Chp 587. Sunday lunch: Assamese food in Pune.

I know I'm in the middle of my "Stomach Chronicles" series of blog post, but even though this blog update is about food, I'm not including this one in that list as this is not one of the regular lunch or dinner I've had in Pune.

So today, I was extremely excited to get an invitation from renowned Assamese chef Gitika Saikia to attend her exclusive food fest here in Pune! I have attended Gitika's food event back in Mumbai, which I blogged about here - North East cuisine in Mumbai, and that was awesome.

This time, the event was held at Prem's restaurant here in Pune, organized by "The Secret Chulha Pop-ups", who regularly organize this monthly (the last Sunday of every month) food event, catering to different Indian cuisines and communities.

Tying up with Gitika's PakGhor this time, the menu for the event was -

Non Veg

- Phool Gobi Fry (Cauliflower dipped in egg wash and fried crisp)

- Gahori Maan Dhoniya (Pork with Assamese Herbs)

- Gahori Khorisa Aru Bhut Jolokia (Smoked Pork, Bamboo Shoot and Bhut Jolokia gravy)

- Til Maas (Fish with Black Sesame)

- Pithaguri Murgi Khar (Chicken with Rice Flour and Alkali)

- Plain Rice + Panch Phoran Dal with Cherry Tomatoes

- Desserts: Black Sticky Rice Pudding

Veg

- Koldil Til Pitika (Banana Flower with Black Sesame Mash)

- Rongalau Paleng (Pumpkin with Spinach)

- Xewali Phool aru Guti Alu (Potato and Night Jasmine Flower)

- Ool Kobi Aru Motor (Kol Rabi with green peas)

- Jika Kosu (Ridgegourd with Taro)

- Plain Rice + Panch Phoran Dal with Cherry Tomatoes

- Desserts: Black Sticky Rice Pudding

As you can see, it was going to be yummmm.

Prem's is just 5 minutes walking distance from my apartment here at Koregaon Park, and I reached the place around 2 PM. My friends and I were taken to this special area within the iconic outdoor restaurant, designated only for participants of this particular event.

[Click on all pics to enlarge to a new tab]

As we waited for the food to be served, beer and wine were served to us as aperitifs.

Meanwhile, the restaurant crew got ready with the food preparation…

As always, you can't miss out Gitika's trademark home-made pickles, which were available for sale at the venue itself - Bamboo shoot pickle and Bhut Jolokia (aka Raja Mirchi or Naga Chilli) pickle.

Soon the food was served. First up, the egg-dipped crispy fried cauliflower, which was utterly delicious and crunchy.

Then came the others like the pork cooked in Assamese herbs, along with Assamese chicken and rice and panch phoran dal, which literally means it's made of five spices.

The fish was excellent. Slowly cooked with black sesame, my friends who were foodies themselves really loved it as it was not something one could easily find in restaurants here in Pune.

And finally, the main dish I was eagerly waiting for - the smoked pork with bamboo shoots cooked in bhut jolokia gravy! Yummmm it was so good and oh sooo spicy.

We helped ourselves to more servings as we enjoyed the unique northeastern delicacies soothing our stomach. The service was extremely good too, as more items were served to us before we could even ask for the next helping.

[With Richa, founder & owner of "The Secret Chulha Pop-ups" along with her husband Sandy Singh]

Apart from enjoying the awesome cuisine, we also had a fruitful discussion with Richa, where she promised the next such event will take place in a round table format where everyone will get to sit together, rather than making it feel like a segregated event.

As the royal feast came to an end, each of us were gifted this complimentary bhut jolokia pickle.

Below are a few more pics from their Facebook page - The Secret Chulha, I took permission to post their pics here on my blog. Do like the page, especially if you are a foodie here in Pune. Here are pics of the food we had today…

The people -

The food served -

Looking forward to such foodie events from "The Secret Chulha Pop-ups" again. And from the looks of it, that's gonna happen pretty soon too. Thanx Gitika and Richa for organizing such an amazing event.

Cheers! :)

Chp 586. The Stomach Chronicles - Part 1.

