Look Ma, I'm on a food show!

Hello!
I have a fun announcement to share today. In October, I was contacted by Small Screen  (the same wonderful guys behind the insanely popular show Highway on My Plate) if I would like to co-host the Bangalore episode of Twist of Taste, now into its second season. This is a food show by Michelin starred chef  from UK, Vineet Bhatia.

While the offer excited me, I was petrified to be sharing screen space with such a renowned chef and of course, that bit about facing the camera for national television. Well, I did bite the bullet, went ahead for the shoot and my fears were all shot down, one by one. Partner at Small Screen, Prashant Sareen and director of the show, was there personally to guide me and calm my nerves. 

There was NO MAKE UP involved, can you beat that?! I was all the time fearing that there would be so much pancake make up on my face that I wouldn't even be able to smile in my maiden telly appearance. There were no dialogues handed out to me, I was free to converse anything I wanted, with the chef. 

Coming to Chef Bhatia, he is probably one of the most humble people I have met. He made me feel totally at home, over many tumblers of filter coffee and then over a few glasses of beer, discussing food and tasting food all the time. Now, I've quite changed my opinion about chefs.

We shot over two days covering the hot spots and old institutions in Bangalore, and at a break neck speed, because the first day, we managed to get only 3 hours in the evening, thanks to a Karnataka Bandh. The entire crew at Small Screen were most caring about a newbie facing the camera. It was wonderful working with everybody on this show!

I would love for my readers to catch my first foodie appearance. Here are the details:

Twist of Taste - Bangalore Episode
Fox Traveller Channel
9pm - Dec 2, 2012, Sunday


Fox Traveller is available on the following DTH networks:
Tata Sky - Channel 553
Hathway Cable - Channel 470
Airtel TV - Channel 342
Dish TV - Channe 647
Videocon DTH - Channel 605
Sun Direct - Channel 547


And if you miss it, this is the schedule for the repeat episode.
Wednesday 930 pm
Thursday 430pm
Friday 730pm
Saturday 830 am
Saturday 1030 am

And for those of you with no access to cable, I'm sure there will be a YouTube link I can share with you later.

*waiting for Sunday with nervous anticipation*

Look Ma, I'm on a food show!

Posted by admin

Hello!
I have a fun announcement to share today. In October, I was contacted by Small Screen  (the same wonderful guys behind the insanely popular show Highway on My Plate) if I would like to co-host the Bangalore episode of Twist of Taste, now into its second season. This is a food show by Michelin starred chef  from UK, Vineet Bhatia.

While the offer excited me, I was petrified to be sharing screen space with such a renowned chef and of course, that bit about facing the camera for national television. Well, I did bite the bullet, went ahead for the shoot and my fears were all shot down, one by one. Partner at Small Screen, Prashant Sareen and director of the show, was there personally to guide me and calm my nerves. 

There was NO MAKE UP involved, can you beat that?! I was all the time fearing that there would be so much pancake make up on my face that I wouldn't even be able to smile in my maiden telly appearance. There were no dialogues handed out to me, I was free to converse anything I wanted, with the chef. 

Coming to Chef Bhatia, he is probably one of the most humble people I have met. He made me feel totally at home, over many tumblers of filter coffee and then over a few glasses of beer, discussing food and tasting food all the time. Now, I've quite changed my opinion about chefs.

We shot over two days covering the hot spots and old institutions in Bangalore, and at a break neck speed, because the first day, we managed to get only 3 hours in the evening, thanks to a Karnataka Bandh. The entire crew at Small Screen were most caring about a newbie facing the camera. It was wonderful working with everybody on this show!

I would love for my readers to catch my first foodie appearance. Here are the details:

Twist of Taste - Bangalore Episode
Fox Traveller Channel
9pm - Dec 2, 2012, Sunday


Fox Traveller is available on the following DTH networks:
Tata Sky - Channel 553
Hathway Cable - Channel 470
Airtel TV - Channel 342
Dish TV - Channe 647
Videocon DTH - Channel 605
Sun Direct - Channel 547


And if you miss it, this is the schedule for the repeat episode.
Wednesday 930 pm
Thursday 430pm
Friday 730pm
Saturday 830 am
Saturday 1030 am

And for those of you with no access to cable, I'm sure there will be a YouTube link I can share with you later.

*waiting for Sunday with nervous anticipation*

Hello from Bangalore, finally

Namaskara! Ten weeks after moving to my final destination, I think I am converted. The always-pleasant weather, living away from the bustle of the main city roads, the slow life- it has totally seeped into me. The way Mumbai spoils you with its sheer pace of life and the pace of getting things done, Bangalore spoils you with the weather and the slow life. I don't think I must have complained about the weather more than a couple of times in the last two months, which is a pretty neat record for the weather-cribber in me. 


A couple more things have changed in the last few weeks. 





All my adult life, I have been a morning tea person, unless someone made a steaming hot filter kaapi for me. Lately, tea just doesn't cut it first thing in the morning. My brain cells seem to ask for a stronger dose of caffeine than what comes in a cup of tea.  No, I'm not importing 'kaapi-podi' from ChennaiMadras. The Bayar's brand (not a paid promotion) available in most supermarkets in Bangalore seems to hit the spot neatly. Many people swear by Cotha's but I find the grind quite coarse for my coffee filters.

Before you assume it, no, I haven't given up on tea, not at all. It is simply used to fill up the empty moments in the day, rather than as a morning kickstart. Ginger-ed, lemongrass-ed, cardamom-ed, simple green tea, just about every kind of tea depending on the mood, and of course the weather, leaving empty mugs around in every corner of the house, to be picked up later, of course, when I find that I have run out of clean mugs.

 The next thing in matters of change is my sudden love for Rasam. Either it is to do with the fact that I am growing old, or the steaming cup of tomato-ey spicy liquid pairs well with the Bangalore weather or it is to do with the sour tomatoes that I'm growing in my terrace garden that lend themselves quite beautifully to this.

First two homegrown tomatoes

 I've always maintained that I am a Sambar-person. If there is Sambar and Rasam made at home, I would rather have two helpings of rice with sambar and leave the rasam alone, without a second glance, like a Bottega Veneta lady shunning a Hidesign bag. In fact, when I am visiting my parents and my mom makes just rasam and no sambar, I squarely point it out to her on how she is favouring my sister over me. Needless to say, the sister is a rasam-person. So yes, I have started making a mean rasam, which is not in anyway to blow the trumpet (or saxophone) about my culinary genius, but simply a matter of practice. Yes, that's how often I've been making rasam. If you followed me on Twitter, you'd know. Looks like I have already hit upon the topic of my next blog post. Byebye blogger's block!

Dill growing wild

Apart from the vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes (okay, it is a fruit), okra and carrots- we're being adventurous and trying to grow strawberries on our terrace garden. The gardening experts tell us we can expect to eat some fruit by November, I'm praying the ants don't get to them before I do. 

Strawberry patch

There's dwarf lemons and a dwarf chikoo too, on the terrace garden. Just yesterday, a Cherry bush has been added to the fruit family in the hope that we can eat some homegrown fruit if we are patient enough to care for the trees over the next 2-3 years. Or at least, do the birds some social service.

Sapota

The first to be harvested from the garden was the most sweet smelling lush green coriander and the chutney made using those homegrown leaves tasted most amazing. 

Coriander Flowers

If you have the tiny bit of space, even for a couple of pots, or a tiny area of soil where you can sow some seeds, do it. The sheer joy of watching your food grow from the seed and the joy of turning it into a dish for your family is quite unparalleled. Try sprinkling a few kitchen seeds like mustard or fenugreek into good soil and watch the magic unfold :)

Mustard greens some ten days after sowing seeds

I write a monthly column for Sunday DNA called Tiny Tummies. Here is the link to my page there.


For more gardening / food updates - do follow my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail




All pics above, taken on on the iPhone (yeah, lazy me thanks to Bangalore weather), processed on the free app Instagram. If you are an iPhone user and you haven't downloaded this app, you've been missing some fine things in life. Here's my Instagram feed.


Now that I've managed to break the long silence, I shall be back soon.


Related reads :


Veggies at home
Herb Mentality - Growing herbs and home and ways to use them

Hello from Bangalore, finally

Posted by admin

Namaskara! Ten weeks after moving to my final destination, I think I am converted. The always-pleasant weather, living away from the bustle of the main city roads, the slow life- it has totally seeped into me. The way Mumbai spoils you with its sheer pace of life and the pace of getting things done, Bangalore spoils you with the weather and the slow life. I don't think I must have complained about the weather more than a couple of times in the last two months, which is a pretty neat record for the weather-cribber in me. 


A couple more things have changed in the last few weeks. 





All my adult life, I have been a morning tea person, unless someone made a steaming hot filter kaapi for me. Lately, tea just doesn't cut it first thing in the morning. My brain cells seem to ask for a stronger dose of caffeine than what comes in a cup of tea.  No, I'm not importing 'kaapi-podi' from ChennaiMadras. The Bayar's brand (not a paid promotion) available in most supermarkets in Bangalore seems to hit the spot neatly. Many people swear by Cotha's but I find the grind quite coarse for my coffee filters.

Before you assume it, no, I haven't given up on tea, not at all. It is simply used to fill up the empty moments in the day, rather than as a morning kickstart. Ginger-ed, lemongrass-ed, cardamom-ed, simple green tea, just about every kind of tea depending on the mood, and of course the weather, leaving empty mugs around in every corner of the house, to be picked up later, of course, when I find that I have run out of clean mugs.

 The next thing in matters of change is my sudden love for Rasam. Either it is to do with the fact that I am growing old, or the steaming cup of tomato-ey spicy liquid pairs well with the Bangalore weather or it is to do with the sour tomatoes that I'm growing in my terrace garden that lend themselves quite beautifully to this.

First two homegrown tomatoes

 I've always maintained that I am a Sambar-person. If there is Sambar and Rasam made at home, I would rather have two helpings of rice with sambar and leave the rasam alone, without a second glance, like a Bottega Veneta lady shunning a Hidesign bag. In fact, when I am visiting my parents and my mom makes just rasam and no sambar, I squarely point it out to her on how she is favouring my sister over me. Needless to say, the sister is a rasam-person. So yes, I have started making a mean rasam, which is not in anyway to blow the trumpet (or saxophone) about my culinary genius, but simply a matter of practice. Yes, that's how often I've been making rasam. If you followed me on Twitter, you'd know. Looks like I have already hit upon the topic of my next blog post. Byebye blogger's block!

