About Me
I'm Meghna! I enjoy cooking and baking. I like trying new recipes. Since it is so hard to find tried and tested recipes, I thought I would document the best among them. I would love to share my recipe collection with you all.
I started baking because I wanted to do something different than what my mother used to do. My mother was an excellent cook, she was an expert in authentic Kerala recipes. To get fame in the house, I started baking. The only way to impress everyone at home was baking.
My mother bought a Bajaj OTG oven when I was 8 years old. Initially she used to bake and I used to enjoy helping her. Over time we stopped using it. My sister was a foodie. She used to cut recipes from magazines and we used to try it at home. She would say, we will make it together. Initially she was the head chef and I was the sous chef, later I took over. My sister would find more recipes and inspire me to bake more.
As people outside my home started appreciating what I baked, I started getting more and more inspired. There were many flops also during those times. I had even made bread that felt like a rock. Such a flop!. It was not just baking, I also used to make pasta and other non-traditional dishes - anything that my mother doesn't make. A show off ;-) haha!
Over time my focus shifted into the studies, tuition, dance etc, My sister started going to college and we did get very little time together. And then I started my +2 and then college. Totally not thinking about cooking.
I lost my mother while I was in college, and me and my sister had to take over the kitchen. That was the worst stage of my life. That's when we started our real cooking. In our home, my father always made it a point that we help our mother in the kitchen. After my mother's demise, I was somehow trying to match my mother's cooking since my father is so used to the tasty food she used to make.
Just after finishing engineering, within 2 months I got married to my lovely husband. It is after my marriage, I started baking again. My husband got a gift voucher from his office for his 5 year completion with the company. With that voucher we bought a LG convection oven. Then begins the second chapter of my baking.
I started my internship in the office with my husband. My husband is very supportive and encouraging about baking. Baking was new for him as well. He is interested in trying new things as well. He would support me in buying all the equipment, ingredients, and gives all the encouragement I needed. He knows that baking is something I love to do. No matter the traffic, parking situation, he never says NO.
I started to bake cakes for all the family functions, share with office friends, relatives and neighbors. I had lots of people to share what I used to make. Their encouraging words inspired me to bake more. At the office, whenever I get free time I used to search for new recipes that I can try. My friends used to tease me because I keep searching for new recipes that I can try. There will always be at least a couple of recipes open in my Chrome browser. Many a times it was difficult to bake due to many commitments that comes along with marriage and work. I still used to bake because I like doing it, taking slices time away from the busy life.
One of those days I found a Facebook post about a 2 week baking/icing class. I was really excited and a bit confused seeing the rate. But I just had to tell my husband, and all my confusion was gone. He used to drop me every morning to the class. I became more confident and learned new techniques.
After two and half years in India, my husband got an opportunity to travel to US with the same company. I quit my job and accompanied him. I packed ALL my kitchen utensils to US. I remember my friends saying that they packed all their dress when they came to US. But I packed all my utensils more than my dresses. I was lucky enough that I got a few friends travelling with my husband to US and they also took a luggage on behalf of us.
I reached US on H4 visa and hence was not allowed to work. We were busy in getting settled, getting a car, exploring places etc. Once that got settled I started feeling jobless. While I was back in India, I had a busy life. Here I didn't have any friends yet. Even if I bake I didn't have people to share with. Slowly I found new friends. There was a good Indian community at the apartment. We got introduced through one of my husband's friends. I was happy that I got some opportunities to bake and share. Everyone enjoyed and appreciated me, and gave opportunities to bake for their kid's birthdays. My husband also started sharing with his friends. Through them also I got a lot of encouragement and accolades.
Gradually I started baking more frequently. My recipe book was getting bigger and bigger. Since it was difficult for me to turn and find the recipes, one day I started indexing the recipe book. These are tested and best among the tested recipes. At the end of indexing I was surprised to know that I had 192 recipes in that book. I told my husband, who was buried in his computer, as always ;-), "JK, I have 192 recipes in this book". That's when he told. Wow!! You should start a blog!. And here it is - my blog - "My 192 Recipes". Hope you guys will try the recipes at home and enjoy them as much as I did.
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After few months of coming to US I was feeling very bored and lonely. My friends suggested me to do my masters as I can change my visa and eventually start working. But I wasn’t sure about spending so much money for something that am not interested in. Then it struck me that I can study more about baking/pastry. I started my search for schools to improve my skills and found Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Boston. They had courses ranging from 6 months to 1 year, but it was really expensive. As it’s not a professional course I won’t get a visa change or loan for studying in my name. It was too much money for us to spend during that time. As always my husband always said don’t worry about the money just go for it. But considering the fact that I won’t be able to work even if I do the course made me concerned about doing it. One year passed by and in between I started my blog and tried to stay busy. But I kept browsing Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA) website on daily basis. We went for one open house at the school and saw the school and facilities. I was really thrilled to see the kitchen, instructors there, big pantry etc. But I was not ready to take a big decision.
