Guest Post- Pavlova Challenge by Akshata Kumta

So many times in life, when I am down and depressed, I tend to find motivation from most unexpected quarters. When I started blogging, it was mostly about personal stuff but slowly I got around doing some baking. I started to journal my experience in baking – the successes and the failures. The very first thing that I baked was an apple pie. Probably an apple pie wouldn’t be something that a novice baker should begin her baking tryst with. But I did, more because of my naivety. Anyways I did turn out well from a beginners point of view. But where did that spark come from that urged me to at least give baking a shot?

It came one day when I was browsing through my friend- Akshata Kumta’s photo albums. I loved how she was making a brilliant effort to learn baking on her own. Her cookies, cakes and wonderful baked treats made me want to give it a go.  I hadn’t told her this before until lately, where  I confessed that she was one who prompted me let go of my inhibitions and attempt baking. She too had to leave her job and settle into a new life after she got married. She had a lot of time to kill and that is why she started baking and enjoying in the process. I have been urging her to start her own blog for quite sometime but she is still ‘thinking‘ about it. I hope she does, because she writes beautifully and bakes fabulously both of the qualities well appreciated in the food blogging community. So without much ado, here is Askhata with her take on the classic Pavlova. I had seen this on the telly – it was a challenge in Australia Masterchef series and it is no easy feat to pull this off successfully. But Akshata does and this should provide some inkling about her baking prowess. Thanks a lot Akshata for the lovely Pavlova recipe and the gorgeous pictures. Your mum will be proud. Hoping that, with this guest post, you would feel encouraged to start your own blog.

Striving for something better…

This is the first time I am writing an article or ‘blogging’ as our generation demands. I must thank you Anita, for inviting me to slice of my lyfe. I can only feel very privileged to be part of its beautifully written articles.

This insignificant move for some is something truly special to me. It reminds me of a time, almost a decade ago, when magazines used to be a very vital part of our lives. My mum was an avid reader and used to write very well too. She always wanted to feature an article of the unique experiences we had with injured birds in our house. Of how quickly they became part of our family and how they left us to rejoin their real world outside. Alas, she was never able to publish her article in the Feminas or Readers Digests! This is my little tribute to her, a start of some sort. An action I feel having accomplished on her behalf, because I believe she is so much a part of me. My happiness is surely hers and I hope she reads this and feels just as proud as I am today.

My baking adventure began about 2 years ago. I just couldn’t get started because of my usual reservations with it. Perfect measurements, perfect temperature, using the right controls, too much of hard work with the batter preparation, whew! And what if it was a complete disaster? I would have to do away with all the ingredients and start over again!

I was surely in for a surprise. The result proved to be sweet, not only on the palette but on the happiness it gave me to see a divine smile on the faces of my family and friends. It just dawned on me that baking was one of those realizations, that little door I needed to step into. There has been no looking back thereafter. There were cakes for all occasions – birthdays, gifts, anniversaries, house-warming.

Watching my mum bake while growing up is the most cherished memories I have of childhood. Back then it was just about getting the sweet treats at the end of the exercise. Lick the bowl, pop in a tooti-frooti without feeling guilty and Aah! Have the first piece of warm cake melt into your mouth. Never did I realize that I was picking up the basic skills of how much or how less one should whisk and how does ‘folding’ help! Not to forget, my moments of bonding with her were to be etched into memories of a lifetime.

Fast forward June 2011 – the year Killol was turning 30. How can I make it special? I had sculpted a camera cake (he’s one trigger-happy child) on his previous birthday! What more could I do? My baking skills are pretty much taken for granted in the household now, so there was no way I was going to pull off something surprising and phenomenal! Phenomenal, I don’t know but I came across the recipe of a Pavlova. I kept putting it off for that would mean investing in an electric whisk. Moreover, it looked way too complicated to bake! I had never ever made a Meringue based dessert before, so it was even more daunting. Well, finally I pushed myself to do it – something big, special and beautiful.