Dill growing wild

Apart from the vegetables like brinjals, tomatoes (okay, it is a fruit), okra and carrots- we're being adventurous and trying to grow strawberries on our terrace garden. The gardening experts tell us we can expect to eat some fruit by November, I'm praying the ants don't get to them before I do. 

Strawberry patch

There's dwarf lemons and a dwarf chikoo too, on the terrace garden. Just yesterday, a Cherry bush has been added to the fruit family in the hope that we can eat some homegrown fruit if we are patient enough to care for the trees over the next 2-3 years. Or at least, do the birds some social service.

Sapota

The first to be harvested from the garden was the most sweet smelling lush green coriander and the chutney made using those homegrown leaves tasted most amazing. 

Coriander Flowers

If you have the tiny bit of space, even for a couple of pots, or a tiny area of soil where you can sow some seeds, do it. The sheer joy of watching your food grow from the seed and the joy of turning it into a dish for your family is quite unparalleled. Try sprinkling a few kitchen seeds like mustard or fenugreek into good soil and watch the magic unfold :)

Mustard greens some ten days after sowing seeds

I write a monthly column for Sunday DNA called Tiny Tummies. Here is the link to my page there.


For more gardening / food updates - do follow my Facebook Page: https://www.facebook.com/SaffronTrail




All pics above, taken on on the iPhone (yeah, lazy me thanks to Bangalore weather), processed on the free app Instagram. If you are an iPhone user and you haven't downloaded this app, you've been missing some fine things in life. Here's my Instagram feed.


Now that I've managed to break the long silence, I shall be back soon.


Related reads :


Veggies at home
Herb Mentality - Growing herbs and home and ways to use them

Featured in Femina Online

This was in October and I can be so procrastinating at times.

Read the entire story on the Femina website

Many thanks to Rajani Mani for this, and she has a gorgeous food blog herself! Check it out.

Featured in Femina Online

Posted by admin

This was in October and I can be so procrastinating at times.

Read the entire story on the Femina website

Many thanks to Rajani Mani for this, and she has a gorgeous food blog herself! Check it out.

Saying Thanks to the Santas on Saffron Trail

I have to write this note of thanks for the generosity of certain people, who have played Santa to me, in the last two months.

It started with Kulsum of Journey's Kitchen. One evening, i tweeted about a hummus-Baba gannoush-pita bread Lebanese dinner preparation at home, and she asked me where I get my Tahini. I admitted to her that i've always made my own and have never tasted the real stuff. She immediately told me that her sister was leaving for India in a couple of days and she'd love to send me some. Given my love for this cuisine, it didn't take much coaxing on her part to send her my address. In less than three days, I received a whole big bottle of Tahina (sesame juice, as they call it), Za'taar, Sumac and Dried Mint.

Another friend I found on Twitter -  Kishi Arora, the Foodaholics lady who bakes some of the best cakes in Delhi sent me a foodie package with parchment paper, cacao nibs, tea, nutmegs, Chinese 5 spice and 7 spice powder PLUS her delicious fudge. While the fudge was polished off in no time, and the parchment paper was put to good use while making Xmas fruitcakes, I'm still wondering what good stuff I can make using the cacao nibs.

A blog reader, Mani Mama as I call him, was the first to write to me a week before he was leaving US to come to India and ask if I would like some stuff from there. After writing back and forth half a dozen times, I finally sent him a list and when I collected my package from the person he had sent it to Hyderabad with, I couldn't stop smiling. You can see for yourself.

Another Twitter contact, Jigar Parmar showered some festive cheer on me by sending me two lovely books, one on Food in Italy and the other a coffee-table book on Mumbai.

I had tasted this peanut gajak for the first time at Preethi's house a couple of weeks ago and boy, it was addictive to say the least. When I tweeted about how I loved it and how I feel like having some more, my friend there said she will send me some. And just yesterday, three boxes of the sesame-jaggery goodness reached my doorstep. Yet to take a pic of that, as each time I go near the box, i end up eating some more of it, and forget to take a picture.

Thank you, my dear Santas. May be I have really been a good girl this year. You have really cheered me up with these lovely foodie-gifts.

Saying Thanks to the Santas on Saffron Trail

Posted by admin

I have to write this note of thanks for the generosity of certain people, who have played Santa to me, in the last two months.

It started with Kulsum of Journey's Kitchen. One evening, i tweeted about a hummus-Baba gannoush-pita bread Lebanese dinner preparation at home, and she asked me where I get my Tahini. I admitted to her that i've always made my own and have never tasted the real stuff. She immediately told me that her sister was leaving for India in a couple of days and she'd love to send me some. Given my love for this cuisine, it didn't take much coaxing on her part to send her my address. In less than three days, I received a whole big bottle of Tahina (sesame juice, as they call it), Za'taar, Sumac and Dried Mint.

Another friend I found on Twitter -  Kishi Arora, the Foodaholics lady who bakes some of the best cakes in Delhi sent me a foodie package with parchment paper, cacao nibs, tea, nutmegs, Chinese 5 spice and 7 spice powder PLUS her delicious fudge. While the fudge was polished off in no time, and the parchment paper was put to good use while making Xmas fruitcakes, I'm still wondering what good stuff I can make using the cacao nibs.

A blog reader, Mani Mama as I call him, was the first to write to me a week before he was leaving US to come to India and ask if I would like some stuff from there. After writing back and forth half a dozen times, I finally sent him a list and when I collected my package from the person he had sent it to Hyderabad with, I couldn't stop smiling. You can see for yourself.

Another Twitter contact, Jigar Parmar showered some festive cheer on me by sending me two lovely books, one on Food in Italy and the other a coffee-table book on Mumbai.

I had tasted this peanut gajak for the first time at Preethi's house a couple of weeks ago and boy, it was addictive to say the least. When I tweeted about how I loved it and how I feel like having some more, my friend there said she will send me some. And just yesterday, three boxes of the sesame-jaggery goodness reached my doorstep. Yet to take a pic of that, as each time I go near the box, i end up eating some more of it, and forget to take a picture.

Thank you, my dear Santas. May be I have really been a good girl this year. You have really cheered me up with these lovely foodie-gifts.

Four years and counting

On March 12, 2006, I took those wobbly first steps into the world of food blogging, without even knowing that there was something called ‘foodblogging’. I just thought it would be cool to have a digital diary of recipes and photos for future reference. And then tracking back comments and visitors, I realized there is a whole world of likeminded people called ‘food bloggers’ out there.

The food lovers' and fellow bloggers’ comments kept my enthusiasm to keep the blog going in full steam. It was a wonderful way to make foodie friends from across the world – connecting on chat, later on facebook and some in real life. And when we did meet, it never felt like the first time. We had connected our homes and lives through our blogs and it felt like I was meeting an old friend.

I’ve been wanting to write about the three people I’ve met so far from the blogging world for a long long time – somehow it didn’t happen in my earlier posts and what better time than this post to recapture those moments.

The first one to meet was from far-far away. In June of last year, Nupur of One Hot Stove, St.Louis was in Bombay visiting family and she wrote to me asking if I would be around then. I'd always been an admirer of her and her blog (still am) and was only too happy to meet up. We had a nice evening at our place with both the spouses in attendance. We spoke about food, work and family, exchanged some foodie gifts, and I was lucky to have a precious hand-knitted eggplant cap for my little one! It turned out that Nupur’s hubby V had a good friend from childhood who was my classmate in medical college – reconfirming my faith in the fact that it’s a small small world.

After that it was my turn to meet with Raaga and her husband – she made it a point to come visiting even though she was on a tight weekend trip to Bombay. With her, it was another small world thing. On our first call to each other long ago, a lot of family connections were established – my husband’s family and her’s were acquaintances for many years – in fact I had seed her wedding card in my in-laws house when I was visiting them around then, and that time I didn’t know her – but my inlaws had even attended her wedding!!!

My third meet was with Arundati. She and me got along like a house on fire, even as we were chatting and we would imagine that we’d meet someday to sit down over chai and talk in real life– little did I know that my wish would be fulfilled in a grand way. My husband had the chance to meet A and her hubby on his trip to Hyderabad for a meeting – they ended up talking till the middle of the night, figuring out many links between themselves…at that time we didn’t even imagine we’d be moving to this city. When we decided to move here, we had only one couple to call and figure things out – Arundati and R – they were gracious to put us up with them when we came house hunting – helped us find a house of our liking, and settle us in when we finally made the move in November. They still are one of the few friends we have here and I’m very grateful for God’s designs that through food blogging I found such a wonderful friend!

I must mention one other friend, who in the earlier days of blogging sent me a big packet of yeast as I couldn’t find any in Bombay – I continue to use that same yeast with excellent results even after three years. She is an excellent writer and shares her tried and tested recipes on Mad Tea Party. I fondly remember you Anita, with every loaf of bread I bake and break :)

There are a few others I have connected to on chat over these years – and they have been a part of my life despite the distances - girls you know who you are and I sincerely hope we get to meet some day! A big hug to you all.

Apart from the people, blogging has made me aware of so many different Indian regional cuisines as well as some from around the world thanks to people like Shilpa, Cynthia, Home Sick Texan who are so passionate about their native food. It inspires me to dig deeper into my native cuisine and discover more pearls.

On completing four years and some 280 odd posts (yeah, only that many, thanks to prolonged periods of absenteeism) – I’d like to share some of the most popular recipes from the blog –

All Indian Apple Cheesecake

The Traditional TamBram lunch series 

Ajwaini Arbi Ke Tikkey

The easiest brownies

Kaala Chana 

Parsi Dhansak

Upma Kozhakattai with Thuvaiyal

Lasooni Dal Palak 

 There's a lot of work to be done on the blog now starting with an updated index, regular posts and working on reader-feedback. I hope to find some dedicated time each week on maintaining and updating the blog.

And finally a word for the most important people around - the people who read, follow and enjoy this blog - thank you for staying interested despite my long absences and writing to me, egging me to start blogging again. 

Without making this sound like an Oscar-acceptance speech, I must end by thanking all those who were a part of Saffron Trail for a wonderful journey these last four years...

Bon Appetit!

Four years and counting

Posted by admin

On March 12, 2006, I took those wobbly first steps into the world of food blogging, without even knowing that there was something called ‘foodblogging’. I just thought it would be cool to have a digital diary of recipes and photos for future reference. And then tracking back comments and visitors, I realized there is a whole world of likeminded people called ‘food bloggers’ out there.

The food lovers' and fellow bloggers’ comments kept my enthusiasm to keep the blog going in full steam. It was a wonderful way to make foodie friends from across the world – connecting on chat, later on facebook and some in real life. And when we did meet, it never felt like the first time. We had connected our homes and lives through our blogs and it felt like I was meeting an old friend.