To me, Movember doesn't mean "No Shave November", because of the obvious reason that I got no freaking facial hair to shave :(

And that ain't my fault. It's my gene's fault :P So in order to lift my spirits up and forget the fact that I will never get to grow one of those amazing manly butch beards or moustaches, here is me celebrating Movember in my own way. I call my version of Movember – "More food November"! :D

So now that November is coming to an end (and I didn't mention "November Rain" even once on any my November blog updates this year… urrghh ok I just did), I thought this is a good time to post about some of the awesome food I’ve had in Pune so far.

Like some people in the smartphone generation, I too have a habit of taking a pic of the food I’m about to eat. But unlike others, I don't post them on Instagram or Twitter etc. I just keep them on my phone, kinda like a documentation.

So here are some of the food I've had in Pune so far, hoping you might also want to try them out. I'll try posting them in different parts, as this post would be extremely lengthy if I post every single food photo I've taken so far here in Pune. :)

To begin with, here’s what I ordered today. A proper Kerala cuisine. Do click on all photos to enlarge to a new tab.



I ordered the above from "Chopsticks Spice Malabar", a very popular restaurant in Viman Nagar known for its seafood and Malayalee dishes. They also make good Chinese food, hence the reason why the name of the restaurant sounds like an SEO campaign :P

As usual, I over-ordered because I got carried away. What you see above are -

- Kuttanadan Chicken curry and Mutton Mulakittathu gravy
- Appam, which we used to call during college days as Kerala's dosa
- Puttu, the rolled up white cylinder, made from coconut & ground rice
- Kerala paratha, which some of us know as Malabar paratha
- Chettinad coconut rice, very finely roasted indeed.

Yep. For one person, that is an excessive order indeed :D



There was also this one time my friends and I hogged on appam and mutton keema along with "Smoked pork in Raja mirchi" pickle I ordered from giskaa.com. Ohhhh man that combination was Heavenly!

Though I love cooking (the very simple dishes that I know how to make), I love experimenting with different food too. Here in our office cafeteria, the food that we get does not have much variety, so I usually order or eat outside.

For example, the breakfast in our office cafeteria ranges from poha to upma, and they are pretty good. Simple but filling, and of course no Maharashtrian breakfast is complete without either of these two :)









I really love the Semiya upma above. Instead of the usual "suji" that normal upma is made from, semiya or seviyan upma is made from vermicelli instead.









And then at times when I want to feel a bit more healthy, I go for the fruit salad breakfast, which is also a good way to detox after a heavy night of… stuff :P



Most of my colleagues don't usually eat breakfast at our cafeteria because they have already eaten at home. My girlfriend calls this the "riang breakfast" where it would be just me having breakfast all by myself… :)





Our cafeteria would be packed during lunch, but since only veg meal is served, like I said earlier, I usually go outside to eat lunch. The only time I ate cafeteria lunch was this one time when they said the menu was Chinese, and so I decided to give it a try…



Urrmmm… it was ok. But since there wasn’t any non-veg, I still found it bland. Other than that, the only other times I eat lunch at our cafeteria is when we have special lunch provided by our organization, where food is catered from outside…



Sometimes we too can make our own arrangements, like this one time we all decided to order chicken biryani in bulk, meant for our entire team…





I think I’ll stop here for now, and collect all my other photos I’ve taken for other next parts of this "Stomach Chronicles" series :) I promise you, lots of delicious pics from different restaurants along with their review coming up soon…

So cheers until then.

Chp 585. Interview with boxer Jenny

#TBT otherwise known as #ThrowbackThursday is a weekly social media trend, where people post old photos or events to share their memories with others. This is particular common among Instagram users, though Facebook and Twitter too have seen their fair share of #TBT posts. As one social media analyst wrote, "There aren't really any limitations or rules as to what can be posted on a #TBT, but it can be fun to participate as it really just gives people an excuse to post more."

Lolz.

So today being a Thursday, here is my #TBT post. Now this is one of my old posts from misual.com, and in my earlier blog post "Interview with Zonuni" (who currently must be extremely nervous as hell since the Aizawl Munical Corporation election was held today and results to be announced later tonight!) Zonuni mentioned that she really liked the way I interviewed Jenny. I did receive a couple of messages from friends asking me for that interview link, but since misual.com is still down, here is me cross-posting that old interview excerpt from our site db.

