We Seattleites are obsessed with weather. People over here spend so much time outside in summer, as if it is the last time we will ever get to see the sun! This year especially since the weather has been so inconsistent, any day we get some sun everyone is out in droves. I am the kind of person who needs to spend at least one day a week at home without any human contact in order to get rejuvenated and refreshed for the work week. That’s why I love winter, …

Am I on a roll or what! Two recipes in a week, it’s been a long time since that has happened! Just trying to get all my drafts cleaned up before leaving for India. I have such mixed feelings about this India trip, while I am all excited about seeing my family, just thinking about being away from Siv for a month is making me really sad. Because of this, I’ve been treating him extra special these days. This dish was part of a special homecoming dinner I made for …

Recently there was an article on Bon Appétit called 3 Reasons You Should be Cooking Lamb. The reasons listed were Nutrition, Flavor and Versatility. Those who like lamb already know about the last two points, but I’ve never paid much attention to the nutrition part before. The article says: 
Lamb is an excellent source of protein (one serving provides 50 percent of your daily value), vitamin B12 (45 percent of your daily value), and zinc (30 percent of your daily value), and the leaner cuts of lamb have only around 72 …

I haven’t posted any Tamil recipes in a while, not because Siv is not cooking anymore, but because he has a tendency to stick with a few tried and tested recipes whenever he does. I think I have posted all the dishes that he regularly makes. Today when he said he wanted to cook goat, I asked him to cook something new aka a bloggable dish, as I’ve been having a creative block lately. So he immediately made a call to his mom, asking for ideas and she gave him …

It’s late and I am too tired to write a blog post, but I just had these mutton chops for dinner for the second night in a row and had to write down the recipe before I forgot. It was that good!! Yes, I know I am tooting my own horn, but someone’s got to and nobody else seems to want the job. I used goat chops (you can buy goat meat in Halal meat stores in the United States), but if you can’t find goat, use lamb, just reduce …

After I started blogging, I bring back quite a few Indian cookbooks every time I visit India. Due to the generous exchange rate, you get about 10 Indian cookbooks for the price you’d pay for an average cookbook here in the US. I am a total novice when it comes to the different regional cuisines of India, so when I pick up these books I make big plans for cooking my way through each one of those and dream about being an expert in all those cuisines. But after I …

We all have certain moments in our lives when we look at our significant other and think – Yes, I’ve chosen wisely. One such moment in my life involves a huge bone. Not that kind of bone you dirty minds – I meant a real bone.
It happened in one of the early years of our relationship. We were having lamb curry for dinner. There was one large piece of bone in that curry! You know the type of bone that’s been stewed in the spicy gravy for a long time, …

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 myself as usual. Half a month is already gone by …

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 and the harbor and Mount Rainier, but to me it …

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 sorry, I didn’t take any pictures of the buildings on …

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 we both have our own masterpieces, but if …

Any White Castle fans out there? Every time I watch the movie Harold & Kumar go to White Castle, I get this unbelievable cravings for white castle burgers. It is one of the funniest movies I’ve ever seen, and I don’t mind watching it again and again. Yeah, I love stupid dude movies… Anyway, I have never had a White Castle burger ever, but Siv has and he never stops talking about how many he can finish in one sitting. For those who are not familiar with their …

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 year, and with him it is either a big …

Last post I mentioned how much I love Thai food. But my love for Thai food is nowhere close to my obsession with Sri Lankan cuisine. The best Sri Lankan food we’ve ever had was at this small little restaurant called Lakruwana in New York City. On our very first trip to NY years ago, we were foolish enough to rent a car, and were driving around Time Square looking for parking when we came across this restaurant on 44th St. We got parking somewhere next to the place, all …

Chettinad cuisine is originated in the southern parts of Tamil Nadu state comprising of Madurai, Tirunelveli and Karaikudi regions. This cuisine is well known for its hot and spicy, aromatic non vegetarian dishes like Chicken Chettinad, Pepper Chicken, Fish Varuval etc. Chettinad cuisine is so different from the traditional healthy vegetarian cuisine of the Tamil Brahmins, but when I think of Tamil cuisine, the first word that comes to my mind is Chettinad – just my type of dishes! 
When I mentioned to Siv that there is an event called Regional Cuisine of India …

Grilling lamb chops is very easy; make a nice marinade, marinate the meat for a few hours, fire up the grill, place the marinated chops, cook one side, turn once, cook the other side, let it rest for a while and delicious lamb chops are ready to serve!  Making an Indian style lamb chops is much more work, since the whole cooking process is done stovetop, and there are several steps to the process. But the end result is so different from the grilled chops you would find in any restaurant around …

The best Lebanese food I’ve ever had was in Ireland of all the places! I was in Dublin on a business trip and my Irish colleagues took us to their favorite Lebanese restaurant for dinner – may be because there were people from four different continents in our group - and the food was amazing! Next day I was out shopping , I wasn’t looking for it, but it so happened that there was a tiny pocket sized Lebanese cookbook next to the check-out counter and I had to buy it. This was two years ago, …

I am very lucky to be married to a guy who not only shares my passion for food, but is a fantastic cook as well. But even though both of us work full-time, somehow cooking is my responsibility in our house. It is not something that Siv demands, he doesn’t expect me to cook every day, he cooks when he is in the mood, and expects me to do the same. But I have a voice in my head that tells me that the kitchen is my domain, and cooking …

This is my short-cut way of making goat curry, it really looks and tastes like it took some time and effort to make, but it is too darn easy! The best thing I like about this recipe is that there is no grinding involved, no mixer jars to clean, but the gravy still has that nice thick texture. I use the store bought ginger paste and garlic paste, but if you don’t have the pastes, chop up some ginger and garlic real small, you don’t have to grind those. The idea …

Sunday morning at 9:30 am, and Siv is deep in sleep… We had a fun night Saturday celebrating Hema’s birthday , first drinks at Earth & Ocean and then dinner at 1200 Bistro in Capitol Hill. I woke up a little early to talk to my sister in India, before it is too late over there. After all the talk about food and blog and stuff, I was getting kind of hungry and decided to whip up something special for brunch instead of the regular toast and omelets we usually …