off to bombay

Hope everyone had a wonderful, safe and sick-free Thanksgiving holiday!

So, I'm going to India tomorrow for about 6 weeks. I will try to blog from there depending on my dad - the vacation nazi. I think the man has a day planner in his head mapped out by minutes. This is the first time I'm going in 7 years and why I chose the same exact time he did, God only knows. I figured it might be easier to have him around, but I'm seriously reconsidering. When you go on vacation with him, you need to check into a spa afterwards. Seriously, it's that bad.

So up until yesterday he's been calling me with all sorts of things such as...

him: "Do you have room for diapers?"
me: "why do we need diapers?" (I stop to remember that i'm potty trained.)
him: "because my friend called and his son had a baby and they need diapers."
me: "why does he always wait until the last minute? Don't they get diapers in India?" What is wrong with these people folks?

And then last night around 10pm, I get another urgent call from him telling me to go to Wally World to get a 3-pack of TSA approved locks. 'Tis the season for thievery.

Ya, the man's a little shaken and gets rattled easily when you mention India trips. Last time they went to India, 3 bags got stolen from the baggage handlers on their trip back home. Of course, it was none of the food, it was all the expensive, hard to replace stuff from their South India tour of Madras and Ooty. Which was fine by me... I am a foodhead after all.

The Fiesta man

Since this past weekend was Thanksgiving, I started reminiscing about one of my first Thanksgiving holidays in Austin. My mom sent me to this local grocery store, Fiesta to grab a few things for the eggplant parmigiana she was going to be making.

Fiesta is huge and they carry almost any Indian vegetable you can think of; tindora, paan leaves (6 for $1.00!), dudhi, karela, small white eggplants, guvar and methi just to name a few. They also have a long aisle of nothing but Indian/Pakistani groceries such as different flours, rices, dals, Gits packets, juices and achaars. Not to mention the Mexican and Latin groceries you may ever need in a lifetime.

So, there I was browsing the cheeses and this older gentleman turns my way and starts speaking in Spanish. Since I've moved to Texas, I've gotten really used to this. I just looked at him, trying to understand all the words and what he was saying so maybe I could help him. But he just kept jabbering really fast and I guess I must have looked confused because then he said loudly and angrily, "Don't try to act like you don't know what I'm saying! You young people come to this country and don't even know your own language. You don't respect your elders or talk to them in your language. You forget where you came from."

Ooooh, I was so mad! I couldn't help it and just screamed at him, "As a matter of fact, I'm Indian and I not only speak my language, but I speak another 2 fluently as well and if you spoke slower, I could've understood everything you were saying a minute ago." And finally yelled, "And for your information, the queso blanco is in the deli section asshole." Maybe it's just the Texas effect.

juiced up green tea

The regular readers of my blog may know that I have not been feeling up to speed lately. I have been drinking copious amounts of chai brewed with fresh ginger and lemongrass to soothe my throat. Though this is an instantaneous cure, the warm fuzzy feeling doesn't last all that long past 30 minutes. This is so easy, it's ridiculous to say that this is a recipe, but it is delicious and may help you relax.

For one large mug:

• bring a cup of water to a simmer
• add 1 tspn green tea leaves or a bag of green tea and let steep for 3 min
• strain if using loose tea leaves
• add juice of half an orange and raw honey to taste

Notes: You may be familiar with the new Lipton Citrus iced teas in a bottle, this is very similar in taste. You could also squeeze in half a lemon, tangerine or even pomengranate juice. It's low in cost and you get the added benefit of no preservatives or artificial sweeteners.

Breakfast tacos

We went to an all weekend wedding event. After eating Indian food for the last 3 days, we had enough. It was time for a Mexican inspired breakfast.

