A DAY AT THE VALLEYFAIR

Our life right now is so busy that there are days when Jobin & myself don't see each other for more than a minute and I am not exaggerating.  We don't have anytime for get togethers, meetups, day outs...nothing. It's mostly my schedule at Hyatt. Jobin has a pretty 9-5 job where as mine is so not like that! I am not even home over the weekends. In between all this, Jobin is studying and he travels to New York for his school and there has been many official India trips for him this year. Finally, among this crazy schedule, we took some time off on Fathers Day to pay a visit to the Valleyfair.

Whilst we were there, we attended a 'Hotdish & Hops' food event. Basically,there were many stalls sampling different types of Hotdish (a.k.a Casserole) & beer. We decided to go for it and tasted some of them.There was a live band perfoming while the event was on. It was very hot that day and Ian wanted to go for a train ride that he had been eyeing ever since we entered the fair grounds. I should say that train ride was a calming one. We just sat down and enjoyed the hot yet fairly cool breeze while the train took us around the whole fair (and tunnels, much to Ian's excitement!).

We came back home sweaty and sticky,something that I have rarely experienced here but very happy that we could spend some quality time together as a family! I hope we get more such days together before our Summer is over,which is usually very short! If you live in Minnesota and would like to make a trip to the Valleyfair, here's the link to the various events happening this Summer & Fall.

LE CORDON BLEU UPDATES!

It's been 7 weeks since I've started living my dream... even if that means I need to wake up at 5.30 am every weekday! Which also means that my body has set a natural alarm clock that I wake up at 5.30 am on weekends too.Yes, my days start super early and I leave home by 6.20 am. I got so used to sleeping in late every morning for the last 5 plus years. Now, I am usually up earlier than my alarm clock just to make sure that my alarm goes off at the right time! Seriously,I love what I am doing right now.Even if it's chaotic. Oh by the way, the stuff that you just saw above was a Linzer Tart ( with ground hazelnuts in the base) and Strassburger Cookies (with a hint of cardamom).

School is wonderful. The first six weeks were for sanitation and foundations.Which simply means,we were taught how to handle every single thing so that no one falls sick or dies of a foodborne illness from the food we make or sell. It was one of the best sessions. Now, from 7th week onwards,we have started our Introduction to Baking and Patisserie classes.It's pure FUN! The first day was good and slow,the second day was total total chaos (like in the FN's Chopped kitchen). Third day onwards,things started to get better. We got more organised as a team. Oh yeah, we work in teams.Team work is everything,right? Each one of us gets our own stuff,mixers etc but we work as a team of two,helping each other with mise en place etc. It's a lot of fun! We baked so many cookies,muffins and quick breads,pies and quiche last week. It was so GOOD! The quiche that I baked was my personal favourite. We could do our own filling and I decided to do a Curried Chicken Quiche.It was awesome! Did you know that we could bring all the goodies home? Yes,we can and Amma and I were literally fighting over that Quiche. It was so good!

Things we made last week:
Pate Sucree
Linzer Tart
Strassburger Cookies
Chocolate Chip Cookies
Blueberry Muffins
Cornbread
Pate Brisee
Curried Chicken Quice
Old Fashioned Apple Pie
Blueberry Pie
Chocolate Chip and Candied Orange Scones
Biscuits & Sausage Gravy

A HOMEMADE BIRTHDAY PARTY -2

Iam very sure what I want when it comes to Ian. That is only till he starts to demand what he wants though! No matter how crazy the whole party planning turns out to be, I want that to have my touch in every single thing. It could be because Amma made every thing for our birthday parties. We never catered food for it. I remember, as a child, I would wait to go for birthday parties but once I get there and see caterers standing there in uniforms...I would lose my appetite.

I am talking about what I liked and disliked while growing up and all your views could be different. For our birthday parties, every person whom we invited would turn up and the first thing they would mention was the food. Since they knew Amma would be making everything, they thought it would be better to come! Food has always been an important part in my life.

Ian is too little to decide what cakes he wanted for his big day. So,I decided that I would like to make something that reflected what he likes at this age.So,it was a car cake for the birthday and a green lego cake for the party. He loves his building blocks and the first colour he learnt to say was Green. So that's how the green lego cake was born. He loves the Chocolate Cake I make for him almost every week. So that was the flavour choice for the party cake, obviously.

I don't believe in having theme parties for a boy so little plus, this is the only time i would get to do so. Once he grows, I think he would have made uphis mind on what he wants! It might be a superhero of some kind. We did a picnic style birthday party this year,just like last year. Jobin and I have very similar tastes in almost everything,so decisions are made very easily. We love open spaces and especially because he is a Summer baby, a park was the most ideal place for the party. It was at the same location as last year but a different shelter. The birthday party ended with a 20 minute fireworks (10,000 lbs!) as a part of the one-week long celebrations by the City.It was a beautiful one!

