Cinnamon Tea + Tennis Lunch

This is what I’m grateful for today. After a largely uneventful afternoon, sitting at my desk writing the first pages of chapter 1, then deleting, writing, deleting, I took myself to a coffee shop. Mostly because, well, I can’t be crazy in public. I ordered a cinnamon spice tea–I want to say the Harney and…

Roast Chicken and Spinach Salad

There is nothing more delicious than a well-marinated piece of roasted chicken, crispy skin smacking of crushed garlic. Hurricane Sandy has sequestered my friends in DC, but here in Durham all I have as an excuse for the luxurious day I’ve spent at my desk is a loud wind at my window. I’m not much…

Butternut Squash Soup for Two

The most wonderful thing about this soup is its bright yellow-orange colour. It really looks like fall in a cup. I lived in Cambridge for some years, and fall there was incredible. The air was brisk; the trees enflamed, orange, yellow and pink. We really have none of that in Durham, which goes from summer…

Dinner for One :)

Hello! After an age. I recently moved my life across two oceans. I’ll be back to writing soon but for now here are some photos of delicious meals I’ve been making since settling into my new apartment and life. And all in my mother’s amazing Earth To Fire stoneware ceramics.

Rainbow Cake

This is my sister’s Double Double Rainbow Cake. The cake is a delicious 1-2-3-4 Cake, made even more delicious with lime zest and juice. The butter cream icing is pastel coloured to brighten up a tea party or a glum monsoon afternoon. Read about the cake here. I love the 1-2-3-4 cake, named after the…

Burgers!

For dinner tonight I’m making mouth wateringly tart burgers topped with onions, tomatoes and Moneterey Jack cheese, served with a side of crispy potato wedges with rosemary and chilly flakes. In the last five years Pali Hill, the neighborhood I live in, has become a major expat place. The newest additions to Pali Hill are Brazilian…

Lime and Yogurt Cake

My sister, Uttara, uses yoghurt in her amazing Double-Decker Chocolate Cake at Bowtie Cakes. It makes her cake airy and light, an absolute dream to eat. I love the idea of a yoghurt cake flavoured with lime and olive oil. This cake is simple, unpretentious and perfect on a rainy monsoon day with a novel…

Chocolate Chip Peanut Butter Oatmeal Cookies

I love the run-on-sentence that is the name of this divine cookie as much as I love the cookie itself. It’s monsoon season here and I have been dying for some good home-made Americana in my Bombay kitchen. I think the greatest American contribution to the world is pumpkin pie, a culinary wonder I discovered…