Benjarong is hosting the A-harn Chao Wang - Royal Thai Food Festival , which is featuring the most authentic Thai cuisine style to date. The ‘Royal Thai Cuisine’ is still the style served to the current Thai royal family and the cuisine reflects the splendid creativity invented by Thai noble women in the past and is a distinct art that has been passed down over the centuries through members of the noble families.

Specialist Chef Tharee Charupas, who has flown down exclusively from Thailand, will be hosting the festival along with Benjarong’s seasoned specialist Chef Ram Kumar. The special menu includes a mix of specially created vegetarian and non-vegetarian delicacies. The cuisine has its roots in the years 1351 and was practiced by royal and noble families who have passed on the secrets of this style of cooking to the future generations.

Well, enough of us babbling. We’d like to showcase some pictures of their brilliant food.

We were the first to enter, since we were extremely hungry.

We received a warm welcome anyway

Chef Tharee Charupas, the lady behind the amazing Royal Thai Food Festival.

And they had a good collection of wines that kept us busy.

The menu of amazing dishes that we couldn’t wait to devour.

Then they also decided to hand us a cute recipe booklet of the Thai dishes they were preparing.

Which upon viewing, lead our stomachs to growl, er, rather loudly.

This is a traditional start to a Thai meal. You wrap your leaf up with ginger slivers, coconut, chilli, peanuts, onions and jaggery – infusing primary Thai flavours of salty, sour, sweet and spicy.

And the food finally made an appearance.

Tasted a lot prettier than it looked!

Grathong Thong Je – Rice tartlets filled with corn, green peas, water chestnuts and carrots.

Mee Krob Goong – crispy fried rice vermicelli dressed up in a delicate sauce flavoured with Makrut leaves.

Tung Tong – crispy fried golden pouches stuffed with vegetables and water chestnuts.

Sometimes we wished we payed attention for longer to remember the names of ALL the dishes.   :/

Luckily, we remember these Goong Sarongs – Thai prawn spring rolls in a wonton sheet. Our favourite dish of the day!

Yum Pla Duk Foo – crispy fried catfish salad topped with raw mango.

Khao Pahd Poo – Thai fragrant rice tossed with crabmeat and golden brown garlic wrapped in egg.

And, that’s all, folks! Benjarong is located at 12/1, Ulsoor Road, Ulsoor, Bangalore. Reservations for the festival can be made at 080-32217201

So here is a list of our top 5 unconventional bacon dishes that we love (we’re sorry, but that bacon ice-cream was simply too weird for us too!). Also, you wouldn’t find your traditional B.L.T. in this list.

1.       Bacon Cups: 

This is your traditional BLT decomposed, and served without bread. Strips of bacon are folded and weaved together so as to make a firm cup structure to be able to hold vegetables in them. With the baked bacon cups, you can fill them with cherry tomatoes and lettuce, even top them with a poached egg and a drizzle of mayo. This is officially the best way to have a salad. Guaranteed to leave your plates (or cups) clean. With the cup missing, of course. You can find a step-by-step guide on how to make it here – Martha’s awesome and extremely innovative food blog.

2.       French Toast and Bacon Cupcake:

This is breakfast served in a cupcake. Really. Eggs, butter, bacon and well, something baked to compensate for the missing bread. The idea of this dish came to a passionate baker (behind the awesome food blog www.liefewithcake.com) when she heard about a unique Maple Cream Stick and Bacon Crisp Doughnut served at Voodoo Dougnuts. She decided to create some magic herself and decided to make little cupcakes of heaven out of those big slices of French Toast. The buttercream frosting gives it a really nice flavour and is finally topped with that gorgeous and delicious piece of bacon! Find this innovative recipe here.

3.       Breakfast Pancake with Bacon:

You will stop caring about boring flipped pancakes once you get a bite of this pancake tower. It gets a whole lot of flavours together under one roof, literally; and once you bite into this, the party in your mouth starts and you wouldn’t want it to stop. Layered with roasted potatoes, scrambled eggs, bacon, whipped cream and strawberries, this is quite a hearty dish, and best served to at least 3 people. The strawberries add a nice sweetness to the entire pancake tower, without being overpowering – the crunch of that bacon screams through alright! Learn to make this pancake layer by layer here.  This blogger Alice Currah likes experimenting with sweet and savoury flavours, and we love her for that!

