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Sunday 26 May 2013

Pimmsicles - Classic British Pimm's Cup Popsicles

Finally! Finally!!! I don't care how many exclamation points I use for these two words, because they are well deserved. Finally, warmth has come to Edmonton. And we seemed to have completely skipped over spring, going to straight to summer, which, to be perfectly honest, that is absolutely fine with me. So to celebrate, the first thing I got out was my trusty popsicle maker.

Oh popsicles, I have missed you! There is something so innocent and happy about a icy cold popsicle that takes you right back to childhood and memories of running after the ice candy man and begging the parents for an extra two rupees on the way to school, so we could splurge on a bright, artificially coloured ice candy, after a hard school's day, that turned our tongues a blazing red or orange and put us on a sugar high for the rest of the evening. Or every day after school, when we would head into this tiny 'goodangadi' or corner shop, conveniently located right outside the school gates and buy ourselves a tasty, chilled freezie for 50 paise (less than a half a penny) that we would then suck on all the way back home.

Of course, mother dearest would be horrified and threaten us with all sorts of dire consequences if we spoiled our appetite for dinner, notwithstanding all the diseases we would get from the contaminated water. But we were young and our immune systems were healthy and that was all that mattered when it came to these tastes of childhood.

 Pimmsicles - Classic British Pimm's Cup 
Popsicles

Monday 13 May 2013

My favourite samosa memory is from my hometown, even though I've had über delicious ones when I've been away at university as well. My cousin Brad introduced me to this little chaat place just under a block of apartments close to home, called Vrindavan. They made some really good chaats and samosas. One of my favourite chaats from there was a 'ragda samosa' where there made and fried fresh samosas, which were then broken up and smothered in a curried pigeon pea or chickpea sauce called a ragda and sprinkled over with chopped onion, a sweet/ sour tamarind chutney, cilantro and spicy, fried chickpea noodles called sev. The whole experience is, and has always been, mindblowing to me, with all the textures and tasted melding together into an explosion of flavours. Every time I visit back home, this is one of my first foodie stops.

Of course, I would be doing the dhabas of Delhi a disservice if I didn't mention them when it comes to samosas, of course. JNU, where I was at residential university is widely considered to have some of the best dhabas or street eateries in Delhi (though I am sure other university students would disagree vehemently with me) and samosas used to be the fail safe option as we staggered out bleary eyed after pulling all-nighters at the library or in friends' rooms. Or even after a hard night's partying, haha. Samosas were my personal hangover cure at university, all that deep fried goodness and a hot, steaming cup of  masala chai... what's not to love about that cure? (OK, until I discovered the traditional British fry-up, but that's a story for another time

Monday 6 May 2013



So the Yeggies came and went, and as I predicted, I didn't win :) But I did get the opportunity to chat about food with CTV's Morning Live with host, Stacey Brotzel. I haven't been on TV since my Masterchef days, so I hated how I looked and sounded, obviously. Of course, I then had to go and have a look at my old MC video and I was kind of shocked how much my accent had changed and how blimmin' young I looked in those videos. Anyway I'll let you be judge, as the video is over here. Just try not too laugh too hard, will you?

Meanwhile, in other news, Aditi has been getting all cheeky on me. Today, I had a ladybird fly into my hand. So I got all excited, and told Aditi, 'hey, look, a ladybird flew into my hand... I am going to be so lucky' At which point, she deigned to look up at me from her game, all bored, like, and went 'yeah mom, you are lucky. You have me'... ooooh, that li'l monster. If she didn't have her moments like the one below, she'd be sold to the gypsies in a second (kidding, of course, no one would pay anything for her, in fact they'd probably pay me to take her back, haha)

So what did she say that made me bawl? Well, she's been getting an allowance of a dollar every Friday, and she has been saving up hard for a backpack toy. Every week she counts her coins and decides how many more she needs for the toy.

So she comes up to me a few days ago and said, 'Mom, I've decided not to buy the toy after all'. So I said, 'Why not, Aditi?' She then says to me, 'Mom, cause next Sunday is Mother's Day and I have two more Fridays to go before that... and I want to spend all my coins buying you the best present in the world!' I was stunned and asked 'Did Dad tell you to do this?' and she was like 'No, I just decided this, and of course Dad will be taking me to get you a present, but I want to spend my own money and its going to be the best surprise you ever had'.

I think I already got the best present in the world!