The Great Indian Cookie Challenge

Image Courtesy: www.courtneyhouse.com

Yippeeeeeeeee....Its Christmas and new year time. I love this time of the year. Not only because of the weather but also the celebrations that we have. I have many fond memories from childhood for christmas. As a kid I used to save all my pocket money for this time of the year so that I could buy a gift for my younger brother. When he would be fast asleep on christmas eve I used to put his gift below the christmas tree in the living room. Till many years I could make him believe that it was Santa who was putting the gifts. He is among those kids who had once written a letter to Santa. :) As for my gift for christmas, having a sibling like my brother is the best gift anyone can ever get. This is my baby A's first winter and christmas as well. I have still not decided as to what Santa should be giving her. :P

During this time of the year most of us are in baking mode. We are either baking cookies or cakes. So I thought of  starting a new challenge that we can have during this time of every year. The details of the challenge are:

- Add your entries with the below linky tool.
- Recipes should be of cookies. Any kind of cookies.
- Follow my blog.
- Last date for submission of entry is 31st December.
- Non Bloggers can also be a part of it by sending me the recipes and pics on anisham56@gmail.com
- Recipes posted on your blog before 12th December 2013 are also welcome.
- The most innovative and unique recipe will get a the title of "Cookie Baker of the Year 2013"

 For any queries or doubts leave a comment.
This is my first challenge/contest on the blog. Lets make it a huge success. Have fun.

Pomfret Fry

Fish-Fish-Fish. Being a Bengali I sometimes feel my blog is filled with fish recipes. But then, you know, there are so many fish recipes that we Bengalis know that one lifetime is not enough to share them all in my blog. Today's fish is Pomfret. The best part is it is very easy to debone this fish. This fish is pretty tasty and medium in size. It is a sea fish.

Ingredients:
- Pomfret Fish (2 in number)
- Oil (2 tbsp)
- Salt (1 tsp)
- Turmeric powder (1/2 tsp)
- Fresh Coriander leaves chopped (1 tsp)
- garlic pods crushed (3)
- lemon juice (2 tbsp)


Method:
- Wash the fish properly and put slits on both the sides.
- Marinate the fish with salt, turmeric, garlic, coriander for 2 hours.
- Heat Oil in a pan.
- When the oil is hot add the fish and cook for 2-3 mins on both the sides. Fish should be crispy from outside and soft on the inside.
- Sprinkle lemon juice from top.
- Serve with onions and lemon or any other salad.

"With Every Baby a Mother is Born"

People in blogosphere would have been wondering why I have been away from blog world for almost a year. Well I do have a very good reason for that. There was something very very important happening in my life.So what was so important that I had to stay away from my blog for so long? Not only blog, I have been away from almost all kinds of social networking sites.

Drum rolls please.....
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Well, now that was my best attempt at drum rolls!! :p

We welcomed a new member into our family on the 12th of March this year, my daughter. The entire experience of pregnancy has been overwhelming and we have been overjoyed to be blessed with a daughter. Daughters are always special. They always hold a very special place in parent's hearts (I say this from personal experience you see!!!! :) )

I used to roll my eyes whenever someone told me "You will know what it feels like to become a mother when you actually become one". I never used to understand the meaning of these lines until the day she was born. Before that day I really did not know how it feels to be a mother. I felt the sudden responsibility of a whole new life on me. There was this little baby trying to move around on my body and tears of joy rolled down my eyes.

I had thought I understood the meaning of love when I met my hubby Amitava. But I was wrong. Love for your kid is entirely different from any other relation in the world. Somewhere I had read with the birth of a baby a mother is born.The saying is right to the true sense of the term. Love for your baby starts with the conception of a dot in your womb. You feel overexcited for each ultrasonography session where you would be able to see your baby inside you. You get the immense strength to fight all the odds in the world for your baby. You smile when you look at her. You wait for the day when she shall smile back at you. All your tensions, worries go away when you look at her. You get tensed, worried and all worked up when you simply hear her sneeze or cry. This is a lovely feeling. A feeling that cannot be described in words.A feeling called "Motherhood".