Peaches - Peachy ! :)

It was an impromptu lunch with a friend, and I'd wanted to try Peaches. After their famous "Who is Peaches" advert and having seen the menu already online, I was intrigued by their spread, especially the somaras ;-).  (After Aswin's performance yesterday, I was in no mindset to take my camera to lunch.)

I called in for reservations and was very politely told that they aren't expecting much crowd and there was no need for me to reserve. Boy, were they wrong! (And at that, they need to master the art of crowd management)

Directions: Peaches is on the 100-ft bye pass road, opposite Rose Ceramics, above Andhra Bank. If you come in from Velachery Main Road, this is to your left. 

I was terribly hungry (just had Priya's cup cake for breakfast :P) and ordered the French onion soup. You do not need to by 2 a soup here. Portions are not big. The soup was hot, hearty and cheesy. A good amount of bread was dunked in. I did find that some onions were crisp in parts; I'd always thought that the idea of the onion soup was to caramelize the onions and let them sweat, so I wonder how the onions turned crisp! The friend ordered a cream of peas soup - was neither creamy nor chunky. It was a smooth broth which started to get grainy towards the end! (Scope for improvement? That's the Masterchef AU in me talking)

The bruschetta platter was on the starters and it won hands down. Soft, fresh bread with liberal dosage of cheese and vegetables, just melts in the mouth. This is a must try.

I'd wanted the Vietnamese Rice Paper Rolls, sadly it wasn't available. So I ordered the spaghetti veg balls. I'd asked them to make it in white sauce as I am not too fond of the red sauce. I counted exactly 2.675 veg balls of which the .675 ball was mashed into the pasta. The pasta itself resembled a soggy semiya upma, over cooked in a very garlicky sauce.

The friend ordered the Paneer Tikka Burrito. 2 thick burritos filled with achari paneer (they usually serve hariyali paneer but you can customize) and some biriyani kind of rice made its way to the table. I sampled a bite, definitely good, but tends to get soggy after a few minutes. And then perhaps you can eat it like a chapati and sabzi :P. And what was that onion tomato on the side? Salsa? :P

We skipped the dessert as I was too sleepy. I hardly got any sleep last night (with the CFG anniversary fever running high), so the friend decided to order some coffee. And it took forever for the filter coffee to reach the table. Did they go to some plantation to pick fresh coffee beans, I wonder aloud!

Service was slow, which I really loved, but after a point it got to me. There was just one person taking orders, and the staff did seem efficient but not enough for the Sunday afternoon crowd.

This place has the potential; the staff are courteous, ambience is simple and excellent; music is pleasing! (One of the owners who was around in an orange kurta had this permanent scowl on his face - smile please, you'd perhaps look more handsome :-) ) - if only they can iron out these small things; This place is already a crowd puller!

And the bill for all the above (2 soups, 1 starter and 2 mains) totaled up to INR 700 odd.

PS: They do home delivery too :D :D 

And that's how the night unfolded - 8 years of CFG

Having been planning this for over 2 months, when the D-Day arrived, we were all a bundle of nerves. Tickets were sold out, everything was organized, volunteers knew what they had to do - yet we knew confusion might reign!

And the girls were planning what to wear. Now, for the men, it was simple - jeans / trousers, shirt. For the women, the choices were plenty. Dresses, salwar suits, sarees and what not! I decided to wear a black dress my friend had got for me. Unfortunately, it was a few sizes too large and it sat in the closet without seeing the light of the day. And when it did, it saw the most wonderful evening ever. (Big thanks to Tasneem Aunty for altering this dress to fit me).

We assembled at the Town Hall, Residency Towers at 4 pm to set everything up. From unpacking the bags, putting the gifts into these bags, arranging them to setting the tables we were running hither tither that we forgot it was past 5 pm and we needed to get ready. As we ran (well.. ok.. we used the elevator) to the 11th floor, girls gossip abounded in room #1115. Right from make up to shoes to ordering room service and checking out the mini bar (sadly there was nothing inside) (and ahem.. I am not making the rest of it public) - it was almost as if we were in a wedding.

