Home away from Home! :)

First up a biiiii....g thank you to the special hosts for having me over!

Next up.. the dhaba shifted base today and made the 'jannatofied' kitchen of Anamika & Sanju it's own! It's a kitchen straight out of the fairytale of cooking!!! From the stove to the chimney... it's like miraculous! Touch the cabinets and they open! Lift the cupboard doors a wee bit and they open up like 'khulja-sim sim' to reveal themselves! Even the dustbin cabinet was like touched by a magic wand! So the c(r)ook was in Kitchen heaven and having a ball of a time! From a futura cooker to perfect non stick stuff and wooden spatulas! From decorated mats to the awwsum cutting boards to the lovely selection of cups and bowls to the perfect glass ware to the oh so perfect e-v-e-r-y-t-h-i-n-g!!!!! This chef now knows what her heaven would be like!

It started with a weeny bit of chaos with the mutton being uncut but that was corrected soon enough! :) The chef had a lovely glowing helper (who ended up doing most of the work!). Anyways... :D On the menu:
1. Chicken in Brown Sauce
2. Mutton 'Kohlapuri'
3. Kerala Porotta's (ordered!) (bracket 2: spelling duly corrected after a Mallu yuppie jumped up and screamed: parota --> WRONG and SACRILAGE. It's a different story altogether that it's sacriLEGE! ;) )
4. Rice (nice n spiced up!)

The chicken was easy... with sauteing the onions, ginger garlic and capsicum... taking the tomato paste and reducing it over high flame... giving it a dash of salt, pepper and soya sauce! Meanwhile we have been marinating the chicken in ginger-garlic, salt and pepper and 'Jack Daniels!' :D Grill the chicken over some more JD and once tender and done pour the sauce over it and mix in the sauteed bowl! :) Cook a bit more for the flavors to seep in and lo n behold 'Chicken in Brown Sauce!'

The mutton demanded a whole host of onions and tomatoes.. standard desi masala... :) hold off on the haldi here again! Add to it a whole packet of 'Parampara Mutton kohlapuri' masala and bhuno it nice and well till it leaves it's oil! Pressure cook with bay leaves, big elaichi, black pepper balls, cloves and cinnamon sticks! :) Give it close to half an hour! And there you have it!!

With a salad of onions, tomatoes, carrots and olives and the parotas and rice the whole meal was one of the best she managed to turn out! (The kitchen and the angel helper had a huuuuge role to play!) :)

To top it all came ice-cream and eventually an amazing cup of tea made by the "host"! :)

It was a blissfully beautiful day... "perfectly perfect"! (To go with it was a nice heady glass of home made nutmeg wine!) :)

Guided Tour! :)

Warning: Exploration ahead!
ani-da-dhaba --> barrista --> pecos --> koshy's!

It started with meeting up with Khatri (a cute crazy whacko who she met at a darling friend's wedding and it was quite enuf to know him for 10 mins to know that this would be a great friendship!) and Mommyyy aka Shekhar aka Mum! (ahem! long story here.. tell me when you wanna hear it!)

Mum called up and was like 'Motee' (aka yours truly), I'm hungry! Yours truly sets open the gates of her dhaba to cook for a veggie... ! It's simple stuff... yellow dal, aaloo ki sabji n rice! It had been long since such simplicities had engulfed my life! :)

The nice hearty meal found us ready enough to walk the streets of Namma Bengaluru and we were sitting at the Barrista at the Barton center which can be one helluva crazy place on a Sunday! But with the sky giving us premonitions of rain and nice music playin.. the "Irish Caffe" became a must try and is now a must have the next time you are there! :)

The three soldiers trudged along and explores Bengaluru apart from food while munching on Popcorn and Masala Corn on the Cob! :) (~to each his own!)

Next stop after wading through a number of book stores and buying Dad a birthday gift was 'Pecos!' The place as usual attracts me no end! All the reviews that I’ve read about this place have described it as an Institution! It lives up to that and it’s habit forming!

The waiter with his own beer belly and a red and white checked shirt with the sweetest smile on his face takes charge of the whole floor and lets the people get lost in the music and the beer and the popcorn! Every pitcher gets you a pack of popcorns!

The choice of food complements the rustic look of the place… everything is finished to look blissfully grimy… the lampshades, the arches, the walls! The furniture is wrought iron with paint peeling off and the chairs are actually a modified barstool with the wooden surface proudly reading ‘Pecos!’

The music is a delectable mix of stuff like Dire Straits, Lynard Skynard, Eagles and stuff like American Pie! American Pie is a standard! Monday’s become a tad easier with the after glow of Pecos! :)

And then after a walk through the streets and a race that Khatri n me decide to have we end up at Koshy's! Another Institution!! :) Bare bones, basic and classic! Rustic! Old faded table cloths.. old fashioned clear glasses with borewell water… typically typically irani! A few fans scattered over the ceiling… lots of smoke from cigarettes… but it was a nice cozy warm n not stifling inside! There’s a seperation of the Smoking and Non-Smoking areas to the extent that the non-smoking is called the jewel box, has an A/c and i’ve heard prices are steep there! And yes, the use of laptops is not allowed inside the jewel box! (Mystery… any answers people? ) But true Koshy’s is smokin koshy’s with it’s claim to fame as even Pt Jawaharlal Nehru dined over there! Also.. there’s a gigantic Iron (Press) with MTV Style awards kept there.. so it had us wondering for a few moments! :)

Women in saris who smoke, women in capris and short skirts who smoke, women with 2 pigtails.. women who don’t smoke.. men with beards and long hair, men in casual shirts… men with arms around their girlfriends… all kinds of smokin and non smokin people… groups of women chattering away… groups of men enjoying their beer! It’s a come as you are, do what you want place and everybody… EVERYBODY is totally comfortable in their skin!

So if you wanna take a break.. let go of your masks.. enjoy good food/coffee/beer… let your hair down and head straight for this beautiful experience! It is indeed an experience! The house special is ‘appam with mutton stew’ but that’s only and only a sunday breakfast item! So the day you find it in your bones to wake up on a sunday morning before 9… you wash your face and brush your teeth and head straight for koshy’s! yes… it sells like hot cakes so it’s best to be there before 930!!!!!! (I’ll tell you the day I manage it!) Till then i'll stay happy with the keema curry and rice and the mice mutton toast! :)

And that people was a foodie's tour around Bengaluru's best!