DAY 36 :ALPHA AND OMEGA SINS IN A ROLL

Woke up this morning with mixed feelings , this week has been great fun, I walked the ramp for the very 1st time on the 20th Sept 2010 at the Lakme Fashion week for Payal Singhal my stylist from way back when i was with MTV, we'll a lot lot lot has changed since then.......

And then today was the last day of my Spanish class, at Instituto Hispania Mumbai, no i did not learn to speak Spanish like i hoped to, but that is entirely my fault, but i met a bunch of varied and wonderful guys and girls and this is the most fun class i have done ever, i never ever wanted to miss class because it was full on entertainment, every body with all the enthusiasm to learn this beautiful language "Spanish", and every morning each would bring to class their unique brand of humour and their quirkiness, and in the middle of this Babylonian chaos, we had sweet soft spoken Tarana our "professor" who i think was going mad....but she managed to teach us all more than we expected....Vamos Vamos being the hot" favorita" expression for our unruly crazy fun bunch of "estudiantes "

And the cast of the class

Debanshu and Sukanya , the brother and sister duo who were always bickering sweetly, Debanshu of course shares his birthday with my little boy Zeke , so i was always observing him with much interest...and Sukanya who was great with the language...and was ready to eat the stuff i took to class with much enthusiasm...

Ranjini, the ever helpful one,who also paid for my coffee many times, thanks a ton...
(I do not drink coffee at all , but having coffee in class with everyone was just too much fun and a ritual that i wanted to be part of)

Kanika, the one who was the most studious amoungst us all and always did her home-work, and always sent me sweet encouraging messages, like a good mum does....

Siddesh, the rock star from Vasai , who was very funny and wrote hilarious conversations, about "what if" kinda situations..

Mansi , the pretty one who also is a chef, think most of the guys had a crush on her...

Anand, i always thought he was quiet, but he was mad funny had a great sense of humour and wanted to dance "en la jardin"

Uttara, the one who looks like "Freida Pinto " and was fabulous with picking up languages...

Maryn, was the voice , the boom , the constant chatter , the last word after we have been told to "shut up", she is adorable and kept the class alive ....

Sujay, the extremely intelligent and well behaved boy and the class topper, with a sweet innocent smile

Megha, i know she may not like this but , she was the baby of the class, still is in school and thankfully cannot do the finals like me ha ha ha , thanks for the company.....and the bad attendance....

Raina, the always in a hurry, just moved to Bombay, harrowed home-keper , but fantastic with her language

And Tarana our proffessor, who is just a doll, thank you so much for all your time and your effort, "eres un sol".....

And now .....MTV was so long time back that most of the stuff i had forgotten, Payal had moved on to New York , gotten married has a little boy and now has her own line called "PS", which is more loved by her husband than his 'PS2",ha ha ha , we lost touch , but thanks to FB , we kinda knew what all of us were upto, so when she sent me a message asking me to be part of her collection , i readily said yes...
"Chinki" as she is lovingly called by her friends , had a real funky sense of style and a sparkle in her eye and a spring in her step and it just made me feel really wonderful that she thought of me after all these years, thanks to Payal , i actually walked onto the Lakme alley of fashion, think she was even more nervous than me...
I loved what she gave me to wear and how normal , non fussy and easy she was to work with...Thank you Payal from the bottom of my heart...

And so this week made the same recipe as the cinnamon buns, but changed the filling...
As a dedication to Payal and her feminine, flowy, sexy, beautiful clothes, i made a filling of strawberry with chocolate , because it is sweet , tangy and very very seductive ....

And for my Spanish class an orange and chocolate filling , for their sense of adventure and fun...

I just used, orange and strawberry jam respectively and broken bits of chocolate, into the filling...

And poured a mix of the ingredients below on it.....
100 gm cream cheese
1 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
a pinch of salt
Bring all of the above to a boil and as soon as the buns are out of the oven, pour this mix over them and leave to cool...

