When we are kids, we say I am the daughter of  so & so and when we grow up we hope our parents can say, I am this girl’s parent.  I choked a bit when I introduced my parents in my cooking class and it was the most surreal moment to watch them listen with pride when I gave the class. For the last three years, I have been telling Rajesh that I want my parents to see me give a class just one time. I was the black sheep, the trouble maker at home , so do you now see why I wanted them to witness this

It was great to see that the class was full and there was even a waiting list.  Guess my students were excited that amma & appa will be there in my class and my mom will demonstrate a few things.  When we walked in, one of my dear student turned friend Joy welcomed us and we got prepping. Slowly the whole class was there and the fun began. While I had to decide the menu a couple of months prior, I had mom write the recipes for this class. The menu was Potato curry, Garbanzo beans sundal, Pineapple in yogurt sauce, Cabbage in steamed lentils and paneer burji. The class was a blast, mom communicated with the students in her own way and they understood. Mom demonstrated how to grate coconut with the traditional Indian grater / food slicer (Aruvamanai in tamil) , she made buttermilk with a wood churner for the class and everyone wanted pictures with them. So much love and so much fun. I am writing this more for myself, to come back to this space to read this after many years and relive the moments

We talked briefly about the recipes and then the class started. Boy was I in for a surprise, mom started walking around helping in the class. She told them at what consistency the batter had to be taken off from the food processor and how the pineapple should be chopped and so on. Don’t ask me how she communicated, she did and the students understood. I wish I could have paused and savored those moments. Everyone was so nice to them, each student introduced themselves, told them that they have been to my class before and how they have waited to see the parents who raised me. That was a proud moment for them.

If any of my students are reading this, Thank you from the bottom of my heart for making this class extra special!!

CSN stores has over 200 online stores where you can find everything from a sofa to a suitcase, cookware to cribs, and so much more. What do you have to do to enter to win?

Another gift is from us- true to the name of our website, we will mail to you an Indian spice box filled with spices ( US & Canada residents only)

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One winner will be chosen at random using the random number generator. The giveaway closes on May 18th @ 7 pm PST.  This is for now only for US & Canada residents only.

Thank you all for your love and support!

Update: We used random.org to select a winner and the lucky one is Akay . Please send me an email with your address for the spice box.  Your gift certificate will be emailed to you by CSN

In the past 8 years or so, I have dreaded Mother’s day. I have almost always focused on why I am not a mother and with my mom also not being around close, to do something special is difficult. One of the years, my cute lil niece called to wish me on Mother’s day and I asked her why and she said I was like a mom to her for a year when she lived with us, it touched me lot. There are lot of women who have influenced my life, and I want to wish the few, very special moms in my life who have played a vital role of who I am today.

This year is very special, because my parents are here with us.

The special people in my life:

Mom-in-law:  When I see her and talk to her, all I can think of is her will power and how focused she is. She stood up to her dad and wanted to be a doctor and nothing else and he had to eventually give in. She was and is a pillar of strength.  She thinks everything you set your mind can be achieved and she is one fearless lady. After serving for many years and delivering several thousand babies, she retired in Chennai and at 70 pursued her interest in music. She went for music lessons, sang in concerts with her group and has not stopped living life to the fullest. I truly admire that quality. Happy Mother’s day Mami!

Anandhi, me & Anu

We were all meeting for Diwali and we all shopped individually in different towns and had bought almost identical clothes, what a lovely coincidence.

My sisters: My eldest  sister Anu raised me when I was a new born and my middle sis took over from her during the later part of my life. When the doc decided I was underweight ( I wish they say that now for me..Sigh! That is a different post), Anu, my oldest sister would diligently make omelets for me in a skillet that was designated just for eggs and my parents would not even enter the kitchen and the house had to be aired out. My aunt has told me that Anu even tried to feed me puliyodarai  rice when I was lying on her lap, thinking I was crying for the food she was eating when I was a baby.  When in college, she would custom order the most beautiful cotton sarees for me and some of hers would just disappear from her wardrobe when we went visiting and magically move to mine. She is one strong gal that meets challenges head on, has survived just any curve ball that life throws at her and is also a single mom. She does everything she can and more for her kids and her children have grown to be ‘those  kids’ that every parent wishes for.  Amidst all that is going on, she also built this website for me. If any one of you want to design your website, she is the person !

My middle sister, Anandhi is the quiet one addressing her challenges in a calm way. She was in charge of how I dressed, took me to the tailors to get me some girly clothes that I lacked, coz mom loved to dress me like the son she never had. She would give me haircuts and in later years take me to the salon and patiently tell them how she wanted my hair cut. When I was in college, Anandhi convinced my parents that I needed more exposure to the outside world, promised my dad that she will take good care of me and took her under her wings to start my first job that opened up a whole new world for me.  I almost followed her and her family to every town they moved. There are days I call her and speak for hours just to vent and she listens patiently and offers the best advice.

And the best for the last, my mom.  She has been mostly my friend and confidant and now it is my turn. As a child, she was forced to listen to my every story after school and about my squabbles with my friends. When I was a teenager, she knew about all my crushes and infatuations. I have watched her cook and learned from her patience and devotion to family. I am going to enjoy my time with my parents and will be posting recipes that my mom teaches me. I never had a chance to learn from her being the youngest and I am now going to make the best use of my time with her.

