Hello everyone, welcome back! I've planned out my entire breakfast menu for this week, and today I’m going to make semolina toast. I really like it—it's a simple recipe. You just mix semolina with yogurt, add salt and red chili powder, and mix it well. You can add a little water too, and then add your favorite vegetables. I added tomatoes, onions, coriander, and a bit of green chili. After mixing it all, spread it on bread and toast it nicely. It tastes amazing with hot tea! But Charlotte doesn’t like it at all. You know, kids have their own preferences. So, I made cheese for Charlotte because she likes it, and for the rest of us, I made semolina toast—a simple yet delicious breakfast. After breakfast, I went out to get groceries. If you also remove peach fuzz from your face, then the razors from Revlon are really good. They’re rarely available, but whenever they are, I stock up on two or three. Then I needed to buy some vegetables from the Indian section—of course, Maggi, tea, biscuits, and a few other things. After that, I had to go to Dollarama. There were quite a few things to buy, so it was pretty helpful that Abhishek was with me. From Dollarama, I got some craft supplies, which I'll tell you why I bought, because tomorrow is a very special day—Janmashtami! I rarely buy craft supplies, and I think I only use them once a year, which is on Janmashtami. As always, we were out of groceries, so I had to restock a lot. Fruits and vegetables run out quickly at home because Sunny and Charlotte really love eating them, so I especially needed to go to refill those. And then, milk, yogurt, and green vegetables—quite a few things were finished, so I had to get all of that too. When this fruit basket is full, it’s very satisfying. I think fruits should always be available at home. You don’t get much here, so whenever I find any good vegetables, I try to stock up. I also got a few knick-knacks, and then I went to Dollarama again. This time, I needed some supplies to decorate my office room for Janmashtami like some artificial flowers, tape, glue, glitter, and ribbons. I brought all those things back. I was feeling a bit tired, but I had soaked the kidney beans last night, and while making breakfast in the morning, I had already boiled them. I also added onions to the boiling beans. When you boil onions with them, they cook quickly, and there’s no raw taste left. So, the beans were boiled, and in the oil, I added those boiled onions, mixed them well, added ginger-garlic paste, and then the basic spices—salt, chili powder, turmeric, and coriander powder—and cooked it well. Once the spices were well-cooked, I added a bit of tomato puree with ginger and green chili, mixed it in, and let it cook a little longer before adding the boiled kidney beans. If you plan your meals the night before, things go a bit quicker, no matter how busy your day is, right? In the end, I garnished it with some coriander, and hot rajma rice was ready. And you can’t have rajma rice without papad, can you? Paji came home, so we enjoyed lunch together. Before washing the dishes, I noticed that the tap was getting a bit dirty, and I do this monthly. You just need to fill a bag with vinegar, tie it around the tap for a good 30 minutes, and then scrub it off—the tap will shine again. After lunch, I went straight to my office. Janmashtami is one of my most favorite festivals. I was just as happy today as I was on Charlotte’s birthday, so I thought I’d start some decorations today. Janmashtami is tomorrow, but when you have so many tasks to do alone, it’s better to plan ahead. At first, I thought of putting up a hula hoop here, but then I got another idea and did this instead. The next morning, I was fasting because it was Janmashtami, and the first thing I planned to make was besan ladoos. The recipe is simple, but it’s a lot of work because roasting the besan takes the most time. You have to stir it continuously because you don’t want the besan to burn, but at the same time, you need to keep an eye on it until the raw smell of the besan is gone. In terms of quantity, if you have half a cup of ghee, you need one cup of besan and just a little less than one cup of sugar. This is the ratio I always use for besan ladoos, and they turn out perfectly. Side by side, I made kheer, which is a very simple recipe too. So, the kheer was cooking, and then there comes a stage when the besan becomes completely watery, and you have to keep stirring it because you want that perfect color—not too brown and not too yellow, just a middle shade. After roasting it for about 20 minutes, it reaches this color. You have to make sure it's on medium heat so the besan doesn’t burn. Now that it’s reached this stage, I’m going to add sugar. I’ve let the beans cool down a bit before adding the sugar, and now I’m shaping the ladoos. It’s taking a little time because I’m wearing gloves. Normally, I’d do it with my hands without gloves, but because of my nails, I decided to wear them. I don’t usually get my nails done, but this year, for the first time, I did it for Charlotte’s birthday. Otherwise, I wouldn’t have because ever since I lost my toenail, I’ve had this thing—when my toenail came off, it was so painful. They gave me three injections, and even then, it wasn’t numb, so it was a terrible experience for me. That’s why I don’t prefer getting my nails done. But for Charlotte’s birthday, I did it, and now as I’m making these ladoos, the besan keeps getting stuck under my nails, so that’s why I decided to wear gloves, which is making the process a bit slower. Otherwise, I make them quickly. The main thing with besan ladoos is that the besan needs to be roasted really well. If it’s not roasted properly and there’s any rawness left in the besan, it won’t taste good. So, it’s important to roast it in a