Thank you, Mom, for those breakfasts every single weekday that I never appreciated.
c. 1980
c. 1980
Showing posts with label More Than A Recipe. Show all posts
Showing posts with label More Than A Recipe. Show all posts
Church for Christmas
Last Christmas, we were in New Mexico. It was a real treat for me to visit some of the oldest churches in continental USA while there. I love old churches, especially old living churches that have an active congregation. Our drive to Taos took us through Ranchos de Taos, a historic district about four miles from Taos. And, in Ranchos de Taos is the San Francisco de Asissi Mission Church, a historic church built by Spanish missionaries between between 1772 and 1816.
In spring, the community gets together to add a new layer of adobe —a mixture of mud and straw — on the outer facade to preserve their church.
It was a perfect winter's day in New Mexico: bluebird skies with nary a cloud in sight, sunny and cold.
Belltower
In spring, the community gets together to add a new layer of adobe —a mixture of mud and straw — on the outer facade to preserve their church.
It was a perfect winter's day in New Mexico: bluebird skies with nary a cloud in sight, sunny and cold.
Belltower
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
Photography,
Travel
Magic of Kindness
Thank you for your messages and emails asking about us in the aftermath of the disastrous flooding in Boulder County, Colorado. We were very lucky and did not have any water in our home. The day it all began was Back to School Night and we were at Medha’s high school until late. We left one car in Boulder so that we were all in one car, heading home past 9pm. We had some minor scares on the way but nothing significant. Once home, we realized that leaving one car in Boulder was probably not the wisest decision as we left it in a parking lot that was very close to Boulder Creek, which rose dangerously through the night. A brand new car, at that! Luckily for us and our new material trapping, there were some surges in our parking lot but it did not flood, unlike most of the parking lots near the creek. We drove in and out of Boulder quickly, and, thanked our stars and the grey skies for sparing us. My town, the City of Louisville, saw some damage, our golf course became a wide raging river, leading to a collapsed bridge downstream and wiping out several parts of my favorite trail. But it was nothing compared to the devastation in the mountain towns, Boulder and Longmont. The road to recovery is long but it has been pretty darned amazing how the community has risen to the occasion and given back at every step. Thank you for your concern and your kindness. If you would like to help with the flood relief, please donate to The Great Colorado Flood Relief Project.
My friends on Twitter and Facebook know that I can talk about little else but the Boulder IFS Food Film Festival, especially Jadoo, a British-Indian comedy that I will be introducing on Saturday, October 12, 2013, at 7pm in CU’s Muenzinger Auditorium.
mobile phone pics of the BFFF13 program
My friends, Meena and Shashi, as well as two talented high schoolers, will be offering henna designs for a donation before the movie. They will be there from 5:45pm to 6:45pm. All money raised will be donated through the Boulder Balvihar to Help a Child, an Indian charity that provides academic scholarships to underprivileged children in India.
It's a good thing I won't be doing the henna!
If you are local, please consider coming out to support us!
Labels:
More Than A Recipe
Pressure Cooker Winner and Raji's Brinji
April 1 may not have been the best day to close my pressure cooker giveaway! But, I promise you that it was not an April Fool's joke.
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. I loved reading more about all of you.
To all my readers who delurked: I am indeed humbled that so many of you have been reading along for almost as many years as I have been blogging. You have helped me grow.
To all my regular commenters: you know I think you are awesome! Some of our conversations border on insane and that is what keeps me going and encourages me to share some of the randomness in my life.
And I was very tickled that all of you appreciated not having to go blab to the world on social networks about this giveaway. While I get the need for that kind of marketing, it's not what this blog is about. I much prefer organic growth to in-your-face marketing. My content remains driven by my thoughts and my experiences rather than what drives these networks.
Here's how I chose the winner for the giveaway. I asked for three numbers between 1 and 1000 on my Facebook page, added them up, calculated the mod with the divisor set to the number of participants (67) and matched up the answer to the comment number that I assigned in ascending order. That's random enough, right?
