November was quite a busy month for me. With Diwali season in tow and
lot of commitments with relatives and friends, my social media interaction was
at a pause. There were many events happening in my city but I was not able to
attend any. .
November has also been observed as #Californiawalnutmonth by our
food community The FBAI. There were many events held in different parts of Mumbai.
There were some 50+restaurants, bars, home chefs, delivery/cloud
kitchens, home bakers that served fabulous California Walnut creations and The
FBAI has played the bigger role in organising all the events.
At the launch at #CaliforniaWalnutMonth, a Sunday brunch was organised at St.Regis
Mumbai, that was attended in large number by most of our foodie community. There was a delicious cold spread- including
cold cuts salads and small bites by Paul Kinny.
I was not able to attend any events due to some reason or other, (I cannot even remember how the time passed me by) but finally at
the end of the month, it was my friend's birthday and I got an opportunity to try some creations of California
walnuts (how could I miss it?) at Indigo Deli in Bandra. I went
with my close circle of friends to Indigo Deli to celebrate my friend s
birthday and included Kale Salad with brittle California Walnuts on our choice
of dishes. Walnut is normally used as toppings in salads for its crunchiness
and it tasted good in kale salad that I had at Indigo Deli at Bandra.
The birthday cake was replaced by a pumpkin pie with California walnut in the centre
that was beautifully personalised by the chef with birthday message
We really had a good time at the restaurant and it was memorable one
too.
All my foodies friends of Mumbai celebrated #CaliforniaWalnutMonth by getting
together and enjoying different pop up and masterclasses held in different
parts of the city. The basic purpose of this campaign was to incorporate the
healthy California walnuts in daily diet. Various dishes were created by
home-chefs and restaurants. The whole program was well planned and there was so much to learn.
Most interesting was the Diwali party hosted by Shital Kakad. She celebrated her Diwali in walnut way with her table full of delicacy made of California walnuts.
There was a master class on chocolate brownies, red pepper and walnut
dip, walnut and banana smoothie by Samir and Hemali, and another masterclass
hosted by Rachna Shah Sony who made vegan banana walnut muffins and toasted
basil walnut pesto. Yet another masterclass
hosted by Poonam Shahani was an interesting one whereby she taught her creation
of lotus stem and lotus seeds in walnut gravy. chicken korma with walnuts and
vegetarian puloa with walnuts.
Anjali Thadani masterclass was about mushroom leek soup in walnut milk
while Nidhi Joshi had a great turnout at her masterclass where she demonstrated
her creation of walnut butter and snack walnut balls.
During this #CalifornaiWalnutMonth we learnt different creations from
walnuts that included banana and walnut smoothies, walnut brownie, biryani with
cashew and walnut sauce, mushroom leek soup with walnuts, walnut butter, modaks
with walnuts, and many more varieties of dishes.
I saw all live demos from the links on their page ‘The Fbai’ at FB. You can see it too.....
