Summer Special Strawberry Lemon Popsicle

Its been 13 days now that I am back from my vacation and I haven’t had the time to sit and reflect on how wonderful it was. Our 10 day tour of France seems like it happened in some other lifetime. This blog has suffered a lot of neglect and I can’t help feel thoroughly guilty about it. I have so many pending posts and recipes to share that I have lost track. The other regret I have is not being able to visit and comment on my favourite blogs. I do skim through the new posts of all the blogs that I am subscribed to whenever I have a breather in between.  I hope this crazy, out-of-control phase of life quickly passes by and I get some time to do what I love to do which is to bake, cook and write.

 In between the madness surrounding my work life, I took some time out to do a summer special feature for a Bahrain Confidential – A monthly publication. As it is commonly known, the summers in the middle east can be quite taxing and it is only by keeping hydrated at all times, can I get through my day. Two of my summer special recipes of a popsicle – Strawberry Mint popsicle and a summer drink – watermelon, mint, rose cooler were published.

Popsicle are my favourite summer time treat when I am fed up of raw vegetable juices and ice teas and in  this post I share with you the recipe for Strawberry Lemon Popsicle   My  daughter was the one who enjoyed them more than others. She is really not a big fan of strawberries but with the Popsicle I have a convert.

I chopped pieces of strawberries into the popsicle  which gave it an interesting texture. It hardly took 10 times to put everything together and it took about 4-5 hours for it to set in the freezer. Hope you enjoy a fruity summer and I shall come back to share with you all the splendid details of my birthday in France.

The Happy Birthday Post – A Guest Post by Gayathri

While you read this Post, I would be at the Eiffel tower realizing my long-cherished dream of celebrating my birthday in Paris. But my blog shall not be neglected and for that my dearest friend Gayathri offered to do a  guest post for me. She knows how much I love my desserts where puddings and custards are my absolute favourite. She being the wonderful friend that she is, Gayathri made lovely Panna cotta for me to celebrate my birthday in her own sweet way. I will come back from my trip and come over to your place Gayathri to have my share of the luscious looking Almond- Honey Panna Cotta.

Thanks so so much Gayathri!

So without any further delay, I hand this space over to Gayathri.

So finally, here is it. Its been over a year that Anita has been asking me for a guest post. Please don’t jump to conclusions that I have been so held up and busy that I didn’t have time for the post. No, the actual reason is, ( confession time) I was not confident enough to post on this wonderful blog. I was just pushing my luck and postponing hoping that she would forget about it but she has a wonderful memory. So here I am with my post hoping that I do justice to her wonderful style of writing and her photography. I couldn’t think of a more suitable occasion than her birthday to do this.

Anu  has been the biggest motivator for my baking and blogging pursuits. It was about a couple of years ago that our common friend Ankur casually mentioned about Anu coming to Bahrain during one of our conversations when I was in India on vacation. I was already in Bahrain for a couple of years at that time having moved here subsequent to my marriage. When I was back from vacation I was surprised to see a mail from Anita along with her number. I was very hesitant and apprehensive at first. But I dialled the number and we haven’t stopped speaking till then. (Wait, this is just to say that we have been friends ever since. Please don’t take it literally. I had been thrown out of my house just for the telephone bill). I think many of her friends will agree with me when I say that she is  one of the sweetest and the bestest ( well , this is grammatically wrong but when you describe friends, you can safely ignore grammar) person one can have for a friend. ( Cue for Anu to get me a lovely gift from Paris). But honestly Anu, I really mean it.

I hope you have a wonderful birthday In Paris atop the Eiffel while I celebrate by eating this Almond Honey Panna Cotta. I finally cracked how to use agar-agar and this is such a simple recipe to put together. You can prepare it the previous day for any party and the I assure you that the guests will be blown over by the taste.

