Recipes

Saturday, December 24, 2011

Rich Christmas Plum Cake

The spirit of Xmas is incomplete without the traditional yummy Christmas plum cake. Once our Christmas tree was, up my 8 year old daughter - who loves baking, was after me to start preparing to bake the plum cake.

I have been trying different plum cake recipes every Christmas for the last few years. This year, I am greatly inspired by fellow food blogger Aliena Varghese 's recipes on her blog, and have tried to follow her plum cake recipe, with a little variation in some ingredients. Thanks for this Ally.

My daughter and I baked this plum cake together last evening. Here is how we did it.




Ingredients:
Butter - 250 gms
Brown Sugar - 200 gms
Eggs - 4
Plain flour - 350 gms
Rum/Brandy - 3tbsp
Salt - 1/2tsp
Mixed Spice (powdered nutmeg, cinnamon, cloves) - 1tsp
Vanilla Essence - 1tsp
Molasses - 5tbsp
Apricot Preserve - 1/4cup
Orange Marmalade - 1/4cup

Fruits:
Orange and Almond Essence - few drops
Baking soda - 1/2tsp
Almonds/ Cashew nuts - 200gms
Cherries - 125gms
Raisins - 100gms
Sultanas and Currants - 250gms
Tutty Fruity - 250 gms
Dates - 200gms
Mixed peel - 125gms

Preparation:
Chop and soak all the fruits in dark rum or brandy one week in advance. Stir everyday.

Method
Pre-heat the oven at 140 degrees centigrade. Sift the flour, salt and baking soda and keep aside. In a separate bowl cream the butter and brown sugar until fluffy. Whip the eggs separately and add them little at a time, making sure the mixture does not curdle. Add in the essences and keep beating. Fold in the flour and continue stirring till batter is fluffy. Add the fruits, peel, spices, apricot preserve and orange marmalade and mix thoroughly till well combined. Pour the batter into a greased baking tin. Bake at 140 degrees centigrade for 45 - 55 mins (depending on the oven) until the top turns a dark brown and when a skewer inserted into the cake comes out with dry crumbs.



Notes:

You can use caramel instead of molasses and regular sugar instead of brown sugar.

The quantity and type of fruits/nuts is entirely your choice, however I'd recommend to use orange rind if you can because it enhances the flavour a lot. You could also throw in some
dry sugar coated ginger.

If you plan to ice the cake, reduce sugar by 1/3 cup. This cake is sweet enough on it's own.

You can soak up the cake after it has cooled completely with a little dark rum.

Baking time will vary as per the oven, but typically, keep checking after 40 mins.

Merry Christmas and a very Happy New Year.


Tuesday, December 13, 2011

Banana Bread (egg-less)

Been craving for some home-made dessert for a while now. So decided to snap out of my lazy stupor and bake something. There were a few over ripe bananas sitting in the fruit basket - ideal for baking banana bread (egg less).

This is the first bread I learnt to bake few years back (after having tasted the banana walnut bread at ICRISAT Hyderabad). Moist, delicious and wholesome. And folks at home love it.




Ingredients
1 cup sugar ( Indian granulated white sugar or brown sugar)
3 bananas (ripe)
4 tbsp melted unsalted butter
2 tbsp curds/dahi
1 and 1/2 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 tsp salt
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla essence or extract
1/4 cup milk
1/2 cup chopped walnuts (optional)
1tsp cinnamon powder

Method
Pre Heat oven to 350 degree fahrenheit / 180 degree centigrade. Blend the bananas, add sugar, curds and mix. Add butter, salt, and flour till incorporated. Mix the baking soda with the milk and add it to the above mix along with the vanilla essence. Mix in the walnuts and cinnamon
powder and stir till everything is well blended. Pour this batter into a greased bread tin and bake for about 50-60 minutes or till a tooth pick inserted comes out dry.

Monday, December 12, 2011

Aroy, J.P.Nagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review

Having enjoyed Thai food in Singapore few months back, decided to sample some of it in South Bangalore. Aroy - is what the Thais call pleasure, is situated in JP Nagar, facing mini forest.

Its a nicely done up classy restaurant with a big roof-top seating area and a small indoor one. It was pretty crowded for a mid-week night - few families but mostly large corporate groups.

I ordered Jamaican Passion cocktail (White Rum, Dark Rum, Passion fruit, Clove, lime & orange), as I love passion fruit. However, there was hardly any passion fruit flavor. Basically orange juice and rum. And no clove for sure!



