Blender story

So G loves Idli. And when we got married, he told me lovingly how he would appreciate idli for dinner. The loving wife that I am, went about procuring the batter from our Desi store. And every once in a while, we would have hot piping idlis for dinner and sometimes dosa too. Soon, I got bored because Idli making is very tedious to me and we cannot have it sans sambhar and chutney, so the amount of work is more.

So, our frequency started dwindling, but G didn't really complain to me. It so happened that my mother visited us and the loving MIL that she is, she had to make every single dish her SIL likes. So she set about making the idlis, much to my irritation. (My Mom loves to make things G likes, almost hardly making things I like, what is up with that??) And I was suitably admonished for not feeding the husband what he loves the most. Argghhh..so the process started again. Then came in my friend ART, who made matters worse by telling us that idli batter is easy to make and the outcome better than perfect. More arghh, so we set about getting the rice and dals.
Finally the batter was made and we realised taste was definitely better. So I gave in and resigned to my fate. Why couldn't the man just be happy with pasta in marinara sauce? O well!
The story above is a build up to my new love, if you are wondering where the post is going.
We had been using a Black and Decker blender to make the batter, but the blender couldn't be bothered with such a tedious process. So after about 5 batter making exercises, it decided to call it quits.

This actually worked out well for us and we set about to buy a better blender to get the rice to a fine-er paste. (I did try my food processor, but it just didn't give the same result).
So we got the Kitchen Aid blender, here's a link from Amazon.
I have been using this blender for almost a year now and I am really satisfied.
I had a Black and Decker before, but it just didn't get the batter done properly, which by far is the most difficult item I have tried to grind. It does the whole 'grinding' action really well. And at almost a Horse Power, it gets the job done efficiently.
Pros:
1. the jar is made of polycarbonate, and not glass, making it lighter to handle and easier to clean.
2. the cord can be neatly tucked away.
3. Super easy to clean, no hidden crevices in the base.
4. Crushes ice and makes smoothies as easily.

Cons:
1. It is noisy and if you have little kids, they can get scared.
2. I don't think it has an automatic shut off if it over heats, or I haven't experienced it yet.

Bottom line, it's a great blender and definitely affordable. Kitchen aid's products are not always supreme quality, but this comes fairly close.

Foodie talk

I was reading a blog and I just took up a tag.
So one has to basically list five memorable meals ever eaten: It could be anything that makes the meal memorable – the food, the place, the place you were in your life when you ate, the company, the weather, the ambiance – heck, the guy who served the food!”.

So, the oldest and fondest food memory has to be from home. Right? So it is of my mom making poha and halwa for Sunday breakfast. I just loved loved it and I could eat boat loads of it. We would sit on the carpet infront of the TV and eat watching Ramayan/Mahabharat and then we would all happily take a nap.

Once, my parents had gone out of the city and we were staying with family friends. The Auntie was known to make funny combination of food. Now she knew I loved Pumpkin Sabzee. So she made dal, rice and pumpkin sabzee. I had never had this combination..but to this day, I am smitten. I absolutely LOVE it and every time I or Mom make it we think of Auntie and smile :) I even remember that we were sitting on their terrace and having lunch. it was just so special and sweet :)

Next is a memory of the times I spent in Jabalpur, food being a major thing with most of us :D Shalu and I would go to this restaurant called 'Traffic Jam' and we would do TP over cold coffee with ice cream. That used to be fun. And also the cutlets @ 'Indian Coffee House'. ummmm :D And how can I forget the bread-omelet Rahul and Rajat made me eat @ Itarsi enroute to Bhopal. That was just awesome, none of us slept that night, we just talked our way into the morning :)

And then I landed in the US. So many food memories with UTA and Arlington. I think the most prominent ones are the loads of chai we would drink so we wouldn't fall asleep and instead study. There was always a 'discussion' as to who the chai maker would be, Mudi would never make it but he made the best tea, followed by Sameer. While the tea lasted the gossip session would last and many a times, we would all go to sleep right after having the tea . hahaha. The other is the very elaborate Dinner my roomies and friends would have. We would have cooking turns and if we had enough time, we'd make some nice stuff for dinner (nice = chole/rajma or sauj's gujju delicacies). We would all gather, Anurag was mostly there, he would get his own food unless it was something special, and we would all sit on the floor on newspapers and eat and talk and just be happy. Of course we had to watch a movie after that, so we'd all catch a little bit of a movie, i would take some shut eye during the movie and then rush off to the lab or in my room to study :)

How can I not have a memory of my non-bawarchi hubby :D So G doesn't cook much, but one thing he does do very well is make Omelet. So Saturday mornings are G's mornings to make us a super big Omelet and cold coffee and we'll sit and watch a movie and gorge on the eggy delight. It's super cool coz it reminds me of home, since i'll push the plate aside and take a little nap after the sumptuous breakfast :)

There are many more...like when Mom would start preparing the festival delicacies, we would wait around the kitchen wishing her to get the first batch out so we could taste some, Mom asking us to make Chinese for her, coz she loves it and loves it when we make it for her. Fighting with Dad on how much sugar there should be in halwa, there is no one who makes better halwa than him, absolutely no one. Making chai for V Uncle and sitting around to get compliments from him :) The first time I cooked for G, the first time he made dal...so many more firsts and so many more memories to make :)

O, this was a fun fun tag! Anyone who wants to should take it up. Anu Russell you are definitely tagged and Akansha. Coz I know both of you are foodies and it'll be nice to know your food memories.

This has made me so hungry, time for some tapioca pudding :D