About

Meet Sia:

Namaste, I am Sia. I am your hostess and also a loving daughter/sister/wife/friend/cook/blogger and most importantly, a new mom to a most adorable and lovable baby in universe! I was born and brought up in a beautiful coastal city of Mangalore in Southern Indian state of Karnataka which is famous for its virgin beaches, red tiled houses and gentle backwaters. Growing up, I was introduced to authentic and traditional Indian cuisine by my Ajji (grandma), Amma (mom) and half a dozen aunties at very tender age in a typical Indian joint family. I grew up in a typical family where the life revolves around food, love, laughter and good dose of gossips!

Coming to cooking part, it all started after I got married and moved with my ‘much’ better half to UK some six years ago. With beginners luck and zillions of SOS calls at ungodly hours to my Amma (mother) and Atte (mom-in-law), I reached a phase where I could cook decent pot of rice and Rasam. Slowly but steadily I graduated from cooking simple, everyday home food to exotic and exciting Indian and world cuisine. Since then I never had to look back and I continue to enjoy this exciting and adventurous culinary journey.

All this while working full-time as an IT professional in a very exciting organisation, part-time food blogger and photographer, full-time daughter/wife/friend/sister/mother etc, voracious reader, nature and adventure sports lover, bathroom singer and generally having an interesting life and enjoying it to fullest. Living one busy life does mean that the blog posts are often irregular and I can disappear for weeks and months together from blogosphere. But whenever the post make an appearance, you can be 101% sure that they are always cooked and served with lot of love and passion.

Sia and her blog, Monsoon Spice:

Monsoon, just the word is enough to bring back a flood of fresh and drenched memories of magical monsoon rain; the sound, sights and smell of home. For a girl born and brought up in southern India, the magical word Monsoon evokes feeling of happiness to me. So when it came to naming my blog I couldn’t think of any better name than Monsoon Spice.

Monsoon Spice (previously known as Spice Corner) was born on the day when I couldn’t find the recipe scribbled in hurry on a piece of paper/back of the bills while making zillions of SOS calls at ungodly hours to my Amma (mother) and Atte (mom-in-law). When it was needed the most, I found myself running around the house like some headless chicken, checking all the drawers and every nook and corner, while our smoke alarm made enough noise to wake half the neighbourhood! That was when I decided to catalogue all the recipes online and the rest, as we say, is history!!! Monsoon Spice has been up and running since September 2006!!! Almost five glorious years… ~Ouch ~ I just pinched myself!

The Inspiration:

My best friend and husband K (mostly known as my ‘much’ better half) is the main inspiration behind this blog. He not only eats what I cook in the name of cooking, but is also my food critic and sous-chef. Now with the new and joyous addition, our little son P (lovingly called as lil dumpling/sweet pea), to our cosy little family, I am all the more inspired to cook fresh and healthy food that has strong root in our Indian culture and traditions and still embraces the world cuisine with same passion. Without saying, three mothers in my life have left a firm foot hold in this blog and the way I cook. Without these three remarkable ladies, my Amma (mother), Ajji (grandma) and Atte (mom-in-law), I wouldn’t be a cook that I am today, let alone food blogger. Thanks to all these loved ones in my life as they are inspiration to ignite this passion for cooking. And today this little spark of interest in cooking has become a roaring fire of passion!

All these years of active blogging, I’ve met immeasurable number of foodies, fellow bloggers and made many good friends. And you, my reader friends, are my inspiration. Without your comments, feedback, suggestions and encouraging words, this blog would not have survived all these years!

Let’s Talk About Food, Food & More Food:

Monsoon Spice is my playground where I showcase my passion for food and cooking. Most of the recipes presented here are something that I learnt from my Amma, my first teacher who thought me about life and spice.

Almost 99% of food posted here are Vegetarian and there are many Vegan friendly recipes or the ones which can be easily converted to suit Vegan diet. The remaining 1% of recipes uses Eggs and this count ‘may’ rise slowly due to my new found love for baking. There are many recipes catalogued to suit busy working schedules and also beginner and bachelor friendly. You will find a collection of everyday meals, some with fancy ingredients, mostly Indian cuisine and also with international touch; variety is the spice of life.

Sia’s Do’s & Don’ts:

“Cookery is not chemistry. It is an art. It requires instinct and taste rather than exact measurements.”
~Marcel Boulestin

One thing I have learnt from my ‘almost’ six years of kitchen adventure is to understand how to balance and harmonize flavours. For any cook, amateur or experienced, it is important to make adjustments in the quantity of ingredients used to bring out the right flavour to suit your taste buds rather than blindly following the recipes.

