It’s that time of the year again when we think about the year that was and the year that will be. I’m glad that this love for food blogging has sustained its second year well. There have been the recent lows due to my regular broadband connection going AWOL, and google taking a full minute to load on my standby datacard. But that’s history now. The broadband has been restored to its earlier glory and so will food blogging.
To capture all the action on Saffron Trail in 2007, I’d like to index all the recipes, category wise. The WBB round ups are all there on the left column. Saffron Trail had the honour of hosting Jihva for Ingredients in the month of July. Chillies were the chosen ingredient and the round up had 65 entries to make your mouth and eyes water!
Index of recipes blogged in 2007
Healthy Eating Living
Vijaya Venkat’s all natural lunch box ideas
14 ways to reduce your kitchen’s carbon footprint
Breakfast
Savoury pancakes with mushrooms and onions
Onion Rava Dosai with spicy tomato chutney
Vattayappam – steamed rice cakes from Kerala
Vegetables
Cauliflower and fenugreek greens in spicy peanut gravy
Potato in Tamil Brahmin cuisine
Spinach mash or Keerai Masiyal
Bottlegourd in gravy or Dudhi ki sabzi
Bittergourd in spicy gravy or Pavakkai Pitlah
Chargrilled eggplant in yoghurt
Cabbage curry with Bengali spices
Steamed vegetable manchurian in gravy
Thalagam – Winter vegetables Tambram style
Soups and salads
Herby tomato salad with cheese and pine nuts
Yellow lentil and raw mango salad
Breads
Rice, Pasta, Noodles, Starches
Cauliflower – Spinach – Pasta casserole
Fried rice with mustard greens
Lentils
Sambar with freshly ground spices
Sauces, Chutneys, Dips and Pickles
Tomato salsa / Instant tomato chutney
Cakes, bakes, desserts
The all Indian Strawberry Cheesecake
Banana coconut semolina cake in 15 minutes
The most popular section week after week has been the Tamil Brahmin recipeswhere I jot down notes, taken over the phone (held between my shoulder and ear), while I’m hovering over the stove with a strong craving to eat food my genes are made up of. 2008 will see more of the rarer Tam-Bram recipes find their space on the blog. The piece written about Bhut Jholokiaalso seems to be on the top 5, at most times. This makes me wonder how many chilli obsessed people there are in the world.
Weekend Breakfast Blogging, the event started in 2006 to popularise breakfast as a meal and to get inspirations from food bloggers all around – found a different home each month from Feb 07 onwards starting with Eggs at Live to eat. The themes ranged from green leafy veggies to summer fruits, spices tooats. Breakfasts then went through Ethnic twists to leftover revivals, the most recent ones being omelettes and cornflakes.
A big vote of thanks to all the lovely hosts who spared time and effort to keep the WBB wheel moving. The event took a break in December, only to start afresh in Jan. (Watch this space!)
Here are some of my personal favourites from 2007
Black eyed peas burgers–Something so interesting from something seemingly boring
Dudhi ki sabzi– One of the best tasting zero-oil recipes ever made in our kitchen
Eggplant dip(Badenjan Dip) – Inspired from Nigella Lawson’s show
Cauliflower spinach pasta casserole –my first attempt in casserole making and we fell in love with this dish
Strawberry cheesecake – First attempt and last attempt (by the time we’d eaten all of it, there was an extra inch on our waist)
Nupur of One Hot Stove has beautifully captured the year that’s gone by and has asked fellow food bloggers to share the same – this section of my post goes to her
Plans for 2008
With the Applied Nutrition degree that will be mine in the beginning on the year, the focus will be on healthier, more nutritious food. Through the blog, I hope to share info on healthier foods, cooking techniques and nutrition fundamentals with all the health conscious folks.
The focus will also be on lesser known Indian regional cuisines. I’d love to discover newer healthy ingredients to cook with, making them more adaptable to Indian palates. Another thing on the agenda is to explore the vegetarian recipes from the cuisines of the world. I’ve also promised myself to better my photographic skills. Any pointers towards books and websites that help one do so are welcome.
