Friday, 7 March 2014

PAN COOKED CHICKEN WITH DILL AND PEPPER

Hi! just so late in posting this time :(. To compensate I bring out to you a recipe by me tried out recently and very successfully. Am not a great cook, but like to experiment and some do turn out very well. Worst part I forget what I did. My hubby always asks me to note the recipe down, me a lazy one, no sooner the food is eaten I forget to jot it down. This time I did it, and with pics.



Ingredients:
Chicken legs(upto thigh joint) with skin 2nos
Chicken wings(upto shoulder joint) with skin 2nos
Dill leaves (finely chopped) 2 tbs
Black pepper (freshly ground) 2 tbs
Salt 1 tbs
Garlic cloves 6nos
Butter 1" cube
Strings to tie

Method:
1. Mix the dill, pepper and salt together and keep aside
2. Clean and pat dry the chicken pieces and set aside

3. With your finger make space between the flesh and the skin

4. Now lift the skin with one hand and rub in the herb-spice mix onto flesh well with the other hand

5. Take 6 garlic cloves with skin on

6. Place the garlic clove on a flat surface and crush it under the flat part of knife with a blow of your wrist. Tuck in each piece of garlic under the skin on each side of chicken piece.

7. Try to cover the chicken pieces well with skin and then tie up with string

8. Heat up a shallow pan with lid. Place butter in it, when hot. Place the chicken pieces on it, cover and cook on low heat

9. After 5 min. check for cooking, and turn to other side. Again cover and cook. Cook till the skin is crispy brown and flesh is tender and white till the bone(check by poking in the sharp tip of knife into the flesh)

10. The skin becomes crispy and waffery, the flesh inside stays soft and full of lovely flavors of dill, pepper and butter.  Now cut off the cords of chicken and plate it up.

Viola its ready.
Believe me very tasty..
Um. m.. m...


Wednesday, 1 January 2014

MERRY CHRISTMAS AND A VERY HAPPY NEW YEAR 2014!!!

MERRY CHRISTMAS!
My impromptu Christmas!
Kid's kindergarten Christmas!

My Hurricane and Tornado had Christmas fest at the school this year. Parents were invited to see children's creations.
 Each kid made the decorations with help of teachers.

Look at all the snow and snowman made of disposable cups, reused cans and balls...

Adhrit trying to smile too well in front of his picture frame...

Sibs posing in school garden...

My daughter came back home and said "I want my own Christmas". So I dragged Hubby dear for the night walk and got a twig home, and early in morning we all together made our own CHRISTMAS CORNER
 
Three friends in a row...
Out they go...
In search of snow...

not bad eh!
 
Sibs chatting...

Please join us for a CUP of HOT CHOCOLATTE or COFFEE ...

 We went to Botanical garden for picnic and came back in evening. Rushed in the house and microwaved fruit and nut cake served with coffee and milk for kids. Icing next year...

Little fairy Adhrit made out of small paper cup...

Santa peeping...
Love the socks...
Black rooster...

Spot all the toys and rattles up there...

Adhrit's snap in blue paper frame...

 Aarotrika's pic with her Christmas Tree (the tree is getting covered with extra snow very passing day)   ;)
Wishing you all a very happy and prosperous New Year 2014!

Saturday, 30 November 2013

WELCOME to CITY OF JOY "KOLKATA"

Was making a "Welcome" for someone special, thought of sharing this with you all.
I love handmade paper, they have texture ans hence a character of their own. I cut it into shape

Then I made a pencil sketch.


It's a double flap card; the top flap has the image of bengali married woman with eyes down and the top flap opens up to show next flap with the eyes open to Kolkata.

Love the water colour medium to work with...

Ta-da!.. done :)

close

open

"Welcome to Kolkata"
This is my "welcome" to all of you
Come and cherish the rich culture and life of Kolkata!

Thursday, 14 November 2013

Drama on T-shirts

I went to the market once and found two fluorescent bright colored high neck full-sleeved T-shirts. Any mother would agree the how useful are such Tees for the evenings and start of winters.
Imagine  blank Tees mean................fresh canvas...
Yellow yellow dirty fellow
sitting on a buffalo!
funny, strange, eh!?
but a bright sunny yellow happens to be one of the choicest colour of my child

I saw
I dreamt
I drew on paper
I liked
Now its on the T

Whenever you want to embroider or appliqué  on Tee or any woven material, remember to leave ample cloth on sides of your embroidery so that the fabric is able to stretch while wearing and taking off.

