life

I’m back to here.

June 4, 2013 by Edlyn

Back to the same ol’ same. I figured by the time I hit “publish”, I’ll have officially moved out of this vacation mode I put myself in, which makes me not want to hit publish anymore.

Oh well*.

But wait! Guess what! We came back to maybe a tiny speckle of rain and lots and lots of summer, which makes it even harder to want to stare at a screen thinking of the perfect comeback words. Again*. Our trip back to southern Illinois was magnificent. I had forgotten what extra extra humid air felt like (apart from that one day last year) and heck, it was magnificent. Have I said this already?

I had a birthday, there were lots and lots of puppies (one that could run you over with his puppy brain), I ate a steak from the neighbour’s cow and made by the most interesting uncle-in-law (is that a thing), caught two fish and threw them back, got a Huck Finn foot tan (if Huck Fin did that sort of thing), got presented with presents (yeahhh buddy) and fell so hard for this new family of mine. All that and a pedicure.

After many months of it being just roommate-for-life and me, I missed being around other people. Happy people, living life with every fibre of their being, quoting lines from Gone with the Wind and laughing so so hard. I don’t know if you know this but it’s hard living in a place where nobody is familiar. I wish I could be over there anytime I felt like, assuming international travel is not an option.

But I’m here now and I’m back. I have a fun “can’t live without” recipe for Thursday and it only made the cut because it’s all I’ve been eating this past week. Ask me what’s for lunch? The green stuff. Dinner? Same. Breakfast? A fried egg on top of that. If anything is going to give me my wheels back, it’s secret (for now) recipe.

Hello again.

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yHp2Ngvm9IA&w=420&h=315]

*Like my father-in-law says “SUCK IT UP, BOY!”

Dear You,

May 23, 2013 by Edlyn

This coming Monday, I will turn 26. Starting tomorrow, I will be away till then + a little bit more. I will be the exact sane (autocorrect changed my “same” to that) person when I come back. Itching to write, cook and get mixed up about a lot of things. My brain…sigh.

I have done a successful refrigerator cleanse, ensuring nothing goes to waste while I’m away. It wasn’t easy but it’s harder for me to waste good nourishment. It won’t happen this time. I’m a big girl now, I guess.

So wait for me to come back. I will.

Happy Birthday to me in the future.

Ebb and flow

April 9, 2013 by Edlyn

I’m a firm believer in grating cheese over food that doesn’t impress me with its taste. I feel like this is how I want to live my life. Grating cheese over things and impressing myself. Yes, I do take the easy way out but that’s because not everything I make is Page 1-top post-hit publish worthy. If I was good at vomiting percentages, I’d say 60% of what I make tastes a lot like goat cheese. The rest is me being possessed by evil spirits and cooking things that see me spending 10 minutes staring at my taste tester.

“Is it good?”

“Do you like it?”

“You’re lying”

“It’s not that good.”

“Give me the truth, man. That’s all I ask.”

To tell you the cold hard truth, it hasn’t been that good this week. Either I’m realising that I wasn’t made with a flair for cooking or I just have temporary afternoon blahs. Or I feel too plain and I want to step up my game. If I have to, I have no idea how. Do you have such thoughts too? I assume it comes with the territory…of coming up with something new each week.

I thought about how I’d like to be Miss Spice of Life in this world and I came up with a few ideas. To everybody not reading this right now, this is me thinking out loud and motivating myself to focus on this experiment as a whole and not a day-day thing.

– Stay simple and true to your ingredients. It takes a lot for me to say “NO, I will let this lemon be a lemon and flavour my cold water right now” when all I can think of is “PIEEEEE”. Nothing wrong with that except you tend to scatter your thoughts to 70 different areas instead of taking a seat and sipping on you lemonade and feeling so cool that you can whatever you want if you just breathe.

– Reminisce food experiences. Those meals are the ones you yearn for. Find your own special way to recreate them and make them your own.

FINALLY.

– Cook the food you love to eat. If this week is all about the dal (yellow lentils) and rice, then so be it. Yesterday it was slightly different. I couldn’t stop thinking about the rainbow carrots in the vegetable drawer. They were sitting there and being pretty and I was scouring the web for recipes that would do the most justice to them. I couldn’t wait much longer so I went ahead and cooked them in the way I knew best. I would eat this 10 times over if I could.

I will have this recipe up for you sooner than you think.

In other news, I have to do a test tomorrow. For a job. Spectacular. Thankfully it requires very little getting out of bed and a lot of tea on tap.

In other other news, these guys are making my life just when I was about to give up on them.

Hey little ones, I will eat you very soon. Without cheese because that’s how good you’ll be.