4.       Bacon Bread:

What tastes better than a bacon sandwich? A bacon sandwich with bacon bread and more bacon. Yes, you can make a fresh batch of bacon bread right at home. Infused with all the awesomeness of bacon and just a hint of maple, this escalates the deliciousness of bread altogether. The bacon filled bread baking aroma out of your oven is to die for! You must try this at home! Every sandwich you make with this bread is going to make you a local hero. Find this amazing recipe here. This blogger loves to bake and we thank her for this kick-ass recipe!

5.       Bacon and Cheese Pie:

This pie is what dreams are made of! Your favourite fatty bacon and yummy cheeses come together for the pie of the decade. The recipe requires you to weave strips of bacon together, cook them, add cheese and more bacon bits and cook them again, before putting them in the oven. Maybe even finish off with an egg on top, if you thought it didn’t have enough carbs. Find the step by step guide to make this here, where you can also notice that bacon grease is poured into a cup, to be used for greasing up all other dishes and making dinners bacon-tastic with that grease! The author Chris Kelly is a passionate photographer who has some surreal photos on his blog. He also shares a love for good things in life, like bacon.

“Money can’t buy you happiness. But it can buy you bacon. Which is the same thing.”

Spread the bacon love, Zoinkers!

The secret was in Cinderella’s kitchen!

This is where you repeat to yourself the Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Universe mantra ( DON’T PANIC! ) and head to the kitchen! No, not to grab a comfort bite but to unleash powers of the domestic fairy godmother to turn you into Cinderella! And no, you don’t need to have the kitchen supplies of Nigella to do it either. Here are some simple yet ridiculous effective home remedies which are fail proof!

Let’s start with the exfoliating scrub. A spoonful of sugar is all you need. If you have sensitive skin, brown sugar works best. It will get the blood circulation going and give you a rosy glow to your cheeks. Also use it on your lips leaving behind a soft, rosy texture.

Now for that face mask. You have so many choices here that you can pick according to your skin type and your grocery list!

• Quick fix for your skin in 15 minutes

1. Rice flour mixed with milk or curd : leave it till it’s semi dry if you have dry skin and fully dry if you have oily skin  and then wash it off while gently scrubbing in circles. We don’t know the science behind it but we do know it gives you an instant glow.
2. Multhani Mitti or Fuller’s earth mixed with rose-water is a great astringent for oily to normal skin. Wait for the mix to dry and then wash it off.
3. Besan or Gram flour with milk or curd : Leave it to semi dry and wash it off. Improves the tone and clarity of the skin.
4. Lemon Juice : Just rub a squeezed lemon half  on your face and wait for 5 minutes and wash it off. Warning though, for some it may create a burning sensation but it leaves your skin fairer and clearer in minutes.
5. Honey : This one is a cleanser+scrub. Gives your skin a beautiful sheen. Add a little lemon juice and leave it for 5 minutes and you’ll be radiating a fresh glow. Honey can be used as a minor acne treatment.
6. Banana : Mash 1/2 of a ripe banana until creamy. Apply on face and leave for 15 minutes. Rinse with warm water and cold water to close pores. Perfect for oily skin!

Strawberry a day keeps the dentist away!?

Your hair’s fixed and your skin’s aglow. Now all that you need is to fix up your dazzling smile.  If you have some ripe strawberries,  mash it up with some baking soda and use this to brush your teeth. It’ll immediately clean up all the stains and you are all set to flash your pearly whites! ( ps: Catherine Zeta Jones swears by this!)

Now put on your little black dress and oodles of charm and you are all set, Cinderella! And You din’t even need a fairy godmother (which means no midnight curfew! )

Toast to the perfect toast!

Sometimes the only perfect way to start your day is by taking a bite out of the perfect toast fresh and still warm, with butter melting all over and that slight sweetness and tartness that comes with the orange peel grated into your marmalade on top! According to us, while buttered toast by itself is a treat, the cherry on top is having your favorite preserve by your side to add the right amount of sweetness. 

