Thursday

handmade bookmarks

I am making a couple of crafty things like these handmade bookmarks,which hopefully will be available soon in my upcoming online craft shop...I have planned the opening for the 31st November,if all goes well,that is. In my shop you will find a topsy-turvy assortment of things I like to draw,sew and make,so I wont stick to any product in particular...but my favorite medium to work with is definitely paper,watercolor and fabric for cushion making,so these are the materials I am going to use a lot...till then here is a little sneak peek featuring my handmade bookmarks!







watecolored paper,okra stamps,lacy ribbon and colored yarn.







Monday

monday tea post

While looking for interesting things to write about and beautiful pictures for my weekly Tea Post,I came across the Glenburn Estate&Boutique Hotel which is located in the beautiful Darjeeling district in India's West Bengal province. According to their Website,the estate's history date's back to 1859,when it was built by a Scottish tea company and is  now run by the Prakash family.The Plantation lies high in the Himalaya's on a hillock above the river Rungeet,which sits on one of the most beautiful areas in India.
The website accompanying the Glenburn Estate is quite informative and in three languages,english,french and german,It gives you brief snippets of their location,family and staff,weather,accomodation of all the different bungalows and rooms,things to do while staying on the estate like hiking,fishing and beauty treatments.Under recommendations,you can find a short guide on how to fit glenburn into a trip to India,Bhutan or Nepal amongst information on what to wear and tariff's.
Almost every basic information is given,and bird watchers will be pleasently surprised to find a birdlist on their website,too.
The Images in the gallery section are quite beautiful and sectioned into various themes and Bungalows,which are luxuriously styled,featuring hand embroidered bed-linen,electric blankets,private bathrooms,and walk in rain showers in 5 rooms,which sounds like a lot of fun,if one is lucky enough to visit Darjeeling in the Monsoon.
I found some reviews and additional information on Glenburn on tripatlas,wayfaring travel guide and tripadvisor.
This place seems to be the perfect dream holiday destination,and I would happily pack my bags tomorrow! After all who would not want to sip a cup of the worlds best tea in a stunningly beautiful tea plantation?






Saturday

bitter gourd stuffed with beef mince,and grey days

The Monsoon season has started some days ago,and even though we haven't had a decent downpour of rain yet  the skies are full with moisture laden,heavy clouds and the winds leave you touseled and a bit battered every time you leave the house.And for most parts of the day it is quite grey,which honestly is a relief after nearly 3 months of ueber-bright sunlight,and heat.
Monsoons bring about a sense of coziness,with the desire to light up a candle and find those recipes packed away under a note,saying:'for when its cooler,again'...
One of  those recipes would be 'bitter gourds,stuffed'!With minced beef,that is.This is a dish really everybody at home enjoys,which says quite a lot about its taste,as our family of 12 has quite some variation when it comes to culinary likes and dislikes.
The first time I watched my aunt prepare them,I was quite daunted by the rather lengthy preparation process,but when I finally did come around to preparing bittergourd,I didn't find them so challenging.Over the years there are two things I learned about bitter gourd cooking:
  1) never wash bitter gourds before trimming and peeling their knobbly skins,nor ever after di-seeding and cutting them!  and
 2) never add any water while frying them! As you can see,keeping bitter gourds well out of reach of water is key in making sure they don't end up tasting like a horrible,bitter pill.
I will lead you through the preparation and cooking process step-by-step,so don't worry,they will turn out really delicious!







Scrape off the knobbly skin on 2 kg of Bitter Gourd.Cut a slash into the concave side of each gourd and scrape out all seeds and most of the flash carefully,while trying not to tear the skin.Rub 1 heaped teasp. table salt on skin and the inside of the cleaned vegetable.Set aside while preparing the filling.





