Who says Mondays need to be depressing.
Whipped up this wonderfully decadent Turkish Coffee Pudding.
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Food. Show all posts
June 15, 2010
August 21, 2007
Table Manners
While waiting for someone to show up at a Chinese joint, I couldn't help but overhear a couple's banter on the opposite table. The guy looked like as if he had skipped his date with the gym to be with the girl. The lady, it was quite obvious, liked the dude but the dude was playing it cool. A little too cool. Maybe. The boy had broken up and the girl was busy trying to coax some vital information out of that gym manufactured body.I think you should just go back to her...
NO WAY!
So you are over her...?
Yeah.
Really?
Yeah
I don't think so...what if you see her here...say on that table with someone else?
The dude and the girl both look towards me; I'm alone. Waiting for someone, maybe that Jane Doe is the one I await. If that happened it would be the best example of how small this world can really be.
It won't make a difference to me!
She just smiles and manages to mouths 'good' but there is no sound that accompanies the word.
They are eating some sesame seed laden snack and washing it down with beer. The seeds play havoc on then woman's system and suddenly she starts sniffling like crazy. That’s the end of the snacks.
Back to the beer.
She looks at him and waits for him to say something. It’s so obvious that he fascinates her but he just doesn’t budge. Is he dumb? Or he just looks dumb? She starts liming her beer and she waits.
He lights a cigarette. She makes a face. This could be trouble.
She undoes her hair and the band hold it rests in her hand; she plays with it while her hair behaves like an old lover- hanging precariously on her left shoulder refusing to fall.
She starts the game again.
Give me some.
Points towards the cigarette.
This is the point where the guy should just pass the one he’s puffing on for it will take the conversation to the next level. Maybe that’s what she wants but he has other plans and offers her a brand new stick.
She looses the plot and in just a whiff of nicotine-laced smoke everything of the last seven minutes goes down the drain. She looks around and nothing comes to her mind.
She mulls over it for a while.
The guy looks at her like an expectant pup.
She gives in. Decides to try it out once more.
Haven’t been to 4S in a long time…
Oh I was at Stone yesterday….
I don’t like Stone…there is no place like Toto’s here in Delhi…
I like Mumbai…
No way I prefer Delhi…….
Opposites attract?
Image Courtesy: Prince George Theatre Workshop
June 9, 2007
Ten
Some months ago, while on a holiday, as I was sitting and basking in the mountain sun I started doodling in my Moleskine. Ten minutes into it, I came up with a list of ten things that I didn't like about myself. A few cups of tea later my partner and I were hurling similar lists at each other.
Since then I have been making such a list every couple of days...here is one of them.
Since then I have been making such a list every couple of days...here is one of them.
Ten People I'd like to Dine With
1. Ernest Hemingway
2. Fidel Castro
3. Vijay Anand
4. Robert De Niro (Martin Scorsese could join towards the end of the meal for a coffee!)
5. Christopher Columbus
6. Akbar
7. Kate Winslet
8. Pablo Picasso
9. Bob Dylan
10. People close to me; some fancy place where I'm cooking
So who are the ten people you'd like to dine with?
May 23, 2007
What's The Best Food You Ever Had?
What’s the best food you’ve been served?
When asked out of the blue this random question can bring back a flurry of memories both good and bad. I was thinking about this the other day and the first image that came to my mind was a quarter plate of Chicken Mughalai served in a small rooftop restaurant in Devlali. This small little town in Nashik district of Maharashtra gained prominence when the Army’s School of Artillery was shifted to this town from Lahore post independence. Since then almost every Arty officer spends a couple of years in Devlali. My father spent almost 12 years of his Army life in the Army in Devlali; I was born in Devlali; some of my oldest friends are from that town and the best food that I’ve ever had was in Devlali.
Celpin’s Kitchen was the name of the restaurant and we went there twice a week to gorge on a chunky piece of chicken leg cooked almost perfectly. I always ordered the same thing with two Tandoori Rotis; my father tried his level best to change my preference but no luck. I stuck to it. Once I wasn’t feeling too well and had been under medication that induced sleep but when my father suggested going to the Kitchen, I was the first one to get in the car! It’s a different story that I almost dozed off on the quarter plate that night!
People, often end up associating good food with the restaurant and try to replicate it. I love Moti Mahal’s Gobhi, I think it’s called Seasonal Gobhi. A regular Punjabi preparation- the gobhi’s marinated, deep-fried and finally made into a subzi. My joy knew no bounds when I discovered Moti Mahal’s branch in a mall in Bombay. I dragged all my friends and ordered the
usual fare but sadly the experience wasn’t half as good as the one in Delhi. The same goes for Karim’s. Anyone who’s been to Karim’s at Jama Masjid would consider visiting Nizamuddin or Gurgaon branches sacrilegious. Makes me wonder when some authority like, say, the Times Good Food Guide rates any place as the best in some category, do they also consider the branches!?
People visit eating joints for a variety of reasons. My mother likes to experiment a lot with food and is always game for anything partially new and halfway exciting. Gaurav, my brother, on the other hand will always end up settling for the tried and tested Chor Bizarre. My friend Sudhesh’s brother, based in the US, insists on visiting a joint called Baithak in Karol Bagh whenever he’s in town; though Sudhesh insists that the food’s not all that great but they went there a lot when they were growing up. Rochie just loves the Big Chill. My friend Ravi will make me drive from Gurgaon to Old Delhi to visit Karim whenever he comes down from Bombay; nothing else will suffice.
