This picture of the malabi in Einat Admony’s book, “Balaboosta” has been haunting me because of the beautiful colors. The creamy dessert is served with pistachios and orange marmalade.
I also had extra milk on hand that needs to be used soon, so this was the perfect reason to make malabi. To me, it looks like a swedish cream meets panna cotta, but with the vibrancy of the orange and pistachios, it is a dessert full of beauty.
During Diwali, one is supposed to wear new clothes to bring luck in the coming year. Some new gold jewelry doesn’t help either.
Since I have a collection of sarees to choose from, I picked a bright orange and deep purple silk, that I believe is from Mysore.
This week is Diwali, which means I go to Indian sweets and spices in Beaverton to get sweets for my Diwali feast. From the left, the brown balls are gulab jamun, coconut gulab jamun, carrot halwa burfi and cashew burfi. The middle is a rosewater ladoo.
As a western traveler of North and South India, I feel that the sweets are pretty uniform, meaning you can often get any kind of sweet anywhere in India.
So I’ve started to work somewhat stably full time now, so that means only one thing- have to stock up on dark chocolate bars to eat during the day.
I try to peruse the chocolate selection at stores for I haven’t tried and that are on sale.
As a Westerner, I did struggle to learn how to wear the sari when I was back living in the United States. I watched a few Youtube videos to try to learn, but there is nothing like wearing saris often to get used to the movement of the garment. This can take time and patience to get used to walking, but the end result leaves you feeling elegant in a variety of fabrics.
One day, while wandering in the library as I tend to do, I came upon this book:
The Sari by Mukulika Banerjee
I wondered if this would help me wear the garment comfortably. The book presented a lot of information about the history of the sari, the ways to drape the sari, statements made by types of saris, social interactions with the sari and much more. There also were gorgeous pictures demonstrating these subjects, along with sari prints, the sari making process at the textile mills and movie stars wearing glamorous saris.
I really enjoyed this book, because it made me feel like wearing a sari is an art. I have never experienced that with a garment before, and as the book says, women seem to have a story attached to each sari they own. They often receive them for new festivals, like Diwali, and often the person who gives them a sari demonstrates a sort of relationship.
I have begun to develop my own stories with the vast amount of saris I shipped home from India. I pick them out to make certain statements: fancy, relaxed, day wear, evening wear, colors for particular festivals (Diwali demands oranges, reds or bright pinks to match the diya lights and rangolis, and fabric to be most comfortable in the weather.
For example, season depending I will stay warm or cold. For summer, I like chiffon, net, cotton blends and sometimes regular cotton.
For winter, I am looking forward to heavier silks and thicker cotton. I also see women in temple pairing their saris with cardigans to keep warm.
Since I have a trousseau from India, I will pull them out during festival season (Diwali is in a couple weeks) and it will add to the nice memory. I also might even do it for Western holidays like I did last year for Christmas.
In my next post, I will tell you a story about a sari I bought.
Rum is made from sugar cane and then distilled so it still counts as something sweet for the Sugar Hedonist.
Rum is not necessarily my favorite hard liquor, but it is one I have much experience with, because I used to have a roommate who was really into rum and mixology, and he spent a lot of money on growing his rum and entire liquor collection.
On a run to the farmer’s market with my favorite foodie friend (yes, I’ve mentioned him before and will from now on refer to him as my F3 because saying FFF is too hard to say quickly), I asked him to request something for me to bring to his state capital abode when I visit him on the weekend.
I received many a suggestion from him and his house mates, wavering on vague (marzipan) and interesting (more middle eastern desserts).
Hello, this first post is going to be mostly about me, because I have quite an interesting story of the way I became interested in Indian culture.
This blog is to help Westerners understand more about Indian culture, which I believe is the first step to wearing the sari. But to meet me, here is a picture below of me wearing a sari:
I actually got this at a bead store in Portland, Oregon. There is always a basket of vintage saris to look through.
This story goes all the way back to when I was a little girl, starting to attend kindergarten at the International School of Amsterdam.
I made friends with people from all over the world, including an Indian family that my mum was good friends with.
The mothers cooked together and exchanged recipes. And the children and I would always play together.
While tasting some new aloo (potato) recipes and learning about Diwali (Indian festival) at school, my interest in Indian culture only grew when my mum’s friend was cleaning out her jewelry one day.
She gave me some earrings and bangles and I thought they were the most beautiful jewelry I had ever seen.
I was further rewarded when my younger sister’s teacher, also from India, brought back a huge selection of bangles for my sisters and I.
Little did I know, in December 2008, I would randomly go to India with two other friends.
Though it was a huge cultural adjustment, by the end, India became my favorite country for many reasons, but most notably the jewelry, clothing and food.
I recently took my own trip to South India for four and a half months, scouting out the best sari places, designing my own sari blouses and conferring with tailors in Hindi.
Hopefully there will be another India trip in the works soon so I can fill out my bridal wardrobe.
I will be posting on saris I like, saree stores I recommend, and accessories to go with your saris.
I know I am a Westerner and have a different view on saris, but I have taken the time to understand the art of wearing a sari.
I am also always learning about this intriguing garment!
Snickerdoodles are one of my favorite cookies. Mostly because its like eating a cinnamon roll without doing a lot of work.
When I was a kid and made these for the first time on my own, I was surprised to learn that they need to be chilled for about an hour before you roll them in the cinnamon and sugar.
It’s time for a Middle Eastern sweet.
I tried out the only independent coffee shop in my new neighborhood and found a charming Middle Eastern restaurant called Gyro House Mediterranean Grill. They are located in Beaverton, OR.
Gyro House has many other wonderful food items to offer besides their gyros and homemade french fries with tasty sauce.