Thursday, September 30, 2010

Tudor Feast by a Genius


Last time my Dad was here we spent hours watching Heston Blumenthal clips, one of the Worlds best chefs, owner of the Fat Duck. He did a TV show where he made creative and amazing dinner parties for celebrities in case you haven't seen it, heres one to enjoy :



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Wednesday, September 29, 2010

Food Memories


After writing the post on Germany and the pork and noodle dish I cooked. It got me thinking of how many wonderful memories I have around food. I was deleting some pictures from my phone today had 1300! and it was getting a little slow, and I decided to share some of our food memories from the last two years.

Tuesday, September 28, 2010

Zurcher Geschnetzeltes with Spaetzle (pork and noodles!)


A few years ago we had the pleasure of going to a wedding in Southern Germany. It was the best wedding we have attended, set in a beautiful church in a German village with a reception in a castle in the Black Forrest surrounded by vineyards. Complete with amazing food, great company and dancing into the wee hours of the morning. The night before we ate in a little country pub and I had a pork and noodle dish I have been craving it ever since!

Monday, September 27, 2010

Making Chapatti!

Heres a fun clip of me making chapattis with our little one, if it does work here the link is below LOL



http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/9859497

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Saturday, September 25, 2010

Parmesan and Parsley Crusted Grilled Chicken Salad


This super easy recipe was inspired by Raina of Garden of Yum she has a delightful blog filled with delicious family recipes and love. I adapted it a little but I bet hers was better!
The day I grilled this on my electric grill I was trying to iron at the same time as little Jasmine was napping Mums you will all understand and I fused the kitchen wall. My neighbor tried to help by replacing  the fuse but it didn't work (well he wired it wrong but mums the word) and we had an electricians bill! 

Thursday, September 23, 2010

Aloo Gobi (Spicy Cauliflower and Potatoes)

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This is another one of my favorite Indian dishes, super easy to make and heavenly with chapatti. Hubby often asks for this even my Mum in Law thinks I make this well, thats cool considering she is Indian :-)

Tuesday, September 21, 2010

Lemon and Spice Drizzle Cake





I made this wonderful cake the other day, and made my first glaze icing. In fact my Grandma's friend brought one of these cakes to her birthday party and it was delicious so I had to try it. 
I added a touch of all spice to it and some Meyer lemon, loved the combo. While we were in India we visited a coffee plantation in Coorg and I went on the tour at the beginning the guide passed us all a leaf to break and sniff and guess the spice it was. Most of all thought it was a citrus plant but at the same time it had a cinnamon/ nutmeg smell to it. Can you guess what it was? yep Allspice apparently the British named it this as they thought it was a combination many spices!

2010 Ride Through Death Valley to Cure Diabetes

Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation

I would like to share this email from Jerry a wonderful fellow with diabetes who does triathlons and is about to ride across Death Valley. He is a true inspiration and shows how you can live and follow your dreams with diabetes. This was such an inspiring email and tribute to a Jesse, I just had to add to the blog: 



Support Jerry Nairn in the 2010 Ride to Cure Diabetes


Hello,
Please bear with me for a minute. After writing this, I thought for a moment I might be getting over-dramatic.
But how can you be over-dramatic when kids are dying?

This October I'll be taking part in the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation's Ride to Cure Diabetes in Death Valley along with riders from across the country as we try to help the JDRF reach it's goal of curing type 1 diabetes.

I was diagnosed with type 1 diabetes at the age of 15, 37 years ago. Although I personally would like to see a cure for myself, that's not really why I'm riding for the JDRF.
I've been living with diabetes for a long time. I know I can survive, even be healthy, in spite of it. I'm used to it. But this disease is hard on kids.

In February of this year, a personal hero of mine, Jesse Alswager passed away at the age of thirteen, after 10 years of fighting type 1 diabetes.
When I say fighting, I don't just mean like all of us type 1 diabetics fight, with finger stick blood tests, injections or infusion sets, machines and medicines, counting grams of carbohydrate, thinking through the metabolic effects of every meal, every bit of physical activity, everything....
What I mean is that Jesse was fighting as if he was in a war.
When Jesse was diagnosed at the age of three, his mother, Michelle Alswager, declared war on the disease, and she took her son into battle.
Jesse raised thousands of dollars for the cure, a cure he will never enjoy. Michelle, as a member of the board of directors for several diabetes foundations and an executive at the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation, was involved in raising millions.
Jesse met governors, Congress members, First Lady Laura Bush. Politicians loved to be photographed with him and talk about him.
I never met Jesse. I wish I had the chance to thank him. He did a lot for me, and all people with type 1 diabetes.

One of the things that Michelle Alswager did to fight diabetes was to come up with the idea of a type 1 diabetic triathlon team, and a documentary about how they could train for and complete an Ironman.
That was how Triabetes began.
Triabetes has had a profound effect on my life, and I know that it has touched many more diabetics out there.
When I first heard that Jesse had died, it knocked the wind out of me. It was more than a little discouraging personally, to learn that the inspiration for Triabetes had died.
The inspiration had died.
Yeah, that's how I felt.
And it was heart-breaking to think that Michelle Alswager, who had worked to spread hope to people like her son, people like me, suffering from type 1 diabetes, had lost her son.
For several hours this was a hope-crushing thought for me.
But now I've decided that it's part of a war. I've been around for the war, but mostly on the sidelines. I have not yet begun to fight.
I have to take to the battlefield now.

