Now that the promise of work is on the horizon, I’m breathing a little easier. God is so good! So faithful!

And just like that, I feel like He’s saying, go ahead, experiment, find that passion for food that you lost in the past few weeks. And boy howdy it’s back! I experimented with two recipes today that I think you’ll love, one of which is a further expouding (is that a word?!) on a recipe I shared with y’all months ago. I’ll put those up shortly.

But, but, but… I really want to take photos of ‘em! And I’m so frustrated because a sweet reader, Charlotte, sent me her old camera… and someone signed for it, but it wasn’t Bren or myself! So someone in this area has my camera! Ugh! I shake my fist at you! I’m going to knock on all the neighbours’ doors tomorrow, when they’re all home and try to find ‘em, because that’s just not right.

Hmph.

Anyway, a great deal of my inspiration has come from looking at Monica Bhide‘s recipes in her book, “Modern Spice“. I don’t know if you’ve heard of her, but she’s a wonderful Indian food writer, who has a regular column in the Washington Post among other myriad things. She’s wonderful! Plus, she and I share a similar background: born to Indian parents who settled in the Middle East for a time, a family passionate about food. So we kinda see eye to eye on inspiring flavours, and sometimes, when I read her writing, I feel like we must be parts of the same person! Her book is full of stories from her childhood, and her tone is warm, funny, curious, eager to encourage you to join her on her culinary adventures. Plus, I love that she does away with any pretense of making everything from scratch; she names brands of masalas (spice mixes) that she uses all the time, and cautions when to take shortcuts and when not to. I love it — it’s a realistic take on today’s Indian cook. Who has time (apart from me, an unemployed aspiring cook!) to make everything from scratch!

May I go on just a little more about how cool she is? Yes? Thanks, man!

Well, when I discovered her writing and wonderful recipes last year, I emailed her, and asked her to watch Aarti Paarti — I hoped she would tell me what she’d think. Not only did she watch them, but she then responded! How cool is that? AND she liked the show, so she MUST be awesome.

If you’re looking for some truly modern, yet authentic Indian recipes, ones that will gently introduce you to Indian cooking without intimidating you, take a look at her book. It’s moved up to the #1 position in my little library. Thank you so much to my dear dear friend Heide for getting it for me!

-x-
aarti