Harveen's Baking Affair

Here in the Roy household, we have officially renamed Sundays as "Languages Day" . Why did we do so? ...waiting to tell you that ...well , you see the kids have a Hindi class in the morning , a little break , then off to the Gurudwara in a neighboring city  for Punjabi class followed by sprinting to the other side of the said city  for  Bangla class. The classes for the latter two languages just started last Sunday which is a significant fact related to the blog. How ?? well , you see I didn't know how long it would take to commute from Punjabi class to Bangla class and thus rushed through the Guru ka Langar at the Gurudwara. Guess what was being served in the langar ? Kadhi ..my absolute favorite any given day and in the God's house, magnified in taste quadruple times.    Since then I have been craving it . I knew my rendezvous with kadhi was coming soon and when the skies decided to become overcast  , the pull was just too much . Suffice it to say , Pun

I'll be the first to admit of my extreme pickiness when it comes to eating mithai.  Sweet tooth , I'm certainly in possession of , but mine seems to be a very selective one. Give me syrupy , too sweet mithai and I won't even touch it  even if I am on an abandoned island with no food supply...okay that is me being overly dramatic but you guys get the point. On the other hand, there are some members of the mithai species that I am simply unable to resist ..Their lure is just to too much for my feeble will to resist .. besan ke ladoo tops that list . Besan ke ladoo also occupies a special place in my heart because it was the first mithai that I made after moving to the States after my marriage . The occasion was hubby's birthday and I wanted to send something sweet for his colleagues. They wanted something uniquely Indian and beasan ke laddoos became the apparent choice for I wanted the sweet to be wholesome and not sticky and be utterly delicious as well. The ladoo

Why an ode to Fall? Why not ? It is my most favorite season.. crisp coolness in the air, breathtaking colors of the foliage , family pumpkin picking trips , craving some of them as jack-o-lanterns ,  apple cider...the list can go on and on but I will skip to the most pleasure inducing part of the list .. fall baking...the chill in the air gives the perfect excuse to indulge in some aromatic fall favorites like pumpkin pie and apple quick breads . The addition of the pumpkin pie spice lends such an aroma to the bakes that they become a treat for the senses. The flavors of the autumn bakes leave you spell bound and make you crave for these culinary comforts every fall. Rummaging through old pics, I can easily spot many in which we all seem to be enjoying pumpkin bakes..Be it pancakes , scones or quick bread, Trader Joe's had it covered for us . Yes, I did not do scratch baking at that time. But the abovementioned used to do their job beautifully and baking them gave me the con

The Gemini in me is never satisfied with the normal stuff . It compels me to try something new or else run the risk of spending some time with Mr.Boredom himself. I try to avoid such an encounter by trying out new recipes every week but then my inner Gemini finds that boring as well and in order to satiate it , have to add a new twist to this new recipe tryout thing. So , from time to time I hunt down international recipes and give them a try . It gives me an insight into the local flavors preferred by the people in  that geographical location which helps enrich my culinary journey and by reading this blog yours as well I believe. Anything to keep things interesting ,eh?  Last month , my international bake was an orangy twist to the popular middle eastern  Basbousa  . We made it as part of  the kids summer geography club and it was so much fun. The kids are back to school now but wanted  them to be part of the experience too , hence chose a simple enough recipe . This Hungaria

It is a common misnomer that baking is all about sweet stuff . Mention the fact that you bake and chances are you might get a response like "Ohh...your kids must be happy to always have an ample stock of cake and brownies "  well...I do bake the aforementioned but most people don't realize that there is more to baking that just the usual array of cakes and cupcakes that we all get a pictorial overdose of online. I believe these heavily frosted "sweet devils" take all the limelight while the humble life sustaining bread and countless other savory baked things have to take the  backseat .  I personally believe that baking bread is very therapeutic. Few things give more pleasure than the sight of home baked bread straight from the oven . One feels a connection to all those souls who have lived centuries before  and enjoyed this so rewarding pursuit.On more than one occasion , I have wondered how it would feel to bake bread in the royal bakery of KIng Rams

A visit to the library excites me almost the same as a trip to the shopping  mall does to most other members of my species ! I won't bore you, gentle reader ,with the details as to how the sight of a new and promising book makes me almost giddy with anticipation.You get the picture right ? What I would like to share is that , lately though I find myself in the cook book aisle more as opposed to the mystery or vintage romance one. It has got absollutely nothing to do with me being becoming more mature ..believe me!!! Anyways . coming back to the cook book aisle , there has been a particular book which has always beckoned me (being always always displayed prominently in the center ) but failed to pique my interest . Maybe, I like to the challenge of finding a  good book myself as apposed to it being served to be in a platter ..I mean aisle. Suffice to say that after repeatedly "avoiding" it , I finally gave in to it's lure and managed to check it out. See , I am