One Pot Meal-Sambar Flavoured Khichdi

P shall not be home for dinner tonight, has some business meeting thing going on and preparing dinner for 1 is rather a boring thing to do, hence wanted to make a one pot meal but not khichdi, oh!! I simply hate that bland taste of khichdi (P loves it though) so added a lill sambar powder to make it sambar flavoured khichdi, please stay calm, it came out well :), had a nice surprise of that South-Indian flavour kick to a Gujarati dish. I also added some veggies to it as we can't skip out daily vegetable intake :).
Its easy and tasty, I think I'm gonna stick with this sambar flavour for my khichdi for long long time. Although I actually ended up making this dish for two by mistake, as soon as I doused rice and dal of that quantity I realized what crime I had committed and knew there was no turning back now. I'm sure some frustrated inventor cum cook was behind the invention of refrigerator .... :) hehe.

Soak
1 cup basmati rice
1/2 cup toor dal, together in a bowl for atleast 20 minutes.

Heat 1 tbs oil in pressure cooker and add
1/4 tsp methi seeds/ fenugreek seeds
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

when they start to sputter add

1 sprig of curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing
2 dry red chili
2 slit green chillies
1 inch piece of ginger grated

saute for 5 seconds and add

1 1/2 cup chopped veggies of your choice, I added carrots, green beans, onions and tomatoes
2 tbs sambar powder
1/2 tsp turmeric
1/2 tsp red chili powder
4 cups of water and
salt to taste

Drain the soaked rice & dal and add to pressure cooker. Add chopped coriander and put the lid on the pressure cooker. Cook for 3 whistles and after that 5 mins on very low flame or just for the same time it would take to cook rice in you cooker.
Serve it hot with plain yogurt or raita and papad/papadum.

I enjoyed this dish with plain yogurt and chili pickle.

                                           

Kanda Pauva/Kanda Pohe

Yet another breakfast recipe tempered with simple spices, kanda pauva (as called in Gujarati) or kanda pohe (as called in Marathi & Hindi) gives a very nice filling sensation and its easy on stomach too. Usually this dish is made for lazy sunday's breakfast at my in-laws place back in Baroda. This dish is soo easy its really hard to screw up. :)

Wash 2 cups Pohe/pauva/beaten or flattened rice flakes (easily available at Indian stores) in a seive and make sure to drain them immediately. Keep aside.

In a heavy bottom pan heat 2 tbs of vegetable oil, add
1/2 tsp rai/mustard seeds
1/2 tsp jeera/cumin seeds

when they crackle add
1 sprig curry leaves
1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida
2 dry red chillies
3 slit green chillies
1 tbs grated ginger

saute for 20 seconds and add
1 large sliced onion
saute for 40 seconds and add in the set aside pauva/pohe
1 tsp haldi/turmeric powder
3 tsp sugar
juice of one medium sized lime
salt to taste
mix well. Sprinkle a little water and let pohe cook for about 2-3 more minutes on medium heat.
Garnish it with chopped coriander leaves and serve it along with a glass of juice of your choice or hot tea or coffee

Tips:
Use sev to garnish kanda pauva, this will add nice crunch to the dish.
You can also sprinkle daadham/pomegranate to have a nice tropical taste.
Squeeze lill more lime for that extra kick of sour taste and ofcourse a lill bit more Vitamin C won't harm you anyway. :)

Oatmeal Upma/Savoury Oatmeal Porridge

Upma is an Indian breakfast dish prepared using semolina, cooked along with vegetables and other spices, so today to make this savoury dish a bit more healthier I have prepared it using Quaker Rolled Oats instead of regular semolina. This humble porridge has many plus points like it a quick one pot meal which can be served for a very filling breakfast or lunch or dinner, has lots of veggies in it, is rich in fiber and other goodies, low in calories and above all its every doctor's favorite. :)

So I started by dry roasting 1 cup Quaker Rolled Oats/any other brand Oatmeal. Roasted for just 90 seconds or so till it looses its white tint, on medium flame and set it aside.

