Souper Tr0uper

This weekend I spent sometime in an Indian kitchen. A friend's mother was in town from Madras, Tamil Nadu India which is home to one of South India's most delightful stews -- sambhar. Typically served with idli -- a soft steamed pancake made from rice and/or lentils or semolina wheat (rava) and yoghurt -- sambhar originated in the 1600's. The stew is named after a king of Tanjore, Sambhaji. The Sambhaji's chef was making a similar dish called amti which called for a sour fruit, kokum. The imported kokum was not available so the chef used tamarind and whallah -- sambhar was born and named after the king. A good Indian dish delights all senses of the tongue -- sour, sweet, salty, and spicy hot. Sambar is no exception. It starts with a quick fry of whole coriander seeds, red hot peppers, hing, and a bit of pigeon peas. Once these turn golden, they are removed from the heat and set aside. Whole raw cocktail onions, water, salt, sambar spices, and tamarind paste (wh...

I'm reading up on the Complete Kama Sutra, which notes "a young girl should take herself off to an isolate spot to sixty-four arts". I am behind on this list and here are some of the areas I need to catch up on: 12. Water-spewing games 13. The use of charms, drugs, and magic words 28. Conundrums 36. Carpentry, sawing planks to make seats and beds. 42. Stockbreeding and raising rams, cocks, fighting partridges, and oranizing battles as for an army. 43. Teaching parrots and mynah birds to talk. 46. Understanding barbarous foreign languages (I only know English and Spanish) 57. The art of cheating None of the arts involve soup, but now I am in the mood for a pumpkin mulligatawny, which is a rich soup which blends Indian flavors with English cream and apricot jam. The color of the pumpkin makes the onions seem invisible, although the recipe calls for a healthy onion stock which is carmelized with coriander, tumeric, and yellow curry powder. Oh, and there is one ray of s...

Puerto Vallarta on a perfect evening, temperature is just right and the sun is setting. I've been at the beach all day with my mother, uncle, and aunt. The family let me decide where to eat for dinner and I chose Joe Jacks Fish Shack because I'd eaten there the day before and thought that the Famous Seafood Chowder was perhaps the best soup I'd ever eaten. Octopus, fish, and shrimp combined with a soft potato base and a sunset of tomato and pepper and topped off with two slivers of radish and a sprig of cilantro made this perhaps the best soup to ever grace my salivary glands. I was anticipating this soup in a way that makes one hungry for the entire day because nothing can satisfy the stomach which doesn't lend itself to compete with such a chowder. At the restaurant my uncle started to feel ill. He ordered a Diet Coke and started to act a little strange -- sort of in the way that one would act if they were having a heart attack. My mother started to scream -- yo...