Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Showing posts with label food. Show all posts
Wednesday, December 02, 2015
Calcutta Cutlet Experience
Monday, November 26, 2012
Bangali Bento!
Poring through cook books has been an old hobby of mine. Especially when eating the daily dal-bhat affair. Over the years, the 'hard copy' books have been replaced by virtual cook books! Of the large number of sites I frequent to drool over the pictures and recipes, Bento blogs top the list. And what do you know? Here I am with my 'bangali bento'. Very basic. But what fun. And no wonder I nearly missed the morning bus to work!
Monday, September 17, 2012
Monday, June 20, 2011
A tree grows...
...in the narrow strip of a garden on one side of our NGO. A lone mango tree which every mango season gives ... mangoes!
But it has not been that easy. Our man Friday Hemantada, the self professed mango expert, insists that the tree groaning under the weight of mangoes, are not ready for plucking . All the while, the lucious fruits distract us to madness (and greed).
We do try to sneak at them. However, the wasp's hive on the upper branches, scared us off successfully; Two intrepid staff (young boys both) climbed the tree and did pick a few…[while I panicked on terra firma, should they slip and end up with a fracture or worse, concussion].
Upset with our (mostly mine) constant nagging, he did pick them and kept them in a rather public place for ripening. And in came a bunch of visitors in several cars and their drivers had a merry time helping themselves.
To do away with all that, this year, hemantada quietly plucked away all the mangoes and stashed them away somewhere secret. And what with the endless touring (which has been merciless this few months) and then the rains and the fishes and the khichuri, we forgot about the mangoes.
And then this morning we saw Hemantada coming downstairs with a box...
But it has not been that easy. Our man Friday Hemantada, the self professed mango expert, insists that the tree groaning under the weight of mangoes, are not ready for plucking . All the while, the lucious fruits distract us to madness (and greed).
We do try to sneak at them. However, the wasp's hive on the upper branches, scared us off successfully; Two intrepid staff (young boys both) climbed the tree and did pick a few…[while I panicked on terra firma, should they slip and end up with a fracture or worse, concussion].
Upset with our (mostly mine) constant nagging, he did pick them and kept them in a rather public place for ripening. And in came a bunch of visitors in several cars and their drivers had a merry time helping themselves.
To do away with all that, this year, hemantada quietly plucked away all the mangoes and stashed them away somewhere secret. And what with the endless touring (which has been merciless this few months) and then the rains and the fishes and the khichuri, we forgot about the mangoes.
And then this morning we saw Hemantada coming downstairs with a box...
Monday, January 07, 2008
Let them eat biscuits, then….
MP’s cutting across party lines agreeing about something, in India. Is that possible? Pigs might fly, right? Well actually, the impossible has happened, but not in the way that you or I would have imagined. The Times of India reports that 30 odd MPs from different parties have written to the Ministry of HRD to replace the present hot, cooked meals under the Mid day Meal scheme for primary school students, with – hold your breath - biscuits! (TOI, 31 December, 2007)
The Mid day Meal scheme in India covers 12 crore children in 9.5 lakh schools in the country. Hot meals, locally cooked, supervised and served is aimed at community participation as well as increased enrollment and retention of students in primary schools. What will they eat, if they go to school (and not work for thier lunch and dinner, if lucky) was the basis of launch of this scheme, which was initially launched in Tamil Nadu and later adopted by the Government of India, The ministry of HRD, to cover the rest of the country. More here.
The MDM scheme is currently Rs. 5,000 crores and as the government is looking to expand this scheme to cover 18 crore children, the budget would therefore increase too and heftily. Incidentally, (the paper reports) the argument was very similar to the Mumbai based Biscuit Manufacture Welfare Association (BMWA)’s proposal to the HRD ministry.
The arguments put forth would have been really funny (hilarious in fact), but they had me wiping tears none of which were of mirth. (TOI 31, December 2007)
Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi writing,"Biscuits are a healthy, packaged, nutritious product which can cover many shortcomings of the present system followed by the MDM schemes."
"Biscuits are a favourite snack of children and have a higher recall and acceptance among the intended beneficiaries of the MDMs." RPI's Ramdas Athawale
K Natwar Singh "Members of the defence services, state police, administrative personnel, farmers, all classes of professional and labourers continue their biscuit consumption habits nurtured since childhood."
There is hope yet. Many state governments have written to the ministry of HRD opposing biscuit lunch plan. (TOI January 6, 2008).
Some states have relied on the Supreme Court’s 2001 and subsequent orders that prohibit centralized purchase of food for the scheme in order to avoid corruption. It has also been argued that serving hot cooked meals ensures local community participation.