Pavlova is a meringue based dessert originating from New Zealand in the early 1920s. The soft marshmallow-y consistency inside and the crispy crust on the outside complements well with fresh fruits like Kiwis, strawberries, blueberries or whatever you would please. The key is to slow bake it for a long time, so that this combination of texture is arrived. It is time-consuming but the easiest in preparation compared to cakes, pies etc. I referred several recipes and finally found the ideal one. Fasten your seat belts as a wonderful journey begins!

Recipe for Pavlova

 Equipment needed:

1) Dry & large deep bowl to make the batter

2) Electric whisk (you could use a hand whisk too, but it would just take more time)

3) Spatula

4) Baking/Parchment paper

5) Baking Tray

6) Oven to bake

Ingredients:

6 egg whites (room temperature)

2 cups fine sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla essence

1 tablespoon corn flour

1 tablespoon vinegar

 Method: 

1)      Beat the egg whites until glossy (whisk for about 30-40 seconds)

2)      Add the sugar little by little while you continue to beat it with the whisk

3)  Continue mixing in the sugar and whisking it (atleast about 10 mins of whisking)

4)  When you feel the batter between your finger tips, you shouldn’t feel the sugar crystals. If you still feel them continue to beat it. The quantity should have doubled by now.

5)  Combine the vanilla essence, sifted corn flour and vinegar to the mixture & continue whisking.

6)  The mixture should be of smooth consistency. The best way to test it is by holding the bowl upside down. If doesn’t tip over, it’s ready.

7)  Line your baking tray with parchment paper and draw a 3-4 inch radius circle in the middle

8)  Use a spatula to dump the Pavlova mixture into a huge pile. Don’t be too particular if it falls over the circle. DO NOT even (pat down) the mix; very lightly shape it from its sides and smooth the top surface for the fruits to sit on later. Remember that it’s not going to rise like a cake. The finished product will be in the exact shape you left it on the tray. You will never be able to undo it once evened out. (Tip: You may want to create peaks on the edges, as demonstrated to create the shapes which look beautiful once baked)

9)  Preheat your oven to 140 deg C and place the tray inside for 10 mins

10)  Turn the oven down to 100 deg C and bake for 2 hours. Turn off the oven once done until it cools down fully. Do not open the oven door until then.This is how mine turned out. Well not perfect, because I increased the temperature in the last few minutes, a grave mistake. It turned a mild rust on the top but thankfully the taste was amazing.

11) Just before serving, top it with whipped cream and cut fruits of your choice (Kiwis and mango, Strawberries & blueberries, strawberry coolie, etc). Pavlovas stay well in an airtight container without the topping.

Note: Pavlovas are meant to crack, so don’t get freaked out if yours is breaking. I had a giant earthquake across mine while baking, but it didn’t wreck the taste and maintained its shape till the end. And well, this is how we celebrated my hubby’s 30^th. It gave me a sense of accomplishment as I saw his bright smile. Hope you enjoy this as much as we did!

 

Friends, Food and Fun – Stone Fruit Tea Cake

When you move to a new country, the biggest challenge that anybody would face is to build a circle of friends. I found this the most difficult part of settling in a new place. Since the time I remember, I always had a huge group of friends that I could count on. I was always the ” Socializer” like many of my friends called me. I had lots of BFFs (Best friend’s forever). Getting married, didn’t change me in many ways, as being a mother did. Suddenly, the focus of my world became my daughter. Slowly interactions with friends were reduced due the paucity of time. Then country-hopping did not do any favours either.

Today, I have amazing friends on Facebook and twitter, but I still find something amiss in my life. Also the craving to go out and make friends has disappeared too. Too much has changed, too soon. Probably it is an age thing or just a phase in life where I am little cautious before I expose myself emotionally to someone and make friendships. Now I realize the only ones that I can call my BFFs are the ones from school and college. Post that, friendships that I had made have evaporated. They did not stand the test of time. This phase has truly been a revelation where the wheat has been separated from the chaff.

So coming back to friendships in a new place-Friendship is precious to me-  It took me more than a year and a matter of pure chance to be able to meet with some people, whom I can call my friends, here in Bahrain. The very first friend, I met was Namit ( who happens to be my junior from my MBA school); then I met Gayathri ( we have common friends); then Hasina ( whom I met through my blog) and Anamika ( whom I met through her food blog). I meet up with these wonderful people from time to time. That time I must say, laced with good conversations and fabulous food has made wonderful memories.

