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Saffron Trail Digest

Stories after the silence and what plans for Diwali?

October 31, 2007

October has been a record low on Saffron Trail and I wanted to break the jinx. Initially it was the internet. The MTNL broadband connection is still down, but I have kind of gotten used to the Reliance data card. If the see the positive, it means, I’m always connected to the net even in the outdoors. And I’ve got used to the slower speed

October has been a record low on Saffron Trail and I wanted to break the jinx. Initially it was the internet. The MTNL broadband connection is still down, but I have kind of gotten used to the Reliance data card. If the see the positive, it means, I’m always connected to the net even in the outdoors. And I’ve got used to the slower speed.

To add to the internet problem, both the hubby and me fell sick one after the other – and since I was going under weather after a long long time, it was a heavy bout to make up for all the time the flu bugs have missed me! The loss of appetite that comes with taking medicines, made me stay away from all food blogs, even my favourite ones.

After we got up and running, I thought, I’ll get back to my blog now. But that inertia and boredom of blogging had grasped me completely. Except for sneaking into a few blogs off and on, and barely making it to text Raaga a birthday message, it’s been total hibernation for me. Honestly, I have not been too busy with work, which means a lot of posts could have happened. It’s been a strange situation where I know blogging would make me happy and yet I did not want to type blogger.com. The camera is sitting in some unknown location in the house, which has rarely ever happened with me, or any of you food bloggers. I realized it is now or never. If I do not get back now, I probably will distance myself too much from something I love so much.

With Diwali round the corner, I just did a peek into the archives of ST, and discovered that I had gone bonkers making some SIXDiwalitreats last year – and most of them being tried for the first time.

Today, gingerly I went into the Another Subcontinent forums, into the Diwali treats thread, checking out on all the goodies. Also, checking out Indira’s Mithai section.

as well as Manisha’s tantalizing Orange Burfi – plus browsing through JFI Diwali Round Up -2006 at Vee’s Past, Present and Me – to get some inspirations.

Hope all of you are having a lovely time preparing for Diwali. What are the plans at your end if I may ask? I’d like to try something new and get out of my cooking rut this festive season.

By the way after a really long while, I tried something new yesterday – a one pot Gujarati dish called Daal Dhokli from the Hungry Monster site. It turned out pretty good. Besides that, I’ve been making homemade thin crust pizzas at least once a week – thanks to the super active yeast sent across by Anita. I can’t thank her enough for that. I managed to gather the enthusiasm to try her Potato Bread, but may be the bread read my hastiness and decided not to rise at all, and I thought it would rise on baking, but that did not happen. It turned out to be what I’d call a flop show, but clearly the recipe is not to blame. So I want to try it once more with some more patience on a sunny day.

Otherwise we’ve been eating out a lot, thanks to my kitchen boredom [translating into blog boredom]. Sernya, a small shack like Tibetan joint run by 78 year old Uncle John, serves heart warming Thukpas, vegetables stir fried Tibetan style, rice and noodles, all for a small sum. If you are in Bombay and you’d like to try out authentic Tibetan food, I’ll gladly share the address with you. We also managed to go back to Urban Tadka. I don’t know if I’ve already raved about this place here. We like to call it the one-hour wait place, because no matter how early you land up and which day of the week it is, the minimum wait is one hour. One look at the prices and one taste of the food, and you’ll know why people don’t mind waiting over an hour to have grub. It’s Punjabi fare at its very best. Their biryanis are out of the world and so is their simple yellow dal tadka, or Punjabi Kadhi.

Please share with me your Diwali treat ideas, I desperately need some inspiration this year.

Festival recipes mumbai newsletter
by Nandita Iyer 
24 Comments

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previous post: WBB # 15 : Breakfast from Leftovers – Round Up
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Comments

  1. Raaga says: October 31, 2007 at 12:27 pm

    glad to have you back… even The Singing Chef has suffered a great deal this October 🙂 maybe I’ll come back with a bang.

    Reply
  2. Rajitha says: October 31, 2007 at 12:48 pm

    hey nandita..glad ur back..yep..keeping away from anything makes it harder to get back into..it is hard to break the cycle…look fwd to see some yummilicious recipes from you….btw. about the bread incident…if you are impatient like many of us..try making the irish-soda bread..you do not have to wait for that to rise 🙂

    Reply
  3. easycrafts says: October 31, 2007 at 1:13 pm

    Welcome back dear…hope u get back to ur original pace of blogging very soon

    Reply
  4. Pooja V says: October 31, 2007 at 1:57 pm

    I have similar story like yours …my PC wasnt working so Khanapina was also out of blog world for a while in OCT.

    Reply
  5. Anonymous says: October 31, 2007 at 2:37 pm

    Hi, Nandita.Glad to have you back. Hope you get back into the rhythm soon enough. I’ve been waiting eagerly for your reply to my request in your “request-a-recipe” section. Good to hear that other than flu, things have been fine with you. I am a newocmer to your blog, and just love it. So, I’m so glad that you’re doing fine :)Durga

    Reply
  6. KayKat says: October 31, 2007 at 3:41 pm

    I know what you mean – October was crazy busy and I didn’t get around to try out even half the recipes I wanted to work with!Am glad you’re back 🙂

    Reply
  7. bee says: October 31, 2007 at 4:08 pm

    welcome back. i’ll post something for you today.

    Reply
  8. Manisha says: October 31, 2007 at 5:57 pm

    Good to see you back! And glad you are feeling better, too! The orange burfi is pretty good and easy to make, too. If you use less sugar, make sure that the sugar syrup is made properly. Then you’re good to go!

