the mountain of calories that I have to deal with (or not) every time something goes down my throat (which is very often). Well this relationship started long ago thanks to my mother (who is a fantastic cook by the way) who would make yummylicious food for my family of seven. Our house would always smell amazing with rich aromas wafting through the air. My mom loves to cook and will make sure each dish is prepared lovingly with utmost care. I however do not have her patience but do love cooking (sometimes) and baking.

Often at night I start thinking about what I will bake next, whether I have all the ingredients or not and who will eat the big batch of cookies or cupcakes that I will make (of course I could eat them all by myself, hee hee). When we moved into our new place with a bigger kitchen (by big I mean comparatively to the previous one) the first thing I did was to get myself a baking corner. I bought all new cake pans, cute little measuring cups and spoons, a cookie sheet, muffin pan and even a Philips stand mixer. Of course my dreams are made of a Kitchen Aid (all red and shiny) standing proudly on my kitchen counter but (‘sigh’) I will have to make do with the Philips for now.

I know that I am still a baby in the world of baking having just skimmed the surface in the past two years. I do have a long way to go and I would love to take you with me through my journey. I will be trying Peanut Butter Blossoms this weekend and lets just hope I get post worthy results.

Happy Eating!!

LOVE