Giveaway of Monica Bhide's Modern Spice

Everyone who reads this blog, probably knows Monica Bhide. She is a very successful food writer with many books to her name. While her recipes are no doubt lip-smackingly delicious, what I like best is her writing. Her website describes her as "A storyteller at heart" and I can agree no less. 

To know more about her, you can read her bio.

Now, all of you know that today is Valentines' Day. It is a day after my own heart and I love the idea of cute teddy bears holding on to chocolates and hearts for dear life. Okay, just kidding, I love no such thing. So, to distract you from a bunch of over-priced red roses or diamond hearts or even teddies, I have decided to give away a copy of Monica Bhide's book "Modern Spice" to one lucky reader of this blog. After all, there is no love greater than the love of food. And after all, I love you all so much.  
The only problem being, at this point I can send the book to readers in USA only

To take part, leave a comment on this post, saying "what is your favorite spice and how you use it" and yes, don't forget to mention your e-mail id.

And here is a conversation with Monica Bhide which I had over e-mail.

Monica, I always find your story of changing careers from engineer to food writer very interesting. How did it all happen ? Little of the back story please.

Like many Indian immigrants, I came to the US to study. I earned two Masters' degrees and worked for a Big Six consulting company for a long time. The job paid well into the six-figures and I really loved the people I worked with but somehow at the end of the day, it felt as though something was missing. I kept feeling like I was placed on this earth to do something other than, say, leadership training! Mind you, not that there is anything wrong with that, it was just not my life's calling. Then, out of the blue, a very dear friend of mine passed away. She was only 35 and it really shook me to the core. It was a devastating loss and also a reminder of how short and fragile and precious life is. Her death made me rethink my whole life. So one day, I went in and quit. I gave up my engineering career to pursue my calling to tell stories.

When you took the courage to change your career, did you face any setbacks ? How did you overcome them ?
It wasnt really courage. It was not an option. I felt as though a part of my spirit was dying each day and I had to change something if I wanted to feel alive again. There were setbacks, there always are, but I think the key was to focus on the goal and not the obstacles. There were days that I would worry so much about how I would make this new career work, I lost so much sleep over how I would make money. It was a long time before I realized that all I could really do, all I could really control was my work. I had to work and write and keep writing. Eventually, the obstacles would take care of themselves.

Do you apply your scientific and engineering skills in your creative career too ? How?

I get in trouble when I do this! It works great for the how-to stories but I have to leave that part of my brain behind when I am writing essays. My agent always makes fun of me-- he says he can see the engineer come forth when I am outlining a book, and then disappear when I begin to write and the writer takes over!

You are an acclaimed writer with several books in your name and so clearly you are a success. But what is your advise to the food writers starting out ? Is it wise for them to give up their day job to pursue a career in writing ?
Ah, the million dollar question -- giving up the day job! I really dont know how to answer that one since everyone's circumstances are so different. In my case, we had saved up and I had a very supportive spouse who was willing to support me while I tried to find my legs in this new business. It is a tough choice and I think it is best to sit down and really make an educated, informed decision.

Do you have any pearls of wisdom to share with us food bloggers ?
Write daily, write consistently, write because you love to write and never, ever, ever give up.

Of all that you have written, pick a favorite.
Oh, this is hard, but I will pick this one - http://www.monicabhide.com/2012/03/counting-peas.html

Today if you happen to meet your 20 old self, what would you tell her ?
Have faith in yourself and remember that fitting in is way overrated

Shubho Bijoya, a Winner and Giveaway #2

Sorry, Sorry, I am not only fashionably late but also embarrassingly late to wish you all a Shubho Bijoya. Though ideally one can extend the Shubho Bijoya greetings for a fortnight after Durga Pujo, all the way until Kali Pujo or Diwali, we always rushed around the myriad relatives' home trying to finish the pronams by Lokkhi Pujo, the day of the first full moon after Durga Pujo.

Ghugni and Narkel Naru for Bijoya

There were always a few people who came after Lokkhi pujo to finish the Bijoya formalities and Thama, my grandmother, had very little regard for them. She usually dismissed them as "ajkalkar chele pule" aka the modern generation which in her language meant people with little respect for tradition. "Eto dine shomoy holo ?", she would say in a disenchanted voice and utter a cursory blessing making very clear her displeasure. Not that her criticism or grumbling affected the latecomers in any way, except that they were given much inferior snacks as compared to those who had come in early. The quality of the snacks in most homes was inversely proportional to the number of days that had passed since the day of Dashami and this was one of the important reasons why we tried to finish off the pronam formalities early. I think the latecomers were not really fond of food or at least not what was served on "Bijoya", mainly variety of sweets and nimki and risked being late.

