Gourmet Gifts

I have always loved receiving food gifts. There is nothing more personal than someone bringing over something they have baked at home from scratch, or something impossibly sinful from a gourmet store. Brownies seem to be a big hit, and the chocolate dense cake from Theobroma is a favourite with my Cuffe Parade / Colaba friends. Moshe's also started making a chocolate dense cake recently - and it's a close call. Wine, of course, is a classic, and... easy...

My recent visit to two gourmet stores gave me tons of ideas of ready made food gifts (since I am not much of a baker), a refreshing change from the customary bottle of booze...

Like for example...

... wouldn't these beautiful bottles and pots of artisanal vinegar and mustard be the perfect housewarming gift and look incredibly appetising in a brand new kitchen?

Them, here is something totally out of the box:

English fruits for cheese?? Well here is something that I didn't even know existed! Imagine this little nifty container in a hamper with a selection of fine cheeses and a crusty French baguette? I almost gifted it to myself!

The following, however, is what really got my attention:

An absolutely beautiful jar of honey and nuts aptly called "Turkish Delight". I can't even start to fathom how the nuts were arranged so artistically inside the honey, without floating and staying in perfect order. Now, wouldn't you really feel special if someone showed up with THAT on your doorstep?

If the fiend you are visiting loves experimenting with exotic cuisines, a selection of these Moroccan sauces, spice mixes and rubs, would be a great choice. This was the first time I was seeing such a large variety of Moroccan flavours on a shelf and I was seriously tempted too!

Or in a more corporate environment, wouldn't you love to have this on your desk? Little incentives make a big difference...

All the above items can be found at the Westside food store in Kala Ghoda, Bombay

However, the absolute star of my recent discoveries are the gifts in a jar offered at Country of Origin on Napeansea Road. Imagine if, like me, you sometimes love to bake, but only truly enjoy the result and not the process. And someone gives you this: 

A perfectly layered in a beautiful jar, pre-measured dessert ready for you to mix up and stick in the oven. And just consider the flavours you get: Cookie Dough, Caramel & Cream, Cookie Dough & Hazelnut Crème, Red Velvet, Schwarzwälder Kirschtorte. Oh-my-God! And you can say, "I baked it all by myself!"

And last but not least, if your friend is the hands-on, crafty type, yo can gift her a selection of seeds, pots and soil to plant her own window sil herbs garden.

The Ratanshi store in Byculla is famous and it offers anything a budding or an experienced gardener could ever need, including a huge variety of seeds.

Divine Simplicity

It is so hard to achieve the ideal combination of simplicity and contentment in terms of food! And sometimes at lunch, I feel just like that - I just need some bites thrown together on a plate - simple, clean flavours, satisfying enough to let me carry on through the hectic afternoon. And today is one of these days when my lunch was just that: divine simplicity!

Basil and dried tomatoes bread, homemade labneh and caramel baked yoghurt, all from Country Of Origin (www.countryoforigin.in) on Napeansea Road in Bombay, a store which has been there for quite some time, but I only found the time to drop by today.

The bread was incredibly soft and fresh, the labneh was crisp and not sour at all (I dislike it when it's sour) with generous chunks of black pepper inside and bright green stalks of thyme floating in the olive oil. And the caramel yoghurt was positively the discovery of the year for me. Dulce de Leche ice cream loaded with calories no more for me!!

Spotted at Moshe's...

What I like about Moshe's (www.moshes.in) is that they constantly reinvent themselves. Every time I go to their Cuffe Parade outlet for the odd loaf of delicious sandwich bread or for a slice of baked Philadelphia cheese cake (which I normally polish of in the car before I even reach home - and I live just down the lane!!), I find something new on the shelves. This time, these jams caught my attention:

Green Apple & Kiwi; Apple, Honey and Cinnamon; Sweet Chilli; Pear and Vanilla... Just reading the names makes me happy and hungry! And if my fridge wasn't already full with my aunt's incredible white cherry and wild strawberry preserves, I would have definitely picked some up... Now, that gives me a perfect excuise to drop by again next week...

In season... And an LWL contest. READ ON AND MAYBE YOU COULD WIN A PRIZE

A few days ago, since there weren't two toddlers strapped at the back seat, I could actually stop and enjoy some of the colours and freshness at my local vegetable vendor's van.

Could not take my eyes off the green pepper and these juicy, shiny red chilies. But was most of all amazed to lift my head up and see, strapped to the roof of the van, a bunch of fresh garlic sporting a long, crunchy, white "beard"! The sight of it brought me right back to my childhood, when my mother used it in a cold summer soup called tarator (a mix of chopped cucumbers, dill, yoghurt, oil, salt and garlic, much like the Indian raita and the Greek tzatziki, but more liquidy) - so my mom would use the fresh garlic when it was in season and it made a dramatic difference to the taste!

But... the other point of this post is to put you to the test and hopefully learn something new in the bargain!!

PLEASE IDENTIFY THE VEGETABLES IN PICTURE 1 (THE GREEN GLOBES) AND 2 (THE SMALL PODS) AND COMMENT WITH THEIR NAMES AND THE BEST WAYS TO USE THEM IN COOKING (WOULD LOVE TO GET SOME TRIED AND TESTED RECIPES). THE WINNER(S) WILL GET A FREE COPY OF THE LATEST "GOOD FOOD" MAGAZINE.

Organic Shopping

There has been a shop in Doctor House, Pedder Road, for ages. The Helath Shop. It was a pioneer in health / organic retail and I remember travelling there every week to get my supplies of healthy snacks. It was a bit run down at that time, the packaging was quite sad and a lot of the products, of doubtful origin. I walked in, probably after an entire year, last week. And wow, what a transformation!

The variety of products is now incredible. They have added more shelves and more brands, including their own, displaying baked, oil free snacks and nibbles (I picked up some onion whole wheat sticks, baked tacos, amla candy and flaxseeds).

They also had a dizzying variety of health drinks and squashes, organic honeys, dry fruits, the entire range of Conscious Foods, organic beauty products, a small selection of health books, supplements, oils etc...

Spotted and noteworthy:

* chemicals free Stevia sugar substitute
* sugar free dark cooking chocolate
* baby organic food