Jam by no means is a recent phenomena. There are mentions of jam recipes in the earliest cook book written in 1st century Rome. It is speculated that jams, jellies and preserves are most likely to have started in the Middle Eastern countries where there are plenty of fruits and sugar. By preserving it, they could enjoy the yummy taste and nutrition of fruits all year long.  

They found their way into Europe when the Crusades returned with their spoils ( who knew it included Jam recipes!! ). Marmalade though is said to have a more royal beginning. The legend goes that in the 16th century , when Mary Queen of Scots got sea sick, her physician mixed orange and sugar to help her seasickness. In fact some even suggest that word ‘marmalade’ comes from the phrase “Marie est malade”  meaning ‘Mary is sick’ but we don’t think that’s very likely! Either ways, it became an instant hit with the royalty and if you visit the Queen for tea, for sure you’ll see a small pot of marmalade sitting right beside your tea cup!

Perfect for almost anything!

The best thing about jams though are the fact that it’s an accompaniment for almost anything. As a spread over cakes, scones; for a quick fix we have spread it over chapattis and made sweet rolls for a bite on the go; to add a different flavor with ice creams or cheese cakes.

And we found this awesome and unique recipe which is sure to a favorite of any jam lover : The Banana Jam.

Ingredients:

• 50 Plantains (the small and over ripe is best suited) 
• Sugar – 750gms to 1 kg ( depending on how sweet you want it)
• Orange juice- juice of 5 oranges

Going bananas over jam!

Method:

Boil the plantain in a cooker. When cool, strain the juice and discard the residue. To this add sugar (quantity may vary according to the sweetness of the plantain- this is usually trial and error) and cook till thick, add the orange juice and remove from fire when it attains the consistency of viscous liquid. The color will be a deep-almost-black purple in the jar. 

Enjoy with almost anything – appam, puttu, idyappam and of course bread and butter.

Do let us know how your version worked out!

Unique Perspective of world history!

Must be the summer heat because we can’t seem to stop talking about liquids! So it just made perfect sense to pick up Tom Standage’s A History of the World in 6 Glasses. Honestly, the book surprised us. To begin with, the concept of charting the world history through how beer, wine, spirits, coffee, tea and cola are drunk itself is so unique and we confess, seemed fantastical. But Standage’s book turned out to be a crash course in ancient, classical and modern history peppered with stories that are relatable with our everyday life. After all who will not be able to understand the magical powers of beer bringing civilization together, or coffee being the stimulant for Renaissance? On the other hand, when we look at the fact that 3 of the drinks contain alcohol and the other 3 caffeine, it does makes sense how the world’s inspirations and influence would be traced down to the discovery or invention of these drinks!

The language is crisp and a refreshing change for a book loaded with (in any other hands would read boring) historical facts.But Standage does a brilliant job of keep it in the easy reading section. It’s the kind of book that one would enjoy reading while travelling, both stimulating and light ( just like any of the 6 drinks he talks about!!)

It’s the kind of book after which you would never look at your favorite drink the same way again! Here’s to quenching our thirst for knowledge and new horizons! Let all raise our glasses to that!

Summer is officially here and the sun is not being friendly to Bangalore at all this summer. The scorching heat, bad heat waves and humid weather is tiring us out way too quickly and making us uber thirsty. While we never run out of a stash of our chilled beers, we decided to put together a list of some great thirst quenchers for the season desi style.

Lassi:

You couldn’t have been living in India without being familiar with this wonderful drink. Traditional Lassi is a savoury drink sometimes flavoured with ground roasted cumin while sweet Lassi on the other hand is blended with sugar or fruits instead of spices. Enter any Punjabi household and watch how the refills of your Lassi never stop as you wolf down the Makki di rotis. (for the summer, we suggest a refreshing Mango Lassi, a recipe of which could be found here)

Kokum Sherbet: 

Kokum Sherbet is synonymous with Indian coastal cuisine and is an extremely popular drink in Mangalore and Konkan regions of Maharashtra and Goa as well. This drink is made from Kokum extract, sugar, and a hint of Indian spices and is extremely refreshing. Kokum Sherbet is an immediate acidity reliever, and is also popularly used in cocktails in Goa to give your drink that kick. Click here for a refreshingly easy recipe of Kokum Sherbet.