You see all is not embroidered.
There are mushroom tops and thunder that I painted.
Rest all is simple  stitches...


Have you watched Ratatouille movie with your kids? remember this scene...


Turn the Tee
Why should only one side of Tee say a story, let your back/front all speak for themselves.
The sun on sunny Tee
A road with houses and trees
Aarotrika and Adhrit playing near milestone...

These appliqués are made of one inch to two inches square or small pieces of left over clothes from my earlier stitching ventures. Adhrits' Tee here is a piece of printed flannel clothe, left over from my son's dress (blue flannel night suit with teddy printed on it). So is the sun.
and so on and little stitches here and there completing the picture...


This bright green just wanted me to make a hill side with grass and wild flowers.
So here are Aarotrika and Adhrit riding up the hill to the apple tree on their tricycles...

See the apples are cheap red buttons, rest is small pieces of clothes appliquéd  and some simple stitches...

The other side is paint and ribbons...

My darlings modeling for me...

Monday, 11 November 2013

Shubho KALI Pujo and Happy Deepawali

The English calender is a solar calender and Hindu calender is a lunar calender. There always are some variations to time. Everything has some plus points. This year we celebrated Kali Puja on Saturday night 2nd November 2013 and Deepawali on Sunday night 3rd November 2013.

The night before the Kali pujo we lit up "Choddo-pradeep" and eat "Choddo-shak". "Choddo" means "fourteen/ 14"."Pradeep" is diya or earthen lamp. "Shak" is Bhaji or leafy greens.
Since childhood I remember going to market and neighbouring kitchen gardens in search of fourteen different types of lefy greens. Be it spinach, pumpkin leaf, bottle gourd leaf, potato leaf, bengal gram leaf, cabbage leaf, bathua, cholai, laal/red bhaji/saag, methi/fenugreek leaves, makai/corn leaf, sarso/mustard leaf....all edible leaves have to sum up to fourteen to cook up a dish for night for everybody in husehold to eat. The search is fun.
After the dusk time puja/prayers we lit up 14 pradeeps in respect to our last late fourteen generations or Purvapurush.



We again went pandal hoping...
Kali Devi, a form of Parvati/ Shakti. When a monster was not being killed by anyone and was tormenting people around Devi Kali came to rescue and killed the monster and went on killing all sinners. Her appearance was scary and anger went out of proportions and then calm her down Lord Shiva lied down in her path. She in her went ahead and stepped on chest of Shiva( her husband). Immediately she calmed down and relised her mistake of putting feet on husband's chest and in that shock her tongue came out, so this form.



There is beauty even in this form of anger.

May the Devi remove evil from our lives fill us with light.....
 

Sunday, 3 November 2013

SHUBHO DURGA PUJO 2013

This year am in Kolkata- the city of joy.
Durga pujo is one festival that I wait for the whole year to come. It is associated with so many sweet memories of childhood and growing up.
In Kolkata for the first time for the pujo.

We started Pujo this time from Chaturthi itself
by Pandal hoping ofcourse.....start 12 at night and came back at 3 in the morning :)

This Durga murti is from Maddox square

This thakur is from Shobha Bajaar, North Kolkata
   

Such a pretty face of the Mother


There was one pandal decorated with peels and seeds of different fruits.
  
This brilliantly lit up pandal  is made of small mirrors all over.

 This beautiful Devi murti is from our owr Pandal


No pujo seems complete without the Alpana. Alpana is traditionally madewith paste of soaked rice paste, but this one I painted in the pandal with the white and red oil paint.

We also organized painting competition for the children on eve of Saptami. Nice to see the kids come up with lovely ideas some very innovative.

 My daughter Aarotrika reciting a bangla poem "Bapuram shapure" by Sukumar Rai. She also won first prize for this in under 5 years age group.


 My son Adhrit reciting a bangla poem "Hatti-matim-tim" by Sukumar Rai


Dashami- after sindoor Khela
  

We intended on face to go home as good girls and children but excited that we were went instead to the ghaat to see Murti Visarjan.
 

AAsche bochor aabar hobe....
Bolo bolo Durga Mai ki Jai.....

Vibrant Mushroom Botanical Watercolor Painting with Printable

  Vibrant Mushroom Botanical Watercolor Painting is a great Artwork to own. Watch me paint Bright Watercolor Mushroom and you can enjoy this...