Memories

Its such a hot and humid day here and the only thing that I remember are my evening trips to Marina Beach, Chennai when I was living there. The evening sea breeze and the street food around always perked me up. The trip always included bhutta or coal grilled corn and spiced green mango. While I couldn't replicate the mango, I did have some corn on the cob in my fridge and I decided to make this super simple all season street food. I just grilled the corn on my gas stove top (make sure you have the stem still on if you don't have a corn tong!) until it was nice and toasted all over. Like you can see, I like mine REALLY well toasted. While it was grilling, I made a "glaze" of lemon juice, red chilli powder and salt. Once the corn was done, I just brushed on the lemon juice mix and ate my way through it!

Since I am in the mood to revisit old times - dinner time is no exception. When I was living in a hostel in Delhi, I'd visit my grandparents almost every weekend. At least once every alternate weekend, my grandmom would make this extremely simple yet super tasty dinner that would include paneer bhurji (scrambled Indian style cottage cheese), and masoor dal (red lentils) with rotis. So when Eatomaniac posted her recipe on Paneer Bhurji stuffed peppers, I had to try it! By the way, I love the Eatomaniac blog. The recipes posted are easy to follow and I definitely appreciate the ideas that follow the recipe.

Luckily I had just bought some colorful yellow and orange peppers a few days back and it was a perfect opportunity to use them. To the paneer bhurji ingredients already posted, I adjusted the paneer amounts to also include finely diced mushrooms which I added between the corn/green peas step and the paneer step. I also added cut green beans. Instead of red chilli powder I used finely chopped green chillies. Just another thought - sometimes to add another flavor profile, I use the oil from Indian pickles that I have at home to cook the meal. It gives the dish a subtle tangy flavor that I quite enjoy. On the left is a picture of the stuffed peppers before they went into the oven.

I leave you with a picture of my dinner plate and many thanks to Eatomaniac!!!

Berry berry nice cake

After a lethargic morning and lack of productivity, I wondered what would be the best way to get my spirits up again. Well, a sugar high would definitely help. A raid on the fridge gave me a box of raspberries and blueberries along with eggs and butter. The result - a perfect summery berry cake!

In search of recipes, I came across this one which sounded perfect. However, I had to put some healthy spin on it - so - instead of all purpose flour went in wheat flour, buttermilk got substituted for home made apple sauce, I used "I Cannot Believe its not butter" instead of regular butter. The only other adjustment I made was that I used brown sugar and not white sugar. I don't think they're nutritionally different, I just like the texture & taste of brown sugar better in baked goods.The above is a picture of the cake before it went into the oven at 400F for 25 mins.

How did I make the apple sauce? I boiled chunks of 1 apple and some baking dates (a gift from a friend who was moving away for the summer) with cinnamon powder in 2-3 inches of water till everything softened down. I mashed it with a potato masher to give a chunky sauce. Here's the cake in its full glory after spending about 25 mins in the oven.

The cake was a refreshing change from my usual chocolate based cakes and with the fresh fruit and other healthy spins, you just don't feel as guilty eating this! This is my slice of berry nice heaven!

Pizza shizza

Its been sometime since I put up some food posts. Probably because I've been out so much that I haven't really been able to experiment too much. So last night my hands were itching to try something! I had a lot of left over veggies in the fridge and for me Italian food is the best way to use those - be it soups, pasta or what's going to be this post, pizza!!

After trying a few pizza dough recipes, the one that I like the most is here. I did however use whole wheat flour instead of all purpose flour for a much healthier alternative. The dough was just the right consistency and steps in this recipe are simple and straightforward. I also froze this dough for 3 weeks without any issues. A good pizza sauce would be:

5-6 cloves fresh garlic, minced
5 tomatoes, pureed
1/2 cup red wine
1 cup water
1/4 cup olive oil
1 tablespoon dried parsley
2 tablespoons dried basil
1 teaspoon dried thyme
1/2 teaspoon lemon pepper
1 1/2 teaspoons salt, or to taste

Lightly saute minced garlic in olive oil over medium heat until golden. Add the tomato paste and fry with the garlic. Add to the rest of the ingredients and blend. This sauce can also be frozen. You could omit the wine and add some vegetable broth instead. Also, I like to add fresh tomatoes but you could use canned as well. I love the flavors of different herbs, and you could definitely play around with those as well.

