Take it with a pinch of salt

For a person who didnt know how to boil rice properly when I got married 10 years back I'd like to think I have come a long way. Cooking is not something which interests me greatly and never will. But that is not to say I dont exert myself, anything I do I like to do it well[sound good to hear huh]. My cooking is quite vague really. Even when I'm cutting the veggies I'm not totally sure which dish its going to turn out to be; so many times curries have turned to stir-fries and chicken marinated with the intention of frying turn into curries.
I like scanning through food-blogs before trying out a particular recipe but never in my life have I completely surrendered myself to the instructions given there. I just cannot help it, my hand just automatically adds a few additional ingredients....if nothing else atleast some lemon juice & coriander leaves. I could make a dish 25 times and all the 25 times it would taste different;-/.

Oh well, the end result is not too bad & so I dont beat myself too much about it. Like most of the others I too have gotten into the habit of clicking pictures of the dishes I make; not all of the time, mainly when the colours beckon;-).

The above is called a Kaa thoran. Basically a vegetable and grated coconut preparation; the vegetable in this case is raw banana called Kaa in malayalam;-D. Before marriage I wouldnt touch this with a bargepole but now since the better-half is fond of it I have learned to make it well & like it:-P

Nikita pleaded to be allowed to roll out the chappattis, I agreed reluctantly and ran to answer the phone. By the time I was back she had cut them out into tiny chapattis with the cookie cutter. Couldnt break her heart, could I;-)

I had picked up the baby corn for a salad and had forgotten to use it. Then decided to make a 'Sauteed Baby corn & Capsicum'[just a fancy name for a stir-fry with a variation]. Surprise, surprise it was quite a hit & from then on it has popped up now and then in our menu.

Onam was always a joint effort with my Mil and I together whipping up the sadya to feed the crowd. After the parents left to India for good it felt like too much of an effort to make so much for just 2 people and 2 fussy kids, so we always had the sadya at a restaurant or were invited for it at somebosy's else home. Last year I saw a couple of blog friends making the effort & on the spot decided to surprise the better-half and started the prepartions secretively. When I finally presented all the dishes the better-half was very impressed. Including salt and sugar I think I had around 18 items on my sadya. Here take a look:

Nowadays the kids also enthusiastically pitch in making the whole effort worthwhile:-).

Whenever I make cakes I leave a bit of batter to make a batch of cupcakes which is then decorated it with whatever is available and presented grandly at tea-time. The kids are maha impressed and lavish 'bestest mama' type of compliments which ofcourse is gratefully lapped up:-P.

My mum makes the yummiest rava laddoos in the whole world. I had tried it once earlier & it came out all funny. After 8 years I tried again and this time they were quite good. A picture was taken to celebrate the moment:-).

2 months back the better-half decided he wanted to carry a light snack to work instead of the usual heavy south Indian lunch which made him want to snooze during meetings after lunch. So now he takes fruits and veggies to work and swears there's a difference. Well, I have stopped rolling my eyes at him after the weighing machine told us that he's lost around 4 kgs;-o. Here's a sneak-peek: