Bye 2010, Welcome 2011

Just few more hours for Welcoming New Year and I'm so excited.
This year taught me lot many things and hope the coming year also brings more happiness and learnings in life.This is my Last post of 2010.Meet you all in 2011 
Hey I also made up my mind for my New year resolution :)

Anthropologies Stilled Night Dress

Another fresh new year is here . . .
Another year to live!
To banish worry, doubt, and fear,
To love and laugh and give!

   Wishing everyone a Very Happy New year. May God Bless U

Eat Healthy, Workout Daily!!!

                        Ooops look who is speaking about staying fit...

A girl who just loves eating spicy,cheesy food and lazy enough to do workouts.

I'm a type of girl who lives just for eating and shopping,nothing fascinated me more.But today I realized it was getting difficult to fit into my clothes... Its high time to think about fitness and workouts. 

And hence today I made my mind and took a New Year resolution. 

                                        "Eat Healthy, Workout Daily!!!"

I've never been a breakfast person and I usually eat lunch on the run and gained 10 pounds during the past few months. I don't like Milk,egg or in that case any good protein food. And 1 Day I fell sick. And my reports said I'm Vitamin Deficient... I had less or to that case No Vitamin D and B12 which caused joint pains,dry skin,stressed nights and what not. I'm daily living on Medicines to gain my proteins but never realized the diet also plays a vital role.

My Daily Diet was

till 12noon - No food

12:30pm  lunch mostly rice with some spiced side dish

7:30pm    Dinner mostly Indian

In between lots of Candy's, Chocolates and as the Queen of Lazyness no exercise 

This daily diet would never give me any Vitamins or proteins and I'm Sick of taking medicines and so decided upon my  Diet Do-Over

Diet Do-Over

Breakfast- Split as 2 mini meals

7:30am  Large glass of milk and a Fruit

8:30am-9:30am workouts (Gym/Yoga/Skipping...)

10am - Toast/Oats 

12pm   Salad

12:30pm Lunch, No rice. Includes 2 roti's and lots of side dish( Side dish steamed cooked mostly)     

4:00pm- 6:00pm Soy Milk / Butter Milk and a fruit.

7:00pm Dinner Dhalia...Recipe

If hungry before bed eat fruits or veggy's....

Most Importantly taking minimum 10 glasses of water daily..

I would start up with my diet do-over from Jan1st 2011. The only motto I have now is reduce the weight I gained and stay healthy. 

Any one joining me ???

Ginger Bread House

Its Christmas Eve. I wanted to celebrate with something special. So planned to bake Ginger Bread house from scratch. I started this 2 days before and finally done :). Feels so happy to see the house.

Royal Icing

1 large egg white
3 cups powdered sugar
1 teaspoon Lemon

Beat all ingredients until smooth, adding the powdered sugar gradually to get the desired consistency. 

Ingredients for Cookie Dough

1 cup butter, room temperature
1 cup brown sugar, well packed
2 tablespoons cinnamon
4 teaspoons ground ginger
3 teaspoons ground cloves
2 teaspoons baking soda
½ cup boiling water
5 cups all-purpose flour

Method

1. In a large bowl, cream the butter and sugar until blended. Add the cinnamon, ginger and cloves. Mix the baking soda with the boiling water and add to the dough along with the flour. Mix to make a stiff dough. Refrigerate for 2 hours or more.

2. Meanwhile using the wax paper make the house patterns. It requires 2 Front Panels, 2 Side panels and 2 Roofs. Also cut the Ginger Bread man pattern

3. Using the Rolling pin roll the dough, place the wax paper patterns on the dough and run knife gently to get the desired shape and transfer them to baking sheet

4.Preheat the oven to 375'F and Bake for 12 to 15 minutes until the cookie dough feels firm. Leave to cool on the baking sheet.

The toughest  time was to assemble the house.

