Drinks – Coolers,Teas, Coffee

Oreo Mc Flurry & Oreo Milk Shake – its Oreo time..!

January 23, 2012

. . Who does not love Oreo cookies? Not many I suppose. Oreo – twist, lick, dunk.! This jingle is doing the rounds on the television and has been primarily responsible for the vanishing stacks of Oreo cookies at home. The advert is well takken, simple to understand and very appealing in its simplicity. Recently I came across this line , A friend will share his pack of Oreo cookies, but a best friend will share his last Oreo too. It made me think that Oreo cookies have somehow built a cult status among cookie lovers, especially my son. He…

Make a perfect cup of GREEN TEA

January 11, 2012

Dear Coffee, You held my hand when I was sad and stood by me when I was happy. You perked my moods on cold mornings and sat with me through my long hours of hard work. Never has a day gone by when you did not greet me good morning, nor a single moment when you did not bring a punch to my day. But now I am breaking up with you. It will be hard and I will miss you. But yet, I am leaving you for Green Tea. Love always, XXX . Well,I had to start somewhere.…

Falooda – A Summer Cooler..!

October 23, 2011

A summer time cooler, drink or dessert – whatever it may be called this recipe for falooda is the best..! My relationship with the Falooda began when I was 12 years old. I was born and brought up in Muscat where we had unlimited access to Zain and Walls ice creams and Lays chips. We were happy with the junk food , being quite oblivious to the wonderful mixes of ice creams in India. It was when we came down to India for a couple of years in between that we tasted this heavenly dessert. My mom…

Beaten Coffee – a Desi Cappuccino..!!

June 21, 2011

What is Beaten Coffee? I had absolutely no idea. I heard about it by accident and got a chance to taste it, also by accident.!! It was one of those dusty days in Bahrain. The Hubby was out on a “boys night out” and the kids were all fast asleep. There was no good movie on TV, just reruns of tacky Saas-Bahu shows. Flipping through the channels, I came across the movie Arunanan. Normally I would not watch a movie from half way at night. But the movie seemed to be all about complex relationships, complex even in their simplicity.…

South Indian Filter Coffee – All stages from bean to mug..!!

June 5, 2011

Filter coffee or the South Indian coffee is a milky beverage made from roasted coffee beans and extracted in a metallic container under the force of gravitation. We get a lot of varieties of coffee powder from the market. However they lack the distinct smell of amazing coffee that we get form Starbucks or Costa. The smell of a fresh brew is a sense awakener and lights up the day for me. I always brought coffee beans from a local roastery and powdered it at home weekly for that fresh coffee everytime. However last time I could not go myself and asked…

Sapota / Chikoo Thick Shake

May 23, 2011

A glass of ice cold, delicious Chikoo / Sapota Shake to drive the blues away..!! Yesterday was a very bleak day. I know not why. Somehow things I have been trying to work out just do not seem to fall in place. Its one of those days where if anything could go wrong , it did. One of those days where I would have just rolled up in the blanket and dozed the entire day. But that was not to be. So instead I settled for the next best thing in the house – a glass of cold chikoo /…

Badam Milk – Badam Doodh

May 15, 2011

Badam Milk / Doodh is very popular milk based energy drink served in India. Badam is the Indian terminology for Almonds. Badam milk is an energy giving drink as well as a relaxing drink. Pregnant women are given badam milk because of its increased nutritional value. This drink can be served both hot and cold. It is sold in the streets as badam milk or badam shake. We also get ready made badam milk powders in the market. However it tastes best when made fresh. Badam milk is also said to increase the concentration and memory power of the person who drinks…

Mango Passion Fruit Smoothie

May 11, 2011

Mango Passion fruit smoothie – Mango, the king of fruits and the humble passion fruit in an explosive smoothie. There are way too many mangoes lying around the house. I have this idea about storing mango pulp in bottles for the times when it is not available, but that can be done with the seasons last mangoes. I did a similar thing with passion fruit. I managed to get a kilogram of passion fruit recently. If kept as they were, it would rot. So I removed the pulp, and stored it in small portions in the freezer – as ice…

Ginger Cardamom Tea – the morning cuppa

May 5, 2011

There are few hours in life more agreeable than the hour dedicated to the ceremony known as afternoon tea. -Henry James Tea is the most often drunk beverage in India. There be no need of time of the day or reason to have a cup of tea. When I got married, I was very surprised to see that we had about 8 cups of tea in a day. We would start with the “Bed tea”, followed by tea with breakfast, tea for all the times someone would come home, afternoon tea, 7 ‘ o ‘ clock tea and even tea…

Mango Lassi , a mango yoghurt drink.!

April 28, 2011

Mango season is here and I am very happy. We have small boys selling mangoes in Bahrain now. Slowly and steadily, mangoes are flooding the markets here in Bahrain. It is just the beginning of the season, hence the mangoes are priced close to BD 2 for a crate which holds around 8 mangoes. I get a kilogram of mangoes for BD 1.2 in Juffair, however there will be about 5 in number. So I guess it is just about the same. It is during the time when mangoes are at their peak in India that we have the Mango festival…