Almond Honey Panna Cotta (Adapted from Easy Vegetarian)

Ingredients

 1.5 tablespoons agar –agar

3 tablespoons hot water

250 ml thick Yoghurt/hung curd/Greek Yoghurt

200 ml thick cream

½ teaspoon vanilla essence

5 tablespoons honey

¼ cup powdered sugar

¼ cup ground almonds/almond meal

Method

1. Mix the agar-agar in the hot water and keep aside for 10 minutes.
2. Take the cream in a bowl and add the rest of the ingredients. Mix till smooth
3. See if the agar-agar mixture has dissolved in water else, just heat the mixture till it forms a gelatinous mixture. Add immediately to the cream mixture.
4. You can refrigerate it in the bowl or transfer it to ramekins for about 4 hours or even overnight.

 

Happy Birthday, Anu and thanks for being there for me always ( though I cannot claim the same for you..:).

P.S: Sorry about the juvenile pictures.

P.P.S: If the panna cotta doesn’t set well, you can serve it as a pudding and it will taste still as yumm.

P.P.P.S: My panna cotta hasn’t set well as much as I would like it to set. But for all those puritans read it as the recipe for Honey Almond Pudding.

P.P.P.P.S: I guess this is the last time Anu will ever ask a guest post from me.

The catching up post + chocolate mousse recipe

Wow!

This space sure feels strange after a month plus long hiatus.  My mind is blank and typing words to form lucid sentences is a struggle. But I have to do this because I am going to take a small break again until the second week of May.  My last post was about my 3rd blog anniversary where I did mention that I had something exciting to share. Well that was so long ago that I really do not know what I was talking about then. So much has happened since then and it reaffirms my belief that happiness is in the moments and that state of mind. I didn’t share it back then and now it feels diluted.

Update 1 : A big portion of February ( read 20 days ), I spent writing 35,000 words for a fiction competition. This competition was announced sometime in September, 2012 and its deadline was 28th of February 2013. I started my research and some field work at the last moment because until then I did not have any story line in my mind. I started working on the draft on the 8th of February and started writing seriously by the 14th of February. It was during this writing journey that I came to appreciate the amount of effort professional writers put into their work. Writing 35,000 words turned into a daunting task with a full time job ( 10 plus hours)+ a hyper toddler+ chores + misc.  With barely 2 hours of sleep some days I did manage to turn out a fantasy fiction of 35,000 words by 11:59, 28th February. I am the last-minute-queen. This 20 day story writing exercise reminded me of my engineering college days. But as a student there weren’t as many responsibilities as I do now. So with that obvious difference factored in, I was drained by the time I finished my task. Once it was over for a week or so I felt lost like a big part of my life was over. It was such an engaging and challenging process that I don’t remember the last time I felt so engrossed in any project. My family and friends were such a huge support especially my brother without whom I wouldn’t have completed this on time. My hubby and my friends at work and outside helped me proof read  my story. The results of this writing competition will be out in this month or early May. So that is something I am definitely looking forward to.

Update 2: In between, I had the opportunity to contribute my thoughts towards women empowerment to Sabaya Magazine (Bahrain)

          I have shared this write up on my other blog–>dazzlersdiary

Update 3 : Another feature about a Mother’s Day special in Bahrain Confidential. I shared my recipes of carrot cake  that is a tad bit special with the addition of pineapples and a healthy egg and veggies breakfast. Both of these recipes have been featured in my blog many months ago.

Update 4: Work was the theme of the month for March.15-16 hours of working took a toll on my health – both mental and physical. I had to cut off from everything including the blogging, all social networking sites etc. Whatever little time I did get I turned it towards my family and entertained a few guests in between this madness, threw a birthday party,  nursed a sick child, travelled for work, went to a spa and shopped to de-stress  So all in all it was a mixed bag.

Update 5: Now for the last update for this post is definitely the best and the most exciting for me. We are taking a trip to France for 10 days. We have a day in Amsterdam and then several days between Paris and Nice. I can’t wait for my vacation to start. I am looking forward to unwind and experience Paris in its best weather. It would be cold but it would be wonderful to experience that chill as the scorching summers have already set in here, in Bahrain. I want to take this vacation and come back inspired and rejuvenated. Oh, did I miss out mentioning that I would be celebrating my birthday at the Eiffel tower! Yippeee!

