2011 - A Year to Remember, A Year to Forget

"It was the best of times, It was the worst of times, It was the age of wisdom, It was the age of foolishness,
It was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity,
It was the season of Light, It was the season of Darkness,
It was the Spring of Hope, It was the Winter of Despair,
I had Everything before Me, I had Nothing before Me"

- A Tale of Two Cities (Charles Dickens)

Nothing could be as apt to sum up my year.

I moved Cities, I moved Homes, I moved jobs... I moved, moved, moved... and achieved some semblence of normalcy in my life.

I experienced the joys of having Time on my hands, a precious commodity for someone who did everything by the clock for two years...
I experienced the downfalls of having too much time to think, unfortunate for someone who got time to think after a long time.

I returned to baking like a long lost lover... It has been my help and support system throughout the year... I could not have had a complete year without all that butter, flour & sugar in my kitchen... not to mention all the other exotic stuff that kept popping up.

I took to smartphone like a fish to water... I always thought I was a technophobe... I love my Samsung S2 and I love love taking pictures with it too. The DSLR can wait till I have more saved up.

I enjoyed work... But I refused to bring it home with me... I had a year where I dint get stressed about work after I got back home... (Touch Wood.... hope things dont change from tomorrow)

I lost too many people this year... in relationships and to life after... All of them really painful...

I did not shop too much this year... Figured I could survive on the clothes I had...

My crockery collection grows bigger... all of them different pieces and nothing in a set. I hope to be an adult soon and start getting full sets.

I went without TV for 3 months of 2011... I loved it! Actually, still loving it... with no plans to get a TV soon... It gave me time to cook, read and only watch the shows I really liked on my comp. And of course, lots of time to think and work out stuff!

I survived two family weddings this year :-) a little fun, a little difficult, but then whats life without either of them.

I miss Bombay and life back there. But I can't turn back time, and I am quite ok with Now.

I met new people, made new friends, forgot some old people and kept in touch with ones who really mattered.

I visit home a lot more,  I've learnt to have long conversations on phone with my Mum.

I still dont talk much, I've become more of a recluse, my extended family is mostly scared of me.

I wake up everyday not feeling scared, not feeling worried, not feeling tensed, not feeling stressed. Not too much else a person can ask for.

I did a lot of soul searching, called up astrologers, went to church on Thursdays, but still have a mental block on going to church on Sundays.

I believe astrology is math & science.... but you really need some divine intervention to figure out such complicated math :-) not too many people out there have gotten it right.

I felt on top of the world when I got my Macarons right... I almost cried after the third attempt when i thought I'd gotten it right and the feet dint come out at all... But I whipped up the courage to try it out again and used my senses instead of just sticking to a recipe and instructions and voila! it turned out all right.

I've come to trust my taste buds a lot more... a lot lot more...

I'm getting closer and closer to figuring out what I want to do in life... afterall i've had 31 years to think it out...

I've realised that rather that retiring at 40, why not do something I enjoy my whole life?

I found me this year... From all the despair, struggle, soul searching, there seems to be a ray of light, a streak of hope... what more could I have asked of 2011?

Now the only thing to do is - "Wait & Hope" - My favourite quote from my favourite book.. ( Doesn't matter the book is all about revenge... it remains my favourite from the time I turned 10)

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PS: I also hope to be less abrasive in 2012, eat a lot healthier and make the most of my time whatever I do.

Apple Pie

Ingredients

For Pie Crust
All Purpose Flour - 2 cups
Cold Butter - 200 gms
Chilled Water - 2 tbsps

For the Filling
Apples - 3 peeled, cored and cut long
Brown Sugar - 4 tbsps
Lime Juice - 1/2 lime
Powdered Cinnamon - Sprinke Sprinkle Sprinkle

How
I use the same pie crust for both sweet and savoury pies. Find it simple and easy to replicate and not a very complicated recipe to remember.
The recipe calls for cold butter, there is a science behind this... Call me sometime and I'll tell you what it is...
But anyway the easiest way to do this I figure is to cut up the chilled butter to tiny pieces. Now rub this into the flour with your fingers... if you're funky and savvy and have a blender with a paddle attach good for you... I dont have one... hence I use my fingers. People say use two knives.. too complicated for me...
Now the trick is to keep the butter cold... so work really fast.. Knead it till it all holds together add a little bit of chilled water as required just so it all holds together (I used to hate it when people said add water as required... but there is actually no strict measurement for it. U get the hang of it after a couple of pies)
Make two balls/discs of it, one larger than the other. Cover in cling film and chill in fridge for a while.

While the pastry mix is chilling, mascerate the apples in sugar and lime juice for half an hour.... strain the apples from the juice... Now reduce the juice over a stove... Adding a knob of butter to it makes it really yumm even if it makes you heavy around the hips...

