About Me



Cooking is sheer pleasure, especially when you are cooking for someone you love. Add to it the excitement of making something new, something delicious, something popular and sometimes, even creative, and you have an expression of happiness and triumph. At times, it can be a useful avenue to keep yourself occupied – a welcome break from some drudgery. Cooking can bring you a sense of satisfaction, joy, achievement or exhilaration – or at times, even despair. Cooking can just satiate your hunger, whet your appetite or make you plain delirious. Cooking can be a chore or a hobby or just simply something you do for people to cheer them up.

For me, cooking is a little of all of the above. My first foray into hands-on cooking (and by ”hands-on”, I mean being completely on my own with no help) was only after I got married. Till then, I would happily gobble down whatever my mother, Pachi (aunt) and Bapama ( grandma) would cook, slurping down the last morsel and asking for more. And why not? They are all wonderful cooks. One’s mother is always one’s favourite cook on earth, and it is no different with me. As kids, all of us - me, my brother and my cousins - would sit around the table with our huge plates waiting for the ‘specials’ that mom and Pachi would make for us chatting away till the food appeared, at which point we would instantly pipe down and concentrate only on the food!

My ‘hands-on cooking’ did not get off to a particularly flying start - it was not very easy for me to begin with. My first attemp at making chapatis, for instance, brought tears to my eyes! Looking back, I have no doubt come a long way. That said, I’m NOT an expert. Just having a food blog, doesn’t make me one. So if you are looking for an expert, please look elsewhere! My chapatis aren’t perfect yet and I still have a long long way to go.


During the first year of my marriage, I, more often than not, would make frantic phone calls to my mother or mother-in-law, when I was in the middle of my cooking to ask why a certain dish wasn’t quite “behaving” the way I wanted or expected it to. My mother-in-law who is a wonderful cook has given me handy tips on cooking in general and troubleshooting in particular. She also has a great collection of recipes - most her own, others passed on from generations, some from national and regional cooking shows and more recently, from the internet.

The S.O.S calls graduated to proactive instructional calls, but the calls continued.  After relocating to the US from Bangalore, the difference in time zones meant help and support wasn’t always just a call away, so I had to turn to other sources for backup. That’s where food blogs came to the rescue.
Soon, I became a big fan of food blogs and would spend countless hours poring through them, jumping from blog to blog gazing at the wonderful pictures,  admiring their cooking and writing skills. The thought of starting my own did occur to me, but always with a sense of trepidation. I’m not new to the blogging world – I did blog for sometime at Apy Time. My primary concern was whether I would be able to maintain it, what with my naughty li’l  toddler always wanting my attention. My husband constantly encouraged me and finally I decided to come up with one. I still don’t know how far along I will be able to maintain it, but I do admit that I’m glad I started it.

I’m often asked how, with a baby in tow, I get the time to cook dishes with elaborate procedure AND blog about it. The answer is, I do it for me. However busy a person is, I feel they should have a hobby and make time for it.

So that, in a (huge) nutshell, is why I blog. Cooking inspires me to blog. And definitely, blogging inspires me to cook. After I stepped into the blogging world, I have come across several useful nuggets of information. Tidbits that left me enthused. New ingredients that I hadn’t heard of, dishes whose names were a real mouthful, and  techniques that I am still digesting. I’m slowly expanding my horizons and trying to ingest all these new ideas into my cooking.  I find myself in a whole new world of cooking. Especially when it comes to baking – be it vegetables, bread or cakes.

Before I conclude: knowledge only increases when shared, so feel free to make good use of the content in my blog and share it as you like. However, to nurture and encourage the spirit of creativity, please abide by my Creative Commons license – when you share, attribute to Apy Cooking! and share for non-commercial use only. 

Welcome once again to my blog and (H)Ap(p)y Cooking!

16 comments:

  1. Excellent write up Aparna about yourself and the reason for blogging. I would totally agree with you when you say "I do it for me". I too feel the same passion for cooking and blogging as you do and the time spent on it is definitely worthwhile. Blogging is not just about self satisfaction, but a purpose that reaches out to many others. Keep up the good work.