Sometimes however the wind blew in favor of the procrastinators. If Thama happened to be in the Puja room or had retired early to bed, my Mother and aunt would ensure that luchis were fried and sweets were bought from the Sweet store, half a block away to feed the guest.

Now, since procrastinators are always welcome on this blog, I have two happy news for them

The important news is that we have a winner from the last draw. A certain "RRDutta" whose real name I am unaware of and who left this comment "To make an Indian lunch for my single colleague who has just joined the workforce and doesn't seem to think he has enough money to buy lunch for himself everyday.", was the one picked by random.org. Now, I have sent her an e-mail but am yet to get a reply. Maybe my mail went into the spam folder or something. If I don't hear from her in the next two days, the prize will go to the second winner picked which is "Mausumi Ray" whose random act of kindness is "My random act of kindness was and will be donating money to CRY to sponsor food, education etc. for kids."

The far more important news is we have another Giveaway. yehhh. This time I am giving away Devapriya Roy's latest book "The Weightloss Club". Now, don't get mislead by the title. This is not a book to lead you through a guilt path while you are devouring a pound of Diwali laddos. "The Weight Loss Club" has nothing to do with weight loss unless you are reading it while running on the tread mill, which I suggest you better not do. For this book, is to be read in a proper setting, by the window, with a cup of tea, cell phone switched off, some hot off the fryer pakoris by the side.
It has been my great pleasure, to know the residents of the Nancy housing colony better as they go about their daily life spiked with love, anxieties, pettiness, joys and sorrows and to be a part of their journey with a touch of mystic and now you have a chance to win your copy.

I will select two winners for this giveaway. To win your copy tell me, if you have ever lived in a housing colony, then what was the best food memory or any other memory you carry from there.

Below is an interview with the intelligent, young author. More about her here 

You have published 2 books, writing your 3rd and as I gather from the author's page in your book "Devapriya Roy is pursuing a PhD on the Natyashastra (at least, that is what she says when asked what she does). Once upon a time, she was the Keo Karpin girl." Tell us then who you really are or what defines you?

Oh dear. This is definitely the toughest question. If I were to be entirely honest. I think, before all else, I am a reader. And I am a romantic. I mean, I have written the novels, I am working on the third book which has gouged out a large chunk of my twenties, but to me it still seems that the writerliness is incidental; an extension of the two things above – being a reader and a romantic. And also, being not very good at much else. I am hopelessly bad at management and stuff. I write because I cannot not write – there is that deep internal compulsion – but I am also aware of the uncertainties of writing. But one can always read; that world is abiding.

And perhaps because I see the world filtered through a novelist’s narrative (a very dangerous thing, I admit) I am often shocked and amused at the moral high ground that is claimed by our intellectuals. You know? I mean, if we were reading about them as characters in good novels, there would be so many other details about them, defining them, that the moral high ground would have a deeper perspective. That is not the case, of course, in contemporary discourse. So, strange as it sounds, in a manner of speaking then, I think I am defined by books and by narratives.

2. Your first book was "The Vague Woman's Handbook". A charming read if I might add. What made you throw Keo Karpin aside and write it? Was there a story brewing inside you for long?

The thing about the Keo Karpin business was that it was a one-off. I mean I could never really have moved to Bombay and followed up on it and eaten carrot sticks to become that person. I don’t think I am ambitious in that way. Instead, I got married on a whim and got a job as an editor. And that is when The Vague Woman’s Handbook happened. When I was younger, I always thought I would write The Book first. Yet another stab at the Great Indian Novel. Something that would take years and years to research. And basically never get written. 

Fortunately, I had a wise mentor. He told me to write something already; something closer to my life and impulses. And that was the finest piece of advice really. I was able to use all the autobiographical stuff in obvious ways first. So with The Weight Loss Club, these were characters I knew intimately. But none of them were from my own life. So that’s how The Vague Woman’s Handbook was written. It helped that I was no longer a student of literature. I had shifted to theatre and performance studies. I was now reading loads of popular fiction. But at the same time, I wanted to do things differently even within the realm of popular fiction. Mil might be a very young but rather acceptable chick lit heroine, a bit ditzy, but hers is not a quest for love. She has already found it. 

