THANK YOU! DHANYAWAD! SHUKRIYA! :))

Let me thank the hostess of Monthly Mingle 'Give Thanks' first! Danke`, Meeta of WFLH for hosting this event. I appreciate your friendship as well:))




Thanksgiving is just around the corner.It's time for us to think of good people in our lives and thank them all for their kindness and love which sustain us through our good times and bad. Here are my thanks!!




My Family:
My husband Arvind,who doesn't talk much on a daily basis,not a fussy guy and never looks at my posts unless I ask him to, out of the blue bought me a Cannon Power shot 6 mega pixels camera last week and he says "it takes better photos for your blog:O "Ooohhh! Did he think of ME when he was at work? OYYY!!
Now that calls for a big fat "thank you" from me!:D
My two kids who make my life easy, joyful and complete! Thank you Trishala and Tushar! I thank my lucky stars for having all three of you in my life.And of course I thank my family back home in India although they might say "huh?!" because they are not used to 'Thanksgiving'!:D



My blog friends, Ladies first:
When I started blogging on July 14th 2006,one of the very few who visited me was 'Menu Today' and she advised me "leave some comments Asha, let us know you" and I did! I never forgot your kind advice, MT! A special thanks to you:)



Ladies, I thought of listing ALL of your names in here to thank each one of you but realized that there are more than 60 of you ladies, 'Desi' and 'Pardesi'!(ie Indians and non-Indians):) I never thought that I had so many blog friends.I will try my best to visit you all whenever I can.I am overwhelmed by your affection. A big "THANK YOU" from me to all of you ladies! I respect and adore each one of you intelligent, savvy , strong women and cherish your friendship.



Susan in Italy, Grazie! You are a great lady, who takes on other cultures,their food and make us aware of it in your posts.I have learnt from you!Rowena, Grazie and Mahalo! Thank you for your sweet e mails. Nee! Thanks luv! May God bless you with 100 sons Indian style;D
Keshi and Margie, I thank you both:))

No! I haven't forgotten you Gentlemen :)
Jeff with his crisp,to the point,mostly one sentence comments:), Johnny with his own style(!), Deepak the Megalomaniac:),Sanjay who tracks my posts by his RSS feed:),DeepSat, Kulpreet,SOUTHPAW, Kishore, DilipUK, Twisted DNA,Orhan, Prasad and Paresh. Thank you! I appreciate all of you handsome guys, and may we remain blog friends for years to come. Wish you all the best in whatever you do in your lives.(Did I forget you? Remind me!)



My teenage blog buddies! Thank you Isha, Julia, Sneha and Raghu! My best to all of you,a very bright future is surely ahead of you.So young and so smart!!:))



Finally, to all the 'Ghost readers' who showed up , thank you!Others who didn't, please say 'thanks' to the blog authors when you visit them for their hard work! Not just to me and my blog , to ALL of us!:)

Let me make you some breakfast while you relax and hope that we will be blog friends forever! Here's my sweet and savory offerings for all of you in friendship:



Apple-Cinnamon Coffee Cake With Struesel Topping, Hash Medley, fresh Grapes and hot Coffee are on the menu !!



Apple-Cinnamon Coffee Cake with Streusel Topping:

To bake a coffee cake you Need:

2 cups all-purpose flour, 2/3 cup sugar, 2 1/2tsp baking pd,1 tsp sweet cinnamon pd,1/4 tsp each salt and nutmeg pd, 1/2 cup butter,1/2 cup milk,1 egg, 1 big apple,chopped finely to 1/4" cubes or slices.Grease or spray a 9x9x2 baking pan.Line with parchment
paper. Pre-heat oven to 350F.





For Streusel topping: 1/4 cup each quick cooking oatmeal and plain flour,1/4 cup packed brown sugar,1/2 tsp cinnamon pd,1/4 cup butter softened,2-3 tbsp crushed walnuts(Optional).Mix all these with your fingertips until it resembles coarse lumps.Keep aside.





Mix all the dry ingredients first and add cut in butter to resemble coarse crumbs.Mix all the wet ingredients in a seperate bowl and add to the dry.Stir everything just until moistened.Or you add all except apple into a blender with a mixer attachment,and mix all but not too much.Add in Apple pieces and mix with a spatula.



Pour the batter into the pan,tap gently to get the bubbles out,sprinkle the Streusel topping on the batter evenly.Bake for about 40 mins or until a knife inserted in the cake comes out clean.Cool on the rack for 15mins and cut into 9 squares and serve.



Coffee cake is ready. Got fork?:)



Hash Medley:



Hash or Hash Brown is a potato and onion dish seasoned and sauteed in butter or oil until it is golden and served for breakfast along with pancakes, Sausages, Grits etc in the south. Well, you know me!:) I added lot more colorful veggies along with Potatoes and made into a Hash Medley! Tastes great.

How to make Hash Medley you Need:


Chop 2 potatoes peeled,chopped to a 1/4" cubes or you can use canned diced potatoes too or a frozen potato hash,1 onion diced, green,red and yellow peppers diced,few jalapenos, few Olives,few broccoli and cauliflowerettes,1 small carrot and all diced to the same size.





Heat oil or butter in a non-stick pan,add carrots first,saute for 2 mins and then add potatoes,fry until half done.Then add all other vegs to the pan and stir-fry until cooked and golden.Add salt and pepper or any spice you like.



Serve with a big slice of cake, Hash Medley,Grapes or any other fruit and a cup of steaming coffee. Sounds great , doesn't it? Hope you bake this delicious Coffee cake and Hash Medley.

Enjoy and have a great day :))



A final note:
Blogging is not easy as some people might think! We do get addicted to it before we even realize! It does take time and energy to do this! So, my humble advice to you would be 'take a break' and 'it's okay if you cannot leave comments on every post of everybody'! But do visit when you can and able.Also keep in mind that this blogging and commenting 'business' is a two way street!;D


Our families must comes first, then these blogs:) Enjoy blogging, but don't let it stress you more. I used to feel guilty if I miss even one post of my fav bloggers. But now I have learnt to take it easy and take my time, visit blogs when I am done with my usual work. It's not a competition to win medals but a hobby which gives us a venue for our creativity and so relax, enjoy it all:)



Have a great Thanksgiving my blog buddies:)



Before I forget, 'thank you' Blogger service, for providing these freebee blogspots for people like me to go crazy like I have here!:D