// bites

Today’s recipe, Flank Steak with Goat Cheese on Toast, is inspired from the book. I had originally planned these for a Spanish Tapas party my friend, Wendy was hosting, but we ended up with an obscene amount of food, so I kept the marinating steak in the refrigerator and made the dish the following day.

I learned that angels on horseback – also done with scallops and sometimes called "devils on horseback”. I can tell you that even now it remains an awesomely tasty dish: Briny, minerally oysters just barely cooked, surrounded by smoky bacon and lightened with the zing of fresh lemon juice; I later switched to lime juice, because I like it even better.

My freind  found this recipe for turnip and potato patties in an old issue of Gourmet  magazine and made them the other night. They were terrific, not too turnipy. Sort of a cross between a pancake and a fritter.

Simple fast and pretty, just my speed.

I just made these tonight and they were fantastic. I made this with the little fresh mozzarella balls packed in water. I did dry them on paper towels. They turned out great. I made fresh breadcrumbs from some leftover ciabatta mixed with romano cheese and italian seasoning.

The chicken is coated in spices prior to frying and is delicious on its own without any sauce--perfect for those who do not want the kick. To make this more of a meal, serve with mashed potatoes and a salad on the side--along with cut up carrots and celery sticks.

Navarathri is upon us. "Nava” in Sanskrit means Nine and Rathri means night which obviously denotes the fact that this festival is celebrated for 9 whole days. The highlight of this festival is the arrangement of different idols on step arrangement called as "Golu” ( see how it looks here ). Another highlight is the different varieties of Sundal that is made during these days. One different sundal for 9 different days. Sundal is nothing but a simple South Indian salad made with different legumes like White chickpeas, black chickpeas ( generally termed as Kadalai Sundal ), butter beans (termed as "Mochakottai sundal” ), dried peas (termed as Pattani sundal ) and many more.