Savory Samosas -- Recipe

One of the popular and common food item found in chaat/ sweet shops. I love samosas. Be it samosa chaat with curd and chutneys or be it samosa pav or just the simple piping hot samosa with tamarind chutney(sauce). The crunchy exterior and the rich filling of potato concoction inside it is yum.
Though I never miss a chance to grab a piping hot samosa from the sweet shop, today I decided to prepare it at home as a snack on our picnic.

Recipe

for 12 samosas

Ingredients for the dough
1.5 cup Maida
1 tbsp. oil
salt to taste
1.5 tsp. asafetida (jeera)
Water just enough to knead a firm dough

Method
Mix all the above ingredients together nicely and make a firm dough, make 6 balls out of it and keep them covered with a moist cloth

Ingredients for the filling

3 medium potatoes boiled and peeled
1/4 cup boiled peas
1/2 cup boiled and finely cut carrot
4 - 6 green chillies ground in a paste optional
1 tsp garam masala
1 tsp red chilly powder
1tsp haldi
chopped coriander leaves
salt to taste

oil for frying

Method
mix all the ingredient for the filling nicely and mash them together. Make six small balls and keep them aside.

Now take the maida dough and make small chapatti out of the ball,cut it in two half circles with a knife. Fold the half chapatti in triangles and add the filling balls inside and then seal the edges with some pressure and wet your fingers to help you.

Deep Fry these small samosas in hot oil on medium heat till golden brown.

Tadaa ! your piping hot samosas are ready , you can devour them with hot chai, some milkshake, chaat, or paav or just the way they are.
In my case I packed them for a picnic and were they lovely.

for the filling

for the dough

Enjoy your samosas :)

xoxo

Bhakti

A small Hike with Big Happiness.

It was Friday night and as I lay in bed at night browsing through my regular sites as usual, a post fascinated me, Thanks to Tes.

I just wanted to go there and explore the place myself. Being Born and brought up in Pune, I love the city too much, I love the hills surrounding it and since childhood enjoyed the small hikes on weekend mornings, but as Pune is growing, the hills surrounding it are rapidly dwindling. So when I saw a post about this hill on Tes's blog I had to explore it myself and bask in its beauty.

I decided to surprise hubby dear, and woke him up early Saturday morning and told him to get dressed. He was really surprised and was really excited to know where I was taking him.

I packed a quick picnic breakfast and we were on our way.

This little hill is some 20 minutes drive away from our home, exactly located right next to the
D. Y.Patil Knowledge city Lohegaon. Its a small hike, taking about 45 minutes to an hour.

Small but pretty

Please do not litter on nature trails, we always carry an extra bag for all the garbage.

Enjoy this beauty and safeguard it, do not destroy it in anyway.

Beautiful

Thailand -- Bangkok Tales -- 1st day -- Terminal 21 mall

The joy on arriving at your holiday destination and knowing your vacation has just begun is amazing and full of enthusiasm and happiness.
We were too filled with all these feelings and more the moment our flight touched the Bangkok soil. Though really tired and sleepy, we arrived in Bangkok at 7 am travelling by Bangkok airways(tickets booked online by Yatra.com hassle free). We were trying to get the first glimpse of Thailand through the plane window and the happiness that seared in.
As soon as we landed we got our visa on arrival which is really convenient and easy. For more information regarding the same check here.
There is an express line as well for the visa, for some nominal amount per person, I suggest taking it on a crowded or a busy day. After that we were really hungry, not much variety to eat at arrivals though. We collected a free map of Bangkok from the tourist counter, took a dtac card for our mobile, I strongly suggest it, has really good deals with internet and all. Took a taxi to our desired location. After checking in we slept like logs as we really were sleep deprived.

Refreshed and rejuvenated in the evening we decided to head to terminal 21 mall. We made a quick stop at Subway replenished ourselves and continued.

Terminal 21 is a relatively new mall on the Bangkok shopping scene. It has been popular in making its mark due to the uniqueness of this mall. How? Well to begin with it gets the whole world packed in this mall. Every floor is designed on a theme to be one of the world's famous city. Rome, Paris, London, Tokyo, Istanbul, San Francisco  take your pick.This is a mid range mall with boutiques of Thai designers.



After seeing the Bangkok traffic we decided to take BTS to the Asok station (direct access via skywalk) for Terminal mall. It is connected to Asok station.

Our litttle Adventure from Siam to Platinum mall Bangkok !!!

