Celebrating our tiranga ...

59 years of being a republic.

Where is India right now?

Population of 1.1 billion (2006)
Infant mortality rate has dropped from 60 per 1000 (2003) to 35 per 1000 (2007)
Gross National Income of $906.5 billion (2006)
GDP growth was 9.4% in 2007
Software exports totalled $28 billion
BPO exports exceeded $8 billion
Cellular market surged to 160 million subscribers

And then there is the other side ...

350-400 million people in India live under the poverty line, about 75% of them in rural areas
More than 40% of the population is illiterate
India is No.115 of 157 in the 2008 Index of Economic freedom (can that be good?)
Malnutrition affects more than half of all rural children, even as obesity is starting to threaten their more affluent peers
Second highest number of people living with HIV/AIDS (5.1 million)
Unemployment rate is at 7.8% (2006)
External debt of $132 billion (2006)
Less than 93 women exist for every 100 men in the population

Some interesting reads (I don't agree with all the opinions in the op-eds, but they make for thought-provoking reading nevertheless):

• How to defend India
• Our Unlucky Children
• Female infanticide
• World Bank profile of India
• UNICEF in India
• Are our children really learning?

A little depressing? I guess. But change takes time. And the process of change is often hard. Plus, we probably won't see the full impact of it in our lifetime. But I'd like to believe in a vision or two :)

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
- Mahatma Gandhi

And with all that rambling, you're probably wondering where the food connection is! Well, Pooja got me started on this, it's all her fault :) I started off thinking tricolour when she announced her saffron, white and green event, and that led to more thoughts about our republic day and independence and the state of the country, etc, etc.

The good news is that I do have a tricolour submission for Pooja (sorry it is late!), and it tasted *good* - can't quite go wrong with fruits!


A simple fruit kebab with mandarin oranges, apples and kiwis made for my tiranga - and a pomegranate-yogurt dip served as a good creamy foil for the fruits.


Happy Republic Day!

And a year rolls by ...

2007 is almost done with! Quite unbelievable how quickly an entire year has gone by. Yoikes! I'm going to have to get used to writing 2008 now, that's the most tiresome part of the new year :)

The end of a year is often mired in nostalgia, soon followed by anticipation. I often spend several moments thinking about the highs and lows that went by. And then I start gleefully anticipating all the things that come with the new year - more snow, snowboarding, anticipation of spring, seasonal fruits and vegetables, suddenly everything starts to seem new and exciting! ... :)



Nupur's Best of 2007 event comes at the perfect time - I'm already in nostalgia and I'm usually thinking about food, so it seems perfectly natural to talk about AtoZ's life so far.

122 days, 58 posts, pretty much every one of them involving a recipe. Cooking has always been a passion, but the more we cooked, the more I wrote, the more we starting thinking about the "right" things. Now we spend hours talking sustainable, polycyclic, more than organic, giving back to the soil and supporting local farmers. We watch where we shop, what we buy, how we cook and what we dispose. Some awareness came from writing about food, a lot more came from reading all those great blogs out there - it is quite amazing how much we learn everyday from fellow bloggers. After all

Food is our common ground, a universal experience.
- James Beard

Speaking of a recap, this is a loose list of best picks from AtoZ - only the lentil soup and black bean burgers are old-timers, the rest are all first attempts.

Favourites

A list of 10 favourites seems too large and too small at the same time :)

Beet Orange Salad


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Moroccan Lentil Soup


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Cauliflower Coconut Stew



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Machli ka Salan

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Blackened Snapper


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Zen and the art of Black bean burgers

This goes to Zorra and Sandra for their Best of 2007 event - the first batch of burgers that I made were pretty good, but it took a few rounds of experimenting before I finally hit the perfect balance. Burger heaven is a great place to be in! :)

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Veggie Fajitas


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Roasted Vegetables + Spicy Polenta

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Sugarcane-banana cake in cashew-pistachio milk

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Date'n'Nut Candy

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Favourite Pooch Treats of the Year :)

What next?

We're excited about 2008, about a new look, more recipes and experimenting, growing vegetables and herbs, new cookbooks, travel, eating out, eating in ... everything!

This blog has consumed more time than I expected, it is probably going to take up a lot more time in the coming months, but no complaints here, this is a fabulous journey, we definitely want it to keep going!

We wish you a happy, exciting and tasty 2008 and raise a toast to all the fabulous food that 2007 has brought to us!

Eat, drink and make merry!
And don't forget to take pictures and write about it :)