Baked Alaska with Sugar Snowflakes - A dessert of baked ice cream

Loved the idea of baking ice cream...putting stuff supposed to be stored at a temperature of minus degrees centigrade to baking it at 220 degrees. I made a biscuit base and added fruits. When you take a bite it is a mix of hot and cold. Also made sugar snowflakes to decorate it.

Pumpkin Custard - on the fifth day

Pumpkin reminds me of Cindrella and Halloween. Like all kids, I was familiar with Cindrella since childhood and didn’t know Halloween until American sitcoms became a part of my life.

As a vegetable, none of us really looked forward to eating pumpkin when we were growing up. I remember, for dessert we were served hot custard, in my boarding school in Mussoorie.  It was quite bad, epitome of hostel food. I guess the weather was cold so we would finish the whole thing just because it was hot. I didn’t really enjoy custard until I ate the ones made with egg yolks. It takes a little effort and time but tastes way better than the powder ones made in a jiffy. I came across this particular recipe from a very old book.  This one is made with cooked pureed pumpkin, infused with lovely orange and ginger flavour. 

Cake Pops - 4 out of 30

Hate to see these insensitive people waste food especially during weddings, celebrations and so called farce religious festivals and activities.

I try and reuse, recycle and reduce wastage as much as possible. Therefore I find making cake pops a great way of using left over cakes. Simple and cute.

Here’s the link to a great story. How a couple built a house from shipping containers. Do read this innovative piece.

http://www.dnainfo.com/new-york/20130301/williamsburg/couple-builds-home-out-of-shipping-containers-williamsburg

Parwal mithai- sweet made with Parwal (Pointed Gourd) - 3rd of the 30

So here's the third one-

The idea of a sweet made with a vegetable sort of fascinated me and I tried my hands at his north Indian speciality. Turned out good though the shape is not as perfect. 

Chocolate Tart - 2nd day

Here’s the second one

Chocolate Tart topped with hazelnuts 

30 Desserts in 30 Days

The other day I watched Julie & Julia. A friend of mine had asked me a couple of months earlier to watch this particular movie. I finally saw it. Beautiful culinary comedy! Just couldn’t help getting inspired! And this motivation has led me to do 30 desserts in 30 days. I am sure I am not the only one, many more people would have come up with various versions and attempts. For me I’ll keep this whole endeavour real and uncomplicated, just like the way Julia Child was. Starting today I’ll make 30 desserts, mixed and matched, from different cuisines, one for every day. 

So here’s the first of the 30-

1) Golden egg threads in syrup (Foi Thong)

A sticky Thai dessert supposed to look like threads but mine looked like ropes! But I don’t mind..so as Julia said at one point in the movie ‘never explain...’ 

Pitha - A simple hearty traditional winter delight

Made out of rice flour and milk, Pitha is a popular winter dessert of Bihar cuisine. Mostly made in the months of December, January and February after rice harvesting season. In fact the traditional method of cultivating rice, rather planting and transplanting is a labor-intensive, back breaking job, literally. After rice is harvested, it’s threshed and the ‘dhaan’ obtained is spread in the sun to dry. Once it’s dried, it’s put in hot water, then drained, dried again and then taken to the mill to remove the husks. The rice obtained is termed as ‘isra’ or ‘arwa’ rice. The only differentiation is the procedure of immersing rice in hot water. If it is put in hot water it becomes isra. If this step is omitted, it becomes arwa.

Dhaan drying on the terrace