How It Got Started
About Me
Hello everyone! Let me introduce myself to all of you. I am Anjana. I am a Gastroenterologist by profession, practicing yogi and above all a mom of 2 kids (older son Om and younger daughter Ekaa).
I have always been interested in cooking, especially in aesthetically pleasing food since I was a kid. I was raised as a vegetarian since my family practices vegetarianism. I married a vegetarian and we are raising our kids the same as well.
As a child, I would really enjoy setting up the table. I also used to imitate chefs from the cooking channels on TV. I was my Amma’s (mom’s) little helper for making side dishes or decorating salads!
Food has always been as essential part of our family togetherness. Dinner used to be a full family affair; my Amma would roll the rotis (wheat tortillas) while my Appa (dad) would cook them on the stove; my sister (Aruna) would get the more important duties of being the kitchen helper, and I being the youngest was basically told to be my sister’s helper, haha!
As I got older, I started participating more and more in the kitchen, especially during special festivals like Holi (making gujiyas), Diwali (making burfis), Navratri (making sundal). I eventually started making evening snacks which would consist of ginormous sandwiches with home grown veggies (tomato, lettuce) and loads of cheese!
I then moved to the United States for further medical training; I had an apartment with my own kitchen and had to make all the meals myself. Only then did I realize the pains of doing my own dishes. This is where I learnt to use less cookware to save time!
Then came the role of being a mother while doing my Gastroenterology fellowship. So this is where I started to perfect the skill of quick cooking while minimizing the use of cookware! Of course, it was important for me to raise my kids to have a taste for different types of cuisines. I started making different varieties of food everyday so that they could get exposed to a plethora of cuisines.
Over the years I have had many influences in my cooking. Of course my mother (the best cook in the whole wide world), my sister (who has mastered the art of managing work and household with her 2 little munchkins), my mother in law (who by the way is not only an architect but has her own recipe blog which is amazing!), my friends Neha (who does a wonderful job of raising three beautiful boys and cooking/baking yummies from scratch), and Emaya (who is my guru for blog searches, incorporating modern twists to traditional recipes, and of course a fantastic mother to her twins!), and many more wonderful women in my family and friend circle. In addition, I would like to acknowledge those wonderful bloggers out there (Green Kitchen Stories, Pick Up Limes, Rainbow Plant Life, Cookie + Kate, Divine Taste by Anushruti, Hebbar's Kitchen, Tasty/ Buzzfeed) and many more! How can I forget my father, the scientist, who brought science conversations into our family cooking; who knew idli could be so fascinating! Last but not the least my wonderful husband Simha, who is a busy Radiologist himself, but always has been supporting me in any role that I have taken, whether personal or professional. He is also my best critic during those failed experiments (being too sweet to tell me that he did not like the dish and politely says “for some reason this dish that you made didn’t suit me”), haha! In fact, he was the one who came up with my blog name!
This blog focuses on making quick meals during those busy workdays; using some of my favorite kitchen gadgets for those short cuts (my lovely instant pot, food processors etc.). My emphasis is to keep the amount of cookware to a minimum, to decrease the total amount of clean up time. I do make traditional dishes, but not necessarily the traditional methodology, to accommodate our needs in terms of time and cookware.
Over the years I have also become more and more interested in baking, since our kids enjoy baked goods. I will also be including my favorite go to eggless baking recipes.
Last but not least, I will still be keeping up with our Indian tradition in making those lovely meals during festivals, but not taking away too much of our precious time so that we can enjoy with our kids and have time for our own personal care!
I try to keep our food as healthy as possible; balanced on nutrition, and truly believing in the magic of yoga in our busy lifestyles!
Looking forward to sharing these treats with you all!