Coffee, tweetup & a rude shop manager.

UPDATE:  Saturday, 0026 hrs.  (scroll down to read the incident)

Tweeps, sorry could not update earlier but I was swamped with work. CCD Operations Head, Mr. Venu Madhav talked to me and has personally apologized and is looking in to the issue. He has also requested all the attendees contact details to make amends.

I have obtained all their twitter Ids and will forward the same to Mr. Madhav. Here at least the delay in updating the developments rests solely with me. One Mr. Venkat who heads Chennai operations will be talking to the Ispahani outlet people to get to the bottom of the issue.

Thanks for all the support. Further updates once Mr. Venkat calls.

What really happened:

WOW! That is the first reaction. Next is $hit! And then the rest of the reaction and emotions are totally unacceptable to be seen in print on a PG rated blog.

A little bit of background first :

We, bloggers and specifically, micro-bloggers of the site, Twitter decided to meet. Referred to as a Tweetup. About 23 of us. Location: Cafe coffee day, a mega coffee shop chain, Ishapani Center, Chennai, India.

About 12 had already arrived when I sauntered in with another friend and fellow blogger. There were familiar faces and some very new faces. And more were expected to arrive. The setting was perfect. People were warming up. Coffee and various other drinks were on the way. The promise of an epic evening was being set.

And oh boy, what an epic, albeit very short, evening it was! For the manager of the coffee shop, a very rude man, a Mr. Shiva, asked us to leave or pay a cover charge!!! That too after we had ordered to a bill amounting to Rs.1114 and more to be ordered. First reaction was disbelief. Second reaction was suppressed anger. We were not some teenage gang occupying space after ordering a cuppa joe.

We asked for the bill, we paid and we left. Quietly. We are all gentle people who were out for an evening of fun. In short, it was indeed a shock to realize that paying customers are treated in such an ignominious manner by Cafe Coffee Day.

None of us would ever step in to their cafes again. EVER.

A rum affair

It is 0227 in the morning, August, 10, 2009. For a change I am sitting in front of my PC while is generally goof off. Prior to this there was a #twoast, for the insomniacs in twitterville. To cut an awfully short story shorter, I tried this new recipe and liked it. So, here goes,

• Grapes            - 300 gms
• Ginger             – 10 gms
• Lemon            - 1
• Rum                 – 90 ml.

In the blender, add grapes, ginger, ice cubes ( 3), and lemon squeeze. Blend it. Strain it and pour it back into the jar. Add the rum and blend it again. Pour it into a cocktail glass. Viola. Your Rum grape sour is ready! Cheers!

Spices

Invariably talk about Asia food will involve the spices that go into it. For those, who have not lived here or cooked Asian food long enough, this will appear to be a daunting task.

Sure, a lot of blogs/cookbooks that will say how perfectly dishes will turn out, if you follow it to the ‘T’. What they do not tell you is that, tastes vary. Some spices age better. A few, the fresher they are, the best.

The central question is, ‘how do I get it right?’. Only one way. With practice. I do not go by measures. You need to have a feel of the dish by its sight and aroma. If you get it right the first time, good for you. If not, try again. I have sometimes goofed up dishes that I might have cooked at least a 100 times.

Folks, keep plugging at it. You are bound to get it right!

Onion and peas fried rice

Work and no play

Sorry folks. I have not had the time to cook. Have neglected to update. However, I will be adding info on sunday. Till then,

Bon apetit!

Nothing new.

This weekend I might try a Briyani recipe. I am still contemplating on what type to cook. Also, going to search for Jasmine rice. So far, the places I have enquired do not have them. Iraqi rice recipes are extremely rich in spices and the aroma makes your mouth water.

Till then.

Ciao

Egg paratha

This evening will be the start of this blog with an original recipe.  An easy to make egg paratha. I will be trying that out in about two hours from now.

Ingredients are

• Wheat flour                  - 130 gms
• Eggs                               – 2 nos.
• Red Onion                    - 1 medium sized
• Green chilli                  - 2 nos
• Garlic                             – 2 pods
• Black peppercorns      - fresh and according to taste
• Salt                                 – according to your palate
• Garam masala           – according to your palate
• Cilantro                        – according to your palate
• Turmeric powder – a pinch
• Melted butter –  two table spoons.

I try out recipe which has been swirling in my mind for a while now. If it comes out as well as I expect it to, my recipe should be here by tonight.

Till then,

Salut.

I had surprise guest for dinner and it was all the more fun to cook.

The Recipe

Dough for the paratha.

Take a bowl and pour the wheat flour in. Add a little bit of water and knead it. Continue this process till you have the dough. The dough should be a little bit on the wetter side. It usually takes some expertise to make it properly. For the beginner, you end up adding water. This can be offset by adding more flour and getting the required consistency. Small problem : you end with more dough than needed. Anyway, cover the bowl and let the dough sit for at least 30 minutes.

For the filling.

Finely chop the onion, garlic and the cilantro. Add salt according to your taste and mix them thoroughly and mash them together. Set it aside for the moment.  Beat the eggs thoroughly. While beating do add a pinch of turmeric powder and a similar amount of salt.

Heat some melted butter in a frying pan. Fry the onion-garlic-cilantro mix, add a pinch of salt and fry till they turn golden brown. Add a tea spoon of garam masala. Once done, pour in the eggs. Scramble them thoroughly. Ensure that the flame is high. You should have spiced scrambled eggs, absolutely dry now. Pour it in a bowl and you have your paratha filling is ready. Let a cool a little bit.

This would be a good time to take a breather. Have a beer. . Well don’t go more than a can. You still have to make the paratha and it is best to be fully sober.

I do hope you know how to make rotis.  Add a generous amount of that melted butter, knead the dough and make three medium sized balls. To put it in context, the rolled dough should be 2/3 the size of a tennis ball. You should end up having three balls with the amount of flour used.

Flatten the dough, like a pizza base. In the center place the filling. Fold dough in half and once more ending up in a pizza slice. Flatten it again. You are almost ready.

Heat a pan on the stove top. The pan needs to be sizzling hot, the flame on high. Grease the pan with butter. Place paratha and let it cook for about 45 seconds. If bubbles  earlier, then flip it. Another 45 seconds or less and your paratha is ready!