Dressed to Kill - literally - the girls were radiant in their sarees and suits and dresses. The men looked equally handsome in the formal attire (why, oh why don't you men wear formals more often!)

It was the 3000th day of CFG and the guests of honor included the who-is-who of the food industry - Chef Mahadevan, Chef Soundararajan, Chef Praveen Anand, Chef Pushparaj and Mr Ravi  (Namma Veedu Vasantha Bhavan). Actor Nakul made a brief blink and miss appearance as he had to run back to his shoot.

As the event unfolded with a brief history of CFG and a quiz program (courtesy Kamalika), it was Aswin's performance that had the audience in splits. Absolutely delightful, as he poked fun of everyone in the venue and outside (I'm not saying who.. wait for the video), Aswin - you stole the show and the evening and everyone's hearts. Salute!

Preethika and Tasneem (Akbari) did a great job hosting the event and a special thanks to all the volunteers for pitching in and helping with all that was required.

What was most important was that it didn't feel like an event, but more like a family function - I'm sure Ali will agree with me here. And with this, I wish CFG many more years of success!

Ali ji - next event - you know where :)

(PS: We all headed to Bikes and Barrels for a quick shot, after which I had to leave. Rest of you, ride / drive safe)

Mani's Cafe - Only for 'patient' customers :-)

Trichy - The town brings fond memories, for I have now visited this place twice in less than a year. So many temples, lots of history and it was almost as if I was visiting the Chola Kingdom in all their glory!

And as always, food takes prominence. The plethora of hotels on Rockins Road, Cantonment cater to the daily needs of tourists and regular family crowd. Sri Krishna Hotel makes some good rava dosai. (Considering my stomach is still not okay, I stuck to idli and dosai through the trip)

The last time I'd been to Sri Rangam, we had dinner at this place and we promptly went in this time also. Mani's Cafe on South Vaasal - is the place to eat if you visit Lord Ranganathar.

Extremely reasonable on the wallet and light on the stomach, this place has a unique name board. "porumai ullavargalukku mattum anumadhi" - The preparations are fresh and it takes about 10-15 minutes for the dosa varieties to be served.

Despite the crazy stomach, asoka halwa piqued my interest and I HAD to order it. That was followed by cripsy rava dosai, doused in sambar and coconut chutney. Dad ordered adai + aviyal and Mom wanted poori + masala (which had more onions than potatoes). All this, plus 1 coffee amounted to Rs 95 :-) 

I was tempted to try their specials with all the medicinal values but the taste buds won over (naaku romba neeLam. Next time, I sure am trying something special priced at Rs 30 per dosai)

Oh, you should clear your own plantain leaf and throw it in the bin! 

Molagu Rasam.... For the Soul !

Oh well, I am a vegetarian, hence a slight modification from "Chicken soup for the soul" ;-) Two weeks of no online activity and I realized that I need to do this more often; Of course, discounting the falling sick part.

Abstinence from internet made me do things that I normally wouldn't - like crying buckets after watching 3 idiots, watching Jhalak Dhiklaja on Colors Channel, falling in love again with Madhuri Dixit, hating Rani Mukherji (Oh she sucks in Aiyaa), and listening in loop to Halkat Jawani (starring Kareena Kapoor) and Phir Le Aaya Dil (male version from the movie Barfee - Ileana is funny in the saree costume - S - did you see that :-) ?).

I finished 3 books in a span of 10 days, The Rozabal Line, The Krishna Key (both by Ashwin Sanghi) and Why my third husband will be a dog (by Lisa Scottoline - absolute ROFL book) and have started the 4th one - Hot Water (PG Wodehouse)

I also realized, during the course of the last 2 weeks, that very few people care (and many wouldn't bother if you were dead and perhaps even be glad about it). Some people want to only take and never give. Most people don't bother to help (even if you ask for it, as I was discussing with Tasneem Aunty this evening). People who claimed to be friends-till-the-end-of-life didn't so much as bother to even return calls (and who knows, it might have been an emergency). Spring cleaning is what I needed, although it came at a price.

