POMEGRANATE LOVE NOTES

There's something so special about growing fruits or vegetables with your own two hands. Enter these beautiful pomegranates. A ten year labor of love by my parents, who make their own freshly squeezed juice that's just as punchy in color as it's exterior. A perfect fall treat. The thing I most look forward to this time of year! 

SWEET FOOD SCENES

I've wanted to do a few test shoots this past year and I wanted to find the right stylist to collaborate with. Enter Suzi, a stylist and recent culinary graduate looking to build her food styling portfolio. We've worked together on shoots for a few of my clients and naturally, this felt like a seamless collaboration. We brainstormed the look and feel for this shoot and Suzi made all this delicious food!

((Food styling: Suzi Rezler (portfolio coming soon!) and Photography: Tana Gandhi))

CHERRY ME HAPPY

Can you think of a more cheerful fruit than cherries on a hot summer day? I can't :)

COTTON CANDY DREAMIN'

hi hi hi i want some cotton candy. yes i do. if i daydreamed about it, this is what it would look like. ;)

FRUIT AND DOTS

Fruit and Dots. Kind of sounds like candy doesn't it? But really, it's just the dots that are the cutest. These lovely plates are from Waggo.

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This shoot started off with me being hungry and grabbing berries as snacks. I liked the light and I liked how the fruits looked against the light. And that's how this happened. Oh the photographer woes of never getting anything done in good light except for taking photos. Oof.

Until next studio play time!

GREEN CHUTNEY + TOAST

I had the best time making this green cilantro chutney from scratch this week. And better, using it as a base for toast! We usually make grilled cheese sandwiches with these but for something a little lighter and fresher, this totally hits the spot!

This is my mom's recipe and as these stories go, she didn't have exact measurements when she taught me. She'd grab a little bit of salt with her hands and sprinkle it in the mixture. I've tried my best trying to measure out each ingredient but please forgive me if it's not the most accurate. It's worth a try and then adding things in based on taste though! O:)

Scroll down for recipe details.

Cilantro Green Chutney Recipe
for a quarter cup of chutney

Ingredients:

• 1 bunch of cilantro (approx 3/4ths of a cup)
• 1/2 green chili (or up to your spice level!)
• 1/2 tablespoon lemon juice (or to taste)
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 8-10 unsalted peanuts 
• 1/2 teaspoon sugar 
• 7-8 mint leaves
• 1 teaspoon of raw ginger
• 2 tablespoons of water

Directions:
1. Grind peanuts and keep aside
2. Chop off the stems of the cilantro bunch and toss away
4. Chop chilis into large pieces
3. Grind cilantro leaves, green chili, ginger, lemon juice, sugar, and salt together
4. Add water cautiously into a smooth paste. Should have solid consistency but easy to spread
5. Add in grinded peanuts

HENNA COOKIES

Remember these henna cupcakes I made some time back? I was recently asked to make henna cookies with vibrant colors. I wasn't sure how I could pull it off at first!

 I found some fun icing colors from Americolors and was able to make + ship 50 of these cookies! I ended up using these 5 colors below. The next time around, I think I'd mix the yellow and orange so that it's a bit darker and the design should then stand out a little bit more.

Overall, it's a fun challenge to see how henna comes out in different applications aside from its traditional uses! I've started a little tag to explore all these possibilities here: #hennabytana

LENTILS, RICE, AND ROTI

Comfort food :)

A CRAVING FOR SCONES

With chocolate chips inside these scones, it was hard not eat one right away. And then another.

I was gifted this sweet tea cup set from a dear friend and picked up these gold rimmed plates from a thrift store

Eggless Banana Bread

These bananas were turning a serious shade of brown and it breaks my heart each time it goes to waste. Most times I cut them up and freeze them to make smoothies or this banana nice cream recipe. But that was during the summer and this is now. You know, 70 degree California winter... :P So I wanted to try my hand at a warmer recipe... a banana bread recipe!

