DAY 47 : BAGHI BIDS US ADIEU

These are the hands that have held the hands of the most precious part of my life.......
This girl walked into my home when Zeke was about 1 and a half .....
and frankly helped me whole heartedly with Zeke...then came Zene along the way and Bhagi that's what we call her, her full name is Bhagyashree...took to her like a fish takes to water ...And frankly today as she packs her bags to leave us after 5 years ,as she is getting married , i have a lump in my heart...

She is tiny in size but can pack a punch..feisty and stands up for herself and has been such a wonderful person to me...
She does not get easily bullied ..though Zeke tries carrying her to show us that he has become very strong.......
I thank her from the bottom of my heart, because if she was not here to help me out with the kids i would not be able to do my baking at Sophia's.....

She is too cute and I have walked into the kids room to see Baghi entwined like a pretzel rolling around the room.....with Zeke and Zene laughing and clapping...she also used to do head stands ...because i have also walked into the room to see Zeke n she plastered against a wall having a competition...
Zene is fiercely possessive about her Baghi Didi and would get upset if she played with other kids like she plays with her....
She has played , danced , sung , eaten , chased, cooked and been a kid with my kids...
All Zeke wants to do is grow taller than her and cant believe she is getting married because she looks like a little thing herself...
And my Zene is going to miss her 'Baghi didi" terribly because i know how much she loves her and the feeling is mutual...
She has jumped into pools with the kids fully dressed in her chudidaar....
she has taught them games, fed them with patience , run after them and has been their Bollywood song tutor, every time Zene sings a new song...I know its Baghi's flavour of the month...
She loves her saas-bahu serials and her spicy chutneys ..that she would share with me....
Will miss her every time i go to the market to buy fish and her bright happy face around the house and her chirpy joyful voice...
It's amazing that the only thing constant in life is change.....
And today as my Baghi leaves to set up her own family...
I pray to GOD to keep her happy and blessed and may her life be filled with immense joy and helpful people...
I made her this cake yesterday and all of us cut it singing to her "All the best" but of course the kids started singing "golmaal ...golmaal ..baghi is back again..."..
Don't know if they are able to understand that she is never coming back....
I know they will miss her terribly...
Okay have to stop getting so emotional and give you the recipe...

Wanted to make something really nice for her so zeroed down on this cake recipe i took straight out of Nigella Lawson's cook book, because i love her food...and this was pretty easy and fun to eat..
and i really like it out of the oven and with some ice-cream...

• 9 ounces bittersweet chocolate, minimum 70 percent cocoa solids
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter, softened
• 6 eggs, 2 whole, 4 separated
• 1/2 cup plus 1 tablespoon sugar
• 2 tablespoons orange-flavored liqueur, optional (recommended: Cointreau)
• 1 orange, zested

Directions

For the cream topping:

• 2 cups heavy cream
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
• 1 tablespoon orange-flavored liqueur, optional (recommended: Cointreau)
• 1/2 teaspoon unsweetened cocoa powder, for sprinkling

Special equipment: 9-inch springform pan

Preheat the oven to 170 degrees C. Line the bottom of the cake pan with baking parchment.

Melt the chocolate either in a double boiler or a microwave, add the butter and let melt in the warm chocolate.

Beat the 2 whole eggs and 4 egg yolks with 1/3 cup of the sugar, then gently add the chocolate mixture, the orange-flavored liqueur and the orange zest.

In another bowl, whisk the 4 egg whites until foamy, then gradually add the remaining sugar and whisk until the whites hold their shape but are not too stiff. Lighten the chocolate mixture with a dollop of egg whites, and then fold in the rest of the whites.

Here I added 100gm of almond flour mixed with maida ...

Pour into the prepared pan and bake for 35 to 40 minutes or until the cake is risen and cracked and the center is no long wobbly. Cool the cake in its pan on a wire rack; the middle will sink as it cools.

When you are ready to eat, place the still pan-bound cake on a cake stand or plate for serving and carefully remove the sides of the pan from the cake. Don't worry about cracks or rough edges...because it tastes awesome with all its outer flaws...

Just reminded me sooo much of Baghi.she may not have all the right moves but her heart is in the right place...

WILL MISS YOU DEAREST BAGHI...

HAVE A HAPPY LIFE

''THE GOOD-BYE CAKE" baked this with a lump in my heart for little Baghi who will always be remembered with a smile...

Stay happy and blessed....

DAY 45 : TIME-TRAVEL TRUE BLUE SNICKER MUFFINS.....

And yesterday was a weird day, it's funny how life completely changes ..
Bryan Adam's was in the city and was doing a concert and i was not part of it in the real sense of the word..
I still remember the last time he came to Mumbai on tour and MTV was hosting the gig and i was hosting the concert...
it was buzzing the whole atmosphere at the Goregoan grounds...there were throngs of young faces that stormed through the gates when they opened...i remember losing my crew and getting pushed through the crowd into the audience area and had to jump over the barricade in my black skirt with slits on either side and my favorite glitter horns in my hair...
The whole week prior to that ..i just listened to Bryan..Bryan..Bryan...
It was fantastic talking to the audience, i don't even remember if there was an opening act ..I'm sure there was..but we all just wanted him to come on stage and sing to us in that smoky voice of his and then...

