mango kulfi and rose watermelon slushie

my cousin, his wife, the baby and her parents came over this weekend. it's so hard to decide what to feed out of guests isn't it? first i wanted to keep it simple, but then i start to second guess myself and ended up talking myself out of it. and then i decided on north indian.

this is what i made:

watermelon & rose slushie
stuffed bell peppers in makhni sauce from swati's delicious blog, chatkhor (i baked the stuffed bell peppers instead of shallow frying and added kasuri methi and yogurt to the gravy)
sauteed gingered cauliflower with peas
onion kulcha & chilli naan
jeera rice
vegetable puffs
kadhi
gajar halwa
mango kulfi

mango kulfi: mix some cream cheese until smooth, add a few fresh pureed mangoes and some whipping cream & freeze in popsicle or kulfi molds.

rose watermelon slushie: puree some watermelon, add a few tablespoons rose syrup & takmaria or sabja seeds. serve over crushed ice.

i don't have exact recipes because i just winged it.

so what do you guys think of the menu? what do you make when entertaining? do you go all out or try to keep it simple?

labneh lemon tart

i know, i know, i know my new profile pic is probably creepin you out. so i was messin' with my new phone's camera capabilities and ended up sorta liking this one. anonymous, but you get a glimpse. looking back through all my blog entries, i realize that i've probably already said too much, revealed even more. do you guys ever think you've exposed a little too much about yourselves? not that i mind, but it is nice to be somewhat mysterious at times.

so what has all that to do with my lemon tarts? oh, nothing. anyways, i had bought some labneh this past weekend when i was at the fabulous new Phoenicia. i planned to use it as cream cheese to spread on my whole grain bagels because i like the way it tastes and it's way better for you... oh, it's not? well, i never got around to getting the bagels, so the poor labneh just sat in the fridge. had i seen michael's post earlier i would've made this. but since my sewing machine got in the way of my blog hopping, i just saw it today.

so i had these beautiful meyer lemons and i decided to make an instant lemony cheesecake tart.
you can mess around with the recipe and try different flavor combinations. it's pretty much limitless. and it's sort of embarrassing to use these processed products which i normally don't have around but this was the easiest and fastest way i could make these yellow beauties. they only take 10 minutes to make and a few hours to chill. they're actually perfect for tea parties or special dinners. and no matter what anyone tells you, everyone loves their own dessert! why do you think cupcakes are so popular? everyone wants to have their own cake and eat it too, that's why!

labneh lemon tarts
serves 10-12
prep time: 10 min, plus 3-4 hours chilling time

vip's:

• 10-12 tart shells, baked and cooled completely
• a packet of 3.2 oz any flavor instant pudding (i used vanilla; cheesecake would be good too)
• 1 cup labneh
• 1 tub fat free whipped topping
• lemon zest & juice of one lemon

the play:

• cream the labneh until smooth and creamy
• stir in the pudding, lemon zest and lemon juice
• fold in the whipped topping
• chill mixture covered for a few hours up to a few days
• fill the tarts right before serving
• garnish with zest, lemon balm or mint

Listening to: a recommendation by my dear friend A - War's 'Four Cornered Room' from the album, The World is a Ghetto (1972)... love it A, thanks!!