Ladled

Not the pan but the bread. Today from Desir bakery, I had 'Wheat bran walnut raisin bread'. At first it seemed dry but with a little resting on the desk. It turned into a temptress with a savoring of each bite. At first I saw only the raisins. With the next slices, when my main job was to scout for the walnuts. I felt the crunch. Dunked in tea, the half that I cut off the tall slice wasnt enough. I had to go for another half. Does food taste better when it is shared? whole wheat walnut raisin bread  seems so less sinful than  cinnamon bread . I should try to know the remaining slices from this  point of view .

My MIL told me that she made  allam aavakaya . She does not mean just ginger pickle, it also has mangoes in it, the quintessential pickle of Andhra eating. She also made kobbari aavakaya. So its not just coconut but with mangoes too. As kids when our relatives said they had allam pacchadi, we didnt know that it had mangoes in it too. 

At  Paletas Betty , I was taken by the chocolate. I was thrilled at an opportunity to taste  Mexican hot chocolate drink . I saw huge canisters with chocolate in it, in the shelves. While ordering, I realised this place sold only cold stuff. I like hot stuff better. I had to cancel my order in the head itself. My husband ordered the limon flavor. It reminded me of the icecream I made in my childhood using a freezer. The kind that has ice flakes.

I suppose that a person's first spectacular failure in the kitchen is a kind of coming of age. You could call it a rite of passage. -  T Susan Chang She talks of 'amorally delectable' meals. Involucre Trying to capture the 'green' of the mint in mint icecream without using food coloring, the author makes us realise how when we try to create a dish, sometimes we succeed, sometimes we fail. When we succed we are open to more experiments. When we dont we appreciate the irreproducible. Turkish Yoghurt pastry soul cakes When the buttercream doesnt turn out fine, she dreams of it, asks for advice, finally cuts down the recipe and turns out successful. Regarding goose, she says that chilling the poached goose for a day and two afterward helps to crisp the skin and that potatoes roasted in that released goose fat are delicious. If a woman has to feed children, her cooking skills ramp up. Making sure they get their eggs and veggies. eatyourbooks Cha

'How is  Pulav  different from  Biryani ?'. My mom asks. This isnt the first time she asked. Last time I didnt know the answer. Today over a meal of  Chicken biryani , its imperative that I know the answer. I search on the web while eating and tell her that pulav is done all together at once while in Biryani the meat and rice are layered. The chicken biryani was flavorful but a blooper in rice - I used 4.5 cups for 3 cups Basmati. It seemed done and rest was supposed to cook with chicken juices. In the end, the rice was undercooked. I have used fried onions too. I made  drumsticks  with olive oil. I have tried this recipe before and was very happy with the result. This time I had bonus gravy. There's still the  chicken tikka masala  to make. I need to make it spicy for my family palate. With the cream, how will I manage that? I finally made whole wheat sphaghetti with a mix of vegetables - potato, carrot, peas, cauliflower, beans (all strategically saved in small

MFK Fisher  calls kitchen the throne room. "Cooking, preparing food, involves far more than just creating a meal for family or friends: it has to do with keeping yourself intact" - Alice Waters, Chez Panisse Menu Cookbook. My mom would ask my brother if he would eat in the evening. He would say 'not hungry'. Half an hour into her saturday movie broadcasted by the DD, he would announce his readiness to eat. Food is best had when cooked. Its not always that we are in the mood for cooking. It takes work to be the eager cook who pesters with a 'Shall I make pancakes now?'.

I had  cinnamon sticks  from Pizza Hut yesterday. Without counting, I had three. the cinnamon and sugar on the crust make you go for another doughy bite. With Garlic sauce and pepper flakes and some left over pasta that I thought I had done away with months ago, I made a fired up pasta. had to add some soy nuggets and coconut flakes to tone down the spice.  Tortilla crusted Tilapia  turned out to be good on the side with the spicy pasta. From Desir bakery, I had  a huge cupcake or mugcake shall I say. It was so light and airy that with each bite I felt like I was having negative calorie food and feel more hungry for the next bite. Also it felt like I could fly eating that. And then a coffee cake inside  a pastry.

After having a left over packet of slivered almonds, I saved a   How to make macarons  link which I couldnt find. I had time today and a longing to make something. I set out to ladle a spoon of the batter, too runny. Once baked, they turned out to be thin wafers. Not quite what I expected and then I see that I should have let the piped out cookies to dry for a couple of hours so they could develop a skin. By then I wondered what would happen if I filled them in the cupcake liners to 1/3rd. My thinking didnt stop there. I wanted to put the stuffing in too. Some chocolate, cream and butter. After baking for up to 35 min, the top crusty and inside chewy - a sweet treat. Different from  macaron cupcakes  or  macaroon cupcakes Hindsight: I should have used 3 egg whites instead of 4 as the almonds I had turned out to be 3/4 cup only. Why dont we make these adjustments before? I didnt tell you how I made the stuffing. A very complex recipe that I felt I was better without. I mixed

Author:  Didi Emmons Wow. So many greens.

Author :  Carol field The pictures show how a strudel is made. There's a picture for the making of a carciofo roll where it blooms like petals of a flower. But its only in the dough form made from pasta dura. I would like to see it in the bread form. Guess I have to sneak that in during my next trials with flour.

At the mall on the glass door of Red ribbon bakeshop , I found an ad of   Butter mamon .