Now to end this post with some scrummy pud. I made these chocolate mousse for some guests. It is a great recipe and doesn’t take much time to put together. I made these again with more coffee than chocolate which I then called the expresso mousse.

With this I end my post with the promise to be back with my Paris culinary adventures and some culinary insights.

Happy 3rd Anniversary to Slice of my Lyfe

The third anniversary just crept on us ( blog and me) and today I got a notification from WordPress that my blog completed 3 wonderful years.

Will come back to this space with a celebratory cake soon. At the moment I am extremely caught up with something really exciting. I shall spill the beans as soon as I am done.

 

So Happy Blog Anniversary to Slice of my Lyfe!

 

News and My Culinary Bucket list + Millionaire’s Shortbread

Well how do I begin..

Lots of news to share.

First things first. You may recollect I had requested all my blogger friends and readers for Facebook votes for a photo contest that Mimi (my daughter) was participating. The news is she won the title of the cutest kid in Bahrain. Mimi won a professional portfolio as the prize for winning the contest. The details of how Summer ( the professional photographer) managed to get some shots that were portfolio -worthy would be a blog post in itself. In a nutshell, I can summarize the photo shoot as:

Mimi– hates wearing girly stuff- made to wear a dress- cranky best- hell broke loose- wouldn’t pose- cried till her nose was red– a super stressed hubby and me– a super patient photographer( Summer Weeks)– asked us parents to step out– sorted the shoot and the change of clothes herself– got some photos that were portfolio worthy– phew!

Well the moral of the 58 word story is – the photos are here and I am so glad to share a few of them in this post as a thank you to all my blogger friends who took time out to vote for Mimi. We are so happy with the photos and at what a beautiful job Summer has done.

Now for the second round of update - My recipes were featured in one of the leading Magazines in Bahrain – The Bahrain Confidential. For this I have only one person to thank – Pooja Rajpal – my beautiful friend. I have blogged about these recipes and you could take a look at them here and here.

For the third round of update. I have, inspired by Sally, decided to build a culinary bucket list for this year. This is no rocket science stuff. It includes all the culinary pursuit that I have been procrastinating endlessly. Either I am too lazy or plain scared to take it up. So to put all that unimportant fears and insecurities on the side and take up all the challenges  one by one would be my culinary goal for the year. In the bargain, I feel, this bucket list will give my blog a new and adventurous feel. Basically, anything to keep going. Otherwise, knowing me, I would keep making those old-fashioned chocolate cakes, brownies and cookies over and over again. This bucket list not only features new bakes and recipes I intend to try but also would help me push my gastronomical boundaries. Ofcourse the list is subject to change.

Why?

Because its my list. I can do what I want to with it. ( that’s just me justifying my ever-changing goals in life!!)

So here goes my Culinary Bucket list in no particular order:

Barbecue- It may sound funny but I have never got the opportunity to attend a barbecue. But I did in early January, this year and I can’t wait to share my experience of doing so with the locals here in Bahrain. So this I can safely tick off my list.

Macarons – Dread to even try. Have been procrastinating for too long. Have to tackle the bulls by its horns now.

Pavlova - Plain laziness. The only worry I have is, what would I do with all the yolks that remain once I used all the whites of the egg.

Oyster – Ernest Hemmingway called it tasting the sea. I would like to experience this myself. Hopefully, this should happen sometime in April ( why April? I won’t tell you, just yet)

Quail eggs - I have seen these delicate, patterned eggs on the supermarket shelves but using them in my recipes always made me uneasy. Hoping to put a good quail egg recipe on this blog.

Baklawa – Being in this part of the world, its shameful that I haven’t tried my hand at any dessert of the middle eastern origin. Considering how much I love Baklawa and enjoy licking off the honey laced pastry bits off my fingers, its time I try and recreate this beautiful dessert at home.

Learn how to pipe – Chocolate ganache has been my go-to cake decorating option all the time. My piping skills are absolutely dud and I need to try to do some skillful piping this year to put my piping related anxiety at rest.

Swiss roll - I failed miserably at making the yule log for Christmas. It was a defeat in every sense. The log, the rolling, the cream filling; everything. The Swiss Roll will be conquered.

