Celebrating Spring with Colors

If you've been reading my blog for a while then you probably know that Holi is not one of my favorite festivals. While I never cared much for celebrating with color and the liberal dousing with water as part of the Rangapanchami or Dhulivandan celebrations, I did enjoy the real Holi a great deal.

Apart from puran poli, masala milk or thandai is a milky treat that is always served on Holi.

I have never attempted making puran poli and when my friend from grad school asked me if I had a recipe for thandai, it occurred to me that I hadn't made that either. My excuse for not making puran poli is that it is daunting, especially the way my mother used to make it. Helping was always easier. As for thandai or masala milk? Well, we are all lactose intolerant. But that also meant that Medha has never had thandai and I felt the need to fix that.

Happy Holi!

Read on...

Warm up with Glühwein

Or vin chaud.

Or, as we know it, mulled wine.

It was a treat to walk the streets of Zurich clutching a steaming glass of glühwein. It was a cold, damp and gray day but it was also the only day we had in Zurich. We took a combination of trams and buses to get to Banhofstrasse, Zurich's Michigan Avenue. None of us wanted to step out into the miserable weather but we managed to walk along the frozen promenade of Lake Zurich, and duck quickly into a side-street across the river where a street truck was selling hot dogs and warm wine. The hot dog was huge. The bun around it, even bigger. Dipped in the wine, it was bliss!

I think I first had mulled wine at a friend's Christmas party five years ago. Boulder has been charming that way. We've made it every winter but I've always suffered the following several days because wines are a sure trigger for my migraines. Enter sulfite-free / sulphite-free organic wines. They have tannins but those don't bother me as much so I was home free!

Until now though, I have had nothing to compare my variation of mulled wine to, except for what I had had at my friend's. I'm happy to say I've perfected a recipe that works for me each time and is very close to what I had on those cold streets of Zurich. Sweet but not cloyingly so. Spicy but not overly so. Just right and gluggable by the mugful. I am not much of a drinker but I can easily consume three-quarters of a bottle of wine, when mulled. Pfft, I hear you say, most of the alcohol has evaporated by the time it is ready! Not so. It contains at least 60% or so of its original alcohol content but wait till you read how to make it more potent! It's something I never fail to do, now that I am in the know!

Fruity Zinfandel

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Drop the Tea; it's already there in your Chai

Do I need to say anything? Really? But you know I will.

<pet peeve>
Here goes: there is no such thing as chai tea.

Chai is tea.

Chai tea is a classic example of redundancy. I've said it before, way back in 2003, but who read blogs then? Even less commented on them? The Libran in me does want to quickly clarify that Blogger didn't have a comments feature in 2003. It's true. But let's focus on this problem of redundancy instead, shall we?

Either call it tea or call it chai.

Please stop saying chai tea.

As for chai latte? Latte? Chai is almost always made with milk so that's another redundancy there.

And, if you use chai masala or a blend of spices to make, say, ice cream and there are no tea leaves in it? That's not chai ice cream. That's spiced ice cream or masala ice cream. Why? Because chai is tea, remember? If there's no tea in it, it can't be chai anything. The exception to this rule is chai masala.

Cardamom and cinnamon may mean dessert to some but that is not why chai is had after a sumptous meal. You can write poetry about it if you want but really, our meals don't have courses and dessert is usually served with the main meal. Chai is often served after a meal as a digestive aid or to shake off that lethargy to enable you and your heavy belly to make an attempt to leave. My point? Chai isn't dessert.

Chai does not have to have spices in it. Everyday chai is made with water, tea leaves, milk and sugar, the last of which is optional.

If it is possible to understand what bouillabaisse is, without redundant qualifiers before or after to explain that it is a Provençal fish stew, then it should be easy to deal with the word chai. It's much shorter. Or just say tea. Because that's what it is: tea.

So, please! Drop the tea because it's already there in your chai!
</pet peeve>

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Seeing in 3D

I didn't think I was going to enjoy How To Train Your Dragon but I was transfixed. The 3D animation was spectacular. I was completely hooked. So when Six Apart Media contacted me saying that as a publisher with their advertising network, I was now a part of their rapidly growing Entertainment initiative, of course I was interested! And especially so when the movie was another 3D animation movie.

Despicable Me

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Lavender, lavender everywhere

Lavender showed up in my mail box, thanks to Bee.


My poor mailman must have loved delivering this package. He probably didn't sneeze his lungs out for a change and instead inhaled a wonderful bouquet. I will ask him the next time I have the courage to go out and meet him; after the last package of masala he delivered, I am still hiding from him.

I loved the aroma of lavender. I can now identify that wonderful whiff I get from my neighbor's yard every time the wind blows with it something other than the smell of grilled hot dogs or seared meat.

The mint in my yard was also begging to be annihilated picked and lovingly used. What?! You are surprised that mint grows in my yard? It fulfills all the required conditions. Which also means it is an obnoxious weed whose roots can travel for miles under the soil.


So yes, I made tea. Not just an infusion but real tea.

Lavender Mint Tea

• 1/2 teaspoon dried lavender flowers
• About 2 tablespoons fresh mint leaves, loosely shredded by hand
• 1/4 tsp orange pekoe black tea leaves
  
• 1 cup boiling water

1. Combine the herbs and the tea leaves in a teapot.
2. Pour boiling water into the teapot and allow to steep for 3-5 minutes.
3. You can have it hot with honey or lemon. It is delicious.
4. Or you can cool it and have it over ice. Again, with honey or lemon, as you wish. Either way, remember to strain it before you enjoy it!

This lavender had a lovely sweetness about it that the tea did not need any honey or lemon. In any case, I have my tea sans sugar or honey.

This tea can be had as a simple herbal infusion if you skip the tea leaves.


The last photo is my entry to Click: Coffee and Tea

Grow Your Own? Whatever are you talking about?!

Update: I am also sending this refreshing tea to the Flower Power Girl, Rachna of Soul Food, who is hosting JFI this month. The theme is Edible Flowers.

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