Illusion Cake

BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAN NIR RAHEEM

My lill cousins were at my place for a short vacation. And usually when they are here its each day is a cake day. I love baking cakes but don't know why when it comes to the icing part all my energy drains off. I love making chocolate cakes though as I feel its far more easy then buttercream or whipped cream cakes. But this time I was already fed up of having chocolate cakes and badly wanted a buttercream cake. When we were kids my mom used to make buttercream cakes only so still at the bottom of my heart have a liking for them.

Once while watching some cartoons on my phone the kids came across this cake and immediately asked me to make this. I too instantly fell in love with this cake but the thought of icing always bothers me. However I had no heart for another ganache cake so used buttercream. The kids were very excited all through the process and though it didnt came out as it should be but they still loved it very much.... 

Something from the past

BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAN NIR RAHEEM

I have mostly being a stickler for perfection. I was too hard on others and the most hardest on myself. Below was one of the project which my sister had to complete. But as usual she brought it to me and got good scoldings. However I knew she won't do it and I was getting greedy with ideas for it. So after an initial round of scoldings for her I took up her project. 

I have always loved borders. And page borders always fascinate me. I thought of a very intricate border with silver color against the black sheet. After searching for a few designs I settled down for two of them. It was very difficult for me to select between the two so I used both of them.

This is done using sand painting. First drew this on a black sheet.

then this lotus on a plastic film....

and then attached both the paper and plastic film to each other. 

The above one is the front page border.

A closer look....

The above picture is made by my mamu

This picture above in the small square is made by my mamu. 

The dancing lady here above is again an art made by my mamu. 

Bandhani effects again my mamu..

The top one in both the above and below pic is made by mamu.

Here too both the pics above and below are my mamu's works. I must say he is very good with the sceneries. He draws without making a pencil drawing. He just takes of the color and start to paint. He was my go to person during my school days. Most of my difficult drawing topics were made by him. Till date I owe him a lot for that.

People love warli painting but I don't know why this art never interested me. So I asked my mamu to make the above warli painting. At that time he too was not aware of what warli painting is. I simply told him that its a cave drawing. And he must draw as a small child would draw. 

This religious symbols above and the music picture below again is made by mamu 

Well... now this definitely is made by ME. And at that time this was my favorite drawing. Most of the time I would draw this picture and each time paint it with different colors. Feel a bit crazy now but at those time doing this would give me a lot of happiness... ;-D

The second drawing above and both the drawings below are mamu made ;-)

Well now its my turn... From the above peacock till the last and of course all those apart from my mamu made stuffs are all made by me.... I always loved painting. Drawing somewhat seems difficult to me. Or should I say I was too lazy to draw as most of the time my mamu made drawings for me and I colored them. This way colors entered my life and remained with me all these years. Colors still lift up my mood, make up any dull day into the brightest. 

Please excuse the quality of pictures... 

Aamrakhand - Mango Shrikhand

BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAN NIR RAHEEM

I believe nobody can say no to Mango. This is the most awaited fruit. 

Ingredients:

Curd - 400gms ( I used the mother dairy brand here)

Sugar - 3 tblspn

Elaichi - 1 piece

Mango Puree - of 1 mango

Method:

1. We need hung curd here. So the first step is to put the curd in a muslin cloth, tie and hang it around for some 3-4 hours. I remember my mom leaving it overnight and preparing shrikhand the next morning. 

2. Once all the water is out of our curd. Remove it in a bowl.

3. Grind sugar along with 1 elaichi piece.

4. In the grinded mixture add the mango puree and give it one more grind.

5. In the above grinded mixture add our hung curd and again give just one more grind, inorder to get all the things mixed togather evenly.

6. Yay!!!! Its done... Remove it in a bowl and serve chilled....

Breathtaking Kashmir........ ( Pahalgam )

BISMILLAH HIR RAHMAN NIR RAHEEM