I do not know what future looks like, in the sense that I might go country hopping again. The thought distresses me slightly even as I write about it. But what I have made sure is, I took a lot of time to build these friendships, so I am going to make the most by spending  quality time with them. Most of my posts about food invariably would have atleast one of them featuring in them. It is cooking/baking for them and my family which makes it worth the while.

So this post is about a certain stone fruit tea cake that I made for one such wonderful afternoon spent with friends- Hasina and Anamika. Both of these young ladies are new mums and fabulous bloggers in their own right. That we all stay at stone’s throw from each other has helped us stay in touch. We met up one lazy afternoon and caught up with the latest in our lives. It is always so good to talk to friends, there is no parallel really. The best part being, we all have children who are so close in age to each other that we can relate to each other’s situation easily.

Now for the recipe, I have been an avid follower of Deeba Rajpal’s blog. I find it fascinating the way she uses fruits in her baking and not to mention her gorgeous photography. One such post on stone fruits in baking caught my eye and I knew I had to try it. The occasion was perfect since it was a tea cake and I was going for a round of tea at Hasina’s place. This recipe is a keeper, in my opinion because the cake by itself is a wonderful one and paired with fruits, it is racing to perfection.  I used stone fruits like cherry, nectarines, peaches and apricots. I am sure plums would be great too. I made some mistakes on the way, which made the whole cake assembly a bit difficult to lift and put on a plate. But I am sure if you follow the recipe to the tee, it would as perfect as you  see on Deeba’s blog.

Recipe for Stone Fruit Tea Cake

from Passionab0utabaking

Ingredients:

• 1 tbsp butter (for greasing pan)
• 1/2 cup almond meal
• 1 cup plain flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• Pinch of salt
• 110gms unsalted butter, room temperature
• 125gm sugar powdered
• 2 eggs
• Light muscovado sugar for sprinkling over
• apricots, peaches, cherries, nectarines

Preparation:

1. Preheat the oven to 170C. Grease a round tart tin with the tbsp of butter.
2. Run the almond meal, flour, baking powder and salt briefly in a blender to mix
3. Cream the butter and sugar for 3-4 minutes until light. Add the eggs and beat again.
4. On low speed, add the flour mix in 3 goes and blend until just mixed. The dough will be soft. You can divide this into 2 and chill one half. Push the other half to line the base of your tart pan/ baking tin
5. Pit and chop the stone fruit, and scatter evenly over the base lined with dough. Sprinkle generously with sugar if your fruit are sour.
6. Dollop and roughly spread the remaining dough over the top, spreading roughly with an offset spatula. The dough will even out while baking, leaving pretty gaps for the fruit to peep out. Sprinkle over with muscovado sugar.
7. Bake at 170C for about 30 minutes. The top will feel firm and set. Allow to cool for at least 30 minutes before removing from pan.

We, had a good time digging into this tea cake, some delicious cupcakes by Hasina, rounds of tea and juices. Looking forward to many such afternoons of friends, food and fun.

A Guest Post by James Claire on Kindness

I am an avid reader of Bahrain This Month magazine.  As soon as I get a copy of BTM, I flip directly to the last page to read through the “ Last Word‘ written by Mr. James Claire. I admire the way he can pick up the most mundane of topics and turn it into something absolutely spectacular to ponder about.  Some people are gifted like that. They see that special something in anything banal ( banal to the eyes of people, like me). I feel it is an extraordinary ability to pick up an emotion, issue, thing, person and then weave the magic of words. Most important, there is always a lesson, a moral, a view-point at the end of each of his articles. I have keenly observed the way he writes and cannot find enough words to show how much it have impressed me. So when our paths crossed on twitter ( @jamesclaire1) I decided to follow him right away.

James responded immediately by following back and we checked each other’s blog out.  James blogs at http://thescribe-jamesclaire.blogspot.com/ where he not only writes about what he sees on a daily basis but also about his life. There is so much wisdom there, that I cannot help but get addicted to his posts like I am to his column in Bahrain This Month. I invited him to do a guest post on my blog as I want everybody who reads my blog to also know and read James’s blog. I am sure that each one of you will enjoy it as much as I did. So while you do enjoy what you read, do not forget to spread the word.