I’m not sure if many of you would agree with me but I believe more than anything else I think it’s the warmth with which people serve that helps in determining a favorite joint. Isn’t it? Little things make all the difference; no matter how many people are shouting at the guys in Rajinder KaDhaba, they always smile; the waiters in Moti Mahal make sure we get a table whenever we go there, the manager at Chor Bizarre remembers what my mother likes, the waiter in Punjabi By Nature will warn you about the colossal portions.
Two places in the recent past have made me realize that attitude in food business is what conclude how they’ll fare. Azzurro in Saket is a fine classy Italian joint but if you have a problem with the way your pasta is cooked it’s just your bad luck. The last time I went there my pasta was under cooked and tasteless. I complained and the waiter fixed the under-cooked part but forgot all about the flavor. I complained again and I was told that’s how it’s cooked! I suggested that perhaps the chef could do something about it. I was politely told that the lady on the next table ordered the same thing and she didn’t seem to complain! I lost my appetite and they lost a regular customer. Pind Baluchi in Gurgaon doesn’t really have food to kill for but when we didn’t like a preparation called Paneer Tilwala, it was almost bland, the waiter and the manager apologized to no end and refunded the money. I might not like their food but a stupid little gesture has made sure I’ll visit them more often!
So what’s the best food that you’ve ever had…?
Image Courtesy: T. McCracken
When asked out of the blue this random question can bring back a flurry of memories both good and bad. I was thinking about this the other day and the first image that came to my mind was a quarter plate of Chicken Mughalai served in a small rooftop restaurant in Devlali. This small little town in Nashik district of Maharashtra gained prominence when the Army’s School of Artillery was shifted to this town from Lahore post independence. Since then almost every Arty officer spends a couple of years in Devlali. My father spent almost 12 years of his Army life in the Army in Devlali; I was born in Devlali; some of my oldest friends are from that town and the best food that I’ve ever had was in Devlali.
Celpin’s Kitchen was the name of the restaurant and we went there twice a week to gorge on a chunky piece of chicken leg cooked almost perfectly. I always ordered the same thing with two Tandoori Rotis; my father tried his level best to change my preference but no luck. I stuck to it. Once I wasn’t feeling too well and had been under medication that induced sleep but when my father suggested going to the Kitchen, I was the first one to get in the car! It’s a different story that I almost dozed off on the quarter plate that night!
People, often end up associating good food with the restaurant and try to replicate it. I love Moti Mahal’s Gobhi, I think it’s called Seasonal Gobhi. A regular Punjabi preparation- the gobhi’s marinated, deep-fried and finally made into a subzi. My joy knew no bounds when I discovered Moti Mahal’s branch in a mall in Bombay. I dragged all my friends and ordered the
usual fare but sadly the experience wasn’t half as good as the one in Delhi. The same goes for Karim’s. Anyone who’s been to Karim’s at Jama Masjid would consider visiting Nizamuddin or Gurgaon branches sacrilegious. Makes me wonder when some authority like, say, the Times Good Food Guide rates any place as the best in some category, do they also consider the branches!? People visit eating joints for a variety of reasons. My mother likes to experiment a lot with food and is always game for anything partially new and halfway exciting. Gaurav, my brother, on the other hand will always end up settling for the tried and tested Chor Bizarre. My friend Sudhesh’s brother, based in the US, insists on visiting a joint called Baithak in Karol Bagh whenever he’s in town; though Sudhesh insists that the food’s not all that great but they went there a lot when they were growing up. Rochie just loves the Big Chill. My friend Ravi will make me drive from Gurgaon to Old Delhi to visit Karim whenever he comes down from Bombay; nothing else will suffice.
I’m not sure if many of you would agree with me but I believe more than anything else I think it’s the warmth with which people serve that helps in determining a favorite joint. Isn’t it? Little things make all the difference; no matter how many people are shouting at the guys in Rajinder KaDhaba, they always smile; the waiters in Moti Mahal make sure we get a table whenever we go there, the manager at Chor Bizarre remembers what my mother likes, the waiter in Punjabi By Nature will warn you about the colossal portions.
Two places in the recent past have made me realize that attitude in food business is what conclude how they’ll fare. Azzurro in Saket is a fine classy Italian joint but if you have a problem with the way your pasta is cooked it’s just your bad luck. The last time I went there my pasta was under cooked and tasteless. I complained and the waiter fixed the under-cooked part but forgot all about the flavor. I complained again and I was told that’s how it’s cooked! I suggested that perhaps the chef could do something about it. I was politely told that the lady on the next table ordered the same thing and she didn’t seem to complain! I lost my appetite and they lost a regular customer. Pind Baluchi in Gurgaon doesn’t really have food to kill for but when we didn’t like a preparation called Paneer Tilwala, it was almost bland, the waiter and the manager apologized to no end and refunded the money. I might not like their food but a stupid little gesture has made sure I’ll visit them more often!
So what’s the best food that you’ve ever had…?
Image Courtesy: T. McCracken
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