mostly about food and cooking, but also the stories about the Bread and the Butterflies!

Archive for the ‘This and That’ Category

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Cooking-class Update

In Cooking Class, This and That on November 25, 2015 at 6:46 pm

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The Soups and Salads workshop was fun! It is so much fun(er) to cook in a group!

The small-group cooking class was well received. It was designed as a practical, hands-on class with the participants doing all the chopping, blending, and cooking. I only instructed on what to do, how to do it, and what not to do! Ten minutes into the workshop and I cut my right thumb on the sharp blade of the mandoline slicer after instructing everyone that only I was allowed to use it. I pinched my thumb and kept the right arm raised for a good part of the first hour ensuring that it was indeed a 100% hands-on class ! 😀

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We sipped tea as we chopped and stirred. We checked off everything on the menu list in well under two and a half hours.

Following the success of the workshop, the next one has been planned and announced (check the Workshops page). Thank you, for all the encouragement here. Stay tuned – the next post in the US travelogue is almost ready for print.

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Soups and Salads Class!

In This and That on November 20, 2015 at 12:35 pm

I have an announcement! I tested the waters with a small cooking class with a few friends last month. The next one is tomorrow!

 

Poster Class 2

Wish me luck!

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Foolproof Coffee Cake: Welcome 2015

In Baking, Eggs, Tea Party, This and That on January 15, 2015 at 7:04 pm

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Welcome 2015, with a quick coffee-flavoured cake.

All in all, 2014 was a good year.  Ani was home for some time.  When he left, it was to find his feet and spread his wings with more confidence – he got his first job!  I am now the mother of a gainfully employed young man.  We traveled a little.  The road-trip to Ladakh, a long time in planning, finally happened.  Vijay and I crossed another milestone together – we have been married 25 years now.  All of us, the extended family included, kept good health, which is the greatest blessing of all.

Ani Vijay 1992-93

The Boys – 1992

October 1989

October 1989

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Much Food and Talk

In Eating Out, Tea Party, This and That, Travel on December 21, 2013 at 3:34 pm

Teen Deviyan
The three of us at Ugrasen ki baoli, Connaught Place

Manisha, and A and N were here last week and what a food-packed week it ended up being!  I put work aside and for a whole week we just ate, talked with our mouths full, ate some more, drank a little, and walked a lot.  I focused on Kashmiri food at home and we ate out some, crossing off some of the better known Delhi-delights.

Kachori
Here it starts: kachoris and bedmi poori!

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The streets that offer daulat ki chat, the frothy, dew-kissed winter-morning dessert.

Manisha arrived on the last Saturday of November and A and N were here by noon the following day.  They barely got enough time to wheel their bags into the bedroom before we were off on our first foodie trip.  Reeta (Delhi Foodie’s Zone) had graciously agreed  to be our guide through the labyrinth of Old Delhi’s streets!  Read the rest of this entry »

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Monsoon Tales

In This and That, Travel on September 14, 2013 at 10:28 pm

What a Summer! In a city where Summer is the longest season, this year it seems to have gone by in a blur. The highlights of this season were extended visits from family members living abroad.

First, May through June, it was TH’s brother and kids (we missed you, Aparna!). Despite the heat, and with help in the kitchen (yes, Kumari is back!), I spent a fair amount of time in the kitchen. There were old family favourites: poori-bhaji, Punjabi chhole, rajma, dal makhni, idli-sambar, besan-parothe, and newer ones like gavar with kaley vataney, and my original and disarmingly simple, pumpkin kootu. We partied a lot and I introduced the brother-in-law to my peanut sambal, fresh salsa, and roti-chips. When cooking got too much, we trooped out for food nostalgia to Karnataka Sangha for tiffin, and to Bercos for Indian-Chinese. Nathu’s chhole bhature (Bengali Market) have fallen from grace; Bikanerwala is the ‘new’ find.

The family drove up to Ramgarh for a short break. They (I stayed back to house-sit) spent two lazy days at a cottage there feasting their eyes on the peach and apricot-laden trees. It was only natural that they bring back boxes-full! The peaches were ripe and juicy and needed to be consumed right away. I made a huge batch of jam. If only I had thought of freezing some like Manisha did! Yet, in the end, I hardly had any left; it was all picked up by family and friends! I hope you are all enjoying it! The children also got their fill of aloo paranthas for breakfast at the cottage and at highway dhabas.

Ramgarh 2013

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Food shows and food show hosts: meet David Rocco

In This and That on May 2, 2013 at 8:18 pm

I am an unashamed television junkie. There is a lot I could do instead if I didn’t spend about 2 hours a day watching TV. My days are packed enough with work, including teaching and preparing for the lectures, that by about 7 o’clock all I am good for is sitting on the couch, staring at the TV and sipping tea. These days it is a couple of episodes of some cooking show or other, followed by the Australian series, Packed to the Rafters. Food Safari, hosted by Maeve O’Meara, is by far, my favourite food show. Fox Traveller is also the lone channel that my cable fella still airs in English, the rest (History, Discovery, and Nat Geo) are now available only in Hindi in my hood. Believe me, it is weird to hear Nigella speak in Hinglish. Still, some shows and documentaries are interesting enough that I don’t mind the language. Don’t get me wrong; I have nothing against any language, least of all a language I have grown up speaking. But, you will be hard pressed to follow this Hindi dubbing unless you know English very well! The dubbing, especially for the cooking shows, seems to retain all the verbs, adjectives, and most nouns, in English – there is little that is truly translated!

