For the love of cricket and legume

As I write this post, sitting in my usual place on the couch, directly in front of the TV, within easy reach of the remote and the side table, the India-Sri Lanka World Cup finals is on. Sri Lanka is batting at 199-5 with 7 overs to go. I have cut my Saturday morning class, not because I am a cricket fanatic but because it seems the right thing to do.

It also seems fit then to write this post after another long hiatus. Back in the days, when I was blogging regularly, there was nothing I wanted to do more than host Susan’s My Legume Love Affair. A year and some months ago when I emailed her with my request, she told me the only spot she had was for April of 2011. It seemed a long way off back then. Susan assured me of time’s flying abilities and she was right. 

The last six months or so have been busier for me with a growing kid who has a busier social life than us and my own busy schedule. I do miss blogging, especially when I see a post or a recipe I have been wanting to blog about. Or when I cook something different from the usual fare and the family likes it, like Siri’s  brown rice bisibelebath. When I received Susan’s email, asking me if I still wanted to host MLAA, I couldn’t let it pass.


As if that wasn't motivation enough, Aqua @servedwithlove tweeted to @WSeasonedCook: "Oh good, at least hosting MLLA got her to post something on her blog after ages @Desisoccermom."  It is hard to let down a blogger buddy’s sweat sarcasm support. So here I am, announcing the ever popular MLAA - 34, which is the brilliant creation of Susan of The Well Seasoned Cook.

If you are not familiar with the event or new to the blogging world, MLAA is all about entrees where the star ingredient is a legume, bean, pea or pod, basically anything that constitutes as a legume. Before I bullet the official rules, please read what constitutes a legume for your recipe to qualify and refer to it before you decide to dash off an entry. Other than that, a little bit of imagination, a cup or half of legumes, a few spices and a pressure cooker is all you need to enter for the prizes listed down under.

Legume: For the purpose of this event, legumes include fresh or dried beans, lentils, pulses, and/or the sometimes edible pods that contain these seeds, and derivative products like tofu or besan (chickpea flour). According to Susan you can include recipes that use tamarind, fenugreek, carob, peanuts, etc. since they are among some of the other edible plants in the legume family and thus ARE included in the event.


Please note and this is important, a spoonful of legume in a recipe is not quite enough to qualify. If you send in a recipe that does not actually feature legumes, but reference them as an auxiliary ingredient, I will be forced to reject the entry. Remember, MLLA is all about the affair with the legume. It is only fair to your fellow participants that you respect the rules as well. So make sure your recipe includes a fair to liberal amount of legumes in it.


The rules are as follows:


1. All courses and cultures are welcome as well as non-vegetarian entries as long as they have a substantial amount of legumes.


2. Multiple recipes are permitted although only one submission will be counted towards the random drawings. Important note: Multiple recipes are limited to no more than 10. So, please do not send me all the collective legume recipes from your blog. I repeat, limit them to ten.


3. Recipes submitted to other events are also permitted.


4. Recipes from archives will be accepted ONLY if updated and reposted as current.


5. Don’t have a blog, no worries. You are still eligible to win a prize if you send an entry.


6. I do need to know the location of participants so I will know who qualifies to win both or one of the prizes. If you don’t want your location published, that’s ok. Just send it to me in an email so I can make sure you are eligible for the draw.


7. Use of the above logo is optional but Susan’s MLLA logos are so beautiful I cannot imagine why one wouldn’t want to add it to their post.


8. A photo with the entry is preferred, but not essential. Please do try to resize your photos to 200 by 300.


9. Make sure to link your post to this announcement as well as to this link to Susan’s host line-up.


10. The last date for sending your entry/ees is May 3. I will try to post the round-up by end of first week of May. Send your entree here or jayawagle@gmail.com.


For following all of the above rules, to the best of your abilities, here’s what you can win when selected by the random draw:

1) Winner chooses any cookbook or food-related book from Amazon U.S. valued at not more than 15USD for the book itself. This prize is offered by Susan at her expense and she will also absorb worldwide shipping charges. F.T.C. Notice: Susan does not receive any compensation from Amazon.


2) Hurst Bean Box - A case of six bags of the winner's choice of Hurst Bean products, suitable for every diet, sponsored by Hurst Bean. (Due to shipping restrictions, this prize can only be awarded if the winner is a U.S. resident.) F.T.C. Notice: In May 2010, Susan, at her request, received two Hurst Bean complimentary products which are not available for purchase in her local markets. Susan does not generally accept free products from Hurst Bean nor is she financially compensated by them.


3) Drawing Structure - If the winner is a U.S. resident, she/he will be the recipient of both Prizes 1 and 2 above. In the event that an international winner is drawn, a second drawing will be conducted from the U.S. pool of entrants to ensure that the Hurst Prize is awarded every month. In these instances, the international winner will receive the book, and the U.S. winner will receive the Hurst Prize.


As I finish this post and prepare to upload it, India has won the World Cup and I am exhausted from celebrating with friends all day long. We reached home dog tired a little before midnight and I decided to upload the post before hitting the bed. So I hope you will understand if there are any grammatical errors or typos.


Now, go ahead and start posting those entrees.