life & food

Italy- Summer 2011- Post 1

2011-08-01T03:03:00.000-07:00

All'Osteria Bottega on Via Santa Caterina, Bologna

We have a strange affinity to Italy and as a family, have fallen irrevocably in love with this beautiful country and its gorgeous food culture. This year when it was time to plan our vacation, Italy was, yet again, an obvious choice. It was our third trip and I will always remember it as one of my best and worst. The worst part will stay unmentioned as I am still trying to exorcise it out of my system and I really don't want to use this blog as one of my channels of exorcism. In any case, when you are in Italy, the good ALWAYS outweighs the bad :)

The high point of this trip was a meal at All'Osteria Bottega in Bologna. We read about this cozy little place in a New York Times' travel piece on Bologna and were determined eat there. We set out to find the place on our very first day in Bologna, we found it but it was closed, we were too early for dinner. Yes, it is one of those places that embraces the slow food movement fiercely and is categorical about quality over quantity. It opens from 12:30pm-3pm for lunch and 7:30-10pm for dinner and closed on weekends and Monday.

We finally made it for lunch and it was one of the best experiences of my life! The extremely chatty and nice owner, Daniele Minarelli took our order- plates of mortadella, prosciutto and cheese followed by a classic Bologna dish, tortellini in brodo - delicate parcels of pasta filled with a pinch of mince pork in a flavourful broth. For the main course, B had roasted rabbit, I ate some exquisitely flavoured cold sliced beef roast with rocket and parmesan salad and G ate Tagliatelle in ragu. G had stuffed herself with the cold cuts and could not finish her pasta, so I took over. I had difficulty moving after tucking into so much food but the walk back helped!

If you are ever in Bologna this is one place you must not miss!!

Tax Soda, Subsidize Vegetables - NYTimes.com

2011-07-24T22:38:00.000-07:00

Tax Soda, Subsidize Vegetables - NYTimes.com

We do this with cigs and alcohol, why not junk food?

Meat sauce inspired by Bologna

2011-07-13T03:58:00.000-07:00

Yes, I am back, well almost. A rather substantial part of me is still in Bologna :) To recreate some of that wonderful food ambience back home, B decided to treat us to some awesome Bolognese meat sauce with Tagliatelle.

Here is the recipe from the man himself:

"The really authentic meat sauce in Bologna is rich and redolent of fresh meat (read: beef from those healthy, hefty cows you can spot in the farms of Emilia Romagna). They add other meats too- such as hare or venison, and liver.

In the absence of beef, I went for a mix of pork mince and lamb mince and chopped bacon.

The ingredients:

One stick of celery chopped

One carrot chopped

Two onions chopped

A couple of fat garlic cloves crushed

40 grams of unsalted butter

3 tbsp of good olive oil

500 gm pork mince

250 gm lamb mince

100 gm chopped bacon

3 tbsp thick tomato puree

Half a cup of white wine (go for good wine; you can drink the rest of the bottle while you're cooking!).

Salt and pepper

Some lamb stock (chicken stock works too).

Method:

Melt butter. Add olive oil. Fry onions, garlic. Add carrot, celery. When soft, add all the meat (perhaps the bacon first). Cook for a while before adding the puree and wine. Add salt and pepper. Keep on low heat. Cover. Stir and add stock if needed. Keep doing that. Takes an hour and 15 mins to be done.

Here is how it looks like:

The pasta:

I used tagliatelle (alas, not fresh but out of a box). Boil lightly salted water. Add the pasta. 7 minutes for al dente. Strain pasta. Add to the sauce. Mix well. Serve with grated parmesan. Then sit back and watch delight on faces that are getting stuffed. Oh, and a bottle of full-bodied red wine can be a great accompaniment."

The final product:

books and more books

2008-12-13T05:57:00.001-08:00

i have been busy with my new job but for the first time in many years i'm enjoying it :)
mostly because what i do is truly interesting and since the area is still evolving i'm allowed to bumble along, make mistakes and try new stuff. that sounds like an ideal job eh?
well, another reason why i'm enjoying this job is because i don't feel too mentally fatigued when i get back home to read!
as a result, i've been reading quite a bit. that truly makes me happy :)
there you go, that's my second post on the same day, few minutes apart, hopefully i can carry this through. keeping my fingers crossed.

lost interest

2008-12-13T05:53:00.000-08:00

i have lost interest in cooking and that's probably why i am unable to blog anymore. well haven't lost interest in eating though.
let's see if the new year changes things....

let's talk some green

2008-04-14T08:55:00.000-07:00

i have been wondering for sometime now, how to really make a difference in the green movement. can companies, for instance, concentrate more on after-sales service, i mean really well, and less on marketing. instead of focusing on selling more, they can, put in more resources and turn their main focus on services. instead of deploying more resources and stressing on selling me a new product, they should be partnering with me and helping me with maintaining the stuff i buy from them.
in this way, the company can really learn a lot more about consumer categories and develop products that really have unique features and innovations. This shift has the potential to create entrepreneurs; individuals who will be contractors or sub-contractors. Many companies have interests in financing, they could use that route to spawn these small businesses across markets. The cost of servicing could be matched to product price; an expensive product could attract a higher service charge and the lower priced product a lower service charge.
i have no qualms in revealing that most of the various product categories and SKUs really make no sense to me. every month there is a new product in the market, which probably has no business being there. there are product launches everyday and i can't speak for others, but they really don't excite me anymore; yet another xp240 or zet400, yawn!
Of course, this model can't be adopted for personal care products or apparel and footwear but any company that can use this platform honestly will be able to differentiate itself very effectively. it can make a huge difference.....
here is something i read today in adage:

Is Earth Day the New Christmas?

As More Marketers Pile On, Consumerism May Eclipse Spirit of Event

By Natalie Zmuda

Published: April 14, 2008

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- It's nearly Earth Day: Time to consume more to save the planet.

Newsweek subscribers can actually fashion the cover of the April 14 issue into an envelope to send plastic bags to Target in return for a reusable tote bag.

As April 22 approaches, marketers of all stripes are bombarding consumers with green promotions and products designed to get them to buy more products -- some eco-friendly, some not so much. And while that message seems to contrast with the event's intent, the oxymoron seems to have been lost on marketers jumping on the Earth Day bandwagon in record numbers. This year it seems that just about everyone has found a way to attach themselves to what is fast becoming a marketing holiday that barely resembles the grass-roots event founded in 1970.

"This month I've definitely seen a lot of companies that I never would have associated with green popping up," said Steven Addis, CEO of Addis Creson, a branding firm. "Companies are saying, 'We need something to green ourselves up, so let's ... sponsor Earth Day.' ... It's really now in this hype curve, and hopefully we're getting toward the top, so we can start having some fallout."

Sustainable for one day
Indeed, many have begun to worry that as nearly every company out there paints themselves green, they are losing touch with Earth Day's reason for being. "My concern is that some companies just view [Earth Day] as a marketing event, like Thanksgiving or Christmas," said Larry Light, chairman-CEO of Arcature, a management consulting firm. "Then they've fulfilled their obligation for the rest of the year. The whole issue of sustainability means that a commitment also has to be sustainable. If it's only for one day, then it's a marketing event."

To be fair, many companies are already looking beyond the month of April by embracing comprehensive sustainability programs. But, regardless, the fact remains that as Earth Day approaches, consumers will find it difficult to avoid green messaging.

Consumers can, for example, shop at Banana Republic, where 1% of sales from April 22 through April 27 benefit the Trust for Public Land. Or they can participate in Macy's "Turn Over A New Leaf" campaign by making a $5 donation to the National Park Foundation. In exchange, customers receive 10% or 20% off most merchandise the weekend of April 26.

Newsweek subscribers can actually fashion the cover of the April 14 issue into an envelope to send plastic bags to Target in return for a reusable tote bag. Then there's Toys 'R' Us' launch of "enviro-friendly playthings," Sweet Leaf Tea's missive to "Don't just think green. ... Drink green" and Fairmont Hotels' introduction of "Lexus Hybrid Living Suites." These days even Barbie has a green-accessories collection.

Seeing green
Major marketing dollars are behind these efforts. Experts concede it's difficult to quantify the amount of money spent on green marketing, but, collectively, it's clear companies are spending tens of millions.

This month, Wal-Mart is running seven national 30-second spots, created by the Martin Agency. The commercials, bearing the tagline "Budget-friendly prices. Earth-friendly products," promote T-shirts made of recycled bottles and organic coffee, among other things.

In addition to charity shopping days, Macy's campaign involves giveaways of saplings and reusable totes, promotes eco-friendly merchandise and includes TV and newspaper advertising, as well as mention in the retailer's direct-mail catalog and in-store signage.

Clorox is also flexing its green muscles this month. Its Brita brand's integration with NBC's "The Biggest Loser" has resulted in the elimination of plastic water bottles from the show's campus. And with the season finale slated for Earth Day, the brand is planning plenty of in-store marketing around the TV program.

"It's not black or white," said Mr. Addis, of the Earth Day conundrum. "It's great that people are paying attention. It's great that companies are starting to do something, but what really drives me crazy is when it's used as a vehicle of greenwashing. I call it the 95-5 rule. Five percent of somebody's business is green, but 95% of their PR is green."

Wolves in green clothing
And that seems to be the sentiment among many experts, who recognize that separating the good from the bad is a tricky endeavor.

"There are some companies that are still feeling their way around and probably greenwashing to some extent," said Ken Rother, president-chief operating officer of Tree Hugger and VP-operations of Planet Green Interactive. "This is the problem of our times, but anything that raises awareness is good."

Experts said that, generally, initiatives that raise money for a specific cause or increase awareness, such as Macy's "Turn Over a New Leaf" campaign, are in keeping with the Earth Day message. However, those companies that play up tenuous links to Earth Day simply to drive sales are contributing to the din and confusing consumers.

The Federal Trade Commission has begun to respond to concerns about that. It announced in November it would begin reviewing its green-marketing guides, last updated in 1998, this year. The move comes a year ahead of schedule, in response to the increase in green-advertising claims, the FTC said.

Wal-Mart: Ads tout recycled materials.

But until the FTC updates its guidelines, the green-marketing landscape is akin to the Wild, Wild West. Anybody, it seems, can claim the mantle of green, if it suits them.

"The combination of indiscriminate messaging, where everybody has a green message [and some are] flat out greenwashing, and people who are clearly not friends of the environment portraying themselves as that is leading a lot of people to be a little more skeptical," said Alex Steffen, executive editor of World Changing, a sustainability blog.

Saving the world ... yawn
And, if skepticism among consumers increases, one concern is that they could stop paying attention altogether. "Consumers can see through messaging that is not backed with a longer-term commitment to green," said David Wigder, senior VP-Digitas and author of the blog Marketing Green. "Moreover, if consumers are bombarded with too much messaging, they may simply tune it out."

Maureen O'Connor, publisher of sustainability blog Alternative Consumer, said the number of green pitches hitting her inbox is just one indication of the amount of noise in the market. "There are so many wannabes, it's frightening," she said. "There is such a proliferation of PR efforts that are over the top."

That is leading some to declare Earth Day an overcommercialized event that has lost the cachet that made it so successful in the first place.

"Earth Day's usefulness has passed," said Mr. Steffen. "The idea that we're going to direct our attention to the planet for a day or a week ... is not a sufficient response anymore. An awful lot of people view Earth Day as the time to express the idea that they are sympathetic to change. We need to move from being sympathetic to change to actually changing things."

Beware the Bloggers

As consumers become increasingly skeptical of green marketing messages, there's no better forum than the blogosphere.

Bloggers, with their witty posts and reputation for carefully vetting information, are fast becoming the most trusted resource for truly green products and promotions. As David Binkowski, senior VP-director of word-of-mouth marketing at Manning Selvage & Lee put it, "[It] better not just be window dressing, because bloggers fact-check everything."

Blogroll

A recent report from Nielsen Online ranked Tree Hugger, World Changing, The Oil Drum and Alternative Consumer among the most popular sustainability blogs on the web. And all are far from ragtag operations.

Motley crew
The sites boast a mix of activists, scholars and experts in topics as varied as green building, energy and nutrition. Some came to the cause early -- one of Alternative Consumer's bloggers is Zach McGrath, a high-school junior -- but others, such as Tree Hugger's Kenny Luna, turned green more recently in response to climatic events.

Tree Hugger is the largest of the environmental blogs, with 10 staffers and more than 50 regular contributors around the world. Its founder, Graham Hill, dabbled in fashion, viral e-mail and plant-based air filters, among other things, before launching the site in 2004. He's also the guy that designed the ceramic cup that looks like a paper cup and reads, "We are happy to serve you."

According to Ken Rother, president-chief operating officer, as one of the more influential green sites out there, Tree Hugger aims to take advertising that adds as much value to the site as the content. Advertisers include Wal-Mart, Simple Shoes, Envirolet composting toilets and a band, The Weepies.

Pitching in
But even a smaller organization, such as Alternative Consumer, has eight regular contributors. Founded in 2007 by Maureen O'Connor, a native New Yorker, the site takes more of a lifestyle approach to green topics. Recent posts highlight hemp skirts and outdoor furniture made from recycled milk jugs, detergent containers and the like. Advertising, meanwhile, runs the gamut from smaller green companies touting plastic-free diapers and eco-friendly dog sweaters to national brands such as GE, Sun Chips and Hush Puppies.

The nonprofit blog World Changing counts 150 contributors around the globe, with 25 regulars and five staff members. Its ranks include writers in Stockholm, Shanghai, Mumbai and Las Vegas, as well as one "Global Nomad." The Oil Drum, which carries only barebones Google ads, is slightly more mysterious. Its writers are largely anonymous and include "Prof. Goose," a professor in the social sciences, and "Heading Out," a faculty member in an energy production discipline.

-- Natalie Zmuda and Michael Bush

more customer service

2008-02-20T08:03:00.000-08:00

went mall trawling with m and walked straight into lush. lush is a british brand and its products are mainly shampoos, lotions, soaps and other cosmetic products.
i had the most delightful experience of my life in a store!! there was this indian-canadian girl who was just wonderful! usually i don't take kindly to over-friendly and intrusive store assistants but this girl was cool; she was chatty, fun, knew her subject really well and the best part: she didn't bullshit. when i asked her if they had any sun screen, she said that they did but unfortunately the spf factor is way too low for indian conditions. i liked the fact that she didn't lie to me or give me a whole big tale about unrelated products and confuse me.
i was amazed at her professionalism and her ability to engage customers and hold their attention. i asked her if she was going to stay on here and she said no :( apparently, she is a product trainer with lush in canada and she was here in india by chance; working on a three month hiv/aids project. it so happened that lush launched here and she was asked to help ease things here at the stores.
that makes me wonder, why can't we invest in training our sales people well? walk into an espirit, benetton, sisley, gant, promod, mango, guess?, tommy and the experience is so ordinary, as a shopper you just want to pick the stuff you are looking for and run.
at lush i just walked in to check out the store and help m pick something for her husband but i ended up buying a shampoo, conditioner and a creamy perfume!!

customer service

2008-01-25T22:10:00.000-08:00

i woke up this morning with no tv or internet (we have a dsl connection from airtel that also provides us with an telephone and an iptv connection). i immediately dug out the business card of one of the senior airtel iptv executives and dialed his number. after countless calls, the guy called back. he was apologetic, saying his phone was on silent and he was out of town. he also informed me that he had quit airtel some days back but he would get someone from the company to call me asap.
i was pleasantly surprised and also a little ashamed. obviously, the guy had quit the company and was taking a quick weekend break before he joins his new place of work, when me, the irate customer, was calling incessantly and disturbing his peace, but the guy was generous and polite enough to call me back and offer whatever solution he was able to.
i don't remember or care much about service executives but if this guy ever calls me to offer a new product or service, i'll graciously hear him out and consider his spiel.
i wanted to record this story to highlight an important fact: the failure of human resources of even large companies in india to identify such people and retain them. airtel prides itself on being customer-centric (i mean really, for a service company that should be a given!!!) but when it comes to actually retaining the people who are able to capture customers it has failed miserably. of course in a high growth market like ours even with slippages in service, companies will still show impressive growth rates, but in the long run?
probably, it is unfashionable to look at long-term perspective, the lure of short-term gains is so attractive that the long-term focus has all but lost its value. why else does it require so much effort to make companies incorporate sustainable development, for instance, as an important part in their long-term business strategies....

cafe turtle shut down :(

2008-01-23T20:08:00.000-08:00

ok, i admit the food at cafe turtle sucks, but they serve decent desserts and vk and i kinda like hanging out there drinking chamomile tea. and it was the only decent cafe in gurgaon!!
i hope nammie can bug hubby dear to take the franchise and open one at galleria.
yeah i know i'm babbling but then it's better than not updating the blog.
see ya later :)

a visit to the community durga puja and a sat lunch

2007-10-19T08:43:00.000-07:00

g's holidays began from friday. we spent the day gallivanting around town; ate at basil & thyme (will do a post on that later), checked out the select citywalk mall at saket (work in progress), came back home and after b got back, went to check out the local community durga puja in phase 1. the one next to our house in phase 1v didn't happen this year.
we ate some pathetic fish and prawn cutlets and an insipid chicken roll...ugh!
sat was nice, relaxed and yummy! we had a friend drop by for lunch for which i tossed up a salad and some pizza and b cooked some mutton. the recipe is from the silver spoon, therefore simple and delicious, however, b did add a bit of paprika that our friends asg and sm got back for us from turkey. b also lightly boiled the mutton to get some stock; we like to eat mutton a little well-done, boiling the mutton softens it a little and the stock can be used to prolong the cooking time if we want. in case you can't use all the stock, store it and use it to cook rice; it tastes yum!!

the salad:

i tossed up some fresh lettuce, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, left-over smoked chicken from the pizza and onions in herb-soaked olive oil that was left over from my bottle of sun-dried tomatoes, salt, pepper and a liberal helping of goat's cheese.

this is what the salad looked like:

for the mutton you need shallots:

the boiled mutton:

b's touch: some paprika from istanbul:

here is the recipe of lamb fricassee with onions:

heat some unsalted butter and olive oil in a pan, add the mutton and cook, turning frequently till golden brown:

remove from pan and keep warm.
add the onions and cook till golden brown:

return the lamb pieces into the pan, season with salt and pepper and pour in about half a bottle of white wine (always use good quality wine, if the wine is not good enough for drinking, it's not good for cooking!). add paprika according to taste and cover and cook for about 40 mins.
this is how it looks like after 40 mins:

serve this with some warm whole wheat rolls:

for the pizza, i got the whole wheat bases from patisserie petunia and loaded them with sliced mushrooms, baby corn, sun-dried tomatoes, sliced smoked chicken and topped all that with a few balls of bocconcini. the balls melt all over the pizza and makes it all gooey and yum!!!
sorry i didn't take any pics of the pizza, will do that next time.

surfeit of chinese and asian but the gurgaon restaurant scene is hotting up!!!

