This day, That year

The culinary journey of Miss Reeta Skeeter (in blogsville that is to say) completes ONE year today.

Happy Birthday blog dear!

Wish I could bake you a cake. I ate and drank on your behalf, instead. Hope you are happy to hear oops… read that. I ate bhel puri and drank lemonade, besides other things. And for the readers here’s a treat. I am showcasing my favourite hangout at Janpath today. If I visit Janpath and don’t visit this shop, the visit is incomplete. DePaul’s is the name. It stands in the Janpath marketplace since 50 years + now. Ain’t that cool?! I have enjoyed each and every visit here to the fullest. Their Cold Coffee (which is what they are immensely popular for) is to die for. The range of flavours they have on offer includes Vanilla, Mocha, Cappucino, Hazelnut and what not. My favourites are the Hazlenut and Mocha ones…Here’s a quick peep at the counter, that looks the same since I was a kid.
This place is highly recommended.

Thrilled to bites…

…as always, I am.

Food, ummm, rather ‘good’ food, lifts up Skeeter’s spirits like nothing else.
On a gloomy Sunday, completing work early at office, she went to Khan Market to book her copy of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Sadly, the market was closed, as it is on any other Sunday. Memory weakness is at its best with her. Duh!
The idea of heading back home seemed boring. She headed to her favourite place in town – Market Cafe, instead. Unaccompanied. It did not matter as it would have at other eateries around town (funny stares you know). She chose a ‘perfect’ corner table as her abode for the next two hours that she was there.

And now, comes the food. The Chef was to prepare ‘Baked Goat’s cheese on Walnut bread with Za’tar’ for Reeta Skeeter. It should have been ‘Goat’s cheese on baked Walnut bread with Za’tar’; some mistake there while preparing the menu card. Anyway, the waiter was to serve the same with Pepsi.

Goat’s cheese, known to commons (hehe) as Feta, is her new fetish, the Feta fetish. Not many people like it; you got to love your cheese to love or even like Feta. And Feta can be sheep’s milk cheese too. If purchasing you got to pick yours carefully, else you would end up tasting the other version.
Coming back to the dish that she’d ordered. The portion was enough for her. The price was a wee bit on the higher side, but was definitely worth it. They could’ve baked it a bit more. Next, she ordered ‘Coffee Explosion’. This was a sundae. From the bottom to the top it contained: Crushed brownie, fudge sauce, coffee ice cream, coffee powder sprinkled on top of the ice cream, nuts all over and two biscotti. It tasted heavenly, and made up for all the coffee Skeeter has not had to have in about three years now. But by the time she reached the bottom , she had to STOP eating, else she would’ve fell sick. It was too heavy on her tummy.
In all, it was an enjoyable afternoon with the self. She looks forward to many more!

Tea, Snack, Main Course and Dessert

It wasn’t planned. But it happened. And it did good. It rejuvenated two tired souls.
We indulged, feasted, shopped, tattled and were transmuted to two new beings.
Tea, we did not drink, but shopped for. We shopped at Needs, the superb supermarket situated in DLF Phase-IV, Gurgaon. Needs has the most amazing variety a supermarket can house. No wonder it has become my favourite. Below is the picture of the array of teas and biscuits,cookies,shorbreads, they have on offer. I was stupfied by the variety. I still am. I have never ever seen so much variety under one roof in Delhi!!!

Bangkok 9
This cute little eatery (read Thai and Oriental Cafe) is tucked away in a warm little corner of the food court at The Mega City Mall, Gurgaon. We ordered Po-Pia Thod or Thai Spring Rolls for starters. Wrapped in rice sheets and deep fried till golden brown, they are the yummiest crunchies once can have. If I visit Gurgaon and don’t eat the Phad Thai noodles (which we ordered for the Main Course) here I feel like the trip lacked something. This was the reason, that in the midst of the then ongoing Gujjar clashes, when I reached Gurgaon with a plan to have a Greek Pizza, I ended up having Phad Thai noodles at Bangkok 9. Phad Thai noodles, that’s my best bet at Bangkok 9. They are tangy, soft, juicy, crunchy and have My Peanut!!!
AND AND AND more than anything else, Pritika (the one who accompanies me here and everywhere) and Bangkok 9 are the ones behind my resurrected interest in the delicious Thai cuisine. Pritika is the one who told me that Thai food is not all about Coconut (which I truly, deeply hate). So this post would have been meaningless without a mention, a salutation to the duo.
Costa Coffee
And then came the Dessert, ‘Chocolate Travoletta’, a titillating delight that can be sampled at Costa Coffee cafes around the town and beyond. I am not too sure if I spelt the name of the sinful delight right. It costs about 28 INR and is inarguably the best chocolate dessert any cafe can attract me to.

Rude Food – A Matter of Taste

Not much has been happening on the food front. The daily diet of Miss Skeeter is becoming rather boring. She just eats what she gets to lay her hands on. Not good! Perhaps she is not feeling very well. Nevertheless she shall bounce back. She plans to make a conscious change in her dietary intake.
Meanwhile, Miss Skeeter visited this restaurant named Urban Pind in GK-1,N-block. She ordered some Pizza which had four different kinds of cheese on it. She did not like it much. Though she did relish her ‘Pink Panther’. The weather was awesome as it was raining! So overall the visit to Urban Pind was not bad. Miss Skeeter happened to have two days off in a row which is a rare happening. She enjoyed to the fullest!
A Matter of Taste: She watched the first episode of the seven-part series of ‘A Matter of Taste’ hosted by Mr.Vir Sanghvi. As expected, the show was awesome! Mr.Sanghvi explored how the Indo-Chinese food came into being. He also formally agreed to accept the Indo-Chinese food as a separate cuisine. This indeed was a big step.
Next Sunday 8.30pm on Travel and Living, he would explore the Sino-Ludhianvi cuisine. Skeets looks forward to that, and all the other episodes and hopes she gets to watch them all 😀 And for all food bloggers the show is a MUST WATCH!