Then take 2 tbs of vegetable oil/any light oil, I used Sunflower oil, put that on medium heat and add in
1 tsp of Urad dal/Split black lentils
1 tsp Channa dal/Split chickpea lentils
1/2 tsp Rai/Mustard seeds
1/2 tsp Jeera/Cumin seeds

Once they start to crackle add

1/4 tsp Hing/Asafoetida
1 sprig curry leaves
2 dry red chillies
1 tbs green chili-ginger paste
1 Cup of chopped veggies like onion, tomato, capsicum, green beans, carrots, zucchini etc (I just added 1 medium sized onion and 1 medium sized tomato)

let it simmer on low heat till the veggies are tender to touch, then add in

2 1/2 cups of water, let it come to a boil and then add in roasted oatmeal. Add in  
salt to taste and 3 tbs of yogurt/dahi.
You will notice that within 90 seconds the oats will start to absorb all water and will giveout nice fragrance. Mix well and let the porridge simmer for another 4-5 minutes.
Turn off the heat and garnish it with handful of  chopped coriander/cilantro. 
Serve warm along with tea or coffee.

Tips:
Me and P both prefer our porridge not too thick nor too thin so have added 2 1/2 cups of water for 1 cup of oats. Adjust the water according to your preference.

Pav-Bhaji

                                  
Well there is nothing much to say about pav bhaji, being one of the most prefered and popular foods around major cities in India. More info can be collected at www.wikipedia.org just search pav bhaji and you'll end up reading everything about it. I haven't heard any Indian saying they don't like pav bhaji... it is the beloved street food of western region of India especially Gujarat, Maharashtra and its popularity reaching as far as Himalayas, yes, I have seen people flocking at pav-bhaji stalls in Nainital too, which is a beautiful hillstation situated in Uttarakhand, India (north-east of India).

The version of pav bhaji that I'm posting today is very much similar to what the vendor of pav bhaji stall makes at his road side eatery, street food totally street side style. So without further wasting our precious time I shall jot down the recipe and post some yummy snaps for all of you to drivel on. :) Enjoy.

      Close up of Bhaji - Sorry P you have to wait a few minutes those were my words while clicking this snap.

On a flat bottom pan add a little water, about 1/2 a cup and add  
1/2 cup chopped Capsicum, I added combination of red and green capsicum.

Let it sizzle for about 2 minutes or till the capsicum is tender then add in  
1 to 1&1/2 cup of chopped Tomatoes, P prefers less tangy food so had added only 1 cup of  chopped tomatoes so adjust according to you taste, also add in
2 tbs of ginger-garlic paste,  
3 tbs of chopped coriander leaves/cilantro leaves 
1/2 tsp kasuri methi/dried fenugreek leaves
1/2 tsp turmeric,  
1 tbs red chili powder,  
1&1/2 tbs of pav bhaji masala,  
1/4 tsp of hing/asafoetida
1 tbs of lemon juice and  
2 tbs of butter. Let it cook for another 2 minutes or till the raw smell of garlic is gone. (you can start mashing this mixture at this stage or later whatever you prefer)

Now add
2 more tbs of butter
2 cups of boiled and partially mashed potatoes and  
1 cup of boiled and partially mashed veggie combination including cabbage, green peas, cauliflower and bottlegourd.
Add salt to taste and get busy mashing up the mixture with the help of pav-bhaji crusher or something like potato masher. Crushing it enough so as to make non of the veggies recognizable.... hope I'm explaining it good enough but the pictures can back up what I mean to say.

Now adjust the water, salt and spicies and I'm sure you'll have to add some of them (add a bit red chili if you don't feel it to be hot enough or add a bit of pav bhaji masala is you feel that flavour is bit less). 

This dish tastes better if its a bit liquidy, not to soupy but not too firm also, a bit more of curry consistency.
Let it simmer for about 3-4 minutes and turn off the heat.

Serve it hot with butter toasted pav/buns, for me it was home-made ladi pav get the recipe here ; chopped & mixed onion-cilantro; blob of butter and a wedge of lemon.