Gujrat’s reply “ Biscuit is a snack which cannot be considered as alternate to hot, cooked meal…moreover the state government prescribes a menu for the MDM scheme according to local tastes and hence biscuits cannot be provided”.
Obviously, K Natwar Singh was talking about the other states and not Gujrat.
Meghalaya, “State Government prefers the cooked midday meal as it is in line with Supreme Court direction. Also, a meal is more filling and “healthful” than biscuits. Maybe Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi was talking about a different biscuit.
Pondicherry provides more than the prescribed levels of nutrients through a mixed menu and therefore rejects biscuits.
AP takes the medical route saying biscuits have disproportionately high percentage of sugar and daily consumption of biscuits is likely to expose the children to risk of juvenile diabetes.
Remember what happened to a certain lady who said, “If there is no bread, let them eat cake?”…well we live in more “civilzed” times and therefore, make the proponents of biscuits for lunch eat, well, biscuits – their just desserts.
The Mid day Meal scheme in India covers 12 crore children in 9.5 lakh schools in the country. Hot meals, locally cooked, supervised and served is aimed at community participation as well as increased enrollment and retention of students in primary schools. What will they eat, if they go to school (and not work for thier lunch and dinner, if lucky) was the basis of launch of this scheme, which was initially launched in Tamil Nadu and later adopted by the Government of India, The ministry of HRD, to cover the rest of the country. More here.
The MDM scheme is currently Rs. 5,000 crores and as the government is looking to expand this scheme to cover 18 crore children, the budget would therefore increase too and heftily. Incidentally, (the paper reports) the argument was very similar to the Mumbai based Biscuit Manufacture Welfare Association (BMWA)’s proposal to the HRD ministry.
The arguments put forth would have been really funny (hilarious in fact), but they had me wiping tears none of which were of mirth. (TOI 31, December 2007)
Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi writing,"Biscuits are a healthy, packaged, nutritious product which can cover many shortcomings of the present system followed by the MDM schemes."
"Biscuits are a favourite snack of children and have a higher recall and acceptance among the intended beneficiaries of the MDMs." RPI's Ramdas Athawale
K Natwar Singh "Members of the defence services, state police, administrative personnel, farmers, all classes of professional and labourers continue their biscuit consumption habits nurtured since childhood."
There is hope yet. Many state governments have written to the ministry of HRD opposing biscuit lunch plan. (TOI January 6, 2008).
Some states have relied on the Supreme Court’s 2001 and subsequent orders that prohibit centralized purchase of food for the scheme in order to avoid corruption. It has also been argued that serving hot cooked meals ensures local community participation.
Gujrat’s reply “ Biscuit is a snack which cannot be considered as alternate to hot, cooked meal…moreover the state government prescribes a menu for the MDM scheme according to local tastes and hence biscuits cannot be provided”.
Obviously, K Natwar Singh was talking about the other states and not Gujrat.
Meghalaya, “State Government prefers the cooked midday meal as it is in line with Supreme Court direction. Also, a meal is more filling and “healthful” than biscuits. Maybe Samajwadi Party's Rajya Sabha MP Abu Asim Azmi was talking about a different biscuit.
Pondicherry provides more than the prescribed levels of nutrients through a mixed menu and therefore rejects biscuits.
AP takes the medical route saying biscuits have disproportionately high percentage of sugar and daily consumption of biscuits is likely to expose the children to risk of juvenile diabetes.
Remember what happened to a certain lady who said, “If there is no bread, let them eat cake?”…well we live in more “civilzed” times and therefore, make the proponents of biscuits for lunch eat, well, biscuits – their just desserts.
Thursday, September 06, 2007
Noodles for Comfort
Its raining today. A pleasant relief from the opressive humidity of yesterday. Just right for some Comfort Food. Specifically, what I call R's Noodles for Comfort. Recipe up at Timid Cook.
Bon Appetit!
Bon Appetit!
Saturday, December 10, 2005
Tuesday, May 11, 2004
Doony et Beignet
I having been stuffing myself silly with all the French goodies that I won’t get back home. All of them are not gourmet stuff. Top of the list is the humble donut (known as 'Doony' in France) and their hole-less brethren ‘beignet’. They are wonderful. And much better than any I have tasted elsewhere including those in the US. So, any of you planning to visit France, do see the monuments, the musées but don’t forget to bite into a delicious doony or beignet (or indeed why not both)!
Thursday, April 08, 2004
The French Paradox
It refers to the paradox of the rich French cuisine and yet the slender build of the populace. You do have the occasional fat person but it’s not an epidemic like say in the USA. The secret it seems is in the tons of red wine that the French imbibe. (Actually the statistics note that on an average, the French drink less wine per person than they did couple of decades back).
