Turmeric Pickle (Haldi cha Loncha)

Welcome to 2014 at M in the World! Is it too late to wish you all a brilliant new year? Yes? Oh well - I do wish it to you! A year of strength and joy and beauty to you all.



From the severe lack of posts you've probably guessed that something's up. And it is. And it sucks. This isn't the "I'm out of dark chocolate too bad so sad" variety of sucks either. It's stuff that makes you think about the great unknown and shuffling off this mortal coil. Stuff that makes you appreciate the things in life you so often take for granted. Stuff that focuses on the words we often throw around without really feeling the bigness of them - words like grace and mindfulness, peace and dignity, joy and family. So bear with me while we ride this roller coaster out, will ya? Things might be a little erratic on M in the World, but keep checking back in please!

And in the meanwhile, let's push this stuff under the rug for a minute (man my emotional rug has a lot of crap under it - what about you?) and talk about something else. What about the weather eh? Oh, you have a snow day, do you? Polar vortex, you say?

Well do I have something exciting for you! The perfect project for a day at home. Something sour and salty and briny and earthy. Something bright and fun (probably best handled in small-ish doses though). Something that makes your mouth pucker up even as you're reaching for a little bit more. Something that adds a little spice to your life.

Maple Olive Oil Gingersnaps

These cookies were in response to a special request from my mom, who, upon reading about my Ginger Honey Cookies, suddenly realized that it had been years since she has had homemade gingersnaps. She requested actual gingersnaps, but, even though I'm a wonderful daughter (of course!!) I had to go and mess with a good thing. Once again, I took up the Kitchenaid at the very last minute, so when I discovered (yet again) the lack of molasses I shrugged my shoulders and reached for the honey. But when I found that I only had a measly 1/4 cup of butter left over in the fridge, I figured - what the heck, let's throw the ol' honey gingersnaps into the wind and just go all out in trying something totally different.

To replace the dark syrupy sweetness of molasses I reached for maple syrup - this was going to be a strong, powerful cookie. A little richer than the ginger honey cookies. If you make these, be sure to use the good stuff - that cornstarchy nonsense that passes for syrup won't do you any favors. And instead of butter, I've used olive oil in the past for cakes with excellent results, so olive oil it was. Nudge the ginger honey cookies here and there, and this is what you get:

The result? Rich flavors from the maple syrup and ginger, more crispness because of the olive oil, and still a bit of nice chew and bite. Delish.

Ginger Honey Cookies

As you know, recently there's been a lot of ginger going around these parts. Apart from making tea and using this root in savory dishes, I started thinking about what else I could do with it. A gingerbread house? Ooh that would be fun! Or gingerbread men! But a little beyond my current prowess. Also, not exactly the right season for it, because those definitely seem to be wintery sweets. And although the evenings have been a little cool recently, we're not exactly at X'mas time just yet (thankfully! Ouf this summer has just flown by!).

Masala Ginger Chai

Remember when I asked what to do with the knobbly bits left over from my huge ginger storing activity? Well here's one! When one has a surplus of ginger (and one did), one must make ginger chai - or ginger tea, as it were. But also, why have plain ol' ginger chai when you can add in a couple of spices and make it a masala ginger chai?!