Herbal Essence

A chef’s love of a garnish on his plate —–
Talk of tarragon, parsley or rosemary, simple leaves they are
But fragrance do they carry,
That turns a plate of food into a wonderful memoir.

The Korma-Sutra

He almost threw her on the orange green bed, the spark of hunger twinkling in his eyes. He took it slowly, eyeing the perfectly trimmed and toned body. A tinkling sensation of excitement ran through his fingers like small jolts of electricity as he touched the smooth breasts, her fair skin glistening in the glow of the light. With a deep breath he could smell the sweaty sweetness radiating from her body; he bent down towards her neck, it was stretched backwards as if submitting herself completely to him….

Bread And Butter

Persian cuisine, the emperors or the Berbers were not to be blamed for the chaotic condition my mind was in at that moment…

Somewhere in my mind Omar Khayyam was reciting verses that related to the age old ingredients of the middle-east, the Larousse that lay open on my bed was slashing my brains about the origins of some dishes, my laptop was flashing one slide after another of kebabs, steamed rice dishes and fragrances and the wretched Wikipedia on my iPod was vainly displaying some cited information. Worst, those twinkly eyes of her and the cute smile kept popping up in my head and procrastination had just decided to sneak in through my door provoking me to text her just to see if she was still in the gym…….

Of Snips and Snails and Puppy-dog Tails…

The darkness of the night was broken by the shimmering towers all around him; The Pond reflected a building flaunting flag colors of some distant country while the Untermyer fountain mirrored the red of the Yorker sign standing on another …

UnBloGgeD

For a while now I suddenly lost my contact with the blogging world. A year ago I had completely given up blogging courtesy of crazy moving around, a professional journey from Washington, D.C. to Chicago and back to NYC. But …

Once, Mary Had A Little Lamb

Forlornly, she dragged her feet; as she neared the green playground of the schoolyard she turned around and looked back in vain hope – nothing; that little white figure did not follow her to school.
Sadly she trotted off to her class.

Somewhere in the humid regions of Alabama, the lamb chewed on what it thought was grass but tasted way different. It trotted alongside her friends looking for the familiar face or even a green pasture but all that was there were huge brown walls and a shiny floor. Little did the lamb know that the floor was moving too. Before the little fellow realized this, the lamb reached a huge cylinder with a small opening. Curiously, the lamb peaked out hopeful to see some grassland or a caring hand of love but instead saw a huge man walking towards her; in a split second he raised a rod and pointed it at her head, a small pop followed and the lamb crumpled to the floor, lifeless … what followed next was a nightmare.

‘Bra’nd Loyalty

What happened in the next few minutes was extraordinary. Almost all the girls in the class followed suit, first unzipping their jackets, peeping inside and finally typing something on their cellphones….

By the time I reached home from my class, my whole facebook home page was filled with statuses of girls shouting different colors; right from white, blue, yellow to even strawberry pink with lemon stripes! (There was also one status that said ‘none’ and it undoubtedly received maximum comments.)

LIFE – Two Ways!

(two ways is a cooking technique or presentation style where one ingredient is presented in two or more ways. In each presentation the ingredient is enhanced in its own way and the other ingredients and accompanying sauces are such that …

Wada Pao (…I mean THE Wada Pao..)

My first taste of that nice little bonda and the pao, or to give it a fancy name as per American standards – the crisp, chickpea battered potato slider seasoned with mustard seeds, onions, turmeric and asafetida served sandwiched between house-baked bread garnished with tamarind chutney served with salted, caramelized padrano peppers was when my rickshawalla took his school kid gang out for a treat after the end of a term.

Being tied up with a strict dietary regime for all these years due to god’s choice of bestowing me with some wondrous health problems, my parents were shocked when they heard that I had the common snack of the common man. Till now my diet included high end ingredients perfectly weighed and balanced evenly with specific amounts of proteins, fats, carbs and starches cooked to my taste into some dish that is a replica of some continental fare in a highly sterilized environment using double boiled water, specific salts and selective brands of products………….

“Hands down slurrrp and burrrp, Oprah!”

A whirlwind of storm my pledged brothers and sisters raised back home calling it insensitivity towards culture and tradition when Oprah made a simple comment of some Indians still eating with their hands. Please stop being ridiculous for cuisine’s sake…
To be rhetoric I have not seen Indians eating chaats like bhel poori, sev batata poori, ragda pattice, or kulfis and rasmalai’s with their hands even if they’re finger licking good!

Breakfast When She Texts Me…

I am just putting down my fork on the empty plate after the most satifying meal I have had in a long long time…waiting to hear the clink of the silver against the china…the sound that indicates a smiling satiety… …