A user-friendly index of recipes blogged so far is on the cards for long now. It should be up and running by end of Jan.
I’d like to thank all my readers for their continued support, the encouragement caring from friends I have made in the food blogging world and of course my husband who has been super encouraging about any wild combinations I’ve come up with or anything new I’ve made him try, never making me feel foolish about something gone wrong or not tasting that great. He’s been a huge positive influence for this blog. After all, every cook needs patient tasters right!
We’d like to wish all of you a wonderful 2008, that brings you tons of joy, love and good health and everything else you wish for.
Signing off and see you in the new year
Nandita
Hey Nandita, I really enjoy going thru your blog & appreciate the efforts for healthy eating. You keep me so inspired to do that ;-)God bless & a wonderful New Year to you & yours.
That is a cool roundup of the year… Happy New Year sweetie, hope you won’t have to deal with all the connection issues next year!
Nice post!…looking fwd to another year of goodness…happy new year!
Thats a very nice way of classifying ur posts..i enjoy reading ur blog..Hope to see more of you in the new year..Happy new year
Thanks for a great round-up of the year! I love your breakfast event and hope to be an enthusiastic participant in the coming year 🙂 Your tamil recipes are always much appreciated. All the best for another bright and delicious year of blogging.
Another year of good food. I love reading about what you have coming up too!
dear Nandita, Best Wishes for 2008!
Nandita! Incredible round up and wishing you n family an amazing new year!!
Happy New Year to you and S! Looking forward to going through your favorites. The sambar with freshly ground spices is calling me first though…
Happy New Year Nandita. I am so looking forward to your nutritional Indian recipes.
Thats a very nice round up Nandita. I loved your Tam bram series. Will look forward to more in this series.Wish you and your family a very happy and prosperous new year…
Okay, I’ve just bookmarked this.Happy new year dearest to you and your loved ones. Looking forward to your new series and posts.
Hey Nandita, that a cool capture for the year:) hope you have a great 2008, and look forward to all your healthy posts:)
Nice way to bid adieu to 2007 Nandita. Loved the indexing part of the post…:) Have a Blissful n Joyous 2008!~ Siri
Hello dear friends,Wishing you all a blast of a new year…forgot to mention one thing that a proper index of recipes blogged so far is very much on the cards, and long due in fact! I may enlist the help of dear friend Sig in the process 🙂 Thanks for coming by and leaving your good wishes- we just ushered 2008 at home, with a dozen close friends – good music and tons of good food….and lots leftover for today – wont be doing much cooking! Time to list down resolutions and yes – clean up after the paaardy!!!Cya all soon!
Happy new year to you too Nandita. I am lookign fwd to see your blog rocking with many new changes in it……
Nice round up Nandita.Looking forward to see healthy recipes and tips.Wish you and your family members a very happy and prosperous new year.
May 2008 bring fresh cheer to you and S…Happy New Year!
Hi NanditaI have been a regular reader of your blog..& there are times I have waited soo impatiently for your next post 🙂 I am a Tam Bram myself, so its great to read your posts and I can really relate to your descrptions about our quirks..I was wondering whether you could do something like a sample menu for the week kind of thing ..I usually cook in advance and it would be nice to know that I am making a balanced meal rather than following my cravings which make for a nutritionally lop sided menu.Thanks again for delighting me with your lovely posts and Happy New Year
Happy New Year!! looking forward to those helathy recipes and cooking techniques!! 🙂
Shankari dear, your wishes have been accepted 🙂 Hugs!!!
Nandita my sweet. I wish you a prosperous and grand 2008! It’s been such a great pleasure knowing you these last (almost) 2 years. Look forward to sharing 2008 with you through your blog, emails and of course our regular and fun chats. Hugs always!
Nandita,A very (belated but) happy new year to you and your family. I was awed by your list of recipes, and your unflagging dedication (whatever you might think and feel!). Now I have absolutely no excuses for not cooking delicious and healthy food. Kamini
Wish you and your loved ones a Very Happy New Year! I can see you have been a prolific food blogger in 2007; hope to see more of that this year as well. 🙂