SO WHO WON THE PRESSURE COOKER?!
Thank you all for your wonderful comments. I loved reading more about all of you.
To all my readers who delurked: I am indeed humbled that so many of you have been reading along for almost as many years as I have been blogging. You have helped me grow.
To all my regular commenters: you know I think you are awesome! Some of our conversations border on insane and that is what keeps me going and encourages me to share some of the randomness in my life.
And I was very tickled that all of you appreciated not having to go blab to the world on social networks about this giveaway. While I get the need for that kind of marketing, it's not what this blog is about. I much prefer organic growth to in-your-face marketing. My content remains driven by my thoughts and my experiences rather than what drives these networks.
Here's how I chose the winner for the giveaway. I asked for three numbers between 1 and 1000 on my Facebook page, added them up, calculated the mod with the divisor set to the number of participants (67) and matched up the answer to the comment number that I assigned in ascending order. That's random enough, right?
SO WHO WON THE PRESSURE COOKER?!
Labels:
Celebrations,
More Than A Recipe
Celebrating 10 years of IFR with a Giveaway
You know you're lucky when you look out at your driveway in the middle of a snowstorm to see your neighbor's kid shoveling the snow that you were doing your best to ignore.
a welcome sight
You know you're lucky when a package arrives all the way from the upper mid-west with home-made nocino, Indian pickles and Kashmiri veri masala.
Hot and boozy gifts
You know you're lucky when Shilpa sends you fragrant organic tirphal, along with mace, nutmeg, kokum from her father's property near Bangalore and two very special pickles made by her mother: kochle nonche and ambli pickle.
Fragrant and relatively rare spice: tirphal
You know you're lucky when Aparna sends you flavors of your childhood with more kokum and tirphal, dagadphool, dried red chiles, vanilla pods and famous Goan cured pork sausages.
Gifts that remind me of my childhood
You know you're lucky when there are so many things to be grateful for, on a daily basis. I know I am.
From the magnificent beauty of where we live to the supportive neighborhood where we make our home to the friends and family in our lives.
I also know I'm incredibly lucky when I look back at the ten years that I have been blogging and realize that I have met some of my best friends through my blog. My very first post was on March 12, 2003. It was as clueless as I was about blogging, but I was also very clearly testing the Blogger platform, then owned by Pyra Labs. I was never a prolific blogger nor do I intend to be. I blog at my own pace, on my own terms and without succumbing to the pressures of the blogosphere, especially the food blogging community.
a welcome sight
You know you're lucky when a package arrives all the way from the upper mid-west with home-made nocino, Indian pickles and Kashmiri veri masala.
Hot and boozy gifts
You know you're lucky when Shilpa sends you fragrant organic tirphal, along with mace, nutmeg, kokum from her father's property near Bangalore and two very special pickles made by her mother: kochle nonche and ambli pickle.
Fragrant and relatively rare spice: tirphal
You know you're lucky when Aparna sends you flavors of your childhood with more kokum and tirphal, dagadphool, dried red chiles, vanilla pods and famous Goan cured pork sausages.
Gifts that remind me of my childhood
You know you're lucky when there are so many things to be grateful for, on a daily basis. I know I am.
From the magnificent beauty of where we live to the supportive neighborhood where we make our home to the friends and family in our lives.
I also know I'm incredibly lucky when I look back at the ten years that I have been blogging and realize that I have met some of my best friends through my blog. My very first post was on March 12, 2003. It was as clueless as I was about blogging, but I was also very clearly testing the Blogger platform, then owned by Pyra Labs. I was never a prolific blogger nor do I intend to be. I blog at my own pace, on my own terms and without succumbing to the pressures of the blogosphere, especially the food blogging community.
Labels:
Celebrations,
More Than A Recipe
Bappa Morya Re!
