Culinary Chemistry

A Belated Merry christmas and an advanced Happy New Year to everyone!…The last week has been so– busy that I have been unable to even approach the computer leave alone blog !!! We had a blast with my sis and Bro-in-law at their place in Dallas. They had recently bought a house there which, in keeping with my sister’s favorite adage that “Everything is big in Texas”, was rea–lly mammoth and it being Christmas and all,they had made the place look very festive. We had a perfect, lazy, chatty weekend; of course the delicious food that my sis cooked added greatly to the general bon homie we were all feeling!

A view of the Christmas lighting on one side of their house

Coming from a match-box sized one bedroom apartment in California,where we cannot afford to have even the word ‘personal space’ in our dictionary, we cherished every minute of living in the hu–ge house where you didn’t crash in to your husband if you moved too fast!!:-)) . They had a total of five bedrooms including the master and so my hubby’s favorite comment was that we could lock ourselves in a separate bedroom if ever we had a tiff!!!:-)))

The Christmas Wreath was made by my sis

Ok, now for a few of the choicest foods that we all consumed heartily:-))

She made this great Bruschetta topped with a mixture of tomatoes,olive oil,basil & salt,garnished with lemon juice.

So don’t the golden and crispy vadas all artistically arranged by my bro-in-law,make you folks want to sink your teeth into them? That is exactly how I felt when I saw these lentil vadas fried and removed from the oil. This is made from toor dal but I found that she uses some rice flour also to get the crisp outside!!

Another picture of the vadas along with the paal payasam(rice payasam. The colour is solely due to the saffron strands which my sister had ground and dissolved in the milk.

She also made the typical south Indian lunch of Rice, Sambar,rasam, curry, appalams, all consumed before I could click a photo.

Finally on the day we left, she made a very simple but delicious veggie noodle dish;the recipe I shall post soon. But for now below is the mouth watering picture.

She garnished the noodles with scallions and lightly browned paneer.

So ended our Christmas vacation. Now we are back to our little apartment in California but with great memories of our time in Dallas.