Gluten-Free Strawberry Cupcakes

I wrote about my first day at the culinary school here a few months ago. By the fifth month at the school, me and my fellow wanna-be-chefs had gotten used to the routine of waking up early and dressing up in all whites every day. Our brand new knife bags and crisp recipe books were stained with sauces, and in some cases, with our own blood. Band-aids were to be found in our pockets and on our fingers. Most of us had also started working outside the school to get more practical experience. We were allowed zero creativity at these restaurants and working 8 to 10 hours outside of the school was the new normal. While the TV shows might have you believe that the kitchen is a place where chefs … [Read more...]

Nettle and Cauliflower Soup

It has been almost two weeks since I have posted on the blog! Ever since I started the blog last September, it has been a big part of my regular routine. The way I cook for myself and my lover is worlds apart from the way I cook for the blog. Oh, did I just call him my lover? Well okay then, we will go with that! So yes, cooking for the blog involves getting inspired by something or someone to create a new recipe, researching and gathering the ingredients, taking about 100 photos to select the final 4, and then creating the blog post to glue it all together! Once I post a recipe on the blog, the real work begins - submitting the recipe to a bunch of sites and promoting the post on social … [Read more...]

Vegetable Stew with Black Soybeans

"Hunger is the best sauce." - English proverb I have been fortunate to have had many inspirational figures around me while growing up. Many of them have taught me invaluable life lessons that have made me the person I am today. One such person who has taught me the simplest of all lessons, is Anup's grandma, Elizabeth. The lesson she taught me was something she mentioned in passing, and yet, it has had a profound impact on me! Elizabeth is in her late seventies, and is in great health for her age. The small house she lives in is in the middle of a vadi, a small garden, that she maintains herself. Her home looks like it just jumped out of a story book! It's surrounded by varieties of … [Read more...]