This & That; Plus some more. (And an almost recipe)

Raspberry Sharbat/Preserve

I was supposed to post this piece in June. But as always; more late than ever! This is what comes of excessive planning; is my lesson to myself. I had my blog posts for June all very well organized in my head. The content, the themes, the events. And it actually went well for the first couple of weeks, and then - life happenned; figurately speaking of course! Which is all right, because now, I get to not only talk about what I read in June this year, but also what culinary inspirations came out of it!

So the last time I'd shared my reading list with you, I'd promised myself that I'll actually start picking up more books form my "Bucket List of Reading" than what I've been apt to. With this resolve, I picked up Life of Pi. This has got to be one of the oldest books on my list. I was new to the USA when a fellow colleague from Canada asked me if I'd read it, and if Pi Patel was a common Indian name. Since then, I've picked this book up a number of times, but never got past first few pages. It wasn't much different this time, I prodded along at a snail's pace and finally, thankfully came to the end of it. And in all honesty; I don't know what to make of it. Except that it is definitely not my kind of a book. Martel's desciption of what happened between the animals on the ship left me with plenty of bloody nightmares. And I'm sorry to say that even though I've bought this book, it is probably going in a donation bin rather than my own 'to read again' stack.

While I was toiling through this book, I also picked up a Lisa Scottoline from our public library's bin sale. I've read her books before, and like her fast-paced easy to read style. Courting Trouble was just as expected. Fast, easy read, hard to put down. What made this one special is that it is set in Philadelphia - right up my alley. I could identify with the streets, landmarks and events that form the backdrop of this book. The story line's interesting as well- it's all about a young female lawyer forced into investigating her own attempted murder. Thrilling, but not scary. And a happy ending- just my kind of book.

Going back and forth between these two books, I confided my disappointment about not liking Life of Pi to a friend. Disappointment in prize-winning books in general; really. Which is what prompted her to loan me her copy of The Kite Runner. She promised me that I'd like this prize-winner. And was she right! I went cover to cover in less than a week. I was terrified half the time I was reading, I cried often and I was amazed at how many Persian/Pashto words I actually understood. Never knew that Persians had influenced Indian culture and language so much.

What stood out for me in this book was the image of Amir and Hasan walking under mulberry trees and throwing black gooseberries at each other. I don't know what black gooseberries are, but somehow it reminded me of two black berries known as Phalsa and Jamun in Delhi. Unfortunately, there seems to be no English names to these fruits. And I haven't seen Shahtoot, or mulberries, since I came to US. Let me take that back- around the University Campus, there was a house that had a mulberry tree in its yard. But the berries were tiny, and red; instead of long and purply-black; and didn't taste quite the same. I know, because I tried.

And the book left me nostalgic.

I am positive I dreamed about how my mom making Phalse ka sharbat and Shahtoot ka sharbat while I was on the operating table!!

Which is why when I came home from the hospital to find a box of very squishy raspberries in the fridge, I thought of creating a sharbat concentrate out of it. I started with a very vague idea of what my mom did, and was pleasantly surprised when it turned out better than good! I used part of that concentrate to mix up a fruit punch for some friends; and everyone liked my take on what I've named as Raspberry Orange Julius!

Raspberry Orange Julius

For the Raspberry Sharbat

1box fresh Raspberries 6oz.

Sugar 1cup

Water 1 and 1/2  cup

• Put everthing together in a large saucepan and  bring to boil. Simmer on low for 15-20 min till water reduces to half its volume. Mash up the berries with the back of a ladle while it is cooking. Allow to cool, strain and preserve. Keeps well in the fridge for months.

For the Raspberry Orange Julius (8oz. serving size)
Raspberry Sharbat Concentrate 2Tbsp.

Tang Orange  2 Tbsp (Or fresh Orange Juice 4oz.)

Chilled Gingerale  8oz. (4oz. if using orange juice)

• Put everything together, mix it up just before serving and serve chilled. NO ICE CUBES please.

My two cents: It's good to read books. It's good to get nostalgic. Because of the books and my remembering my mom preserving berry juice concentrates, I took the courage to make this raspberry preserve. My kids loved this drink. And I convinved myself that, despite the sugar, they were getting some fresh juice in them. Since my first time with Tang, I've substituted it with fresh Orange Juice. They don't seem to mind. Gingerale adds a little FIZZ to the whole drink, enough to enable me fool them with calling it a store bought drink. End result- no one's complaining!!

  As you can see in the first picture, I've got my preserve in a gerber baby food bottle. These measurements gave me 1 and 1/2 baby food bottle worth of sharbat. Apart from using it as a drink, I've poured it over vanilla ice-cream; and it tasted yum. A has tried it as a pancake/waffle syrup. Was definitely good there. So go ahead. Try and enjoy!