After a year, 2011 is finally here!! (didn’t know I can be corny and rhyme at the same time!) Happy New Year every one! Welcomed the new year partying with our friends in Phoenix. Lots of fun. 🙂

I stopped making new year resolutions long back, mainly because they used to revolve around one theme- my weight. And well, most of you know, how such resolutions end up- being broken. But, this year I decided to give the theme another try with a slightly modified resolution. I am not resolving to lose weight, (with my love for all things baked and fried -don’t think that would be a practical resolution)– so I resolve that out of the 7 days in a week, 5 days I will try to get some form exercise– it could be yoga, running or time spent in the gym. I can almost hear myself saying “yeah right, all the best” in a mocking tone, but this time I am determined! Again I hear the voice: “haha, we will see”. To it I say, “Yes, we will!”

Fortunately, the first day of the new year was spent doing just that- showing my inner self that yes I can do it. Even though we had a late night (slept at 4 in the morning), and slightly hung over from the New Year party, I was up on 1st morning (well it was almost noon 😉 ), ready to hike the Camelback mountain in Phoenix.

Camelback Mountain, the best-known feature of the Phoenix skyline and the city’s highest point, is an irresistible lure to hard-core hikers, fitness fanatics and tantalized tourists. Both routes to the summit, Echo and Cholla, though fairly short, are among the steepest trails in Arizona, guaranteed to leave even the fittest of the fit huffing and puffing as they slog their way to the top. The first mile and a half of the Cholla trail, though steep in places, is easy enough for the most casual of hikers to enjoy. But the final quarter-mile is rather nasty, requiring a fair amount of scrambling along a bouldery ridgeline to the top. It is a 3.5 miles round trip for the Cholla Trail.

I managed to complete the trail, exceeding V’s expectations (he thought I would give up half-way. But I didn’t!) , and all was going according to plan! Good start to the new year.

The next day though, things went from good to bad. Woke up with a sore body, feeling pain in muscles I never knew existed in those parts of my body. That was still fine. It turned bad when, on our way back from Phoenix, I realised my yellow sapphire gold ring missing! I knew I had it in the morning before we left our friends’ house but somewhere on the way, the ring slipped from my fingers (well, the positive: I lost weight from a one day hiking trip! The negative: at the cost of a very expensive ring!) Anyways both V and I were very upset, but then things like this happen. I never wanted to wear the ring but V told me to, because he believes that the stone would be good for my overall prosperity and good luck. Since I don’t believe in such things, I wasn’t too keen. On his insistence I wore it. The irony is that once lost, I feel its a bad omen and my prosperity would be affected ( well, not that I was working or anything, but still, any chance of finding a job would get lost). Well, ok, I am not THAT superstitious but I would have felt more sure of my prosperity and my luck if the ring was in my fingers. Anyways, that too, we shall see!

Coming to today, I decided on treating V and myself to some real Indian comfort food: Poori, sookhe kale chane and Sooji ka Halwa .

Poori is a deep fried unleavened flat bread eaten in India. The dough is made of whole wheat flour, water, salt and a little ghee (clarified butter). One can also add carom seeds (Ajwain), like I did, for an added flavor.

Sookhe Kale chane is a north Indian dish, popularly made during Ashtami, (a Hindu festival) as part of Kanjak puja ( a ceremony performed for little girls). Generally, it is made sans salt (it is a fasting period and salt is not allowed). The salt is replaced with black salt (kala namak). Also, traditionally, ginger and tomatoes nor onions are used, but I have added them in my recipe (well, since we are not fasting!)

Sooji ka Halwa is a sweet dish very,very popular in most Indian households. It is also one of V’s favorites. Unfortunately for him, my first few attempts at the halwa have been disastrous. Its a tradition for newly weds to cook halwa for the husband’s family. Now, before marriage I had never entered the kitchen to cook, to bake-yes, but to cook, never. Well, probably once or twice, but that’s it. So, when I decided to make something for V’s family, I had no idea where to begin! Luckily, my in-laws had gone out of the house and the cook helped me making the halwa. Actually, I tried once, but it was a mess. So, had to take the cook’s help! Surprisingly, its very easy to make but also very easy to mess up. Fortunately, this time I found the microwave version of the recipe and thought to myself, I can;t goof up with this. And what would you know- I did! But, only slightly and because I had to third the recipe as I only had 2 cups of milk in the fridge. I also burnt the almonds in the microwave (I knew something was burning- but multi-tasking to prepare food in time for V’s lunch just ended up burning the almonds- but luckily, only a few!) The end result, though, was unexpectedly, pretty good. Actually very good!

Update: Just spoke with my mother-in-law and it turns out that losing a stone ring is good if it happens in the natural course of your day. It means all the bad energies leave you with that stone. Hmm.. 2011 looks promising! 😉

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Temperatures have fallen significantly! It snowed today- and quite a lot, going by our small mining town standards! Fresh snow looks so beautiful- and during the holiday season it means even more!

I decided to celebrate the snow by making brownies. I have already posted a brownie recipe before (Maida Heatter’s version). This time I wanted to try Nick Malgeiri’s version. The other day I was surfing through Chowhound’s discussion forums and in the topic “50 dessert you should know” everyone was raving about Nick Malgeiri’s supernatural brownies! I had to give them a try now, and today seemed like the perfect day.

I did want to jack these up a little, in the spirit of the holidays, you know with the new year around the corner ;). I thought Bailey’s would give a perfect twist to the traditional brownies. I wasn’t sure that we had some but the other day V reassured me there was a bottle in our pantry (hmm…how did my eyes miss that?!) I took his word and what would you know, the wife is always right! There wasn’t any bottle.

Now, completely in the mood to jack the brownies up, I decided to use Kahlua. I also added a little coffee powder and a tablespoon of hazelnut creamer.


The brownies came out really good. There is a slight hint of the Kahlua- not too strong, which is good, but any one who wants a stronger flavor I would suggest increasing the amount of Kahlua. V liked them (to be fair he likes everything I make 🙂 ). Taking for my friends tomorrow- the real verdict will be given then.

I am sending my recipe for Divya’s Brownie event

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It was my birthday yesterday and finally I turned 18 (or so I would like to believe..sigh…how I wish that was true!!!). Christmas is over but the hang over is still there. The weekend was spent in Vegas (I know- life is gooood!!). It was my first time there and after a long time I had so much of fun! Three days of drinking, eating, drinking, gambling, drinking, shows, lights and did I mention drinking?! Came back late night 26th since V was working on Monday, 27th – my birthday. Called people over for cocktails and cake- it was supposed to be a surprise but V had to tell me since the house was in a mess after the long weekend. So much for the surprise!

Luckily, the cake was already planned. A few days back I discovered Deeba’s blog, and was floored by her baking skills. The moment I laid eyes on her version of the Lavender Chiffon Cake, I knew this was it- this was the birthday cake I had to make. Impressed with the whole look of the cake I decided to replicate it. I tried my hand at the firm white chocolate ganache decoration too with a mango motif design, though with not much success. Of course, Deeba’s cake looks so much more beautiful and wish my pictures were as good (I should have photographed in day light- but the cake got ready in the evening, just in time for the party). Looks aside, the cake was excellent- just baked, it was springy to touch like a chiffon cake should be, and light as a feather! So what if my photography and decorating skills aren’t that good! As they say, you learn from your mistakes and am happy to come out of this as a more experienced decorator- I promise next time would be better.

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