tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-21129709916175508862012-01-27T23:04:35.660+05:30A Vegetarian Kitchen in IndiaAparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.comBlogger5251100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-5996994515905581852012-01-27T23:00:00.000+05:302012-01-27T23:00:29.628+05:30

I almost thought I would see January out with just one blog post for the month! I had actually started out with intentions to blog regularly starting this year but that didn’t happen. So, in case you were wondering, you now know why I never make New Year resolutions. I wouldn’t be surprised if some of you thought I had decided to give up blogging altogether seeing that not only have I not been

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-57893848833599955522012-01-09T23:45:00.000+05:302012-01-09T23:45:51.524+05:30

T he title of my blog and the recipes here, in my virtual kitchen, pretty much sums up the nature of what I cook in my real kitchen. We eat vegetarian food, Indian a lot of the time, but are pretty eclectic in our food tastes so I like exploring and cooking vegetarian food from across the world. So when Hachette Books Publishing (India) recently sent me Ritu Dalmia’s new book, Travelling

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-42422499011621997712012-01-01T10:53:00.000+05:302012-01-01T10:54:37.678+05:30

S aying goodbye to the past year is probably one of the easiest things I have done in a long time, and I cannot say I’m sad to see it gone. The past few years of my life (I should say our life really) haven’t been the easiest and if there was a prize being given out for the “Worst Year Of Them All”, 2011 was pretty close to winning it hands down. But then life is like that as we all know,

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-18704794324650694092011-12-25T12:54:00.000+05:302011-12-25T15:28:58.116+05:30

I t is perhaps fitting that the final post in this Indian Christmas series of mine is about the much loved festival sweet, the Nevri. Nevries (also called Nevreo/ Neurio) are perhaps the most important part of the Christmas platter of treats called Kuswar or Consoada in Goa. These half-moon/ crescent shaped sweet puffs are filled with a cardamom flavoured coconut and semolina filling and are

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-66312300174228167982011-12-23T23:30:00.000+05:302011-12-24T10:03:50.597+05:30

M ilk cream sounds like a funny name for a Christmas or any sweet – that’s what I thought when I came across this one. To me milk cream meant (and still means) cream from milk! Yet here in Goa, this is what they call the cashewnut and milk fudge made especially for Christmas. I can understand perhaps why this name has come to be. The main ingredient of this fudge is milk and while cooking

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-80018905097710697782011-12-21T22:17:00.000+05:302011-12-21T22:34:14.801+05:30

W hen it comes to food, celebrating invariably means something sweet. When I think back to all the Christmas goodies we have been fortunate to receive from our friends and neighbours in the past, it strikes me that the almost all the items were sweet. The only one food item that I remember being savoury is the “Chakli”. So since is only so much sweet one can take and after 4 “sweet”

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-19933778592537548752011-12-19T23:06:00.000+05:302011-12-21T22:41:33.827+05:30

A valose Unda is a popular snack but also a Christmas-time favourite from Kerala, my home state. I must confess right here that I know very little about this particular preparation beyond having eaten it a few times, either while visiting some friends or when it came in the Christmas hampers our neighbours back home would send us on Christmas morning. The more famous Christmas specials  from

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-59167810375225800302011-12-16T22:58:00.001+05:302011-12-21T22:42:59.681+05:30

T his time I thought I would try my hand and feature something that was truly Goan and a Christmas-time favourite here. I had never made a Baath Cake or Baatica/ Batega as it is also known (pronounced Baatkh, the “a” at the end being somewhat silent and just hinted at in pronunciation), and this seemed as good a time as ever to do so. Goan Catholic cuisine is, not surprisingly, heavily

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-10747844207314482532011-12-14T12:52:00.001+05:302011-12-21T22:44:48.219+05:30

A fter Nankhatais, it is the turn of Kulkuls (or Kalkals), also called Kidyo in Goa. Kulkuls are made by deep-frying inch long bits of sweet dough moulded/ shaped into small curls (like butter curls) which are often also coated with a sugar glaze which dries out. The kulkuls tend to resemble small worms, hence the name “Kidyo” in Konkani, the language spoken in Goa. If you do not to think of

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-27607698083778803422011-12-12T07:30:00.000+05:302011-12-21T22:49:36.591+05:30

B eing Hindus, we don’t celebrate Christmas though we’ve marked Christmas in our own way on and off. Having lived in places where Christmas was a big celebration, or had lots of neighbours who celebrated, we have rarely been short of Christmas-time goodies that are always sent over on Christmas morning. In school, I remember we used to have a ritual in our group of 4 very close friends of

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-72571196030595986152011-12-07T13:29:00.001+05:302011-12-07T14:23:33.253+05:30

B ears and I, we go a long way back. Right back to the time when I was a baby and it’s the same with our daughter. Except our bears aren’t the scary kinds but the soft furry, absolutely adorable and lovable kind of bears. One of my favourites as a child, and one that has survived all odds to this day is a Teddy Bear that I had very imaginatively named Teddy! Teddy kept me company as

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-29228238906794295312011-12-01T22:06:00.001+05:302011-12-01T22:52:18.515+05:30

T his post has been due for a while, and here it is finally. We have already looked at Aperture and Shutterspeed and now it is time for ISO, the third part of the Exposure Triangle. This is probably something that a lot of budding photographers don’t think much about when playing with exposure but ISO has an important part to play. What is ISO? ISO, formerly known as ASA/ film speed