Menu for Ian's 2nd Birthday Party

Purple Surprise

Mango Soda

French Onion Pastry Puffs

Thai Curry Chicken Wontons

Red Neck Sushi

Sticky Wings

Spicy Chipotle Chicken

Cuban Style Black Beans

Lime - Cilantro Rice

Fiesta Corn

Jalapeno Cheddar Cornbread

Tostadas

Tortillas

Fix -ins : Tomato, Onions, Lime, Sour Cream, Scallions

I would like to extend my thanks to all those who sent in wishes for his big day and a bigger thanks to all who started sent those in advance! I really, really appreciate it!
 

VIP FOOD BLOGGER MEET aka BIG BANANA NIGHT!

It's time for the Minnesota Food Blogger's meet once again! The wonderful VIP Food Blogger meet was sponsored by DOLE Bananas and hosted by Caribe Caribbean Bistro & Shaina of Food For My Family. I knew I was going to have fun and I was not wrong! I mean, a group of food bloggers and good food, the room can never be quiet!

Since it was sponsored by DOLE bananas, everything had a touch of banana in it, starting from the Grilled Bananas to the  Banana Spritzer below, which I have to mention was fantastic!

Here's the menu for you guys. Trust me, every single thing on that menu was just awesome!

It was such a wonderful evening! The food was so good...the dessert (Banana Coconut Rum Creme Brulee) blew our minds away! Some of us actually licked the bowl clean! Yes, really! It was that good!

Now I'm waiting for the next get together! :-)

BADUSHA...for the two of us :)

When I was young,that is when I was in school, I was a huge fan of Indian Sweets. Not the 'payasam' types but Kaju Burfi, Mysore Pak, Jalebi types. Luckily whenever I tried it at home, they were a big success. Oh, actually no! The first time I tried making Rasgulla, it was terrible...but later when I tried it , it came out spongy and juicy. One thing I learnt from that was, you need a real good recipe. What I know and have heard of is, there are millions of recipes floating around, but not all are good. Some are just OK but some are terrible that you might never even try thinking about it!

Somehow when I read through a recipe, I visualise it in my mind and give a quick check on the combination and proportion of ingredients just to make sure it's worth the time and effort in trying them.The other day we were at the Indian grocery store. I usually stop by the 'Sweets' section, drool looking at it and then walk away.I have this habit...I want to eat what I see  but I don't want to eat store made, instead I want to make it at home. So I showed the Badusha there and told Jobin how much I like it .'Even I like it', came the reply. So that's how I ended up making it at home and I'm so glad I did!

A lot of my readers ask me my 'secret' in getting consistent results everytime (Ahem!). My answer has always been ' I just attack a recipe & I don't think about the difficulty level. I just go with the flow and I somehow reach wherever I am supposed to reach'. So next time, don't think twice, just go for it and I am sure you will get it right! If you are making it for the first time, try to follow the recipe to the dot and then the next time on, you can add or substitute whatever you like/dislike. Atleast that way, if you have a failure you will know where you could have gone wrong because you got it right the first time.In baking, especially, you need to be careful about what you add and how much you add. Too little or too much can give you disasters. So if you are new to baking or you are baking your first cake, follow the recipe blindly.I really hope this helps! :)

I had bookmarked this particular recipe for a long time now and I think the perfect time to try it out was 2 days ago. It's been a year since we moved into our first home and I wanted to make something sweet because it was celebration time!! :)
Also, nominations are open for the Best Food Blog on Saveur.com, so if you think Ria's Collection's deserves it, please do nominate my blog under the 'Best Cooking Blog' catergory here. Thanks in advance!

BADUSHA
Recipe source: Raks Anand
Makes 8 nos.

Ingredients:
1 1/2 c All purpose flour/Maida
1/4 c unsalted butter
2 tbsp oil
1/2 tsp sugar
1 1/2 tsp yogurt
2 pinches of baking soda
1/4 c (approx) water
Oil fr deep frying

For the syrup:
1/2 c sugar
1/2 c water
5 strands of saffron (optional)
1 tsp lemon juice

Method:
Melt the butter in microwave. Add oil, sugar,yogurt,baking soda and whisk well.
Add the flour and mix well to make it crumbly.Add water to mix and form a dough.
Knead it till it becomes smooth, appox 2-3 mins or till the dough releases oil
Divide them into small balls and shape them (I got 8). You can shape them the way I did or just poke a finger into the centre of the balls of dough so that it has a depression in the centre.Cover it with a towel.

Heat oil, add a pinch of dough to it and if it floats to the top immediately, you are good to go.Do not let the oil heat up any more but if you did so, just add some cold oil to it and it should be good.
Add in 3-4 badushas at a time and take the pan off the heat,let the badhusha's cook in the pre-heated oil for 5 mins.By this time, badusha's will float.
After 5 mins, keep the pan back on the flame on medium -low heat and cook till golden brown. It took me around 8-10 mins.

In the meantime, prepare the syrup by boiling together all the ingredients. As soon as you get it to a one-thread consistency (110 C), remove from flame and let it cool.
Once the badhusha's are fried, drain on kitchen towels and drop them into the sugar syrup immediately. Leave it for 1 mins. Remove and let it come to room temperature.
Store in airtight tin for upto 1 week. Do not store in refrigerator.

