Cringeworthy catastrophes

We've all had those moments, I'm sure, when after we've said or done something, all we want is for the earth to swallow us up. Being a klutz, I've had more than my share of stumbling and falling when I wanted to make an elegant entrance in high heels. Or being caught with my pants down. Literally. I used to mind making a fool of myself. A lot. Even when the damage done was more to my ego than to my physical self. Now that I'm getting older and falling down, literally and figuratively, even more, I've resigned myself to just giving into the moment.

Panacotta with an Asian twist

I'm totally hopeless at making desserts. I love eating them, but baking usually defeats me. I'm a total klutz at getting the measurements right, or the oven temperatures correctly. I don't have all the necessary equipment, and making do never works. But when I came across this recipe for a panacotta with an Asian twist, it sounded so yummy and refreshing, and well, quite doable. And so I tried it. And it worked. Every time!

A rib-tickling so not a cooking show

I don't know about everybody else but I feel besieged by cooking shows on TV. It's all about celebrity chefs, gourmet meals, ethnic cuisine, meals on wheels and other far-flung places and cooking competitions. Then there's desserts, cakes, pies and even doughnuts. I mean, how do you dedicate a whole TV series entirely to doughnuts? There's an entire network that only features, you guessed it, food. It's like food TV producers are scraping the barrel to come up with a new spin on food.

So I was delighted by the entry of a wholly different type of food show, one that takes the mickey out of all these food programs, mocking some of these much-touted wonder foods and gadgets.

The Katering Show is so named after two Australians, Kate McCartney and Kate McLennan, the self-proclaimed food intolerant and intolerable foodie who are featured in a web series of 10-minute segments. Launched recently, they have already garnered a huge following. It's not surprising because these two women, more comediennes than chefs, try to demonstrate some cooking techniques that always backfire, driving them both usually to drink. Foul-mouthed and irreverent, they get up to some hilarious shenanigans that are surprisingly quite endearing.

I've caught most of their segments on YouTube and can't wait for more!

No matter what, mum's the word.

I was going to write something sappy and sweet for Mother's Day, as everyone's rushing to buy flowers and candy, and making reservations for lunch and dinner. My own mother is gone, but if I could tell her how she influenced me, I would say, "Aauurrrghh, I'm turning into you!"

Traveling light - what to pack for a long trip

Setting out on trip is always an exciting endeavor - booking flights,  planning itineraries, getting the necessary paperwork and sorting out currencies. But for me, the biggest undertaking is always figuring out what to pack. After decades of traveling, to world capitals as well as remote hamlets, I've realized that it's wiser to leave the hairdryer at home and no, I don't need all those dresses.Trying to squeeze all of life's essentials into one bag is not without its sacrifice, but I've almost got it down to a science. Here's a peek at what I normally pack for trips of up to a month in duration.