DMBLGIT June 2010 Announcement - the 5th year anniversary!

Do not forget to enter the giveaway on this blog open till 17-July. Link available here!
Not many months ago, I had the pleasure of hosting the event - Does My blog look good in this - or DMBLGIT. DMBLGIT is a monthly food photography event wherein people submit their best food photos and a team of judges picks out the best of them on the basis of edibility, originality and aesthetics. I have been a fan of the event, and have been following it for many months now. But when I saw that the event is struggling to survive because of a lack of hosts, I figured I should host it again - it was fun the last time anyway!

So people, I need your help. Andrew of Spittoon and Spittoon Extra- and also the administrator of the event has been seeing a decline in entries each month. Coupled with a lack of hosts, the event would die out! So I'd request you to send in your entries and also spread the word so the 5th anniversary is a success!

MEET THE JUDGES

Below are the judges for the event.

All of the below judges have some of the most amazing blogs and I love to go back to their websites for new posts. Go check them all out - I'm sure you'll love to subscribe to them!

• Kris of Bake in Paris(although it is written out of Thailand :-) ) - Winner of the DMBLGIT many times, Kris's blog has some of the most beautiful food photography I have seen.
• Meeta of Whats for Lunch Honey. The very versatile Meeta who writes this blog from Germany always has me visiting her blog for more. She has multiple feathers in her cap and several mentions of one of the best food blogs in various print and web publications. She is also a speaker at the FBC -2010(Food Blogger Connect) in London this month.
• Tania of Dulcis in Furno. What can I say - Her blog has an almost ethereal quality about it! The pictures are beautiful and calming. She is based in italy and writes her posts in both Italian and English.
• Yours truly
• Veronique of www.delimoon.com

Now having hosted the event in february this year, it would feel like Ground Hog day to me - but well, below are some of the rules to enter

RULES

Here is what you need to do to enter.

1)Send a photo that has appeared on your blog during May 2010. The photo should be food and/or drink related.
2)Your photo must be text-free, please.
3)Only one entry per person.
4)The photograph must have been taken by you (copyright is allowed).
5)Deadline for submissions : June 20, 2010.

Send your entry to snacksgiving[AT]gmail[DOT]com with DMBLGIT in the subject line with the following details:

• Your name.
• Your location.
• Your blog’s name and URL.
• The photograph that you wish to enter, of no more than 500 pixels wide.
• Your photograph’s title.
• URL of the post containing the photograph.
• Type of camera used, lens if you wish.

By submitting a photo, you agree to your picture being redisplayed and altered in size on the host’s page and on DMBLGIT page.

JUDGING

The judges will review your entries on the basis of:

• Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
• Edibility: “Does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?”
• Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say wow!, displaying something we might not have seen before.

From these categories, the judges will come up with:
- Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined.
- There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

GALLERY

Every photo entry will be compiled on DMBLGIT June 2010 photo album.
The gallery is updated here - DMBLGIT June 2010 Gallery
Well? What are you waiting for? Come on, send me your gorgeous photo entry. And thanks so much for your participation!

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Shahi Tukra - Emperor's morsel

As you can tell, I am still keeping my promise. Another Indian dish. The dish is called "Shahi Tukra" or Emperor's Morsel. The very name speaks of royalty, decadence and richness. It is all of these, only easier than it sounds!

This is a type of bread pudding that has its origins in the Mughlai cuisine. Mughlai cuisine is a South Asian cuisine, influenced by the imperial kitchens of the Mughal Empire. The cuisine is strongly influenced by Persian, and Turkic cuisines of Central Asia.
Shahi Tukra is a rich dessert made with bread, ghee, saffron, sugar, rabri(a cardamom flavored reduction of whole milk), almonds and an optional gold or silver leaf for added opulence!

Another not-so-royal name that it is known with is "Double ka meetha". Double here referring to bread - just an Indian name of bread - Double Roti, while "meetha" meaning sweet.

With a name so rich and opulent sounding, there is no way I am going to try to make it healthy. It must be eaten with all the fat, cream, sugar and white bread that you can eat! So here is the recipe





INGREDIENTS
For the Rabri
• 3 cups whole milk
• 3 Cardamom pods, crushed

For the sugar syrup
• 1/4 cup Sugar
• 1/4 cup Water

• 4 slices Bread
• 3 tbsp Ghee
• 4-5 Pistachios, blanched and chopped
• 4-5 Almonds, toasted and sliced
• 4-5 raisins(optional)
• Few strands of saffron

DIRECTIONS

1. Cut each slice of bread into 4 pieces . A day or two old bread works best for this recipe. If using fresh bread, keep it in a very low oven for about 10 minutes until the bread dries up a bit. This is in order to avoid the bread from soaking up too much ghee.
2. To make the sugar syrup, mix sugar and water and set the mixture to boil. Now, simmer the solution for about 10 minutes.
3. Take a pan and set the milk to boil. Simmer it until it reduces to 1/4th quantity. Keep stirring occasionally so that it does not stick to the pan. Now, add the crushed cardamom, pistachios and few strands of saffron to the thickened milk. This is our rabri.
4. Add in the ghee to a non-stick pan and lightly fry the bread until golden brown on both sides.
5. Dip the fried bread in the sugar syrup for about a minute.
6. Arrange the slices on the serving dish
7. Now, spread the rabri onto the bread and sprinkle some almonds, and saffron strands over it.

