Entertaining

Stuffed Eggplants Rolls in a mild Tomato-Almond Curry

December 18, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Eggplant is a love or hate kind of a vegetable. Most of our household belong to the latter. A reason that this is my first eggplant dish on the blog:). In the words of one of my friend, ‘this is a curry even a non-eggplant lover would enjoy’.

It’s just that growing up I was never fond of aubergines/eggplant and dad would sit next to me for hours staring and waiting for me to take a small bite. Time would go by slower than normal..tic toc tic toc. I didn’t give up, I didn’t eat. He gave up..poor dad. Although not a big fan then, now I am. I have found a formula that I love. Just that now, hubby will eat a burnt toast but not eggplant and he is the most non fussiest person I know. Oh well…to our post.

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Cashew Linzer -Sandwich Cookies

December 15, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Sometimes, you have such a great idea that you think you’ve almost won a lottery with it. A few days ago, I had an idea….

Sitting on my dining table, with a hot cup of coffee in one hand and typing in the other. I typed in ‘snowflake cutters’, and there it was at William-Sonoma website. I added it to the bag, quickly forgetting about it, as I had lots to do that day. After a couple of days, I was watching my favorite Vlog on YouTube, when I saw an ad of those same snowflake cutters staring at me. It’s funny how the advertising agencies can monitor all your Internet activities. And, of course, it’s showing me the thing that I wanted to buy. Weird. I finally went ahead and ordered and waited for it for 4 whole days. They came on a Thursday, so pretty and screaming at me to use them soon. My idea: making Lintzer cookies with the snowflake cutter. The bottom cookie would be a round plain one and the top would be this gorgeous snowflake like cookie dusted with powdered sugar and jam peaking through the tiny little cutouts. They looked perfect in my mind. I didn’t see anything like that on Pinterest or anywhere. They definitely are going to be stunning. Oh well, I thought it would be stunning.

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Cocktail and Nuts Edible Gift for Christmas

December 11, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

For a few minutes, delve into the past with me. Come with me into the 3rd grade classroom…

There she was, with a bright beautiful smile, blueish green eyes and the warmest personality I had seen. Modestly dressed and with no trace of makeup, she was a new teacher for this school. Instantly, I took a deep breath and knew this year would be a great one for my soft, gentle, and timid son. She got down to his level, welcomed him and gave him a hug. I watched everything standing outside the door. He looked back at me and gave me a smile. That was when I knew he will be alright. She came towards us with an inviting smile on her face. She introduced herself and told me, “Don’t worry, go have some coffee. He is safe with me.” With tears, I turned back to walk towards the car. Tears of happiness that my boy was well taken care of.

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Balsamic Spiced Mixed Nuts

December 7, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Christmas is just around the corner. It will come by, before we know it and will pass by in a blur. The journey during December is a beautiful one.

Amidst all these you guys, it’s been a tough last 4 weeks for a place very dear to my hubby and a lot of people who belong to Chennai.

I met my husband in Chennai Airport for the first time. A memorable moment that I will never forget. What Chennai and the 6 million people in it won’t forget is, what they saw and experienced in the last few weeks.

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Pomegranate-Ginger Syrup – Pomegranate Vodka Fizz

December 3, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Happy December my friends!!!

We are less than 4 weeks away from 2016. Really, how did that happen?!! I don’t know if we say this every year, but for some reason this year seems to have flown by a little bit too quickly.

Lets raise our glasses to cheer a good year. I am sure we all have had our good days and not-so-good ones, we all went through that and we are here. Glad for that.

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Sesame-Almond Apple Cake

November 19, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Have you ever asked yourself, “If I were to re-live the last 10 years, would I do some things different?” I definitely ask myself that sometimes.

We rush to achieve perfection in everything, and try to juggle a ton of stuff when all we can do is manage one. After all, we are just human. I would like to change small things. I didn’t have to vacuum everyday. I didn’t have to buy that perfect gift and drive around 4 hours to find one. I really didn’t have to eat that whole bag of chips (although I enjoyed it then). I would’ve loved to visit family back in India more often.

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Endive Boats with Beet-Carrot-Fennel-Pear in Asian Dressing

November 4, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

I’ve always been picky about my salads. I will eat a salad only if it is spicy, crunchy, and made with some peanut butter dressing :). Well, it changed.

I was invited to a clothing boutique opening a few winters ago. That’s when I fell in love with these endive boats after avoiding it for about 20 minutes. As we walked in, our coats were taken. The wine was served and the conversations were on full swing, when a very prim and proper server walked by us bringing these beautiful salad boats. I excused myself politely to walk across to the left of the room where the cocktails and desserts were. After a few minutes, the guy comes again with this beautifully arranged platter of these boats, and I picked out a boat just to be nice to the guy. He smiled because I had been avoiding him for at least 20 minutes. I stalked him for the next 15; I am sure I would’ve eaten at least 10.

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Bruschetta with Persimmon Chutney

November 4, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

Happy November!!

There’s something about the cooler weather, twinkling stars as early at 6.00 p.m., and all the festive pumpkins and persimmons in the grocery store. Everything screams of holidays, parties and food. Everyone gets in the mood of perfecting their pies, the sides and their birds.

The appetizers are some of the last to be remembered. Don’t you think?

I have a great one for you. Just make a lot of it and have some bottles of chutney ready to go for your guests, they’ll want it.

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Quick Pumpkin Butter with Cardamom and Ginger – Pull apart Bread

October 23, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

It is the season of festivals for Indians. Starts around September and goes on till mid November.

‘Ayudha Pooja’, that’s what we celebrate in the Southern Part of India this week. It is a very interesting festival. Ayudha means weapons/instruments. On this day, we pay our respect to all the regular household items we use. Knifes, screw drivers, hammer, calculator, you name it, if we can keep it for prayers, we will.

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Best Authentic Vegetarian Vegetarian Khow Suey – Lightly Spiced Coconut Milk Curry with Noodles and Condiments

October 6, 2015 By Asha Shivakumar

It’s October, it’s Autumn. To me, it’s the start of a lot of baking, cooking, festivities and entertaining. I hope everyone’s as excited for Fall, Pumpkins, Warm Spices, and Soups.

All of that can get overwhelming at times.

But, sometimes, even too much of a good thing is really good, like this soup!

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