I’ve been wanting to write about the three people I’ve met so far from the blogging world for a long long time – somehow it didn’t happen in my earlier posts and what better time than this post to recapture those moments.

The first one to meet was from far-far away. In June of last year, Nupur of One Hot Stove, St.Louis was in Bombay visiting family and she wrote to me asking if I would be around then. I'd always been an admirer of her and her blog (still am) and was only too happy to meet up. We had a nice evening at our place with both the spouses in attendance. We spoke about food, work and family, exchanged some foodie gifts, and I was lucky to have a precious hand-knitted eggplant cap for my little one! It turned out that Nupur’s hubby V had a good friend from childhood who was my classmate in medical college – reconfirming my faith in the fact that it’s a small small world.

After that it was my turn to meet with Raaga and her husband – she made it a point to come visiting even though she was on a tight weekend trip to Bombay. With her, it was another small world thing. On our first call to each other long ago, a lot of family connections were established – my husband’s family and her’s were acquaintances for many years – in fact I had seed her wedding card in my in-laws house when I was visiting them around then, and that time I didn’t know her – but my inlaws had even attended her wedding!!!

My third meet was with Arundati. She and me got along like a house on fire, even as we were chatting and we would imagine that we’d meet someday to sit down over chai and talk in real life– little did I know that my wish would be fulfilled in a grand way. My husband had the chance to meet A and her hubby on his trip to Hyderabad for a meeting – they ended up talking till the middle of the night, figuring out many links between themselves…at that time we didn’t even imagine we’d be moving to this city. When we decided to move here, we had only one couple to call and figure things out – Arundati and R – they were gracious to put us up with them when we came house hunting – helped us find a house of our liking, and settle us in when we finally made the move in November. They still are one of the few friends we have here and I’m very grateful for God’s designs that through food blogging I found such a wonderful friend!

I must mention one other friend, who in the earlier days of blogging sent me a big packet of yeast as I couldn’t find any in Bombay – I continue to use that same yeast with excellent results even after three years. She is an excellent writer and shares her tried and tested recipes on Mad Tea Party. I fondly remember you Anita, with every loaf of bread I bake and break :)

There are a few others I have connected to on chat over these years – and they have been a part of my life despite the distances - girls you know who you are and I sincerely hope we get to meet some day! A big hug to you all.

Apart from the people, blogging has made me aware of so many different Indian regional cuisines as well as some from around the world thanks to people like Shilpa, Cynthia, Home Sick Texan who are so passionate about their native food. It inspires me to dig deeper into my native cuisine and discover more pearls.

On completing four years and some 280 odd posts (yeah, only that many, thanks to prolonged periods of absenteeism) – I’d like to share some of the most popular recipes from the blog –

All Indian Apple Cheesecake

The Traditional TamBram lunch series 

Ajwaini Arbi Ke Tikkey

The easiest brownies

Kaala Chana 

Parsi Dhansak

Upma Kozhakattai with Thuvaiyal

Lasooni Dal Palak 

 There's a lot of work to be done on the blog now starting with an updated index, regular posts and working on reader-feedback. I hope to find some dedicated time each week on maintaining and updating the blog.

And finally a word for the most important people around - the people who read, follow and enjoy this blog - thank you for staying interested despite my long absences and writing to me, egging me to start blogging again. 

Without making this sound like an Oscar-acceptance speech, I must end by thanking all those who were a part of Saffron Trail for a wonderful journey these last four years...

Bon Appetit!

Pee Poo Pee

That is not me trying to blow my own trumpet :) but it's what I've been busy cleaning over almost the last 3 months.

I've got news to share with all the readers of Saffron Trail that we've been blessed with a baby boy - Atri. He was born on 4th December, 2008 and he's almost close to completing his third month and our lives are falling into some sort of a routine - which is why I feel I can slowly resume blogging. I've also neglected the baby blog for a while, and have gotten to doing some posts there in the last few days.

I owe this news to all my blog friends and my kind readers who've been mailing me as to why I've not been blogging in a long while. Here's a pic of Atri taken a week ago.


While I've been having fun with baby, I've been missing out on all the fun, happenings and goss in the blogging world - even unable to chat on gtalk with the few friends I used to catch up with often. But I hope to resume blogging in all earnest, even if it means sleeping for 30 minutes less on the days I want to. Fellow food bloggers, do point out the fun stuff to me in comments. Also please post links of any interesting food blogs that have started off in the last few months. I've missed the browsing bit too - reading mostly parenting and baby blogs so that I can get some guidance on doing things right as a new mom.

Those interested in reading baby stuff can come over to the baby blog to see what we're up to.

Pee Poo Pee

Posted by admin

That is not me trying to blow my own trumpet :) but it's what I've been busy cleaning over almost the last 3 months.

I've got news to share with all the readers of Saffron Trail that we've been blessed with a baby boy - Atri. He was born on 4th December, 2008 and he's almost close to completing his third month and our lives are falling into some sort of a routine - which is why I feel I can slowly resume blogging. I've also neglected the baby blog for a while, and have gotten to doing some posts there in the last few days.

I owe this news to all my blog friends and my kind readers who've been mailing me as to why I've not been blogging in a long while. Here's a pic of Atri taken a week ago.


While I've been having fun with baby, I've been missing out on all the fun, happenings and goss in the blogging world - even unable to chat on gtalk with the few friends I used to catch up with often. But I hope to resume blogging in all earnest, even if it means sleeping for 30 minutes less on the days I want to. Fellow food bloggers, do point out the fun stuff to me in comments. Also please post links of any interesting food blogs that have started off in the last few months. I've missed the browsing bit too - reading mostly parenting and baby blogs so that I can get some guidance on doing things right as a new mom.

Those interested in reading baby stuff can come over to the baby blog to see what we're up to.

Awards and Mentions

Recently, some blogger awards have been coming my way :) Instead of doing several posts to cover them, I have decided to dedicate this one page to all the dedications that have come my way...Until now, I have not mentioned or displayed any of the badges.

For one, since I am not too up to date on Technorati, I don't even realise that someone has linked up to me, or mentioned my blog. Secondly, I appreciate each one of you who think of me to say something nice, and I really value those nice vibrations coming my way, even if it is only via the internet.

If I had to select any particular blogger to pass on the awards to, it is a tough task for me, as I feel each one is doing their best in their own way - Cooking and caring for their family, taking the trouble to photograph the dishes with husband and hungry kids waiting to be served, the blogger herself/ himself resigning to cold food or microwave warmed food as it would have gotten cold while taking the time to capture it on the camera, and then taking time to write about it, responding to comments....it is clearly no mean task. Hence I do not consider myself in any position to judge who is a Yummy Blogger or who deserves an award of Excellence, or who is a Nice blogger....each one is yummy, excellent and nice in their own way!


However, with deep gratitude I display all the badges (and occasional press mentions) on this page :)

Mentions

Mid-Day - Mumbai's Daily Tabloid
Gauravnomics - Desi Blog of the day
Interview on Cooking Goddess

Awards

In case I have missed your award, please leave a link in the comments, and I shall update the page promptly.


From Shaheen of Malabar Spices & Shubha of Chukti Bhar Pyaar

From Deeba of Passionate About Baking

Awards and Mentions

Posted by admin

Recently, some blogger awards have been coming my way :) Instead of doing several posts to cover them, I have decided to dedicate this one page to all the dedications that have come my way...Until now, I have not mentioned or displayed any of the badges.

For one, since I am not too up to date on Technorati, I don't even realise that someone has linked up to me, or mentioned my blog. Secondly, I appreciate each one of you who think of me to say something nice, and I really value those nice vibrations coming my way, even if it is only via the internet.

If I had to select any particular blogger to pass on the awards to, it is a tough task for me, as I feel each one is doing their best in their own way - Cooking and caring for their family, taking the trouble to photograph the dishes with husband and hungry kids waiting to be served, the blogger herself/ himself resigning to cold food or microwave warmed food as it would have gotten cold while taking the time to capture it on the camera, and then taking time to write about it, responding to comments....it is clearly no mean task. Hence I do not consider myself in any position to judge who is a Yummy Blogger or who deserves an award of Excellence, or who is a Nice blogger....each one is yummy, excellent and nice in their own way!


However, with deep gratitude I display all the badges (and occasional press mentions) on this page :)

Mentions

Mid-Day - Mumbai's Daily Tabloid
Gauravnomics - Desi Blog of the day
Interview on Cooking Goddess

Awards

In case I have missed your award, please leave a link in the comments, and I shall update the page promptly.


From Shaheen of Malabar Spices & Shubha of Chukti Bhar Pyaar

From Deeba of Passionate About Baking

General stuff and junky dinners

OK, my two dear friends know how I attended my family wedding in Chennai sitting in Mumbai yesterday morning...but I still haven't gotten over the thrill of it, so had to share it with my larger audience out here. So that's where technology in India is taking us.

Last week we managed to catch one of those rare Tamizh movie releases in Bombay - Vellithirai, in one of those multiplexes we don't usually visit. When I was booking our tickets online, I was pleasantly surprised to notice that I can book my large caramel popcorn, coffee and samosa online too with my tickets and they will be delivered to my seat number whenever I'd like them to....now that's what I call spoiling the customers! Another example how technology is transforming our lives. I don't mean to say I want to be waited on hand and foot when I'm watching a movie, but I like to be given the choice :)

The last few days I've been on a junk food spree. Last week we were in the Tamizhland of Bombay, Matunga on the way back from town. We had a quick weekday lunch at the Madras Cafe, which is a functional eatery that Matunga masses of the last few decades swear by. I love their Raagi- Masala dosa and filter kaapi. They also serve stuff that very few eateries in Bombay would serve, stuff like Ragi Sevai, Rasam Vadai, Neer Masala dosa, and though we are made to share tables with total strangers because of the lack of space, when the food is so good, I don't really care if we are made to sit on a table for four where there is one stranger already slurping his sambar. Post-lunch we stopped by Venkateshwara stores close to the flower-market, picked up a big bag of Nendram Varuval (quartered plantain chips), some traditional 'mixture', a pack of thattai and a block of Tirunelveli Halwa. While I am not too interested in mixture, the plantain chips are quite irresistible and while the hubby is at work, i have been slowly working towards finishing off the contents, albeit a little at a time, with my afternoon tea.

