My Sewing Machine and A Sneak Peek Into My Sewing Room

As I'm learning to tame the beast that is my sewing machine, I've discovered the vibrant community of sewing and quilting blogs written by people who generously share tips, tutorials, advice and inspiration. So, when I stumbled on this post asking for sewing machine reviews, I decided to jump in and contribute a review about my sewing machine.

What brand and model do you have? I have the Brother CE-5500PRW Project Runway™ Limited Edition Computerized Sewing Machine.

How long have you had it? I've owned this machine for 2.5 years. But the first year I owned it, I did not use it at all. I only looked at it anxiously from time to time before putting it back into the closet.

How much does that machine cost (approximately)? I bought it for $135.

What types of things do you sew (i.e. quilting, clothing, handbags, home dec projects, etc.)? I use it for piecing quilt tops, quilting and simple sewing projects like wallets and bags and pillowcase dresses.

How much do you sew? How much wear and tear does the machine get? I sew two or three hours every week, on average. So the machine gets fairly light wear and tear.

Do you like/love/hate your machine? Are you ambivalent? Passionate? Does your machine have a name? My machine is called Big Brother. I definitely like my machine- Big Brother is my buddy and we're learning to work together!

What features does your machine have that work well for you? The machine is simple to use. Changing thread, loading bobbins, changing needles, changing feet was all easy to learn. The drop in bobbin is very convenient. The machine has 50 stitches or something ridiculous like that, but I only tend to use the straight stitch and the zig zag. My sister (who sews professionally) used the machine for a month when she was visiting me and she liked it very much.

Is there anything that drives you nuts about your machine? I found it very difficult to sew multiple layers on this machine. Buying a walking foot has made this a lot easier, so I highly recommend buying a walking foot if you buy this machine.

I've used my quilting teacher's Bernina once or twice, and using that very high-end machine gave me an experience of driving the Cadillac of sewing machines. So I understand that Big Brother is noisy and not as smooth as some machines are!

The throat of the machine is small which will make it a challenge to quilt anything bigger than a crib sized or possible twin sized quilt. It works for me because I have no intentions of making big quilts.

Would you recommend the machine to others? Why?  I would certainly recommend this machine to beginners. Before you start sewing/quilting, you have no idea how much you'll use a machine and whether you'll end up liking these crafts, and it does not make sense to buy a high-end machine. I like to start small and work my way up.

Brother makes very inexpensive machines that have good features. I have read many reviews that the machines are not durable and not sturdy and this may well be true, but so far mine is working well.

Do you have a dream machine? If I'm still sewing and quilting avidly 3 years from now, I might splurge on a refurbished Bernina or Janome.

This is where where Big Brother lives:

I've been having great fun converting our spare bedroom into a sewing room/studio for myself. It is hard to describe the pleasure that comes from having a tidy, bright and cheerful space devoted to creative pursuits, and this is where I now do most of my sewing and blogging. Knitting is done strictly in front of the TV but the knitting supplies and other craft paraphernalia do live in this room!

This space was inspired by photos of countless sewing rooms that I've seen on blogs and on Pinterest. My sewing room came together via lots of purchases at IKEA and some generous hand-me-downs from my quilting teacher- she gave me the ironing board and the thread rack.

Click on the photos to enlarge them.

By one window is the sewing/cutting table, where Big Brother sits. The table is big enough for a cutting mat. V was nice enough to mount the thread rack onto the side of the bookcase so that thread is just at arm's length when I sit down to sew.

There are stacked bins for my fabric. I've decided that I can only have as much fabric as can fit into these bins. When I mention this to quilter friends, they just laugh out loud.

I have plans for the blank wall at the back- I want to make it a design wall like this one. Designs walls are very helpful for laying out quilt blocks to "audition" them.






By the other window is a small desk- and this is where much of One Hot Stove is written.

I learned a new technique called paper piecing and made this dog as a sample. Somehow the droopy ears reminded me of Dale and so I put it in a frame and it sits on my desk.

My mother and sister gave me several adorable block-printed cotton fabrics from India. I put them in thrifted wooden embroidery hoops and now this cheerful grouping makes me smile every time I look at it. This has got to be the easiest wall decor project ever.

It turns out that ironing seams is one of the most important steps in sewing and quilting. When I come into the room to sew, the first thing I do it to switch on the iron.

I spent my entire lifetime trying to avoid ironing by buying wash and wear clothing or cheerfully wearing crumpled cotton clothing- it is the one chore I hate with all my heart. And now here in my sewing room is an ironing station. A place devoted to nothing but ironing! As Alanis Morissette would say, "Isn't it ironic? Don't you think?" "Iron"ic! Get it?? :D

This ironing station was inspired by this one that I pinned here and is Pin #1 for this month's Pin It and Do It challenge. Psst- if you're looking for motivation to try something you've pinned, it is not too late to sign up.

I found this button rug at IKEA and just couldn't resist buying it for the sewing room.The tapestry was a gift from my parents- they bought it on their travels through India. I think it is Pipli applique work from Orissa.

Duncan likes to drape himself decoratively on the rug.

My button jar. It makes me inordinately happy. 

 Have a wonderful Sunday and I'll see you be back on Tuesday or Wednesday with an apple dessert. 

Berry Parfaits, and How Children Succeed

Here's a simple treat that was Part II of Lila's birthday celebrations, this time with her classmates and teachers in the daycare center. When I mentioned that I was bringing treats to Lila's class, it led to an interesting discussion with two of my quilting friends (both of whom happen to be much older than me).You see, they assumed that I would bring in cupcakes with frosting and sprinkles and I had to explain that we're in an era when cupcakes (and other sugary treats like cookies, candy and juice) are banned from her school, along with nuts (allergy concerns) and grapes, popcorn (choking hazards) among other things. And you can just forget about the frosting and the sprinkles.

