Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

It was my mom's idea that we spend a long weekend at Dapoli in the summer.I have been to other parts of Konkan earlier...Tarkarli,Malvan,Amboli,Vengurla,Ratnagiri,Ganapatipule,Chiplun and Murud Janjira. Each had its own flavor,unique stories and landmarks.Take for instance the Marleshwar temple which is housed in a cave and has snakes.Then was the Diveagar Temple which had a Ganpati made of solid gold which a farmer found in a field.This was kept for public viewing and unfortunately stolen recently and the gold melted. Our first stop was ahead of Panvel,just before Karnala sanctuary....Kshanbhar Vishranti.Ordered Misal and Poha for breakfast.Misal is available in Mumbai and is a spicy sprouts dish served with dahi at times.It was different in taste from the city version.Must be the Agri version.Agri food is the local food in the area.The Agri are people whose occupations include farming and fishing.The red masala is distinctive. After a long drive we reached Mangao...

Remember those days we went on picnics with our parents? Well,it felt the same when we headed to Velkar Farms yesterday.Located on the Western Expressway,this is ahead of the Dahisar Check Naka.We reached in an hour and a half.The place was lit up beautifully by glimmering lights.There was music playing.We were ushered to the lounge upstairs that had wooden interiors where we met our host and friend Rahul Velkar,Kunal Vijayakar's cousin,who runs Mr Chow's,the popular Chinese delivery chain.He is a staunch London fan...has been visiting it for the past 40 years! Affable and meticulous,he saw to it that each guest was comfortable and taken care of. The evening unfolded with some self introductions as most people knew each other.We were about twenty of us...Kunal Vijayakar who you all know( and hope that he returns on television as The Foodie)  is Rahul's cousin.Kalyan Karmakar who blogs as Finely Chopped . Kurush and Rhea Dalal who blog too and run Katy's Kit...

Food shows are a wonderful way of seeing what's new in the market.For the longest time,I have been attending The Upper Crust Food and Wine Show.The visual appeal and actual taste cannot be replicated be an ad.Over the years, there has been a trend for healthy snacks which is a great thing! Snacks that are not fried and made with whole grain and are well spiced to give that kick without the calories! Pleased to see the humble flaxseed make its appearance in the form of mukhwas.Loaded with omega 3 fat though not as much as fish,this is a great source of nutrition for vegetarians. A Japanese company Asahi Kasei has come out with cooking foil on which food can be cooked,cutting down on oil.Take for example the fried egg above. Spotted the Afghan mulberry....a delicious popper! One of the food stalls I enjoyed was the Parsi Da Dhaba.This is located at Talasari on the Mumbai Gujarat highway.The freshness and taste of the food is exce...