Sangria with red wine

Sangria is a moderately sweet drink with chopped fruits in red wine which takes only a few minutes to prepare and can make turn any celebrations into a special one.

We have two reasons to celebrate today.

I opened this blog on April 22^nd in 2014 right after my parents’ anniversary (18^th); the blog was an anniversary gift to my mom. Tomorrow Story of cooks is turning 2, does not that call for a big celebration? Despite starting the blog in April, I did not start blogging until August due to moving and renovation at our apartment.

There are many who asks me in interviews “Why did you start this blog?”

This is what I wrote at Anita’s Crave Cook and Click :

Food was and still is an integral part of our life, especially in our home. I was a very fussy kid while growing up and mom had to prepare dishes in a new avatar pretty much every day. This is how she learnt so many new recipes. I was born foodie!

After coming here, it was not easy to produce her dishes with local supplies and especially at Buffalo. So I started asking her for the recipe with tweaks to use local produces. I started sharing those foods with my colleagues and close friends and all of them told me “You should start a food blog?”. I got married and Matt loves my mom’s foods. It was his idea to start the food blog as those recipes are unique yet so easy to prepare.

I think the ardent foodie inside me forced me to select the food blogging.

At Kinjal’s It’s Potluck:

“My husband is entirely behind it. Before marrying me, he knew that I love cooking. We were even making a recipe app (iPhone app) document the recipes I make. When we got married, he advised me to make the website to share my mum’s and my recipe. He says, “I have eaten Indian food countless times. But, I have never eaten low-calorie yet delicious Indian Food”.

And Sree’s Framed Recipes:

Very important question. If I was not blogging, I would clean and shop so in a way to keep my husband’s wallet safe,LOL. Jokes apart, blogging is a way to channel my creative energy. I love making pretty things – rather it web or through my camera.

In last 2 years, I gained a few pounds and a few lifetime relations. I learnt many classic heirloom recipes from Ma, studied and loved food photography and on and on and on. Maintaining a picture heavy food blog is not an easy task, specially in United States where you have no help from anyone. From recipe developing to hitting the publish button, every single thing goes through me but I love this burn down.

In last 2 years I have tried and tested so many things with the blog; there are uncountable up and down moments with Story of cooks. But as it’s a one-woman show – everyday I try and learn something new. There are many times I wonder, does it worth to break my back over Story of cooks, which might or might not work. Then I ponder myself, I would be cooking and cleaning like OCD woman. So yes my home is not maculate but I am sure my photos and recipes are inspiring someone to pick up a ladle, my photography tutorials are helping someone to capture steam on a tea cup. And more than money, that makes me happy.

The second reason to celebrate today – I have successfully finished my first week at Harvard Business Review.

I remember when I went to School for the very first time. I feel the same chills, same goose bumps when I join a new job; however, week 1 has been passed and I am taking baby steps at Harvard, making new friends. So far my co-workers are extremely friendly and nice to me. Despite it’s so close to my home (3 miles) I am not much familiar with the area and restaurants, but I am getting used to the local eateries and groceries. Just between you and me – there is a Homegoods at half a mile distance from my office which means I can walk there whenever I want. My husband is not very happy at the situation, but he can’t do much about it.

Most importantly, I am loving the job I am doing here. It’s turning from a day job into something fun and productive.

A few words about the photos in today’s post.

I love and always shoot dark and moody images. However I don’t like photographers sticking to one style. After a while I stop visiting their blog as their work don’t tempt me to see their work. I have tried my luck with bright and colorful images before but it was not satisfactory. I am not a big fan bright, light commercial images. It reminds me of billboards on the street rather than an art.

But when Deeba posted this image at Facebook on Sunday, I could not stop myself from trying light and airy pictures this time.

Deeba, Alanna and Simi are three bloggers who shoot light and airy images as gracefully as they shoot moody. I am no where close to them, but I am trying to be versatile and changing the style a bit depending on season and my mood. I will shoot this style a bit more and I hope it will be pleasing for you too.

As I am happy today, let wash the good and happy memories with a pitcher of Sangria.

“I simply don’t like drinking alcohol; because it’s just bitter.” This is my typical line in parties, offices and restaurants. But when we were in Spain, Matthew decided to order a pitcher of Sangria in Seville despite me protesting so much.

I read it somewhere ‘if you spot a pitcher of Sangria in a table, you can spot tourists’. I prefer to behave like a local rather than getting us spotted as two lone travelers so I stopped him from ordering Sangria since the day we landed. We were pretty close to finish our trips and Matthew desperately wanted to try a pitcher of Sangria at least once in Spain. So we ordered along with a few kind of tapas.

After the pitcher has arrived he told me “It’s quite sweet and fruity, you should really try some”. Not sure why I decided to try a sip from his glass and oh dear lord I fell in love with Sangria. In one lunch I finished two glasses of sangria and started to feel dizzy.

It does not matter if you don’t like alcohol or not – YOU WILL LOVE SANGRIA. You can trust my words as it’s coming from a person who drinks once or twice a year. After coming from Spain during my week off I decided to try recreating this famous classic cocktail at home. So I googled, learnt and prepared a small batch of Sangria with a very few fruits.

There are some key notes of Sangria I learnt while making

1. You need to let it sit the entire night in order for it to be perfectly sweet.
2. Traditionally people use apples and oranges, but I have mixed apples, oranges, plums and pears which turned out much delicious than the classic ones.
3. I have used Rioja wine but any cheap fruity wine works for this recipe.
4. Serve it chilled
5. Don’t use too much sugar in the beginning, it’s going to turn more sweet more it sits.

Recipe of Sangria

1 cup apple juice

2 tablespoons sugar

2 apples, cored, chopped

1 oranges, chopped

2 plums, seeded and chopped,

1 pear, peeled and chopped

1 bottle Rioja

1. In a bowl, add apple juice and sugar. With a spoon mix it well. Keep it aside.
2. In a pitcher, add chopped fruits, red wine and apple juice mixture. With a big spoon mix it well. Chill it overnight to a day. Distribute in glasses and serve it chilled.