2017 october after one and half years after coming to US, we went to India for a month vacation and was back on november. After that trip as life doesn’t go like we think, I decided not to plan too much and just go with the moment. Hence decided to just do the course and not think about money or whether I will get to work soon enough or not.
As I was having all the time in the world and all the support I needed. I just had to make up my mind and I did. We went for another open house on Dec 2017 to clear all the question I had and Jan 2018 in the cold weather I started my new journey with CSCA.
I don’t know what people think about culinary art, whatever that is, I have to say it was not easy. I used to start my day 5:30 am every monday and tuesday, take train @ 6:30 am, class from 8:30 am to 4:30 on monday and class from 8:30 am to 9 pm on tuesdays.
Initial few weeks was tough, it made me realize that it’s not an easy job. But it was a wonderful 5 month journey, I was lucky enough to learn from an expert chef like chef Delphin Gomes. He was one the reason that I wanted to do the course. As I was not able to go to France, might as well learn from a French chef in Boston. (I wanted to do culinary course from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris)
After 5 months of class, seminar, Serve Safe certification, I got my certificate on pastry. I wanted to do internship just to keep improving my skills. My school helped me get an internship opportunity in a cake shop in Brookline. Got experience to work in a real place. I improved on my icing and decoration skills.
The main benefit of having a photographer husband is that, all of a sudden he decided to take a video one of the recipe that I was going to post in my blog. I asked him to help me take pictures for my blog but he ended up making a video. Hence started my 192recipes first Youtube video. Here is my Youtube Channel. You may subscribe by clicking this link.
As crazy as it sounds, both my blog and vlog started by accident. I couldn’t have done anything without my husbands support and hard work. As My husband got tired of me asking what will I make next and due to my obsession towards The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) tv show, he came up with a new challenge for me. He suggested that I try all the technical challenges of GBBO from first season to end. That’s like year worth of work.
Since am not really comfortable coming in front of camera we decided to make quick “tasty style” videos, which I personally prefer watching myself.
So much happened after started my blog that my husband asked me to update my “About Me” section in my blog. So here I am updating my about me section on March 24 2019 at 10 pm, so that he will stop annoying me again and again. My Mr Perfect (my husband jk) will review my writing and hopefully post it soon.
That’s all for now, will be back soon with new updates if there is any. Bye byeeeeeee.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
I started baking because I wanted to do something different than what my mother used to do. My mother was an excellent cook, she was an expert in authentic Kerala recipes. To get fame in the house, I started baking. The only way to impress everyone at home was baking.
My mother bought a Bajaj OTG oven when I was 8 years old. Initially she used to bake and I used to enjoy helping her. Over time we stopped using it. My sister was a foodie. She used to cut recipes from magazines and we used to try it at home. She would say, we will make it together. Initially she was the head chef and I was the sous chef, later I took over. My sister would find more recipes and inspire me to bake more.
As people outside my home started appreciating what I baked, I started getting more and more inspired. There were many flops also during those times. I had even made bread that felt like a rock. Such a flop!. It was not just baking, I also used to make pasta and other non-traditional dishes - anything that my mother doesn't make. A show off ;-) haha!
Over time my focus shifted into the studies, tuition, dance etc, My sister started going to college and we did get very little time together. And then I started my +2 and then college. Totally not thinking about cooking.
I lost my mother while I was in college, and me and my sister had to take over the kitchen. That was the worst stage of my life. That's when we started our real cooking. In our home, my father always made it a point that we help our mother in the kitchen. After my mother's demise, I was somehow trying to match my mother's cooking since my father is so used to the tasty food she used to make.
Just after finishing engineering, within 2 months I got married to my lovely husband. It is after my marriage, I started baking again. My husband got a gift voucher from his office for his 5 year completion with the company. With that voucher we bought a LG convection oven. Then begins the second chapter of my baking.
I started my internship in the office with my husband. My husband is very supportive and encouraging about baking. Baking was new for him as well. He is interested in trying new things as well. He would support me in buying all the equipment, ingredients, and gives all the encouragement I needed. He knows that baking is something I love to do. No matter the traffic, parking situation, he never says NO.
I started to bake cakes for all the family functions, share with office friends, relatives and neighbors. I had lots of people to share what I used to make. Their encouraging words inspired me to bake more. At the office, whenever I get free time I used to search for new recipes that I can try. My friends used to tease me because I keep searching for new recipes that I can try. There will always be at least a couple of recipes open in my Chrome browser. Many a times it was difficult to bake due to many commitments that comes along with marriage and work. I still used to bake because I like doing it, taking slices time away from the busy life.
