Homemade Bird Feeder

Homemade bird feeder swinging in the wind

Brown headed cowbird (Male and Female)

Close-up brown headed cowbird

Often considered a nuisance, because the females lay about three dozen eggs in other birds nests and leave their young there!!

The Gray Catbird 05/13

A sketch of the gray catbird. For a long time, I had mistaken it for a juvenile robin, until searches revealed otherwise. The  characteristic feature is the black crown and a cat-like call that the bird has.

Backyard Birds 05/13/2020

House Finch far away on a tree branch

A close-up

Robin hopping in the front yard

Fish Stew (Machher Jhol)

Being a Bong (a native of West Bengal, India), I am often asked about various fish recipes. I never cared much for writing those down -- but I remembered them exactly like my mom and her mother made them. Personally, I am not a fish aficionado, and I do love some preparations more than others.

Machher Jhol, fish stewed with vegetables (raw banana, papaya, potatoes, beans) is a staple diet of people from West Bengal, India. The easy availability of fish (mostly fresh water) and home grown vegetables provides the inspiration.

I am usually not the kind who wants to write long recipes -- so here is a basic outline of how this can be made. Marinate fish (salmon, tilapia, catfish all work well) with turmeric, salt and optionally lemon. Pressure cook raw banana, papaya, potatoes, beans and other vegetables you have handy. In a wok, heat oil. Add cumin, chopped tomatoes, ginger garlic paste, green chilies, turmeric, cumin powder, salt to taste, a pinch of sugar (to taste) and let it fry with all of the above ingredients until the oil oozes out of them. Add the vegetables, and allow the mixture to boil for a few more minutes. Add in the marinated fish and cook, keeping covered until fish is done. Sprinkle garam masala and squeeze lemon. Your maccher jhol is ready to serve.

A few notes:
a. Kids usually like this with a lot of lemon -- the tanginess helps to keep the odor off and also adds to the flavor.
b. You can easily use cauliflower florets, green peas, and brinjals.
c. You can also put a little ghee as a topping and garnish with coriander leaves.
d. The gravy can be thick or thin depending on your taste.
e. Additionally, you can add bori (https://food.ndtv.com/recipe-bengali-dal-bori-902821) after frying and it really enhances the taste.

Homemade cream cheese and spinach ravioli without a pasta maker

Being a non-Italian, trying to make ravioli at home from scratch made me somewhat apprehensive. The process is elaborate at best -- but something told me, it'd be worth the effort.  Examining a few youtube videos made me feel more comfortable, but I did not have a pasta maker at hand. So my skills in making Indian recipes (chappatis) came handy, except they needed to be ultra thin -- almost like roomali roti (for those unfamiliar with this term -- it means a chappati as soft as a handkerchief).

So here are some visuals from first experiment.

Cream cheese and spinach filling

Ravioli rolled without a pasta maker and cut using a simple kitchen knife. I have to work on the shapes -- that will be the focus next time.

                                 Thankful they did not disintegrate when boiled.

Nice and soft.

The final product. Had a sauce made from onions, tomatoes and peanuts -- an Indian touch to the whole dish. Also some green onions and coriander leaves to spruce it up.

Since my family is willing to be guinea pigs again, I assume it was a successful experiment. 

Grilling, salmon and butternut squash

The preparation

                     Smoked Salmon and Butter nut squash

                            Thai inspired pineapple fried rice

                      Smoked salmon and butternut squash