My friends rolled their eyes a little- no cake for kids; that's just sad, they said. I could almost hear them sighing in relief that they raised their kids in simpler times before the food police came into power. Listen, I get what they're saying, and I also get what the school is trying to do. Being a parent or a teacher is a tough job because you're always trying to strike a balance and do the right thing (without there being any consensus on what the "right thing" is).

Desserts in moderation, to be enjoyed on special occasions- I'm completely on board with that, and my child gets to enjoy sweet treats. You bet I'll bake her a cake for her birthday. Rather than labeling foods as "good" and "bad", I hope to help her develop a positive relationship with food. Rather than banning sugar and thereby making it a "forbidden fruit" that she seeks out when she's away from my supervision, I try to encourage a taste for wholesome food so she ends up preferring it to the processed stuff.

I also understand that we live in an environment that is saturated with cheap, sugar-laden food, and in light of there being classroom celebrations almost every day, I completely appreciate that the school administrators try to point parents towards treats that are relatively nutritious and safe for all the kids to eat. They are trying to disengage the equation of sugar=fun.

So this is the treat that I came up with. It meets all the rules and is a sweet treat all the same. I made parfaits, which is a rather posh name for something so simple.

To start with, you need some vanilla yogurt and some nut-free granola. Both can be store bought but are simple enough to make at home. These are quantities for 12 parfaits.

Vanilla yogurt: Stir 2 tbsp. sugar and 1 tsp. vanilla extract into 3 cups plain whole-milk yogurt.

Nut-free granola: Toss 1 cup oats with 1/4 cup raisins, 1 tbsp. maple syrup, 1 tbsp. olive oil and a pinch of cinnamon and salt. Spread on a greased baking sheet and bake at 300F for 20-30 minutes, until golden brown. Let it cool.

To assemble the parfaits, simply layer fruits, yogurt and granola as shown in the picture. Any ripe fruits will do, but I used strawberries and blueberries because they are Lila's favorites. I used mini round food containers (found in every supermarket). They have a 1/2 capacity which is just perfect for a toddler snack and are transparent which makes for nice-looking parfaits because you can see the layers. They can be sealed shut for transport and I found to my great delight that these cups fit perfectly into a muffin tin for safe, upright transport to school! And I was able to freeze the empty muffin tin before putting in the cups so they stayed cold on the ride over. Yes, I'm channeling Martha Stewart here.

The berry parfaits were enjoyed by the kids and the teachers and it was very sweet when Lila came home with a paper birthday crown and said over and over again, "Teacher singeth happy birthday Lila".

Image: Goodreads

On the same subject of parenting, I read an interesting book recently- How Children Succeed: Grit, Curiosity, and the Hidden Power of Character by Paul Tough. The book asks the question, what factors go into making a child grow into a successful adult? And it turns out that while cognitive skills- language, math, pure IQ and thinking ability do matter, what matters even more is character skills such as self-control, curiosity and the ability to deal with failure and to persevere.

To me, this book was interesting from two perspectives: One, as a parent, how do I cultivate these meaningful character traits in my child? Two, how do we as a society establish educational programs so that children from all backgrounds can succeed and grow into more productive citizens? The book has no magic answers but it contains interesting research, case studies and plenty of food of thought.

Many parents are obsessed with academic success, starting with that baby Einstein nonsense in infancy. (As an aside, I always roll my eyes when I see a car with a "My kid is an honors student" bumper sticker and I always snicker when I see the one that says, "My dog is smarter than your honors student".) I am fairly sure that my kid will learn to read, write and count sooner or later. I'd rather help her develop a strong sense of ethics and self-discipline and mental toughness.

Books like these are complex so I am noting down three take-home lessons for myself. By the way, if you can't get a hold of this book, here's a good summary.

1. Strong parental nurturing in early childhood is strongly correlated with character development. So hold your babies and bond closely with them. Be warm and responsive to your little ones. Babies who are securely attached learn to cope with stress and this benefit lasts for a lifetime.

2. In adolescence, in contrast, coddling a child and protecting them from failure is not the right approach. They should learn to take risks, face failure, analyze why they failed and learn from it. Interestingly, children of very affluent parents who grow up facing no adversity are more likely to be maladjusted teens.

3. Steep the child in a culture of good character. Treat these traits as being as important, or even more important, than getting good grades.

That's it, friends. Have a wonderful week and see you in a few. Oh and don't forget to share your favorite parenting wisdom in the comments. We can all learn from each other.

"The List" September 2013

The first two "list" posts here and here were so much fun that I'm making this a monthly feature to recap the noteworthy moments of each month. You'll see that my definition of noteworthy covers everything from vacations to laundry detergent. What is life but a collage of moments big and trivial? Of course the very best part of these posts is when you, dear reader, chime in and tell me what's going on in your life so don't be shy.

So here goes, the list for September 2013.

Baking Lemonies= Brownies minus chocolate plus lemon. I followed this recipe. It is a drop dead easy recipe that comes together in minutes and boy, was it a success. I made a batch for Lila's teachers and one of them said to me that it was the best thing she had ever eaten- I'm not making this up. OK, she may have exaggerating a little bit but yeah, you can be sure I'll make lemonies again.

My only modifications to the recipe were to replace 1/8 cup of regular flour with almond flour- this small change added lots of texture and flavor to these melt-in-the-mouth treats. And I used lemon oil and fiori di sicilia (a citrus vanilla baking extract) which added a little something something.