Veggie Crescents ( I like to call them pillows)

Since the husband has been extremely busy at work this whole week and having a working dinner for most of the past few days, I have been making extremely junky choices for my dinners...well, except for one day when I gathered a lot of inspiration to shrug off my increasing laziness at cooking dinner for one, and made these Vegetable Crescents. The combination of stuffing was very finely chopped red cabbage, spring onion greens, onion, cauliflower, capsicum, paneer and cheese, and somehow these vegetable flavours mingled brilliantly together, giving a super end result. The dough asked for milk, but the lazy me had none at home, and used water instead.

Inside a pillow

The original was blogged by Sunita and then tried by Arundati, who made sure she kept egging me about this delicious thing she kept making every other day, or so it seemed. I must say it was such a treat. The hubby managed to taste one despite coming home late, and I used the yeasty dough and stuffing for making parathas the next day for lunch. With so many vegetables used, the stuffing mix was still left over, and today was promptly mixed into idli-batter to make lovely pink uthapams.

Yesterday's junky dinner was jhaal mudi, a Bengali style bhel, where mustard oil adds a whole new zing. And today I just ordered some Pairi aam-ras (mango puree) from the shop across the road, mixed a part of this with a part of milk to get some delicious mango milk shake, the last few drops of which I have just cleared off with my fingers. This was today's dinner.

Green bean-tomato salad

Talking about junky dinners, I must admit I made salad for dinner one of these days, a first experience with using green beans in salads which is quite common in American and European cuisine. For me green beans means Paruppu Usili or Pulaos. I used a salad recipe from a blog, Smitten Kitchen that I found on food blog search while searching for 'green bean salad'. Here it is, I just substituted cherry tomatoes with quartered regular tomatoes and red wine vinegar with balsamic vinegar. I wasn't too excited with the flavours, the tomatoes and vinegar combining to give quite a sour taste that I'm not fond of. May be next time I'll omit the tomatoes altogether. This is my entry for Raaga's MBP - Soups and Salads.

General stuff and junky dinners

Posted by admin

OK, my two dear friends know how I attended my family wedding in Chennai sitting in Mumbai yesterday morning...but I still haven't gotten over the thrill of it, so had to share it with my larger audience out here. So that's where technology in India is taking us.

Last week we managed to catch one of those rare Tamizh movie releases in Bombay - Vellithirai, in one of those multiplexes we don't usually visit. When I was booking our tickets online, I was pleasantly surprised to notice that I can book my large caramel popcorn, coffee and samosa online too with my tickets and they will be delivered to my seat number whenever I'd like them to....now that's what I call spoiling the customers! Another example how technology is transforming our lives. I don't mean to say I want to be waited on hand and foot when I'm watching a movie, but I like to be given the choice :)

The last few days I've been on a junk food spree. Last week we were in the Tamizhland of Bombay, Matunga on the way back from town. We had a quick weekday lunch at the Madras Cafe, which is a functional eatery that Matunga masses of the last few decades swear by. I love their Raagi- Masala dosa and filter kaapi. They also serve stuff that very few eateries in Bombay would serve, stuff like Ragi Sevai, Rasam Vadai, Neer Masala dosa, and though we are made to share tables with total strangers because of the lack of space, when the food is so good, I don't really care if we are made to sit on a table for four where there is one stranger already slurping his sambar. Post-lunch we stopped by Venkateshwara stores close to the flower-market, picked up a big bag of Nendram Varuval (quartered plantain chips), some traditional 'mixture', a pack of thattai and a block of Tirunelveli Halwa. While I am not too interested in mixture, the plantain chips are quite irresistible and while the hubby is at work, i have been slowly working towards finishing off the contents, albeit a little at a time, with my afternoon tea.

Veggie Crescents ( I like to call them pillows)

Since the husband has been extremely busy at work this whole week and having a working dinner for most of the past few days, I have been making extremely junky choices for my dinners...well, except for one day when I gathered a lot of inspiration to shrug off my increasing laziness at cooking dinner for one, and made these Vegetable Crescents. The combination of stuffing was very finely chopped red cabbage, spring onion greens, onion, cauliflower, capsicum, paneer and cheese, and somehow these vegetable flavours mingled brilliantly together, giving a super end result. The dough asked for milk, but the lazy me had none at home, and used water instead.

Inside a pillow

The original was blogged by Sunita and then tried by Arundati, who made sure she kept egging me about this delicious thing she kept making every other day, or so it seemed. I must say it was such a treat. The hubby managed to taste one despite coming home late, and I used the yeasty dough and stuffing for making parathas the next day for lunch. With so many vegetables used, the stuffing mix was still left over, and today was promptly mixed into idli-batter to make lovely pink uthapams.

Yesterday's junky dinner was jhaal mudi, a Bengali style bhel, where mustard oil adds a whole new zing. And today I just ordered some Pairi aam-ras (mango puree) from the shop across the road, mixed a part of this with a part of milk to get some delicious mango milk shake, the last few drops of which I have just cleared off with my fingers. This was today's dinner.

Green bean-tomato salad

Talking about junky dinners, I must admit I made salad for dinner one of these days, a first experience with using green beans in salads which is quite common in American and European cuisine. For me green beans means Paruppu Usili or Pulaos. I used a salad recipe from a blog, Smitten Kitchen that I found on food blog search while searching for 'green bean salad'. Here it is, I just substituted cherry tomatoes with quartered regular tomatoes and red wine vinegar with balsamic vinegar. I wasn't too excited with the flavours, the tomatoes and vinegar combining to give quite a sour taste that I'm not fond of. May be next time I'll omit the tomatoes altogether. This is my entry for Raaga's MBP - Soups and Salads.

Putthandu Vazhthugal - Happy New Year

Today is Varusha Pirappu, or the day when a new year is born according to the traditional Tamil calender.

Here's wishing you a year full of happiness, love and prosperity and of course good food.

Looking for something to make for your New Year lunch?

Browse some authentic Tamil recipes here, or you'll find a larger selection of Tamil food from across the food blogging community, neatly indexed over here.

Putthandu Vazhthugal - Happy New Year

Posted by admin

Today is Varusha Pirappu, or the day when a new year is born according to the traditional Tamil calender.

Here's wishing you a year full of happiness, love and prosperity and of course good food.

Looking for something to make for your New Year lunch?

Browse some authentic Tamil recipes here, or you'll find a larger selection of Tamil food from across the food blogging community, neatly indexed over here.

Sorry about the silence

Life is a roller coaster ride...you have the peaks of bliss and happiness and then the troughs where you feel like all the hopes & dreams have crashed like waves on rocks, reduced to nothingness.

The last one odd month has been one such trough for us, which has taken every fiber of mental strength to stay in one piece and not get shattered by the shock rendered by destiny. It felt very futile to cook, eat and write about it, hence the silence here.

Being a public space, I cannot share with you what exactly went wrong, but I can only say this, that with prayers, love, good wishes from relatives, friends and loved ones, we are slowly recovering, which means we are beginning to cook and eat again - which also means I will not starve my beloved readers anymore.
Thank you for your patience and continued support, I will resume blogging very soon (in a day or so) - besides I am even toying with the idea of starting a personal blog dedicated to positivity, gratitude and well being. You will be surely updated on that when it happens.

Meanwhile, you can read about dear husband's food experience in a recent visit to New York city here. [I'm doing this even at the risk of losing out readers to his definitely-more-gripping writing style! Hahaa] Based on what he's told me, those of you in and around NYC must try out this Asian-Cuban fusion food at Asia de Cuba. He also got me some amazing gifts, any food blogger / food enthusiast will love to get their hands on, which I shall share with you in my subsequent posts :)

Sorry about the silence

Posted by admin

Life is a roller coaster ride...you have the peaks of bliss and happiness and then the troughs where you feel like all the hopes & dreams have crashed like waves on rocks, reduced to nothingness.

The last one odd month has been one such trough for us, which has taken every fiber of mental strength to stay in one piece and not get shattered by the shock rendered by destiny. It felt very futile to cook, eat and write about it, hence the silence here.

Being a public space, I cannot share with you what exactly went wrong, but I can only say this, that with prayers, love, good wishes from relatives, friends and loved ones, we are slowly recovering, which means we are beginning to cook and eat again - which also means I will not starve my beloved readers anymore.
Thank you for your patience and continued support, I will resume blogging very soon (in a day or so) - besides I am even toying with the idea of starting a personal blog dedicated to positivity, gratitude and well being. You will be surely updated on that when it happens.

Meanwhile, you can read about dear husband's food experience in a recent visit to New York city here. [I'm doing this even at the risk of losing out readers to his definitely-more-gripping writing style! Hahaa] Based on what he's told me, those of you in and around NYC must try out this Asian-Cuban fusion food at Asia de Cuba. He also got me some amazing gifts, any food blogger / food enthusiast will love to get their hands on, which I shall share with you in my subsequent posts :)

Thoughts on the 31st December, 2007

It's that time of the year again when we think about the year that was and the year that will be. I'm glad that this love for food blogging has sustained its second year well. There have been the recent lows due to my regular broadband connection going AWOL, and google taking a full minute to load on my standby datacard. But that's history now. The broadband has been restored to its earlier glory and so will food blogging.

To capture all the action on Saffron Trail in 2007, I'd like to index all the recipes, category wise. The WBB round ups are all there on the left column. Saffron Trail had the honour of hosting Jihva for Ingredients in the month of July. Chillies were the chosen ingredient and the round up had 65 entries to make your mouth and eyes water!