2007-10-09T01:23:00.000-07:00

here is a list of chinese and asian restaurants in gurgaon:
china club
east 101
k2
monk
hao shi nian nian (sichuan cuisine and excellent food)
mainland china (the latest)
and this is not including the smaller ones like red hot cafe etc in the malls and shopping centers.
then there is the brazilian grill, wild fire at crowne plaza, punjabi by nature and vera pizza at cyberciti and of course the little known and unassuming, bernado's at galleria, the only decent goan food place in delhi perhaps! there is also a french restaurant in the same building as monk but i haven't tried that out yet.
and guess what?!!! cafe turtle has opened up right behind my house!!! yay! yay! yay! it's vegetarian but i love their desserts :) actually now i'm torn between patisserie petunia, our excellent local bakery (abhiroop makes the most delicious whole wheat pizza bases and kulchas not to mention the chicken patties that minal and i gorge on regularly!) and cafe turtle!
we are now waiting for some really decent italian and mediterranean place. where are you big chill, market cafe and flavours?

yeh dil maange more

2007-09-12T08:30:00.000-07:00

sorry, i really didn't feel like posting all this time; i'm not in a very chatty mood these days. no, it's not that i'm unhappy. i guess i'm just tired, tired of many things:

1. the horrible traffic
2. the awful roads and pathetic power situation (we have 24/7 back-up though)
3. weird, foolish, unruly and pathetic people around
4. waiting for things to improve

i feel kinda hopeless when i look around me; as i have told many of my close friends, every time i step out of the house, i get the feeling that i'm in sauron's mordor and several sarumans are raising these armies of orcs that are taking over every available space turning them into hellish-looking towers.
will things get worse before they get better?
dunno, and i'm running out of time, tomorrow i'll step into my 33rd year and what i see around me makes me wanna cry.

minal's chocolate cake

2007-07-10T06:35:00.000-07:00

i'm very lazy when it comes to baking, i mean real lazy. for some reason, i've been unable to get myself to bake so i really appreciate when my friends indulge me.
my friend minal makes this delicious chocolate cake and i bug her every now and then to bake some for me. she baked one sometime back and we decided to record the whole process for the blog.
introducing minal and her two kids, antara (peeping from behind minal) and yamini:

this is the recipe (very meticulous as you can see, but that is minal for you) and pics will follow:

flour 1 & 3/4 cup
cocoa 3/4 cup
sugar 2 cups
baking powder 1 tsp
baking soda 1 tsp
salt 1 tsp
--- sift all these powdes together

break in 2 Eggs & beat on high.

blend in 1/2 cup veg oil

add 1 cup milk & 2tsp vanilla essence ( substitute -- 1 tsp vanilla & 3/4 tsp sweet almond essence for that nice bitter taste)

blend on high for a minute or two till all a smooth consistency

prepare a 13x9x 2 or 3" pan or a 10 inch round tin.

add 1 cup boiling water & mix thoroughly

pour into prepared pan & bake for 40 -45 minutes.

cool completely before attempting to remove from pan ( cake is very soft & tends to break if hot)

add frosting /icing of your choice.

this is the recipe minal used:

1/3 cup butter 1/4 cup melted chocolate -- cooled, 2 cups powdred sugar 1 1/2 tsp vanilla essence , 2 tbsp milk , 1/2 - 1 tsp coffee powder

blend coffee & melted chocolate. mix butter & melted chocolate coffee. stir in sugar & beat in vanilla & milk until smooth.

spread over the cake & sides if you wish, using a blunt knife

decorate with silver balls, powder sugar or conffetti.

sifting the flour and sugar:

adding baking powder:

adding baking soda:

adding cocoa powder:

adding salt:

add eggs and blend:

adding the oil and blend:

going into the oven for baking:

after baking:

the finished product:

and it was to die for!!!

g's b'day

2007-06-29T00:49:00.001-07:00

i had saved this post for a long time; just didn't get around to posting it. g turned three in may and we celebrated her b'day at 'the colour factory'.
the colour factory is an interesting place where kids can go and paint their own ceramic pieces and then leave them at the store to get fired and ready. b and i decided that it'd be great to have the party there as the kids would be completely involved with all the painting and stuff.
they all loved it and here are the pics:

the table all ready:

g's friends with their plates ready for colouring:

everyone very involved and hard at work:

everyone played some silly game of holding hands and going round in circles:

phoooooooo:

sharing her cake:

a matter of distaste

2007-05-11T22:39:00.000-07:00

ok, here is my question, why can't indian tv food journos look nice and do interesting programs? check out those doing food shows across channels, they are fat, ugly, uninteresting and boring to the core.
with great anticipation, i watched vir sanghvi's 'a matter of taste' on the discovery travel & living and was truly disappointed. he had nothing new to offer, it was like watching him rehash his columns again and again.
fyi mr sanghvi: we know all about the indian chinese stuff that you spoke about in the first episode and we know about your friend nelson wang, you never really let us forget him, he pops up every time there is any mention of chinese food!!!!
come on, first you come out with a book, which is really a collection of your columns and then with a tv show which again looks like a rerun of the same columns. get off your fat, lazy, spoilt a*** and do something different and interesting. and while you are at it, lose some of that lard (maybe then you can experiment with colours other than black) you have been merrily accumulating over the years, thanks to all your friends in the f&b business. looks like the lard has spread to the brain as well. well, lose it and do something original for once.
what a waste!!

fancy cooking

2007-05-09T20:20:00.000-07:00

when i started out on my cooking adventures, about eight years back, i was completely into acquiring fancy cooking equipment. when lifestyle started stocking such equipment i went on a wild spending spree and bought several fancy pots and pans. in fact, i was mighty disappointed when i couldn't find a tagine or a couscousiere. however, over time i have realized that making do with what i have is both fun and creative. so now i use a huge strainer instead of a couscousiere and believe me, it works just fine. as for the tagine, i'm planning to make one for myself this summer at my pottery studio.
but as i was writing this post, i remembered that i needed one of those bamboo steamers to make dumplings. any ideas on how i can substitute the bamboo steamer with some utensil readily available in an average indian kitchen?
here is the minimalist, mark bittman of the new york times who tells you how you can do without all that fancy stuff in your kitchen.

in search of some nice cold coffee

2007-05-05T07:24:00.000-07:00

i am not much of a tea or coffee drinker. my only indulgence is a cup of green tea in the morning before hitting the gym. i'd rather have hot chocolate.
but the other day i was bulldozed into having a glass of chilled frappe from cafe coffee day and i quite liked it. the sweetness was just right and i didn't feel like skipping after having a couple of sips (which is what happens usually). the trick is, according to the friend who got me to have the frappe, is to tell the barista not to put any sugar as the ice cream makes it sweet enough.
however, i found that except cafe coffee day, none of the other chains can get it right. b and i tried some at costa's today but it was quite disastrous (they served us some dessert that was not supposed to be heated and it was aweful!!). as for barista, i have stopped going there; that chain never fails to disappoint me.
so next time you are in cafe coffee day try the frappe with ice cream, without sugar.

korean food

2007-04-23T07:20:00.000-07:00

b and i went to this korean restaurant at the plaza mall in g'gaon this weekend and came back a little bewildered. we were both a little lost with the menu and the waiters were really no help. i think the place caters mainly to the expat crowd (we were the only indians in the restaurant apart from the waiters) and those guys kinda knew what and how to order.
anyway, after much deliberation we decided on chilli pork and steamed rice. immediately after ordering we were served banchan the traditional korean side dishes of marinated cabbage, cucumbers and radish, and some kind of cold seaweed soup (which was quite delicious!!). the chilli pork and rice came with a bowl of spinach and tofu miso soup and after we had finished our meal, we were served some fresh fruits (pineapple, melons and apples). despite our problems with the menu, we want to go back k2 again and try out the other stuff on the menu.
meanwhile, if any of you guys want to go there and give us some suggestions on what and how to order please do so.
the address is:
3rd floor, mgf plaza, gurgaon
ph: 91-124-4379151-3/ 9871016649
the guy who runs the restaurant is mr choi byung jun.

where is the connection?

2007-04-14T23:33:00.000-07:00

has anyone noticed the thums up ad running across channels featuring akshay kumar pretending to be a traceur?
traceurs are supposed to be extremely fit (which perhaps kumar is) and the sport they pursue, le parkour is an extremely strenuous one. (to know more about this activity see here). serious traceurs advice people wanting to be part of the sport to be fit enough to run at least 3 miles before attempting it.
anyway, i was wondering what is the connection between a cola and one of the most challenging sporting activity (currently) in the world?

on the other hand little g made some connections and decided that:

1.. a man wearing a suit is actually wearing an "office t-shirt"
2.. a bar is really a "drinking shop"

on that note have a great weekend and happy 'poila boisakh'!!!

rajdhani, cheap but definitely not the rajdhani of crawford market

2007-04-14T03:31:00.000-07:00

b, g and i went to the mall the other day to get a haircut for b and g and check out this store that sells gap, old navy and banana republic stuff. yeah, i know what you are thinking, but no, those brands are not in india officially, however, there is this company, maura enterprises, that has taken up spaces in two malls, one at the mgf mall in gurgaon and another at ansal plaza in delhi, and they sell these brands at a steep discount. the banana republic stuff is especially good; during winter, i bought a really smart wool skirt and a wool blended top for a steal at the ansal plaza store. i don't know if they are export surplus and the range is nothing great but some of the stuff is really nice and cheap to boot!
anyway, after some aimless strolling we were trying to figure out where to eat, when we spotted 'rajdhani' on the food court level. i had seen it on my earlier trips to the mall and was dying to eat there, b was game too and g thankfully doesn't throw any tantrums about where we drag her to eat.
rajdhani occupies a special place in my heart. i've had countless meals at the original one in b'bay's crawford market. my colleagues and i used to walk from office to build up an appetite and walk back to avoid falling asleep after such a satisfying and huge meal. but the gurgaon branch left me somewhat unsatisfied, it's not a patch on the b'bay one, both in terms of selection as well as taste. b and i were really disappointed, g of course couldn't understand what the fuss was all about; she devoured the methi and bajra rotis, the dal and all the vegetables. the only thing that she spat out was the suji, she made such a terrible face after putting the suji in her mouth that i took pity on her and gave her a tissue to spit it all out.

retail experience

2007-03-20T19:26:00.000-07:00

ok, here is the thing, i like shopping for groceries but lately the whole process has become somewhat tedious. i realize that over the years as our grocery needs have changed, shopping has become more difficult. earlier, fruits, vegetables and other staples were never consumed at the scale we do now (most of our nutrition needs used to be taken care of outside the home, at various restaurants and through various take-aways), but now we eat at home everyday barring a few weekends. for cereals, we prefer organic produce, which i source from 'navdanya', tinned or canned food is bought from the neighborhood supermarkets.
here is how i do my shopping, pick up cereals from 'navdanya', which is located in 'dilli haat', buy fruits and vegetables from 'fresh produce', a store in dlf phase 1 market because they stock the best fruits and vegetables after ina and khan markets, silk soya milk, pasta, bath soap, shampoo and other household cleaning stuff from 'needs', my local supermarket, (which has started stocking organic food stuff as well, though the sku management is pathetic), fresh herbs from 'ina market' opposite 'dilli haat' and meat and fish from 'khan market'. all this running around sometimes drives me nuts (driving in gurgaon or delhi is not a very pleasant experience and check out the pathetic state of parking and you will know what i mean!!!) and i have discovered that i really don't enjoy this crazy cross-country trek across town whenever i need anything.
of course, there is 'big bazaar', where i used to go earlier but it is too focussed on the mass market and does not cater to my niche needs, now there is spencer's too and it does have an organic section, including a tiny section that sells bengali food stuff like 'bori, 'gobindo bhog' rice and typical bengali spices; however, they don't stock silk soya milk or snapple like 'needs' does and much of their layout is jumbled, so it's a little difficult to locate something that i'm looking for (juices and noodles are stored in three different places) and many of the imported packed food that i buy are not available.
so, i'm forced to go on a wild goose chase every other day for my requirements. can bharti-walmart's entry solve my problem? i am really hoping it does.
btw, why do these organized retailers use so much plastic, i wonder???? to some extent i abhor going to these giant retail destinations because of the amount of plastic one is forced to take along!! that way, i like my local supermarkets, ina and khan markets where i can take my own bag and not take back any plastic bags.
i hope bharti-walmart has the sense to ban plastic bags and use it as a positive spin on the brand. they can get some self-help groups to make paper bags for their stores.

problem of plenty

2007-02-28T03:38:00.000-08:00

there's so much happening around here that i'm not sure what to write about. ok, first the good news, one of my closest buddies is having a baby and i'm just dying to fast-forward to 16 years later and see just how tall that baby is gonna be :)
i've been slowly (make that very slowly) trying to get back to work. i have found some interesting stuff but it's taking some time to hit the ground.
g is now quite a young lady and sometimes i find myself wishing that she wouldn't grow up so fast!!

here is a pic of g's taken by swati mashi:

i have been cooking as usual but have been too lazy to charge my camera and take pics, but here is a recipe for a keema pulao that i cooked recently:

chop some onions, ginger and garlic and keep aside. also cook some rice and keep aside.

heat some oil in a pan, add whole garam masala (cardamom, cloves and cinnamon) and fry the onions along with the chopped ginger and garlic till slightly brown. add some dhaniya powder, red chilli powder, saute for a couple of mins and add the keema, fry for about 10 mins. then add some tomato paste (depending on your taste) and some chopped vegetables (i put in some peas, chopped carrot and french beans) and cook the keema some more, then add some paprika (b got me some awesome paprika from istanbul that adds both a lovely colour as well as flavour to any dish) and coconut milk and simmer till the keema is done and the vegetables are cooked but crunchy. season with salt and sugar and stir in the cooked rice and mix well.
i used two different kinds of rice, cooked separately; some red rice and plain basmati. it turned out nice and hearty.

once i have charged my camera, will also post pics of my latest ceramics collection.

from the nyt

2007-01-31T04:20:00.000-08:00

this appeared in the magazine section of the new york times and is worth a read.

some more stuff from 2006

2007-01-30T00:37:00.000-08:00

the diwali mela:
every year all the condos in g'gaon have their own diwali melas. these melas are a huge hit and the level of participation is very high. apart from the local restaurants and caterers (in our condo this time we had a lovely lady and her family serving up home-made goan food) there are local pickle makers, jewellery, hand bags, clothes designers, and of course the best pastry chefs in town who set up stalls. in fact, the melas are so popular that now insurance companies, internet service providers, direct-to-home service providers and many such companies make it a point to be present at each of these melas!
this year a bunch of kids from our condo got together and crafted jewellery, branded and sold them under the name 'kreative kids'.
here is a sample of their design and packaging. i was mighty impressed:

and here is g's diwali diya:

and right after diwali, there was halloween.
here are g and her friends from the building, antara and yamini waiting in the corridor for 'treat':

trip to b'bay:

in nov we took g on her first trip to b'bay. we stayed at fatty's house. fatty, of course took me to eat at basilico where we had among other things some seriously yummy deserts:

here is fatty wondering why i have to take a pic of her when she is trying to drive:

here is the joboy, who joined us for lunch. he is looking at his phone but is really wondering whether he should have the dessert first or the lamb tagine!!!

here is shruti and joboy checking out pics taken on joboy's phone:

and here is shruti and fatty cracking up over some fat veejay wearing bizarre earrings:

fatty wearing a sari:

trip to singapore:

in dec we decided to take a few days off and visit our respective parents in cal. since it was b's parents' 50th anniv we decided to give them a surprise (which was another fiasco!!!) by dropping in on them unannounced. then we decided that we will take a short break in singapore before embarking on our grand plan.
here is g making monkey faces inside starbucks:

this is the street food market at newton's:

this is g sipping on coconut water:

all that yummy seafood at the market:

outside the singapore zoo:

g eating pizza:

the family pic (the only one we have) before getting on the cable car to go to sentosa island to see the underwater world:

christmas on orchard road:

some pics from the cal trip.
with 'hahel':

with bonie pishi and hahel:

with nana and nani:

the narayan clan:

the year that was...

