Those of you who have been with us for a while and know me well, know that any time I do not get this newsletter out to you first thing on Sunday morning, it is because I have had a busy weekend. This weekend was no exception. Friday and Saturday I had way too many things scheduled for the space of one day, and each night ended with a kirtan. Of course for me the kirtan is not just one more frenetic activity, but the carrot at the end of the stick, the reward at the end of a

It was right about six months ago that I last did a menu with some of these Moroccan dishes on it. Since I am learning the fine art of not reinventing the wheel each time I do something, I re-use previous newsletters so that I only need to change the photos and links for the dishes which I am not repeating. Besides saving me a little bit of time, reusing old newsletters allows me to take a trip down memory lane and remember what it was that I was doing 6 months or a year ago.

Where were we? For those of you who are newly joining us or who suffered from momentary ADD and didn't read last week's blog (lol!), let me catch you up. Last week we talked about the worldwide Renaissance of the 14th-16th centuries that ushered in an era of light, inquiry, and exploration. I introduced Caitanya Mahaprabhu, a great saintly personality, considered by Vaishnavas to be an Incarnation of Lord Krishna, who appeared at the end of the 15th century in Bengal. Because

You know that I am committed to exploring the Triangle and exploring its culinary and cultural offerings, just so that I can report back to you. ;-) Or perhaps it is more accurate to confess that I have a thirst for newness and variety. And because I have a weekly readership of sorts, I get to satisfy my social cravings in the name of doing research for the blog. I love it! The mind can rationalize just about anything... The other day it actually crossed my mind that The Indy

The time has come to reflect on the year that has almost completely passed, introspecting and taking stock of who I was and how I showed up this year. This time of year is especially profound for me because my birthday is New Year's day, and as I age I find birthdays to be a good reminder to take a personal inventory. This has not been an easy year, but then again, maybe none of them have been. ;-) Yet as I was reflecting yesterday to a friend, there are those of us who consc

It has been a while since I have done a review for you all. You might surmise that this means that it has been a while since I went out somewhere. That would be the correct thing to surmise. It is easy to get so caught up in cooking, cleaning, and doing laundry, that one day bleeds into another and before you know it, entire weeks have gone by. This is especially true when you cook for a living, and especially, especially true when you cook for a living out of your home. Has

Old habits die hard. Because I am a full 24 hours late with this newsletter, I see how my mind is already trying to come up with clever, defensive excuses - "I was kidnapped by aliens;" "My dog ate my recipes;" "I was sick with a fever;" "My boulders (moving boxes) got out of control and started crushing the entire house..." You get the picture. However the reality is much more down to earth than all that. My life was overwhelmed by work, catering, traveling and singing (ya-h

It has been a while since we went to Morocco. Sometimes the menus that come to me are a mix of cuisines. Sometimes the themes are "Quick and Easy" or "Top of the Pops." This week it was clear to me that I should again travel to the distant shores of Morocco. I have never been there, at least in this lifetime. For those of you who are not bothered by that brief hint at reincarnation and are still with me, follow me down a dusty side street of the imagination to the Moroccan S