The grilling saga continues! This time it’s Sardines! Yes, I finally found fresh sardines here at Uwajimaya! Grilled these on my non-stick grill pan, since I was a bit afraid to use the cast iron grill. I didn’t want the skin to stick to cast iron, crispy skin is the best part of sardines! Yeah, yeah I know the theory, if you pre-heat it and apply oil, nothing will stick, etc. I didn’t want to take that chance and the […]

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Isn’t summer supposed to be the season of leisure? In my case it is quite the opposite! When I announced the “Grill It!” event this month, I had big plans. There were dreams of grilling at least twice a week. There were plans to grill everything – fruits, meat, seafood, vegetables, pizza – you name it! Even a jalapeno corn bread from one of my Grilling books was going to be tried out. It turns out that I was getting way ahead of […]

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When we abandoned the suburban comfort for the fast city life, there were quite a few niceties we had to leave behind. A grill in the backyard being one. Now there is a common grill for the condo, on our beautiful rooftop garden. It is actually a lot better arrangement in some ways, first of all the grill is bigger, better and more powerful. Also, it is a great place to hang out with amazing views of the Puget sound […]

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Finally it is summer in Seattle! I don’t think anyone else enjoys summer as much as us Seattleites. We have learned to fully appreciate the few sunny days we get every year. The streets are so lively these days, it is so much fun to go out into the city and get lost in the crowd. A friend and I had a fabulous Parisian style Sunday today. We started with brunch at Cafe Campagne, followed by a waterfront stroll and […]

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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 | 40 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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So, which Sex and the City character are you? If I must choose, I might fit somewhere between a Carrie and a Miranda. I am a big SATC fan- well, of the early seasons, it went downhill towards the end- but I can’t believe the hype that this movie’s got! It is like the Star Wars for women, I read somewhere that women across the country are going to go dressed up as their favorite SATC character! Ok guys, wipe […]

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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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We had beautiful weather in Seattle this weekend. I went hiking on Saturday with my friend M.  M is one of those exercise freaks who wears a pedometer every day and goes to the gym for fun. When it is raining outside, she sometimes goes up and down the stairs in our office building to get her exercise! M sits on the third floor and I am on the first floor, and she always offers to come down for coffee […]

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Catfish Sandwich and a Difficult Week Past

Wednesday, May 14th, 2008

Filed Under Mains, Seafood | 46 Comments

Do you know what a clear liquid diet is? Do you know there is something called good bacteria in your stomach? Do you know what acidophilus is? Do you know why they call it an Emergency Room if they make you wait for 4 hours before you get to see even a nurse?
These are just a few of the questions we had to ask ourselves this past week. Some knowledge was gained the hard way, some questions still remain unanswered. […]

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Past few days might have been the most humdrum foodie days of our lifetime. There hasn’t been any cooking happening in our house, and actually not much eating either. I won’t go into the details today, but it’s really been a difficult time. I might feel like writing about it some other time, today is definitely not the day.
One good thing that happened out of this near starvation was that I got a new found appreciation for an old favorite. […]

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Food Labels and Salad Lyonnaise

Wednesday, May 7th, 2008

Filed Under Eggs, Soups and Salads | 27 Comments

Fair Trade, Certified Humane, Organic, Homegrown, Sustainable, Local -Are you as confused by these labels as I am? You want to eat right, but how do you define what is right anymore? I know it is an age old debate - the merits of local vs organic, but even that is not the end of the problem. Every new article I read, someone is preaching a new buzzword! How do you keep up?
I would like to do my part for the […]

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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 am going to be on a break from tomorrow, will be back online end of this week. Since I won’t be able to do the round-up till then, the deadline for Monthly Blog Patrol - Mixed Drinks is extended to March 28th midnight PST. Please e-mail the entries according to the guidelines, I will respond by this weekend.
Before I leave, here is my own entry for MBP. MBP is about trying a posted recipe from a fellow blogger, and […]

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Saffron Rice cooked in the Microwave

Saturday, March 22nd, 2008

Filed Under Rice, Rice Or Biryani | 22 Comments

After almost two weeks of eating out, the cravings for homemade food got unbelievably strong today. I had some frozen spareribs in the freezer, which I cooked with Indian spices to make a spicy pork fry. I don’t mind eating dry dishes with plain rice, as long as it is spicy, but Siv usually prefers a gravy with white rice.
First inkling was to make a fried rice, but the fridge was completely empty, even the eggs had expired almost a […]

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I am not a habitual list maker, but when things start to pile up so much that there is no way one can possibly get through it all without missing something, even I resort to making a prioritized list. The problem here is that I keep adding more to the list as soon as I strike something off it.  I have barely four more days to get through them all, that is the reason I’ve been so bad in replying […]

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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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After coming back home from work really late, I had two choices tonight - curl up in bed and watch American Idol or sit in front of the PC and blog.  It sure was a no-brainer after the kind of day I had. But my stupid DVR chose today to completely @#$% me over. The whole show was recorded with no sound! I have no energy to call up the Cable company and crib, and the most they can do […]

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