The Thai raw mango salad - Yam Mamuang, is something I was really looking forward to, and I was very excited to see that it was listed on their menu. While I cannot say that the salad was bad, it was definitely not authentic. The raw mango slivers were fresh and tangy, spicy too - but what was missing was the generous garnishing of crushed groundnuts and cashew nuts. While there were no cashew nuts at all, I did count about 4 pieces of crushed groundnuts. No basil or cilantro. Funnily, the chef had added quite a bit of glass noodles....I am guessing the intention was to add some body to the dish, however they failed miserably at the attempt. I know lots of people who dislike noodles (like my husband) but love the salad, and for such folks, finding noodles in their favorite salad can be quite a turn off.



A starter that was really nice (again - nothing Thai about it) was the Golden Basket Veg. Basically crisp tarts with corn, bell peppers and onion filling.



Moving on to mains, we had Chili Basil Fried Rice (Khao Pahd Bai Kraprow). Tasted like a typical Chinese fried rice with a dash of basil. Nothing to write home about. For accompaniment, we wanted something tasting very very Thai with coconut flavor. We asked the manager to suggest - and he asked us to try the Thai Red Curry with stir fried veggies. This is not on the menu but he offered to make it for us. Again, we were very disappointed. Turned out tasty alright, but nothing Thai again. Just a run of the mill oriental red semi gravy with vegetables.



The service was good, and the staff was obliging when we asked for extra groundnuts in the salad.

On the price front, Aroy is way too steep for the kind of food they offer.

Decent enough to classify as 'oriental food', - but definitely not my first choice for Thai food in Bangalore.

Verdict: 2.8/5

Monday, November 21, 2011

Dilli Chaat Wallah & Kabab Souk, JP Nagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review

A cafe that displays art/works of photographers is nothing new; a family home converted to an eating joint that promises to serve chaat from the capital & authentic North Indian khana on the ground floor and a gallery set to house works of photographers on the first floor is definitely new. That too in JP Nagar!

Discovered this delightful little place initiated by photographer and filmmaker Sudhir Boury. His former family home on the JP Nagar 6th phase ring road (close to the underpass) is converted to house Dilli Chaat Wallah - Kebab Souk and the up-coming art/photo gallery. Although it is situated on the busy ring road, it is on the corner of a quiet tree-lined lane.



Longing for some chat-pata chaat on a wintry afternoon, my mother and I decided to lunch at this new eatery as it is very close to our workplace.

The smell of fresh paint, polish and new furniture greeted us as we walked in. The place is not entirely ready, (minor last-minute touch-ups were going on) but the kitchen is functional. Seating options include indoor dining or you can enjoy your meal under the lush green tree along the outer wall of Dilli Chaat.

We were a tad disappointed to learn that chaat is available only after 3pm - but we (rather my mom) happily settled for a roti - subzi affair on learning that it was a vegetarian restaurant.

Started with refreshing drinks of aam ka panna and ananas ka panna. While there was hardly any aam/mango taste in the aam ka panna (was more like jal jeera), the ananas ka panna was simply superb. Pineapple lovers will for sure like this one - tangy, just enough of the
pineapple flavor and masala.

We straightaway ordered the main dishes - lachcha parontas and dum aloo, along with raitha. The parontas were golden, layered and crisp on the edges and soft towards the center. Pleasantly surprised to notice that it was actually wheat based without maida.

Dum aloo was just right in terms of spice, fragrance and consistency, although I think the number of baby potatoes in the gravy were not enough - just about 6. The gravy was thick and creamy, and delicately flavored. The potatos were nicely cooked and retained the taste of the
gravy.





The curd in the raitha was rather dilute, but fine otherwise.

We ended the meal with hot gulab jamuns. One plate serves three pieces of medium sized jamuns. The jamuns were soft and fluffy, however the center of one of the jamus was not cooked well enough, bit into some raw dough.



On the whole, the food was very home-made types - which I think is a good thing. By this I mean there was no excess oil floating on the gravy and no maida used in the wheat parontas. Also, the meal did not leave us feeling full and heavy. Light and just right.

Service was pretty efficient and staff was friendly. Sudhir actually took time out to talk to us about Dilli Chaat Wallah & Kabab Souk. His idea is to give us Bangaloreans authentic Delhi style chaat (he has lived in the capital for more than a decade and has a good understanding of what chaat lovers in the city want), and good wholesome North Indian vegetarian food - this comes naturally being a Punjabi himself. Serving vegetarian kababs is another concept close to his heart.

