And when you get that "chasm of silence" take a deep breath, sit, relax, and lose yourself in the wonderful world of food fiction where real life merges with the imaginary, where food conjures memories, where tales are weaved around life and where life evolves around food.
Presenting Of Chalks and Chopsticks -- 2nd Edition Roundup with stories from 26 very talented food bloggers whose stories are as delicious as the food.
Have a great weekend reading and thinking about your own food story.
Read more...
Entries are listed in the order I received them
"Except... Jam!! Sarita was terribly foodie. And her Mom's cooking was something she couldn't do without! And it wasn't just her dal and rice.. Mom's cookies, her cakes, her chicken, her fish, her smoothies, her shakes, her mutton, her quiche....and most of all.. Mom's jams!!!" -- Apple Jam -- Happy Mother's Day from SS@SS Blogs here
"He walked up to the pan which was on the gas burner. There was a strange sound of tiny pebbles clanging against a glass pane. He peered in and saw a kaleidoscope of images flickering in front of him. The pan was full of water. The water was bubbling. There was a thin film of yellow on top. He parted that with a ladle and was intrigued to see what was going on. There were white grains of rice and yellow dots of daal (pulses) circling all over the pan. Soaring up. Going down. Bumping into each." -- Playing 'House' : A Khichudi Recipe Story from Kalyan @ Finely Chopped
"It takes me to places that I lived as a 12-year old, in a house that had a huge kitchen, the time that we had the hottest summers in Kottayam and the baths we used to take under the backyard tap in the dusky evening light. The hot dosas for dinner and this sweet and slightly sour pickle that complemented the dosas like not even coconut chutney could." -- Sweet Mango Pickle - Amma's Recipe from Nags@Edible Garden
"It was hard to tell which came first - the rush of joy at the mention of that unabashedly unwholesome menu or the sigh of relief that the salad could be put off! Or was it neither of these but a surge of love, coupled with the reassurance that he had chosen right, after all? " -- Quinoa: A Love Story from Sra@When My Soup Came Alive
"She quietly eats up the dosa and even the two pieces of drumstick that fell on her plate. She couldn’t tactfully throw the green little sticks onto her brothers plate as she normally would, nor complain about it and chuck it in the garbage. And slowly chewing her food, she understood what the boy meant. She would never be able to say no drumsticks again." -- The Moringa Oleifera story from Denny @Oh Taste n See
"She could see and feel that fateful morning when her mother was preparing ingredients for Momo. It was she who had requested her mom to prepare Momo. From early morning her mom started chopping onions and garlic, kneading the dough, making small balls. She was served steaming hot Momos before she left for school.
Her mom promised Thukpa and Momo after she returned from school." -- Mom(o) from Balaka@Prathompadokhep
"When Shakuntala devi came in the kitchen, it was already 6.30 in the evening. Naren will be here in few minutes or so. She cleaned fish pieces hurriedly and then smeared holod (turmeric powder) and noon (salt) over each pieces well. She then started to make the jeerey/kalo jeerey/golmorich bata in Sheel nora.Then she quickly put the Kadai over gas stove. By the time kadai and shorsh'er tel (mustard oil) was getting hot, she was finished making the bata moshla (masala paste)." -- Tangra Mach'er jhaal from Jaya@Spice and Curry
"Raghu stretched himself up to his full height, took a full breath, and without a single stammer made an offer to the ice cream man "you give us two ice creams and we will give you two bigggg mangoes, what do you think?" The ice cream man thought hard, and drove a hard bargain "I'll give you two ice creams for 4 mangoes, deal or no deal?" Everything sounded fair for ice creams, Raghu ambled up the nearest tree and brought down 4 huge mangoes, they barely fitted into our tiny hands, still we managed to get it over to the gate. " -- Aam Panna from Rajani@eatWRITEthink
"She had borrowed some ingredients from her neighbor to prepare breakfast and she sat in front of the stone grinder and started grinding the batter and Niru came out rubbing the sleep off her eyes.She grinned at her mom who was holding the batter, for it was for her favorite breakfast -Kaara Rotti ,an rare treat!!!" -- Kaara Rotti and the light of dawn from PJ@Seduce Your Tastebuds
"Budhua got up and went to the mango tree behind his hut. Selecting some good sized stones, he threw them at a couple of mangoes. A good marksman, he got them down in no time.
