Where there are flowers...

Good Morning! Happy Monday! :)

So what is on my plate today.

Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Chocolate Cookies

there are

AMAZING!

If I say so myself, this one is a keeper.

Chewy, dense, salty and sweet, lots of raisins, nuts and chocolate, really thick oats. On the oats, I just switched from the regular Quaker rolled oats to Bob's Red Mill organic thick oats and I am loving the latter. They stand up so much better in baking and make for satisfying crunch in granola. I suspect they are the reason for the elevation of the humble oatmeal cookie achieved in this recipe. Instead of melting away and making for a wistful presence, the thick oats stand bold and proud. There is no way you can ignore them. And, once you have noticed their existence, you suddenly realize that you respect them and then, it is all over.

You reach for the second cookie, unconsciously and are surprised to see it in your hand.

I also wanted to share some surprising facts I dug up about flowers, post a conversation with a New York flower farmer at the market last week. If you are not interested in this part and just want the recipe, scroll down to the end of the post (or click on recipe link below)

Last Friday, I made a visit to the Union Square Green Market after, oh, several months. Most of my favorite stands were there and I stopped by them to have a chat and pick some of their finest and freshest. I stopped to say hello to my favorite flower farmer, Mike, who sells the most gorgeous roses year round. Mike was in a mood alright, and, as farmers are apt to do when they find an empathetic ear, he vented about the unfairness of corporate powers. I agree with him in principle. So, I was also sympathetic.

Rant aside, I did learn something. That North East New York used to be a bed of organic flower farms, especially roses. That this region's land is incredibly fertile and supports the growth of astonishingly beautiful flowers. That all but his farm have now closed down because they could not compete with the cheap roses flown all the way from South America. That after him, his farm will close too, as the inheritance taxes combined with declining flower sales do not make farming sustainable for his sons. It is saddening!

"

To limit coca farming and expand job opportunities in Colombia, the U.S. government in 1991 suspended import duties on Colombian flowers. The results were dramatic, though disastrous for U.S. growers. In 1971, the United States produced 1.2 billion blooms of the major flowers (roses, carnations and chrysanthemums) and imported only 100 million. By 2003, the trade balance had reversed; the United States imported two billion major blooms and grew only 200 million.

" - Smithsonian

Literally every corner shop near me has flowers to sell. Until now, I never quite questioned where they came from. My assumption all along being such delicate beings cannot possibly be airlifted and flown across several thousand miles to reach my corner deli. Oh! How I was wrong! Much like food, these delicate creations of nature which for the large periods of human civilization remained a gardner's pride and relish is now a multi-BILLION dollar industry!

According to the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA), consumers in the U.S. consumed $34.3 billion in floral products in 2012. SAF estimates that value of cut flower sales to be around $7.5 Bn. 64% of the sales are of imported flowers with 95% of the imports coming from South and Central America (Columbia, Equador and Mexico). California accounts for 76% of domestic flower production. And, New York ranks nowhere of consequence.

Note that I say "production" and not farming or growing. That is because this is an industry of enormous scale. California alone accounted for $7.6 Bn of sales in 2012!

One has to wonder how is it possible to ship flowers across such long distances without bruising them? Well, Mike gave me a clue and I did some further research. Roses cut from the plant have a life span of 5 to 10 days. Once cut from the plant, the inability to photosynthesize nutrients needed for life rapidly depletes the stored food in the stem and leaves, and, the flower wilts. Water can arrest this process but only cold temperatures can keep them going for weeks. To keep them fresh for longer and for long distance travel, “cold chains”—refrigerated warehouses and trucks every point along transit keep the flowers in suspended animation; flash frozen and sprayed with pesticides and inert gases. In this way, floral life is extended by several days.

I am simply boggled. While there is a push on being a locavore for food, the other industries linked to farming also seem to be suffering a similar fate and demise from industrialized processes.