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-15236738149676077012011-11-27T22:46:00.001+05:302011-11-27T23:09:07.590+05:30

C all it by any name (Bolo, Gateau or Cake) you like, this is a dessert that is supposedly without a rival – Sans Rival! Catherine of Munchie Musings was our November Daring Bakers’ host and she challenged us to make a traditional Filipino dessert – the delicious Sans Rival cake! And for those of us who wanted to try an additional Filipino dessert, Catherine also gave us a bonus recipe for

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-67224710469222133432011-11-21T17:52:00.001+05:302011-11-30T20:58:18.605+05:30

S ome good friends of ours are good friends of ours arre back in town for a short visit and were coming over for dinner. I was wondering what to cook and as I kept narrowing down the options, I just realised that I was getting into a sort of rut with my menus. At some point, I seemed to be revisiting to the same old lot of trustworthy recipes. Not that this is a bad thing, especially as they

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-87103739652345398312011-11-12T18:39:00.001+05:302011-11-12T21:35:13.416+05:30

I am an ardent fan of one-dish meals, most especially when I’m doing the cooking which is most of the time! One-dish meals means less preparation work, cooking in pot and so no worries about side dishes and far less work later in terms of clearing and washing up. When they’re cooked at home, one-dish meals are usually also a great way of serving up healthy, comforting and satisfying meals

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-59436653607223667552011-11-09T13:29:00.000+05:302011-11-09T13:45:29.303+05:30

A lot of people feel that black and white photography is a thing of the past and the stuff of old albums full of ancient family photographs. But if the photography of people like Ansel Adams and Richard Avedon to mention two, touches you like it does me then you know that it is possible to see "colour" in black and white. I am trying to develop my black and white photography skills, and

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-36793128084277538562011-11-02T12:57:00.000+05:302011-11-02T12:57:38.637+05:30

L ast week, this virtual kitchen completed 4 years. I will not bore you all with the usual stuff I write every blog birthday, beyond saying that I never imagined I would be still be writing here for 4 years or come to enjoy blogging so much. So good or bad, this kitchen, the food in it and I are here to stay as long as it takes. I must also say a big thanks to all of you who keep me

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-54487271462945476812011-10-27T20:04:00.000+05:302011-10-27T22:41:36.946+05:30

I have missed quite a few Daring Baker challenges recently including last month when they revisited the croissant. I couldn’t find the time to do that and plan to try it sometime next month and just managed to finish making this month’s challenge, the Povitica. The Daring Baker’s October 2011 challenge was Povitica, hosted by Jenni of The Gingered Whisk. Povitica is a traditional Eastern

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-62975133808137728542011-10-22T14:36:00.001+05:302011-10-22T14:36:28.115+05:30

I ’ve always been a bit of a late bloomer almost all my life it seems, doing things much later than I should perhaps have done them. Not that I’m complaining because I know that it might have “late” by general standards but it was usually “right” for me. Take for instance my food blog. I started writing my food blog only to discover that the average age of many of my fellow bloggers was

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-77702935463460850162011-10-18T13:40:00.000+05:302011-10-18T13:45:49.831+05:30

L ike almost everybody else, some part of my day follows a regular routine. I’m not much of an early morning person but I’m up by 5:30 am on school days. Actually, I’m up at that time on most days as my husband is an early riser and our 7 month old pup, Fudge, enjoys his morning walk better if he gets it before it gets warm outside. The 12th of October was a school day and started out

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-35714137093279541532011-10-16T20:27:00.000+05:302011-10-18T09:04:34.522+05:30

I really enjoy baking and for me, nothing comes quite close to the smell of fresh bread baking in the oven. And if that aroma is enriched with the flavours of cardamom and cinnamon, then almost nothing can beat that! As someone who used to bake bread if not twice but at least once a week and regularly post about it, I haven’t baked bread in some time as you might have noticed. I haven’t even

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-6256879114092237802011-10-13T16:09:00.000+05:302011-10-16T16:35:27.272+05:30

B aking gluten-free is not something I have done very much though most of my everyday cooking is mostly free of gluten since our diet is largely consists of rice, lentils and legumes, vegetables, fruit and occasionally eggs. In fact, the only other time I have baked gluten-free was when I made some cookies which were pretty good. I had always considered all-purpose flour (or whole wheat) an

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-48219000939732949892011-09-29T22:16:00.000+05:302011-09-29T22:16:10.692+05:30

A s a child, I always remember that it was those vegetables that I was told were good for me were invariably the ones I disliked the most! And now it’s always the things that aren’t good for me that I really like!! Guess that’s the way the cookie crumbles……. Greens were a staple in our diet as children. This was partially because my parents loved them and they also figure in a major way in

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-43956165285549142372011-09-21T23:16:00.000+05:302011-09-22T08:54:21.827+05:30

I have been on a bit of a blogging break. I had been planning to take one but this break was unplanned. Before I go any further I would, once again, like to say a heartfelt “Thank You” to all of you who called, wrote to me and left messages on my Facebook page with your thoughts, wishes and prayers. Please know that they made a big difference and went a long way to make things better. As I

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-80594241498186062972011-08-26T15:41:00.000+05:302011-08-26T15:41:50.254+05:30

T hese past 3 years of blogging, Facebook and Twitter have introduced me to many food bloggers and their blogs. Most of these bloggers live in different countries, even continents and come from culturally diverse and different backgrounds from mine. However our love for good food and desire to explore and discover this beyond our comfort zones and cultural boundaries is what keeps us cooking