It was a bright and sunny day calling us to explore Bangkok.(oh boy and did we explore in the truest sense)
We decided to go to Siam and check out Siam center, Paragon and Discovery. We took the BTS our daily, friendly, fast, easy and cheap mode of transport. The BTS takes you to Siam and is directly connected to the Siam center. So here we were in the Siam center, enroute we had gorged on street side fruits, which are truly yummy and delicious, the best of them being the guava and then Mango.
Well this was our daily breakfast and oh did we enjoy it.

our breakfast - bags of fresh fruit.. I dint like this fruit much though

 We explored Siam Paragon which is a luxury shopping mall took a look at the Siam underwater ocean world.

A mane story

A screaming toddler being taken to the barbers shop to trim her hair again, short really short, after a while the screams give way to silent sobs and sighs. Till then the barber has worked his hands over the hair which now resembles a freshly mowed lawn. The sequence goes on for years and now the girl who is no more a toddler is habituated to the short hair and the easy maintenance of them(perks of short hair). Time passes the girl enters her teens and all conscious of her appearance now, takes the ever longing task of the once toddler In her hands and thus begins the relationship with my hair.

Yes I grew my hair in my teens till then all my life I had a smart boy cut. Smart though it was it can never match the charm of long hair. And this is how I was the proud owner of long tresses of dark brown hair. I played with them unconsciously when I was joyous, rolled them in my fingers in my pensive thoughts, hid beneath it when wanted to escape questions. It was then I realized how I loved my long silky soft mane. They were my best friend. I tried then to recharge it regularly to keep it as beautiful as ever and this marked my introduction to the charming Sunsilk products and thus started the process of recharging my hair to make it healthy, nourish it and make it grow longer .

This relationship with my hair thus continued, when I met a boy once on entering a class and swished my hair behind with one movement of my head. Then I knew, after that the boy never stopped looking at me or my hair. We became friends and I still remember that he played with my hair once and I swished my hair back again in that same movement, and scolded him don't touch my hair. Years have passed and I still let him play with my hair sometimes swishing and scolding him, as he is my beloved husband now and exchanging naughty loving smiles.
I remember him telling me once that since childhood he wanted a partner who had beautiful long hair, and here he fell in love with me and my hair. hehe  I still hide behind my hair when I have done something naughty, I still curl my hair with my fingers when I am thinking.
I love to feel the wind in my open hair when I ride my bike, my most memorable moments with my hubby on our bike rides with the lovely cool wind in my hair.
We love travelling, me and my hubby and I love to get picture perfect snaps with my hair open
I always keep my hair open, I color it, I make it go under so much treatment, I literally torture it from every thing I do still it never complains and remains the same as gorgeous as it ever was.  I love it by recharging it with the best possible care.

I need to recharge my hair with all the care I can get to keep recharging my husbands love for my hair as well as mine. It's my best friend and best friends deserve the very best. Guess in order to recharge me and my life and everything I love in it, I will always recharge them for the rest of my life. I will recharge them to be who I am, to continue being so.
Had it not been for Sunsilk recharge my life wouldn't be the same at all, would it? Thanks Sunsilk for recharging my hair and my life. I owe you big time:)


My Many Mane Moods -- ;p

and thus the mane story continues ......


xoxo
Bhakti

This post is written for Sunsilk contest on Indiblogger.

Holiday hangover - Thailand tales -- Pattaya it is.

As most of you know that I have been ranting about my holiday. Well to tell you honestly I still have a massive holiday hangover which refuses to go.
So here I thought why not blog about the same as I can't keep the thoughts to myself alone ( so typical me hehe)
Bangkok being one of the popular destination of the world. As you all know I being a OCD victim have a habit of doing in depth planning and research of most of the things (eyes rolling) so I was all prepared and well versed with Thailand. Thanks to bangkok.com which is an amazing website which allows you to download a free pdf guide as well as has detailed iteneries, maps, convenient travel, packages, food, shopping and any other think you can think of listed.

Tourism Thailand site which has detailed information about Thailand, everything you need to know and much more.

But Thailand has its own way. It springs surprises at you no matter how well you are prepared.
Thailand especially Bangkok and Pattaya are so similar to Mumbai yet so distant and mystique I felt. Every lane (soi as they call it) had a surprise to offer, something new to discover.

We were there for 9 days in Thailand but every day was a new experience. There is so much to explore, so much to experience and at the end of it all Thailand binds you in the magic unknown, and all you can do is keep reminiscing your experience until you create another new one with Thailand.

Don't worry as you very well know me, I am going to provide you with all the details of my Thailand trip with its beauty, markets, shopping, tips and tricks.

However today I feel like beginning with the last leg and day of our holiday, that was in Pattaya.
As you very well know that I am driven by my whims, so here it goes.

