london diary: dinner at fifteen

some of you who have been reading my blog for a while may be familiar with my adoration of jamie oliver, the iconic british chef. remember my fantastic meal at his unique restaurant, fifteen, many moons ago?


i have been travelling a lot, of late, to london and h and i synchronised a trip so we could relive some of our favourite london memories and dining at jamie's fifteen was definitely one of them. so we went back there for dinner with friends and i have to say how remarkably impressed we were.

i wasn't terribly hungry that day so just had a hearty bean soup with crusty bread and burrata (a gooey mozzarella from puglia) but they both were sooo good and a reminder of how the simplest but freshest ingredients can make all the difference in the world.

our friends treated me to a copy of jamie's latest cookbook "jamies does.." in which he shares recipes from spain, france, italy, greece, morocco, sweden! jamie just rocks, shall i say?!!

travel diary: kodaikanal

i am on summer holidays now and immensely enjoying the downtime. i spent the first five days in kodaikanal (known as the "princess of hill stations"), tamil nadu where the weather was gorgeous, the air wonderful and the memories created priceless. we opted for a homestay at misty cove which has a lot of character and charm rather than the expected five star, the carlton kodaikanal. choose the latter if you can't do without showers, heated rooms, all day room service and other modern amenities.

what's there to do in kodaikanal? biking, horse riding, boating, walking, golfing, trekking and there is even a pretty good wax museum to check out! the months of april and may are best avoided though as it is peak domestic tourist season and the the traffic snarls are quite a nuisance not to mention the not so well heeled crowds!

kodaikanal is at her glorious best at 6 am in the morning. wake up and deep breathe the mountain air (you're at 7000 feet above sea level) and take a long and leisurely stroll around the lake (7km perimeter) while you take in the picturesque landscape and appreciate one of the finest spots in india.

getting to kodaikanal from bombay is a bit of a schlep though otherwise i might return again soon. you have to fly to madurai (no direct flights, you have to stop in chennai) and then it's a 3 hour drive. you could choose to break journey in the city of my birth, stay overnight at the gateway hotel pasumalai madurai, meet a peacock or two at breakfast, pray at the famous meenakshi amman temple early in the morning and then head onwards to kodaikanal. you may also want to include palani and rameshwaram on the same trip. tamil nadu is a fantastic option for culture and adventure!

cream centre and ice cream works

cream centre on marine drive is comfort food for me.. i head there every now and then when i'm just not in the mood to count the calories. they have been churning out their famous chole bhatura with remarkable consistency for decades now and it just never fails to be utterly satiating. best consumed with lots of raw onion and spicy pickles as well. i usually wash down with a glass of coke or pepsi. on my last trip i discovered that they do a yummy nachos as well - not the traditional type, of course, but a very indianised version with amul cheese et al. there are lots of takers in bombay for cream centre as it is always bustling and it takes a while to get a table during peak times. now you can even walk a few hundred metres to their "ice cream works" parlous and indulge even more. they have quite a nice and unusual selection of ice creams and sorbets.

kerala diary: vivanta by taj, bekal

tired of the same old and overrun spots in goa and kerala? fly to mangalore and drive two hours to bekal, a relatively new destination where vivanta by taj and the lalit have recently opened resorts to cater to the increasing need for weekend getaway destinations.

we spent the four day easter weekend at vivanta by taj in bekal and had an absolutely fabulous time. the kids and adults had plenty to do from splashing around in the pool, kayaking in the back waters, visiting the nearby bekal fort, chilling on the beach and getting indulgent massages at the luxuious jiva spa. but what we loved most was staying put in our authentic keralan-balinese style villa with its own plunge pool and day bed and letting the day take its own course aided by plenty of food and drink of course...highly recommended for quality time with the family!

the joys of potluck

a few weeks ago we started potluck lunches every friday at work and it's turned out to be one of our best team bonding thingies ever. who knew how excited we would become to share home cooked meals, experiment with foods we might otherwise shy away from and generally indulge in food with such glee! from neer dosas to puri and chole to theplas and dahi rice, there was an eclectic indian food selection to dig into. the only downside was an excess of food so we agreed that we would set-up a rotating schedule and no more than four of us would bring meals for the full team.

have you done potlucks? what do you think of them?

summer is here!

photo courtesy: jyotika purwar

i was in bangalore a few days back and had the opportunity to swing by the iconic sunny's for lunch. i was not very hungry so ordered a simple salad (vegetarian thai salad) but it turned to be SO VERY divine and it reminded me that there's no better way to beat the sweltering heat than by digging into a fresh salad that has been kept in the fridge for just a bit before serving. and if the crunchy veggies have been drizzled with an exotic dressing made from ginger, honey and lime then nothing like that burst of texture and flavour!

what are your favourite summer salads?