Monica Saigal Bhide's Blog, page 10
June 8, 2015
Giveaway: Box of Culinary Books!
I am so delighted to giveaway a box of books for this final giveaway before summer! Included are –
1. I really enjoy reading Robyn Webb’s work: She is smart and funny and I ALWAYS learn something. Who knew that avocado should be paired with grassy wines? Or how to make the perfect asparagus or how to match the perfect spice with carrots? Robyn knows it all, knows it well and shares it with great generosity.
A nutritionist by background, she is also the author of several successful cookbooks, the latest being “The Diabetes Comfort Food Cookbook: Foods to fill you up not out
” (American Diabetic Association, 2011). When I received a copy of the book, I was surprised to see how luscious the cover looked! I honestly did not expect a book, with a focus on diabetes, to have such luscious looking recipes.
I highly recommend this book:
It has recipes that you can actually make and that are good for you. We have cooked Spanish dates with bacon(!!), the Jamaican chicken thighs and the baked potato soup and loved them all.
Robyn’s approach is smart and practical.
2. My lovely friend, Mollie Cox Bryan’s pie book- Mrs. Rowe’s Little Book of Southern Pies . Mollie is a dear friend and a food and fiction writer. Her books have won so many awards! This was the first book I ever purchased on pies. Never in a million years did I think I could bake a pie.. and guess what? I did and it tasted damn good!!
About Mollie - “Mollie Cox Bryan is a food writer and cookbook author with a penchant for murder. Her stories have many forms: cookbooks, articles, essays, poetry and fiction. Mollie grew up near Pittsburgh, Pa., and attended Point Park University, where she received a B.A. in Journalism and Communications. Her first real job out of college was as a paste-up artist at a small newspaper, where she was allowed to write “on her own time” and she did. She was recently honored with an Agatha Award nomination for her first novel, SCRAPBOOK OF SECRETS.” Reprinted from her website
3. The third book is my beautiful friend, Kendra Bailey Morriss’s The Southern Slow Cooker - it is filled with delightful and flavor-filled recipes. I loved this blurb from Martha Foose about this book - “Kendra’s Buttermilk, Corn, and Chive Spoonbread is just one of the really good reasons to grab this book. These recipes are packed with real Southern flavor, and still take into account the realities of home cooks’ busy schedules. With plenty of cooking tips and drink pairings to boot, The Southern Slow Cooker will inform slow cooker newbies and inspire old pros who are looking for some new tricks.”
—Martha Foose, author of Screen Doors and Sweet Tea and A Southerly Course
About Kendra – “Is a cookbook author, personal chef, culinary instructor, cooking show host, speaker and culinary consultant. Her specialties include public speaking (food, cooking, wine/spirits, cookbooks and food writing), corporate recipe development, on-air cooking demonstrations, corporate and private cooking classes, and cooking demonstrations for trade shows, conferences and public events.
Her writing and recipes have been featured in Parade Magazine, USA Weekend,Parents magazine, Better Homes and Gardens cookbooks, NPR, CNN’s Eatocracy, Garden and Gun magazine, Saveur.com, Taste of the South magazine, The Learning Channel, Chili Pepper magazine, Food Republic, The Washington Post, Associated Press, AOL, Orbitz, WE Network, Virginia Living magazine,Richmond Magazine, Style Weekly, and the Richmond Times Dispatch (where I was a food and recipe columnist for four years).” From her website.
4. And finally – I will include a copy of my new book, A Life of Spice!
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
2. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will pick a winner on June 11th, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
The post Giveaway: Box of Culinary Books! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
June 7, 2015
Passion Inspires!
Last year I ran a successful year-long program called Powered by Hope. The intent of the program is to help you follow your creative dreams by powering your spirit with hope! I am glad the program was so well received. This year, in addition to new posts, I will also be sharing a few of the best posts from the program. From now until the end of 2015, you will receive a minimum of two posts a month focused on hope. I hope you will enjoy them and that they will inspire you to follow your dreams!
INSPIRE
As many parents will attest, we do a lot of waiting. I wait at the soccer practices, I wait at the car pool line, I wait at the play dates. My waiting time is supposed to be my learning time—I read, catch up on my podcasts but mostly I spend it staring into space.
On one such waiting occasion, I was standing in a harshly lit corridor at a local community center waiting for my son to come out of his class. It felt like I was in, quite possibly, one of the most boring spots on earth. I had forgotten to bring a book and the place did not get any Internet coverage, so I was just standing there, wondering what to do.
Then I heard it: loud blaring music coming from the end of the corridor. I turned to see a young man place a stereo on the ground, and then he began to dance. From the grace of his movements, I could tell he was trained. His movements were fluid, his body seemed to glide through the air, his hands moved around with trained accuracy and with the gentleness of a bud opening to the world. As mesmerized as I was with his dancing, what caught my eye was his face. He seemed to be one with his dance, with his music. He smiled as he danced, his expressions changed as the beats changed.
He was so absorbed in his dance and in the music, he did not even see my son and his friends who had gathered around me to watch him. He just danced, almost in a trance. He glowed. The kids went up to him after he finished dancing and applauded loudly. He was the local dance instructor and now had so many new kids who wanted to sign up for his class after seeing him dance.
