Grillin' y'all!

Often I forget I am living so far away from home. Nearly everything "Indian" can be bought/experienced. The large number of Indians living here also contribute to my occasional forgetfulness. But, but, but..there's always a but. At this time in any part of India, people are subjected to such scorching heat that it is altogether an unpleasant topic to broach. Here though, people wait for summer as eagerly as I am waiting for JK Rowling's book. Come spring or summer and there is such palpable excitement all around. It is infectious. Flowers of every hue and kind bloom and add to the general cheer all around. As if to chase away the gloomy winter for a good six months(one hopes). When we went for a hike sometime back, I think pretty much our entire neighbourhood was hiking too. Sunshine is a premium and it beckons one and all.

Summer calls for yet another season within. I wish I could put it better than that. But I am so excited to start writing about it without further ado. Yes, I am talking about barbeque parties! Since the days are longer, grilling is in. We attended two parties in the last month and now I can claim to know a tad more about barbeque than just 'Barbeque Nation' (which is a restaurant chain in Bangalore!!). The first party was a birthday surprise and I was largely a passive player here. One of our friend's wife planned this around a central theme - LA Lakers. I can't explain how crazy men are about basketball here. Everything was in golden and purple (colours of the Lakers) and even the cake was shaped like a basketball! You can mull over what a huge fan of bball he must be for his wife to go all out and organize a party. I must admit, it was kind of cute really - the whole colour co-ordinated balloons, plates, spoons, forks and return gifts. We had such a blast even without the birthday boy. We polished off the food and merely waited for him just so we could get a bite of the delicious cake ;) Guess what we did after the party. Watch a Lakers game. No surprises there. 

Here's what I made as a gift. I was 'commisioned' by his wife but since they are our friends, we decided to gift it anyway. This is a portrait of their dog 'Mac' when it was a pup. Now it just gives me the shivers as it is huge and menacing :) They liked it so much and I was thrilled too as this was the first time I attempted a doggy.

Last weekend we were at another barbeque party - My husband's uncle and aunt's. We were totally involved in this all throughout. My husband a lot more than me as he even helped assemble the grill amongst other patio furniture. There were a lot more people invited here and the spread was refreshing, simple and catered to everyone's needs. A cool salad, baked sweet potatoes, herb potatoes, chicken tikka, paneer tikka, veg burger, lemonade and mojito were the stand-outs. I made the paneer tikka, skewered them in with bell peppers and cherry tomatoes and I think the teens enjoyed it. My husband made a top-notch mojito and a veg burger that simply was a runaway hit. I enjoy cooking and we do cook together but I am more a procedure-oriented novice still finding her foothold in this tasty field.

This hangs in our kitchen. I wasn't joking when I said I started my baby steps in portraiture with pots and pans. 

p.s - "God loves my kitchen best" is the title of a book by Mab Graff. My mom and I simply love the book as it has warm , funny and inspiring anecdotes from everyday life with Bible verses.

p.p.s - The title of this post is my way of telling you how much Food Network I watch (not for inspiration mind you, i just can't find anything else on tv). Paula Deen with her southern drawl would probably say this on her show sometime ;)