Wednesday, October 30, 2013

Bagels

The alarm went off and I indolently stare at the arms of the old pest. It always feels like you only just slept. I am sure you can empathize. Once your organs kick back into action, you realize there is indeed a pot of gold at the end of the rainbow. I have spent lot many Saturday's getting up early trying to get some freshly baked bagels from "Daily Bread" bakery. This was the "Before-Oven" era and bread and bagels were the food of gods. I am glad in the 2013 AO (After-Oven), we can do this at home!

Here is my attempt at homemade mini bagels. They did turn out quite scrumptious! I like them with sour cream instead of cream cheese. And yes we also make the sour cream at home.



Ingredients:-
Whole wheat flour - 2 cups
Dry instant yeast - 1/2 tablespoon
Salt - 1 teaspoon
Sugar - 1/2 tablespoon
Warm water - 1 cup

Procedure:-
Combine all the above ingredients and knead vigorously  for 15 mins till you get a stiff but pliable dough.This dough should not stick to your hands. It should be slightly springy and stay indented if you gently prod it with your finger. Let this dough proof for about 1.5 hours or till doubled in size.
Punch the dough down. Split the dough into small balls and shape as bagels by punching small holes in the center of the ball using your finger. You can also roll out the bagels by shaping the dough into a pipe and then rolling them into rings. I tried the first shaping method. Let these bagels proof again for 1 hour or till doubled.
Preheat the oven at 220C at this point while preparing the water bath.
For the water bath, boil water with 2 heaped tablespoons of sugar and a teaspoon of salt. When it is at a rolling boil, drop your bagels into the water and after 2 mins flip them over. Cook for 1 more minute on this side.
Remove the bagels on to a greased cooking sheet. You can sprinkle any toppings at this point. I used sesame seeds and sharp cheddar cheese on a few. You can also use poppy seeds, nigella seeds etc.
Bake in a 220C oven for about 20 to 30 mins. Enjoy your fresh bagels!


Tuesday, October 8, 2013

Crossover Pinafore Dress

I have never touched a sewing machine before in my life.
I see all these cute clothes people make and pin on their boards in pinterest and it has just galvanized me. Time to set the wheels into motion and adopt a new quirk.

First, a big cheer goes out to my mother in law who gave me indispensable first lessons on her awesome sewing machine!

Second, I got this pattern and the tutorial from the below blog, the instructions made the whole project effortless. So a big thank you to Maggie.
http://smashedpeasandcarrots.blogspot.in/2011/05/little-girls-crossover-pinafore-pattern.html

Here is my amateur attempt at a reversible pinafore for my little pumpkin.




And here she is, modeling her new "Mommy Made". I am hoping my pint sized wonder would fit into it better in a couple of months.






Hoping I can keep up the enthusiasm!


Pin Cushion


I am a sewing novice and like most people I love to read and take online tutorials and yes, purchase all my supplies even before the first project begins!

I got these most colorful set of pearl head pins!


I wanted to make a simple pin cushion for these. So found some online tutorials and ended up making something that fits the bill.

Here are the supplies:-

Small circular piece of cloth
A small bottle cap
Small piece of ribbon
Needle and thread
Adhesive
Cotton as batting




Procedure:-

Using a needle and thread, do a simple running stitch over the circular cloth.



Glue on the ribbon to the sides of the bottle cap.


Pull the thread on the cloth and make a small pouch.


Add cotton batting to this pouch.


Stick this pouch into the bottle cap. Here is a neat little pin cushion.



Happy sewing!