Dilli meets London @ Prezzo (from the London Diary)

A shopping spree at Harrow led the girlies to St. Georges Shopping Centre for a much needed lunch at Prezzo (serving Italian cuisine). For vegetarians it is rocket science to read through that menu and stay sane to order.
The girlies managed. (These girlies o’course are Skeety and the Nuttiest Nut)15 minutes of consultation and contemplation later they ordered some fries and Mozzarella in Carrozza with Podomoro sauce. Mozzarella in Carozza is essentially Mozzarella cheese deep-fried in breadcrumbs served with a tomato-based pomodoro sauce. And ofcourse coke.
The Mozzarella in Carrozza was a bite of heaven! It was made to perfection and served at just the right tempature.
They then ordered a Margherita Pizza for the main course from the Calzone menu which Prezzo offers. The Pizza was nice and that’s about all Skeety would like to say about it.The array of sinful desserts they serve could not tempt the two tummies to overeat after stuffing in the above.
As for the service, the staff were a little indifferent even when the restaurant had only three tables occupied at that hour.
When the food is excellent, ambience a classic and staff resembles a mouth blister, it seems as if the cake has been robbed of that fabulous piece of decor. Sigh!
P.S.: This is one of the few posts from Skeety’s London Diary which may be written about here when Skeety so desires.

Location: St Georges Shopping Centre, St Ann’s Road, Harrow, Middlesex, HA1 1HS0208 4279588

On Google Maps for St.Georges Shopping Centre

Hairy tales@ The Big Chill

When restros, bars or cafes goof up, they often apologise with words and a complimetary something to make the patrons happy. Worldwide practise this. But rare is the case when you get abused (well sort of) by way of being told SO, WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Skeety was up in fumes when the Bannofee pie @ The Big Chill, Khan Market had a 2-centimetres long hair hanging from it!

Skeety showed it to the staff and it was replaced. As Skeety didn’t want to upset herself on a holiday, and also thought it to be a one-off incident, she ate the replacment.

And lo! When the plate was about to be sent back Skeety realised the presence of ANOTHER hair in her plate, this time. TWICE in the same hour on the same bloody table.

The manager was called for.

He said SORRY, which didn’t sound one bit genuine (from the heart types). Rather it didn’t sound like a sorry at all. He refused to share the owner’s number as well. But he did insist on ANOTHER replacement. GUTS I tell you!

When Skeety refused the offer, the Manager said, SO WHAT DO YOU WANT?

Skeety does NOT and WILL NOT eat from a dirty kitchen EVER AGAIN. Also, by means of this post, SMS-es and other means Skeety is ensuring that her friends stay off the DIRTY PLACE as well…

When your hard-earned money leaves a bad taste in the mouth all you can shout out is:

ROT IN HELL!

P.S.: A few friends asked that WHY did Skeety pay the bill. Answer: In the hope that they might give their chefs and other staff money for shaves and haircuts…

Never going there again!

Potato feast: The Punjabi way!

Punjabis love their potatoes. Potatoes or aloos as they are called, form an important part of any punjabi household’s kitchen. Be it the Aloo Paranthas for breakfast or the vegetable served in the main course (dry/curried) or the fried aloo chaat served as a snack, aloos are an indispensable part of the daily menu.
The other day Skeeter discovered that the humble potato is the most used vegetable in Skeeter’s kitchen as well! Here are some pics….


Wait – ing

Some WAIT to earn money and some, because they cannot find a better way to earn. There are others who WAIT bcoz they earn well while WAIT- ing and they do not mind this profession. They like to WAIT upon people, they like to serve… They like to take orders, and they love to remember the largest o’ orders by heart. The other day, I chanced upon a lady WAITER… She was gud at her job. She WAIT- ED with perfection… She remembered our order by heart and she served her guests (read us) well…
Also, Skeets remembers having been to a cafe at Khan market in the month of March…We were two… PeaNUT and Skeeter… We entered hungry… All tables were taken up… We turned to move out. The lady (who was the owner of the place) stopped us, handed us the menu and very politely asked a guest to leave the table as she (the guest) was done with her food….We sat. She explained to us what exactly would we get if we ordered what we were contemplating t0 order… We ordered a sandwich, drinks. The food was good..perhaps because we were very hungry…. and the best part was that when we were leaving, she (the owner) was WAIT-ING upon other guests…STILL she had a SHARP eye on the door… She managed to shout bubbye–hope you njoyed the food…. THIS, is exactly what the subtle art of WAIT-ING is all about.
I would love to WAIT upon people sumday… at one of Reeta’s Restros.

Dream on…

(The name of the cafe is not mentioned here because of the nature of the post)

Dilli gol hai!!!

Yes dilli gol hai!!! Mere liye to gol hai… Wherever Skeeter goes she reaches CP…haha!!

The other day, the weather took a turn for good and the heavy downpour lifted everybody’s spirits. Skeeter was working late… And was damn hungry…


Wenger’s had been on the mind since days… So she headed there. Got herself 1 Blueberry Mousse, 1 Tiramisu and 1 Hazlenut Swiss roll.

