About Me

About me

Hi there! I’m Aparna and I’m so excited that you’re here! A warm welcome to you and a big thank you for stopping by to get to know me today😊 I am a stay-at-home mom with a passion for cooking up new recipes for my family that are not only tasty but also healthy. I am married to another foodie, who also happens to be the guy behind the lenses for each recipe you see on this blog. I have two awesome kids, a girl and a boy. My daughter, my “mini-me”, is twice as creative as me and my go-to taste tester for my recipes. My son, our in-house comic relief, is the one I rely on to keep my spirits up all the time. Of all the recipes on this site, I’m the most complex one. Let’s dive in to know more…

Ingredients

  • 1 cup foodie – all thanks to my mom
  • 1 Tbsp. chatty – I’m a spitting image of my dad on this front
  • 1 tsp. artistic – a hidden talent I discovered when I tried my hand at acrylic painting to cover up my new home’s bare walls
  • 1 dash patient – so says my husband when he sees me spend several days working through a recipe until I get it right
  • 1 pinch religious – you’ll find quite a few of my recipes that are related to religious festivals of India
  • 1 smidgen minimalist – this hit home especially after my family went through hurricane Harvey in Houston

Tools

  1. Two lovely parents
  2. Two sisters and one sis-in-law who’s actually more than a sister to me
  3. One precious husband
  4. Two adorable children
  5. A ton of dear extended family and friends

Preparation (with step-by-step memories)

Step 1 – I was born in a Palakkad Iyer (Tamil speaking Hindu-Brahmin community from Kerala, India) family and grew up eating the best of two cuisines – that of Kerala and Tamil Nadu. I was raised in Hyderabad and had the good fortune of enjoying spicy Andhra food as well as flavorful Mughlai cuisine. I married a die-hard Mumbaikar with a love for the mouth-watering street foods of Mumbai and Gujarati thalis. We had the opportunity to live in Delhi, the capital of India and enjoy finger-licking Punjabi food (check out Paranthe wali gali if you’re there). We moved to Houston after I became a mother of two. My stay-at-home mom journey continued and so did my exposure to world cuisines. For the past year, I’ve been living in one of the most liveable cities in the world – Calgary. Its lively farmer’s market and great restaurants make it the perfect home for a budding food blogger like me. The 1 cup foodie in me continues to brew 

Step 2 – I am a middle child – an endangered species these days. Growing up, it was but natural that I had to talk well to save my skin in many circumstances. Thankfully, my dad’s genes helped me – he and I cannot be quiet for more than 5 minutes and we have this unique ability of chatting up any random stranger at a gathering. This 1 Tbsp. chatty nature has helped me learn something unique from every person who has touched my life. Many of them have inspired me to feature their favorite dishes on the blog (remember to check out the back-story at the end of each recipe)

Step 3 – A spoonful of sugar helps the medicine go down – remember the fun Mary Poppins song? Yes, the 1 tsp. of artist in me is my spoonful of sugar. It helps me through days when I feel overwhelmed and is my welcome break from the routine of chores. I’m usually on the hunt for fun photos that I can recreate using acrylic on canvas

Acrylic Painting
Colt – acrylic on canvas

Step 4 – Remember Dory from the movie ‘Finding Nemo’? My memory makes me envious of her 🙂 I easily forget ingredients while I am cooking or during my grocery runs. Fortunately, I’ve been blessed with a dash of patience – at least my husband says so – which helps me immensely during my countless trial and error attempts at perfecting dishes

Step 5 – No day in the life of a Palakkad Iyer goes without loudly calling out “Krishna-Guruvayoorappa!” (an avatar of Lord Vishnu worshipped predominantly by folks from Kerala, India). And that’s how I grew up – a little girl with frequent obligatory visits to temples and prayers at home. As I grew, so did my faith in God and with it, my respect and fascination for other religions and cultures as well. India played a big part in this – thanks to the several religious festivals we celebrate throughout the year. I firmly believe that we should continue to follow our traditions as they play a huge role in bringing color and diversity to a world increasingly consumed by fast-food culture and monotony. Food – be it a small snack or a grand feast – is an integral part of any festival or ritual around the world. Thankfully, my pinch of religious nature helps me explore certain special dishes that wouldn’t normally find their way into daily cooking 

Step 6 – When hurricane Harvey hit Houston in 2017, we evacuated to my sister-in-law’s home. At that time, the one thing I couldn’t shake off was the thought of how much stuff we had accumulated. I started researching minimalism and while I’m not a hard-core minimalist by any stretch of imagination, a smidgen of effort towards adopting it gave me more free time. I no longer had to spend time cleaning and organizing my house filled with stuff because I had less ‘stuff’ to worry about – yes, Marie Kondo also helped me here 🙂 A move from a Texas-style house to a smaller Calgary apartment forced additional decluttering, which also helped declutter my mind somewhat more. With more free time, came more ideas – one idea led to another and…

 Step 7 – Sublime Recipes was born – enjoy our family favorite foods!

Sublime Joy
In the middle of one of my numerous food experiments

I was born with dark chocolate skin and noodles for hair, and the foodie in me turned me into a pear shaped woman. It is not a surprise I love all of them. Dark chocolate – my fave after-dinner dessert, noodles – yeah not the healthiest but can’t resist slurping on them, pears – always yum. Apart from food and art which are closest to my heart, I rely on movies and music to while away time. I am an avid bathroom singer and a kindergartner in playing the violin. Only my close family and friends have the privilege to see that side of me, and it’s better that way😆

Thank you for taking the time to know me. Hope you enjoy the recipes and I would love to hear from you!

16 Comments

  1. No day in the life of a Palakkad Iyer goes without loudly calling out “Krishna-Guruvayoorappa!”

    I firmly believe that we should continue to follow our traditions as they play a huge role in bringing color and diversity to a world increasingly consumed by fast-food culture and monotony.

    ^^ I could instantly connect with you in these sentences.. and I landed here looking for vendaikka puli for keera molagootal today !

  2. Sudipta Goswami

    Hey Aparna,
    I truly truly enjoyed the way you have articulated about yourself. You are supremely talented and a gem of a person inside out. I am more than sure about your success. Your are a great writer, your choice of words are just wow!!! Good Luck!

  3. Meenu Sharma

    Hey Aparna, you are an amazing writer, amazing cook, and above all an amazing human being.
    I loved your energy, creativity, and simplicity throughout the blog.
    Keep growing !!

  4. Malini Bala

    Hi Aparna,
    I chanced upon your blog while looking up recipes online. You are an amazing writer. I only knew about the 1-pinch religious side of you until now. Your intro is so fun to read and recipes sound so yummy. The ones that caught my attention were the chia-chapati and potli-samosa, I’ll surely try and let you know. Wish you best with your blogging journey and looking forward to more recipes.

    • Thanks, Malini! I’m glad the blog managed to catch your eye. I’m really looking forward to your feedback and if you have any requests for specific recipes, do let me know.

  5. Hello Aparna. You are a good cook, amazing writer and have bubbly smiling Face. Chocolate 🍫 is everyone’s favorite, so you are. I live in Houston and a Canadian and US citizen from Andhra . There is so much I can learn from.
    Please keep posting you many admirers.

  6. Hey Aparna, Probably repetitive- I have to say this. You have written your introduction in the most entertaining and fun way. I have known you most of my life, and never knew you write so well. I thought I knew almost everything about you and was still reading as if I am getting to know you on a different level. You have great variety of talents. All the very best my dear friend😀❤️. Your blog is fantastic.

  7. Venkat Kumaraswami

    Thoroughly enjoyed your introduction 🙂 I can see your passion for cooking.

  8. Aparna, very well written. I know you as a good friend, mother, wife, homemaker, cook, artist, singer and above all a good human being. Today, I came to know you are a good writer too. Truly a multifaceted personality, or should I say, a celebrity. Wishing you loads of success and looking forward to lots of new recipes. God bless you, dear❤️.

    • Thank you so much Chitra, for your kind words and wishes. About my writing, I think this is what happens when you isolate a talkative middle child away from her siblings and friends spread out in various time zones 🙂 All that blah blah through the day is now channelized into my blog

    • Hey Aparna , incredible ,I don’t know about ur recipes much but your write up amazing , best luck and huge success for your future endeavours

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