Blog Birthday and Announcing the 'Kitchen Masterpiece' Event

Blog Birthday and Announcing the 'Kitchen Masterpiece' Event

It is a year since my daughter, Dibs, goaded me into publishing a recipe blog. Since I was a novice in the field of computer technology, I hesitated a lot to get down to it, and there were many apprehensions. She persuaded me by saying she would create the Chitra Amma’s Kitchen blog, and publish all the posts, until I felt comfortable enough doing it myself. Since then, there was no looking back, (although she still continues to do all the posting!) Thanks to all my fellow bloggers, this blog is celebrating its first anniversary on 19th January 2009! We decided to celebrate the anniversary by announcing an event. What better way to celebrate than with Food, Art and Craft our all time favourite hobbies!

What can be submitted?

Create any form of art or craft, made of either raw or cooked food products. Since this is a veggy blog, please use only vegetarian items. Examples include vegetable carvings, sugar craft, coconut carvings, ginger bread men and so on. It does not matter whether your masterpiece is eatable or not! For example a kolam made of rice flour, or a rangoli made of raw grains cannot be eaten, but are most welcome for the event! None of us are Picassos or Ravi Vermas (or maybe few of you are!), so please don’t hesitate in taking part! Blog about your art or craft work, and include pictures or videos of your masterpiece. Write about how you made it, what inspired you and so on kin your post.

The Kitchen Masterpiece Logo

This logo comes from a masterpiece that was made by my bright little granddaughter Dhrithi, who is all of seven years old. It is a fairy made from dosa! She made me make the dosa, and then did all the decoration! You can see more art work, poems and essays by Dhrithi here!

Prizes!
Prizes are really exciting aren't they? We were thinking about making this a contest - but then who are we, or anybody else for that matter, to judge your masterpieces! Every work of art is an outlet for creativity, and brings joy and positive emotions to the artist and to others. So instead of a contest we decided to do a lucky draw with names of all participants. A few lucky folks will get some nice gifts! Once we have the lucky winners, we will announce the results on the blog during the round up, and let you know by mail as well.

What do you need to do?
- Make a fresh and independent post on your blog. Link back to this event in Chitra Amma's Kitchen. We’d be happy if you used the logo, but it is optional!

- Ensure that your entries do not violate any copyright laws.

- Drop us a mail with a link to your post at chitra.ammas.kitchen@gmail.com or chitra(dot)ammas(dot)kitchen(dot)com, with the following details.
Your Name:
Name of your post:
URL / Link:
You need not send any details or photos, as we will directly pick it up from your post.

- You may send as many entries as you wish.

- In case you do not have a blog, you are still welcome to participate. You can simply send your entries to our e-mail address at chitra-ammas-kitchen@gmail.com or chitra(dash)ammas(dash)kitchen(dot)com.

- This event is open till 19th February '09, midnight, Sydney, Australia Time (so those in the West actually get almost a day in addition!). The round up will be posted a few days later.

- Feel free to contact us via mail or in the comments section if you have any questions.

So get the creative juices flowing, and we really look forward to seeing your Masterpieces!

Dramatic Kitchen Oil Fire Video

This just in from my friend Alexander.

It bears posting - Most residential fires occur in the kitchen - on the stovetop.

Be safe.

Peggy

KITCHEN OIL FIRE......... I never realized that a wet dish cloth can be a one size fits all lid to cover a fire in a pan!

This is a dramatic video (30-second, very short) about how to deal with a common kitchen fire...Oil in a frying pan. Read the following introduction, then watch the show... It's a real eye-opener!!

At the Fire Fighting Training school they would demonstrate this with a deep fat fryer set on the fire field. An instructor would don a fire suit and using an 8 oz. cup at the end of a 10 foot pole, toss water onto the grease fire. The results got the attention of the students.

The water, being heavier than oil, sinks to the bottom where it instantly becomes heated. The explosive force of the steam blows the burning oil up and out.

On the open field, it became a thirty foot high fireball that resembled a nuclear blast. Inside the confines of a kitchen, the fire ball hits the ceiling and fills the entire room.

Also, do not throw sugar or flour on a grease fire. One cup creates the explosive force of two sticks of dynamite.

Nutty Coconut Ice cream(kulfi)-Perfect for this weather!(In LA I mean)

Would you like a single scoop or a double scoop?



I have made kulfi before. But this method is slightly different. I followed Ramki's recipe and was very satisfied with the results. He has given 1001 variations to regular kulfi which is amazing. I picked coconut flavor this time to try. I like Nutty coconut ice cream from Baskin Robbins and so does my hubby. So I made it on his birthday.

Ingredients:
Heavy cream(or half and half or whole milk)-1 cup(Remember thicker the milk, creamier the ice cream)
Evaporated milk-2 cups
Condensed milk-3/4th-1 cup(based on how sweet you want the ice cream to be)
Desiccated Sweetened Coconut flakes(not fresh or frozen)-a handful
Chopped nuts of your choice-a handful
Cardamom-a pinch

Method:
Mix all the ingredients together. Pour in kulfi moulds or a container and freeze for 5-7 hours.
Yummy ice cream is ready.



Variations: You can substitute coconut with the following:
1. Mango pulp-for mango kulfi
2. Ground pistachio, saffron and cardamom-for kesar pista kulfi

Note: The ice cream tends to become hard after freezing. Keep it out at room temperature for 15-20 minutes before serving(depends on where you live. If you live in Chennai, you don't have to worry about this.. because the ice cream never sets in the first place. just kidding!).

This goes out to Alka's Just for you event!