The Tiramisu won the taste buds for its perfectly blended ingredients.

The day ended in a superb way… The drive from CP to North Delhi (windows rolled down) for which Skeeter passed through one of her fave stretches of road shall keep Skeeter in a good mood for many days to come…

Happy Blogging!!!

Buds taste…

Always, there is this reaction which you are required to give, when someone makes you taste something… Never say YIKES at the first go.
Wait!
Taste again…
It is not always that we can judge the taste of a particular food, at just one go.
If you sit back and think, you will be able to recollect many such foods that you did not like at all the first time you tasted them… Skeets doesn’t know the logic behind this… All she can guess is… your taste buds are adjusted to like what you love to eat. The rest of the stuff, i.e. what your taste buds reject at one go…well.. you never know you might just develop a taste for just about anything. Skeets did… for a few new flavours of wafers, for bitter gourd, for yellow lentils (though Skeets still likes to tell herself she doesn’t like them) and for loadza stuff that she can’t remember.. not right now..

This also stands true in case of cuisines different from one’s own culture. The key to developing a new taste is the art of appreciation.

Yikes Maggi!!!!!


Yes I am talking about MAGGI!!!!!!!

Worst day in my life ever….Mama was not in a mood to cook. Everyone selected their options from the leftover food…Skeets opted for maggi and a cheese toast along with a tall glass of Tang to satiate hunger. Maggi always come first.So Skeets took out the pan, poured water and put it to boil. Added maggi and tastemaker(less than half of it). Took out a stirrer AND before her eyes were 3-4 small ants/worms ….Skeets doesn;t know what breed were they..so she can’t call them a name…But m putting up the pics …
YUCK! 🙁 🙁 🙁 Have to write to maggi ppl about it…Recently had sent a big carton of Maggi to the sis…Hope nothing like this comes out of those…Skeets is too shocked to write more…

Simply Delhi!!!

The other day Skeets took the metro from North Delhi (Vishwavidyalya to be precise)…went to office (Central Delhi)…finished work and off to Dilli Haat in an auto. That was travelling from one end of Delhi to the other…whew! Skeeter’s first in a few months…

Haat stop…

It was the last day of the Teej Mela at Dilli Haat..Did a round of the place and went to INA market opposite Dilli iHaat…You get everything from Shhitake mushrooms, bell peppers, red chillies (small ones which are not available with the neighbourhood veggie vendors these days), Bok Choy…you name it…love the variety and the freshness….
Apart from other stuff, Skeets got home Australian grapes…and made Grape Yoghurt…Here’s how:
Slice/chop(as you wish) 3-4 Australian grapes
Beat the yoghurt(1 BOWL), add 2-3 spoons of milk
If your health and weight permit, add half a tablespoon of powdered sugar to the yoghurt
Then, add the sliced/chopped grapes
For the garnishing, place the sliced/chopped grapes on the top as well(see pic)

SERVES 1

You can add any fresh fruit of the season that you like in the same manner as above and if you have that kind of time,you can puree the fruit and mix it with beaten yoghurt. It will taste like the flavoured yoghurt available in the market.

Tomatillos: Recipes and legends

Call them Tomarillos, Tomatillos, Promodoros, Tomatas, Tomatoes or what you please. Tomatoes are Tomatoes. Eat them raw, make yourself a Bloody Mary, put them in ur vegetables, make a yumilicious tomato Soup, extract their juice, make a pizza topped with Tomatoes, throw them on each other(as they do in Spain’s Tomato fight)…You will never pass a single day without crossing a tomato in your kitchen(unless it is by choice).
Here are a two good uses, I put tomatoes to:

Bread Pizza
Take a slice of bread (white or brown), spread some tomato sauce on it. Top it with finely chopped Tomatoes, onions and green chillies. Top it all with mozzarella cheese and bake it in the oven, till the bread is crisp and the cheese, melting…. You can obviously add your own twist…. Instead of green chillies you can use red chilli flakes, or if you don’t like chillies, put in a dash of oregano or top with olives.

Cheese and Tomatillo Grilled Sandwich
It is the simplest and quickest recipe. Put on your grill toaster. Meanwhile chop/slice a tomato. Put it on a slice of bread (brown bread tastes good with this recipe). Top with loads of mozzarella. For seasoning, either use peppercorns (freshly crushed) or oregano. Cover with another slice of bread. Grill for 2 mins till the bread turns crisp. Enjoy!
Legend & Trivia
The legend goes that tomatoes were known in some places, especially the U.S. as ‘love apples’, at other places as ‘wolf peach’, ‘devil apple’ etc. They were considered unfit for eating as people thought they were highly poisonous. Probably the strong odour of the leaves and stems made people develop this notion. However, this did not prevent them from using tomato plants as decorative plants. Ex-U.S. President Thomas Jefferson once ate a tomato in public to prove to people that it wasn’t poisonous!!!