'D' is for Diet. A to Z Challenge Day 4.

I am happily overweight. With a 5 foot height and a stout disposition, it is not difficult to look fat.

And although I love my body, once in a while I look at myself in the mirror and think I see a ball!

Take this: we are lying in the sun in a lovely beach. The breeze rustles the trees... the beer has hit the spot and I'm drifting off, book on my lap. My daughter is happily taking pictures of anything that moves. Or doesn't.  

We return from the holidays and I look at the pictures. 

Yikes! What is a beached whale doing in the picture...? It even has my sunglasses and book! 

One friend encouragingly said, "don't worry, photos always make you look fatter...I'm sure it wasn't so bad."

Another said, "Exercise, exercise, after all you are over 40, you should go swimming or something..."

And then one said, "DIET!" 

That is the most frightening word I have ever heard.

I have friends who diet, I have friends of friends who are perpetually on a diet. They frighten me. I admire their amazing will-power to bypass the biriyani at the five star buffet and drink only clear soup! I have sat through a delicious meal while the hostess nibbled at some fruits while we devoured the dinner cooked by her! I have watched someone chew through two huge bowls of chopped cucumber and tomatoes and then start on dinner and pretend it is a 'lifestyle choice'!

I have never, for the life of me, been able to go on a diet. I love my food too much! I remember the one time I tried. This friend recommended the Atkin's Diet. It sounded like a lot of fun. Lots of protein: meat, eggs, fish chicken and no carbs! Wow. All my favourite things, I thought. 

Two days into the diet I was craving rice.... by evening I had polished off all the bread in the house and was thinking of making chicken pulao! 

No no, diets are not for me. 

I do not like feeling deprived.

So I eat whatever I want and I am happy...

...

But I do have one policy... that helps me to more or less maintain my weight and not bloat out of control: 

No second helpings. No matter how delicious the lamb is, you do not go back for seconds! 

Try it!?

'C' for Crabs. A to Z Challenge Day 3.

After I had been married for less than two years, my father-in-law assumed office as the Chief Justice of Andhra Pradesh. So off they went and settled into a large palatial mansion which had more rooms than even our extra large family could fill.
Of course every vacation we would visit them. And often, other cousins and relatives would drop by too!
On one such vacation I remember it was quite a full house with a lot of cousins, nieces and nephews running about. Good fun.
Now I was, at that stage, a weird cook. I could make a good pork chop or Apple pie but was pretty clueless about basic curry or daal. Those things never interested me. But apparently people thought otherwise for one fine day a brother-in-law went out to the market in the morning and returned with a fairly large quantity of fresh crabs. "Ipsita will cook it for lunch," he announced happily.
My husband looked at me uncertainly, he was aware of my limited culinary skills. I quietly went into the kitchen where a huge bowl of raw crabs greeted me.
I was aghast. But also too proud to admit I knew nothing about the damn things.
So, from the kitchen itself ( yes, there was a phone in EVERY room) I dialled my mother in Calcutta.
She must have sensed my disquiet. For, very patiently she told me how to clean the creatures, how to take out the rich buttery layer and keep it aside and use it for flavour and told me a simple recipe to cook crabs Bengali style.
I'm happy to say it turned out very well and had every one raving at the dining table at lunchtime.

Since then I've learnt how to make simple and complicated Bengali dishes, I am quite adept at things like shukto and muri-ghanto and the like. I can also make crabs in many ways...I can steam them with butter and garlic or bake them or even make crab cakes.

But the most enduring recipe is the simple kakrar jhol that my Ma taught me that day.

'B' for Beef. A to Z Challenge Day 2.

When I first thought of this post, 'B' most certainly was for bread, for baking.. for who can resist the aroma of fresh baked bread?

But the recent ban of beef in Maharashtra changed it all.

The more I think about it, the more irked I get.

I lived in Pune, Maharashtra for the five years of my college life. I practically lived on beef. When I could afford it. You see, we lived those years on a dwindling budget. The beginning of the month saw us eating at cheap restaurants and by the end of the month we were reduced to one meal  a day of maggie noodles or eggs and bread. As one friend lamented, "We have two menus in college. You can have bread and eggs or you can have eggs and bread!"