heavy-bottomed pan, which is why I used an iron kadhai because it heats evenly, and the roasting is done perfectly. The hard part wasn’t making the ladoos, but shaping them, especially because I’m not used to wearing gloves. The kheer is ready now. I’ve added a little extra to it today—some saffron and a bit more dry fruits than I usually do because today is a very special day. And now it’s time to make malpua. Malpua is really easy to make if you have milk powder. I highly recommend using it if you have it because it makes a difference in taste, though they still turn out great without it. I’ve taken one cup of flour, added half a cup of milk powder, and about two tablespoons of semolina. You also need to add fennel seeds, which give it a great flavor. Mix it all together, then add one cup of milk. If you want your milk a little thinner, you can increase the amount of milk. Since malpua is a sweet dish, you need to make a sugar syrup with it. You’ll need to make a one-thread consistency syrup, which is quite easy to do. While making the syrup, you can add saffron and a bit of cardamom because it becomes very tasty and saffron gives it a nice color. When I went to India two years ago, we went to Jaipur, and I bought such beautiful clothes there. I plan to buy more whenever I go back to India. I think the type of saree I bought is called Bandhej, but I’m not sure—I might be wrong. My mom knows about it. They’re really nice, very lightweight, and the best part is that they don’t wrinkle easily. It’s a great fabric for summer. So next time I visit India, I’m going to buy some suits and sarees for myself. After my wedding, I sometimes wore simple sarees at home on regular days, and I loved it—just putting on a simple saree, a bindi, some lipstick, and I was ready. Look at this outfit—it’s so pretty. The work on it is amazing. Jaipur is indeed famous for its craftsmanship. Anyway, I’m going to give Charlotte a bath now. Today’s household chores didn’t take much time. I added desi ghee to the kadhai, and now I’m going to add the malpua batter. As you can see, my batter is a bit thick, but you can make a thinner batter if you prefer. I like my malpua a bit thick, like the ones you get in Haridwar They turn out very yummy. It’s a bit of a patience game; you need to keep the gas on medium flame. If the flame is too high, the flour will change color but won’t cook properly. I’m also making the sugar syrup simultaneously. Once the malpua is ready, you need to dip them in the syrup for a good 20 minutes so they soak it up and become deliciously soft and sweet. When they turn brown, they become really tasty. It takes a bit of time because you need to let them fry slowly. I'm talking about this color, I like this color. I’m almost done—just two or three more to go. There’s also an option to make malpua without milk powder, but after adding milk powder, they turn out really good. I've tried it several times, and you need to show a bit of patience with it. That’s why iron utensils come in handy because they maintain the temperature well, making the process a bit quicker. Just a little more cooking, and only the last three malpuas remain. You have the option to make them really thin if you like, or slightly thick. I personally love the slightly thick malpua like the ones you get in Haridwar. The recipe is simple, so these malpuas are made quickly. The sugar syrup needs to be of one-thread consistency, and after dipping the malpua in it for a while, they are done. I'm making the last batch now, and you should definitely make them in desi ghee because it gives the malpua a really good taste. So, now I've made kheer, ladoos, and malpua. Now I'll finally have time to comb my hair; I've been busy with this since morning. I just fed Sunny and Charlotte lunch—they had saag and roti. As long as the family is well fed, that’s all that matters. Since I’m fasting, it’s okay. Once the kids and family have eaten, all the tension goes away. The special thing about this puja is that it happens at midnight, so it's a long day. You can do the puja throughout the day, but Krishna’s birth happens at 12:00 AM, which is when you celebrate. I had to make kuttu ke pakode, so I boiled the potatoes and mixed them with coriander, green chilies, salt, black pepper, and kuttu flour, and I added a little water to make them ready to fry right after the puja. There are some utensils that I only take out for puja, and Kanha Ji needs to be bathed first, so I got the utensils ready—milk, yogurt, honey, Ganga water, and sugar for the bath. After that, you dress him up beautifully and do the aarti and puja. The energy at home is so beautiful and feels so good inside. Since all of you are my family, I want you to have darshan of Him and receive lots of blessings. The best thing about festivals is you celebrate it with everyone, and it makes it more enjoyable. So, I offered all the sweets as prasad. Obviously, I didn't taste anything, but there’s something about prasad that, when you make it, it turns out even more perfect because of God’s blessings. Everyone found it very tasty. Then we drank charnamrit, which is made from five ingredients: milk, yogurt, honey, desi ghee, and sugar. You can also add a Tulsi leaf to it for the perfect taste. A festival without a beautifully decorated plate is impossible, right? We had quite a variety—dal makhani, shahi paneer, roti, pakoras, green chutney, malpua, Ladoo, and kheer. It feels so good to eat such a platter because it represents the essence of festivals. But since I was fasting, I made raita, kuttu ke pakode, and green chutney for myself. We celebrated Janmashtami so well, and now I’ll show you a final darshan of our Kanha Ji. I just want to say that I hope the rest of your year is wonderful and that it brings some sweet good news your way.