A typical weekend brunch.. !!

My favorite weekend getaway brunch is Puffed Rice Pilaf (Poha) ... easy and quick to prepare and at the same time...  quite filling and wholesome... !! What more can I ask on a lazing weekend... :)

And I made pasta...

Cooking has suddenly become an important part of my daily life... to the extent that I am even contemplating to pursue some culinary courses... (more on my new found passion later... :D) ... !! In fact one of the daily highs for me is deciding the menu for the dinner... and once I finalize the menu... I diligently do some research on the recipes and the next step is to collect ingredients and then follows the initial preparation before I can start to cook...!!

Vartika and Arti might remember my sudden craving for pasta at lunch time... and also my quick resorting to Maggie Pasta :) ... and yes... Maggie Rocks...!! Exactly like one of those days... yesterday I again had this craving for pasta... and because I did not have Maggie Pasta in my reserve and also because I could expense some time for creativity... 'Pasta' was to be my dinner offering... !!

And then started the multiple level of choices... like which pasta... - Penne or Rivoli or Spaghetti ?? ...which sauce... - White or Red ?? and so on... :)

It took me an hour and half... ONLY for the initial preparation.... and once I was done with organizing/collecting/preparing the raw material...the colors caught my eyes... !! WOW... it had so many colors... red... yellow... green... white... off-white... pink-red... onion-pink... reddish-brown... !! And even without the cooking.... the food looked rich and wholesome...!! It was definitely a visual treat... :)

Another 40-45 minutes to cook and pasta was ready to be served...  it did look quite sumptuous... and delicious... and I was happy... but it was when I finally served the 'surprise' dinner and saw the twinkle in his eyes... that I realized ... the effort was well spent ... !!

My food fascinations...

I love food... and I love eating... :) !! I can eat anytime... but definitely not anything...!! Though I am not fussy about what to eat... but I am certainly particular about the taste...!!  Taste - the yum factor...!! 

The same food... cooked by two different people... can taste starkly distinct...!! Not only that... even the same food... cooked at two different times... by the same person... can taste drastically different...!! So 'taste' is not only governed by the ingredients... but also by the timing, person and his or her mood... !! 

I love everything about food... the color.. the flavor... the aroma... the craving... the touch... and of course the taste...!! I have always been intrigued by cooking... it is quite fascinating to observe how cooking transforms the raw to cooked... !! I love the transition... of the raw ingredients to the cooked food...!!

Yesterday I was cooking rajma (Red Kidney Beans, Indian Style) when it stuck me that it would be interesting to post some of my cooking trysts... !! So here it is... the beginning... :)

Kidney Beans and the other raw ingredients - before cooking

Kidney Beans - after cooking