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

April 7, 2013 by Edlyn

Hello another Sunday where I’m ready to pass out from eating a much too heavy breakfast in the morning, doing nothing in the afternoon, and then shamelessly passing out like I had initially planned. No wait. That’s not the shameless part. There is something worse than that. It takes me back to Goa when I lived with my parents, followed this Sunday routine except after I woke up, I expected more food.

Seriously, Indian children are so spoilt in the parents making them food department. No matter how old you get, your mother and in my case my father too, always want to feed you. So yes, blame them if you must. What horrible parents they are for wanting to feed 27-year-old children (Hi Jane. I meant you).

Gathering whatever was left of my will to survive, I climbed up the stairs from the lower part of my house and made my way into the kitchen. As soon as this happened, my mother would appear from nowhere as if she was standing behind me all along and say, “Hungry? Wait I have to make rice.” Oh okay mama, I’ll just pretend you said pulao and that my stomach is not ready to crush every ounce of my brain that’s telling me it’s stuff your face you lazy arse o’clock. The lazy arse being me, of course.

My mother, never disappointed. She’s the best rice-maker I know and to say I’ve learnt to make amazing pulao from her would be a big lie. I know nothing about the first of it and if I do, it’s purely by chance. From watching her I learnt to wash the rice (twice) thing, the one-cup-rice-two-cups-water thing, the simmer-boil-close-open-stir thing, and the drain-the-water-once-you’re-done thing. Sometimes I get all these “things” mixed up perfectly.

As for the pulao, I can make my mother proud. I don’t know how. I’ve never bothered learning about it as much as I worried about biting into a cardamom pod while eating.

The things that take you back home…

I miss your pulao, mother!

Super Sunday eggs + Resurrection rice cakes

Claire, I stole the rice cakes idea from you. That’s right. I took it. You were asleep and I said “To hell with her!” Don’t feel bad. If I can make the pain go away, I’ll say two things: I love the names “resurrection risotto cakes” and Donna Chinona. You inspire me to copy you. Feel better?

You’ll need one cup of leftover risotto or vegetable pulao, 2 eggs, 1/4 cup grated Parmesan cheese, 1tbsp plus a little more buckwheat flour (can also substitute with all-purpose flower) and some salt and pepper to taste. For the side (if you prefer sides), you can use slices of tomato and salad greens drizzled with balsamic vinegar.

Take a cup of the pulao and mix it with an egg, buckwheat flour, Parmesan cheese and some pepper. Ideally you rice should already be salted because it’s made from leftovers but I don’t like to predict these things. If you need more salt, don’t let me stop you. You should be able to make about 3 small rice cakes or 2 big ones. The cakes should be easy to shape so if 1 tbsp buckwheat flour isn’t enough, add a teaspoon more and see if it does the trick.

The end.

Haha.

Heat olive oil in a non-stick or stick frying pan and gently add the rice cakes to it. Like a sniper. Three to four minutes later, turn them over. They should be golden brown on the cooked side and easy to turn over as well. It’s easy when the bottom is cooked. These things are connected and written into the fibre of the universe. I might sound like I’m making it all up but I’m not. Repeat this on the other side and take it off the stove and place it on a paper towel or plate. Paper towel to soak the extra oil or plate because you used olive oil and your worries should have disappeared by now.

In the same pan, crack an egg and cook until the white is set. You can cook the egg as you choose, I’m not going to be an egg Nazi.

Decorate your plate with edible plant-based nourishment (tomatoes and salad greens) and breakfast is ready.

I’m going back to bed.

(PS: I will have a mother’s special vegetable pulao recipe up on here this week. It’s only fair)

Can’t live without sweet potato sandwich Thursday

April 4, 2013 by Edlyn

Something very strange happened yesterday. I went over to my neighbour’s flat and knocked on her door. She opened it. This is not unusual. Well maybe it is a little bit in most of America but in this case, it’s boring. I know her. We’ve met. At a bus stop, but yet, we’ve done the this and that required for initial human contact.

After talking for a bit, she turned on the TV, went to the red logo magical streaming thing, and hit play on a show I never thought I’d watch: Desperate Housewives. Ick. Sorry Ranvijay and everybody else who worships the Cherry or Berry that created these women, I can’t help rolling my eyes at some of the stuff that comes up.

And my eyes really hurt.

As it typically goes, my sweet neighbour asked me if I watched these women and their secret everything lies. As it typically goes with questions I don’t want to answer, I did my diplomatic “Ohhh my mother and sister used to watch it. Big fans.” Why I feel the need to not disappoint her is beyond me. Maybe I thought she loved her role as a stay at home mother so much that watching a desperate housewife was something very personal for her. Considering the phase of life I find myself in, that fictitious world it’s 100000% something I’d like to pretend never existed in my memory.