I cooked sparingly in the last few days, and never shot a single picture or wrote a single blog.

So, why does this post appear in a food blog? It has to, because this is food for the soul. To enjoy the simple pleasures of life, talk to "real" people, be genuine and honest and find happiness in the soul is what life is all about.

As I say a big thank you to genuine love, I also bid adieu to the weeds and worms inside my tummy and outside!

Cheers (with a big tumbler of molagu rasam)! :-)

And, I began to believe in dhrushti! :P Here's to removing all the kolli kannu ;-) :P

The Baker Showcase - Chennai Chapter - Part 2

Chennai - Bangalore - Chennai - No that's not a flight route. It's the Baker Showcase event that has been happening over the past few months. (While at this, I do hope I can have many more cities to add to that list ;-) KP - are you listening?)

Crimson Chakra + Bakers + to-die-for-cakes + Saturday evening + care-two-hoots-about-my-diet + Friends + Home Bakers Guild = Sin + Heaven (What a combination *drool*) .

Mark your calenders - be there - Gates open only at 4 pm (not early, not late :P)

Keep watching this space for a brand new series on the bakers !

Tyrst with Food - Go CFG!

** This is my first post after a 2-week break from everything. And I couldn't of think of anything better to write, as it suddenly hit me that the CFG anniversary was only a week away.**

It was the year 2004, an year of a lot of not-so-good things in the making (including the tsunami). However, two amazing things happened. And these would go on to change my life forever. And to both, I am deeply thankful to Peep (aka Pradeep Raghunathan). Peep founded Iyers and CFG on Orkut.

Those were the days when Orkut was a rage. (And I still believe Orkut connected us much better than what Facebook is trying to achieve these days - may be it was just the beginning of social networking)

I was initiated into the Orkut community called "Iyers", which would later on see many weddings happen (so much so that a leading newspaper quoted that matches were made in Orkut). We were called OI (or Orkut Iyers and yes I am proud of my heritage) and used to meet regularly online and offline. Our late night yahoo conferences were the funnest ever. (Rums, Vid, Darth, KP, Parasu, Anti, Shanky, Sri, Divi - I am sure you all remember this as much as I do - and Yes that mama in the profile pic is Peep's FIL)

Chennai Food Guide was a natural progression of this group. An extension of Iyer-ism so to speak; Only this group had more to talk & write exclusively about food, visit restaurants, learn to identify what goes in (and what should go out), and to bring out the chef in us. This was my foray into food. And to all of you who ask me how I got into food blogging and the likes, there you have it - the history of the incident and the geography of the accident ;-) It's on this group that I met lot of like minded people - Vinay, Nishanth, Doc Waz, Vasi, Bharat (dude where have you vanished?), Rajiika and so many more. Our food trails were endless.

Some of us met recently, and was good to talk to Peep after ages and that too about food. Peep, we missed you! I think you should start getting more active.

One of the highlights of the CFG on Orkut, was our meet that happened in The Farm (OMR). Dipesh Sharma (who was then part of The Farm) and Arul Futnani happened to invite the group for an on-the-house dinner to review their food. And what followed was an unprecedented turnout of over 70 people, most of whom we didn't know existed in the group! DD and Arul - I still fondly remember those moments!

As Orkut lost its charm and Facebook made way for most of these communities, CFG was resurrected by Mohamad Ali and Nishanth. There are lots more people now, many more organized events (Showcase, Diner's club, Bloggers Meet) and to top it all, we now celebrate our 8th anniversary, the 3000th day of CFG, on the 29th of this month at the Residency Towers, TNagar. (At INR 999 per head, you'll get to witness what CFG is all about). I, as part of the CFG family, welcome you to take part in our celebrations and here's wishing CFG many more years of such celebrations.

Delivered Diet - Pind, Velachery

*Title courtesy - Bharani Shivakumar**

Update at 8:08 pm

This is more or less a live blog post. I was completely exhausted after judging the food fest event yesterday and decided to give a day off to my kitchen tonight.