Going inside, he saw the embers of last night's fire had not yet died. He had forgotten to clean out the chulha in his worries. So threw in the mangoes to roast them a little. He would make Aam Pora Sharbat for Moina." -- Aam Pora Sharbat / Aam panna from Sharmila@KichuKhonn
"He started cooking, methodically chopping, washing, sautéing and stirring. He was done in exactly 40 minutes. He transferred the hot risotto to a serving dish as the phone rang. “Hey, it’s me. I am on my way home,” she told him.
He looked around the kitchen and with a sigh started cleaning up. By the time he was done there were ten minutes left for her to reach home.
“Just enough time to set up the table,” he thought." -- Of Quiet Husbands and risotto surprises from Jaya@Desi Soccer Mom
"Maya's question reminded her of the origins of this infamous salad - a summer picnic at Nick's sisters house, when they wanted something Indian. Her sparse pantry had very few "Indian" ingredients but nonetheless this salad emerged as an "Indian" egg salad and stayed that way even when "they" were done." -- Zippy Egg Salad Sandwiches from Rinku@Cooking in Westchester
""Atthe, I cannot make these undes. They are just crumbling. Can you fix it?" girl goes and asks the old lady letting go of her 'Chef' ego. She is almost ready to cry imagining her mother mad because of this. Old lady asks the girl to bring some warm milk, sprinkles it on the mixture and starts making undes. "Thank God for Atthe" the girl sighs in relief and starts to make undes with the old lady. She then fries the ambode and is beaming with pride ear to ear when both the oldies praise her for her work." -- Mother or Not? from Champa@Versatile Vegetarian Kitchen
"That night she boiled some eggs, shelled them and put them in the refrigerator for the next day.She woke up early next morning and started making the egg salad. She packed it in the tiffin box. Mou came down for breakfast and looked glumly at the tiffin box."What did you pack today?Some rice again!" She smiled conspirationally at Mou."Its a surprise!Let me know how you like it." " -- The Tiffin Box from Tania@Experiments Of a Cooking Enthusiast
"He was no novice to cooking but he didn't want to waste his weekend over it. She had a dream the other day that he cooked a number of delicacies and served her. She woke up in the middle of the dream, but her joy and excitement didn't abate. She woke him up and narrated it to him. " -- Love, the Secret Ingredient from Nithu @ Nithu's Kitchen
"” I dont like tomatoes!” cried the girl. “ They are not for you, we are going to eat them.” replied her mum thinking that once the sauce was all mushy & done, the girl will not realise that she was eating tomatoes. " -- Gnocchi with a Tomato Basil Sauce from Bhagyashree@Taste Buds
"“Khe nay, baba”, she said seating herself on a cane modha in front of him. That’s when he started to howl. Just like a baby, bawling and muffling his own sobs. In between drinking water and stuffing his mouth with the sondesh. He choked, ate the sondesh and gulped the water down all at the same time. " -- Sweet Taste of Freedom from Pree@PreeOccupied
"Ma would eagerly empty the khaki bag on a big steel platter and examine the contents with gusto. On most occasions there would be the quintessential Rui or Rohu, the most commonly eaten fish in our house. And then there would be fishes of various sizes depending on what the market had to offer. Finger sized ones for chorchori, and palm sized ones for jhal. The bothi with its curved iron blade would be brought out. Amma would sit on a wooden piri on the floor and place the bothi in front." -- Fishy Tales from Piuly@A Pinch of This and A Sprinkle of That
"I was very afraid to travel alone.as since childhood my family never let me travel alone...my family is very strict...my brother used to follow me everytime i was out may it b my job,interviews,classes.." -- A sweet story and 3 dishes by my hubby from Sanyukta@Creative Sanyukta
"The next day, as Mrs. Kumar walked back from the vegetable seller carrying sweet tiny eggplants for the night's dinner, along with a small packet of gulkand burfi that she simply could not resist, she found the inspector standing at a street corner, staring thoughtfully at the ground. "Not again", Mrs. Kumar exclaimed. " -- Mrs. Kumar and the Sweet Tooth from Nupur@One Hot Stove
"Well, just boil some milk....add some maida and sugar to it. If you want, you can also add essence. Freeze it. Beat it twice in the mixie. That's it.
