Growing up, the fall-back evening snack in my house would be a biscuit. Biscuits to me are what cookies are to kids that grow up in America. They were sold in all shapes and sizes, with different flavoring and the queen of them all was the “cream biscuit”, in which flavored icing was sandwiched between two thin biscuits. These baked goodies were not loaded with sugar or fat and were a reasonably healthy after-food snack for kids or tea time snack for adults, or when you just felt like nibbling on something. There were several popular brands (Milk Bikis, Marie come to my mind) and also, equally famous was the neighborhood bakery store-bought no-brand name, what we used to call, “butter biscuits”. These are very similar to these shortbread cookies by Meeta. After reading Meeta’s post, I really wanted to re-create those biscuits that were part of my childhood and the cookie bake-off that happened during the holiday season was the perfect excuse. I did some more research and found this recipe at Arusuvai (in Thamizh), meaning six tastes, which turns out to be pretty similar to Meeta’s recipe. The recipe from Western Europe and from the heartland of South India are uncannily close - may be it was the British influence. Whatever be it, these uncanny culinary or other such similarities never cease to amaze me. Read more…
It has been a long time since I wrote anything on this blog; and it was not because of lack of ideas :) Lots of cooking happened during the holiday season with friends & family coming over. There was also, of course, Thiruvatharai & Pongal which was celebrated with the traditional dishes. During this time, a few of my blogging friends bestowed me with a few awards as well. Apologies for not acknowledging them right away - somehow all this was not enough to get me out of my blogging hiatus 
I don’t know what made me go into a hiatus just like I don’t know what is prompting me to write now. As has been the case with this blog, I intend to write whenever I feel that there is something to be shared with my readers & friends - may be a dish that I made or a book that I read or a movie that I watched. Without much further ado, let me share the awards that I was presented with - Thanks Dinesh & Apar.
I have been writing here for a little over a year now; and write I do in an off again and on again fashion. If there was an award for the most inconsistent blogger, I guess I will win hands down Unfortunately, the award I am talking about today is for a different category.
I have been nominated and selected to be in the top-5 for the beautiful header award @ Avant Garde Bloggies. Thanks to Apar for nominating me in this category (in a weird coincidence, she is in the top-5 as well ).
Two of my fondest memories of Deepavali are the smell of fresh, hot-off-the-stove mysore pak within the house and the fumes from firecrackers outside. My mom would spend the day before Deepavali in making various kinds of sweets and savories that culminated in dinner(the high point) - poori-masal - poori with potato masala, one of the most popular dishes in South India. She always started with Mysore Pak - a simple sweet, containing just 3 ingredients yet complicated in its own way and hence, difficult to master. It also happens to be one of my favorite sweets (well, I am a self-confessed sweet-o-phile ), so I try to follow my mom’s tradition and make mysore pak first and stop right there, as well - he he!
This year, M (who comments here regularly) and I decided to get together to make the Deepavali bhakshanam(snacks). M’s mom (who again is a regular reader / commentator of this blog) had already made yummy omapodi (thin sev flavored with ajwain) and “Deepavali marunthu”, literally means “Deepavali medicine”, which is quite unique to Deepavali. Made of medicinal elements like pepper and ginger, a small bit of this marunthu goes a long way in healing indigestion after gorging during the festival.
Mid-2007, I went on a trip, well not just a trip but a holy trail of sorts starting from Varanasi (Kasi) - the holiest of holy places for a Hindu -> Ayodhya - the birthplace of Lord Rama -> Naimisharanya - a small hamlet on the banks of Gomathi river where Srimad Bhagavatam was spoken by Sage Suta to several other rishis and the abode of many sages -> Allahabad - land of triveni sangamam -> Chitrakoot - the land o the banks of River Mandakini where Lord Rama is said to have spent the majority of his vanavas (the 14 years of forest exile) and back to Varanasi (Kasi).
Our first stop from Varanasi was Ayodhya; en route we made a quick halt at Nandigram, the village from where Bharata ruled Ayodhya when Rama was in exile:
Deepavali or Diwali, as the festival is popularly called, literally means “a row of lights”. It is usually celebrated on the 14th day after full-moon/new-moon day in the tamil month of Aipasi (or Ashwina in Sanskrit).
Navaratri is the festival of nine nights (well, ten if you include the last day of dasami pooja) celebrated in different parts of India in varying traditions. Durga Pooja in the East, Dussehra in the North and Golu in South are some of the forms in which these nine days are celebrated. Whatever the form may be, these 9 days promote Devi (Goddess) worship and the underlying message is the victory of good over evil.
Navaratri commences on the day-after Mahalaya Amavasya and celebrated for the next nine nights, culminating on Vijayadasami (literally means victorious tenth day). The tenth and final day is considered auspicious, especially for new beginnings. Hence, it is customary to start a new business or enroll in a new class or even school, on this day.