We love to buy books , for us there are no bad books , there was a time when one had to gingerly step into our room without stepping on stacks of books ( the book shelf wasn’t enough in our small 2 bedroom apartment in Bangalore) . I cried the day I had to leave my books some at my mom’s place and some at my parents-in-laws place. My husband’s making up to me is very simple , buy a book ! Of late with my hobby of blogging becoming a full time obsession and somewhat nightmarish to him , my interests lie in cookbooks . Having 2 library cards each( that makes four) , knowing a thrift book store owner who calls me when he finds the book I want , apart from having innumerable books on hand isn’t enough , I still crave for this or that book. So , on a lone trip to Costco and as a part of the never ending birthday list ( hoping that it will go on until the next year!) , my dear one got me a book. The book of course has fabulous pictures and surprisingly had a lot of Indian appetizers and dishes like the samosa, bonda , bhel puri and the ubiquitous Idlis ! I loved the simplicity of the pictures and the recipes, which most of them could be made in a jiffy!. So here is a Beetroot Hummus which i tweaked to our palate and going to dear siri who is hosting this month’s A.W.E.D – Middle Eastern Cuisine. We adored the pink color for a while , before we dipped the Pita chips into it!

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If your pantry contains only a minimum of herbs and spices, then you are missing out on some of the exceptional and delightful culinary experiences. Herbs are truly nature’s special surprises packages to us . Great food can be prepared in the simplest of steps, and adding a little of a herb turns it into a masterpiece. Many of them are used for their medicinal, culinary and even spiritual usages. I’m mainly interested in knowing more about Culinary Herbs. This journey would definitely enlighten a novice like me.

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FDA has released a press statement on June 7th ’08 the list of states where salmonella infested tomatoes are available in the market. FDA published a list of states, territories, and countries where tomatoes are grown and harvested which have not been associated with this outbreak.

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Has this ever happened to you that when a family member goes grocery shopping and gets all that he or she wants in abundance that you run out of ideas what to do with it . Well , it happens to me more often than not. K loves his Band Gobi and Phool Gobi so much that a couple of days ago , my man turns up from the shopping with 2 cabbages and 3 cauliflowers. Whew! trust a man to do your grocery shopping just the way you want! . I was bored after I made this and this and then some more . So I call my pedatha and ask her what to do , she opens her treasure chest and lets out another nugget for me to share with you all. I could make it and not worry about wasting the vegetable or throwing it. I have eaten it before at her place and always wondered how she could turn such a pungent vegetable into such a delicious pickle.

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Sweet Madhuram of eggless cooking has tagged me for a meme for 10 things I hate , I have a few Pet peeves/ things that Id rather not do that I’d like to share …

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