I was juggling between Pind, Petawrap and Mast Kalandar. I have tried Mast K a million times earlier on and wanted something different; food that wouldn't cost as much in delivery charges.

All I wanted to do was put my feet up and flick between channels on television. Funny People starring Adam Sandler is on now. I'd switch to MasterChef Australia in an hour.

So as usual, I looked up to my fellow foodies on CFG, to suggest what I can do for dinner and as usual comments poured. I looked through the menu of Pind, and decided to order tawa ghee phulkas and diwani handi (with less tomato).

I placed a call to Pind at 7:45 pm and the lady who picked the phone took my order. She said it'd take 45 mins to deliver. And I say - so that would be 8:30 pm? She says - no ma'am , 8:45 and I say, then it would be 1 hour! She started laughing and said ma'am we'll deliver between 830 - 845. Talk of Indian Standard Time! She almost hung up when she realized she hadn't taken my address or phone number! All that done, I now wait for the food to be delivered.

Update at 8:15 pm - Another 30 mins to go!

Update at 8:30 pm - No sign of the food, Just as I typed this, ding dong. Food arrives! Yay!

Update at 8:35 pm - The food has arrived well packed and hot. The gentleman who brought it to the door was quite pleasant that I couldn't resist tipping him. And it's now time to taste!

Update at 8:50 pm - Dinner done; Hands washed; (Sorry Bharani, had to do that before I updated the post :P) Phulkas were perfect, with that perfect amount of ghee. The portion of the sabzi would perhaps serve 2 - 3 people. So I have enough stock left over for next 2 days. (I could have asked if they served half portions) Not too spicy, not too tomato-ey, not too mushy - just the way I like it. The sabzi had mushrooms, corn, carrot, beans, peas, paneer, bell pepper, onions and tomatoes. Pickled onions and mint yoghurt completed the side. At INR 220, and free home delivery, PIND delivers!

And now, it's time for MasterChef Australia. Enjoy the evening!

Food Fest - Tradition with a twist

When I was asked if I'd like to judge the food fest event at MOP Vaishnav College, I immediately said okay. Later the dean, Dr Usha Ravi, wrote a detailed email and I was stunned to see that were 200 confirmed participants.

As I entered the college campus this morning, I just went back in time. Sigh college days! We were 4 of us on the panel - Chef Kaushik (Eatitude Consulting, The Mad Chef), Meera Maran of Terraco, Muna - runner up in the Tamizhagathin Samayal Champion contest and yours truly! As we lined up in the guest room, the dean told us they had additional registrations and now the number stood at 250! Massive!

We wondered how we were going to judge and had to quickly come up with a strategy! We were handed the scoring sheets with a list of parameters. We stepped out on to the ground and all we could see were nervous and expectant faces.

We moved through the first few participants and then decided to split the task. Each of us did about 60 odd dishes. Some were amazingly creative while some were very ordinary. There were sweets, savories, full thali (in some cases - one Kerala Sadhya, one Rajasthani Thali and one Punjabi Thali) and healthy recipes. Few in particular that I really loved were the vadai and noodles wrapped in cabbage,  dosa burger and a drink made of banana stem and mint! Yumm!

There were participants from most of the city colleges - Ethiraj, Stella Maris, WCC, Queen Marys, IHM and Anna Adarsh and of course, the host college - MOP Vaishnav.

If there's one thing anyone should do before letting others taste your food, is to first taste it yourself. There were quite a few dishes on display that the participants had no idea how it tasted and we certainly didn't want to be the guinea pig :) (if you know what I mean)!

But, I must say, this has been an incredible experience in more ways than one. To be able to discuss food with someone like Chef Kaushik and Meera Maran and to be part of an event of this scale is truly a delightful experience, especially on a birthday. This was one superbly organized event by the Food Science Department - loads of volunteers and the professors did an amazing job. The principal and dean were around and personally supervised the event!