               Bhaji served with home-made pav and chopped onion-cilantro mix, DH still waiting for his dish. :)


You all might be thinking that I forgot to put onions in bhaji recipe... but that isn't the case.... the fact is pav bhaji itself doesn't have onions and it tastes best raw on side. Adding onion while cooking bhaji gives it a typical taste which is a big no-no for pav bhaji. But if you prefer, go on and add some... :)

Ladi Pav/Maska Pao/Double Roti/Basic White Dinner Rolls/Butter Rolls

I know you guys might be thinking whats with me and baking, well the reason is, I have a brand new oven on my hand, isn't that good reason enough?!!! As you must have guessed these days I spend days searching and surfing for good baking recipes and what better than baking the most basic baking recipes, so I thought of baking my own buns for pav bhaji, which I have planned for dinner tonight.
Now surfing for pav-bhaji pav was a daunting task in itself, many bloggers had attempted to prepare and bake these goodies, but what I was looking for, was the very very basic ladi pav that we get at pav-bhaji stall in any city in India, some call it maska pav, some double roti and some ladi pav. Ladi pav means a slab bun, it literally is a slab of multiple buns stuck together and is well known for its soft tender interior and crunchy upper crust. It has pillowy goodness which would meet the standards of any delicate royalty, here I can surely say it melts in your mouth without any effort at all. Ok I feel the readers yawning.... so coming back to the quest for the perfect recipe, there are many bloggers who have either over baked it or looking at the snaps of their creation didn't satisfy my standards of perfect pav, either they were too crunchy interior or hadn't puffed enough or where just plain dry to look at, I could feel the hardness of the pav from the pictures itself, but too be very frank some did meet my stringent standards.
After being too critical labeling recipes as hard, flat, dry etc, I was very doubtful about the recipe that I decided to try my baking luck on, but to my delight it came out just perfect and I wouldn't change a thing. Hope you enjoy watching it, as much as I did, baking it.

Ingredients:
2 cups of APF/Maida
1 1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp active dry yeast
2 tsp butter melted
1 tsp salt
1 cup luke warm water

2-3 tsp of milk for brushing

Preparation Method:
Take 1 cup luke warm water and add yeast and sugar, mix well and let it rest for 5-10 minutes. This is done to activate the dry yeast by feeding it sugar and warm water. After 5 minutes you shall notice that a layer of bubbles have started to form on top of the water, this is the sign that yeast is ready. At this point add salt and mix well.
On a wide working surface take APF and make a well in middle. Pour the water sugar and yeast mix to this well and start kneading a soft dough. At the very start you might feel that you have added excess water as the dough might be very very sticky and hard to handle but rest assure APF will soak up all the water and turn into soft pliable dough in just a few minutes of kneading. Key to it is "Keep Kneading". After a solid 5-8  minutes of kneading the dough will be soft and almost non-sticky, rather glossy and light to feel, now add 2 tsp of melted butter and knead a bit more. Just enough to incorporated the butter in the dough.

Lightly oil a very large bowl and place the dough in it. We are taking very large bowl coz the dough shall rise and double its size in it.
Cover it with cling film or put the bowl in plastic bag and put a knot to it. Place the bowl of dough in a warm place for 1 & 1/2 hours to 2 hours to rest and rise.

                                                  This is dough after rising for 2 hours

Open the dough and punch it down so as to release all the air from the dough, 3-4 knocks are enough. Now divide the dough in 8-10 chunks and roll them into a very smooth balls (I made 9 equal dough balls).
Dust a tray or a pan in which you intend to bake pav. Place the dough balls at 1-2 inches distance, cover it with cling film again and keep aside for 30 minutes.

                                                 9 dough balls placed in a dusted dish
                     

                                 Covered the dish with cling film and set aside for 30 more minutes

Preheat the oven at 190 Degree C for 10 minutes.

You shall notice that dough balls might have risen and shall now be slightly touching each other.

