Wrapping up for the Year!..

I had been doing some justice to blogging this year in spite of the commitments I had to take up right from the start when compared to last year when I was hibernating with 'no recipes' most of the months ! :)..

The year 2009 had been eventful for me.
The best and the proudest moments belong to the evening spent with Sanjeevji.
Treasurable, cherishable for a blogger, right?? :)

Again 2009 is the year I started blogging with my new(no more new, now ;)) template, put up with the help of my sister, the year I decided to commercialise my space with Food Buzz , hoping that would push me back to consistent blogging and the year I started hosting the pictures using Flickr with a Pro account shared again with my :-) !.. last but not the least, the 100th post which got in this space(at last :)) by the middle of the year..

Honestly, until a few minutes back I never thought of posting a re-cap, while I was doing a lazy "look back" and was totally surprised to see the feed back for all the 30 recipes posted for the year!!.I was glad to learn that at least half of them were well approved and were tried and appreciated by readers and blogger buddies.

Goes to Srivalli for the event of Best of 2009!.Thank you Valli, for urging me for the 'look back'..:)



And now to brag about the Toppers ;)..



Chocolate Cake!


Little did I realise that this would top the hit list when I blogged the all time favourite of my siblings and mine.Probably the only Non-Indian recipe which was appreciated so far from this space ;)




Wheat Flour Dosas- Again an unexpected hit, which I counted in as a simple- humble- homely recipe.Many of them tried and claimed that this has become a part of their breakfast menu.A few of my buddies went a step ahead and shared the pictures of the dosa with much appreciations :)..Girls, you always make me feel so proud! :)



Godhumai Appam- A lucky ' Go Wheat' year for Spicy Chilly, I guess ;), is the hit number 3! :).Easy to make snack with much available ingredients should be the reason of approval of this one..




Dates Pickle- Something which I made for myself and never thought of blogging..:)..many of them tried and got back to me with good feed back. Glad to note that, guys! :)



Olan- the mildly spiced Ash gourd stew from God's own country..




and Vattayappam or the Rice Bread for their Regional Authenticity , I believe..




Peas Biriyani..




Khaman Dhokla- A challenging recipe I enjoyed making :). I can see Valli chasing me with a stick as this was the only challenge for the ICC which I took up and eventually got under the 'hit list' ;) ..Ouch!! :D





The best recipe tried from a fellow blogger of the year is undoubtedly the classic Praline Vanilla Sponge Gateau adapted verbatim from the cute space owned by Ria, who is already in her wedding blues!..All the best, sweetie :).
I make this often ever since as everyone who do the same!.

I had not been much into blog hopping, this year but I did come across fabulous blogs and I regret for not book marking promptly. All I can recall are two, which I had fallen in love with the very first time visit..Ria and Ree :)


I know I had not been contributing for events too, which I am trying to gear up more with the approaching months.Varied recipes, more of baking, better pictures are taken into consideration as well..:)..that's all for the resolution part I can think of now :)!

To sum up, I did have a contented and pleasurable year of blogging but am sure, still I have Miles and Miles to go..

I Sincerely Thank all my readers, followers and blogger buddies from the bottom of my heart for supporting me as always and I wish and hope this will continue for ever...

Wishing you all a Fabulous Year ahead, filled with Peace, Joy and Prosperity!.

Cheers,
Bharathy :)

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Chocolate Chip Cookies

City sidewalks, busy sidewalks, dressed in holiday style, in the air there's a feeling of Christmas, children laughing, people passing, meeting smile after smile and on every street corner you'll hear,- Silver Bells,... it's Christmas Time in the City, Ring-a-Ling, hear them sing, soon it will be Christmas Day!

There are hundreds upon hundreds of recipes for cookies that bring the Season to life, but I guess these simple chocolate chip cookies probably capture the spirit of the season as good as those yummy fruit cakes all out here...:)...

Here's how I made two dozens of these cuties..:)

All purpose flour- a heaped cup
Egg-1
Brown sugar-1/4 cup
Baking powder-half tsp
Salt- a pinch
Chocolate chips
Butter -1/2 cup
Walnuts/Pecans coarsely chopped -1/2 cup(I added walnuts to the second batch and is purely optional)
Semi sweet chocolate chips-3/4 cup
Pure vanilla extract- 1/2 tsp

• Cream the butter in a bowl using an electric mixer. Add the sugar, beat until fluffy for a couple of minutes. Beat in egg followed by the vanilla.

• Combine flour, baking soda and salt in another bowl. Add this to the butter-egg mixture and beat until well blended. Add the chocolate chips and the nuts.Blend well.

• This will be a soft dough and so needs to be refrigerated for around 20 minutes or until firm.

• Make equal sized balls out of the dough and place leaving a 3 inch gap, as they flatten while getting baked, on a prepared cookie sheet, in a preheated oven. Mine got baked at a temperature set at 375 deg F (190 deg C) for about 10 minutes.Remove once the edges turn slightly brown.The centre will be soft, but once cooled they are sure to get a bit hardened.Let cool completely before removing from the cookie sheet.

Wishing you all a Blessed Christmas and a Very Happy New Year!..:)

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Praline Vanilla Sponge Gateau

Hope most of you are getting ready for Christmas; trees, gifts, carols, Christmas cake; busy chopping and soaking dry fruits in rum.,.eagerly awaiting the festival and all fun which is just around the corner! :)..

I had a fresh bowl of home made butter and cashew nuts, quite enough to ignite the baker in me to catch up with the season's spirit, sugar coated with Ria's lovely looking Gateau sitting pretty here :)!.


To be honest, I lack confidence when it comes to baking sponge cakes as I'd flawed once long back during my teen days, which ended up in a promise that I would never bake the same in my life again..;)!..

Well, Ria's Praline Vanilla Sponge Gateau broke my hard hearted promise and here's the final verdict! :)..

The prettiest and yummiest cake I'd ever baked so far.The Vanilla flavour of the base cake, the butter icing and the crunchy praline bits on top when bitten into, was absolutely,.... Heaven!!.



I baked the cake last Saturday, on the day of Eid, as Children were home and wilfully came forward with the "beating" part ;).

Sadly I flawed again with the sponge cake, the mistake I feel was might've happened while whipping (kids, :) who can always be easily blamed :), were fighting for their chance pushing and pulling the bowl almost all the time allotted for continuous beating while their mom who was pre heating the oven, 'carefully' set the temperature 'wrong' and baked for a longer time than it should .. ;)!.

For all the wonderful daring bakers and cake lovers here...
Believe me! This is a Keeper!... :)!..Thank You Ria!.

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