CAKE experiments!!

I have been on a cake making trip.

It's not surprising.I have bottled in seasons & seasons of Top chef, Masterchef Australia & Top chef "just desserts" & Anthony Bourdain's No Reservations and so a volcanic outburst of the culinary inspiration would have to have made it way out sometime.

I feel like I have donned a "Nigella Lawson" spirit in the way i drop chunks of butter & litres of cream into the mixing bowl without the slightest trace of guilt. I feel the butter in the pores of my skin....seriously!!

However, i have made over half a dozen cakes & a few attempts at cookies in my trusty rusty old baking oven.Its as or probably older than me & looks like a dated UFO model with a glass top.However, it's been a good sidekick & understands my cake making urges at 2 in the morning & sort of grumbles but never gives up.

So far,I tired a peanut butter cake, about 2 chocolate cakes & 1 fudgy chocolate cake with a chocolate butter frosting, a chocolate cake with a chocolate cream & biscuit frosting, choco- chip cookies & as i write this, i have 3 egg yolks stocked away to try a custard.

The pictures are from the latest cake I made for my uncles 65th birthday & it was a good evening full of family fun & housie.

About 2 weeks ago, i went away to Malaysia for a couple of days.

I woke up to a skyscraper view & a gorgeous breakfast of very many things.

After the first 2 days of trying to try everything, i returned to eating Toast & cereal.

I did manage to eat assorted dim sums, supremely yummy waffles with blueberry compote & whipped cream, some Malaysian savouy snacks etc over the days i spent at the hotel.

Malaysia is a really pleasing place.Everybody in KL seemed to speak English. The landscape though filled with giant glass structures still keeps its green intact.slick retail spaces with great discounts, great for fashion, food & interior inspiration! whats not to like?

The country side is charming. houses on stilts & ladies in conversation.Chinese temples every couple of kms. Beautiful roads & hill sides of green.

I did reject a lot of foods based on the smells & quite a few things were stinky but i did try some new things like, cats eye juice (the fruit looks like a cats eye & hence the name).It's light & tastes like a cross between a mild fruit & tea. There was the hot pink dragon fruit juice which had a peppered look because of its crushed seeds.I tried some local Malaysian fast foods joints & food at a charming riverside restaurant at Selangor. Oyster with eggs, lamb meatballs, prawns in hot oil, fish stew, the real Nasi Goreng with satay chicken & tons of chocolates :)

B Flat Bar !

Yesterday was a fun evening.

first there a was a little bit of a frantic hunt for a birthday gift. I tried to put myself into pri's beautiful flats (& sometimes big heels) and think of what i would like to give myself. I thought for a long time & looked at everything with a "is this a good enough gift?!!" eye but then i was too distracted....by the clothes at M&S, the new collection at Forever new and the lovely smells of Body shop. (No one else I know can make papaya smell so divine)

SIGH:) Shooopping!

well, finally we had the gifts in hand and made a mad dash to the party venue.....not without making a quick pit stop at KFC.

we chomped our hearts out & glugged bottles of water.It was a slow motion moment, i tell you.crispy fried chicken with melting cheese & warm bread. This heap of carbs is so sinfully delicious...its hard to look away.(I can almost hear my Gym instructor shrieking into my ear)

Bflat is on 100 ft road, HAL.

It has a nice lounge setting.A bar, running the length of the place, a small performance area which features upcoming artists & bands or doubles up as the screen area for the never ending cricket dramas in India. I have been there on more than one occasion but haven't really gone past 2 drinks or a kakori kabab at max.However, you'll need some solid daylight & some non alcoholic beverages to see the cracks in the wall and the missing doorknobs (if there are any).

so pri's birthday gathering was a good way to get to know it better.

Like any party scene, the drinks were pouring in......glasses being cleared & replaced in quick succession....food that disappeared fast enough & lots of hugs & voices in the air. we had everything from the innocent sounding mango bloom to the very spicy bloody Mary.

The starters were in good portions.The pork sweet & chewy.The beef spicy & the chicken favourful & light enough to have even some vegetarians dig into it.

The main course was forgettable.The chicken was very bland.very uni-dimensional in flavour & the rice didn't contribute much either.The Long island ice tea despite being pretty & potent didn't grab too many marks.

maybe a couple of drinks later.....it doesn't even matter......

Plans were made, accusations were thrown around,trips to the loo happened, glasses were clinked & forks were strewn around like soldiers in a battered battlefield, bye s were said & hugs exchanged.......what a lovely way of living it up right in the middle of the week!

ICE & SPICE

Events and other fun things to do in Bangalore are scarce.

There is always the option of going out to catch a bite or the winner option of a "house party" but much else is not a regular option for Bangalore.

So after dissecting all the online forums and Time-Out Bangalore in an attempt to land myself onto an interesting Friday "welcome the weekend" celebration, the only thing R & i did find was a play.

So we reached the venue only to realize it was a kid's event and most of the audience was a parent to one of the performers.we quickly found our way out & drove half way across the city.

All the while brainstorming and throwing our options in the air.

After juggling around a bit with the possibilities, we grudgingly settled on Ice &Spice.

