Old Fashioned Blushing Lemonade

Strawberries are proof that there is a God.........Strawberry season is my favorite time of year!


My favorite summer drink of all times........... Old Fashioned Blushing Lemonade .....perfectly pink.....so refreshing .....all you need on sweltering days is a cold glass of homemade strawberry lemonade.....its so smooth and full of flavor ...with just a blushing hint of strawberry .

Summer love I say.....dont believe me you must try this yourself  ....its so easy to make and so great tasting.....

 Old Fashioned Blushing Lemonade


 Makes : 2 glasses


2.5 cups water
5 tablespoons sugar
Juice of 2 lemons
Zest of 1 lemon
3-4 strawberries (cut and smashed with the back of a spoon )


2- 3 strawberries : sliced .... to garnish


Boil water add sugar , let it dissolve. Then add lemon zest and lemon juice. Keep on gas for another 3-5 minutes.


Take off the gas .....add strawberries. Allow to cool a little then leave in refrigerator for 2-3 hours.


Add sliced strawberries into glasses strain the lemonade and pour into glass!

Best ever French toast

I love breakfast...my favourite meal of the day....because I can eat something sweet and get away with it ...not to mention the sugar rush after eating something like this!

French toast is one of those meals that always hits the spot--whether you're having it for  breakfast, or whipping some up for a midnight snack.........






Innocent enough ingredients ...that come together to make your mornings magical :))

  Totally worth waking up to or eating rite before bed  or in the middle of the night :D

Making a skinny version of a French toast is illegal you cant do that to such a classic ...so this has to be eaten this way or no way at all! It needs all the butter ....full fat milk...cream....needs to be drowned in maple syrup or honey ....theres no other way !

**Completely addictive**

                                         Best ever French Toast 

Serves : 1

Day old bread : 1 fat slice * ( Read note below)

1 egg

A big dash of cinnamon

Nealry 1/4th teaspoon vanilla essence 

 

3 tablespoons full fat milk preferably with lots of malai in it 

3 tablespoons sugar

2 tablespoons butter 

Strawberries , slivered almonds , slices bananas to garnish

Maple syrup / honey 

Beat egg with cinnamon, vanilla essence , milk and sugar till everything is combined well

Dip you fat slice of bread into the batter for 20 seconds on each side making sure you coat the bread slice well!

Heat butter in a pan once it melts .....put your bread slice into the pan cook about 3 minutes per side.

Serve hot ....after garnishing with almonds , strawberries and banana slices.

Drown in maple syrup.....dust with icing sugar if you like.

Hold your breath....take your first bite! Experience the sugar high .... 

Then begin to breath normally again :))

And remember happy breakfasts make happy mornings :D 

* Note : Try and get bread thats not sliced so you can cut a really thick slice out yourself for some seriously good french toast  or use Brioche bread if you can manage to find some!

Skinny strawberry yogurt parfait

Strawberry season is here............and the uses for strawberries in delicious, dreamy recipes are limitless.

"Parfait" means perfect in French ....absolutely true for this dessert....its like perfection in a glass. It takes 5 minutes to make but ends up looking so exquisite an absolute treat for your eyes and taste buds.

This is my skinny version....its good ....not as good as the sinful thing with cream and a biscuit butter layer!
But the good thing is it doesn't show up around your waist the next morning ....so its a good thing , Right?  :))

And so you can eat plenty of it and still feel no guilt and you can eat it for breakfast and still feel no guilt so its a super good thing then :))

So here is the recipe.................. so good during the summer months!


 Skinny Strawberry Yogurt Parfait
Serves : 2

Thick yogurt /curd : 3/4th cup
Honey : 2 tablespoons
Banana : 1 chopped into slices
Strawberries :10  sliced
Muesli (the sugary kind with dry fruits in it)  : 4 tablespoons
Handful of raisins and slivered almonds
some green grapes sliced in half


Mix honey into yogurt . Get 2 glasses ready spoon in some yogurt then add a layer of chopped strawberries.
Next add some muesli then some bananas . Throw on some raisins . Another layer of curd then strawberries. Then more curd . And continue doing this till you reach the top of the glass , order of putting stuff on is not so important :))

Just alternate layers of curd and fruit and crunchy muesli in the middle . Top most layer should be of yogurt. Garnish with sliced strawberries and slivered almonds . :))

New Martin Hotel - Colaba , Bombay

New Martin Hotel is this 65ish year old small hole in the wall Goan restaurant tucked away in the lane opposite  Strand cinema towards the far end of Colaba Causeway.