Cooking pineapple relish. I bought some fresh pineapple for a party and forgot to cut and serve it. So a couple of days later, I cooked up this dish on the fly; it is something in between a pickle and a chutney. Does such a thing have a name?

The recipe for pineapple relish in short: Heat oil, temper with mustard seeds, curry leaves, asafetida, methi seeds. Add fresh pineapple cubes, salt, turmeric, chili powder, a good bit of jaggery. Let it simmer uncovered, stirring occasionally, until the pineapple is coated in a thick sweet-tangy syrup. Cool and store in the fridge for 3-4 days. This relish jazzed up several rice and dal meals for me.

Reading The World According to Bertie (44 Scotland Street #4). After a slow start, I'm finally sinking my teeth into this series by A. McCall Smith. Next on my list is Khalid Hosseini's And The Mountains Echoed. I feel a strange mixture of anticipation and dread about starting this book. Because he's a terrific story-teller but his stories tend to be haunting and, well, sad. Do you ever get this feeling?

Watching Craigslist Joe- a documentary about a guy who spends a month living only off free stuff found via Craigslist. Totally random, often touching and hilarious. October Sky- a feel-good inspirational movie (based on a true story) about a high school kid from a small mining town who decided to build a rocket. Is "You can achieve your dreams if you try hard enough" a trite theme for a  movie? No, it isn't. In fact, I like to be reminded of this as often as possible.

Oh, I finished the first season of Orange is the New Black- how can something be so funny and so disturbing at the same time? And for total time-pass watching, I've been enjoying Psych and 30 Rock.

Quilting: I made this quilt for Lila's little friend who also turned 2 this month. There's a town on the front, with houses and roads and buildings and such. He can snuggle under it at night and run cars on it during the day.

Experiment of the month: I made laundry detergent using this recipe. I grated the soap bar, then used an immersion blender to make the "laundry sauce". I've only used it for 2 or 3 loads of laundry but the results have been good so far.

Highlight of the month: We went to the Smoky Mountains for a weekend getaway and enjoyed some gorgeous views. And came back with a crisper's worth of North Carolina apples. Got any must-try apple recipes?

Low point of the month: Our poor puppy Duncan got attacked by another dog in the dog park. The other dog had him by the scuff of the neck and would not let go. I am perfectly useless in an emergency; I stood there and screamed in sheer panic. And when I bent down to do something about the situation, I got kicked in the head! Oy vey. Not to worry, everyone has survived and all is well. Duncan came away with only a small cut on his neck (nothing short of a miracle) that we promptly washed and dressed. On the positive side, he loved coming with us to the mountains. He is such a doll and we are just so thrilled that he is part of our family.

Supporting Asha for Education's Work an Hour 2013. The idea is to symbolically donate an hour's worth or more of your salary to fund education programs for kids in India.

What a month it was. Tell me, please, what have you been baking, cooking, reading, watching, making this past month? Did you try any strange experiments? What was the highlight of your month? And I truly hope you had no low points this month at all!

A Popular Curry, and Much Bookishness

Matar paneer- peas and cheese in a rich sauce of tomatoes and onions- has a proven reputation as a crowd-pleaser. It is a darling of Indian buffets in the India Palaces and Spice Huts of the world, and a popular choice for feeding guests in Indian homes from coast to coast. Everyone knows how to make matar paneer, right?

Just in case you feel like the world wide web needs another version of this popular curry, here's my recipe, as adapted to the ingredients and tools in my kitchen. Some Indian curries use nuts (usually cashew nuts pulverized into a powder or a paste) to add thickness and richness to gravies. Almond flour is a staple in my kitchen because I use it sometimes in baking, and I thought of using it in this curry, with excellent results. Also, I use an immersion blender to grind the sauteed onions and tomatoes into a smooth sauce, and that means there is no blender/food processor bowl to wash.

Curries that need grinding and blending are generally considered a hassle to make (in Marathi we use a pithy phrase for this: vaatan ghaatan) but these two short-cuts make this a quick curry. If you'd rather not use paneer, tofu or potatoes would work well instead.

Edited on Sept. 26: When I posted this recipe, I forgot to include one important ingredient- the kasuri methi which gives this curry that much sought after "restaurant taste". Sorry for the omission- and it is now corrected.

Matar Paneer My Way 

Peas and Paneer (Indian cheese) in a Tomato Onion Nut Sauce; serves about 4

Matar paneer with jeera rice to sop up the sauce

 Make the sauce:
1. Heat 2 tbsp oil/butter/ghee.
2. Roughly chop 2 large onions and saute them until lightly browned.
3. Add salt to taste, 1/2 tsp. ground turmeric, 1 tsp. red chili powder (or to taste), 1 tbsp. kasuri methi (dried fenugreek) and 1/2 tbsp. ginger garlic paste. Saute for a few seconds.
4. Add 1 cup tomato puree and 1/4 cup almond flour and stir fry for several minutes until the sauce thickens.
5. Add a cup of water. Using an immersion blender, carefully puree the mixture to a smooth sauce.
Add the peas:
6. Add 2 cups green peas (I use frozen peas, thawed) to the sauce, bring to a boil and simmer for 10 minutes. Add some more water if required to make the curry as thick or thin as you like.
Add the paneer:
7. Saute about 2 cups bite-sized paneer cubes in a bit of oil in a separate pan until golden brown and add them to the curry.
Finish the curry:
8. Turn off the heat. Finish the curry by stirring in a handful of minced cilantro, the juice of half a lemon and 1/2 tsp of your best garam masala. These final touches "make" the curry so don't skip them.

* * *

For some Monday time-pass, I'm following in Trish's footsteps and taking the A to Z Bookish Survey started by The Perpetual Page Turner.