As we drove home, I kept thinking, how lucky the dancer was to reach that state—“dance like no one is watching” and how it resulted in more students for him.
Passion inspires.
The post Passion Inspires! appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
June 3, 2015
Giveaway: Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America
When I first heard that Sandra Gutierrez was writing a new book, my first thought was the same as I had when I got her first book: It is going to be amazing. And guess what? Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America is as amazing and as comforting as it sounds. A beautiful book by an amazing author!
You will have a chance to enter to win the featured book and, as a bonus, will receive my new book, A Life of Spice, as well!
About Sandra – “Sandra A. Gutierrez, who grew up in the United States and Guatemala, is a journalist, food writer, culinary instructor, and recipe developer. She lives in Cary, N.C., with her husband and their daughters.” reprinted from her website
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Follow me on FB and/or Twitter. If you are already following me – THANK YOU!
2. Follow Sandra. If you are already following them – YOU ROCK!
3. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
4. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will be picking a winner on June 7th, 2015, at 6:00 p.m.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
The post Giveaway: Empanadas: The Hand-Held Pies of Latin America appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
May 31, 2015
Giveaway: Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking
I buy all of Nancie McDermott’s books. Her recipes are delightful and I always feel like she is in the kitchen with me.. teaching me how to make her terrific dishes whether they be cakes or Asian meals. Today, I have the honor of giving away her new book, Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking: 125 Real Thai Recipes. You will have a chance to win her book by entering this giveaway and in addition will also receive a copy of my newest book, A Life of Spice,
About Nancie: “Nancie McDermott is a North Carolina native, born in Burlington, raised in High Point, and educated at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Her three years as a Peace Corps volunteer in Thailand gave her a lifelong love for the cuisines, history and cultures of Asia, and she has spent the last twenty years cooking, reading, traveling, writing, and teaching about Asian food. Her ten cookbooks focus on Asian kitchens, but since moving back home to North Carolina in 1999, she has taken time to look at the foods of the American South, the place she fell in love with cooking in her grandmother’s dairy farm kitchen.” — reprinted from Amazon.
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Follow me on FB and/or Twitter. If you are already following me – THANK YOU!
2. Follow Nancie. If you are already following them – YOU ROCK!
3. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
4. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will pick the winner on June 3rd, 2015 at 6:00. p.m.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
The post Giveaway: Simply Vegetarian Thai Cooking appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
May 27, 2015
Giveaway: FutureChefs
You will love this giveaway!! My friend, Ramin Ganeshram’s IACP -award-winning cookbook — FutureChefs! The book has a collection of wonderful recipes from kids around the US and the world. My own kids want to cook from the book. The recipes are ethnically diverse and very accessible. As always, you will also get my book, A Life of Spice, along with this one!
About Ramin:
Ramin Ganeshram is a journalist and professional chef trained at the Institute of Culinary Education. She is the author of Sweet Hands: Island Cooking From Trinidad & Tobago (Hippocrene NY 2006; 2nd expanded edition 2010) and The Pass It Down Cookbook (Smiley Books/Hay House 2010) (with Jeff Henderson) and Stir It Up (Scholastic 2010) about a teen who gets the chance to fulfill her dream of competition cooking on the Food Network.
In addition to contributing to a variety of food publications including Saveur, Shape, Gourmet, Bon Appetit and epicurious.com, Ganeshram has written food/culture/travel articles for Islands (as contributing editor); National Geographic Traveler; Forbes Traveler; Forbes Four Seasons and many others. She is a contributor to the Encyclopedia of World Foods (Greenwood Press 2010) and award-winninge Oxford Encyclopedia of Food & Drink in America.
She has appeared on Food Network, Travel Channel, CNNfn, Good Day New York, the OWN network and other television programs, sharing her culinary expertise.
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Follow me on FB and/or Twitter. If you are already following me – THANK YOU!
2. Follow Ramin. If you are already following them – YOU ROCK!
3. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
4. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will pick a random winner on May 30th, 2015, 6:00 p.m.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
The post Giveaway: FutureChefs appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
Keynote speaker for MOSAIC
I was so delighted and honored to be a keynote speaker for an event sponsored by Friends of the Library, Montgomery County (FOLMC) - Mosaic: Celebrating Diversity Through Creative Writing contest. “FOLMC sponsor’s this contest in conjunction with the Montgomery County Public School System. Mosaic is for middle school students and is designed to get them thinking and writing about their cultural heritage and to help foster an appreciation for their own and others unique cultural backgrounds. Students may submit works of fiction, nonfiction, poetry, and spoken word and their winning works are compiled into a book that FOLMC publishes.” I had the honor of writing the Foreword for the wonderful book that includes all the winning stories.
The kids who read their pieces really blew me away — a young girls ponders wearing her headscarf to middle school, another young lady contemplates the angst of having to “tick a box” on a form indicating if she is American or African American. Touching pieces… and I have to say very well done.
