Leavenworth - a charming town in WA where we spent a relaxing July 4th weekend. A beautiful house in the middle of nowhere surrounded by Pear orchards and the stunning Wenatchee river in the backyard; lots and lots of food, drinks and games… it was truly the perfect weekend! Inspired by the resemblance of its countryside to Bavarian Germany, Leavenworth was remodeled as a Bavarian village in the 1960s. The town center is beautiful with its quaint Bavarian architecture, but […]

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A Chicken Curry with Tamarind

Tuesday, July 1st, 2008

Filed Under Chicken, India - Other | 38 Comments

I barely made it to my own event, that is how hectic life’s been lately! But the good news is that I have a four day weekend coming up and we are going away on a mini-break. Nothing major, driving to a nearby town with a group of friends for some much needed R&R. So I won’t get to do the JFI-Tamarind round up till early next week, therefore if you want to send me some more Tamarind entries, you […]

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I have been blogging for an year and a half now, and for the most part I’ve kept up a steady pace. I have blogged when I was on vacation, when I had visitors and even when I was sick. Only thing that has ever kept me away from the blogging world is work, which is the main reason for my infrequent updates and blog hopping. Now, no one can fault me for being a good employee right? Someone’s gotta […]

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We just got back from an extended weekend break in Las Vegas. Yes, the 10th anniversary celebration was in our favorite city in the whole world. What, you don’t think it is a romantic city? It sure is, for us at least! As much as Siv and I love each other, we have totally different hobbies and interests, except for two major ones - food and poker. Where else can you get the best of both these?
We have been to […]

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Braised Pork Belly

Monday, May 26th, 2008

Filed Under Pork, South East Asia | 18 Comments

I know, it’s been a while since I posted something here. No big excuse, other than the same old story of a hectic work week. However we had our first summer barbecue on Saturday, where I tried out a bunch of new dishes. Even though the thought of blogging was the real inspiration behind trying the new dishes, I didn’t get time to take any pictures. It is hard to take pictures when you have a bunch of hungry guests […]

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Spicy Baby Back Ribs

Tuesday, April 29th, 2008

Filed Under Good with Drinks, India - Kerala, Pork | 25 Comments

In my last post, I didn’t mean to convey that I hate cooking. I just meant that it is the outcome that I enjoy more than the process. When it comes to cooking, the benefits outweigh the effort normally. That is the reason I cook certain dishes and would never even attempt certain others. I know I will never be able to bake a cake as tasty or as beautiful as our neighborhood baker. Even if I do it will […]

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I pretend to be a great chef. I try to believe that cooking is therapeutic, but I don’t really believe that! I do like to pretend that I am a big time cook, I love the accolades that come with it. I love the glory so much that I’ve even deluded myself into thinking that I actually enjoy cooking. But there are so many other things I’d rather be doing. 
Therapeutic, yeah right! I think watching TV is therapeutic, reading is […]

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I can’t believe I still haven’t blogged about one of the most famous non-vegetarian preparations from Kerala, the good old beef fry! Succulent beef pieces cooked in freshly ground spices and sauteed dry with onions and coconut slices, this is one of those famous Thattukada dishes.
Thattukada is Kerala’s version of a fast food joint. While the beef fry is not fast food, the fact that time works in favor of the flavors in this dish and it actually tastes better […]

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This is my favorite way to eat green beans. This picture was taken a long time ago, I have been waiting to take a better picture since the beans look a little overcooked and tired in this version. I actually like my beans tender, but the normal restaurant version has the beans very crisp, which would make a better picture for sure. But after we got back from India, I have gotten real lazy, and haven’t cooked much. I have […]

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This is a two part post with the two parts having no connection to each other. I am too jet-lagged and sleepy to come up with some twisted way of joining the two as I sometimes do. So feel free to skip the first part and jump to the recipe directly. Sorry, but I must rant!
I am jinxed when it comes to air travel. Really, I am not exaggerating! Anything that can go wrong on a trip (apart from the […]

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I’ve been real busy lately with work deadlines fast approaching, and preparing for a trip coming up in a week or so. I didn’t get time to look at my rss feeds for three days, and suddenly the number of unread posts were in three digits. I have way too many recipes and restaurant reviews waiting in my drafts. If I don’t type those up soon, the details will be forgotten for sure. The to-do pile for blogging is as […]

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The husband is away on a business trip, the fridge is practically empty and it is pouring outside to go shopping. This was the situation at home tonight when it was time to start thinking about dinner. I raided the fridge to find some Portuguese sausage links, eggs and left over rice. First thought was to just have sausage and eggs, breakfast for dinner, why not? But then I thought of Meeta’s Monthly Mingle, and that today is the last […]

