How to Make a Chocolate Bouquet

How to Make a Chocolate Bouquet

Mother's Day, birthdays, and holidays present great opportunities to create your own specially made bouquet of chocolates for the chocolate lover in your life. Here's how to please their sweet tooth as well as their eyes!

Things You'll Need

1) Ferrero Rocher Chocolates (as shown) or any other chocolates 

2) Colorful tissue paper depending on the holiday or occasion.

3) Cardboard box or basket.

4) Long thin sticks, lightweight skewers, or long toothpicks.

5) Scotch tape

6) Scissors

7) Colorful ribbon or any decoration

8) Oasis (a hard foam used by florists to hold flower stems in position)

Steps

1) Create a base for the arrangement. It could be a cardboard box or wicker basket. Put an oasis (a hard foam used by florists to hold flower stems in position) inside. 

2) Choose chocolates that fit the occasion, and are firm enough to support the insertion of skewers or long thin sticks.

3) Push a room temperature chocolate onto a skewer. 

4) Select a 20x20cm square of colorful, plain or printed tissue paper (also reflecting the occasion and matching with the theme of the bouquet) and push it onto the end of the skewer that is not holding the chocolate. Ideally, the skewer should pierce through the center of the tissue paper.

5) Pull the paper all to one end, making somewhat of a petal formation around the chocolate. Twist and secure it at the bottom with scotch tape. 

6) Randomly push the chocolate skewers into the box or basket. Note that the skewers in the image here do not have the tissue paper petals around the chocolates; this is just so that you can easily see the placement of the skewers. 

7) Gently push additional tissue paper skewers in between the chocolates.Finish the bouquet with a big colorful bow or decoration of your choice, depending on the occasion..

Diwali Decoration

Flower Rangoli Design - Diwali

Flower Rangoli

MATAR PANEER WITHOUT ONION

INGREDIENTS 

4 to 5 large tomatoes

2inch. Ginger

4 -5 green chillies

1tablespoon oil

1teaspoon turmeric powder

2teaspoon red chili powder

1tablespoon coriander powder

1tablespoon cumin powder

1 tablespoon cumin seed

1tablespoon salt

3 cup water

5cups peas shelled

HOW TO PREPARE

Grind tomatoes, Chillies and ginger smoothly.

Put 2 tablespoon oil in frying pan, put tomatoes, chillies and ginger paste in it and fry until the paste leaves oil.

Add turmeric powder, red chili powder, coriander powder, salt in it and fry for 5 -6 minutes.

Add peas in it and fry it for 5 – 10 minutes.

Add water in it and cover the pan for 10 minutes then take out the cover and boil it again for almost 20 minutes and continuously stir it.

After 20 minutes switch off the gas, add Paneer pieces.

After 5 minutes add coriander leaves in it.

Then serve it hot with rice or chapatti.

Tikha Baigan Masala Recipe

Ingredients

1/2 kg brinjal (small size)

Ginger Paste

2 tbsp chilli powder

1 tsp turmeric powder

Salt to taste

Small lump of tamrind/Mango Powder

1 tbsp garam masala powder

1 tsp jeera

2 tsp Coriander Powder

Little Coriander leave (Finely Chopped)

Oil to cook

Method

Add 3-4 tbsp of oil in pan and heat it, put Jeera in the pan once Jeera turns golden add Ginger paste and mix it for 1 minute put brinjal (cut in 4 parts)in oil

Add coriander powder, turmeric powder and red chilly powder and mix it for 2 -3 Add little water to the brinjal and cover it with plate to cook.

After 15-20 minutes add small lump of tamrind/Mango powder and leave it for 1 minute add fresh green coriander leave and serve it.

My way of cooking Baingan Ka Bharta

Ingredients:                     

• 2 Brinjal (Baingan)
• 2-3 Large onion (chopped)
• 1 Large tomato (finely chopped)
• 5 Garlic (chopped) 
• 3 to 4 Green Chillies (chopped)
• 1/2 cup Oil
• Fresh Coriander Leaves
• Asafoetida
• Red chilly power
• turmeric powder

Preparation:

• Roast the brinjal till it turns soft (it can also be roasted in gas).
• Peel off the skin and mash it properly.
• In a pan, heat oil and add pinch of asafetida, green chillies and onions, once Onion turns golden brown add tomatoes and mix it continuously for some time, add little turmeric powder for colour and little red chilly power for taste and mix it again for 2 – 3 minutes.
• After about 10 minutes, mixture will turns golden brown, add mashed brinjal and salt. Mix it well.
• Pour a tsp of lime juice over this mixture and garnish it with coriander leaves.
• Serve Baingan Ka Bartha with chapaties.

Old Memories...

Tirupathi Balaji

old days with ITC infotech

Pegasus from Accenture

Wonderlaa, a trip with Accenture Team.

I will always cheries these memories..