           After 30 minutes of rest time dough balls brushed with lill milk.... now almost touching each other

Brush the top of the pav with milk using a cotton ball or a kitchen towel or a brush (I prefer using silicone brush) and place them in oven. Bake for around 25 minutes or till they are golden brown on the top (my oven took 28 minutes to be precise)

                                                                      Baking in oven

                                             Just out of oven and ready to be glazed with butter

                                          Lightly spread a lill butter with the help of brush

                                                                Close up after glaze

                                           Check out the tenderness and airy pockets of pav

                    This is how soft they are... that one just bounced back as soon as I loosened the pinch


Enjoy along with marmalade or butter or pav bhaji or vada pav or misal pav or usal pav or dabeli or egg curry or egg bhurji... options are endless.

Tips:
Kneading the dough for 5-8 minutes helps to form gluten in the dough. Gluten affects the elasticity and hence the chewiness of the bread, in short directly affects the volume of baked product. In general, bread flours are high in gluten while cake flours are low. We want our breads to be airy and elastic and our cakes to be moist and tender. The amount of moisture in the dough also affects the formation of gluten. Baking schools teach that to make a perfect white bread one has to add 55% of moisture to flour proportion.

Brushing milk on the top of the dough balls ensure that we have a nice crust to the pav. It also ensures a nice sheen to the pav.

Rub a little butter on top of the pav after they have been baked and removed from the oven. This will ensure that the pav remains moist and soft and also add a bit more sheen to the finished product.

Always remember if you are using 1 cup of APF add 1 tsp melted butter at the end and if using 5 cups of APF add 5 tsp melted butter in the end... in short ratio is 1 tsp butter per cup of APF.

Bhindi ki Sukhi Sabzi/Stir Fried Okra with Onions/Kanda-Bhinda nu Shaak

The thing about Bhindi/Okra is that either you love it or you hate it, P is on the love side and I'm on the hate side, rather to say 'was on the hate side'. I still remember, we had just been married for about 3-4 months and I had just reached Riyadh for the first time and we had started our new life together. I hated bhindi so much that I didn't even care to know how its prepared, :) I had to call my mother-in-law to ask for the recipe with P liked the most, it wasn't over there, P forced me to eat same quantity of bhindi sabzi as much as he ate, I'd say not the best dinner!!!


P has a very funny food fundamentals, he says "we have to develop liking for a dish in very specific way, start by eating it little by little and then one day will come you shall like the most dreaded food too!!", now I guess I agree with him. I love Bhindi but only if it is prepared in a very specific way and is not soggy and gooey.

This is a very simply but tasty recipe, actually simplicity is the key to this recipe, let the vegetable advocate for itself don't overpower its taste with adding un-necessary spices.

Heat 3 tbs oil in heavy bottom pan

add 1 tsp cumin seeds/jeera and let it crackle

now add 1/4 tsp hing/asafoetida and curry leaves

Add 2 small to medium sized chopped onions and 3 tsp of ginger-garlic-green chili paste.

Saute for 1 min and then add 250 gms chopped okra/bhindi

Add salt to taste and 1/2 tsp turmeric powder.

Mix well and cook on low flame till okra is tender and done. NEVER PUT A LID WHILE COOKING OKRA OR THE DISH WILL TURN INTO A SOGGY GOOEY DISH.

Once the okra a done add 3 tsp of Dhania-jeera powder/coriander seeds-cumin seeds powder and 1/2 tsp red chili powder

Mix well and turn off the heat.

Serve warm with roti, chappati, naan or paratha of your choice. Tastes great with Dal-Chaval too.

Tips: Add 1/4th tsp of tava masala or garam masala for a more aromatic sabzi.

Potato Rosti with grated Beetroot, Onion and Cheese

Potato Rosti is one of the most versatile recipes that you can find. Primarily made with grated potato alone or in combination with other veggies and meats and herbs. This dish originated in Switzerland and many Swiss consider it as a national dish. Usually there are quiet a variation in techniques and size of rosti itself, they can be pan fried or oven baked, I have selected the latter method. I also added an unusual veggie, beetroot, to make it a health friendly dish.

