Thanksgiving is in the air! Food Network and the Cooking Channel are filled with recipes for thanksgiving. Even google’s search page had a thanksgiving doodle by Ina Garten (of Food Network’s Barefoot Contessa fame). Its such a wonderful festive time. After Thanksgiving its time for Christmas! I think this is the best time to be in the US. Everybody is in the festive mood and in the mood to EAT! Loads of cook shows, loads of recipes, loads of calories to put on!

Now, V doesn’t eat any other meat than chicken and sometimes, lamb meat (though prefers it only when it is in a kebab form). So turkey for thanksgiving was out of the question. Even though after watching so many thanksgiving shows I was really keen on trying my hand at one. Alas! Acceptance (like my dad said)- thats a key to a successful marriage – and that’s what I did and made my peace with it.

We are having a pot luck on Friday at V’s friends place in Phoenix, and somehow living 4 hours away doesn’t justify not bringing something to eat and since this is going to be like a Thanksgiving feast but with Indian dishes, I thought of taking a dessert that would be somewhat true to Thanksgiving. Now, its not the traditional pumkin pie, or any other kind of pie- because I don’t know how well it will hold off till the next day (but, to tell you the truth, the actual reason is that I’m still not confident with pie crusts- they are still my nemesis-hopefully soon that would change- fingers crossed!). So, I decided to make an Apple coffee cake with crumble topping instead. The recipe is from the Food network site and its Emeril Lagasse’s. Well, what can I say about that guy, I love the guy and his show Emeril Live! Reading the reviews (its got a five-star rating), I am hoping the recipe won’t disappoint.

Note: I did double the crumble topping because I love the crumbs on top! I also took out a few pieces for us for two reasons- one, so that I know what I am serving is good and two, well it smelled so darn good that it was hard to resist!

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I am getting back to my old routine and finally over the initial withdrawal symptoms experienced due to the absence of my in-laws in the house. After what seemed like ages, I met my friends and caught up on all the gossip that I had missed in the last one month. I have also got back to my morning gym routine with my friend P, and occasionally going to the track for a run. My friend, J, or how we jokingly call her Jillian (after the tough-as-nails trainer from TV’s Biggest Losers), is our motivator- pushing us to our limits and making sure we don’t give up!

On Monday, for the first time I went to a chicken pen to water and pick eggs, since my friend, who owns the pen is out of town, and in return, for taking the trouble, I got free farm fresh eggs! Woo hoo!

Another first is that V is growing a mosutache! He is doing so in support to Movember. Each year, Movember (Moustache November!!) is responsible for the sprouting of thousands of Mo’s (Australian slang for moustache, where the movement began) on men’s faces around the world, raising vital awareness and funds for men’s health, specifically for cancer affecting men.

Men who grow moustaches for the month of Movember, called Mo Bros, become walking, talking billboards for the cause, raising awareness by prompting private and public conversation around the often ignored issue of men’s health. So, V has become a Mo bro! And the moustache makes him look so funny. He is going to kill me for posting his Mo bro photo on the site. But, what the heck, I’ll do it anyways!! 🙂 🙂

Now, on the baking front, I got this book from the library exclusively on bread recipes. Had been itching to try the recipes in it but wasn’t able to find the time. I remember V’s mom wanted to learn how I make bread and thus, I got the opportunity to explore the book. Since I had spring onions on hand at that time, I decided to give the book’s version of Herbed Green Onion Bread a try with great results. V’s parents loved it and so did I! Of course V loved it too!

My mom-in-law found bread making pretty time consuming. I guess perception and passion plays an important part in how you feel about the work you do – I like bread making- I actually enjoy it and don’t find it too much work. Yes probably it is time-consuming in the sense you have to be in the house. Probably you can knead the dough and run a quick errand before it rises to double. But as for actual work- there’s only the first kneading that takes a little time but that’s just it. I love the dough- the flavor yeast gives to it and the pleasure you get eating a freshly baked loaf of bread. I am not the kind who likes what I cook- probably because of the effort it takes but when it comes to baking- I always like what I make if it turns out well- maybe its the passion I have for baking and not so much for cooking mundane things?

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This is the picture collage I posted with the original blog post. Yup, my photography has come a long way and still there is a long way to go!

Yesterday was feast day for V and me. Not that yesterday was any special  day but I just felt like cooking a grand meal. Probably, a reason for the special dinner was that V worked every day of last week. While his parents were here he had taken two days off, for which he had to make up by working Saturday, Sunday too this week. Another reason was that I wanted to try a few dishes that I had been postponing for a while. So, as a result, the dinner table was laden with my quick version of shahi paneer (an Indian cottage cheese dish), mama’s channa masala (a chickpea/garbanzo dish), spinach pooris (Indian fried flat bread) and for dessert shrikhand!

Shrikhand is one of the main desserts in Gujarat (a state in western India) and quite popular in Maharashtra too. Its fairly easy to prepare and delicious to eat. To make it, you need to strain the yogurt in a muslin cloth under pressure, so that all the water drains off. Then, to the strained yogurt, you add green cardamom powder and powdered sugar. In a tablespoon of hot milk, dissolve saffron. Add this to the yogurt. Mix well. Top with finely chopped pistachios and pomegranate, chill for a while and its ready to eat!:)

The shrikhand, spinach pooris and the paneer were something I tried on my own and forgot to note the measurements down. So, I am only posting the recipe for the chhole/chana masala, (but have given the general idea to prepare shrikhand above). The recipe is fairly quick to make and freakingly tasty! Enjoy making and eating it!

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