Index of recipes blogged in 2007


Healthy Eating & Living
How to snack and lose weight
Detox diets – an overview
Weekend Detox plan
Vijaya Venkat's all natural lunch box ideas
14 ways to reduce your kitchen's carbon footprint

Breakfast
Breakfast Pancakes
Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions
Poro – Parsi Omelette
Onion Rava Dosai with spicy tomato chutney
Oats for dinner
Oats and mango in a glass
Farka – a Tunisian porridge
Vattayappam – steamed rice cakes from Kerala

Vegetables
Cauliflower and fenugreek greens in spicy peanut gravy
Bhindi Masala
Potato in Tamil Brahmin cuisine
Spinach mash or Keerai Masiyal
Bottlegourd in gravy or Dudhi ki sabzi
Snakegourd with lentils
Mushroom tikkis
Kovakkai Paruppu Usili
Bittergourd in spicy gravy or Pavakkai Pitlah
Chargrilled eggplant in yoghurt
Potato wedges
Potato for pooris
Ratatouille
Instant mushroom methi currry
Cabbage curry with Bengali spices
Steamed vegetable manchurian in gravy
Thalagam – Winter vegetables Tambram style
Green beans poriyal

Soups and salads
Red Soup
Cauliflower soup
Herby tomato salad with cheese and pine nuts
Yellow lentil and raw mango salad
Gobo inspired mango salad

Breads
Whole wheat pita bread
Beet milk bread
Zaatari parathas
Poori

Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Starches
Crispy bulgur patties
Cauliflower – Spinach – Pasta casserole
Thiruvadirai Kali
Fried rice with mustard greens
Onion rice

Lentils
Black eyed peas burgers
Instant green moong curry
Sambar with freshly ground spices

Sauces, Chutneys, Dips and Pickles
Homemade Marinara sauce
Mushroom & bell-pepper chutney
Tomato salsa / Instant tomato chutney
Eggplant dip and Red bean dip
Spicy yoghurt dip

Cakes, bakes, desserts
Carrot cake
Eggless beet cakes
The all Indian Strawberry Cheesecake
The easiest Brownies
Quick mango sandesh
Mango coconut icecream
Banana coconut semolina cake in 15 minutes
Seven cup cake
Cocoa ripple ring
5 minute besan laddoo
Eggless mava cake
Eggless banana cake


The most popular section week after week has been the Tamil Brahmin recipes where I jot down notes, taken over the phone (held between my shoulder and ear), while I'm hovering over the stove with a strong craving to eat food my genes are made up of. 2008 will see more of the rarer Tam-Bram recipes find their space on the blog. The piece written about Bhut Jholokia also seems to be on the top 5, at most times. This makes me wonder how many chilli obsessed people there are in the world.

Weekend Breakfast Blogging, the event started in 2006 to popularise breakfast as a meal and to get inspirations from food bloggers all around - found a different home each month from Feb 07 onwards starting with Eggs at Live to eat. The themes ranged from green leafy veggies to summer fruits, spices to oats. Breakfasts then went through Ethnic twists to leftover revivals, the most recent ones being omelettes and cornflakes.
A big vote of thanks to all the lovely hosts who spared time and effort to keep the WBB wheel moving. The event took a break in December, only to start afresh in Jan. (Watch this space!)


Here are some of my personal favourites from 2007

Black eyed peas burgers – Something so interesting from something seemingly boring

Dudhi ki sabzi – One of the best tasting zero-oil recipes ever made in our kitchen

Eggplant dip (Badenjan Dip) – Inspired from Nigella Lawson's show

Cauliflower spinach pasta casserole – my first attempt in casserole making and we fell in love with this dish

Strawberry cheesecake – First attempt and last attempt (by the time we'd eaten all of it, there was an extra inch on our waist)

Nupur of One Hot Stove has beautifully captured the year that's gone by and has asked fellow food bloggers to share the same - this section of my post goes to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plans for 2008
With the Applied Nutrition degree that will be mine in the beginning on the year, the focus will be on healthier, more nutritious food. Through the blog, I hope to share info on healthier foods, cooking techniques and nutrition fundamentals with all the health conscious folks.
The focus will also be on lesser known Indian regional cuisines. I'd love to discover newer healthy ingredients to cook with, making them more adaptable to Indian palates. Another thing on the agenda is to explore the vegetarian recipes from the cuisines of the world. I've also promised myself to better my photographic skills. Any pointers towards books and websites that help one do so are welcome.

A user-friendly index of recipes blogged so far is on the cards for long now. It should be up and running by end of Jan.

I'd like to thank all my readers for their continued support, the encouragement & caring from friends I have made in the food blogging world and of course my husband who has been super encouraging about any wild combinations I've come up with or anything new I've made him try, never making me feel foolish about something gone wrong or not tasting that great. He's been a huge positive influence for this blog. After all, every cook needs patient tasters right!

We'd like to wish all of you a wonderful 2008, that brings you tons of joy, love and good health and everything else you wish for.

Signing off and see you in the new year.
Nandita

Thoughts on the 31st December, 2007

Posted by admin

It's that time of the year again when we think about the year that was and the year that will be. I'm glad that this love for food blogging has sustained its second year well. There have been the recent lows due to my regular broadband connection going AWOL, and google taking a full minute to load on my standby datacard. But that's history now. The broadband has been restored to its earlier glory and so will food blogging.

To capture all the action on Saffron Trail in 2007, I'd like to index all the recipes, category wise. The WBB round ups are all there on the left column. Saffron Trail had the honour of hosting Jihva for Ingredients in the month of July. Chillies were the chosen ingredient and the round up had 65 entries to make your mouth and eyes water!

Index of recipes blogged in 2007


Healthy Eating & Living
How to snack and lose weight
Detox diets – an overview
Weekend Detox plan
Vijaya Venkat's all natural lunch box ideas
14 ways to reduce your kitchen's carbon footprint

Breakfast
Breakfast Pancakes
Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions
Poro – Parsi Omelette
Onion Rava Dosai with spicy tomato chutney
Oats for dinner
Oats and mango in a glass
Farka – a Tunisian porridge
Vattayappam – steamed rice cakes from Kerala

Vegetables
Cauliflower and fenugreek greens in spicy peanut gravy
Bhindi Masala
Potato in Tamil Brahmin cuisine
Spinach mash or Keerai Masiyal
Bottlegourd in gravy or Dudhi ki sabzi
Snakegourd with lentils
Mushroom tikkis
Kovakkai Paruppu Usili
Bittergourd in spicy gravy or Pavakkai Pitlah
Chargrilled eggplant in yoghurt
Potato wedges
Potato for pooris
Ratatouille
Instant mushroom methi currry
Cabbage curry with Bengali spices
Steamed vegetable manchurian in gravy
Thalagam – Winter vegetables Tambram style
Green beans poriyal

Soups and salads
Red Soup
Cauliflower soup
Herby tomato salad with cheese and pine nuts
Yellow lentil and raw mango salad
Gobo inspired mango salad

Breads
Whole wheat pita bread
Beet milk bread
Zaatari parathas
Poori

Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Starches
Crispy bulgur patties
Cauliflower – Spinach – Pasta casserole
Thiruvadirai Kali
Fried rice with mustard greens
Onion rice

Lentils
Black eyed peas burgers
Instant green moong curry
Sambar with freshly ground spices

Sauces, Chutneys, Dips and Pickles
Homemade Marinara sauce
Mushroom & bell-pepper chutney
Tomato salsa / Instant tomato chutney
Eggplant dip and Red bean dip
Spicy yoghurt dip

Cakes, bakes, desserts
Carrot cake
Eggless beet cakes
The all Indian Strawberry Cheesecake
The easiest Brownies
Quick mango sandesh
Mango coconut icecream
Banana coconut semolina cake in 15 minutes
Seven cup cake
Cocoa ripple ring
5 minute besan laddoo
Eggless mava cake
Eggless banana cake


The most popular section week after week has been the Tamil Brahmin recipes where I jot down notes, taken over the phone (held between my shoulder and ear), while I'm hovering over the stove with a strong craving to eat food my genes are made up of. 2008 will see more of the rarer Tam-Bram recipes find their space on the blog. The piece written about Bhut Jholokia also seems to be on the top 5, at most times. This makes me wonder how many chilli obsessed people there are in the world.

Weekend Breakfast Blogging, the event started in 2006 to popularise breakfast as a meal and to get inspirations from food bloggers all around - found a different home each month from Feb 07 onwards starting with Eggs at Live to eat. The themes ranged from green leafy veggies to summer fruits, spices to oats. Breakfasts then went through Ethnic twists to leftover revivals, the most recent ones being omelettes and cornflakes.
A big vote of thanks to all the lovely hosts who spared time and effort to keep the WBB wheel moving. The event took a break in December, only to start afresh in Jan. (Watch this space!)


Here are some of my personal favourites from 2007

Black eyed peas burgers – Something so interesting from something seemingly boring

Dudhi ki sabzi – One of the best tasting zero-oil recipes ever made in our kitchen

Eggplant dip (Badenjan Dip) – Inspired from Nigella Lawson's show

Cauliflower spinach pasta casserole – my first attempt in casserole making and we fell in love with this dish

Strawberry cheesecake – First attempt and last attempt (by the time we'd eaten all of it, there was an extra inch on our waist)

Nupur of One Hot Stove has beautifully captured the year that's gone by and has asked fellow food bloggers to share the same - this section of my post goes to her.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Plans for 2008
With the Applied Nutrition degree that will be mine in the beginning on the year, the focus will be on healthier, more nutritious food. Through the blog, I hope to share info on healthier foods, cooking techniques and nutrition fundamentals with all the health conscious folks.
The focus will also be on lesser known Indian regional cuisines. I'd love to discover newer healthy ingredients to cook with, making them more adaptable to Indian palates. Another thing on the agenda is to explore the vegetarian recipes from the cuisines of the world. I've also promised myself to better my photographic skills. Any pointers towards books and websites that help one do so are welcome.

A user-friendly index of recipes blogged so far is on the cards for long now. It should be up and running by end of Jan.

I'd like to thank all my readers for their continued support, the encouragement & caring from friends I have made in the food blogging world and of course my husband who has been super encouraging about any wild combinations I've come up with or anything new I've made him try, never making me feel foolish about something gone wrong or not tasting that great. He's been a huge positive influence for this blog. After all, every cook needs patient tasters right!

We'd like to wish all of you a wonderful 2008, that brings you tons of joy, love and good health and everything else you wish for.

Signing off and see you in the new year.
Nandita

A Ready-made Wishlist for Santa

Pic courtesy NY Times

The 'tasteful giving' list on the NY Times website, has caught my eye and heart and caught it badly. Each stuff is carefully chosen and is sure to be a delight for any food & kitchen lover. I wish there was one such list of irresistible foodie stuff compiled from stores in India...I'm sure there'll be something (am keeping my eyes open)!

Can you resist a cute yet practical grater like the one above?

For dining and wine lovers in the US, consider this a ready made wish list for Santa :)

A Ready-made Wishlist for Santa

Posted by admin

Pic courtesy NY Times

The 'tasteful giving' list on the NY Times website, has caught my eye and heart and caught it badly. Each stuff is carefully chosen and is sure to be a delight for any food & kitchen lover. I wish there was one such list of irresistible foodie stuff compiled from stores in India...I'm sure there'll be something (am keeping my eyes open)!

Can you resist a cute yet practical grater like the one above?

For dining and wine lovers in the US, consider this a ready made wish list for Santa :)

Stories after the silence & what plans for Diwali?

October has been a record low on Saffron Trail and I wanted to break the jinx. Initially it was the internet. The MTNL broadband connection is still down, but I have kind of gotten used to the Reliance data card. If the see the positive, it means, I'm always connected to the net even in the outdoors. And I've got used to the slower speed.