So, in a way, the Handbook begins where most chick-lit ends. Abhimanyu Mishra, with his eccentricities, idealism and poverty is not the ‘hero’ out of a typical chick lit either. Indira Sen is at least twenty years older than the usual best friend. And so on.  

3. Tell us a little about the process from writing to publishing. Were you knocking at doors with a jhola and manuscript in hand or was it the other way round and publishers were pursuing you waving Guccis and Louis Vuittons?

Luckily, I have been in the middle. The Handbook was commissioned on the basis of the first chapter and the proposal, so I was very fortunate. Did not have to knock doors with jhola and manuscript! It can be SO harrowing. However, I have never had publishers chasing me with Guccis or Louis Vuittons or more importantly Big Fat Advances. Sigh. I wonder if that will ever be. The only time I had someone from the publishing house chasing me was the editor of my second novel, Pradipta Sarkar, because she wanted the manuscript which had been delayed beyond belief. However, I must confess, my publisher Karthika does gift me many books. Better than bags, no?

4. Your second book The Weight Loss Club has an interesting set of characters and relations and an undertone of spirituality. Did you find it more difficult to write this book? From a technical point of view, how did you manage to manipulate all these characters so seamlessly like an expert puppeteer? I mean at any point would you get confused between Monalisa and Meera?


From a technical point of view, yes, certainly, it was more difficult than The Vague Woman’s Handbook. All the characters became demanding, and I felt guilty because some were obviously getting more airtime and some were more fun to write. But the truth is, they became like relatives. Mind you, not like friends but relatives. We are likely to be more blind to our friends than to our relatives. So I got to know them all really well. I had all their details charted out too, in notebooks. Their back stories and family trees. So there was never any confusion about the people in the book, who were all very different. But there was definitely a great challenge in moving their stories forward, keeping the individual climaxes secondary to the larger narrative and most of all, in keeping it pacy and readable. I do remember calling Pradipta and telling her, ‘Never ever ever let me write a book with so many people in it!.’


5.  There was a time when we read books because so-and-so said it was terrific and so-and-so's neighbor did not sleep all night to finish it. There were no videos or book advertisements as far as I remember. We just discovered books or books found us. On your blog at IBN Live you recently wrote couple of posts about the prolific young writers of India who come equipped with sharp marketing skills. Do you think "a lack of it" hampers your book sale in any way?

Certainly one’s willingness to be out there on social media, connecting and networking, and one’s fungibility in marketing oneself through traditional media are very important factors in books selling. In my case, my grapes-are-sourish blog posts are based truthfully – and bitterly – on what I feel about this conundrum.    

Some people have fantastic selling skills. They can sell refrigerators to Eskimos. These writers fall in the first category. They are building their own refrigerators now. But it is also true that they are finding new readers too. However, there are some people who can build excellent refrigerators, sustainable refrigerators, hell, they might build talking refrigerators but not be able to sell them to a Delhi consumer. 

So that is why they need others to do that for them. But unfortunately, the world needs refrigerators more than books it seems. Publishing houses do not operate on margins that will invest in fantastic and sustained marketing for new authors. Their large-scale marketing efforts are earmarked for the Big Names. Because the marketing budgets for books are based on the print-runs. So in a way, the Bengali proverb ‘tela maathaay tel’ is entirely accurate in the publishing context. Now, thanks to the example set by these clever MBA authors, the publishing houses also expect the authors to do the marketing themselves if they want to really sell their books.

My problem with this is that it directly dilutes the culture of writing. Time being limited, you can only spend so much of it to improve yourself as a writer, through reading and writing, or you can think up marketing strategies and shooting videos and jumping through hoops in the same time. It’s like telling a serious singer to learn the tango to star in their music videos or telling sportspeople to attend acting classes to perform better in their ads. All in the spirit of very good business sense. But it means that those without business sense will remain minor. Nothing wrong with that. But it is important to embrace this.  

6. What keeps you ticking and writing?
I think it is the world of ideas and books that keeps me writing; my husband who keeps me ticking. And of course, the sense of larger failure that one feels growing up and engaging with reality in a country like India, a young country but with so much to be done, that also contributes to perseverance. You know? It comes from that mishmash – failure and hope – hope and failure.

The Giveaway # 1 -- paying it forward

This post was to be written on Mahalaya. But wasn't.

That is okay.

That does not take away the joy from this post. We are still hanging around Tritiya, the 3rd day of Navratri, which I think is a good time to say what I want to say. Which is that I wanted to talk about this guy.