A was thrilled to bits with this bit of information. He takes his food very, very seriously (I don’t mind it either). Unfortunately, his tastes run to fatty food, fries in every type of cuisine. (He insists that pork is not red meat). Each time I kicked up a fuss, he would point out that red wine would cut down on the cholesterol and fat intake. (Pulverise it down the toilet bowl that is). This has spiralled out of control.
We note down places by the meals we have taken there and not by famous landmarks! The restaurants are our guiding lights! Whenever we decide on a trip, just after we book our tickets, and before we check out places of interests in a guide book, A checks out restaurants not to be missed. On our weekend in Rome, we tried 5 different places (4 of them Italian) and the 5th or should I say the 1st was an all-american steak joint (A wanted to eat a juicy fat steak), hours after we landed in Rome. He however insists that it was me who ate so much that I had the waiters saluting me. When I say I didn’t notice that, he says obviously, you were busy stuffing your face!
Shortly afterwards, in Crete, we took a 3 hour bus trip to eat at Plaka, a tiny fishing village bustling in summer but a deserted town during our trip in December. We practically forced the elderly owners to open up and cook for us. But it was one of the best meals we have had.
Last year in August, in the middle of the heat wave, I developed blisters on the soles of my feet searching for all those must eat places, in Nice. I did however manage to squeeze in a city tour and the magnificent Matisse collection. We took a 2-hour boat ride to St.Tropez where we didn’t waste time or money on a boat ride to Bridget Bardot’s house like most tourists. We went in search of a restaurant rated three stars, which unfortunately was closed in the afternoon and open for dinner by when we had to return to Nice.
Even within France, we still talk about the gem of a restaurant we discovered in Fontainbleau. The Chateau and forests were very nice but thank god the restaurant we chose at random had a fabulous menu. Oh the sinful tarte aux pommes. I shall remember it to my dying day. And the ‘rhubarb quiche’ at the café in Musée d’Orsay. (Of course the impressionist collection had me impressed too). A swears that we have to go back to Provins because we didn’t eat at any of the auberges on our last trip which was a picnic with his French class students. The list is endless…but I guess you get the picture.
The French themselves are quite amused by this “French paradox” theory and pooh-pooh it away and claim (and probably correctly), “Eat sensibly”! Which is what we should do since the weighing scales do not lie! The French paradox is not working for us. Perhaps it works only for the French!!
A was thrilled to bits with this bit of information. He takes his food very, very seriously (I don’t mind it either). Unfortunately, his tastes run to fatty food, fries in every type of cuisine. (He insists that pork is not red meat). Each time I kicked up a fuss, he would point out that red wine would cut down on the cholesterol and fat intake. (Pulverise it down the toilet bowl that is). This has spiralled out of control.
We note down places by the meals we have taken there and not by famous landmarks! The restaurants are our guiding lights! Whenever we decide on a trip, just after we book our tickets, and before we check out places of interests in a guide book, A checks out restaurants not to be missed. On our weekend in Rome, we tried 5 different places (4 of them Italian) and the 5th or should I say the 1st was an all-american steak joint (A wanted to eat a juicy fat steak), hours after we landed in Rome. He however insists that it was me who ate so much that I had the waiters saluting me. When I say I didn’t notice that, he says obviously, you were busy stuffing your face!
Shortly afterwards, in Crete, we took a 3 hour bus trip to eat at Plaka, a tiny fishing village bustling in summer but a deserted town during our trip in December. We practically forced the elderly owners to open up and cook for us. But it was one of the best meals we have had.
Last year in August, in the middle of the heat wave, I developed blisters on the soles of my feet searching for all those must eat places, in Nice. I did however manage to squeeze in a city tour and the magnificent Matisse collection. We took a 2-hour boat ride to St.Tropez where we didn’t waste time or money on a boat ride to Bridget Bardot’s house like most tourists. We went in search of a restaurant rated three stars, which unfortunately was closed in the afternoon and open for dinner by when we had to return to Nice.
Even within France, we still talk about the gem of a restaurant we discovered in Fontainbleau. The Chateau and forests were very nice but thank god the restaurant we chose at random had a fabulous menu. Oh the sinful tarte aux pommes. I shall remember it to my dying day. And the ‘rhubarb quiche’ at the café in Musée d’Orsay. (Of course the impressionist collection had me impressed too). A swears that we have to go back to Provins because we didn’t eat at any of the auberges on our last trip which was a picnic with his French class students. The list is endless…but I guess you get the picture.
The French themselves are quite amused by this “French paradox” theory and pooh-pooh it away and claim (and probably correctly), “Eat sensibly”! Which is what we should do since the weighing scales do not lie! The French paradox is not working for us. Perhaps it works only for the French!!
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