So all that thing of me being allergic to bananas- it doesn’t hold anymore.
Im sure you must be wondering what I am talking about- so for the uninitiated for a while I thought I was allergic to bananas because every time I ate them or had them in cakes or muffins or smoothies I would get a pain in my stomach. Like a really bad pain. But for the past couple of months I have been eating bananas and have noticed no cramps or any other problem. Maybe it was something with US bananas, because odd as it may sound, the problem only persisted when I was in the US. Here in India I have been eating bananas with no such problem. And with that issue gone, it was only a matter of time when I would end up baking with black, rotten looking bananas.
While I do have a recipe for this french lunch time snack of a bread muffin cup with a cheesy egg filling- to share today, I also have some news. The reason for my absence after my last post.
Two weeks back I lost my grandmother. Even though she was old and had not been keeping that well for years, the news of the death was unexpected. I was to visit her on the 20th and had my travel planned and tickets booked accordingly. Now I wish I had first come to her and then gone to visit my brother, but I guess that’s how it was supposed to be.
My grandmother loved and took care of all of us the best she could, and believe me she could.
For her, feeding us was the best way to show her affection, and she thought us polishing off everything she made was the best way we could return ours. And since most of my summer vacations during my school years were spent at my grandparents place, in two months of our stay it was a norm that my brother and I would at the least gain 10 kgs; the highest for me being about 18 kgs and and an increase in jean size from a respectable 27 to a not so healthy 36 inches. No doubt my grand mother was a great cook. I had plans during this visit to learn from her her chocolate ice cream (made from bottle gourd/ giya ), her sesame seed potatoes and her lip-smacking pickles. She had given me the recipes for all on the phone, but I thought I will ask her to show me once as well. But I guess that too was not meant to be.
Her recipe for dal paranthas is my go-to recipe when I can not think of anything better to make for V and me. And it will always remind me of her now.
Although growing up, my grandmother showed a slight preference towards my elder brother, once I was in college both of us became closer. The 6 months I spent trying to set up a baking venture, living at my grandparents place before I got married, got the two of us even more close. So when I got married she did not like that I was staying so far away and would constantly be worried and checking whether I was happy in the US, telling me that I have gone too far away.
After a very long break I am posting a Daring Bakers’ Challenge. And even though I am posting for it, I actually took an easy way out and did not dare myself too much with this month’s challenge.
Ruth from Makey-Cakey was our March 2013 Daring Bakers’ challenge host. She encouraged us all to get experimental in the kitchen and sneak some hidden veggies into our baking, with surprising and delicious results!
Initially when I had seen the challenge I had plans to make a beets red velvet cake and try out a black bean brownie recipe I had been eying for a long time. But as you can see those plans did not pan out.
Instead I tried this recipe my mom uses to make whole wheat cupcakes. My sister-in-law loves these cupcakes and always requests my mom to make them. So since she is over I thought would make them for her and that ways I would be able to post for DB as well. Killing two birds with one stone! Pretty smart, aren’t I!
And with Easter this weekend, the recipe did seem apt. 🙂