Take the chilled pastry mix from the fridge... Roll the larger one out to around 1/8th inch. I dont go by this roll... I roll it out till it barely holds together... And when it doesnt hold together i just stick it together :-) Am not a perfectionist... now gently tip it to your 8" pie dish...Let it plop over the sides... the better to flip it over with :-P. Now fit it nice and tight inside the pie tin without actually tearing it too much. Dont worry about buttering the dish... cos the pastry already has enough butter in it. Place all the chopped apples inside... Pour the reduced juice over it... Roll out the other pastry for the pie cover... Place it gently on top of the pie dish. Fold the lower one over the top one... now scrimp and primp to make the edges look all nice and pretty.. You could cut it too... Now with a knife make a cross across the top pastry... this is to give enough room to let the steam escape... If you want to feel all nice and pretty take a cookie cutter make nice shapes out of the spare dough and stick it on top.

Bake in a preheated oven at 180C for 1 hour.

I never realised such a simple thing would take so long to write... Its actually really really simple... Once you get the pie crust figured out, the rest is so so simple you'll never think its a pain to do it ever ever again.
I've never done a lattice top though... That might make it complicated.

Now I feel like signing off as...

Regards,
Daagini :D :D :D

Mango Cheesecake

My first cheesecake was PurpleFoodies Cookies n Cream Cheesecake. I've baked that very many times after my first attempt to distract my folks from my messy house. But I'm weird funny and always want to try out new things and I love love love trying out seasonal stuff.. So this was mango season when I started trying out cheesecakes... And I was surrounded by Baganpally mangoes in Bangalore. Truth - I prefer Baganpally to any other mango in the world... No Alphonso tastes as good to me as a Baganpally. So one fine sunny morning, I decided to tweak the cheesecake recipe to make it a Mango Cheesecake... The result? Faaaboooooloooouuussss... I like this much better than any other cheesecake... Even the much awaited Blueberry one ranked a close second to Mango. So here goes... I use the same technique for almost all of them.. Works for me... Hope it does for you too.

Ingredients

For the Base
Digestive Biscuit - 10
Butter - 1 tbsp (melted)
Grated Coconut - A handful

For the Cheesy Part
Cream Cheese - 220 gm (1+1/4 pack of Britannia Cream Cheese)
Sugar - a tad less than 1/3rd cup
Egg - 1
Mango Puree - 1/3rd cup

For Sauce
Mango Puree - 1/3rd cup

How

Grind the digestive biscuits. For some reason, digestive biscuit releases butter when ground so you dont need to add much butter. Coarsely grind the grated coconut. Add the melted butter to the ground biscuit and ground coconut and mix well. Line a 7"-8" baking dish with aluminium foil. Pack the biscuit mix to form a firm base at the bottom of the dish. Refrigerate while making the cheese mixture.
Preheat the oven to 160C.
In another dish, blend cream cheese, sugar, egg and mango puree till its all mixed well and there are no ugly clumps and its a smooth mix. Pour over the chilled digestive biscuit base. Place in oven and bake for around 40-45 mins. Remove when the centre is still a little jiggly. Cool naturally.

Spread the rest of the mango puree over the cooled cheesecake. Chill in fridge overnight. Make sure you take it out half an hour before serving so the temperature and texture's just right.

Its yum yum deliciously yum

Blueberry Cheesecake

Ingredients

For the Base
Digestive Biscuit - 10
Butter - 1 tbsp (melted)

For the Cheesy Part
Cream Cheese - 220 gm (1+1/4 pack of Britannia Cream Cheese)
Sugar - a tad less than 1/3rd cup
Egg - 1
Blueberry Puree - 1/3rd cup

For Sauce
Blueberry Puree - 1/3rd cup
Sugar - 1 tbsp

How
Grind the digestive biscuits. For some reason, digestive biscuit releases butter when ground so you dont need to add much butter. Add the melted butter to it and mix well. Line a 7"-8" baking dish with aluminium foil. Most cook books and recipes say parchment paper. I find foil a lot easier for cheesecake. Pack the biscuit mix to form a firm base at the bottom of the dish. Refrigerate while making the cheese mixture.
Preheat the oven to 160C.
In another dish, blend cream cheese, sugar, egg and blueberry puree till its all mixed well and there are no ugly clumps and its a smooth mix. Pour over the now cooled digestive biscuit base. Place in oven and bake for around 40-45 mins. Remove when the centre is still a little jiggly. Cool naturally. Meanwhile mix the rest of the blueberry puree with sugar over a stove till the sugar melts completely to the puree... Pour this over the now cooled cheesecake. Chill in fridge overnight. Make sure you take it out half an hour before serving so the temperature and texture's just right.

Dig in & Enjoy Maadi!

Note:- I use a microwave hence take more than the recommended time for a cheesecake cos stuff takes longer in a convection microwave atleast in my experience. I dont use a water bath. I've tried it with and without one... I've not had a cheesecake crack either way. But I definitely like the texture better without a waterbath.

Cheers!