Friday 29 June 2012
I am sure all of you have done this on many ocasions. When I am frustrated, mad, angry or just plain pissed... I cook and clean. I vent all of my woes on that poor ingredient that needs to be at the sharp end of a knife. My poor chopping board has been the recipient of many a bash and bang, and my onions and tomatoes cringe when I come at them in that mood. Copious amounts of butter/ oil/ cream get poured into the food, and nothing gets spared in the house. Floors get vigorously cleaned, bathrooms shine, furniture glistens, surfaces sparkle, carpets get beaten... damn, I should get angry more often, right?
Now that you know what I do... you might as well as know why. Its bleeding Air Canada. What other airline in the world can be so contemptuous of its customers? Not content with driving other, smaller airlines out of business, they now hold such a monopoly, that they can pretty much quote you fares out of their ass. Kay and I always got incredibly frustrated with them... for example, their local flights from one small town to another would usually end up costing us more that out entire return flight from, say, Manchester to Vancouver. Such a massive pain in the posterior that!
So basically, this means another long seventeen hour drive to the in-laws then. Argh! And don't even get me started on mobile phone prices...
Saturday 23 June 2012
Last year I was, unfortunately, away for Taste of Edmonton, a foodie event that brings together restaurants, food businesses and foodies from all over the city. This year, Taste of Edmonton is being held from July 19th - 28, 2012, and is coinciding with Race Week Edmonton, and Edmonton's Capital Ex. So this is my first year of experiencing ToE!
So as you can see, Edmonton is the place to be this July and I, for one, have no intention of missing it, and was very pleased when I received an invitation to their media launch. I do adore the flexibility of my day, and have always aspired to be a lady that lunches (or gets invited to lunches, anyway) and it was great to head to the Shoctor Lobby at the Citadel Theatre, and bump into many familiar faces, including Lillian from Beyond Umami and Diane from Argenplath.
I wasn't expecting there to be actual food at the launch, as I assumed it was going to be a series of presentations, and perhaps, some tasters. So it was a pleasant surprise when there indeed was some great food on offer, and even better, these were all the new restaurants on the block.
Monday 18 June 2012
Me (after listening to Aditi yammering away for what felt like the whole day!): Aditi, don't you ever stop talking?
Aditi (looking at me quite seriously): Mommy, I am just making sure my tongue works.
Or, this one.
Me: Aditi why don't you like spice?
Aditi: Mum, I like spice when you put it in desserts.
Sigh!!!
Sigh!!!
Friday 8 June 2012
That said, being away from home suddenly brings that decadent, spoilt rotten lifestyle to a crashing halt. Suddenly if you want fresh, home cooked food that tastes like mummy made it, well, darn it, you have to cook it your own damn self. Sigh! When I left for England little did I know that this passion for old fashioned home cooked Indian food would lead me to an entirely new career, from communications to chef. Life is strange indeed.
Tuesday 5 June 2012
Aubergines or eggplants are in season again! I love these beautiful, rich and royal coloured versatile vegetables. I was shopping for a quick few things at my favourite grocer (EZee Mart in Garneau) and in his fridge, I found these perfect baby aubergines. Baby aubergines go off very quickly, so I literally bought these, raced home, and made this curry today. So this is one of those rare off the cuff recipe posts, in which I am posting the recipe of tonight's dinner :-)
Bagara Baingan is a Hyderabadi curry, where baby aubergines are simmered
in a delicately spiced peanut and sesame sauce. Creamy, nutty and
spicy, this sauce is the perfect accompaniment to these flavourful and
fresh vegetables. I actually make a slightly more complicated version of this same dish and you can find it here - but this time I wanted to
keep it relatively simple, as I was in a hurry not to lose my natural
light. We are lucky enough that in the summer we get some wonderful late
evening light, but today was miserably rainy and cloudy. To be honest, I don't mind the rain so much, as the prairies really need it, and I love the spectacular thunderstorms we get here. But ocasionally, cloudy grey weather does have a way of sapping energy out of you (and then I wonder how the heck I ever lived in the UK all these years :-)
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