Cant wait to go back and sample the chaats one of these evenings. Would love to see some basics such as rajma chawal & kadhi pakodi on the menu.

A meal for two costs about Rs 370/-.

Verdict - 3.8/5

Monday, November 7, 2011

Ente Keralam, Ulsoor, Bangalore : Restaurant Review

Sunday lunch at Ente Keralam began on an unpleasant note from the time I called to make a reservation. We asked for a table for four and what I got was a whole 10 minutes of let-me-see, I cant promise you....we'll see when you get-here kind of nonsense from the lady manager. I almost hung up the phone when she suddenly had a change of heart and told me she could give me a table (like she was doing me a big favor!). Since my friends were really eager to eat mallu food and I have a weakness for appams and stew we decided to give it a shot - explicitly told the lady that we would be there between 1:15pm - 1:30pm.

We reached at 1:20pm. Our presence was acknowledged by a mundu wearing chap with a smattering of disgruntled grunts. When we told him we had a reservation, he rudely snapped in an uncouth manner and told us that since our reservation was for 1:30pm, he could not give us a table right away. We realized it was no use arguing with this mundu wearing villain who seemed to be straight out of a C grade Malayalam flick.

When the mundu wearing villain went back inside the restaurant, we realised that more than half the place was empty. We were about to fight our way in when the lady manager came and ushered us inside. Basically, we figured that they make the guests wait outside to create some kind of hype around the place. We were asked to go in only because another group of people were entering the restaurant, so it was their turn to wait till another lot was heading that way.

The only thing authentic about Ente Keralam is the ambiance and decor that includes traditional urulis and paras (vessels), an elephant nettipattam (handcrafted gold ornament that adorns an elephants forehead), portraits of kathakali dancers, mudras, chinese fishing nets, and old Malayalam film music.

The menu looks appetising on paper and stops right there! Each table is served a small portion of complimentary salted banana chips that were sodden and Chakkara Varatty (banana chips tossed in jaggery) that was not-so-sodden.

We started with Keraleeyam - a chilled tender coconut water based drink with coconut ganjee (pulp), mint leaves and a dash of lime. Quite refreshing.


Keraleeyam

For mains, we ordered sadhya, appam and vegetable stew. The appams were soft and fluffy, but the stew was actually sweet. While I do understand that coconut milk is mildly sweet, a stew is laced with spices to bring down the sweetness which was not done in the case on Ente Keralam. For a minute, I did wonder if I was having a Kerala meal or a Gujarati one.



Appam and Vegetable Stew

Next, the sadhya - a traditional vegetarian Kerala meal/thali served on a banana leaf. The sadhya comprised of vegetable side dishes such as avial, thakkali curry, eruseri, sambar, rasam (sambar and rasam are not native to Kerala at all), papad, chutneys such as enji puli, curd, rice and three kinds of payasams. All the vegetable sides were very mediocre and some were sweet too. My friend mistook a yellow smooth pulp in one of the small katoris for dessert, but on tasting it, discovered that is was mashed salted moong dal! Very very unkerala!!! This I know for a fact as I have a malayali mother-in-law, malayali neighbors and friends in dozens. The icing on the cake however, is the jet black authentic kerala coconut-oiled curly strand of hair that we dug into in the dish of white rice! Yuck! The waiter apologised profusely, and even tried to make up by serving us a complimentary dessert. Also, the buttermilk that is part of the sadhya was not served at all. We had to ask for it and it was brought to the table after desserts.


Sadhya

White rice with hair

Three types of Payasam

We pulled up the manager and all she could say was sorry! And the best part is after we paid the bill and the change was returned, the folder with change of Rs 170 went missing from the table. The manager had actually taken it away even before we could take the change back and decide if we needed to tip the shoddy service at all!

Hospitality lessons is what the management needs to dish out to their staff. Next on is a lesson in serving authentic food from God's Own Country.

Visit recommend only if you want a serving of authentic mallu hair in your food.

Verdict 1/5 (only for the ambiance and decor)

Sunday, November 6, 2011

Toit, Indiranagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review

The name Toit - I gathered from their website, implies 'full tight' or tipsy/sloshed.

