Cacao nibs, mixed dried fruit, candied ginger, dried rose petals.
How much do I love those little Drink Me tags? SO MUCH.
The Sleepy Dormouse’s Garden Party Tisane
Leaf, Hedgehog, and Acorn Molds
Little molded milk chocolates for the top two tiers of the Autumn Wonderland treat boxes. Time-consuming to make, but I like the results on the leaf, hedgehog, and acorn molds. The hedgehog and acorn would make adorable cupcake toppers too, I think.
The twig broke every single time I tried to get chocolate out, bah, and the tiny bunnies were just too tiny for me. If anyone local would like those two molds, please let me know; maybe you’ll have better luck than I did!
Milk Toffee Candy-Making
Milk toffee for the flash sale. Yumyum. I’ve finally figured out how to make it come out right with a different pot (because my old one died).
Candy-making = fussy!
A Set of Three
One of the Kickstarter reward tiers involved a set of 3 chutneys, sambols, pickles, that kind of thing. Clearly seeni (sweet onion) sambol had to be one of them, and green tomato chutney was a lovely way to use up the last of the summer’s tomatoes. But what to do for the third choice? So many options!
I went with a pineapple achar (pickle), one of the new recipes (I think) in Vegan Serendib. There’s a little bit left in my fridge for me, so I’m planning on having that with fish curry and uppuma later today. Mmm…. We also have some roast chicken, and I think pineapple achar would make a great sandwich component with that.
Vegan Serendib in Food Network’s Top Ten Vegan Cookbooks of 2022
This is exciting! Food Network included my cookbook, Vegan Serendib, on a list of Top Ten Vegan Cookbooks of 2022!
“Author, novelist and post-colonial academic Mary Anne Mohanraj’s latest cookbook reads like a vegan love letter to her native Sri Lanka and its diaspora. She distills thousands of years of vegetarian and vegan culinary traditions into a vibrant tome of more than 108 recipes. The dishes are geared toward exploring the vast riches of Sri Lankan vegan cuisine through both her mother’s cooking and her own American adaptations. Start with the master recipe for Sri Lankan curry powder, which underscores one of the signatures of Sri Lankan cooking — dark roasted spices — and your curry dishes will be all the better for it. We’re particularly excited to try Kaliya Kari, an eggplant, plantain and potato curry, as well as Palakkai Kari, a green jackfruit curry that Mohanraj suggests pairing with kale sambol, pickled beet salad, and rice for a nourishing weeknight supper.”
Link in comments!
A LOT of Curry Powder
Poor Stephanie is trying to get out my cookbook orders on a dining table that’s just covered in ornaments. Oops. We’ll get a tree today or tomorrow, and then decorate over the weekend, so by Monday, the table should be clear again. She seems to think she can manage.
Pictured here, a LOT of curry powder. She came in, looked at what I’d packaged up, shook her head dubiously, and said she thought we’d need more. Roger, wilco — guess I know what else I’m doing over the weekend. 
My Favorite Condiment in the World
Making the seeni sambol (my favorite condiment in the world).
One of the Kickstarter tiers included three chutneys / sambols, so I’m making those now. I made a green tomato chutney already, and today is seeni sambol (so many onions!), and I’m not sure what I’ll do for the third. Must ponder.
(It’s too late to get in on this action, but of course, if you have one of the cookbooks, you can make your own…)
Toasting Seeds for Curry Powder
Toasting seeds for curry powder — before & after. We’re hoping to get the rest of the Kickstarter cookbooks out by Wednesday, fingers crossed, and I needed to make more curry powder…
Stephanie is coming by shortly; our main goal for this morning is to get the rest of the international orders out the door, so they arrive in time for the holidays.
Still Holding #1
Well, that’s nice to see — Vegan Serendib, still holding IngramSpark’s #1 and #2 positions in Indian and South Asian Cooking.
I mean, it’s not kazillion units, as you can see, but it’s not nothing. And I’m hoping we’ll sell quite a few more as we approach the holidays and Christmas shopping kicks into full gear.
(IngramSpark is the big printer / distributor we use.)
A Second Lovely Review for Vegan Serendib
A second lovely 5-star review of Vegan Serendib on Amazon — keep the reviews coming, folks! They make a huge difference to visibility / discoverability! (And they don’t have to be 5-stars, really. )
“Mary Anne is an artist in the kitchen (I’ve had the privilege of sampling many of these dishes prepared by her hands), and this book is a gift to the world for vegans like myself! Also makes a great holiday gift (and a delightful incentivizing nudge for on-the-fence omnivores).”