Pattaya- (we were here for 3 nights)

Completely took us by surprise, after much insistence of our peers and family not to take Pattaya and instead go to the pristine Phuket, stubborn that I am, thus here we were in Pattaya and were we glad about it.
Pattaya has its own charm. Active by night more than day, though plenty of things to do during the day as well.
We use to sleep till late, have a huge lunch, take a stroll or swim on the beach, go for a massage, do some shopping, get ready and have a relaxed dinner after which we used to go for a walk at the walking street followed by long hours of shisha till the wee hours of morning.... ahhhh Bliss indeed!!


Have a look yourself---

Lunch at the pizza company, we  had ordered extra large bbq chicken, the quantity was huge, but I found the pizza slightly on the sweeter side, though cheesy. The cheese garlic bread was yum.

 the remains--

 Pattaya beach - the beach is a thin strip in the common area filled to brim with loungers, one can hire a lounger for a small fee and sip beer for hours looking at the sea. Tip - buy a beer from the 7/11 stores located widely all over at short distances, you will find everything that you need in these stores, right from mobile recharge to ice creams, snacks, and everything. the price of everything you buy here is very economical.

 well I wont suggest to take a dip in the sea on this common beach as the water is dirty and polluted, one can swim in the private beach adjoining their hotel, or go to the nearby jomtien beach.

There is lot of street shopping in front of the beach. One can get good deals, I got myself a huge haul of swim wear. Do take souvenir Thailand magnets across the street- cheaper than Bangkok. Vast variety of pubs, restaurants with different cuisines, fast food joints, street Thai food available across the street.

dress- westside

footwear- footins

we- happy happy !

Massages are available in plenty- but do check their license as many times they fool you into illegal activities and take money- the massages start from 120 to 200 baht for feet massage (1 hour)

The walking street is closed for vehicles at night, the action starts after 8-9 pm. exotix shows, beer bars, shopping, street shows,fish market, you name and you have it. One needs to experience the pulse of this street to understand it. Must do ! (obviously not for children)

Shisha places dotting the streets near the walking street. have a beer and shisha and sit for hours watching life go by. All the shisha places are facing the road with chairs and tables put up on street. This was our favorite part.

Till my next Thailand post .

take care and plan up your vacation

xoxo

Bhakti

Trousseau Packing

The bridal trousseau has deeply traditional roots, both sensible and sentimental ones.
It is generally a collection of items like clothes, lingerie, linens, jewellery and other things that a bride may need after her marriage. Although this custom started as a more practical approach and was a way for brides to start their marriage self-sufficiently and not having to ask their in-laws for things, it’s now a fun tradition too.
Trousseau packing is special packaging for the gifts you give to near and dear ones around the wedding.
Since relatives and friends often want to see the trousseau or is many a time put on display, attractive trousseau packaging is a great touch. Not only is it fun to look at but gives you that sense of it being a super special gift to yourself! Whether you are putting together your own or packing a trousseau for your best friend, here are some fun ideas.
Let’s start with the main packaging you plan to use. If you are thinking of putting the trousseau articles in a big box or bag, why not think of interesting containers that you can use later in your home too. Something like a beautiful carved wooden chest or a lovely tiled mosaic box are special enough for your trousseau and yet can be a nice addition to your décor at home. Another popular option is the use of decorated thaals and trays especially for smaller items. You can decorate these with colourful cloth, metallic netting, lace, ribbons, velvet, satin and jewel embellishments. Including compartmentalized organizers and trays and even dividers in lovely colours not only looks good but also allows you to keep everything mess free and showcase all your lovely gifts and purchases.
Having a central theme is also a great touch. You could carry over the theme of your clothes and accessories if any or tie it up nicely with common touches. Having a theme for the way your gifts are presented, in terms of style and colours makes for one attractive trousseau! If you have a theme for your wedding and a colour palette that runs through all your events, it can incorporated in your packing as well. You can top off your packages with whimsical touches that show off your interests and personality like flamboyant feathers, some sparkly bling or even pressed flowers and leaves.
Last but not the least try and include a satchel of a fragrance you like or some pretty pot pourri in your packages; it keeps everything fresh and looks super pretty. Have fun with the trousseau packing since it is another special part of your big day and if you are packing one for someone you care about adding a small surprise gift or cute knick-knacks will definitely bring a smile to her face.
source - indian weddings marry me





People hard pressed for time or without much help on hand, fret not, professional trousseau packers (have enlisted some in the pictures)provide you with assorted packages, take your pick and watch them pack up your goodies with amazing finish.


Here some ideas to help you enhance your trousseau packing , HAVE FUN!!!!!!!!!!!