Manu's Medley

Diwali is around the corner and I am back with yet another delicious festive recipe. Of course, you don't need a reason to prepare this dessert. Preparing and savoring it, turns any normal day into a special one. Perfect sweet dish for any type of party - birthday, family get togethers, new year etc. and none of your guests could resist themselves with just a single serving🤤.  You can check out the recipe of other varieties of sweets like basundi, rava laddu, dry fruits laddu and sweet pongal in "Recipes" section of this blog. You can find the links to those posts at the end of this post.  Kheer/ Payasam is a sweet dish, very popular in Indian households. It is made with milk, rice/ vermicelli/ tapioca/ dal/ bulgur wheat/ semolina, dry fruits, sugar or jaggery. Today's recipe is rice kheer or rice pudding, prepared in the North Indian style. With slight variations kheer is made in South India too and called as paramannam or arisi payasam or ari payasam or akki payasa...

Manu's Medley turns ONE!!! It was exactly the same day, last year, I published my first post. You can read the post here . I took more than an year contemplating about blogging, primarily unsure whether I will be able to write consistently. But somehow I took the leap, worked on identifying a suitable blogging platform, designed the look, published my first post and shared with my very close circle of cousins and friends. Then, I started circulating with others through watsapp status, Facebook and Instagram posts. Whoever came to know that I write, their direct and indirect reactions/ questions were: Why blogging?  Why this blog (without a specific niche)?  Why not vlogging?  You have good writing skills She doesn't have anything great to do, so she writes It is very easy to write  Let us see how long she blogs How much do you earn out of this?  In what way blogging helps you? And the list doesn't stop here.... I will publish a dedicated post to explain "Wh...

Hello Reader, This post is a continuation to the Part 1 of homemade recipes that I prepared for my kid (when he was 6 to 12 months). The previous post also has few essential points to consider about offering solids to infants. So I recommend you to go over that post first, by clicking  here . Rice-Lentil Cereal/  Porridge Rice can be offered to babies right from the 6th month, as it is super light on tummy and not allergy prone. Gradually you may start including dal i.e., lentils to it, making it more nutritious and filling.  This cereal is completely home-made and you don't have to worry about what ingredients went into the making as in the case of store bought cereal. And of course, it costs lot lesser than the ones you buy from market. You may prepare this cereal and store it for 2 months. If you wish to increase the shelf life, you may store it in the refrigerator. But I prefer to use it within 2 months and a make fresh batch again. You can offer this cereal to your k...

When you are clueless what to do on your holiday, consider spending it amongst the nature. You will definitely not regret. Talking about nature, doesn't the idea of roaming amongst the wildest of wild animals, sound exciting? Animal Safaris are just such places.  African Lion Safari in Cambridge, Ontario, is a must visit if you hadn't had prior experience of navigating amidst a natural set up of the wild life. At this park, we can drive through the Games Reserve (the animal safari), which is approximately 9 kms, in our own vehicles. The tour takes close to 1.5hrs and if we are lucky we could get a closer view, as close as few meters away from deer, giraffes, lamas, baboons, zebras, lions, rhinos, wildebeests etc. We just have to keep the car windows closed throughout the drive, to avoid getting knocked off by those mighty animals. I am just exaggerating😆The safari guards will be patrolling in their vehicles all the time to calm down the wilder ones. But to be safe, have your v...

In my last post of the "Mom & Baby" series, I shared how to start solids for infants, what to feed and the foods to avoid. You can check out the previous post  here . Based on couple of requests, I am sharing some simple recipes that can be made at home. Hope this helps the new moms.  These are the recipes I offered my kid and I am not a licensed practitioner. So always consult with your pediatrician before introducing any new food to your baby. Fruit Purees Fruit purees are simple to make. At this stage, choose fruits that are easily digestible by the baby like banana, apple and pears.  How to make:   Take a ripe banana, mash it to a mushy consistency and feed If you are using apple, wash and peel off its skin, cut into small pieces, steam for 5 minutes, mash and it is ready to be fed Once baby turns 8 months, he will be accustomed to eating fruits and its texture, so you may offer him pears prepared in the same fashion as apples Avocado is full of healthy fats....

It is an absolute delight to harvest from our own garden, irrespective of how small the garden is and how less the produce is. I harvested some basil from my balcony garden last week and made some delicious pesto out of it. You can check out this video , if you wish to see the garden space in my apartment.  Basil, as many of you know is a flavoursome herb primarily used in cooking. When I was in India, I once had pesto pasta in an Italian restaurant and that is my first encounter with this herb. But after few years, I tasted its fresh leaves as a salad topping when I was Germany and fell in love with it. It has a very refreshing taste. Its flavour and taste slightly resemble our Indian Tulasi, so most of us mistake Basil for Tulasi (Holy Basil). They both along with other herbs like mint, parsley, sage, oregano, chia, rosemary, thyme etc. belong to a flowering plant family known as Lamiaceae, commonly called Mint Family. These plants are aromatic and are used in cooking and making ...

After reading a lot of positive recommendations about this title, I wanted to read it last year. However more than 100 people in our community library, eager like me have blocked this book, making it certain to move this book to my TBR 2022. Though I had a soft copy, I waited for the hardcover. The joy of holding the book in hands is incomparable. Don't you agree? Finally, its my turn at the library!! The Silent Patient is authored by Alex Michaelides who is an author and screenwriter. He is half Cyrian-half British. Alex is an M.A. in English Literature, M.A. in screenwriting and holds a degree in psychotherapy. He has worked as a therapist in a psychiatric unit for teenagers and has been the inspiration for writing this book. The Silent Patient is his debut novel with more than million copies sold world over and is rated as the New York Times and Sunday Times best seller. This work has fetched him the Goodreads Choice Award for Best Mystery & Thriller of 2019 and has been sho...