As the sun was setting and I got on stage again and said ....

Mumbai...are u ready
the whole crowd ROARED .....
breathe ...breathe my heart was pounding....
"This is it...the one we have all been waiting for the one the only ...BRYAN ADAMS"....and I walked out ....
Bryan Adam's walked in ..wearing white..nothing fancy ..no bling ...just him his guitar and his band...
I walked down and joined all my MTV Vj friends in the front of the stage....
and then he strummed his guitar ...to the roar of the entire crowd and mesmerised us with his wonderful voice....we were so close to stage that we could see the sweat beads on his fore-head...the sound from the speakers became one with our heart beats...we screamed ..sang along...cried ...danced and also behaved like silly goats...
and then he came to the edge of the stage and gave me the pick from his guitar...
ha ha ha "thought I'd died and gone to heaven" just like the song....
oh my God...this was one concert that I'm never ever going to forget ..not because of the "pick" but because of the sheer magic of his voice .....

Today that felt like another lifetime....
Bryan Adam's was again in my city dong a concert and i was sitting with Zeke my little boy explaining to him why i could not come with him to one of his favorite brother's (friend) birthday ..while baking snicker bar muffins for the lovely beach party that his mom Radhika had put together, actually i forgot that it was the day of the concert and then later bailed out...

Yup and so i spent the afternoon making these lovely muffins for little Dhruv who was turning 6 and was just reliving the last time in my head...
And so I went through my Nigella Lawsons "how to be a domestic goddess" and the snicker and peanut butter muffin recipe sounded perfect and really yummy...and easy ha ha ha ....

250 g plain flour
85g Castor sugar
1 1/2 tbsp baking powder
6 tbsp crunchy peanut butter
60 g unsalted butter
1 large egg
175 ml milk
3 bars of 65g each..snicker bars

So i stirred the flour, sugar , baking powder and a pinch of salt together..
added the peanut butter and mixed it all together till it was a bowl of course crumbs...
oh ! i also put in half a jar of nutella ..because i love it...
beat the eggs and melted butter together and then added it to the milk and then gently added it into the bowl of dry ingredients ......used 2 eggs as our eggs are smaller..
cut up the snicker bars into tiny bits and also ate up the extra bar...ha ha ha
I then scooped them into tiny bite size muffin trays and baked them for 25 minutes....

Have to say that the melting snicker bars with the caramel oozing into the muffin mix drives u a little mad if you are inhaling that aroma in your kitchen while thinking of Bryan Adam's crooning "if you love a woman" ...lethal i say....
170 degrees and 25 minutes down these lovely nutty chocolaty beautiful muffins were out of my oven...and as i toppled them on to my counter table ...i was thinking i have just enough time to go get a blow dry and come back in time to do a frosting for these babies and send them with Zeke and Zene to Dhruv's 6th beach birthday party...
So 45 minutes later with my beautiful blow dry in place ...I get down and dirty again with the cutest blue colour frosting which i made with

1/2 cup margarine
1/2 cup nutralite
4 cups icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla essence
2 tbsp milk
wilton blue colour

i loved the bright blue and finished all my muffins ...
They really looked cute ..but not half as cute as the birthday boy having fun with his friends.....
so armed with presents and muffins and scones ...Zeke and Zene left for Dhruv's birthday party...
meanwhile...i hurriedly got into a pair of jeans and a t-shirt and , Arshad and me sped of ...err i mean crawled our way in the Mumbai traffic to the concert..
Reached exactly 15 minutes before Bryan hit the stage..

We were in the VVIP enclosure...very very sweet of Sunil and Mana Shetty to invite us..
But seriously we were sooooo far away from the stage ..that it just did not feel right and i felt like crying...
He was soooooo far away and the speakers were just not making my heart thump....I was sooo upset ...this is no way to watch a concert..i wanted to be in the middle of that crowd hanging on that security railing..screaming..singing...and just merging with the music...but that never happened .......

I left the concert cribbing about how this is not right and how we should have been closer to stage and blah blah blah...and realised .....

Oh my God i have hosted live concerts with Bryan Adams, Boy Zone, Ricky Martin, Peter Andre ub40, Boney.M, Lou Bega, Stephan Gately(bless his soul), Code Red , Enrique Iglesias , MC Hammer , Air Supply and the MTV Video Music Awards in the year 2000 from the radio-city music hall...and mostly all of our fantastic Indian musicians and singers......and some artists I have forgotten..... I think , because its been soooo long back...

And i just thanked God for giving me this fantastic life and for giving me these fantastic opportunities..
Also said a little prayer for Natasha Malhotra my boss at MTV...who i thought made my life crazy...but all she did was push me to do better than i thought i could do...
(She is now with Disney and gave Mini and my kids the best time ever when we all went to the Hongkong Disney Land)

We'll what can i say...these are nostalgic muffins and i time -travelled with them ...so not only are they yummy ,but also very very special because they were made for one of Zeke's best buddy's 6th birthday...

I don't know if Zeke or Dhruv will ever remember this day or the muffins ..but i sure will...
'TIME-TRAVEL TRUE- BLUE SNICKER MUFFINS" made with lotsa love only from "Maria's Kitchen"