Though I'm not one to buy banana bread at a cafe, it was pretty rewarding to make my own. It's always nice to know that if I have very brown bananas in the future, I can definitely turn it into something rather than wasting it.  I wish the same can be said about avocados!

So what else do you make with super ripe bananas??

Tea Cupcakes

Some infrequent posts are coming right up! This here are tea cupcakes. Because tea and cupcakes are clearly a few of my favorite things. And when you combine them together, I'll have heart eyes for days.

When I make cupcakes, it's usually a modified version of this white chocolate macadamia nut cupcake recipe. It's delicious and it's eggless! A huge plus for me. :) And lastly, the silicon tea liners are reusable and so perfect if you just want to make a small batch of desserts. For these photos, I divided the portions in half of the recipe I linked above. 

Some updates:
(1) I'm finally publishing an "About" page. Long overdue but it's here. I'll get around to posting a bio photo too!
 (2) My friend Tahereh and I started a lifestyle blog together this past November called We Still Write In Cursive. We've been creating tons of content on it for months and can't wait to share even more soon!
(3) I'm putting together my portfolio and hope to launch it in by the end of January. Eeee!
(4) This is only by 101th post! Definitely plan to up my game on this. :D

Anyway! What are you upto these days??

Everyday Flavors

I have a kitchen I can call my own for the last 13 months now. It's been an interesting process understanding what systems to use to stock groceries, which meal to cook depending on how much time we have, and what ingredients to have at all times.

I finally started realizing that these were the three essential ingredients I use quite frequently:
(1) Lemons- Whether it's for making lemon water or for sprinkling on salads and meals, this is such a perfect and purifying ingredient
(2) Ginger - Perfect for masala chai, ginger tea, and for cooking basically anything. It's great for recovering from a cold and a great anti-inflammatory ingredient
(3) Chili - I kind of just need this in anything. It's like Sriracha to the rest of the world.

So now I keep a bowl with all three ingredients ready to use in a moment's notice. Curious to know, what are your everyday flavors?

P.S. Thank you so so so  much for your kind words on my last post! xoxoxoxo^infinity

Tea For Days

There was a time where only one cup of coffee would have me bouncing off the walls with energy. It didn't take long before I needed two cups to get through the day and on really tough crunch-time days, I'd opt for a third cup of coffee. I'm very well aware of the side effects that coffee gives you but it was often ignored until I personally started feeling them!

Now I'm taking it a little easy on the caffeine consumption and opting for coffee only on those special days when we're exploring around LA. On a day to day basis, I'm sticking to some green tea to get just the slightest kick of caffeine.

So far it hasn't been THAT bad. The first few times I actually went without having any caffiene which then led to head aches. Basically, that's when I knew it was definitely time to cut down. What about you? Have you ever done a caffeine audit?

Scones and Tea

During one massive pinning session, I kept seeing scones pop up and realized, I don't think I've ever had a one! So while picking up groceries the next day, I found a pre-made box of mixed berry scones. All I had to do was put water into the mix, bake them for about 20 minutes, et voilà!

I liked that these weren't very sweet and rather soft like a biscuit on the inside. Are they generally not sweet? Asking for a friend... ;)

Maybe one day I'll take on the challenge of making them from scratch. Until then, I'm okay making these from the box. :) 

More Henna Cupcakes

It had been almost a year since I last made henna cupcakes. It's a long process to make them but they are a labor of love and a becoming tradition for any given occasion. Both the white chocolate macademia nut cupcakes and the buttercream frosting are made from scratch. The frosting is almost the same consistency as henna so it's perfect to put it in an empty (homemade) henna cone. (I've tried pre-made frosting and the flow is just not the same--it always has to be made from scratch!) Each cupcake is then uniquely designed which takes about 3-4 minutes each.

What are some of your baking traditions/dishes?

P.S. It's soooo good to be back in the swing of things. Some NY snapshots here: 1, 2, 3