Besan Dhokla

Ingredients:
 
350gms Gram flour (Besan)
1cup Curd (Stirred)
1tsp Green Chilies (paste)
1tsp Ginger (paste)
Salt to taste
1tsp Soda bi-carb / Eno fruit salt
1 Lemon juice
1/2 tsp. turmeric powder
1tbsp Oil
For Tampering
Few Curry leaves
1tsp Mustard Seeds
2tsp Oil
Coriander leaves (chopped)
2-3 green chilies (vertically slit)


Preparation:


In a bowl add gram flour (besan), Curd and water.
Mix well and make a smooth batter. The batter should be of thick consistency.
Add salt and set aside for 4 hours covered with a lid.

Take the ginger and green chili paste and add to the batter. Also add turmeric powder and mix well.
Keep the steamer or cooker ready on gas.

Grease a baking dish (it should fit in the steamer or cooker).
Now in small bowl take a tsp. of soda bi-carb or eno, 1tsp oil and lemon juice and mix well.
Add this to the batter and mix well.

Pour the batter into the greased pan and steam for 10-12 minutes or till done.
Cool for sometime and cut into big cubes.

Heat little oil in a small pan and add mustard seeds and curry leaves allow to splutter. Remove and pour it over dhoklas.

Garnish the besan dhokla with coriander and slited green chilies.
Serve with hari chutney.

My style of cooking (Vegetable Biryani Recipe)

Ingredients:  

• 1-1/2 cups Uncooked Rice
• 2 pinches Saffron (dissolved in a little water)
• 2 Onions (sliced)
• 2 tbsp Cashew nuts (broken into pieces)
• 2 tbsp Raisins
• 3 Tomatoes (finely chopped)
• 2 Capsicums (sliced)
• 2 cups (mixed boiled vegetables i.e. chopped cauliflower, carrots, potatoes, green peas)
• 1 tbsp Coriander Leaves (chopped)
• A little Milk
• 4 tbsp Ghee
• Salt to taste

To be ground into a paste:

• 6 Garlic Cloves
• 25 mm piece of Ginger
• 3 Cardamoms
• 4 Green Chilies
• 3 Cloves
• 1 tbsp Poppy Seeds
• 2 sticks Cinnamon
• 1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
• 1/2 tsp Chilly Powder
• 2 Onions
• 6 Mint leaves


How to make Vegetable Biryani:

• Boil the rice in a vessel containing adequate water, cook and drain excess water.
• Add the saffron liquid and salt to the cooked rice. Mix well.
• Heat the ghee and add the onions.Fry until brown.
• Remove the onions and in the same ghee, add the cashewnuts and raisins.
• Fry for a few seconds. Remove and keep aside for garnishing.
• Add the prepared paste and fry for 3 to 4 minutes.
• Add the tomatoes and capsicum and fry again for 2 to 3 minutes.
• Add the boiled vegetables and coriander and cook for a while.
• Put 2 tablespoons of ghee at the bottom of a baking bowl.
• Make layers of the rice and vegetables, beginning and ending with rice.
• Sprinkle a little milk on top.
• Cover and bake in a hot oven at 200 degree C for 15 to 20 minutes.
• Garnish with fried onions, cashew nuts and raisins and serve hot.

Gone are the days........but not the memories
Gone are the days
When the school reopened in June,
And we settled in our new desks and benches.

Gone are the days
When we queued up in book depot,
And got our new books and notes, loved the smell use to come from new books and note books.

Gone are the days
When we wanted two Sundays and no Mondays, yet
Managed to line up daily for the morning prayers,though in sleepy mood.

Gone are the days
When we chased one another in the corridors in Intervals,
And returned to the classrooms drenched in sweat and of course with the sweat smell yak!!

Gone are the days
When we had lunch in classrooms during the class - hiding from the teacher, corridors,
Playgrounds, under the trees and even in cycle sheds.

Gone are the days
When a single P.T. period in the week's Time Table, Was awaited more eagerly than the monsoons.

Gone are the days when smile use to come on face after bunking English Class,use to wait only for the tang tang of the bell.

Gone are the days
Of fights but no conspiracies,
Of Competitions but seldom jealousy.

Gone are the days
When we used to watch Live Cricket telecast during the final exams,
In the opposite house in Intervals and Lunch breaks.


Gone are the days
Of Sports Day, and the annual School Day,
And the one-month long preparations for them.

Gone are the days
Of the stressful Quarterly, Half Yearly and Annual Exams,
And the most enjoyed holidays after them.

Gone are the days
We learnt, we enjoyed, we played, we won, we lost,
We laughed, we cried, we fought, we thought.

Gone are the days
With so much fun in them, so many friends,
So much experience, all this and more.

Gone are the days
But not the memories, which will be
Lingering in our hearts for ever and ever and
Ever and ever and Ever.
I hope all went back to Golden Olden days..........

 For a while..........as  I  DID  !!