2006-12-31T00:38:00.000-08:00

hi people, sorry, i've been very busy and then just lazy. this post was planned in dec but i'm writing it only now (end of jan). here are some things that i missed out on sharing with you:

the istanbul diary:

b went to istanbul for a few days in aug and brought me back a bottle of raki which came with a really quaint cookbook. i tried out the circassian chicken and it went really well with a tall glass of raki:

the cookbook:

this is how you make it:

stew chicken gently in a covered pot with water and reserve the stock. shred chicken, discarding the skin and bones and keep aside. for the sauce: grind walnuts. blend the ground walnuts with paprika, pepper and a little stock. press this mixture in a fine cheesecloth to extract the oil which will be used later to garnish the dish. soak bread in chicken stock, squeeze dry and combine with walnuts, grind this mixture well and add milk and chicken stock to make a paste. to serve place the shredded chicken on a serving platter and spread it with walnut paste. sprinkle with the walnut oil.

as you can see mine turned out a little watery:

but it tasted fine :):

pics taken by b, the blue mosque:

a traditional tea vendor:

b's cooking and my pottery:

b is taking quite a bit of interest in cooking. he cooks every weekend (in fact i could just fill my blog with his recipes now). the best part about b's cooking adventures is that he is creative and unpredictable. he will look at many recipes and then go ahead and do his own thing. this is something he cooked in nov:

boneless pork curry:

first make a stock using chicken bones, pork spare ribs, carrots, spring onions, garlic, star anise, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, water and rice wine vinegar. keep aside.
heat some oil in a large pan and put in some brown sugar, when the sugar caramelizes, fry onions, garlic, ginger and whole red chillies for about 5 mins then add the pork and fry till the colour changes to light brown. grind together some star anise, fennel and cinnamon and add to the pork. put in some soya sauce and cook for another 5 mins and then stir in some of the stock and cook till the meat becomes tender. serve with steamed rice.

here you can see the stock simmering and b frying the meat:

and here is the yummy pork curry:

hmm..now on to some of my pottery. i've been doing my classes regularly and here are some samples:

i put these pieces for the exhibition at AIFACS (all india fine arts & crafts society). the exhibition was on from jan 16-22 and it was wonderful to see the works of so many people, including meena aunty's, the lady who was my first teacher.
i'll be back!

ps: happy new year to all!

being paris hilton

2006-11-18T05:49:00.000-08:00

the trash princess

the knife

2006-11-18T05:36:00.000-08:00

a new blog from variety, about restaurants favored by the entertainment industry.

pepsi and health?

2006-11-10T07:25:00.000-08:00

now this gets interesting :)

"with all due respect, men, i may not know....

2006-11-01T00:59:00.000-08:00

but shoes, i know," carrie bradshaw in 'sex and the city'.
this goes out to all the shoe-crazy friends of mine, check out GAP's new online shoe store, 'piperlime'.

starbucks and culture

2006-10-23T01:45:00.000-07:00

will you buy a book, watch a film recommended by starbucks? here is an interesting way in which starbucks is extending the influence of its brand and in a way reinforcing what the brand stands for.
and yes, happy diwali everyone! will post some pics later, currently between the old and the new comps!

a nobel prize for one of my favourite writers

2006-10-12T09:39:00.000-07:00

orhan pamuk got the nobel prize for literature today!

my south-east asian cooking adventures

2006-09-29T04:16:00.000-07:00

i love south-east asian cuisine, but somehow i have never been able to muster up enough courage to attempt cooking the same. i did try and cook some thai a few years back and it was not all that bad, but somehow i have always shied away from cooking any more of the stuff, until recently.
first i got myself a couple of cookbooks and one of them, the hermes house book of thai & south-east asian cooking & far eastern classics, really helped in demysifying the ingredients and the cooking processes. so one fine day i just fished out my wok and just got down to some serious south-east asian cooking.
here is what i cooked for dinner a couple of weeks back.

chiang mai noodle soup:

take about 1 and 1/2 cup of coconut milk and boil over medium heat, stir frequently until the milk separates. now add about 2 tbsp of thai red curry paste and 1 tsp of ground turmeric, stir and mix completely. cook until the mixture is fragrant, then add chunks of boneless chicken (about 500 gms) and coat the pieces with the mixture. cook for about a couple of minutes and then add about a cup of coconut milk, 2 1/2 cups of chicken stock, 4 tbsp thai fish sauce, 1 tbsp of dark soy sauce and salt and pepper. simmer for about 10 mins while stirring frequently. turn off the heat and add juice of one lime. keep aside.
boil some egg noodles, drain and keep aside. divide the noodles among the soup bowls, ladle in the soup with the chicken pieces and top with some chopped spring onions, fresh red chillies, fried garlic slices and coriander leaves. serve piping hot.

sweet and sour fish:

for this dish use fish like snapper. rinse and dry the fish fillets. score the skin diagonally on both sides and coat the fillets with cornflour. heat oil in a wok and fry the fillets till they are crisp and brown. keep aside on a platter.
in the same wok pour out excess oil and add sliced garlic, ginger and shallots and cook for about 3-4 mins. add cherry tomatoes (about 200 gms) and cook till they burst open. stir in 2 tbsps of red wine vinegar, some sugar (according to taste), 2 tbsps of tomato ketchup (ok, i dunno where that came from, i just put some because the recipe said so) and 1 tbsp of fish sauce. lower heat and simmer for a few minutes. in a cup mix some cornflour with water to make a paste and add to the sauce. once the sauce thickens, pour it over the fish, garnish with coriander leaves and chopped spring onions and serve with some

special fried rice:

take a pack of frozen prawns, wash and rinse them. cut them into small pieces. in a bowl lightly beat 3 eggs with a pinch of salt and a few pieces of chopped spring onions.
in a wok, heat about 2 tbsps of oil, add some peas, the chopped prawns and some cooked shredded meat (could be either chicken or pork) and stir fry for about a couple of mins. stir in 1 tbsp of soy sauce and 1 tsp of chinese rice wine and remove from heat. heat some oil in a wok and lightly scramble the eggs, add the rice and stir to separate the grains.

is anyone listening?

2006-09-29T04:06:00.000-07:00

today while following some links, i came across a very interesting post on globalvoicesonline.org. i had no clue that tunisia is the fourth most repressive country in the world!

another yummy treat, this time from b

2006-09-19T08:03:00.000-07:00

pics and text by b:

We had eight or ten lamb chops in the fridge, dressed and flattened by the butcher at R’s favourite meat shop. If you’re a regular visitor here you know where that is. Yeah, Khan Market… which you reach after traversing 30 chaotic kilometers from home. Yes, we do that sometimes on a lazy weekend afternoon instead of hanging out at home. Let’s not get into the whys and hows, we do such things—some of us have to be coerced, others are, well, more passionate about going on that horrendous journey.
Somewhat rashly I’d declared a few days back that I’d cook the chops and, well, I had to. Quick googling yielded one interesting recipe involving (other than the lamb chops) some yogurt, shallots (I used plain old onions) and some other ingredients that were miraculously (now, I’m being really provocative) at home.

So here goes my improvised version of ‘Pan-seared Lamb Chops with Shallot Yogurt Sauce’:
The marinade: A cup of yogurt; 3-4 cloves of garlic, minced; 3 tablespoons of White Wine Vinegar; a tablespoon of dry rosemary; a tablespoon of cracked pepper (I used a mixed bunch—green, black and red—peppercorns, roughly cracked in the XXXXX grinder. Nifty device that.) And some salt. Mixed the mush together and plunked the chops in. An hour or two for the chops to soak in the stuff and then the cooking began:

the chops in the marinade:

I heated some good old E.V. olive oil and put in two (or three) finely chopped onions. A few peeled cloves of garlic went in too. Tossed them around for a bit and then seared the marinated chops (after wiping them of the marinade). The chops were then turned around a couple of times to get evenly browned. Searing on high heat takes just a few minutes. I then added couple of tablespoons of Balsamic vinegar and some more salt. When the chops were nearly done, I added the marinade (In case you lost me, it was the very same one from which the chops had emerged a few minutes back).

the browning of the chops and the adding of the marinade:

After the liquid began evaporating, the contents (and here R took over) were transferred to her very precious white flat bottomed ceramic baking dish (no prizes for guessing why the change in management happened at this stage).

Dish was then popped into a pre-heated (say, 250 degrees or thereabouts) gas oven. And 20 minutes (a turn for the chops included) later, we were ready to eat. The accompaniment was veggie-laced rice.
What else can I say? I can cook.

rums: yes he can, he is just lazy!

the walrus and the carpenter strike again!

2006-09-10T04:04:00.000-07:00

this time it was vilasrao deshmukh and sonia gandhi at malegaon. but the locals gave them a fitting reply this time, i'm glad!

empowering women

2006-08-31T08:54:00.000-07:00

my friend minal and i were running some errands at the local shopping center near home a few days back when we came across this lovely store:

it sells simple but beautifully designed clothes, exquisite silk scarves, handwoven throws and some organic products. the store is run by the satya-jyoti trust, an ngo operating from an organic farm in the alwar district of rajasthan. the trust works towards rehabilitating marginalized women by teaching them various skills that they can use to earn a livelihood and live life with dignity:

this is an article that will give you an idea of the trust and the kind of work it does and here are some really smart jackets:

minal and i liked the store so much that we dragged a couple of our friends to go and take a look at the stuff, and here is our friend rakhi admiring a black skirt that is smart and the cut ultra feminine:

in case you want to visit this store, here is the address:
SG 069, galleria shopping mall, phase 1v, gurgaon-122002.
tel: 91-124-4057848

manliness and such stuff

2006-08-24T09:54:00.000-07:00

just came across this brilliant review of harvey mansfield's book, manliness, by martha nussbaum. no, i haven't read the book, don't think i'll attempt to either, but the review is worth reading. fats if you are reading this, just follow the link!

the silver spoon

2006-08-08T03:29:00.000-07:00

is one of the most popular cookbooks in italy and apparently many italian brides receive this book as a wedding gift. the name of the book comes from the english phrase that symbolizes plenty. it was published in 1950 and was translated into english only in 2005. i got myself a copy recently and needless to say i love it! the recipes are simple and allow you to experiment on your own.
here is a recipe for stuffed tomatoes that i tweaked a bit to incorporate the ingredients available with me:

tomatoes stuffed with mozzarella:

take some nice red, plum and juicy tomatoes and scoop out the seeds and turn them upside down to drairn on a paper towel. in a bowl mix together some mozzarella, parsley and basil and season with salt and pepper, drizzle with some olive oil and stuff the tomatoes with the mixture. drizzle some more olive oil on the tomatoes and bake in the oven for about 20 mins.

i served these tomatoes with some potatoes, french grilled sausages and vegetables, potatoes and bagels smeared with an olive, sundried tomatoes, basil and olive oil seasoned with salt and pepper paste.

i had some lamb chops that i had bought from khan market and i cooked them using one of the several recipes in the book

lamb chops with mint:

mix together lemon juice, some olive oil and mint in a dish, add the lamb chops and leave for about a couple of hours. heat some butter and olive oil in a pan and cook the lamb chops till done. season with salt and pepper and serve with some vegetables.

i served my chops with some courgettes, baby corn and mushroom. saute some chopped onion, celery and garlic in a pan, first add the courgettes, then the baby corn and then the mushrooms. saute the vegetables for about 5 mins, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese and serve.

i also wanted to make a pizza from scratch but i guess it was too ambitious, so i settled for a ready-made whole wheat base that i got from the local patisserie and made the pizza with some sliced mushroom, capsicum, tomatoes and pepperoni. i layered the pizza base with some marinara sauce that i had and sprinkled plenty of mozzarella cheese.

here is the pizza in the oven:

and here is g enjoying her pizza:

confederacy of dunces

2006-07-19T08:09:00.000-07:00

actually that's a really funny book by john kennedy toole, but it is also a great description of the morons running our country at this point. they have gone ahead and banned all blogspots. we call ourselves a democracy but no one bothered to inform or discuss the clampdown. all we know is that the govt has sent directives to internet service providers through the department of telecommunications to ban access to all blogs because of security reasons!!! and in case you are wondering, no, there has been no official communication to the citizens, the 'security reasons' explanation is what we read in the newspapers communicated to the media through official sources in the govt, after some bloggers raised a stink with their isps about not being able to access blogs.

the walrus and the carpenter

2006-07-13T02:37:00.000-07:00

that's what i thought of each time i saw the mugs of our prime minister and the home minister on television yesterday. their words sounded so hollow and stupid that it made me laugh despite the enormous tragedy. looks like we are destined to live in fear because some muslims feel that they are being denied justice, not just here in india, but across the world. i'm sick and tired of seeing how we have to bend over backwards to accomodate these fundamentalists in our society just because targetting them would purportedly upset the muslim community at large. so you have the left front govt in kerela actively wooing a common criminal, abdul nasir madani, in order to corner muslim votes, the uttar pradesh govt is contemplating withdrawing cases against simi (students' islamic movement of india), the members of which are the chief suspects in the blasts, while the bihar govt continues to indulge another common thug, mohammad shahbuddin. i wonder if majority of muslims actually support these losers, i'm pretty sure they do not and those who do should be identified and severely punished.
i'm so angry with myself, for being such a fool, for believing that this govt will take us forward, it will give us some semblance of sanity, some kind of balance. instead, what we get is rhetoric, more rhetoric and then even more of the same rhetoric from a spineless prime minister and his bunch of performing fleas.
take economic reforms, education, health, national security, this govt has failed us in all these important areas. i want to know why the govt is not taking concrete steps to stem the flow of illegal immigrants from bangladesh, after being told repeatedly that our porous borders are a very serious security hazard and that bangladesh is the new hotbed of terror and a sanctuary for terrorists?
what's really worrying is that currently these jokers are actually trying to enact a draconian legislation that aims to curtail freedom of the press. of course, the indian press will not take this lying down and fight against such regressive steps but just the fact that the govt has the audacity to even conjure up such a bill in a democracy amazes me!!
and yes, before i forget, has anybody heard from our commi brothers and sisters. what happened to our tv-happy comrades, the vitriolic d raja, the man-who-wants-to-bite-but-ends-up-barking-quite-a-bit sitaram yechury, the loudmouth gurudas dasgupta, the weird dipankar mukherjee (btw, what's up with his teeth, can't the man afford a dentist or is it a commi thing to look like roger rabbit?), the frothing at the mouth nilotpal basu and of course our bleeding heart golden couple brinda and prakash karat who have just returned from a holiday in tuscany? not a peep from them, maybe talking about terror will tarnish their so-called secular credentials. bunch of morons!!!

so what's cooking

2006-07-07T02:36:00.000-07:00

a lot really, but haven't had time to post. and when i do have time, i like to catch up on my reading. i read some really nice books, here are three of my favourites from last month: hunter s thompson's 'the great shark hunt', anthony bourdain's 'the nasty bits' and a mediterranean cookbook from hermes house that i picked up on sale.

ok, about hunter thompson, i had heard a lot about him, and of course watched the film,' fear and loathing in las vegas' with the yummy johnny depp :) but i never really got around to reading any of his stuff, so picked up 'the great shark hunt' and, people, i was simply bowled over. i just loved his writing style, it's amazingly racy and entertaining. forget about all that talk about 'gonzo' i feel thompson was first, an exceptionally good reporter and it is a pleasure reading his stuff. i especially loved his article titled, 'a southern city with northern problems'.

i can read anything by anthony bourdain (though i haven't attempted reading his fiction), he is too hot to ignore! i loved his 'kitchen confidential' was a little bored with 'a cook's tour' and really enjoyed reading 'the nasty bits'. i especially loved the chapters on cooks and their taste in music and how they use music to relax or get inspired and on gabrielle hamilton the extraordinary lady who runs the 'prune' restaurant on new york's lower east side, among others.

and now for the mediterranean cookbook. it has over 400 recipes from all the countries bordering the mediterranean and most of the stuff is highly drool-worthy. i'll post a few recipes from the book later but here is something that i tried some time back and it turned out really well.

moroccan lamb stew:

soak a cup and half of chickpeas overnight in cold water. the next day, boil the chickpeas for about 10 mins, drain, put in another pan, cover with cold water and boil then simmer for about an hour, sprinkle some salt and keep aside. in a bowl mix together some oilve oil, sugar, ground cumin, cinnamon, ginger, turmeric and saffron, add about 1.5 kgs of lamb (nicely cubed) and mix well, set aside for an hour. in a heavy bottomed pan, heat some olive oil and fry the lamb in batches until brown. keep aside:

now add onions to the pan, stir until brown, then add ground garlic, chopped tomatoes and a cup of water, bring to a boil and add the lamb pieces. pour in enough water to cover the lamb and simmer for an hour. drain the chickpeas and add to the lamb. stir some raisins, sliced olives and some sliced preserved lemons or lemon rind, simmer for about 15 mins. garnish with freshly chopped coriander and serve with couscous:

g's first day of play school

2006-07-07T02:07:00.000-07:00

today was g's first day at her playschool, pallavan. it went off well, she didn't cry or make a fuss. she sang songs, painted, made stuff with playdough, jumped on the trampoline, played in the sandpit and liberally covered herself with sand and then had to be dragged out of school for home.

here is g all set for school:

this is her school:

it is basically a huge lawn, with a line of tiny sheds and a big sandpit with swings etc.

here is g playing in the sandpit and jumping on the trampoline:

knuckle sandwich with wow-wow sauce anyone?

