Litchi-Strawberry-Blueberry fruit pudding.

The inspiration for this recipe (which was originally litchi pudding) comes from this amazing friend of mine Pooja Mohan. I knew her for about two years from my days in Muscat,but we were just hi and bye friends. Only after I shifted to Dubai did we became thick pals while chatting and realized we have so many things in common. She is another reason for me landing up in the kitchen the last place I want to be...LOL!!
I have this fascination for colours and layers... so I decided to add some more colours and flavours and of course layers to the pudding :)

Ingredients I used:

Milk :1litre
Agar Agar (instead of gelatine) : 10 gms
Condensed Milk : 100 gms
Fresh Litchi : 10
Fresh Strawberries : 6 medium sized ones.
Blueberry topping : 150 gms.
Fresh Blueberries: 2
Sugar : As per taste



Method

 

I soaked the agar agar in sufficient water for about 10 mins.

Kept 1 litre milk to boil on the stove.

Blended the litchi and strawberries separately till smooth. (Initially I intended to do the same with the blueberries but had some leftover Blueberry topping so decided to use that instead :) )

 

Added the condensed milk  and sugar(as per your taste) and the drained agar agar to the boiling milk. Kept stirring on and off till the agar agar completely dissolved.

 

By this time I had my litchi, strawberry(since my girls like the strawberries sweet I added extra 2 tbsp of condensed milk) and blueberry topping ready in different bowls.

 

Divided the milk into the three bowls.

 

In a separate bowl first poured the blueberry mix, and as it set poured the strawberry mix over it and finally the litchi mix and let it set at room temperature.

 

I tried layering it out in glasses but I was a little slow and as it set quite fast and I had a few air bubbles :) However I thought it still looked good!

 

It had a mild flavour of all three and the kids loved it so nothing more rewarding for me.

 

Hope you enjoyed your visit here. Cheers and have a great day ahead!

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Heart shaped cookies- Valentine Day Special !!

With Valentine's Day round the corner nothing can be better than sipping a hot cup of tea with some Heart shaped cookies.
 

I really can't get myself to enter the kitchen unless I really have too.

However, since I started developing an interest in baking and checked around the net for easy recipes, since I really don't have patience and like things simple and better still those I can prepare fast, I came across a blog Edible Garden written by Nags and have remained a fan ever since! I have tried quite a few of her recipes and they have always been a hit!

Today's recipe is taken from her blog and with of course a little twist of my own here and there :)

 

Ingredients:

 

Icing sugar- 1/2 cup (you can alter as per your preference)

Butter- 60 gms at room temperature

Egg-1 lightly beaten, we will be using just half of this.

All Purpose Flour -1 cup

Red food colouring- a few drops

Vanilla Essence- I/1 tsp

Saffron Flavoured Essence

 

Method :
Whisk the butter and icing sugar in a bowl until you get a smooth texture.

Add half the egg mixture and vanilla essence and combine it.

Divide the mixture into two bowls.

Add the red colouring to one.

 

To the other half add the remaining 1/4tsp of Saffron flavoured essence and mix well.

 

Divide the flour into equal halves and use your hands gently to make a soft dough.

Then transfer one portion of dough between two pieces or parchment or grease paper and roll out 1/4"

Using both cookie cutters cut out hearts(or any other shapes you prefer).

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Repeat the step with the other dough and gently swap out the inner smaller hearts.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Bake them in a pre-heated over at 180 degrees(I use my convection microwave) for about 12 mins.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And here are your Heart shaped cookies ready!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Cool them completely before transferring them into an airtight container.

 

I tried adding cocoa powder to one batch as Diya(my elder one)prefers anything that is chocolate flavoured and Hiya(my younger one) likes them in pink. So when they saw the cookies they we happy with no complaints :)

Hope you Enjoyed your time here. Cheers!!
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DIY Mini Note Album!!

A Mini Note Album to jot down a few lines...some quotes...some pics...anything you have in mind!

 

Materials I used are:

6 pieces of square coloured paper (you could use the size as per your choice)maybe 4" by 4"

6 pieces  of white paper(this is just for the centre so we can use 1/4th the size of the coloured paper)

Glittery foam sheets,

Ribbons,

Punchers(to cut out the hearts),

Sentiments

Permanent glue as well as ordinary glue.

Folding the papers is a little tricky :)

Hopefully I will be able to explain it.... I have placed the papers in sequence.(You can always leave a word and I can get back to you. Actually was feeling lazy to take more pictures :))

Fold the paper vertically into half (as in the pink paper).

Open it and fold it again horizontally into half (the yellow paper).

Turn over the folded paper and fold it diagonally (this fold will be in the opposite side of the previous folds as in the orange paper).

Open it and pressing the diagonal fold inwards fold the paper(in the red paper).

Finally apply pressure on all sides and you are ready with your first piece.