From my experience, I can definitely vouch for the quality of Mike's flowers being superior than any I have seen in a deli. They are shaped beautifully, non-uniformly and look like roses and haven't been sprayed with chemicals. Yet, he is asked several times, why his flowers are expensive. Notwithstanding the inherent lack of understanding of the farming process or empathy to the effort involved, I have to ask, how is it expensive?

I agree flowers in your deli may be cheap per rose, but what is the real price of those dozen roses? On a normal day, a dozen roses here can cost between $12-%15 increasing unto $25 for occasions and Holidays such as Valentine's, Mother's Day etc. Mike charges $10 for half dozen of his brilliantly hued, non-pesticide, non-chemical blooms that were picked the evening work and the prices do not vary by occasion or day.

Do we need twice the amount of roses? Are 6 more roses going to add incremental happiness? Isn't it better to have fewer yet beautiful and virtuous flowers to cherish and enjoy? Not to mention, the gazillions of money spent on fuel and logistics for shipping those roses grown on far away farms with working conditions far below international standards, including child labor.

Perhaps, I am asking existential questions here, but, I would like to hear your thoughts. Here is a great article on the US flower business and its ties with foreign lands.

---

Oatmeal Walnut Raisin Chocolate Cookies

125 g thick rolled oats

90 g whole wheat flour

1/2 tsp baking soda

100 g raw sugar, pulverised fine

120 g butter, room temperature

1 tsp sea salt

1 egg, room temperature

1-1/2 tsp vanilla essence

handful of chopped walnuts

handful of black raisins

handful of chopped dark chocolate

Process the butter and sugar to be light and fluffy. Add the egg and vanilla and pulse to a smooth mixture. If the mixture seems curdled, it means the egg and butter were not at room temperature and one slightly colder. It's ok, just continue using the mixture.

Sift together the flour, soda and salt. Add the oats, nuts and raisins and chocolate and toss. Add the wet mixture to the dry and knead to incorporate.

Wrap in cling wrap and refrigerate for about 15 minutes. This will allow the fats to solidify and bloom while baking creating that lift in the center.

While the dough is cooling, preheat oven to 350F.

Using a 1/4 cup measure, place dough in rounds on a baking tray lined with parchment paper about two inches apart.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until the edges are browning and the cookie has flattened out a bit.

Remove from oven and let it stand for 5 minutes undisturbed. The cookies will be extremely soft, so desist urge to pick them up as soon as they are out of the oven.

Gently transfer the cookies to a cooling rack for 10 minutes, to cool down and harden enough to handle.

---

Oh Sweet Roses

This is the best carrot cake I have ever tasted. Period.

There is something inherently alluring about tall cakes. As with most things tall in life - men, women, buildings, mountains - there is that fascination of mingling of art and science. The sheer gravity defiance of height co-mingled with the majestic beauty.

Tall is simply sexy!

In the context of food, there is more than just the visual that appeals. It is an admirable feat to make tall and well tasting specimens of baked items. By the very nature of it, baked goods are expected to be light and fluffy and give the intention of making you float with each bite. I secretly suspect that the French use oodles of butter in their pastries to accomplish just this uplifting effect! Nevertheless, barring few exceptions, such as chocolate based items that are inherently denser, the harmony of elevated and levitated is a hard one to achieve.

With the explosion of visual sharing, I see layers happening all around me. So, ok the bug bit me. A few days ago, I was rummaging through some notes and I found my illustrations of a several layered cake entirely adorned in roses of frosting. It was a captivating image even on this perusal, so I imagine I must have been particularly moved when I had originally drawn them, the summer that has passed.

I was smitten. I wanted to make it now, make up for the lost months. Except, the flavors I had noted and the colors were so last season! Nay, really, two seasons too late. But, that only worked in my favor. Truth be told, as happily as I had sketched those glorious towering layers of lemony sponge interlaced with thick and lusciously silken berry mousse, in the dampness of the drafty Winter, the grounding sensibilities of physics weighed on me.

