November 29th, 2010
by Manasi
I know most people post their Thanksgiving posts on, well, Thanksgiving, but I get so into the holiday itself that adding blogging to the day would probably send me over the edge. Thanksgiving is probably my favorite holiday–mainly because we get to do it just like everyone else. Well, let me add a little background to that. I don’t really celebrate Christmas in a traditional sense–but Thanksgiving we did like everyone else. Not that I mind being different, but when you’re young, it’s hard to not get all the presents and have a tree and such. Plus it was always an event at our house with all our close family friends. We ended up being the home for stragglers too, which I always find exciting. Anyway, I get really into Thanksgiving as evidenced by my craft project above. I was at a craft store and got inspired and decided to add a fun touch to the holiday table. I thought they were cute and more fun than the normal napkin ring. read more »
Ramblings | 
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November 22nd, 2010
by Manasi
I’ve always liked risotto, but hate the insanely long process to make it. Well honestly, it’s not so bad, but I always feel like the second day it’s hard and clumpy and it’s really difficult to get that day 1 consistency again. I’ve heard that you can fry it up and adding milk or broth helps, but it’s just not the same. Let’s be honest though, it’s the mixing and the pouring of the broth and more mixing. I always like the end product though, so it’s been worth it. I was bestowed a butternut squash through my CSA and was looking for someway to use it. I had just made the kabocha soup, so I didn’t want to do another soup, and thought of risotto. I found a recipe on Simply Recipes, which is a great site. I’ve always found great, tasty recipes at her site and she has so many recipes that you can find nearly anything that you’d want to make. I found a great butternut squash risotto recipe and filed it away for later that week.
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Grains, Ingredients, Main Dishes, Squash | No Comments »
November 17th, 2010
by Manasi
The other week, I was emptying my CSA box into my bag and the mystery green above was staring back at me. One of the things with this whole CSA deal is that I have all these vegetables that I’ve never heard of. Did you know that there are literally endless varieties of squash? Me either! Did you know that carrots don’t just come in baby form? Well, I did know that, but I still received a shockingly huge carrot at some point that didn’t have a nice carrot shape and it really threw me off. Anyway, I digress. I think tatsoi is strictly a CSA vegetable because when I googled recipes for it, I got a bunch of blogs that were talking about their CSA. Okay, that’s probably not true, but seriously, I’ve literally never heard of this green. read more »
Main Dishes, Pasta | No Comments »
November 12th, 2010
by Manasi
I remember the first time that I had potato latkes. My dad made them for me when I was about 5, telling me the story about how his Jewish coworker taught him, an Indian guy, how to make latkes. My dad loved them and used to make them for me when I was little, but hasn’t made them in a while. I went through a pretty long latke withdrawal until I started college and stumbled upon Zaftig’s. It’s a Jewish deli in Brookline that makes pretty awesome potato pancakes. They make the style that are pretty dense, though I personally like the grated hash brown type myself. After eating those for a while, I satiated my cravings with Trader Joe’s frozen variety. While passable, I knew I could do better myself if I ever tried, but never got around to it. read more »
Main Dishes, Potato | No Comments »
November 8th, 2010
by Manasi
When I was working full-time and my free time was really free time, I used to experiment a lot with my baking. I also had an office where I could bring in my treats so that I wasn’t stuck finishing off 24 cupcakes. Now that I’m in school, time spent cooking and baking has definitely taken a hit, but I still find time to crank some goodies out. Sometimes I feel the need to try new recipes rather than re-making old ones, but some are just old favorites that will always be in the steady rotation. These cookies are one of the latter. As soon as there is a nip in the air, I go out searching for some pumpkin. Does anyone remember the shortage of canned pumpkin from last year? Well thankfully we don’t have a problem this year, but of course the first store that I went to (at 11:30pm, no less) didn’t have any pumpkin left and I had small panic attack. Thankfully the second store had plenty and I bought 2 cans so that I wouldn’t have to worry about it next time. read more »
Baking, Cookies | No Comments »
November 4th, 2010
by Manasi
Because I am apparently insane, I joined a CSA this fall. What is CSA? It stands for community supported agriculture and involves paying a lump sum at the beginning of a farming season and then receiving weekly shipments of vegetables. It helps local farms out because they get money upfront and are thus able to invest in their business. It helps consumers out because you get some great local produce and help out a local business. Some CSAs will include other things, and I actually get a half dozen eggs from this place too. My whole reason for joining was that I really wanted to eat more and expand the variety of vegetables I eat. I always buy the same exact stuff over and over again and I usually use it more as an accent to pasta rather than as the main star of the dish. I figured a CSA would be a great way to achieve these goals and luckily there is one that delivers to a house right near school, because seriously, if I have to drive forever, this thing probably isn’t going to happen. read more »
Ingredients, Main Dishes, Soup, Squash | No Comments »
