Dedication to my father and father-in-law

As the whole world is celebrating Father's Day today, as I was reading some of the posts which my friends have posted about their Dad's, I was reeling back the quality time spent with my dad.

It is almost 25 years since he passed away, but his presence is felt everwhere and in all the chores I do.  I can recall each and every joke we shared, the undoubted support he gave in times when my ideas were opposed by my mom, the scooter rides to the school and later to the college bus stand etc etc.

He was a man of few words and my mom says that he spoke the most only with me.  My neighbours still recall the day when my father distributed Laddoos on the day I was born.  He was always proud of me in whatever I do, immaterial whether the act was a failure or success, such was the blind love.  His quiet and gentle nature is recalled even now by my relatives and friends.

The day of marriage, he just hugged me saying 'Silence is golden' and those words carried a million meanings within it.  Later, in my life after marriage, it was my father-in-law who played the role of my father and he used to take pride when someone asks him if I was his daughter.  Such was the relationship and we could talk for hours together, almost all the topics.  It was an easy-breezy relationship without any expectations or egos.  I am proud to quote that he had registered for my post graduation and B.Ed and encouraged me to complete them. 

Both of them are no more with me, but their sweet memories lingers which guides me even now in all my thoughts and actions.

A true dedication to both, appa, I love you!!!!!!!

"No matter how old you are, you still miss your Daddy" - Anonymous

Gorgeous Vanilla cup cakes-Jungle theme

If you are in and around New York, one would not have missed the 'Magnolia' cup cakes. They are too soft and the taste is beyond description. Being an ardent fan of cup cakes, tried for their recipe online and to my surprise found it here. My four year old daughter has been requesting me to make cup cakes with jungle theme for her birthday. With the excitement of the recipe in hand, thought would create this for her birthday and no doubt, it was a grand success. The above click was taken after arranging them to take to her school.

You might be wondering why I call them 'gorgeous'. Here is the proof and this is an awesome recipe which cannot go wrong at any count. Here, goes the recipe as followed from the original. The recipe calls for eggs and butter at room temperature to acquire the perfect sponginess and taste of 'Magnolia'.

Ingredients:
All purpose flour -1 1/4 cups
Self-raising flour - 1 1/2 cups
Eggs - 4 (at room temperature)
Unsalted butter - 2 sticks (at room temperature)
Sugar - 2 cups
Vanilla extract- 1 tsp
Milk - 1 cup

For the icing:

Unsalted butter - 1 stick
Confectioners Sugar - 2 cups
Milk - 1/4 cup
Vanilla extract - 1/2 tsp
Assorted food colors -I used Mc Cormick brand

Pre-heat oven to 350 deg.

Line muffin pan with cup cake liners.

In a bowl, combine the flours and set aside.

In another bowl, cream the butter until smooth. Add the sugar gradually and beat until soft and fluffy. Now, keep adding eggs one by one, beating well after each addition. Now, add the flour mixture in three parts alternating with milk. Do not overbeat. Add the vanilla extract and mix well. Once the ingredients are blended, carefully spoon about 3/4th of the cup cake liners. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes.

Cool the cup cakes well before starting the icing process. Even if a little heat is there, the icing would not set and will begin to melt. Hence, complete cooling of the cake is necessary.

For the icing:
Mix the butter, sugar,milk and the vanilla and beat until smooth and creamy. Now, depending on the character on ur cake, one needs to decide upon the mix of colors. I used an array of colours like dark orange (mixture of red and yellow), light orange, black, brown (acquired by adding an equal amount of red,blue and yellow).

I successfully recreated the tiger and monkey. For the tiger effect, with the help of spatula, spread the deep orange icing evenly and a shade of light at the centre and M & M's were used for the ears and eyes. For the monkey, with dark and light brown icing again M & M's were used for the ears and eyes. Not a very difficult task for a novice.

This is my first attempt at creating jungle animals and the verdict from my 4 year old and her friends were ' awesome'. Phew, I passed the test :):)

Enjoy!!!!!!!!

'Cup cakes are dangerous, you cannot just stop with one !!!!!!! '- Unknown

Simple yet tasty Nankattais

This is one of the best Desi version cookie and am sure everyone would have their own recipe. I found the recipe of Suja of Kitchen Corner very easy and perfect. Thanks Suja for your recipe. This recipe calls for just simple basic ingredients and can be prepared in a jiffy.

Ingredients:

All purpose flour - 1 cup
Corn Starch - 2 tsp
Baking powder - 1/2 tsp
Baking soda - a pinch
Salt - a pinch
Powdered sugar - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1 stick
Cardamom powder - as desired.

Pre-heat oven to 200 deg.F. Combine the flour, corn starch,baking powder, baking soda, cardamom powder and salt and keep aside. Mix butter and sugar till the batter is light and fluffy.

To the batter, add the dry mix and combine well till it forms soft lump-like texture. Make into small balls and flatten it a little. Grease the baking tray and arrange them with enough gaps between them as they expand while baking. Bake for 15 minutes and allow it to cool completely.

You can add nuts and dry fruits according to ur taste. Yummy nankattais which would disappear as fast as it is baked is guaranteed.

Anjaneyar vadai for Vada Maalai

We are ardent devotees of Lord Anjaneya, in fact literally talk to Him about our problems and believe it or not, either the worries are totally dissolved or there arises a solution instantly. We, as human beings are flooded with worries and dissatisfaction. We would like to have a smooth life sans problems, hurdles and disappointments. But, this is not possible and hence we look up to the Supreme for solutions. Such is the belief in Lord Anjaneya and have experienced many a miracles in our lives.

In Chennai, the Anjaneyar temple in the Alwarpet Co-operative bank is very popular. A daily visit to take the blessings of the Lord is a must, just to admire the 'Alangaaram' done by the priests with great love. Some days it used to be just butter and red cherries on it whereas other days Lord is adorned with fruits and we can keep gazing at Him without time limit. I always wanted to make the special vadais and make the Maalai myself, so decided to go on with the preparation. After browsing the web for a good procedure, I found Shanthi Krishnakumar's recipe very simple. . So, decided to go on with the same and finally made this vada maalai with great love to my Lord. A big thanks to her for publishing this recipe. The result was amazing. Here, goes the recipe. Vadai in stages

Contents
For about 108 + vadais, I used Urad dal - 2 lbs (To be soaked for only 20 min and ground coarsely. I used my dosa maavu grinder.)
Urad dal (raw) - 1/2 cup
Pepper corns - 2 tbsp
Curry leaves Salt

1. Soak urad dal for 20 min and grind it coarsely with salt and pepper in a grinder with very little water. Water should be added constantly in very small measure to keep the grinder moving. I ground the mix for around 20 minutes.


2. Add curry leaves and raw urad dal to the mix.


3. Grease a plastic sheet and make small flat vadais with a hold in the centre.


4. Deep fry the vadais in medium heat till it turns golden brown.

More than making the vadai, I enjoyed making the garland with those vadais and a divine moment when Lord Anjaneya of Livermore temple was adorned with it.

Jai Anjaneya!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Congratulations Team India,you made us proud !!!!!!!!!!

Hearty congratulations to Team India and captain M S Dhoni for having won the World cup.  It was a joyous moment to watch the proceedings, ball by ball.

My family and me followed all the matches at close encounters  with prayers in our lips for every match .  Cheering the 'fours' and the 'sixes', feeling low with the fall of wickets, all along it was  emotions swinging up and down with the performance.  It was a wonderful journey and lifting the cup was the icing on the cake.

Congratulating fellow Indians worldwide and special wishes to the Indian team for making us proud :):):):)