mayurisjikoni

Rice Bowl of India    For the month of January the Shhh Cooking Secretly group (started by Priya of Priya's Versatile Recipes ) had to make cuisine from the state of Chhattisgarh. Chhattisgarh literally means 36 Forts. This central eastern state was formed by separating the Chhattisgarhi speaking southeastern part of Madhya Pradesh in the year 2000. The north and south part of the state are hilly and the central part is  covered by plains.    It is believed that Lord Rama along with his wife Sita and brother Laxman spent 10 years of their 14 year exile in the regions of Chhattisgarh. Its also in this state that Lord Rama was offered half eaten berries by the old blind lady Shabari. Shabari was a devout follower of Lord Rama. She waited patiently in the ashram for Him to arrive so that she could seek his darshan. As an offering to the Lord she had picked berries from the nearby forest. She tasted each one of them and left the sweet ones for Lord Rama. For her pure devotion Lord Ram

Recipe Swap 2        After Dawn paired us up for the January Food Bloggers Recipe Swap, I had every intention of immediately checking out my partner Sarah Schwarz's blog Cook At Home . However, that did not happen as I was in a holiday mood. When Sarah sent me an email asking me questions to know a bit more about me, I thought I too better get cracking. However, on holiday and no access to a kitchen  I thought I'd go through her blog and decide on what I'd like to make. As I cruise through her blog I see the phrases like Whole 30 and Paleo. Frankly I didn't know what Whole 30 meant till I googled the phrase. So I knew I would find some healthy recipes on her blog, which I did...plenty of them.   Let's get to know Sarah a bit more.  Where do you live? Currently we live in Salt Lake City, Utah but was born and raised in South Australia.  We also lived in Chile for 2 years before coming to the US. What made you start a food blog? Discovering that I was gluten intoleran

Back To Normal Routine    Its after a very long time that I had a very relaxing holiday. Relaxing means no cooking at all, no blogging and just lazing around doing what I want. I slept, I read, I walked a bit and spent quality time with my eldest son, daughter in law and her parents. Visiting Bali was a truly a surprise for me. When I use to see postcard pictures of Bali, blue seas, sandy beaches it was not really on my wish list. When you have sandy beaches and blue sea and sunshine in your backyard, Bali was not that alluring. I think if my son and daughter in law had not decided to settle there, hubby and I would probably not have visited Bali.  However, I am so glad that we went there last December. Though we were not able to see much of Bali because of my daughter in law's accident, we managed a few day trips.     Bali is a predominately a Hindu island. However, their customs and rituals are so different from the Hinduism practiced in India. The temples are an architect's

A Belated Happy New Year    A belated wish is better than none, so a belated Happy New Year to all my friends, family and followers. I've been on a no blogging much required vacation. Sometimes its truly relaxing just to turn your mind off from blogging and any blogging related activity.     Hubby and I were supposed to spend Christmas and New Year with my son, daughter in law and her parents. We were on our way to Bali when we received a message from my son that Elodie my daughter in law had met with a motorbike accident. The remaining 4 hours of flight were stressful as we had no idea what had exactly happened. On landing at Denpasar, Bali, we had to head straight to the hospital. After tests, scans and whatever procedures were required, she underwent five hours of surgery. Her jaw was fractured into 5 pieces which the surgeon had to put together without damaging her nerves. However, looking on the bright side we got to spend a lot of quality time with them and her parents. Overa