A breakfast to remember- Carrot and Orange juice

Our juicer got a new lease of life this weekend...and I had nothing to do with it. It was A's insistence. He remembers it off and on. Actually, he's the one that bought our machine a decade ago. Sadly, it hasn't been used as many times as the years it has lived in our house though. I knew that's what would happen to it when he brought it home one day from Macy's, excited as a kid, ostensibly for a very pregnant me.... I've lived through the juicer experience with my mom. Back then, it was a brand called Inalsa- might sound familiar to those of you growing up in India in the 80's. A brand new company at that time, exclusively sold and serviced through door-to-door sales, and came with a box-ful of attachments. 

Too expensive- my mom said.

I can take care of that- said daddy.

I don't need all that stuff in the box. Who needs a juicer when we have a juice-shop around the corner.

He's a filthy fellow. And his glasses are dirty.  (My dad really was a germ phobic....)

I still don't need it- too many little things to put together and clean up afterwards.

I will do the setting up, and cleaning. You get get the fruits washed and ready for juicing. I am there for everything else. (A typical Main Hoon na...clause, that works well putting an end to inane arguments...)

Soda-cream: Perfect Summer Chiller

This post has been sitting there, ready to be posted for 10 days now....just a sign of how crazy things have been this summer till now. Finally, today I get to upload it. We are 2 and half weeks ion summer vacation at this point....and the girls are thoroughly enjoying themselves....


----------------------------------------------------------------------
Our first week of summer vacation went by lazily. The girls were excited to stay home; and be with their grandmother all day. They woke up late, ate all the Indian junk food that came out of their daadi's bags, and watched TV all day.  Despite that, it didn't feel like summer to me. The weather's been cool, cloudy and somewhat wet. So this past week, when the TV forecasts rang out a heat wave warning; I got excited for my girls. My summer vacation list includes: lazy afternoons, grandparents AND heat!  

Is this hot or what? Spicy, Tangy Imlaana.

The heat wave last week was painful. Even our poor old window air conditioner struggled to keep its cool. One of the days last week I remember I checked weather on A's iPhone, and we in Philadelphia, were hotter than our families back in Delhi. 

Between trying to keep my stiches from the surgery dry to prevent itching and  frequent demands of "can you make something cold to drink", I was just this close to losing it all. Which is when I was hit with a 3-way sword.

"Mommy, Anya finished off all the black juice", baby P wailed holding an empty Coke bottle.

"Can I just eat ice for dinner tonight?"; from Anya - forever looking to get out of having to eat..

"I have a headache from this heat- I think I'll lay down for a while. Do we have something cold to drink?" This was A.

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!

Beat the Heat: With Spicy Hot Kaanji

Maturing in the sun- Kaanji

This past Friday, while I rambled on about my backyard and flowers, I also showed you a picture and asked you to guess what was in that bottle. My friend Ila was the only one who took a guess, and she is right on. The bright red thing is indeed Kaanji: a common spring time drink in Northern India, especially Delhi. Right around Holi season in mid to late March, the vegetable vendors back in Delhi brought out some exotic looking vegetables. I especially remember Gaanth Gobi (Kohlrabi) and Kaali Gaajar; both of which my dad took quite a fancy to. Apart from using Kaali Gaajar (Purple carrots) in salads, my mom invariably made a large  bottle of  Kaanji that my dad loved. 

A Refreshing Goodbye to Summer!

Summer's over in our part of the world. And the realization hit me full force when my daughter received a welcome-back-to- school note from her class-teacher-to-be yesterday evening. School starts, summer's over. Officially! So while she spent the next hour chirping excitedly about her teacher's note, I sat with my little camera, reliving my summer. That is when I realized that I've been really tardy about updating my blog this past few months. I've been pre-ocuupied, and over-whelmed. Plus, my MIL was visiting us; and with all the weekend entertaining that we did; it didn't leave me much time for myself.