Author you’ve read the most books from: Jhumpa Lahiri, P. G. Wodehouse, Agatha Christie, Alexander McCall Smith...

Best Sequel Ever: Harry Potter by J. K. Rowling

Currently Reading: Love Over Scotland (44 Scotland Street #3) by Alexander McCall Smith

Drink of Choice While Reading: Chai- always and forever.

E-reader or Physical Book? Physical books. I don't even own an e-reader.

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School: Umm...Bertie Wooster? LOL

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance: The Road by Cormac McCarthy

Hidden Gem Book: A Christmas Memory by Truman Capote

Important Moment in your Reading Life: Arundathi Roy's The God of Small Things came out when I was a teenager in small town India, hungry for books but without any real access to them. By some miracle, the tiny neighborhood library got a copy right away. I read The God of Small Things in a day or two and was dazzled by it (still am). This was an important moment in my reading life because for the first time, I read a "grown up" book the same week it came out and formed my own opinion of it- saying this is an amazing book for these reasons, and only later read the critical acclaim for the book in major newspapers and magazines. It made me feel like a mature reader.

Just Finished: How Children Succeed by Paul Tough. I'll write a review and synopsis of this book in a couple of weeks.

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: Pulpy romances and all that vampire stuff. Actually, there's a lot of stuff I don't read.

Longest Book You’ve Read: A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth. Although last month I read Stephen King's 11/22/63 and that was a very long book as well.

Major book hangover because of: Hmm- it has been several weeks/months since a book really rocked my world.

Number of Bookcases You Own: People who visit my home like peeking at the bookcases- because looking at a person's book collection is a good way to learn more about them. Except in my case, it won't tell you much at all. 99% of the books I read are borrowed from the library and promptly returned.

Having said that, I do have a couple of bookshelves for my cookbooks and knitting/quilting books, and for V's Calvin and Hobbes collection.


The bookcase on the left is the most beloved and well-used bookcase in our home and it belongs to Miss Lila. It is pint sized just like her and all of her favorite books live there. She knows a couple dozen books by sight, brings them over to read and can put them back. She knows that if she brings a book over, I will drop everything that I am doing and read it to her.

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times: How To Talk So Kids Will Listen...by Faber and Mazlish. I'll trying to memorize this book before my kid grows up!

Preferred Place To Read: I read in bed most nights before I drift off. We have an oversized couch in the living room and I like to fold myself into a corner of this couch and read.

And I love reading here on the porch to the soundtrack of chirping birds and rustling branches.



Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read: 

“From that time on, the world was hers for the reading. She would never be lonely again, never miss the lack of intimate friends. Books became her friends and there was one for every mood. There was poetry for quiet companionship. There was adventure when she tired of quiet hours. There would be love stories when she came into adolescence and when she wanted to feel a closeness to someone she could read a biography. On that day when she first knew she could read, she made a vow to read one book a day as long as she lived.”
― Betty Smith, A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Yup, what she said.

Reading Regret: That I give up on books too easily- I probably miss out on some good books because if they don't engage me within 20 pages, I put them away.

Series You Started And Need To Finish: I need to catch up with several detectives, including Maisie Dobbs, Inspector Gamache and Flavia de Luce.

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books: Where to begin? I'll cheat and tell you three books that my two year old can't get enough of- From Head to Toe by Eric Carle, Goodnight Moon by Margaret Wise Brown and Mr. Brown can Moo! Can you? by Dr. Seuss .

Unapologetic Fangirl For: I'm not the fangirl type, frankly. I either like books or I don't; I don't worship any authors.

Very Excited For This Release: I rarely know what the new releases are- I'm still catching up with books that are years or decades old- but I'm looking forward to reading Jhumpa Lahiri's The Lowlands. I liked the excerpt in The New Yorker.

Worst Bookish Habit: I never use my cookbooks! Every time I'm looking for a recipe, I run to my computer. Poor neglected cookbooks.

X Marks The Spot (Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book): I looked at my shelf of cookbooks and the 27th book was Healthy Bread in 5 Minutes a Day by Hertzberg and Francois. And umm, I haven't baked anything from it yet.






Your latest book purchase: I bought  Ed Emberley's Complete Funprint Drawing Book for a friend's child last month. This is one of my favorite books to give as gifts to the preschool set.

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late): I covet my sleep too much. Books can wait!

If you feel like doing some bookish time-pass yourself (and who doesn't?), please take the survey in the comments, even answering just a few questions if you like!

Edited to add: My darling friend Shoots took the bookish survey and I had to include it in this post so here it is!! She's read Anna Karenina and she reads books in English, German and Bengali. Overachiever, much? Plus, she's super cute. 

Author you’ve read the most books from: Enid Blyton. Agatha Christie, Satyajit Ray, Ruskin Bond, Jeffery Archer, Arthur Conan Doyle  are a close second (err...there are some more, but I'll stop now)

Best Sequel Ever: All Things Wise and Wonderful (James Herriot). Harry Potter is a very very close second

Currently Reading: The best reading-lion school stories (My translation of the German Die schoensten Leseloewen Schulgeschicten) and an old Durga-Puja edition of my favourite Bengali children's magazine (Anandamela)

Drink of Choice While Reading: Usually nothing because I either read in bed or on the train but I'd love me a cup of hot tea if I were to read on the sofa

E-reader or Physical Book? Physical books, every time. 

Fictional Character You Probably Would Have Actually Dated In High School: Errr... Dick from Famous Five (I know, groan!) 