The drafting board of my mind, yielded me a simpler solution. Why not do this in steps. For the first iteration, I would simply focus on creating the layered effect without the pressure of lightness. This meant that I could go with hearty winter cake options that are naturally robust enough to stand up high. Carrot cake is one of those seasonally perfect creations. Not only is it warm and soothing in flavor, the molecular structure of the cake is fortified by the weave of grated carrot and flour bound into the common purpose of the batter.

I have experimented with carrot cakes several times and many are perfect for various purposes but I just did not think any of those would be right for my current purpose.

This one

is wonderfully airy and perfect for cupcakes, and, for being lost in the moment. But, I feared that it may be too momentary to achieve the stratified effect.

This one

, was well, was more work than I wanted to do. {Yes, there is an irony there :)}. I wanted a recipe that would rise loftily yet be of delicate crumb befitting a fancy tea cake.

It was to be a witch hunt then. There is no one perfect recipe that I could use. I found many that were written for commercial kitchens and really would not do well scaled down. There were some that simply did not fill me with confidence. There were others that were really heavy on butter (Oh! I didn't have any butter at home and was determined to do a non-dairy cake. I get into these moods!). There were those that were very promising in different aspects. In the end, I pulled together all the bits from the difference pieces I liked and worked them together. You would think I waved a wand and it simple came. No, this was more pouring over, cross checking, googling the science and then putting together the list I was somewhat confident of.

Lo behold! It worked. Just to be sure, I made it twice, you know, to negate the luck bit. OK, two is statistically insignificant but I warrant it is better than one!

Like I said, there are a tons of recipes for carrot cakes with cream cheese frosting out there and I am not saying this is the best one. I am, however, saying that of all the recipes I have tested, this one hits the right balance of flavor, moistness and lightness and works wonderfully for multiple layers. I made four but this one can well handle a couple more. And, there is a delectable nuttiness running through the layers from the pecans and the whole wheat flour.

Also, on that frosting bit. I was simply appalled at the amount of frosting I needed to cover the whole cake in rosettes. So, I chucked the roses from the sides and I think it looks just fine! Besides, all that matters is the taste, right? Right!

So here is my Monday offering to you - a

tray of edible roses resting on some really lovely cake

. A week started sweet is gonna rock!

Carrot Cake Layered with Orange Cheese Filling and Berry Rosettes

For the cake:

1-3/4 cups whole wheat flour, sifted

1 cup unbleached white flour, sifted

1 T + 1 tsp baking soda

2 tsp salt

2-3/4 cups grated carrots

4 eggs

1/2 cup canola oil

1/2 cup olive oil {you can just double the olive oil and skip the canola oil}

1 cup raw sugar

1/2 a nutmeg nut

2 tsp whole cloves

2 T almond milk

1/2 cup or more chopped toasted pecans

For the frosting + filling:

Notes -

1. If you want make the roses on the sides as well, increase all the quantities by a quarter more. So, instead of 20 oz cream cheese, you will need 25 oz

2. It is not berry season. So, I highly recommend using ones that you froze over summer or flash frozen in the freezer section. The organic ones are better as the chemicals are not seeping into the fruit for all that time.

20 oz neuschaftel cream cheese or regular as you prefer, at room temperature

4 oz strained yogurt

5 T raw honey

zest of one orange

Handful of frozen berries, thawed

Baking the cake:

Preheat the oven to 350F and prepare two 8 inch cake pans.

Process the raw sugar and cloves into a fine powder. Mix with the sifted flours, baking soda and salt. Grate in the half nutmeg into this mixture.

Make a well in the center and add all the liquid ingredients - eggs, oils, and almond milk.

Fold in the wet into the dry to make a thick batter.

Add the grated carrots and fold. The batter will loosen from the water of the carrots. Fold in the pecans quickly without working the dough too much, just like folding in whites.

Divide the batter evenly into the cake pans and bake for 25 to 30 mins until they are springy to touch.

Remove from pans and cook on rack. Do not touch them till they are completely cool or the frosting will not stick.

