July was “not so great” month in my life. I blogged only 2 recipes this month and I was on and off from Social media.
One of my course work @hvd is very extensive, every week there are two assignments due and three major quizzes. I have studied 3 books (over 2000 pages) in past 1 month. It’s one of the busiest course I have ever taken in my life. I can’t believe that I haggle with my professor for .25 points.
In addition to that, I have been taking some standardized tests (TOEFL and Critical Writing Tests).
Matthew and I are quite busy buying our second condo. Anyone who has bought home before knows what I am talking about. It’s no where close, but we are actively looking (so hold on saying “congrats”).
This summer I am seeing a GI specialist who is trying to fix one of my life long chronic disease (I don’t comfortable saying the name here). So I am going through extensive tests like Colonoscopy. The test was scheduled tomorrow, but due to health reasons they rescheduled it to Aug 10th. In addition to that, every week I am seeing a Pelvic Floor Physical Therapist.
Like a frosting on the cake, I just had a root canal treatment on Monday and currently having severe knee injury. So yes, I am on pain killer and limping for quite a few days.
A few of you already know I left work a while back and currently pursuing my second MS @hvd. That being said, I am planning to go back to work slowly. But I don’t want to go back to backend (server side) web development which means working with Java again. I want to do web design or User Experience (UX) jobs now. But it’s not easy to get a web design or UX job until I finish this masters @hvd because a strong portfolio is required for such position. As creativity can’t be measured by numbers, a strong portfolio is a must for such roles.
So yes, I am sorry I have not responded to you timely. I am sorry that I have not done much chatting with you lately but you do understand the mental stress I am going through, right?
In between so many bad news, a few good happened.
Good story #1: We shopped till we dropped at Antique Show. You can clearly see the props here.
Good story #2: Story of cooks got a new look and feel. I can’t thank enough my professor of a Harvard course DGMD S-15, Bakhtiar Mikhak, Alec, Mollie & Shaunalynn for that who helped me continuously.
This new theme is my baby which I have created by using a free WordPress theme “Twenty Fifteen”. As I wrote and customized the CSS, it’s super fast (3.2s), clean and tad sharp. However, you’re my users – so you need to tell me what you don’t like here and I will try to listen to you.
My finals are next week so once that gets over I will be regular with my blog post and in August I am planning to bring a summer tart, hand pie, ice-cream and many childhood recipes of mine. So is it possible be for you to stay with me, even if I am posting so less?
A few weeks back I found greek yogurt Panna Cotta in one of the Whole Foods’ isle. It was light and delicious – just like the way I love my desserts. Very quickly I searched for a recipe and realized that panna cotta is quite simple to make. I followed the recipe from Food and Wine. However I topped the panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb preserve.
Repeat after me “It is the simplest dessert to make.” If you have guests coming over or just want to make a dessert for you and don’t have much time consider this recipe. It’s lighter (Calorie wise) than regular panna cotta and you will enjoy the slight tartness comes from greek yogurt.
Recipe for Greek Yogurt Panna Cotta
Makes 8
Gelatin is non vegetarian so I have prepared the same panna cotta with agar agar. I did not find any difference taste wise. If you’re making for you you can replace cream with whole milk. I have used Homemade Greek Yogurt and you can find that recipe here.
1 envelope unflavored gelatin (2 1/4 teaspoons) *
2 tablespoons water
1 cup heavy cream*
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1 1/2 vanilla beans, split and seeded.
2 cups plain greek yogurt*
Strawberry rhubarb preserve (See below)
Chopped pistachio, for garnish
- In a bowl, add gelatin and water. with a spoon mix it well and set it aside
- In a sauce pan, add heavy cream or milk, sugar, vanilla beans (including the pod). Continue to cook over medium-high heat for 4 to 5 minutes, or until the sugar dissolves.
- Take aside the pod and mix thoroughly with gelatin.
- When it’s warm, add that to the yogurt and mix it thoroughly. Transfer them to a container and chill it for 2-3 hours or until they are firm.
- Serve the white panna cotta with strawberry rhubarb preserve and chopped pistachio on top.
Strawberry Rhubarb Preserve
Follow my previous post to learn about preserves. I have pretty much followed the same instruction
1 pound strawberry, hulled
1/2 pound rhubarb, chopped
1/4 cup water
1/2 cup sugar
1/4 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground cloves
1/4 teaspoon ground cardamom
Juice of 1 lemon
- In a thick bottom soup pot, add chopped strawberry and rhubarb, 1/4 cup water, and sugar. Over medium-low heat, cook for 1 hours 30 minutes to 2 hours.
- When you see it’s reduced and thick, add cinnamon, cloves, cardamom, lemon juice and continue to cook for an another 20 to 30 minutes. Your preserve should be quite thick at this point.
- Sterilize the canning jar and transfer the fruit preserve into the jars. Let it cool completely before closing. Keep the preserves in refrigerator.
If you ever make any of my recipe please tag me as @storyofcooks or #storyofcooks in Social Media.
Love the look and feel of the blog! Well done and good luck with your health!!
That is a wonderful dessert!! And take care of yourself. 🙂
Loved the clicks! Get well soon Dolphia
Love the new look of the blog:) hope u recover soon. Wishing u a speedy recovery! Love the recipe..will try it soon with agar agar..thanks for sharing:)
Try soon ❤️
Thanks Smruti! ❤️
Thanks Karthika.
Hope everything falls back in place soon girl!! Stay tight and you will sail flawlessly! Love this panna cotta 🙂
Love the new look of your blog.
Take care of yourself….:( man ! you could study with all this …You are a rockstar ! Amazing.
I love pan cotta – this combination looks delicious …love <3 I love the photo with the marble table…beautiful.
Gosh! I feel so worried for you. Please don’t exert yourself so much Dolphia. Hope things fall in place soon.
The pannacotta looks fabulous and the table ahh soo chic.