And so it's here again. That 10 day festival to celebrate my favorite God. Yes, it's Ganesh Chaturthi!
Jai Ganesh!
Jai Ganesh!
Labels:
Ganesh Chaturthi,
More Than A Recipe
My First Mile High Swap
The end of the first quarter of the year is always a busy time. It's also spring break. Unfortunately for me, spring break is slowly becoming synonymous with poor health. Last year, I was hit by shingles; this year, it was a tryst with the dreaded flu. It was, therefore, a good thing that our spring ski getaway was canceled, albeit for completely unrelated reasons. Not only was there mainly slush on the slopes due to unseasonably warm temperatures, but March also proved to be one of the driest months for the mountains, instead of the snowiest.
I've been busy. That's always good, especially in these trying times.
Green beans koshimbir
The only recipe I have for you in this post is my Green Beans Koshimbir, written for my Cooking Boulder column. Take a look and let me know what you think, if you try it.
I do have more to food-related stuff to share though! I went to my first food swap yesterday. It was organized by the Mile High Swappers, a community that I have been following since it was launched a little less than a year ago. I tried to make it to a swap in Boulder in March but that was doomed from the start so I decided that the April swap would have to be it. I roped in my friends, Lisa and Zara. Zara convinced her sister, Tarahta, to join us. We gave her only about 15 minutes notice, as long as it took for us to drive to her house to pick her up on our way to the swap, hosted by Stonebridge Farm in Lyons.
The ubiquitous red barn, at Stonebridge Farm
I've been busy. That's always good, especially in these trying times.
Green beans koshimbir
The only recipe I have for you in this post is my Green Beans Koshimbir, written for my Cooking Boulder column. Take a look and let me know what you think, if you try it.
I do have more to food-related stuff to share though! I went to my first food swap yesterday. It was organized by the Mile High Swappers, a community that I have been following since it was launched a little less than a year ago. I tried to make it to a swap in Boulder in March but that was doomed from the start so I decided that the April swap would have to be it. I roped in my friends, Lisa and Zara. Zara convinced her sister, Tarahta, to join us. We gave her only about 15 minutes notice, as long as it took for us to drive to her house to pick her up on our way to the swap, hosted by Stonebridge Farm in Lyons.
The ubiquitous red barn, at Stonebridge Farm
Labels:
More Than A Recipe
Sunday Snapshots: Reluctant Elephant Ride
There we were, being led into the classic tourist trap: an elephant ride. We had successfully avoided it last year in Jaipur, India and each one of us was very clear that we did not want to be party to ill-treating of this gentle giant. We told Mr. Bay (Bah-ee), our driver and guide, that we would ride only if we got good vibes. My thoughts were: Why? Why ride at all? But there was no clear answer. We ride horses and camels, attach bulls and cows to carts; so how was riding an elephant any different? I'm not sure. It just didn't feel right.
We drove along Tuyen Lam Lake in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to a nature sanctuary and then walked about a quarter mile into the sanctuary to an idyllic spot by the lake. Huts with thatched roofs, a large wooden deck on the lake, and an elephant. It was not chained, the first good vibe. We spent a lot of time with the elephant, feeding it, talking to it, marveling at it. I think we deluded ourselves that we were getting to know it. My question, however, remained.
Medha was the first to give the go-ahead just as she had been the first to raise the red flag in Jaipur. This child has great instincts when it comes to animals—something I lack—so I gave in. Mr. Bay rushed to get the mahout; if he could have skipped and done a cartwheel along the way, he probably would have. What I saw next touched me immensely.
Mahout and elephant, conversing
We drove along Tuyen Lam Lake in the Central Highlands of Vietnam to a nature sanctuary and then walked about a quarter mile into the sanctuary to an idyllic spot by the lake. Huts with thatched roofs, a large wooden deck on the lake, and an elephant. It was not chained, the first good vibe. We spent a lot of time with the elephant, feeding it, talking to it, marveling at it. I think we deluded ourselves that we were getting to know it. My question, however, remained.