I live in a bubble and had not heard of  Nipun Mehta until his recent speech at Harker's. His motto in life "to live simply, love purely, and give fearlessly" , seems to be so simple that you might think, "Yeah. So?" But then when you read about his "gift-economy" you might roll your eyes at his Utopian ideals and yet understand deep within that what he has done is not easy to pursue. Now, I really don't know the details beyond Wikipedia and his site of how he sustains himself  in this mode and if he already has some kind of a support structure to do what he does. What I know is,  I will never have the courage to do what he has done. And yet, I would love to.

His idea of "doing a small act of kindness" and "paying-it-forward"  is something that is probably imbibed in all of us but might be so deeply hidden that we don't get to show it everyday. This festive season, let us try to dig up that hidden gem and do just that. Small acts. Random nice acts. Anything to put a smile on the face of a stranger.

You all have shown me enough kindness when you supported me from all corners of the world for my book. You reviewed, left comments, constructively criticized and spread the word. You bought copies of my book, gifted them and came back to tell me all about it. To a bystander it might all seem very natural and matter-of-fact. But for a first time author, you all showed me immense kindness.

Now is my time to say "Thank You". If you want to play the "Pay-It-Forward" game, you are very welcome to spread your random act of kindness to people around you.

Here is all that you are going to do:

1. Leave a comment on this post. Mention your e-mail id and finish this statement "My random act of kindness was/will be   _________"
2. If you don't want to finish the statement, that is okay too, just leave a comment and your e-mail id.
3. Tell your friends and get them to join too.
4. Giveaway closes on October 14th.


Here is what I am going to do:

1. I will pick one random person from the ones who comment on this post.

2. That person will get a signed copy of my book

3....and an Amazon gift card worth $25

4. I will also contribute $25 towards the charity selected by him/her. The contribution will be made under the winner's name and not mine. Note: The charity should be a registered one, non-religious and should be able to receive online payment.

**The Amazon gift card is a global card and can be used wherever you are. However depending on your location Amazon may or may not ship certain things. That you can check with Amazon.You can also use it for buying digital entertainment stuff like apps and books for kindle.

Giveaway Winner

Yes, yes, Yes. We have a Giveaway winner. Before I announce the winner let me just tell you how I picked the person today.

1. First I entered all the commenters in the order they had left their comment on the blog in a spreadsheet.

2. Since there were some exclusive comments on FB, I added them to the spreadsheet, inserting them in order according to date and time. So some FB comments went in between the blog comments in the spreadsheet.

3. You can see the spreadsheet here.



4. There were 47 rows in there.

5. Next I went to Random.org where I put Min=1(lowest row num) and Max=47(highest row num) and hit Generate. The random number thus generated was 18.

6. The 18th row in the spreadsheet had the name Newly Paul. Drum-roll. And she is the winner of the gift card today. Woo Hoo. Congratulations.

Newly Paul, I do not have your e-mail address.Please leave a comment with your e-mail or drop me a line at sandeepa(dot)blog(at)gmail(dot)com. Also let me know the charity of your choice and we can decide how you want me to contribute to them.

All others, thanks so much for playing along. We will have another giveaway soon hopefully and there is always a chance that you will win next.

The Giveaway -- come join the fun

As I have been subtly hinting in my last two or three or maybe four posts there is a small something I wanted to do for the most important part of this blog today. Yes, that is Google, I am talking about. You know they host my blog on blogger and give me nifty tools like analytics to play with. Ahem.

Okay, okay...who am I kidding. It is not about them. It is about you, "The Readers", as in you human drumming on the keyboard with your fingers or tapping on your phone with grotesquely long nails and looking at my blog page with a look of utter boredom. "Really, this woman", you are probably thinking, "how she wastes her time, cooking masoor dal and then writing about it. Huh!" Or you could also be someone settled down with a cup of chai in the corner couch and reading through my post, ready with perfectly sweet, polite comments to pep me up.

I love you both. I like you all. I also want to thank you and you. So whoever you are stay put because the next few words I write can change your life forever. Okay, maybe not but we can hope.

Now today being a sunny Wednesday and yesterday being a rainy Tuesday in my part of the world and the fact that it is also Diwali (or rather day after Diwali) and that good always wins over evil and that I love you in the theoretical sense, I would like to gift you a FIFTY DOLLARS gift card from Amazon.

