Indelible Musings

I know it's been long since I wrote something in the #ChennaiThroughMyEyes series. My plans of making it a weekly series have definitely gone for a toss. But I am glad that I am back with something to share with all of you once more. In this post, I shall tell you about the bond that I have developed with a few online friends who have become an integral part of my offline world. Though there are many such friends I have made living in Chennai for the past four and a half years, these few recent additions seem like those long lost friends, whom I discovered thanks to Facebook. It is not just the friendship that I feel good about. It is the strength that I gather when I speak to them, mostly online, because of our busy schedules. How we connected We all share a different sort of camaraderie. None of us know each other for more than a few months, but the way we met and interacted seems like an eternity. It was one underline thing that connected all of us- Food. Part of a social m...

On a lazy Sunday afternoon, when the urge to cook just fades away, I ended up scouting through Zomato's Delivery options in and around OMR, Chennai. After spending almost half an hour looking through menus of respective restaurants, their locations and home delivery options, I zeroed down on Velachery because that was only the area that had some decent restaurants, with a good menu overall in the offing. I was confused between two restaurants- Rock and Bhatinda Xpress- and finally, after consultation with a fellow foodie, living in Velachery and having tried almost all the restaurants in the area, I decided to order from Bhatinda Xpress. Bhatinda Xpress claims to serve authentic Punjabi dishes. Scanning through their menu was in itself quite a task and made me hungrier as I kept going from one page to other figuring out what to order. My fellow foodie and friend had provided me the phone number of the Restaurant owner. The owner was extremely polite and courteous in taking the ...

I have been an ardent fan of Sigree since the time a very dear friend of mine introduced me to this place. Back then, it was only at Nungambakkam. And, going till Nungambakkam all the way from OMR was always a painstaking task irrespective of a car or cab. Thus, my joy knew no bounds when I saw the board- SIGREE- on Adyar, months ago when this restaurant was in its final shape. Since its launch, I have been to this restaurant almost 5-6 times. Never have I been disappointed. On Friday afternoon,  as my husband and I were returning home after some work, we decided to stop over at Sigree for lunch. Though I wanted to try out a new place, my husband, who ain't that experimental with food, wanted to have normal "khana". As I got out of my car to handover the car keys for a valet parking, the parking person asked if I had reservation. I was a little surprised because this sort of a question usually came through in Barbeque Nation or such places. So we decided to head to the ...

Cooking is an activity that doesn't come naturally to me. Whatever I know today is because of what, well, my mother taught me. However, that doesn't stop me from drooling over the food cooked in cookery shows, posted on blogs or reviewed in groups or sites. This also therefore gives me the chance to try my culinary skills at experimenting with food. Let me share with you my experience of cooking a new recipe for chicken for the first time. Need I say more that the result was worth it. :) Though my experimentation is mostly restricted to my comfort food such as, Pasta, Sandwiches, Omlettes or even Maggi; I do not refrain from experimenting with the meat, fish or chicken. So when this time I bought a kg of chicken from a nearby shop, I was determined to cook something different and not the same old curry. The saying- a way to a man's heart is through his stomach - somehow doesn't go in my case. For my husband, food is secondary. It needs to be as simple and as minima...

This was probably the initial posts that I saw on Facebook today morning. My instant reaction- a wide grin :-D :-D - of course, being a tea person, I could relate to this so much. There are so many such posts that come on Facebook news feed on a daily basis. With some, you identify instantly; with some, you feel you identified earlier; then there are some which you feel simply exaggerated. Tea is a drink that I really am obsessed about. No black, no green. I prefer my light brown coloured milk tea with a hint of sugar. Neither too milky nor too watery but a perfect mix of both with a dash of tea leaves. Explaining my kind of tea in words is tougher than how I imagined it to be. You'd probably have to pay me a visit to understand the kind of tea I like. We all have our list of favorites, which we fear to or at least think twice before eating, when cooked by someone else. Not everyone can have a mother's touch or your taste. Here are my favorite ten food/drink, whose t...

Yes, you guessed it right. Chennai Food Guide's 10th anniversary celebration is back. This time at THE WESTIN, Velachery. Now this has been one event, which for the past four years I had been trying to attend but couldn't. Blame it on the job and the days when the celebrations took place. However, this time, when I saw the CFG 10th Anniversary Celebration Invite on FB, I did not delay even for a while. I was quick to click on the "Buy Tickets Link" and reserve two tickets for my husband and I. Though my husband is definitely not the one who frequents CFG FB group as much as I do, I have some how managed to convince him to come and visit the celebrations with me.  I came across this group through a colleague cum friend from my previous office, F. And, buoy! I have never ventured out of the group since 2011. From reviews to discussions on food, recipes and gossip (on food of course), this platform was a blessing in disguise for a person like me, who had come...