Glad You Gave This Book A Chance: The Immortals of Meluha by Amish

Hidden Gem Book: A Short History of Tractors in Ukranian by Marina Lewycka. I found it in a second hand bookstore and I love it (It's nothing about tractors ;))

Important Moment in your Reading Life: Starting to enjoy Bengali literature

Just Finished: Living Free by Joy Adamson

Kinds of Books You Won’t Read: Soppy romantic stories, weird Sci-fi and horror flicks

Longest Book You’ve Read: Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy

Major book hangover because of: Two Lives by Vikram Seth. I found it very powerful without being pushy. Ditto for A Thousand Splendid Suns. But I wouldn't quite describe them as being a hangover... A Rainbow Nation and Freedom at Midnight (both by Larry Collins and Dominique La Pierre) made me sit up and take a long hard look at modern civilization. 

Number of Bookcases You Own:  Two big ones here and about 2 large ones back at home ;) 

One Book You Have Read Multiple Times: To Kill a Mocking Bird by Harper Lee 

Preferred Place To Read: I usually read in bed and on the subway but that's more out of necessity. I would love to have more reading time in the Englischer Garten (Central Park to Munich)

Quote that inspires you/gives you all the feels from a book you’ve read: 

A quote that inspires me (my crude translation from Bengali): "I ask, not for you to protect me from adversity, but for the strength to face adversity with courage..." Tagore's Gitanjali

A quote that gives me all the feels, so to say: "I am not the only man to seek his fortune far from home, and certainly I am not the first. Still, there are times I am bewildered by each mile I have traveled, each meal I have eaten, each person I have known, each room in which I have slept. As ordinary as it all appears, there are times when it is beyond my imagination." Jhumpa Lahiri, The Third and Final continent (Interpretor of Maladies)

Reading Regret: I read too fast. I really need to slow down and savour the books

Series You Started And Need To Finish: 44 Scotland Street, though it didn't quite catch on as much as The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency. The other would be the Lord of the Rings. I didn't make it past The Hobbit. 

Three of your All-Time Favorite Books: To kill a mocking bird, The Namesake, A collection of Satyajit Ray's works called Shera Satyajit (translated that would be the best of Satyajit)

Unapologetic Fangirl For: I don't know if this would qualify me as a fan but I do find myself defending J.K. Rowling everytime someone trashes the Harry Potter series ;)

Very Excited For This Release: I don't follow new releases really but I am looking forward to the new works from Khaled Hosseini and Jhumpa Lahiri

Worst Bookish Habit: I sometimes buy a book on a whim and then don't finish it because it didn't engage me within the first 15 minutes. I know, that's what libraries are there for ;)

X Marks The Spot (Start at the top left of your shelf and pick the 27th book): I looked at my shelf of "children's books" and the 27th is The Valley of Adventure by Enid Blyton. The Great India Novel by Shashi Tharoor is the 27th on my "books for grownups" shelf.

Your latest book purchase: I bought  several books on the same trip - Enid Blytons, Agatha Christies, Living Free and Hullaballo in the Guava Orchard being a few of them

ZZZ-snatcher book (last book that kept you up WAY late): I do this far too often for my own good. I think the last one might have been an Agatha Christie (Parker Pyne investigates, this despite the fact that it is a collection of short stories!!!)

A Second Birthday Celebration

V and I can hardly believe this is true, but our little girl is turning TWO. Lila is growing into a little person with a very definite mind of her own. We celebrated this weekend with a simple party at home, with a few close family and friends. This year, time just got away from me, V was traveling, we were juggling too many things, and the party was put together with the minimum of time and fuss. I just wanted to get a few basic things right: (a) plenty of food, (b) a tasty cake and (c) sew some party favors.

The Menu was a light dinner and completely mismatched as you can see! I was hoping there was something for everyone. We had watermelon cubes, blueberries, red pepper hummus with pita chips, veggies with ranch dressing, Thai inspired quinoa salad, bow tie pasta tossed in a white sauce, tortilla roll-ups, matar paneer and jeera rice. No cuisine left behind, that's what I say. Next week (or sometime in the next few weeks), I'll post my recipe for the matar paneer.

I'm no fan of disposable party ware so we bought sets of reusable plates, cups, utensils earlier this year and will use them for picnics and birthday parties for years to come. I don't have a problem with washing a pile of dishes after a party at all, and it saves a ton of waste.

The Cake: On the hunt for a cute and easy to assemble cake, I found this cute fishie made with a 6 inch cake and a dozen cupcakes. So sweet and clever. And easy to serve.

I had invited several of Lila's daycare teachers, not know how many would actually be able to come, and wanted to have plenty of cake to go around. It seemed like the right occasion to try this recipe which makes a whopping 36 chocolate cupcakes. The recipe title says "far-from-disaster cake"- at first glance, this doesn't sound like a ringing endorsement. In reality the cake was an unqualified success- the exact opposite of a disaster.

All you need is a very large mixing bowl, the one I used should almost be called a basin rather than a bowl. I followed the recipe closely and my only modifications were:

1. Instead of buying a pint of buttermilk (and wondering what to do with leftover buttermilk), I added 1 tbsp. white vinegar to milk to make "clabbered milk" and used that in place of buttermilk.

2. I did not buy any fancy chocolate, instead using Trader Joe's semi-sweet chocolate, the kind that comes in 1 lb bars.

3. Because kids would be eating these cupcakes, I skipped the hot coffee and used hot water instead.

The batter came together quickly and I poured it into a 6 inch cake pan (not a very common pan size but I found one at Michael's), 30 cupcake liners and still had enough left over for a bit in a loaf pan. The oven was simply crammed with chocolate cake.

The frosting was a strawberries and cream frosting: I pureed about 10 ripe strawberries with a couple of tbsp. of jam in a blender and folded it into whipped heavy cream. Add some sugar if necessary and there you go. It makes for a light and very delicious frosting and the combination with chocolate cake is a match made in culinary heaven.

