RAJI WRITES

First you look at all the lemons growing on the two lemon trees in your backyard. You ponder all the possible things you could do with them. Ah! You think. You could make lemon pickle. You bust out Ammini Ramachandran's cookbook, "Grains, Greens and Grated Coconut". You look up “Naranga Currry”, and get started. You fry lemons lightly in olive oil, instead of sesame oil. You let them cool. You season with mustard seeds, fenugreek, asafetida and chili powder. Not the Ameri

A gift card to Kepler's! I was delighted and overwhelmed at this farewell gift from my colleagues. It was 1999. I had completed my fellowship and was moving on to my first job. Kepler's, iconic independent bookstore in Menlo Park. Absolute heaven for readers. Back then there was a large section on cooking. As soon as the idea struck me, I knew that was how I would use the gift card – on cookbooks! And what a pleasure it was to look through those shelves and select the tr

In San Francisco, there is a restaurant in Chinatown on Washington Street at Kearny called Penang Garden. It serves Thai-Malaysian-Singaporean cuisine in a garden-themed setting. I went there for lunch one day with a colleague, taking a break from attending a conference in the general vicinity. We ordered a couple of dishes to share. Okra, which was in season, an eggplant and tofu dish, and coconut rice. The okra was particularly well-prepared. Crisp outside, moist inside