A Brownian Walk Through Life...

I have been taking daily walks in our neighborhood during this work from home phase. Boundaries between the "work time" and "home time" have become hazy for so many of us, that it helps to set small rituals to remind you of just that. Our ritual is to go for long evening walks across our neighborhood right after I finish my work and before we start dinner prep.  There are so many things I am noticing about our neighborhood that I never did before! Like there is a beautiful creek and an old style footbridge tucked away merely a mile from us (I had no idea!).. and how many of our neighbors have fruit trees in their front yards - all laden with apricots, plums and lots and lots of apples! The apples are still small and green, but the plums are ripe everywhere.. we often see perfectly good plums lying on the sidewalks fallen from a tree laden with fruit. As you can imagine, we are over-flowing with plums at our house as well - some given by our youn…

I now completed 3 weeks of working from home; and 2 weeks with family working from home. The second week brought with it much needed smoothness in our daily routines. We went for walks everyday; made simple dinners every night which served as left-over lunches for the next day and found us managing our work time with daughter's remote learning time without anyone having to pull their hairs apart - all in all, it was harmony and I think we are settling into this new normal :) I found some strategies which work well for us, the first is time limiting the news hour and coronavirus topic at home to evenings 5-7pm, which hugely helps manage stress/anxiety particularly as kids are always listening, even if we don't think they are! The other is shifting the kids school week so that she has no work on Mon/Tue two of my busiest workdays while she makes up for those days on our weekends.  We also set aside some time every week to just have family fun - cook…

Ukadiche Modak is basically steamed modak, think of it like sweet dumpling made with rice flour wrapper and sweet coconut stuffing - they are more popular lately because they are a healthier alternative to traditional modak which are deep fried in ghee or butter. I have always loved Ukadiche Modak more than the traditional one -- I think if you are a dumpling fan in general, this is right up your alley!! In Maharashtra where I come from there is a saying that you can gauge the quality of a home cook by their Ukadiche Modak, it is supposed to be a very tricky recipe - however I did not really have any trouble with it; I am guessing because of all the practice I have had making vegetable dumplings at home - and these are a very close cousins. I followed this recipe to proportions. I found that kneading the dough really well matters a lot; as well as letting it rest a bit before working. Frozen coconut works just as well and is a huge time saver. We rece…

This November Ginger & Garlic turned 7 - wow, I can't believe it was 7 years ago that I wrote my very first quinoa salad post . I never thought anyone would read it. And I was ecstatic when someone did read it and comment! It has been a long journey since then. To some extent I think the changes in how I blog reflect my own personal journey over the last 7 years. And this 7 year blogversary is making me sentimental enough to walk down the memory lanes.... Carrots with Saffron & Cardamom This blog started off with a simple enough reason. I rarely set foot in kitchen until I moved to US for grad school. I was trying to be a better cook, reading recipes on internet, on the many blogs popping up in 2008-2009 timeframe and experimenting a lot with various recipes and cooking techniques.  I also wanted to improve my photography -- and most importantly, I love to write, always have! This is probably the primary reason I blog; I love to write.…

A very happy thanksgiving to everyone who celebrated. Our thanksgiving was a quiet affair spent talking and eating and sipping wine with friends at home lazily over the course of an afternoon!  For me there is so much to be thankful for this year - from family and friends to work to our house to my daughter's wonderful teachers and of-course all of you readers! Thanksgiving is officially a home cook's holiday - a time to celebrate every home cook laboring over the stoves or ovens to put a warm and delicious food on table for their loved ones day after day. Thanksgiving always puts me into the gear for the upcoming holiday season and for emptying that recipe bookmarks I let build over the year. The menu this thanksgiving was a set of simple oven heavy dishes. I love oven only recipes in winter, you avoid the wait and watch and stir phase next to the stove which just means extra time for sipping tea or playing with daughter. Pumpkin Pie …

Really, is being foodie a gene we pass around from mother to child? Last week I reached home from work and I got an excited call from my four year old who has just been picked up from her preschool by her dad. "Mommy, I have a great idea - let's bake something today! Let's bake cherry pie!" she said in her most excited voice.  It was a school night and I had plans for dinner and then had some office work lined up -- so I tried to derail her from the plan "but we don't have pie crust at home honey, so let's bake on the weekend, okay?" I say.  Being a true foodie, to that she says "but we can make it, right? you can ask Google how to make crust! Google knows everything"  hmmm.. "well yes, I can do that but how about we go to park instead or (reluctantly) may be I'll let you watch a Daniel Tiger instead!"... "no, let's bake something please" she says. Wow, if today baki…