Leaning on pillar no 62 of Namma Metro, the founders of Toit decided to quit their nine to five jobs to give Bengaluru a brewpub. The beer is not quite brewing yet but they promise to serve hand crafted beer soon. Till then they call themselves a pub serving great food.

Toit is a refreshing change to the pub and restaurant scene in Bangalore. Huge airy split-level space with four separate sitting zones. Enjoy a pub atmosphere, or that of a restaurant in the family enclouser, or catch up with friends in the lounge-like area, or move to the open-air smoking zone. The brick walls and dark wooden furnishing, combined with the high-ceiling and good lighting give it the look and feel of an old world pub.

A bunch of friends and I visited this place on a Saturday evening. The place was filling up fast. Luckily, we had made a reservation.

The menu listed interesting cocktails. We ordered a pitcher of Green Apple Mojito (green apple slivers in white rum, crushed ice and mint) and a glass of Long Beach Iced Tea (vodka, rum, gin, tequila, triple sec, lime, cranberry juice). The quantity of Mojito in the pitcher was more than generous. The alcohol quotient was high in both the cocktails - left us feeling quite merry!


Green Apple Mojito

The food menu is pretty varied. We tried the Barbecued baby corn. It was simply awesome - spicy, tangy and crisp. Complemented the drinks beautifully. Next, we ordered Mexican Bhel - nachos in cheese sauce and veggies. Turned out to be a regular fare.

For main course, we tried the wood-fire thin crust Veggie Attack pizza. Baked-to-perfection pizza with a load of assorted veggies and cheese. However, I think it could have been spiced up a bit - it was rather bland. But the quantity in terms of size was large.


Veggie Attack

Next on the list, we tried the veg Moussaka (a Greek dish filled with veggies, topped with a creamy bechamel sauce and baked to a golden brown). This dish was perfect - not too dry or soggy, delicate subtle flavor and the bechamel sauce was sinfully creamy. Decent portions again, however I wish they served us some garlic bread as an accompaniment. We ordered it separately (and reminded the person serving us about it a couple of times) and it was finally served along with the dessert - by which time we had devoured the Moussaka! Says something about their service on a weekend....more on that bit later.


Veg Moussaka



Toit Special

The star on the table was the dessert. Called Toit Special, its a sinful rich chocolate layered cake - we counted about 7 layers - and is served flambéed. Absolutely yuuuuummmmm! This dramatic end to a signature meal (Toit's own words) was dramatic alright. Garlic bread with Toit Special! And the confused waiter had absolutely no clue what he was doing. Added to this - the waiters were huddled in groups and seemed more busy gossipping than serving the guests.

On a Saturday night, understandably Toit is bursting at the seams with diners, but they just cannot manage the crowd. They still need to go a long way in terms of providing efficient service.

In spite of poor service, I would still recommend Toit. Good music, great crowd, a fun place to catch up with friends over drinks (excellent cocktails) and good food to compliment the drinks.

Verdict: 3.8/5

Wednesday, November 2, 2011

Kakori - Kebabs & Curries, J.P.Nagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review


Never judge a book by the cover. That is what I learnt from Kakori - a restaurant that boasts of a slightly over-the-top exterior complete with glittery blue serial lights (I first thought the place was dressed up for Diwali), and a forced gaudy Mughlai look with arches! While the ambiance inside is pretty decent, the lighting is extremely dim (you can see that in the images below - so please excuse me for the image quality).

Moving on, lets look at the most important part - the food. The vegetable kebab platter is a good assortment of paneer, vegetables, mushrooms and baby corn. Crunchy and grilled just right, the kebabs have a strong aroma of charcoal making them all the more delicious. On the spice quotient, I think they can tone down a bit as the alu tikki kebab and paneer were very spicy - and this is coming from someone who has a pretty high threshold for spice. Also
there is too much of food coloring, very tiranga looking but it wasn't independence day! :)

Eating only veggies in a kebab place is just not done - snickered my chicken devouring brother Shashank (nicknamed koli - for obvious reasons if you understand Kannada). So here is his bit. This place boasts of a wide variety of Kebabs. Tender, fresh meat cooked to perfection with the right amount of flavor and spices is what you can look forward to. The dishes are served with spiced onion rings and chutney. I tried the Kakori Kebab and the Achari Kebab. Both of them were fantastic and the quantity is just right (one dish serves two people).


Kakori Kebab

Tomato shorba is satisfactory but very mildly spiced. Some coriander garnishing would have helped.