5. Prepare the base initially. I used White Square Dinner plate as Base to my house
6. Time to place the side panel first, Pipe the Royal icing on the plate as long as the side panel and then place the side panel and give it a support. I used Coke tins as support. In a similar fashion place the f ront panels and the other side panel. Lastly the roof. 
Be careful don't break your panels as I did. I broke one of the side panels :)
7. I left the house with all supports over night and then next day decorated the house with some candy and Ginger Man.
It was real fun making this Ginger Bread house. 
My nieces had fun time too.
Special Thanks to Kavya for the recipe.
I'm sharing this recipe with
myeasytocookrecipes
asankhana

Wishing All a Merry Christmas 

Lovely Weekend

Its Holiday season...Season full of party's. This weekend was so wonderful, had so many party's to attend. The best things about these party's is getting ready with colorful clothes and food of-course...I finally got a break from cooking for 2 days...
Its quite a time I attended series of party's. 
Coming to the outfit, to one of the party's I wore Muse Purple dress with a Tadashi Shoji Black Stole/Scarf. I got this stole from Nordstrom, its stretchable a bit and very comfort. The stylist taught me few ways to take it on dress and loved it totally. With this outfit I wore like a short hand cardigan, and the ends tied like a bow at the back...I forgot to take the picture of the bow :(

Last invite of the weekend was from a good friend of mine to attend a Christmas party at his church. This is first time ever I was attending a Christmas party @ church. It was so much fun. coming to my outfit I was not sure about the outfit for church but wanted 2 wear in Red as its X'mas time... So was time for my Cashmere cardigan with Derek heart floral knit top and Levis Jeans

I remembered a Quote
" Live for today, Plan for tomorrow and Party Tonight!!!"
Hasta la Vista...

Sugar Cookies

Sugar Cookies are sweet cookies that is primarily made during the Christmas season.
Bake!!! Decorate!!! Celebrate!!!


Ingredients:
3 cups all purpose flour 
1tsp Baking Powder
1/4tsp Salt
1cup Sugar
1/2 cup / 1 Stick butter
2 Large eggs
2tsp Vanilla extract
Method:
1. In a bowl Mix flour, baking powder and salt.
2. Take another bowl and beat sugar and butter adding 1 egg at a time.
3. Add vanilla extract and beat in the flour mixture too.
4. Divide the dough in to 4 equal parts, wrap each piece with food wrap and refrigerate for about 30 mins.
5. After 30 mins, use the rolling pin and roll 1 piece dough to 1 to 1.5 inch thick.
6. Preheat the oven to 350 F
6. Using cookie cutter cut the dough to as many cookies desired.
7. Use aluminium foil on the baking tray and move the cookies on to the tray
8. Bake them 10-12 mins or till golden brown
9. Cool Decorate and Serve


I'm sharing this recipe to EasytoCookRecipes for the Christmas Event

Winter Garden

Did any one see the blossoming winter wonderland any time? 

Oh yes winter, where there are no leaves on trees and yes I meant Blossom too...

Today I was very fortunate to see this amazing beauty and had no words. A garden full of lights. Its Christmas time and one can see Christmas lights and decorations every where but, this garden with lights was very special. All trees in the garden were blushing with happiness in this winter. 

Kudos to the garden team who has helped in such a fantastic show. 

These lights were arranged in a theme like water fall, swimming pool, garden and what not. All most all trees in the garden were decorated.

There were Alligators, Turtles, Rabbits too in this garden

It was raining whole of day and we were in fix to go or not, but we made our mind to visit this place. God's grace there was no rain but was damn freezing. 

Sharing the website details GardenDlights

Coming to my outfit I wore Nicole Miller Red Crush Velvet Ruffle dress with my Guess Jacket. I love this Jacket a lot, this was my first purchase @ US @ Nordstrom
Mistake I did with this outfit was pairing up Black Tights with Black Sandals :(

           

           

Christmas Brownies

Its been sometime I really baked something. Today I went out to a local store here and when I saw all the Christmas cookies/goodies my heart filled with happiness. Soon rushed out of the store came home and decided to bake.
Its Christmas and how can one not bake any...
Brownie, A tasty treat to satisfy our chocolate sweet tooths. This name makes my mouth water.
Make it, Love it and Eat it
Ingredients
1/2 cup butter

• 1 cup white sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1/3 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1/2 cup all-purpose flour
• 1/4 teaspoon salt
• 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
• 
  
• Method:
• 1. Preheat oven to 350 Degrees F. Grease an 8 inch sqaure pan
• 2. Melt 1/2 cup of butter and mix in sugar, eggs and vanilla extract. Use hand mixer if you have one. Beat in cocoa powder, flour,salt and baking powder. 
• 3. Spread the batter into prepared baking pan
• 4. Bake in oven for 30-35 mins.
• Note: Do not over cook
• 
  
• If you find this process difficult or feel tired to do from scratch, use Ghirardelli triple chocolate brownie mix and follow the instructions on it to bake
• 
  
• Tip to check if your cake is done:
• one can test a cake by inserting a clean toothpick into the middle of the cake. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is done. If the toothpick comes out with crumbs, or clearly shows wet cake batter, the cake is not finished cooking. Don’t use a knife to test the cake as this can deflate a cake.