Now ideally I would have loved to give all of you and myself  that gift card but in real world that is not possible. So I am going to have to pick one single person who can then splurge his or her way on Amazon.And splurge you can with a $50 amazon gift card.

Also as we all know that happiness doubles on sharing, I will also be contributing FIFTY DOLLARS to a charity of the winner's choice and the contribution will be made in the name of the winner. Note: The charity should be a registered one and should be able to receive online payment.

Here are the rules of the game.

1. Like this blog's page on FaceBook ("Like" only if you like this blog and not because I am telling you to)

2. Spread the word about this blog and giveaway on Facebook and Twitter. My Twitter handle is @BongMomCookBook. Shameless plug in I know but I think more people deserve to know about Indian and Bengali food, there is a whole range of tastes to explore.

3. Once you have done 1 and 2 leave a comment finishing the sentence "If I would go bungee jumping, the last dessert I would eat is ___________". If you are not comfortable doing 1 and 2, fine, just leave a comment. Please leave your e-mail so that I can contact you in case of a win.

4. The winner will be picked from those who leave a comment, using Random.org and will be announced on November 20th

**The Amazon gift card is a global card and can be used wherever you are. However depending on your location Amazon may or may not ship certain things. That you can check with Amazon.You can also use it for buying digital entertainment stuff like apps and books for kindle.

Giveaway Winner and a Shubho Bijoya

Sorry, I have been awfully late in declaring the winner. Couldn't help it. It was Durga Pujo after all. Not that we did a lot given that the Pujo this time spanned across all week days. But we did manage to wear our sarees, offer anjali, eat Bhog, see arati and even a bit of sindoor khela at the wee end of Bijoya evening.We also saw the wonderful Golu set up at the Krishna Temple near our home and had quiet a nice Pujo in our own quiet way. And late at night when we sat down to watch the glamorous Durga idols with their artistic mandaps in far away Kolkata via the Dish, the heart didn't even miss a beat. My transformation I guess is complete.

Ma Durga and her Family

Flowers for the Goddess

Offering Flowers

Simple setups

The Goddess

And now to the winner which I decided through Random.org. I first put the name of all commenters in an excel sheet, eliminating duplicate comments.

Then I generated the random number through Random.org which was 13. This was Miri in the excel sheet. So the winner of this giveaway is Miri who blogs at Peppermill Recipes.

On a lark I clicked on the Random Number Generator again and this time it was 32. This was Usha, the second to last commenter.

Good sense prevailed and I closed my browser to never hit the Generate button again.

So both Miri and Usha get to pick their choice of gifts. But since Miri was the first winner I will go with her charity CSA - a corporate initiative by Kale consultants to support adoption in India.Both Miri and Usha please contact me by e-mail (sandeepa(dot)blog(at)gmail(dot)com).

Shubho Bijoya to you all and I will be back soon with a Nimki recipe. Promise.

Ramadan, Paryushana, Mahalaya and a Giveaway

No, this post has nothing to do with any religion. I am not the right person for that kind of thing. I have little knowledge about the tenets and rituals of the various religion including mine. All I want myself to have is faith, a belief to guide me through life.

This B&W photo of Narkel Naru from a previous Durga Pujo goes to Susan's B&W Wednesday

Why I mention Ramadan or is it Ramzan, is because I have been always very impressed with the fasting, the rigors of sacrifice and self-control involved in that month of intense heat and scorch. When we were little and barely knew to spell "religion" our parents uttered the word "Ramzan" with hushed reverence. Reverence for Maulbi Saab who shut the green doors of his store the entire afternoon for he fasted and went without water in the searing heat and needed rest. For my classmate's parents who worked through the day and dealt with three kids without a morsel of food to sustain them until sunset. The whole idea of abstinence from food and water seemed huge, looming large above anything they might have done during that period. In those times, Iftar or the fast-breaking meal was less glorified and it was the fasting during Ramadan that held all the attention.

Paryushana is a word I heard only recently from here. And this after we spent years being neighbor to a Jain Aunty who made the best stuffed red chili pickles in the Universe.If you are ignorant like me, it is a Jain festival when the laity take on vows of study and fasting with a spiritual intensity similar to temporary monasticism.This is the time when the wandering monks take up residence for the monsoons and so the householders immerse themselves in an annual renewal of faith by meditation and self-control.The last day of the festival you ask for forgiveness from all living beings as I understand.