I was so happy to find this place .....else whenever we were in South Bombay we would invariably eat at Leopold or Baghdad or Mondegar . This place serves seriously good Goan food at seriously good prices :))

Walking into this little 5 table restaurant is like walking back into time .....cream colored walls with paint peeling off .....menu written on a blackboard on the wall ....sunmica covered tables and chairs.....

We tried the Fish curry rice ( Rs 70) and the Prawn Pulav ( Rs 80)

Excellent Fish curry and the Prawn Pulav was one of the best iv eaten so far ...very flavorful with tiny little prawns......

This place is very famous for its Beef Steak Fry ...but I dont eat beef so if you do you must try it.
I was so surprised to see our bill ...amazing that we had such a fabulous meal for so little that too on Colaba Causeway

And for dessert they have really goood Custard and Jelly for some reason we dint order any and instead walked to Kailash Parbat for Cham Cham :))

New Martin Hotel

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  21, Glamour House, Strand Cinema Road, Colaba  Mumbai

Meen Moiley

I love this fish curry so delicately flavored with hints of  hari elaichi and saunf....I wonder how this curry got its name?

Great with rice and appam.

Serves : 4 

Ingredients :

Fish  : 500 g ( I used Surmai )

To Marinate : (for 30 minutes in the refrigerator)

Haldi, salt , pepper : 1/2 teaspoon each

For Sauce :

 Black Rye : 1 tsp

Cloves : 5

Cinnamon : 1"
Onions : 2 , finely chopped
Garlic : 4 cloves finely chopped
Ginger : 1" piece
Green Chillies : 5 slit
Haldi : 1/2 tsp
Red Chilli Powder : large pinch
Crushed black pepper : 1/2 tsp
Saunf powder : 1/2 tsp 
Tomato - 1 finely chopped 
 Thin coconut milk : 2 cups
Thick coconut milk : 1 cup
Oil - 1 tbsp
Salt - to taste
Curry Leaves - 2 springs 


Heat oil then add black rye and let them splutter . Add cinnamon , cloves , elaichi . Add chopped onions, ginger garlic and green chillies. Cook for 5 minutes. Add haldi , red chilli powder .....cook for 2-3 minutes . 


Then add thin coconut milk , next add chopped tomatoes . Let all this boil for 5-7 minutes . Now add fish and cover and cook for 10 minutes .


In the end add thick coconut milk , curry leaves and to finish add saunf powder .

Serve hot with appam and rice.

Pune's best Khaman Dhokla

Tucked away in a narrow lane off MG road is this  little gem of a place ....its been around since 1977 .....I have been eating dhokla at this place for the last 20 years or so......earlier they used to have a hand pushed cart in the same narrow lane but 10 years ago they moved to this little shop.

Its a little hard to find ....its opposite wonderland  in the lane that goes between Meghdoot and Petsworld

Its the best Khaman dhokla ever .........spongy soft ...served with spicy green chutney and a sweet tomato chutney that tastes like gujrati tomato saar .......garnished with fried green chillies, sev and fresh grated coconut and hara dhaniya. So its more like a chatpata chaat than just bland dhokla .....you must try it to know what I mean :)))

A fresh batch of dhokla comes in every evening at 5pm or so and gets over very very quickly lots of people who live on and around MG road come to eat and take away from this place frequently.

7 days a week

5pm- 9pm

Cheesy Sausages

Okay , I thought Id share this with you.....I bought a packet of Sumeru Chicken Cheese sausages ....they are manufactured and packed somewhere in Sri Lanka....and they are terrific starters for when you have unannounced friends dropping in ...or for game nites or for when you are generally feeling like pigging out :))

 They are fast , yummy and look good too.....and they come out of the pan sizzling with cheese bursting out of their insides...

I now like to keep a pack in my freezer always .....I hope you try it and like it

I cook them with a little oil in a non stick pan and add a crack of pepper and some  Italian seasoning for nice flavour .

Available at all leading departmental stores

500g for Rs. 250 has around 25 mini cocktail sausages :)