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I had apprehensions about reading love god and the art of french cooking , wondering if it would get preachy. So far, the author is organizing his messy past relationships. Vegetables speak to his mentor-chef Roger. Roger feels apssionat about all giving food. He uses food processes as metaphors to explain thins in life. He explains that garlic heals by trapping tis juices in itself when cut. He believes that the way to get essence out of it is to smash it. When I chose to read this book, I was apprehensive about the love, god part of it but couldnt let go of the French cooking part. I didnt get much of that too. The two chefs Roger and Alain from whom the author learns about food make us see things like how food cooked with love elevates it from being nourishment to just the body. Roger has many metaphors in cooking processes - cut garlic healing itself, eggs binding rosti potatoes - that he uses to clarify life. The master chef lets the produce talk to him and believes in the l

Having added a new scar from recent cooking - a tip to cooks old and new - when you close the lid on a cooking hot pan, do it away from you, so your hands are not exposed to the unbenign steam. Today my husband came up with an idea of making a curry with ridge gourd and spinach. Not sure how the combo would turn out, i was willing to make them seperate. After he was done with chopping, he had very few ridge gourd pieces microwaved. Until then, I was reminded of a spinach curry I once made which was not palatable. But today's turned out good with urad dal added.

I made the paneer today. With that I made pudina paneer . I needed the peanuts for morning's poha, so used putnala pappu. Finally the curry turned out more like a chutney. Not very happy. Dinner was at Oregano's.  Cuban Sandwich. Waffle potato fries and sweet potato fries with aioli. 

The sorcerers apprentices Ferran Adria  makes yabu by collecting the skin on boiled milk and then rolls parmesan in it. In preparing Basundi, this recipe asks us to collect cream layers . Doing that, I find it not easy to take it out as a perfect layer. For a grainier texture, this recipe of basundi  uses lemon juice. While having Basundi, i was reminded of Kulfi  and realise that by freezing Basundi, you have Kulfi. Its turning out to be 'Indian sweets 101' today. The procedure for making Basundi and sweet Rabri  are same. Rabri is also the liquid poured on Ras malai . The solid is the same as in Rasgulla . Its a tight knit owrld of sweets out there. I can pass Rasgulla and I like Rasmalai only for the rabri in it. At our college, there was a sweet called 'Kela rabri', thats when I first heard of it. el bulli Another diner's experience

There's an apple-pomegranate sparkling wine lying dormant in the kitchen for a long time. Today it made its way into pancakes  replacing 1/2cup  of 3/4 cup of milk in this recipe. I have to find many more recipes to us e it all up. I saw  mimosa brownie recipe but that uses only a tbsp of it. sparkling wine cupcakes sparkling wine cake Today also is the time for using up ragi flour which was bought for the express purpose of ragi sankati .

When I look at so many chicken variations, I feel like making them all. Today there was enough chicken to try 2 kinds. I made methi murgh  and murgh musallam . There was a point while making them, where I wondered if they would taste any different. One version was marinated and the other not. There would be that difference. that kind of helped the cooking process, giving me time to cook one while the other was marinating. Both called for tomato puree and onion paste. I used dried methi, so it did make a difference in the curries. I like the taste of both at the end. They can use more spices but that must be the insatiable me. I wanted to make a dessert in no time. I didnt want the recipe to have 3 cups of flour. This chocolate fire cake  recipe with its 1-1/4 cup flour wooed me. It was easy to mix and quick to pop it in the oven. Instead of chocolate chips, I used butterscotch chips. I used pasilla chile powder instead of red pepper. I am now making peas pulav  minus the garam masala

Bottle gourd. There is a plain jane way I cook it. I wanted to cook it differently. Especially after having a taste of what my colleague did using chunky peanut powder. His was a dry version. We are having the curry with roti. Some people prefer dry curries with roti. I like curries with gravy. In no mood to grind, I resorted to whole peanuts. As soon as the gravy idea came to mind, the replication of what my colleague made veered off the track. The idea was to see how it would taste with yogurt. I have always addd yogurt in curries only when I am inviting friends over. The reason being the recipes I follow then, ask me to. I have never felt an intuitive urge to shake up things with adding yogurt. The end result was tangy and went well with me. The curry had a red oil look to it. this week for dinner

