More Cupcakes . . .

Just last week I bought this little book on Cupcakes & Muffins. It looked really good (at least the photos!) and was not too expensive!! The recipes were easy and do - able.

After 2 day’s of being impatient and wanting to try out at least one cupcake recipe, I finally went to buy the missing ingredients and made a combination of two recipes - the muffin of one and the icing of another

.
I did some variations of my own. Added some colour to the icing so that it looked more fun! Sprinkled some decoration

Waiting to try out many more (if not all) recipes from this book…they all seem delicious!! For now here are the photos of the ones I baked 4 days back.

Freshly baked, took them to a friends for tasting. It was no doubt a hit, with the suggestion that I should start taking orders , specially since Diwali is round the corner.

Was a great suggestion. I shall definitely consider it

Light Painting

Was searching for some light painting photographs online . . . and these are some of the interesting links I found.

http://www.diyphotography.net/painting_with_light ; and

http://www.tripwiremagazine.com/2009/07/seriously-awesome-light-painting-photography-collections.html

There is also a link here for a light painting photography contest :

http://lightpaintingphotography.com/

 

Really tempted to try out some stuff now. I've already done some experimenting in the past 2 days . . . and the photos will be put up shortly!

The Moon . . . Growing Up!

Among the grey clouds, the moon looks beautiful today – once again! 

It looks blue - er than yesterday, with some shades of purple  

I love the clouds around the moon, and how the blue merges into the black. . . giving it

a Halo!

Fierce yet Calm.

Light yet Dark.

Close yet Far.

The BLUE Moon

After 3 days of rainy weather and cloudy skies, I finally got a partially clear sky today. I rushed to click the moon before it hid behind the few clouds floating around it! And what a beautiful moon it was. . . with shades of blue and spots of white. . . 

I also happened to find some interesting facts about what today's moon signifies (http://www.thegardenerscalendar.com/Moon_Planting.asp).
Something which majority of us are not aware of in today's times.

Apparently it is a good time to sow vegetables which produce internal seed bearing fruits, but not a good time to sow leafy plants!

The moon is in the sun sign Sagittarius, which means it is dry and barren, and its a good time to plant onions! 

Haha ;)

No Photos, but a Dessert !

Today's sky was pretty cloudy, so therefore there is no Moon photograph for the 3rd of Sept. 2011.
Though  I am loving the weather - the rain and slight cool breeze. Perfect for some yummy dessert. ;)
So I decided to make some :)
Made a Dairy Milk Chocolate Ice Cream. Sounds deadly, I hope the taste does it some justice.
Like the previous recipes, this one is really simple too.

Ingredients:

3 X 100 gms  Chocolate (any chocolate of your choice)
1 tin Condensed milk
500ml Whipped cream
4 eggs

Method:

Separate the eggs, and beat the yolk. Add whipped cream to the beaten yolks, then fold in the tin of
condensed milk and melted chocolate. Add the egg whites beaten to soft peaks.
Freeze & Serve!
:D

The Moon. . . on 2nd of Sept. 2011

. . . and the Moon once again. Thinking about documenting the complete Moon Cycle this time. Lets see how far I go with it.   
        

The Moon, once again...1st September 2011

    Santa called me and told me to shoot the moon . . . so I did :) and this is what it looked like today. . .

    Loving my new lens - 55-300 mm VR, as compared to my earlier one... the 70-300 mm non VR!
    Waiting to shoot many more Moon shots.

Eid Mubarak! 31st Aug. 2011

While driving back home this evening I saw the moon, and it looked beautiful against the darkening blue sky. I was praying there would be no traffic; I wanted to hurry home and get my camera out to capture it with that shade of 'blue'. Got a bit late for the blue but did manage to get the moon before it vanished.

This is a close up of the orange crescent moon with a star seen on the festival of Eid. The star is not too clear, but it is the little dot on the left!

