Bong Mania Overloaded

Getting ready in ethnic attires in the summer seems so tricky than getting ready for winter. The main Mantra of summer styling is staying cool, comfortable and yet stylish. Amidst the glitz and glamour of Saree glitterati such as Silk, Benarasi or Kanchipuram, the comfort that one is ever after will always remain hidden in the Linen. Especially during summer, when being light-weight is the mantra of the day, there would be no parallel of a Linen Saree as long as its accessorized right.

Balancing the act of comfort and style is the key this season.

Linen Sarees have been a huge trend these days and with women of all ages accepting this style of sarees for work wear, fashion statements or a party wear has helped the trend to boom out way higher. The foremost advantage of wearing linen clothes in this scorching weather is the coolness they bestow. Thanks to the linen fiber and weave specifics, it allows more airflow .A linen saree retains high air permeability, which allows air to flow through the material easily and allows the body to breathe. This summer explore the world of linen and feel comfortable, confident and pretty. No need to hide from the sun anymore.

This beautiful midnight blue linen saree is from a dear friend's saree store Rongaboti's collection. Blouses have also been a huge part of styling these casual sarees for a different look. Sanchita has paired it with a stylish and unconventional off-shoulder dual tone crop top.

The oversized afghani danglers and the silver nose pin has added the extra style to the look. The dark smokey eyes and the bright hot pink lip color has made the look more perfect for any outing. A low hair bun is to keep up with the heat.

Keeping it simple is the key. The saree is simple sans zari work and thus perfect for any outing, day time parties or even for work.

Outfit Details

Styling and photography: Moumita
Saree: Rongabati's Collection
Nose pin: Gahana by Sohini Datta
Earrings: Amazon.in
Croptop blouse: Forever 21

We’ve made it.....

With a whole year of behind us, we’ve hit our biggest milestone yet. So this is a brand new post celebrating our own 1-year birthday, and we are celebrating it as every Bengali celebrates.... by making "Payesh".

Kheer or Payesh is a rice pudding from the cuisine of the Indian subcontinent. It is typically served during a meal or as a dessert. It is also known in some regions as payesh, payasam, payasa, phirni and gil-e-firdaus
The word Payesh is derived from payasa, meaning "milk".

The history of 'payesh' or kheer as its called pan India, goes back to thousands of years ago.In Bengal, its a traditional meal traced to be at least 2000 years old and it is one of most loved deserts. Actually terming it just to be a frugal desert would be underestimating its place in Bengali household. Payesh is regarded as an auspicious food and generally associated with annaprashana (weaning ritual of an infant) and Janmatithi (birthday) in a Bengali household. Bengali birthdays are incomplete without 'payesh'.... its one of the most delicious deserts on earth but if its your birthday and specially if its মায়ের হাথের পায়েস (Mom's special payesh) the taste of it is undobtedly heavenly....am smacking my lips while writing this..trust me.

To celebrate one year of blogging Sanchita made us some of this special desert. But what was more interesting about it is that the traditional dish was given a western twist by combining it with creamy chocolates.....now who wouldn't love this one. Our family roots back to both sides of Bengal and thus we have been enjoying both Bangal and Ghoti delicacies at home(which are quite different from each other I tell you!). Then us moving to U.S. has introduced us to the world cuisine, so whenever we take to kitchen it always a জগাখিচুড়ি (random mix or combination) of all the tastes we like.

Lets get back to the recipe now....shall we...

RECIPE

Prep Time : 11-15 minutes

Cook time : 45 minutes

Serve : 4

Level Of Cooking : Easy

Taste : Sweet

Ingredients for Chocolate Kheer Recipe

Chocolate 1/2 cup
Milk 2 cups
Rice soaked 1 tablespoon
fresh Cream 1/2 cup
Patali gur (dates jaggery)1/2 cup
dates (for garnishing) 2 piece

Method

Step 1

Heat 2 cups milk in a deep non stick pan . Add rice and cook till completely soft and milk is reduced to half. Add the grated patali gur to the payesh and switch off the flame (the jaggery will melt automatically)

Step 2

Put cream in a bowl whisk well then add the melted chocolate and whisk again. Fill up each serving bowl half with the chocolate cream mixture and keep it in the refrigerator for 10 minutes .

Step 3

Let the payesh cool down to room temperature then fill up the serving bowl with the payesh. Then again refrigerate it for 10 minutes.

Step 4

Garnish the chocolate payesh with finely chopped dates on top. And then serve it cool to the guests.

Let us know how did you liked our new section and if you'd try this simple recipe at home. Share it with your friends if you love it.
See you in the next post!

Continued from Part 1....

