Cardamom Infused Challah

I’ve seen a flood of Holiday Christmas posts, ideas, gift guides and menu ideas all across the web for the past few days. I went and buried my head in the sand, hoping if I stayed there for a while Christmas this year would blow past.

Pear and Cranberry Crumble with Raw Honey & Ginger

In need of some comfort and warmth. As the temperatures drop I am craving an inner warmth and a soothing comfort. They say it’s going to snow this week. I am frantically rubbing the sparkly rhinestone sandals I bought in Dubai hoping that we’ll have a miraculous burst of summer. Damn the snow!

Dubai Workshop 2013: From Glitzy Glamor to Humble Origins

It’s glitzy, it’s shrill and it’s kitschy, this once-upon-a-time fisher village entices with bright lights and the superlative. While Dubai’s headlines always places its unparalleled projects in the limelight:  world's tallest tower, manmade islands and underwater hotels, there is a part of Dubai that seems to have been forgotten.

A part that I remember often visiting when I used to come here in the mid 80s, before the towers rose from what used to be sand and shrubs.

Dal Fry – Lentils The Punjabi Way

On the phone I tell her that I will not be hungry. “It’ll be late and I think we’ll just relax and then go to bed!” She fusses and persists as she always does - I let her. I know she needs to do this. She has been planning for weeks already, asking us every time we talked on the phone what should she cook, anything particular we like for breakfast, lunch and dinner. It usually takes up several minutes of our conversation, both of us talking with great passion, before we get to other topics, seemingly inconsequential in comparison.

Energizing and Inspiring: A Food Photography and Styling Workshop in Amsterdam

“Is it over already?”

I always seem to say this when one of the food photography and styling workshops conclude. On one side I feel thrilled and even relieved at having completed a 2 day session successfully but there is a slight melancholy at wrapping up something that has been planned for so long and with great care. The Amsterdam workshop was special for me on many levels.

Prawn Ginger Garlic Tacos

Quick dinners are my life saviour at the moment. We’ve been busily chugging along ever since school started. The ease of summer break when the days were relaxed and calm have gone. Instead it’s work, photo shoots crammed in between guitar lessons, swim practice, homework and school projects. During the week I slip into the role of a single mum as Tom’s current project has him in Amsterdam from Monday to Friday. Weekdays are packed, mostly with fun and laughter but there are tantrums and the stubbornness of a pre-teen that need to be fended. So sometimes I cannot wait till Friday comes around when I can hand over the baton of responsibility to Tom.