Medha was the first to give the go-ahead just as she had been the first to raise the red flag in Jaipur. This child has great instincts when it comes to animals—something I lack—so I gave in. Mr. Bay rushed to get the mahout; if he could have skipped and done a cartwheel along the way, he probably would have. What I saw next touched me immensely.
Mahout and elephant, conversing
Sunday Snapshots: Rajasthani Dinner at Chokhi Dhani
Jimanro Samay
Labels:
Faces of India,
More Than A Recipe,
Sunday Snapshots
A White Diwali!
Happy Diwali to all my friends!
Love, light and happiness
It's a White Diwali for us here in Colorado. Even if it feels more like Christmas, I'm hoping that the treats I will make today remind us that it is indeed Diwali.
October snowstorms are more the norm, than the exception, around here. We saw our first snow on October 8, much after the mountains had their tryst with the fluffy white stuff. Except that, in October, the snow is more wet and heavy, than powdery and fluffy.
Already? Yes, already.
My trees don't shed their leaves until well into November, making October storms a little stressful. Luckily, my yard is not the damage zone that it was in 2009, when we got over 20 inches of snow. But shaking big huge trees is not easy and the taller branches remain bent under the weight of the heavy snow. I can hear my big pear creaking and groaning as it sways in the breeze. Shoveling seven inches of snow off my driveway hasn't helped my back much either.
Love, light and happiness
It's a White Diwali for us here in Colorado. Even if it feels more like Christmas, I'm hoping that the treats I will make today remind us that it is indeed Diwali.
October snowstorms are more the norm, than the exception, around here. We saw our first snow on October 8, much after the mountains had their tryst with the fluffy white stuff. Except that, in October, the snow is more wet and heavy, than powdery and fluffy.
Already? Yes, already.
My trees don't shed their leaves until well into November, making October storms a little stressful. Luckily, my yard is not the damage zone that it was in 2009, when we got over 20 inches of snow. But shaking big huge trees is not easy and the taller branches remain bent under the weight of the heavy snow. I can hear my big pear creaking and groaning as it sways in the breeze. Shoveling seven inches of snow off my driveway hasn't helped my back much either.
Labels:
Diwali,
More Than A Recipe
Sunday Snapshots: We Remember 9.11
A 116lb memorial from the World Trade Center
We missed the Memorial Ceremony at the Louisville Fire Station on Main Street this morning. It was Boulder Balvihar's 20th Anniversary. I missed most of that, too.
But later in the afternoon, we drove to the Fire Stations to pay our respects and take pictures, as we always do each year on 9.11. To our surprise, we were invited into the Fire Station on Main Street to look at the piece of history that will rest in our little town—116lbs of warped metal from the Twin Towers.
Labels:
More Than A Recipe
The Thought That Counts
Friday saw a deluge of love in the form of peanut butter cream pie for Mikey.
peanut buttery goodness
I did not know Mikey, nor do I know Jennie very well. But her sudden, devastating loss hit us all hard in that place where it really truly hurts. It brought back painful memories with a rush, of a deep sense of loss. It threw me into reliving the recent family trauma, and my heart longed for my husband who is over 9000 miles away. I cried with gratitude, knowing that he will be home soon. I cried for Jennie and her beautiful daughters. And, for Mikey. It did not matter that I didn't know them.
peanut buttery goodness
I did not know Mikey, nor do I know Jennie very well. But her sudden, devastating loss hit us all hard in that place where it really truly hurts. It brought back painful memories with a rush, of a deep sense of loss. It threw me into reliving the recent family trauma, and my heart longed for my husband who is over 9000 miles away. I cried with gratitude, knowing that he will be home soon. I cried for Jennie and her beautiful daughters. And, for Mikey. It did not matter that I didn't know them.
