Tuesday, March 20, 2012

Wrapping Up Indian Cooking, and an Announcement of Sorts

I love Madhur Jaffrey's Indian Cooking. Love, love, love it. Her recipes are easy to follow and execute. Most of them use the same spices over and over, so it may appear daunting at the outset, when you need to load up on whole seed spices that you may not have on hand, but once you have them, they get a lot of use. I found that all the spices I needed were loads cheaper when I bought them from the bulk bin at the organic market instead of the commercially packed versions at the supermarket. By loads cheaper, I mean it would cost me thirty cents to buy enough to fill a normal sized spice jar. Can't beat that.

I was intimidated at the thought of cooking Indian food, but I shouldn't have been. Some of the recipes take a little time and forethought (soaking beans for a few hours, etc), but most of the main course dishes I tried were fairly hands-off. Get them going, then just let them simmer away in a pot for an hour. Believe me, if I can cook great Indian food, so can you.

This is a wonderful cookbook, and one which I'll refer to often. Without doubt, a keeper.

Now, with some amount of regret, I want to say that I'm taking a hiatus from this blog. When I started it last May, it was a fun distraction from my boredom, and a way for me to have fun cooking dinner every night. I did not enjoy cooking or feel confident in the kitchen at the time, and that has all changed through this project. Now that Indian food's under my belt, I can't think of anything that I'd be afraid to attempt. The attitude of "if I can't buy it, I'll make it myself," has been hugely rewarding. I like the method of concentrating on one cookbook for a chunk of time, and will probably continue to do so, but the actual blogging part has begun to feel like a chore, which defeats the whole purpose. I'm consumed with planning a trans-oceanic move, and I keep forgetting all about the blog until right before I go to bed. So, for the time being at least, I'm letting myself off the hook. The blog is going on the backburner.

I do still plan to participate in French Fridays with Dorie, and also with Andrea's monthly challenge at My Kitchen, My World, because I'd love to try recipes from less mainstream food cultures. March's challenge is Finland. They eat food in Finland?? Who knew? haha

If you want to keep tabs on my wheelings and dealings, I'll continue to post on my other blog, Mandatory Fun. Posts over there are much more sporadic, so I feel less pressure. I'll miss hearing from you guys so often. See you for French Friday!!

10 comments:

  1. . thanks for all the distractions at work ei!! we'll be seeing you in napoli. the boy is already looking for ultras to run in europe next year. also good luck on your first 5k and don't forget to have fun doing it!!!

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    1. You mean Michael doesn't want to just run 100 miles of laps around the perimeter of Oahu over and over? Look at Mr. FancyPants, needing diversity in his routes. Ha! No, that would be amazing. See you there!

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    2. you have no idea. i mistakenly got "running america" movie on netflix last night. now he is asking for a list of people i think would take 2 mo off to live in a winnebago and provide support while he runs coast to coast. don't worry i've already added your names to the list ;)

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  2. That was a good run of recipes!

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  3. Whew - at least you'll still be doing FFwD :-)
    Moving is never easy, I can't even imagine dragging everything to a new continent...

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  4. I'm sad! Love reading your stories but completely understand the need for a break.

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  5. Well, that's sad to hear, but I certainly understand... both the international move part and the blogging part. It really does take longer than the cooking itself. Best of luck with all the move prep.

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  6. You are too funny! Twisted your arm did she? Well you are one smart mommy buying a dark colored couch. Glad you liked these, I did too. I really wanted to make ice cream sandwiches but didn't get to the store as I planned.

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  7. I totally missed this post! It's with mixed emotions that I write this comment. On one hand, I'm really happy for you that your cookbook immersion project empowered you with more confidence in the kitchen. On the other hand, I'll miss reading your cooking adventure.

    I hope the big relocation will go smoothly for you. Big changes ahead and I'm sure it promises plenty of new experiences!

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