Thank you for all the love you showered on the first part of this post and if you haven't checked it yet please do click here.

In this last part of the Baby Shower look book, I'll be sharing two more looks which I wore at my Bengali Shad ceremonies. They were hosted by my families here in U.S.

Arrival of a baby for us has been a dream come true and the journey towards motherhood became all the more special as our family members were beside us along with our friends. They lovingly hosted the best showers for us keeping all traditions and rituals in mind. As both mine and K's parents were in India at this time so these Shad ceremonies reminded us of them. But our families here made up for everything and pampered me as a princess on those days.

Lets get back to the looks now...

Look 1

My in laws has a ritual of giving Mishti Shad to the expectant mother which means the food for the pregnant mother will include only fruits and different kinds sweets or desert items. Although was not very sure of the reason behind it but it seemed very interesting to me. So my husband and my dearest sis hosted a joint Mishti shower for me at our place. Sanchita cooked delicious Bengali lunch for 20+ guests and my BIL and K looked after all the other details of the event.

I wore a South silk saree my MIL sent me for the Shad. It has a very soothing sea green color with a self weave and big gold butas all over, along with a mina work border and pallu. Paired it with a off-white velvet blouse. As every other of you I also have my days when my blouse doesn't really match up to my saree. So to save the day and compliment with the blouse I added pearl earchains to my gold Pasha (oversized stud) earrings😜. Also added the gold over-sized pendant and light necklace to complete the look. The accessories were kept simple and comfortable as the saree was heavy to wear especially when you're ready to pop.

Sanchita, the co-host of the event, wore a beautiful dark green and gold Kanjivaram saree with matching sleeveless blouse and simple gold jewelries. Her look was also kept simple to match ambiance of the event.

The day started with few essential rituals of Shad and followed by a homely lunch with friends and family. The day flowed perfectly with good food and adda and was extremely overjoyed by everyone's participation. Enjoy the rest of the pictures from the event... and scroll down for Look 3 :)

Look 3

The third and the last shower I was treated at was at my cousin's place. Am so fortunate to have her in the area and how she has been a big support as an elder sister. She pampered me with the most elaborate lunch you can imagine of...It had 7 types fried veggies, 5 types of sweets and 5 types of fish.It was an ideal food coma that day.

I wore a pure Khandua silk saree bought from Jagannath Puri and gifted to me by my SIL. Khandua (Also Maniabandi or Kataki) is a traditional "bandha" or ikat sari produced from Odisha worn by women during wedding and a special type of which is worn by Jagannath. The clothes contain texts of Gita Govinda on them. Matched a full sleeved woven crop top with the saree for comfort in the temperatures here in MD. Kept the look understated with natural makeup and gold jhumkas and pendant gifted by my parents for my Shad.

Thank you for all the love you all have showered n my previous post and hope you like this one as well. Leave a comment or like if you loved it. Now I have kiddo to attend..see you'll in the next post....

I(MOUMITA, for most ones who are unable to recognize us 😁) am so thrilled to be able to share looks from the most beautiful baby showers (yes there were 3! ) I have ever been to and even more excited because it was MINE! ha, I still can’t believe it. I have to say I have never had a party planned in my honor (post age 6ish) where I didn’t plan it myself or contribute. I have always been the planner and the crafter and the doer, but with this one my friends and family kept me completely in the dark, all I had to do was show up and pick my jaw up off the floor after I took in all the sweet details of the day.

I decided to go traditional as all three of my showers were kept as per customary Bengali baby shower or Shad rituals. The most special thing about all my looks was that my sarees and jewelries were sent by my parents and in-laws from India for this ceremony. I would post these three looks in 2 posts to not overwhelm with the pics(yes I clicked millions!!)

Look 1

My lovely friends in Maryland hosted a perfect Bengali Shad for me on my seventh month of pregnancy. I and K were ever so thankful for them to make us feel so special on that day. They cooked several Bengali delicacies including seven different fries and seven types of sweets as a wonderful mark of the seventh month.

Now lets get back to my look, as my friends informed me ahead of time that they would host a traditional Shad, I decided to drape the saree and jewelries my Ma and Sanchita sent for me. As they could not be present in person on this day, their love hugged me tight.

I gained a lot of weight during my pregnancy, so Ma bought this soft and lightweight parrot green dhakai saree for my comfort draping and Sanchita designed the blouse. It had a stunning patch at the back. The soft and light dhakai was extremely easy to drape. I decided to sport a quintessential Bong look with it and wore the saree in Bengali Aatpoure style. The traditional gold Kaan (ear cuff), over-sized pendant and the pearl Maharani Haar were match made in heaven with the look. BTW the pearl necklace was the loving gift by Sanchita.