Tuesday, July 31, 2007

MEME

When Vanamala tagged me to write a meme about myself, I was all up for it. I don’t know whether I have so many things to talk about me. But here it goes:



  • I am Marwari Jain, originally from Rajasthan but born and brought up in Chennai. I love my childhood days. I grew up in big family and lived with my grandparents, parents, 1 uncle, 5 aunts, 2 sisters, 1 brother and 2 cousins all under one roof. It was jus t like a Hindi TV Soap, but way more fun!

  • I have wonderful memories of my childhood – enjoying festivals and summer vacations, playing with or just talking to my cousins till late in the night, going on vacations and of course, cooking and eating. I still, to this very day, miss my cousin - she was my best friend. We do keep in touch even after being far away from each other.

  • In all the important occasions in our house, food was the main thing and there was always an extra emphasis on it. My grandmother and mother are great cooks. They used to cook so many dishes and even now they do it with the same zeal and enthusiasm. I love their hand made Marwari dishes - dal batti, churma, lapsi, magadh... The list just goes on and on.

  • When I got married I didn’t know how to cook at all. Immediately, thereafter, I came to the United States along with my In-Laws, who had come for a vacation here. It was very fortunate because, it helped me to learn from my mother-in-law (mummyji) so many intricacies about cooking that I was oblivious to. She is a great cook.

  • I finished my studies and came to U.S. While in the United States. I heard about Montessori from one of my friends and it sounded like a perfect thing to do. I love kids! So I joined Montessori course where I learnt about how to teach kids for 3 to 6 years old. I did the certification course for 1 yr and worked for 2 yrs.

  • Me and my husband love to travel, watch movies, go for hiking, camping etc. We both have many things in common.

  • I just started to blog last month. My husband thought I should share my recipe with everyone else. I started this as a time pass, but now I am so hooked on it. Apart from blogging I love to cook and do some art and craft work. I have done crochet, knitting, making flowers, candles etc.

I will end up my MEME…..
I have tagged Padma of http://padmaskitchen.blogspot.com/ and Poonam of http://poonamphatak.blogspot.com/
Please feel free to play only if you have the time.

13 comments:

Poonam said...

Hi Athika, Good to know about you. I saw that you have tagged me but I just wrote some wicked things that I do for a Meme that Komal tagged me for! You can read that here-http://poonamphatak.blogspot.com/2007/07/tagged.html

So I guess I am going to let it pass this time..Sorry!

Vanamala Hebbar said...

Athika good to know about you.
thanks for sharing your life.

Sharmi said...

that was a nice meme to read. you are so lucky to be brought up in a huge joint family. it must have been such a nice thing to remember.

Athika said...

Hi Poonam and Vanamala, Thanks for your comment.

Hi Sharmi, Thanks for your comment. It was lot of fun. I still have fun whenever I go back to India.

Anonymous said...

Hi Athika,

I am a Marwari too and love to eat and cook rajasthani food. You have some great recipes here, love your eggless cake. In the recipe you said 2 cups of maida, I should use a measuring cup for this right?
Can you post a recipe for Churma, would love to try that.

Meghana

Athika said...

Hi Meghana, Thanks for your comment. Ya for the eggless cake you should use a measuring cup to get a perfect cake. I will definetely try to post the recipe of churma soon. My grandmother makes very good i will call her and ask the right recipe.

Roopa said...

This is my first time here! nice to know you :). you have a nice coolection of recipes!

Srivalli said...

nice to read your meme....it must've been fun living in a joint family...great to know you

Srivalli
www.cooking4allseasons.blogspot.com

J said...

Nice to know you. And looking forward to dal bati and churma :)

Padma said...

I was feeling so nice reading your meme. It must be fun living in such big family. like Kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi...is that same in your family too?

And dear thanks for tagging me, but I might be only able to post it lil late this month. I would sure love to know recipes for dal bhatti, churma and lapsi...that on ur request list...

Athika said...

Hi padma,

It is a huge family now like kyunki saas bhi kabhi bahu thi with all aunts kid and their kids it just goes on and on. But it is lot of fun. I miss them all a lot.
I will definetely try to post the recipe for dal batti, churma and I have already posted the recipe for lapsi.

Athika said...

Hi roopa, jyotshna, srivalli, Thanks for your comment.

Anonymous said...

You do have a nice collection of recipes. Why did you stop writing? I c the last you posted stuff was in November. Hope all is well at your end.
I am looking forward to your response to Isha about the dal batti being too hard. So, does the dough need to be kneaded soft or hard?
Thanks for all your work. I don't really cook but i do enjoy reading recipes and passing them over to friends and family. I did like your style of having serial images for your recipes (although you don't have any for the Gatte ki Sabzi). Since that is a very hard concept for someone who hasn't eaten this before, a visual might be encouraging for them to attempt it :)
Love,
Maya