A warm welcome to this little peice of mine on the WWW… A little about myself – My name is Rafeeda, a full-time working mom with two adorable yet naughty daughters, trying to balance work and life!!! 🙂 I am basically an Indian, a Keralite to be specific (or Malabari as we are called here!!!), having literally lived my complete life apart from the first four months of survival in a country called UAE, to be specific, in Sharjah and Dubai. It is home to me. Just like the blog name suggests, I have an awful sweet tooth, that I battle day in and day out to control the bulge! Couple it up with uncooperative metabolism and I have quite a lot to fight.
I would like to dedicate this page first and foremost to my HD – whose lack of interest in food has driven me to try and cook what he may like! My children are small for the time being, but definitely I would not like them to point fingers at me when they grow up big enough to question how good a cook their mother is!!! Updating this in 2019 – They are growing up fast and definitely giving me heart attacks, by being very picky with their food. 🙁 I am an average cook, but I know that when I put my heart out into what I concoct in the kitchen, it turns out delicious – Alhamdulillah! I forget the ‘magical touches’ that I have put into any recipe and that’s when this chronological practice started in January 2013….
What can you expect here? Anything Halal – I am not very keen on only doing Malabar cuisine, I am more keen on preparing good meals that my family and I will eat, which will in turn reflect in all the recipes posted on this blog. I try to learn from whichever sources I can, including the web, my heaps of cookbooks and cutouts, and try my utmost to give due credit wherever it is to be done. One thing I can guarantee you is that the 1700+ recipes on the blog will be perfect fodder to nurture the cook in you since they are quite simple, comes together in less time and will leave you wanting for more… I am a lazy cook, so I am making sure that I add a touch of laziness in whatever I cook! 😉
You will keep seeing me mention the three men in my life – HD (Hubby Darling!!! Hehe…), D (Daddy) and B (Bro). My cooking is centralized on the opinion of these three, and occasionally, my lovely colleagues as well (no more as from January 2021…) 🙂 I have been working a lot on my photographs, though at times I tend to give up! I use a Nikon D3100 – was my gift to HD, but it ended up being with me! 😉 – with its base lens, now shooting more with a 50 mm lens and still learning to fidget with this toy though it has been with me since the start of the blogging journey!
Cooking doesn’t take up all my free time. What do I do otherwise?
- I love to read. I used to be a voracious reader, but now I am trying to just read whenever I can.
- Though not fond of driving, I love long drives.
- I am a sucker for dramatic skies and nature. I can keep looking and staring as much as I can.
- I love setting up my home. I am constantly in battle with HD to add and delete things at home. Hehe…
- Recently I discovered my interest in plants. No, not vegetables, but just to have a small green patch of easily maintenanble plants… hehe… So you can say I am a new plant mamma…
- I have a love-hate relationship with working out, though I enjoy strength training and absolutely love walking.
- Give me a chance, I can be a total couch potato too… *covering my monkey face*
Updated in January 2021 – If you are wondering why there is a cross across “the full time working” reference in the starting of my introduction, then it is because I have decided to take a sabbatical from work life. I have been working without a break, Alhamdulillah, for the past 19 years and I thought that the whole exercise of trying to balance life was tiring me off that I decided to call it quits. Yes, eight years of my blogging happened while I was working, which is a formidable chunk of this blog’s journey and hence I keep it in the introduction. 🙂
Welcome to all of you, for being a part of my little journey…
Please feel free to post comments, good or bad, about the recipes I post. I would love to get constructive feedback. But no spamming or rude remarks, please! It is always better to be good to each other all the time! I would be more than happy to hear and communicate with people who have the love for food. Wondering where to reach me?
