Hmmm.... finally took the plunge and have decided to start blogging.... Not sure what I will blog about but I guess anything is worth a try?
Have called it random ramblings.... which is what it will be I guess.
Now, let me see.... what shall I ramble about today.... about my attempts at cooking?
I have been curious about Martha Stewart and would watch her programs on telly sometimes. She is quite an amazing woman - but I do have mixed feelings about her - .... her website is quite a mother lode of information about household/housewifey stuff - cooking, sewing, gardening etc. Now that I am here sitting in Doha wondering what to do with myself and often forced to go into this huge kitchen that we have, I find that website very inspirational.
I wish I had access to this kitchen when I first got married and came to Guwahati to set up house.... My dream in those days was to make the perfect roast chicken and back a decent cake!!! I used to turn the pages of this wonderful Marguitte Patten cookbook that Smita and Ashok Banerjee gave me as a wedding gift and sigh!. I did have a Baby Belling oven that I had bought off Mrs Banerjee (of Grant Advertising days!! - wonder where and how she is now?) and made a few sporadic attempts and it took a long time and many disasters, before I could put together anything half decent on that oven.
Anyway, to come back to yesterday, I took a stab at making Spicy Carrot Cake and a Leek Soup earlier.
The Carrot cake was based on John Barricelli's recipe - I used butter instead of vegetable oil - decided to double the ingredients thinking I would make two cakes... one to take to Moni Das' place - Moni , Pallavi actually, is a lovely young woman from Tezpur (worked earlier with TDMS!) who lives here in Doha - her husband Palash works here and they have two sweet kids called Monma and Monpa !!!. Moni's hasnt been well and had to be hospitalised earlier in the week for a saline drip and they will shifting house soon !!!
Back to the cake......it came out okay, but didnt look like it had twice the ingredients though....so I ended up taking a large squarish chunk of it across later to Moni's place. That wretched sugar glacing however didnt work out so well.... it didnt have the nice random zig zag dripped over glacing look that John showed in his video....my glace was probably too thin and so it soon got absorbed into the cake ....
But then, the proof of the pudding is in eating I guess - so when Moni's fussy son Monpa, took a piece and ate it, I thought - there is hope for me yet?
The Leek Soup worked out okay. Surfed the net for a long time looking for recipes and videos on youtube on how to cut and wash the leeks..... learned that you dont really use the long green leafy part, just the stems and a little bit above it. You also have to wash it well as it can be gritty. Finally made the soup in my own tried and tested way - tempering a little oil with bayleaf and peppercorns then adding the washed and chopped leeks and some garlic, adding water and letting it boil for a bit.... I added two good ole Magi Chicken soup cubes and it came together quite well.... Now in hindsight I wish I had added some chicken too..... the husband had two bowls of soup for lunch and so I can tuck that under my belt of tested recipes too! Hah..
Have called it random ramblings.... which is what it will be I guess.
Now, let me see.... what shall I ramble about today.... about my attempts at cooking?
I have been curious about Martha Stewart and would watch her programs on telly sometimes. She is quite an amazing woman - but I do have mixed feelings about her - .... her website is quite a mother lode of information about household/housewifey stuff - cooking, sewing, gardening etc. Now that I am here sitting in Doha wondering what to do with myself and often forced to go into this huge kitchen that we have, I find that website very inspirational.
I wish I had access to this kitchen when I first got married and came to Guwahati to set up house.... My dream in those days was to make the perfect roast chicken and back a decent cake!!! I used to turn the pages of this wonderful Marguitte Patten cookbook that Smita and Ashok Banerjee gave me as a wedding gift and sigh!. I did have a Baby Belling oven that I had bought off Mrs Banerjee (of Grant Advertising days!! - wonder where and how she is now?) and made a few sporadic attempts and it took a long time and many disasters, before I could put together anything half decent on that oven.
Anyway, to come back to yesterday, I took a stab at making Spicy Carrot Cake and a Leek Soup earlier.
The Carrot cake was based on John Barricelli's recipe - I used butter instead of vegetable oil - decided to double the ingredients thinking I would make two cakes... one to take to Moni Das' place - Moni , Pallavi actually, is a lovely young woman from Tezpur (worked earlier with TDMS!) who lives here in Doha - her husband Palash works here and they have two sweet kids called Monma and Monpa !!!. Moni's hasnt been well and had to be hospitalised earlier in the week for a saline drip and they will shifting house soon !!!
Back to the cake......it came out okay, but didnt look like it had twice the ingredients though....so I ended up taking a large squarish chunk of it across later to Moni's place. That wretched sugar glacing however didnt work out so well.... it didnt have the nice random zig zag dripped over glacing look that John showed in his video....my glace was probably too thin and so it soon got absorbed into the cake ....
But then, the proof of the pudding is in eating I guess - so when Moni's fussy son Monpa, took a piece and ate it, I thought - there is hope for me yet?
The Leek Soup worked out okay. Surfed the net for a long time looking for recipes and videos on youtube on how to cut and wash the leeks..... learned that you dont really use the long green leafy part, just the stems and a little bit above it. You also have to wash it well as it can be gritty. Finally made the soup in my own tried and tested way - tempering a little oil with bayleaf and peppercorns then adding the washed and chopped leeks and some garlic, adding water and letting it boil for a bit.... I added two good ole Magi Chicken soup cubes and it came together quite well.... Now in hindsight I wish I had added some chicken too..... the husband had two bowls of soup for lunch and so I can tuck that under my belt of tested recipes too! Hah..
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