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-71538972986808743752011-08-18T14:28:00.000+05:302011-08-18T14:28:59.692+05:30

N o sweet tooth can resist fudge but we’ve got some Fudge here that will appeal to even the staunchest of sugar haters. The only thing is this Fudge isn’t food! Fudge is our five month old cocker spaniel and his name suits him perfectly, as our daughter keeps reminding us. He’s a beautiful golden, almost caramel, colour and is soft and sweet just like the real deal. I haven’t had much

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-10551441713584325822011-08-10T09:10:00.000+05:302011-08-10T09:10:15.893+05:30

K ohlrabi (German Turnip)or the Knol-Khol as we call it in most parts of South India, is not exactly one of the better liked vegetables in our home. It is a rather bland tasting vegetable not to mention its almost alien looking Kraken-like appearance. Its blandness lends itself well to cooking since you can mask its appearance with spices and ingredients of your choice. But for someone (

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-48848399385837872011-08-06T23:16:00.001+05:302011-08-06T23:18:16.870+05:30

I’m sure most people have certain recipes which they are hesitant to re-approach for the fear of almost definite failure. Some such recipes are scary just to look through, because they’re so complicated that if one is successful it would seem to be by fluke! Then there are others which are very deceptive because at first (and second and even third) glance, the recipes seem so simple one cannot

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-52417563669082807992011-07-31T21:36:00.001+05:302011-08-10T09:11:50.451+05:30

Summer is the perfect season for cold treats like frozen desserts or just simple but satisfying fare like ice-cream, slushes, granitas or popsicles. And what better way to beat the summer heat than with a combination of a delicious Popsicle with natural/ organic and healthy? Does it seem almost an impossible thought that someone could have put together a book full of Popsicle recipes which

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-77044153709214142782011-07-27T20:58:00.001+05:302011-07-27T21:18:11.374+05:30

I’ve discovered there are a lot of Western desserts that share names with (or seem to be named after) people. I always used to think that most of these desserts like the Charlotte, Madeleines, Crepes Suzette, Apple Brown Betty, Poire Belle Helene (after an opera of the same name), the Victoria sponge (after Queen Victoria) seem to be named after women. Further study into the matter threw up

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-46802880500509816442011-07-27T10:51:00.001+05:302011-07-27T21:57:16.963+05:30

I'm sure by now most of you must know that Susan posts a weekly collection of black and white photographs sent in by foodbloggers, in an attempt to see that black and white food photography gets its place under the sun. For more details please see her blog, if you would like to join in or just take a look at her weekly gallery of photographs. (Canon EF100mm f/2.8 Macro USM lens at aperture

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-78339930087173806212011-07-24T23:51:00.001+05:302011-07-24T23:51:08.979+05:30

In the last post in this series we took a look at how aperture affects light coming into a camera, exposure and depth of field. So let’s look at shutter speed today. What is shutter speed? A simple way of explaining shutter speed is the length of time the camera shutter stays open to allow light into the camera. Thus shutter speed controls how long the shutter in your camera stays open

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-52993067466934092432011-07-21T22:24:00.000+05:302011-07-21T22:24:21.267+05:30

Isn’t it sometimes funny that the things we tend to like the most are really not very good for us? Chips and crisps, buttery cookies and cakes, cheese, creamy confections are a few that come to mind. On the other hand, a lot of things that are good for us are things are those that many of us would do our best to avoid. Foods like spinach, whole grain bread, whole wheat crackers and milk to

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-85417691727206430362011-07-17T22:21:00.002+05:302011-07-18T09:30:00.828+05:30

I have a confession to make. The relish I’m posting today wasn’t such a hit with my family. So why am I posting it? Because I liked it and am sure there will be some people out there who also do. I’m not sure why my family didn’t like it because it is a mango relish, and who doesn’t like mangoes? I’m yet to meet an Indian (the Asian kind) who doesn’t like mangoes! I made this relish about

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-6070876130646175342011-07-13T11:17:00.001+05:302011-07-27T21:56:50.653+05:30

It is said that a picture is worth a thousand words and I can certainly identify with that. So I thought for a change I would do a post without talking too much and letting my food photography do the talking instead. In the spirit of this idea, there is no recipe in this post. So here’s today’s offering – “An Apple For The Pie!” (Canon EF50mm f/1.8 II Lens at aperture : f/ 5.0,

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-53831481033844272072011-07-10T18:44:00.000+05:302011-07-10T18:44:54.423+05:30

I think I must have mentioned in a couple of my posts somewhere that traditional Indian cuisine, particularly South Indian, does not have the concept of dessert as it is known in the West. Yet there is never a festive occasion where some sort of a sweet dish doesn’t feature, and many cases it is “sweets” in plural! In my community, festive meals always start with a taste of the “payasam” (a

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-39502914360006970782011-07-05T21:13:00.000+05:302011-07-05T21:13:44.920+05:30

I’m not an expert on pies nor am an authority on it but I do know that, for me, no pie comes close to the apple pie, not even one with mangoes in it even though mangoes are my most favourite fruit. I still remember eating and if I can find an excuse to bake apple pie, I will. Now you are probably thinking I make apple pie every other week or month, and you might be forgiven for thinking it if

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-7890494473547265782011-07-02T12:22:00.001+05:302011-07-02T14:17:23.441+05:30

