Lemon Cake, Lemon Tarts, Salad Sticks ~ Happy Anniversary Shikha & Sujith n Surprise for Sharad

The little babies were the surprise for Sujith, Shikha n Sharad. Sujith doesn't like chocolate[Wonder how such people exist on this planet] and Sharad is a die hard Lemon Tart fan and loves his C-H-E-E-S-E. They were coming over for tea, all I told them was there will be Lemon cake.... After eating it a few days ago for Sharad's birthday... They wanted it again.... though I'm bored of making it now but if that's what they want, that's what they'll get... I'll have my fun with the other surprise desserts......

Trying to make pastry in the sweltering heat of delhi would be committing suicide cause the butter will keep melting while pastry as we all know needs chilled everything.... So how do we get Lemon Tarts without pastry shells..... Voila... We crumb glucose biscuits, bind them with lots of butter n pop them in the oven with their tart shells......
We get perfect Tart shells... would be a tad bit sweet as i hadn't Marie biscuits at hand while cooking. Glucose biscuits tend to be on the sweeter side....

That's Siya... Sujith n Shikha's 9 month old.... She's totally adorable and has a really mischievous smile...

We had such a good time together.... :)

That's Siya with her mommy n daddy.....

She made her mommy run around the whole room to finish off 1 banana... I think she was upset cause we ate all the goodies and she got just the banana.... Loved the Bunnies on her bib...

Had made a fresh garden salad with Mangoes, Cucumber, Cheery Tomatoes, Olives and Lettuce. Dressed it with Olive Oil, Honey, Sea Salt, Parsley, Garlic and Pepper.

The Jalapeño Cheese Poppers were a first time for me.... Made balls of shredded cheese stuffed with jalapeños, spiced it with the amazing woody flavour of Nutmeg. Deep fried them with a coating of eggwash and breadcrumbs. The warm melted cheese was so sinful....

Then came the Lemon cake... Siya wanted to crumble up the whole thing and had Daksayani[My kid sister] getting surprised n possesive of the cake....

Siya also liked the cake... and wanted more of it :)

These salad sticks have me hooked.... I've been making them very often... I used Cucumber, Tomato, Olives, Iceberg Lettuce and Pineapple. The dressing had Olive Oil, Honey, Fresh Lemon, Salt, freshly ground Pepper, Parsley and loads of Garlic. I made the dressing earlier and let it marinate for sometime before tossing it. Served it in abow and make sticks for the kids........ This fresh salad makes me forget the scorching heat outside.. 40 Degrees already....I'm going to melt pretty soon....
Sending these Salad Sticks to Pia's event 'Innovative Salad Event #1'.

Ingredient of the month- Cucumber

The biscuits shells were very easy to work with. Just put in some lemon curd and pop them in the fridge.... Lemon Tarts.., ready to go....
Shikha's tart has chocolate chips as the surprise element it it cause she loves chocolate.... Quite liked the chocolate n lemony flavours...

Shikha enjoyed her tart immensely but was so stuffed that some of it had to be a take away....

The surprised look on Sharad n Sujith's faces made this so worth it..... They couldn't hide their glee and had huge grins while tucking into them.....