Ferrero Chocolate Cake

That's a ferrero rocher chocolate cake. It's chocolaty, crunchy, sprinkled with white flakes and nice ferrero chocolates on the top.


if you live around colaba / cuffe parade in Mumbai I can tell you which lady does these cakes.

italian romantic night

After a lovely buffet lunch at Not just jazz by the bay, we were in no mood for a dinner out on Saturday night. So Nitika did the next best thing - toss up a really lovely romantic dinner. Pasta and cheese garlic dip with bread was the order for the night served with the cabernet merolt 2005 wine . And this was with a coffee perfumed candle that kept burning through the night.

We realised that a freshly tossed up pasta was a lot more tasty than the ones which are cooked earlier in the day and then re-heated or baked just before dinner time. The freshness of the oregano, olive oil and other ingredients is remarkable when served fresh.


This is spaghetti in just red sauce tossed in olive oil with crushed garlic, red & yellow bell pepper, mushroom, olives and basil. Garnished with chilli flakes, cheese, salt & pepper and oregano.


The bread basket is a mix of lavash, bread sticks and garlic bread served with Cheese & Garlic dip. (Breads from Celejor in Colaba) Click on photo to see notes.

Cheese & Garlic dip: Home-made cottage cheese, hung curd, dash of mayonnaise, KRAFT cheese spread, grated parmesan cheese, mustard salt pepper orgegano and tabassco. Churned in a blender and served chilled.

Thanks to Nitika for being patient to help me with all the details mentioned here.

Lunch @ Not Just Jazz by the Bay

The first Saturday of a lovely monsoon was indeed very interesting. For a change the lazy me decided to take the better half out for a buffet lunch at Not Just Jazz by the Bay - her favourite. This is a very proper Soup, Salad and Sandwich place - which to me is not all that satisfying, so I felt all this time. But my visit here changed my opinion. For about Rs.250+ taxes (per person) this is indeed a worthy lunch. For soup we had the corn chowder with a bit of tabassco this felt nice on a rainy afternoon. The salad bar is awesome when it comes to choice. Of course the vegetarian fare is large but the non-veg eaters too get a good choice of tuna, chicken and ham. After the salad which you surely can't finish in just one round so I suggest taking a few more of those, you can then move on to order your choice of sandwich. I picked the Honey Mustard Chicken grilled sandwich which was a nice choice over the regular chicken tikka. By the time I finished the sandwich I was FULL and realised this is not such a light meal after all. I was expecting a lot from the desserts but there was only the chocolate mousse which I thought should have been a little more cold. So I think they could have done a bit more interesting stuff on the desserts.

Verdict: Recommended for a lovely lazy afternoon. It's a bit loud so don't expect a lot of sweet happenings as the tables are also very close to each other. Large groups should avoid this place because you would be a little disturbing to those around. Is typically filled with couples, ladies and a few random office colleagues.

Barbecue Night

Sunday night we set-up a small barbecue on our terrace. Unfortunately the weather was not so comforting and we were sweating it out by the end of it. But we had some great food that night - Grilled paneer, mushroom, potatoes, onions, capsicums and roomali roti with dal makani.

Getting the grill to heat up ain't no easy task. It took me about 2 hours to really see that lovely reddish orange flame emerge out of the coal pieces. It's an art I am hoping I will be able to get a hang of it if I had some more of these sessions. But alas, the Mumbai weather isn't so supportive. But I am glad that by the end of it the taste was something we cherished very much. Also there was this lovely aroma of the food in the air which made it even more exciting to sit out there in the open and feast on the hot pieces off the grill.

Some pointers for those who would like to have a barbecue night at home:

1. Make sure you tell the coal seller you need it for home use so you can give you small brittle pieces.
2. Coal takes a lot of time to ignite, so give it ample time before you intend to start grilling stuff on it.
3. Coal needs a agent - I used kerosene but I believe you also get propane cans which can also be used. Make sure you don't use too much of this because otherwise the food can start smelling of it.
4. You are going to need a strong hand-held fan so give the coal necessary air for the sparks to rise.
5. Ensure that the marination is not a very thin gravy it should be thick enough so that it doesn't drip onto the coal.
6. The skews should be well oiled so that they come off smooth once roasted. Of the lot paneer is the most messy and potatoes the toughest.
7. Somebody should keep a watch and keep rotating the skews so that all sides are well cooked.
8. And .... don't expect to be a pro in your first few tries. This was my third attempt and I could manage to feed about 6 people in good time.

I would love to hear your experience or some expert tips, if you have organized a barbecue at your place. More photos from the evening at my flickr.

Scrambled Eggs

Winter in Bombay is as precious as gold. You get a very few of those chilly mornings where you can enjoy a nice cuppa of tea of a hearty breakfast. I am not a very morning person, so usually my breakfast is light.

But when the weather is good and office is closed on a Saturday morning - what better way to start the morning than to cook up some eggs. So having made a quick phone call to the neighbourhood grocery shops I got the necessary ingredients for my Scrambled Eggs breakfast.

I was going to look up the instructions online, but then my mom volunteered to guide me through, so under her expert guidance I cooked myself a hearty meal.