Impeccable manners, multi-talented (photographer, tennis, piano), NEVER puts a foot wrong, dresses perfectly for the occasion, great with children, never overbearing nor curt... I could go on and on! Happy Birthday to the future Queen.
Wishing The Duchess of Cambridge a happy birthday..It truly warms my heart knowing at the Monarchy will be in safe hands..The whole of the commonwealth will benefit from her gentle heart.
All stories about a lone tree in some random colony where hing used to be extracted are not true. Hing does NOT come from a tree. I would love to see it being grown in HP/Kashmir, but I am not betting on it. Man can but try, but Nature holds the trump card. THE END
Kashmiri Pandit festival at Leela Ambience Gurgaon. Divine flavours. Dinner only and surprisingly reasonable. Food by Rajni Jinsi, home cook. I paid ₹1,800 for two people
Hing is a wild plant. It has never been cultivated. It grows in uninhabited hilly regions of Afghanistan and Iran. Neither country uses it much. It is ALL consumed in India, except a tiny part that Germans use as Insecticide for fields! Beat that!
The owner of this cow used to hear dogs barking at night so he had CCTV installed. A leopard comes every night to meet the cow who licks him. He discovered that the leopard’s mother died when it was 20 days old, and the cow nursed the cub who believes that the cow is his mother!
Hing is a resin. Without 'stabilizing', it is as potent as, say, an insecticide, and will make you dizzy. It HAS to be stabilized, naturally, with an edible substance. In North India this is wheat flour. In South India, rice flour is used.
Here comes the vital 'secret'. The less flour used, the more superior or stronger, the hing. The more rice/wheat flour, the less the % of hing. It is my FAVOURITE spice but even I can't remain in a hing godown in Old Delhi because of the smell/fumes.
To give you an idea of the quantum of total volume of hing in the market, there are 1500 zeera wholesalers in Delhi but 22 wholesale dealers of hing. Wholesale dealers stabilize it: hardly any processing is done in Af/Iran. Both countries have different flavour profiles, btw!
Until 40 years back, the trade was by individuals: an Afghan 'kabuliwala' would come on a jaunt to India with turquoise, hing, lace etc and sell it to various small-time dealers. Tibetan ladies in hill stations would famously sell hing, sewing needles and assorted knick-knacks.
Hathras in UP has become a centre of processing hing. It is usually poor quality because too much flour. In North India, hing cannot be used in Navratra fasts or by celiacs because of flour. You CANNOT purchase pure hing in the market. Maybe Govt regulations (too potent)
No breakfast throughout India can ever hope to compete with South Kannada feasts. Bunce, sajjige bajjil and so on, till food coma strikes. All with the whiff of the country's more pure coconut oil.
@DilliDurAst
I kept brainwashing myself that “all must be well” with my family (parents in law, two brothers in law & their wives; two sisters in law and their spouses). Then one day I got a call from the cop station (only working phones in Srinagar) that Dad was dead.
I am in Srinagar at the moment yet craving for the wazwan I sampled at Sarposh, Bangalore.
@AzmatAliMir
has achieved the impossible: better restaurant wazwan in B'lore than in Srinagar!
This dog seems to have been lost. It has been found near Gargi College, Siri Fort area. If you have any idea who it could belong to, pl reply here. Thanks
Fill a pressure cooker to capacity, turn the fire up as high as can go, then leave the kitchen. It’s going to burst. 100%. Don’t act surprised/shocked/hurt/miffed when it does.
Birthday on the flight. Big thank you to the crew and the pilots for this beautiful surprise, especially the birthday cake, the song and the hat. Thank you
@etihad
, you made my day ❤️
What a high. I’ve won the
@CNTIndia
award for excellence in food writing. The entire hall whooped with delight when Chef Manu Chandra gave out a hint or three about me! Thank you
@diviathani
I love the categories for excellence
How can parents tell unhappily married daughters to stay in their husband's home? Don't they care if their daughter takes her own life? We celebrate women pilots and chairpersons of large companies but cavil at caring for our own daughters?
Poor Anushka Sharma, Aliya Bhatt, Salman Khan must be missing their favourite food from Pine n Peak, Pahalgam because of cancelled film shoots. I guess I’ve lucked out with this tandoori trout
Turmeric fields in the evening light. Near Coimbatore, in the shade of the Western Ghats. This district (Kunganad) is where the lion’s share of our haldi comes from. Here, it is used in rituals, medicine and religious ceremonies and in the kitchen
The highlight of any road trip is looking out the window and spotting a cheerful cafe just when you’re craving caffeine. Then going in and finding that it exceeds all expectations.
#Kumaon
A veritable Kashmiri feast cooked by Rajni Jinsi. Moinj, razma and gogji, kabargah with modur pulao, turnip, aubergine, paneer kaliya, roghan josh, dum oluv etc. In food coma.
When a Delhi-based friend goes back home to Iran and brings back a gift for you. Rose-scented saffron or saffron-scented roses. What a heady fragrance.
Best wishes to
@burgerrkhan
and her Maharaz Lala
@rj_vijdan
for a lifetime of happiness, togetherness and laughter (and Vijdan, endless waza naatyen for you). All blessings of the Almighty for decades to come. Ameen
Finally got to try
@woktowalkSXR
food today & realised what all the fuss was about.The best veg spring rolls I’ve had in a very long time.Really enjoyed the Hakka noodles. Am looking forward to my next cheat meal so I can try some of the other items on the menu & the rolls again.
Heard ex-DGP
@KuldeepKhoda
's comments on India Today debate about my "lavish lifestyle." This is an open invitation to him to visit us over tea at home and see our "lifestyle" for himself. I make very good tea.
Selfie with a damn good cup of cappuccino at Gulshan Coffee Shop, Nehru Park. Those books are for browsing. Free of cost. The book shop is inside.
#Srinagar
To all my friends from Delhi who are headed to Gulmarg, I suggest that they pre-order Catherine wheels for afternoon tea at Highland Park. So far, nobody's been disappointed!
@OmarAbdullah
@safiakhan71
Makai vohr (atop a tchot). Just a couple of bakers all over Srinagar make this bread, using only ground corn. It tastes like something you’d get from the corn belt of the US!
“Let me wind the window up” I said to the driver, as We got ready to park this beauty. He stared, confounded. “You think someone is going to steal THIS!” He does have a point
@GayatriiM
Nowhere my 40s any more but don’t save up luxuries to enjoy later. You might not live to enjoy the handmade soaps/perfume/fancy cookware/stationery/bedlinen and it will be thrown out after you’re gone.
Wish I could invite you all to Pine Palace Resort in a quiet corner of Gulmarg. Our table is literally groaning with hearty, home-style imaginative food. What a feast