Remember me?

Why, hello there! It has only been a year since I last posted so I don't expect anyone to be actually reading this but still.... hello!

Wow, I just re-read my posts and can't believe how fast time flew by. Let's see.. since that last post I've had a baby!! Yup-a 3 month old chubby little boy so full of sweetness that I just want to run to the daycare now to give him a kiss. Oy.

I have been up-to-date on all my favorite food blogs and would occasiionally (o.k.-rarely) think about updating mine. But with so many wonderful food blogs out there I keep wondering if there is any point! I mean, it's not as if I am some wonderful cook whipping up fantabulous meals left and right. And my writing skills are not so exquisite that people will flock here just to read about my culinary escapades. So, what should I do??

Hmm, I guess I'll be back soon with an answer!

Until then, have a Happy Halloween.

Ahhh-that was good

Hi all
Wasn't that a beautiful Thanksgiving? It is the one holiday of the year that I actually drool over. Just the thought of turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, and cranberry sauce puts me in gagaland. It was scrumptious indeed.

How was your Thanksgiving?

We got together at a friend's house for potluck-style dinner. I made the mashed potatoes, cranberry sauce, pumpkin pie, and a flan (just in case pie didn't work out).

Now don't be shocked but, I've never made any of the above items from scratch before. I know, I know!! How horrible. BUT let me just say that I'll never ever again buy these items from a store. Of course, there are exceptions to every rule and my exception is the pumpkin pie.

My pie looked yummy but when it came time to cut it, the inside was still mushy and the crust was too soggy. YUCK! My flan came to the rescue. Everybody loved it and I was e-mailing recipes the next day. I even went and bought more supplies over the weekend to make another batch for my darling little daughter who loves the stuff but didn't get a piece because she was too busy playing and ignored me when I called her for dessert.

I'm realizing that I really love trying new recipes but with small kids, it is tough to bake a whole batch or dish of something since it will just sit around for days. The kids might like what I make but how much are they going to eat? My girls are small for their size (great genes) and eat less than their "average" pals. My husband loves sampling my creations but he only takes one or two servings max and then asks 'what's for dinner?'

Since he was born and brought up in Kerala, dinner for him means rice or sometimes chapati/porotta with a meat dish, veggie dish, and gravy of some sort. I guess I too prefer that dinner but you know.. just occasionally, I would like to have my house masala aroma-free. Even my purse now stinks. Boy, I think I should save this topic for another time since I can't seem to stop writing.

Alright everyone (if there is anyone), enjoy the rest of the week.

Oh yeah-my camera- Did I mention that I've shipped it off to Canon and still waiting for their response? I guess I just did.

Poisoned

Happy Monday morning y'all :)
I still can't say y'all without smirking (I grew up in Chicaaaago).

Remember my last post about waking up nice and late on Saturday (after getting up early, feeding my kiddies, and turning on the cartoons of course)? Well, the part about getting up early was right but I was dead wrong about going back to bed.

My older daughter ran into the bathroom in our room at 6 am on Saturday and proceeded to alternate between vomitting and ummm, the other end. I know, you really don't want to know this but since I am so sure no one is reading my blog at this point, I can write whatever I want, right?

Anyways, after an hour of that, she brushed her teeth and I put her back in bed. An hour later, my husband and younger daughter were doing the same thing. Oyy!

I had no clue what was going on but I had left work early Friday feeling sick. Crazy me, but I think I might have actually poisoned my entire family.

How does one manage that? Easy, make some spanish rice and be use to chicken broth from a can. Mind you, all-natural chicken broth with no MSG, etc. etc. So much for buying healthy food. I should have just bought the one loaded with all the good stuff. Anyways, I have no clue why the effect was delayed for everyone else but me. I shudder just thinking at how much worse it could have been. Ugh!

O.K. onto better things.

Have you guys ever seen that ad in the airline magazines for a Brazilian restaurant where they showcase the different types of meat on a skewer? Well, I have seen that plenty of times and always wanted to try it out. Guess what? We went Saturday evening.

You might be thinking, "How did they go out to eat meat when they were all sick less than 12 hours earlier?" We were all starving because I forced everyone to eat fruit for lunch and nothing else. I told them that we were only going to eat fresh fruit-sort of as a detoxifying job- for lunch. Boy, we sure were ready to eat anything by the time we got to the restaurant.

It was quite an experience. The salad bar was awesome! Lots and lots of different type of veggies and delectable cheeses! MMMM good. I could have filled up just at the salad bar. Once you finished your salad, you could turn over your little card to green to indicate that you were ready for the meat and then the waiters would come over with different cuts and slice a piece off for you. My favorite was the ribs. They were sooo moist and tasty! My mouth is watering just thinking of it. The best part was that the restuarant loked upscale but was very family-friendly. White tablecloth, nice wine list, etc. I liked also that there was a good mix of people.

The only down part was that the next day I was still stuffed until dinner time. Guess that's not really a bad thing.

Anyways, I suppose I should stop writing this novel here, right?

Hope you guys had a wonderful weekend!

It's Friday!

Hello There,
Sorry, still no camera so no pictures. I'll be shipping my camera out this weekend to Canon and hopefully get it back before Christmas!!