Whipping the frosting:

While the cakes cool, whip together the frosting ingredients other than the berries. Set aside until the cake is ready

Assembly:

Using a bread knife or other serrated knife cut out the domed bit of each cake, so it is relatively flat. Slice each cake horizontally in half.

Flip one of the cakes, so the top of the cake touches the cake base and makes the bottom layer.

Spread a generous amount of frosting on top. Place the other (bottom) half of this cake on top and then slather on more frosting.

For the next layer, use the bottom half of the second cake. More frosting and place the final layer.

Next, pulse the berries with the remaining frosting. Chill for 10 minutes. The cooling lets the frosting firm up and that is a lot better for piping roses.

Make yourself a cup of tea. Relax.

Phase 2 begins. Cover the entire cake with a thin layer of the berry frosting.

When you are happy with the coverage, spoon the rest of the frosting into a piping bag fitted with a wide ridged icing tip.

Squeeze out the frosting to make small rounds that look like roses. Fill the surface of the cake.

If you are covering the sides as well, continue piping.

Voila! Thats it. Brew a second pot of tea, cut yourself a huge slice and read a book. Or, if you insist on begin generous share with someone but tell them to stay silent, so you can enjoy this cake without distraction.

Romancing the Cake

Do you have compelling visions that drive you into the kitchen?

Hello again from India!

No, I have not forgotten about my promise to keep up with you while on the road. It is just, I found the internet connectivity to be relatively spotty by the beach, and, in the forest; Surprisingly so! ;-)

It is silly to suggest I have been holding back on the experiencing the cuisine, while I am here. Honestly, I have been eating like I am going on a starvation diet after this trip! I have managed to ingest as much of the local cuisine both in Goa and Coorg as my body could handle, three multi-course meals a day. Fortunately, as South Indian cuisine is naturally low on gluten and grease and rather healthy (when made as at home), I have managed to thoroughly enjoy every bite without worrying about the consequences. For a view into what I have been experiencing, have a peek at my

Instagram feed

.

Now, let me tell you about these

Carrot and Cashew Cupcakes

that came to be as a vision...

I am usually not a cupcake person, but, on the day I made this, the snow and overcast sky outside filtered a really soft winter light through the window suggesting a ton of mysticism in the very air. A vision came to my mind, sudden and strong.

Of sitting on the cushion by my window, slowly unwrapping the cupcake liner, taking a bite of the half unwrapped delicacy inside, tilting my head back while savoring the flavors and then looking out at the flurrying snow and smiling at the romance of it.

This was as I was making my morning cuppa. As I sipped that awakening beverage, the vision gripped me with a fierce passion and I simply could not ignore it. I attempted to carry on about my day as scheduled but well, after about a couple of hours, I knew it was wasted effort. The mythical lady in my head had to become me in reality. So, I gave in.

I have been on a long term mission to find that perfect recipe for a carrot cake. I want one that is just moist, full of flavor, healthy and yet not a lot of effort. One of those cakes that you can whip up at the drop of a hat and one that will leave you feeling happy eaten on a cold Winter day with a cup of strong coffee and can stand up to the beverage and say "Hello there!".

It seemed, now was a good time to look into making just that kind of cake. I had made the last ones with pureed carrot. Using a liquid form of the vegetables makes for a really moist cake but it is a fair bit of effort to boil and then puree. So, I chose to go with the grated version this time.

I find that using olive oil instead of butter and baking for fewer minutes than usual, results in a much moister cake with a lighter crumb. I spiced these cakes with cardamom instead of cinnamon because the former feels warmer to me. Besides, cardamom was part of the spice route blending with my vision of mystery and mystique....

Carrot and Cashew Cupcakes with Vanilla Cream Cheese Frosting

(for 6 cupcakes)

For the cake:

1/2 cup grated carrot

1/2 cup + 2 T whole wheat flour

1/4 cup olive oil

2/3 tsp cardamom

1 egg, whisked

1/4 cup raw sugar, powdered fine

1/4 tsp salt

1/2 tsp baking soda

handful of roasted cashews

For the frosting:

3 oz cream cheese, room temperature

2 T almond milk

1/2 tsp vanilla bean paste

roasted nuts to top, chopped (optional)

Preheat oven to 350F.

