Cooking and Food blogs

Like I said before, I have been cooking for some six months now. I find it a hassle still. Even though I am a foodie(as evidenced by my ample figure) and cooking was one of my hobbies, I still find it hard to cook everyday. Of course, everyday means every weekday. I don't cook on the weekends. Who does? Even if it is just five times a week, cooking still bothers me. The point is, me being such a foodie, I prefer authentic meals. None of this fusion jazz like broccoli sambar or artichoke dal for me. I am sure that these things do have a certain appeal, but I shudder with horror when I hear things like this. Which brings me back to my quandry. How to make yummy food a la Mummy! I never paid any attention to how she made a lot of things which I took for granted...like palakura pappu(Spinach dal), kakarkaya(bitter gourd) fry, dosakaya pachadi and so on. All I paid attention to was how much I could eat, how much was left and if I could have more of it for dinner. After coming here and forced by my own "foodieness" to cook, and not being intrepid enough to experiment on my own, I turned to the good old standby for information; the internet. And then I discovered the world of food bloggers.

I went crazy for a few days, drooling all over my laptop when I read their recipes and saw the photographs that accompanied the recipes. The long forgotten hooby of cooking reared its head again. Since then, I have been constantly surprising Adi (my husband) and myself with my cooking. And contrary to what you might think, the surprises were all pleasant. Of course I have the numerous food bloggers to thank for them. So this is my tribute to all those cooks and food bloggers who have the patience to experiment with new recipes, the talent to cook yummy food and the thoughtfulness to post their recipes on thier blogs so that lazybones like me can have some good food.

One of the blogs I go frequently to is Indira's Mahanandi. She is from the same state as I am from. Andhra Pradesh. And it is well known that we Telugus are crazy about food. Her blog contains recipes for the food that Mom made at home. I always refer to her recipes whenever I want some yummy Andhra food. And I seem to want some yummy Andhra food most of the time. Other times, I crave some yummy Kerala food. (yeah yeah! I crave yummy food. Period.)The fascination for Kerala food is because I grew up in this delightful place called Trivandrum. It isn't so great now, but it was a paradise when I was growing up. Lush, green and beautiful with an age old charm that only truly old cities have. And for some Kerala food, it is either ask Adi to cook or refer to Ammupatti's thoughts. More than her recipes, I like the way she talks about Kerala Iyer culture. Her blog is truly a joy to read. As for other recipes, I always go to Mahanandi again. Indira has a comprehensive list of food blogs on her site. So it is easy navigation for me.

I really wonder what I would have done if all these food bloggers weren't there. I know for sure that I would be having the same few tired recipes over and over again. Thank you Indira and Bhagavathy and all the rest of you food bloggers.