Labels:
Less is More,
More Than A Recipe,
Sunday Snack
All Manner of Grateful
Our trip to California had to be cut short rather abruptly due to a family emergency in India. My mother-in-law needed to be hospitalized for an urgent angiography, requiring either an angioplasty or a bypass surgery. We drove the 1200+ miles continuously, breaking only for the night, until we reached home a day later. By then we knew that the situation was rather serious and my husband took the next flight out to Bombay. Unfortunately, things took a turn for the worse soon after he arrived, and a multiple bypass surgery was performed that very day. But she was in good hands and for that, I am forever grateful.
I am also very grateful to the folks on Twitter who spread the word about our need for blood. A special shoutout to Ankit and The Glam Gang for offering to donate blood to help a complete stranger. Close friends and family held my hand through excruciatingly long days, via Facebook, email and phone.
Yes, there are good people in this world! Thank you all very much!
Another couple of days should see my mother-in-law return to her home after a two week stay in hospital. She's frail but she's tough on the inside and we are all very hopeful that she will draw on that to regain her strength and quality of living.
Our time together, as a family, working and vacationing over the weekends in California became extra-special. The last two weeks had been full of adventure and unending fun.
Pier
I am also very grateful to the folks on Twitter who spread the word about our need for blood. A special shoutout to Ankit and The Glam Gang for offering to donate blood to help a complete stranger. Close friends and family held my hand through excruciatingly long days, via Facebook, email and phone.
Yes, there are good people in this world! Thank you all very much!
Another couple of days should see my mother-in-law return to her home after a two week stay in hospital. She's frail but she's tough on the inside and we are all very hopeful that she will draw on that to regain her strength and quality of living.
Our time together, as a family, working and vacationing over the weekends in California became extra-special. The last two weeks had been full of adventure and unending fun.
Pier
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
Travel
Half Moon Bay
A quick drive to Half Moon Bay revealed a dramatic coastline, surfers galore, and excellent seafood.
patio-side late lunch
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
Travel
Westward Wanderings
I've been away. And busy traveling westwards. Here's what I've been up to...
The Delicate Arch, Arches National Park, Moab, Utah
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
Travel
She made me wait
Seriously, she did.
She wasn't there with garlands. There was no Bollywood music playing. No-one was dancing. My life wasn't moving in slow motion. This was for real.
So I took pictures of this Indian Army soldier instead.
Army jawan at Delhi Airport
But, ha! I found out why Alice was late getting to the airport. She was busy chopping cabbage because she was afraid of the Rabbit with the Stopwatch (and the video camera.) How else could she continue to claim to decimate a large head of cabbage into angelhair slaw in less than 90 seconds?
spot the chopped cabbage
Not just that, she canceled the picnic in the park, too! What?! Did I end up with Dorothy in Kansas instead of The Mad Tea Party?
She wasn't there with garlands. There was no Bollywood music playing. No-one was dancing. My life wasn't moving in slow motion. This was for real.
So I took pictures of this Indian Army soldier instead.
Army jawan at Delhi Airport
But, ha! I found out why Alice was late getting to the airport. She was busy chopping cabbage because she was afraid of the Rabbit with the Stopwatch (and the video camera.) How else could she continue to claim to decimate a large head of cabbage into angelhair slaw in less than 90 seconds?
spot the chopped cabbage
Not just that, she canceled the picnic in the park, too! What?! Did I end up with Dorothy in Kansas instead of The Mad Tea Party?
Labels:
India,
More Than A Recipe
Eight years is a long time
Yes, eight years is a very long time. That's how long it's been since I last visited India. And that's where I am headed right now, with a few days layover in Zurich.
The Flatirons, Boulder
I'm looking forward to hugging family I haven't seen in years, saying hello to new babies, catching up with friends and meeting Anita for the very first time! I have already sent her a long list of what I want her to cook for me. It might not be enough and I might have left some things out. So if you think you have some cool suggestions, feel free to include them in your comments because she reads my blog, you know!