500 cupcakes

Over the weekend, as we drove in to Sedona, I saw the 3D emergence of Sedona from the I17 and was amazed that I hadnt seen it all the time sthat I have been there. A seesaw of cloudy and sunny day. I guessed that there is a rainbow in the offing. We did catch a rainbow at half the height of bell rock. We saw bands of trees in fall colours. And lunch was at Tara Thai cuisine. In the parking lot were white booths selling art & crafts. There always seems to be a fair going on like that, only the location varies. Last time after hiking Mt Wilson, visit to the Chapel, and a sighting of Nicolas Cage's house with 4 garages, a visitor to the town was taken to the then running fair to picks trinkets for his wife. This time we found a man packing a wig with long hair. My friend asked him abou it only to find that it was horse's hair and not donated by a native person from her flwoing sheet of straight hair. Once in the restaurant, we all ordered the soup instead of the salad. The

I came across Spherification earlier in the article Incredible Edibles . And now in The sorcerer's apprentices - A season in the kitchen at Ferran Adria's ElBulli.

Yesterday we had a friend over. He brought us amazing looking and tasting sweets made of kaju katli. Once we had them we started working out how the sweet was accomplished.Its from Rangoli sweets in Santa Clara. We were running out of time in menu planning and execution. So we dropped the dessert idea. What an excellent replacement! For the occasion my other friend made chicken biryani. We used drum sticks, so she cooked the chicken before layering it with rice. A little more spice would have been wonderful. Each time I came across an onion strand, I felt the tang of the lemon juice in it.

Kitchen simple - also author of 'baking'. authors blog a review

Maine classics That picture on the coverbook right there is a shortcake with seafood. One thing I am amazed at in this book is the different treatments that can be given to oyster.

the apple lover's cookbook While looking at the different kinds of apples in the book, two that caught my attention becasue of their colour - Hidden Rose Apples  and Pink Pearl  apples. Some recipes that appealed to me - pumpkin and apple custard, sweet potato and apple latkes. The book had the recipe for morning glory muffins too. authors blog On a tangent, Amazing edible art

Rotisserie  chicken. Last night we bought it. I have passed through it a million times but since two are not enough to finish it, friday night with friends was the opportune moment for it. I have always seen the meaty part of a turkey sliced. So when my friend was about to cut the chicken, I expeted her to meet it horizontally, but she did so vertically. First big lesson, it has big bones in it. Must have been all those honey glazed ham pictures which numbed me to bones. We were hungry so my husband and I each ate a leg. I told my friend that she could  have the other two legs. The correction is they are wings.

I am a shoddy cook. I like to put things ont he stove and gallivant.On the contrary, my husband likes to oversee that everything is going fine on the stove. When I had a pan full and some cabbage to cook, I decided to leave the remaining to go into another dish, another day. When I asked my husband to give the cooked cabbage a stir so it would get the colour from the turmeric and the onion base all mixed well, he stayed by it and added the remaining cabbage. In some long time, we had a well cooked cabbage curry. I have seen people do magic with cabbage curry. When cutting the cabbage, we could smell it. It doesnt happen to be his favourite smell. One of my exroomate could slice the cabbage really thin. My friend's sister fried lot of urad dal for this curry. The smell of fried urad dal stays with you. This evening I could smell a dosa imagining the smell of fried urad dal. I am finally putting my olfactory senses to work. I was in a odorless world for a long time now. A little mor

With very little time in the morning, I had to prepare lunch. I boiled some penne. I added olive oil, dried parsley and ground black pepper. I then added some chopped boiled eggs. This was the planned lunch. An email declared that the cafeteria was doing an early Thanksgiving Lunch. My first thanksgiving lunch was at a host parents house. The rolls coming fresh out of the oven. the first time I met them at an Indian restaurant they overwhelmed me by ordering five dishes for us three.I thought the turkey would be bland but the sage crust done turkey was juicy and flavorful. Mashed potatoes are my husbands favorite. Looking at the assortment of gravy, stuffing, cranberry sauce, reen beans, grilled acorn squash, sweet potato wedges, he couldnt decide what to eat when he had to have seconds. Pumpkin pie cooling in the fridge was only going to add to the traffic jam of choices. Now I have to learn how to make those green beans. And all the recipes of celery for its negative calorie advanta

Today Guy Fieri was talking about crab dishes and surprised that one of them didnt use Old Bay. I hant heard of it and thought it was obay.

