Sweet Potato Casserole and Boozy Chocolate-Banana Ice Cream

Today was the first day back to school after vacation, and it wasn't as difficult to get back into the routine as I had anticipated. It may have something to do with the fact that the SAT is done and over, so I have a huge load off my shoulders.
My uncle Maneesh was in Dubai for business, so he came over for dinner today. Now, a few days ago, during vacation, mom and I had bought some sweet potatoes because I had an intensely urgent craving for proper Thanksgiving food. I've never had sweet potatoes, since I never liked them, as far as I can remember. Now that my tastes have changed, I get excited about trying all these new foods. I had looked at countless sweet potato recipes, dreaming of the warm, fall flavors that would bring back the nostalgic tastes of fall in Boston. Finally, the day had come that I would be able to try out one of those recipes!
The sweet potatoes came out well, not too sweet, and warm and comforting, even though I tweaked the recipe to make it a bit healthier. I probably ate a third of the whole thing, in addition to the delicious quinoa stir-fry my mom made. The cooking didn't stop there, though. I also made some no-ice-cream-maker-required, boozy chocolate-banana ice cream from David Lebovitz's site to get some use out of an overripe banana. I just tried a bite, and it's not too bad, for my first ice cream attempt!

Thali, Bread Pudding, and the SAT

I haven't cooked this much for ages! It's kind of nice, especially because I'm not worrying so much about making "healthy" or low-calorie treats. If it's dessert, it's gonna have some calories. And chances are, those calories are gonna taste delicious.

As promised, we went out for thalis after my SAT diagnostic test. I've been doing SAT classes with this notorious SAT coach, MR. KHAN, and he had all his students drag their tired selves to school to take 4-hour diagnostic tests almost every morning during vacation. But as of yesterday at 1:30 PM, I am done with the SAT! Scores come out December 22, so, depending on whether I decide to retake it, I'll know if I'm done forever.

Back to the thalis. They were delicious, as usual, combining all my favorite parts of different thalis into one uber-thali! It didn't hurt that there were FOUR desserts either.

On Thursday, my mom invited her friend's family over for dinner. She cooked up a lovely spread of Indian dishes, pulao (rice with cloves, onions, and some other lovely fragrant things), palak paneer (pureed spinach with cheese curds), bharta (eggplant), and aloo-gobhi (potato-cauliflower). My descriptions don't do the dishes much justice, but I guarantee they all have such great, complex flavors from the spices. Indian spices work magic on food. Someday I'll master them...someday.
The responsibility of desert naturally fell on my shoulders, as I have the biggest sweet tooth in the family. But it's really quite close between me and mom. After seriously deliberating for a while, I decided on bread pudding, which would conveniently utilize the stale bread left on the counter. I was devastated (okay I'm exaggerating), however, to find that a slice of bread was growing a fine colony of mold. I figured it would be best to chuck the rest, then set out to buy some replacement stale-bread and ice cream. In the end, the bread pudding came out wonderfully. It was a bit boozy with whiskey-soaked raisins, but so nice and custardy that I couldn't stop eating it. Everyone else seemed to like it, but I couldn't have cared less. I thought it was great, and nothing else mattered.

Sometimes you must make french toast

I've been getting a bit restless lately. It tends to happen on the weekends, after just one day of no school (and none of the stress that comes with it). With nothing to worry about, I have nothing to keep my whacked-out brain occupied. And so, I drive myself crazy.

I'm actually surprised I lasted this long. Already 5 days into vacation (yes, I just counted it up on my fingers) and it's JUST starting to hit me. Well, I have kept myself distracted by playing around with the camera, since Mom decided she wanted a sort of photo shoot of the house.

Of course I've also been watching at least an hour of How I Met Your Mother and spending hours drooling over the various food blogs I follow (or used to follow, back when I had time for such luxuries) each day. You know, gradually turning myself into a vegetable. A vegetable who really likes food.

So today I woke up thinking that I needed to get out and do something different. Actually I think I had a dream about it, and of course, once you have a dream about something, you just can't get it out of your head. I was planning to propose to Mom that we go out somewhere to eat (in my world "going out" and "doing something" always entails some form of eating or food appreciation), but we have plans to go to Rajdhani for thalis tomorrow. Think the best, cheapest, most satisfying buffet you've ever had- except you don't even have to get up to get the food. No no, with thalis, the food comes to YOU.