Ever.

Thank you.

Because some days sandwiches are the last thing I want to be known for and other days they’re my only friends.

Because some days (most days) I feel like I’m too young for this and other days my stretchy pants feel like a very good deal.

Because some days I just want my own money so I can book airplane tickets to places I close my eyes and point to and other days I can’t get past the door.

Because some days I want to deny Desperate Housewives and the fact that I know their names (Mother, sister, remember?) and other days Susan Delfino Season 7 episode *I don’t know*.

Okay it was episode 3. I know because I googled it.

Now leave me alone.

Roasted spicy sweet potato goat cheese and pesto sandwich

The in-house carnivore loved this sandwich. In this case his opinion matters because he is the in-house carnivore and I am the in-house lentil-eating, rice-munching, spinach-grazing non in-house carnivore. And I unhealthily heart taters. Precious. (Movie reference. Name it, win a lifetime of photographs I take of myself in the bathroom mirror).

Though I have added quantities for the spices (and cheese and pesto), it complete depends on you and how much more or less you want to add. The fennel seeds add a very “refreshing” flavour, the cumin adds spicy smokiness and the red pepper flakes add heat. The goat cheese adds happiness and the pesto justifies the goat cheese, plus MOAR. Own it.

Ingredients

4 slices of bread (I used whole wheat Pane Francese {it’s like a baguette but with more volume} and made two 6 inch sandwiches)
1 sweet potato
1 tbsp olive oil
1/2 tsp sea salt
1 tsp fennel seeds
1 tsp cumin powder
1/2 tsp red pepper flakes
2 oz goat cheese (at room temperature)
2 oz cilantro basil pesto
2 handfuls of winter greens washed, dried and tossed with lemon juice

Finally, I begin!

Peel the sweet potato and chop it…erm. I forgot the word. What I mean to say is you have to cut it the opposite of length-wise, into the little circles about 1/4 inch thick. I am the best recipe-writer in the world right now.

Thankfully I have a picture for it.

Preheat the oven to 400 degrees F, which is my house takes 10 days and by that time I’ve paid for 8 deli sandwiches from the corner store. I kid. Prepare a baking sheet by covering it with foil and brushing it lightly with olive oil. In a bowl, toss the cut sweet potato in olive oil, and the spices + the salt. Place them on the sheet and pop it in the oven for 30 minutes. At the 15-minute mark, you need to turn each slice of potato so it cooks on the other side too. You want it to be tender on the inside and slightly golden brown delish on the outside. As you can see in the picture above, the potato slices were a bit uneven in thickness. It didn’t matter too much except for the smaller slices which cooked and got blackened too much on the edges. No. Big. Deal. You will have enough for 2 sandwiches either way.

Set the oven to broil (500 degrees F), slice the bread LENGTH-WISE (THANK YOU) and place it in the hot oven face down. Leave it in for 3 minutes and get the other sandwich fillings ready to fill ‘er up. I’m going to be pretentious of the order of things. I urge you to rebel. I’m fickle like that.

Spread the cilantro-pesto basil on the base of the sandwich. YUM.
Sweet potato goes on top.
Lemony greens.
Goat cheese on the very top. Go thick or go home.
Why does this sound the way it sounds?
It’s ready to eat.
It can sound any way it wants right now.

Your sandwich is ready. You don’t need to read this anymore.

GO.

Eat.

Don’t mind me.

March 26, 2013 by Edlyn

I’ve just spent most of today staring deep into the soul of my new laptop that I cried for these past few months. Something about watching movies and TV shows in bed just called out to me.

Okay, the real story is that I wanted it so I could write in whichever room I pleased.

In bed.

Okay, the honest to goddess earth truth is I wanted it for my blog. To organise things into pretty folders and mess up my whole desktop as I chose.

I tell dudeface that this is his too and when he disagrees, I tell him to send it back. We’ve had these heart to hearts even before this being physically entered our lives so you know, we’re the master debaters.

*snigger*

Dear friends of my mother,

Please think of me as my own person and not as my mother’s daughter. She wouldn’t want my bad puns on her hands.

Love

Edlyn

PS: I’m going to get back to normality (riiiiiight) tomorrow as soon as I move all my photos etc and instal my whatchamacalits.

The usual.

See ya. Happy festival season.

When it doubt.

March 12, 2013 by Edlyn

What if the answer to cure all of our problems is to amplify the problem 20 thousand times until it reaches its threshold and explodes with no sign that it ever existed in the first place?