Beaten seared and sauced . Looking at the cover book picture I am reminded of the egg seperators that we saw at the Fountain Hills art and craft fair. small cups that look like an owl with a slit for a mouth that will stop the yellow from leaving the cup. You have seen many optical illusions where same sized white and dark squares appear different size.  Try mit checker shadow illusion . But how about palate manipulation with light and dark chocolate assortments. Magus CIA professor had vegetables cuts cast in plastic  so that the aspiring chefs had something to compare against while sharpening their cutting skills. Chasseur Fricassee Gribiche . Lebovitz's take Arepa Gastrique Moo goo gai pan The truth of tea leaves picked by trained monkeys . seasoning the pan When the author talks about identifying everything on the table by taste, I was reminded of the scene in Hereafter  where the culinary class has to recognise the igredients when blindfolded, by taste. At CIA, yo

100 recipes every woman should know Engagement Chicken devilandegg simplysifted  - her banana bread with apple sauce in it. marry me lasagna Make it in the car artichoke dip. The recipe suggests microwaving at the party. Today Rachel Ray offered a make ahead recipe for a pasta which needs a final baking in the oven that can be done at the host's house too. Michelada Sarah jio milk in cupcake? Bridging - a term used by chefs when an ingredient makes different appearances in a dish.

I first came across Marcela Valladolid  in Food network's the best thing I ever ate. That same night I saw her on Nate Berkus show. I then picked up her book. The introduction with her background of going to a San Diego school from Tijuana made for quite an imaginary ride between two nations. Shrimp stuffed in chiles, shrimp served in scooped half avocado make for great edible-carrier foods. I had shrimp on Friday at the office, when my friend shared his flatbread lunch with me. With shrimp, scallops I find myself thinking that they are fine but not as tender as chicken. That day the chef, put some hummus he made on a piece of flatbread and called it a Taquito . I liked the hummus but the Pesto , not being a cheese lover, I made a bitter face. Green Pipian Avocado cilantro dip for cauliflower sounds good. This is what I used for making the avocado rice using Robinson's 'Green Goddess recipe'. Chayote with yogurt dip The author provides the history of recipes very

On the way back from Payson, we were up for viewing Fountain hills. It happened to be the first 15 min of an hour at that time, so the fountain was visible even from the highway. We turned into Shea Blvd. There were signs about an art & Crafts fair. When we were close to he location, a detour took us around a lake. In the center of the lake, I spooted a lotus looking concrete thing. It occured to me that this is the fountain we were looking for. I have been there more than 5 years ago. We walked around the endless booths. I saw the Funnel cakes , but when I saw he guy cooking behind pull out brown looking oil, all my appetite for it melted. There was a hanging - twirler with a ball in it. It seemed like the ball was going down, quite an optical illusion. Our hunger led us to Chen garden. The egg flower soup was good. I will never order hot and sour soup after the Yosemite experience. We had Yu shan spicy chicken  and dun dun noodles . Both seemed to have the same sauce. It remind

Chips and salsa. They are always different. Here the salsa was served in a jar. The chips were toasted hard. I couldnt pay attention to the menu to order, as I was busy downing the chips and salsa. At some point, which we arrived at after a refill of our chips boat, I felt that my mouth had its fill of chips taste and stopped the consumption. We had Chicken la Sierra at La Sierra Mexican restaurant in Payson. It had tomatillo sauce in it. spicy. It almost tasted like chicken curry. The menu said that the traditional dishes would have both rice and beans. We found neither on the plate. when we asked the waiter he said, "Not with this one". later on billing we did see that the price went dow by a dollar for speaking out. As we went along with the dish, we did find some rice buried under the sauce. Which Mexican restaurant does that? I have always seen the rice and beans on the side. My husband had to ahve Tamales as he has never had it before. He wasnt very impressed. we had b

Yesterday, my husband picked up avocados while we were on a quick trip to grocery. It wasnt on the list. But he had liked the guac last time. When I had made guac for the first time, I told my friend about it. she shared this green goddess rice recipe with me. She thought that the dish was better if cilantro replaces basil. With an extra avocado, apart from the two meant for guac, I made this rice. It is a mild flavor but definitely present. I wondered while tasting it, how Robinson came up with this idea. I like this better than spinach rice that I have made before.

After chopping carrots, green thumb looked at the ends with yellow sprouts and decided to hide them in soil. In some days, we now have some leaves there.

Few days ago, I froze water in a small cup with a spoon in to make chocolate cups later. Today happened to be the right time for it. I melted butterscotch chips and dipped the frozen cup filler in the chocolate. I left it in the bowl to attend to other things. When I tried to wiggle the ice lose, it came out easily but the bottom of the cup stuck to the bowl. Then it was also a good time to try this recipe for cup of coffee cake in under five  forwarded by my friend. I used 1 whole egg and replaced sourcream with yogurt. I chose not to use the crumble. Instead I put chunks of just solidified butterscotch into the mixture before putting it into the microwave. It is a cool idea. Especially if you want to try out how some flavours work in cake and not have to do with a large cake and that too without having to spend too much time on it. And not much stuff to beat or clean.

