Friday, 3 February 2012
There are a few things I miss about being in England. Good old Marks and Spencer's is one of them. In my pre-foodie days (and yes, I had pre-foodie days) I loved M&S ready meals. They are one of the few supermarkets who seem to have actually figured out the secret of ready meals that actually taste home cooked. The other thing that I miss about them is their incredibly well stocked fish and seafood section. They always had reasonably priced, decently fresh fish, and I used to buy some almost every week, especially if I hadn't had a chance to go to our local fishmonger. I've tried almost all variety of fish they sell, and I particularly liked their tuna, sole and trout. For a special dinner, I would treat myself to a pack of fresh scallops that I would then sear and serve on a simple lemon pasta. Bliss!
Fresh scallops, while available here in Alberta, are ridiculously expensive. I am talking about easily paying over $25 for a pound of fresh scallops. So essentially what was a weekly treat in England is now something that we can, sadly, only afford very rarely here. We do get frozen scallops as well, but there is something about the taste of fresh scallops that is truly a delight.
Monday, 30 January 2012
Here is the round up for the spicy hot Indian dishes you came up with and its a brilliant one with dishes from all over the country, all heated up with those wonderful spicy chillies. After the round up, don't forget to head over to Lyndsey's blog on the 1st to check out the theme for February. I personally can't wait to see what it is!!
To the round-up we go!
Sunday, 22 January 2012
Did you know that this blog is four years old this month? Yes, I must admit it took me by surprise as well, especially since I am the queen of 'why-do-it-today-if-it-can-be-abandoned-tomorrow' philosophy.
Well, darn it all, I did do it in the end. Admittedly, I didn't post very much in the first year or so, mainly because I was wandering the world in a sleep deprived fog of motherhood, holding down a full time job, and basically being a hamster on a wheel trying to keep all the balls in the air (I am also the queen of mixed metaphors, hehe)
My original reason for starting the blog was really simple. After my appearance on Masterchef, I started receiving a ton of requests for the recipes I made on the show. Instead of emailing everyone who asked a recipe, I decided to start a blog, and post up all the recipes on here. So why call it Food, Football and a Baby? Well, refer to the paragraph above. I was so sleep deprived, I could barely function, let alone think of a cool name for the blog. So I called it after the three things that defined my life at that time. Food, of course. Football, of which I am still a passionate fan (Please, Gunners? Please? One trophy to console us all after six years? Please?) And the baby, who is of course, no longer a baby, but will always be my baby, if you're getting my drift?
Things have moved on in my life since those years of course. Two years ago, almost to the day, we upped and moved from England to Canada. And suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had time. Sleep, of course, was a little longer coming by, but time I had. I started blogging more, with a purpose. Well, mainly to keep me from going loco, as I adjusted from being someone who was always on the go, to someone who was a stay-at-home-mum. And I freely admit, I struggled with it at first. My job and education, so far, had been my identity. And to let that go, and surrender financial control to my husband was a really, really hard transition for me to make.
I look back on my first year here in Canada, and I cringe to think what I must have been and sounded like. I hated the cold, and the fact that my family and friends were so far away, and, as I put it, I basically sat indoor and sulked. The next year, I realised that sulking would do me no good, so I went out and started to get to know people. I took a few leaps of faith, and suddenly I now have friends who are on the way to becoming really close to me as well.
Well, darn it all, I did do it in the end. Admittedly, I didn't post very much in the first year or so, mainly because I was wandering the world in a sleep deprived fog of motherhood, holding down a full time job, and basically being a hamster on a wheel trying to keep all the balls in the air (I am also the queen of mixed metaphors, hehe)
My original reason for starting the blog was really simple. After my appearance on Masterchef, I started receiving a ton of requests for the recipes I made on the show. Instead of emailing everyone who asked a recipe, I decided to start a blog, and post up all the recipes on here. So why call it Food, Football and a Baby? Well, refer to the paragraph above. I was so sleep deprived, I could barely function, let alone think of a cool name for the blog. So I called it after the three things that defined my life at that time. Food, of course. Football, of which I am still a passionate fan (Please, Gunners? Please? One trophy to console us all after six years? Please?) And the baby, who is of course, no longer a baby, but will always be my baby, if you're getting my drift?