I wanted to bake something special to bring to a new year's party we were invited to. Baking for a large gathering is always fun, because you can confidently add the sugar and the butter without worrying about the horrific outcome of you finishing all of it alone! (been there, done that, repented by hours on trademill :) )  So I was looking for something more elaborate and this chocolate swiss roll cake recipe which appeared on PW blog recently seemed perfect. I skipped the chocolate ganache because I realized last minute I didn't have enough chocolate in the fridge but the cake was great even without it (though presentation would have been much better with ganache, going to try that next time!) There were two mistakes I made while making this and both ended up with the same root cause of not whipping the batter long enough. Egg and sugar batter had not come to the ribbon stage, though likely a few more minutes would have done it. And the cre…

I am not a person with a sweet tooth but as it happens often my daughter is.! So after years of hiatus from sweet recipes I am starting to poke my hand back into the dessert section. Even though we love Indian main course and appetizers, almost always when I think of desserts I think Italian, American - Tiramisu, cakes, puddings and pies or the simple ice-cream! The two exceptions being Shrikhand (sweet thick yogurt with Saffron and nuts) and puran poli (sweet roti) both of which are Indian/Maharashtrian sweets our family loves. The characteristics of a shrikhand is a thick yogurt which is usually achieved by tightly wrapped regular yogurt in a cheesecloth and hanging it in fridge using a spatula and a pan for hours until most of the water in the yogurt drips out and you are left with a thick shrikhand class yogurt. However if you have access to greek yogurt, which now a days is available in pretty much all supermarkets, then the whole process of shr…

If you want a tasty treaty to fulfill your sugar cravings without piling up on butter, look no further - these candys or tikkis are waiting to be your best friends!  These tikkis are no health food and definitely recommended in moderation due to the high sugar content, but hey, everyone craves a good candy at times, right? We think it's always better to make it at home rather than visit the candy store - not sure about you, but it will be difficult for some to resist the temptation to buy the store outright :) Candy making is generally looked upon with fright. And for good reason. The temperature has to be just right and melting has to be done perfectly for it to be not too hard or too soft. In candy making difference between getting it right and ruining it is just a little. These are all valid concerns. However the recipe below is a good starter recipe in getting your handy into candy making - it's simple with minimal ingredients and does not req…

It was such a blessing to have my Mom help us out those first few post-delivery weeks! I think its the only time you have to be babied up while you settle into a rhythm caring for your own little baby :) While she was here in addition to the fresh lunches and dinners she also made a big batch of methiche laddo (fenugreek sweets). It is traditional in our region of India to gift fenugreek laddos to the new nursing moms.  Benefits of fenugreek for lactation are  well know . No one quite knows how it works but fenugreek is famous in many cultures as a milk-boosting herb. While fresh fenugreek leaves can be added to the daals and sabzis; the easiest way to get enough dosage of fenugreek for its lactation benefits is to either take fenugreek in capsule form or a better-tasting yummy alternative would be make these fenugreek ladoos which are made from powdered fenugreek seeds.  While fenugreek seeds or powder is easily found in Indian grocery stores; for those in…

Valentine's day is just around the corner and to a foodie like me that means chocolates, chocolates and more chocolates! I love how everywhere around this time one starts seeing the bouquets of beautiful roses, various chocolate treats and all sorts of beautifully wrapped gifts. Strawberries and chocolates are two of my most favorite things so its only logical that chocolate covered strawberries happen to be on the menu whenever I am in the mood for making something cutsie without a whole lot of effort. With plump fresh strawberries and white and dark chocolates, your imagination is the only limit when it comes to making designs for strawberry chocolates but here are some of my all time favorites (and something I have blogged previously here ) which sort of differ from the usual chocolate covered berries. These chocolate bride and groom are the perfect treats if you are in the mood for a more delicately worked strawberry designs and perhaps a perfect g…

