Chronicles Of The Sassy Fork

Rongali Bihu is the main festival celebrated in Assam and marks the onset of spring.It's a time for joyous celebration and that's exactly what we did at the A Perfect Bite Cook Studio where Gitika Saikia arranged for the most exotic meal I have had! It was a part of the Culinary Legacy Series and many more such events are planned.The studio was packed,understandably so! Having had her Assamese food earlier at a pop-up,I expected this to be great.Walked into a studio decorated with Assamese "gamosas" and Rushina and her hubbie Shekhar wore them too.Gitika was wearing the traditional red and gold Mekhala Chador.Bihu songs played in the background,adding to the festive mood and bubbly  Gitika danced for us :D Bihu is a festival of the farmers and has no religious connotation First thing we were served were the pithas or pancakes made of rice flour.Stuffed with jaggery and sesame seed paste,these had to be dunked into black Assamese tea. Lo...

The lovely little café at Jehangir Art Gallery has shut down.Samovar was named after the Kashmiri teapot around whom people huddled together.That's exactly how Samovar was! Warm and comforting and getting people together! This was a café my mother used to take us to when we were kids.She was a journalist and this was close to her place of work.We would enjoy the snacks and then gape at the beautiful paintings at the gallery. When I read about Samovar shutting down,I knew I had to go there one last time.Rashmi Uday Singh announced on Instagram about meeting up there and I thought that was perfect   Had no idea I would see Usha Khanna,the wonderful lady who started Samovar.She has written a beautiful book called"The Making Of Samovar" in which she describes how the place was inspired by the Parisian cafes she frequented.The book tells you about her struggle to start it and  run it,the various famous artists who visited it when they were starting their car...

We reached Dapoli in about six hours after halting at several places.It is about 250 km from Mumbai.Dapoli itself is away from the sea so we choose to stay at Karde Beach at the Sagar Saoli Resort. Close to the resort were adventure sports such as parasailing,water scooters and beach biking.The Dolphin Safari also started there. The hotel was comfortable and the service exceptionally good! Bathrooms were simple but equipped.Food was homely and quite a treat! In the garden was a well and a huge mango tree full of unripe mangoes. We had a view of the ocean from the rooms.There was lovely chai stall by the sea In the garden was a sago palm.This is the source of sabudana which is made into khichdi and kheer on days of "fasting".High in calories. For breakfast we had many options.The Thalipeeth was superb! Handpressed,this was well spiced and nutritious as it was multi grained.Way better than any I have had in Mumbai.This wa...