• saute chopped onion in olive oil until translucent
• add a chopped potato and a sliced red bell pepper
• season with salt, pepper, ground cumin and ancho chili powder or red cayenne to taste
• after potatoes are cooked through, add 1 1/2 cups refried beans or one can vegetarian refried or black beans
• heat through
• serve with warm tortillas, salsa, cheese and guacamole

pre-thanksgiving dinner

Last nite as I was still sick, my husband braved the grocery store in midst of the crazy bustle of thanksgiving shoppers to buy frozen CPK pizza. They have a new Mediterranean one out with kalamata olives and grilled eggplant. So as he heated up the pizza, I toasted some English tea bread and slathered it Nutella while it was still warm. I couldn't have asked for a better dinner. It made me feel so much better. Those empty calories lifted my spirits right up. If you've never had it, you have to try this little indulgence just once. I warn you not to give this to your kids if you're a label reader or if your kids are the overkill types that once they like a certain food that's all they'll eat for breakfast, lunch and dinner for the next 3 weeks.

I was lucky enough to find the "real" Nutella from a Middle Eastern grocery store and let me tell you it was soooooo much better than the American stuff. You'll notice right off that it isn't grossly sweet. Also, you get much more of the hazelnut goodness coming through. It's $5.99 for the real deal. Cheap remedy for a cold.

Notes: Once again, I ask all ye faithful to forgive the God awful Corelle... and please any suggestions are MOST WELCOME!

The happy thanksgiving police

Ok, so I know I'm supposed to be in the holiday spirit and in the "mood"... but I'm not. Still sick as crap. Feel like a pile of shit. Sorry readers. I just can't get rid of this cough and I'm sure it's driving my co-workers crazy. The blowing of the nose, the reaching of a tissue every 5 seconds and sneezing in between, oh yeah not to mention the unstoppable and annoying coughing. Unfortunately, my voice came back, so now I have to answer the said co-workers.

It gets worse. Someone in my office stopped and asked, "what kind of turkey do vegetarians eat?" Yes, I know you're probably all wondering, WTF? Is this person for real? Yes. Did this person ask me in front of the entire office? Yes. Did this person mean tofurkey? No, she doesn't know the existence of tofu.

So, now you know what I go through every freakin' holiday. Really, I don't understand why almost every person in every place I've ever worked in has made me a national spokesperson for vegetarians worldwide. And then while they got you, they might as well find out about everything else. Like your religion or lack of. Such as "I know you're Indian, but do you celebrate Thanksgiving? And, "would you be offended if I put up some Christmas decorations?" Like there's only one religion to go around 1 billion people. I mean besides being unprofessional, this was borderline retarded.

And these are the same people that when they are ordering pizza at work, they eat up all my veggie pizza first. I swear to you, this has happened on more than one occasion people! If I don't run and make a beeline for it at lunch, it will be all gone. Then I'll get to hear "it looked so good, i just wanted to try it", "i've never eaten anything vegetarian before" to "that was pretty good for being vegetarian, but next time I'll stick with the meat lover's?" Not one measly slice left. Happy Holidays folks.

Sauteed cauliflower with red bell peppers

Feels like fall is slowly arriving. This is how I know...





My neighbor has huge pine trees whose branches overlook my yard. I usually welcome the extra shade in the summer. In the winter, it's another story. I want to go over and chop the trees down. The needles fall all over the cars, the driveway, the roof. They completely blanket the entire pond so when the fish try to eat their food, they get pine needles instead. I had to grab my handy long wooden branch and wrangle pine needles from one of my fish's mouth. Ahhhhhh! Somebody loan me an axe!

Since it did feel like fall in any case, I talked myself into craving something warm and toasty. I had half a cauliflower and a gorgeous red bell pepper. I think the combination of these two vegetables is just perfect. They're both mild and take in all flavors readily.

The main thing to keep in mind about this dish is that you don't want to overcook the cauliflower. It's turns to mush and the texture will be blah.

Serves 2-3
Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min

Here's what to do:

• heat up 2 tbspn oil in a wide saute pan
• add panch phoron or: 1/2 tspn each of the following seeds: mustard, cumin, fenugreek, nigella and fennel
• add chopped cauliflower, red bell pepper and salt
• stir and cover for 5-7 minutes
• add few slit green chilis and a tbspn each of garam masala and cumin powder
• cover and cook until cauliflower is cooked through about 5 more minutes
• squeeze lime and garnish with cilantro before serving

Notes: serve with roti or naan, rice and dal and find it in your hearts to forgive the Corelle :)