Email – [email protected]
On Facebook @thebigsweettooth
On Instagram @thebigsweettooth
On Pinterest @sweettoothraf
Hi.. Was browsing through you recipes today and I feel that we are both on the same track, cooking is not limited to a particular cusine but to what our family wants to eat. Glad to follow you..
thanks a lot dear for your kind words… i really wish i could change the trend of having only rice and curry for lunch and eat whatever you want!!! 🙂 thank u so much for following…
Hi Rafeeda
Nice to read about you and to know we are neighbors…yes, I'm from Mahe! Will be following your blog for more now 🙂
Mahe… the land of good food… 🙂
hi rafeeda…..nice to read this page ..am fm kannur …….love the malabar cuisine…….though i grew up outside kerala.
thank u dear for coming by… just like me, grew outside kerala… 🙂
Rafeeda, I am so impressed by your blog and your attempts to cook for the family and share it with others. I am now following you:)
Thank u so much 4 coming around…really appreciate!!! 🙂
Rafeeda, Thank you for visiting my blog and leaving your comment…
You have a great blog with interesting recipes. Will keep in touch with you…
Regards
Anjali Abhilash
http://www.anjusrecipebook.blogspot.in
thank u anjali for coming by… 🙂 hope to be in touch…
You have a great space dear.. Loved your site.
thank u for your lovely comments nitha… 🙂
I really like your Blog. Keep up the good work and keep cooking such delicious meals :)- Dia
thank u so much for your lovely comments dia… 🙂
Hi Rafeeda! Had to hop in after reading the name of your blog – the big sweet tooth. I am a Bong with a bigger sweet tooth, I guess! Welcome to FIA:)
haha ishita… thank u so much for coming by… i'm at present grounded due to my mom, but i know once she's gone, i'm going to all up around… 😉
Hi Rafee, Am nominating you here to participate this event…
http://myyatradiary.blogspot.in/2013/04/one-picture-from-my-photo-album-contest.html
Hi Rafeeda,
thanks for stopping by…not sure if I am following you already…but i did not. 🙂
Hope to see u at my space as well.
Luv your space…nice and yummy recipes….
Cheers
Anu
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thank u so much anu for coming by and following… glad to have u around…
following your lovely space …:)
I am drawn by your sincere, honest approach to life which is visible through these words. I intend visiting quite often to check out all the vegetarian delicacies that you have to share! Do continue blogging and sharing!
Thank you so much for coming by Rajani…
I like your introduction Rafeeda. It's both a struggle and also a joy to feed those who are dependent on our cooking. It's also amazing how you describe your region from India and how the cooking is different from one region to the other. In my mind – and I think in the mind's of other non-Indians- Indian food is indian food. We don't distinguish from one region to the other and it's currently our ignorance. I would love to be more educated about India, it's different regions and certainly all the delicious food that each has.
You're doing a very good job with your blog. Keep it going.
Thank you so much Fatemah for coming by… I guess it's not just you, it's with many of us… Arab food we feel is the same everywhere but then when we really look around, there is so much variation! It's the same for Indian food as well… 🙂
Hi Raf, I see myself checking your blog every single day but havent try making any of your recipes after the coffeetea mix (which btw is what me and hubby hooked on forever i guess). Today it dawned on me… I am here to read what you call "blabber", I am here to read your daily thought for the day kinda message. Thank you so much for taking time to actually put thoughts before making food. Love your simplicity and humble nature.
All the best and you are in a marathon blogging phase… take a break! 😛
Can I tell you that you made me smile? 🙂 Yes maybe I am on a marathon blogging phase but I guess when the time comes, I will slow down InShaAllah… till then let me enjoy this phase! 😉 Thank you so much for coming by everyday and reading my thoughts, good to know that all of you DO love to read them! 🙂
Hi, I am a new visitor here, which really made me to pen a few words.. Love your site as a whole and spent much time here as its so interesting.. Loved your menu and was checking each and every button..Keep going.. I am new in this big world of blogging.. My space is http://www.seenasfoodbasket.com . Please have a visit and drop your valuable comments which really motivate me.. Pls. be in touch Rafeeda..
Thank you so much Seena for coming by… and appreciate your kind words! InShaAllah would come down and check out your page as well…