Over the past few weeks, I've been working against the clock to experiment with new and innovative recipes. B and I have both been enjoying the variety of cuisine that I have been trying my hand at, and no one's complaining, that is for sure. The reason for this is quite simple - to finally make that cookbook that I've been saying that I will make and make this blog come full circle. At first, this blog served the purpose of hiding my insecurities and low confidence in my cooking abilities. I was never one to cook much before I got married, for many reasons - school, work, and too many other people around the house to do it for me! My grandmother and mother have been teaching us girls for years, from our teens, how to make traditional Indian dishes. For that I am deeply grateful. However, living in America, life catches up with you and with all of the demands of school and work, it's not possible to cram in cooking sessions. So, you forget how to make things that once came so easy. And after marriage, like any typical Indian girl, I feel like I have to be "domesticated". If I don't know how to make this and that, then it reflects badly on my parents. Okay, that part's probably all in my head!
The year away in India served as my introductory year to cooking. Cooking is definitely a fine art, but once you figure out a technique that works best for you, then the rest is easy. We were also very limited in the foods we could eat overseas. Any baked foods were not an option as we had no oven. The Western foods that are inexpensive here are twice maybe three times the price overseas. Sometimes, they were not an option either. The routine was I make dinner and leftovers would be eaten for lunch. I would pack B his lunch in his tiffin. B discouraged away from taking the typical sandwiches for lunch for fear of his colleagues labeling him as a "typical Western-influenced Indian." I made Indian foods during the week and tried international cuisine on the weekends. We watched a lot of Nigella Feasts while in India as there was no Food Network.
It's been about nine months since we made the move back to the States, and we are all settled down- in a house with a family. Just like in India, I have to find ways to pass my time. In India, I could be out and about. In Chicago in the middle of winter, not much so. I pass my days looking after my babygirl and watching FoodNetwork. Speaking of my babygirl .. while cooking dinner, I put her in her carseat in between the kitchen and dining area, and that is the most peaceful that she is all day- just watching her mommy cooking away. It's our bonding time, I guess. Thus, she has become my new inspiration for this project that I am undertaking. I want to construct a cookbook filled with family favorites so that I can pass it down to her, and hopefully, she can pass it down even further. It's a gift that not many Indian girls like me were fortunate to have. Cooking was like a chore, with so many different ingredients and the method was never written down in stone. Life needs to be much easier than that, and for that reason, I have joined Tastebook.
Tastebook is a great online service for recipe collection and recipe sharing. You can either create your own cookbook from scratch, by choosing a cover image, title for book and adding on your personal recipes or your favorite recipes from affiliated websites. It even has a fancy dedication page. How cool is that?!
I've shared a few recipes with my close network, and I'm hoping that they join Tastebook as well so that they can be a part of my journey and maybe even a part of the finished product. I look forward to updating you all on how the book is coming along.
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