Yummy, blissfull, gooey, little rolls of 'Strawberry and Orange sin" only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 35: ZOFF WENT OFF FOR A TOSS

And so i started off by making a zoff that i learned in baking college, but somewhere down the line i got greedy and wanted to add more ingredients, i met my friend Ruchi at little Sairah's birthday , and she was telling me that she looooveees zucchini bread with carrot....

And so mid way while i was making my zoff,i ransacked my fridge and found carrot and pumpkin ,so i very finely grated some carrot and yellow pumpkin and a small portion of cheese , and while i followed the same recipe as my loaf of bread, after it first rises , i beat it down and added my grated vegetables and cheese, i had to add more flour to the dough as it became very sticky with the added water content in the vegetables....

I then tried to shape it into my zoff...which of course did not happen , but i never give up until i do my best, so after many a wasted effort, i just rounded it up and laid it on my ready tray for a second proving....

It looked beautiful in a bit and quiet double in size, so into the oven it went at 200 degrees and 35 minutes....
Frankly just could not wait to bite into it, so as soon as it came out, i slathered some butter on the crust and waited for 10 minutes and cut a piece.....

On the inside it has an ever so slight tinge of the pumpkin orange and it was just yummy....

I have realised that if you experiment , you always come up with something different and yummy, so go on give it a try get out of your safe zone and take a chance...

The same in life i say, if you obey all the rules you miss all the fun....So as long as you not hurting anyone else ..walk a path less travelled...

As for me. i love bread fresh and hot out of the oven, and my kitchen has this awesome aroma of fresh bread wafting through, hmmmmm.....
Absolutely comforting and wholesome and hot ...hot...hot only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 34 : SAIRAH KABIR AND HER DORA PRINCESS YUMMY CAKE

And so after a mad and crazy holiday with my family and Mini and her family , we finally back in Bombay and getting ready for little Sairah's birthday, we'll after a lot of pulling and tugging I'm baking a Dora doll cake for Sairah who is turning 2..little S looks like a little pixie, little gossamer like hair , brown eyes and a petite structure , but she can pack a punch , bully her brother and yell as loud as Zene , guess that why they both get along.....
Well frankly after Mini got our little Dora doll home, now was the time to bake her skirt and decorate it, so i googled and came up with lotsa help, i loooove google...
Any way , i realised that our little Dora was no little waif like chica, she came from a family that ate wholesome meals like us and so she is well fed and healthy and that's what girls should be like.... well looked after and healthy...So i had to 1st search for a mould for a nice skirt so i put together my beautiful bunt and another dish that i actually bake my chicken in and now it looked right .....
Then bought myself a new bucket and proceeded to make the biggest cake i have ever baked , my help looked at me like ,"she is nuts", but frankly they now used to my funny ways....So here's what i did

Maida: 200 gm
Cocoa : 30 gm
Baking powder :1tsp
Soda bicarbonate : 1/2 tsp
1 Tin nestle condensed milk
Butter: 100 gm
Castor sugar :30 gm
milk or water :3/4 cup
Vanilla essence 1tsp

And so i sieved the dry ingredients twice together, so that you trap some air..
In a bowl beat the butter and the sugar, then add the condensed milk and beat it really well for about 7 minutes,add the milk or water ( i added water so that the sponge gets even lighter) and added 3/4 cup , then added the maida bit by bit , till it all looks like a lovely gooey chocolaty pool , adjust the water if you feel the batter is too stiff..

Of course i made this cake into 5 times the amount in a little blue tub, i then transferred it into my bunt and my huge tray and baked it for 1 hour 10 minutes at 180 degrees...

I then took it out of my oven and left it to cool all night, in the morning as i rushed for my Spanish class , i left it to further chill in my fridge...

After i got back from class i first made my frosting..

