When the pandemic nudged so many of us back into the kitchen, it also made us turn to old comfort recipes. Ones that had been forgotten, or replaced with easier alternatives, including packaged food. The early days of the pandemic made me feel like a child again, back in my village near Ratnagiri, where theContinue reading “Sweet Nibbles”
Category Archives: food
Sunshine
Summers begin withraw mango curries,jackfruit, cashew kernels,and ice applesbut it isn’t until I’ve hada bite of the Alphonsothat the nostalgia takes holdtransporting me to the verandawith the whitewashed walls.To the farm kilometers awaywhere the mangoes are still out of reachthe lone cashew, once a jump awayHas grown like an unruly teenager,drooping at the shouldersThere isContinue reading “Sunshine”
Breadcrumbs
The world begins at a kitchen table. No matter what, we must eat to live… …It is a place to hide in the shadow of terror. A place to celebrate the terrible victory… Coming across Joy Harzo’s words in the midst of a pandemic almost seems prophetic. Maybe the world does end at the kitchenContinue reading “Breadcrumbs”
Red velvet
After six days of trekking in the Kanchenjunga National Park, we returned to Yuksam with leaden feet and plenty of food cravings. A sleepy little village in West Sikkim, it’s the base for Dzongri and Goechala mountain pass. Come April and October, there are more trekkers milling about here than locals. The road to the park isContinue reading “Red velvet”
Say cheese
It had almost become my morning ritual. I would walk up the stairs at Daragaon village retreat to see if the Kanchenjunga—the world’s third-highest peak—had dropped its misty cloak. Seeing the clouds intact, I would trundle down past the cow shed with a heavy heart and inevitably meet someone from the house bringing up tea.Continue reading “Say cheese”
A Thousand Mornings 