Similarly fold all the pieces along with the white ones.

Once done all the white papers are stuck with glue to the centre of the coloured papers after being aligned to the similar folds. They are folded back individually.

After this is complete you can either leave it like that or cut it out in any shape you want..I  thought I could use a leaf shape(as in the pink one).Arranged them all one on top of the other and glued them along the while paper.

Next I used the thicker paper(the brown on)to stick as the front and back of the cover. Passed a ribbon through(front to back and left it long enough to be able to tie a bow).

To cover this I used the foam glitter adhesive paper to keep the ribbon intact :)

Punched out two hearts for decoration and added a sentiment "memories" to the cover and the Mini note album is ready!!

When you open it and tie up both ends it will look like this...a beautiful flower!

You can write a note in one of those(my so called) leaves...stick a pic or write a few loving lines for  a loved one. It's my elder ones birthday today and plan to give this to her so wrote a Happy Birthday for her. You can also use this as a simple ornament and hang it up...so many choices right??

Hope you enjoyed your time here.

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Goals and Happy 2016

As we draw to the end of the year we are all really excited to greet 2016 and hope it will bring happiness for everyone!!

I read about these two ideas somewhere and really loved them. What a great way it would be to start the New Year.So thought of sharing it on my blog.

On New Year’s Eve, you can fill in a jar with 10 goals-good things you want to have happen. In a year from now, you can empty it and see what was achieved!

Since the jars would be kept for a whole year I came up with the idea...why not decorate them up in a creative way!

Materials I used are:

Any Empty glass bottles you can recycle.
Scrapbook Paper.
Ribbons.
Permanent glue.
Acrylic paints
Scissors.
Coloured papers for notes.
Loom bands to keep notes in place.

 











I just cut out various scrapbook papers and wrapped them around the jars with permanent glue. Used some ribbons here and there. Thought of using Acrylic paint to paint the covers but got lazy and decided it still looked fine without it :)

These are my kids Diya and Hiya's goals for 2016 :) As for me like my daughter Diya I would like to travel to a place I have never been before, stay positive and let me decide the other eight  while you share with me what goals have you set for 2016.

Come this January and won’t it be great to start off with another empty jar and fill it with notes about good things that happen to you throughout the year? I can just imagine when I open and empty it Next New Year’s Eve, how I would smile reading what awesome stuff happened and feel happy :)

Wish you all a very Happy and Blessed  2016 !!

 

Linking up for more creative blogs at :

Inspire Me Monday
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Monday Madness
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DIY Pen Stand

With Christmas around the corner I thought I could create something with colours related to Christmas. So came up this idea of a DIY easy pen stand.

The materials used is a tin can (used condensed milk can), chart paper both for covering the can on
the outside as well the inside, some ribbons ( they can be any colour combination), permanent glue and a few beads.

I used the red chart paper to cover up the can an the green to cover the inside. The golden ribbon was cut out in shapes of petals (I used a total of six). Folded them length wise in half and again folded them into half. Then glued all the petals in the centre with permanent glue. Added the red beads. Finally, tied a green ribbon around the can and a bit around the top.

Wishing you all a Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays!

Linking up for more creative blogs at :

Inspire Me Monday

Monday Madness
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A short break to Muscat, Oman.

Although we are now settled in Dubai, our hearts are closer to Muscat where we spent a good seven years. After one and a half years of being here we had a four day extended weekend, a last minute decision and finally we drove down to Muscat, a five hour drive from Dubai(around 450kms).

 

We were all really excited about the trip and we started out in the morning...

 

All shots are mobile clicks as we were too lazy to take out the camera and just wanted to simply enjoy the trip :)

A view of the skyline with Burj Khalifa, as we exit Dubai...

 

The usual route to the Dubai-Oman border was closed so we had to take a detour for an extra hour of almost 75 kms. As we reached the border to get our visas...never expected it to be a long never ending wait of  five odd hours in queue. Finally at 3 p.m with visas stamped we continued our onward drive to Muscat.

 

We reached by evening and were all so excited at the familiar sites there. Checked in to our hotel and within a few minutes off we went for a drive around town and dinner at our favourite restaurant. We were back at the hotel exhausted and retired for the night.

 

Morning was a bright and sunny day. After breakfast we started out on a drive visiting all the places we used to go to and caught up with a few friends...some shots around Muscat town!

 

Muscat Grand Mosque.

Riyam Park.

Muscat Museum.

Our favourite park, "Kalbu Park".

Muscat Corniche.

And we were in for a surprise..a treat to the eyes to see so many slender billed gulls....

On our way to Qantab.

Another view of beautiful Muscat!

Finally we end our day with the Muscat Royal Opera House.

 

Our short stay in Muscat came to an end and our souls refreshed we start our journey back to Dubai.

To view about more interesting things going on around the world please visit :)
Our Beautiful World.