Despite Nuisances I will be happy

New beginnings and New Signs of life

2011-05-25T13:47:00.000-07:00

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Stollen - you stole my heart.

2010-12-30T11:23:00.000-08:00

Aahh.. the holidays bring out the cheesiness in me... This is the latest DB challenge and incidentally I LOVE fruit cakes. I think it is just a shame that fruit cakes have a bad reputation in the United States. How can it possibly be bad? Fruit cakes, rum cakes and anything filled with dried fruit and dried nuts has to be good! Despite my love for fruit cakes, I've never had Stollen - a German

Fall Harvest 2010

2010-10-19T18:13:00.000-07:00

Carrots from the ground Its been some time now since my last post and I thought I'd restart with a snapshot of how my garden has been doing this year. Despite the unpredictable, sun-less summer that we've experienced, my plants didn't fare too bad. The best ones to harvest were the carrots, arugula, golden beets, strawberries and blueberries. I made a lovely carrot salad using carrots,

Ganesh Chaturthi - Puran Poli

2010-09-03T11:05:00.000-07:00

Welcome to the readers of Daring Kitchen FoodTalk. To my regular readers, I'm very pleased to announce that my article on Ganesh Chaturthi has been published at FoodTalk on the Daring Kitchen website. Please feel free to check it out. It will be on DK's main page for a week from September 11th 2010. It covers a little background on Ganesh Chaturthi - from a foodie's perspective of course :)

Blueberry, Walnut Oatmeal

2010-08-06T16:47:00.000-07:00

When I first came to the United States and tried the healthy and wonderful oatmeal, I was quite disappointed to find it sickly sweet, mushy and very bland. Needless to say I was trying the grocery store variety which is laden with sugar to make it more appealing. I didn't touch oatmeal for years, until recently when I learnt about steel cut oats and 'regular' oats versus the instant variety. I

Cinnamon Raisin - Dorie G's version

2010-08-02T16:39:00.000-07:00

So as you know I've made a couple of cinnamon raisin bread which I haven't been happy with, either the recipe called for an insane amount of baking time thus burning the bread or it was ridiculously sweet. This time, the bread seemed perfect :) Thank you Dorie Greenspan. This time I used a recipe from her book "Baking - From my home to yours' Page 59-60. I am not going to share her recipe as I'm

Asparagus Frittata

2010-07-28T13:50:00.000-07:00

Frittatas are one of the easiest ways to enjoy a wonderful brunch without spending too much time in the kitchen. All it takes is breaking some eggs, dump your favorite vegetables and cheese and cook em' to your liking. That's it! I like to reserve this when I have guests and don't have much energy to make individual pancakes or something fancy. This works perfectly, its healthy as it doesn't have

Ice-cream cake

2010-07-27T11:26:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was a breath of fresh air. Simple and perfect for the summer heat - an ice-cream cake :) The whole process isn't difficult, its just laborious and time intensive. I would suggest making the ice-creams a day before and make the cake, filling and fudge sauce another day. The assembly itself takes time. So do that another day. The assembly should be as follows 1) Cut pieces of

DKchallenge - Walnut butter and a white bean dip.

2010-07-17T09:27:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone, Its been a long time since I blogged. I haven't been feeling my usual self, my health hasn't been that fantastic to experiment a whole bunch. However, I have finished my Daring Kitchen challenge of the month - nut butters. Unlike my previous challenges I didn't go all the way and try something insanely new and outrageous. I chose the simplest looking recipe to make things easier for

The 'Un' Brioche Loaf

2010-07-07T16:28:00.000-07:00

This week I decided to make my first brioche. Classically made with white flour, butter and egg combination, brioche is a very lovely soft buttery white bread. The high quantity of butter and egg gives it a soft and tender crumb and lends itself very nicely for french toast, jam or butter spreads. If it goes stale, don't worry brioche is the perfect bread for bread pudding. I used my current

Mixing Bowls

2010-07-01T11:06:00.000-07:00

One of the few must haves in the kitchen is a mixing bowl; and size does matter in this case. The larger the better! Why? mostly because while mixing, things seem to fly out of the bowl quite easily. If you have to carefully fit everything in a small bowl and mix it gingerly, its not going to get mixed well now is it? Mixing bowls are extremely versatile, I use them for making cookies/cupcakes,

Roll that pav

2010-06-28T11:37:00.000-07:00

This month's Daring Baker's had a wonderful challenge of Chocolate Pavlovas presented by Dawn Nyman and the recipe is from Chocolate Epiphany by Francois Payard. I had a lot of fun with this challenge, it has mascarpone cheese AND has chocolate, whats not to love? The dare was composed of four parts, well actually five if you want to make homemade mascarpone cheese. Part 1 - Dark Chocolate

Oregon Black Truffles

2010-06-25T11:47:00.000-07:00

Here's something I've been enjoying a lot of lately; Oregon Black Truffles. It has a very unique and explosive taste. When I saw them at the farmers market, I was immediately pulled in. I've never had actual truffles before, I've seen them on menus but they've always been so pricey that I've always felt If I wanted to get a feel for them I should just buy some and use them myself. I have enjoyed

Strawberry Picking

2010-06-17T14:54:00.000-07:00

Last weekend felt like true summer (finally) in the Northwest and the first thing that comes to mind is, berry picking. June is officially the strawberry season in most parts of the United States including Oregon. We just happen to live a few miles from several berry picking farms and every time we go there, it feels like such an escape from all the people and the concrete. This year, we went

Its pâté time!

