Muffinz!

Yes, so I was supposed to post photos of the muffins yesterday. Well at least I'm getting to it today. Except the "today" has already turned to tomorrow, and the yesterday should have been the day before! Maybe that is why you are not supposed to be up late at night - so as to not get confused about dates and relative time references!
Anyway, now that there are just two muffins them left, I figured I better get to writing this post. So here are my little beauties... yes they were little, more like "mini-muffins" in a lovely daisy shape (Thank you Walmart!)

I only made twelve coz thats how many my pan will fit at a time. And since this was my VERY FIRST BATCH OF MUFFINS, I tried out three variants - almond, chocolate chip and tutti-fruity. Unexpectedly, while all of them tasted good, the tutti-fruity turned out to be the best, though its usually not a favourite of mine.
Here's a close-up shot of an almond one.

Next stop: Banana Oat Muffins!

Hot n Sweet Tofu

Julia's spirit finally kicked in a day late, inspiring me to concoct this sweet and spicy tofu and babycorn curry. Of course, this is definitely not French, but it is from a modern day Americanized adaptation of a traditionally non-American dish, so I think its close enough. Confession time: My only inspiration was mom complaining about the pack of tofu I'd bought a month ago and frozen... Under threat of it being thrown into the garbage, what choice did I have? Raiding the fridge threw up some babycorn also, so in it went!

I started by sauteing the tofu, sliced babycorn, and onions in oil (separately). Put aside. Then I added a bit of fresh oil into the pan along with minced ginger and garlic slices. When cooked, I added soy sauce and a spoon of sugar. Let it cook without stirring till the sugar was partly caramelised, after which I added vinegar, sliced red chilles and water. Added all the veggies and cooked on low till the tofu absorbed the liquid. At that point I realised that I'd need more curry in order to eat it with rice, so I added more water and a bit of cornflour to thicken it. Adjusted the salt, turned off the gas and finally added some chopped garlic greens (fresh from my own garden, thank you very much!) for a bit of colour and its was done. It tasted really good. Next time I'm planning to make iit with chicken!

P.S. Made muffins today for the first time ever... Photos tomorrow!

Julie&Julia

When I started this blog, one of my friends suggested I watch the movie Julie&Julia, a movie based on the book by Julie Powell which explores the intersection of her (Julie's) life with that of the sensational Julia Child. The starting point of  the story is Julie's decision to start a blog about her attempt to cook every recipe in Child's cookbook within one year. As a movie that focuses on two of my passion - writing and cooking - how could it fail to interest me? While I didn't see any connection with my blogging or culinary aspirations, Child's name was familiar enough, and the story intriguing enough, for me to try to get a the movie almost immediately, an easy endeavour. But days passed and the movie got pushed to the bottom of the pile. Until tonight.
Watching the movie, the most recurring thought in my mind was "How did the two of them manage to find such amazing husbands, and where do I find myself one of those?" While certain scenes explicitly make us realize just how understanding Eric is of Julie's moods, self-absorption, etc, my admiration for Paul is much greater.
Husband-hunting aside, this is supposed to be a food blog and to the topic of food I shall return. It is of  course impossible to escape visuals of food and the process of cooking while watching this film. Now usually when I read something about food, I get inspired to invade the kitchen and DO something. Except today, when I felt nothing of the sort. Maybe its the fact that it is 2 AM, but I admit I am disappointed. And a little worried.
I absolutely loved how food, and more than that cooking, have been given such a central role in the movie. Cooking is educational, creative as well as therapeutic, it is an expression of love as well as an assertion of self. It is an investment, an act of faith and hope.
I liked the movie, but I do have a problem with the concept of invoking Julia by cooking from Julia's recipes.
When Julie cooks the Beef Bourgignion,she claims it is Julia's Beef Bourgignion, when in fact it can be nothing other than JULIE'S Beef Bourgignion. How can one cook make another cook's dish? How can a cook fail to invest of oneself in whatever he/she is cooking? I don't believe it is ever possible to perfectly replicate another's recipe. Even something as simple as tea will vary according to the person who makes it.