Tomato Shorba

Spiced Onion Rings

I always wanted to have a good kofta curry but restrained myself as almost always the koftas are like a sweet dish. However, Nargisi Kofta was unlike any other kofta I have had before. It is medium spicy and tomato based. Most importantly, it is not one of those sweet koftas stuffed with dry fruits. Of course there are a few if you look really hard, but they are mashed very well with the paneer and potato. So people who dislike sweet koftas, visit Kakori for Nargisi kofta!

Kadai Vegetable was another pleasant surprise. The regular assorted veggies are used but leaves a nice tandoor after flavor.

Rotis, kulchas and naans are satisfactory.


Nargisi Kofta and Rotis

Portions are generous, the spiced onion side dish served with kebabs is a very good idea. We asked for more and the courteous staff willingly obliged. Service was quick - probably because it was a weekday evening and not very crowded.

Kakori is ideally a non vegetarians' delight. The menu boasts of various kebabs that my non vegetarian brother was drooling over. However, there are decent options for us vegetarians too. Serves alcohol. Priced moderately.

A much - needed kebab - curry - roti place in south Bangalore. Stands out amongst the cluster of 'multi-cuisine' type restaurants that are mushrooming in every corner as Kakori is sticking to serve only one kind of cuisine.

Visit recommended.

Verdict: 3.5/5

Friday, October 28, 2011

Veekes & Thomas - JP Nagar, Bangalore : Restaurant Review


I have been a fan of Veekes and Thomas for sometime now. I've lost count of the number of times I've eaten here. From a small kitchen with four tables for dining, to the little cart in Jayanagar 4th block, to their first restaurant-type outlet in JP Nagar 7th Phase, I've seen them only grow from strength - to -strength. They are now open across seven locations in the city.

Last night, my family and I dined at their JP Nagar outlet. This is a cozy by-the-doorstep kind of a place. The ambience is warm, decor is basic and practical and the music is awesome (read Deep Purple, Rolling Stones and the likes).

For starters we had Grilled Onion Bruschetta. The bread was done just right, toppings tasty and juicy with the right amount of cheese. My daughter attacked her favourite Garlic Bread with Cheese, which was also very nice.

Grilled Onion Bruschetta

Moving on, we had Vegetable Steak and Ratatouille. The cutlet in the steak could have been spiced up a bit, however the delicious brown sauce topping made up. The flavour was very different from anything I have had before. And my daughter, who is a pretty fussy curd-rice/thair sadam type kid just loved it. The mashed potato served with the steak was delicately laced with herbs. Just yumm!

Vegetable Steak

I ordered Ratatouille out of curiosity. This turned out to be herbed rice served with a tangy tomato sauce over sauteed zucchini, mushrooms and assorted vegetables garnished with basil. This platter came piping hot to the table, and I must say I was not at all disappointed. A very tasty dish, which is something inbetween oriental and European. The rice was delicately flavored and the gravy was rich and aromatic.

Ratatouille

Next, we ordered a Lasagna. I was a tad disappointed as it was pretty dry and not at all cheesy.

One of their really good main course dish - Cannelloni, is not available anymore - another disappointment!

Desserts are pretty good, however the portions are pretty tiny.

V&T also home deliver in and around J.P.Nagar. When food is home delivered, the main course tends to get dry. So make sure you ask for some extra sauce. But I have to give it to them - how many restaurants actually deliver continental/europen food (albeit indianized) to your doorstep?

Overall, every visit to Veekes has been a good experience. Tasty food to suit the Indian pallet.

PS: I miss the eco-friendy plates (yele thatte) and bowls (donne) they initially used to serve food.

Veekes and Thomas delivers what they propose - "We aspire to do to continental cuisine what the Chinese from Calcutta did to Chinese food decades ago – highly Indianized, very affordable and easily available."

Highly recommend V&T for a quick , tasty and light-on-the-wallet meal.

Verdict: 4.5/5

Saturday, October 22, 2011

Singapore Sights, Sound & Smell

The last time I was in Singapore, it was my hometown - exactly 8 years ago and to be honest, I wasnt a huge fan of the country at the time.

But Singapore in 2011 is a whole new city – and I like it!!!

The city/country has undergone an amazing facelift. New art centers, hotels and other developments on the waterfront, awesome super-malls, endless entertainment options, great food courts (that dont smell repulsive anymore) and outdoor restaurants, new and improved Little India, and see-it-to-believe-it kind of redevelopment of the quays along the Singapore River.

