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Yearly Archives: 2016
Hey monkey! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
I’m really missing Chinese New Year!
It may seem strange that a Canadian woman living in India would be missing CNY. However I love the dragon dance and joyous celebration. Heck, for years I used to organise the annual CNY banquet when I was with the Hong Kong Canada Business Association.
And after criss-crossing between Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China where it is celebrated with great gusto, back here in Bombay, feels like a let down.
Only sign of CNY this year was an Uber notice from my Singapore account, ads for Chinese restaurant deals and a few exuberant greetings from friends scattered in other parts of Asia. Hmm….
However, it got me thinking about the plurality of ‘New Year’ celebrations. How each is linked to the cycles of a particular region, community or religion.
Here in India we have a whopping 16 regional ‘New Years’ – from Holi to Maha Vishuva Sankranti to the Punjabi Vaisakhi or the Bengali Boishakh. Then throw in the Parsi Nowruz or Muharram starting a new Islamic calendar, top it off with the western import of Dec 31st… and you can see there are an awful lot of New Years celebrated in this country!
For each, it is a special marking of time… a transition from old to new.
So for those celebrating CNY – Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!!
And those not? If you live in India… another New Year celebration is just around the corner…
Related posts:
Vienna Store’s Elephant Sized Surprise
Once upon a time there was a humble store on Hill Road in Bandra, Mumbai, India.
Then along came an artist who transformed it into a great big happy blue elephant! Festooned with red, this pachyderm attracts smiles from passerbys.
Vienna Store, Bandra, Mumbai
A young friend recounted the tale how excited she was to check out this amazing quaint little place.
And what exactly is it? A cheerful cafe? A cute curio shop? An artful daycare?
Nope!
It sell eggs. As in wholesale eggs. As in cartons and cartons of eggs. That’s it.
They say not to judge a book by its cover but… in this case one can be forgiven for not instantly connecting elephants with eggs!
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11th Quarter Summary – Confession time
Most folks who blog get to a point where they hit an impasse… and things either flounder, falter and flop or…. change. I’m not yet ready to give up, but have certainly faltered a time or two.
Let’s be honest, I’ve been pre-occupied with a crazy long list of company / business related activities, interspersed with enjoying life and… yes… distracted by my other blog ‘Whisky Lady.’
Sure I still WANT to write but the ideas that pop in my head inspired by an experience or conversation just haven’t been making it to the publish stage.
And don’t even get me started about drafts! Anyone else have an embarassing 60+ gathering dust in your drafts folder?!
Clearly it was time for an intervention, clean-up and figure a way to get “back on the saddle” for a a renewed posting groove! (more…)
Punjabi khaana in Delhi!
When traveling, a gal has got to eat! In 2015, I had several trips to Delhi. Normally I keep it a quick ‘grab and go’ kinda meal unless it is a sit down business lunch or dinner.
However during my December trip, with the chill in the air and a little time on my hands between meetings I had a ‘proper’ sit down Punjabi lunch with chole (chickpeas), laccha parantha, pickles and salad. It was simple and completely satisfying!
Punjabi lunch
Now I’ve ordered hot chole bhatura from a local dhaba in Bandra and have even been known to make it at home from time to time… however it is just not the same as the spicy tangy incredibly delicious version most joints make in Delhi.
There are lots of other amazing Punjabi dishes… any other favourites out there? Ones that are simply not quite the same outside of either someone’s home or a particular location?
Related posts:
Whisky Lady – Jolly January
Yeah! This is officially the beginning of “Year 2” since I started sharing a monthly round-up of Whisky Lady sampling adventures!
January started off slow… then picked up pace to cover 25 whiskies – including back-to-back whisky tastings last night and the night before!
Light, bright, delight and woah!
Toasted roasted ‘go to’ green beans
Most of us have ‘go to’ recipes… something quick and delicious that you can make on an instance without even thinking.
This one is so crazy simple, you can literally make it in minutes. Makes a great side dish, cold you can jazz up any salad throwing some of these green beans in too!