Although I really couldn't wait another day to go out for thalis, I agreed that having thalis two days in a row is just a little excessive.

But sometimes, you must give in to the insistent voice in your head of your stomach demanding something exciting and a little beyond the usual routine.

Sometimes, you must make french toast. Raisin-walnut french toast with caramelized bananas, to be exact.

Now let me tell you, this raisin-walnut bread (which I'm sorry to say I didn't make at home) is fantastic. We must buy it from Waitrose/Spinney's at least once a week now. It's just so lovely: the subtle sweetness of the raisins, the perfectly browned and rustic crust, the warm undertones and indulgent crunch of the walnuts. And with bananas (and sometimes peanut butter or honey) it's like some crazy-good banana bread that you didn't even need to break out the mixing bowls for.

Before I forget, it's time for my blog resolution. Even though it's not New Years yet, I feel I'll actually stick to it if I type it out and publish it.

So. I am really awful at keeping up with blog posts. It's not that I don't have anything to write (I will always have some lovely food to rave about), it's that I just cannot find the time to sit down and make myself be good about it. I commend all those people who stick to their blogs and write at least once a week (especially those people whose blogs I read and get rather upset at when they don't provide foodie entertainment for me every day). So it is now my resolution to be like them. Write, photograph, eat good food (like I don't already!) every day.

Irina's Visit, RAK Resort, Baking Bread, a Birthday at mOre, and Dinner Parties

This post is basically a summary of the entire month of May and all the lovely foodie outings that went along with it.

Irina came to visit from uni during her break between the spring and summer sessions, which was great because I was getting bored and missing her anyways. As is her way, she decided to go on a diet as soon as she arrived in Dubai, despite the abundance of tempting dining options to be tried here. Still, we managed to go out to eat a few times--and really enjoyed our meals!

Because I had a 3-1/2 day weekend the week before my birthday, mom and dad had a dinner party, then we left the next morning to all spend the weekend at the Cove Rotana Resort in RAK. The party was nice, if not a little boring and crowded with people I didn't know, mostly because of the Indian food we had catered. I naturally overate, savoring the pillowy-soft fresh tandoori rotis, dum aloo, paneer kadhai, kheer, and gulab jamun. As for the mini-vacation, we usually don't do resorts, so it was a lovely and relaxing little vacation. We had great food, and stayed active by taking advantage of the infinity pool and fully-equipped gym. Dinner at Basilico, the resort's Mediterranean restaurant, turned out to be one of my favorite meals ever. After talking to the kind Italian chef (which I've decided I like doing before ordering at restaurants) mum and dad ordered different kinds of pastas (I liked mom's better, with eggplant and other mixed vegetables), Irina got the Greek-influenced, goat cheese-stuffed chicken breast (tasty, but I found it a bit dry),

and I went with the hammour with saffron cream sauce, roasted baby potatoes, and vegetables. 

The fish was nicely light but filling, the roasted potatoes melted in the mouth like butter, and the saffron cream sauce bursted with incredible flavor. We finished by sharing an airily creamy tiramisu with deep, decadent cocoa undertones. The next morning we went to the only all-day dining option at the resort, Cinnamon, which offered a buffet or breakfast a la carte. Dad went for the buffet, Irina and mom ordered eggs with a bread basket, and I ordered pancakes (which I've decided to avoid ordering when out for breakfast) with strawberries, bananas, and chocolate chips, assuming that meant it would all be cooked into the pancake. I'm embarrassed to say I had a small tantrum when the brought my stack of 3 pancakes (even though they told me it was only 1 pancake when I asked) sans banana and chocolate chips, with only strawberries on top. I ate about a third, all the while complaining and whining, until finally we asked them to bring me 1 (ONLY 1) other pancakes with BANANAS, STRAWBERRIES, and CHOCOLATE CHIPS cooked inside. They arrived minutes later with 2 pancakes with the fruit inside...but no chocolate chips. I ate both, but by then breakfast was ruined by my outburst and the bad service. Overall though, we spent a wonderful, relaxing weekend at the resort, and I left wishing we could stay longer than one night.