I haven’t exactly been very regular with my posts in sometime but I didn’t quite plan this short break from my blog. Things have been extra busy on the home front, add inertia on my part to that and the result was a 2 week break from blogging. According to Don Marquis, “Procrastination is the art of keeping up with yesterday.” Looks like I'm doing an excellent job of procrastinating because I

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-27225948619103904972011-06-18T22:33:00.003+05:302011-07-02T11:34:38.529+05:30

So far, June has been a crazy month for me though the rest of the month promises to make by being fun. The “craziness” had nothing to do with food, wasn’t particularly of the earth shaking kind and was only of importance to me so I shan’t bore you all with it. Most of my cooking this month has been pretty routine stuff and I’ve had very little time or energy to get creative in the kitchen or

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-47256975715757346412011-06-10T23:10:00.000+05:302011-06-10T23:10:56.631+05:30

The reason for this bread pudding and post is Paper Chef. If you haven’t come across this before, Paper Chef is a virtual competition where 4 ingredients are randomly chosen every month, from a list which I understand is presently 103 items long! What you do is come up with a recipe using those 4 ingredients, cook it up, photograph it and blog about it. And if you win, you get to choose the next

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-78009845773747615672011-06-07T22:52:00.002+05:302011-06-09T14:57:08.067+05:30

I have been blogging about food for a while now, but for about the first half of that time, I wasn’t really very aware or interested in being on social networking platforms like Twitter and Facebook. In my book, networking is a means to increase one’s visibility for whatever purpose one chooses and I’m really not very good at this sort of stuff. I find making small talk, even in the real world,

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-44885625819468131662011-06-05T09:13:00.001+05:302011-06-14T13:25:13.604+05:30

As someone who comes from the very warm and humid southern part of India, the northern parts of India closer to the Himalayas and the North Eastern states of India always seemed like a whole different world when I was a child. If you are Indian, or have ever been to India, you would know that every state of India is almost like a country in itself with its own language (and script sometimes),

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-65885578027844603712011-05-28T23:30:00.002+05:302011-06-02T06:34:18.857+05:30

Yesterday was reveal day in the world of The Daring Bakers and you’re most probably here so see my take on this month’s challenge. I’m afraid I’ll have to disappoint you because I decided to sit this one out for various reasons. Instead, I’ll treat you to my version of this month’s Velveteers challenge. It was Asha’s turn to pick a challenge this month and she decided on a popular

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-67388416972661801042011-05-23T10:23:00.000+05:302011-05-23T10:23:46.923+05:30

In my previous post in this series, I had talked about Exposure and the three factors that affect / play an important part in determining optimum exposure. These three factors (or elements of the Exposure triangle) are aperture, shutter speed and ISO. While each one of these is as important as the others in its own way, aperture seems to play a larger part in setting the exposure than the other

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-63362292087712295722011-05-19T10:54:00.000+05:302011-05-19T10:54:14.266+05:30

I don’t watch a lot of television, though I can spend 2 or 3 hours straight in front of it on occasion when there’s something really good showing. One habit I have never managed to develop is watching serials, whatever language they might be in. A lot of serials on television, both English and Indian, are best left alone considering they seem to meander along without a halfway decent plot in a

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-20505857264821184132011-05-12T09:48:00.000+05:302011-05-21T09:49:42.615+05:30

I have come to the conclusion that asparagus is highly over-rated. Sure, it looks interesting and makes a great subject for photography and is probably extremely healthy to the boot. All I know is that out here, asparagus is very expensive and just not worth the expenditure. I’m probably in the minority when it comes to dislike of asparagus, but I think I can live with that. The first time I

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-76922952070981458462011-05-06T22:50:00.000+05:302011-05-06T22:50:52.191+05:30

It is rather hot these days, but I’m not complaining. This summer has been a lot more comfortable than the last one which was pretty bad. For the past 2 days, even though the sun has been beating down, there’s been this wonderful breeze that keeps blowing in from across the river throughout the day. In fact I’ve had to place weights on all the papers and move lightweight stuff to ensure it doesn’

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-48842988484771346152011-05-02T14:06:00.001+05:302011-05-06T22:54:11.626+05:30

Indians are known all over the world as much for their love of spices as their love for sweets. And if you’re Indian or know something about India, you know that if you go to the local “halwai” (sweet maker/ seller) there’s usually so much of variety he’s offering you that it’s difficult to decide what you want to buy. Each part of India has its own sweet specialities and varieties so you can

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-74884305312544115262011-04-27T21:13:00.001+05:302011-05-06T23:07:02.179+05:30

It must be way past midnight of the 27th of April for Daring Bakers in Japan and Australia, while those on the west coast of the US are probably fortifying themselves with a cup of coffee to face the 27th. Here, in India, it’s past dinner time and I’ve just realised I should have posted my challenge by now. Since I don’t have too much time to think about or write up a detailed post if I want to

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-47579889062571854472011-04-25T23:23:00.005+05:302011-05-23T10:22:59.615+05:30

In the next few posts in this series, we will be exploring the various aspects that control the amount of light in photography. Do remember that food photography, like any other kind of photography, is about photography first and food second so the basic concepts of photography apply here too. All the photographs in this post are going to be "egg-centric" for no other reason than that we've just

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-3796592577041490642011-04-20T23:24:00.004+05:302011-05-06T23:10:32.462+05:30