Verdict: These were excellent!! The recipe is almost fool proof and you can make it in no time! Everything comes together like a charm.A must try! It tastes the best on the 2nd day onwards (in my observation).

We loved it!

Plus, this month's Kerala Kicthen will be hosted by 'yours truly'. So please send in your entries with a picture to airmathew AT gmail DOT com by the 30th of April. Thank you!

ONE- BOWL VANILLA CAKE

On Saturday, we Indians, the cricket crazy people waited with baited breath to see who would win the Finals of the Cricket World Cup. And we WON! Yeayy! So as usual my Facebook news feed was filled with Cricket updates and I thought of asking my friends how do they want to celebrate? 'Something sweet' was the most common answer , so we decided to cook/bake something sweet to celebrate the 'massive' victory.

The minute I saw this cake on her blog, I knew I would try it that day itself and I did. I couldn't help but lick the batter just to see how it tasted with custard powder as an ingredient. It tasted like a box cake to me...I mean in a good way as I really like the Betty Crocker boxed vanilla cake. The city where we live, Minneapolis, is the 'home' of Betty Crocker. I don't know how many of you know that 'she' is just a fiction. There is no  real 'Betty Crocker' , sadly! How I wish there she was real and she lived even today...maybe I could have gone and met her :-)

Also, it's exactly a year since we moved to Minneapolis, our first home. It's been an incredible year! Coming back to the cake, it's a very easy one-bowl cake as the name suggests. It has nice vanilla flavour and  is a very light cake with a good crumb. A perfect cake for tea time or any other time you feel like snacking on a piece of cake ;-)

ONE-BOWL VANILLA CAKE
Original recipe: Betty Crocker Cookbook
I found this recipe on Aparna's blog.

Ingredients:
1/2 c unsalted butter,room temperature
1 1/4 c sugar
1 egg
1 3/4 c all purpose flour
1/2 c custard powder
1 tsp salt
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 1/4 c milk
1 tsp vanilla extract

Method:
Pre-heat the oven to 350F/180C .Line and dust an 8" round cake tin.

Using a whisk cream the butter and sugar till light and fluffy.
Add in the egg and whisk till incorporated and fluffy.
Add in the remaining ingredients one by one and whisk together for 2 mins.
Pour into the tin and bake for 55-60 mins or till done.
Cool in the tin for 10 mins, remove and cool completely.

* The design on the cake is natural , that's why I left it plain :)

Verdict: As I said before, this is an easy cake which is so full of vanilla flavour. Anytime you are pressed for time or otherwise, just use this recipe to get fabulous soft cake.

If you read through the recipe, you should have noticed that this recipe doesn't even call for an electric hand beater...it just needs a 'whisk'! Looks like I am in a 'Vanilla' mood...did you see the Vanilla Cupcakes with Glossy Frosting that I made a few days ago?

You can serve this cake plain , dusted with confectioner's sugar or even fruit sauces. I'm sure you will like it!

THE MAKING OF FRESH APPLE CIDER

R
emember the last time I told you about Apple Cider?We went to an Apple Orchard last month and that's where we saw them making Apple Cider . Till then, I had no clue about how it tasted. I have seen them in stores, they have a pale colour...can call it slightly muddy in colour (which I think is because of oxidation). They were giving out samples and we got our share. It tasted so so good and refreshing that we stood back to see them make it. I am sure some of you wouldn't have seen this before, so here it is . I don't know whether this is how apple cider is made commercially, but that day, in that farm, they made it this way.

There were a lot of people other than just the 2 of us. So we stood in line. Patiently. And I wriggled myself to find a place as close as I could, so that...

... I could see  better and also click  better, without any one obstructing me ;-)

So this man, in red, was telling us that, the boy is putting in 24 apples of 5 varieties into a slot behind that wooden plank. And can you see that wheel in red? Oh yes, it's matching matching. So once the apples are in, the man in red, will turn the wheel...

... and the apples gets crushed in between and come out like that and falls into the wooden barrel.

This is how it looks like after all the 24 apples are crushed.

After showing us the crushed apples, they then push back that wooden barrel into it's place .

They placed a wooden plank, in the diameter of the barrel over the crushed apples.Then the boy starts to turn that black thing and it goes down and presses that wooden plank placed over the apples and squeezes them.Do you know what happens when you squeeze crushed apples that way? No?

This is what happens. Notice the colour? It's kind of white which turns into muddy brown later due to oxidation.
Do you know what happens when it's squeezed even more? No?

This is what happens.
Do you know what happens if it's squeezed further more? Yes? Ok...Sshhh! Don't act smart, now, okay? :-P

You get fresh Apple Cider!! See, I knew you knew it :-P

Then he showed us what was left in that bag, nothing special, just some really crushed apples which by the way is still edible.

It's time for some fresh apple cider! Notice the colour ,now?
Woo hoo! I got to drink another cup :-)

Now that's for you :)

WORDLESS WEDNESDAY 4...Fall Colours.