Thank you, James. It really is such a privilege to have you write here for my space.

James sent me a wonderful article on  Kindness. I was impressed and touched, all the same. He has showered me with a lot of undeserved appreciation ( which I pleaded with him to edit out but he wouldn’t have it any other way!!) . So, people, here is James’s note on ” Kindness” and how important this emotion is  to him personally.

P.S.  I have NOT paid him write all these nice things about me!! But it sure feels nice

On Kindness – by James Claire

It is an honor to have been asked to guest post on my friend and blog master Anita Menon’s – A Slice Of My Lyfe. Without Anita, I was but an aging dinosaur with no clue of much in the techno blogosphere of the modern age. A dinosaur who had almost given up hope of learning such. A little afraid or shy to return to school and classrooms over the age of 40 to learn such things , especially when others profess, “It’s easy”. Everyone else, well except my parents, are face-booking, blogging and are up to date. When did I fall behind? I’m scared to attend classes for such things out of fear I’d be the only mature student ! Classes too are inconvenient and expensive.

What I needed was the kindness of a friend to just sit me down and explain clearly what I needed to know. But where to find such kindness in this very often capitalistic, money hungry life style we all seem to be leading in such a hurry. To shorten a lengthening story, Anita offered the kindness of time, skill and friendship to teach me. And therefore a guest blog on her site should be about one of my friend’s greatest assets, her unquestioning kindness to the world.

I appreciate kindness more than most. Many years ago, in a past life so to speak, I had a vastly successful other career. At the height of it and with multiple events occurring around the launch of my latest book, I received a Christmas card from my childhood best friend. Until that day we had spoken on the phone every week, hand written letters to each other at least monthly to tell of new girl friends, new jobs being offered us and how we both missed the high school and primary school days of our recent youth. This day, too busy with my own success, I did not open and read his Christmas Card, but instead sat a work load of papers on top of it and summarily forgot its arrival. A few days later, Christmas had been and gone. Sitting in my office alone,I received a phone call from another school yard friend. They asked a simple question, “Had I heard the sad news of his suicide.”

They say, “time heals all wounds,”, well let me tell you it does not.

To this day I can still feel the guilt and shame of picking up the Christmas Card from under the pile of work papers, as I sat the phone down and slumped back into my chair looking at that envelope. Never had something so simple as an envelope scared me so much. What were the contents?

While I agree, even had I opened the card earlier things may still have reached the  same historical conclusion, it is the fact that he left the world not knowing that I was indifferent to everyone upon it. That I cared! That as my closest friend he had the love of a thousand suns within me! He should have known that I was the sort of person who would answer a card arrived with an immediate answer or call especially at such a heart-felt time of year..

Ralph Waldo Emmerson said,” You cannot do a kindness too soon, for you never know how soon,  it will be too late…………”

And I so agree.

Procrastination is not a blessing. Many people today see me as being brash, impetuous, of not thinking before I do and say things. Some who truly do not know me, see it as immaturity, a cavalier attitude with others hearts and minds or simply as me being foolish. Thankfully not many people have experienced the sadness and shock that I did back in 1990. More than most people, I value speed of saying what I think and feel, for I never want another to pass without my emotions being stated. If I meet you and you are kind, I want to tell you and buy you a gift to thank you for that kindness. If you slow down entering a merge lane and allow my car to enter traffic, I will take the time to wave and mouth “thank You”, because I am thankful for your kindness. If you take the time to meet me, or simply stop to say “Hi” in passing, I will take the time to buy you a coffee or stand and talk, because I thank you for your kindness.  We are an evolving species. We have as a race, achieved great things. But if we lose humanity and kindness, respect and appreciation in the race for technological advancement then have we achieved anything at all? I think not!

For now, I adore my home of Bahrain and the friendship of such amazing people  as Anita , who offered kindness to teach a dinosaur the ways of the internet, and then offered the kindness of allowing me to Guest blog on her site to speak of such trivialities as human kindness!