There are a lot of things I have learned food-wise since I started blogging about food. I never knew that there were so many people allergic to nuts and lactose intolerance was something I came across in my reading, simply because no one that I knew had any of these conditions. Similarly, the term “gluten-free diet” was something I came across when I saw so many food bloggers talking about

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-23901725336246641842011-04-16T22:43:00.003+05:302011-05-06T23:26:01.495+05:30

I was in quite a bit of a pickle, literally and figuratively. I think the post title should give you an idea why! I have been told by some that it is because I am Libran and maybe that is one way to explain it. I have long had this tendency to swing between energy highs and lows. When I am feeling like doing things, you’ll find me rushing around trying to get a hundred things done, getting to

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-91191022019903317472011-04-12T22:18:00.001+05:302011-05-06T23:43:04.723+05:30

One place I would love to show you around, is the market where I shop for my vegetables and fruit. I live in Panaji (also known as Panjim) in Goa and for me, nothing quite compares to the experience of going to the market, seeing fresh and seasonal produce. Though a lot of it is grown locally and brought to the market each morning, fresh from the fields, most of the produce comes in daily by

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-20905537887171973742011-04-08T22:56:00.002+05:302011-04-09T09:00:49.136+05:30

If you are looking for the traditional Maltese Easter pastry then you are probably at the wrong place, but I have it on authority that I’ve done a decent job considering that 3 weeks I didn’t even know what Figolli were! I know very little about Malta beyond where it is situated on the world map and a bit that I have learnt about from books, magazines and various television programmes. I know

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-34659307123903369972011-04-05T19:45:00.001+05:302011-04-05T20:01:52.704+05:30

Arusuvai is a Tamil (a south Indian language) word which refers to the six (aru) different tastes man can sense on the tongue. They are uppu(salt), inippu/ thithippu/ mathiram (sweet), orappu/ karam/ erivu (hot/ spicy), kassappu/ kaippu (bitter), pulippu (sour), and tuvarpu/ chavarpu (tastes that one gets in raw leaves). Way back, around the time I started writing this food blog, Arusuvai was

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-17124553861917408362011-03-31T15:59:00.000+05:302011-03-31T15:59:05.874+05:30

Isn’t it funny how the simplest things in life bring you the greatest pleasure, and the sometimes the best memories? The other day, I needed to make a cake to serve with evening coffee/ tea and was wondering what to make. The summer has set in and I wasn’t looking forward to spending too much time in the kitchen. For some strange reason it also struck me that I had been cooking for my family for

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-53132571099263131422011-03-27T13:19:00.001+05:302011-03-27T19:04:17.113+05:30

For those of us who do not understand French, “Mets la Main à la Pâte” apparently translates as Yeasted Meringue Coffee Cake (I think), though Google Translate came up with “Put my hands dirty!” which didn’t sound very promising. This month’s Daring Bakers challenge hosts, Jamie and Ria, are both very good friends and I know Jamie knows her French so I’ll trust her translation.. The March 2011

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-67624988716337424072011-03-26T11:55:00.003+05:302011-05-23T10:08:49.665+05:30

Before I get to the matter of this post, I would like to say that this series is not exhaustive. Many others have written extensively about all this and all I’m doing here is presenting my perspective of how I approached learning the various aspects of photography. So in each of my posts, I will try to explain the basics and provide links, wherever possible, to relevant articles/ posts which

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-16423570359703846892011-03-23T19:47:00.000+05:302011-03-23T19:47:02.748+05:30

On the 11th of March, 2011, most of us woke up to the horrifying news that the north-east coast of Japan had been hit by a massive earthquake, one of the worst known to man. Registering 9.0 on the Richter scale, the earthquake set off a 10m high Tsunami, caused a nuclear emergency and left thousands of people devastated. Time and time again, the human spirit has proved indestructible in the

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-31933469171166594352011-03-22T19:30:00.002+05:302011-03-23T20:07:02.460+05:30

It has been a while since Alessio, Asha, Pamela and I got together for our monthly challenges. The four of us have been busy with personal matters which took precedence over our kitchen explorations/ experiments and we didn’t really have the spare time. So much so, that we have all been a bit irregular even with our own regular blog posts. It seemed a good idea to take a two month break from “

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-43923848353213529482011-03-17T21:39:00.000+05:302011-03-17T21:39:37.527+05:30

Yet another post of some traditional Palakkad Iyer festive fare! I know, I try to ensure there’s an even distribution of traditional Palakkad Iyer, Indian and western (read non-Indian) food posts every month but somehow it doesn’t ever work that way. Well, there’s no harm done so long as it’s all about good food, and I can promise you this is good. On the 14th night/ 15th early morning of this

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-29755473779561697842011-03-13T12:01:00.003+05:302011-03-14T18:16:09.590+05:30

Everybody has their share of likes and dislike when it comes to food and it’s no different with us. Occasionally, it happens that all three of us do not like a particular vegetable and so it rarely (if ever) gets bought, cooked or eaten. Beetroot, mushrooms, Ivy Gourd/ Indian Gherkin (Tendli/ Kovakkai), Chayote (Chow-chow/ Bangalore Kathrikkai), Bottle Gourd (Doodhi/ Lauki) and Kohlrabi (

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-78160754661406274792011-03-08T23:21:00.001+05:302011-03-08T23:23:36.367+05:30

You might have noticed is that I haven’t been very regular with my posts in the past few months, and I am assuming that an appreciable number of you spend a little more time here reading all that I write. I most especially appreciate all of your comments on my posts because I haven’t been returning the favour, nor have I been able to follow my favourite blogs and posts despite very good

