May the Festival of Lights bring joy, love, peace and prosperity to you and your families.
Happy Diwali!
Happy Diwali!
Honey Mustard Dressing
Honey Mustard Dressing:
Ingredients:
- Honey 2 tbsp
- Dijon Mustard or any grainy mustard 1 tbsp
- White wine vinegar – or apple cider vinegar 4 tbsp
- Olive oil 4 tbsp
- Salt & pepper to taste
“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, …
“Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, and autumn a mosaic of them all.” – by poet Stanley Horowitz.
An art metaphor to describe the seasons, how fitting!! Autumn has finally arrived here in the Bay Area, which means for our gardens it’s time to plant spring-flowering seeds, bulbs, and plants. I’ve written a few articles about the best bulbs and seeds to plant in the fall for amazing out of this world color in the spring. Let me share a few of those along with some photos. Continue reading “Winter is an etching, spring a watercolor, summer an oil painting, …
A Visit To A Music Store – Kamimoto Strings in San Jose, California
One of my twins Rani takes cello lessons and she informed me a few weeks ago that she is ready for an adult or rather a big cello instrument. “What’s wrong with the one you have? I asked her. It looked pretty big to me already.
And Rani in her ultimate wisdom informs me, “Mom, I am 15 now, not a little kid anymore, the one I have is from Middle School, I’m in High School now and it’s time for me to get a big cello.” Continue reading A Visit To A Music Store – Kamimoto Strings in San Jose, California
Fresh Figs & Lemongrass
Delicious fresh figs all plump, sweet, super soft and dripping with nectar. I picked a bunch of fresh figs from my friend Devi’s garden a few days ago. The temptation to eat these figs right off the tree was hard to resist, I ate a couple right away and brought the rest home.
Fresh figs right off the tree – when fruit is this fresh it’s hard to mess with them by adding them to salads or making a dessert of some sorts. We just ate them in their pure fresh fig form – just delicious😋. To present these figs as a dessert option that same evening I served a few with aged Parmesan cheese and walnuts. Added a small glass of sweet port and I had the makings of a deliciout fig inspired all-natural dessert. Continue reading Fresh Figs & Lemongrass
Navratri Celebrations – 2017
We recently celebrated the Indian autumn festival of Navratri – a ten-day, nine-night festival celebrated every year between September – October. Navratri is observed in various ways depending on what region of India one is from and is the most important Indian festival only second to Diwali. Navratri symbolizes the victory of positive energy over negativity
What is Navratri?
Navratri means ‘nine nights’ in Sanskrit; Nav meaning Nine and Ratri meaning nights. During these nine nights and ten days, the three forms of the goddess are invoked — Durga (the goddess of strength/ Mother earth/positive energy), Lakshmi (goddess of wealth and purity) and Saraswathi (goddess of wisdom, music, arts and knowledge). Navratri is at its core an art festival that celebrates the victory of good over evil. Women and girls take a central stage at this festival, as this is a celebration of famine qualities such as dance, music, arts, nature and nurture.
Art in the Garden by Sridevi Sheth
What is it about art and nature that go hand in hand? Nature in it’s endless character inspires all artists. I thought what better place to have an art show than in nature? An art show in the garden to showcase my eldest daughter Sridevi’s art.
Spicy Vegetarian Arabiatta Pasta Sauce
Over the last month we have received so many deliveries of garden vegetables that I had to come up with a recipe that would use up ALL these vegetables in one dish. The inspiration for this vegetarian pasta sauce came from my neighbor’s bounty of homegrown vegetables, which included a few spicy peppers, organic heirloom tomatoes, cherry tomatoes, eggplants, bell peppers, and squash. I decided to make an Italian spicy marinara sauce called arabiatta sauce.
Arabiatta sauce is a spicy marinara sauce that literally means “angry sauce” in Italian. We have had pasta with arabiatta sauce many times at local Italian restaurant The Pastaria & Market. Their popular arabiatta sauce has meat but they do make a vegetarian version that is out of this world delicious and spicy!!! Here is my recipe for a vegetarian arabiatta pasta sauce. chock full of garden vegetables.
Heirloom Tomato and Goat Cheese Tart
After going to the Heirloom Tomato Festival in Los Gatos and purchasing a few giant heirloom tomatoes, I decided to make a tomato tart that evening. I had saved a recipe a while back from Ina Garten for a tomato tart with goat cheese, and now seemed the perfect time to try it out with my newly bought tomatoes.
Heirloom Tomato Harvest Festival in Los Gatos, California
As if we weren’t swimming in tomatoes already from the bounty we had received from our neighbor, Hitesh informs me that there is an Heirloom Tomato Harvest Festival going on in town on Sunday the 17th. How could I resist? I couldn’t. I dragged the girls with me on that Sunday and headed to downtown Los Gatos to check out the Heirloom Tomato Festival.
What a unique experience this was. Continue reading Heirloom Tomato Harvest Festival in Los Gatos, California
