In Season

Late June brings us sour cherries and scapes at the farmer's market.

Sweet (& Salty) Tooth

Both of us love caramel with its perfect balance of salty and sweet. I never thought of making it myself until I came across a recipe for confiture caramel beurre salé and decided to give it a whirl. It calls for only 5 basic ingredients: Sugar, water, butter, salt and cream.

I should mention that patience is also a necessary ingredient. My first batch of sugar crystallized into a hot gooey mess and it was then that I realized that the recipe wasn't as straightforward as I thought. I took a deep breath, studied a few tutorials on YouTube, and was able to successfully caramelize the sugar on the second attempt. It was easy from there on out and fun to watch the molten liquid become actual caramel-- and more importantly taste like actual caramel.

Family Recipe

One of the perks about going to Ronak's house is eating an abundance of delicious homemade Indian food. His family is Gujarati vegetarian so the flavors are very different from the Punjabi dishes I'm used to ordering in Indian restaurants.

Another perk is that we can have one-on-one Indian cooking lessons anytime we like. I recently took advantage of this generous offer and spent the afternoon cooking with Ron's mom. I learned how to make Batata Suki Bhaji (potatoes with tumeric, mustard seed, cilantro, lime juice & green chili peppers), as well as roti and parathas. Once we get set up with the necessary spices and cooking tools, we're going to have a lot more Indian food at home.