The place is on St.marks road nestled between a Kebab place & A wine shop.Both the kebab place & the wine shop are so bursting with the florescent light of a million tube lights that the yellow lit ice & spice with a small as small can be cafe set up is charming.the black interiors and the Quiet graphics of the board is comforting.

The desserts are marvelous and we sampled some on R's birthday when we dug into a delish cake coated with an almost burnt brown shade of chocolate.

We stepped in only to savour some cool AC atmosphere but we didn't realize that the cacophony of the 15 yr olds out with their monthly pocket money were bringing down the roof with their decibel levels.I now know that saying "My ex" is mandatory every 4 sentences & that a certain Aman likes his women to dominate him"(or something like that! )

I ordered a pasta Arrabiata.It was tangy & creamy.Served in a wide white dish with 2 slices of garlic bread. I am very delighted when i see the waiters walk up to me with geneous portions and it certain makes me feels like i'm in a hospitable place....but the warm sticky summer feeling, the noise & the heavy pasta was just the mix of things to make me feel like running out of the place.

R ordered a chicken gravy with some rice.The gravy again was thick & creamy and very white.

High on fat..low on flavour!

However, the place is perfect for a quick bite and the portions are abundant & the staff friendly.

The prices very pleasing and the place is alright.If you can brave through the teeny-bopper crowd, you have yourself a nice time!

CAFE FRESCO'S

It was a day set aside to enlighten ourselves about art and us, enthusiastic art geeks decided to pay our respects to the only decent Art museum in Bangalore, National Gallery Of Modern Art.

The NGMA is now in what was previously known as the Manikyavelu Mansion. A palatial house restored to its former glory . ....huge trees line the drive way and green lawns play silent spectators to the people who come here.

Vast lawn space with a water body and a very modern treatment to convert it into a museum.The steel, chrome and concrete blend perfectly with the white and do not create any disturbing visual noises. The amalgamation is as artistic as the contents inside the space.

We spent a good 4 hours pouring over canvases and frames, squinting our eyes trying to understand the art and the artist. Standing awestruck in front of some and wandering listlessly in front of a few others.

But once we were done soaking up the paintings and sharing our 2 cents worth....we decided to calm our complaining stomachs with some much needed grub.It was way past 3 and we made a quick dash to CAFE FRESCO's at Hatworks boulevard.

The place is set in what looks like a colonial looking house but its hard to really see the space in totality and describe it when you are that hungry and the desserts on display didn't make it any better.

We ordered versions of sandwiches which was served with a sumptuous portion of fat fries.

I ordered a Greek style sandwich filled with greens and roast chicken.....and i tried (but failed miserably at) not eating the fries.

I love the two seaters in the place.Small and cozy with tables and seats like picnic/outdoor furniture made of wooden slats. Perfect for a date and dessert. The extended area has very forgettable furniture ... seems like it was added as an after thought but the food is good and the portions are one of the best in Bangalore which always makes the place a delight to visit.

The kitchen would look better covered or a little more busy.With the open kitchen looking empty, it's not really a crowd pleaser.....me thinks.

The desserts will require another post. and I promise that one IS coming.There's New York cheese cake, blue berry cheese cake and a bunch of really gorgeous looking chocolate puddings and some very "south of north america homely" type pies. definitely worth some blog space.

TOSCANO'S

Another long sunday lunch amidst chattering mums melting over their baby daughters and Bangaloreans in their cargo shorts and aviator glasses at TOSCANO's.

Working in a city and trying to make it to wherever on the career map requires sacrificing the sun and so to make up for what i had lost, i picked Toscano's for a late-ish (by my standards) sunday brunch.The sun was out...and so were the clouds and there was an occasional breeze for company and sort of made it a perfect day to spend over a table full of yummy goodness after a packed workweek.

Toscano's is at the foodcourt in UB city mall, a very upmarket place in Bangalore housing all the designer brands and has almost become like one of those tourist destinations that one visits when they come to a city....though what could possibly be so exciting about 4 floors of glass and ridiculously overpriced clothes is something that totally escapes me.

Toscano's has a very cozy space with a high ceiling and lots of natural light and has quite a few things going for it including the desserts which looked "OH my god! so awesome"

The food is good and fairly priced.I"m sure it comes up a lot on people list when they think of where to head towards for a nice meal.

I had a very lush looking salad with walnuts and pears and the most awesome slab of goat cheese......that i savored to the last bit. R had a chicken breast stuffed with spinach and cheese.A safe choice but always a winner.you couldn't go wrong with meat and potatoes! (though he eyed my plate longingly) .I swear he looked betrayed that my meal looked more appeatising than his. And i must not forget to mention the ice tea...which is so easy and available everywhere but is so wrong so many times.Here, it was nice and chilled and tangy and sweet in the right amounts. almost perfect.

The Airiness and laziness of the place, so perfect for a weekend was what was most inviting and it sort of made the fact that i had to put up with a slightly loud band playing wrong music and slight pretentiousness in the atmosphere.

I have made my preference for such places fairly evident in many of many previous posts but i wish Bangalore had more such places.........

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