I did try a new recipe though-Sweet Potato and Pecan Cake. It was different and it was yummy. At least I thought so. My husband took one bite and said"the crust is good." Which means he probably wouldn't take another bite.

My daughter liked the cake a lot, without the icing. I know!! How could a child not like icing?! Especially homemade icing with butter and cream cheese. Oh well. At least I tried something new!
I'll post the recipe with the pictures later.

I'm in an excellent mood today since it is Friday!!!

Ahhh-wake up at a leisurely time tomorrow morning, no hitting the snooze button, mozy on down to the kitchen, drink a hot cup of coffee, soak in the sunshine, and reeeelax. O.K. real version: wake up at 7 because kids are up and want breakfast, hurriedly brush teeth, go downstairs and mull for 15 minutes on whether to make traditional Kerala breakfast or pancakes and bacon. Decide on bacon because I'm still seasoning my cast-iron skillet. 30 minutes later serve breakfast to starving kids. Turn cartoons on and go upstairs back to bed and feel guilty about not making Kerala breakfast but decide to do it on Sunday. Ahhhh life is good.

If anyone is reading this, let me know what your ideal Saturday morning would be!
Cheers!

Good news and Bad news

Good news: I found my USB cable so now I can finally upload pictures.
Bad news: USB cable is not working so, no picture yet.

I was so ecstatic when I found the cable last night. I was thinking that I can finally get going with this blog and update the last entry with a picture and start a new one.... Well, I plugged in the cable, heard the familiar ding sound but then saw an error box pop up saying that the computer did not recognize the device.

Good thing I have a Canon camera, right? Their service center is open till midnight (EST)! Of course, the first thing out of my mouth was "where are you guys located?" Poor guy must have thought that I was going to scream and shout at him for taking away U.S. jobs. He was located in Virginia. Who would have thought! Anyway, long story short, I was on the phone for an hour and at the end of it, nothing had changed. My personal opinion is that when they fixed the camera (The OCD lens was malfunctioning and they replaced it free of charge w/free shipping to and fro to boot!!) something else got messed up. But my pal at the center thinks that something is wrong with my computer. Ironic, since the camera won't upload to either computer at home. Hmmmm. Anyways, I'll be mailing the camera (again) and hopefully will be able to upload some pictures here.

But you are not here for pictures, right??

Dinner (after bedtime)

This might sound a bit weird but, I make dinner after my girls have gone to bed.

Let me clarify.

I once heard somewhere that the hours between coming home after work and getting the kids in bed are referred to as the "bewitching hours." Sometimes, for me, it can become the "bitching hours" if I am more stressed than usual. After several (o.k.-more than several) unsuccessful attempts to remain calm, kind, and sweet during this trying period, I decided that I needed a change in plans if I were to raise my kids as emotionally stable children.

Hence my idea, that cooking dinner after the kids had gone to sleep might be a bit more relaxing and enjoyable, was born.

Now before you go thinking that my children go to bed hungry, they don't. They get the previous night's entree. At their age (6 and 3) they could care less (besides-it's a new meal to them). And as long as they are getting a stress-free (relatively) homemade meal, I am perfectly happy.

So, what did I make last night with all my free time? Actually, I opted for something simple. I bought purple cabbage over the weekend and decided to make a stir-fry with it yesterday.

This is a Kerala dish (which means that it will have coconut in some shape or form 95% of the time). It took about 30 minutes to prep and cook and I was even able to take a shower while it cooked! Not bad!!

I've always loved this dish because of its flavor combination. The cabbage is sliced very thin so the flavor of the cabbage is not overpoweringly intense. This combined with the coconut and chili makes for one yummy cabbage dish. I sometimes cook it for a bit longer than needed to get it a little browned which makes it even yummier!

Try it out and let me know what you think.

Purple cabbage stir-fry (thoren)

• half-head of purple cabbage
• 2 cups of grated unsweetened coconut (can be found in the freezer section of most Indian grocery stores; make sure you defrost!)
• 1 tsp mustard seeds (black)
• 1 tsp turmeric powder
• 1 tbsp salt (adjust to preference; I like my food salty)
• 1 tsp chili powder
• oil

1. Cut the half-head of cabbage into 2 equal chunks.
2. Slice the cabbage as thinly as possible.
3. Combine all ingredients except oil and mustard seeds.
4. Pour enough oil to just coat the bottom of favorite stir-fry pan and put on heat. (I actually like to heat up my pan first and then pour the oil)
5. Once oil has heated up (usually takes only a few minutes on medium heat), add mustard seeds and wait for them to start popping.
6. Add the cabbage froms step 3 and stir well to mix in the oil.
7. Cover and cook on low heat for about 15 minutes. (Stir once or twice to make sure cabbage is not sticking to the bottomg of the pan)
8. Serve as a side with rice, yogurt (plain), and mango pickle.

P.S. I will post a picture as soon as I find the USB cable!

Welcome!

Hi!
Welcome to my brand new blog. This is my first post. Not sure what I want to accomplish with this blog but one thing is for sure-I love reading food blogs, love cooking for family and friends, and of course, love eating! I guess this will be mainly a food blog then! One more thing, I was born in India but came here soon after so, many of recipes will be from Kerala, India (southwest region). Just a heads up.
Ciao,
Hope to see you around