Bengali Lunch for My Friend from Maharashtra

---- alu-bean bhaja, dimer jhol ar bhat
This year on the occasion of Diwali (the festival of lights), I was invited to have some special homemade Maharstrian delecacies at a friend's house. Her mother vited her from India and was actually staying with her when we met on Diwali. There after a really long time I had karaunji, chakli, chiwda, everything homemade! I never expected before that I would have a so Indian Diwali this year.
I also felt like cooking something authentic Bengali for them.
Unfortunastely Auntie left before we could manage some time to cook together.
So, I cooked for her daughter!
We had alu-bean bhaja (potato and green beans friend)and dimer jhol (egg curry).
Basically the same recipe I sent to BBC: http://www.bbc.co.uk/worldservice/learningenglish/specials/2009/11/091126_recipes_nov2.shtml where it looked different because there it was "kasha" (very thick gravy)here it is jhol ("=gravy/sausse"), more liquid.

Avocado: Influenced by Mexico

This preparation is inspired by Guacamole, the famous avocado dip the world has learnt to prepare from Mexico. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guacamole
I added all the ingredients except tomato to the avocado, mashed and mixed everything well and later mixed the mixture with boiled potatoes to make it my dinner.

Prawn in Onion and Tomato: My Success with Microwave!

WE learn only when we are forced to learn; when the situation we are in demands that we must learn. I did not touch the microwave oven in my flat for the last one year. But in the recent past, as my oven broke down twice in three weeks, I realized that I must have a parallel system to avoid unintended fasting in a Sunday late evening. (On Sundays everything is closed in Germany.)
So, I tried utilising the presence of the “Mikrowelle” in my kitchen. It actually went so well that I bought some ceramic pots, made in France, specially made for cooking in microwave oven. They are orange and white in colour. They are beautiful!
So, nowadays I am cooking even typical Bangali dishes, too, in microwave oven.
Here is prawn with tomato and onion, the way my mom used to cook it quite often. Only, I did not add thinly sliced potatoes to it since I feel that I eat too much carbohydrate. Sorry, I was too hungry to present it more neatly in a better container this time. I apologise for this not-so-good photo.

The Honeywine!

A lot can happen in the Christmas market!
Quite a lot happened to me this year at the Christmas market.
I met a number of nice people there this year, unlike last year when I just landed in Germany and, naturally, did not know anybody.
And….. I met MET there for the first time last Saturday, thanks to my new friend from Ulm.
She explained to me how “met” is made from honey.

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Met

Just like Gluehwein, met was also served hot. That was really nice for the cold late evening of mid-december in Stuttgart. I liked it very much. And I brought the cup home as a souvenir.

My First Pasta

Spargel mit Hollandaise Sausse!