Off the eaten path Nana Dean's coconut pecan pie  recipe is so different from Coconut cream pie at Cattleman's steakhouse. fried pickles panna cotta  uses 4 cups heavy cream and 1 cup water while pecan panna cotta of the crazy baker uses 3 cups milk and  cup whipping cream. The book managed to have a wide variety of recipes

With urad flour in pantry, I soaked the flours for no grind dosa . It was almost good, the dosas browned well, but I missed the fermented flavor. Lets hope that it gets so by tomorrow morning. Referred to chiroti rava and paanipuri rava in the recipe, I found the method of chiroti rava fascinating. And assuming that its the 'cream of rice' that makes pani puri , I mixed the ingredients. Now I am left with an unyielding mass. The best flour for pizza .

Lidias italy in america Lidia's Arancini - Rice Balls has mozarella inside while Mary ann Esposito has them stuffed with ragu in her book 'Ciao Italia'. basil pistachio pesto spinach walnut pesto Mafalda sauce Artichoke  is in the thistle family Its stalks dont seem to belong but the purple flower does.

Italians have many  sayings involving food and atleast two of them start with .'dont let the armer know...'.  Francine Segan's dolci book has a saying accompanied with each recipe. Ciao italia chickpea fritters using flour. Pastelle, Onion fritters are made by the author by boiling the onions and then mashing them into the batter. Indian pakoras are made using raw onions. Butcher's pepper Using fresh and dried cheese in a recipe. In 'Holiday dinners with Bradley Ogden', Ogden used  Fuyu persimmons for garnish and hachiya persimmons  for base dessert. Paccheri pasta Italian Wedding soup ziti groom strawberry risotto rice omelet Involtini  - fish are rolled around a stuffing.

Holiday dinners with bradley ogden persimmon bread corn stock Even the Thanksgiving book by Peppas has a recipe for fennel salad. coffee spiced prime rib roast.

peasandthankyou Many recipes - falafel with tempeh.

In Thanksgiving , Pappas suggests cutting a X in the pearl onion to prevent telescoping which I cant seem to find much about. using ginger snap crumb as base for pumpkin pie adds spice to it. Another thing that I havent before is brining the turkey.

One good thing about monsoons: They sure keep the dust down. - Pamela Michael This essay catches the bewilderment of seeing something majestic for the first time from an unexpected viewpoint. Recently I saw a photo of Greere after it was burnt. I saw the path between the trees above and beneath was laid with a carpet made from hay. On questioning the photographer about it, he said that the carpet was in preparation for the rains so the soil wouldnt be eroded. A prompt to find a good thing about everything, to improve our pespective.

For lunch, I had Baghali Polo at zaytoon. The rice was very dry. There was butter wrapped in foil on the side, but I didnt use it. I know that could have made the rice palatable. The chicken was fine. Very yellow. To eat the pita, the grease transferred from the kabab which lied on the pita for a while was enough to smooth it down. There was a grilled tomato, but didnt give it much shot. I liked the sound of zoolbia bamieh. I am familiar with zoolbia- jalebi. There was tiger shrimp  too on the menu. Before lunch, we were wondering how different is Persian food from Mediterranean and loaded up on some wiki knowledge.

A funny article Prep school that begins with a puff of cloud scene. It is true that at home we dont get to cutting the vegetables until the pan hows at us hungrily with the onions browned. How to become an intuitive cook Saints,cakes and redemption is an excellent article, a 'sweet tooth fairy' tale. Nathan's cooking science Recipe from a non-chef Breadwinners by Indrani Sen I looked at these articles from the Table of ceontents from Best Food Writing 2011.

lucky peach . Double Dhamaka. Like the double soup. Ramen noodles are presented in all of their history and the latest developments in the way they are made and served now in Tokyo. alkaline noodles Thumbelina carrots After reading so much about Ramen, dinner today is Maggi noodles.  All that noodles suffused with soup make me fantasize a liquidy version of Maggi. I put the water for boil after adding the spice powder from the silver pouches. While reading some food articles, maggi smell wafted to the living room and I knew that the water has come to a boil. We had maggi as night snack in undergrad whenever we had to put an all nighter preparing for tests. In the college canteen, it was a plain version with only onions in it. Fried maggi available at restaurants close by was Maggi gone soigne. The first time I made it at home, it didnt go well with my culinarily non-experimental folks. Now I hear, my dad adds peanuts to his maggi. 11.2.11 Today the hunter without the club, got ho