Karma Korma

This evening I braved the cold and wet to attend a Goan Fish Curry Masterclass at our local Thali Cafe.

Frank Water, a Bristol based ethical water enterprise, has come up with a delicious way to raise funds - Karma Korma - just invite your friends round for a curry and ask them to donate the price of a takeaway.

To kickstart the campaign they organised a masterclass in the Southville Thali Cafe, where Ramesh and Asha took us through their Goan Fish Curry recipe complete with tastings, not only of their aromatic curry but also lassi, papads and tomato chutney, gulab jamuns and strawberry, white chocolate, black pepper and cardamom kulfi.  Well worth battling the elements for.

All that remains for me to do is to fix a date and invite half a dozen friends round for an Indian feast.

Monthly Book 1/52

Wooh!  Not only have I committed myself to baking a loaf of bread a week, I am now about to undertake to read a book a month.  I just hope it doesn't end in tears!

Anyway, following the mantra of Nothing Ventured, Nothing Gained, I'm joining in with Laura at Circle of Pine Trees.  Details can be found here.

My first book is Maggie O'Farrell's 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox'.  I discovered Maggie O'Farrell last summer, when I picked up 'after you'd gone' from an Amnesty second hand book stall.  I took it on holiday and sat reading it on the sofa of our Colonsay cottage looking out over the sheep grazing in the field.  It had been a while since I'd read a book I'd chosen for myself.  The last few had been selected by members of the reading group I'd been attending, none of which I'd particularly taken to, and I'd begun to wonder whether I'd ever truly enjoy a book again.  'after you'd gone' broke the jinx.  It's a good thing I was on holiday as it allowed me the hours required to finish it within a couple of days.  Whether it was the poetic quality of the prose, the graphic portrayal of loss, or the references to my beloved Edinburgh ...  Perhaps, because although I enjoyed 'Instructions for a Heatwave' it didn't grip me with quite the same force.  I'm hoping that 'The Vanishing Act of Esme Lennox' with its setting in both Edinburgh and India (where I was born and grew up, admittedly long after the Raj!) will draw me in again.

43/365

Takeaway - Mumbai Style

This evening The Thali Cafe opened the doors of its latest restaurant, in the Tobacco Factory on North Street.  Which means that, not only will I be able to treat myself to one of their delicious thalis (Indian meal served on the plate from which it gets its name) without the prospect of a long walk home afterwards, but I shall also at long last be able to join their award winning Tiffin club.  Hooray!

The tiffin is a Mumbai lunchbox, lovingly prepared by a dutiful wife, packed in a multi-tiered stainless steel container, and transported across the city, via a network of bicycles and suburban trains, to arrive on her husband's desk at 12:45 sharp.  The system is so efficient that for every 6 million tiffins dispatched only one fails to arrive.  Beats a soggy ham sarnie or a greasy pastie any day.

The Thali Cafe tiffin is much less complicated but equally attractive.  £24.95 buys the container, filled with your choice of thali.  When you've eaten, instead of being left with a stack of containers for the black box, you have a receptacle ready for your next visit.  Bingo!

If it wasn't for the fact that today's a Fast Day I'd have been queuing outside the front door at 6pm.  But it won't be long before I'm trying out the new kid on the block,(especially as my husband brought home a voucher for a free thali)!

PS  For more on the tiffin carriers of Mumbai see this Guardian article

19/365

Birthplace

Valley of Angels

Yesterday we visited Arnos Vale Cemetery, where the first burial took place in 1839.  It fell into disrepair, but after running up in the BBC Restoration programme and winning £4.8 from the Heritage Lottery Fund, the future's looking brighter.

Raja Rammohan Roy's Chattri
He was a Bengali reformer who died in Bristol in 1833

Military graves
I like the fact that no matter what their rank all servicemen are given the same size of headstone

The Atrium cafe  which serves yummy cakes
We had to take cover in a sudden heavy downpour

A Month of Dinners: 2 June

Indian Takeaway from Ali Baba's

Lamb Rezala, Mutter Paneer, Tarka Dal, Bombay Potatoes, Peshwari Naan & Rice

I make a mean curry myself but I didn't have to spend hours over this one

My Top Ten Cookery Books

Today I bought a new cookery book.  Heaven knows I don't need one but that's never stopped me before and it didn't this time when our Book People rep came calling with Hugh Fearnley-Whittingstall's latest offering.  Besides, it provided me with the perfect opportunity to publish a post I've been mulling over for some time now.

