Meet the Neighbors!
Welcome to a brand new feature called “Meet the Neighbors.” There are so many awesome food bloggers out there, that I thought it might be fun to feature a few of these food bloggers and let you “meet” them! These food bloggers come from every walk of life, and they have so many interesting and different recipes, that it’s sure to be a treat! So grab a cup of coffee and pull up a chair. Let’s visit!
Today’s “neighbor” is Pooja Nadkarni, who blogs over at Poojas Cookery. You can also find her on Facebook, Pinterest, Instagram, and Twitter.
What is your name, and where are you located? (Hint: if you live in Hawaii, I am packing my bags as we speak 😉
Hi! I am Pooja, born and brought up in India, and right now living in Texas, United States.
Tell us a little bit about yourself– what is the name of your blog, and how did you get started?
I am a kind of an introverted type of a person, and I have a limited friend circle. But I am very active when it comes to some creative ideas, especially in the kitchen or arts (even in my son’s school projects 😉 Prior to starting with my blog, poojascookery.com, I had no intentions of starting a food blog. Since my childhood, I loved to cook . My grandpa gave me my first cooking lessons– things like how to make tea, coffee, rice, how to clean fish, etc., and from there my cooking journey started. As I grew up, I started learning different cooking styles. I used to work full time in India, so I had much less time for experimenting in the kitchen. But after we moved to the United States, I was so excited, because I was free all the time after my morning chores. It just so happened that one day, while I was watching TV, I got an idea. I thought, why not start with a small free recipe blog and share my recipes with friends? So I quickly added few recipes and started with a free blog. I had no idea that my husband would be so impressed with it. He immediately bought a custom domain for me and started motivating me to use it and expand it. Believe it or not, I got so addicted to adding my recipes and styling my blog that now I am a full time food blogger. I am busy the whole day– either in my kitchen busy preparing recipes, or on my blog compiling them.
What is your favorite food? And what is your least favorite food?
I don’t have a favorite food as such, but I love Indian food the most. My least favorite is anything too sweet.
What advice would you give someone who is just starting to cook?
Try and try until you succeed. I failed many times in my early years when I first started cooking. Sometimes I forgot to put salt in a recipe, or I made it too salty or too spicy . I got discouraged many times, but I never lost hope. I still fail many times, even as a more experienced cook, but I take advice from experts (my mother and mother in law) and recreate the recipes until they are perfect.
What keeps you going, every day? Who are your greatest cheerleaders/supporters?
My greatest cheerleaders are my husband and son. Whenever I prepare something, I always ask for their approval . My son immediately tells me, “Mom you should put this on your blog” if he likes something. That just makes my day. Without my family’s appreciation and motivation, I wouldn’t be able to do this.
Where can readers find out more about your delicious recipes and social media accounts (facebook, pinterest, etc.)?
I have all my recipes well complied and noted down on my website, www.poojascookery.com. Also, you can find them on my social media accounts listed at the beginning of the interview, above.
Pooja was kind enough to share one of her favorite recipes with us: Tallyanche Suke, which is a preparation of dry sardines with a traditional Indian seasoning. You can find that awesome recipe here.
Pooja tells us, “This is one of my favorites Indian cuisine recipes. I learned about this recipe from my grandfather when I was about 14 or 15. Grandpa was a doctor, and he told me the advantages of eating sardines. This dish goes very well with rice and fish curry. It is a little hot and sour to the taste. It is very popular in the coastal regions of India.”
Thank you so much to Pooja and her family for being with us here, today! We look forward to seeing more great recipes from you! 🙂
Check back next Monday for our next “Meet the Neighbors” feature! 🙂
Disclosure: This post may contain affiliate links, which just means that we get a few pennies if you purchase through our link. I never recommend products that I don't personally use and love. Thanks!