Sift together the flour, salt, cardamom and baking soda. Whisk together the oil, egg and sugar. Add the dry ingredients to the wet in three parts. Fold in the grated carrot and nuts.

Divide into six cupcake liners. Bake for 17-20 mins until the toothpick test is clear. Cool the cakes on tray. Meanwhile, whip up the cream cheese, almond milk and vanilla together. Pipe onto the cooled cupcakes and sprinkle chopped nuts, if using.

Enjoy the cake and live your own visions.. :)

The Storied Dessert

Stories are the backbone of society. However, you look at it, the propagation of community is based on how strong and resonant it's stories are. Stories have the capacity to bring people together and bind them with the commonality of belief and faith. And, that is how religion is born; with a community of people having faith in the same set of stories. We were all told stories when we were young that we believed without questioning their logic or rationale or merely plausibility. When I was little, I genuinely believed Willie Wonka and his chocolate factory was real. :)

As we refer to stories of religion, the study of them or a collection of them is called mythology. The richer the characters of a religion the more entertaining and entirely absorbing its mythology tends to be. It is no surprise that Hinduism has a broad gamut of 'myths' owing to the spawn of gods and goddesses, and their several incarnations, that the religion epitomizes.

I have always loved Hindu mythology. The breadth of it is so huge that in today's world I doubt that any one person, even the learned Brahmin, has full knowledge of all of it. I am always researching or stumbling upon a new story. Often times, these are about the lives of various saints and how the divine intervention saved the world. Ramayana and Mahabharatha are the religion's best known epic. But, within the larger story are several smaller stories and several more offshoots and tangents. There are all absolutely amusing to listen to and they all always have a lesson ingrained in them.

Only a few of them, however, are around food. One such I recently came across is about Payasam or the milk pudding that is served on special occasions and in temples. There are several variations of payasam that is made across the country from kheer, a rich pudding made in the North to the more popular semiya (vermicelli) payasam in the south. The story I stumbled upon speaks of the rice pudding version and it is as below -

"The ancient legend states that Lord Krishna once appeared in the form of a sage in the court of the king who ruled the region of Ambalappuzha and challenged him for a game of chess. Being a chess enthusiast and a master of the mind game’s tricks, the king gladly accepted. Asking what the sage wanted in case he wins the game, the king remained bedazzled by the sage’s request: an amount of rice grains for each square of the chess board, each pile having double the number of grains than the previous pile. So the first square would have only one grain of rice, the second would have 2 grains, the third would have 4 grains, the fourth would have 8 rice grains and so on, each pile growing at a geometrical progression from the past pile of rice grains. Hearing this request, the king was shocked that the sage wanted only what he taught were a few piles of grain, when he could have betted for his whole kingdom or the immense riches that he held.

Naturally the king lost. When he started placing grain piles on each square, starting with only one grain, he realized that the sage’s demand was more involved than he had envisioned. The number reached one million grains of rice by the 20th square. By the 40th or so square, the entire kingdom’s rice reserve was depleted and when he got to the last square he calculated that he would have to pay the sage 18,447,744 trillions of tons of rice, which he could no have paid off. The sage then revealed his true form, that of Lord Krishna, and said that the debt does not have to be paid immediately, but the king will have to serve Payasam freely in the temple of Ambalappuzha, to pilgrims, homeless or whoever comes there for peace of mind and prayer or for those seeking shelter. This is how the Payasam became famous, integrating in the Hindu culture. The tradition of freely serving Payasam in Ambalappuzha still lives today and pilgrims all over India have an easier ride knowing that a hot bowl of the sweet dessert awaits them at the end of their journey." - Sourced from

here

I have not been to either location but payasam is the choice of prasad, or blessing, served in many temples across the country, even today. In fact, I strongly believe that the best payasam is one from even a small temple. My rational mind argues that this because the cooks use the best of ingredients and cut no corners as they are cooking for gods (the prasad is offered to the god before it is blessed and distributed to the devotees and visitors). Yet, somehow, even when I get the best ingredients, I still find that the flavor does not quite match that of the prasad. :) Irony of myth! ;-)