The pizza dough recipe also has good step by step instructions on how to roll the dough. You can adjust the thickness to your liking. For example, to create a Chicago style pizza at home, I rolled out the dough a little larger in diameter than my cake pan. Then, I fit it into the cake pan with the sides rolled which created a deep dish pizza effect. Last night, I just made a regular thin crust pizza. I highly recommend using the fresh dough immediately. The texture of the pizza crust is much much better.

For the toppings, I used some roasted Indian cottage cheese (Paneer), Parmesan cheese, Goat cheese, Corn, Red pepper, green pepper and onions. I also had some shredded plantain on hand which I added as well. I think this was a good balance of veggies and cheese. I also added some mango peach salsa to the paneer for some flavor. The assembled layers were pizza sauce followed by parm cheese and the veggies weighed down by the paneer salsa mix with goat cheese and plantain sprinkled over the top.

The final step is to place the pizza in a 450 F degree oven for about 15 mins and let it bake! Keep checking on it after 12 mins have passed by. Let it cool for a few mins before devouring it! This particular combination of toppings was really tasty. I've tried others and will keep experimenting but I just wanted to let you know the one I loved!

Key to a relaxing weekend!

We just got back last night from another travel filled weekend in Key Biscayne! It wasn't a tourist weekend but a getaway filled with fun, friends and water. It was relaxing, stress busting, and totally chilled out! It was a summer retreat in the right sense. This was an official trip organized by the company my husband is interning with.

As we headed toward the airport at an hour (7 am) that I hadn't seen in many many months, the excitement between my friends and I was so visible! We'd been waiting for this for weeks. And to add to the medley of emotions, it was my first visit to Florida.

We landed at Miami International Airport mid afternoon, and headed straight to the hotel to meet our significant others who were already there on business. The drive to Key Biscayne was gorgeous. A lot of the time, you see water on both sides. I was so lost in the views that I hadn't realized how hungry I was until I got to the hotel. I was worried we might have missed lunch, but we managed to get hold of the few boxed lunches that were left from an earlier event.

After a quick nap and freshening up, we headed straight to the pool where we were to spend a lot of our time over the next few days. We also managed a dip in the ocean at the hotel's private beach. The water was so cool and even for those who aren't that fond of water, it was an easy walk on the ocean floor for about 20-30 feet in. Even in the morning hours, it was so hot outside and I hadn't expected the water in the ocean to be that refreshing.

There was a lot of talk about Le Bron James signing up with the Miami Heat on Friday, which also included our dinner plans that had been organized on the top floor of a parking structure. An outdoor dinner and after party was not such a great idea. It was so hot during dinner that we couldn't wait to get to the after party which was going to be pool side. And then it started raining when we went pool side at the W! The reason I mentioned King James earlier was because he was staying the Miami W and was having a party there as well. A lot of folks were hoping to see him but his party was near his pent house suite and the rain wasn't a big help either. We took the first bus back to our hotel. We were so tired that we just decided to call it a night and meet up with everyone at breakfast on Saturday.

We just about made it to breakfast - after a few snoozes and an alarm switch off. It was a good hearty breakfast and we headed straight to the pool after that. Our morning schedule included lounging in the pool sipping iced tea, sighting iguanas on the hotel grounds, stepping into the ocean, eating ice-cream and then again lounging in the pool. Sounds good doesn't it!