Oh, and before I forget - thanks to the last month's DMBLGIT judges for judging one of our pictures amongst the winners. The "Life After Coffee" picture was awarded the 3rd place in the March 2010 edition of DMBLGIT. Here is a link to the post with all the winners.


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DMBLGIT February 2010 Winners

First of all, my apologies for the delay in posting the results. I should have posted them last week itself.

I feel that there were not many entries this time around for the event that were eye-catching and extremely impressive in the first glance. There were those that were heavily photo-shopped and some that had very visible flaws. But of course, as mentioned in the DMBLGIT announcement post, the ratings have been given on the Edibility, Originality and Aesthetics. I must say that I thoroughly enjoyed hosting this event, and would love to be a participate in many more of them in the future!

Apart from us at Snacksgiving, the other judges that participated in the event are

Andrew of and Spittoon and SpittoonExtra
Deeba of Passionate About Baking
Hilda of Saffron and Blueberry
Sara of Fior di Frolla

Here are the winners.

1) Overall Winner - 1st place

Kris Ngoei of Bake in Paris Grateful

2) Overall Winner - 2nd place

Nicisme of Cherrapeno Banoffee Macarons

3) Overall Winner - 3rd Place

Vania Samperuru of Our Family Favorite Recipes Christmas Celebrations

4) Winner - Edibility

Claude-Olivier of 1001 Recettes Des nouilles

5) Winner - Originality

Kristen Doyle of Dine & Dish Cake Decorating Woes

6) Winner - Aesthetics

Monika of Sweet Sensation Waldorf Salad with a Twist

Congratulations to all the winners. You would be getting your badges shortly. And thank you all for participating in the event

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DMBLGIT February 2010 Announcement

Does My Blog Look Good In This is a monthly food photography event that is hosted by a different blogger every month. The administrator of the event is Andrew of and Spittoon and SpittoonExtra. It is open to all bloggers who have posted a photograph with a food or drink connection. Food bloggers submit their best photos from posts they completed during the previous month which are then judged and scored. Winners are made covering three categories (edibility, aesthetics, and originality) plus three overall winners.

This month I have the pleasure of hosting the DMBLGIT. Here is what you need to do to enter.

1)Send a photo that has appeared on your blog during January 2010. The photo should be food and/or drink related.
2)Your photo must be text-free, please.
3)Only one entry per person.
4)The photograph must have been taken by you (copyright is allowed).
5)Deadline for submissions : February 20, 2010.

Send your entry to snacksgiving[AT]gmail[DOT]com with DMBLGIT in the subject line with the following details:

- Your name.
- Your location.
- Your blog’s name and URL.
- The photograph that you wish to enter, of no more than 500 pixels wide.
- Your photograph’s title.
- URL of the post containing the photograph.
- Type of camera used, lens if you wish.
By submitting a photo, you agree to your picture being redisplayed and altered in size on the host’s page and on DMBLGIT page.

Judging
The judges will review your entries on the basis of:
- Aesthetics: composition, food styling, lighting, focus, etc.
- Edibility: “Does the photo make us want to dive in and eat the food?”
- Originality: the photograph that catches our attention and makes us want to say wow!, displaying something we might not have seen before.
I will be announcing the judges in a separate post so stay tuned!!

From these categories, the judges will come up with:
- Overall Winner: top overall scores in all three categories combined.
- There are three overall winners for photographs with the highest point totals in all three categories combined, and one winner in each of the three individual categories.

Gallery
Every photo entry will be compiled on DMBLGIT February 2010 photo album.
Update: The photo gallery can be found here DMBLGIT Jan2010

Well? What are you waiting for? Come on, send me your gorgeous photo entry. And thanks so much for your participations! Share

Think Vanilla roundup, and we've been adopted!

Just returned from a kind of last minute vacation. We went to India and met our families for a few days - and needless to say, ate like pigs! Since it was a short vacation, our moms were on a mission to feed us all our favourite dishes in that short span - 5 days at my place, and 5 at my in-laws. Of course we didn't complain, although we were eating almost every 2-3 hours! In the evenings, we would go out and eat some more!! Yeah, my jeans do realise that!

I am late in posting the round up for the Think Vanilla event. Unfortunately, I got a lukewarm response - just 5 entries. Hopefully I should have a better response for my next event - Does My Blog Look Good In This (DMBLGIT). I shall have another post on that later today.
Before I get to the roundup - another announcement that I am very happy about. Snacksgiving is being adopted! We shall have a blogger momma - Amanda of What we are eating and "Food Porn Daily". Adopt-a-Blogger is a wonderful program that allows newbies in the blogging world find their place and learn from the veterans. The 4th Adopt-a-Blogger is being hosted by Kristen of Dine and Dish. Thank you Amanda for adopting us!

Below is the round-up for the Think Vanilla event. Thank you to all who participated.

- Stone Fruit Tea Cake (Peach Tea Cake) from Taste Space

- Chocolate Truffle from A2Z Vegetarian Cuisine

- Cream Cheese Brownies from Malaysian Delicacies

- Bannana Buttermilk Pancake from Zesty South Indian Kitchen

- Lemon Yogurt Cake from MySpicyKitchen Share