That was a real question.

What do you do when your brain feels like mush? When you can’t sit still but you can’t go anywhere either. When the last thing you want to do is put stuff “in its rightful place” but you’d rather not because you just don’t want to be grown up about the whole thing. You write about it, right? So maybe people will relate and cross their fingers for you. I’m fine. REALLY.

A few minutes ago I was wondering what I would eat if I went completely vegetarian. Dal. Lots and lots of dal. With rice. Oh, in this country they call it lentils. But it’s dal. Short and sweet. da–hl: Derived from the words da and yum. In my mind, meat is disgusting. Until I see it on a plate and then yeah, what the heck was I worried about? But really, I need to grow up and realise that I sort of need to tone it down, which does not imply that I pick meat over veggies. Au contraire. I never eat meat without greens. Not because it makes me feel validated. Au contraire. Deja vu. I do it because my chi needs balancing…whatever that means.

I have a lot of thoughts right now and in order for me not to chop off the tips of my hair and Awesomeshirts old t-shirts, I thought I’d just bother you with them.

True story. I even braided the ends.

The other white t-shirt is in the washing machine. It was covered with…my hair. I hear that’s what hair does when you cut it.

If you let me explain, I will. I’m having a special Edlyn day. It really is the best kind of day where I reclaim my youth and jam to a Gorillaz album I reviewed wayyy back when I felt like I was an expert. I also moonlighted as a fashion expert. This is the first time I’m saying this publicly and being proud of it. I was good but also very ashamed that I wasn’t writing about wars and such. That was never going to be a career but if you ever consider it, know that it’s so easy to bullshit your way through it all. If you can air kiss, you might even get a raise. I was out of there very soon.

I know I do not have any problems. Not compared to people who have actual problems. The last thing they want to do is amplify these things. So that makes my very first assumption stupid, in short.

Honestly, I have no idea how to be a big girl. I pout. A lot. And then I feel like my husband married a teenager. I try not to ruin Christmas for him. If you’re like me right now, raise your hand and wave. I’m waving back. I know the way most of us feel is not exclusive. That means I know we don’t own it. It exists withing our heads but if you walk down the road, you’ll find at least 2 other people who agree there needs to be more pedestrian crossings, less cars and at least more cake shops with emergency lines. Just in case.

Today I asked the maintenance man what time he started work. “Nine,” is all he said. Tomorrow I’m going to ask him where he’s from because I see him every day in the golf cart thing and I wonder. Not to be creepy but I do want to know. I’m sure if I found ONE other person who loves potatoes, that would be a good Wednesday morning conversation.

I should go now. But before I do, if you know any way I could dye my braided T-shirt green with vegetables, let me know.

Let you mind scatter. It always brings wonderfullness back.

Wonderfullness, it’s what the world needs.

Happy international women’s day.

March 8, 2013 by Edlyn

The one day everyone pretends we get paid equally, treated equally in the workplace until our bellies get unusually pregnant…where we don’t get raped or have acid thrown on our faces and told it was our fault. Where we’re not portrayed like we’re one rung lower thanks to those we idolise….The day we don’t let the majority decide women’s rights and they, the vagina-less, make pioneering decisions for our best. The one day where we pretend like we don’t get dressed down in public places and don’t plan our entire lives and wardrobe on how we’re going to get home after it’s too dark.

Thanks for pretending so well everyone. It’s cute.

I am proud to be a woman. I’m not proud that so many like me still don’t even have that chance.

Red pepper and goat cheese frittata (sort of)

March 3, 2013 by Edlyn

Stick to the Sunday program, dude.

I am. I am.

I woke up in the way I want to wake up everyday: To the sun. The blinds were closed but I knew it was there. My roomie and I knew we had to put breakfast of hold. You don’t ignore the sun in these parts.

We took the dogs and our lazy selves for a long walk and then had short playtime, which was interrupted by a black cat. More than other cat colours, black cats don’t give a shit about you or your smelly puppies. Dogs of every other shade, colour or size however, make up for that deficiency. How? They chase them. If you don’t want your dog to get run over, you chase back.

It’s a slightly inconvenient but we do what we do…for love or something.

When we got home, I remembered I made crepe batter. Too much crepe batter. So much crepe batter that it was interfering with my eggs on a Sunday. Gah.

And you know what I did? I made them anyway. In 10 seconds. So I could eat crepes with my roommate, shoo away dogs, AND get the goat cheese out of its case without my life falling apart.

Typical Sunday morning.