1 cup amul butter
1 cup nutralite
8 cups icing sugar
6tsp milk
1 tsp vanilla essence

Beat the amul butter and nutralite till it gets light and fluffy, then add the icing sugar bit by bit and also the milk, till it becomes a lovely consistency..
I also melted a kg of dark chocolate..
I then taped my little Dora up, and cello-taped her up so that she does not get spoilt, in fact i made a new dress and sleeves with ribbon , so that Dora does not need a bath , post Sairah's 2nd Birthday party ha ha ha
I cut each cake into 3 layers and put chocolate and frosting, one after the other in succession, so its a 6 layer cake with as much frosting and gooey chocolate...
Dora went into the centre , i then covered her cake evenly with frosting, and but her back in the fridge, felt quite bad as she looked into my big brown eyes with her big brown eyes, as saying "not in the fridge please" ...
Got her out in half an hour , divided my frosting , into white , yellow and mauve and went ahead and made her a pretty skirt....
Then called Mini to take take her home, just could not keep her because Zeke and Zene were constantly trying to pull out frosting with their cute little fingers...
Now if the kids like it, then all the effort is completely worth it.....

We'll the kids loved her and the adults too , so it was time we'll spent , only thing is she was cake enough for 3 more parties, but that's OK , we all love cake , so that's what we living on till she gets over....
So here is my 1st ever attempt at making a "Dora Princess Cake" beautiful and yummy for my little feisty Sairah Kabir , with all my love , straight from Maria's Kitchen.....

THE SWEET REMAINS OF THE DAY

Just made this with the remains of a birthday cake i was making for someone very sweet and thought i should share it, its easy and the recipe will be up in a day with the cake i made...
So for now enjoy.....

MY 1ST AD-FILM AFTER 10 YEARS....

Did my 1st ad shoot after 10 years and played a mum , which i am, with a kid obviously.... And a cow and a hen...
Now how glamorous is that....
And the cow stamped on my foot with his hoof ha ha ha ....
But i had a blast and looking forward to some more adventurous times like these...
Want to shoot with lions next........

DAY 33 :HAPPY BIRTHDAY LIL ZEKE

Today was a day unlike any other, i knew even while i was just about waking up that it would be a wonderful day, i woke up and went to just look at my Zeke , who was still fast asleep, he turned 6 years old today, my baby , my little boy....

He is just my little light..

Yup he is absolutely naughty , only loves Hindi music ,does funny weird dances and mostly fights with me, loves his sister Zene , but trips her if he gets a chance to and loves his Dada like only he can.....

He wakes up talking no matter what time it is , and still sucks his thumb while sleeping...

Remember holding him in my arms when he was born like it happened yesterday, he was a chonky, pink baby, blowing bubbles and showing us his middle finger, not intentionally of course , but its what we all remember....

Mini, Ritambhara, Kichie ,Sambo and Amit all waiting outside my delivery room waiting for him to be born , and Arshad giving all of them full commentary on whats happening , and Amit , getting me chocolate because i wanted to have chocolate while on my delivery table ha ha ha that's how Zeke came into the world ha ha ha

And so today, i just got into my kitchen and made tons of stuff, made his Clown birthday cake, jam rolls, red velvet muffins, pasta and baby burgers....

Had Mini, Jaya, Kichie and Shamim over, and Vivaan , Gia, Sairah and Burzin , Zene served us all Green tea in her toy tea-set, the boys ran around and i actually jumped a bit on the kiddies pogo stick , its great fun...

We ate , laughed and planned our holidays and did some harmless boy-bashing ha ha ha....while Arshad listened patiently to all our nonsense and clicked photos....

I could not have asked for anything better...

A day like this always helps me reiterate a simple fact, "ALL THE BEST THINGS IN LIFE ARE NOT THINGS"

To Zeke, the little man in my life , who i love more than everything in the world, may God always Bless him and always keep him safe in mind, body ,heart and soul....

'Happy Birthday My Lil Shooting Star"

P.S. :Will put up all the recipes as soon as i get time.....G'night n God bless

KANGKONG IN MY GARDEN

Supremely happy with myself, because i have kangkong growing in my terrace garden, its beautiful , lush green and so much fun to just pull out and cook....very very happy...
Think all of us must try and grow a few basic things ... because its so simple to, also have basil and lemon grass...