I planned this trip with family mainly for two reasons. To show my daughter the world-famous zoo, night safari and bird park as my husband, daughter and I are wildlife enthusiasts, and visit our dear friends Sruthi and Venkatesh.

Day 1: Jurong Bird Park

The day we landed, we took off to Jurong Bird Park. This is the biggest and the best bird-park in the world with free-ranging colourful birds, the world's largest walk-in aviary, bird shows and discovery centers.


Flamingos

A horn-bill in the bird show

Day 2: Shopping and Fun

A day of retail therapy :) and lots of yummy food.

On Sruthi's insistence, we had thai food for lunch at Thai Express, and I must say I was pleasently surprised. I expected foul-smelling weired looking oriental food - however all the
dishes were aromatic, fresh and very tasty. Ofcourse we had to specifically tell them that we are pure vegetarians and not to use fish oil and the likes :)

We started with Yam Mamuang (raw mango salad). Very fresh, crunchy and tangy!

Yam Mamuang (raw mango salad)

Followed by Phat Benjarong (veg stir fried five treasures). This was an amalgamation of mushrooms, spinach and three other greens. Tasty but rather dry.

Phat Benjarong (veg stir fried five treasures)

The best dish we had here was Khao Ob Nam Leab Phak (fried olive rice). Absolutely delicious aromatic rice with the delicate flavor of green olives, a tangy after taste and just a hint of spice!


Khao Ob Nam Leab Phak (fried olive rice)

For dessert, we went to Yogurt Place. I felt the yogurt here was more like melted gellato. The flavours were mostly fruity with a sprinkling of berries and such. Yumm never-the-less!

Yogurt Place

Day 3: Universal Studios, Sentosa & Night Safari

This was one of the most exciting but tiring day of our holiday. We managed to cover Universal Studios, Sentosa and Night Safari. While Universal Studios is non-stop entertainment,
underwater world in Sentosa was a breath-taking experience. An oceanarium showcasing exotic marine life from around the regions - it was thrilling to have small sharks, sting-rays
and other creatures swimming all around. And not to forget the dolphin and seal show.


Sting Ray

Jelly Fish

The Singapore Night Safari is the only night safari in the world. The safari covers eight geographical regions via walking trails and tram routes. A great chance to closely observe various nocturnal animals from different parts of the world. The best part of the night safari is that all the geographical regions have been recreated. The night at the safari ended with an action packed show called 'creatures of the night '.


Creatures of the Night Show - my daughter as a volunteer

Safari staff with a constrictor

Day 4 : The Singapore Zoo

A refreshing change from the depressing caged- animal zoos around the world. This is an open zoo, where animals are housed in open and creative enclosures apart from a variety of
free ranging animals.

The Singapore Zoo is very very close to my heart. Way back in 2001 and 2002, I used to work as a docent at the reptile section. Walking in to the zoo brought back lots of fond memories from my docent training days. My daughter was as excited because I had told her lots of stories about the snakes and crocs.


White Tigers at the zoo

Free ranging animals in the zoo

Snake!

Re posting an entry from my old blog during the docent days:

Fangs and hisses…

I have always been fascinated by Steve Irving of the crocodile hunter fame on Animal Planet. And I so wanted to be like him…

I trained for 12 rigorous weeks at the Singapore Zoo (to become a volunteer for a reptile conservation project). I gathered facts and figures on conservation, learnt each
snake’s/crocodile’s routine, which species were endangered and which were not, their habits, traits and more. By this time, I had developed a very healthy respect and a little fear
for snakes and their cousins. Handling tame, non-venomous snakes and displaying them for visitors was part of the program. And the time had come for me to make my first physical
contact with a snake. A full grown, 4 -and -a -half feet male rock python called Carl. Carl is 3 years old, the keeper told me. “He’s very calm and is used to human touch too” he said.…

The keeper had casually flung Carl across his shoulders. He had a combination of dark brown, beige and black patterns all over. His shiny black eyes twinkled. The keeper came towards me. And my heart started beating wildly. Can Carl hear my heart beat? I wondered. And before I realized, the keeper was holding Carl in his outstretched arms in front of me.

“Go on, hold him”, he said. “Oh…ok”, I said nervously. I took the python in my hands. He was cold, dry and smooth. He wriggled at the new touch. He turned his head to look me in the eye, pink fangs flicking in and out…making it look like he was ready to strike me. He made a couple of hissing noises, and I started making a mental note of the snake-bite first aid classes I had attended.

