Fruit N Nut Cake - Akshara's sixth month completion

   Fruit N Nut cake was the cake which I made for akshara’s sixth month completion. This cake cutting was done by her, as she holds the plastic cake cutting knife and posed for photos. It was so much fun on the day.

  For the letter F, I choose to make fruit cake – dry fruits- tutti frutti , black raisin   and apple sauce is used as I made eggless. For the nuts, I used cashew nuts, almonds.

         The cake was so colorful of the tutti fruit used , everyone liked the taste. My cousins and aunts were present on that day.

Requirements :

All purpose flour  - 1½ cup

Wheat flour – 1 cup

Brown Sugar – 1 ½ cup

Sauce from one whole apple

Tutti-fruit – 1 cup

Black raisins – few

Baking powder – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Milk – ½ cup

Method:

Shift the flour, baking powder and salt thrice.

Sprinkle a spoon of flour on the dry fruits and coat the flour on all sides.

In a bowl, mix together the apple sauce and sugar well.

To this add half of the milk and mix well.

Now, add the flour in three batches and mix in one direction.

If needed add the remaining milk too.

Add the dry fruits and mix once.

Preheat the oven to 220 * C.

Pour the batter into mould and bake in the oven @ 220* for 20 minutes followed by @180* for 10 minutes.

Take out off the oven and let it cool.

As the cake looked so colorful, I didn’t do any icing or decorations.

Fruit N Nut cake is ready to serve.

 

@ Gayathri's cookspot 

Book Review - That's My Story ( TMS )

           This was my review for the book That’s My Story                          ( TMS ) by Vinay Mashalkar .

     About the Author :

 Vinay Mashalkar was a B.Tech ( Electronics and Communication ) graduate works in chip designing domain.. He was interested in reading books and dreamt of becoming author one day. This was his maiden book and he had done a fantastic job.

About the Book :

 The front cover of the book was so colorful and I liked it very much. It depicts the main characters first meeting scene.

 The book consists of 175 pages and divided into Seventeen chapters. The cost of the book was INR RS : 133/- in flipkart. I find that the price was reasonable.

Story line:

 The story tells about the present day life of the guy working in the corporate world and his love life.

        The story begins with Vikram’s interview to a corporate company on the Valentine’s Day. After two days he got the confirmation letter.

        He stayed with four others – Mahesh, Prashant , Ravi and Dinesh. He gave his friend’s party which was as usual what all the bachelors have – Beer.

        In the office he made few friend most of them were technical geeks and some were resonant to his frequency one of them was Swami, with him he hangout a lot.

        After a probation period of three months , he got permanent and his salary was doubled as usual there was party with his friends in home.

        Browny – a pigeons , he used see whenever he stands in the balcony of their house – Whenever he sees browny he feels like something good is going to happen. By this time he completed one year in his job.

        On a fine day in the evening, it was drizzling out; he was standing in the balcony and sipping the coffee, he saw a girl infront of ICICI ATM. That girl was struggling to start her red colored scooty. She was beautiful and overall charismatic personality got his attention.He thought it was destined to meet her.

        The next day , he started to office early by 7 AM . He got into the bus , in the same she also entered .She get down on at one stop before him.

        The following days he came early to see her , but she didn’t showup for two days . After that she was coming regularly and he was hesitant to talk with her. This continued for several months. But she used to stare at him.

        On the day of Bangalore’s bomb blast, vikram left office early. He took an autorickshaw to go home; he saw her standing on the bus stop. He asked her whether she can join him as there was no bus available.

        She asked about him and he asked about her and came to know that her name was Meghna , CA studied in London  , working in An MNC .

        They exchanged their mobile numbers and started sending SMS , gradually it went off to chatting over phone , going to movie , meeting at malls and at a nearby Café coffee Day.

 Another girl named Aditi was introduced to him by his uncle through marriage fixing. He was so comfortable in talking with her. He might have choosen her if he hadn’t Meghna at the time.

        One day vikram proposed her and she accepted. He told about their love to his parents and got approval.

                Did Meghna got approval from her parents?

                What role did Aditi played in their life?

 To know the rest read the TMS…………..

My opinion :

 The ending was so good and it brings smile to everyone. In my opinion the book was worth reading. The author has narrated in a simple way and in simple language, so everyone can understand.

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program

for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Katharikai moochaikotai kulambu

     This was my mom’s recipe , for everyone their first inspiration to cooking is their mom and I too follow her steps in cooking . she usually cooks brinjal with any beans. Mom’s always feed their kids with nutritious foods. This is simple and easy to make kulambu for rice.

Requirements :

• Brinjal – ½ kg
• Fieldbean – 1 cup
• onions –  1
• Oil – 1 tbs
• Sambar powder – 2 tbs
• Salt as required
• Curry leaves
• Turmeric powder – 1 tsp

To grind :

• Grated coconut – 4 tbs
• Cinnamon – 1 small stick
• Cloves – 2
• Aniseeds – ¼ tsp
• Roasted channa dhal – 1 tbs
• Tamarind – marble size

Method :

• Cook the field beans separately.
• Soak the tamarind in a cup of water and extract the tamarind juice.
• Chop the onion and brinjals.
• Heat oil in a kadai , add the mustard seeds and let it crackle.
• Add the chopped onion and curry leaves , sauté well.

