About This Book Food memories are among the best. Remember the taste of your seventh birthday cake? Or the first time you ate pizza? The comforting feel of the sambar and rice your mother mixed and fed you? I began this book in an attempt to put down and cherish my fondest memories of food. It has also become a tribute to everyone who created a great food moment for me ? starting from my mother, who encouraged me to bake my first cake, to my friends both here and abroad who?ve introduced me to new cuisines, and the talented chefs who gave me gourmet experiences. This is not only a thank you note, as it were, to all those who?ve accepted my meal invitations and enjoyed my food, it's also a collection of recipes of the food from the places I?ve been. Because I grew up in Sri Lanka, there are several stories about the food from the beautiful island. There are dishes from my family home in Madurai; from my trips to Kolkata and from further away, such as the lovely champagne region in France, Australia and Morocco. All the recipes in this book are dishes which I make frequently for my family and friends. I hope you will enjoy cooking with this book as much as I did writing it.