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  2. Hey Aparna.. Hope you are doing great.. May be this is a coincidence.. but I was just watching this movie Julie and Julia, where this girl cooks up all recipes of her favorite cook in one year, and soon after I happened to run into your blog.. and I was thinking may be I have found my Julia :) I am a lousy cook (I mean real lousy) and till now used to despise cooking.. But suddenly (blame it on the movie or your beautiful website) I really want to approach it differently.. Thanks a lot for inspiring me.. I would definitely like to try some of your recipes and see if I can manage.. Thanks a lot.. And congratulations on a great job..

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  3. Thanks MD. I totally agree.
    Supriya, that was very sweet of you :). Happy to know my blog helps you in some ways. Happy Cooking!

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  4. hello...i just happened to scroll down the konkani amchi food group..and yaa ofcourse happened to see your aloo curry.first thing it looks quite simple,healthy and tasty.thanks for sharing it.moreover i just saw your blog.seeing the pics i can tell you one thing,u must be AMAZING AND A WONDERFUL cook.and i think you still have a long way to go :) :)keep up the good work..hope to see more and more of it :)WELLDONE :)

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  5. Thanks Akshatha. Happy to know you visited my blog. I do have a long way to go and blogging is helping me grow.

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  6. Hi Aparna..I found this site a couple of months ago. which is now playing a great role of ''cooking'' on my part. your site is very familiar to everyone at home[i should tell you,my mom and two aunts are fond of cooking and this site is a hand book to them]very innovative,they say...I agree with them..i just thought to convey a ton of thanks to you, it makes me envious.just learning to cook, and expecting some tips from you.
    Thank you. lotsa love

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  7. Very nice of you to say that. Please pass on my thanks to your mom and aunt. Happy cooking!

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  8. Hi Aparna,

    It has been quite a while that I cooked good tasty food. Thanks to your blog which I saw it today :) I really loved it. I think I am gonna cook egg biryani today. Well it is fantastic. I love to cook too and my fiancee (she is polish) and she especially loves Indian food. I am sure she will like these recipes. Thanks

    Sunder

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  9. Thanks a lot, Sunder. Happy to know you liked my blog. I'm hoping you like the egg biryani as well :).

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  10. Dear Aparna,
    I tried your eggless microwave cake, it was very good,Thank you very much

    Lalitha pai

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  11. Thanks for trying, Lalitha. Great to know you liked it :).

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  12. Hi Aparna! (Pariku as know you since childhood days)

    This is Supritha ( I used to come to your plc to see the Navarathri Sharada procession)..Great blog..Thanks for posting all the nice recipes. I somehow wasn;t aware of your blog and happened to check it just few days back through a friend on FB and am so glad i did! I would definitely want to try some of the recipes and am sure I will like them too :)

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  13. That's a pleasant surprise, Supritha! Great to hear from you and nice to know you visited my blog and liked it :). Thanks!!

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  14. Hey Aparna....since many days i was thinking to visit ur blog....as heard on our whtsapp grp....n finally today i got a chance to visit it n seriously it reminded me my days..... after marriage......oh my GOD....*( struggling ... to cook.....but my husband helped me a lot..... he is a great cook indeed.... any ways now m a average cook ......as per me n still journey is going on through internet+blogs,,,,,,,,,,etc.

    But after going thru ur blog ......my my i must say u r a great cook...specially those yummy cakes.... i loved them.... i have never tried a cake .....only once...n outcome was not satisfactory...:(

    But now ur r my true inspiration n i will definitely try yum yum cakes ... i hope it wil turn out yum like ur 1.

    Thanks a lot yaar.....

    POONAM

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  15. Hi,
    I saw your Paneer stuff buns recipe same to same wih ur pictures on Nishamadhulika's food blog.
    Sonali Kelkar

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    1. Oh is it? Please send me the link. Thanks for bringing to my notice.

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