A few days after returning, I set out to use the "Artisan Bread In 5 Minutes" dough that had been sitting the fridge for over a week (apparently the flavor improves as it slowly rises in the fridge). Although I managed to shatter a Pyrex dish in the process, I created FROM SCRATCH my first loaf of bread with a lovely crackly crust and soft inside. Delicious when warm out of the oven--we ate the whole loaf in one meal!

For my birthday, we decided on the tried-and-true mOre brunch, through the course of which we lounged while drinking tea and coffee in the modern-styled, bright, lively atmosphere of the cafe for about 4 hours. I exercised some restraint and ate a bit less than last time, getting a few salads, half a croissant,

an amazing half-order of eggs benedict (a soft, shiny bun topped with spinach, a perfectly poached egg that when cut yielded a cascade of yolk to coat the bun, just enough hollandaise sauce, a sliver of smoked salmon, and a dollop of sour cream),

and a bit of ravioli and lamb... followed by just about every dessert offered, the best of which was the chocolate mousse cake and the cassis berry and something-or-the-other gateaux.

A while after Irina left, we had a family (relatives of some sort on dad's side) over for dinner and ordered a fruit tart from Gateaux, a pastry shop in the Marina, after trying their deliciously light and fresh fruit cake at a potluck. Little did we know our guests would bring an assortment of 10 cake slices (we gave about half of the slices to friends and visitors--I didn't like them much) from Mister Bakery in Karama. We served the tart for dessert, and (fortunately for us!) there was about half left over, which I carefully cut and arranged in a container to keep in the fridge to be savored almost each of the following several days.

Ikea Meatballs, North Indian Thali, Banana Muffins, and Brunch at mOre

This post basically encompasses the last couple weeks, during which Ankit (my first cousin on my mom's side, currently in uni in India) has been staying as a guest. Naturally, mom has felt the need to take him to nearly every mall in Dubai, bring him along wherever she goes (grocery shopping included), go out to eat every weekend, and just offer him all sorts of food in general to keep him busy and entertained. It doesn't help much that he isn't very vocal about his wants and needs, so she feels she needs to offer everything to him since he would never ask. Of course, I don't have any problems with getting to go out to loads of places, but I admit I get antsy when I feel there's too much food or we're indulging ourselves too much.

The first outing I went along with them for was to Festival City, which is yet another mall in Dubai. This mall visit was more exciting thanks to the fact that we'd never been there, and that there is a massive Ikea complete with a restaurant and their famous? imported Swedish Meatballs- which I had to take home and try. The photo is a bit blurry cause I haven't quite mastered using our crappy digital camera's macro setting.

My next go-along outing was in Karama. We were planning to go to our usual thali/dosa place- Sarvana Bhavan- but mom wanted to try out Venus Restaurant (which we went to for thali last summer). Mom and Dad got the South Indian Thali while Ankit and I got the North Indian, because I often find the South Indian has too much coconut for my taste. I though it was just all right, the tandoori rotis were wonderfully puffy and soft, the palak daal was good, the bindi was okay (I like mom's better), the dahi and yogurt were yummy (freshly cultured!), and the oily gobi subzi was good but seemed really unhealthy. There was also some sort of curry that was sort of sweet and didn't really appeal to me. It also came with some mithai, which was very good- probably cause they made it with lots of ghee. Overall I regretted overeating cause I didn't feel it was worth it.

I somehow found time to make (low-fat) banana muffins at 8 PM to bring in for 1st period girls' choir. I didn't bother with experimenting with whole wheat flour (I only did 1/2 cup I think) or whipping egg whites, but I did reduce the butter even more than written in the recipe (last time I put only a little less than the recipe called for, and the bread was TOO moist!). I made special walnut ones for mom, and they turned out looking good! (According to mom they tasted good too.)