Very apt and fulfilling it seems, to come together for a purpose, to live a few days trying the body and mind to strict submissiveness, channeling thoughts for a greater purpose maybe.On the aside, two of my fellow bloggers a hiker and a yoga-er have already tried their body and mind in greater ways, and so it does not necessarily have to do anything with religion or festivals.

When I mulled over these two festivals from two very different religions it is the self-control that they profess to practice for a few days every year fascinated me. I do not come from a fasting household. My Mother does have her quota of vratas and fasts but none of them ask to go without food for the entire day or for a consecutive period of days.If I try to go 12 hours without food, my Mother thinks I have become weak.Mr.Hazare is clearly not her type.

As an adult on my own I have never practiced total abstinence from food or anything else willingly. Here we will ignore severe bouts of stomach flu when one eats Phuchka and egg roll on their Calcutta jaunt. This year I wanted to spend a few days practicing to eat one meal a day, to spend my day not thinking of food(my usual hobby) and cooking but something beyond myself.Sure sign that I am fast approaching the age for Vanaprastha.

DebiPoksho begun yesterday on Mahalaya. The Goddess is packing her last sari in the suitcase and checking to see if the door locks are working properly, after all she will be away for all five days and that husband, Shiva of hers is hardly trustworthy with such things. The countdown to her arrival has begun. It is a moment of anticipation and joy in the heart of the many Bengalis around the globe.On my part I will try to eat only one meal a day for these four days till Panchami. No one has asked me to do this, there is no set rule and I don't know why I am doing this at all. Heck, I might not be even able to do it and succumb to that bar of chocolate mid morning.

I have no intention to achieve anything but I hope this period will make me appreciate food and everything else that is easily available to me more.

Since it is that time of the year when the heart sings a tune even though there is no swaying kashful in sight or damp sheuli their face upturned waiting for me on the wet morning grass, I want to share the song with you. For you alone my Blog Readers who have always been with me all these years, I have a humble gift.

For the simple reason that I do not have enough riches (ha, ha), there can be only one winner and the winner of this Giveaway gets a choice to pick a

CorningWare SimplyLite 1-1/2-Quart Casserole with Glass and Plastic Lids (this I have and love) from here

OR a Le Creuset Stoneware 16-Ounce French Onion Soup Bowl, Kiwi (This I would love to have) from here
** This is if Amazon ships to where you live
If you do not want the above gifts and you are a winner, you will get the equivalent amount in Amazon Gift Card.

For those in India, I have a gift of a much loved book. I will send it from Flipkart so you have to be where they can ship.

Garlic And Sapphires: The Secret Life Of A Critic In Disguise(Paperback) by Ruth Reichl
If you do not want this book you will get a Flipkart e-voucher for the equivalent amount.

The winner of the giveaway also has a responsibility. He/She gets to pick a charity they support and I will contribute $50 towards that charity (given that it is valid and all). It is okay if you at least like the work of a certain charity and would like me to contribute towards it.

So to be part of this giveaway you need to do the following

1.Leave a comment on this post along with your e-mail id

2.Tell me since when  you read this blog and a charity you think does good work

Go ahead now and do your part. If you follow me on OR , you have to leave a comment right here to be considered for the Giveaway

And as they say over the Loudspeaker दुर्गा पूजा की हार्दिक शुभ कामना or দূর্গা পুজোর অনেক শুভেচ্ছা or tepid as it sounds in English Happy Durga Pujo

*** And oh yeah, No one has sponsored these gifts and all of them are paid by me because I love you so***

Happy Deepavali, the Winner and Forgotten Food

It seems every week I surface only to wish someone something. This week I holler Happy Deepavali.

Life has been extremely busy since we got back.The littlest one has a new fresh bout of separation anxiety which makes it extremely difficult for me to rush out to work, to cook, take a shower. Yes, I haven't taken a shower for the last 3 days. Ok, scratch that. It is not entirely true.

Once home all my time is for the girls until after 9. And while before I would sit down after that to do anything blog related, now I just huddle with the Bangla books I got back from my recent visit. There is a sinful pleasure in huddling on the corner couch with a book on a winter night while flames dance in the fireplace. The guilt of not cooking, not making anything special for Diwali slithers in the shadow and I bravely ignore it. There is a whole lot of pleasure in not cooking for Diwali as long as you can scavenge goodies to eat, trust me.

Choddo Prodip(14 candles) to be lit on the day before Kali Pujo on Choti Diwali

Occasionally I look through the comments on my last post, the beautiful comments on forgotten food. Thanks Everyone, those comments were the most beautiful words on food I have ever read.