Some pictures from the food fest:

Chaturthi special - Kozhukattai

I'd decided to make kozhukattai (S says momo), today being the angarika chathurthi. This is one of the dishes that always eluded me, and it's most often the rice dough that kills me. However, this time, it just turned out perfect!

Here's a step by step recipe:

Make the poornam (filling) first. Here's how:

To 1 cup of grated jaggery, add a cup of grated coconut and saute on low heat. Mix well until it thickens. Add cardamom powder, mix well and set aside. Cool a bit (just so much that the hand can tolerate)

If this mixture does not thicken, sprinkle a little flour and mix well.

Grease your hands (with ghee), and make small balls out of the mixture.

Note: The jaggery that we get here is not clean. My grandmom told me this tip - soak the jaggery in very little hot water (for about 10 minutes). The jaggery melts (you can also mash it with a spoon). Filter it, and you can see the sediments at the bottom. Additionally, slightly boil this mixture, and remove the foam from the top and we are done cleansing the jaggery.

Now for the outer cover:

Take about 1 cup of rice flour (sieved well). To this add 1/2 cup hot water, and mix well using a fork. It should form a sticky yet soft dough. The dough should be pliable, and if not, add hot water in installments. (If too watery, add some flour - you get the drift)

Let cool for a minute or two. The dough should still be warm enough to handle.

Take a small piece from the dough and make it into a ball. Make a crater in the center, and keep adjusting the dough, so it's thin all around, yet can hold the weight of the filling. Place one ball of jaggery mixture into this. Fold the edges and bring it to shape.

Likewise, complete the rest of the balls.

Steam in an electric cooker / pressure cooker for about 10 mins. The outer covering will become translucent.

Serve warm! (of course after the neivedhyam)

The left over dough will later be used for making salted vegetable momos :-)

Dieter's Delight - Pesarattu

Having actually hogged and cheated on the diet over the weekend (well, can't really help it when you are part of an event that showcases amazingly exotic desserts), today is back to track with the diet.

On Dieter's delight tonight is pesarattu, an Andhra delicacy. (A variation of this is called MLA pesarattu, which is served with upma stuffed in the center. This apparently is / was served in the MLA hostel in Andhra Pradesh)

Here's how this is made:

Wash and soak green gram overnight. (as I typed this, I realized that my clothes are in the washing machine, waiting to be hung on the clothes line. so be back in a few minutes)

Right, I am back, after having neatly lined up the clothes on the line.

Grind the soaked gram, along with ginger, green chili, a little bit of raw rice, lots of coriander and mint, into a fine paste - along the consistency of dosai maavu. Add some salt, and the batter is ready.

Make pesarattu the same way a dosa is made. Can be served with any chutney or sambhar. This is best had with tomato thokku  (I couldn't use onion today, the day being angarika chathurthi (the sankata hara chathurthi that falls on a Tuesday - oh yes I made kozhukattai ), so I made coconut chutney - the coconut chutney part is NOT dieter's delight)

The Baker Showcase - Bangalore Chapter - Grand Finale

What a fitting finale - is all I am going to say. Do wait for the post event write up by KP. However, there's going to be something in the blog. First off, the road trip to Bangalore with the Photostrophe team - Jenny and Raghu. Food & music kept us company through the trip. As we moved on, we spotted a few bikers in Bullets, and I tried to shoot them (in vain) :-). There were quite some scary moments on the road (one in particular near the Krishnagiri toll) but lots of funny moments, especially when we saw a goat riding pillion in a bike :D :D (and no we didn't get pictures of that)

It was an exhausting day, but seeing the bakers gave me all the enthusiasm I needed. It was very kind of Sini to drop by.

The drive back to Chennai was uneventful, with an awesome lunch at Gyan Vaishnav Dhaba (er.. did I get it right?) at Vellore. Tummies full, we reached Madras in record time and I can't wait to put up the pictures.

Update:
Here's another post-event write up. This post is dedicated to Lavanya Lakshmanan (she wasn't able to make it to the event and I did miss her).