    Reply
  9. Asha says: October 31, 2007 at 5:58 pm

    Glad you recovered N! Except me (“the weird one!”), everybody seems fell ill and recovered! No break for me ever!!;pThe YUM blog has many ideas, I am still struggling to get the menu in my head but will come eventually as always! Happy Halloween. Listen to the music in my blog, I am sure that will make you feel good!;D

    Reply
  10. marriedtoadesi.com says: October 31, 2007 at 7:25 pm

    Mrs Iyer, I totally understand!!! I have bloggers lethargy. First I got sick of my template and literally took a knife to my blog look. I’ve been too lazy to implement the changes I have. Got photoshop finally, haven’t loaded up on the computer. Sick of my old computer and want to buy a new one. Just annoying things that have gotten in the way. Until I set up my blog to look like the way I want I’ve been absolutely lazy to upload anything. Need to do it soon for my wbb roundup thought. that is my kick in the ass! Don’t go away, its so sweet to recieve encouragement from the blogosphere. People have left me notes saying come back, and i havne’t even had the decency to go and thank them. I suck. But your blog is wonderful, bring it back Nandita!!!Love, Kanchana

    Reply
  11. Mansi says: October 31, 2007 at 8:32 pm

    Hey nandita! its alwasy easy to give up, but too tough to stick in and fight back…but the happiness that the latter provides far outweighs the efforts!!so don’t give up, start gingerly, and walk back in:) my parents and in-laws are here so we are having loads of fun for diwali:) hope the same for you too!

    Reply
  12. musical says: October 31, 2007 at 10:58 pm

    Hey Nandita,Glad to see you back, dear! Hope that you and your hubby are feeling better now. Take your time to get back to blogging. Sometimes you do need to take some time out for just yourself. i am pretty sure that soon you’ll feel like posting at your regular pace :). You have a wonderful festival time. Take care,musical.

    Reply
  13. madteaparty says: November 1, 2007 at 5:05 am

    Here you are at last! Yes, must get cracking on the Diwali things…I too plan to make Manisha’s range barfi this year now that I see some good ranges in the market after a gap of a cople of years (I don’t knw, but at least I wasn’t getting oranges worth eating….)On the Potato Bread, make sure yu follow the recipe exactly – each step in the correct order – that is critical. One t ime I just threw every thin tgether thinking I knew what all was needed – but this is one recipe where the sequence seem to be really important – now I read the post every time I bake it – and great results every time!

    Reply
  14. Srivalli says: November 1, 2007 at 11:05 am

    welcome back…i guess oct has been slow for many…even I couldn’t blog that much…felt bad on that count…now looking forward to the goodies that you are going to prepare….now shall we have a deal..lets decide what all we can prepare and see if we can..how does that sound?..:D

    Reply
  15. junoesque says: November 1, 2007 at 1:14 pm

    hi ngreat to see you back..i was missing my vicarious fix of the food world..as for diwali – here is my two penny request :no sweets puhhlleeez. i personally get sick of all the sweets, pastries and cookies by just looking at them salty savoury stuff it is. and if you can make it low- cal / low fat …like wow !!!:))

    Reply
  16. Cynthia says: November 1, 2007 at 11:38 pm

    It’s so good to have you back my friend. You were missed dearly. Sorry to hear that you and the hubby were not well. I thought your absence was the internet-thingy alone.

    Reply
  17. Nabeela says: November 2, 2007 at 5:47 am

    It is hard to come back after a long hiatus. I had difficulty too after my last semester’s break….but after a few posts things are bound to spring back and you’ll be back into blogging and blog hopping like it’s nobody’s business! 🙂

    Reply
  18. Suganya says: November 2, 2007 at 6:19 am

    Welcome back, Nandita. I was surprised to see you dormant for so long. I have no idea what to do for Diwali. I will closely monitor yr comments section 😀

    Reply
  19. Meeta K. Wolff says: November 2, 2007 at 9:47 am

    Hey I am missing you girl! But good to see you are coming up for air! Miss you loads!

    Reply
  20. Chandrika says: November 2, 2007 at 12:37 pm

    Welcome back, Nandita! And take it easy..I came out my hibernation two days back..It’s a kind of lethargy which seeps into us sometimes…I too went through a bout of sickness..Haven’t planned much for Diwali, since it’s a work day here..

    Reply
  21. bluespriite says: November 4, 2007 at 11:23 am

    Nice to have you back.. I was wondering how bad was your flu!!

    Reply
  22. Latha Narasimhan says: November 4, 2007 at 4:27 pm

    Welcome back Nandita!:) We too face that problem at times! But in Bangalore broadband service is much better!:) For me diwali means sweets and bhakshanams! lunch is simple unless we have guests!:)

    Reply
  23. Kamini says: November 5, 2007 at 1:05 pm

    Don’t worry, the best of us get into a funk sometimes – only to emerge better and stronger, as I know you will! Hope you are feeling better now.I’m afraid I cannot offer you any Deepavali inspiration as I’m on the lookout for it myself!Happy Deepavali to you and your family and all your readers.Kamini (http://kaminidandapani.typepad.com)

    Reply
  24. Miri says: November 14, 2007 at 8:40 am

    A good way to enjoy Urban Tadka without the wait? Order in! :)We do that all the time when we are in Mumbai on an official visit, lunch is always Biryani from Urban tadka! Sorry to hear about your blogging block and hope you can bounce back soon!

    Reply

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