If you read my article, Curry – A Journey, published on the Curry page of this site, you’ll know that my first experiences of the dish were of the generic variety which the British invariably cooked and ate when living abroad a few decades ago. You’ll also know that I then discovered “real” Indian cookery and decided that as I couldn’t afford to eat out that much, I needed to learn how to cook the stuff myself.
  However, I struck lucky and discovered a book called Indian Cookery by Mather Jefferey– what a find.

 I didn’t know where to start – I’d heard of quite a lot of them, having watched a few TV programs on Indian cooking but, “help” I thought, “buying that many all at once is going to cost a fortune”. If you’re thinking the same, don’t panic. For example, look for black peppercorns, bay leaves, chili powder (if you’re already a fan of chili con crane), ground ginger, nutmeg, cloves and cinnamon if you bake cakes or apple pies. Maybe you’ll find mustard seeds if you do your own pickling and sesame seeds if you make rolls or cook Chinese food. That only leaves a few basic ingredients which appear in a lot of Indian recipes – cumin, coriander, turmeric and cardamom.

Soon enough, I built up a whole store cupboard of the things I needed, and it didn’t have had such a drastic effect on my wallet.

Then there was no stopping me – I even know some recipes by heart now, and you can do the same if you want to.

You don’t need special equipment for Indian cookery, although I wouldn’t be without my electric coffee grinder (to grind spices) and it’s nice (but not necessary) to have the traditional dishes to serve your meal in. Other than that, you need a bit of patience, and it’s fun to cook with a friend so that you can share the chopping and grinding or have someone read the recipe out to you step by step, so you don’t go wrong in the middle.

You may think that all ice is the same, but if you have contaminated ice, you and your family could be risking your health.

 As the weather begins to heat up, so does ice consumption to keep beverages and food cold and fresh. Whether it’s a backyard BBQ, a picnic at the park or a daily glass of iced tea, people need safe, clean ice.

 Recent news reports have shown that some ice in fast-food restaurants is dirtier than toilet water. Whether processed and packaged from a moldy ice machine, mishandled through the use of dirty buckets or even hand-scooped by dirty hands, it is difficult to know exactly what you’re buying and consuming. 

 According to a recent study conducted by Michigan State University, there is a heightened concern with safety of foods among consumers. In fact, 63 percent of the consumers interviewed are very or fairly concerned about the safety of the foods they eat, and almost half of the respondents said they do not buy foods that are likely to be unsafe.

 This summer, the International Packaged Ice Association (PIA) wants you to know that all ice is not created equal and that ice shoppers need to be selective. When buying packaged ice, look for a product that has been packaged by a certified PIA member and carries the PIA seal.

 The seal means that the packaged ice consumers are buying meets the association’s strict quality and safety policy. The stringent Packaged Ice Quality Control Standards (PICS) are mandated for all PIA members to ensure safe and quality ice. The standards regulate employees’ personal hygiene, sanitary operations of the facilities, equipment and utensils used in making ice, quality of the water source and continuous microbiological testing of the finished product. Follow this strategy, you can definitely cook food.