The afternoon was a catamaran sailing trip that took us out into the ocean, anchored in the middle of nowhere and we could swim around. There was also a water trampoline that some people too complete advantage of. The one thing that I don't like about swimming in salt water is- well - the salt water. If swallowed, it tastes disgusting. Like over salted gargle water. After a few gulps of that, I decided to get back on to the boat and just sit around. I should have reapplied the sunscreen because now I just have a badly burnt back.

The evening was hosted in the hotel and the preparations were just grand. We had some amazing food, interesting drinks (pictured here: Miami Blue Iced Tea) and fire dancers! The dancers were so cool and I had the opportunity to capture some interesting shapes they created with the fire. A dance party brought to a close the official proceedings of the weekend.

The next morning, we just hung out at the pool some more and then drove to the airport. For two weekends in a row, we'd had some fun times to remember and I had some more blogging material. I leave you with a picture of the blue ocean!

The Mile High City and all that's around

Along with the amazing cold foods that I get to eat in the summer, I also look forward (very eagerly) to the long weekends that come along. We try and organize fun short trips that take us to new places within the US. For the Independence Day weekend we decided to head to Denver, Colorado with two of our closest friends.

A quick dinner at the airport, a 2 hour flight and a car rental later, we landed at the Denver downtown Sheraton hotel at around 11 pm. We checked in and headed out almost immediately to the 16th Street Mall. All of us were quite ready for a mid night snack. Of the few places open, Paramount Cafe seemed to be the most popular and we indulged in some onion rings, cobbler and drinks. The food definitely did not disappoint throughout the trip and I'll highlight the best restaurants we went to!

We started off Day 1 of the trip with a brunch at a place called Sam's #3. It was so good! By the time we got there it was past 11 am and we were ravenously hungry! The 20 min wait was definitely worth it and I highly recommend the place if you land up in Denver at any point. Between the four of us we polished off a souvlaki, a chili relleno, a quesadilla and I think a Greek omelet. Also, their house hot sauces were to die for!

With our stomachs happy and our minds comatose, we walked around a little more in Denver downtown and then headed out to the Red Rock Amphitheater. Its a natural amphitheater nestled between two giant red rocks that allows for good acoustic effects. It was so impressive to see all the layers in the rocks from years and years of formation and I loved the colors.

The heat took us away from the Red Rocks to the comfort of the car and we headed towards the Coors brewery for a free tour entitles you to 4 samples of beer. Although the wait was long - almost an hour - it was worth it. I'm not a big fan of beer but I enjoyed learning more about the manufacturing process. At the end, I just sampled the non alcoholic beer that they had. It was not to my taste, but atleast it was cold and refreshing in 90 degree F weather.

Finally, we headed off to Estes Park which is a town that's about 2 miles from the southern entrance to the national park. We had booked a cottage for the night. On our way to the park, we stopped at a little restaurant that looked more like a house. It had some of the best cherry pie that I've ever had (with vanilla bean ice cream) and the cherry cider was quite amazing too! We also bought some groceries on the way to cook both dinner and breakfast at the cottage.

After spending a relaxing night at the cottage, we headed out to the Rocky Mountain National Park for a fun hike that had some amazing views. Its a beautiful park but it was interesting to see the difference in summer crowd levels between Yosemite and the Rockies. I think its more of a winter destination. (Even Denver was pretty deserted for a long weekend).

Finally, with a good hike and a scenic drive behind us, we headed back to Denver. The Independence Day weekend is also special because its my husband's birthday a day after. So we went out to dinner to Marco's Coal Fired Pizza on Larimer St. Again, highly recommended. Don't have the Mojitos though. With a canoli cake, the celebration ended on a high. And then...it started raining! Pouring!! It was an extremely wet 4th of July. It didn't matter much though since all of us were so tired by the end of the day, we just got back straight to the hotel and crept into bed.

The next day, we just walked around Old South Pearl St. Again, the lack of crowds disappointed, but the ice cream at the Pajama Bakery and some cute shopping at 5 green boxes was a pleasure!