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Eggs n’ Potatoes Curry

Thursday, February 28th, 2008

Filed Under Eggs, India - Kerala, Potato, Side Dish - Gravy | 32 Comments

It’s been raining potatoes here in the blogosphere lately. That is because 2008 is the International Year of Potato. Wow, a whole year devoted to the spuds! Recently Sra wrote that she has used up all her potato memories, but she did have enough memories to fill about a dozen posts… That got me thinking about my relationship with the spud, and I realized that sadly I may not even have enough memories to fill one post!
Growing up, potatoes were […]

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We have ongoing arguments in our household as to who the better cook is. Now we all know there is really no argument there but I have to admit that there are a few dishes - when I say few, I mean single digits - that Siv is better at. For example he makes the best fish curry in the world, and I am not exaggerating. He also makes some mean crab dishes too. With chicken, mutton etc […]

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There is nothing like the sight of a fresh green mango to bring back the nostalgic memories of a happy Indian childhood. Unfortunately after coming to the US, the only real sour variety of mangoes that I could find were the greem frozen ones from the Indian stores. It works in chutneys and such just fine. But those slices are so sad looking, with a tired texture once defrosted, I use those only in emergencies, when the cravings for the […]

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Txori - Taste of Basque in Belltown

Saturday, February 23rd, 2008

Filed Under Belltown, Spanish, Tapas | 16 Comments

When we heard that the Harvest Vine folks opened a new restaurant in Belltown last fall, we were jumping with joy. Harvest Vine is one of our favorite restaurants in town and we love Spanish food. Then I came to know that Txori is a pintxos bar. Pintxos are the Basque version of Tapas, a culinary delight we discovered during our recent trip to Spain. When we were feasting on Pintxos in Barcelona, we kept wishing how great it will […]

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I have a folder in my browser favorites called Recipes-to-Try and it is overflowing with all the links I have been collecting over the past year… I have tried so many recipes from other bloggers, and I normally thank them through comments or e-mail, but I have never taken the time to take a picture and write a post about it. The reason behind this is nothing but sheer laziness.
All the food bloggers out there know how much hard work […]

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Crab Curry

Wednesday, February 13th, 2008

Filed Under Crab, India - Tamil Nadu, Seafood | 36 Comments

Wish you all a fabulous Valentine’s day! Siv and I are not too big into V-day, it is just another occasion to go out and eat. But over the past few years, Valentine’s day has become the worst day to go out for dinner. Every place is crowded, you have to wait for at least half an hour before the table is free even after making reservations. And the worst part is, even the normally good restaurants churn out mass-produced, […]

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Comfort food is something you crave to come home to after a few days on the road. Comfort food is usually synonymous to familiar food. It is something so personal, one person’s comfort food can send another person running for cover. For most of us, it is something that we grew up with, associated with a warm childhood memory, a special meal that only one’s own mother can really make perfect. So it is not surprising that Siv and I […]

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My birthday is less than two weeks away, and I am so looking forward to it. I love everything about the day, I just don’t understand those people who hate their birthdays! What is not to love - the gifts, the fuss, the food, the gifts, the cake, did I mention gifts? Gifts are the best part of the day, yeah I am a little vain, in case you didn’t know that about me already.
Siv tries so hard every […]

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I know, I made this big announcement about eating healthier this year… Well, we are still sticking to it for the most part, especially during the weekdays. But over the last weekend, I slipped… I was in Uwajimaya (our local Asian grocery store), and I was looking for some lean chicken, when I saw this packet of pork belly sitting there. If you are familiar with different cuts of pork, you will know that most cuts you get here […]

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Once in a while I get e-mails from readers asking for menu suggestions for a dinner party they are planning. This is my absolute favorite part of any party- coming up with the menu. Siv and I spend days planning a menu for the parties that we throw, and come up with an over-ambitious menu comparable to that of a tasting menu at a fine restaurant. But due to utter laziness and the tendency to procrastinate doing any kind of job till the absolute last minute, more often than not we end up ditching the pre-planned menu and do a d-day scrambling to buy groceries […]

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Yahooooo, I won, I won!!!!! Okay, its been more than a month since I won, but I never got a chance to share my reaction with you all, so here I go again… YIPPPPEEEE!!!!!!! So, what’s the story, you wonder? Well, back in November, multi-talented blogging diva Jaden of Steamy Kitchen, ran a contest on her blog, to give away a cool new cookbook called Modern Indian Cooking to her readers.

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I have been a chestnut fan ever since I tasted the roasted ones a few years ago. Every winter, a small stand opens in front of Uwajimaya (a Pacific Northwest Asian grocery store chain) where they sell freshly roasted chestnuts hot from the pan. First time I bought it out of curiosity, and I was hooked with the first bite.

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The holidays are finally over, time to get back to real life. We had a nice break at home, got used to sleeping at 2-3 am everyday and waking up around noon. It is going to take a little while before getting back to the rhythm of the office schedule from tomorrow. I want to kick start the regular blogging schedule on the new year by posting a recipe after the long break.

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