Rainy Day And An Umbrella In hand

I live in a place where it rains most of time. However this rain never made us to sit at home. Was a wonderful day with family get together and pleasant walk in the evening. This was the first time I had an Umbrella in my hand. Coming to my outfit I wore my Mom's favorite Tunic today, I got this in my recent trip to India. This is my first yellow in the closet. 

The best thing about walk with my husband is his photography. I love the way he clicks them.

Tunic: India

Leggings: Kohl's

Kische Lace open Cardigan

Sandals: India

Chain/Ear Tops : Macy's

I love Black

I don’t consider myself the most fashion-obsessed person. I browse trends and styles from time to time, but I don’t feel obliged to follow them. 

I think what we chose to wear makes a big difference, whether we realize it or not.

And now thru this blog I would try to bring more fashion in me.

Today I had a Party to attend. After a week of flu sickness, I wanted to look brighter and smarter. After running through my closet I came up with this outfit. It was too cold outside so had to wear tights to be sickness free

WhiteTop : Old Navy

Black Top: Levis

Skirt: Old Navy

Boots: Nicole

Bangle: Macy’s

Tights: Target

Tweet Tweet Reel People

We are so star struck by celebrities[Reel People] that we sometimes forget that they are real people. They are real people right??? And celebrities always tend to forget that we are the one who made them. Did we not ???

We are the soul creators of the celebrities. NO DOUBT. It's the public who decides the fate of the reel person, if person has impressed the viewer; he becomes celebrity else he is one among us.

But, would these celebrities give the same respect to the public.

I have been using twitter for sometime now and all I follow are celebrities. Some of their tweets are funny, some are informative and some are just the causal tweets.I replied to few of the tweets and never received any reply from them. Few of my friends also shared the same opinion, and few are Like I don't care for their tweets, I tweet because I'm a normal person.

And that made me think 1001 times if the celebrities are Real people, Of-course NOT was all I concluded, if they were they would have replied to the tweets (sounds kiddish). They are more famous than the real Normal people. The real people do not get feted by the press,mobbed by groupies or excoriated from the pulpit and for sure they can never be one among us.

My friend quoted this one day...
“Real people use face book and Reel people use Twitter!!!”
And I feel its very true. Twitter has less tweets from real world and more tweets from reel world.

I spoke to few people who always think this way. Reel people do the way the public wants from them. They act they change all according to what we expect from them which indeed made me very strong enough in my thinking.

With all the mixed feelings I still respect the celebrities, just wish them to be good to the public and respect there feelings and thoughts too

Chicken 65 and Baked Fish

Happy Thanksgiving!!!

-Thanking my family and god for all support and blessing this year

This day most people in America cook turkey but I made a special feast with chicken and Fish

Chicken 65 Dry

Ingredients

1. Boneless chicken: 2 lbs
2. Coriander leaves chopped:1/4 cup
3. corn flour: 2 tsp
4. Cumin seeds: 1 tsp
5. Pepper powder: 1tsp
6. Red chilli powder: 1 tsp
7. Salt: ½ tsp
8. Curry leaves: 5-6 number
9. Egg: 1
10. Ginger and garlic chopped: I tsp each
11. Ginger-Garlic paste: ½ tsp
12. Green chilli: 4-5
13. Chilli Garlic Paste: 1 TBS( Optional) [ Store brought]
14. Oil: to fry
15. Red color : 3 drops

Method

Add salt, ginger/garlic paste, pepper powder, cornflour and add egg and mix in completely.

Heat oil in a Pan and add chicken pieces few at a time and fry until lightly golden brown. Take them in separate bowl

To make the sauce:-Heat 2-3 tsp oil in a pan-Add cumin, add the chopped ginger and garlic and suate until fragrant-Add chopped chillies, curry leaves,1 tsp ginger/garlic paste, chilli powder, salt,Chilli Garlic paste, red color and mix-Cook for a few minutes and add a little water and then add chicken to this paste and toss lightly-Stir in the coriander leaves and serve

Baked Fish

Method:

Used Tilapia Fillets

In a bowl add salt, Red Chilli powder [ both according to taste], 1 TBS Lemon juice, ½ tsp coriander powder and mix well

Add some colander leaves too. Coat the fillets with above mixture and place them in the baking tray

[ Use aluminum foil coated with Oil in the tray to avoid fish from over cooking because of direct heat]

Preheat the over to 350 F and place the baking tray and cook the fish for 15-20 min.

[Flip the fillets after 10 min to other side]

Place the fillets on the serving plate and serve hot

Simple to cook and very healthy 

Socialism for the Rich and Capitalism for the Poor

Morning news “Kiran Kumar Reddy to be sworn in as the next Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister”….

Politics this always bothers me, especially when it’s all about India. From my childhood I always hated politics. People are people; they speak a lot and do nothing for the country.

How many of us are really casting vote based on the power of the leader and not favoritism? How many of you believe that country requires educated leader???

We were taught by our parents, and we are teaching the kids the importance of education for living in the society and then why are we are not able to teach the leaders.

When we get into school/college for the admission: clearing entrance exam is must, the pre-requirement of the school...

When we go for the first interview to s/w Company: they see the grades as the minimum requirement

When we go for interview to any other firm(singing, dance, and acting): they see the ability before they actually hire them.

When every move in life has been defined with pre requirements then why not define some requirements to the political system in the country.

Not all people can become manager/ director /producer of a company/movie or any firm. We see many company’s loosing projects, many flop movies. All has one reason improper management, improper leader.

Same is the situation with our country. Leaders get lots of money to spend during the campaigns but when it comes to serve the country, we are out of money. There are villages who are seeking their help but no one is bothered about. There are people who are raising voices but see no progress. What were the recent developments made which had really a good impact on people??? I didn’t hear much of them.

Earlier corruption/ bribe were happening behind curtains but now?? When I lost my mobile, I wanted a FIR to be submitted to the network providers to get the list of dialed numbers. I went to the nearest police station and told the situation. The police responded if you give Rs 200 I will give u the FIR immediately. I could do nothing except paying him off. For a moment felt so much guilt for me. If our leader was good would this situation ever happen? Would a Police demand that money?  This would have happened with many of you people just that one might feel guilt to speak about it.

The government’s bestowal of money grants, tax breaks, or other special favorable treatment on corporations and the poor, the tax payer to pay the debt that is created from that. Huh ‘the rich get richer and the poor becomes poorer’. So at end we the PEOPLE are becoming poor. But Politics is all about US, OUR LIFE… let’s fight for it.

“Be angry about what’s wrong, a life which is not angry about wrong is not worthy life” – Quote by a leader. So true only if you are angry you speak the truth and you act properly.

Not all cancers have same treatment same as not all divisions in political system would have same solution. But if the leader is noble enough and thinks for the people we should be seeing a New Country.

I love my country so as you people too. Let’s bring a change, let’s have a better living.

“We are the YOUTH of the Nation, We are the new generation… we can change the system “

 Ciao till next Time !!!

Beautiful KISS from heaven

Its white everywhere!!! I'm super excited ye it’s snowing. I have been waiting for this since sometime and finally I'm blessed.

I went to bed in one kind of world where I saw only rain, but woke up in quite different world, world of snow. It’s a beautiful cold weather. There is no season that can bring this delight as winter n snow.

I couldn't stop myself from a walk in this weather, when the snowflakes touched me, the beautiful kiss from the heaven!!!. . I was just walking on air and thrilled to bits. The best morning I ever had. 

To my surprise my husband is working from home. The snow fall has totally made my day. Wish every day was filled with pleasant surprises.

Chicken Liver Masala

I still remember my childhood days, when my dad used to thread the chicken liver onto skewers and directly cook on slow flame, and serve us hot with salt and Red chilli powder sprinkled on it. Sounds funny … Me ,my brother and dad used to fight for the liver pieces.

This dish is in those memories, cooked specially for my husband.

