For the love of food and travel

I love quick and easy meals—they make life so much simpler. This pasta dish takes just 30–40 minutes to prepare, yet it tastes absolutely delicious and looks so impressive that everyone assumes you’ve spent hours in the kitchen. I made it with a white sauce, slightly different from the classic béchamel because I enjoy adding my own twist. It’s a wonderful alternative to the usual tomato-based sauces.  Originally of Italian origin, the béchamel sauce is the standard white sauce. Immigrating from Tuscany, Italy to the royalty of France, the béchamel, previously named Balsamella, was easily adapted into the rich French cuisine. They renamed it after the chief steward to King Louis XIV, the marquis de Bechamel, and quickly found a number of delicious recipes to adapt it into.  Béchamel sauce, also known as white sauce, is made from a white roux (butter and flour) and milk. It has been considered, since the 17th century, one of the mother sauces of French cuisine. It is use...

Birthdays, anniversaries, graduations, achievements, promotions.....all and more call for moments of celebrations. Sometimes, in our home.....we celebrate by inviting our near & dear ones to a party....sometimes it's just us four.   Oprah Winfrey quotes that " The more you celebrate your life, the more there is to celebrate in life".  Well whatever  be the scenario....there's always cake.  For me celebrations and sprinkles go together. That's when I turned a simple butter cake into a celebration cake a couple of months ago for our little man's birthday. It's a very simple cake and looks great in any occasion.  Here's the recipe: Ingredients: For cake: 1 and 2/3 cup flour 1/2 teaspoon baking powder 1/4 teaspoon baking soda 1/2 teaspoon salt 1/2 cup unsalted butter, melted 3/4 cup granulated sugar 1/4 cup packed light brown sugar 1 large egg 1/4 cup curd 3/4 cup milk 1 Tbsp vanilla extract 2/3 cup sprinkles  For vanilla b...

I love Italian food. And why is that???? well...it is the fact that simple ingredients are used to create beautiful and colourful dishes that are super delicious. And one such dish is the Bruschetta! Now firstly.....how do you pronounce this, by the way?  Broo-shett-ah?  Broo-skeett-ah?  Broos-chetta? Well it's actually Broo-skett-ah.  You could google it and listen to the pronunciation....that'll be more clearer.  Bruschetta is an antipasto (starter dish) from Italy consisting of grilled bread rubbed with garlic and topped with olive oil and salt. Variations may include toppings of tomato, vegetables, beans, cured meat, or cheese. It is usually served as a snack or appetiser.  The history of the bruschetta dates back to the Etruscan age: while occupying the land between Rome and Tuscany, they began dressing the local, salt-less bread (best when it’s a day old and a little bit stale) and baking slices in ovens.  Before p...

Who would have thought that spices could change the whole world? Personally, I didn't!!  Spices were very precious and not only used in cooking, but also as medicines. The Spanish and the Portuguese were the first to set out on voyages to the Indies to find spices at their source. After Columbus came back from America claiming to have found the Indies....... it was Vasco Da Gama’s turn to take a shot..... and reached Calicut on 20th May 1498 via the Cape of Good Hope. Calicut back then was the main port for the global spice trade.....although the main cargo was black pepper, the so-called “king of spices”. The discovery of India acted as a catalyst for a whole new era of world history. It opened up a route to reach India from Europe. Blood was shed, ships were drowned, seamen died from scurvy but that didn’t stop the Europeans from coming to India. After many years, Portugal attacked Goa and took hold of the whole island. Goa remained a Portuguese colony for 500 years......

Hosting a party calls for careful planning, and at the heart of it all is the food. Within that, the dessert holds a special place—it’s the sweet finale that completes the celebration. Not long ago, I prepared this dessert for a party, and it was an instant success—thanks largely to its striking presentation. Colorful, abstract, and artistic, it captured attention before the very first bite.  It may appear as though hours of effort went into creating this, yet in reality, it’s a wonderfully simple recipe.  If you enjoy jelly, this is certainly one to try. Jelly mixes are widely available in an array of flavors, made with powdered gelatin and sweeteners. Interestingly, gelatin itself has a long history—it rose to popularity during the Victorian era, when it was sold in sheets and required careful purification, a process that was both time-consuming and laborious. For that reason, gelatin desserts were once considered a luxury, reserved for royalty and the well-to-do....

Vagator Beach College days are among the most colorful chapters of our lives, filled with laughter, friendships, and unforgettable adventures. Class trips and outings, in particular, leave behind memories that stay etched in our hearts forever. In my final year of college, we set out on a trip to Goa—right around the time when the Hindi blockbuster Dil Chahta Hai was ruling the theatres. That film was my first glimpse of Goa’s charm, but experiencing it in person was something else entirely. I can still recall the joy of those days: the golden beaches, the lively parties, the endless shopping, and the mouthwatering food shared with friends. When the trip ended and we returned home, I was left with a lingering desire—a constant urge to go back to Goa again. That’s the magic of Goa. It isn’t a place you visit once and cross off your list. The first trip sparks a longing to return, and by the second, it begins to feel like a tradition waiting to be continued. Goa is renowned f...

♪ It's the most wonderful time of the year ♪  Come December, and that's the song that goes on in my mind.  Probably the most celebrated holiday in the world, our modern Christmas is a product of hundreds of years of both secular and religious traditions from around the globe.  Christmas is a celebration of the birth of Jesus Christ. It is generally celebrated on December 25th by most of the nations. Christmas celebration starts almost a month before. It includes decorating the houses with colorful lights, stars, etc., decorating Christmas trees and making a small manger. People sing carols rejoicing in the birth of Jesus. They are also busy making goodies to share with friends. Christmas is also called the 'season of giving' and people love to exchange gifts with loved ones and give gifts to the poor. Finally the actual Christmas day is celebrated by wearing new clothes and going to church, bursting fireworks and having a great feast with family. ...

   I'm sure most of us have eaten pizza at least once in our lives. I remember eating pizza since I was a little girl.....and I absolutely love them.  Though the deep pan pizza, the Chicago style, the one with the soft and buttery crust is yummy and filling....I personally like the thin crusted Italian style pizza.  Pizza is typically yeasted flatbread. The modern pizza was invented in Naples, Italy, and the dish and its variants have since become popular and common in many areas of the world. Foods similar to pizza have been made since the neolithic age. Records of people adding other ingredients to bread to make it more flavorful can be found throughout ancient history. The ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese. A popular contemporary legend holds that the classic pizza, pizza Margherita, was invented in 1889, when the Royal Palace of Capodimonte commissioned the Neapolitan pizza maker, Raffaele Esposito to create a pizza in ho...