Nevertheless, I have a distinct partiality to the version made with vermicelli. Interestingly, there are variations of this dessert across Asia and Middle East. Persians make a lighter version called Falooda, which, is another popular dessert in India. Parsis, originally of Persian origin, in India make a dessert, called Sev, that is cooked with water rather than milk, where each strand is distinct and separate. Semiya Payasam as it is called in most of the South is defintely a later derivative of the Pal Payasam (made with rice) but is rather more common these days.

So, that is story of the recipe I am sharing today! :-) Enjoy!

Semiya Payasam (Vermicelli Milk Pudding)

1/2 cup vermicelli (or angel hair pasta broken into pieces)

1/3 T sugar

1-1/2 cups whole milk

1 T condensed milk

1/2 tsp ground cardamom

3 T ghee or butter

handful of roasted nuts to top

In a deep pan, melt the ghee and roast the vermicelli until lightly toasted. Add the sugar and saute for a few minutes.

Add the milk, and bring to a boil on medium high heat. Lowe the hear and keep stirring until most of the milk is absorbed.

Stir in the condensed milk and watch as the pudding thickens.

Remove from heat and divide into bowls. Top with roasted nuts or nuts toasted in ghee.

Payasam can be served warm or cold.

When you refrigerate it, the vermicelli will absorb more milk. So add a bit more and gently heat it before serving.

Dear Reader - An Open Letter

I started drafting this post in December. Then, I was really frustrated, filled with confusion and undirected antipathy. Since then, I have had time to cool down, step away to the country (read: no cell signal or other distractions) to

face my fears

and came back with a very different outlook. One that is

no longer angry but filled with optimism and promise

. I a way to go and am still tentative but I have confidence and will.

So here is my story; It is a very honest one. I feel I need to start this year by laying my cards on the table and telling you, my readers, who are very important to me, the truth. That will be my cleansing and the way to move forward without regrets. So bear with me while I spin a tale because there are some very important questions, on which,

I would like to hear from you

.

I am a banker at heart

. I am an engineer at heart. I am an involuntary geek at heart. I am a writer at heart. I am a foodie at heart. I am cook and baker at heart. I am an analyst at heart. I am a creator at heart. I am a doer at heart.

I started this blog in 2008 when a cataclysmic even hit my life. To be honest, even I did not recognize the depth of havoc it wrecked in me at the time. I did recognize that this blog was my crutch.

I am an engineer. I was made for numbers. I love maths. I love the logic and rationale of numbers. It is easy. I spent 27 years of my life happy in all that. Years that I planned the path to reach my goals and then achieved them. That came to a rearing halt suddenly. Or so I thought.

Ever since, I have been continually struggling get back into that world that motivated, stimulated, comforted and validated me. The one that I cherished,thrived in and absolutely loved - Banking, specifically, Investment Banking. I was masculine enough to be successful and just feminine enough to fall in love with the industry absolutely, irrevocably. I was single-mindedly focused on

my success

succeeding within my comfort zone.

Well, things happen and the financial crisis did. I began to write, cook and bake as a distraction first, a hobby later and somewhere along the way, a passion was born. For food and photography. I enjoy both to distraction. I did not choose. I relished that latent talent, which, curiously let me connect deeper to my feminine. I found that in me that was a natural caregiver, a born-again nurturer.

You see, from here on is where it gets all tangled and I got lost. The more I discovered and reveled in my feminine, I seem to have leaned away from all that was masculine in me.

As an ambitious young woman, still seeking glory and firmly infatuated by the world of banking, this particular deviation is a terrible misfortune. Where I was once coldly rational and logical to the point of being linear and binary, I was becoming more creative yet losing structure. I was recently told, that I have a lyrical way of analysing things and have a natural tendency for being innovative. Lovely words, but, what it translates to is, I am not analytical with clarity anymore!

