Bread katori chaat

I am simply amazed at the variety and the talent all the lovely bloggers have got! With blogging, suddenly the world seems so boundless and so small at the same time. Boundless because there dosent seem to be any end for talent, the more you explore, the more you get to know..small bcoz it has made sharing so simple. Gone are the days when we used to sit in front of tv, waiting for our favs and jotting down the recipes. Now the wonderful recipes are just clicks away, thanks to the fabulous bloggers for sharing their styles, innovations and experiences.

You all have become my online gurus :) Have also learnt that cooking is not just cooking, it is a work of art. It uses all our senses, sight, smell, touch, taste and sound..

All of this started with one such amazing blogger, my co-sister Sonal bhabhi. Started following her blog and trying the recipes, and now I am hooked forever!

I am not a very good cook, but with this vast store of knowledge, I too have embarked upon my culinary journey.

Tried this wonderful recipe by Pari. I must say for the first timer, it came out really well. I followed the same method, hence linking to the original recipe here. Thanks for the wonderful recipe. This is an excellent snack/starter for any party (kids will just love it!)

Quilling - Baby Card

Created this card for my daughter, who is 2 months young today! Happy two monthly birthday darling :)

She is our little sunshine. Through this card, I wanna welcome her to this world, which has become more beautiful with her.

Wanted to create somthing for her, but with all the hospital visits and household stuff was not getting enough time. I am new to this blogging world, just stumbled upon the quill pill challenge, and to my pleasure the challenge was what i wanted to make already. Hence decided not to delay it further. This is my first ever participation in an event in this blogshpere.

Oil Painting - Childhood memories

This is my first try with oil paint on canvas. Also for the first time I used actual photographs as a inspiration.This is a scene captured when I was in US. Me and 3 friends had gone to NY over a weekend (We stayed in NJ and NY was just 2 hrs away). My roomie and me wanted to ride bicycle for a long time. This was a wonderful opportunity!! It being summer, there were tulips all around.The four of us hired a bicycle each and off we started for the bike adventure in central park (for those who dont know, Central park is a biiiiig park, all the karan johar shoots are done here! remember KANK and the fountain! :)) We thought we'll cover half of it, as we had to return the bikes in 2 hr, however we missed the turn for half and ended up making a complete parikrama of the park!! We were damm tired, later we used to ride in the slope and get down from the bike during uphills!! Enjoying in between.This was one such small lake in the garden, were we got down (obviously for a photo shoot!!! ;)) There was this little kid with the elder, feeding the swan. It was a very beautiful picture in front of us, and could not stop ourselves from clicking them. Can never forget our bike adventure, it was worth every effort.

Oil painting in the making. Will post the completed version soon.

Culinary - Laccha Paratha

This is a very simple and beautiful paratha. It takes a little time to prepare each one, but when you get the praises and everyone enjoys it, then it becomes worth the effort! My husband likes it a lot with masala sabjis, best with bharwan masale baigan(eggpant). you can make it with your regular chapati flour without any additional ingredients.

ingredients:

1 cup wheat flour/aatta ( regular chapati dough )

salt to taste

1 tbsp ghee

1 tsp ajwain (optional)

method :

Take a lemon size ball of dough (1.5 times the size of regular chapati ball). Roll it out into full size, apply ghee allover the surface on one side. Sprinkle little dry flour and ajwain (optional). If you do not add salt in the dough, you can sprinkle little salt also. Cut the entire surface into thin strips around 1 cm think.

Keep the strip one on top of another, starting from the end. bring it till the middle. repeat the same for other end. the smaller strips will be on top and the longest ones will be at the bottom. roll the strips to form a pinwheel, stick the ends by pressing it.

Now gently spread this rolled pinwheel with the rolling pin(belan)

roast this on a hot girdle(tawa) from both sides. then with the help of tongs, roast it nicely on the flame of the gas (like chapati) You can make it more crispy depending on preference, but make sure it is not uncooked, since it is quiet thick.

Apply ghee lavishly and serve hot with any masala curry.

Scrapbook - Love

This was also one of my hobbies I started during my US trips. In India we have such a busy social life, outside India, you get some more time to invest in your hobbies.

Me being a big fan of photographs and craft, scrapbooking was a good way to express both of them at a go!

Created this page for my hubby. The picture is from our second HM in australia! Australia is full of lovely beaches, this is from one of the beach called squeaky beach. Yes! the sand does make a squeaky sound when we walk on it, somthing like baby boots :)

Pencil sketch - Concentration

Increased the contrast
Original Sketch