Hope everyone had a fun and safe weekend! We stayed in town this long weekend and celebrated the holidays with friends. I had way too much food and way too many drinks that I could go a couple of days without any food.  Not that I am going to! I even tried to make some extra food to last us through the middle of the week. These muffins were meant to be breakfast for this week, but they disappeared before the weekend was over.
Siv frowned at the idea of Mango …

I am in the second week of my India vacation, though it feels like ages since we left Seattle! The days seem so much longer here! It’s not like I’ve been sitting at home doing nothing, we’ve already traveled to Bangalore and Chennai, finished most of the shopping too. Back in Seattle, my weekends usually go by so quickly. I remember waking up on Saturday mornings and before I blink my eyes it’s Sunday night. Laundry left undone, dirty dishes in the sink, unfinished errands; I sit and moan the …

This is going to be my shortest post ever! Looking for an easy dish for MBP – Fruit Fare, I found the easiest dessert in the world – No Cooking Required Mango Soup by  Mango & Tomato. The recipe is to cube a ripe mango and mix with defrosted vanilla ice cream. My mango was not too sweet, so I mixed some sugar with the mango pieces, also added some chopped mint leaves and grated ginger and mixed it all up. Back to the refrigerator to rest for an hour, …

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 a few hours of shopping and finished with a late …

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 I got my inspiration from a recently discovered blog by …

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 green sour mangoes get unbearable. It never gives the satisfaction …

Is anyone else out there in the holiday mood already? My mind is already on vacation. Most people at work have taken the whole week off. I still have a bunch of stuff to finish before we leave for vacation, which I am forcing myself to get to, but this blog is really starting to suffer from my laziness.
We haven’t been cooking much lately except last Saturday night when we threw a dinner party. Siv whipped up this amazing cocktail with tamarind juice, dried ginger powder,  jaggery, lemon juice and vodka. It was …

Don’t let the name confuse you, it is not a forbidden pudding, it is a pudding made of Forbidden rice. I picked up this rice from the Asian store, just because I was intrigued by the name. Also because the packet had the following description:
Legend tells us that Forbidden rice was once grown exclusively for the Emperors of China to enrich their health and ensure their longevity.

So that’s where the name came from, it was reserved for the Emperors. Well, I had to try it of course. The packet also …

Another Mojito recipe, you ask? Well, I hear that this blog has been typecasted as the cocktail blog, so to live up to the name Siv and I are trying to build a nice database of cocktail recipes. Ha ha, not really, but we haven’t been cooking much lately and haven’t been to any new restaurants, the only recipes pending in my drafts are two cocktails. So here is another sunny Mojito recipe for your drinking pleasure!
Check out my previous Mojito post to learn how to make a classic Mojito.  Siv made this …

Homemade salsa has a recurring role in all my dinner party productions. It is easy to make, looks pretty and goes well with a variety of dishes from chips to lamb chops to grilled fish.  I keep experimenting with ingredients, and since I was running out of ideas for the event A Fruit A Month, I thought of trying an Apple Salsa. The mangoes were added to the salsa mainly to add some color, since the apple pieces are not all that pretty to look at once it is skinned, but the apple-mango …

Mango is a tropical fruit consumed mainly in its sweet ripe form in the US, but in some parts of India the unripe version is a bigger hit. The taste of green sour mangoes with salt and hot chili powder is part of a lot of Indian childhood memories… 
This is a traditional Kerala dish, a thick chutney made of raw mangoes and coconut. This quick and easy chutney is very versatile, quantity of ingredients can be adjusted to get the best taste to suit your palette.  The key to this chutney’s success is to use really …