The frosting was slapped onto the cake and cupcakes and then I placed a blueberry as the fish eye and strawberry slices as the mouth. The poor fishie may look very imperfect (I've made my peace with my poor cake decorating skills) but this cake/frosting was a tasty mouthful. Definitely something I'd make again and again.

The Party Favors: Lila is an adventurous kid. Her mottos in life: Why walk when you can run? Why sit when you can climb? This results in a dozen bumps and small falls and boo-boos on any given day. Using this tutorial on Bubbles and Bobbins, I made Lila an owlie rice pack. Let me tell you, these rice packs are excellent TLC for those minor boo-boos when a child's feelings are hurt more than there being any physical injury. Now when Lila has a boo-boo, she'll start bawling and ask for owlie. Clutches the owlie, pats it on the hurt spot and there, she's all smiles again. With the success of owlie, I made a whole parliament of rice owls (that's really the collective noun; I didn't make it up) to give as party favors to her friends. I included the cute poem (also on the tutorial blog post) which explains that the owl can be used as a hot/cold pack.

We debated about whether to put a "no gifts" request in the invitations, but decided against it because gifts are a big part of the fun of childhood birthdays. Besides, I always feel disappointed when we are invited to birthday parties and asked not to get gifts, because I love picking out or making birthday gifts. So Miss Lila was showered with useful and thoughtful gifts, including a gorgeous board book, a doctor set, a giant sticker book, a metal water bottle and a Mrs. Potato Head (remember the potato head toys? I loved mine as a kid). She was also given a beautiful handmade quilt- I'll take a pic once I hang it up.

Lila ran around with her little friends and stuffed herself with cake. This is pretty much the best kind of celebration as far as I am concerned.

Did you have a fun weekend? And I would love to hear about how you like to celebrate birthdays. Have a wonderful week and I'll see you next Monday.

Corn Chowder

Yesterday Labor Day here in the US, a holiday for the worker bees. We had no plans so we gathered some friends together for a get-together, potluck style. I made some sandwiches with chutney and tomatoes and lots of soft butter. And a pineapple cream cake- by making this basic yellow cake in a 9 x 13 pan, then drizzling it with pineapple juice (drained from a can of diced pineapple in juice), and topping with vanilla whipped cream and chunks of pineapple (from the aforementioned can). It was very simple to assemble and everyone seemed to enjoy it.

Here's another recipe I tried last week. Corn chowder- a thick, sometimes milky stew of corn- has been on my summer recipe bucket list for a while. Fresh corn is flooding the produce aisle these days and last week I finally bought some. Cutting kernels from ears of corn seems like a tedious task but only takes a couple of minutes when you get down to it. I use a sharp knife to cut the kernels, then run the back of the knife down the ears to squeeze out the "corn milk".

I looked up several recipes for corn chowder and ended up making my own recipe up as I went along, based on what I had on hand. This is one of those simple heart-warming soups with fresh vegetables in a creamy, savory broth.

Corn Chowder

1. Cut the kernels and corn milk from 3 ears of fresh corn and set aside.

2. In a pot, heat 1 tbsp. olive oil.

3. Saute 1 medium finely diced onion until translucent.

4. Add 3 chopped cloves of garlic, 1 medium chopped carrot, 2 medium diced potatoes and stir.

5. Add 2 tbsp. all-purpose flour, 2 tbsp. nutritional yeast and 1 tsp. herbes de Provence (or your choice of seasoning) and stir for a minute.

6. Add corn kernels, 4 cups water and bring to a boil. Simmer until the veggies are tender.

7. Add 1 cup milk. Bring to a boil. Turn off the heat.

8. Stir in 1/4 cup shredded cheddar cheese. Add salt and pepper to taste.

Enjoy the week! I have a busy month coming up but hopefully I'll be back here next week.

Mid Summer 2013

When I did a what's-going-on-in-my-life post a few weeks ago, I had the best time reading your comments on what everyone has been up to. So here we go again...we're in the last month of Summer 2013 and this is what I am...

Eating seasonal goodies, such as peaches. This year we've had very unusual summer weather in GA. It has been so wet that the peaches are waterlogged- huge but bland. We had a house-guest from Israel last week and I wanted to make her something very Georgia, very Southern. So I made this peach cobbler using peaches from a nearby orchard and it was a wonderful dessert with vanilla ice cream. Very simple and fun to make too.

Today, I used a bunch of peaches to make peach salsa. It is chilling in the fridge waiting to be taken to a party later today.

To make the peach salsa, just mix together:
- 3 ripe peaches, peeled and diced. The easiest way to peel ripe peaches is to drop them for a minute in boiling water and then remove them into a bowl of ice water. The peel slips right off.
- 1 yellow/red pepper, diced
- 2 avocados, peeled and diced
- A bit of minced onion and cilantro
- Salt, cumin, chili powder to taste
- Lemon juice if the peaches are not tangy

Serve with a bag of tortilla chips or eat it as a salad if you want to be all goody-goody.

The other seasonal, local thing I'm eating too much of:

Boiled peanuts. Now this is total deja vu for me. I grew up in a peanut-growing part of India, and we devoured boiled peanuts every time the harvest season rolled around. Now after a couple of decades, I'm living in peanut country again, and what joy it was yesterday to cook a pressure cooker's worth of raw peanuts in brine. They taste soft and sweet/salty and have a mealy texture. I'm told they are an acquired taste. V is very indifferent to them and a friend told me she hated the texture. Never mind, that just means there's more for me :)




Reading Stephen King's novel, 11/22/63. It is 800+ pages long so I might still be reading it by the time next summer rolls around, hah.