Oh yes, those were the best years of my life. I also discovered beef. I say 'discovered' because although I had eaten beef often enough, it had always been in the sterile atmosphere of the Clubs in Calcutta in the form of steaks and the like. I had never cooked it, much less roamed the dingy meat markets to buy it! Beef is a very versatile meat. It can be cooked it many ways and it was the cheapest meat going around. With boneless beef priced at 16 rupees a kg while chicken was 35 and mutton 48, the thought of cooking chicken or mutton never crossed our minds!

And when we had our birthday money or our family members visited or we were celebrating, guess where we went? "The Place" and "Zamu's" for the yummiest steaks  and  "Jaws" for juicy beef burgers! 

So when I heard beef has been banned in Maharashtra, I felt saddened.

I just don't understand the reasons for such a ban. I'm sure there are many. Do they hold water?
One, I am sure, is faith. The bottom line is that I do believe that everyone should be allowed to exercise their freedom of choice when it comes to the food they are eating, no matter what their religious inclination is, or isn't. Beef is a meat consumed not only by Muslims and Christians in India but also Hindus. My father, who was one such Hindu, was of the opinion that the kitchen has no manner of association with the puja room. As a result, we were never told that we should never eat something or the other. Not for religion...

I wonder what the stats will be like. I wonder how many students, like me, lived on the meat because it was easily available and cheap. I wonder how many livelihoods have been affected. How many small eating joints will have to shut down and sell 'vada-pao' instead? Not that I have anything against 'vada-pao', but who wants a bun with a potato ball and mint chutney when you are in the mood for a juicy burger with cheese and mayo?

P.S. I found this article today, that is 3rd April and feel I have to share the link here. So relevant, so true. http://www.firstpost.com/india/im-vegan-work-animal-rights-oppose-maharashtras-beef-ban-2183609.html.

'A' for Asparagus, Avocado and Arugula. A to Z Challenge Day 1.

Asparagus, Avocado and Arugula.....

Some my favourites foods start with A. None of them are available in Calcutta except in winter and only in very elusive shops in New Market. In fact, once in Bangalore I saw asparagus in summer and I was so excited, my friend actually bought me some! So the other day, while it was still winter here (now a distant memory) I made that trip to New Market, which is not new at all, and found all the ingredients were available. Now that's a rarity so it set me wondering if there was something that could be cooked up featuring  all three of my favourite  greens!

So I checked online and found a lovely recipe for Triple A (asparagus, apple and avocado) salad. The recipe is at this link: http://www.joyofkosher.com/recipes/triple-a-salad-asparagus-and-apples/, do have a look at it.

And, if you are feeling adventurous, do try out my version!  

AAA Salad

Ingredients:

1. 1/3 cup honey
2. juice of two lemons, about 1/4 cup
3. 1 pod of garlic, minced fine but not ground to a paste.
4. 1/2 tsp dry mustard powder
5. 1/2 tsp freshly ground black pepper
6. 1/2 tsp salt
7. 1/2 cup olive oil (I use extra virgin for salads) 
8. 2 to 3 cups Arugula leaves, washed, torn into bite sized pieces.
9. 1 cup Asparagus, cut into 1 inch slices
10. 1 or 2 Avocado pears peeled and sliced (about a cup)
11. 1/2 cup strawberries, hulled and chopped into biggish pieces
12. 1/2 cup feta cheese
13. 1/2 cup bacon grilled crisp and chopped/crumbled.

Directions: 

1. Combine the honey, lemon juice, garlic, pepper, salt and oil in a glass bowl. 
2. Blend with a hand blender or in a food processor for about 2 minutes until well combined. You can use a salad dressing mixer too, if you want. 
3. Check seasoning and sweetness. You may prefer to add a little honey or lemon. 
4. Place the cut asparagus in a separate bowl and cover with boiling water. Count to ten and then discard the boiling water and immediately fill the bowl with ice-cold water. Wait ten seconds and discard that too. 
5. Place the Arugula leaves in a salad bowl followed by a layer of asparagus, chopped strawberry, avocado and bacon. Add the dressing and toss. Crumble feta cheese over the salad and serve immediately. 