2010-06-14T10:01:00.000-07:00

This month's daring kitchen challenge was presented by Valerie and by Evelyne and it was pâté and bread. How wonderful! I have always loved pâté and I had never made it at home before. So this proved to be a very useful challenge. I made a simple Cognac chicken liver pâté and served this along with whole wheat baguette along with marinated garlic mushrooms, olives, sun-dried tomatoes and fresh

Arugula Spread

2010-06-10T22:30:00.000-07:00

One of the best parts about growing vegetables is harvesting them. Tis' the season to harvest lettuce (left pic), spinach, arugula, radishes and other cool weather veggies. I use a simple metal colander to wash the dirt off the veggies. Its a basic tool that is required in every kitchen. If you'd like one, check it out at Foodbuzz Below is a picture of my latest harvest - arugula. I made a

A mat which matters...

2010-06-04T09:54:00.000-07:00

There are some luxuries which become necessities in the kitchen. One of these is the Kitchen mat. A Kitchen mat you say? Why? To me this is as necessary as a good dishwasher. It helps me cook for longer. If I don't spend as much time and more importantly effort cleaning up, then I can cook more and create more. The Kitchen mat, in a similar sense has become this way for me. It helps me stand

Daring Bakers - Croquembouche

2010-05-27T14:05:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was presented by Cat from Little Miss Cupcake. What a perfect challenge. When I initially read what it was, I was stumped. This looked intimidating. This is a towering French wedding cake, and boy was it far from anything I have ever made! This gorgeous piece of work, has been by far, my favorite baking challenges. I learnt a LOT! I loved everything about it, even it's

Yam Enchiladas with a mango-avocado salsa cruda and watermelon margaritas...

2010-05-14T12:38:00.000-07:00

This month's daring kitchen challenge was presented by Barbara of Barbara Bakes and Bunnee of Anna+Food to make Stacked Green Chile and Grilled Chicken Enchiladas. I love Mexican food but dislike enchiladas. I find them way too cheesy. So this was a great opportunity for me to make enchiladas - my style! Now I really was not in the mood for chicken or any meat of sorts... wanted to have more

Khandvi

2010-05-11T18:06:00.000-07:00

Khandvi is probably a lesser known albeit a VERY delicious Gujarati food. Normally eaten as a snack, it makes for an excellent appetizer. Eaten both warm and at room temperature, it is a great dish to make ahead before serving a big party. Khandvi is rolled up cooked batter, served with tempered mustard and sesame seeds. These seeds add a needed crunch and texture in contrast to the soft and

Weight loss 2nd Goal accomplished!

2010-05-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

YEP! I have accomplished my second goal. I have now lost a total of 40 pounds! I am currently at 200 pounds and boy does it feel good. I never thought I'd be back at this weight. This feels AWESOME! Now I still have 20 more pounds to go and I spoke with my doctor regarding this. According to her, after losing 16% of your original body weight, the weight loss gets much more difficult. So....

Disaster strikes the English

2010-04-27T10:54:00.000-07:00

This month's challenge was hosted by Esther from The Lilac Kitchen. It was to make a traditional English Pudding with various options using suet and or butter. Suet is basically preserved fat from the innards of a cow or sheep, which sounds interesting, unique and fascinating. Normally I might have been happy about choosing to work with this ingredient, but considering I still have more weight to

TULIPS!

2010-04-15T13:17:00.000-07:00

I live in Oregon and I am VERY lucky to have access to beautiful rivers, mountains and the ocean. One of the perks of living here is going to the annual tulip festival. Each year, during the seasonal tulip bloom, the farms hold a tulip festival opening their doors to everyone for a small fee. Its a really beautiful experience for children and adults alike. It really feels like you're in small

Brunswick Stew - Daring Kitchen

2010-04-14T09:37:00.000-07:00

This month's daring kitchen challenge was presented by Wolf’s Den and the challenge was to make a southern classic called Brunswick stew. It normally involves using multiple types of meat, like a combination of chicken and beef, rabbit or pork; whatever you like! I modified the recipe quite a bit. Firstly I used only chicken pieces and I added a lot more heat than the original recipe called for.

Fish in Salt Bake

2010-04-11T11:11:00.000-07:00

Sure the picture looks freaky but honest to goodness, I never thought fish could be sooo tender and flaky and just melt in your mouth. I have NEVER had fish this fantastic and I mean it! Fish baked in a salt dome Whole fish - any kind about 2-3 pounds in weight. I got a trout. Ground rock salt or kosher salt - 3 to 4 pounds 3 egg whites A pinch of cream of tartar 1 tbsp lemon zest Slices of