The middle courtyard of my Mama’r bari or my mother’s paternal house had a mango tree. It was one of the three trees spread around the gardens. One behind the kitchen, that could be seen from the kitchen window, yielded the most unique mangoes I have ever had. These were small, green even when ripe,…
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Continue ReadingMonima is my aunt, my mother’s younger brother’s wife. To all us cousins, she has always been an aunt, a friend and a confidante. In so many years of knowing her, none of us remember her for a moment when she wasn’t smiling, patient and kind. To everyone around her. To that, add a killer…
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Continue ReadingOm has been suffering from a toothache since ast night. It had been bothering him since beginning of the lockdown but we couldn’t make a trip to the dentist, so he was managing it. Last night the pain got unbearable and he couldn’t sleep all night! And those who have experienced toothaches and earaches know…
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Continue ReadingI see a lot of people who have become interested in bread making during this lockdown! One reason being our limited mobility to step out, familiarity of bread on our breakfast tables and the finally having the time that most people associate with bread making. Well, it does need time but most of it doesn’t…
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Continue ReadingLebu pata bhapa paneer My Naboborsho this year was as (meh!)as the year in general. My yearly bout of summer fever decided to come a night before the Nabobarsho, completely draining me of every iota of energy. I spent the entire day on liquids, only to be able to eat tiny morsels of solid food…
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Continue Reading“Priyadarshini Chatterjee is a freelance journalist, a food blogger and writer. She spends her time reading or experimenting in her kitchen, travels as much as she can and eats her way through life. But she loves to write more than anything else.” That is how Priyadarshini’s bio reads. I can add that she is also…
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Continue ReadingFrugality can be a great teacher. It forces us to think on our feet. Forces it to improvise. And kitchens across the world are best examples of rising to the challenge of frugality. A big part of what we throw away in kitchens are the stalks and peels of vegetables. Most of them pack a…
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Continue ReadingI have had a love-hate relationship with kamranga or star fruit. As a child who loved anything sour, I loved kamranga. It was sour. Juicy. Looked beautiful. This love lasted till I was in standard VIII and had jaundice! One of the things prescribed to me was glasses of star fruit juice and the raw…
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Continue Reading‘Aashine randhe, kartike khay Je bor mange, shey bor paey’ The above limerick translates into, ‘One who cooks in the month of Aashin and eats it in the month of Kartik is blessed with all the boons she asks for…’ When Ma all of a sudden mentioned that today is aat anaaj, it brought back…
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Continue Readingहे मेघ, मित्रता के कारण, अथवा मैं विरही हूँ इससे मेरे ऊपर दया करके यह अनुचित अनुरोध भी मानते हुए मेरा कार्य पूरा कर देना। फिर वर्षा ऋतु की शोभा लिये हुए मनचाहे स्थानों में विचरना। हे जलधर, तुम्हें अपनी प्रियतमा विद्युत् से क्षण-भर केलिए भी मेरे जैसा वियोग न सहना पड़े। O clouds, in…