Here are some photos from the lovely event - 
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May 25, 2015
Giveaway: Dishing Up Virginia
Today, I will be giving away, Dishing Up® Virginia: 145 Recipes That Celebrate Colonial Traditions and Contemporary Flavors, by Patrick Evans-Hylton. Why did I pick this book? Well, here is the endorsement I wrote for it.. pretty much sums it up!
Monica Bhide on Dishing up Virginia: I have lived in Virginia for the past ten years and have fallen in love with it. This book has made that love deeper. It is filled with delightful recipes, rich history and reflects the true spirit of this state: love. I love that Patrick showcases the state’s culinary heroes (people and peanuts!) throughout the book. My kids and I fight over the popcorn with pecans! The Virginia Sea Scallops with shallots and walnuts is comforting and so simple to make. I am honored to be a part of this terrific book.
As always, you will in a copy of Patrick’s wonderful book and a copy of my new book, A Life of Spice.
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Follow me on FB and/or Twitter. If you are already following me – THANK YOU!
2. Follow Patrick. If you are already following him – YOU ROCK!
3. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
4. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will pick a winner on May 28th, 2015 at 6:00 p.m.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
The post Giveaway: Dishing Up Virginia appeared first on Monica Bhide | Recipes, Stories, Inspiration.
May 24, 2015
Garbage in/Garbage out
Last year I ran a successful year-long program called Powered by Hope. The intent of the program is to help you follow your creative dreams by powering your spirit with hope! I am glad the program was so well received. This year, in addition to new posts, I will also be sharing a few of the best posts from the program. From now until the end of 2015, you will receive a minimum of two posts a month focused on hope. I hope you will enjoy them and that they will inspire you to follow your dreams!
FILTER
When I was in engineering college, we studied the concept of GIGO: Garbage In/Garbage Out. Basically what it taught us was that the computer wasn’t capable of distinguishing bad input from good input; it would process it all and if the input was illogical/silly/useless, the output would be useless as well.
I find this concept works well with life as well. I used to work with the TV running in the background, mostly on the news channel. By the end of the day, I would find myself really cranky and, frankly, very depressed. I realized that while I was not consciously listening to the TV, some part of my brain was taking in all the bad news constantly. Same applied for what I read—I was reading gossip sections of magazines, newspapers filled with news of every disaster known to man. And watching the nightly news broadcasting all that was bad in the world. Now, I am not saying that we should not watch the news or consume information; all I am saying is that I had to be careful what I was consuming and how much. I was taking in all bad and nothing good. There was no balance.
Now I try to listen to classical music as I work. It makes the room and my brain feel more at peace. I watch the news but only once a day. I read the papers but try not to go into the details of gory murder stories. And each night, I end my day with reading something inspiring, something that fills my mind with possibilities, something that informs rather than scares. After all: garbage in, garbage out.
How do you handle all the information coming your way? How do you filter it?
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May 20, 2015
Giveaway: Yogurt Culture
I hope you are all enjoying all the giveaways and the contests!!
Today’s book is possibly one of the most stunning cookbooks I have ever seen. Yes, the recipes are delicious. Yes, they are easy to make. Yes, my family loves the dishes I have made from the book. It meets every single criteria that I have for a good book and, to top it all, it is breathtakingly beautiful. I am talking about - Cheryl Sternman Rule’s Yogurt Culture: A Global Look at How to Make, Bake, Sip, and Chill the World’s Creamiest, Healthiest Food
You will have a chance to enter to win her book and, as a bonus, will receive my new book, A Life of Spice, as well!
About Cheryl: “Award-winning author Cheryl Sternman Rule began writing professionally for newspapers, magazines, and websites in 2004. She is the voice behind the food blog 5 Second Rule (5secondrule.typepad.com), which won the 2012 International Association of Culinary Professionals (IACP) New Media & Broadcast Award for best culinary blog. Cheryl’s work has also appeared in Cooking Light, Sunset, Body + Soul, Health, Vegetarian Times, the San Jose Mercury News, Edible San Francisco, Culinate.com, The Kitchn, and Serious Eats; and in several books published by the American Heart Association and the EatingWell Media Group. Cheryl also served as a contributing editor at EatingWell Magazine, a daily food news blogger at iVillage, and the Fresh Talk columnist for recipe.com.” reprinted from Amazon.
In order to enter, here is what you need to do – (no purchase necessary) –
1. Follow me on FB and/or Twitter. If you are already following me – THANK YOU!
2. Follow Cheryl. If you are already following her – YOU ROCK!
3. Help us spread the word about this giveaway – any way you choose – tell friends!
4. Leave a comment here and tell us why YOU should win!
I will pick a winner on May 23rd, 2015 at 6:00pm.
Rules -
1. US residents only. NO P.O.Box please
2. One winner will be selected at random. If you win and do not respond (within a week of) when I contact you, I will choose a different winner.
3. I will ship you both books by media mail.
4. No purchase needed to enter.
PLEASE NOTE – I have purchased these books myself. No publisher or publicist or author has paid for these copies.
https://twitter.com/sternmanrule
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Embassy Chef Challenge, DC – 2015
I was so very honored to be one of the judges for the DC Embassy Chef Challenge. A dream come true for me! Sharing some photos of the terrific and very delicious event!!
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