To add to the internet problem, both the hubby and me fell sick one after the other - and since I was going under weather after a long long time, it was a heavy bout to make up for all the time the flu bugs have missed me! The loss of appetite that comes with taking medicines, made me stay away from all food blogs, even my favourite ones.

After we got up and running, I thought, I'll get back to my blog now. But that inertia and boredom of blogging had grasped me completely. Except for sneaking into a few blogs off and on, and barely making it to text Raaga a birthday message, it's been total hibernation for me. Honestly, I have not been too busy with work, which means a lot of posts could have happened. It's been a strange situation where I know blogging would make me happy and yet I did not want to type blogger.com. The camera is sitting in some unknown location in the house, which has rarely ever happened with me, or any of you food bloggers. I realized it is now or never. If I do not get back now, I probably will distance myself too much from something I love so much.
With Diwali round the corner, I just did a peek into the archives of ST, and discovered that I had gone bonkers making some SIX Diwali treats last year - and most of them being tried for the first time.

Today, gingerly I went into the Another Subcontinent forums, into the Diwali treats thread, checking out on all the goodies. Also, checking out Indira's Mithai section
as well as Manisha's tantalizing Orange Burfi - plus browsing through JFI Diwali Round Up -2006 at Vee's Past, Present and Me - to get some inspirations.

Hope all of you are having a lovely time preparing for Diwali. What are the plans at your end if I may ask? I'd like to try something new and get out of my cooking rut this festive season.

By the way after a really long while, I tried something new yesterday - a one pot Gujarati dish called Daal Dhokli from the Hungry Monster site. It turned out pretty good. Besides that, I've been making homemade thin crust pizzas at least once a week - thanks to the super active yeast sent across by Anita. I can't thank her enough for that. I managed to gather the enthusiasm to try her Potato Bread, but may be the bread read my hastiness and decided not to rise at all, and I thought it would rise on baking, but that did not happen. It turned out to be what I'd call a flop show, but clearly the recipe is not to blame. So I want to try it once more with some more patience on a sunny day.

Otherwise we've been eating out a lot, thanks to my kitchen boredom [translating into blog boredom]. Sernya, a small shack like Tibetan joint run by 78 year old Uncle John, serves heart warming Thukpas, vegetables stir fried Tibetan style, rice and noodles, all for a small sum. If you are in Bombay and you'd like to try out authentic Tibetan food, I'll gladly share the address with you. We also managed to go back to Urban Tadka. I don't know if I've already raved about this place here. We like to call it the one-hour wait place, because no matter how early you land up and which day of the week it is, the minimum wait is one hour. One look at the prices and one taste of the food, and you'll know why people don't mind waiting over an hour to have grub. It's Punjabi fare at its very best. Their biryanis are out of the world and so is their simple yellow dal tadka, or Punjabi Kadhi.

Please share with me your Diwali treat ideas, I desperately need some inspiration this year.

Stories after the silence & what plans for Diwali?

Posted by admin

October has been a record low on Saffron Trail and I wanted to break the jinx. Initially it was the internet. The MTNL broadband connection is still down, but I have kind of gotten used to the Reliance data card. If the see the positive, it means, I'm always connected to the net even in the outdoors. And I've got used to the slower speed.

To add to the internet problem, both the hubby and me fell sick one after the other - and since I was going under weather after a long long time, it was a heavy bout to make up for all the time the flu bugs have missed me! The loss of appetite that comes with taking medicines, made me stay away from all food blogs, even my favourite ones.

After we got up and running, I thought, I'll get back to my blog now. But that inertia and boredom of blogging had grasped me completely. Except for sneaking into a few blogs off and on, and barely making it to text Raaga a birthday message, it's been total hibernation for me. Honestly, I have not been too busy with work, which means a lot of posts could have happened. It's been a strange situation where I know blogging would make me happy and yet I did not want to type blogger.com. The camera is sitting in some unknown location in the house, which has rarely ever happened with me, or any of you food bloggers. I realized it is now or never. If I do not get back now, I probably will distance myself too much from something I love so much.
With Diwali round the corner, I just did a peek into the archives of ST, and discovered that I had gone bonkers making some SIX Diwali treats last year - and most of them being tried for the first time.

Today, gingerly I went into the Another Subcontinent forums, into the Diwali treats thread, checking out on all the goodies. Also, checking out Indira's Mithai section
as well as Manisha's tantalizing Orange Burfi - plus browsing through JFI Diwali Round Up -2006 at Vee's Past, Present and Me - to get some inspirations.

Hope all of you are having a lovely time preparing for Diwali. What are the plans at your end if I may ask? I'd like to try something new and get out of my cooking rut this festive season.

By the way after a really long while, I tried something new yesterday - a one pot Gujarati dish called Daal Dhokli from the Hungry Monster site. It turned out pretty good. Besides that, I've been making homemade thin crust pizzas at least once a week - thanks to the super active yeast sent across by Anita. I can't thank her enough for that. I managed to gather the enthusiasm to try her Potato Bread, but may be the bread read my hastiness and decided not to rise at all, and I thought it would rise on baking, but that did not happen. It turned out to be what I'd call a flop show, but clearly the recipe is not to blame. So I want to try it once more with some more patience on a sunny day.

Otherwise we've been eating out a lot, thanks to my kitchen boredom [translating into blog boredom]. Sernya, a small shack like Tibetan joint run by 78 year old Uncle John, serves heart warming Thukpas, vegetables stir fried Tibetan style, rice and noodles, all for a small sum. If you are in Bombay and you'd like to try out authentic Tibetan food, I'll gladly share the address with you. We also managed to go back to Urban Tadka. I don't know if I've already raved about this place here. We like to call it the one-hour wait place, because no matter how early you land up and which day of the week it is, the minimum wait is one hour. One look at the prices and one taste of the food, and you'll know why people don't mind waiting over an hour to have grub. It's Punjabi fare at its very best. Their biryanis are out of the world and so is their simple yellow dal tadka, or Punjabi Kadhi.

Please share with me your Diwali treat ideas, I desperately need some inspiration this year.

Independence Day Special - The K2K Food Court

If you are an Indian and a foodie, you MUST read this one....it will have you salivating and feeling utterly patriotic at the same time.

Published in the Hindustan Times, New Delhi - 12th August, 2007

The K2K food court
Indian cuisine is like the English language — a stunning repertoire of its own as the foundation while totally open to new elements. That's why it's so madly eclectic and adventurous while retaining its distinct identity. Arab, Persian, Chinese and Western food have all acquired Indian avatars and purists who can't take the heat just leave the kitchen — to sneak back for a taste. Check out these 60 K2K (Kashmir to Kanyakumari) classics that celebrate the way we are.
Read the rest here.

And don't forget to add your 'classic to the list'.

My addition would be Upma Kozhakattai.

Tags: Independence day, Indian classic dishes, India Independence special, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

Independence Day Special - The K2K Food Court

Posted by admin

If you are an Indian and a foodie, you MUST read this one....it will have you salivating and feeling utterly patriotic at the same time.

Published in the Hindustan Times, New Delhi - 12th August, 2007

The K2K food court
Indian cuisine is like the English language — a stunning repertoire of its own as the foundation while totally open to new elements. That's why it's so madly eclectic and adventurous while retaining its distinct identity. Arab, Persian, Chinese and Western food have all acquired Indian avatars and purists who can't take the heat just leave the kitchen — to sneak back for a taste. Check out these 60 K2K (Kashmir to Kanyakumari) classics that celebrate the way we are.
Read the rest here.

And don't forget to add your 'classic to the list'.

My addition would be Upma Kozhakattai.

Tags: Independence day, Indian classic dishes, India Independence special, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

New!! Request-a-recipe

ear Readers,


This page is for you. Here, you are free to post your request for recipes, only vegetarian though. If you are looking for any particular recipe from Tamil Brahmin cuisine, I shall be glad to ask my mom/aunts/grandma and be of assistance.

Also, if there is any recipe you would like me to try and make low cal / healthier or suited to a particular diet as as for diabetics, hypertensives or low-cholesterol - please write in and I shall try my best to help you out.

You will find this page as a link on the sidebar so that it saves you the trouble of emailing me.

Warm regards
Nandita

Updated 16th August,2007

Recipes requested so far

1. TamBram Kozhambu without using dal (lentils)
2. Kurma for Porotta
3. Avial
4. Soya Chunks Curry

Tags: recipe request, healthy recipes, healthy cooking, healthy vegetarian, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

New!! Request-a-recipe

Posted by admin

ear Readers,


This page is for you. Here, you are free to post your request for recipes, only vegetarian though. If you are looking for any particular recipe from Tamil Brahmin cuisine, I shall be glad to ask my mom/aunts/grandma and be of assistance.

Also, if there is any recipe you would like me to try and make low cal / healthier or suited to a particular diet as as for diabetics, hypertensives or low-cholesterol - please write in and I shall try my best to help you out.

You will find this page as a link on the sidebar so that it saves you the trouble of emailing me.

Warm regards
Nandita

Updated 16th August,2007

Recipes requested so far

1. TamBram Kozhambu without using dal (lentils)
2. Kurma for Porotta
3. Avial
4. Soya Chunks Curry

Tags: recipe request, healthy recipes, healthy cooking, healthy vegetarian, Saffron Trail, Recipe, Food, Indian food blog, Healthy eating, Healthy living, Mumbai, India

What fun times we had last night (in my husband's words)

Last night, we had the good luck (due to good friends) who took us along for a spa's promotional party at the Taj Hotel - Apollo Bunder. The highlights of the evening were a hair-style fashion show, 3 salsa performances and another fashion show in which the spa's own members showed off a variety of 'out-of the world' hair styles! That is a short and straight version....for the longer version, check Sumanth's blog. He beat me to writing the gory details about the fun time we had last evening!

And it's Ammas birthday today! Wishing you a very happy birthday Amma.

What fun times we had last night (in my husband's words)

Posted by admin

Last night, we had the good luck (due to good friends) who took us along for a spa's promotional party at the Taj Hotel - Apollo Bunder. The highlights of the evening were a hair-style fashion show, 3 salsa performances and another fashion show in which the spa's own members showed off a variety of 'out-of the world' hair styles! That is a short and straight version....for the longer version, check Sumanth's blog. He beat me to writing the gory details about the fun time we had last evening!

And it's Ammas birthday today! Wishing you a very happy birthday Amma.

Randomly yours...

