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Kitchen Tool Easter Gifts

5 Apr

Granite Mortar Pestle: Kitchen Tool

Wondering what Easter gift to pick for your friend who enjoys cooking? I have a few kitchen tool ideas for you. These tools are light-weight, economical, and come in handy for a variety of kitchen activities. It doesn’t hurt that they look great too.

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Organize the Kitchen: Label your Storage Jars

4 Apr

Kitchen Storage Jars with Labels in Cupboard

Once upon a time, when I couldn’t tell the most basic cooking ingredients apart, I decided to cook myself some khichdi. The end result was a slimy mess. It dawned on me after downing a few spoonfuls that I had cooked the khichdi with dhuli urad dal instead of yellow moong dal. The two looked so alike to my untrained eye that, unless I was squinting to detect the right shade of pale yellow, I could swear they are one and the same.

My early struggles in the kitchen were peppered with many such quandaries. Is this coriander powder or garam masala? Is that besan or sattu? Nigella seed or mustard, cumin seed or saunf?

If only I had thought of labeling my storage jars then…

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14 Minimalist Recipes to Help You Through the Lockdown

26 Mar

Minimalist Recipes for Lockdown

I write this sitting in India, living through a lockdown to combat COVID-19. In these tough times, when kitchen essentials are in short supply, I am turning to comforting, minimalist recipes.

Ingredients with a long shelf life.

Recipes that skip a key item or two.

Ghee and rice.

Dishes that are quick to put together on work-from-home weekdays.

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Food Words that Double Up as Technology Terms

5 Sep

Food Words as Technology Terms - Java, Orange, Salt et al

The world of technology looks firmly food-wards when it wants to add color and flavor to its vocabulary.

Presenting for you a sampling of food words that describe products or concepts in fields ranging from cryptography to programming style to automation testing.

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3 Pots and Pans I Own and Recommend

20 Apr

Best Pots and Pans to Buy

I often shop online for cookware. The result can be a hit or miss. The size, thickness and “feel” of pots and pans is not evident till one sees them and handles them non-virtually. Then there is the bigger question of how well they would do their job, how sturdily they would hold up after months of use.

In this article, I talk about three of my favorite pots and pans – those that have stood the test of quality and time in my kitchen. If you’ve been wondering about buying cookware online, hopefully my experiences will help you make your decision.

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Add These Fascinating Words To Your Food Vocabulary!

29 Jul

Fascinating Food Words - Rare Food Words

A selection of not-often-used words that convey something about food in a manner so remarkable, they had me pause and admire the first time I heard them. Some of these words are witty, some technical, some distill a wealth of meaning in shorthand.

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Bangalore Street Food: VV Puram

4 Feb

VV Puram Bangalore Street Food

VV Puram Food Street – a bustling alley in Bangalore lined with small eateries – offers you mouthwatering delicacies from the state of Karnataka. Especially recommended during the avarekai season, when the shops here stock a gamut of goodies featuring the avarekai (hyacinth bean): chikkis, curry, dosa, jamoon – you name it.

Pictures and details from a debut group trip to VV Puram Food Street last month, made extra-adventurous thanks to our limited prior acquaintance with the language and the food.

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