Preheat the oven on 200 degree C
boil 3 medium sized potatoes for 10 mins, remove skin and grate them
boil 1 medium sized beetroot with 1 cup water + 1 tsp sugar, grate it too. Add a little salt and pepper to it.

take 1 large onion, chop it finely or pulsated in food processor along with 1 green chili and handful of fresh cilantro, jalapeno will be the best but any green chili will do. Add salt, pepper, red chili flakes and garlic powder to it

Take 4 tartlet tins and butter them lightly.
First spread a little grated potato, after that lay grated beetroot, top it with minced onion mixture, lay 1 tbs of shredded mozzarella/cheddar cheese and to finish the rosti with another layer of shredded potatoes.

Place it in pre-heated over and bake for 40-50 mins or till the top potato layer turns golden brown.

Tips: As I prefer a lightly brown rosti I have baked it to that extent only, continue baking for few more minutes if you prefer a bit darker brown dish.

Homecooked Pizza Sauce

This weekend I'm planning on preparing veggie pizza with homemade dough and this homemade cooked pizza sauce. This time I'm preparing cooked pizza sauce another way is uncooked pizza sauce in which you just need to add all condiments and little tomato sauce to tomato paste and done, I shall be posting that recipe later
I think there are 3 ways of enjoying pizza,
1. call domino's or pizza hut (which is the easiest) but then you have no idea what goes into your loving lazy pizza or how fresh the ingredients were or how many calories you consume.

2. prepare pizza at home using store bought pizza dough/pizza base along with store bought pizza sauce, you just have to assemble your pizza with your favorite pizza topping and cheese. Now come no one can be fooled here... this is as good as ordering a pizza from any pizzeria, the only satisfaction you have here is that you know how much cheese you've put on top, which I guess shall be much less than the pizzeria one and how much veggies you add to your pizza. Ok so you win 40% battle over ready made pizza but still you don't know what goes in you store bought pizza sauce.... things with complicated name to confuse customers and trick them into eating unhealthy food. Guys I don't have any personal grudge towards those companies but a fact is a fact... cannot be changed. But I should also thank them for making life easier for many who grab the pre-cooked sauce during their crunch time. Going to our last point

3. prepare pizza from scratch, prepare the dough and sauce, select your favorite toppings and cheese. Bake and enjoy. This way, no doubt you shall be eating junk food but at least you shall be sure of what's landing in your body. Who said junk food can't be healthy?!! prepare dough using whole wheat flour instead of white flour, use fresh herbs and fresh tomatoes for sauce, add tons of veggies as toppings and limited quantity of cheese, this way even unhealthy thing as pizza can be made into a satiating healthy junk food.
So coming back to my weekend plan ... I'm preparing this pizza sauce in advance and shall freeze it, this way it becomes handy on weekend ... all I have to do is thaw it and use.

Take 3 medium to large ripe tomatoes... make sure they are bright red, blanch them, remove skin and pulse it few times in a food processor to get a chunky puree.
1 small onion and 2 green chillies pulsated in food processor or mixie / chopped very finely
Heat 1 tbs of EVOO in a heavy bottom pan (don't bring it to smoking point or else all benefits of Olive oil are killed) add 4 big garlic pods grated, chopped onion and chili. Let it work for a few minutes may be 1-2 minutes and then add in chunky tomato puree.
Add 3 tbs tomato paste and 1/3 cup water. Bring it to a boil and simmer it on very low heat for 3-5 minutes.
Now add in 1/2 tsp garlic powder
1/2 tsp oregano
1/2 tsp chili flakes ( I also added 1/2 tsp red chili powder, as I prefer hotter version of pizza sauce)
1/2 tsp crushed black peppercorns
1 tsp sugar
2 tbs tomato sauce

Mix well and let it simmer for another 2 minutes and done.
Store it in an airtight jar and use as required. Can be refrigerated upto 3-5 days depending on weather conditions or can be stored in freezer for upto 30-45 days.

Tips:
This Sauce tastes better after refrigeration, that is because the condiments get time to release their flavor as the time passes.
Can also add in parsley, thyme and other herbs, I haven't added it as I was aiming for a specific taste.