Aam Ka Panna:

A sip of this fresh, tangy drink really marks the beginning of summer. This sweet, sour and spicy drink is largely consumed in Northern parts of India and renowned for its heat resistant properties. It’s a simple drink made from raw, green mangoes, blended with peppercorns, sugar and a dash of spices to bring that zing into this drink. Beat the heat this summer by storing up the Panna in jugs in your refrigerator. Find an easy recipe here.

Nannari: 

This lesser known yet delicious drink comes from the herb ‘Sarasaparilla’, a wonder herb, otherwise known as Nannari. The root of Nannari helps in curing many infections and regular intake of it keeps the body cool, especially during summers. The Nannari syrup is simply made of ground Nannari root, water, sugar and lime juice. This syrup is then used for making that cool Nannari Sherbet recipe. Find the recipe here.

Jigarthanda:

Jil jil Jigarthanda is an extremely popular summer drink having originated in Madurai. Jigarthanda literally means cooling the heat, and the ‘Jil Jil’ means ‘Cool Cool’ denoting that the drink cools your body. This is an extremely rich drink and comprises of cold milk, malai, ice cream,  Nannari syrup and Agar Agar (China grass) or Badam pisin (now used in most shops). It is extremely popular in Madurai as it is vastly available in road-side pull ins and small shops. Get a fun recipe here.

So those are our favourite desi coolers for the summers. How are you beating the heat? Leave your comments below, and keep Zoinking!

Anne Fadiman

Essay writing has been, for the most parts, seen as the pain in the posterior  piece of writing that we all had to endure in school. It was only on introduction to Fadiman that we realised that it can be as polished as poetry, as complete  and whole as a novel and as delightful as a short story. Familiar essays are an even rarer form of prose and Fadiman has fine tuned it to a whole new level.  The tone is always personal, one to one making the reader feel like we are sharing an intimate conversation with a close friend; one whom we had lost touch and now getting back into the groove with. The language she uses has a surgical precision with which it evokes the images, yet the images are far from clinical; because the thoughts range from the intellectual to the whimsical. It’s the equivalent of a multi-flavored ice candy ( or as the Harry Potter fans in our team like to point out, like a pack of Bertie Bott’s Every Flavor Bean, but without the barf one! )

And her range of topics is eclectic to say the least. From  butterflies to penchant for

Who's not addicted to the pursuit of happiness!

fatalistic Arctic explorers to , like I’ve said, Ice creams and her obsession with Coffee. When you read the dedication itself  ( For Kim – Collector of Tiger Swallowtails, Emperor of Ice Cream), you know you are going to be reading someone who relates to food on a personal level. And when you read the essay on Ice cream, is when you realise how much.  In her own words, ” As far as I was concerned, a vote against Jef-Freeze Treats was a vote against ice cream and a vote against ice cream was a vote against the pursuit of happiness” , and we could not agree more!  But her essay is more than her personal viewpoint or stand for ice cream. It is also a meticulously researched article on the history of ice creams served with dollops of humor. You know you are reading a rare talent when you learn as much as you enjoy reading it.

The same can be said of her essay titled with startling simplicity ‘Coffee’. We love her ramblings through the by-lanes of literature to find the coffee addicts and her musings on which piece of literature could have been the results of a much caffeinated muse!

Delicious essays!

But what makes this book truly deserving of Zoinker’s ‘Book of the Month’ is the recipe for Kim Fadiman’s Coffee Kahlua Liquid Nitrogen Ice Cream! (which also reveals why the title given at dedication is well deserved!) Yes, you read that right, it is Liquid Nitrogen. For all food lovers who love to experiment with food, this is a recipe which takes it a notch up and blends the art of cookery and science of chemistry! No, we are not sharing the recipe. It’s for you to read Fadiman and find out! Trust us when we say this, you’d be surely in for a treat when you do!