Red pepper and goat cheese frittata

You’ll need 2 eggs, half of a half of red pepper, chopped, (I could’ve just said quarter), 2 tbsp of chopped red onion and some goat cheese to sprinkle on the top.

Set your oven to broil. In the real world, that’s 500 degrees F. Our oven doesn’t know what that means. It goes up to 450 degrees F and decides it’s not worth the trouble. My scrapyard threats have stopped working.

Break the eggs into a bowl and whip them with a dash of salt and pepper.

Cook the onions and red pepper in a frying pan with oil until the onions get soft. It should take about 2 minutes. Once this step is done, pour the eggs into the frying pan and cook them for 3 minutes, constantly stirring so they don’t set. They need to be only partially cooked.

Since I don’t own a skillet I can put in the oven, I had to transfer the eggs to a ramekin. I topped it with goat cheese and cooked it for 6 minutes in the 450 degree F oven. Your eggs will be done once they puff up slightly and turn golden on the top. Let it cook and serve with chopped chives as garnish.

Or don’t.

I’m clearly not one for rules.

Now can you guess where the oven gets it from?

Poached eggs on parmesan potato hash + A chocolate box

February 24, 2013 by Edlyn

Hi Gayle, (My youngest sister who actually knows how to cook and doesn’t pretend like me.)

I made poached eggs! Do you remember when you’d say, “Make! It’s so easy” or something like that? I don’t either but every time I make poached eggs, I think of you for some reason. It’s not the first way I choose to cook my eggs because my eyes are usually blind when I wake up. I’m not saying they’re difficult to make either BUT it involved a bit more than a simple scramble and putting effort into anything food-related makes me think of you.

L’aubergines also remind me of you.

I’m not even close to you in cooking skill level. You’re a lot more stubborn when you cook, choosing to break rules and not use measuring spoons. I can’t ever tell if that’s a good thing of a bad one but as soon as we get to taste it, all doubts are put to rest. BECAUSE IT’S FREAKIN GOOD. Duh.

You’re only 22. At that point in my life, I was working at a silly newspaper. Before that I was deciding whether I should have 1 or 2 vada pavs from the canteen. I usually went with one plain vada and one complete vada pav. At 20, you laid the foundation of your own home business, designed a logo, made chocolates and went out and learnt skills that will help you be the best at your craft. You see what I’m trying to say here?

I know you feel like nobody takes you seriously at home. It’s mostly true. It’s not your fault nobody can see beyond your unruly hair that you have combed since Roma left. It’s also not your fault you were born last and mama and D love having you around more than acceptable parental levels (haha). The part that I (and I hope everybody else) take seriously more than anything is your talent. Yes, you are lazy (sorry) but when you’re at work, you’re every thing a future chef is supposed to be. You may not be able to prove that you’re 22, when you’re forever 6 but it gets a bit easier to let go when we see your passion. We’re proud.

You need to keep doing this. There’s a reason that I see your face in ever corner bakery I walk past. You’ll be the owner and maybe you’ll let me wash the dishes and make good chai. You’ll call it “Little Chocolate Box” (OBVEEESILIOUSLY) and you’ll be the happiest when you go to bed because you’re living your dream.

I am happy for you, I really am.

Now shut up and eat these eggs. And don’t wear my clothes. I’ll check when I come home, 9 months from now.

Poached eggs on parmesan potato hash

Err..how did I make thiiiss…..Oh yes. This was enough for 2 people.

For the parmesan potato hash, I used 1 potato, grated parmesan (go nuts…or not), salt and pepper.

I grated the potatoes on a cheese grater and drained then of the starchy water with a cheesecloth. It actually quite a pretty sight. I added grated parmesan, salt and pepper to the potatoes and fried them in a lightly buttered pan. Form the potato mix into a ball and flatten it on the pan. Cook on one side till it brown like in the picture and then flip it over. Repeat the browning process and set on a plate.

I used 2 eggs and poached them one at a time. I let a pot of water come to a boil. I then added a little salt and a tablespoon of vinegar to the water. I reduced the heat so the water would be set to a simmer. I broke 1 of the eggs into a cup and gently placed it into the water. I cooked it for 4 minutes because I like my poached eggs to be a little runny as well as a little firm. If you want the egg to be more undercooked, leave it in only for two minutes. You’ll have to use your kitchen judgement to get the egg cooked the way YOU want it. Take it out of the water and place them on a paper towel to dry off. Repeat with the other egg.

Place the eggs over the potato hash. Crack a bit of pepper, add some salt, toast some bread (butter it) and eat.

Gayle, why aren’t you eating?! Oh wait, you’re not here. Whatever man. More for me.