Burnt Kiwis, Cricket Gossip, and Zeera Biscuits

And a very good day to you!  I don't know if it's going to be such a great day for the New Zealand team though...none of them appeared to be wearing sunscreen yesterday for Day 1 of their first test match against India.  Those poor chaps looked exhausted and uncomfortable yesterday out in the field, falling down and dropping catches.   It appeared that a couple of the players had bad sunburn on their arms and faces, looking like what the French call English people:  le rosbif.

New Zealand Roast Beef is great for dinner, not so good on the cricket pitch.

 
Here's hoping that the team doctors will provide them with some aloe vera to put on their injured skin.  DO NOT FORGET SUNSCREEN WHEN PLAYING CRICKET IN INDIA!!!!

So heading in to day 2 of the match, India is 329/3 with Tendulkar and Laxman at bat.  I think that they'll both be there for a long time, possibly making a historical high score.  Here's looking at you, Tendulkar!  You are the master and a class act.

Sachin Tendulkar:  the master who can take the heat!

And here's a bit of gossip.  Shahid Afridi, limited-overs captain of the Pakistan squad, spoke to the media yesterday and said it was Saeed Ajmal's fault Pakistan lost the third ODI.  WELL, that was not nice, Mr. Afridi...you've lost quite a bit of respect from me!  Nobody talks nonsense about my favourite spinner!  You are the captain; shouldn't you be supporting your team and not publicly bashing them?  Boooooooooooooooo!

Anyways, Shahid Afridi has turned out to be the highest wicket-taker at the Dubai International Cricket Stadium.  I would be jumping for joy, but he's got to be nicer to his team-mates.  Good on ya, Shahid, I suppose.

And now for the cooking bit.  Zeera is urdu for cuminseed.  Sweet cuminseed biscuits are a delight to have with a cup of tea during test-match tea breaks if it's too hot to have a full meal.  They are very easy to make and I highly recommend them!

Ingredients
1 teaspoon dry roasted cuminseeds (just heat up plain cuminseed in a hot pan)
1.5 cups all-purpose flour
1.5 teaspoons baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter
1/2 cup sugar
1 egg yolk, slightly beaten
3 tablespoons milk
1/2 teaspoon vanilla

Pre-heat your oven to 375 F (190 C) In a small bowl, mix together the cuminseeds, flour, baking powder and salt.  Set aside.  In a bigger bowl, cream the butter and add the sugar gradually, beating between additions.  Add the egg yolk and mix it well. 
Take the dry ingredients, and gradually add them to the butter/egg/sugar mixture, and alternate with the milk (ie add some flour, mix, add some milk, mix).  Add some vanilla at the very end.  Cover the dough, put it in the fridge, and let it chill for about 1/2 hour.  Roll it out on a lightly floured board and cut it into shapes with a cookie cutter or with a knife.  Bake on an ungreased cookie sheet for 8 to 10 minutes.

There is no need to ice these cookies because they are delicious when they are dipped into some strong milk tea!

Happy eating, and happy cricket!