2006-06-19T20:36:00.000-07:00

while browsing around my favourite bookshop, fact & fiction i chanced upon this really nice book. while it's fun (hilarious at times), some of its recipes are actually doable! if you are into terry pratchett then you will find the book even more meaningful. but if you are not it will still engage you in a fascinating sort of way.

my name is red

2006-06-19T11:43:00.000-07:00

branding is one of the most creative processes in the world today. read here

it's been a long time

2006-05-24T03:00:00.000-07:00

i know. but i just couldn't manage to take time out to post for the last couple of months. i have been too busy catching up on my reading, preparing for little g and her dad's b'bay, and other stuff.
b's b'day was on the 16th of may followed by g's on the 20th. g is now 2 years old! i know it sounds cliched and guess every mom feels the same, but i just can't get over the fact that g is now two years old!
g's half-sister shruti, and her cousin, ahel, came down for g's b'day and since b had to go to work, we took the little one for her first movie, ice age 2, on her b'day. she really behaved herself and got all excited when she saw the squirrel, then after about half an hour she went off to sleep.
here is g with ahel wearing his sunglasses before leaving for the film:

we had the b'day party the next day at the club. to be honest i was quite lost when it came to planning the party. i had no idea how to keep 20 kids engaged for a couple of hours, so when the party organizer started talking about splash pools i jumped at the idea.
here you can see the kids going giddy with fun :)

the splash pools were a great idea really! after about an hour and a half, when the kids started getting cold and tired, they were all rounded up and everyone got ready to cut the cake. g was so excited she sang 'happy tu you' to herself while cutting the cake:

after all the singing, the kids dug into tiny chicken sausage patties, vegetable sandwiches, pizzas with mushroom topping, freshly made idlis with chutney (my friend minal made them), chocolate chip cookies, and the b'day cake of course. we served various kinds of juices to the kids instead of sodas and i think the mums were really happy about that :)
more later...

here is a pic of shruti, g and ahel

my trip to cal

2006-04-26T02:54:00.000-07:00

was nice. i realized this time that i am getting to like the city all over again, maybe because when i visit the city now, i'm truly free to do what i please (which principally means no forced visits to weird relatives' for meals etc). i also realized that, after having lived outside for so long, my relationship with cal has taken on a new meaning. i'll not try and explain that last sentence, coz if you know me, you will know what i mean. cal really is a charming city.

while in cal, i spoke to vinny, who was visiting her home in darj for easter, and she exclaimed that if she ever went back to the city, she would really like to go and watch a movie at the 'new empire' just to see if they still run that ridiculous 'sangam' beauty parlour ad before the film begins!!

in other news, my maid is on a month long vacation, which means i barely have any time to myself. but the good part is that, in her absence, i barely have time to be lazy, so i have been cooking all the meals and little g has turned into her mama's resident guniea pig. she willingly tries everything i cook and has absolutely no compunctions about letting me know when the food is below par. her most famous rejection till date has been my broccolli and mushroom soup. 'bla bla thu thu' was how she let me know how bad she thought the soup was and constantly asked for 'bed and butter'.

b's sis spent a day with us before flying off to america on work. here you can see g with bonie pishi and baba:

and yes, bonie gave me a great tip for cooking fish roe, add some fresh mint leaves. i did and the result was great!
i like fish roe. my favourite is that of the hilsa fish but i can make do with the bland rohu roe. bonie likes roe as well so when i got down to cooking some rohu roe for lunch she hung around and gave me tips on cooking it.

here is how i cooked the roe:

marinate the roe with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder, keep aside.
chop some onions and tomatoes, grate some ginger and garlic and keep aside.
in a pan, heat some oil (use mustard oil if you like), fry the roe for a few minutes and keep aside. in the same oil put in the onions and fry till translucent, then add the grated ginger and garlic and some dhaniya powder and red chilli powder fry for a few minutes and add the chopped tomatoes, lower the heat and let it simmer for about 15 minutes.
after 15 mins add the roe and turn so that the pieces are coated with the gravy, add a little water and let it simmer for another 10 minutes, sprinkle some garam masala powder and some mint leaves, turn the pieces again. take the pan off the heat and serve with piping hot rice.

polenta coated fish fillets

2006-03-26T22:36:00.000-08:00

i have some polenta left over that i wanted to use up so i decided to use it as a coating for fish fillets and serve the fillets with some bread and sauteed vegetables.

here is how you prepare the fillets:

first marinate the fish fillets with some lemon juice, salt and freshly ground black pepper and keep aside. mix some polenta with grated parmesan and chopped parsley, coat the fillets and fry them lightly. take the lightly fried pieces, arrange them on a baking dish, drizzle some olive oil and bake till done.

for the vegetables:

slice some some broccoli and mushrooms, keep aside. chop some onions, garlic, keep aside. heat some olive oil, put in the onions, fry till translucent, put in the garlic and some pepperoni saute for a few minutes, add the mushrooms and saute again for a few minutes, add the broccoli, season with salt and turn the whole thing around in the pan a couple of times. take it off the heat, sprinkle some crumbled feta cheese and serve with the fish.

this is best eaten with some nice crusty bread.

here is g enjoying her piece of fish:

ps: i haven't tried it but i think, the polenta mix can be a great coating for vegetables as well. i'll try that sometime and if anyone tries it do let me know how it turns out...

a full bengali meal

2006-03-26T21:56:00.000-08:00

b has hardly been spending much time home, even on weekends. so when he finally got this whole weekend off i decided to cook some bengali fare. my neighbour and i drove down to one of the markets in gurgaon where, we were told, we could get fresh fish. i picked up some 'pabda' and some surmai fillets.
i love pabda, it brings back memories of my childhood when my mum would make a light watery 'jhol' for lunch during the hot summer. i also looked forward to this curry whenever we used to get back home after a long trip, it was the ultimate comfort food along with masur dal and fried potatoes or 'alu bhaja'.

here is how i cooked the pabda fish:

marinate the fish with some salt, turmeric and mustard oil, keep aside. grind some whole mustard with some green chillies, salt and water. the salt is important as it takes away the bitterness of the mustard. strain the liquid to separate the mustard skin and keep aside. in a pan, heat mustard oil and lightly fry the fish pieces for a few seconds and take them out. in the same oil sprinkle some kalonji/kala jeera and put the fish pieces back, pour the mustard sauce immediately, season with salt and let it boil till the fish is cooked. it takes just a few minutes for the fish to start flaking. garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

the alu bhaja or fried potatoes:

slice potatoes into think slivers, slice one onion and slit some fresh green chillies. heat some mustard oil, fry the onions till translucent, add the slit green chilies, then add the potatoes, turn and fry the potatoes for a few minutes, season with salt and some red chilli powder (optional). i like to steam the potaoes at this stage so i sprinkle some water into the pan, lower the heat, cover and cook the potatoes till they are done.

masur dal:

boil the dal with salt and turmeric and keep aside. heat some oil, put in kalonji and slit green chillies and pour in the cooked dal. garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves.

i served all this some hot steamed rice.

kori roti

2006-03-26T21:29:00.000-08:00

one of my fondest memories of b'bay is eating kori roti (dried crisp rice pancakes) with spicy chicken curry and neer dosas made by fatty's mum. so this time when she asked me what i wanted from b'bay, i asked for a packet of kori roti and her mum's chicken curry recipe. i got both as well as her mum's special curry masala. i waited for the bird flu thing to die down but just couldn't wait to taste the kori roti so i made some fish curry to go with the rotis.

this is kori roti:

and here is the recipe for the fish curry i cooked:

roast some whole coriander, cumin, fenugreek, whole red chillies and mustard seeds, grind them and keep aside. chop one onion, roughly chop some garlic and scrape one coconut and add them to the roasted and ground masala. add some water, tamarind paste, salt and turmeric and grind every thing together. pour this mixture into a pan and bring to a boil. once it has boiled for a few minutes, lower the heat and simmer, add the fish pieces ( i used surmai, you could use pomfret as well) and cook till done. before serving, crisply fry some onions and garnish.

next time, i'll try the curry with some of fatty's mum's masala.

being cyrus

2006-03-26T08:20:00.000-08:00

b and i decided to watch a movie this afternoon. we scanned the papers and found that the multiplex at the mall near our home was screening homi adajania's 'being cyrus', so we went and watched the film. i really liked it and thought saif ali khan rocked. i also liked dimple kapadia, she really is a fine actress. if you haven't watched it yet people, i recommend you do. the part of the film i liked the best was when boman irani gets into a shouting match with his neighbour over her dog, there is nothing more hilarious than two bawas hurling abuses at each other :)

flanders cheese

2006-03-25T23:08:00.000-08:00

for sometime now i've been buying a lot of fresh cheese and dairy products from flanders. their products are fresh, taste good and are easier on the pocket (the imported fresh cheese we get here are outrageously expensive and many of them have dubious expiry dates!! needless to say, i pick up the imported variety only when i need edam, gouda, emmenthal or some yummy matured english cheddar). the other day, i picked up a tub each of of flanders' ricotta and goat cheese, a packet of fresh mozzarella and some sour cream from the supermarket.
i used the fresh mozzarella in a pasta i made inspired by lulu's post.

these are the ingredients i used:

this is how i cooked the pasta:

heat some olive oil, put in chopped onions, garlic and sausages. cook till sausages are half cooked, add the tomatoes and drizzle some balsamic vinegar and let it simmer. while the sauce is simmering, boil water, add some salt and add the pasta. cook till pasta is just done and add to the sauce, check for seasoning. tear some basil and add to the pasta, add the crumbled mozzarella and fold it into the pasta, sprinkle some grated parmesan and serve hot.

the pasta was yummy! and here is the proof:

happy holi!

2006-03-16T05:02:00.000-08:00

i took little g downstairs to play holi with the other kids, she, however, didn't show any enthusiasm.
here is a colourful pic of g and i.

here is g looking a little lost with all the holi stuff going around her.

and here she is sporting her new yellow skirt that i got for her from dilli haat. in case you are wondering about the posture, she is watching 'tartoon'.

we had a very simple lunch of dal, rice, steamed cabbage and fried chillies (these chillies are marinated in curd and spices and dried). in the evening i made some sole with butter, parsley and lemon sauce that i served with some lightly sauteed vegetables and bread. ok, and here is the best part: i baked a cake!!! finally i managed to bake a decent cake, i am really proud of myself. one of these days i'll try out neema's perfectly chocolatey chocolate cake.

here is the recipe for the cake that i got from 'jamie's italy':

preheat oven to 175 degree c/350 degree f. butter the cake tin, line with greaseproof paper and set aside.
whisk together 4 eggs and 270 gms/9.5oz of sugar till thick and pale yellow, then add 180 gms/6.5 oz unsalted butter, 115 ml/4 fl oz extra virgin olive oil, 155ml/5.5 fl oz milk and i tsp of vanilla extract. mix well and then add 400 gms/14 oz of flour, 1.2 tsp baking powder and a pinch of sea salt. add zest of 2 lemon and orange and mix well. set aside for about 10 mins to allow the flour to absorb the liquid.
add some blueberries or sweet red grapes (i used strawberry and black grapes) into the batter and spoon into the cake tin. bake for 15 mins then take the tin out and add some more of the fruits. return the tin into the oven and bake till done, about 30-40 mins.

sole with butter, lemon and parsley sauce:

season the sole fillets with some sea salt and black pepper, keep aside. melt some unsalted butter in a pan, and add the sole fillets, squeeze the juice of one lemon and sprinkle some chopped parsley, cover and cook till done, about 10 mins.

vegetables:

i had some zucchinis and asparagus lying around, so i chopped them up, along with some garlic and onions. i also had some pepperoni, which i tore into small pieces. heat some olive oil, saute the onions and garlic, add the pepperoni pieces and fry for a few minutes, add the vegetables and saute for another couple of minutes. before serving crumble some feta cheese on top.

serve with some nice crusty bread.

'phatty' came, bush's here and then there was the budget

2006-03-02T00:48:00.000-08:00

little g can't get enough of 'phatty' (that's how she pronounces her name), she interacted with fats as if they were long lost pals. here she is giving her a big hug.

fatty was mostly busy meeting with her partners and tying up the loose ends of the new company they are floating. yes people, she is turning a promoter again and her idea is very interesting. i strongly believe that anyone can land a good or even great job but it takes creativity, guts, commitment, vision and some real hard work to run your own joint and i am really proud of old fats. our close friend jack deserves some serious praise too for not just running his own show but running it pretty well for the past few years. for those who don't know jack, it was not an easy decision for him to quit his job considering that he and his wife mrunali had bought a house, wanted to start a famliy, indulge their love for travel while making sure that their standard of living didn't suffer. and if that ain't impressive enough, king jack also ran the mumbai half marathon early this year.
president george bush is here and the media is going all out reporting on everything including the 5-star accommodation of his sniffer dogs!! arundhati roy and her gang are out in full strength (roy has written a play, parts of which she read out on various news channels in a funny accent), the red (literally) blocks of jnu (jawaharlal nehru university) are ringing with protests and revolutionary songs including those by joan baez, while within the high tech ultra modern walls of the indian school of business in hyderabad, future managers are getting ready to receive the president. i like this spirit and feel proud to be part of a democracy where one can protest and fight for what one believes in. i think that part about us makes india a natural ally of america, something that many people have already pointed out.
which is why the president's visit to pakistan doesn't really make sense to me. but i guess you always need more caution while dealing with delinquent regimes, esp ones that possess nuclear arms. which is what those american congressmen, opposing the us-india nuclear deal need to understand when they say that if india is given special status then pakistan will demand the same. well, pakistan has no right to do that, not only is it a military dictatorship with loony islamist generals lording over its nuclear arms, it is also guilty of proliferation. the deal makes sense to both india and america because if india invests in nuclear power for its energy requirements (which because of its massive growth will be substantial) it will keep both oil prices down and help it to bring down its reliance of oil. keeping the oil prices in check is also in the interest of the americans apart from their gaining an ally that is a wonderful multicultural democracy. ok i know, another sentence and i'll start getting flags for my b'day!!
b interviewed the fm on the budget for his group's tv channel along with a colleague from his (big) sister magazine, i must say that he looked a lot less nervous this time. the budget as we have been observing over the past few years is fast becoming just a declaration of the statement of accounts of the government. big announcements are seldom made in budgets anymore, for instance, the decision to open up fdi in single brand retail came much before the budget, i guess as we enter the complex process of running coalition governments, where every constituent needs to be accommodated this will become the norm. i guess announcements on labour laws etc will come during the course of the year. the government is still trying to push the single brand retail pill down the left's throat and once that is digested it will move forward with its other reform agendas.
here is an interesting take on the jessica lal and nitish katara murder cases.
and here is a recipe for baked fish with vegetables in white sauce and stock flavoured rice with red and yellow peppers that fats couldn't stop raving about.

baked fish (i used pomfret fillets):

marinate the fish with salt, pepper and some white wine, keep in the refrigerator for about an hour. drizzle some olive oil on the fish and bake. keep aside.

white sauce with vegetables:

chop some onions and mince some garlic. melt some butter and fry the onions and garlic in the butter, when the onions are translucent, add a cup of white wine and boil till the wine evaporates, keep aside.
in another pan, melt some butter and when the butter is hot, stir in some flour, when the flour starts changing colour, add tiny quantities of milk and continue stirring. continue this process till you get a nice thick sauce, add some broccolli and any other vegetables that you like, stir in the onions and garlic cooked in wine. check for salt and add some pepper, keep aside

rice cooked in stock with red and yellow pepper:

make some stock and add the stock instead of water while cooking the rice. warm some olive oil, add some onions and garlic and fry, then add the cubed red and yellow peppers, stirt for a few seconds and start adding the cooked rice till all the vegetables are properly mixed.

serve the rice with the fish and the vegetables in white sauce.