Perhaps the world is slowly changing a few degrees to the better. The cynic within doubts it.

But the dreamer inside me hopes that  it will one day come to pass that the world is as emotionally forward, and fast to thank and offer kindness as the giga-bytes and nano-chips which we pursue in the name of evolution.

Oh what a wonderful world it would be!!

My Blog Completes its First Year

Happy Birthday,  Blog!

Since we both are obsessed with  Chocolate–Chocolate Bunnies for both of us!! You shouldn’t have eaten the bunny’s butt! Ouch!

Ahem! Now I think, I must finish this bizarre monologue with my blog.

So it is the big day. A year completed and so much as changed. For the better.

It’s quite a possibility that this blog has become my alter ego, the one that encourages, chides, feels joyous, jealous and myriad of emotions that I feel.

I tried to think of different things that I could write for this special post. Juggled a few ideas but they would have looked all too made up. Not true to the spirit of this blog. This was a spontaneous blog and all the posts have been so.  It would not be wrong to say that my hands that typed away on the keypad gave way to my thoughts. My hand guided by my heart. Sometimes when I made myself write something because a lot of time had passed by without a single post, it did not go beyond a few measly lines before I discarded the whole post.

This morning, I wished a few friends of mine who had their birthdays on this very same day. I traced back to a time when we had been together while celebrating this wonderful day in their lives. Today, we live in different parts of the world, not knowing if we would ever get to meet each other again. We have families now and are at different stages of our married lives. I felt sad whilst feeling happy all the same. Why do we celebrate these wonderful milestones in our life. A year older, a year completed – time is of essence here. What it allows for is, time to reflect and understand what has changed for better or for worse. It allows for us to understand the lessons taught, the lessons learned. Going back in time -that is what these special days provide us.

When I started blogging last year,  it acted as a vent to my feelings. Feelings of happiness, sadness, utter confusion, anger, frustration and peace. Earlier, I hadn’t known myself to write anything other than emails ( personal and professional) and essays whilst in school. But this space was my space where people were allowed only when I wanted them in. I could do as I pleased. Write, erase, publish, not publish. Such freedom to express with no strings attached! Isn’t this the kind of relationship, we all crave for, secretly? The blog has been there for me whenever I wanted it to be and gave me comfort when I craved it. It was a one-sided relationship until recognition started pouring in, my blog too got the attention it deserved. I felt happy that a lot of people found some use of this conduit of my thoughts, found comfort and felt like they were a part of my life.

Blog metamorphosed from being a thought outlet, to journalling my travel experiences, my life here in Bahrain, my daughter’s growing years and now my food experiences. It seems like a live being – this blog- growing, shaping, reshaping, learning and unlearning. The potential that it shows is immense and immeasurable. It can grow on to become anything that it likes- much like us. The only ingredients it needs is motivation and big dreams.

This blog wouldn’t be in existence, if it were not for the support of my adorable husband, Amit and my ever inspiring daughter, Anumita. Also, the contribution from my friends and family ( my parents and brother especially) in the form of comments and lovely feedback cannot be discounted. After all even joy needs validation. That kind of validation was provided by all those who read my blog. Thank you all!

‘Slice of my Lyfe‘ gave me the comfort that I needed and so on this special anniversary I am looking to bake something that renders similar comfort and warmth. Nothing fits the bill like a loaf of home-made Whole Wheat Bread. If this comes out successful, it would be my first foray into bread making- an art dreaded even by the best in the business.

 

Amen

 

 

Somebody's already picking at it

Care for a slice or two with butter?

So the Verdict is out. The bread was a moderate success. Not as airy and light as I would have liked it to be. If it were not for this blog, I wouldn’t even have dreamt of baking my own bread.  So like I said before, possibilities are endless. For the recipe you can hop over to this bread maker’s blog.

 

On the final note, all I want to prevail upon is that writing is what helps to clear a cluttered mind, forces you to think, to come up with ways to make a difference in your life and touching others’ as well. It would be wonderful if each one of you who is reading this post should start writing. We would know each other so much better. Nothing else lets us catch up on what the other is doing, like a post from one’s life!