White Picket Fence

Some evenings, I crave something vegetarian, not in the salad-eating sense of the word, but in the way one might crave a little brightness in the middle of a dull week. Something that feels fresh, colourful, and comforting, but still fancy enough to feel like I've made an effort. And since I have more than a few vegetarian friends who always seem to appear around dinnertime curiously enough, this Cherry Tomato Pasta has become one of the most cooked dinners in my house. The cherry tomatoes do most of the work, bursting open in warm olive oil till they turn into this sweet, tangy sauce that tastes far more sophisticated than it has any right to. The garlic hums in the background, the broccoli and mushrooms add substance, and the basil ties it all together with that smug Italian flair. Ingredients: 200 gms spaghetti 2 cups cherry tomatoes, halved 6–8 garlic cloves, thinly sliced 1 cup broccoli florets 1 cup mushrooms, sliced 3 tbsp olive oil  A handful of fresh basil leaves ½ ts...

November is tiptoeing in. The evenings have begun to carry that faint, smoky chill that smells of burnt leaves and faraway woodfires. The laundry takes longer to dry. A stray cat has started following me around every time I step into the yard. Looks like she’s figured out where the warmest corners of the house are. They say this winter is going to be colder than usual. People are already getting dreamy-eyed about it. “Oh, I love winters,” they say, and I can’t help but think what they actually love is warmth—the feeling of snuggling under a heavy blanket, hands curled around a steaming cup of tea, warm socks on tiled floors, afternoon naps taken on cots in the sun. No one really likes the cold; we like feeling warm in it.  Warmth, in my grandmother's home, always looked like a big pot of wholesome chicken stew bubbling away on the stove. The whole house would fill up with that peppery aroma and pent-up anticipation. This wasn’t the dainty kind of stew you find in glossy magazines, ...