But suddenly, much to my astonishment, Carl slithered up my arm and made himself comfortable on my shoulders. He’s heavy, I thought. His fangs touched my skin, but nothing happened. And I sighed with relief. But I was profusely sweating. “Relax, pythons can sense your uneasiness”, the keeper said. I relaxed a bit, just in case my new friend perched on my shoulders actually had extra sensory powers and suddenly decided he wanted to taste my blood. His tail coiled around my waist. And I sharply sucked my breath in and gingerly uncoiled it. The keeper had told me to never let a python coil around any body part. Would he squeeze and suffocate me, I wondered. But of course, he was only playing. For the next couple of minutes I just let him lie there on my shoulders. He wriggled every now and then. But seemed like he was getting used to me.

Slowly, I started walking with him around the enclosure. By this time I had got past that little primal tingle at the base of my spine. And once I knew that Carl posed no danger, I was fascinated. Fascinated at the way he slithered noiselessly, the way he hissed often, and the way his eyes either twinkled in sunlight or glowed in shade.

I realized what a beautiful creature Carl was. So very vulnerable and harmless. From that day onwards, Id pick up Carl fearlessly and carry him across my shoulders and proudly walk
around the enclosure, as visitors watched amazed, fascinated and a little horrified.

They had that look in their eyes. The same awe-struck look that I used to have, while I watched Steve Irving on Animal Planet. Steve has dedicated his entire life for animals and its a
very noble thing to do. But Im glad that Ive been able to do my two-bits. Even if it was just to spread awareness on conservation of snakes.

After an exciting day at the zoo, Sruthi and Venkatesh took us out to take in the sights of the city by night. We drove along colorful Orchard Street, stopped by the Merlion statue for touristy pics, gazed at the Marina Bay Sands and Singapore Flyer in wonder! We also drove down Serangoon Street and Little India. Bustling with desi crowd, the street was abuzz with Happy Deepavali signboards and decoration.

From there, we headed to Boat Quay to catch a glimpse of the belly dancing that is pretty famous and settled down to dine at Iguana Cafe. After some beers/cocktails and a Mexican dinner, we trooped home exhausted!

City lights

Day 5: Last day at Singapore

Some more retail therapy before packing up to fly home :)

After another round of crazy shopping, we stopped for some delicious cupcakes at CupCake & Doughnut.

Cup Cakes


Special thanks to Sruthi and Venkatesh for making our vacation so memorable!

Friday, September 30, 2011

Bombe Habba - Dussera / Navaratri


It is festivities time!

With Navaratri, begins the display of traditional toys (bombe habba in Kannada). This is a practice among many families in South India. In Tamil Nadu it is called Bommai Kolu/Golu and Kolu Bommai in Andhra Pradesh.

The dolls are displayed on a tiered stand usually covered with a white cloth. There is no hard and fast rule for the arrangement of dolls. However, some begin the display with the 'pattada bombe'. These are traditional wooden toys artistically decorated, symbolic of a royal couple. Pattada Bombe are displayed as a mark of respect to the royal family of Mysore, as they initiated the Dussera celebrations on a grand scale in Karnataka during the Wadiyar rule.

At home, we set up the bombe stand and displayed the Pattada Bombe along with ambal/devi kalasha (a practice in Tamil Nandu), as we follow the culture of both Karnataka and Tamil Nadu (my husband is from TN). That apart, my daughter arranged traditional toys made of clay and wood, collected over the years.

My Bombes

As always, food is an integral part of celebrations. This Dussera, my family helped me with traditional sweets and savories. My mother made the savory 'shankar poli'. These are also called diamond cuts, shankarpali in Maharashtra and shakarpara in North India. These are deep fried sweet and salty diamond-shaped snacks. Yumm!


Shankar Poli


My grandmother and aunt made a sweet called 7-Cups. This is a burfi-type sweet made of seven different ingredients. Absolutely delicious! And my mother-in-law made aravane payasam, a traditional payasa/kheer native to Tamil Nadu and Kerala.


7 Cups


After all the sweet, it was time for some kharad usli (spicy kabuli chana snack) made by yours truly. It turned out pretty good (even though I say so myself) as I followed my father's recipe. He is a fantastic cook by the way!


Usli


Happy Dussera, Happy Holidays!