When I self-invited myself to my cousin’s home for lunch last
Saturday, I was not in the know that his wife was not in the town. He answered
the doorbell, gave me a quick hug and rushed to the kitchen to complete the
task. He had prepared Italian Cannoli for lunch. Not an easy recipe, mind you.
He had cooked soya-beans filling, rolled it in garlic flavored tomato paste and
layered with cheese. It was a delicious dish.
So who says Kitchen is women’s domain?
No, my cousin is not a chef, and not even a
house-husband, its just that when is wife is away, he can cook a decent meal
for himself and his guests.
But yes, food is the favorite topic of conversation
amongst women. So that afternoon, he drove me to my venue at 'Mia Cucina' (Powai)
for the celebration of women’s day hosted by Rushina of APBCook Studio fame.
The room was vibrant with excited murmurs of women from
different walks of life, Chefs, entrepreneurs, house-wives, all with a common
interest- Food!
The session started with Ashwin Rodrigues talking about ‘CasablancaWines’. It was an interactive session, wine-tasting event of white sparking
wine and rose colored fruity wine.
This was then paired with different flavored cheese. Mansi
Jasani introduced cheese as ‘just a controlled spoilage of milk’. There were
different flavored cheese, some melt-in-the-mouth feta cheese and some aged and
smoked cheese. A special mention can be made for the curry leaves flavored ‘Le
Pondicheri’ cheese that won the brownie points.
Chef Sunjay Kotian rocked the stage with his delish fig
salad, introducing the use of Olive oil in his specialty dishes pointing to the
fact that virgin oil be used solely for salads and other olive oil to be used
for normal cooking. Four different types of Salad leaves were tossed with
dressing of fig sauce, topped with feta cheese, garlic flavored croutons and grated
beetroot. He also cooked Spanish Chicken Paella.
Time tickled quickly, but Chef Kainez of TheobromaIndia
was quite efficient. She prepared soft, vegetarian green mango and ginger tea
cakes in jiffy, each bite so delicious that just one cake was not enough.
While we feasted on Teacakes, we watched short clips
from the latest documentary film ‘India’s Daughter’ Highlight of this event was
the beautiful poem on ‘being a woman’ recited by Tess Joseph who had worked on
this project along with Leslee Udwin.
This was a fun event; the room was packed with more than 50women. There is always something new to learn from such kind of
events. My sincere thanks to Rushina, who takes so much effort to bring women together
from all walks of life
Like all food events, the take-away food-gifts are always
trendy. The loot that I brought back home
‘Old monk salted caramel sauce’ and ‘Arugul almonds
pesto’ by Amrita’s Life ki recipe
‘Madelienes’ by Anurita’s Eighth
‘Cinnamon cookie’ and ‘Nutella sea salt cookie’
by Ruchika’s House of Cookies
‘Organic chai masala’ by Roweena’s Fatfree Almost
‘Tropical nut mix’ from APB Cook Studio’s lust Pantry
‘Classico olive oil’ from Bertolli
‘Feta’ from The Cheese Collective
‘Cooking sheets and frying pan foil’ from Asahi Kasei
Okay, I am thinking of feasting on those Cinnamon
cookies and make some fresh salad with tropical nut mix and Feta cheese…and maybe
later, try that Chai masala too…..