And today, I mixed it up a little substituting one ingredient – super yum!
Interested?
Everyday French Beans
Here goes:
- Green beans, sliced roughly in 3 inch bits – can parboil first but not required
Then in a non-stick pan
- Heat a dollop of oil on high
- Drop in 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, yellow or brown mustard seeds and sesame or sunflower seeds
- They should start to pop and sizzle almost immediately
- Thrown in the green beans
- Then a dash of salt and cayenne pepper
- Just keep tossing around for a few minutes until everything gets nice and toasty – it is best when the green beans get a bit ‘singed’ to bring out a roasted flavour
Today I substituted sunflower for sesame seeds – wow! Will definitely do a repeat of that… maybe experiment with other seeds too…
Related posts:
Confessions of a recovering academic
Once upon a time I flirted with becoming an academic. Perhaps a serious affair is a better way to describe it… but after a decade I had commitment issues.
Sure I loved teaching, I could even handle the hours of meticulously marking papers, gobbling up thick heavy tomes? No problem! Regurgitating papers and essays? Well… I would start by procrastinating then spew out content – sometimes with passion and sometimes merely intellectual curiosity.
You need to understand, the University of Manitoba (U of M) environment was where I grew up. I was a professor’s brat which meant the University was where I went to nursery school, where I learned to swim, where we went each summer to Mini University for ‘camp’, where I used to hop a bus from school to attend piano lessons… in short it was always home.
Photo: UManitoba.ca
Zoe’s becoming a woman!
I don’t know how many folks out there have pets… or lived with a cat in HEAT… however we’ve gone from being new kitten slaves to managing a horny little munchkin in under a month!
And she is hilarious!
You weren’t reading that, were you?
Let’s just say I have new insight into the phrase ‘heavy petting’.
“It’s the coconut man!” in Delhi
One of the delights about living in Asia is access to an array of fresh food. Pure and unadulterated.
In Canada if you want coconut water? You get it from a can or a drink box imported from Asia.
In India, if you want coconut water? The coconut man brings it fresh to your door.
You can sip it with a straw or even have it in a glass if you prefer (why?).
He’ll then ask if you want the ‘meat’ and proceed to take part of the coconut shell to scoop out and roughly chop all that good stuff so it is easy to eat as is or store to have later.
Practically everything from the coconut can be used.
Related posts:
Karwari khaana
It is hard not to be a bit of a foodie in India – there is such amazing choice and range of flavours, cooking styles and combinations.
The passion and pride folks have in ‘their‘ cuisine is unmistakable!
The danger of hanging out with true foodies is that as you are enjoying one meal, plans are afoot for the next!
No surprise then that a brunch of Karwari cuisine was born out of conversations at an earlier meal.
For those not familiar with the region or its cuisines, ‘Karwar‘ is a coastal area in Karnataka, just south from Goa. A distinctive element is that though predominantly Hindu, even brahmins eat seafood and meat.
Linguistically, most speak Konkani like Goans though the official language is Kannada yet there are also strong Marathi and Hindi influences too.
As you would expect from coastal cuisine, seafood is king! Also you won’t find wheat rotis here. Instead rice is the staple starch. Plus generous reliance on coconut (including the oil for cooking) and spicy masalas.
Karwari Khanna
- Mutton sukke – a dry mutton curry
- Chicken sagoti (like Goan xacuti but without vinegar) – cooked in coconut gravy with ‘sagoti’ masala
- Prawn gassi – another coconut dish
- Batata song – surprisingly simple and amazingly delicious potato with red chillies
- Usal watana – peas with cashew
- Dali toi – yum daal made with chilies, ginger, asafoetida
- Bhakri – a kind of steamed ‘chapati’ made with rice flour, great for sopping up gravy
- Bhinda kadi – a refreshing kokum drink
Trust me… I’m now ravinous just writing about it.
Any community cuisine that captured your culinary fancy recently?
Related posts:
Everyday Asia 