The Crescent moon and star is a sacred symbol of Islam and dates back thousands of years. Where this symbol originates is difficult to explain, though in ancient times it was used in Central Asia and Siberia to worship the Sun, Moon and Sky Gods. Many years later, Istanbul and Constantinople took the symbol as their own, much before the birth of Christ. 

In today's times the festival  Eid ul - Fitr as it is called, is celebrated by visiting family, and exchanging gifts and greetings. People are dressed in their best clothes to visit the Mosque. Muslims sit for prayer. Once the prayer is over they wish each other 'Eid Mubarak' and hug. It is a way of maintaining love, togetherness and harmony. The festival also marks the end of Ramadan - end of the one month long fasting.
(Image: http://eidulfitrgifts.com/about/)

So this was a little about Eid. 
These are the two images I shot before the Moon disappeared. 

                                                                        
                                                                  EID MUBARAK!

Nutella Cheesecake!

Today I tried to make a slight variation to the Strawberry cheesecake I made earlier. Started out with the thought of making a Blueberry cheesecake but since I cudnt get the ingredients in the market, I decided to make do with what I had at home - NUTELLA :D

Here's the recipe for those who would like to make a quick and easy egg-less cheesecake.

Ingredients:

180 gms Digestive biscuits, or any sweet biscuits

90 gms Unsalted butter, melted

250 gms Packed cream cheese

1 can Condensed milk (milkmaid)

1/3rd cup Lemon juice

1/2 teaspoon Vanilla essence

Method:

Crush the biscuit finely. Add butter and mix them well.

Press it into the pie plate/ tin and form the crust/ base.

Put the pie plate in the freezer for 10-15 mins to chill.

In a bowl, beat the cream cheese until smooth and creamy. Gradually add and beat in 1 can of condensed milk. 

Add the lemon juice and vanilla essence, mix well and beat until smooth.

Spoon over the mixture into the chilled shell/ base. Make sure the surface is smooth; refrigerate (freezer) for about 3-4 hours  or overnight.

This can be decorated (before serving) with seasonal fruits, grated chocolate, etc. or served as it is! 

I always enjoy making it, for others and myself! ;)

Cupcakes

Recently made mini cupcakes. Found a new recipe. Was dying to try it out!

Made Two batches - Chocolate chip & Double chocolate chip Cupcakes.

                                                    Here's the recipe . . .

Ingredients:

MUFFIN

120 gms Plain flour

140 gms Caster sugar

1 & 1/2 teaspoons Baking powder

A pinch of Salt

45 gms Unsalted butter, at room temperature

120 ml Whole milk

1 Egg

1/4 teaspoon Vanilla extract

50 gms Chocolate chips

 

ICING

250 gms Icing sugar

150 gms Butter, softened

2 Tablespoons Cocoa powder

2 Teaspoons Hot water

Multi coloured sprinkles

Method:

Preheat oven- 170 dg. celsius. Line muffin tray with paper cases.

Whisk together the butter, flour, sugar, salt, and baking powder until pale and fluffy.

Gradually pour half the milk and beat until the milk is just mixed in. Whisk the egg, vanilla extract and 
remaining milk separately for a few seconds, then pour into the flour mixture and beat until smooth.

Add the chocolate chips and mix together. Divide the mixture evenly into the cases and bake for 20-25 minutes. Once they are done, keep aside to cool completely.

For the icing:

Beat the butter and icing sugar together; and mix the cocoa powder and hot water separately. Mix the two together and beat until smooth and creamy. Spoon the icing into the icing bag. Start piping the icing on the top of each cupcake. Decorate with multi coloured sprinkles!

ENJOY!! :D

Also, waiting to try out other variations to this recipe . . .

Strawberry Cheesecake

After months of thinking that its so tough to make a cheesecake and that out of all people I will definitely not get it right, I finally decided to try my hands at making one. The result being, it turned out to be one of the most delicious strawberry cheesecakes I've tasted! :D

 Made it for a friends birthday and again a day later. Enjoyed it - making and eating it!