It's a lazy Sunday afternoon in Vancouver. I survive cloudy days like today with gallons of green tea with lemon! I went to the gym early today and had a good workout with my hubby. What does your Sunday look like? Sundays can reveal a lot of things about a person or family. The religious are seen at the church while the laid backs sleep in, the foodies are at their favorite restaurants while the gym is packed with the health conscious. Back in India, my family had a Sunday routine we all looked forward to. After the morning tea, my dad would spare an hour or so cleaning up his scooter. He was meticulous about maintaining all his equipment and Sundays were perfect for this favorite … [Read more...]
Vegan Dessert – Chocolate Mousse with Sweet Potato
"Dating" is a foreign concept in India. I was looking up the literal meaning of dating and came across this on Wikipedia: While the term dating has many meanings, the most common refers to a trial period in which two people explore whether to take the relationship further towards a more permanent relationship. "Trial Period", you say? No wonder then "dating" didn't take off in the land of arranged marriages! There are no trial periods - either you want to marry a girl or you don't. Okay, I know I am being a bit harsh here. The concept of dating has indeed started in the metros in India. But for the most part, even now, a guy and a girl cannot publicly admit their liking for each other. … [Read more...]
Quick and Easy Dessert – Raw Cheesecake
Indian Marriages confuse western folks. Unlike western marriages, ceremonies in India are loud, multi-day, drawn-out events. In the western world, the bride and groom are the stars of the ceremony. Both of them get to plan everything about their wedding - the venue, the flower arrangements and the honeymoon. Things are not so simple in India, where both families have a say in every aspect of the event. The bride and groom might not even know most of the people on the guest list! My western friends find the topic of Arranged Marriages especially bamboozling. I have seen some of them spread their eyes so wide open when I talk about arranged marriages, I worry about their physical well-being. I … [Read more...]
Fennel Salad
There are beautiful mountains all over British Columbia and we have some of the best ski resorts in the world. Some people look forward to winters, especially here in Vancouver. I on the other hand, have only tried skiing once and I wasn't particularly good at it. I feel a bit out of my element in the cold weather. I have been lucky to have lived in a place with sunny, tropical weather all my life before coming to Vancouver. Needless to say, Vancouver has been quite an adjustment, and I am not the jolliest person to be around this time of the year! My younger sister, Lopa, moved to Toronto a couple of weeks back. She had lived in London for a little over a year, but she hasn't seen … [Read more...]
Sunchoke Soup
I still remember how excited I was on my first day at culinary school. Me and 19 others just like me were wearing our new white coats, white hats, with the new knife sets we had just bought on our shoulders. Surely, we were all subconsciously feeling like the contestants on Top Chef, ready to amaze everyone else with our skills! So our instructor walked into the kitchen, gave us all a smile, and asked us a question: How many players are there on a football team? A couple of enthusiastic students answered in unison: 11 players on each team, Chef! The instructor continued: So out of the 22 players on the football field, how many handle the ball at any given time? One player, Chef! So what … [Read more...]
Quinoa Paella – A Healthy Vegetarian Paella Recipe
There is something sexy about men cooking! Every culture has festivals or traditions where a group of men comes together and cookout under the sky, generally on an open fire - be it the American barbecue, Indian biryani, or Spanish paella. As family stories flow over drinks in the open air, and men take charge of everything - from building the fire to the actual cooking, the whole experience truly is a food lover's paradise. I have worked with some amazing male chefs, and I personally know guys who absolutely enjoy cooking at home. But there are some men who lack the patience to work in the kitchen! Even these reluctant cooks light up when they see an open fire. Give them a couple of beers … [Read more...]
Gluten Free Muffins – Apple and Cinnamon Muffins
I don't think there is any dispute about which is the best part of a muffin - it's the muffin top! You can tell a lot about a person based on how they eat their muffin. The calm and heedful carefully detach the top of the muffin and put it aside to savor later. They want to end their muffin eating experience on a high note; these are the people who believe in delayed gratification. The impulsive, on the other hand, lack the patience and take a big bite out of the muffin top! A muffin can also be used to test the bond of a relationship, just ask a couple to share a muffin. You certainly hope to see two happy people beaming with joy a few moments later, but do cross your fingers! In … [Read more...]
Roasted Root Vegetable Salad with Millet
"Let your food be your medicine and your medicine your food". -Hippocrates Growing up as a kid in India, my daily diet reflected this simple philosophy. We ate our food according to the needs of our bodies. Eating seasonal food automatically took care of the body's nutritional requirements for that season. I also remember a number of my mom's home remedies to common ailments - Sore throat? Honey with turmeric. Upset stomach? Bitter green juice. Food was indeed our medicine. From what I read and hear about the food culture in the western world a few decades ago, it wasn't much different from India. It can not be a coincidence then, how the "factory food" culture has dragged in the same … [Read more...]
Gluten Free Snack – Healthy Amaranth Flour Crackers with Cauliflower Dip
Maybe it is just Vancouver, but I feel like everyone around me is turning into a foodie! Vancouver has always been a foodie town, but lately, I find people here are super conscious about where they buy their produce, what they cook and what restaurants they frequent. Being a food blogger is like being a drug dealer in a town of addicts. Maybe that's not the best example, but you get the idea - it is good to be a food blogger in Vancouver! When I am not cooking or eating, I like to research and read up about ingredients I can use in my recipes. I recently came across a superfood I had never cooked with before - Amaranth seeds. The more I read about this ingredient, the more excited I have … [Read more...]
Mushroom Risotto – Brown Rice Risotto with Wild Mushrooms
I started my culinary school program in the winter of 2012, along with 15 others chef wannabes. We spent one month learning one specific skill set - from knife skills, butchery, baking to classical sauces - and then moved on to the next block. There are chefs who have dedicated their entire lives exploring just one of the skills on this list. So trying to even learn the basics of so many different aspects of the culinary world was just mind-numbing. When my sister visited us here in Vancouver, I was nearing the end of my training. Lopa and her husband Nikhil spent about a month with us, and I was so excited to cook all the different dishes I had learned at the culinary school. Lopa and … [Read more...]