From Vine to Jar – Making Grape Jam

December 5, 2012 By sujatha 1 Comment

Although winter is here and thoughts are turning towards baking, roasting and the festive season, I had to share my experience making my very own grape jam for the first time ever!

This fall, we had a bounty of little purple grapes growing on thick vines climbing partly over the front wall of our little country home here in France. We knew they were ripe for the picking by the number of wasps, flies, bees, etc that were attracted to them. It would have been a shame to see them go to waste except for feeding these little insects of course so we decided we’d give making jam a try.

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Discovering Soul Food in New Orleans

November 22, 2012 By sujatha 3 Comments

We’ve just returned from a month long trip to the United States. During our four weeks there, we got to experience a lot of local culture, meet some lovely, friendly people and of course try out American style food. What we also realised is that America is a really really huge country and four weeks does not do its hundreds of proud sights and delights any justice at all! In spite of this, we enjoyed our journey that began in New York and ended in Los Angeles. Along the way, we also did a little road trip through the Southern states more so for the warm climate and the promise of good food and we weren’t completely disappointed.

One of our stops along the way was at New Orleans, the famed food capital of the South. One of the activities we indulged in while there was to attend a demonstration session at the New Orleans School of Cooking. It was 2 hours of food talk led by the lively Peg who talked about the history and origin of contemporary Southern staples such as gumbo and jambalaya. Everything that was made was passed around to the guests so we had a complete meal during the session as well to make it doubly interesting 😉

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Of Rum, Plaintains, Mangoes and More

August 26, 2012 By sujatha 1 Comment

We’ve just returned to our temporary base in France after spending a blissful month in the Caribbean. Although we limited our visit to a few islands such as Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and Trinidad & Tobago, I think we’ve come back with enough impressions of the Caribbean to last us a lifetime.

The tropical climate and humidity reminded me a lot of my own hometown in India which is located on the south-eastern coast of the country. Also familiar were the swaying palm and coconut trees and abundant plaintain & banana all of which make these islands really green.

We were looking forward to a relaxing experience and weren’t disappointed. Beautiful beaches, plentiful cocktails and truly delicious food all combined with an overall friendly and laid back attitude helps you unwind completely.

Caribbean cocktails — Cocktails by the sea at Bequia in the Grenadines

Mango cocktail — Delicious boozy mango daiquiri

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Tasting Kangaroo Meat on the German Highway

August 9, 2012 By sujatha 2 Comments

Although we’re in the Caribbean at the moment, enjoying the sea and scrumptious food, I feel I have to write about our experience at a B&B we found randomly on the German autobahn a little while ago during our road trip through Europe.

Aichelberg definitely did not strike us as a place where we would find great food not to mention gourmet style cooking. However, on our way back to France from Vienna, we had to make a stop for the evening and decided to check out a place called Lausers Adler in the little town of Aichelberg. The main reason for stopping there was that it was really close to the highway and away from the bigger cities where finding accommodation and more importantly, parking would have been a pain.

However, we were in for a pleasant surprise when we sat down for dinner soon after checking in. The decor of the place which looked like it hadn’t been changed since the 70s is not entirely inspiring, however, one look at the menu told us that we were in for a treat as far as the food was concerned.

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Eating Our Way Through the Camino

July 31, 2012 By sujatha Leave a Comment

Myself and Peter recently completed the Camino de Santiago or the Way of St.James as it’s known in English. It was an exhilarating experience and the highlights included among others, meeting some really interesting people, beautiful landscapes and of course, trying out local cuisine and specialties.

Never having visited Spain before and not knowing much about Spanish food except for tapas, Rioja wine and paella, our journey through various provinces provided us with a good insight into local eating traditions and we sampled as many of them as we could.

And of course, I had to try out the famed paella on our very first day.