Guess?

I know I look ugly. They just digged me out. I am a climber. When you cook me I am loved by many.

Guess?

a little sour/sweet on the left, a little sour/sweet on the right. Who am I in the middle?

Guess?

Who is this pretty lady? No clues this time.

Guess Me!

Brides blush with me. Who am I?

Guess?

Who am I? You dont eat my leaves. I am so shy I dont grow above the ground. I am so tasty I have a fan club in Kerala. I dont look like my big brother at all. Tell me tell me, who am I?

Guess?

I like it, you like it. World goes crazy over it especially a dose of this in the morning is a must. The flower turns into a fruit. Whats it?

(This is specially for sweet Sig for asking me to put at least a guessing game. ) :-)

Guess?

Now, all you smartie pants out there, guess this.

(Warning: Any more threats, verbal abuse towards this poor me for putting pictures of my backyard will not be taken lightly. Will be forced to put more :-))

Guess

Yeah, Yeah I know it is easy! But, I am not here to make your life more difficult.:)

Guess

An Indian woman and her kitchen cannot live without me. But I am too bitter to eat. What am I?

Guess?

After a long time, I am blogging again. Was itching to blog, but I had to cook something, for this is a food blog. Couldn’t put pictures of food someone else cooked (hehehe).
Anyway will be cooking again and back to blogging and sharing recipes. Hurray! (What? You didn’t feel the same hurray?) hehehe… I am just silly!

Okay, before all that…ahem…let me see whether you can guess these two. (Or in other words, while I start to cook, just to keep you entertained)

Below are pictures of two spices we use regularly. Guess them. (Note: a pretty little baking fairy is not allowed to guess!) ;-)

Guess? Fish Roe

No, it did'nt grow in my garden :)
Yeah...Yeah...Yeah...! Whenever I think I am smart, someone would come and burst that bubble! How I wish I could get spicyana! :-) She got the correct answer first and lo...everyone followed! :-)

Yeah, it is fish roe or fish eggs. Arent they same? We got a big blue fish and there it was, half a pound. But ahem...sorry, ate it all! hehehehe... :-) (Ah! atleast that way I can get back at you guys who guessed it correctly!) Just kidding!:)

Guess the plant? It is Ginger!

This is a very easy one. Clue is spread all over my blog!! hehehe :).

Everyone of you guessed it! Ah! I should'nt have left the clue. Thanks a lot guys!

GBP Summer 2006-July

I am sooooo happy to see so many of you guessed it right! Oh-ho! But I only have one trophy with me? Can you all please share? :-) . It is indeed Snake Gourd or Padavalanga in Malayalam.This is my GBP Summer 2006-July Entry. Recipe with Snake GourdHurry up folks! Just two more months for the Round up. I will post the Green Blog Project Summer Round up on October 1st.

If you still havent started your little garden, C'mon get a small pot, plant some parsley or thyme and keep it near your window (No excuses for not having a window!). Make some dish with that and send me your entries to, yes finally I created an email Id :-) greenblogproject AT gmail DOT com OR just post a comment on the GBP Summer Link.

Okay, I also want to hear stories about "Why it didnt grow?" too. Maybe we can see what happened. If you can take pictures, I could use that as a small sub heading in the Round Up Post.

I am really really happy, when someone sends me an entry from a patio or a window sill garden! I know the trouble you guys go through for that!

THANKS a million to a lot of sweet bloggers for spreading the Word. You guys are sooo sweet!

Guess the Flower - July 18.

Can you guess this flower? This produces a vegetable, we South Indians love but we rarely get it here in U.S and even if we get it, we have to pay through the nose. It is 5$ per pound here in Florida. If you can really guess this flower, I will award you with the "Green Guesser" Award :)Shape of this flower is very peculiar with tiny strings from each petals. Do you know?I really hope these guess posts give you lot if information about the vegetables or fruits we forget. At times, I think our next generations would end up thinking pineapple grows in a tree since it is an 'apple', since we see vegetables and fruits only on neatly arranged shopping isles these days.

Guess the herb?