So here it is, my definitive(?) Top Ten Cookery Books

1. Good Housekeeping -  This was one of the first cookery books I bought and its the one I turn to most often to find out how long to roast a joint, the ratio of flour to butter to milk in a white sauce or the correct way to sterilise jam jars.  It cost me 50p in an introductory offer to a book club in my final year at university and has been with me ever since.  It has lost both back and front covers and its pages are scuffed and stained, but I wouldn't trade it in for any other book.
2. Real Food (Nigel Slater) - It's not just the recipes but Nigel Slater's attitude to food that appeals to me.  This is solid everyday cookery, the sort of food you would be happy to eat time and time again.  And we do!
3. How to Eat (Nigella Lawson) - Nigella Lawson is another of my food heroes.  This is a chunky book and it took me a while to justify the expense.  But it's one I've never regretted.  It's the kind of cookery book I can sit and read just for the pleasure of the prose.  And as I read it I can hear her voice in my head.  Gosh, I must have been watching too much TV!
4. The New Covent Garden soup Company's Book of Soups - We Scots are brought up on soup.  It practically runs in our veins.  I love it.  It's warm and nourishing and easy to prepare and is the perfect way to use up odd bits and pieces lying around the kitchen.  But sometimes it's good to start from scratch and boil up something special and this book has plenty to chose from.
5. The Good Cook (Simon Hopkinson) - I've come late to Simon Hopkinson, through his recent TV series.  He came across as a gentle man and his recipes are a reflection of his manner.
6. Indian Cookery (Savitra Chowdhary) - I inherited this book from my mother, although I have a feeling that it was my Dad who made more use of it.  I don't use many of its recipes but it's where I turn for a basic dhal and gajar halwa, my all time favourite Indian sweetmeat.
7. Mediterranean Cookery (Claudia Roden) - I love the aromatic flavours of Middle Eastern food and Claudia Roden's book is a veritable feast for the senses.
8. Delia Smith's Christmas (Delia Smith) - No list would be complete without a Delia Smith and this is my favourite.  In  years when I've opted for a traditional turkey dinner I've followed her countdown to Christmas dinner almost to the second.  And it's her mincemeat recipe every time!
9. How to be a Domestic Goddess (Nigella Lawson)  Nigella's second appearance but as this is the book I turn to first when I get the urge to bake she deserves it.
10. The Book of Children's Party Cakes (Ann Nicol) - From when they were old enough my daughters have been presented with this book a couple of weeks before their birthdays and asked to choose their cake.  Even the most complicated cakes are simple when you follow the instructions step by step.

So this is my list.  What about you?  Would any of these books feature on yours?  Have you any personal favourites to recommend?

The Appliance of Science

Yesterday we took delivery of a new washing machine to replace the old one which kept trying to boil our clothes. We'd had a man round to have a look at it who suggested a new thermostat, but it didn't do the trick and we regretfully decided that we had no option but to buy a new one.

I can't remember how old our washing machine was but certainly nowhere near as old as Doris Stogdale's fridge which is still going strong after 58 years.

I hate throwing away stuff until it's no longer useable. So for months now we've kept our washing machine from overheating by setting a timer and turning the dial on to the rinse cycle after 15 minutes. It was annoying but we learned to live with it.

However there's a balance to be struck between continuing to use an appliances that are no longer energy efficient and casually upgrading them. Our old machine was removed by our supplier and will be disposed of in accordance with WEE regulations, and we've replaced it with an A rated model, but I can't help feeling that it's still a waste.

I grew up in India where you could find someone to repair almost anything that was broken. It provided employment and prevented you from having to replace stuff quite as often.

Perhaps that explains my attitude. Or maybe it's my Scots blood.

Anyway I look forward to turning my back on my new machine, safe in the knowledge that it won't shrink my jumpers.

Let Them Eat Pudding

Last evening's Malago WI meeting was largely given over to the consumption of pudding. Members were asked to bring along two portions of their favourite dessert - a family favourite or perhaps one with a particular significance.


I made Gajjar Halwa to reflect my Indian upbringing. It's a carrot sweetmeat, prepared by boiling milk and grated carrot for an hour until thickened and then sweetened with sugar, enriched with butter, flavoured with cardamom and decorated with flaked almonds.

It's quite delicious.

Happy Days!

