Monday, May 19, 2014

Soft Ellunda or Sesame seed laddu

On a very very hot afternoon, after a very long time, its time to update something on my blog . I have been pretty much ignoring my blog since its first anniversary. Life has been a lot busy with planning the vacation to India, the actual vacation, ongoing inlaws visit and the list goes on and on. If I think back, may be it was possible for me to post more frequently. May be I should have focused more. May be the motivation wasnt enough. And I think thats exactly what was missing. Motivation. I did cook tons, experimented tons and learnt lots. Somehow the motivation to take pictures, then sit down and draft a post was missing. Coming to think about it, I do miss planning a blog post. Cooking something and then rushing to take pictures. Taking hundreds of pictures and making a mess of things. Finally the selection process, the editing and then the actual composition of the blog post. Yup, I do miss them!! Till now, I have just rushed through things and let everything pass by. But now I feel like pausing and being more aware and taking control of situation. Hoping that I stick to it and not lose interest and let things go back to the same as it was previously. 

You know, there may be many things that you wish to achieve in life. And at some point in life, nothing may be working out, lots of things may be stagnant. But I have realized that things are going to be stagnant, unless you take the first action and accept change. Always knew it in mind, but kept on losing track of it somewhere deep inside the mind. Keep on visualising what you want in your life, keep on telling it loud, keep on praying as you do always, work in small steps towards whatever you want and most importantly be patient. 


Sunday, May 4, 2014

Round up of My Legume Love Affair - MLLA 70

Hello Friends, As you remember, I got the opportunity to host 70th edition of My Legume Love Affair - MLLA 70 on my blog for April. Thank you so much Lisa for providing me the wonderful opportunity to host the event. 



Happy to receive a good number of entries to the event. Thank you so much friends for making the event a great success. In case I have accidentally missed anyone from the round up, please do drop me a mail at avikapnair@gmail.com. Now off to the round up and finally the winner :) 

Round up of My Legume Love Affair - MLLA 70:

Tuesday, April 1, 2014

Announcing "My Legume Love Affair - MLLA # 70 " for April

Hello every one, how are you all doing?  It has been a while since I posted any recipes. I have been on a vacation trip to India and now I am trying to settle into a new routine. Due to all the sudden changes happening in my life, the blogging part has suffered quite a lot. Hoping to be back to full scale blogging by April mid. 

One year back, when I started blogging, slowly I learned about other wonderful blogs present in the blogosphere and started following many of them. Spent hours reading them and through them I was guided to the various events conducted by the various bloggers to share their wonderful and innovative recipes. The first event that I ever took part was My Legume Love Affair (MLLA) . A long running very popular monthly event that features legumes as the main item. Started by Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook in 2008, MLLA  is now managed by Lisa of "Lisa's Vegetarian Kitchen". I love incorporating legumes in my dishes and was so glad to find an event where I could participate and learn about other recipes based on legumes. I tried to take part in the event every month, but havent been able to follow due to various constraints. I also requested Lisa to provide me a chance to host MLLA sometime. And it worked off. Here I am so proud and excited to host the 70 th edition of My Legume Love Affair for April - MLLA #70 on my blog space. Thank you so much Lisa for giving me the wonderful opportunity to host an event that I have come to love so much. 




Wednesday, January 8, 2014

Coffee Cake with almond topping - First Blog Anniversary Special

Belated Happy new year wishes to all of you !!! Hope every one enjoyed their holidays :) Any new year resolutions guys? Hope you are fulfilling them to the best of your ability!! Stick to them and keep going.  My resolutions for the year ?? I havent decided yet :P I  mean I have quite a few in my mind. But couldnt decide which I actually want to implement :) Usually most of my resolutions are never ever practically implemented :( Even if I start following them, they are abandoned almost the second day. But, one year ago on January 8th 2013, I decided to follow one of my resolutions for the year and started a blog - A day through my life. It was something that was on my mind for sometime. but kept on delaying it... I wasnt sure what I wanted the blog to be at first. But then as I started writing on my online diary, I realized I was spending so much time on cooking and recipes and making a note of them, I decided to make it completely a food blog rather than a personal diary. After some days of blogging, I realized that the decision to start a blog was simple enough but maintaining it proved to a slightly difficult task. but then I didnt want to leave blogging saying I couldnt manage it. I was hooked on blogging by then and even though slowly, I was learning a lot and that kept me going. Sometime after I started learning so much about food blogging and the other wonderful blogs and their recipes, my health suffered and I was unable to cook much. Recovery is still in progress, but my blogging has suffered. There was one time last year when I didnt even know whether I will be able to complete one year of blogging. But today after all the initial hiccups, I am very very proud to say that my blog baby is turning ONE !!! Be it a birthday or an anniversary, the first year .. yeah .. Its quite special. And a celebration is a must !! What better than a cake to start off :) 




Friday, December 27, 2013

Keera Mutta Thoran/ Spinach egg stir fry with grated coconut

Hello every one, how are the holidays coming along?  Hope you all had a great Christmas and was able to spend valuable time with family. I am afraid this is going to be my last post for this year. I am travelling a little bit at the end of the year. And unfortunately I didnt get much time to plan ahead and post some grand item as my last post for this year as much as I wanted to :(. But I hope to make it all up in January when I will complete one year of blogging. Even though I wanted to, I wasnt able to spend much time on blogging this year due to health issues and other stuffs. But again guys, I wont be able to compensate much next year too due to lots of travel being planned. Visiting home for a while and then again bringing my inlaws here for a visit for 6 months and lots of other planned activities which may reduce my alone time a lot.  But that doesnt mean that I am going to give up blogging. Infact, I will try my best to improve my quality of blogging, may be not quantity and publish useful recipes as much as I can. 

I cant believe the year 2013 is ending. The year passed so quickly... Thinking back, it hasnt been that bad a year. There were many ups and downs for me. I suffered a lot healthwise affecting my day to day life a lot.. I was also almost conned by some people from India. Keeping all that and much more aside, I was able to start a food blog, learn more about food and blogging, made lots of friends and there are many more plus points as well. I am happy that the year is ending and hopefully 2014 will be an even better year. How was your year guys ? Enjoy the last week of 2013 and let us celebrate and usher in a new year with lots of hopes and dreams. 

Today I am sharing the recipe of Keera Mutta Thoran (Spinach Egg Thoran or Spinach - Egg in grated coconut mixture). My mom used to make mutta thoran with grated coconut and I just improved it a bit by adding spinach to that combo, trying to make it a little bit more healthy. Hope you all like the dish. This makes an excellent side dish with rice and Chappathi. 






Thursday, December 12, 2013

Muringakka Thoran/ Drumsticks Thoran

I have been able to blog very little these days. But blogging has always been on the back of my mind and it kept on nagging me that I am not posting recipes frequently as much as I like. So today, I woke up determined to blog a new recipe and with camera in hand, entered the kitchen and started planning lunch menu. Checked my refrigerator and found some Drumsticks/ Muringakka. Okay, decided on a simple and healthy side dish - Drumsticks/ Muringakka Thoran.