My post about celebrating my friend's pregnancy is still in my Drafts. Preparing for this trip to India took over and there were far too many loose ends to attend to. I decided not to fret over it and will finish it when we get back in 2011.
My awesome friend Jen Yu fought hard against her dislike of Blogger and agreed to do a guest post for me while I'm traveling. That's coming up next week! Until then, wish me safe travels! Stay in touch with me via Flickr or Posterous.
Labels:
More Than A Recipe
non-Diwali
It's a little unusual for my blog to go silent around Diwali, that special time of the year when we fill our homes with the endearing aroma of sugary syrups and hot oil! Like every year in the past, I had plans of making chavde, chakli, chivda, and nankatai. Perhaps even besan ladu, which I last made ten lunisolar years ago. But the universe had other plans for me.
Labels:
More Than A Recipe
Pinhole It
A little over a year ago, Medha chose to work on an independent research project as part of her Advanced Learning Plan. Her topic of choice was the camera. She made a pinhole camera following these instructions. She loaded it with a 24 exposure 200 ASA roll that had expired. Expired film is 'in' with film camera hobbyists as it leads to all kinds of strange effects and unwitting textures on the photographs.
Pinhole Camera
Pinhole Sunset
Pinhole Chess Set
Pinhole Kitchen
Pretty darned cool, huh? I was so blown away with the results that I vowed to participate in the next World Pinhole Photography Day, celebrated on the last Sunday of April each year. But life took over and I didn't make the matchbox pinhole camera that I had wanted to. But there's always next year and if I miss that, I can do it just because simply at all, right? If you are interested in doing it with me, let me know in the comments and I'll ping you as the time nears. It's a great learning project for kids, many of whom haven't seen a film camera. Imagine that!
In other news:
- the deadline for IFR: Memories is this coming Saturday, on Oct 31st. So rev up that nostalgia and send me a well-written entry with a recipe. No rambling and please try to adhere to the rules mentioned here.
- we have a snow storm brewing. The last time I checked - about an hour ago - we already had an accumulation of about 3 inches on cold surfaces. We're all whooping in delight even though this isn't our first snow of the season. The kids are praying for a snow day so that they can sled to their heart's content but that seems unlikely even though the white stuff been coming down at a pretty good rate!
- I'm on the home stretch for NaBloWriMo, only four more posts and then perhaps NaBloSiMo would be a good idea.
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
NaBloWriMo
My Fave Building in the World
Four years ago, I asked to be driven 100 miles north of our home in Chicagoland to see my favorite building in this entire world, as a birthday gift. It did not disappoint. It was even more magnificent than its pictures suggest.
Milwaukee Art Museum
Burke Brise Soleil
There is more to this pic than a wider angle of the previous pic.
Yes, it moves.
It's the Quadracci Pavilion, part of the Milwaukee Art Museum, designed by Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava. It is a building that flaps its wings. Literally so.
Unprecedented in American architecture, the Burke Brise Soleil is a moveable, wing-like sunscreen that rests on top of the Museum’s vaulted, glass-enclosed Windhover Hall. The "wings" open Tuesday–Sunday at 10 a.m. with the Museum, close/reopen at noon, and close again with the Museum at 5 p.m.; except on Thursdays when the Museum closes at 8 p.m.
Opening wing span
It's quite an experience to watch the building move. I saw the Burke Brise Soleil open at 10 a.m., flap at noon and close for the day at 5 p.m. It was a dream come true.
Poised like a bird about to take flight, on the shores of Lake Michigan. And a copycat.
Like a symmetric symphony...
...from the inside as well as the outside
The Windhover Hall
An architectural marvel
A few more pictures from my collection can be seen here.
The Museum itself is like any other small museum. We just missed a traveling Renoir show and the permanents exhibits are fine museum pieces. It's just that the building enthralled much more than anything that was inside at the time.
Labels:
More Than A Recipe,
NaBloWriMo
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