A Peek into my Life

I am back after what looks like a summer vacation. The schools have reopened for the new academic year after the much-needed summer break. For us, it was a very refreshing and revitalizing break because we spent a month at my parent's place. The distance and the change in routine allow us to look at our regular routine with a new pair of eyes and see what can be changed to make it better. The daughter used to eat oatmeal cooked in milk with some cinnamon and sugar before leaving for school every day. She thought something to drink is more appropriate in the early morning and much quicker to finish in the rush to catch the school bus. I feel just drinking milk does not have the staying power to pull her through till the 9:30 am breakfast break in school. One day she, me and my mom had a casual discussion and came up with this smoothie which she is happy to drink before leaving for school. Banana and dates add sweetness, fiber and good nutrition. Oats up the fiber content and add...

Last week, I invited some friends over for a casual dinner. It was a chaat inspired menu. We started with a chana chaat and a drink I just doctored up with apple and lemon juice and some ginger ale and spices. We then moved on to paav bhaji. We ended the evening with custard topped with bananas, walnuts, and chocolate. Tangy Apple Lemonade (without sugar) I was planning to make an Indian style lemonade (nimbu sherbat). But then I thought I should try to make a drink without adding any sugar. I had an unopened jug of apple juice sitting around and frankly, we were never going to drink it straight. I thought of using the apple juice as a sweetner. It worked out great. The drink was very tangy. The salt and the spices made it taste a bit like jal jeera. It was a perfect match for the chaat menu. We mixed our drinks with ginger ale to add the fizz and sweetness. Method Mix 2 cups of apple juice with 1/2 cup of lemon juice. Add 1/4 tsp each of salt, kala namak (pink ...

Last year, I had an appetizer and dessert party for the holidays. I had 5 different appetizers and desserts. I also added some homemade hot chocolate, pumpkin spice latte and rose lemonade for drinks. It took a lot of planning and almost a week of preparation to pull off comfortably. For the drinks, I kept a thermos of hot milk and the hot chocolate mix and pumpkin spice mix separately. The rose lemonade, ice and seltzer formed the cold drinks part. I only have the pictures of the dessert table which was set up beforehand. The appetizers were in the oven, to keep warm. There were around 12 people invited to the party and I grossly overestimated the amount of food that would be needed. I did not realise that one person cannot eat 5 different appetizers and 5 different desserts in a single night :) (specially since appetizers and desserts are generally so rich). I made 12-15 servings of each item. At the end of the night, I was packing food for the guests to eat as breakfast or lun...

Spring is finally here! The temperatures are warmer and cool drinks are in order specially since I am avoiding turning on the air-conditioning. We need to conserve some electricity after a looong spell of running the heating. The king of hot weather drinks here is the lemonade. There have been times when we used to buy bottles of lemonade from the store but not any more. The store-bought lemonade does not taste that good and has lots of unwanted chemical ingredients. And when it is so easy to make, who needs storebought anyway? If I haven't managed to convince you yet, it is very cost effective. How cost effective, you ask? Lets see : Storebought bottle of lemonade costs 2.6$ for 2 litres (67.6 oz) Homemade lemonade : A bag of lemons is also about 2.6$ sugar costs about 3$ This amount gives me 20 cups (160 oz) of lemonade So, cost for 2 litres of homemade lemonade comes to around 1.2 $ Saving : 1.4 $ per 2L bottle of lemonade Enough with the maths, lets get on to what...