Dal Makhani (Kali Dal)

Ever thought of a dish which you used to love as a kid / otherwise came across and as time passes you move places, see things, learn, watch and grow intellectually, that kid within you keeps searching for that taste that is registered in your mind, may it be "Maa ke haath ka so n so dish" or "Mirch Masala (name of the restaurant) ki Masala chaas" or some road side eatery dish. This happened to me when P and I had gone to Mauritius, it was the day before our departure from Mumbai to Mauritius and we were staying at Intercontinental, The Lalit, Mumbai, it was during our lovely lunch we had ordered Kali dal along with rice, paneer curry dish, garlic naan etc. I shall never forget the aroma and buttery texture of that dal which I felt at the very first spoonful of it, ever since then I have tried to hunt down the recipe for that perfect dal. So my quest landed me at this recipe which I found at one of the best blogs,  www.vegeyum.wordpress.com. The author has similar experience with dal and had got the recipe from one of the chefs at Oberoi Bangalore. So I decided to give it a try and check the results.
Going through the recipe I learnt it calls in for almost 100 gms of butter + 50 gms of ghee and 30 ml of cream, which I didn't have courage to pour in as you know its not good health wise, So I modified and adapted the recipe as per my needs. Though I have added more than usual amounts of butter and cream otherwise this recipe can't be called Dal "Makhani", which literally means buttery.
Well this recipe is a keeper, I should say its almost there in sense of my quest for that perfect kali dal. I shall be sticking to it for a long long time.

Soak over night/min 6 hours
1/2 cup whole urad dal / black lentils
1/4 cup Rajma / red kidney beans
1/4 cup Channa dal / Bengal gram dal

Pressure cook soaked grains along with
1 inch ginger peeled and grated
2–3 big garlic cloves
2-3 green chillies
salt to taste
Make sure that there isn't excessive water in dal, if so drain and reserve (just in case you need it). Roughly mash the cooked dal with ladle, but be careful not to be over zealous.

For tempering heat
2 tbs ghee in a seperate vessel and add
1/2 tsp methi seeds / fenugreek seeds and
1 tsp cumin seeds / jeera once they start to sputter add
3–4 big garlic cloves crushed and chopped along with
1/4 tsp asafoetida cook for 30 seconds and add
2 tbs tomato paste (diluted with 2-4 tbs of water) or 1/2 cup thick tomato puree (I added tomato paste as it gives that distinct red colour to dal, also add more if you prefer a tangy dal. P doesn't like much tangy taste in dal and veggies so I have adjusted the taste accordingly.)

Add this tempering mixture to the cooked dal, mix well. Add 1 tsp red chilli powder (I used kashmiri lal mirch), 3-5 tbs butter and 3-5 tbs cream. Bring dal to a boil and let it simmer gently for 20 minutes / till dal acquires a buttery texture.
Serve warm with jeera rice or plain steamed rice or enjoy it with roti, paratha or naan of your choice.

Tips: Add 1/2 tsp garam masala for that nice aroma. Also, best way to serve this dal in its full splendor is to serve it with a dollop of butter. :)

Chocolate Chip Cookies

America's best culinary contribution to the world comes in form of small round cookie having mini blast of chocolate in form of chocolate chips, yes I'm talking about chocolate chip cookies. P is crazy about Ben's cookies especially when served warm and soft and chewy. This will be the first time I shall be baking any cookies and as if being overly confident in my baking skills, I've already promised someone that I shall bake some Chocolate chip and Double chocolate chip cookies for them, which now makes me nervous.
I've adapted this recipe from a perfectly tried and tested site www.joyofbaking.com (minor changes to original recipe) and I should say this recipe truely rocks. Also I have halved the recipe from the site as I wanted to make a smaller batch at a time. The site has recipe for 4 dozen cookies while I made almost 2 dozen at one go. Cookies came out perfect and I shall let the pictures advocate themselves.

Sift together and keep aside.
1 cup + 1 tbs plain white flour/maida
3/4th tsp vanilla essence or vanilla extract (I used powdered form so added to flour mix, if you are using extract or essence add it along with egg to butter mix)
1/4th tsp salt
1/4th tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp baking soda

In a large bowl whisk 1/2 cup unsalted butter untill light and creamy. Add 3/4th cup sugar (can also use brown sugar and white sugar in 1:1 ratio to make 3/4th cup together), keep whisking it for about 3-5 minutes or untill the mix feels fluffy. Add in 1 whole egg at this stage and whisk for few more minutes. Use a hand held mixie for this whole process if in hurry. I prefer to beat this mix with wire whisk only and the process takes no more than 10 mins.

