At the Ciragan Palace in Istanbul last summer, having lots of scrumptious little bites and long, cool drinks.
Happy Summer Hols to everyone- The Spice Spoon will be back in August…
Sunday, June 26, 2011 By 20 Comments
Strawberry Yoghurt Parfait in the Persian Manner
Monday, June 13, 2011 By 17 Comments
It was the sort of evening where dessert had to be eaten first. It was the end of June and the tiny, scarlet, sweet-as-jam wild strawberries, le fragoline di Nemi were in season. Baba was visiting me in Rome from Bucharest and on the weekend our dear friends, Uncle Iqi and Aunty Neeman graciously drove us up into the Castelli Romani to the small town of Nemi. They always knew where to take us for the best medium-rare steak or the crispiest-thinnest pizza in Rome. And this time, they invited us for early season porcini mushrooms and le fragoline in Nemi. [Read more...]
Ami’s Palao – Caramelised / Spiced Pilaf in the Pakistani Manner
Monday, May 30, 2011 By 26 Comments
I don’t have friendships which have lasted thirty-some odd years.
I don’t have friends from kindergarten that I grew up and stayed up late at night with around the bonfire during summer camp, singeing marshmallows till they were gooey enough to be sandwiched between graham crackers with some chocolate tucked in. I don’t have a collection of yearbooks on my bookshelf which I can share with friends and laugh over that nerdy Grade Two portrait, the one in which my hair is parted in the middle and swept up on both sides with a candy-pink barrette, (thanks, Ami). [Read more...]
Spiced/Masala Omelette in the Pakistani Manner
Monday, May 23, 2011 By 31 Comments
Blog post is in response to a request from my friend AFC- who loved his masala omelettes during his business trips to India.
I like to eat my masala omelette placed between two pieces of soft, untoasted bread and eaten like a sarnie with some sweet chili sauce. It’s a childhood thing, you know, that ‘nursery food’ texture we all remember. The masala omelette is to the Pakistani kitchen what pancakes are to an American kitchen. The only pancakes I ever had as a child were out of a box, and that too, slathered with Aunt Jemima’s Kitchen syrup. [Read more...]
Ab Doogh Khiar- Cucumber Soup With Walnuts and Crunchy Shallots in the Persian Manner
Sunday, May 15, 2011 By 15 Comments
Her name was Bridget but we called her Aunty Brige. Not pronounced ‘bridge’, like the one which connects two points across a river, but Brige, with a long ‘i’, as in liege. She was tall and wore lots of white, flowing dresses which looked beautiful with her crown of wavy, strawberry blonde hair. One could imagine her sitting elegantly next to a harp, with her fingers plucking at the strings. Aunty Brige had light eyes; I cannot remember if they were green or blue or hazel, and they were always hidden behind large spectacles. [Read more...]
Aloo Tiki- Potato Cutlets in the Pakistani Manner
Sunday, May 8, 2011 By 35 Comments
Ami and Nani Ami in Murree, Pakistan
It’s dreadfully difficult to find ice in Rome. It’s considered an American thing- ‘ma, tu sei Americana?‘, the server joked with my sister when she requested ice in her coca-cola. It was May, and my dear friend A and I were hosting a party on her terrace and we needed ice for making those sweet, tart mojitos. We were in a crisis- we had no idea where to get it from in Rome- and we needed lots of it. [Read more...]
Boulani- Potato Turnovers in the Afghan Manner
Sunday, April 24, 2011 By 28 Comments
Carb on carb is considered very naughty.
But we, the Afghans do it, the Pakistanis do it with our spiced potato sauté mopped up with pillowy naan; the Poles do it with their pierogies and you haven’t really lived yet if you haven’t been to that trattoria in Baschi, Umbria and had a silky raviolo stuffed with a velvety potato mash, served with a fruity olive oil and shavings of that musky, sweet, intense black truffle. That dish is called “i-want-to-lick-my-plate-and-the-person-who-created-this-combination”. [Read more...]
Gosh-e-Feel: Baby Elephant Ears- Fried Pastry in the Afghan Manner
Monday, April 18, 2011 By 22 Comments
I first tried “gossip” when I lived in Rome. No, not that kind. I learned what gossip was in the kindergarten when my ‘husband’, Jamie and I paid Gina for a pound of tomatoes and instead of putting the two plastic yellow coins in the till, she put them in her pocket. And instead of tommies, she handed us bananas. By recess time, everyone knew about the dreadful thing Gina had done to us. [Read more...]
Spicy Grilled Saffron Prawns with Garlic-Scallion Rice
Saturday, April 2, 2011 By 19 Comments
Lago di Albano is shaped like an egg and glistens like lapis lazuli under the sun. When the sun starts to set, the shadows from the poplar trees in the Colli Albani above deepen the colour of the volcanic lake’s sleepy, glass-like surface. It is at the edge of this lake that I have sat with my colleagues on Wednesday evenings after work, some of us swimming enthusiasts; their bodies cutting through two kilometres of the lake’s width, and others, like myself, sitting under the willow tree outside Ristorante I Quadri 2000, popping cherry tomatoes out of a paper bag from the Testaccio market into my mouth. That is the spot where everyone would gather after their swim for newspaper-crips pizzas with oozing mozzarella and a spot of fruity red wine from the Castelli. Not the best red in Italy, but with the lake facing us and a spoonful of that wobbly, sweet panna cotta in our mouths amidst the chatter of friends, it did not matter. [Read more...]
My Paris
Sunday, March 13, 2011 By 30 Comments
I was 18, Maria, my youngest sister was 10. Standing on Paris’ Pont Alexandre III, we took the ultimate-touristic shot. It didn’t matter that we had been coming to Paris all our lives; Baba, my youngest sister, Maria and I had to get a photo of ourselves with the Eiffel Tower in the background. It was an overcast day, I was unnecessarily wearing my tortoise-shell rimmed Ray Bans, and there we stood, with lime-green and white Printemps shopping bags clutched in our hands. We huddled together for the very last shot of the three of us on vacation together in Paris. [Read more...]