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-6052727695618844832011-03-02T22:27:00.006+05:302011-05-23T10:13:23.994+05:30

This is the second post in the series I’m writing on food photography. The first post was a discussion on whether to upgrade to a DSLR or not. If you do decide to get a DSLR don’t desert your P&S because it has advantages the DSLR doesn’t. A P&S has the advantage of small size, easy portability and doesn’t call attention to itself the way a DSLR does. If your choice was to buy or upgrade to a

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-77617136192460088512011-02-27T17:38:00.000+05:302011-02-27T17:38:24.111+05:30

The Daring Bakers are at it again and it’s more of the sweet stuff. Much as I love doing the challenges which keep adding to my steadily improving baking skills, every time a challenge is posted at the forums I keep hoping that it would be something savoury. So when I saw we would be making Panna Cotta and Florentine Cookies, I wasn’t very excited to be baking something sweet again. On the

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-54081635172186932222011-02-25T19:22:00.001+05:302011-02-27T17:41:18.927+05:30

You may be aware of the existence of these Babes (The Bread Baking Babes aka BBBs) who’ve been exploring the world of breads for the past 3 years. I’ve joined them on some of their bread baking adventures, on and off (I must confess more off than on), and discovered some great breads along the way. I’ve baked their Sukkar bi Tahin (Beirut Tahini Swirls), Pane di Pasta Tenera Condita (Italian

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-40368828450453140972011-02-21T09:48:00.001+05:302011-02-21T12:45:24.949+05:30

It has been a week since my last post and it’s not because I haven’t cooked or baked. I just decided to take a week off from blogging to enjoy a little more “family” time than usual but I am back with these little filled buns called “Poğaça” (pronounced POH-gah-cha). I first made these about a couple of weeks back and, once again, I have to thank Finla because she was responsible for that in

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-20387022286433886402011-02-14T23:16:00.002+05:302011-02-22T22:21:02.853+05:30

I’m back as promised, with the remaining two truffles that I mentioned in my previous post. You know what they say about keeping the best for the last? Well, these two are my personal favourites out of all five kinds of truffles I made this time, and a bit little different from the others flavour-wise. But before I go onto those truffles, let me mention the giveaway. This giveaway is not for

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-41579054381524875322011-02-12T21:38:00.003+05:302011-10-17T09:39:17.006+05:30

One thing that a whole lot of people look forward to in February has to be Valentine’s Day. Love is definitely an emotion that needs to be celebrated and if there has to be a special day for that every year, so be it. Unfortunately, Valentine’s Day no longer seems to be about celebrating love but more about the illusion of it. Personally, I’m not a Valentine’s Day fan (or at least of it in

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-9559737805269991392011-02-08T22:21:00.000+05:302011-02-08T22:21:58.109+05:30

I first saw this loaf from Tartine on Mark’s blog and bookmarked it to try. It is a different matter that it has taken me over a year to actually make it and then a little over a month to post about it! That’s what happens when you have list of bookmarked recipes that is a couple of miles long. One tends to lose track of what’s on that list. I had never really forgotten this particular loaf for

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-88472426914079624052011-02-03T21:54:00.000+05:302011-02-03T21:54:39.351+05:30

Nutella! For a long time it used to be one of those things I used to hear a lot of food bloggers raving about on so many blogs but could not find here. Then a couple of years back it started making its presence felt on the local supermarket shelves. It was (and still is) quite expensive but I bought a jar to see what it was like. Considering that it is mostly chocolate (well, cocoa actually)

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-32286613929136046602011-01-30T19:26:00.001+05:302011-01-30T19:27:46.560+05:30

If you are a regular at this blog, or even just pop into this kitchen once in a while, you might know that I am a part of a small virtual book-cook club. I haven’t been awfully regular there, but we’re a small bunch of bloggers who all recognise that life has a way of making its own plans for us and sometimes havoc with our good intentions. Last month’s book choice was A Homemade Life: Stories

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-8273527539024624022011-01-27T19:49:00.000+05:302011-01-27T19:49:18.802+05:30

Having completed 3 years as a Daring Baker, I must admit that that the monthly challenge announcements no longer have the same effect they did when I first joined the group. Being someone with very basic baking skills, I still remember the first year of challenges used to leave me quite confused. Challenges I had never heard of that usually ran to at least 3 or 4 foolscap sheets, ingredients

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-74897783296315640672011-01-24T23:13:00.000+05:302011-01-24T23:13:19.062+05:30

Sometimes you get this urge to have dessert yet you don’t want something that involves a lot of effort and comes with a truck load of calories. Fruit is nice, especially these days when there’s such a variety of it around, but isn’t really going to satisfy that craving that only a dessert can. Chocolate is one fool proof solution but even though I’m a chocolate lover, there are times when I look

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-58618811185213007332011-01-21T19:56:00.002+05:302011-01-22T09:22:40.309+05:30

It all started when I last went vegetable shopping and found one of the stalls at my market had Brussels sprouts on display. Brussels sprouts are one of those non-Indian vegetables which are now being grown in India. Since they’re usually bought by the starred and fancier restaurants, Brussels sprouts are very expensive and usually bought in bulk by them. Yet I am beginning to see more and more

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-77465372728749972022011-01-18T22:20:00.003+05:302011-05-23T10:20:07.879+05:30

