This is the house I grew up in. This is the kitchen that shaped my interest in food and cooking. When we were children, my sister, brother and I would come running in here requesting a cold, freshly squeezed lemonade, a quick snack of spiced, stir fried bread, or a deep fried treat.

Even now, when I smell curry leaves and chilies being tempered in oil, I am transported back to this very kitchen. I’ve already shared with you some our family recipes. Now I invite you to take a peek into my parents’ kitchen in India..

Kamalamma the cook, gets ready to make idiappam or string hoppers made from rice flour. The pantry or store room is stocked with different kinds of rice, lentils, spices and kitchen supplies.

Sacks of short grain rice arrive once or twice a year. The rice is used for boiling, making idlis and dosas, and is also roasted and ground into rice flour.

In parts of India, it is common for the household staff to live with the family. This corridor leads to the back of the house and to the live in maid’s quarters.

My parents always keep a lot of fruit on hand. A huge sack of sweet lime or sathukkudi has just arrived from the market.

This is the back of the house, where all the prep-work, and cleaning happens outdoors.

Outdoor dish washing area – dishes are hand washed and either towel dried or left out in the sun.

Pooja (prayer) items are washed an ready for my brother’s evening prayers. The coconuts, banana, flowers and cup with water are offerings to God. The brass bell is rung to ward off evil spirits.

Part of the dining room, and entrance to the kitchen.

This is the everyday dining room. We have a larger dining area for entertaining guests.

My mother is a near permanent fixture in the dining room..

Now that you’ve seen my parents’ kitchen in India, head over to this post and see my kitchen in the US!

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S has put in some new features and embellishments in our backyard. We now have a bird house, bird bath and a little stone bench.

S also did a fun little thing in our backyard – tree faces! The grandfather trees (the grand old ones) now have faces!

 Just look at that tree…all he needed was a face to make him perfect. And I love this tree face. Makes the tree look so dignified. A contemplative, learned, meditative face. Henceforth, he is the philosopher tree.

 He has a handsome profile too. He pouts, but thats ok.
Just look at that nose…his nose has character.

 Tree faces are easy to install. See how the nose and eyes are hanging from nails? That’s it! Just put nails on the tree and hang facial features!

 Talking of facial features…heres a particularly ugly face S chose for this tree. Just look at him in all his scruffiness. A far cry from the philosopher tree.

He needs to get his eyebrows done…BAD. A nose job wouldn’t hurt either.
Just look at those bulbous eyes and horsey teeth! What an unkempt, goofy looking fella. Henceforth, he is the scruffy tree.

I love my philosopher tree..

Where to buy tree faces – any garden store or home improvement store like home depot should have them. S got our tree people from the local garden center.

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I am so used to grocery store peaches, I didn’t even know what a peach tree looked like until we went peach picking at Hollin Farms, VA. It was a lovely experience picking fresh, ripe peaches. But the very first thing I did when we arrived at the farm was inhale a bug. I must have been gaping too much at the rolling hills and the gorgeous fields. I felt a little remorse at having ingesting a living thing; but felt much better when I found out that the pick-your-own peaches were super cheap compared to grocery store peaches.

Mark, a manager at the farm, chatted with us while we picked peaches. He peeled a juicy, yellow fleshed red haven peach for us to sample.

Then Mark educated us on…

..Peach Terminology!

 Freestone – the pit is easy to remove from the flesh. Most the peaches we encounter are freestone.

Clingstone – the pit ‘clings’ to the flesh and is difficult to remove compared to a freestone peach

Peck – a unit of dry measurement. The peaches we picked were measured in pecks. 1 peck equals 2.3 gallons. Each peck we picked came to about 12 lbs.

Red haven – red skin, yellow flesh, good for canning

Sentry – semi-freestone, yellow flesh

White lady – firm, white flesh, brilliant color, great for desserts, my favorite

Sweet scarlet  -  yellow flesh, low acid  

There were a ton of peaches fallen on the ground. I think these are White ladies.  

Sentry peaches..

A particularly productive tree..

How to pick a ripe peach

First determine that the peach is ripe; gently press on the peach with your fingers. If it gives slightly, the peach is ready to pick. Lightly tug on the peach and it should come away from the branch easily. Most the ripe peaches we found at the orchard had actually fallen to the ground. So we just picked them off the ground. As mark says, “fallen peaches are nature’s way of telling you they are ripe”.

 If your peaches aren’t ripe yet, just leave them on your counter top for 1 or 2 days and they will soften.

A peck of peaches.

Hollin farm also had sunflowers. Oh my, they were so gorgeous..

I was obsessively taking sunflower pictures…even after we got in the car to leave!

And I only stopped taking pictures because  my camera ran out of memory.

Coming up next…how to pit a peach and an easy peach tart recipe!

