Finally a Food Procesor I actually use

Although, I wouldn't call myself a gourmet, I do cook and enjoy good food. I am hoping to share more of my love of cooking, and challenges of feeding an Indian husband and American kids.

So I really loved this old food processor I had - it did everything I needed a food processor for, albeit noisily. It was cumbersome to use, consequently I used the shredder and slicer much less often than I liked to and usually had to consult the manual to get the shredding blade to work right. Then suddenly, it died and after kneading flour by hand for two days, I was in the market for a food processor. I asked some Indian friends and, god bless their patriotic heart, but they still don't think anything is better than a Sumeet. I was not too keen on a Sumeet. For one it comes with too many blades and parts, and I am seriously strapped for storage. Secondly, from my past experience I knew I won't use a machine that requires me to change parts often. I wanted something sleeker and given that I never grind dal for dosa or dahi vada, I did not need something that heavy-duty.

After a little more research I settled on a Cuiniart food processor which I bought at Costco. I have been using it for over a month and I am very happy with it. The best part about it is that for most of my daily prep work -chopping, kneading and pureeing, I don't even have to change blades. There is a special kneading blade for larger amounts of flour, but for our daily rotis I need only a couple of cups of flour. I have to change blades for grating and slicing but nothing else - the same base works for everything. The machine is also fast and quiet. It kneads dough in about 2 minutes. I have also used it for pie crusts, for making quick breads such as banana bread, pizza dough, for grating cheese and carrots, for mincing onions and slicing potatoes, for making chutneys and pesto, and for pureeing tomatoes and onions for sauces. I use it a lot more than my old food processor because it is so convenient to use, and because it doesn't take up much room, I can have it sitting on the counter. All parts are dishwasher safe (top rack) although I still wash them with hand.

The only thing I have been disappointed with is that I cannot use it blend a large amount of liquid to, say, make a milkshake. Although the container capacity is 11 cups, the amount of liquid you can add in it is much less. However, I realize that I rarely do that. Usually I make smoothies for my kids and that is just a glass or two. I had to make punch for a party once. I ended up pureeing the fruits with a little liquid in food processor, and mixed in the rest of the liquid with the puree in a separate pitcher. It turned out fine.

If you are in the market for a food processor, I would recommend it.

Jhumpa Lahiri

I am on my second book by Lahiri, and am struck by how depressing her books are. Unaccustomed Earth is a collection of short stories, so we get to see many of her characters and they all seem to be living these sad, hopeless lives, with no joy in them. The immigrant parents inevitably have an arranged marriage with no bond between them, the mothers always cooking and the fathers busy with their jobs, clinging by a frayed thread to their roots in India. The children spend their lives in misery, straddling the two worlds. Nobody seems to have a purpose or any kind of optimism. Being an immigrant myself, this really bites. I have enough perspective to see that my life is not necessarily like the parents of most of Lahiri's characters. It just might be because I am from a different generation than what her own parents might have been from. It is obvious that her characters have all come out of her own life - is that really the shared story of first generation Indian Americans? Are my children doomed to lead such hopeless, torn, divided lives - trying to break free from their parents, yet never quite assimilating into the life in the US? I am thinking of abandoing the book, because I have been completely depressed since I started reading it.

Historic day, historic moment

New York Times said today "An American with the name Barack Hussein Obama, the son of a white woman and a black man he barely knew, raised by his grandparents far outside the stream of American power and wealth, has been elected the 44th president of the United States."

Not just that, but a decent intelligent man, who ran with a simple idea that he believes in. A man who reached the highest office in the country, purely on his own merit, and by sticking to his beliefs without bending with the political winds. His opponents may say that I give him too much credit, and of course, time will only tell, but I truly believe that this is the first time in my life I am seeing a leader who has principles that he believes in and who will stand by those principles. Before this election season, I used to think that John McCain was that person but he proved us wrong.

Today, I can tell my daughters with conviction that, indeed, there is no limits to what you can achieve in this country. As any immigrant I keep tallying pro and cons of continuing to live in the US . Today, the pro column got many many points!

As festive as I wanna be

Each year I bemoan that Indian holidays come and go, without much fanfare. On Diwali, the stores are decorated with scary Halloween stuff, if anything, and there is no sign in the air that Diwali is even around the corner. Not being religious, we rarely go to the temple, consequently we are not very well connected with the local Indian community. As kids grow, I am afraid about losing traditions and they are indeed growing up very fast.

This year I went out and made an extra effort. I took half the day off on Diwali, and nagged my husband to hang lights on the house. I made mithai and festive food, decorated the house, got dressed up and ensured that the kids dressed up in new clothes, and lo and behold Diwali day felt quite festive to me! Over the weekend, we invited a few friends, had good food, danced, gambled a bit, and it felt even more festive. OK, so it took a lot of extra effort and I am still doing dishes from the party but it really felt like a holiday this year. My lesson in this very Gandhian - Self-reliance. My current environment isn't supporting it but with a little effort Hindu holidays can be as festive as I want them to be. I feel all aglow! I am sure you are wondering why it took me this long to figure something this simple out.