Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

For the longest time,I have wanted to spend Xmas day at Bandra and this time I did! Caught up with my friends Kalyan and K at one of their favorite hangouts...The Sassy Spoon.Yeah,Sassy Fork finally met Sassy Spoon! After having read about high tea and scones in Kunal Vijayakar's HT weekend column on food,I was keen to try it in Mumbai.I have had them years ago at the Sandringham Palace in UK and they were divine.The ones at the Sassy Spoon were lovely! Ever so light and served with strawberry jam and clotted cream It being Christmas we ordered the Turkey Four Way .....Asian Stir Fry,Wrapped in Bacon,Salad and Empanada...and loved it.The turkey was tender and flavorful as never before! We bumped into Chef Irfan Pabaney and he explained how they cooked it to make it that way. We ended with a brilliant Star Anise Pannacotta with poached pear with the right amount of wobble. It was great catching up with the Karmakars,first driving by all the dazzling C...

Celebrated Xmas eve by attending a Navjote at the Jeejeebhoy Dadabhoy Agiary at Navy Nagar,Colaba.It was my second time at the lovely venue and the atmosphere was that of a Christmas party.There was a beautiful Xmas tree at the entrance and gifts for children.Songs that blared off the speakers were all of my generation!! Yeh!!! Laughter,clinking of glasses and dazzling diamonds everywhere! Navjote is the ceremony to initiate a child into the Zoroastrian faith.Here it was of the talented Hansotia children,a invitation which stressed on the presence of great food to entice me! The starters were outstanding......Sali Boti Tartlets and Tiny Egg Chutney Pattice were the best.Pepper Mushrooms,Arbi Rolls,Pepper Chicken were good.I don't remember how many I had.Must be the wine. The dinner was traditional Parsi mostly and catered by the one and only Tanaz Godiwala (whom you can see in the green shirt below).We headed for the first seating as I don't like waiting behind som...

Ah!! It's Christmas time again!! Always make me happy.In school it was all about carol singing.I was extremely proud to belong to the school choir and sing in Descant! My hymn book is something I treasure to this day! I love going to Bandra 'cause it brightens up even further at Xmas time.Shops along Hill Road are packed with trinkets and baubles,snowflakes and Santas.Cafe Andora is where I would pick up my pastel colored Christmas sweets made of marzipan.Guava Cheese came from an aunty on Chapel Road. This year is special because I reconnected with Milanda Jagtiani.Many of my birthday cakes and snacks were made by her when she owned Sante at Pali Market.Once she sold it,we lost in touch.....until this month when I saw her announcement on Facebook.Milanda grew up in Lagos and went to culinary school in Hong Kong.She teaches exotic cooking.Her classes are full of unique ingredients which are all available in our city,be it Curry Powder or Kalamata Olives.An afternoon with h...

Simply stunning!!! Never seen anything like this before! The Pathare Prabhu community continues to enthrall with their customs and beliefs.For over 100 years,restauranteur Rahul Velkar's home has had Ganpati celebrations.His is one of the most prestigious families of the Pathare Prabhu community. Every year on the first day,the Naivedya Taat is the same on the first day and consists of Ukadiche Modak (Steamed dumplings with sweet coconut mixture),Godi Batati (spicy potatoes),Shirali Watane (Peas and Ridge Gourd),Kale Watana Bhendi (Black dried peas with okra),Sambare (coconut gravy),Pathwad (colocasia leaves stuffed with dal mixture,rolled and fried),Shev (steamed rice noodles) served with sweet masala milk,steamed rice and dal (varan bhaat) and poories.At Rahul and Devika Velkar's home,the celebrations are for one and half days.You can watch the video of the celebrations here  We were given Mesoor (honeycombed sweet made of gram flour from Phutanebai) as pras...

Alibaug at this time of the year is gorgeous! Everywhere you look it's green.There are families working in paddy fields.Some catch fish and prawns there.Spotted a young boy selling prawns in a basket and they were so fresh that they kept jumping out! One can also see women selling fish on the side of the main road.They are there all day and then at night,they continue by candlelight.This time of the year there were Bombay Ducks (bombil) and Prawns as the large boats only venture out in the sea after Narli Poornima.Read here about Kolis and fish. We were strolling on Alibaug beach and we bumped into a couple I know through my work.They treated us to large coconuts with thick malai/coconut cream.They took us to the pretty Versoli beach .Each beach has its own character.Kihim with its angry sea and fast winds,Alibaug beach with its bhelpuri stalls and cows and Versoli with its tall trees,all were very appealing They told us about the Karmarkar Sculpture M...