This is a question I have been asked a few times and is probably the best place to start a series of posts on photography. After all, photography starts with the camera and the best place to start anything is at the beginning. I am often asked questions and get the occasional mail about my photography so I thought it might be a good idea to put down some of my thoughts about my learning process

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-84923433567336904642011-01-15T17:43:00.003+05:302011-01-17T22:39:51.808+05:30

This is another one of those more common Indian preparations from the north which is invariably on the menu of most restaurants, small or big, that serve Punjabi or north Indian food. Almost everyone who cooks it has their own recipe for it so I don’t know if there such a thing as an authentic Palak Paneer. Palak paneer is nothing but pan-fried fresh, soft Indian milk cheese (paneer) in a

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-58212106205043160362011-01-12T14:37:00.002+05:302011-01-12T21:57:47.170+05:30

Chilli con carne (chilli with meat) is a spicy stew with meat and beans in it and definitely not vegetarian. The vegetarian version has beans and usually a choice of 2 to 3 types of vegetables (sem carne/ sin carne). Serve it with some carbohydrates (bread or rice) and you have a well-balanced meal! What actually goes into a chilli depends on who is cooking it, but a chilli isn’t a chilli

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com8tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-17960401451382488302011-01-05T23:26:00.000+05:302011-01-05T23:26:54.066+05:30

The first post here, this year, and I was thinking it ought to a bit different from the usual. I wanted to do a sort of “wrap up” as the last post for 2010 but somehow I wasn’t able to put down anything that would have been worth reading. Instead, I ended the year on this blog with a sweet note. One is usually advised to go forward and not look back, but can there be a future without a past? So

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-72145768097665548552010-12-31T23:53:00.000+05:302010-12-31T23:53:08.996+05:30

All of you who have been visiting this virtual kitchen of mine in the past couple of days would have noticed that it is sporting a new look. This makeover has been in the pipeline for a while, and let’s just say that it was a rather long and narrow pipe! I had been looking for someone to redesign my site and about the same time Sunita happened to mention to me that she was starting a webdesign

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com9tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-75896955848523767372010-12-26T23:48:00.007+05:302010-12-30T19:21:15.681+05:30

With Christmas this month it was to be expected that the Daring Bakers challenge for December would be festive and we weren’t disappointed as our task was to make stollen. The 2010 December Daring Bakers’ challenge was hosted by Penny of Sweet Sadie’s Baking. She chose to challenge Daring Bakers’ to make Stollen. She adapted a friend’s family recipe and combined it with information from friends,

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com45tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-13635976171360553482010-12-24T14:49:00.008+05:302011-01-10T08:15:16.825+05:30

Let me begin by wishing everyone a fun filled holiday season with family, friends and lots of good food! I was just wondering how to start this post when I realised that many of my posts seem to be about what I don’t like! I can’t help it if I do not like something and I’m not going to pretend otherwise. I’m not very fussy about food in general, but there are a few foods I really dislike and

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com49tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-65589563735636994822010-12-20T21:57:00.006+05:302010-12-30T19:54:04.544+05:30

"Had I but a penny in the world, thou shouldst have it for gingerbread." - William Shakespeare (1564-1616) It’s the best season for baking where I am and I’m not saying this because Christmas is round the corner. It just happens to be the coolest time of the year and standing in the kitchen with the oven on doesn’t make feel sweaty and miserable. It is a lot cooler and less humid (about 29C in

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com23tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-87300106897586542302010-12-15T23:03:00.011+05:302010-12-30T15:59:28.099+05:30

Pooris and bhaji, another very popular Indian meal combination, is also comfort food at its best. How can every bite of a spicy potato curry wrapped in deep fried dough be anything else? Pooris are an Indian deep-fried whole wheat flatbread about the size of a largish cookie. The word “bhaji” typically means vegetable and this case refers to the spicy potato preparation that the pooris are eaten

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-63065349735742058132010-12-10T23:36:00.003+05:302011-01-03T00:07:23.829+05:30

That’s an answer I would expect from a child who was asked, “Why did you take it?” This is most definitely not the answer I would expect from an adult, but it was the one I got when I asked that question. The "it" that was taken in this case was my photograph which you see below. Noodles Vegetable Cutlets As food bloggers, most of us have experienced plagiarism or theft of our blog content

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com32tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-19794286236552466062010-12-07T23:01:00.001+05:302011-01-03T00:08:06.735+05:30

I was just thinking the other day, that the months from November through February are my favourite part of the year. There are parts of India where it is beginning to get uncomfortably cold now but in Goa we really have only two seasons – a wet season and a dry season, half of which is uncomfortably humid and hot. The cooler weather is a sign that winter (as we in the hot and humid southern

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-52223575130644789692010-12-03T21:14:00.001+05:302011-01-03T00:09:04.845+05:30

It is time to announce the winners of the November edition (see picture gallery) of Does My Blog look Good in This? (aka DMBLGiT?). Before I do that, I have to thank each and every one who sent in their food photographs to the event as there wouldn’t have been an event without you all. I have to say I was excited to see the response. I even got a couple of submissions before I announced the

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-70238756708132069402010-11-30T20:23:00.000+05:302010-11-30T20:23:36.258+05:30

Do you know what a cookie exchange party is? A cookie exchange party is a get together hosted by a cookie lover for other similarly minded cookie lovers. Everyone who comes to the party brings cookies with them, either ones they have themselves baked, or as a last resort cookies they have bought, because you do not go to this party empty handed. Once everyone has enjoyed the tea and themselves (