When its summertime and the time to dine

Much has been written about Dilli ki Garmi. And now its time to sit up and beat the heat!

Cool! Ain’t it?

In the past few days, i’ve been trying to find places to chill. Saltz @ GK-1, M block is a lovely place to chill out on a hot summer Sunday. When you don’t feel like doing anything head to Saltz, sip their Thai Cold Coffee, order a Gelato of your choice and sit ‘n’ stare by the window seat (they hv a few).

Veg Siomai
Braised Thai Noodles

My maiden visit to Saltz came on last Saturday. I was accompanied by a Thai food lover. In the company of this Thai food lover I am learning to appreciate Thai cuisine as this person orders stuff for me that does NOT contain coconut. And now about the ambience, food and masti: Ambience was excellent! The place is done up in blue, light silver and white. A perfect summery joint! Highly recommended! Food was only ‘ok’. But the fact that we can order Gelato from the Gelato parlour downstairs makes it cool as u don’t necessarily hv to order food. The menu is influenced by the South-East Asian region. It has many Thai items as must be apparent by now. Service again is only ok. There was only one more table occupied still the service was slow. If you are headed for a quick lunch or hunger is getting on to you, this is so not a place to be.
While we waited for our lunch, we checked out the GK crowd from our window seat 😀 One that amused us the most was a gentleman sitting under a tree and reading a newspaper. He was so lost in his own world that it appeared as if he was sitting in the balcony of his sea-facing apartment and readign it. LOL.

Can u spot him?

Anyway, we ordered Veg Siomai (Indonesian Steamed dumplings) for starters. They were simply yummilicious and were served with some hot red sauce. For the main course was ordered Thai Chicken Curry by the Thai food lover and I ordered Braised Thai Noodles which were served with Black Mushrooms and greens. The Thai Chicken curry was adjudged not good by the Thai food lover. My verdict for the Braised Thai Noodles was Pass. They were a bit bland, but that is the way they were supposed to be. The dessert was what we enjoyed the most. But sadly I’ve forgotten the name. However, a pic follows 🙂


Last words: Saltz was Sweet 🙂

Creamy royal fare

Perhaps a book can be dedicated solely to it. The gourmets can have conferences over it. The chefs can kill for its much guarded ancient recipe. And if a debate is held about the country that has the credit for its origin, prehaps a war could be fought between the claimants. Such is this delectable dish’s fame. I talk about Dal Makhani, the Dal which is also known as Dal Maharani (perhaps named so due to its royal descent), Dal Bukhara, Kaali Dal, Dal Peshwari and so on. It is undoubtedly the most celebrated dish of the Punjabi and Moghul cuisine. No, I do not mean to start a war here. Just penning what I deem true to the best of my knowledge.

The Preparation: Elaborate. That is what the preparation of this Dal can be precisely described as. The Dal has to be cooked on slow heat for long hours. The more it is cooked, the more the flavour intensifies. Traditionally it is cooked over a charcoal-fired clay oven overnight. That is just about the boiling part. The ingredeints which give it the royal creamy taste are the clarified butter (ghee), the white butter and the cream used therein. OODLES of these three ingredients are added. Health freaks can stay away from the pleasure of even ‘tasting’ this sinful preparation.

I have been a die-hard fan of this Dal myself. So much so that I refuse to allow mommy to cook it at home. Reason? She can’t put enough clarified butter leave alone the other fats. My experiment with the Dal Makhani: About 5 days ago, I decided to make my own Dal Makhani. It was my first REAL attempt at it and second general attempt. The result: I ‘could’ eat it meaning it was ok. R said it tasted as if a Bigdi Buddhi (signifying someone who has a heart that would not have an attack when adding fats to food 🙂 yay!) had made it. P and M loved it. I did not really relish it much. 🙁 But I will not give up till I make ‘THE’ DAL.

Places where you can get to savour really delectable Dal Makahni: Bukhara at Maurya Sheraton (Delhi), Punjabi by Nature (all branches in Delhi), Invitation (Ashok Vihar), Baujee Ka Dhaba (Gurgaon, Metropolitan Mall), Moti Mahal (they are the ones who are famed to be responsible for introducing the Dal to Delhi’s cuisine and making it an integral part thereof) and Bombay Brasserie (Dhole Patil Road, Pune).

The Good Lord made them all…

Rajma chawal, Kadi Chawal, Chilly Cheese Toast, Maggi, Chole Kulche, Chole Bhature, Pasta, Chilly Thecha, Kaali Dal, Butter naan, Paneer Tikka, Baby Onions pickled in vinegar, Green Chutney, Seekh Kababs, Hot n Sour soup, Tomato Soup with croutons, Crispy – wafer-thin Dosas, Yummy hot sambhar, Poppadums, Pickles, Aloo Tikki Burger, Vada Pao, Crispy salted green chillies, Aloo chaat, Golgappe, Cheesy fritters, Aloo chops, Grilled Sanswiches….

Of winter rains…

Just as I had begun to think that the scorching summers are coming back earlier than expected, the rain Gods showered mercy. And with the showers came back the winter delights; they can be savoured for a few more days now. Also came a reminder that Skeeter must cook all the pending winter delicacies that she had thought of while the winter lasts. Writing this post with the hot water bottle on me and a steaming cup of Kashmiri Kahwa by my side is pure pleasure… Nothing could’ve been better… Cheers to the winters!

Onion Pakodas… Thx to Asha for the excellent recipe