Pizza is Greek in origin. The Ancient Greeks covered their bread with oils, herbs and cheese. In Byzantine Greek, the word was spelled πίτα or pita, meaning pie. The word has now spread to Turkish as pide, and Bulgarian, Croatian and Serbian as pita, Albanian as pite and Modern Hebrew pittāh. The Romans developed placenta, a sheet of dough topped with cheese and honey and flavored with bay leaves. Modern pizza originated in Italy as the Neapolitan pie with tomato. In 1889, cheese was added.

The bottom of the pizza, called the ‘crust’, may vary widely according to style—thin as in a typical hand-tossed pizza or Roman pizza, or thick as in a typical pan pizza or Chicago-style pizza. It is traditionally plain, but may also be seasoned with garlic, or herbs, or stuffed with cheese.

Be it an office lunch, a night out with friends or a party at home, a big food comforter for us has been that unforgettable pizza. And here are our top 5 places in the city that get it right for us:

1. Huckleberry:

Nestled in a small corner near Toit in Indiranagar, this little restaurant is the perfect pizzeria haven. One of the few places in Bangalore using a wood fire oven, Huckleberry uses fresh ingredients which makes their pizzas stand out in taste and quality. Try their Lamb and Caramelized Onion pizza and the Jalapeno and Sweet Corn pizza. It’s simply delicious!

2. Little Italy:

This is one of our favourite Italian restaurants that never disappoints us. While they are purely vegetarian, their freshly made thin crust pizzas are really to die for. Our favourites here are Pizza ala Vodka (Mozzarella, Parmesan, jalapeno, red pepper, capers, pineapple and a dash of vodka) and the incredibly sinful four cheese pizza, Calabrese (Mozzarella, Gouda, Cheddar, Miraj cheese and olives). Orgasmic.

3. Pizzeria Romano:

One of the first through and through city-based pizzerias in Bangalore, Pizzeria Romano is a crowd favourite. A restaurant theme befitting that of Hollywood and rock ‘n’ roll, the pizzas rolled out are 100% Italian and spiced up to your liking. We suggest the Roadies Pizza (crushed garlic, Kalamata olives, marinated mushroom and Mozzarella) and the super indulgent Buffalo Soldier (grilled chicken in spicy Buffalo wing sauce, diced tomatoes, onion, Cheddar and Mozzarella).

4. Toit:

A great pub in Bangalore serving up some equally great food, this place is not famed too much for their pizzas, but we really like them. Something about the ambience, the great booze, the crowd and the music that makes those thin crust pizzas a whole lot tastier and crunchier. We are big fans of the Seafood Pizza (loaded up with all of the freshest seafood) and the Mexican Beef & Jalapeno Pizza (the flavours make it more exotic and tasty).

5. Domino’s Pizza:

Yeah, don’t kill us. While we like all of those amazingly exotic woodfire thin crust pizzas, we need our shot of greasy pizzas off cardboard boxes from time-to-time as well. And, Domino’s is really one of the best among the chains. We love the Mexican  Green Wave pizza (onion, capsicum,  tomato jalapeno and Mexican herbs) and Chicken Golden Delight pizza (golden corn, double BBQ chicken and extra cheese) loaded with the Cheese Burst. One bite and all of that cheesy goodness takes you to heaven. Guaranteed.

If you’d like to sample a variety of pizzas, without having the whole pie, try Vetos in Koramangala. You pay per slice and the slices are huge, mind you. But you can easily try a few and figure out your favourites

And those are our top 5 pizzerias for us in Bangalore. Do you agree? We’d love to hear your favourite hotspots in the city!

Anyways, without further ado, here are the tall tales about the tall glasses we love!

Cheers to Churchill!

Manhattan : No, it’s definitely not after the city though the origins are not very far from it. The most popular story out there it was Winston Churchill’s mother, Jennie who was the one who formally introduced this drink to the world. It was invented by Dr. Iain Marshall for a party that Jennie threw for the presidential candidate Samuel J. Tilden. It was hosted at the Manhattan Club in New York City in the early 1870s and the drink was named, no prizes for guessing, after the club.  This is the pop version of the origin but unfortunately there are too many inconsistencies. For one, there are references to the drink which go further back and two, Lady Randolph Churchill was away in France and pregnant at the time. The only other note is that it might have been invented in the 1860s by a bartender named Black at a bar on Broadway. But we fondly like to think that the woman who gave Britain her war-time hero is also the woman who would have understood the need for the drink, ergo credit – Mrs.Churchill!