It seems it is not always about the food, it is about that exact person who made it, the memory we carry with it. That was the recurrent theme in most of the forgotten food that readers mentioned.

Brat Payal talks about, "Dadi's aloo chips and aloo papads and sweet whole aamla achar!!  She would slice the potatoes up patiently and meticulously, sun dry them in the verandah, we were incharge of manning the drying chips and papadums...shooing the drooling birds and turning the chips over...one by one! I miss miss those...can we bring back the unforgotten human behind these forgotten dishes...:)"

Really, would it be the same if you slogged and made them instead of Dadi, maybe not.

Sonal's Aaji made home made Supari,  "As a child I remember every summer Aaji would make a huge trip to a specific store to purchase ingredients like betel nut, aniseed, dried ginger, licorice, rock sugar and many many exotic spices. These would be sun dried for a few days on our terrace and then crushed on an iron khalbatta(mortar & pestle) by one of her trusted aides. The final SUPARI would be bottled in glass jars and distributed to family members near and far away. You never left home without a jar of Aaji's famous SUPARI. It was like a good luck charm from her……"

Sometimes a food is forgotten because it is easier to lament about it than cook and serve it. How much effort is not too much effort to re-create such a dish ?

Eves Lung mentions "Chapor Ghonto" -- made with chholar daal bora , thhor ( the stalk of the banana plant ) and assorted veggies like brinjals,potol,etc with a phoron of with methi , red chillies ,randhuni and ginger paste .And a small bay leaf. 

On my recent visit I ate lot of the Bengali foods that is never cooked at my home. It is not that I have forgotten them, it is just that I have never taken the pain to know how to make them, it takes too much of an effort and they don't get made. This time my Ma and Ma-in-law made Mochar Ghonto, Thor, Chapri diye Mocha, Taal er Bora, Dhokar Dalna and what not. No, whatnot is not a dish.They made it with an ease I can never muster. I don't think I will ever make Mochar Ghonto or Taal er bora at home. Naaah, too much effort I will say. And thus slowly, gradually such food will be forgotten by the next generation or the next.

As Manasi says Puran Poli, "This is not forgotten, but never made at home because it is time consuming and so I'd like to bring back Puran Poli ( I have learnt it, but not perfected)just the way my grandmother used to make"

At times a food is forgotten because it is too simple. The sabzi that your Ma made with Roti everyday, the jhol that you loved to hate and sweared never to cook as an adult. This is the easiest category to bring back.

Satrupa talks about "Santula" -- "There is nothing fancy about this dish and may be that's the reason I happily forgot it.Vegetables are cooked with little water, salt and turmeric powder in a pressure cooker. Then it is seasoned with panch phoran and garlic. It is an everyday diet and we usually we have it with roti. But now I would luv having it any day ..."

Maninas talks about "Fried Bread Dough", "Which food would I like back in my family? My mum used to fry some bread dough in oil (looking a little like naan), which we had with sugar, or jam, or some savouries. It was delish!"

And now about the Give Away. I picked up a random winner using the Random Number Generator at Random.org .

Drumrolls for the winner is Indosungod. Indo, Please send me a mail with your choice and I will have it shipped.

Because it is Diwali, I decided to give one more gift of $10 Amazon gift card. And this time the winner picked up was Shruti who said "mocha'r ghonto". I am not sure if Shruti blogs. Shruti send me a mail at sandeepa( dot )blog(at)gmail(dot)com and I will send you the gift card.

Related Posts:

To read more on forgotten food go through the wonderful comments of this post.

Check out specialty food items at Food Spring

Giveaway because I love You

Because it is Durga Pujo and on Pujo we Bongs have a tradition of giving gifts to people we love, like, and dislike but pretend to like I am having a giveaway.

In your case though it is only love,like, love, like and so on.

You don't have to love me in return. But
1. You can Like my Blog on FaceBook

2. Read me without fail by Subscribing

3. Leave a comment telling me what you can do to bring world peace. Ok scratch that, here is an easier one.
Tell me in your comment "What is a forgotten food in your family that you would like to bring back"

I will pick ONE winner by random draw from the comments to this post.

**********

The winner will be able to choose a gift from one of the following

1. Miss Masala by Mallika Basu -- I loved this book. It is a wonderful wonderful read with lovely recipes.

2.Garlic & Sapphire by Ruth Reichl -- This is another of Ruth Reichl's memoirs. I am a big fan of her writing . In this book Reichl focuses on her life as a food critic, dishing up a feast of fabulous meals enjoyed during her tenure at The New York Times.