Ingredients:

1.Chicken Liver:1 lb

2. Onion: 1 big thinly sliced lengthwise

3. Green Chilli: 5 (Optional)
4. Lemon Juice:4 tsps
5. Red Chilli Powder:4 tsps
6. Turmeric Powder :2 tsps
7. Salt:to taste
8. Coriander Powder:2 tsps
9. Garam Masala:2 tsps
10. Cinnamom:1 Medium stick / ½ tsp powder
11. Cloves: 2
12. Bay Leaf :1
13. Green Cardamom:4
14. Ginger-Garlic Paste:1tbsp

15. Oil: ½ cup oil

Method:

Tip: Always cook liver on slow flame to retain its tenderness and taste

1. Add ginger-garlic paste,salt,turmeric powder,red chilli powder,2 tsp oil,lemon juice to the liver pieces . Mix well and refrigerate the marination for 30 minutes.
2. Heat ¼ cup oil in a pan , add marinated liver pieces to it. Sauté well for 5 minutes and then place a lid , cook till the liver is tender.
3. Once the liver is cooked and the color changes turn off the flame and take aside in a bowl.
4. Heat rest of oil in the same pan and add cloves,cinnamon,green cardamoms,bay leaf. Now add sliced onions and give a good stir.
5. Once onions are transparent add turmeric powder,red chilli powder,coriander powder,garam masala and give a stir. Add little water and let the masala cook well. Cover the lid so that the masala cooks well. If the masala sticks to pan add some water and cook it in the slow flame.
6. Once onion masala is well cooked drop in sautéed liver and mix well. Place the lid and cook for 5 minutes on low flame. After 5 minutes squeeze lemon juice and sprinkle coriander leaves and give a good mix.
   
   
   Liver Masala is ready to serve.

A Passion for baking

Every person has a creative side and  I’m not an exception...
When it comes to cakes, one cannot resist from eating. When I came to U.S a year back I had no other job except for eating which mainly included cakes and so decided to experiment on Baking which would keep me occupied.

The very first experiment towards baking was Pineapple upside down cake, which tasted more like a pie than a cake.I challenged myself and this time tried a fruit cake for my brother’s birthday and yes I did it. This cake tasted same like the one which my mom made it when I was a kid. I did not even dream of baking a cake but seeing my first successful cake boosted up my energy towards baking and from then journey towards baking begins. .. 

 

Festival of Lights - 2010

A rainy day and all excited, yes it was Diwali. The day started with Lakshimi pooja at home followed by lots of cooking at friends place for the evening party. Together we had so much fun cooking and chatting.

In the evening house was lit up with diyas and colorful flower Rangoli to welcome the goddess of wealth and prosperity.

We started the party with Diwali sparkles. Oh God!!! miss the evening sky of Diwali at India, a colorful sight to watch. Something was very tempting at the party; it’s the yum food calling us for Dinner. It’s the food which makes Diwali so special….

Its party party party and we danced all night “ naach naach all nite, get it right”

Had so much fun but somewhere deep inside was missing someone badly, my parents....

Diwali ended up with a big bang. yo ho had so much fun.

Thanks to all my friends to make this happen.

Fish Fingers- Appetizer

Fish fingers with the crispy crust and tender,flaky fish inside..

I'm not a fish eater but this Appetizer made me fond of Fish..

Ingredients

1. Fish Fillets 10- 15 pieces cut finger size( I used Tilapia Fillets)
2. Gram flour 1Cup
3. Redchilli powder 1 teaspoon
4. Turmeric Powder pinch
5. Garam Masala 1 teaspoon
6. Coriander Powder 1 teaspoon
7. Cumin powder 1teaspoon
8. Ginger-Garlic paste ½ teaspoon
9. Curry leave 3 freshly chopped
10. Salt to taste
11. Bread crumbs 1 cup
12. Lemon Juice 3 teaspoon
13. Oil for frying

Method

Take fish fillets in a bowl, add lemon juice ,salt, turmeric, chili powder, garam masala ,coriander powder, cumin powder, curry leaves,ginger-garlic paste and mix all these ingredients together.
Now that the fish is mixed well and marinated...Take the gram flour and to it add the bread crumbs and mix well. Now dip the marinated fish piece by piece in the gram flour mixture and coat the fish. After coating all fish sticks just toss them once just to prevent oil from getting dirty.
Heat the oil in pan and fry your fish fingers, fish cooks very fast, less than 2 minutes fish will ready...Fry till they are lightly golden brown...
Garnish and serve hot with mustard sauce.