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Meera Klein

Meera Ekkanath Klein has combined her love of cooking and story-telling in her latest book Seeing Ceremony, a sequel to the award-winning My Mother’s Kitchen: A Novel with Recipes (Homebound 2014). When she is not writing or cooking, she can be found picking out the freshest produce and ripest fruit at the local Farmers’ Market. She lives in northern California.

Ammalu and the Jackfruit

Over time a family story can become a folktale of epic proportion, a true inspiration to all who hear it. This one is about my great-aunt Ammalu. The story begins in a sleepy little village deep in south India. Ammalu and
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Indian Fusion

We married nearly 36 years ago, and at the time, we had no idea we were trendsetters of a sort. Our house has been a multi-cultural, blended home for decades. Our sons are beige-brown with Indian names. We celebrate Christmas along
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Time to Say Good-bye to 2021

The year was 1978: My father’s funeral took place on the outskirts of a mango orchard belonging to our uncle Ramachandran. Once the last of the smoke from the funeral pyre faded into the tropical evening, it was time for the ritual
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Birthday Pudding

Birthday cakes were not part of my childhood celebrations. But don’t feel too sorry for me. For birthdays and on other special occasions, my mother prepared a creamy cardamom-spiked pudding. This addictive dessert was the perfect ending to a spicy meal. There
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Melting Pot

Somewhere over the blue Pacific, I lost my Indian accent it tumbled out of me into the crashing surf I was born again as a true American, a California girl. Grey coastal fog, fields of strawberries and freeway traffic
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Cardamom Tea

  “We ought to take outdoor walks, to refresh and raise our spirits by deep breathing in the open air.” — Seneca. This pandemic has given us a perfect reason to change some of our old, perhaps unhealthy habits. Here’s
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Garden Meditation

“Everything that slows us down and forces patience; everything that sets us back into the slow circles of nature is a help. Gardening is an instrument of grace.” ~May Sarton. Our tiny backyard garden is a year-round source of peace and produce.Gardening
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