I realised in developing this creative outlet of mine, without the counterbalance of an analytical anchor of a regular day job, I was, regrettably, becoming a rudderless ship lost in a giant ocean of distractions. My knee jerk response was to lash out at the new me and disown everything that I had become. When rationality settled in, I realised that was just plain silly. Renouncing what I had done for five years not only invalidates all my accomplishments (small and non-traditional as they may be) and joys but also is just impossible. I simply cannot pick and choose parts of me. I have to accept the whole and love it.

I turned my back here once and am paying the price for it. Between 2009 and 2011, this blog was more than my lifeline. Its trajectory was upward trending and all the metrics were healthy, in bold green. Then I got some not-so-great news on logistics. Blindly, I ran away. And, since, to be absolutely honest, I am still trying to get back what I lost in engagement with you. I am sorry to abandoning you then.

I will not do that again. I want to focus on you and what you would like to more of here. What can I do better? What am I missing?

The key to my frustration was that I am no longer unidimensional. I do not fit into preconceived boxes. I am not this OR that and so don't classify in the minds of hiring managers easily. They really don't know what to make of me. A large of part of that was,tbh, just an outward representation of my inner confusion. The question of 'Who am I?' is one I have been wrestling with for the past couple of years. A lot of work on myself has gone into this leading to several life changes. The satire in it is that I am a happier person but my happiness goes against the grain of every possible traditionality I grew up with. That is the cause of my prevarication.

It took a lot of convincing and support from close friends to realise that what I am does not strike through what I was but rather just strikes out. So, I have finally mustered up my courage (all my reflections boil down to fear of failure and disappointment) to break the mold and strike out for myself. I have always believed that I am what I make of myself. But, I don't think I had much faith in that. It was cool to pay lip service to it while I continued to plod along a route taken by millions of people before me and millions that will after.

I am not going to be another statistic. I am a woman at heart and a man in mind and am proud of it!

2014 is my year to channel both those energies to work together

. I know, there are thousands of quips for this situation. In essence, I have to

harness my hermaphroditian personality

.

This blog will no longer be my crutch but rather be my crux; portfolio, showcase, launch pad. I have some ideas but for them to be of value,

I need your help

Dear Reader,

I would greatly appreciate it, if you could help me understand a few things. Please be brutally honest, candor is important -

1. Why do you read blogs, specifically, food blogs? What do you connect with?

2. What brings you to my blog? Is it the food, photography or writing?

3. What content would you like more of? What do you find missing that I should fill a gap?

4. Is there a topic that is difficult to find and you wish someone wrote about?

5. Do you like prefer to read stories just about the food featured rather than life observations?

6. Does the site's layout and navigation work for you? Is it easy for you browse and find what you want? If not, what would you like to see?

So there, that is my letter from the heart to you. I would definitely love to hear from you and your thoughts but if you don't want to comment, no worries at all. :)

Thank you for patiently reading my outpourings, I have a lovely treat for you in return. A

Rosemary Apple Crumble

which I think manages to capture an elegant balance of simple and flavor. It is simply all about the apple, there are no distractions, yet it has a richness in depth of flavor.

In essence, I want to be like this crumble but that is going to be a lot more work than this recipe is to make.

xx

Asha

Rosemary Apple Crumble

{for two}

1/2 cup chopped golden apples

1/4 cup almonds, crushed

1/2 tsp, finely chopped rosemary

1 T cold butter, diced into dots + a bit for brushing the bottom of the cups

Pre-heat oven to 375F.

Brush the bottom of two individual dessert baking pots with butter. Divide the apple pieces into them. Sprinkle the almond chunks and rosemary on top. Dot the crumble with butter.

Bake for 30 minutes until the nut topping is browned.

Cool for a few minutes and serve warm topped with ice cream.

You can make this ahead and serve by reheating for 15 minutes at 350F.