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.
An Ode!
….to the Master Chefs.
Forks and Knives
Are your wives
Pans and Cauldrons
You call them your sons
Plates and Bowls
You play with them
Chopper the lopper
Your own daughter…
Serve, you do that pretty well
The smile on those satiated faces makes your heart sing ‘Jingle bells’…
Have had this obssession for perfectly hand chopped food stuff…The other day chopped some veggies for mama…Was wondering where that obssession came from…Then came the answer… TV shows… Have seen chefs chop away the most difficult to chop veggies with such an ease…. Whew!!!
This post is an ode to the Master Chefs of the world…R, Kylie Kwong, Tarla Dalal, Chef Sultan…. hmmm all of them… Mama… the greatest of them all!!!
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
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
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!!!
Cheese Ol’ cheese…Stringy cheeeeseeee….lovely cheeeeese…Dear ol’ cheese
Celebrating cheese. A Just-Like-That post :p
Enjoy the craziness.
What is with cheese, I know not….
but cheese is cheese
yes it is….
yummy cheese, stringy cheese,
gimme more, will you please?
Dear cheese, lovely cheese,
Ol’ cheese, new cheese,
gimme more, gimme please!
Art of APPRECIATION
About 2-3 days ago, Skeeter tried the Gouda variety of cheese. It is not that she hasn’t tried it before. It is just that earlier in life she could not appreciate the slight tart taste of this fantastic cheese. This time, however, she liked it. The reason being that Skeets is learning the art of appreciating food stuff that she hasn’t really enjoyed till date.
Take for example the Pani Puri available in Maharashtra…what with the hot cholas/chickpeas stuffed in the puri to the jaggery(gud)-only chutney used. Skeeter HATED it for the first time she had it in Pune. Moving on, as an avid lover of golgappas (as they are called in saddi Dilli,), Skeets couldn’t resist trying them again and again at several places in Pune. But, there was no difference in the style (hot cholas, I repeat) whatsoever. And as she tried the new places, she slowly started developing a liking for the Maharashtra style Pani Puri.
In Delhi, however, the golgappa walas fill it with imli and gud chutney (tamarind and jaggery), boiled alu and chanas which are cold (of course along with the Pani) and not sizzling hot as in Maharashtra.
Being a ‘sort of’ spoilt brat, Skeets has always had a say in what she’d would ‘like’ to eat…but once she landed in a hostel, Skeets started developing the art of appreciating foods she did not like AT ALL!!! The Art, that Skeety speaks of, was however developed, not by choice, but by ‘need’. The need, to survive.
Keep the fire kindling!
Welcome!
Skeets has created this blog for all food lovers [vegetarians have an advantage here 😉 ] to come and share their experiences here. The Foodies’ Zone is a platform for food lovers to meet and discuss all about food be it recipes, new restaurants on the bloc/cafes/streetside delight, stories and just about anything related to food. Reeta Skeeter, also called by the self as Skeets, Skeety, Reety Skeety is a Delhi girl and undoubtedly a food lover. She invites you to a cuinary journey that begins with this post 🙂
Happy Blogging.
Keep the fire kindling!