DAY 32 :LAZY DECADENT CINNAMON ROLLS

Today was a wonderful free day after very very long, so actually spent the day trying to catch up with my Spanish but eventually was in the kitchen trying out new stuff, that i found with the pioneer woman, its so very satisfying to be able to make something tasty from sweet nothings,spent most of my morning playing tiger mama to my cub Zene, we then spent a lazy lazy time watching TV, and then there were a few things that i wanted to make, so googled and found some amazing sure shot recipes, so went ahead and cooked and baked till my kitchen looked happy, oh also growing kangkong in my garden and basil and lemon grass so really happy about it... have been just running from the time school started in June , and so love this break, actually i bunked class....ha ha ha

So here goes

Lazy decadent cinnamon rolls
1cup milk
1/4 cup vegetable oil
1/4 cup sugar
yeast
2 cups all purpose flour and an extra cup on the side
1/4 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
plenty of melted butter
1/4 cup Castor sugar
powdered cinnamon

Mix the milk , vegetable oil and sugar in a pan over fire and stop heating it just as you feel its going to boil, leave it to cool for at least an hour...
When the mix is luke warm add the yeast , i always add an amount i really do not know how much, but it somehow comes out right...let this mix sit for about 3 minutes or till you see the yeast acting up...
add the flour to this mix , but don't forget to keep aside that extra 1 cup of flour..
This should be set aside undisturbed till it doubles in size...
Now you add the extra flour , the baking powder, the baking soda and the salt ,it becomes a beautiful soft malleable dough...
now we are ready, so sprinkle some flour onto your work table, and roll the dough thin and in the shape of a rectangle...when you feel its thin enough , pour onto it a generous amount of melted butter and them the cinnamon powder, please don't be stingy with either , oh and no we are not on a diet and never will be , so now that we have settled that, we now start rolling in the dough towards us , and slightly tight, what i did is i let the butter freeze a bit so that it did not all spill out as i rolled the dough....
Pinch the seam to seal it all, then cut the roll in 1'' pieces and arrange them away from one another in a well greased cooking tray...
Cover with a wet muslin cloth and let it rest ...In about an hour , these rolls will have puffed out and look ready to put into the oven ...
I baked them for 20 minutes at 170 degrees, but you need to keep an eye on them, because all our ovens behave differently...
As soon as they came out of the oven i poured this frosting i made with a mix of sugar, milk , coffee and some maple syrup...

And then waited a bit , like 5 minutes so that i do not burn my hands and pulled out a piece and bit into a very warm piece of aaaahhhhhhhhhh with frosting pouring down on it....
Wonderful, yummy and really delicious "LAZY DECADENT CINNAMON ROLLS" only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 31: HOLA DE LA PIZZA

And so i spent the afternoon today kneading dough to make pizza dough and a cheese bread, I'm having too much fun baking and do not want to do anything else at the moment, but today because i put in a little extra water ,my right forearm nearly had a chance of competing with Popeye's forearm , that's how much i had to knead it while putting the flour in so that i had the right consistency of dough, but all's well that ends well, and so as i rubbed in the olive oil , i kind of was feeling like singing" besame, besame mucho" and getting into a full scale soprano mode and was dreaming of tossing the pizza dough in the air ....gosh i really do have a fertile imagination ha ha ha and love every "pequeno" bit of it..

Follow exactly what i did for the bread loaf , but just substitute the margarine for the olive oil, and add some ajwain into the flour, i also sliced some garlic into the dough , because i like garlic in my food, when the dough has risen, you beat it down , and then divide the dough into sections depending on how big , thick or thin you like your pizza base, and roll out your dough, put it onto a flat baking surface and blind bake it for about 8-10 minutes, it comes out wonderful and crisp, also because i made the base really thin.....