Ingredients for the stuffing:
                                       4medium size onions, 1kg lean beef mince, half a kg ripe tomatoes, 5-6 cloves garlic, one large piece of ginger, a bunch of coriander leaves, a bunch of fresh mint (or a teasp. dry mince), 5-6 curry leaves (these are not essential,but add a nice flavor), a couple of green chilies (use them according to how spicy you like your food), 1 teasp. white cumin, half a teasp. of dried chili flakes and some salt to taste.



Peel and chop the onions.Prepare the mince meat (as to whether you wash it or not is up to your liking,I usually do not wash minced meat.) Wash,de-seed and chop the tomatoes.Grate garlic and ginger together,or blend them into a paste in the blender with a little water.Pluck the mint leaves,wash them and chop roughly.Wash the fresh coriander bunch,cut off the stalky bit and chop up the remaining buch.Wash your fresh curry leaves,if using.

Heat 3 tablesp. Vegetable Oil in a frying pan,add the chopped onions,cumin seeds and curry leaves and fry on medium heat till onions turn light golden brown in color.Add the chili flakes and ginger-garlic paste.Fry for 5 minutes or till the ingredients in the pan are a bit dry.Add the tomatoes.Keep frying a couple of minutes,till they become a bit mushy.Now add the mince meat to your pan,and turn up the heat to max.Fry on high flame till nearly all the meat juices are evaporated and the suffing turns fairly dry.This is important,otherwise you won't be able to handle the Bitter Gourd once its filled.Add all the remaining ingredients and a bit of salt,turn down the heat to low and cover with a lid.Let cook for 5 minutes.Remove from stove and turn the mince meat stuffing onto a big platter to cool.



While the stuffing is cooling,wring out as much excess water as possible.The easiest way doing this is with a clean muslin cloth or thin dish towel.Wrap the cloth around the Bitter Gourd and wring.Just be careful not to rip the skin too much.Additionally pat dry with kitchen paper.Set aside to stuff.



Save a bit of stuffing for serving,than fill each Gourd with 3-4 tablesp. of cold stuffing.Join together on the cut and tie together the entire vegetable with unbleached,un-dyed cotton thread.Secure loose ends in a knot.




Heat Oil for shallow frying in a pan.To check if the oil is hot enough drop a piece of stale toast into the oil,it should turn golden after3-4 minutes.Carefully slide each stuffed Bitter Gourd into the hot oil,just be careful not to overcrowd your pan.Fry for 6-7 min. on each side till they are light brown and smell 'done'.

Lay on kitchen paper to absorb a bit of the oil.Reheat the saved amount of stuffing till hot,lay all the stuffed pieces on top of hot mince and serve with Naan and plain Yogurt on the side.

Enjoy stuffed Bitter Gourd with Beef Mince!







Friday

Weird World

Have a look at this article on 'takepart' if you are interested in 'Wild Taste's'...

I would definitely want to sip a cup of 'Pine Tree Tea'! Just imagine...





Ice Pops





























It has become terribly hot again and the best thing to do is sip gallons of lemon and mint sharbat and eat stacks of popsicles,apart from spending the greater part of your day in close proximity of the air-conditioner.Tomorrow I am going to make Mango and Kulfi Ice Pops,but till than I hope you got inspired by these favorites of mine...aren't these Mini Ice Cream Cookie Pops the cutest things!?

Have a nice day...







Thursday

photography

                                I took some photos of flowers growing in and around my home.










Monday

tea post

          Hiya,I am posting another tea monday post,and this week I found some interesting and fun stuff,like

  1. this lovely tea bag color wheel from Cassandra Thomas'inspiration board on pinterest
  2. this,this and this crazy,fun teapot.
  3. these cute teacup cupcake silicone moulds.
  4. the definition of 'a nice cup of tea'',by George Orwell.
  5. this green tea smoothie recipe,which looks delicious for summertime.
  6. and this tea travel story to the tea fields of munnar,india.
  7. and this cool tea rex infuser.
i would love to try the Organic Orange&Coconut Infusion,by Clipper Teas June Selection.

I hope you had as much fun reading this Monday's tea post as I had writing it!

Have a lovely day