One of those days I found a Facebook post about a 2 week baking/icing class. I was really excited and a bit confused seeing the rate. But I just had to tell my husband, and all my confusion was gone. He used to drop me every morning to the class. I became more confident and learned new techniques.
After two and half years in India, my husband got an opportunity to travel to US with the same company. I quit my job and accompanied him. I packed ALL my kitchen utensils to US. I remember my friends saying that they packed all their dress when they came to US. But I packed all my utensils more than my dresses. I was lucky enough that I got a few friends travelling with my husband to US and they also took a luggage on behalf of us.
I reached US on H4 visa and hence was not allowed to work. We were busy in getting settled, getting a car, exploring places etc. Once that got settled I started feeling jobless. While I was back in India, I had a busy life. Here I didn't have any friends yet. Even if I bake I didn't have people to share with. Slowly I found new friends. There was a good Indian community at the apartment. We got introduced through one of my husband's friends. I was happy that I got some opportunities to bake and share. Everyone enjoyed and appreciated me, and gave opportunities to bake for their kid's birthdays. My husband also started sharing with his friends. Through them also I got a lot of encouragement and accolades.
Gradually I started baking more frequently. My recipe book was getting bigger and bigger. Since it was difficult for me to turn and find the recipes, one day I started indexing the recipe book. These are tested and best among the tested recipes. At the end of indexing I was surprised to know that I had 192 recipes in that book. I told my husband, who was buried in his computer, as always ;-), "JK, I have 192 recipes in this book". That's when he told. Wow!! You should start a blog!. And here it is - my blog - "My 192 Recipes". Hope you guys will try the recipes at home and enjoy them as much as I did.
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
After few months of coming to US I was feeling very bored and lonely. My friends suggested me to do my masters as I can change my visa and eventually start working. But I wasn’t sure about spending so much money for something that am not interested in. Then it struck me that I can study more about baking/pastry. I started my search for schools to improve my skills and found Cambridge School of Culinary Arts in Boston. They had courses ranging from 6 months to 1 year, but it was really expensive. As it’s not a professional course I won’t get a visa change or loan for studying in my name. It was too much money for us to spend during that time. As always my husband always said don’t worry about the money just go for it. But considering the fact that I won’t be able to work even if I do the course made me concerned about doing it. One year passed by and in between I started my blog and tried to stay busy. But I kept browsing Cambridge School of Culinary Arts (CSCA) website on daily basis. We went for one open house at the school and saw the school and facilities. I was really thrilled to see the kitchen, instructors there, big pantry etc. But I was not ready to take a big decision.
2017 october after one and half years after coming to US, we went to India for a month vacation and was back on november. After that trip as life doesn’t go like we think, I decided not to plan too much and just go with the moment. Hence decided to just do the course and not think about money or whether I will get to work soon enough or not.
As I was having all the time in the world and all the support I needed. I just had to make up my mind and I did. We went for another open house on Dec 2017 to clear all the question I had and Jan 2018 in the cold weather I started my new journey with CSCA.
I don’t know what people think about culinary art, whatever that is, I have to say it was not easy. I used to start my day 5:30 am every monday and tuesday, take train @ 6:30 am, class from 8:30 am to 4:30 on monday and class from 8:30 am to 9 pm on tuesdays.
Initial few weeks was tough, it made me realize that it’s not an easy job. But it was a wonderful 5 month journey, I was lucky enough to learn from an expert chef like chef Delphin Gomes. He was one the reason that I wanted to do the course. As I was not able to go to France, might as well learn from a French chef in Boston. (I wanted to do culinary course from Le Cordon Bleu, Paris)
After 5 months of class, seminar, Serve Safe certification, I got my certificate on pastry. I wanted to do internship just to keep improving my skills. My school helped me get an internship opportunity in a cake shop in Brookline. Got experience to work in a real place. I improved on my icing and decoration skills.
The main benefit of having a photographer husband is that, all of a sudden he decided to take a video one of the recipe that I was going to post in my blog. I asked him to help me take pictures for my blog but he ended up making a video. Hence started my 192recipes first Youtube video. Here is my Youtube Channel. You may subscribe by clicking this link.
As crazy as it sounds, both my blog and vlog started by accident. I couldn’t have done anything without my husbands support and hard work. As My husband got tired of me asking what will I make next and due to my obsession towards The Great British Bake Off (GBBO) tv show, he came up with a new challenge for me. He suggested that I try all the technical challenges of GBBO from first season to end. That’s like year worth of work.
Since am not really comfortable coming in front of camera we decided to make quick “tasty style” videos, which I personally prefer watching myself.
So much happened after started my blog that my husband asked me to update my “About Me” section in my blog. So here I am updating my about me section on March 24 2019 at 10 pm, so that he will stop annoying me again and again. My Mr Perfect (my husband jk) will review my writing and hopefully post it soon.
That’s all for now, will be back soon with new updates if there is any. Bye byeeeeeee.
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