• Add the chopped brinjals and sauté for a minute.

• Add the turmeric powder and sambar powder , sauté till the raw smell leaves.

• Add the tamarind extract and required salt and cook.

• When the brinjal is cooked , add the cooked beans and mix well.

• Now add the ground coconut paste, mix well and cook the kulambu for ten minutes in low fire.

• Kathari moochaikotai kulambu is ready to serve.

• Serve with hot steaming rice along with a spoon of ghee.

Book Review - The Game of Life - Shattered Dreams

      I am going to review about the book Shattered Dreams. Shubha vilas is the author of this book. This book was the second in the series of Ramayana – The Game of Life.

              As we all know the story of Ramayana , still i want to say about the important events depicted in this part of book.

“Convenience is about changing the law to suit your life but maturity is about changing your life to salute the law”
― Shubha Vilas, Shattered Dreams


                        

The Story of shattered dreams starts with dhasaradha’s  had a nightmare and wake in the middle of the night. He decided to coronate Rama as king of Ayodhya.

          In the morning while he was entering the court to announce his decision, we were told about the story behind his name – DHASARADHA – Ten chariot hero ,his actual name was Nemi . How he killed Sambarasura and for what he had given kaikeyi two boons which are going to change the future of Ayodhya.

          The story behind how peacock got its beautiful feather was revealed as that Indira , King of demigods was saved by a peacock from being captured by Ravana. So Indira gave the peacocks their beautiful feathers as a gift.

          The book reveals how a loveable mother like Kaikeyi can transform into a adamant women in fulfilling her wishes after hearing poisonous words of Manthara. Even manthara did this to take revenge for the arrow struck on her back which was shot by rama , when he was a small boy.

          Before  leaving to the forest Rama’s words to Lakshmana – Highest dharma or duty of a son is to obediently follow his father’s orders – True and must be followed by this generation people .

          Sita was a wonderful women , she followed her husband to forest with him , even though he insisted her to stay in ayodhya.

          Lakshmana by accompanying Rama and Sita to forest sacrificed his comfort , his wife , his wealth , even his desires. His mother Sumatra and wife Urmila were glad to allow him to serve his brother and his wife.

          Lakshmana even sacrificed his sleep for Fourteen years. Instead of him, his wife slept for him in the morning and during night for her.

Guha , the King of Tribes came to serve Rama in the forest.

          When Bharata and Satrugana came to know that their brothers and sita went to forest and their Father died , they were heartbroken.Along with them the 353 queens , many citizens of ayodhya went in search of the Trio in the forest. They dressed in deer skin without silk clothes.

When they found them, they informed about their father’s death after their travel to forest and asked the Trio to return to Ayodhya.

Rama refused the request and said that he has to fulfill his father’s wish. Rama did the last rituals for his father.

Rama advised Bharata to go to ayodhya and rule as its king. But bharatha insisted that if he rules , it will be cheating of him towards Rama. So he requested Rama’s  footwear.

When Rama gave him his footwear , he carried it in his head with much pleasure. He and satrugana built a hut on the outskrits of ayodhya and kept the footwear of Rama on the Throne and will be ruling the ayodhya for the next fourteen years.

With this the story of the Shattered Dreams end.

This book was a must to read for those who are interested in epics . The book was with 387 pages and cover picture with dhasaratha in a chariot and the sleeping pose of Rama was so beautiful.

The book costs INR RS : 350/- , it was so reasonable.

This review is a part of the biggest http://blog.blogadda.com/2011/05/04/indian-bloggers-book-reviews" target="_blank"> Book Review Program

for http://www.blogadda.com" target="_blank">Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!

Pasta in white sauce with veggies

   Pastas are my favorite other than noodles. I has already posted some pasta recipes……….. 
Melt in mouth Mushroom pasta
Indianised Curried Panner Pasta
Coldpasta salad  
Spinach pesto pasta

                         

 This is another quick and easy to make pasta recipe with colourful veggies and white sauce.

Requirements :

Juvenile cut carrots – ¼ cup

Green slender beans – ¼ cup

Juvenile cut capsicum – 2 tbs ( optional )

Sweetcorn – 2 tbs

Onion - 1

Salt to taste

Pepper powder to taste

For cooking  pasta :

Pasta – 200g

Oil – 1 tsp

Salt – a pinch

Water – 4 cup

For white sauce :

Butter – 1 tbs

Cornflour / Maida – 2 tbs

Milk – 1 ½ cup

Method :

Bring the water to boil. Add in the salt and oil.

When the water boils well , add the pasta and stir once . cook for 5-6 minutes.

Strain under running cold water.

Cooked Pasta is ready.

 To make the white sauce

Melt butter in a sauce pan, add the flour and roast under low flame.
 Add in the milk and mix well without lumps. While you are mixing the sauce, can switch off the flame.

 Bring to boil to thicken a little.

In a pan, melt a little butter; add the veggies and sauté for 5 minutes.

Add the required salt and mix well.

Add in the cooked pasta and toss few times.

Now add the white sauce and toss again.

 Take off from flame and serve.

Pasta in white sauce with veggies is ready to serve.