A lotus in the Orchid Park, KL

Since I've been tagged by quite some friends (one being Arundathi) for this one and because after a serious JFI round up, we all need to celebrate and have some fun, here I am - telling you seven (no more than that) random things about me in no particular order. DH refers to my dear husband.

This is a kind of post that is best written after a stiff drink...because that's when I tend to get introspective. There are plenty of random things about me as there are about anybody else, but I'm also stumped as to whether I should do a long ramble or make it short & to-the-point. A long ramble is more like me and is likely to find more approval with my readers :O

1. On our first visit to Pondicherry, I went berserk in Auroshikha, their sales outlet. I bought almost 20 types of incense sticks, number of candles, candle holders, perfume sachets....so much so that I've been regularly using those incense sticks for over two and a half years and the stock isn't over yet. Ditto with the candles from Pier 1 Imports! Call me an aroma junkie!

2. I always thought baking was some kind of wizardry until I landed in the US, and generally started tinkering with the oven. The fact that something edible emerged from the ingredients used, actually shocked me, the first time over. When we were moving from Rochester to Bombay, the topmost on my mind was an oven, so that I could continue my baking experiments even in Bombay. I'm glad I did because its lovely to see the surprise and happiness on the faces of friends and family members when you take them home-baked goodies. I firmly believe in the fact that when you have to gift something to a person who has everything, make it a handmade gift!

3. I have always taken the local trains in Bombay since my college days. Though they were always crowded as hell. They still are. But ever since I came back to Bombay after a gap of one year of living out of this city, I must have boarded the train not more than 5 times. After the train blasts on 7/11 last year, DH has made me promise I wont get into a train without keeping him posted. More than the fear of a blast, I feel I have simply lost my edge, in nudging my way into the compartments. One need to practice constantly to stay on top of these things, you see!

4. I bought my own house (alright, alright, it was on a loan from the bank) when I was 27, going through the loan process, the agreements, the stamp duty all my myself. The red tapism had me in tears several times during the process, but finally when I stepped into a house which was my own, it was a feeling that cannot be described. The fact that the bank was willing to loan me so much money was yet another high! Well, we sold it a year after since I was leaving the country and I did not want a loan hanging on my head while I was away, but that is another story. Being single instills tremendous courage and determination in you, so for all those girls who are single, go out and do it. You don't have to be someone's daughter or someone's wife to buy a house of your own. You can do it as you!

5. I was a total Hindi film music junkie until I got married to S and I have no shame in admitting that. There was no exposure to western music and I was quite content humming our Desi tunes, especially when I could hardly ever catch the lyrics of the English songs (those days Google wasn't there to come to our rescue either). All my knowledge / appreciation of Western music today from pop to rock to disco to classical to jazz to heavy metal, is all thanks to DH. I call him a walkie-talkie rockopedia and just hearing him talk / write about music and hear his selection has made me quite knowledgeable (if I may say so) in this department.
P.S.
Nowadays, thanks to a certain nasal high-pitched music director turned singer turned actor, I am forced to stay away from Hindi film music, which is in a way strengthening my bond with English music ;)

6. I've never been too fond of animals. More so after my best friend's dog bit me on my chin when I was 7 years old. I'm afraid of stray dogs following me on the road. I don't mind pups though and cats don't scare me either. It's just the dogs and I always feel they are out there trying to get a chance to nip me. It's quite the opposite in DH's case. He's grown up with six dogs and I'm quite convinced that if we ever move into a house with a lawn, I'm going to have to tend to a couple of pet dogs too - BIG ones at that!

7. Till recently, I would crib endlessly to DH and our good friend Lalit to please find me some girl pals (Lalit would say, if he had to run after girls to find me friends, they'd mistake him for a stalker, but I would continue to pester him). It was just plain luck or my karma that I had only guy friends, and would never come across girls of my type (Now you don't want to ask me to detail that! ) ! Of course I found loads of lovely girls in the food blogging scene, some of them in places as far as Weimar, Seattle and Delhi! No one to hang out together in the evening or catch up on shopping while the whole city is on sale or just bond over a chick flick that none of our spouses will be seen dead watching. But off late, as in since May, things have changed and I have atleast 5 good girl pals now, including Preeti who made Mango Sandesh for us.

Anyone who would like to get tagged on this, can please take it up from here.

Randomly yours...

Posted by admin

A lotus in the Orchid Park, KL

Since I've been tagged by quite some friends (one being Arundathi) for this one and because after a serious JFI round up, we all need to celebrate and have some fun, here I am - telling you seven (no more than that) random things about me in no particular order. DH refers to my dear husband.

This is a kind of post that is best written after a stiff drink...because that's when I tend to get introspective. There are plenty of random things about me as there are about anybody else, but I'm also stumped as to whether I should do a long ramble or make it short & to-the-point. A long ramble is more like me and is likely to find more approval with my readers :O

1. On our first visit to Pondicherry, I went berserk in Auroshikha, their sales outlet. I bought almost 20 types of incense sticks, number of candles, candle holders, perfume sachets....so much so that I've been regularly using those incense sticks for over two and a half years and the stock isn't over yet. Ditto with the candles from Pier 1 Imports! Call me an aroma junkie!

2. I always thought baking was some kind of wizardry until I landed in the US, and generally started tinkering with the oven. The fact that something edible emerged from the ingredients used, actually shocked me, the first time over. When we were moving from Rochester to Bombay, the topmost on my mind was an oven, so that I could continue my baking experiments even in Bombay. I'm glad I did because its lovely to see the surprise and happiness on the faces of friends and family members when you take them home-baked goodies. I firmly believe in the fact that when you have to gift something to a person who has everything, make it a handmade gift!

3. I have always taken the local trains in Bombay since my college days. Though they were always crowded as hell. They still are. But ever since I came back to Bombay after a gap of one year of living out of this city, I must have boarded the train not more than 5 times. After the train blasts on 7/11 last year, DH has made me promise I wont get into a train without keeping him posted. More than the fear of a blast, I feel I have simply lost my edge, in nudging my way into the compartments. One need to practice constantly to stay on top of these things, you see!

4. I bought my own house (alright, alright, it was on a loan from the bank) when I was 27, going through the loan process, the agreements, the stamp duty all my myself. The red tapism had me in tears several times during the process, but finally when I stepped into a house which was my own, it was a feeling that cannot be described. The fact that the bank was willing to loan me so much money was yet another high! Well, we sold it a year after since I was leaving the country and I did not want a loan hanging on my head while I was away, but that is another story. Being single instills tremendous courage and determination in you, so for all those girls who are single, go out and do it. You don't have to be someone's daughter or someone's wife to buy a house of your own. You can do it as you!

5. I was a total Hindi film music junkie until I got married to S and I have no shame in admitting that. There was no exposure to western music and I was quite content humming our Desi tunes, especially when I could hardly ever catch the lyrics of the English songs (those days Google wasn't there to come to our rescue either). All my knowledge / appreciation of Western music today from pop to rock to disco to classical to jazz to heavy metal, is all thanks to DH. I call him a walkie-talkie rockopedia and just hearing him talk / write about music and hear his selection has made me quite knowledgeable (if I may say so) in this department.
P.S.
Nowadays, thanks to a certain nasal high-pitched music director turned singer turned actor, I am forced to stay away from Hindi film music, which is in a way strengthening my bond with English music ;)

6. I've never been too fond of animals. More so after my best friend's dog bit me on my chin when I was 7 years old. I'm afraid of stray dogs following me on the road. I don't mind pups though and cats don't scare me either. It's just the dogs and I always feel they are out there trying to get a chance to nip me. It's quite the opposite in DH's case. He's grown up with six dogs and I'm quite convinced that if we ever move into a house with a lawn, I'm going to have to tend to a couple of pet dogs too - BIG ones at that!

7. Till recently, I would crib endlessly to DH and our good friend Lalit to please find me some girl pals (Lalit would say, if he had to run after girls to find me friends, they'd mistake him for a stalker, but I would continue to pester him). It was just plain luck or my karma that I had only guy friends, and would never come across girls of my type (Now you don't want to ask me to detail that! ) ! Of course I found loads of lovely girls in the food blogging scene, some of them in places as far as Weimar, Seattle and Delhi! No one to hang out together in the evening or catch up on shopping while the whole city is on sale or just bond over a chick flick that none of our spouses will be seen dead watching. But off late, as in since May, things have changed and I have atleast 5 good girl pals now, including Preeti who made Mango Sandesh for us.

Anyone who would like to get tagged on this, can please take it up from here.

Saffron Trail in the news and more...

A bit of publicity never hurts.

When Gaurav of Gauravnomics chose Saffron Trail as Desi blog of the day, it was a first for me. And then, Chandana of Cooking Goddess did a sweet little interview.

And yesterday, Mumbai's popular tabloid Mid-day selected ST as the food-blog to check out, I thought it's high time I shared my happiness with you. Appreciation for one's work makes one want to work so much harder.

Thanks Gaurav, Chandana and Mid-day for liking my work and saying these lovely things that have made me feel so good!

Saffron Trail in the news and more...

Posted by admin

A bit of publicity never hurts.

When Gaurav of Gauravnomics chose Saffron Trail as Desi blog of the day, it was a first for me. And then, Chandana of Cooking Goddess did a sweet little interview.

And yesterday, Mumbai's popular tabloid Mid-day selected ST as the food-blog to check out, I thought it's high time I shared my happiness with you. Appreciation for one's work makes one want to work so much harder.

Thanks Gaurav, Chandana and Mid-day for liking my work and saying these lovely things that have made me feel so good!

14 ways to reduce your Kitchen's Carbon Footprint...

.....and such similar thoughts post World Environment Day

Bamboo trees at Kaveri Nisarga Dama near Coorg

Earth, in which lie the sea, river and other waters, in which food and cornfields have come to be, in which lives all that breathes and moves, may she confer on us the finest of her yield.

Earth, in which the waters, common to all, moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night, may she pour on us milk in many streams, and endow us with lustre, May those born of thee, O Earth, be of our welfare, free from sickness and waste, wakeful through a long life, we shall become bearers of tribute to thee.

Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss in full accord with heaven, O wise one, uphold me in grace and splendour.

Atharva Veda

June 5 is 'celebrated' as World Environment Day and here I was mourning over it. Reading about the global warming and how the environment in the big cities is slowly becoming irrepairable is reason enough to mourn. But it is also a reason enough to put our act together to bettering the environment, in our own small way.

What is Carbon Footprint?
A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Small changes in the way we work in the kitchen, can make a huge difference to the environment. Here are some of them.

1. Use natural light whenever available. No point keeping your curtains / blinds shut and then using lights indoors in the day time.