I landed at YWCA at 3 pm after juggling through the crazy Bengaluru traffic. (This place is right next to the Koramangala Police Station, weird in a way because the gate is invisible and one tends to get inside the police station - Oh it happened - :P)

PS: I even had a name tag - yay - thank you guys. 

The bakers were setting up their tables; I said a quick round of hellos to all of them and noticed that Charmaine had finished setting up. After getting some quick pictures at their table, I weaved around to see what was happening and to block some of the items on sale (Now, I know Bala couldn't quite get his hands on some desserts, so the easiest way is to pay up-front and ask them to keep it aside - *evil grin*).

And then, as I looked around, I was suddenly lost. I wasn't sure if I entered the baker showcase hall or was it a fashion parade! Amazing clothes ! (I was mentally kicking myself for having forgone my mini skirt in favor of a plain old salwar kameez) And being a big fan of jewelry, I noticed this pretty lady in a super huge jhumka, that I couldn't resist asking her where she got it. (There's a photo of her and her earring below). I met yet another lady, and both of us were smiling when we noticed we were wearing similar earrings. (I quite forgot what we spoke about, but I do remember most part was about the earring)

The bakers themselves were beautiful to look at. I particularly loved Vaishnavi's top, and of course, I loved Hamsini's shirt, with the multi color scarf around her neck. Boy, she absolutely resembles my cousin (Savi akka - if you are reading this - then Hamsini looks a lot like you). Vibha - I loved your blue too :D

Alright, let's get to what was on display - now, where do I start - cup cakes, fondant work (thank you Vibha for the panda ;-) ) , hand painted chocolates, flourless cake with almond and maple syrup, chilli choc cup cake, brownies, blondies, bread baskets, plum cakes, Pinocchio cup cakes and the likes, not to mention Vibha's "Decorate your cup cake" special for the kids. And I loved the cheesecake in a jar (from Vaishnavi); I'd bought it purely because I loved the jar; But I'd realize later on that I loved the cheesecake just as much! (The little lavender flower stuck to the jar is now decorating my microwave oven; I didn't have the heart to throw it)

What doting husbands & families our bakers have - Prithvi and Conan (that's Mr Vaishali and Mr Ashwini) were taking care of their wives' stalls and even suggested what exactly we need to buy from them! The entire clan descended to Vibha's aid - her in-laws were proud of what she had done! Ditto for Nikitha. Hamsini had loads of volunteers to help her and Heena's best friend was around to help her. Vaishnavi's husband shot pictures of everyone else other than her stall! :-P Ankita's little one wasn't well, yet she put up a brave face.

Heena was the first to sell out - 150 pieces in under 30 mins. She was followed by the rest of the bakers and in under 90 minutes almost everyone sold out. There was a great demand for Hamsini's macaroons (even those that were on show purely for decorative purposes had takers).

What really amazed me at this event was the kind of packing every dessert had. Such delicate work, I am sure it must have taken tremendous effort and time, but it was worth every sleepless night! The pink covers for the blondies, the neat brown thread tie-up for Hamsini's goodies, the little box for the fondant work - excellent from the word go!

Kids and adults thoroughly enjoyed the evening; At about 4 pm, I hardly had any space to stand and had to venture out for some fresh air.

This event gave me the opportunity to meet lots of people (who hitherto have just been online acquaintances) and somewhere there's a bond beyond just baking. (Psst - I already have a few lunch dates lined up :P - spicy Andhra cuisine to the tangy Punjabi cuisine)

Despite the tiring travel, the event was fun and just kept me going through the weekend. And yes, the jinx is now broken. May we now look forward to many more such events! (in many other cities)

Good show KP - once again - take a bow dude!  Vaishnavi and Hamisni - you girls too! You deserve all the applause! (clap clap clap)

And all your bakers - do take a bow! Great event! :-)

The full set is available in Facebook in the guild page - https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=oa.435032519872254&type=1

Here's KP's write up: http://www.thefoodiediaries.in/2012/09/the-baker-showcase-bangalore.html

More pictures are available in the Guild. https://www.facebook.com/groups/homebakersguild/photos/