Since I’ve spoken about my dogs innumerable times on this blog over the years, I feel like I should tell you that one of them is no more. Little Chappie, the runt of his litter, died very suddenly and quickly on September 27, 2018. I spent a little time that afternoon updating his Rover profile (dog boarding/sitting website), feeling that sense of comfort one feels when they know a person so well. I wrote that he sometimes jumped on you when he first met you and that he took his own sweet time to eat and go potty. Now, I can’t get myself to delete any of it….
Peach frozen yogurt
Peach frozen yogurt – another dessert you didn’t know you needed. Or you did but didn’t want to go through the trouble of purchasing an ice-cream maker to make it. Whatever your reason, I’m here to help….
Chatpata carrot salad with beans, farro and plums
I sat at the dining table, my grandmother diagonally across from me that evening. A woman of 70-something, she hated to be alone. She would complain about it a lot when we had to go back to school after mid-term breaks or summer vacations. After I moved to Bombay to study, it was the same thing. That fear was part of her mental illness that consumed her every day. I didn’t notice it enough. I was young and self-absorbed. But that evening – like many others – she opened up about more than her insecurities.
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Cold rice noodles with garden greens and nuoc mam cham
The season of summer always feels like a fight against time, a race to accomplish, a bucket list to tick off. I usually succumb to it all but not this year. This year my goal has been to take pleasure in the simple daily privileges I am afforded to grieve, to rejoice at growth and to discover what has always been in front of me. I have been lamenting (to myself) the lack of inspiration I have been feeling when it comes to food. The one thing I most relate to feels like a burden. I have so much respect for all the Vietnamese, Salvadorean, Japanese, Thai, Indian, Pakistani, Chinese and so many more immigrant-owned restaurants who work hard daily (and are forced) to keep their prices low so that I can feed myself without guilt from time to time. I have respect for them for various other reasons but this is a top one. Tip well, folks….
Mango michelada
Apparently you’re not supposed to start a story with a negative but HELLO, I have gotten this far in my writing journey and we’ve been okay. I don’t recall any time I stopped reading something because it started with a negative thought. In fact, that type of energy tends to pull me in. Challenging common held ideas is a mainstay of progress. I want to know what you don’t like. If we can be friends despite that, WOW amazing. Sign me up for more negatives….
Pizza dough (it’s here!)
I’ve been wasting so much time getting this pizza dough recipe to your kitchen. I’m happy to report that the wait is over. I don’t know how it feels for the rest of the world when it comes to completing tasks but I usually build them up so much in my head that I want nothing to do with them when the time comes. That’s not to say that this recipe is all hype. It’s been a vehicle for lots of delicious toppings and it’s now ready for its international debut. I thought of keeping the recipe for my future cookbook (which is a dream, by the way) but what the heck. I have had too much anxiety over dying in the last few months. Enough to not wait to share the good things with you.
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Strawberry falooda
I have many fond memories of partaking in iftar while being gainfully employed as a journalist in Bombay. Many of my co-workers and friends in the office (minus one famous character) were practicing Muslims and once the sun went down, bundles and bags of oil-soaked newspapers passed through the newsroom and were homed onto the desk of the conference room. After the reporters and editors prayed their namaz, the newspapers opened up to reveal samosas, bhajiyas, cutlets, bread vadas, vadas – all the BEST SNACKS to smudge the living crap out of the daily headlines.…
Strawberry Marie biscuit cake
Most of you who are a) related to me b) whom I call “friend” c) have read this blog casually since the beginning of time, may or may not know that I have two sisters and the younger one of them works as a pastry chef at a restaurant somewhere in posh London. Although, she’s far from posh (we are a basic people), she makes deceptive pastries and desserts as part of her job. She meringues and quenelles and other French things dessert-eaters give way too much importance to when seeking “the best”. No, I will not stop. She knows it too. #hotjalebi4life…
Spruce tip syrup
This is my first gatherer posts so please oblige me as I take you on this tiny adventure….
Vegetarian mixed grill salad w/ balsamic portobello mushrooms
Grilled food seems like such a luxury to me and it’s strange because setting wood on fire is one of the most instinctual, ever-evolving cooking techniques. Grilled vegetables and mushrooms are one of my favourite things to eat when the weather warms up. The smoke flavour imparted when it’s all laid on the grates of a classic Weber is one of the first tastes that signals summertime. …