About Me

 

I guess, I was born on a “no moon day”,  so my mom thought, I was the moon of the day and decided to name me Indumathi (Full Moon) in Sanskrit. But I’d like to be addressed as Indu. I was born in Chennai , brought up in Mettur Dam in Salem District, Tamil Nadu. I had my schooling at Mettur(Malco Vidyalaya) and came to Chennai for my college education. Finished my undergrad, followed by post graduation in Biochemistry and did an M.Phil in Biochemistry at P.S.G college ,Coimbatore.

I got married and moved to the US (Boston-Massachusetts),with my husband Sathya Balasubramanian. While I was flying Lufthansa, I was just thinking about one thing. “Can you believe you have to cook your own meal from tomorrow“. My mom would never leave me in the kitchen that I had no clue how to keep even a “Rasam”-which is supposedly the most simple dish. The entire journey, I was worrying about this and I realized, I had reached Boston and my husband was waiting to receive me. I admired the fresh snow that had fallen all my way home.

 Stepped into a beautiful apartment.Onion Sambhar, potato kari and steaming hot rice was waiting for me. My husband had cooked that for me. It was good food. That’s the last day he ever cooked a complete meal for me. It was January and was freezing cold. Everything was new for me. The climate, cooking and where things are stored. The next morning, quickly opened the baggage that had my “Cookbook”.

Although I did not learn how to cook while in India, One good thing I did was I hand wrote down all the important South Indian recipes from my mom and grandmother, my father’s mom(Selathamma). I started cooking from the next day. In a couple of weeks, I had started cooking pretty well….I guess I must have inherited them from my Mom and grandmom.

Was a happy homemaker for 5 years because I was in a dependent Visa. Enjoyed decorating my home. I those 5 years I learnt different types of regional cooking (Gujarati, Andhra,Punjabi, Italian)from my friends. Did Biotech courses at Tufts. Was singing in the name Indu Sathish in a music troupe Sapthaswar, a non profit organization that raises fund for poor kids and orphans.Volunteered in South shore hospital. Had a beautiful baby girl. Started working in 2006 at Boston University School of Medicine, as a researcher doing Cancer  research. Just finished a 6 months project at Novartis, Cambridge. The past 3 years has been such a “Roller coaster ride”, trying to manage the household duties, yard, a full time career,husband and an active lil toddler.

Not that I have a  short break from my career, Just thought why not spend the time connecting with the world, networking and sharing my passion for food with all of you. With my husband’s encouragement and inspiration from a cousin’s wife, I started this blog.

Most of my recipes are passed on to me by my mom and kerala cooking by my grandmother. I would like to share with everybody  some recipes that I cook at home on an everyday basis and some fancy things that i have learnt in the US. The word “Kaipakkuvam“  in Tamil,simply means “Good Hands” or magical hands that can cook just perfect!  Gotta give that name for my blog,  inspired by my mom’s exceptional cooking skills (Kaipakkuvam).

This is just the beginning…… There is more to come……. Kindly leave a comment, if you have any recipe requests, questions about my posts, concerns, ideas and your opinion about my blog! I will be more than happy to take your inputs.