Monica Bhide

Thanks! I hope that I am going somewhere...

Jack - I wish you would enter these in. I think they sound delightful. The task is hard no doubt but I think the results will be mouth watering!

I thought asparagus was cheap right now.. am I wrong? We are getting a large bunch here for around $2.50 This contest was for the more exotic .. next one I promise I will do with a more reasonable choice

This thread has inspired a contest Recipe Contest - I hope you will all enter it!!!

Best Asparagus recipe, Indian style. Inspired by all the discussion on asparagus in the India forum recently , I have decided to hold a fun contest. You will have three days to complete the contest. Only the recipes posted on the recipeGullet will be judged. Our very own eGulleter's Rajsuman and Tryska will be the judges. The winner will receive a copy of one of my favorite new books – The Potsticker Chronicles. The rules – 1. You will need to use asparagus as one of the main ingredients 2. Please post tested recipes. IF you can provide a picture even better 3. You will need to use spices listed here… using any of the Indian pantry items listed here -- Indian Pantry 4. Anyone in an “official” capacity at eGullet is eligible to enter but will not receive any prizes. Judgments 1. All judgments are final 2. Contest ends on April 15th 3. The winner will be announced on April 20th Please post your entries on this thread along with a link to recipeGullet. (Note – We may need an alternate judge if Rajsuman is unable to find asparagus!)

Whippy - great advice. I really like your idea of the Indian caeser salad.

Anna - I do this too come to think of it. i dont know where I picked it up from

Rummate -- if you look thru some old threads here you will find some information about the other cuisines you mentioned to me that you are looking for. Also I did a class on some familiar Indian cuisines that you can find here.. Basic regional

What no stories here... come on!

Rummate - Welcome to the India forum. Do tell us a bit about yourself. What is the purpose of your research?

It has not been easy I can tell you that. It was nice knowing I had a paycheck coming every two weeks. But I am ready to see where this leads. Hopefully the next TDG piece will be on an employed food writer!

Okay -- so my friend called last night. She wanted to make sure that I had hung a lemon along with some dried chilies at the entrance of our house. "It will keep the house safe from the evil eye"... hmmmm! My hubby's grandmother, when she visits, does something similar as well. She willhold dried red chilies in her hand and then wave it over our son's head to ward of evil..... I have wondered what the significance of those foods is... Do you have tales likes these? Do you know where these traditions stem from? What about other cultures? Do you have something similar? (Garlic keeps vampires away??)

I like mine soft and not sour. Ofcourse the way I eat them would cause most South Indians to jump out an open window.. I like to cover them in sugar and pour some warm Ghee on them.. and YUMM In our house, my aunt makes them stuffed with pickle gravy, covered in egg wash and then pan fried. they are quite delightful I do have a confession to make I prefer the semonlina idlies to the ones made with rice. The only rice idlies are liked were soft tiny ones I ate at a small shop near my college in Bangalore. Now he knew how to do them right

Andy - you have somewhat of a similar story dont you?

Believe it or not, I never read much food writing when I was growing up. I read whatever I could find. When I came to the States years ago, I started by reading Rohinton Mistry (not a food writer) and dreamt of writing like him someday.. I still do! I guess my writing has been influenced the most by my father's writing. He would ( in his secret book no less) - write a lot of Urdu poetry. He and I would sit together for hours as he read and explained old Hindi poetry to me. Also there was Indian writer whom he would read to me who told gentle stories and I guess I always wanted to be like that - I believe the writers name was Prem Chand. More recently, I have started reading the works of MFK Fisher. I think Manil Suri has the style I enjoy.

but hopefully not to fresno I dont get it? Is this an inside joke? Sorry I am a bit dense on this stuff

Yes - Mongo - as soon as I can figure out how

I remember years ago in Bahrain eating at Indian restaurants and walking out with fingers stained a strange shade of yellow. I know a lot of Chefs in this forum can tell us stories about that and how things are now changing a lot for the better Indian curries (as are things like stews) are at the bottom of the rung sometimes for good food photography (as Vikram has mentioned) so I know the stylists use color BBhasin -- you were telling me some intersting stories on this the other day.. do share them here.

No book tour for the second book. It is a simple series cookbook with Indian recipes straight up. No fuss no mess.. just simple Indian recipes -- with a taste of the regions-- for beginners to the cuisine. The third book ... maybe Yes it is scheduled for a May release. I just got a copy and was thrilled to see it.

Thank you. I am really hoping some of the other writers on eG will step up and post here.. I have learnt so much from them and that really was the purpose of the piece... I am not the first one and certainly not the last one.. come on guys... I know who you are

my dsl connection keeps crashing. i will try to add more here soon.

Oh now that would be nice! If you have any contacts there I would love to get them. I dont believe I know anyone there.

Vikram - can you please post the interview.. I dont believe I saw it.

This has been the hardest piece for me to send out publicly. Its a very personal piece and close to my heart. This site has a lot of GREAT writers whose stories have inspired me... Steven Shaw for example. I hope that this will give some other new writer the courage to follow their dreams. And printing a poem that was done when I had no sense of what it meant to write was very difficult. But you know what... its the truth and the truth is not always well composed or beautiful.. it just is. I agree that there are many people in India and other places who are very successful in professions other than medicine etc.. however those are well paying and well respected professions and it was hard for my family, personally, when I took this decision. My husband is very supportive and that helps considerably. I hope that others will post their stories here. There is always a need for more inspiration!

We need a recap and get into this persons food habits-- soon -- I am dying to know what he eats