Before proceeding further, preheat oven to 375 degrees F(190 degrees C) with rack in center of oven. Line two baking sheets with aluminum foil/parchment paper, I prefer aluminum foil.

Now add in the sifted flour mix to the butter mix and using your hand mix in to form a soft fluffy dough. It take not much of an effort to do this, folding flour in butter mixture using fingers will suffice. now add in 3/4th cup Hershey's semi sweet chocolate chips.

Divide the dough in 25 chunks and roughly form a semi flat balls and place them on the baking sheets 1 inch apart. Bake for 12-18 minutes or till cookie edges turn golden brown. Keep a contstant eye on cookies after 12 minutes as these delicate goodies can burn very easily and cooking time varies for every oven. Mine took 16 minutes.

Dunk it in milk or just carry a few to enjoy during your drive to office, nothing beats this small treat in itself.

A real "Happy" Birthday!!

Yesterday ie on 7th started with all normal nitty-gritty, P off to office and me busy with cooking and cleaning etc. Since P has started his new job, starting of this month, he is very punctual with his return home timings, but today he said he had to conclude some pending work at his old work place, which is quite normal, so he said instead of 5pm he shall be a bit late. Time went and it was 9pm with no sightings of my husband, a quick phone call revealed he is chatting with his old pals, again very very normal for him and his pals. He came home around 9:15 pm and started pestering in his usual way, what was for dinner and what was there for sweet etc, then came the question "what would u like for your birthday gift", as usual I had nothing in mind.... but he kept pushing the questions on and on.... this too is very normal... then at 9:30pm riyadh time which is 12 am Indian time my sister called to wish me, then came my mom-dad n bhai.... i was very happy that dot 12 they called me, infact i was handling two calls at a time one from Surat (my sis) and another one from Vadodara (my parents and bro).... during that time too P kept asking what i wanted as a birthday gift.... in quite a funny way.
After duely finishing the phone chats, i turned to find P at the window peeping out and on his toes, determining whether our hijacked parking spot was now vacant or not, much to his relief it was vacant. Again he started off with that pestering question but this time i had the answer, i said i wanted a nice oven to satiate my starvation for baking. And he duely promised me my oven :). Actually i was looking for one since last few months but was'nt able to make my mind on any one specific brand yet.
After a few minutes i saw him heading down to move the car to our authorized parking spot. As he returned and i opened the door, he was standing there with a huge box of Black n Decker 35 litres oven :) and a huge smile on his face. (Now at this time i dont know what were the exact expressions on my face but i was grinning ear to ear i suppose.... along with some child like jumping actions.... I know real Hoot!!!)

He wasnt done yet, under the pretext of forgetting something he went back downstairs while i was busy hurriedly opening my real surprise gift. He came in with another huge box of something and various bags of SACO (one of the home improvement store chain out here), then like a Santa in plain clothes, he started handing me over one item at a time from those magic bags. First out came Neoflam slicer-dicer-chopper-shredder (including ice shaver for my ice golas) ;

second came oven safe 6 tart dishes ; then came out microwave n oven safe marinex Broiche dish and Quiche fluted dish ; at the end came out some nice pizza cutter and cake n pie server/cutter.
Bonus a Black n Decker hand mixie. I felt like a kid in a candy store.... :)

Well to conclude, i am really happy to know that P actually knows what i really want, since few months i always kept my eye on nice ovens while we went shopping and P duely noticed it, as a perfect hubby would :). Thanks huni for making my day a "REAL HAPPY BIRTHDAY". (I bet I will be smiling for days all along).
More to come yet as excitement has'nt ended yet....  as i have just been informed that we shall be heading to a very classy Mall called GRANADA, along with few of our friends, tommorow at 10 am. Wow!!! don't want this day to pass any more quicker!!!
Now, got to catch some sleep as tommorow is a huge day :)).