Happy Mother’s Day to all you Moms out there!

Happy Tamil New Year to all of you!

Here is a visual treat of what we made this morning to celebrate this joyous day. Thai Red Jasmine rice simmered in milk with sugar, cardamom and saffron.  Cashew nuts and raisins sauteed in ghee and garnished. We will post the recipe tonight after we are back from work.

Congratulations says the maitre’d as she seated us, the word was out to all the waiters / waitresses knew that we were celebrating at Oak cafe right after the ceremony and they all remembered to congratulate us inspite of their busy schedule.

The cafe is completely student run and is a preparation for what they are going to experience when work in a fine dining restaurant.  The  students an eager bunch, Shankari demoed the recipes and had time to do this only on Presidents day which was a school holiday, but that didn’t stop the students or chefs from coming to class.  Their dedication speaks in the quality of food they put on the table. They surely love what they are doing and every dish speaks to you.

Reservations are needed as there is limited seating and these get filled up really fast. Our friend Mel has prepared the menu for the week of March 3rd featuring Traditional Jewish cooking.  Please make sure you call ahead and make reservations.

Thanks once again to all you @ Oak cafe who made it a memorable day for us, our desserts came with a surprise inscription, I was told feel free to tour the kitchen and take all the pictures you want. We still haven’t stopped speaking about it.

The food show was in both halls of the Moscone center, North and South. One focused on the big players like Ghiradelli, Republic of Tea and Walkers. On the other side were more mom and pop type businesses and mid level food companies. We enjoyed the latter more. Some of the eye catching ones was coffee in a pill; the lady who ran the booth was passionate about what she soldJ. We have some samples of it, which we should try one of these days.  We like to hold a warm cup and sip our coffee and tea for now while savoring the aromas. Talking of teas, a whole post is coming soon. The recurring flavor was ginger tea. Our favorites were Numi and teatulia.

Some of the displays were fancy like one below with the colorful puppets from Indonesia, and there was a real Scot in his traditional kilt giving out samples of fine scotch.

Chocolates – there was every flavor imaginable, bacon, ginger, chilli, citrus and even lavender blueberry dark chocolate by Dagoba- their catch phrase is , “You can deprive the body, but the soul needs chocolate” Ah, that will be our excuse from now on. Another chocolate company was Rogue Confectioners; they had handmade Belgian chocolates with vintage inspired patterns on them. We have not tasted them yet, as we have to take pictures first.

Some of the other catchy companies were a booth selling fartless bean soup kits, a Cajun pepper sauce called Slap ya mamma by Walker and Sons, an anti hangover drink that is effective in 30-45 minutes from France, a Korean sweet and spicy sauce in a tube..The list is endless. It seemed as though every vendor had a gimmick up his sleeve that made them look unique and it felt like they were all in a food pagent, if you can call it that.

The mantra this year was this is good for you, it is gluten free, there are preservatives etc. A whole lot of spice and spice packaging companies were present. We particularly enjoyed chilies shaped like stars and saffron strand like chilies. Talking of spices, reminds us of the various salts we had. One company that stuck out was secret stash seas salts. Their garam masala sea salt was out of the world. Marinate your chicken or paneer in it and grill for a flavorful grilled chicken. What about pineapple cumin salt, dang we want those babies now J

Honest Teas, Kombucha seemed like we were drinking vinegar, but for sure it is going to be the rage @ Natural food stores. Hotlips Soda on the other hand was refreshing. It is slightly carbonated, not very sweet and has flavors like raspberry and apple. They are made the traditional way, cooked, bottled and pasteurized. Our immediate reaction when one take’s a sip is that it is not too sweet; they seem to add just the right amount of cane sugar and more fruits.

When we were finished, we enjoyed being in food coma, our feet hurt and shoulders sore with carrying bag load of samples. Will we do this again next year, no question about it. Just so know, we were not “bribed” to mention about any of these companies. We write about what we savored and the few samples we picked up. There were too many booths to cover each and every one of them, but there is always next year.

Surprise was meeting Tyler Florence who was promoting his products.

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This morning Shankari & I went shopping for our veggies and fruits, the farmers market was busier than in the past weeks, with more stands and choices. The first broccoli I saw looked quite fresh, and I could not resist picking it up and searching for u know what, if you have seen my previous post. well since it looked great I picked up a couple.

The nice thing about this place is the chit chat with the friendly vendors, whose faces are now familiar after few months of our bi-weekly shopping trips.

Here is all we got this morning for a grand total of $18.85
20 lemons -$3.00
Cherries $3.00
Broccoli $0.85
Fava Beans $1.00
Cauliflower $1.00
Chives $1.00
Shallots $1.00
2 Large red onions with the sprouts $1.00 ( this was not on the list, but I thought this would make a great picture
apples $1.00
radish $1.00
Kiwi $1.00
oranges $2.00
thai bird chille plants x 7 $2.00
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total $18.85
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Well hope this makes up a bit for the gross pics of the bugs I put out yesterday. The trick to farmers market shopping is to going there with plenty of time to be able to check and examine the produce patiently.