Update : Yes! I am so happy many of you guessed it right. That is too sweet.
It's Latin name is Coleus Amboinicus - Priya Bhaskaran gave me all the names!
Panikoorkka (പനിക്കൂര്‍ക്ക) in Malayalam - Sarah
Karpoora valli in Telugu - Vineela
Bilwa Pathrey in Kannada - Aparna and as she says it is Totally medicinal!
Cuban Oregano, Spanish Thyme - Diane
Broad Leaf Thyme - Devaragam

Very fragrant, smells like karpooram and the leaves are thick like a sponge. If you ever get one, please plant it in your yard in semi-shade. Or you can plant it in a container and keep it inside in Winter.

***
To me, maybe due to my limited English vocabulary, herbs always meant small plants which one uses for preparing quick home remedies. Herbs were something which you don’t ‘buy’ but search in your yard or your neighbor’s yard and find them, wash the dirt and use.

I come to U.S.A and everything is a herb here. I mean I never put ‘herbs’ in my curry. I didn’t understand that. Anyway by now, you would have understood I am not that intelligent :)
Also, when I read Fresh Herbs on shop isles, I wondered, Fresh Herbs? Isn’t that an Oxymoron? To me, herbs were always fresh, otherwise why use them?

I would go and search for these Fresh herbs, in small plastic packets, washed and ready to use and neatly labeled. I look at the price and I faint, $2 for 3 tiny stems? Herbs are costlier than milk? I don’t know why, but in my house we have this habit of always comparing other food stuff price with the price of milk. Anyway I never found a real ‘herb’ on those isles which will soothe the dizzy feeling I get when I see the price of it.

This entry is for Kalyn’s Weekend Herb Blogging. But before that, I want my dear friends to guess what this herb is. Clue: This is a REAL herb ;-), found so commonly in our yards back home.

flowers of the herb
leaves of the herb

For kids, the leaves are boiled with water and the water is used to bathe them when they are having fever or cold.

tulsi leaves and flower

The leaves of this herb and tulsi (Indian basil?) is boiled together to a decoction and served with honey to little kids when they are having fever and cold.

Guess who ?

Sreyashi Dey
Photo Courtesy: Srishti Dances

Who is this little pretty thing below imitating the famous Odissi dance pose?
This is very easy guess! But wanted to show you the cute little dance pose.

Guess the fruit?

Bursting through the roof in anti-oxidant content,I read in Newsweek, the juice of this is the current fad among health nuts. I am not sure whether it will really fruit this year, but it is producing lots of flowers.

Guess the fruit? (Wax Jambu)

This fruit evokes strong memories for me. For summer vacation we would go to my dad’s ancestral home and the first thing I do is climb on this tree, fold my skirt like a bag, get as many pink ones as I can collect in my little bag, tuck as many story books (balarama, poombaataa) into my armpit and run to the nearest stream with my cousins…munch on them and read…until the supply is over.

I know this is an easy one. But it has so many different names every 2 k.m. Want to get all the names as possible.

It has just started to fruit in my garden, Waiting impatiently for it to mature! I don’t know whether it is those memories or the taste that makes me go and stare at it everyday.

Guess the vegetable? (Drumstick)

1.
2.
3.
4.
5.

All these flowers are from my garden trumpeting the arrival of Spring.

One of them will turn into a vegetable we all love to eat and love to put in lot of our favourite curries. It has a hard outer skin and soft flesh inside.

Guess which vegetable? It is a vegetable,not a seed.(My digital camera is a sorry version since I got it free from Bellsouth for ordering their DSL, so pardon my pics, but I hope the pics are clear enough for you to guess)

Guess the spice? (Kudampuli)

This is also from in-laws (another nice sweet aunt) who make sure we have two or three kilos of this when we travel back to U.S. The only worry I have at customs is whether they will throw the whole bag out. I am pretty sure, if they ever do that, I will choose the spice bag than U.S. entry :-)

This is a must-use, very important, cholesterol lowering ingredient if you are from central Kerala. Most homes have jars full of this dried and if properly dried it will store for years. It turns from parrot green to blackish black when dried.

Yes, it is the favourite kudampuli. A friend of mine from Trivandrum actually ate this when I made fish curry for her. She didnt know that this should not be eaten. It is just to sour the fish curry.

I have had fish curry from Goa and they put kokum in their fish curries too. They even make some drinks with this I think. But I think kokum and kudampuli are not same,but they are cousins for sure.

Which fruit?

Yes it is Guava or lovingly called as Perakka
From our garden...It is guava indeed.