3. An Amazon.com gift card worth $25.

Disclaimer: These gifts are not sponsored by anyone, not even the husband. I just wanted to share the spirit of the season and this is a small something from me to say "Thank You".
Books will be shipped only within US. I think the gift card can be used all over the world if I e-mail the gift card.

In your comment DO NOT tell me what you want instead answer the question I asked

"What is a forgotten food in your family that you would like to bring back"

I will announce the lucky person's name by end October.

Till then have Fun and wish Happy 4th Blog Birthday to Bong Mom's Cook Book in October.

Pujo 2009

Pujo 2007

Giveaway Winner

Yippeee!!! The winner of the giveaway has been decided by Random.org. It is SS @ SS Blogs here.

I don't know why she says here, I mean shouldn't it be there.

She doesn't blog here, but there. You get it there as in there at SS Blogs here. Yeah go visit her and tell her that she has won and give her your best wishes so that she can run as much as she likes.

Congratulations SS and you will be receiving your $80 gift certificate from CSN Stores soon.

Thanks to everyone who participated and played along. Thanks also for all your valuable inputs. Though I must warn you, this blog is ruled by a meanie autocrat who does not abide by the principles of democracy. So she might just dish out what ever is cooking in her kitchen and her family is eating without a thought for the options chosen by readers.

And all those who said "keep doing what you are doing" or something like that, do you guys know me, like in real life ? Like do you know that I am not a sucker for change and I do things my way and that my toe nail needs to be trimmed ? How the heck did you know that I will just do that, i.e. "keep doing, what I am doing".

The Great Giveaway

In my last post I went on & on about how I am thankful to bloggers.

Today I need to Thank the most important half that keeps this blog running, THE READERS, as in you lurking human who is quickly marking my post as "Read" in your Google reader and jumping to next !!!! Whoa, you, come back here on my page, right now.

Now I am not really very bashful or dominating(tee-hee!!) and would never ever force someone to leave a comment. But sweetie(ok that is another thing I never ever say), today is a good day and a Wednesday, so would you be kind enough to stay put and drum something in with your fingers on that keyboard. It will do you good trust me.

And while you are at it will you pretty please pick an answer to the following, and leave your comment with your e-mail address, and make yourself a cup of tea and just relax because your life is going to change soon.

Here is the Million Dollar Question:

What would you like to see in this Blog in future

A. More Bengali recipes of all kind
B. More Bengali recipes of Traditional kind
C. Nothing, shut the blog and move
D. More Bengali Recipes of the new kind(??)
E. More Vegetarian recipes
F. Nothing, shut the blog and move
G. More Non vegetarian recipes
.
.
.
Z. Nothing, shut the blog and move

Now here is the deal. Some time back CSN Stores contacted me to do a giveaway at my blog. They have this cool place where they sell everything from Housewares, Home Decor, Track Lighting to Furniture. Check out their site for their amazing collection.

The winner of the giveaway gets a $80 gift cert which they can use for any product that catches their fancy at CSN Stores.

Hand Stand Mixers...


Slow Cookers...


Pressure Cookers...


even Track Lighting for the Kitchen...



Their collections is so good that if I were Goldman Sachs, I would have put in all the comments myself. But I am not going to do that because I have my morals intact and I love you guys. It is you readers who keep me going and motivate me and I owe this to you. However I am yet to make up my mind about people who will put in C, F and Z as their answers.

To win this giveaway of $80 gift certificate do the following:

1. Answer the Question I have above.

2. Leave a comment with your answer and e-mail id. Of course you can also voice your opinion on the Financial Reform Bill, Synthetic CDO's, the Nature, etc. but that is not necessary. And yes I heard about Synthetic CDOs only yesterday and am throwing it around out of context because it is such a scam with a complex name.

3. Blog, Tweet, Facebook about this giveaway. Leave a comment if you have done any and you will be entered twice

4. A lucky winner for the giveaway* will be chosen by random draw

* I do not get any compensation monetary or otherwise from this giveaway

This giveaway is open until May 4th, 2010, midnight EST. Unfortunately CSN stores ship only to US & Canada and I hope I can have something for readers from the other parts of the world in the near future. I will not be blogging or blog hopping until next week, this is time for family only and blog nirvana. See you again late next week when I post the winner. And Thanks for being here.