busy busy busy

2006-02-24T02:53:00.000-08:00

yes people, i have a lot to do these days. apart from the gym, there is pottery and i'm also going out and meeting people i haven't met in years. i like this new burst of activity, but i have to find some time for reading, i seem to have no energy left by bedtime. anyway, i guess i'll again confine myself inside the house once the north indian summer turns on the heat.
here is a pic of little g, taken by some insurance guys who were promoting their children-centric products on 26th jan. i'm trying to hold up g and she doesn't look too happy with the whole thing!

at our condo, we celebrate both 15th august and 26 jan, have a new year party and a diwali mela on our beautiful lawns. and this year too, on 26th jan there was flag hoisting and a small cultural program by the kids. for the really tiny tots there were two cut-outs, behind which they could pose and have their pic taken, one was tennis and other, of course a cricket one. all the little girls chose tennis (sania rules!!) and the boys cricket.
btw, here is a lovely recipe for fish that i came up with to liven up a dish of plain fried fish. it's great for summer as an accompaniment with a light dal.

fried fish with herbs and spices

grind one onion, some garlic, ginger, coriander powder and red chillies with some white wine vinegar and make it into a paste, marinate the fish fillets (you can use sole, surmai or pomfret) with this paste, cover and keep inside the refrigerator overnight.
chop some green onions (chop some of the green leafy parts as well), cut ginger into thin slivers and chop garlic finely, chop some coriander and mint leaves and green chillies. keep aside.
take the marinated fish pieces, season them with a little salt, coat them very lightly with some flour, fry lightly on both sides and put the fried pieces aside. in the same pan, add the green onions, saute for a few minutes and then add the ginger and garlic, saute some more and then add the coriander and mint leaves, turn the mixture around a little and then put in the fish pieces, lower the heat, sprinkle some salt, cover and cook till the fish is done and that should be about 3-5 mins.
serve with a light dal and steamed rice.

oh and before i forget, i will go underground for the next few days again as my friend fatty is coming down from b'bay for a few days.

pottering about

2006-02-14T06:45:00.000-08:00

i have started taking pottery lessons again. i stopped couple of years back when i got pregnant with g. i absolutely love the studio, it's inside anandgram at the sanskriti kala kendra.
here are a few pics:

that's the studio from a distance

inside the studio, a student

the studio with all the clay and slip buckets and wheels

that's a glimpse of the beautiful artists' village from the studio

potters preparing for a heavy duty firing

soup and sandwich

2006-02-13T01:08:00.000-08:00

people, summer is here, though not officially, the met dept keeps warning us that it might get chilly in march. but we have packed up our heaters and woolens and tees and shorts are being washed and ironed to tackle the north indian summer. g is already running around in her 'kachi and baniyan' :)
anyway, with summer setting in i'm preparing to make plenty of yummy cold soups and light sandwiches for lunch. i have checked out quite a few recipes and hope to add my own spin to them. i have always depended a lot on recipes but lately i have begun experimenting on my own a bit. staying at home and cooking has given me some confidence to try out my own stuff.

here is what we had for dinner last night:

broccoli and mushroom soup:

chop two small onions ( i used white ones) and some garlic finely and keep aside. heat a pan, add a little butter and saute half of the chopped onions and garlic, add sliced mushrooms (i used the standard white ones available in the local market). saute on low heat till the mushrooms start getting moist, sprinkle salt and transfer into a bowl. in the same pan, add some more butter and put in the remaining onions and garlic, saute for a few minutes. cut up the broccoli and add to the pan, saute for a few minutes, add some stock and bring to a boil. take care to see that the broccoli doesn't lose its crunchiness. take it off the heat and let it cool. put the cooled broccoli in the stock in a food processor and grind till its fine. pour the liquified broccoli into the pan, add the remaining stock (the quantity depends on the number of people you are serving) and the mushrooms and serve. you can add some fresh or sour cream if you like.

tomato, lettuce and fish sandwich:

take some whole wheat bread (or any bread that you fancy), toast the slices lightly and add some grated cheddar or any other cheese you like, then add the tomato rings, then the grilled fish (i marinated some sole in lemon juice, salt, red pepper, turmeric and ground coriander and grilled the pieces) and top it up with some fresh crisp iceberg lettuce and seal with a slice of bread. serve with mustard, i served mine with some french's honey dijon mustard.

now i'm seeing red

2006-02-12T23:45:00.000-08:00

the more i see of the red brigade the more depressed and angry i get!

let's take the iran issue first:
it has been proved that one of the biggest beneficiaries of pakistan's audacious and illegal nuclear trade is iran, that aq khan had for years carried on this dangerous proliferation is there for all to see. all of us (i assume even our rag tag red army) are well aware that china is a strong ally of pakistan and both countries have strong strategic defence ties that are designed to be strongly anti-india. in such a scenario why would india wish to further iran's quest to make nuclear weapons and what is wrong with voting against that country?
while it is true that the americans knew about khan's antics and yet kept mum to keep their own agenda on track, i don't see india's vote as only pandering to their interests, i see in the vote india's own self interest as well.
i find prakash karat's tone extremely communal and dangerous. what is shocking is that karat acted most irresponsibly and against the interest of our country by giving the iran vote such communal overtones!!

holding the economic reforms of the country hostage:
by raising red flags on every issue, from airport modernization to labour laws to retail trade. actually the less we say about the left's economic policies the better. given a chance they can take india back to pre-historic ages in one stroke.

associating with the dregs of the political class:
in trying to distance itself from communal parties, the left has been courting parties that are populated and run mostly by criminals, the rjd and sp, to form the third front.
in karat's books it is ok to kill, maim and terrorize people for money and power as long as you keep verbally bashing up communal parties and appear to be protectors of muslims. it would be interesting to know what those parties have done to help muslims in their respective states apart from patronizing criminals and thugs like shahbuddin and mukhtar ansari.
speaking of communalism, will someone explain why the government wants to know about the muslims in our armed forces? and why the indian state should take the onus of proving whether a person is an illegal immigrant or not?!!!

blast from the past

2006-02-02T03:06:00.000-08:00

i was trying to organize all our pics (i try this once in a while but end up daydreaming about the past and the pics never get organized as a result!) when i came across these pics i had taken of shalu bhalu during those good old days when we used to spend days together eating pizza, watching tv and generally lazing around.
shalu is a very shy person and she was quite unaware about the fact that i was taking these pics, and therefore these are perhaps some of the most candid shots of the bhalu ever taken.
above you can see that she is laughing at me as i clown around with the camera.
here, she is saying, 'ki hochhe?' her favourite bengali words, probably because those are the only words she can say flawlessly.
she has caught on and trying to hide her face.

shalu hiding her face.

greetings from nigeria!

2006-02-02T02:45:00.000-08:00

b's brother-in-law, abbas, is working in nigeria and he sent us a christmas greeting that we got last week. it was such a pleasant surprise! i have preserved both the card and the envelope. the card for its contents and the envelope for ahel in case he wants the stamps to add to his dad's collection. abbas has a number of interesting hobbies, collecting stamps is one of them and ahel is pretty proud of his dad's collection.
and yes, this is to say i'm back!

an unusual warm spell

2006-01-18T07:40:00.000-08:00

after a really cold spell, we are experiencing some unusually warm weather here. which means that i must do all the winter stuff that i have been meaning to do and the first one is to go eat both at dum pukt and bukhara, the restaurants at maurya.
among other news, vinny's parents are visting delhi and they came to see little g and we spent one afternoon last week going around gurgaon. they brought me a beautiful pair of earrings and my favourite kalimpong 'smelly' cheese. i love the smelly cheese, it takes me back to my college days when vinny's dad would pack these really yummy cheese sandwiches for me to be consumed on the train back to cal from darjeeling. vinny's family has the most beautiful home on hooker (i know i was pretty amused when i heard the name first) road and i've spent some of my happiest days there. vinny's granddad was an ardent orchid fan and wouldn't lose an opportunity to showcase and talk about his beloved plants. vinny's mum looks after his plants now.
one of b's cousins was in delhi for some work and he spent an evening with us. rahul is an interesting guy but more about him later. here are some pics of rahul, b and little g:

a trip to the zoo

2006-01-14T02:52:00.000-08:00

we went to the zoo today. yes, people we drove all the way from g'gaon to the zoo which is near pragati maidan in delhi. we left right after breakfast to avoid the saturday rush, especially as the auto expo is on at pragati maidan and today is the 'janta show' day. here is little g with mama, who is sporting a new haircut :)

that's little g just outside the zoo, she was not too happy to be woken up from her little nap.

here g is with her baba and ritu didi in the background, watching the 'baardies'. among the other attractions at the zoo, there was the lion who roared loudly, a pair of jaguars who growled at and played with each other, the rhino and elephants chewed on their breakfast, the giraffes walked around lazily while a chattering little monkey (who looked a lot like g!) wanted to get hold of g's puppet monkey that she was carrying with her.
back home we heated up some leftover food which consisted of some coconut chicken and other assorted stuff.

here is how i cooked the chicken:

scrape one whole coconut, keep aside. roast whole dried red chillies, coriander seeds, onions, garlic, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon and the coconut, grind this with some ginger, turmeric, tomatoes, tamarind paste and water. this is your base masala, keep aside.
boil the chicken pieces with a sliced onion, tomato, fresh green chilli, some of the ground masala and water. let the chicken boil till half done, then add the rest of the masala and simmer till the chicken is cooked.
serve hot with rice.

the chicken reminded me of fatty's mom's chicken curry that she'd serve with hard manglorean rottis that dissolved in the curry and tasted out of this world!

out of gas

2006-01-13T03:30:00.000-08:00

the india-iran gas pipeline that would have passed through pakistan has been dropped, finally. frankly, i have never understood why the petroleum ministry went ahead with this ridiculous plan in the first place.
my first objection as a tax payer is that why pay through our nose for something that is so risky, instead why not use that money to develop alternative sources of fuel. i just can't understand why governments the world over refuse to see the writing on the wall, we have to give a lot of serious thought to developing alternative sources of fuel. instead of carrying on expensive wars why not divert that money into something useful like alternative fuel. that way you also cut off the flow of petro dollars that help fund terror networks.
my second objection would be the involvement of iran. as we have been watching for the past few weeks iran could hardly be called a reliable ally anymore and whether the leftists like it or not, our foreign policy has to take into account the fears and apprehensions of the united states. and scrapping the pipeline was an important gesture on the part of indians before the americans come visiting later this year. i feel, we need to focus on our nuclear energy requirements and keep the dialogue alive with the americans.

update: ok, looks like the pipeline is still on, but some details are being thrashed out, like proposing that all the countries through which the pipelines pass build their own infrastructure. but i guess that these are delaying tactics and eventually it will have to be scrapped.

still there

2006-01-11T01:10:00.000-08:00

yesterday b and i went for an exhibition of photographs by pradip saha, titled 'still there'. pradeep is the editor of 'down to earth' the magazine brought out by center for science and environment and also one of b's oldest friends. the photographs are of the worst affected areas along nagapattinam, cuddalore and pondicherry. they were taken on the eve of the first anniversary of the tsunami in asia. pradip's images were not just about the affected people, but about how they are trying to pick up whatever pieces were left over from the enormous tragedy and move on. we sipped on some hot masala chai while checking out the pics, met pradip's wife and son and b introduced me to a funny looking skinny fellow, rana dasgupta, who i recognized as the guy who has written the book 'tokyo cancelled'.
annie george of ngo coordination and resource committee, nagapattinam took us through a ppt presentation of what has and is being done in the affected areas. after sometime we said our goodbyes to pradip and left.
on our way back, we listened to the ricky gervais show podcast that b had burnt on to a cd. people you must check him out. he and his two mates, steve and karl are not just mad but hilarious! i really dig their brand of humour, it is complete nonsense. those of you wondering who this bloke is, he is that superciliously funny guy in the bbc comedy the office.

sunshine on my shoulders make me happy..

2006-01-05T23:25:00.000-08:00

little g, ritu and i watched 'the day after tomorrow' today in order to remind ourselves that the dramatic low temparatures we are experiencing is a sure sign that all is not well with our environment. you see, the cold weather is also accompanied by some brilliant sunshine which is making us all very happy and carefree, so we thought watching the film would sober us down a bit! well, what can we say, it didn't work, so i hummed to myself and put some chicken breasts to roast. we are going to eat that with vegetables and rice cooked with some lovely stock.
among other news, b cooked mutton the other day, after watching madhur jaffrey cook some on discovery travel & living.

here is how he cooked it:

grind together cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, fennel (sauf), dried red chillies, cardamom and whole black pepper after roasting them. keep aside.
fry some coconut chips with some salt and keep aside.
heat oil, put in mustard seeds, when the seeds start sputtering add curry leaves, chopped onions, sliced garlic and ginger. brown. add the mutton and the spice mixture, coat the mutton with the mixture well, add the fried coconut chips. add white vinegar, salt and water. cook till done.
fry chopped onions with mustard seeds, curry leaves. garnish the mutton with this and serve with rice, rotis or appams.

and i cooked some nice fish curry with sole:

cover the fish pieces with some salt, curry powder ( i make curry powder by grinding together coriander, fenugreek, mustard, cumin, black pepper, fennel, cinnamon, cloves, dried red chillies and turmeric), dust with some flour, fry lightly and keep aside. in the same pan, add chopped onions, garlic, red chilli powder, about a tsp freshly ground mustard powder and curry leaves. cook until onions are soft, add some chopped tomatoes, tamarind paste (according to taste) and bring to a boil. then lower the heat and let the sauce simmer until it thickens. add the fish pieces and simmer till done.
serve with rice.

before i forget, b's mutton turned out pretty nice.

season of choices

2006-01-04T05:18:00.000-08:00

today little g went for her friend antara's b'day party where she sang 'tu u' loudly, clapped and shifted plastic chairs around. in between keeping watch over g (at one point she tried to pour an entire carton of apple juice on the floor!!) i was introduced to the other mums by antara's mum, min. out of the lot, two women caught my attention, one was wearing a stunning piece of jewellery (beautifully cut amethysts strung together with tiny silver balls and a classy antique silver pendant) and the other a lovely outfit with sexy boots.
it turned out the woman wearing the stunning piece of jewellery got it from the same lady who supplies to 'tarini', the store where i bought my exquisite pearl and black onyx necklace few days back (it's simple and elegant just the way i like my jewellery). the woman wearing the smart clothes and boots is a designer who designs very specific stuff for select clients who share her love for indian fabrics and prints with a modern and contemporary twist.
like most women i like jewellery and clothes but unfortunately for me (fortunately for b) i hardly go out and buy clothes or jewellery. the reason: there is a weird amount of uniformity in clothing these days. i find it hard to like most of the stuff i see on the racks. if i am lucky i can get something nice at anokhi, cotton world and sometimes benetton and be:. the other option is to patiently scour various markets or buy fabrics and get stuff tailored, both activities for which i have neither time nor patience.
the situation gets even worse with jewellery. i don't care much for gold, i love silver and coloured precious and semi-precious stones. as a result, i find all the stores positively revolting, apart from amrapali. i always end up buying stuff from amrapali and in recent times i find some of the jewellery at tarini pretty classy.
it is quite interesting to see how there is a resurgence of small entrepreneurs today. i remember as a kid, my mum had a list of people from whom she sourced her saris, jewellery, home textiles and other home decoration stuff. they were mostly housewives who catered to their clients from home and happy to customize things according to their tastes and preferences. those days it was a necessity because unlike now there was very little choice or variety in the market and you had to buy what was on offer, so people like my mum would try and make the best of the situation by say, getting a set of curtains dyed or embroidered in a certain way to build a little bit of her own personality into her home and wardrobe. when i was going to college, things changed a little. suddenly we had a whole host of brands spanning entire product categories that offered multiple choices and everyone was happy to just walk into a store and walk out with what they wanted. the cottage industry people did exist but they still didn't know the right way to package and sell to a sophisticated consumer class.
but over the years, as the number of consumers looking for something different and at the right price, from what is easily available, has been growing, a few small designers and entrepreneurs have spruced up their acts. as a result you have stores like the next shop, tarini, good earth doing a great job by focussing on a select bunch of customers. the next shop has some of the most exquisite glass stuff that can be used both as decorative as well as practical purposes, tarini stocks some really trendy bar instruments and other things like photo frames designed by a bunch of people calling themselves 'happily unmarried' and good earth has been working with potters around the numerous delhi villages to bring out some really nice ceramic tableware. in fact, at good earth verandah, the furniture store you can also customize your furniture requirements.
we have come a full circle albeit with a little more sophistication and edge, somewhat like the 80s flares making a hipper and trendier design statement in the form of the bootcut. now will someone please make some decent clothes?

a big shout out to all you guys out there...

