The past few days have been glorious. I illustrated some delectable recipes from the incredibly insightful and perceptive Rana Safvi. Rana, as you already know, is an author and historian with a passion for culture and heritage. She is the founder and moderator of the popular #shair platform on Twitter which is credited for reviving…
Tag: watercolors
Goa Diaries
After Hyderabad, we headed to Goa. At the airport, we had yet another Hyderabadi biryani as a farewell. Bad decision. The biryani was Andhra-style (hot), masala biryani. I couldn’t finish my plate, more like I didn’t want to, fearing episodes of stomach-gone-bad at the airport (which actually did happen, but much later during our trip)….
Art Supplies Post # 01
Hello! It’s been a while since I uploaded an art post and more importantly, I’ve a bunch of new and yet-to-test art supplies which I guess need to be reviewed:) While I was away on vacation some weeks ago I sketched a bit but mostly ate, explored book and art supply stores. It’s nice to…
Foods of India – Kutchi Memon Cuisine
Introduction While the fare on Cutchi (Kutchi) Memon tables is legendary, it is a little known fact that these recipes are considered sacred and guarded zealously by the owners of the keys to paradise. Those who do not qualify by bloodline have often received the recipe for sheekh kabab without the ingredient that encourages the…
Bread and Salt
Bread, called nan in Persian, is the staple food of Iran in all regions except around the Caspian, where rice supplants it. Nan is a Persian word first used in Achaemenid Iran (550-330 BCE), from which all other languages borrowed it. In Iran, bread and salt are treated with great respect. The main Persian breads are flat breads but…
Armenian Sweet Bread (Nan-e gisu)
Makes 3 loaves Preparation time: 20 minutes plus rising time overnight Cooking time: 35-40 minutes INGREDIENTS 1 package or 1 tablespoon dry yeast 1/4th cup warm water 3 eggs 1.5 cups sugar 1 tablespoon honey 2 tsp ground mahlab 1 cup whole milk 1 cup melted, unsalted butter or Oil 4.5-5.5 cups cake flour, sifted with…
Romanesque Architecture : St-Nectaire
Regional Developments in France The emergence of Romanesque architecture was not a simple, linear process. Rather, during the tenth and eleventh centuries, the region that is now France served as a fertile experimental ground. The separate regions exhibited tendencies toward different architectural forms, and their sacred as well as secular institutions also pursued a variety…
An Omelette is Born
In 1835, during the Carlist uprising in Spain, the rebels laid seige to Bilbao. One day during the siege, the Carlist commander, General Tomas de Zumalacarregui y de Imaz, was passing a farmhouse and demanded that the farmer’s wife prepare him something to eat. All the woman had were some eggs, a potato and an…
COMPOSING THE VIEW
Street sketching is obviously not the same as sketching everyday objects at home or at a restaurant or café where you’re comfortably seated and can take as much time as you’d like to get the sketch right. The activity of people and vehicles on the streets and roads makes it difficult to capture basic outlines,…
Fresh from the Tandoor
As a little break from architecture and knick knacks, I decided to sketch something in between. A little eatery around the Auliya Masjid area called Wasim Hotel (Jaipur, Rajasthan, India) caught my attention where heaps of tandoori rotis (bread) were selling out every second! The person at the tandoor expertly rolled out the dough and as someone called out for…
