The changing colors of spring/summer

Last week picturesque

This week

Tristate residents were breathing a sigh of relief in the end of May thinking that summer is officially here when the weather changed for worse because of the passing over of Hurricane Andrea. One of my friends, Chikki, commented that how these storms are named in the US. I told him from A-Z. He said had they been in India, they would  have been named Rajeev, Pankaj and so on. LoL!

Yesterday

My apologies for falling off the map to all my readers. Last week I was ill and the week before that I was feeling blue as I was missing home a lot. Recently, one of my friends got his family to NYC from Bangladesh and his wife is missing home too. I am thinking of taking her out for coffee and some shopping to perk her up and tell her that it will only get better. This is what I keep telling myself for keeping motivated.

Cooking at home:

Over the last fortnight, I attended several professional events and symposiums along with cooking everyday at home. This is what I accomplished. I am adding the description in the caption and will provide additional comments after every dish posted in this write up for your quick reference.

Papa ji di daal’s competitor 

All of you who are from the same town as me in India (Meerut) or even remotely connected , would immediately recognize the caption of the pic. For those who are not familiar, Papa Ji is the name of a famous road side eating joint (called dhaba), which makes the most lip smacking urad/chane ki daal tadka (split chick pea lentil's curry) in Meerut. I tried it at home for the first time and it came close to the original. The only things missing were boondi ka raita and tandoori roti that we eat at the Dhaba  with this daal.

My cup runneth over with the urad daal tadka, smack!

Leftover daal tadka with Indian kachumbar salad

I can never have enough of this daal

or this cucumber along with it

Breakfast:

Breakfast over the last few weeks has been miscellaneous. I made smoothies and others depending on the time I had.

Peanut butter and banana sandwich for breakfast

Iced coffee with stuffed sandwich

I am hooked on these breakfast smoothies

Please bear with me

Avocado, tomatoes, cucumber and so on sandwich

Courtesy Rohith

This one speaks for itself

Accidental Discovery of a great snack:

I told you in my last blog post that my friend, Juhi, teased me with her creation of idli saambhar over a weekend. I tried to tease her back saying that I will make this strawberry, mango and avocado salsa for snacking on a Friday evening.

Yummy goodness

As you might notice from the pic, the chips are just leftover crumbs from the real thing. So Rohith (as always) had the brainstorm of mixing the two and the next thing you know we had this mexican chat.

Mouth watering

I cannot tell you how yummy it was. Even writing about it is bringing water to my mouth. Let me know if you would like the recipe  and I will share it with you. I added shallots instead of the red onions and sarenno peppers as we did not have any chile peppers at home. Nevertheless, the final product was restaurant quality. 
Rohith made chhole for dinner as I have been craving for them for a long time.

Rohith’s creation all three: chhole, salad and lemonade

Rohith spotted the Indian/Chinese radish in the market and requested me to make them with my Mom’s lip smacking recipe. A Russian lady asked me what it was seeing it in my grocery bag and even asked me how they were made. If only it were that easy to explain and make, I would have definitely helped her!

Healthy goodness

Artsy farsty

Semi-home made

Kadahi paneer with home made butter on the top and mint/cilantro chutney on the side  mixed parantha and pita bread  also featured as dinner, lunch and so on last week.
These two were made by hubby dear

Italian tomato salad with pita chips and humus

Vegetarian noodles

Cold beverage season officially begins at Roy’s Household:

As the weather was pleasant for a few days, Rohith and I tried every possible homemade beverage including all the following

Raspberry ice tea

Mango lassi

Strawberry lassi

Rohith’s advance father’s day lunch celebrations:

We had Baba (Rohith’s Dad) and his wife over for dinner on Sunday afternoon to celebrate Father’s Day a week in advance as we have another engagement over the coming weekend, which I will tell you about in just a minutes.

This is the star attraction of all that we prepared for them.

Tomattios being grilled with serranno and garlic 

Ta-Da Homemade authentic salsa verde

Again the reaction of the Mexican lady behind the check out counter on the grocery store was remarkable. She asked me  you buying tomatillos? I said yes, very tasty, I make them all the time at home with guacamole and tacos. She was so astounded that she called onto her friend to show her the packets in my hands! Rohith said that just imagine your reacting had you seen a Mexican buying something from India to make chhole bhature at home. LoL!

I also made pico de gallo but forgot to take a picture. So here’s a recycled picture of the same.

My Father in law and his wife polished off the entire bowl of both. No exaggeration there.  Baba commented that the only thing missing was raw mango (kachchaa aam) in my recipe to make it completely seasonal. Note to self.

Continuing the Mexican theme, Rohith gave these tacos also a try at home this week. We made and ate them so quickly that it would be a real challenge to eat them at a restaurant from now on without complaining ;)

So authentic, so tasty, so easy!

I decided to take a break from all the binging and made this healthy, quick and simple greek salad for lunch today. The turkish feta cheese block is literally a cherry on the top of this goodness. Let me know if you would like the recipe for both tacos and salad and I would be happy to share the same.

Trying to maintain weight. LoL!

I am attending two events this evening at two of my most favorite organizations. The first one is "people enjoying nature” photo shoot being organized by The Nature Conservancy to depict how people from different ethnic backgrounds perceive nature and urban settings. The second event is an International Potluck being organized by Upwardly Global to increase cooperation between skilled immigrants like myself in NYC over some food and drinks. I am taking the chana/chhole/chickpea/garbanzo beans masala/curry along with pita bread. This has been masterfully crafted by the Chef Rohith himself and I cannot thank him enough. Like I have told you in the past, I am all thumbs when it comes to cooking beans’ dishes in our home and it’s only Rohith’s forte’. Over the years, he has taken his talent to a whole other level now.

Cannot wait for everyone’s reaction to Rohith’s cooking :) 

I am in the middle of a number of things, all on professional levels that is why pardon my disappearance from social media including blogger. I was also very shocked to learn about the latest revelation in the news about our privacy online. 

Will keep you all posted. And yes I have not forgotten about the workout but truth be told, I have not worked out in more than a fortnight due to the series of events with me. I am resolving to start the same beginning tomorrow.

Weekend chore: 

So after a lot of searching and knocking on the doors, I have finally tied up with the Salvation Army to pick up all the clothes and items that we have not worn or used in the last six months to one year for donation. This will happen next week and there is also a cloth donation drive at Rohith’s work at the same time. So our entire weekend is dedicated to sorting, washing and organizing the goods for donation.

Have a rocking remainder of the week ahead folks. xxxx
Questions of the day:

• Have you accidentally discovered any fusion dish recently?
• What are your plans for the Father’s day on June 16, Sunday?
• How do you feel about the latest online privacy status’s disclosure in the news?
• Have you made any significant donation to some charity lately? If yes, what was it and which charity did you chose and why?

Do write to me at pallavibhar at gmail dot com or comment below. I would love to hear from you.