And then there was cake.....

I had the most fabulous b'day this year...it including me time, gifts from M.A.C, pampering, time with my mom and sis, good food.....and ofcourse, cake.
I was barred from baking anything for myself. And nothing seemed to be happening till the day before, of my bday.
I kept dropping hints, noone took them, or so I thought....

On the actual day, my mom got up really early, and turned out this special thing for me...

IT's a cherry cake, she'd put in real cherries in it. Have I ever mentioned that my mom is an excellent baker....I have a long way to go before I reach her instinctive baking...
The taste is incomparable, she's put in ingredients without measuring, so I unfortunately dont have the recipe :(
But it was one happy birthday :D

I havent been able to capture it quite right, but the cake was slightly pink with surprisingly juicy cherries, and pink buttercream.
Did I say I had an awesome b'day?

cookies..

I recently combined two different methods, and various kinds of flours to create a cookie that tastes like shortbread, and is full of iron and calcium!! So while it looks very weird, it is extremely addictive and has a nice rustic flavor to it.

Recipe:

Red peppers!!!

Since I'm the only one in the family with a penchant for spicy food, normally my mom makes a red pepper preserve for me. These red peppers are extra hot, extremely spicy, and touching it can induce burning for a day or two.

This time while she was cutting and deseeding them, I flicked a couple of peppers, topped it with vinegar and a bit of salt. My mom has an extremely old bottle of great quality vinegar, which has been extracted from grapes.

What a pretty red color!!

In the meanwhile, she made a chunky sauce of peppers, garlic and salt.
While using this preserve, she normally heats up a tbsp of oil, adds a tsp of mustard seeds to crackle, a pinch of asafoetida powder and a small pinch turmeric to the oil. This she then pours on the preserve and its ready to eat!