Other notable reads from the last month:

Image: Goodreads

The Beautiful Mystery by Louise Penny. This is one of the books from the Inspector Gamache series set in Quebec, Canada. It kept me interested from beginning to end, with a good plot and a fascinating setting in a secluded monastery that reverberates with Gregorian chants. This book is a good choice for cozy mystery lovers.

Image: Goodreads

These next three books are for middle grade readers but each one was a thoughtful and meaningful read for me. So I would say, read them with your kids and read them for yourself. Wonder by R. J. Palacio is a book about a 10 year old boy named August who was born with a rare and severe facial deformity. After years of being home-schooled, he steps into fifth grade and out into the world. We all deal with our insecurities when we go out in public and stepping into August's shoes for a while is an eye-opening experience. What a beautiful, uplifting story this is. A must-read for you and your kids.

The Saturdays by Elizabeth Enright was a real treat in the cozy, Enid Blyton style. The book is set in the 1940s in New York City and is about a family of 4 siblings who decide to pool their meager allowances and take turns going on Saturday adventures. The book is a small lesson in anti-helicopter parenting, in letting children figure out how to amuse themselves and come up with creative solutions to their small problems.

Black and Blue Magic by Zilpha Keatly Snyder was also an entertaining read about the summer adventures of a boy who is stuck at home helping his mother run a boarding house in the 60s while his wealthier neighbors move to the suburbs. I loved these three books about kids who are given the freedom to be resourceful while still having a strong and stable childhood in all sorts of different circumstances.

If you enjoy books in this genre, check out NPR's must-read 100 books for ages 9-14. I'm 2 decades removed from that age group, but this list is a veritable goldmine of books that I want to read (such as The Giver and Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret) and many more that I have read and loved (A Tree Grows in Brookyln, The Secret Garden, Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and so on).

Two for the Road by Jane and Michael Stern. This is a couple who has spent decades traveling around the United States, looking for interesting and tasty food finds along America's highways and back roads and small towns off the beaten track. They started doing this as fresh college grads without much of a life plan and have been doing it ever since. I really enjoyed this book of essays about their meanderings. There's some really random stuff in here- about bad hotel rooms and interesting menus, about eating 12 meals a day to record as much as they could on their road trips. And there is some stuff that is very touching, such as when a very rural town's population came together to keep a cafe and a community alive.

Making more quilts, what else?

Watching episodes of Psych, the comedy mystery series when I'm in the mood for mindless entertainment. The best thing I watched last month was a documentary mini-series: Into the Universe with Stephen Hawking. This is absolutely must-see TV. And guess who shares the narration with Dr. Hawking? The dishy Benedict Cumberbatch. I also started watching Orange is the New Black- a tragi-comedy about life in a women's prison. It is engaging, a little disturbing, definitely raunchy. I don't know if I like it yet.

Planning Lila's second birthday party. It will be a simple affair at home with snacks and music and cake, of course. I asked Lila, "Do you want a butterfly cake or a fishie cake?" and she earnestly replied, "OK".

Celebrating the fact that my BFF Neighbor Girl passed the bar exam in her very first attempt. I've always teased her at being very good at lawyerly BS and now she can earn a living doing it. Call me if you need a defense attorney- I can get you the family and friends discount ;)

That's all, folks!

Please tell us in the comments: What are you eating, reading, watching, making, planning and celebrating these days?

Chilling Out

Whew- the last week went by in a blur of house guests and a picnic and a dinner party and then our home Internet was sulking for a bit, but here I am. Four friends joined me for the fridge/freezer cleaning challenge and here's what they did.

Nikita at A Real Housewife took the challenge in a big way. Read her post for all the details and to get a useful recipe for a two-ingredient all-purpose cleaner. I love her idea of using trays to contain spills.

Nupur (another blogger, my namesake) did a fridge/freezer audit- go look at the well-stocked fridge and freezer in her post here.

Linda of Out of the Garden (now blogging from a different state- we've read each other's blogs for years and years, I think) organized condiments from several different cuisines in her fridge. Go on and read her very interesting post for a delicious coconut curry recipe.

Finally, Priti who does not have her own blog yet (but should think about starting one to show off her amazing birthday cake creations) wrote in to say...

I don't have pictures for you but I did manage to start my clean up and here's what I found and did.

• The most unusual/exotic/interesting item in your fridge: nothing unusual but exotic and interesting, yes! A green bean and black chana bhaaji prepared undhiyu style and a rice payasam sent over by neighbour that tastes like puran from puranpoli, have to get the recipe! Having both for lunch today.
• Three items you always have in your fridge: A box of best Saffron money can buy, fresh ginger (we use it up pretty quick) and a bunch of fresh cilantro (a must have for hubby!)
• The oldest item in your fridge: Gulkand and a jar of mango pickle
• Item(s) from the fridge that needed to be used and how you used it/them up in meals or recipes: The not-so-fresh green beans were made into an undhiyu style lipsmacking preparation (can share recipe if you want), a sleepy wedge of pumpkin woke up in a spicy sambar, a lonely capsicum was happy to find company in an omlette with onion and in pulao with other mixed veggies invited from the freezer, some leftover chicken salad was used up as a filling for sandwich that tasted nice!

Ditto for the freezer...

• The most unusual/exotic/interesting item in your freezer: Frozen store bought uncut rolls of Patra/ Alu vadi, a special kind of rice flour sent from India for making steamed modaks and kanda-lasun masala (onion-garlic slightly moist spice blend) also sent from India.
• Three items you always have in your freezer: frozen green peas, edamame, frozen grated coconut
• The oldest item in your freezer: my mom's chakali bhajani that I plan to use up this Diwali (cousin sis asked me to store it there)
• Item(s) from the freezer that needed to be used and how you used it/them up in meals or recipes: a packet of drumsticks (not from a chicken, from a tree!) was rescued and used up in sambar and I am still figuring out ways to use up frozen assorted veggies.