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-13891039127095791852010-11-27T22:16:00.001+05:302010-11-27T22:29:43.910+05:30

This is probably my shortest ever Daring Baker post, because I don’t have the time to sit down and write a long one! I actually finished the challenge quite early on in the month but just never managed to put it down in words. November, for me, has been one of those months that seems to be over as soon as it began, and December looks like it is going to be pretty much the same! The 2010

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com38tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-84192552555624400692010-11-25T17:02:00.004+05:302010-11-30T19:07:11.278+05:30

We have been exploring each other’s traditional cuisines these past two months in the course of our Velveteering. We tried Alessio’s Caponata and Pamela’s Laksa and this month it is Asha’s turn, and she suggested we make Dhansak which is one of the more well-known preparations of Parsi cuisine. India being the vast and diverse country it is, there really isn’t one food preparation that would

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com17tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-20498639744294282742010-11-22T13:07:00.001+05:302010-11-22T13:10:01.622+05:30

Yet another bake, so where’s the diversity that supposed to be in my virtual kitchen, I can see some of you thinking. I was planning to post something else but this particular cake has been pleading to see the light of day as a blog post. It has been a while since I first baked this cake and I have baked it any number of times since. One reason for not posting this cake was that I never managed

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com36tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-5366587505574149992010-11-18T20:12:00.002+05:302010-11-22T12:51:30.440+05:30

In my recently acquired style of not getting a lot of things done on time, I let my blog anniversary slip by too. I completed 3 years of blogging here, about 3 weeks back but couldn’t manage to find the time to post about it! I had planned to announce it on time and everything, but it was fated to be otherwise. I’m not about to let this blog anniversary pass by without a mention and some sort

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com67tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-40299590542568909002010-11-14T21:52:00.001+05:302010-11-14T23:06:21.068+05:30

For most of us in India, limes are lemons and lemons are limes. As weird as that statement might seem to some of you, as far as our recipes and the vendors at our markets are concerned, they’re one and the same thing. That must sound odd for people who know they’re two different things entirely but for us, they’re all lemons. They’re sour and they can be juiced or pickled or whatever! After a

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com28tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-63582318056777609412010-11-10T21:03:00.000+05:302010-11-10T21:03:31.049+05:30

I originally wrote this post for the Food Talk series of articles at The Daring Kitchen. Baking without eggs and where this is not that easy to do, baking with as few eggs as possible is something I do on a regular basis. I often get mails from my readers asking me how I bake without eggs and what substitutes could be used to replace eggs. There is no one substitute which will substitute for

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com20tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-73256553093829618482010-11-07T22:43:00.001+05:302010-11-07T23:07:23.661+05:30

It is my pleasure to host “Does My Blog Look Good in This?" this month. Considered by some as the “grandest food porn event on the web”, DMBLGiT was started in 2005 by Andrew of SpitoonExtra. It is a monthly food (and drink) photography event open to all bloggers who have posted a food photograph on their blogs. Photographs are submitted from blog posts of the previous months and these are

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-80379581577757564532010-11-04T20:26:00.001+05:302010-11-10T13:50:03.510+05:30

I’m sure most of you know Lara. She is a Seattle based writer and food photographer who also conducts photography workshops, blogs at Cook & Eat, and runs Still Life With: on Flickr. Sometime back I was happy to test some recipes for Lara Ferroni’s Doughnuts book. Her book has just been published and, in a very sweet thank you gesture, she sent me a signed copy of her book. A small book

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com15tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-15568926479268279192010-10-31T18:44:00.001+05:302010-10-31T20:13:14.701+05:30

Now you know I studied biology in college and still remember some of it. No, this post is not a lesson on classification of animals. I was looking for a “catchy” title for this post which wasn’t spooky or disgusting but reflected the mood of Halloween. I’m not sure I’ve succeeded with what I wanted title-wise, but I’m going to leave it this way for want of a better alternative! We don’t

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com19tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-49779387102048787772010-10-27T10:34:00.002+05:302010-10-27T11:03:00.879+05:30

As Daring Bakers, our monthly challenges mostly involve quite a bit of baking. Occasionally though, we take a break do challenges that do not involve baking and this month was one such challenge. This October, our hostess for the month challenged us to make ourselves some doughnuts. While many of us chose to fry our doughnuts, some others chose to bake them. We had the choice to fry them, bake

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com46tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-75871174712379306052010-10-22T19:20:00.008+05:302010-11-13T09:40:53.064+05:30

This month, our little group (The 4-Velveteers) is continuing the journey of exploring each others cuisines. Last month Alessio got us cooking Sicilian Eggplant Caponata, and this time, Pamela introduces us to Laksa which is traditional to Singapore which is where she comes from. When Pamela first suggested “Laksa” for this month’s challenge, I didn’t even know what it was! She told us that it

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com18tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2112970991617550886.post-90698755821087185342010-10-19T11:40:00.001+05:302010-10-19T11:44:21.983+05:30

My guest this month, at My Kitchen Café, is Alessio who blogs at Recipe Taster. Another fellow blogger who I met on Twitter, Al is not only a good friend but one of my three Velveteering partners. Of these three partners, you have already met Asha here and you shall soon meet Pamela too. He picked our last Veleveteer challenge and introduced me to a lovely way of cooking eggplant, Sicilian style

Aparnahttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02989967318453941084noreply@blogger.com9