cooking tips

The holiday season is already here and I am feeling very festive. I took a leave for two weeks and wanted to really have a laid back end of the year. Movies, baking, cooking, shopping and decorating are the major activities I am indulging into. I never knew baking could be so much fun despite being messy :P.  Yes I am quite messy with the kitchen when I am baking. Still need to get the hang of the stuffs and do things systematically. Its usually the recipe sheet lying on one corner, newspaper laid out for straining the flour, mixing bowl, chopping board and ladles and whiskers , well the list is never ending. But still I'm in love with baking. From the time I got the microwave I was planning on baking something savory, muffins to be precise. I wanted to bake something with my favorite veggies, but getting a good recipe was the main task. Then one i really liked which had mushrooms. Read it here . But then I tweaked it and added all the veggies I wanted or had in pant...

My Journey with Pasta has been a bitter sweet one and dates back to the time when we were kids. Pasta wasnt a fad back then. I remember we used to call them simple macaroni. And whenever mom would prepare it or mention it I would go meh! Rubbery white things with no taste what so ever and looking like a snail, how appetizing can it be to a 5 year old. That impression of pasta had stayed back in the mind somewhere. So when the world was going ga ga over pastas I hardly had any interest. Then came the time when I finally decided to give the Sunfeast ready to cook pasta a try. I was told the white sauce one was good. And guess what I was greeted with the same macaroni shaped pasta. After staring at them for a whole minute I thought fine lets give it a try. And I loved the result. Creamy, buttery soft pasta. Thats probably the first time I felt good about this particular dish. A lot of time passed in between, and my pasta pangs were only limited to the ready to cook pasta. Until recently w...

Finally it has started raining steadily in Pune. The entire state has been struggling with acute water crisis from almost a year due to poor rains last year. Everyone of us were eagerly praying for good rains this year. The rains from past two weeks has helped the water levels get better in the three major dams around pune which supplies water to the city and nearby areas. Rains always seem romantic from the warm confines of our homes, but once we have to tread the murky waters on the streets it doesnt seem rosey anymore. But this year it has been different for me. I am not complaining even when I get drenched while going to office. Everyone needs the rain water badly this year. So let it rain and then some more. The usual cravings on any rainy evening are garma garam onion pakoras and steaming chais. Or rather anything thats warm and heartfelt. Since I am not that fond of chais and also try to avoid fried food so my usual craving is for a good fulilling soup. Its another thing that I ...