Now do keep in mind that it was just a casual interview done in good fun. Also remember this took place in Jan 2007, so a lot of things happened after that. And as usual, my photos are of really low resolution because back then, size was a big deal while uploading so I used to resize all my photos before putting them online. :(

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Interview with Jenny!

January 3rd, 2007 10:35 am | Sports | Sandman | 6788 Views

Rushed back from the misual.com tea party yesterday for a dinner party hosted by my cousins. Also present at that dinner was none other than our much cherished and adored Jenny, World Boxing Champion. She happened to be my cousin's wife's cousin :-) That's what I love about our close knitted society - There is always a link somehow.

So I decided to interview her, exclusively for misual.com, with questions that no other newspaper or website would have asked her before: Some serious questions, some cheeky ones, and a few personal questions that made her blush like a budding red rose.

Me: Eng chawhmeh nge tui i tih ber?

Jenny: Thlaiah chuan samtawk hi tui ka ti ber. Sa chu… ka sawi thei mai lo. Tui ka ti vek. (giggles)

Me: Sikul i kal lai in mipa naupang ho in an hlau thin che em?

Jenny: Hlau ve bawk e.

Me: Mipa naupang engzah nge i velh tawh?

Jenny: Tumah ka vel ngai lo.

Me: Pawnfen nge kekawr hi hak nuam i tih zawk?

Jenny: Kekawr hi ka ha tam hrim hrim a, pawnfen chu a hma chuan Biakinah chauh ka ha thin a, tunah chuan function velah te pawh ka ha tawh.

Me: Pheikhawk sang i bun ngai em?

Jenny: Bun ngai eeee. Bun nuam ka ti, a hniam hi nuam ka ti lo zawk.

Me: Favorite band/singer?

Jenny: Han sawi duah thei pawh ka ni lo, ka duh hnem ve lutuk. A bik tak chuan Isaac leh LDP te hla sak hi nalh ka ti. Love songs ah chuan Teteii Ralte hi nalh ka ti. A dang pawh an awm ve nual tho.

Me: Push-up leh pull-up hi minute khatah engzah nge i tih theih?

Jenny: Push-up chuuu 25-30 vel a niang minute khatah chuan. Pull-up chu a tlem lutuk (laughs) ih… 5-10 vel chauh ka ti thei.

Me: Eng boxing movie nge hmuhnawm i tih ber?

Jenny: "Million dollar baby" kha hmuhnawm ka ti lutuk. Mahse, a thawnthu kal dan kha a hrehawm ka ti…

Me: Chhas i nei em?

Jenny: Nei lo (blushes)

Me: Star te i nei em?

Jenny: Nei lo (blushes again)

Me: Favorite color?

Jenny: A dum.

Me: Horoscope i chhiar ve ngai em? i awih em horoscope a in ziak te hi?

Jenny: Aw ka chhiar ve zeuh zeuh. Han awih bur chu ka ni chuang lo a, mahse a chang hi chuan thenkhat hi chu a lo dik ve thin tho a…

Me: i tet lai hian barbie lem i insual tir ngai em? Boxing gloves te hi an kut ah i vuah ngai em?

Jenny: Aih (laughs and then punches me on my arm. It really hurts!)

Me: Eng thawmhnaw nge hak nuam i tih ber?

Jenny: Baggy jeans leh cargo, chuan a chung lamah hi chuan cotton tee shirt.

Me: Eng tikah nge pasal neih i tum?

Jenny: Hre lo le (smiles). Tunah tak chuan ka la inkhel hrih a, idea a awm lo. Pathian in a hun a tih tih hunah a ni mai.

Me: i hlimni ber hi enge?

Jenny: Ka hun tawng zawng zawng hi chu a hlimawm vek. Pathian malsawmna ka dawng reng a, a hlimawm vek.

Me: i lungngaih ni ber, i thil tawn tawh ah?