Khandvi – This Gujarati (Indian) delicious snack made from gram flour has given me a tough time. But again, like the Swiss Roll, I shall endeavour to tame this rogue snack.

Jalebi - I have been aspiring to make Jalebis for as long as I remember. I know for sure that my hubby would be very thrilled to see this in my culinary bucketlist.

Now with that out-of-the-way, I shall  turn my attention to this delicious, wickedly sinful and indulgent shortbread called the Millionaire’s shortbread that uses more butter than you can imagine and tastes a bit like heaven.

A slice of heaven would be a perfect description.

While the other description would be – ‘ deliciously buttery, crumbly shortbread with a layer of insanely addictive fudge and topped with a shiny coat of melted chocolate. This tri-layered slice of heaven is a calorie bomb but what is life without a little indulgence here and there. During times like this when I am savouring a delicate slice of Nigella’s Shortbread, I tend to completely forget about my New Year resolutions about losing weight and such insignificant issues.

Surprisingly, it is very easy and quick to assemble as most of Nigella’s baking treats are. Literally three short steps and its done. That trickiest part is to be patient let the darn thing set well. But I am not blessed with that virtue and cut them into slices before it had the time to meld into each other like a single unit. The result was  as you can see in the pictures, uneven slices that don’t look good in photos and the chocolate layer sliding over the fudge layer that reminded me of drifting continents.

I console myself with the fact that food needs to taste great; never-mind it doesn’t look too good.

I packed these shortbread pieces for my daughters last day of the term party and took some to office.

Now for the final update, that I remember at the fag end, because there is so much happening that I am losing count. My hubby and my sweet friend Gayathri participated in a Quiz contest – India Quiz 2013 on the eve of the Indian Republic Day in Bahrain and won the 2nd prize. It was a fantastic moment for us. My hubby had been an avid quizzer during his college days but I never had the chance to see him in action. This was the first time I saw him participate and do so well and finally win it. It was a moment of ultimate pride for me. Also that Gayathri was his quiz partner made it ultra special. Kudos to both of you and I am so so so so proud of you!!!

Now for the Recipe Card;

Hope you all have an (nice) eventful week ahead!

Restaurant Review Project 24 – Noodle House

How does it feel when you finish a project? Especially the one which has been dragging for a long time. I feel a great sense of satisfaction that finally a long-dragging project has been brought to an end in a delicious manner. I am talking about my Restaurant Review Project that I started in November 2010 and the one in which I promised that I would complete reviews of 24 restaurants in 6 months! Talk about setting oneself up for failure! It is not that I didn’t eat out 24 times in those six months. As a matter of fact I must have eaten out more number of times than I can even count and also went to new restaurants. But somehow I never sat down at my plate thinking I want to review this one. Reviewing a place requires a different state of mind. It requires me to prepare beforehand with all the reviewing paraphernalia such as my camera and my little red note book in which I take many mental notes. Reviewing an eating joint or a restaurant requires planning such as how am I going to savour and enjoy my meal whilst keeping an eye on my hyperactive toddler. So you see it hasn’t been an easy ride and many times I have set out trying to review a restaurant and miserably failed to do so because either my toddler isn’t in the mood or the glaring eyes of the head server or the restaurant manager  make me queasy while I try to take the best shot of the food that I have ordered. Not all restaurants lend themselves to be ideal for reviewing. So I missed many good opportunities to review some very interesting restaurants that I have had a chance to visit. Keeping this in mind, I have decided to not stop reviewing and continue this exciting saga of tasting, experiencing and appreciating exhilarating bouquet of world cuisine that Bahrain has to offer.

For my 24th Restaurant, I have Noodle House to review. Noodle House is located in Seef Mall; one of my favourite malls in Bahrain and seems like the first of many Noodle House joints planned around Bahrain. The day Noodle House opened doors, I was very sure that this Pan Asian restaurant had to be reviewed. So finally, when the stars aligned favourably, we found ourselves at Noodle House on an unhurried weekend. We were greeted politely by the staff and were seated comfortably. For a weekend, the restaurant wasn’t crowded as we expected. The ambiance seemed none too extravagant yet modern and comfortable. We immediately felt at home. The head server introduced himself with a warm smile and guided us on how to order at Noodle House. A form was presented to us with a noodle -shaped pen and whatever we desired to order, we were to tick against the boxes in the menu. We went through the menu that seemed like any Pan Asian restaurant but I am not the one to judge instantly. I am back to being a vegetarian and it disappointing to see that there were very few vegetarian options on the menu.

