Birthday Fiesta

I turned 25 a few days back! And I have looked at the number both ways: the carefree age range of 20-23 is still not too far behind me, while the maturity that comes with 30 is not very far either. I've also thought of it as a quarter of a century old, well that’s a scary thought! Anyways, age is always just a number, and at heart, I still feel hardly 17!

To celebrate, I had a homely birthday party with just close friends and family the night before my birthday. My mom-in-law and I prepared some yummy Indian-Asian fusion dishes for the dinner; you can have a look at them below:

Vegetable Shaslik

The dinner table set with my favorite dinner plates

 I tried my hand at making Coffee Creme Caramel, and it turned out perfect, to my utter glee:

And the highlight of the party was this beautiful, super yummy chocolate-laden piece of heaven one of my best friends baked for me:

I got several lovely birthday presents too, and among all of those, my favorite was this:

This friend sure knows me to the core :)

So that's all for today....I'll be heading for a little getaway this weekend with my friends.  We'll be heading to my grandparents' place in the beautiful outskirts of a little town called Sylhet, filled with lush tea gardens all around. My grandparents' duplex apartment spanning the 9th and 10th floors has some of the most beautiful views in the country. Hope to get some good pics for you guys to see :)



What are your weekend plans, do tell?

The Culinary (Mis)Adventures of the Not-So-Adventurous

I love cooking. Not regular everyday cooking that's more like a chore. I love cooking when it's a real fancy affair on weekends and on special occasions. I love going shopping for grocery, and I enjoy filling the shopping cart with oodles of edible delicacies that I can work on for the next couple of hours just to come up with something completely different than what I had planned to make. Nonetheless, I love my little culinary experiments and here are some I tossed up in the last couple of weeks:

Shrimp Tempura with Mango Salsa (the Tempura was made by Hubby:D)

     

Spicy Beef Curry (Thai style)

 

 

 

 

 

 

Purple Cabbage Stir Fry with Baby Corns and Mushrooms

Sticky Vermicelli Barfi

Sfouf ( A middle-eastern dessert made with semolina and flour)