Strawberry Cake

About a week back, Mom surprised us with some dessert on a Thursday night. No such rule that NO desserts on a week-day but just you know how it feels nice to have something delicious in the middle of the week.

And I was lucky because I had got home early that evening and so dinner was relaxed and then a plateful of this cake. If there is something mom cherishes in desserts it's always been strawberries and cheese-cakes. But this is just a plain "strawberry cake". The cake was from Gaylord @ Churchgate and Mom made the strawberry cream at home.

Tomato Soup & Malaysian Noodles

A few Sundays back, I was sick - really sick. But I had spent that week thinking I would cook on the weekend and I didn't want anything to stop me. So I decided to cook something which would help me relieve my cold. Lucky me, as I was thinking Mr. Sanjeev Kapoor had already made my life easy, my giving a lovely soup recipe on that Sunday Mid-Day's edition.

Tomato & Basil Soup
This soup is an excellent choice for somebody who loves tomato soups. The extra essence of the basil and other ingredients make it very tasty. Just a bit of warning: This ain't a very simple soup to make. Lots of effort went into grinding the ingredients and give it that rich taste. But trust me worth the efforts, after all - Mom appreciated the soup very much. And let's not forget without her I am a lost soul in the kitchen. Thanks Mom!

Malaysian style noodles
I'll be honest, I dived into this one for only the egg pieces which I think were the only highlight of the noodles. I don't know, maybe I didn't do it right, but it turned out quite bland and kind of dry also. But what I mixed some Maggi Chilly sauce and it became a bit tastier. Top it all, not my choice, I like my noodles to be nice & juicy with some gravy in them. Share a recipe if you have something.

Boss ka birthday cake

It was boss ka birthday at office. And anyone who knows boss, knows how much he hates chocolate cake. So on his birthday, chocolate cake was a complete NO NO. Actually he celebrates his birthday with one more colleague at office, so it was double celebration in one single cake. Birdy's is the regular outlet where we get all our celebratory cakes from. This time it was a Blueberry+Kiwi cake. Yummy. Very soft, creamy and delicious.

It's easy to know when a cake has been a good choice or no. Where there is a fight among all for a second helping, you know the cake has been a "hit" and everyone has liked it. Birthday's are so much fun at office.

Tags: Birthday , Birthday Cake , Blueberry , Kiwi

Baked a cake

This is getting dangerous. Every time I have some free time and I am not too tired, I end up in the kitchen cooking up something or the other. Ash was having pot dinner at his house and I decided to use that Saturday's holiday for some better use. So it was time to get baking.

I have no skills to make a cake, but when you have the ready-to-eat why worry. The instructions on the cake made it look like a real simple thing, so it wasn't that big a challenge. All was going well, until it was 20 minutes into the oven, when the cake started to burst it's stomach. And instead of shaping like a nice flat plateau it shaped up like a swollen volcano waiting to burst out it's lava.

But I believe, in food presentation is very important. So to cover up that big burst I whipped some fresh cream and covered it carefully to make it a very natural shape. I think it was a pretty messy finish, but I am glad Mom & sister appreciated the same and give me the thumbs-up to take it to Ash's party. Well, at the party nobody even realized it was a packet cake- I can't wait to tell them or have them read the true story here.

Tags: Betty Crocker , Cake , Baking , Fresh Cream

Free Style Salad

Three days of holiday and I had not stepped into the kitchen for even a moment. Diwali means restrictions on food - No onion, No garlic. Which basically limits my choice of food which I can experiment with. Thursday evening out of sheer boredom and a pang of hunger I finally stepped in. One look at the stuffed up refrigerator and I decided that it's going to be a nice cold salad before the dinner is served tonight.

I was in no mood to dig out any recipes or see any books for help. So it was a free-style salad that I mopped up. Lots of vegetables like cucumber, tomatoes, cabbage and olives - sliced, pieced or grated as you feel. (That's the best part of free-style).

Some tips from the not-so expert chef on ways to make the salad interesting.

• Use olive oil, gives salads a very distinct taste
• Salad Dressing - I hate dry stuff (This is one of the only reasons I hate salads, at times)
• Make sure the vegetables are cut fine - large pieces can be a little irritating

So that's it for now. Saturday night could be pot-dinner at Ash's place. If I get free time, I am going to cook up something too.

Tags: Salad , Vegetables , Tomatoes , Cheese , Sliced Cheese , Olive Oil