2005-12-28T00:08:00.000-08:00

hope you had a great christmas and will have a rocking new year. i have been pretty busy with little g, reading, cooking and of course meeting up with old friends. my friend vinny came over for lunch on saturday. vinny is my oldest friend, we got to know each other in college but have kept in touch through the years. she is my closest pal and has always been there for me. she even stayed the nights at the nursing home when g was born and saw me through a very painful post-operative recovery. sometimes we laugh about how the two of us would struggle to get little g to latch on so that i could nurse her!
also met up with another close friend, sabiha. she was in town and we spent an afternoon together. it was fun catching up on all kinds of gossip and yes, people, before you ask, we did go shopping. it was quite funny to watch old sab rejecting clothes because a particular colour or style is not in season, needless to say that this episode will be discussed with deepa venky at length and we will laugh to our heart's content at poor sab's expense :) . sabiha's family in hyderabad has the best cook ever who serves some of the yummiest food, the best hyderabadi muslim cuisine.
speaking of food, i tried out my mom-in-law's ghassi with some surmai and it turned out pretty good. here is the recipe:

surmai ghassi:

coat the fish pieces with turmeric and salt and keep aside. make a nice watery paste of plenty of scraped coconut, coriander and dried red chillies roasted in oil and tamarind (soak the required amount in warm water and use the gooey tamarind pulp). heat oil and put in the paste and bring to a boil. slowly add the fish pieces to the gravy and simmer till done. check for salt, brown some sliced onions to garnish and serve with rice or appams. i have never tried making appams so i serve this with rice. if you are serving with appams then let the paste boil till it thickens a little before putting in the fish.

here is the recipe for bacon and mushroom rissoto i cooked for lunch on sunday 25th dec:

first chop up and fry some bacon and keep aside. heat some olive oil along with butter and put in chopped onions, celery and garlic. when the onions become translucent, add sliced button mushrooms (you can use dried oyster mushrooms washed in warm water as well) saute for a few minutes and add the arborio rice (two cups is good for three people in my household) and fry till the rice becomes translucent, now add a cup of some good white wine (the wine must be good, if a wine is not good enough to drink it cannot be good enough for cooking) and keep stirring till the rice soaks up all the wine and you get a nice aroma, start adding stock (you can make some stock by simmering some left over chicken or mutton bones, celery sticks, onions, garlic, carrots, cloves, cinnamon, cardamom, whole black pepper, some fresh herbs like thyme, sage, rosemary for about 3-4 hours. season with salt) and stiring the rice all the while. imp: do not let the rice stand, keep stirring and when the rice soaks up the stock add some more. continue doing this till the rice is cooked. i like my rissoto to be al-dente (a little crunchy, half done). sprinkle the bacon bits and some grated parmesan cheese and serve immediately.
in case you are not comfortable with bacon, use chicken bits. you could boil some chicken when you are making the stock and cut it up into small pieces. the chicken will be full of all the lovely flavour of the stock.

once again have a great year and i'll see you guys in 2006. happy new year!

the little angel

2005-12-21T02:24:00.000-08:00

what can i say, this is really deceptive. wait till she wakes up :)

my own little herb garden

2005-12-21T01:35:00.000-08:00

i have been meaning to plant some herbs this winter and i finally did, actually it was the help, ritu who did all the work. ritu is a tribal girl from jharkhand and has lived on a farm from the time she was born with her grandmother. she has a thing for gardening and loves tinkering with my potted plants, given a chance she would grow vegetables on my tiny balcony!
anyway, when i returned from my shopping trip to ina market (where i go to get all my herb supplies) she was very excited to see the thyme, rosemary, oregano, sage and basil stalks, she calls them 'jaribootis' :) . she took some of the herbs and planted them. since we had just one pot at our disposal we decided to limit our planting to sage, oregano and thyme. it's been two days now and looks like my tiny herb garden is alive and kicking!
on my way back from ina market, i hopped across to jor bagh market to pick up some pork tenderloin from pigpo and some fish, meat and fruit from my favourite khan market shops, empire meat shop and bombay fruit mart. i picked up some sole and surmai fish and a whole leg of lamb from the meat shop.
and no all this driving around and shopping didn't dampen my enthusiasm for cooking a wonderful pot roasted pork dish.

pot-roasted pork:

wash the tenderloin pieces well, take care to clean out all the hair. season the meat with salt and pepper and roll the pieces in fennel (sauf) seeds. heat some olive and butter in a heavy bottomed grill pan and fry the meat for a few minutes. add some whole garlic, freshly chopped rosemary leaves, one sliced fennel bulb and some white wine (i used white wine vinegar and it tasted good enough). cover the pan loosely with some grease-proof paper and cook in the oven till done.

i served this with some sauteed vegetables:

cut broccoli into florets, slice courgettes and asparagus, keep aside. heat a tiny bit of olive oil and saute the vegetables lightly, add some bits of smoked bacon and stir well. take off the heat and add some crumbled feta cheese.

i also made some dessert which was a disaster so i will not post anything about it here.

to lessen the impact on our systems from all this red meat eating i decided to cook the sole with oyster mushrooms in a white sauce the next day. but the white sauce turned out to be rich as well :P

sole with oyster mushrooms in a white sauce:

chop some parsley and green onions, keep aside. put the parsley, green onions, salt, pepper, one cup of white wine and 1/2 cup water in a pan and bring to a boil. add the fish pieces and poach for a few minutes. take the fish pieces out and keep aside in a lightly buttered baking pan. meanwhile continue cooking the liquid on low heat till it reduces.
in a saucepan melt some butter, add a couple of tablespoon of all purpose flour and stir. gradually add reduced liquid and heavy cream. keep stirring on low heat constantly, add the cleaned and chopped oyster mushrooms. when you think it is think enough, pour over the fish and place under a broiler till brown.
serve with bread or rice. i served it with some five grain bread.

ps: a big thank you goes out to lulu for her gift without which delicious pot roasted pork wouldn't have been possible :)

demolition blues

2005-12-20T23:37:00.000-08:00

delhi is reeling under the effect of the high court order that instructs the municipal corporation of delhi to pull down all illegal constructions. of course politicians cutting across party lines are ganging up to protect the 'livelihoods' of lakhs of people and everyone one is blaming the mcd for the mess.
but i have just one question to ask here: yes, the mcd is one of the most corrupt civic bodies in the world perhaps, but why did those 'poor livelihood seekers' not put their foot down and refuse to pay the bribes to regularize their illegal activities? why did the 'poor people' who invested their life savings in acquiring illegal properties promoted by unscrupulous builders not find out about the legal status of the properties they were buying? this shows an utter disregard for the law and it seems law abiding citizens are penalized in the form of inhuman living conditions so that these 'poor lawless individuals' can thrive!! you actually give people incentives to break the law? is it ok to let people pay a nominal fine and break the law with impunity?
it has become a pain to live in any of the colonies of delhi, even lutyens delhi has not been spared. rampant commercialization of residential areas and hundreds of unauthorized constructions dot the heart of india's seat of power. many of the lovely bunglows of lutyens delhi have been converted into hideous structures in keeping with the taste or in this case the lack of it by the user. not just that, many sublet their government accomodations and these 'tenants' carry out commercial activities right under the nose of the government.
this sunday b, little g and i drove to vasant vihar to buy some wine and we came back totally frustrated. we spent roughly an hour trying to negotiate our way out of the colony! even gurgaon is going down the same path. the other day on my way back from a trip to ina market, jor bagh and khan market, i saw rampant commercialization of residential areas in gurgaon. health clinics, drug stores, supermarkets, even guest houses are being run from residential areas.
sometimes it is very depressing to see things falling apart around you. where do we go from here? will things get worse before they get better, will they get better in my lifetime, what sort of urban spaces are we leaving behind for our children and more importantly, what are we teaching them by our lawless and despicable behaviour?

brrrr.....

2005-12-17T04:19:00.000-08:00

yes, it is cold but this time i'm not moping. reason: our apartment faces the sun and we get wonderful warm sunshine through the day which is perfect bliss, really! and as night falls i scurry into the kitchen to make some hot soup.

this is something i made a couple of days back:

boil some chicken with some salt, freshly ground black pepper, some cloves, cinnamon and cardamom and some crushed garlic in a pot of water. when the chicken pieces are cooked take the pot off the heat and keep aside. take the chicken pieces out and let them cool. meanwhile, heat some (very little) olive oil in a pan and put in some strips of bacon, fry them crisp and take them out of the pan. you needn't use most of the bacon fat, i don't myself, i just like a hint of the fat not the whole thing.
keep the crisply fried bacon strips aside. use just a tiny bit of the fat and a little olive oil to saute some chopped onions, garlic and celery in a pot for about a couple of minutes. then add chopped cabbage, beans, carrots and whatever other vegetables you fancy, saute this for about 5 minutes on low heat. take the pieces of cloves, cinnamon and cardamom out of the stock and pour into the pot of vegetables and simmer. meanwhile, de-bone the chicken and shred them into bite sized pieces and grate some nice cheddar cheese. check the pot after about 10 minutes, add the chicken and add the cheese slowly while stirring the soup. slowly mix all the cheese into the soup. you may want to keep some cheese aside, to add if you want later according to your taste. crumble the bacon strips and add.
serve piping hot with some bread and let the good times roll.....

couldn't help that! b is listening to some dead.

you are what you eat- a meme

2005-12-12T23:58:00.000-08:00

sailu tagged me for this meme where i have to list my 10 most favourite foods. so here it is:

1.. pasta: i love pasta, i can eat it everyday. i make pasta pretty often and love experimenting with different kinds of sauces. cooking pasta also lets me experiment with various kinds of cheese which i love. i love the taste of ricotta in a meat sauce, parmesan in any sauce, mozzarella in baked ones, mascarpone in simple leafy vegetable sauces or just some crumbled feta over a simple pasta with vegetables. i prefer the whole wheat variety and would like to make fresh pasta some day.

2.. biryani: i love biryani, the real thing with mutton and it can be from any part of india. i love the oily biryani i used to eat quite a bit while in college in cal at royal. i love the hyderabadi as well as the lucknowi biryani. i think all the versions are exquisite in their own way.

3.. pizza: sometimes i think if i had enough money i would buy a house in defence colony overlooking the dda shopping complex where the italian restaurant 'flavours' is located. that way i would be able to have their wood-fired oven baked pizzas whenever i wanted, not to mention the delicious rissotos and pastas on offer as well. flavours lists a simple pizza on its menu which has nothing but slivers of parmesan cheese and prosciutto sprinkled with arugula leaves and that pizza is to die for.

4.. basic mutton curry: families in india have their own way of cooking mutton curries, i love all the variations i have eaten. i like the bengali version, 'kosha mangsho' which is mainly a fried mutton curry, i absolutely love the kerala and andhra versions i have eaten and also the kashmiri versions. i also have a huge soft spot for the rajasthani 'lal maas'.

5.. fish: i don't care much for fresh water fish, i cannot resist sea fish like pomfret, surmai and mackerel. i like both fried and curried fish and i love the goan fish dishes. my mom-in-law is an expert at making some of the best fish curries, she can serve a mean ghassi that can leave you hooked for life.
i also like eating fish roe, my favourite roe is that of the hilsa fish.

6.. multiple grains: i love all kinds of grains and like to mix ragi, bajra or makki to my whole wheat dough for making rotis. i love the feeling of wholesomeness in my mouth when i chew the mixed dough rotis or bread.

7.. sweets: i have a major sweet tooth and love almost anything sweet which includes rosogulla, gulab jamun, kheer, ras malai, moti chur ladoos, kaju barfis, gooey chocolate cakes and desserts, fruit pies, chocolates and when nothing is available even the occasional timtam.

8.. paneer or cottage cheese: i like paneer mainly because of its ability to not only blend in with whatever you are cooking it with but also enhancing the taste of that paricular dish. i like to eat paneer with vegetables, as an ingredient in pulao and also as a stuffing in parathas.

9.. dal: i cannot live without dals. i love all kinds of dals. mostly i like my dals simple but sometimes i don't mind the heavy duty punjabi dal makhni and the bengali dal cooked with mutton. you can check out this list i had put up sometime back.

10.. street food: i am a sucker for street food. no amount of bullying and teasing by b can stop me from tucking into pani puris, jhal muris, churmurs, aloo tikkis on the streets.

that's my list. now i would like to tag lulu (i'm curious to know what her top 10 favourites are), k (though this bugger can't cook to save his a*** he sure loves his food), sabiha (she is in india right now so it will be a good way for her to feel nostalgic when she gets back to the UK), gopal uncle (so that when he is in delhi next time i know what to cook for him) and papamali (just to bug him a bit).

update: was just on the phone with sabiha, she is in hyderabad and will be coming to delhi sometime during the week. she was eating khubani ka meetha, and i remembered how much i love that dessert. so that's another one for the list.

the little chef

2005-12-10T05:48:00.000-08:00

that's g concentrating on her cooking! this is the only way to keep her out of mischief when i'm cooking.

oliver's twist

2005-12-10T05:22:00.000-08:00

that's the name of a new show hitting the tv screens here (zee cafe actually) on 18th dec, and yes, the reason i'm super excited is because it is a cookery show by jamie oliver!!!! i feel like doing some time travelling people, i can't wait to see jamie in action :)

the 'honourable' man's dishonourable departure and other stuff

2005-12-06T01:58:00.000-08:00

vir sanghvi must be a broken man. after his repeated assurances to the readers of the hindustan times that natwar singh is an honourable man and that all allegations against him have been fabricated and untrue in the iraq food-for-oil programme, developments over the past few days should have jolted the poor editor out of his stupidity. how can natwar singh be an honourable man, when it has clearly emerged that he is not just dishonest but also a liar? if he is indeed honourable then he should have talked some sense into his son and brought him under control. this is the second time his name has been dragged into the mud because of his son. the first time was when his daughter-in-law died under mysterious circumstances at the hyatt in delhi and now this. it was easier to brush the d-i-l's death under the carpet, it was also a personal matter, but the current fracas is a serious one and involves not just his family but the nation. the whole episode also exposes the manner in which corruption thrived under the congress rule behind the veneer of respectability and nationalism. that was the upper caste elite way, the corruption you see today is the cruder version, it's the lalu way.
anyway, i feel really sorry for the old man and would not want to be in his shoes right now. another person whose shoes i don't want to be in (not that they would fit in any case :>) is general motors' boss, rick wagoner. it's a mighty mess gm has got itself into i say! here is jerry flint's view about the crisis.
anyway, in other news, i got myself jamie's new book, jamie's italy, i have been dying to lay my hands on it after i read about it on lulu's blog and i must say i am hooked, yet again! so here is what i cooked from my new book:

nonna giusy's fish with couscous:

the fish (i used sole):
put a pan on low heat and add some olive oil. add sliced white onions, garlic and crumbled dried red chillies, cook gently for about 5 mins. add fish to the pan and pour in passata (you could make a simple passata like i did, first puree about 8 tomatoes, strain the liquid and simmer for about a couple of hours, season with some sea salt and pepper and add basil) and the same amount of water to cover the fish. season with sea salt and pepper and simmer for about 20 mins. remove from the heat and carefully transfer the fish into another bowl. then pour some of the sauce into another bowl and keep aside. flake the meat from the fish carefully and pour the remaining sauce on the fish flakes.

couscous:

grind together one onion, garlic and a handfull of parsley until fine. mix this with the couscous and steam for about half and hour. then pour in the sauce that you had kept aside, cover the couscous bowl with an aluminium foil and place in very low heat (lowest possible) for about 30 mins.

i served this couscous with another fish dish, which i improvised a little. here it is:

take some fish fillets, cut then into wide strips. take a couple of sundried tomatoes, some chopped black olives and sliced button mushrooms, spread them on the fillet strips and roll up the strips, use toothpicks to keep the rolls in place if necessary. heat some olive oil in a pan and add sliced onions, garlic and crumbled dried red chillies. after about 5 mins add sliced button mushrooms and cook for another 5 mins. add passata and water and simmer for 5 mins, then pour some sauce into another bowl for the couscous. put the pan back on the heat and add the fish rolls, season with salt and pepper. simmer for about 20 mins, add some sliced black olives and serve with the couscous.

dhucky and mananas

2005-11-25T06:47:00.000-08:00

little g is quite a chatterbox, of course much of what she says is difficult to understand apart from baba, mama (she says mama when she wants to be picked up as well) and 'fisssh'. but for the past few days she has been trying to form sentences, tiny ones but just the effort makes my heart leap with joy.

harry potter, lalu yadav and a couple of mutton recipes

2005-11-22T02:21:00.000-08:00

b and i watched harry potter and the goblet of fire last night and i loved the film. i think it is the best of the lot till date, though b was quite bored by it, the only reason he didn't walk out was because of me. and as i write this post, all the news channels are full of lalu yadav's defeat in the bihar elections. after 15 long years, finally lalu has run out of jokes and excuses for bihar's pathetic state. but i am still not jumping for joy as there are a significant number of criminals who had contested and have won seats. it remains to be seen how nitish kumar handles these goons and frankly, i'm not particularly optimistic.
anyway, with the weather getting really pleasant, i decided to experiment with some mutton this weekend. here are two recipes:

mutton with red wine:

marinate the mutton pieces in red wine, lots of freshly ground black pepper, salt, ginger and garlic paste and leave it overnight.
chop some onions and vegetables like beans and carrots. heat some olive oil in a pressure cooker and put in some whole garam masala like cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, then put in the onions and fry till translucent, take the mutton pieces out of the marinade and put them in the cooker and fry for a few minutes then add the vegetables, season with salt and add the reserved marinade and stock and cook till done.