No amma.....that doesn't sound interesting in the least bit." -- Mango ice cream from Jayashree@My Experiments with Food
"Archana changed quickly, put some tea to boil and set about washing the rice and mixing the curd. “Everything is going to be ok,” she thought as she mixed the curd and the rice and prepared the tempering." -- Anonymous from Jaya@Desi Soccer Mom
"He snuck closer to Amma, who hurriedly put the ladle down, pulled at the sari tucked in at her waist, and smoothed it down with one hand. "Come in, come in!" She called out, picking up the plate of adhirasams. "Look what I made for you-- your favorite sweet."" -- Adhirasam from Vaishali@Holy Cow! Vegan Recipes
"Reluctantly, she ate a spoonful. It had the perfect balance of spicy, sour and sweet, with just the right crunch. A burst of freshness from the cilantro and grated coconut. Exactly the way she liked kairi chi dal.
Exactly the way her aayi used to make it, she remembered. Exactly the way it tasted the last time she had eaten it." -- Kairi Chi Dal from Aqua@Served with Love
""And I must repeat, there were no secrets. I just added a little extra bit of love. Plus, I always chose the fruits with care. The freshest possible, the best money could buy. After all, nothing but the best for you," he smiled." -- Fruit Chaat from Aqua@Served with Love
"Amu always ate last the advantage being that she could eat-heartily without worrying that the food might get short. But today she felt it was a bad idea. Because right in front of her Rati sat and ate and went on eating. And Amu wondered if anything would be left for her at all." -- Cravings from Bhagyashree@Searching Self (Bhagyashree is not a food blogger but her fiction is all about food)
"It would take more than an hour for the payyesh to come to the right thickness. And then Ma would take it off the heat and add the patali, the khejur gur, fresh and deep brown if it was dada's birthday in winter. The whole house would be infused with that rich, sweet smell, that reminded you of cold winter mornings and dew drops clinging on to the leaves." -- Chocolate Brownies for a Birthday from Bong Mom@Bong Mom's Cookbook
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Oh, I think I am going to have the most delicious weekend, savoring all these stories. Thank you for hosting this lovely event; it gave me a chance to try something completely new.
ReplyDeleteLovely roundup dear. Beautiful stories and recipes :)
ReplyDeleteAah.. lots of reading material now! Thanks for the effort, Bong Mom! Love the snippets! Cheers and see you around!
ReplyDeleteSo many stories just a click away! Great roundup Sandeepa! :-)
ReplyDeleteLovely round up, great presentation
ReplyDeletelooks like there is so much to read here ,Sandeepa ..lovely round-up of delicious recipes and stories err fiction story :-)..
ReplyDeletehugs and smiles
great round up Sandeepa! I am off to read the delicious tales.
ReplyDeleteBeautiful roundup. I should make time to read all the entries.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the round-up! Guess it's my turn now!
ReplyDeleteA read worthy roundup Sandeepa. It will be a busy weekend catching up to all the stories. :)
ReplyDeleteI have started swimming to loose some weight but before that I have lost all energy after doing that for an hour yesterday. right now cant even move a single limb but still this gonna be the best weekened in recent times. good reads just a click away and good food (ok food) just a call away from husband. can I ask for more?
ReplyDeleteThanks for hosting! thrilled to bits to see so many stories :)
ReplyDeletelooking forward to reading all the stories
ReplyDeleteGreat roundup..love ur stories and presentation..
ReplyDeleteWow you made the roundup all the more interesting with those snippets..Can't wait to read them all...
ReplyDeleteThats one interesting round up of sorts sandy..really interesting to read the stories..:)
ReplyDeleteexcellent roundup!! i am loving all the entries!
ReplyDeletefrom both editions of chalks and chopsticks we have about48 stories...sandeepa maybe you guys should think of publishing a collection of interesting short stories (food fiction)...
ReplyDelete