Spring Cleaning - Travel cleanses the mind!

Been doing a bit of cleaning up on my blog - first to be attacked was the tags. Though I take a lot of care while posting itself to make sure that I stick to a limited number of tags, turns out there were many which were quite superfluous and had only one entry under them, while there were some categories which weren't tagged at all - one pot meals (thanks A!) and Tamil cuisine for e.g - both of which I have quite a few recipes posted. So, I added a few and deleted a lot - some of the categories which have only one post under them are because of my aspirations to post more on the same - like stir fries, couscous and Mexican.

I also made sure my list of recipes has been updated - so just one click on the Recipe Index (you can find it on the right side of the blog) takes you to the recipes arranged according to different categories - Soups, Salads, Main Course, Rice, Breads, Chicken, Meat & Fish, Cakes, Desserts, Indian Sweets etc

There's lots more to be done; starting with changing the look of the blog to considering moving to wordpress. Just don't have the time or the bandwidth to do any of that right now - a full time job and home have me stretched out as it is.

Do let me know if you have any suggestions or comments or would like to see more of a certain kind of cuisine/recipe.

In the meanwhile, in case you are wondering what these photographs are about, I'm sharing some pics of our recent trip to Bhimtal Lake. This is a picturesque place about 300km from Delhi very close to the more famous Nainital Lake. We stayed at a beautiful place called Fishermen's Lodge - being the off season, we were the only guests there apart from one other couple. The service was warm and personalised, the food was excellent and the views of the lake were
spectacular! The weather was just right, there were no crowds and even when we went boating we had the entire lake to ourselves! My 4 year old daughter was thrilled - she wasn't being told to keep her voice down or to sit still at the table or not jump on the wooden deck. We walked, curled up in a corner with books, packed picnic lunches which we ate on the banks of neighbouring Naukuchiyatal and Sattal lakes. Spring cleaning for the mind - we came back all relaxed and refreshed! :)

Peppermill

Peppermill is an attempt to chronicle my love affair with cooking – from giddy teenager trying to bake in mother’s kitchen to independent girl living alone for the first time; from not-so-shy bride excitedly setting up a kitchen in a new city to suddenly being pushed to the brink of no return by a rare condition which didn’t allow me to eat for a whole year; from cautious patient-in-recovery to carefree mother who wants to enjoy every minute with my beautiful daughter.

I have, over the years, collected a number of recipes through family, friends, books, magazines and the internet. Most of them have been tried out, favorites are much repeated, others get buried under the comfort of routine, still others call to me every time I see them but never seem to have that one ingredient which even I ,the Queen of substitution, can’t overlook. Through this site, I hope to share these recipes, try out some new ones and recreate the memories that were created along with the dish.

Why peppermill? Pepper is one of my favourite spices – indigenous to India, it was “black gold” at one point in time – valuable trade currency and one of the reasons the spice route to India became so famous and led to her being colonized by the Europeans. This adaptable spice brings its own touch to any cuisine it flavours – from mild European to scorching Chettinad; and as it goes through the mill, the coarsely ground flakes filtering down seem to come out all the more stronger in flavor – a trait I would like to think I identify with.