Bagan Charchari with Japanese greens and Wasabi paste(Dry side dish with Veggies)

Tweet

Its a known fact that to survive, you need to constantly change and adapt to new environments. When we first stepped in Japan I really was in a dilemma as how to bring variety to our daily meals. The supermarkets sold many veggies but I was unable to recognise half of them. But being a blogger opens many avenues and I knew few blogs from Japan which came into my rescue. One of them is  Chika's she who eats. She is an amazing photographer and I can even eat the  paper with her gorgeous food pictures printed on it. Long before I visited this amazing country I longed to live her sweet life in the way she describes. Her recipes with fruits is an inspiration to follow.  I referred to her blog to know the names of the veggies in the market. She mentioned each and every vegetable, herb and fruit in her blog. Really can't thank her enough for making my stay much easier.

Lebu Pata die Daal (Lentil with lemon leaves)

Tweet

There is something about lemon that always reminds me of summer or more precisely the very thought of refreshing, vibrant citrus gives me comfort in scorching, balmy weather. But like most other citrus fruits they actually are a fruit of winter...though they thrive only in the warmer climates and bring joy to us through out the year. 

Alu Patol die Macher Patla Jhol (Light fish curry with potato and pointed gourd)

Tweet

The last couple of weeks have been like a whirlwind tour. With so much of packing to come back to India and so much of shopping for the last minute gift gathering for family and friends we could not see where days went by. Though we stayed away for very little time but The friends that we made there are keepers for life. Its going to be a bond for lifetime. With my urge to spent few more normal days without dismantling the home made the packing a last minute job with lot of pressure. but friends there made life so easy and joyous. with complete haywire routines we shopped, cooked, ate, drank, chat and partied together till the wee hours of mornings. The fact that it was a long holiday week helped to refresh our memories and bonding.

Til Rui (Rohu fish in Spicy sesame and mustard gravy)

Tweet

I first met and tasted Sesame on a sunny Saturday afternoon. I was only 9 then.Was playing with my brother in the garden, when we heard the tung sound of someone opening the huge iron gate. that was the first month when we reached Santiniketan and we hardly knew anybody there. Coming from  a life surrounded by plenty of cousins, loving grand parents and caring aunts in our joint family we were feeling very lonely in that nuclear set up. so we ran to the gate to meet someone new but found no one. Both of us raced for the stair way and rushed home and saw her there. A thin doe eyed women sitting on the mora and drinking water that my mother offered. 

Nolen Gurer Ice Cream (Eggless Ice Cream with Date Palm Jaggery)

Tweet

With this recipe tried and tested and liked by everyone, it feels like a mission is accomplished. Last year when on a sultry evening, after a 3 hours marathon monthly grocery shopping we surrendered ourselves to this ice cream...it felt like we died and reached ice cream heaven.  If there is any term to experience anything with all your senses that happened with this ice cream. It was Deliciously creamy,eye soothingly beautiful and breathtakingly aromatic. the cup with a big scoop of this pale coral hued dessert with drippings of nolen gurer syrup has an instant cooling effect but the best part was the aroma, a smoky woody caremelised flavour of the gur, which even in such a horrific summer day brought back the memories of winter.

one spoonful and we were sold immediately. after that we had it almost every month on our monthly visit to that specific mall and everytime I promised myself to make it real soon. and today when I made it for the second time and patted my back for almost achieving the same taste am questioning myself why it took me so long.