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You don’t just eat it, you bathe in it! If you have dried lavender on hand, you can easily make your own lavender ‘bath tea’. Just mix a cup of dried lavender into a tub full of warm water and enjoy a luxurious, relaxing, spa like bath.  If you don’t want the lavender buds floating around in your bath, simply tie them into a bundle with cheese cloth and add the bundle to the  water.

Here’s what you do..(exclusive step-by-step instructions from my bathroom just for you ;))

Fill your tub with warm water. Warmer the better, because the lavender will steep well. Lightly crush the dried lavender in your palms and put it in your bath water..

Add a whole cup of dried lavender to your tub. I added the bunch you see at the edge of the tub - I tied it up and dried it after my lavender picking trip. I added the stems as well because they have a nice eucalyptus-like aroma. You can use only the lavender flowers and buds if you wish. If you want a stronger scented bath, make your water hotter and let the lavender steep in it for about 10 minutes..

Then splash around…because its fun..

…add more hot or cold water if you need to..

..then invite a partner, disrobe, step in and enjoy your lavender scented bath!

Here’s my post on cooking with lavender and a recipe for lavender roasted onions.

If you havent had a chance to go lavender picking like I did, you can buy your lavender online.

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Is there such a thing as a black thumb? Like, opposite if green thumb? Thats what I am. I just cant keep any plant or green thing alive. I’ve even killed grass. Twice. (Over fertilized and under watered, in case you are wondering).

So this year, Ive challenged myself to planting something and nurturing it. So I planted some herbs on the deck. I figured herbs would be a great place to start. The prospect of cooking with freshly harvested herbs from my planter, hopefully, is motivation enough to take care of them.

I’m already dreaming of what I will cook when the herbs are ready to pluck! Iced tea with that incredibly lemony smelling lemon balm….green pea and mint soup….lavender infused frosting on cupcakes…sandwiches with fresh homemade basil pesto…

…please herbs, stay alive for me…puhllleeeeezzzzeeee..

This is the end result of the afternoons labor…

But lets start at the beginning. We went to the garden center and selected some herbs. We laid them all out on our newly painted deck. Herbs, pots and potting soil.

These are the herbs we bought.

Please herbs…stay alive..

I started with the mint..

Mint went in the “ethical pot”….

Gardening is better with some coldstone icecream and tea. Come to think of it, everything is better with coldstone icecream! This one is chocolate icecreamwith brownies and raspberries mixed in.

S hangs the hanging pot on the deck rail…

In goes the potting soil…

Then I plant the herbs while S grudgingly takes pictures…

They look sooo pretty and my deck smells heavenly. Please herbs…just stay alive for me..

S, the good husband he is, cleans up my mess on the deck…

… and throws out old soil..

All done!

Do you have any tips for herb growing? I’m all ears! I could use all the help I can get to keep these guys alive!

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I took these pictures over the weekend to show you where all the cooking, eating, entertaining and so much more happen..

I would have liked darker cabinets and floors, but I’m not complaining as long as the walls are red.

We have some what of an open plan. This is the view of the living room from the kitchen. I love that we have gas burners, they heat up so much quicker and more evenly than electric.

We eat on the island. The swivelling bar stool type chairs are S’s favorite. I love that the stove is on the island; that frees up a lot of counter space. But see how the microwave is sitting on the counter? And the space meant for the microwave under the cabinets has spices in it? We bought the wrong size microwave, it doesn’t fit in the space meant for it.

See the square green scotch brite sponge cloth by the left side of the sink? My grandmother introduced me to those; they are super absorbant and great for cleaning surfaces. To disinfect them (or any non-metallic sponge), just pop the sponge in the microwave for 1 minute.

The pantry. My friend’s 3 year old walked into this pantry and said “you have a pretty interesting fridge”.

That dent on the wall near the pantry is a long story. Its too embarrassing to explain. But let me just say that it was caused by an air borne sauce pan You are free to guess the rest.
Incase you are wondering why we havent fixed it: a)we arent handy like that. b)we can live with a little dent in the wall. c)we are waiting for some good soul (aka, my father in law) to offer to fix it.

See the trash can on the floor at the end of the counter? Even though I keep a trash can in the kitchen, I prefer to hang a plastic bag near the counter. As I’m prepping and cooking, the trash goes in the plastic bag. When I’m done, I tied up the plastic bag and put it in the kitchen trash can.

A bottle of room freshener is permanently stationed near the trash can. We spray the kitchen trash can. So in my house, vegetable peel smells like apple cinnamon febreze.

Dining area of the kitchen. We are still using folding chairs because I hate shopping and I’m putting off buying dining chairs for as long as I can.

This is the ‘transaction’ area of the dining table. This is the spot where we leave each other money, notes, lists etc. There is a designated area in the house for this stuff, but somehow it lands up on the dining table.

View from the kitchen window.

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