I ordered for a 4 seasons mocktail which was essentially a refreshing blend of 4 fruit juices and strawberry puree. This rejuvenating start raised my hopes for the rest of the evening.

For starters we ordered vegetarian dimsums/vegetable Hacao which came very quickly to our delight. We attacked the piping hot dimsums with gusto only to find the pasty, sticky stuff constantly sticking to the roof of our mouths. Plus it was hot. So definitely quite annoying. So our hopes were dashed momentarily until our main courses arrived.

I had ordered for Wok fried Vegetables with Tofu and black bean and Brown Rice. From the very first morsel it was simply divine. I haven’t tasted better tasting wok fried veggies and tofu in the longest time. Every spoonful was a sheer delight. It was light, full of flavour and paired with brown rice, it was such a satisfying meal. Even as I type this post, I can clearly recall the taste.

My hubby had ordered a Crispy chicken in plum sauce which was fantastic too. My hubby who usually remains unimpressed and is known to leave his portions at restaurants, finished his chicken in no time.

Our friend Namit had ordered a Thai Green curry with vegetables served with jasmine rice. He too couldn’t have enough of his portion and literally wiped his plate clean. It was only after we finished every bit on our plates in record time did we realize that we were too full to even move.

In my greed, I had also ordered a salad called the Asian Chopped salad which largely remained untouched inspite of being fresh and so inviting.

Noodle House served us well and though the dimsums were disastrous, the rest of the course more than made up for it. The portions look deceptively small but are more than sufficient.

I could easily find myself stepping out on any Saturday evening and heading towards Noodle House to eat the very same thing I had ordered before. The taste stays with you and that is what makes Noodle House so special. That quality only certain restaurants have and hence remain  firm favourites with all their patrons.

Now for the verdict;

Food – 4.5/5

Service – 4/5

Ambiance 4/5

Overall – 4/5

The total bill amount came to BHD 24.200. In my opinion it is value for money spent on Noodle House food.

I am extremely thrilled to announce that Noodle House has been sliced and is officially the last of the restaurant reviews for the Restaurant Review Project (RRP). Noodle House gets a huge thumbs up from all of us and they can easily assume that they have made loyal customers out of us in just one dinner experience.

A healthy start to the New Year – Baked Eggs with Spinach, Mushrooms and Tomatoes

How is the New Year treating you guys? Mine doesn’t seem very different from the last year. It is just as hectic at work and I am yet to figure out how to strike a balance between my personal and professional life.

But I am a firm believer that when life hands you bitter lemons,  its wise make a pickle out of it. So I have tweaked my strategy a bit and instead of continuously cribbing about how my work life is eating into my personal time, I have decided to make the most of whatever time I do get outside of my work life. As a part of this strategy, I decided I would definitely try and do things /activities which I may have not done before. One of which is this blog has rarely seen healthy recipes written about and discussed. One primary change that I would try and usher in would be to showcase as many healthy recipes as possible. Since my battle with the bulge is legendary and all I do is use this space to crib about how all my diet and exercise strategies have been nothing but colossal flops. Also inspired by this, I would like to have a culinary bucket list for this year to sort out. I have plenty planned for my blog and I can’t wait to unveil it little by little.

So to mark the beginning of the New year, I have something that is not only delectable but is also very healthy. Its baked eggs with mushroom, spinach and tomatoes. I wanted to try baking in a mud vessel to see if there is any difference in the taste. But I was disappointed to observe that there was none at all. But mud vessels made great props for photography. Also, it  took ages to bake.

Hope you try this interesting way to baking eggs with vegetables. It is sumptuous to say the least.

Wishing everyone a beautiful year ahead with lots of happiness, health and prosperity.