I'm riding across Death Valley in honor of Jesse Alswager, and to help the children who now have this disease or will have it in the future.

Also riding will be Michelle Alswager, in memory of her son, and Bob and Jen Nicholson, who lost their 14 year old son Trent to type 1 diabetes in March of this year.

Please go to this page to donate to the Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation:
http://ride.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=rideCentral.personalpage&riderID=9801

Thank you,
Jerry

PS:
See this video to learn more about Jesse:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=L8yNxqWoasg
Or here:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPDS2V1AF9w
Learn more about Michelle Alswager here:
http://www.dlife.com/dlifeTv/v587287464001-michelle-alswager.html
And more about Triabetes here:
http://www.dlife.com/dlifeTv/v14985633001-Triabetes.html

Memorials to Jesse:
http://www.caringbridge.org/visit/jessealswager

Memorials to Trent:
http://www.tributes.com/show/Trent-Nicholson-88196543

PPS:
Many employers do charity matching gifts. If you decide to give to the JDRF, please find out if your company will match your gift, and make your contribution count twice as much.

If you want to make a contribution in honor of or in memory of someone, whether they have diabetes or for any other reason, please state that in the "Message for Rider" box in the online contribution form. I will put that person's name on my bib number to wear while I ride across Death Valley. Thank you for the opportunity.



Follow this link to make a donation:

http://ride.jdrf.org/index.cfm?fuseaction=ride.rideDonationForm&riderID=9801
© 2010 Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation. All rights reserved.



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Sunday, September 19, 2010

Channa Masala and Chai Winner


Channa Masala is one of my favorite Indian dishes, its packed with nutrients such as protein, fiber and folate and it tastes delicious. My other favorite is aloo gobi, recipe coming up this week.

Thursday, September 16, 2010

Avocado and Berry Salad



I made this lovely summer salad a while back with a wonderful Olive oil from California and decided it needed to be shared:-) The olive oil is handpicked, organic and unfiltered and one of the best I have ever tasted. I added avocado to the salad as these always remind me of California. America has some amazing food products. Living in North Carolina the vineyards are a wonderful change from tobacco farming and a joy to visit and now California is producing olive oil on par with Europe. 

Wednesday, September 15, 2010

Colombian-Style Spaghetti with Chicken


This was a recipe I saw on Erica's wonderful blog My Columbian Recipes that I bookmarked, it was easy to make and me and Jasmine really enjoyed it, flavorful but maybe needs a little more spice for me :-)

Tuesday, September 14, 2010

Guest Post: Clafoutis and the wondrous world of baked custard

Clafoutis and the wondrous world of baked custard



Clafoutis of peaches and apricots with caramelized fennel and blackberry-lavender sauce

It is with pleasure to introduce you all to Alessio, he is an Italian living in Germany and the sweetest and funniest person on twitter he always makes me smile as he stays up almost all night chatting. But he also has an amazing food blog- Recipe Taster - From The Pantry to Your Taste Buds and talent for wowing you with his creations.

 I am thrilled he agreed to guest post and this is his first, you are in for a treat!


Boat Rides, Birthday Cake and a Giveaway!



Hi all I am now back in America, so pleased to be home, we had a wonderful adventure, overall many great memories, saw elephants, palaces, my sis in laws wedding, meet friends and family, and ate well.

Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Salmon with Roasted Cherry Tomatoes and Basil


This is a simple and flavorful way to cook salmon. I kept reading different food blogs about how they were roasting cherry tomatoes and I thought why not roast some and pair it with my favorite fish.

Monday, September 6, 2010

Chennai Food blogger Meetup



Today I had the pleasure of meeting the lovely and most talented Srivalli from Cooking 4 all Seasons, she is so sweet a Mum to 3 and a full time IT expert. She is even going to be speaking at Blogher, what a honor to meet her. We meet at Amerthyst a gem in Chennai, its an old palace home converted into a cafe and shop a retreat from the busy city with decent food and fabulous cakes.  



this is a yummy laddu peannut flavored that srivalli made for Jasmine how very kind



he he nibbled cake!


 
me, sleeping beauty and Srivalli
 

-.

this is the saree I wore for my sis in laws wedding yesterday. We had a lovely day and finally Jasmine seems to have settled in and ran around at the evening reception playing with the relatives we had to stop folks taking snaps and remind them to focus on the bride!!

So we fly to England on Thursday to see my family and celebrate my Grandmas 80th can't wait to see them all again

Love to you all

Rebecca

Friday, September 3, 2010

Mysore and Coorg




Hi all just wanted to share some snaps of Mysore we visited the palace there -amazing really worth a visit.





We then drove to Coorg in the moutains to stay on a coffee plantation beautiful place and such a treat to leave the crazy city for a couple of days.



India has amazing places to visit but the travel can be rough took the fast train there 7 hrs from Chennai to Mysore then last night same distance older train 13 hrs overnight awful train full of cockroachs!!!





I don't have regular Internet access bur wanted to say I miss reading all your blogs and thanks for your kind wishes I am so much better just wish our lil American Jasmine would eat better !!



Will have to put her weight back on with my Grandmas cakes next weekend !!



Much love

Rebecca


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