2. If you are using bulbs to light up your place, switch to CFL bulbs right now. CFL bulbs waste less energy, heat up the place less and last longer. Check http://www.banthebulb.org


3. Heating up water? If you need two cups water for tea, fill your kettle with only two cups. A lot of energy will be wasted heating up a kettle full of water and then throwing out the unused water.


4. Solar heaters are very popular in the South of India, with new constructions having their own solar heating devices. India has an abundance of sunlight and we must use it to our advantage, so must other sun rich places.


5. Do you keep the microwave, the blender/mixer, the laptop on standby mode? What is the cooling level in your refrigerator? I am guilty of not having paid attention to this until a few months ago.Keeping appliances on standby does consume a lot of electricity over time. If you are in the kitchen, don't let fans, lights and TV be running in other rooms.


6. If you are using the oven, plan in such a way that you bake 2-3 dishes together, or for a smaller over, keep the next batch ready so that the oven doesn't need to be preheated for the second cycle.


7. Please learn to use a pressure cooker if you don't use it already. Cooking rice, vegetables, lentils gets done in almost 1/10 th of the time it takes to cook them by boiling. This means you would have consumed 5-10 times the energy by not using a pressure cooker.


8. If your city certifies that the tap water is potable, then go ahead and use tap water. Bottled water just increases the plastic load in the environment.


9. Use your public market as against super markets whenever possible. The stuff there is local, they haven't be flown in (air travel increases carbon load in environment tremendously), besides all open air markets, especially in India, use natural air and lighting.


10. When you go shopping in outdoor markets, take your own cloth / jute bag. Say no to bringing in any extra plastic at home. I carry a huge canvas bag to bring in my veggies and fruits from the outdoor market.


11. Do a planned kitchen supplies & grocery shopping so that you get things done in one trip. Carpool and go shopping with friends, you can enjoy, save fuel and also reduce emissions.


12. Use steel or glass crockery, avoid plastic plates and glasses at all costs. For picnics, carry paper cups and plates, these can be recyled into paper once again. The plastic will stay on for a million years if thrown around. When we were kids, there was hardly any kid in the class who would get a plastic lunch box, it was steel all the way and today I think even kids have been programmed to think of plastic as fashionable and steel as downmarket!


13. Please don't run dishwashers and washing machines with a less-than-full load. This wastes a lot of power. If your kitchen sink has a hot water funtion, use the hot water judiciously.


14. Grow as much greenery as your house will permit. Use small earthern pots, plastic food containers that you'd throw away otherwise, broken tea cups to grow small herbs and plants. It will liven up your kitchen incredibly, give you a steady supply of herbs and not to mention all the extra oxygen supply - and all you need is a corner or a window sill.

The biggest problem we in India today face is the "Ek mere se kya hoga?" (in Hindi for -What difference will one person make?) mentality. But imagine, if everyone started thinking like this, then we would have successfully managed to sully our environment by several notches and imagine the vice versa would be true too. If each one just managed their house and its immediate surroundings, the day wont be far when we can boast of a clean, environmentally sound city.


If you have any tips on how we can better the environment, in our own little way, please add it on! We can all do with learning from other's experiences.

More reading - Carbon Footprint , Bulb fiction

(Written for foodblogging community at Dining Hall)

14 ways to reduce your Kitchen's Carbon Footprint...

Posted by admin

.....and such similar thoughts post World Environment Day

Bamboo trees at Kaveri Nisarga Dama near Coorg

Earth, in which lie the sea, river and other waters, in which food and cornfields have come to be, in which lives all that breathes and moves, may she confer on us the finest of her yield.

Earth, in which the waters, common to all, moving on all sides, flow unfailingly, day and night, may she pour on us milk in many streams, and endow us with lustre, May those born of thee, O Earth, be of our welfare, free from sickness and waste, wakeful through a long life, we shall become bearers of tribute to thee.

Earth, my mother, set me securely with bliss in full accord with heaven, O wise one, uphold me in grace and splendour.

Atharva Veda

June 5 is 'celebrated' as World Environment Day and here I was mourning over it. Reading about the global warming and how the environment in the big cities is slowly becoming irrepairable is reason enough to mourn. But it is also a reason enough to put our act together to bettering the environment, in our own small way.

What is Carbon Footprint?
A Carbon Footprint is a measure of the impact human activities have on the environment in terms of the amount of green house gases produced, measured in units of carbon dioxide.

Small changes in the way we work in the kitchen, can make a huge difference to the environment. Here are some of them.

1. Use natural light whenever available. No point keeping your curtains / blinds shut and then using lights indoors in the day time.


2. If you are using bulbs to light up your place, switch to CFL bulbs right now. CFL bulbs waste less energy, heat up the place less and last longer. Check http://www.banthebulb.org


3. Heating up water? If you need two cups water for tea, fill your kettle with only two cups. A lot of energy will be wasted heating up a kettle full of water and then throwing out the unused water.


4. Solar heaters are very popular in the South of India, with new constructions having their own solar heating devices. India has an abundance of sunlight and we must use it to our advantage, so must other sun rich places.


5. Do you keep the microwave, the blender/mixer, the laptop on standby mode? What is the cooling level in your refrigerator? I am guilty of not having paid attention to this until a few months ago.Keeping appliances on standby does consume a lot of electricity over time. If you are in the kitchen, don't let fans, lights and TV be running in other rooms.


6. If you are using the oven, plan in such a way that you bake 2-3 dishes together, or for a smaller over, keep the next batch ready so that the oven doesn't need to be preheated for the second cycle.


7. Please learn to use a pressure cooker if you don't use it already. Cooking rice, vegetables, lentils gets done in almost 1/10 th of the time it takes to cook them by boiling. This means you would have consumed 5-10 times the energy by not using a pressure cooker.


8. If your city certifies that the tap water is potable, then go ahead and use tap water. Bottled water just increases the plastic load in the environment.


9. Use your public market as against super markets whenever possible. The stuff there is local, they haven't be flown in (air travel increases carbon load in environment tremendously), besides all open air markets, especially in India, use natural air and lighting.


10. When you go shopping in outdoor markets, take your own cloth / jute bag. Say no to bringing in any extra plastic at home. I carry a huge canvas bag to bring in my veggies and fruits from the outdoor market.


11. Do a planned kitchen supplies & grocery shopping so that you get things done in one trip. Carpool and go shopping with friends, you can enjoy, save fuel and also reduce emissions.


12. Use steel or glass crockery, avoid plastic plates and glasses at all costs. For picnics, carry paper cups and plates, these can be recyled into paper once again. The plastic will stay on for a million years if thrown around. When we were kids, there was hardly any kid in the class who would get a plastic lunch box, it was steel all the way and today I think even kids have been programmed to think of plastic as fashionable and steel as downmarket!


13. Please don't run dishwashers and washing machines with a less-than-full load. This wastes a lot of power. If your kitchen sink has a hot water funtion, use the hot water judiciously.


14. Grow as much greenery as your house will permit. Use small earthern pots, plastic food containers that you'd throw away otherwise, broken tea cups to grow small herbs and plants. It will liven up your kitchen incredibly, give you a steady supply of herbs and not to mention all the extra oxygen supply - and all you need is a corner or a window sill.

The biggest problem we in India today face is the "Ek mere se kya hoga?" (in Hindi for -What difference will one person make?) mentality. But imagine, if everyone started thinking like this, then we would have successfully managed to sully our environment by several notches and imagine the vice versa would be true too. If each one just managed their house and its immediate surroundings, the day wont be far when we can boast of a clean, environmentally sound city.


If you have any tips on how we can better the environment, in our own little way, please add it on! We can all do with learning from other's experiences.

More reading - Carbon Footprint , Bulb fiction

(Written for foodblogging community at Dining Hall)

Food News: Bhut Jolokia

Bhut Jolokia*

Move over Savina Habanero! The Indian Bhut Jolokia is here!

What is Bhut Jolokia?

Bhut Jolokia in Assamese means 'Ghost Chillies'. The Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring hybrid native to the Assam region of northeastern India.

So why is it in news?

This chilli has been officially designated as the World's HOTTEST chilli as per The Guinness Book of Records.

How hot is this chilli?

Heat from chillies is mesaured in Scoville heat units. Bhut Jolokia registers in at
1,001,304 Scoville heat units (SHU).

Is that a lot?

The Red Savina chilli was considered the hottest until now, the heat of which is just half of the Bhut Jolokia at 577,000 SHU. Your average Jalapeno measures in at about 10 000 SHU. Now you know why the Bhut is REALLY hot.

In April last year, Dorset claimed to grow the World's hottest chilli, the Dorset Naga that beat the Savina Habanera by almost 60% higher SHU at 876,000. The Naga is actually sold with a health warning and it is found to have originated in Bangladesh. So now, we have the hottest as well as the second hottest coming from the Indian-subcontinent. If the Dorest Naga is supposed to blow your head off, imagine the power of the Bhut!

Now you tell me why the locals call it the 'GHOST CHILLI'!

Until something HOTTER is discovered, we Indians can feel proud of the fact we are at present the SPICIEST in the world!

*Image courtesy: Alibaba.com

Food News: Bhut Jolokia

Posted by admin

Bhut Jolokia*

Move over Savina Habanero! The Indian Bhut Jolokia is here!

What is Bhut Jolokia?

Bhut Jolokia in Assamese means 'Ghost Chillies'. The Bhut Jolokia is a naturally occurring hybrid native to the Assam region of northeastern India.

So why is it in news?

This chilli has been officially designated as the World's HOTTEST chilli as per The Guinness Book of Records.

How hot is this chilli?

Heat from chillies is mesaured in Scoville heat units. Bhut Jolokia registers in at
1,001,304 Scoville heat units (SHU).

Is that a lot?

The Red Savina chilli was considered the hottest until now, the heat of which is just half of the Bhut Jolokia at 577,000 SHU. Your average Jalapeno measures in at about 10 000 SHU. Now you know why the Bhut is REALLY hot.

In April last year, Dorset claimed to grow the World's hottest chilli, the Dorset Naga that beat the Savina Habanera by almost 60% higher SHU at 876,000. The Naga is actually sold with a health warning and it is found to have originated in Bangladesh. So now, we have the hottest as well as the second hottest coming from the Indian-subcontinent. If the Dorest Naga is supposed to blow your head off, imagine the power of the Bhut!

Now you tell me why the locals call it the 'GHOST CHILLI'!

Until something HOTTER is discovered, we Indians can feel proud of the fact we are at present the SPICIEST in the world!

*Image courtesy: Alibaba.com