Baked Samosas - a party snack

While i am idly browsing through food blogs, songs from the movie 'Baazigar' reach my ear from far. Suddenly i feel nostalgic for a Shahrukh movie. I feel an urge to write, sudden inspiration from an unexpected source. I used to be a big fan, used to enjoy the silliness; i have become indifferent. I can't claim to be a fan anymore when the last movie i watched on the big screen was some five years ago and that too in a movie theater in London. There it seemed important that 'Billu' be given his due. Back in India i don't care; I can't make time. I should go watch his next release, just for old times sake. Anybody wanna go watch with me? And sponsor the popcorn ? Or some samosa?

No Bake Eggless Mango Cheesecake - Indian version

This will make people go wow and firmly establish you as a great home cook. This mango season and you need to quickly find an excuse to make this. So you can make it a few more times before the season ends. And once you do, you might want to grab as many mangoes as you can and stuff your freezer with them, so you can make it again and again throughout the year. Considering how great this looks with minimal effort, this is sure to become your fall-back item for parties, celebrations or potlucks. You may even want to invent a few celebratory events. The toddler didn't fall flat on his face today. Yay! Let's have cheesecake.

My first party with homemade snacks

We don't get many visitors at my home. When they do come, they don't stay long. When they do stay its usually unplanned and with no time to cook a meal at home. We'd suddenly realise it was dinner time and order some biryanis. And this was never for more than four people. You can now safely assume that i don't have much experience in entertaining people at my home. You can also probably imagine how tensed i was when i had to host a pre-planned snacks party for eight and it was expected that whatever was served would be made by me.

Garlic dough balls

Turns out i am a very sensitive person. I will ask you to give me your honest opinion about something and if you honestly agree with my point of view, all is well. If instead you were to tell me you don't like what i did, i can get cross with you and pretty upset too. This state of being may not last for a long time, but that is the first state i get into. Of course i know better than to let you know i was upset. Because you see, after everything's said and done, i still want only your honest opinion. If you found out i got upset, and you really have a regard for my feelings, i can never trust your honesty again the next time you agree with me. The lesson to be drawn from this is that sensitive people have no business asking for honesty. And if honesty is really your thing, you have no right being sensitive. Unless you are me and you are stuck with both, you just gotta learn to live with one honest opinion at a time.

Mom's favourite Banana Oats Wholewheat Bread

Let me come straight out and say it. My mom is a health nut. I know i am supposed to value half my audience when there are only 2 people reading this whole thing, but hey its true. And she doesn't look like she is going to get cured of it anytime soon. I mean i 've been waiting for what thirty odd years now. I 've learnt to pick my battles when discussing what food is good for you. That is, not pick any when the person on the other end is mom. It's then easier to change sides and quickly jump over to the winning side.

So while my bakes have been commended by one and all, mom has, at best, been quiet about them or gently chided me on why these sugar laden goods with white flour are not really the best for me or anybody. Consequently, when picking a recipe to bake for mom, i hesitantly picked one that i thought had a fighting chance. Little did i know that it was going to be a huge triumph. That this simple bread would be raved about and second helpings would be asked for. And i would finally get unequivocal praise on my bakes from highly health-conscious mom. Of course, she did suggest that i could have done completely without the sugar in this recipe. So there :-)

Fresh Strawberry Cake for my wonderful neighbours

I have wonderful neighbours. They love my cake. This one woman especially, who has a big sweet tooth, always sends me a message telling me how much she likes my cake after every new experiment. And then praises it again when she sees me in the balcony. She's half my inspiration for trying out new cakes, including this. So i 've made friends with this set of women who live in the apartment block next door and they were planning a potluck to celebrate New Year's Eve. I was told about it, invited, then reminded and persuaded to also attend. While i declined giving all sorts of excuses that included the in-laws, the husband and the little one; i still could not throw away an opportunity to share my 'apparently famous' cake baking skills.

Homemade Fried Chicken inspired by KFC

I never really wrote for myself. Though i loved writing prose from as long as i can remember. Writing a good piece made me happy, but it was never enough. I needed the high from someone else telling me how good it was. And so i never wrote without an audience in mind. Now i sit in front of the computer to update my blog and find that i have lost my audience. (understandably of course, because who waits a year and more to find out what you are up to and what eats interest you) And i realize it really is time for me to write for myself. To get lost in my words, so that they may make me happier than what i am. To find paths through my mind that will excite me, as i walk the same old roads everyday in the physical world. To accept that it's alright to not always have to be proclaimed as the best, just to be the best within your unchangeable circumstances without giving in to despair. I need to put these into written words to believe them, to read again when that despair starts to creep up.