:-( Confession time. Some items that had to be trashed: A tiny bottle of artificial biryani essence handed over by a friend who was moving, I just could not stand the artificial fragrance and couldn't pass on something to others that I found so repulsive, it stayed in the fridge for a year before I let it go last week. A plastic bottle with leftover dried up ketchup that was crying out to be recycled. A small wedge of leftover stinky cheese that was bought for a new salad recipe which gave hubby horrible migraine, by the time he recovered and I dared to finish it myself a mold showed up (Oops! Sorry! no more stinky cheese purchase henceforth, promise! I'll do a sniff test before I buy.)

Thanks for playing along, ladies! And Priti, I wish you lived closer because I could have taken that stinky cheese off your hands. My husband is an ardent connoisseur of odoriferous cheeses.

OK, here are my answers to the survey.

Three things I have always have...

...in my fridge: ginger garlic paste, lemons, yogurt.

...in my freezer: frozen peas, vanilla ice cream, whole grain tortillas.

The oldest stuff: Nothing in my fridge or freezer is older than 10 months because that's when we moved to this house. But there is a puff pastry sheet sitting in the freezer that's been there since Christmas 2012, and Dijon mustard in the fridge that's been there probably since the week we moved.

The most unusual thing...

...in the fridge is probably Biscoff spread. A peanut-butter-like spread made with cookies. Who knew? This was a gift from the aforementioned Priti and I made these cookies with some of it. Cookies to spread and back to cookies. Cookies thou art, to cookies returneth. There's a deep philosophical message in there somewhere. But mostly they were just good eats.

...in the freezer is a gel-filled teething ring. My kid is past teething, but she likes to chew on the teether while Duncan chews on his toys.

It is so interesting to see what people have in their refrigerators. I notice so many people storing spices, nuts, flours and grains stored in the fridge/freezer to keep them from going rancid. However, I've found that spices and nuts really lose their flavor when I do this, so I store mine right at room temperature and (try to) use them up in a reasonable amount of time. I guess this one is really all about personal preference.

Here are my 6 favorite tips for minimizing food waste in the fridge.

1. A fridge-cleaning meal once a week (usually the evening before I go grocery shopping). I will confess that I actually love doing this- making a great supper out of bits and bobs. I think of it as a creative challenge. Recipes for tacos, pilafs, soups and scrambled eggs are endlessly flexible and can accommodate all sorts of ingredients that may be on hand.

Here are some of my recent fridge-cleaning meals.

Sprouting potatoes, mustard and bread and butter pickles
went into an egg and potato salad.

The remainder of a can of coconut milk and some red curry paste, plus assorted veggies
went into a noodle salad.

Cheese was getting moldy. Sliced off that end and discarded it and used the rest
in a pasta sauce.

To use up avocados, carrot and tofu, I got really ambitious and made a sushi platter!

2. A fridge/freezer eat-down once every 3 months or so. This is like the fridge-cleaning meal but on a larger scale and this is when I try to use not only the obviously perishable items but also the ingredients that are packaged/bottled but that still need to be used up. With this eat-down, it helps to make a list of available ingredients and look up recipes and plan meals using them.

3. Prep food right after food shopping: Weekends are usually busy, grocery shopping is one of a dozen chores, you shop in a crowded store, get back tired and harried and the last thing you want to do is to organize the groceries nicely. So they pile into the fridge willy-nilly and you're setting yourself up for failure on the food organization/waste front. It helps me enormously to go grocery shopping at a time when stores are empty, like at 8 AM on Sunday mornings, when the good people of GA are either in houses of worship or sleeping in late. Then I can finish my shopping quickly and get back and take 10 minutes to put away everything properly. Going a step further, I sometimes even do some extra prep work, like cooking greens or shredding cheese to help later in the week.

4. Storing herbs: People recommend the whole "stick your herbs in a glass jar with water the way you do with flowers" thing but it never worked for me. I loosen my cilantro bunch, toss away grungy bits, then wrap the rest in a paper towel and place it in an airtight box. This is practically the only thing I use paper towels for any more. And after use they (the paper towels, not the herbs) go into the compost.

5. Veggies bits box: Why, yes, that is a technical term. A box ear-marked for that piece of cabbage, half an onion etc. left over from recipes. That way they don't get lost in the crisper and you can get into the habit of peeking into the box when you start cooking.

6. Know yourself: It helps enormously to pay attention to what I tend to like, what I tend to over-buy, what tends to end up sadly in the trash. Then I can tweak my habits accordingly. For instance, it could be that I buy greens with noble intentions and they sit there and rot. Some solutions for this could be to plan a recipe for greens on the very day I go grocery shopping. Or to switch to buying frozen greens so they can sit in the freezer and not rot while I make up my mind to cook them.

Over time, I have learnt that in my household, we love leftovers and tend to eat them very quickly, over the next 2 or 3 days. Leftovers become small 3PM-hunger-pang-killers, breakfast wraps, fillings for unusual sandwiches. For me, it makes sense to, say, cook the whole cauliflower or the whole can of beans and leave the pot of subzi in the fridge. But I know others who don't enjoy leftovers. For them, it will make more sense to make only enough for 1 meal and save ingredients for a fresh meal. Like I said, it helps to know the individual habits and preferences of the household.

Yes, we live busy lives but what could be more important than honoring food and not wasting it?

Just for fun, if you want to play along, tell us:
1. Three things you always have in your fridge/freezer.
2. Your best tips for organizing the fridge/freezer.

Your moment of zen :)