ENJOY! 

DISCLAIMER/NOTE: Why the bacon? Because I love it and believe that it adds flavour to anything from mushroom soup to liver pate, omit it if you want. Or replace it with roasted chopped walnuts! 

All my ingredient measures are approximate. I am sorry but I never seem to have proper measures for anything I cook. A lot of it is by eye, if you know what I mean.... I hope the measures I have given will do the trick!  

AprilA2Z Theme Reveal

Ah, here we are... April is round the corner and just like last year, I have signed up for the April A to Z challenge. Only, this year, I have a theme!
And here it is:

"FOOD, GLORIOUS FOOD! "

Stop, wait, don't go away just yet, shaking your head thinking "Oh, just another food blog with boring recipes and all.." I am not a foodie and I do not lay claim to any expertise on the topic. Nor am I a food blogger. This theme talks of food, sure, but about my associations with them. That smell of freshly baked bread, that sour taste of tamarind... the diverse tastes and smells we grew up with.
Yes, you may find an occasional recipe too, and if any one wants any, just send a comment and I shall try to oblige, but I repeat this is not a food blog.
This is a celebration. Of food.

Come, will you join me?

Tyger tyme

My fascination for the big cat crept upon me very quietly and unexpectedly as I was painting one day. I suddenly found them enchanting ... all that sienna and orange swirling with the stripes.....and I kept my eyes open for pictures I liked so that I could recreate them on canvas.

That said,  I had never expected to see a real tiger in the wild.  

I had, of course, visited Calcutta zoo as a child and had known that the stinky area was where the tigers were. The section was usually very crowded and I was never too keen on it, crowds have never been my forte. I remember seeing an excellent specimen of the animal in Duisburg zoo but that was a very touristy thing to do when you were travelling with kids. Back home in Calcutta, one winter I took the girls to the zoo. It was crowded. A tiger sat resting with its back to us, the cage was rather small for him. Sadly,  or maybe it was my imagination, he looked thin and unhappy and the crowds milling about outside the cage and calling out did not help. I came away sad..and swore never to visit the zoo again.

But nothing prepared me for the sight of a Panthera Tigris in the jungle.

Having visited a good many national parks in India, ranging from Bandhavgarh to Kanha to Kaziranga to Chitwan to the Sunderbans and not having seen much more than a few chitals, monkeys, rhinos and the like, I was quite indifferent to the idea of visiting Tadoba when the spouse suggested it. My cousins were coming down from Scotland and we wanted  to go on a holiday together. After much deliberation, everyone agreed on Tadoba.

"When the stars threw down their spears
And water'd heaven with their tears:
Did he smile his work to see
did he who made the Lamb make thee?"

It was dawn. The sun could not be seen behind the trees but morning had stretched a finger into the forest when we saw her: our first sight of a tiger that walked regally ahead of our vehicles. It was a sight to be seen, one that I will never forget: accompanied by the click click of cameras and fumbling for the zoom...

The lady was unperturbed. And indifferent. She turned as if to survey us and with one haughty shake of her head, strode back into the forest. 

She owns the forest and she made sure we knew it.

We then found out that this particular tigress, P1, also known as "Chota Tara" as in "Small star", had two cubs, one male and one female. Over our three day visit we would see the male cub  and catch a glimpse of the female. We also saw P1 again as in the evening she condescended to make an appearance as we waited, still and quiet in our jeeps. We also saw another tigress (P2 or Maya), a beautiful leopard as it climbed onto a tree, we saw sloth-bears, crocodiles, chital deer, sambar deer, bison, wild boar, langurs and birds of every imaginable size and colour. 

But this is not a checklist of the animals and wildlife we saw....or the resort we stayed in or the food we ate or the people we met.

This is about that first sight of a tiger. In the wild. A utterly stunning image and experience that I will cherish forever.  
 "Tyger, tyger burning bright
In the forests of the night:
What immortal hand or eye,
Dare frame thy fearful symmetry." (William Blake)