Saturday, April 14, 2007

Weekend Dog Blogging, Weekend Jabber

Ever since my weekends were taken over by the A-Z event, poor Dale (the official mascot) has been unceremoniously booted off the pages of One Hot Stove. He's been rather miffed about it, let me tell you, so here he is!

Dale's life has a singular purpose: To Scout Out New Surfaces To Nap On. Last weekend, we bought a little space-filling rug (a desperate and inexpert effort to decorate a still-bare home) and laid it in the living room just to see what it looked it. Dale scooted right over and made himself comfortable on it within SECONDS! Ever since, it is his new favorite place to nap on. He starts by settling in...pinning back his ears:
Dalu2
ponders his surrounding for a few minutes:
Dalu1
then gives in to gravity, his head sinks to the ground and he slips into slumber; another busy day in the life of a dog!
Dalu3
Oh, Dale has a message: "Hi, Kamini! Woof! I missed you too!" :)

A bit of weekend jabber:
I tried out three recipes from fellow bloggers recently, and loved 'em all...
1. Apple Cake from Nami-Nami. A simple batter with loads of diced apples (I actually used one apple and one red Anjou pear instead of two apples), and a cinnamon-y crumb topping. It made for a delicious brunch cake, moist and fruity. The only problem was that the kids I made it for decided that they did not like fruits in cakes, and painstakingly removed every last bit of fruit before eating the few crumbs that were left behind! Oh, well, I guess you cannot please everyone! The rest of us enjoyed it, and I will certainly be making this cake again. The picture that I took does not do much justice to this cake, but here is a peek at it anyway:
AppleCake
2. A couple of years ago, I had never cooked with, and rarely ate sweet potatoes. Now, I buy them nearly every week and am always looking for new ways to cook them. Sweet potatoes are such a nutritious food that it would be silly not to. Well, I found a great way to use these orange beauties as appetizers: Sweet Potato Tikkis from Is That My Bureka, a recipe that I found via Coffee. This recipe is a keeper, and I followed it pretty closely, only subbing more cashews for the sunflower seeds.
3. Finally, I made a double batch of this delicious Mushroom Masala from Recipe Junction when we had an impromptu dinner with friends. It is totally restaurant-style stuff and just the ticket to satisfy mushroom lovers. Another keeper recipe!

After years of reading blogs the "old-fashioned" way (clicking on links, I mean), I decided that the number of blogs that I wanted to regularly read was getting out of hand, and streamlined it a little by subscribing to the "feeds" instead. I know I am very late coming to the RSS party, but that's me! Here is how I did it: I registered on to Bloglines. There are many alternatives out there...I just went with this one because I quickly saw that it was free, user-friendly and very quick. Once you have your own "page" there, you can add the URLs of all your favorite blogs. Then, every time these blogs are updated, you will see it highlighted in bold and can go read the new post. I *love* it! For one thing, it is efficient, and for another, I am saved from that little pang of disappointment that I feel when I visit my favorite blogs and find that there is no new post for me to read! Now, when I settle down with my first cup of tea every morning, I'm off to bloglines, and then to all the freshly-updated blogs for my daily fix of food-mania.

See you all tomorrow for the L of Indian Vegetables!

12 comments:

  1. Hi Nupur -- loved to see the photos of Dale in repose on the rug... he's so sleek and handsome and looks so comfy! :)

    Your apple/pear cake looks scrumptious -- I'll have the piece the kids left ;)

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  2. Isn't RSS a life-saver? Just make sure to select "entire post" and "no updates" to make it even easier. PS I love the Nami Nami apple cake too!

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  3. Hehehe.... join the gang.... I also came to know about this RSS feed thing recently...... its a breeze to know about the updated blogs believe me.....

    The sweet potato tikkis are delicious, aren't they!!!!

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  4. I too love sweet potatoes - nutritious and delicious. Sometimes I'll just throw a couple in the microwave or if I have time, I'll make some sweet potato fries in the oven - its so easy. I've even gone so far as to mix it up and throw some peanut butter on top :)

    burekaboy's preparation looks fantastic.

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  5. Nupur,
    Reading this, I felt it was my very own personal post! Thanks for the update. Now, can you blame Dale for appropriating that rug for himself? It looks tailor-made for him: just the perfect size, shows off his shiny coat beautifully....he's one smart dog!
    Your apple cake looks yummy too. Pity about the kids, although not surprising at all.
    Looking forward to the L dishes!
    Kamini.

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  6. Loved the post--I'm hoping Dale is enjoying Forest Park! When he's not napping! :)


    dbdtron

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  7. I use bloglines too. Love it! It is part of my sitting down routine- anytime I have a minute, I head over to bloglines.

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  8. Dale is such a sweetie, love that look of him napping his way to glory :)

    I too am using bloglines now.....time saver :)

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  9. Linda, Dale is an expert at making himself comfy :) Oh, and I had not trouble finding volunteers to finish the cake. Kids did not like it...more for us :)

    Alanna, yes, I do love RSS :) although I select the summaries, because I like reading the whole post at the blog itself :)

    Coffee, yes, the sweet potato tikkis were great! Thanks for making them for MBP and introducing them to me :)

    Doug, welcome! True, the microwave is a great way to cook up sweet potatoes quickly. I'm going to try them with peanut butter :)

    Kamini, Dale feels like furniture and rugs are manufactured mostly for his use :) Thanks so much for stopping by!

    Deep, Dale and I are both waiting for the temperature to get a bit higher so we can hit Forest Park ( we live only a few blocks away). Dale's non-napping episodes are few and far between :) that is for sure!

    Gini, bloglines is streamlining our lives quite a bit :)

    Musical, that's what Dale does for a career, look cute and get us to pander to his every wish :)

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  10. he's drop dead gorgeous and charming. what a beautiful black coat he has.

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  11. Nupur,

    Though I missed letter "L", I made Lasuni Palak yesterday, Asha pointed that you had a similar version, mine is similar except the fact that I don't add dal

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  12. Well, these kids don't know what they missed! :)
    Sorry for a late response, but I was away in London for 10 days. I'm humbled to see that you made this cake (from the ancient archives), and enjoyed it. Thanks for letting me know!!

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