Finally, today we went for Friday Brunch (a huge thing in Dubai) at mOre cafe, one of our favorite breakfast spots. We initially looked in to brunch at Certo, an Italian restaurant with great reviews, but that was only set-menu (for which we had no guarantee of vegetarian options and we knew would be too much food), and at Pergolas in the Murooj Rotana hotel, which mom and dad had taken Julie to while I was in Boston, but that was somewhat pricey (about 180 dhs) and overwhelmingly excessive (according to mom and dad), as per the usual Dubai style. I can only imagine what the 500 dhs brunches are like. The mOre brunch had plenty of variety, but it was nicely manageable. I tried everything that looked appealing to me (spread out over about 5 "courses" punctuated by digesting breaks- walks around the cafe and Gold & Diamond Park), and didn't feel completely disgusting and overly full at the end. The stand-outs were the pineapple-mint salad (with tomato and onion, a seemingly strange combo that was really refreshing), gloriously flaky croissants with jam, fresh orange juice, eggs cooked-to-order with brown bread, sausages, ravioli pasta, tender lamb in some sort of gravy, and carrot cake. The umm ali was also good, but it lost points for being guilt-inducingly rich and heavy, expected seeing as it was made with croissants and swirled with chocolate.

Spinach & Tomato Pasta and Surviving Without Mommy

Mommy has been gone on her visit to Bombay for 4 days now, and Daddy and I are getting by fine, though I do miss her and I'm realizing just how much she keeps everything together. Up till today Daddy and I have been getting by on all the leftover Indian food she cooked up to make sure we don't starve (my favorite yellow daal, cabbage subzi, methi...) but seeing as today was Thursday and so I would actually have nothing to do after school, I decided to make pasta. I looked at recipes for some guidelines and ideas but in the end I decided to just throw together a bunch of ingredients and trust it would taste good.

While I boiled some whole wheat penne (about 250g), I heated some olive oil (1-2 tbsp) on low heat, threw in some minced garlic and chopped onions, sprinkled in some red pepper flakes, and plopped down a spoon (1 or 2 tsp) of sun-dried tomato paste just as the onions began turning translucent. By then it was all giving off such a lovely smell (in my opinion, the smell of frying onions and garlic is simply irresistible) and I tossed in some frozen spinach (about 8 "nuggets"). I mushed and mixed when the spinach got soft, then added 1 can chopped tomatoes (next time I'd go for fresh- canned tomatoes taste awfully acidic and tinny), a few splashes of balsamic vinegar, and some salt & pepper. I stirred in the pasta not long after (I don't like the taste of over-cooked-down tomato), plopped some in a bowl, grated some fresh parmigiano-reggiano (bought from Spinney's after school- I spent nearly an hour there and only bought about 5 things) on top, then topped with salt and plenty of pepper. Made about 3 servings.

Brandied Apple Cake

• 4 cups baking apples (4-5 apples)- MacIntosh, Golden Delicious, or Empire
  
• 1 1/4 cup white sugar
• 1/3 cup brown sugar (approx)

• 1/2 cup brown sugar
  
• 1 1/2 cups all-purpose flour
  
• 1/2 cup whole wheat flour
  
• 1/2 tsp baking powder
  
• 1/2 tsp baking soda
  
• 1 tsp salt
  
• 2 tsp cinnamon
  
• 1/2 tsp ginger powder (optional)

• 1/2 cup vegetable oil
• 1/4 cup applesauce
  
• 2 eggs
  
• 1 tsp vanilla
  
• 2 tsp bourbon/brandy OR 3 tbsp rum
  
• 1 cup walnuts (optional)
  

Peel & slice apples about 1/8 inch thick into large bowl. Cover with sugar and stir to coat. 
Mix dry ingredients & sift over apples, stirring often.
Beat wet ingredients (& add nuts).
Mix wet ingredients into apples.
Spread into greased/lined pan(s) and bake at 350 F for about 1 hr 15 minutes (50 min for muffins) for a nice crunchy crust.
Let cool (upside down/sideways on metal rack) then remove from pan.

Makes 1 bundt cake OR 2 loaves OR 1 loaf plus 8 muffins OR 18-20 muffins.

approx nutrition per 1/18 of recipe (without nuts): 215 calories, 7.5 g (12%) fat, 1.5 g (7%) saturated fat, 34 g (11%) carbohydrates, 1.6 g (6%) fiber, 22.3 g sugar, 2.2 g protein