The List: April 2014

April was a glorious month- yes, it was my personal worst allergy season of all time (I discovered for the first time how scary it is to be so congested that one is gasping for breath; let's just say I have much empathy for people with asthma) but all that was outweighed by the fact that my sister and her family came to visit. Two little cousins met for the first time and spend 10 days playing, singing, dancing, squabbling over toys, splashing in a little wading pool (best 15 bucks I ever spent), and visiting every playground in a 10 mile radius.

Cooking and Baking

Farmer's Market season is on and we went one sunny Saturday morning. I was thrilled to find Spring garlic- do you know what that is? It is just like Spring onions, but the shoots come from garlic rather than onion. The taste is subtle and garlicky- sounds like a contradiction but really that's how I can best describe it. In India, we'd get this every once in a blue moon and my aunt and I made scrambled eggs with it. This time I used it in a veggie and omelet noodle stir fry. I still think scrambled eggs are the simplest and best way to showcase this seasonal specialty.

This was a long-bookmarked recipe- brussels sprout fried rice from Post Punk Kitchen. I added heaps of vegetables and only a modest amount of rice. And crushed peanuts instead of cashews. So delicious! The coconut oil really does add a nice touch to this dish.

A friend e-mailed me a recipe for no-bake energy bites. Well, basically these are mini ladoos made with raw oats, peanut butter, honey, coconut, flaxseed, chocolate. You just mix a bunch of ingredients and form small balls. I tested the recipe on my colleagues at a work meeting and they gave it two thumbs up. Lila also gave it a metaphorical thumbs up- her fingers and thumbs were busy stuffing two ladoos in her mouth simultaneously! Here's the recipe.

And carrot cake. It was not too sweet, moist and just about perfect. Instead of a 9 x 13 sheet cake, I made 2 circular 9 inch cakes and froze one for another occasion a couple weeks later; it thawed beautifully. I'm always happy to find freezer-friendly recipes.





Reading

Image: Goodreads

I read an exceptional book this month- The Emperor of All Maladies by Siddhartha Mukherjee. The author is a cancer physician-scientist who happens to also be a gifted storyteller- a rare and wonderful combination. He narrates the story of cancer from the very beginning, weaving in history and biology, medicine and politics into a masterpiece.

This is a work of non-fiction with more twists and turns than your average detective story- I breathlessly read it in three or four evenings. Parts of the book are dense with biomedical jargon which might not be a breeze if you don't work in biology/medicine (I do and I thought he handled complex concepts very well) but truly, this book is worth a read. Because I'm betting that this terrible disease has affected most of us in one way or another and it is worth learning more about where we are and where we came from, vis-a-vis cancer.

Also, I read this thoughtful piece of reporting: India's Golden Chance.

Watching

Breaking Bad. This show is- how should I put this- a wee bit addictive. I'm watching 2 episodes every night. Thanks, R. ;)

Jim Gaffigan's Mr. Universe stand-up hour on Netflix. My sister and I were looking for something genuinely funny to watch one evening and this was it.

Making

Some months ago, I made a laundry detergent concentrate ("laundry sauce") using an online recipe and was pleased with it for the most part. Last week when I ran out, I made detergent again, this time liquid- well, it is more of a gel- laundry detergent using this recipe. It made 5 gallons- enough to fill one of those orange pails from Home Depot!

My bag-sewing skills got a boost with a pattern that I bought from my local quilt shop: It is called the two hour tulip purse from the designers at Anything but Boring. A gratifyingly well-written pattern and it makes a cute lunch bag/ around town purse. I made one in a cheerful Springy print for a dear friend.





I have to show you a couple of cute things sewed by my sister- unlike me, she doesn't need no stinkin' patterns. Her designs are all original.

A kitty backpack for Lila- it is adorably toddler sized.

A placemat for Duncan- because no dog should be without a personalized placemat.





What have you been eating, cooking, reading, watching, making this month? Anyone else doped out on anti-histamines? You have my sympathies. Happy May!