mutton with curd, spices, masur dal and spinach:

marinate the mutton in curd, ginger garlic paste, coriander and red chilli paste and some salt. cover and leave overnight in the refrigerator.
heat some olive oil in the pressure cooker, add some whole garam masala and chopped onions fry till translucent. add the meat pieces and fry for a few minutes. stir in the marinade, some water and some washed masur dal. add some chopped spinach and let the whole thing simmer, check for salt and cook till done.

you can serve both with either roti or rice. i served the first one with some couscous cooked with chopped red and yellow pepper and second one with rotis.

couscous with red and yellow pepper:

steam the couscous according to instructions on the package. heat some olive oil, put in the chopped red and yellow pepper, saute for a few seconds and add the couscous, mix well and serve.

lunch with promila aunty

2005-11-19T04:11:00.000-08:00

little g was bathed, fed and bundled into the car and we were off to shalu bhalu's house in gk. aunty was all bright and ready sporting her smart new neckpiece she had bought at the trade fair currently on in delhi. after a short chat with uncle, aunty and i set off to locate 'amritsari rang', a restaurant that aunty had read about. we found the place without much difficulty, it is part of the 'forum' lounge & bar owned by one of the young burman brothers of dabur.
the restaurant has no pretensions, no fussy interiors etc, it is strictly a food place and the food was surprisingly good!
i have been craving for some rich food for sometime (last last week i nagged b to make reservations at bukhara or dum pukt at the maurya but he was too busy so we dropped the idea) and i was game for some rich punjabi food when aunty suggested amritsari rang. shalu bhalu's vegan mum ordered for chana and saag paneer with lachha paratha while i opted for some rahhra mutton and missi roti. while we waited for the food, i sipped on mango panna and aunty on lassi. i quite enjoyed the spicy mutton, extremely tasty but rich saag paneer and chana. for dessert aunty opted for kulfi and i for gulab jamun (b's favourite). we packed some kulcha and chana for uncle and left as a late-afternoon party was picking up at the lounge below. after lunch, i taught aunty how to start her own blog and then we said our goodbyes and headed home.

don't blame walmart

2005-11-18T00:39:00.000-08:00

i was really tempted to comment on this post of sabiha's but i had so much to say that i thought of composing a post of my own. of course it helped that i got to read this piece by geoffrey colvin in the dec 5th issue of fortune and i was absolutely clear in my mind about my stand on this big retail bashing that goes around these days in the name of saving local communities and businesses.
big retailers thrive because they bring in efficiency and choice to the consumer. let me illustrate this point a little: i went looking for a grill pan sometime back and decided to give the local guy a chance. i went to 'shyam di hatti' at khan market and asked for a grill pan. the owner who sits near the cash counter called out to one of his boys and asked them to find out if they had a grill pan lying around. the boy scratched his balls and then his ear and rubbed the ear wax on his shirt collar, looked into space for sometime and finally took out a couple of grill pans. i was not very impressed with the 'range' and asked them if they had a cheaper one in iron. the guy scowled at me and said, 'this is all i have, let me know if you want any!' i walked out and went to 'lifestyle', a store located in a mall near my house. i did not encounter any problems locating the exact grill pan i was looking for and my experience was much much better. the big retailer passed the test on choice, range, service, ambience, comfort as well as price. give me one good reason why as a consumer i should go back to mr ear wax?
while it is true that big retail brings in sameness, is it also not true that small local retailers can also bring in sameness? i remember walking into press conferences in b'bay and coming across at least two people wearing the exact blouse i was wearing, they all were cottonworld fans. now, with cottonworld spread across all big indian cities, there are entire batches of people wearing identical clothes. the deal here is that if you want ready-made clothes, you have to trade in some amount of exclusivity. today brands like zara and h&m have tried to get around this problem of sameness by perfecting the art of selling clothes with fresh designs with a turnaround time of weeks.
having said that, there are niches where local businesses can do better than big box retailers, say special local produce, speciality products, why, even books and clothes.
those who are tired of wearing and seeing other people wear the same fab india stuff can check out omo in b'bay and b'lore and soma in delhi, pepper tree in gurgaon. then there are ngo-promoted brands like urmul from gujarat, one trip to dilli haat will give you more choices in local prints, fabrics and design than you can handle!
when it comes to buying books, i will always bet on fact & fiction, a pokey little place in vasant vihar but according to me one of the best bookshops in india. the reason is simple, book chains like crosswords, oxford, om have yet to improve their niche categories, they have the range but not the depth. for example, i am more likely to find jamie's new cookbook jamie's italy at fact & fiction than crosswords or the others. in fact, i suspect the guys at these chains would have no clue about either the author or the book.
there is nothing wrong with inefficient businesses being weeded out by efficient ones. small businesses that are run efficiently and with a bit of imagination can always survive the big guys.

there is a nip in the air and i...

2005-11-09T04:50:00.000-08:00

feel like eating piping hot dals. i love dals, but my range has always been limited, well not any longer, here are a few of my mom-in-law's recipes. enjoy!!

ambat

this can be made with most vegetables except bhindi. i like it best with spinach.
cook some arhar dal with salt and turmeric. while the dal is cooking, shred a bunch of spinach or any other vegetable you want to use. make a masala paste of some coconut, roasted methi (fenugreek), roasted red chillies and tamarind pulp. keep aside.
once the dal is cooked, add the shredded spinach, simmer for a few minutes till the spinach becomes limp, then add the masala paste and simmer for some more time. chop some onions fry them in ghee or oil and season, take the dal off the heat immediately. serve with rice.

my favourite masur (pink) dal

boil some masur dal with turmeric and salt. after the dal has boiled, heat some oil in a small pan, sprinkle some nigella (kalonji) seeds, add chopped onions and slit green chillies. when the onions start getting brown add the whole thing to the boiled dal. serve with rice.

another masur dal recipe with a non-veg option

wash masur dal and coat with onion, garlic and ginger paste, turmeric, a pinch of red chilli powder and salt. heat oil, add jeera (cumin), when the seeds sputter, add some cloves, one crushed cardamom and a piece of cinnamom. roast the dal along with the masala paste, add salt and water and pressure cook till done. after the steam has escaped, open the lid of the pressure cooker and mix the dal well. add about half a tsp of sugar and some ghee (optional). garnish with coriander leaves and sliced green chillies. this dal goes great with rotis.
if you have some left over lamb or chicken, shred and add to the dal. you can even make an omelette, cut it up and put in the dal.

moong dal

this is a family recipe that has been passed down from b's paternal grandmother to his mum and now to me.
boil moong dal with salt and keep aside. heat some ghee or oil, put in cardamom, slit green chillies, ginger slivers and raisins, saute for a few seconds and add to the dal. then add some thick coconut milk and ghee and serve with puris.
this was apparently a sought-after item on the high tea menu at the narayan household.

konkani moong dal

boil dal with turmeric and salt. heat some oil/ghee in a small pan and put in some mustard seeds, hing, curry leaves, chopped ginger and green chillies, dunk this into the dal and add some chopped corinader leaves. serve with rice and lemon wedges. papads and vadis go well with this.

arhar dal

1..boil dal with turmeric and salt. heat some oil in a small pan, add curry leaves, mustard seeds, hing, chopped ginger and green chillies, dunk into the boiled dal and add some coriander leaves and serve with rice.

2.. wash dal, apply turmeric, jeera and chillie powder and fry the dal till you get a fine aroma. add salt and pressure cook till done. once cooked, mix in a little sugar (about 1/2 tsp) and a tsp of ghee and serve with rotis or rice.

matar dal

1.. boil with salt. heat some ghee/oil in a small pan and add chopped green chillies, methi and grated coconut, mix this with the boiled dal and serve.

2.. cook the dal with salt and add chopped up vegetables like peas, tomatoes, beans etc. heat some oil and put in kalonji (nigella seeds), slit green chillies and put into the dal. add some freshly chopped coriander leaves and serve with rice.

chana dal

cook the dal with turmeric and salt. heat ghee/oil put in jeera (cumin), bayleaves, tiny bits of coconut and raisins, mix in with the dal. add some sugar (1/2 tsp) and sprinkle some roasted jeera (cumin) powder on top and serve with rice or rotis.

i know it's diwali when.....

2005-11-01T03:53:00.000-08:00

i get a call on my cell and a voice asks for 'gudiya' which happens to be my pet name and then the line gets cut off, i call the number back and ask who it was that called for gudiya 'coz that's the name my family uses for me. the lady who takes the call laughs softly and says, 'well i called your number by mistake i was trying to connect to my sister who is also called gudiya, but happy diwali to you anyway'.
happy diwali to all you guys out there!

potty training little g

2005-10-13T00:35:00.000-07:00

i did a little dance in the loo today, little g pooped into the pot for the first time and i just couldn't help myself. i have been tearing my hair trying to potty train the little devil. believe me, i've never been so patient in my entire life. i would take her off the pot whenever she cried and patiently explain to her why she should do soo soo and potty in the pot and not on the floor, in different ways.
this morning we came back from the gym and called out to her, usually she runs to us but today she kept answering but didn't come, so we went and checked, she was sitting on the pot with a book and reading in her own garbled fashion. i took her off the pot and let her float around without a diaper.
there is no way i can get her to train with the diaper on because then she gets all comfortable, so i take off her diaper and let her hang around and watch for her expression, the moment i spy a change i make her sit on the pot. today, i finally got the timing right!
all that merry cheering had an impact on g too, she gave a brilliant smile and clapped her hands, so i guess she understood my excitement as well. now i only hope she remembers all that tomorrow morning.

swaying lamps and drunken steps

2005-10-11T07:24:00.000-07:00

that was how the earthquake looked like in our highrise apartment in gurgaon this sunday. little g was very confused and leapt into my arms and clung to me. b was at the gym where the pool swayed and there were little waves in the water. ritu, g and i walked out of our apartment only to see people running down the fire staircase with suitcases!! later ritu regaled me with funny stories about how some 'madams' ran out of their respective baths in various stages of undress, that she had heard from her friends during her evening trip to the park with g.
b came back soon after and we decided to go for breakfast to 'cocoa' a new place on mg road. the place turned out to be very chilled out, the service was good, the food could have been better though. my eggs were a little overcooked, but the toast was nice and crisp. b quite enjoyed his all american breakfast, it included a couple of pancakes, sausages, bacon, sunny side up eggs and some more stuff!!
on our way back home, we stopped over at galleria, a local market and bought a whole leg of lamb, some chicken breasts and a couple of chicken legs for g. back home, i marinated the leg of lamb and kept it away in the refrigerator so that by evening it would be nice and ready for roasting. the chicken breasts were marinated too to be cooked on the grill pan for lunch.

roasted leg of lamb:

make some incisions with a sharp knife and marinate the lamb with olive oil, red wine vinegar, salt, pepper, marjoram (fresh if available), rosemary (fresh if available) and crushed garlic. stuff the garlic into the meat, cover and put the leg away in the refrigerator for at least 5-6 hours. keeping it overnight will make the meat even more juicy and yummy. roast the leg till done. keep basting the meat from time to time with the juices from the marinade, you could also add some unsalted butter if you like.
i served the lamb with some jacket potatoes and couscous and red and yellow pepper.

chicken breasts:

beat the breasts with a mallet till they become thin and marinate them in olive oil, white wine vinegar or lemon, salt, pepper and thyme. oil the grill pan and cook for a few minutes till it turns a light brown and serve with bread and some grilled vegetables.

let them burn the laptops!

2005-10-11T00:14:00.000-07:00

there is an old saying in bengali, loosely translated it means, a thief raises his voice the loudest when the theft is discovered. the reason i'm suddenly thinking up bengali proverbs is because of a bloody battle raging in the indian blogosphere. here are the facts in brief:
a particular magazine did a story on a two penny institute whose only claim to fame is its advertising prowess and a ponytailed specimen claiming to be some sort of management guru who no one would have heard of but for those downmarket ads. this story was picked up by a blogger who posed a few questions about this so-called institute's claim to fame for which he got a funny sort of a legal notice, which was, well funny. but then the story ceases to be funny because the institute's crazy management decided to call this blogger's employer which happens to be lenovo (earlier IBM) and threatened to burn thinkpads if the blogger didn't delete his posts. as of now the blogger has quit his job, see his post here, rather than give in to some two bit cerebrally challenged individuals. naturally bloggers have smelt blood here and many have taken on this challenge by posting even more about the institute and its patrons, see them here, here and even on an international blog. if indeed the institute and its patrons are genuine and accomplished as they claim to be then they needn't have reacted to some stray blogger's comments and taken it to such great lengths, they do have something to hide, do they?

presenting my new grill pan

2005-10-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

yes people that is my new grill pan, just the kind i have been looking for, yay! it is a heavy duty iron grill pan that will get better with age. i bought it at lifestyle this morning for less than $20! i have been checking out several models at various stores including, shyam di hatti at khan market, before i lost my heart to this one. all the rest were of the non-stick variety and cost almost $70!
i quite like lifestyle, it's one of the better run departmental stores in india. even though shoppers' stop is much older and therefore had an advantage, it has not been able to match up to lifestyle in terms of the range and quality of products available. even westside does a far better job than ss, in fact, the apparel section of westside is quite good and offers great value for money, its private labels are both, well designed and managed.
i especially like lifestyle's kitchen section, they sell some really cool stuff. if the big bazaar kitchen section is vast and meant for the mass consumer, lifestyle's is slightly smaller but is carefully targeted at the well-heeled and widely-travelled consumer.

arundhati roy buys good earth

2005-10-05T21:31:00.000-07:00

b is travelling, he left for b'lore late afternoon on tuesday. before catching his flight he had just enough time for a quick meal . i had picked up a whole red snapper and a packet of fresh mozzarella cheese during one of my trips to modern bazaar. i decided to bake the fish whole, toss up a salad with the fresh cheese and serve it with some bread.

baked red snapper

make some gashes on the fish with a sharp knife and sprinkle some salt, freshly ground black pepper on the fish and coat it with some extra virgin olive oil, white wine vinegar, some thyme and stuff some garlic cloves into the gashes. bake till done.

salad with fresh mozzarella

slice onion rings, some tomatoes, add black olives and the cheese. sprinkle some salt, pepper, extra virgin olive oil, red wine vinegar and some dried oregano on the salad, toss and serve.

there is this lady in our appartment complex who has bought a new place and she wanted me to take her to good earth verandah (the lifestyle furniture and accessories store run by anita lal of good earth fame) as she liked the stuff we have picked up from the store. she has been wanting to go since last week but we kept postponing due to something or the other. wednesday turned out to be perfect as b was not around and the driver was free to take us to mehrauli where the store is located inside the ambavatta complex.
at verandah i picked up a beautiful photo frame (all the while thinking of shalu bhalu's obsession with photo frames) made out of dried water hycinth. then we went upto the fourth floor to the good earth crockery section and after browsing around for a few minutes i picked up two giant blue mugs for serving soup. i also wanted to pick up a corkscrew that b wanted badly but stopped short at the tag, 15 grand for a corkscrew is a bit too much!
anyway, while i was making an inventory of all the stuff i wanted to come back and buy, guess who walks into the store, arundhati roy. yes people the activist and writer was shopping around for tea cups and bought some signature good earth tea cups.
i ended my shopping spree at the jewellery store, amethyst, where i acquired a pair of beautiful stone crusted earrings and a matching pendant.

The Mitrokhin Archive II

2005-10-05T07:48:00.000-07:00

it's really sad to see the bjp floundering so badly. the latest idiocy on display is best described here.

shalu mashi's brief tryst with little g

2005-09-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

shalu bhalu spent an afternoon in g'gaon during her short visit this time and little g stuck to shalu mashi for the entire time she spent at home. shalu and i went out shopping after lunch to fabindia and one of the malls. after spending what seemed like hours at fabindia, where shalu wanted to buy all their furniture, she was dropping me home. she wanted to say goodbye to g before leaving so we called her down. one look at shalu mashi and g jumped into her 'godi' and looked very pleased with herself. as you can see little g took to shalu mashi like a fish to water!

say cheese!

2005-09-30T02:44:00.000-07:00

i felt like photoblogging a bit so i decided to put up this pic of shalu bhalu and lulu. this pic was taken when shalu was visiting nyc sometime in august where she met lulu for the first time. if you are wondering why they are grinning so much, blame it on pizzas and substantial amounts of alcoholic beverages in their systems :)

tagged again!