Got it out added my pizza sauce, and added vegetables , a variety of them and a super helping of cheese, put it back in the oven and kept a watchful eye , because i love my cheese to be just about melted gooey and slightly brown ......
it took about 10 minutes more .....And then the moment Zeke , my house help and me were all waiting for....
Took it out, it had a wonderful aroma that in sure you get all over in Italy , oh forgot before i took it out , put some fresh basil (which i now grow at home along with , kangkong , coriander, lemon grass and a little mint) and just threw it onto the melted cheese , ooooh that aroma is to die for, took it out in less than a minute, cut it into slices and clicked a photograph , very very quickly , before it was dived into and devoured, lovely fresh yummy pizza, sprinkled with chilli flakes and oregano, hot and cheeesy, delivered with a piroutte only from "Maria's Kitchen"

DAY 30: MUAH PAVLOVA

This is something that i saw Nigella Lawson make on TV and i just had to try it, it looked easy and very very tasty and frankly because i really do not count calories and "THINK THIN" i did what i love doing, i googled the recipe and loved the history , this particular dessert got its name after the beautiful Russian ballerina Anna Pavlova visited New Zealand and Australia in 1926 and 1929 respectively and both the countries claim that this is their tribute to the woman who danced to "Swan Lake" like no one has, they wanted to make something really special and delicate and airy and light that would do justice to all that Anna the ballerina stood for ,and that's how the pavlova came into being ...

I love to have "pavlovas " because they are easy to make but are difficult to bake , but once you get it right, its the yummiest and lightest dessert you can have... i love them most with fresh cream and strawberries but mangoes are nice too.....

PAVLOVA

5 egg whites

1 pinch salt

1 1/2 tsp white wine vinegar

2 cups Castor sugar

1 1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Pre-heat the oven to 220 degrees, but you will be turning it down to 130 when you put the meringue in to bake

Combine the egg whites and salt in a large bowl and beat with an electric beater, until you get nice soft peaks, then start adding the sugar a table-spoon at a time so that enough of air gets trapped with the whisking, then add the vanilla and the vinegar, your mix is ready..

Pour it out on to a grease proof paper on a flat baking surface...

And i pour it into a mound and make a well in the center and just stroke the sides with a fork , so that you get this uneven beautiful "tutu" thats begs to be dressed with fresh cream and fruits when ready....if done right it does look like a ballerinas skirt adorned with exotic fruit.....

Bake it at 130 degrees for 3 hours, or until it is nice and crisp and a pale straw colour...then turn the oven off and keep it over night without opening the oven , the next morning open the oven and you will have ,staring at you one of the lightest and melt in the mouth kind of experiences when you bite into it, all you do is whip some fresh cream , i use the fresh cream you get from Parsi dairy farm, i love that , chop seasonal fruits and dress the pavlova with a generous helping of fresh cream and garnish with fruits .........yummmmmmm

Must also tell you that this is the 4th time I'm making it , the 1st time , i read the recipe and thought i was too cool , because i got it all right , but like i said it all about the baking , and so yup my pavlova rose, looked beautiful and i was so happy , i checked the crispiness and it was all like it should be , so i put the oven off and was all set to leave it all night in the oven, went to check on it before i went off to sleep , And lo! and Behold some body had stolen my pavlova , it was just not there, i was like "what the hell happened", i opened my oven and there on the grease paper lay my pavlova , it was a PAPAD, i was heart broken and could not believe that this could happen to something so beautiful, and so learnt a lesson ...

To maintain that beautiful airy happy fluffiness , it needed the right amount of warmth for the right amount of time, not more not less , and only then will the pavlova rise to the occasion and smile back at you...

Actually cooking food for me is like being in a beautiful relationship, it has to be given enough of warm love and care or the most beautiful thing will shrivel up and perish...

Oh ! God, think its the rains, that's getting me all gooey...

So here's presenting, with a lot of warm love and care, "Muah Pavlova" fresh , mouth melting , topped with fresh cream and gorgeous fruits, only from "Maria's Kitchen".....