Denver and Colorado reminds me a lot of California. It looks so similar with the valleys and mountains all around. I had no idea that the Rocky Mountain range was one that made up so many of the most beautiful national parks in the United States - Yellowstone, Grand Teton, Glacier National Park and of course, our main Colorado destination - the Rocky Mountain National Park. The mountain range extends all the way from Western Canada to New Mexico in the US!

This was such a fun holiday. A relaxing get away that all of us deserved. We could have made it a lot more hectic since there surely is a lot more to see in the RMNP and Denver but we just chose to slow it down considering our already crazy lives.

Papaya Sorbet

Its getting hot here in Evanston, IL and the summer's always a good time for ice cream. I've made kulfi (recipe later) and today I decided I should try making sorbet. I'd heard and seen so much about the famed dessert that it was about time I gave my kitchen a whiff of it. Especially since I'm currently on a low fat cooking spree. It also reminds me of the sherbet that we used to have in India growing up. Different fruits and ice shaken together.

So, while rummaging around my refrigerator for some fruit, I came across some papaya which inspired this sorbet! Papaya is such a value for money kind of fruit! Its so popular in so many of the developing countries - India, Mexico etc. For me, it kind of mimics the mango but on a budget. Further research on the internet, and I concocted a trial recipe for papaya sorbet. I blended half a papaya with 2-3 tbsp of lemon juice and half a tsp of vanilla extract. On the side, I added 1/4 cup of sugar (adjust this as per your needs) to 1/4 cup of water and boiled it down to create a sugar syrup which I added to the blended papaya. You could potentially add a sprig of mint to the syrup while boiling for another layer of flavor. Freeze this mixture.

After about 2-3 hours in the freezer, take out the sorbet and blend it once more in the food processor till smooth again and then back into the freezer. Once frozen, just spoon it out and enjoy!

The result: It wasn't as tasty as I thought it would be. My guess is that it was the choice of fruit. I think this recipe would be fantastic with mango pulp!

I added passion fruit juice to the frozen sorbet and put it through the food processor again today. Much much better!! Very fruity and I could taste the natural sugars of the two fruits blended together. I hadn't much sugar to begin with (in line with my aim to eat healthy) so the passion fruit juice definitely took this to the next level.

Experiment with this recipe and different fruits! Add a drizzle of honey on top. Reduce the amount of sugar in the syrup. There are definitely multiple flavor combinations possible here.

Food, Travel and all that's in between

When I was younger, my mom would always be really proud of my eating capabilities. She'd be happy that I took the right portions and pretty much cleaned off what I had on my plate. I have always enjoyed food and in the recent past, to my mom's pleasant surprise, my cooking capabilities might possibly be catching up.

I never really enjoyed cooking before. It used to irk and bore me and various flavor combinations were always elusive. Today, as I spend more time in the kitchen, I realize that food isn't just about following recipes. Its about creating a personality. My food isn't the same as my mother's or my grand mother's. Its mine. And I take full responsibility for the result. My kitchen getaways have been a practical mix of good, bad and the ugly. But its always fun!! (Featured here is Garlic Mushroom Pasta Bake with Almond and Parm Cheese Crust)

During all my food escapades, I do try and bring in the essence of places that I travel to. And to make that possible, its absolutely essential that I travel (subject of course to budget and time constraints). As a child, my father's job took us to a lot of places within India specifically the north and the south. But there's just so much left to see! Not just in the world but also in India. I'm luckily married to a man who loves travel more than I do. We might not have been able to travel as much as we'd have liked to but I think we've done a credible amount in 4 years. Like I said, its all subject to budget and time constraints!


To start off, this is a photo from my recent trip to India. Its a Mother Dairy ice cream cart. I used to love that ice cream!!

I'm excited to document my two cents on food and travel through photographs. I'm looking forward to reminiscing about the past and planning the future.