Am I the only weird one out there who likes to eat just the filling of an apple pie and throws away the crust? I know what you are thinking, that's unheard of indeed.. I mean, who does not like the moist, flaky, buttery crust! Well, me. And precisely for the same reasons.. its flaky, too buttery and way overpowers (in my opinion) the flavors of freshly baked apples with cinnamon, nutmeg and a dash of sugar! Which is why I love this apple crisp so much! Remember that Seinfeld episode where Elaine's boss steals her idea of selling just the top of the muffins instead of whole muffins as she reasons people like to eat only the top anyway? Apple crisp is something like that for me.. its my perfect 'top of the muffins for me'!  Bad analogy, never-mind, coming back to the apple crisp: it is a baked dessert with just the apple pie filling without the crust . Instead of a crust, it has a topping which is mostly made up of rolled oats, sugar and a little bu…

Have you read the book ' Namesake ' by Jhumpa Lahiri? I am sure some of you have probably seen the movie. The movie is very well done but like with any other good books I feel the movie is no match to the book. In a nutshell the book traces the story of a second generation Indian-American son's (named Gogol Ganguli) coming of age years. The movie is named namesake because Gogol is named after the memory of a rare near-death accident that occurred in his father's life before his father moved to America. Name 'Gogol' for his father resonates with a new beginning, the fact that he survived, the fact that he moved to US and made a new home for his family, a start of all good things! Gogol though is confused and awkward about his identity and heritage. He quite can not have the same feeling of 'home' towards India but at the same time feels a deep void and a disconnect with the western world surrounding him - even his name does not seem…

Have you ever smelled an orange blossom in an orange field? If you haven't let me tell you that it is one of the most delicate and refreshing scents ever! I stayed in southern California for a couple of years and our winter weekend gateway there used to be hiking in the nearby hills where due to the elevation it would somehow seem more wintry (well, relatively atleast :D). We used to start early in the morning; hike during the day; grab a cup of coffee and then head back down in the evening. While driving back to the city we would pass through these gigantic orange fields in bloom and oh boy, I would just open up the car windows and let the most refreshing citrusy scent fill up my nose and my mind! Its amazing how our mind associates foods with memories! Last weekend local farmer's market carried such fresh and sweet varieties of navel oranges, satsumas, mandarins, meyer lemons that for a moment unknowing to myself I flashed back to those SoCal winter eve…

When life gives you an overload of apples what do you do? Don't sweat it -- just make applesauce! Last week we had a situation where we ended up with lots and lots of apples sitting on the counter-top waiting to be used! Good part about my lack of sweet tooth is that I am always looking for some not-so-sweet ways to prepare a light fruit based sweet dish which we'll love and won't seem like a mere idea of a dessert to our guests :) This one fits the bill perfectly! Raspberry adds a nice pinkish red hue to the sauce which I loved! Surprisingly it also paired really well with apples. Lemon juice is necessary to bring out the apple flavor and cardamom just puts the whole dish together for me! Next time I want to try this with some apple liquor , I bet it will add a nice edge to this dish :) I did a test taste and was so pleasantly surprised by these apple-raspberry flavors that in a hurry to eat it all I did not even care much about the picture! (F…

Every year around this time the same question starts popping up into my mind: what should I make for the holiday gatherings? I think everyone has atleast a few dashing staple stars; these are the dishes that you can whip up with no worries at-all, with very less preparation and they are sure to please every tummy! I am always awed by all the fellow food-bloggers who whip up these delightfully scrumptious baked goodies; seeing the pictures of which make me wish I had more of a baking woo-doo :) But with my limited baking talent all I feel comfortable taking to any holiday gatherings is usually a banana nut bread or some fruit cake! This year though when I saw this  chocolate truffles post on Yasmeen's blog I knew exactly what I wanted to make! Chocolate truffles are a type of chocolates made with a chocolate ganache inside and coated with various coatings, the most ubiquitous of which is cocoa powder but powdered sugar and toasted nuts are common coatings to…

Is there something like a sweet tooth or is everything an acquired taste? I wonder sometimes.. pretext being that neither me nor my husband have strong sweet cravings. Even as a kid all I asked my mom to prepare on every single of my birthdays was a simple fruit-salad! So preparing desserts is a rarity at our place (special occasions or family friends over for dinner). Sweet dishes that I do prepare at home are either a) traditional Marathi sweets that we do crave once in a while or b) some light fruit based desserts (tarts, crustless-pies.. you get the idea). Its not so much about watching sugar or calories, but just that neither of us really crave sweets. Okay, now before you think that I am this saint person who gets no sweet cravings let me assure you that like everything else in nature there are exceptions to this rule :-) First, I do get my bulk-load of non-saintness craving fried snacks like samosas and kachoris and second, did you say Tiramisu, Chocolate mo…