Author:  Sophie Dahl Tofu Lasagna A recipe for dosa The author warns against serving  Asparagus  on a romantic lunch. Crespeou

I saw this book in the library yesterday and made an express plan to get rid of all the other books. By the time I went there today, is gone. So is the  Some Assembly Required: A Journal of My Son's First Son . Lucky for me, the library has  copies of this book.  The cover picture looks like many hands are holding the gelatinous pastry.

Gyros of oz Greek with blue mosaic tiny tiles on the side. The thin columns - faux - not to support the roof but lend an enclosed snug feeling to the diners. Gyro burro - Novel idea of gyros in a flour tortilla instead of the pita bread. Surprise is  french fries soaked in a sauce, very tangy. The lady gave out samples of gyro burro. Since we had already ordered, she figured she didnt have to sell the product to us. She would grab the passers by and ask them if they no Euros . A man said that he once had them at Chandler mall. She tried the next trick. 'Its all homemade, the gyros, the fries, the hot sauce. Its not from a freezer or  a box. The man acquiesced and said he worked in the mall and promptly he was promised a discount. Since it is only 5 days old and 3-4 days shy of grand opening, the owner asked us about the taste. He wanted us to acknowledge that the burro was huge. luckily for us, we had split it into two so it could be shared. A picture is worth 1000 words.

Author :  Gina Barreca sop Sun over the yardarm  - drinking partners Against mixology  -  Putana slip of a girl

Yesterday my mom asked 'What is Pav Bhaji?' There's potatoes. No cauliflower or peas. Nothing a visit to the grocery store cant fix. I have never made it before. I have seen my roomate make it very quickly. I followed  ladi pav  and  pav bhaji . I forgot to put salt in the pav as the recipe didnt include it in the procedure. The fluffiness of the pav was good but the pav needed a fermented taste. I had to make do with chicken biryani masala.

In 'Extra Virginity', Tom Mueller says that  brain is 70% fat . A friend when he realised that I was uncomfortable eating anything fried at his house told me that the body needs  Fat  for some of the works. Today, there  lay a half croissant in the fridge. Its evening tea time. Biscuits are ok to have now. After having a few I still felt hungry, my mind rested on the croissant. When I had a bit of it, it calmed down.

The toaster project The cover of the book looks like a botched result when the time stops in 'The Chopped' show.

Yesterday while walking through the Costco freezer sections, while picking roti my husband asked what turkey bacon is.  looking at the pictures, I now know where bacon comes from. A review Sweet cilantro rice with coconut milk crown roast

Recently my friend bought me some fresh strawberries and cherry tomatoes. I boiled the strawberries for a pancake topping. the fresh cut berries tasted so sweet that I kept eating them before cooking them. I didnt add sugar to make the compote, cause I couldnt get myself to. Eventually the thickened sauce tasted so unsweet that no amount of honey could salve it. With cherry tomatoes I made rasam, my roomate's version. Lots of garlic and tomatoes cook up in oil and water to form the final product. My mom wondered what kind it was without boiling and mashing the tomatoes and adding tamarind water in it. I put the tomatoes in microwave. they had fun time popping but not worth the cleaning time. Jalapeno potato chip Break eggs into cauliflower a little before its ready to be taken off the stove. Tamarind bloom is cooked with lentils.

By author of  Vietworldkitchen Her  interview Tofu noodles Hakka style stuffed tofu Tofu skin The author fuses tofu into Indian dishes too. Tofu being similar to paneer, in her book it goes into  Chila  pancake as a stuffing and  Tofu fudge . Its fused into Italian too with Tofu Tiramisu. More  tofu recipes . If you are interested there are recipes to make Tofu yourself. 

Author:  David Rocco A Telugu recipe equivalent of  Quanto basta  is kavalisinantha (as needed) couscous alla panzanella . Just recently my friend shared with me that couscous need not be cooked. Rolled roasted peppers . Few friends make stuffed peppers stuffed with rice, potatoes and Indian spices. Couscous friend suggested stuffing them with couscous. contorno-side dish French fries made with olive oil. Pinzimonio Merenda - snack Mezzaluna Scamorza Grilled foccacia sandwich Fried Pizza , Pizza Pasta Pasta and Potatoes  - My next try Indian style. eggplant meatballs  for vegetarians Apple and yogurt cake When it comes to pizza, if you're focused on the toppings, then you're putting the cart before the horse . - David Rocco

Upper crust  variety loaves from Costco are so dense, devoid of taste other than the strawberry and other flavors.

Author:  extravirginity In David Rocco's 'Made in Italy', I found it strange that olive oil should smell of artichoke, kiwi and like. The 'Extra Virginity' book points out that olive oil is the only obtained from fruit while the rest are from seeds. A review Olive pit can be used as  fuel . Odysseus and olive oil Recreating the odors of Odysseus by analysing for the chemicals present at the bottom of the pottery. Edible oils are deodorized to eliminate unpleasant odors. Card sharp Fettunta  - in both books 3 uses of oil in Christianity Oil is used in temples to light lamps. Until a few years ago I didnt know that  ghee lamp preferred to oil lamp during puja .

Today I had  cookie dough over brownies . The best part was that the layers were thin and the dough was poured in such a manner that when cut into individual piece, it would like a border of cookie dough on the brownie. The thinness of the layers helps with the bite profile delivering the chocolate of the brownie very quick into your stream.