I do think, though, that the voice-over for Jamie (Jamie’s America, and Jamie’s 15-Minute Meals, on TLC) is rather good; that is how he would sound were he to speak Hindi! While surfing I have also caught many episodes of David Rocco’s Amalfie Getaway on Fox. This time around he was being marketed more for his good looks than for the cooking!  Anyhow, I got an opportunity to meet the Italian-Canadian actor, producer, and host of popular food and travel shows, in person last month! ITC Maurya had organised a lunch meeting with him for Delhi food bloggers at their West View restaurant. The restaurant does enjoy expansive views of the Central Ridge and its green forest cover, a view seen by but a few! Unfortunately, currently it is open to service for dinner only.

At the West View, ITC Maurya Read the rest of this entry »

A Road Trip

In This and That, Travel on January 30, 2013 at 12:19 pm

How quickly this year is going.  January is almost over already!  But there is some cold left in this winter yet. It has been one of the coldest we have had in years with minimum temperatures touching the freezing point at the outskirts of Delhi.  I must say I love a good winter.  It is good excuse for all the rich food: sarson ka saag, gajar ka halwa, and paranthas stuffed with the best of winter vegetables!  With the son back – yes, he is home for his internship – I, in the best traditions of mothers the world over, am trying to put some meat on those bones.

As 2012 was drawing to a close, we undertook a cross-country drive.  The initial idea was to pick our son who was finishing up his college studies at Manipal.  In response to Murphy’s laws, things suddenly got busier at work and the planned vacation time had to be trimmed a little.  Pune was decided as the meeting point.  Yes, we drove all the way to Pune from Delhi, further on to Aurangabad, and then back to Delhi by car.  My American friends and readers may not think much of it but to drive long distances by car is definitely not the norm in India.  But TH loves to drive and had been hoping to do such a trip for a long time.  I overcame my dread of Indian highway driving and relented.  To my relief, I found much orderliness on the roads and we were none the worse for the two-day, 24 hour, 1600 km drive.  Kudos to TH ( I drove a mere few kilometers, but got halfway through my knitting project!).

Amer Fort
Amer Fort, Jaipur

Udaipur Lake Palace
Udaipur Lake Palace

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Gathering Around the Table for Tea

In Tea Party, This and That on October 15, 2012 at 12:57 pm

Thank you for sitting down to tea with your special ones and taking a moment for yourselves. It was good to sit down to tea with some of the readers of this space. Winter is round the bend and it was good to cosy up with old friends.

Rameshwari and her two boys were the first ones at the table. They had bread and butterflies! They made all kinds of sandwiches: nutella, jam, spiced cheese, and carrot, and decorated with little hearts and diamonds of beets and cucumber! Using the cooker as a make-shift oven they even baked a chocolate cake! At their table was a caterpillar, a bunny, a robot, and sundry other characters. It was all washed down with some lemon-mint iced tea. What a crazy, Mad Tea Party they hosted!

Next was Of Curries, Sauces and Such with spicy jalepeno and pepperjack scones.  She was joined at the table by her husband as they enjoyed their tea and scones!

Jam tarts are synonymous with Alice.  I decided to finally try my hand at baking then.  I made tarts with lime marmalade, and mango jam.  I also attempted a recipe for a treacle filling with kakvi – liquid jaggery!  I served it with strong coffee for those who cared for it and the rest just drank water!  The tarts came together so quickly and with very little effort that I have promised to make them more often.  I always have jars of homemade jams in the fridge to use up!

Raaga, the Singing Chef, had the same idea and fought jetlag to bake some lovely jam tartlets!  It had to be jam, because it is not just any other day, but a special day for madness!  She too does the 50-50 trick with wheat flour and maida!

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Come to the Party!

In Tea Party, This and That on October 2, 2012 at 6:05 pm

A Summer Tea Party

Everyone is invited!

The rules for having yourself a Mad Tea Party are simple:

  • Cook one or more recipes inspired by Lewis Carroll’s famous Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, between Aug 21-Sept 8 Sept 22), write a post about it (with or without a recipe :D ).
  • Call a friend (or friends – the more the merrier) over for tea and have yourselves a party! If possible, include a picture of the Madness you enjoyed.
  • Too hot to cook? Go out and order a cup of tea and tarts (or whatever you fancy)! The portion will be right, and you won’t have to cook in this hot weather! Write a post about it, and how you really enjoyed that!
  • Link to this page, which will be updated to include all the entries. You may, if you like, use a Pingback and it will automatically show up in the comments here. Or leave a comment here which will lead us to your post!
  • Don’t have a blog? You can still join the party; just leave a comment here about how you had yourself an Alice inspired Mad Party!

(This was earlier published as a page and might have been missed by some!  Even though now too late to join this party, I am republishing it as a post)

Of Treacle and Tarts

In Tea Party, This and That on August 21, 2012 at 1:33 pm

A Mad Tea Party is six!

I tried very hard to come up with an anniversary post.  I have a lot to say about how we deal with food and nutrition but I found I have said it and said it quite well already.  Please re-read Food, Glorious Food and we can get talking about food.

We take writing about food too seriously sometimes.  I don’t mean to say it is frivolous but it doesn’t have to become removed from fun.  Let’s mix some well-earned nonsense into the task of feeding ourselves; let’s have ourselves A Mad Tea Party.  I mean, a tea party inspired by the fabulous and witty work of Lewis Carroll, Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland!

Manisha might remember that, a few years back, we had thought about starting a food blog event based on cooking inspired by books.  Cook a Book we had planned to call it.  We never got to it and now it has been already done.  But, we can at least have a one-time event and see how that goes.  All of you must have read Alice in Wonderland as a child.  I recommend The Annotated Alice, if you haven’t or if you want to read it again.

Everyone is invited – bloggers and non-bloggers, those who leave comments and make this a party, and those who lurk!  Have yourself a mad, mad party!  To know more about how to participate in the Madness visit The Mad Tea Party – V.

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