Cheryl's Cosmo!

Cosmopolitan: The absolute favorite of the ‘Sex and the City’ fans and most women out there, it only deems fit it was invented by a woman! Cheryl Cook ( Is it just us or is that the perfect name for the inventor of the Cosmo!) created the drink in about 1985 in South Beach,Florida ( Again, is it not too perfect?!). According to her she created the drink, quote-

What overwhelmed me was the number of people who ordered Martinis just to be seen with a Martini glass in their hand. It was on this realization that gave me the idea to create a drink that everyone could palate and was visually stunning in that classic glass. This is what the Cosmo was based on.

Her original recipes called for “Absolut Citron, a splash of Triple Sec, a drop of Roses lime and just enough cranberry to make it oh so pretty in pink.” Yep, that sounds so SATC!

Bloody Mary : Our first guess was it might have been inspiration from Mary Antoinette but we were sorely wrong! Instead it was named after a Mary who worked at Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago. The credit of this nifty, healthy alcohol seems to go to Fernand “Pete” Petiot working at Harry’s New York Bar in Paris during the 1920s.

For the healthy drunk!

So, the story goes, it was pure luck, not strategic planning, when Petiot combined tomato juice and vodka. It’s supposed to have been initially christened Red Snapper but somehow it dint catch on. So one of the boys suggested it be called Bloody Mary “because it reminded me of the Bucket of Blood Club in Chicago, and a girl there named Mary.”

The first recipe as you can see has only tomato juice and Vodka. The Tabasco Sauce was later added when some patrons asked for a little more spiciness to otherwise bland drink.

Anyways, we think there’s something sweet, and a bit morbid, about naming it after the girl from the ‘Bucket of Blood’ bar! What say?!

Sex on the beach :  Well there are two versions for the naming. The urban myth has it that it was named after the famous William Kennedy Smith rape trial. It supposedly was invented by bartenders in Miami Beach, Florida during the (first) trial back in 1991. The story goes Smith went for a walk with the girl after getting her drunk and then raped her at the beach.

Hopefully with a sexy bartender!

While this version is very popular thankfully there are too many contradictions to the story, mainly that the drink was already quite popular much before the trial. Phew! We would not want to think that the kindly bartender who plays agony aunt to our sorrows would be so heartless.

Instead the story which we love is the one where the young bartender named Ted Pizio invented it for the during the contest for selling the most peach schnapps. His combination of peach schnapps, vodka, orange juice and grenadine was the most popular drink. When asked what it was named, he  explained that the reason people came to Ft. Lauderdale for spring break was: The Beach and Sex – ergo , Sex on the Beach.

As for the reason why there are so many variations, the story is that the drink gained fame that spring, thousands of college students returned to their areas of the country and asked their local bartenders for Sex on the Beach. Since they had no idea what the real drink was they made up their own recipes.

Long Island Iced Tea : No, it’s not named after the New York Long Island.

The perfect Sunday noon drink!

Instead it’s supposed to be named after Long Island in Kingsport Tennessee. The inventor is credited as Old Man Bishop who passed the recipe on to his son Ransom who perfected the drink.

It supposed to have been invented in 1920′s during the period of Prohibition when alcohol consumption was illegal. It was not uncommon to disguise cocktails as harmless drinks, and with the mix of Rum, Vodka, Whiskey, Gin and  Tequila it would have given enough punch even to the most hard boiled gangster which would explain it’s popularity.

Of course, there are competing claims.The generally accepted theory is the story about a bartender, either Chris Bendicksen or Robert Butt who invented the cocktail at the Oak Beach Inn on Long Island, New York. But we like to think it’s Old Man Bishop’s sneaky idea because it’s just so much cooler

Well, that some of the stories about our favorite drinks. We know we have missed out a few, but don’t worry, we’ll be back with more!