2005-09-29T03:37:00.000-07:00

'i think it's a nice gift for young couples': that was the 5th line from the 23rd post on this blog. the gift i'm talking about is 'spouse' by shobhaa de. the post was about how i enjoy spending my time at home reading.
that is, truly the best part of staying at home apart from spending time with little g. in fact, because i read so much (so does b and now even ritu, the help, has started reading her copy of the hindi 'india today' regularly) little g has developed the habit of leafing through her books and pestering her baba and me to read to her. it's almost comical to watch her stamp her little foot in anger when we try to fend her off sometimes. afterall, how many times can a person read 'once upon a time there lived a poor mother and her son jack', but determined little g will hear none of that! for the past two days it's been 'moaning morris', 'lazy ozzie' and 'the healthy' wolf'.
so when g is otherwise occupied, i begin to read my stuff. i've been reading some really nice books these past few weeks. i read amitava ghosh's 'the hungry tide' (set in the ecologically sensitive sundarbans, the book brings out the man-nature conflict beautifully), natsuo kirino's 'out' (this is an old book by kirino and gives you the creeps. it brings out the desperation and hopelessness in japanese society), angelo pellegrini's 'the unprejudiced palate : classic thoughts on food and the good life' (a truly delightful book, if you are interested in food, it's a must read), also read suketu mehta's 'maximum city' (it's on b'bay and i loved it) and james hamilton-paterson's 'cooking with fernet branca' (a hilarious and timepass book) . right now i'm reading ryszard kapuscinski's imperium (i'm finding it difficult to put the book down, it's so gripping).
if you are wondering why i'm rambling on like this, blame lulu, she tagged me and it's my turn now:
i would like to tag papamali, sabiha and k.

this is what you need to do:
1. delve into your blog archive.
2. find your 23rd post (or closest to).
3. find the fifth sentence (or closest to).
4. post the text of the sentence in your blog along with these instructions.
5. tag five people to do the same.

i tagged just three because those are the only bloggers i know.

after all the salaam namastes

2005-09-23T02:18:00.000-07:00

shalu bhalu left for london this morning and since she hasn't called i can safely assume that she got to board the flight and was not offloaded. we had a pretty good time hanging out this time, though i wish she could have stayed for a few more days.
on tuesday we watched salaam namaste. it was quite a timepass movie, though i couldn't understand saif ali's flabby belly. maybe, he took his character pretty seriously, he plays a chef in the film. and zinta looked old and spent in many shots.
after the film we went for a late lunch to moshe's and pigged on sandwiches, it was too late for anything else. of course there was not a single morsel left on shalu bhalu's plate, yes people she licked it clean! we shared a tiramisu and a chocolate something and by the end both of us looked pretty pained but happy.
and yes, before i forget, shalu went for dinner to a friend's house after that and the next day, her daddy cooked special mutton for her and the day after, on thursday she ate chole bhature at kwality's. i'm not even counting the countless trips to sagar for dosas. and if that was not enough, she ate more than half of the bar of chocolate she got me for my b'day!! well, at least i was spared the half eaten laddoo ;>

UPDATE: just spoke to the eating machine, not only did she get to board the flight but madam was upgraded to first class. and needless to say, shalu bhalu ate everything. here is a line from our conversation: 'this hostess asked me if i wanted this chocolate thing or ice cream, (short greedy laugh) and i said, both.'

light and fishy weekend

2005-09-19T05:56:00.000-07:00

b, little g, ritu (the help) and i went over to my uncle's place on sunday morning to say bye to my parents before they left for cal. on our way back from my uncle's place in gk, we stopped over at the bengali fish market at chit park, the predominantly bengali neighbourhood in delhi and bought some hilsa and pabda fish. now, i'm not a huge fan of fresh water fish, i prefer the surmais and pomfrets to rohu and katla. but i quite like hilsa and pabda, esp if it is cooked in this way:

marinate the fish (whole if pabda and thin slices in case of hilsa) with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and keep aside. heat some mustard oil till it smokes, fry the fish lightly and put them away separately. in the same oil add kalonji/nigella seeds or kalo gire (in bengali) and some whole green chillies slit halfway, some turmeric and a pinch of red chilli powder. then add water so that it is enough for a gruelly sauce to be eaten with rice. add the fish pieces and cook till done. this is one of my favourite fish preparations. it's light and is full of the flavour of the variety of fish cooked in it.
you can also make a light vegetarian meal out of this as well. instead of fish add aubergines and bori (small sundried cones made of lentil pastes). like you fry the fish, fry the boris and add small slices of aubergines after you add the kalonji, green chillies and water. it's the tastiest and simplest 'jhol'.

b of course likes his hilsa, marinated with salt, turmeric and red chilli powder and fried crisply in mustard oil. so we had the fried fish for lunch with rice and masur (pink) dal:

boil the masur dal with some salt and turmeric and slip in a couple of cloves (i learnt this from b's mom and it sure does enhance the dal's flavour). after the dal is cooked. in a separate wok heat some oil, put in kalonji/nigella seeds and slit green chillies and dunk the dal into it.

the 'jhol' was served for dinner.

people, i'm thirty one!

2005-09-16T02:35:00.000-07:00

my parents surprised me on my b'day by arriving unannounced. well, i guess i surprised them by going off for lunch with shalu bhalu :)

no, really i think they were quite happy to spend time with g and spoil her rotten while i was not around. in the evening, b and i went out for dinner to 'saffron', the indian restaurant at the trident hilton in g'gaon. it was an exquisite meal. we had some tandoori bhekti seasoned with ajwain for starters and it was simply awesome. i drank a glass of rose while b opted for an autralian shiraz which he raved about. for the main course we chose the rajasthani 'lal maas' and we were told that since the restaurant was promoting rajasthani food we could sample the rest of the rajasthani menu as well. so we got to taste some flavourful missi roti, some clay pot yellow dal and some pulao. in addition to all this khana, we also had some delectable hyderabadi biryani (yummy yummy sabs!!). and yes, we shared some rich kulfi and hot (but not scalding) gulab jamuns for dessert.
while the meal was wonderful, i feel i should have eaten less, i felt full till next morning, so my breakfast was just a glass of fruit shake. but the greedy pig that i am, in the afternoon after dropping my parents off at my mama's place, i turned up promptly at shalu bhalu's house and invited myself to lunch. shalu's dad had called for some special mutton he wanted shalu to taste but poor girl had to share it with me. we ate a hearty punjabi meal consisting of mutton, chicken, raita and roti, followed by kheer and ladoos for dessert. shalu's dad suggested, with a knowing smile, that we taste the 'tori' sabzi (vegetable) that aunty had prepared but we politely declined. after lunch and a chat session i drove back home and promised myself a break from all that incessant eating.

the mexican kitchen's islamic connection

2005-09-11T07:07:00.000-07:00

an interesting piece written by rachel laudan.
i got the link from this blog on algerian cuisine.

mall rats

2005-09-09T03:13:00.000-07:00

"will you go out on a date with me?" asked b
"of course", i replied
since both of us were on this juvenile trip, we decided to take the whole date thing further and go for a meal to the metropolitan (one of the several malls in g'gaon) food court. it's been more than two years since i ate at the big mac so we got ourselves a couple of fillet-o-fish burgers without the tartare sauce and some terrible, insipid and watery georgia cold coffee (coca cola should hang its head in shame for hiring stupid managers with over-sized egos and letting them get away with this sort of below standard stuff!!). the burgers did very little to quell our appetite, so we ordered a couple of doner rolls from arabian nights (yummy yummy shalu bhalu!!).
we ate our rolls while watching a young couple fight over who is responsible for their kid's wailing and tantrums, b of course had a very bizarre and funny take on the whole fight, which i'll not mention here :). we finished our rolls and sniffed around for some dessert. we spotted an italian restaurant, italic and marched across (hoping to dig into some tiramisu) when we saw a gelato counter right next to it. b and i behaved like two slobbering idiots and couldn't decide on the flavour. finally i settled for belgian chocolate and b for the ferro rocher, we shared of course.
it was not a bad experience really. malls can be a pain but last night we ended up having a real good time!

the new modern bazaar

2005-09-06T23:15:00.000-07:00

the modern bazaar at vasant vihar's basant lok complex which was gutted in a fire some time ago is back in business. the store is now located towards the back of the market, near subway and nirula's and looks, at least for now, clean and a wee bit less crowded. it is more brightly lit and doesn't make you feel like you are entering a warehouse which is in the middle of a perpetual crisis.
on saturday, after dropping the help off (it was her monthly off) little g and i drove down to basant lok. it was chaos as usual and to avoid dents and scratches i parked almost a km away from the market. and little g and i braved our way through the opressive heat to the basant lok complex. our first stop was at fact & fiction where we bought a couple of books for g (katha publishes some lovely kids' books, i must remember to thank old vinny for getting g her first katha books), then we went to the oberoi's charcuterie and bought some streaky bacon, chorizo sausages, italian farmer's salami and a couple of huge and melt-in-your-mouth brownies and finally we got to the modern bazaar.
we went straight to the meat and poultry section towards the back of the store where a young woman with a strange concocted accent was pointing to a tray of plucked chickens and asking what those were!! we ignorned the hick with the funny accent and picked up some pomfret, some chicken and on our way out a bunch of asparagus, a box of mushrooms and a packet of cherry tomatoes.
back in the car, g was given water and crackers and put in her car seat and we drove back home. halfway through her cracker feast g slept and woke up after we reached home. back home i hoisted the little brat on the kitchen counter (she loves watching me work at the counter and doesn't demand undivided attention) and put away all my purchases except the fish which i wanted to prepare for dinner.

baked pomfret:

make a few long cuts on the fleshly parts of the fish and marinate it with salt, pepper, juice of freshly sqeezed lemon and olive oil, cover and leave in the refrigerator for about an hour. just before placing the fish in the oven, tuck some fresh thyme into the cuts, let it bake till done. serve with some bread. i served mine with some ragi cluster bread from moshe's and a dish dish comprising of sauteed mushrooms and asparagus with garlic and fresh parsley, seasoned with some salt and pepper.

and here is a recipe for paratha frittata.

being poor

2005-09-05T05:22:00.000-07:00

a post that puts into perspective why millions of people stayed back even after the hurricane katrina warning and another one in response. also read this.

new orleans is no more

2005-09-02T03:11:00.000-07:00

that's what a police officer said on cnn this afternoon, while describing the looting, burning, shooting and general misery befalling one of the most lovable cities of america, in the aftermath of the hurricane katrina. the cnn newscaster sounded incredulous that people were shooting each other and even rescue workers, she wondered how this sort of thing can happen in america.
well, this sort of thing only happens in the third world right? no, wherever there is poverty and pent up frustration this is bound to happen. new orleans is one of the poorest cities in america and the city has always had an undercurrent of crime, you can feel it strongly in some areas. this is indeed very sad and devastating, because new orleans is one of the richest cities in terms of music, food and culture.
another thing that struck me while watching some of the nola footage on cnn was that, almost everyone on the streets and in the superdome awaiting relief are african americans. this made me think about one of my environmental law classes where while discussing environmental justice we came across several examples in america where african american neighbourhoods were exposed to several hazardous industries increasing the incidence of cancer and other serious diseases among those communities while the white localities were far better off.

am back and i love firefox

2005-08-31T03:49:00.000-07:00

that was a long break. the comp was giving trouble and also everytime i sit down to write something, madam g wants a piece of the action at the comp as well. right now, she is safely tucked into her cot for her afternoon, post-lunch nap and i immediately grabbed the opportunity.
so what did i do all these days? hmmm, went out to eat, read a few books, cooked, went for a party to my friend rang's house (his thai boyfriend who was visiting from bangkok cooked some delectable thai food for us) and of course played with and read to the little pest. btw, she can now say 'shhhoooos' (meaning shoes) with a extra large pout on her face.

first the eating out part:

dakshin the south indian restaurant at the marriott had a 'mopla' food festival recently and b and i couldn't keep away. moplas, for those who don't know, are muslims from kerala and needless to say their food is to die for. we ate some yummy mutton fry, with rice flour appams and some delicious biryani. we liked the food and the spunky hostess, who btw flirted with b ( imagine!) but she also got us a table without a reservation on a very very busy night.

laidbackwaters was another place we wanted to try out mainly because it is a seafood place. both b and i walked into the qutab hotel, where the restaurant is located and while waiting for the elevator, we noticed a board announcing the name of the restaurant. we almost walked out of the place after reading the board; it said laidbackwaters in bold and just below that in tiny lettering were those ominous words, 'by shalom'!!! well, we decided to give the place a chance and walked into the elevator which took us to the first floor restaurant. the decor and music is loungy (what do to, this lounge thing is a rage here). i quite liked the stark look, though b thought the huge plasma screens at the bar displaying seaworld and its creatures was a little tacky. we thought the live screens on the loo doors were really cool. the ladies' loo door screen had photographs of different women including some anime characters rolling across and the men's had pics of men. for starters we had some skewered red snapper with potatoes and for the main course, b had peppered sea bass with an assortment of breads while i had a delicately flavoured thai seafood curry and rice. i was pleasantly surprised at the freshness of the seafood. we washed down the delicious meal with a glass of merlot each and for dessert we had a sinful wine and chocolate cake. it was a very satisfying meal and we were relieved that our shalom experience was not repeated.

the nice stuff i cooked:

on sunday, i decided to make a simple chicken roast along with some rice.

chicken roast with rice:

i didn't get a full chicken, it is way too much meat for us. so i got some good sized full legs and marinated them in a mixture of lemon pepper salt, honey mustard, olive oil and stuck some fresh thyme into the cuts i had made on the meat. keep the chicken legs inside the refrigerator for about half an hour and then roast till done.
to accompany the chicken cook some rice and keep it aside. then in a pan heat olive oil and add some chopped onions, garlic and celery, let the vegetables sweat. i had some italian farmer's salami lying around, so i tore some pieces and added them as well. then break some asparagus stems and add them, stir till the asparagus turns a darker green, then start adding the rice in small batches so that all of it gets properly blended with all the vegetables and the salami.
after all the rice has been mixed, transfer small amounts into a small bowl and turn it on the dish so that it looks like a neat little mound, sprinkle some grated parmesan cheese and serve with the roast chicken legs.

last night i made some polenta with anchovy sauce:

make the polenta according to the instructions on the packet. and for the anchovy sauce: heat some oilve oil, add chopped onions, then garlic. when the onions become translucent and the garlic starts getting colour, add some diced tomatoes. cook till the tomatoes are little cooked then add some tomato paste, red chilli flakes and anchovy fillets ( i added about 18 fillets) and make a paste. serve immediately with hot freshly made polenta.

little g lapped up the polenta and anchovy sauce and refused to eat her mixed vegetables and rice!

and yes, before i forget, after being a lazy bum for a long time, i finally decided to download and use firefox and i love it. i don't know why i didn't do this sooner. it makes ie look like a dated geezer.

sudeep's love affair with some tinned fish

2005-08-10T02:35:00.000-07:00

i read two reviews of this book and found both uninspiring and dull so i decided to go ahead and read the book and form my own impressions. the other reason i wanted to read it was, it's written by a friend.
ummm.. let's just tweak that a bit, sudeep and his wife sam, are at once very close friends and not that close either. for example, we don't call him 'chacki' (yeah i know wtf! well, you can take people out of ju {jadavpur university} but can't take ju out of them!!), like most of his friends. i personally think that name's just not 'breeze' ;> enough for someone like sudeep! we don't keep in touch on a daily basis nor do we visit each other's places often. of course, sudeep lives in goa now but we have spent a good six years living very close to each other.
in fact, b and i moved into the same house vacated by sudeep and sam (they moved into another house in the same colony) when we moved to delhi. later when we moved to g'gaon, we ended up being neighbours again. and yes, s & s were two of the three witnesses we dragged along for our court marriage.
you could say, our friendship is an adult one, guarded and gradual, unlike friendships forged when one is younger and therefore more tolerant of each other's shortcomings. for instance, i have always wondered why sudeep keeps hiding his mouth with his hand while speaking, only to realize, after reading the book, that he was a boxer in school. b had mentioned the boxing bit earlier to me but i never made the connection until i read about the boxing episode in his book.
ok, now about the book, i enjoyed reading it, mainly because it's simple, funny and honest. it reads like a young boy talking about his life, not an older man looking back at his childhood (i find it a little tiresome when people do that, 'those were the days' yuck! go get a life!). I admire the fact that he didn't care to hide even the little pretentiousness that creeps into all of us while growing up and manifests into stupid short stories and poems titled, 'life' or some shit like that.
it was interesting to read about kids who grew up at a time when choice was limited but belonged to a class that knew that the choices existed elsewhere. the yearning for a west-inspired consumption and lifestyle had already begun to take root in this class, which would through the next 10 years percolate down to the lower levels and bring us to where we stand today. all of us know and talk about the little person inside us old folks, well, i met sudeep's and liked him.

chicken packed with garlic and herbs

2005-08-04T03:48:00.000-07:00

well i did warn you about this cooking frenzy, post the ina market visit. last night i decided to try something simple and new with some chicken. i started fishing around in my gourmet cookbook's poultry section and found the perfect recipe:

wash the chicken pieces (it's better to use large pieces, i had instructed the butcher to cut small pieces because i had some other recipe in mind when i bought the chicken), sprinkle salt and black pepper and fry in some olive oil for a few minutes and keep aside. take a couple of heads of garlic (with the skin on) and spread the cloves all over a baking dish, take a bunch of herbs, flat leaf parsley, thyme, rosemary and sage (i didn't have sage so went without it) and a few stalks of celery and spread them over the garlic (the cookbook asks you to make a bouquet garni with the herbs but i just spread all of it on the garlic cloves), then spread the chicken pieces on top and pour the oil from the pan on top and bake till done.
serve this with some crusty bread, i served it with some honey and broken wheat bread. try eating the bread after dipping it into the oil flavoured with all the herbs and smear some of the garlic squeezed out of the skins on them and you will never want to stop.