Things have moved on in my life since those years of course. Two years ago, almost to the day, we upped and moved from England to Canada. And suddenly, for the first time in my life, I had time. Sleep, of course, was a little longer coming by, but time I had. I started blogging more, with a purpose. Well, mainly to keep me from going loco, as I adjusted from being someone who was always on the go, to someone who was a stay-at-home-mum. And I freely admit, I struggled with it at first. My job and education, so far, had been my identity. And to let that go, and surrender financial control to my husband was a really, really hard transition for me to make.
I look back on my first year here in Canada, and I cringe to think what I must have been and sounded like. I hated the cold, and the fact that my family and friends were so far away, and, as I put it, I basically sat indoor and sulked. The next year, I realised that sulking would do me no good, so I went out and started to get to know people. I took a few leaps of faith, and suddenly I now have friends who are on the way to becoming really close to me as well.
Thursday, 19 January 2012
Me and healthy are not words that go together very well, as Kay will attest. But I've certainly been trying to eat a little healthier every day. This quinoa (pronounced keen-wah) salad is everything I like in a salad.
Quinoa is, what foodies would call an ancient grain. Not only is it packed full
of protein, but, according to Wikipedia, it contains 'contains a balanced set
of essential amino acids for humans, making it a complete
protein source, unusual among plant foods' I've talked at length about how
I struggle to get more protein into Aditi, especially as she doesn't eat meat,
and now refuses to eat fish as well. I first came across this salad when I did
the butter
chicken live blog session. Knowing that I probably wouldn't have any time
to do a salad, I asked my friend Addie to bring one. He brought this one, and I
loved it so much, I had to try and recreate it. Addie very kindly gave me the
recipe. I modified it a bit, as I didn't have a few things and I also added a
few more child friendly elements (read, raisins, amazing what a raisin or two
can do for the 'tryability' of a dish). I also used my homemade Madras
curry powder, rather than the generic one called for.
The end result was so
good, that this is a dish that is going to be on our everyday menu a fair
amount. Who said healthy eating means boring? This salad has amazingly great
flavour. Spicy, tangy, sweet and nutty, it encompasses everything, and each
bite elicits a flavour packed taste sensation. I absolutely adore the Indian
elements of this salad, and it appeals to my whole ethnic-local approach. Its
quick to put together, and I love the fact that it can be adapted to pretty
much anything you have in the cupboard. Eating a little healthier just got a
little more easier!
Saturday, 14 January 2012
As I've mentioned before in this blog, I am an information addict huge consumer of news. Not only do I read about three Canadian newspapers, I also read a couple British newspapers, the BBC News site and a few Indian newspapers. Indian newspapers are not always my favourite, as I find that they tend to dramatise everything (that may well be an Indian trait, like my own, hehe) but one of my favourite Indian newspapers is The Hindu, which really does approach news in a dispassionate manner and I enjoy reading it and catching up with everything going on back home. It also reminds me of my childhood, when my dad, in the interest of educating us bought this newspaper every day, despite the fact that he enjoyed reading the Times of India better. I appreciate your sacrifice, dad :-)
One of my favourite columns in the Hindu is its Life and Style section. I browse through it fairly often, as I know that there will always be something in it that will catch my fancy. Which is where I came across this intriguing article and recipe for this Taar Korma. I was straightaway fascinated by the history of the dish, and enamoured by the photograph that accompanied it too.
Even though I've lived in India for over twenty years, the depth and breadth of regional Indian cuisine continues to amaze me. Its entirely possible to have lived most of my life there without knowing about, say, Rampuri cuisine, for example. Of course, once I had read the article, all I wanted to do was go out and research everything to do with them. This style of cuisine emerges from the princely state of Rampur in India. Rampuri cuisine owes its distinctive edge to a combination of Muslim and Mughlai traditions, along with spice blends, while traditional, are unique to the region. The Mughlai tradition passes itself on in the liberal use of nut pastes, saffron and the 'dum' style of cooking, while the use of meats like mutton are usually part of the Muslim tradition. As is usual in India, however, recipes have been passed on through the oral tradition, rather than written down. Of course this makes it difficult for the likes of me, sitting here in Canada to try and access them :-)
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