This evening my elder daughter and I walked up the hill to Totterdown to have a thali with some friends. A thali is the Hindi word for the plate on which the meal is served. The number and type of component dishes vary, any combination of rice, flatbread, vegetable curry, dal, sambhar, raita and salad.

My vividest childhood memories of thalis are from the three and half day journey from Pune to Coonoor we made every summer. We would stop at one of our favourite restaurants and take a seat in a room thronged with noisy diners. There was no menu, there being little need for one. At lunchtime everyone ordered a thali. Service was swift and within minutes large stainless steel plates were placed before us, their edges rimmed with half a dozen or so smaller dishes (watis) each filled with delicious food. My favourites included potatoes flavoured with mustard seeds and stewed drumsticks! In the middle was a heap of flatbread (puris or chappatis). As we ate our watis were continually topped up by an army of waiters circulating with pots of steaming curry and mounds of steaming hot puris. After we'd had our fill of bread the rice would arrive and if we'd had the foresight to save some until now, we'd douse it with sambhar (thin lentil and vegetable soup) and finish it with a spoonful or so of dahi (yoghurt) to aid our digestion. There was sometimes, but not always an Indian sweatmeat, and the whole meal was washed down with glasses of water. Then, after the ridiculously cheap bill was paid we'd pile back into the car and continue on south.

The Thali Cafe's non-dairy thali wasn't in the same league but it was good enough for me this evening.

Love Life Live Lent

Although Lent doesn't begin until Wednesday of this week I'll commence my observance of it tomorrow. I'll be following a book produced by Love Life Live Lent. It's traditional to give up something for Lent, but the CSMV nuns at St Mary's School in Pune which I attended, taught me to take up something instead. This year I'm going to do both.

Mumbai Memories

I have been shocked and saddened by the reports of the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai. I was brought up in Pune, 120 miles south east of Mumbai (or Bombay, as it was then). We didn't visit very often, mostly on our way to and from the UK, but we had number of friends who lived not very far from where some of the attacks have taken place. I loved Mumbai. It was big and brash and boisterous compared to the relative gentility of Pune Cantonment. I never stayed in either of the hotels but I did go through the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (or Victoria Terminus (VT) as it was then). My memories are happy ones: being mobbed by coolies at VT, the lights on Marine Drive, evening strollers along Chowpatti Beach, the grandeur of the Gateway to India, the Indian handicraft emporiums, swimming at Breach Candy, old family friends ...

It's heartbreaking to hear of such acts of violence being committed against foreigners. In all my years in India I never once felt threatened because of who I was. In fact I was always treated with the utmost respect and consideration, even at the hands of complete strangers who had nothing to gain by their kindness. I am sure that these attacks sicken the hearts of the majority of Mumbaites, and Indians, and I hope that this group, whoever it is, is stamped out before it blemishes an otherwise hospitable country.

I've been Tagged!

Strawberry Jam Anne has tagged me. Apparently this means that I have to tell you six interesting things about myself and then tag six other bloggers. So here goes:
Six Interesting Things about Me

1. 1. I am a woman with a man's name. My parents named me after one of King Arthur's knights of the round table. This has led to some amusing misunderstandings but has also enabled me to pass every foreign language aural I have ever sat, on the basis that I knew the first question the examiner would ask me!


2. I was born in Pune (formerly Poona) in western India and spent the first eighteen years of my life there.


3. I used to rub drains, which is the same as rubbing brasses in churches except that you do it on pavements/streets at night to avoid pedestrians. This led to some very interesting conversations with drunks on their way home from the pub!


4. I once won the mothers' potato and spoon race at my daughters' school's sports day. I was up against a few serious runners who ran too fast and dropped their potatoes. A textbook illustration of the old adage '(very) slow and steady wins the race'.


5. I have ridden through the jungle on the back of an elephant - a truly unforgettable experience, including the time the elephant broke wind!


6. I have sailed around the Cape of Good Hope and through the Suez Canal - not personally, as in a yacht, but as a passenger on a liner. I have also, obviously, crossed the equator when Neptune rose from the sea and decreed that I be given an egg shampoo and thrown into the swimming pool.

Six Tags

1. Steve Broadway at bigdaddystevieB
2. Blue Hands at Stuff and Nonsense
3. Alice at Crumbs...
4. Maisie at Our Greener Year
5. Almost Mrs Average at The Rubbish Diet
6. Mrs Green at My Zero Waste

Just a bit of fun. I won't be at all offended if you'd rather not.