Recipes given in Monsoon Spice should serve as guidelines as they cannot speak for your taste preference or the variance in the ingredients you get from different places. Rather following the cooking instructions religiously, follow your instinct and palate as it is them that tell you as what you like in a particular dish. Keep experimenting with ingredients, a hint of this and a dash of that, which creates perfect harmony between flavour, aroma and your taste buds. The real satisfaction of creating something which your loved ones enjoys adds that ‘extra special bit’ to your joy. Play around with the ingredients until you are happy with the combination of flavours which is suited to you and your loved ones heart, palate and soul.

Sia & Her Camera:

Seriously, I can’t talk much about food photography. It is true that food blogging and food photography go hand in hand but it is also true in my case that I know just a tad bit more about camera other than which is the click button!

Initially the pictures were taken from my Panasonic DMZ point and shoot camera. Just because my husband loves me a lot and he also felt that I may cook more food of his liking, he decided to bribe me three years back on my birthday with Canon EOS 450D dSLR. I use basic kit lens (Canon EF-S 18-55mm, I had to Google to find this info!) and till date, I have never found the need to upgrade to any other fancy lens. I try to take all the photos in natural light, sometimes in bright and almost perfect sunlight and other times in dull and cloudy UK weather. I am happy as long as the food looks edible and inspires you to try it for yourself. I am not all fancy! I have promised myself to make a sincere attempt to learn more about food photography but so far other important things in my life have taken the precedence.

Copyrights, Comment Policy & other Nitty-Gritty:

All the pictures and contents on Monsoon Spice are protected by United Kingdom and International Copyright Laws unless otherwise noted, and should not be reproduced, published or displayed without the prior written permission from me. Information on Monsoon Spice is not to be used in any form for publishing on other websites, mailing lists, commercial purposes or other media without explicit permission from me. You cannot reproduce, modify, display, alter, distribute or build upon the content of Monsoon Spice.

Monsoon Spice is an interactive blog, but will not entertain any inappropriate or abusive comments. I welcome all your valuable inputs and constructive criticism as long as it is meant to help, guide and improve and is not offensive to me or the readers of Monsoon Spice. I reserve the right to delete any comments that are rude, abusive, written with the intent to advertise, contain profanity or considered spam. Enjoy your stay at Monsoon Spice but do not steal the photos or content and no hot linking of images. This is a happy place and please, let's keep it that way!

Want to use the photos or contents from Monsoon Spice?

You want to use the photos or contents published in Monsoon Spice? All you have to do is ask me nicely! People who know me say that I am usually a generous person with big heart and I may even let you use the photos and contents for free if you ask me first!!! At the same time, if you steal or modify the photos/content from my blog without my permission, you may have to face my evil twin when you receive a fitting mail from me or a notice from my lawyer. So let's just skip the nasty bits and simply agree on ASK ME FIRST rule.

To request for permission for personal or commercial use of photos and/or content from Monsoon Spice for your blog/website/newspaper/book/magazine etc, contact me via email at siakrishna[at]gmail[dot]com.

Book/Product Reviews & Advertising:

I have reviewed cookbooks and products in the past for free and without any obligations. Later I discontinued it due to time constraint and other priorities. After giving it a long and hard thought, I am open to receive products and books related to food in general and review them again.

So if you want me to review your cookbooks or food products or advertise your products (food related products gets priority), feel free to drop a line at siakrishna[at]gmail[dot]com and I will get back to you.

Keep in Touch:

You can subscribe to get up-to-date posts on Monsoon Spice for FREE. You can also find me Twittering around and join me at Facebook to hear more of my ramblings. Or if you just want to say ‘Hi’, drop me a line at comment section…

Want to say something personally without the world eavesdropping? Just mail me at siakrishna[at]gmail[dot]com. I sincerely try very hard to respond to each mail I receive. But there are times when I am unable to do so for some reason. It’s not because I am ignoring you or I don’t like you! I just wish I had more hours in a day…. Or even my clone will do the job!!!

Didn’t find the recipe you were looking for? Just Ask Sia :)

Still have more to say? I am all ears for your feedbacks as how I can make it more interesting space for you :)

It is small and little things in life that lift my heart and spirit… I love the colour red and blue skies. I love spring, summer, rain and snow! I love organic food, farmers market and things grown naturally. I love simple food, heirloom recipes and Ice cream. I love to be surrounded my loved ones and happy people. I love to listen to baby’s giggles, good music and positive comments.

I sincerely thank you for stopping by, trying out the recipes and saying all the nice words. I really, really appreciate it. You people make this virtual world a happy place…

Warm regards,

Sia
www.monsoonspice.com