Jenny: A ber bik chu ka nei lo, hei vanduaina te hi chu kan tawk ve tho a, mahse a bik taka lungngaih ni ber bik hi chu ka nei lo.

Me: Love songs ah i luangliam ve ngai em? In ti sek chungin em ni i luangliam thin?

Jenny: Luangliam lo (smiles and punches me again). Love songs hi chu nalh ka ti ve tho a, ka ngaithla ve thin, mahse luangliam tur em em chuan ka ngaithla ngai lo.

Me: Kei hi hmeltha min ti em?

Jenny: (laughs out loud, not a very good sign!) Ti teh reng mai.

Me: i kal kual vel tawhna ah khawilai nge nuam i tih ber?

Jenny: Italy kha nuam ka la ti ber. Khawi laiah pawh Biakin hmuh tur a awm reng a, Biakin dar hi a ri reng bawk a, a ropui khawp mai.

Me: Pangpar hi mawi i ti ve em?

Jenny: Aw ti ve eeeee.

Me: Mawi i tih ber enge?

Jenny: Rose.

Me: Eng rawng?

Jenny: A sen leh a eng.

Me: Gas bur engzah nge i put theih a rual in?

Jenny: Hrelo (laughs out and punches me again). Ka la pu chhin ngai lo.

Me: Mi i kut tum i hmuh hian an hlau thin che em?

Jenny: Kut tum ka hmuh ngai lo (smiles).

Me: Thla khi mawi i ti ve em?

Jenny: Ti e, mawi ka ti lutuk.

Me: Aw kan lawm khawp mai, kei leh misual.com ho chu, hetia i hun min lo hmang pui te hi.

Jenny: Keipawh le.

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Chp 584. The 3000

I'm a hardcore Gooner. I’ve been an Arsenal fan long before the Invincibles days. Back during engineering college days, it was really difficult getting to watch a match telecast on TV, mainly because we were hostellers and if we wanted to watch a weekend match at a friend’s place, that meant having to take a weekend pass. Even though my friends and I were divided in the Arsenal-ManUtd camp back then, we couldn’t always watch the games on TV.

But after college, I moved to Hyderabad for a year because of CAT coaching class, and that was during the Invincibles era of 2003-04. And yup, because of easy access to TV in my PG room and the fact that I wasn’t doing anything much in Hyderabad other than morning coaching classes and self mock tests for an entire year, I never missed a single match of that entire 49 games unbeaten run!

That is why I cherish my bond with Arsenal so deeply. Trust me, watching every match of those 49 unbeaten games really made me feel like being a part of that achievement :) Of course after 2004, I got into college again followed by work etc, and I couldn’t always watch a match on TV anymore. But truly, those Hyderabad days were the best.

[My PG room, Christmas 2003, with my neighbor Hyder from Iraq]

As you can see from above, those were some really corny X-mas decorations :D along with my only two (back then) Arsenal jerseys hanging at the back. The good ol' O2 days. And I would watch every single Arsenal match from that very same spot on my bed.

Today, year 2015, I am still a hardcore Arsenal fan, but due to internet connectivity and social networking, it is much easier now to discuss about football with other Arsenal fans or argue with rival club fans. And yup, that’s the best part about football I guess, getting into a heated argument with fans of other football clubs :)

If their team lost, we would mock them, and if our team lost, they would mock us. That is the rule of football fan fanaticism :) And everything is in good spirit. If you’re gonna make fun of other fans, then you should also be able to accept it when they make fun of you too.

Like for example, yesterday we saw a lot of shockers. First of all, Chelsea managed to win at home against Norwich City (OMG!). Secondly, Liverpool thrashed ManCity 4-1 at City’s home (whoah!). Thirdly, Leicester City is now currently on top of the table (holy mackerel!). Fourthly, over at La Liga's El Clasico, Barca humped Real Madrid 4-0 at Real’s home turf (dayyymmm!). Fifthly, back to the English league, ManUtd managed to win in extra time against Watford due to an own goal (so lucky!). And sixthly, Arsenal visited WBA and lost by an own goal in spite of a 75% possession (so unlucky!).

And of course, with Arsenal losing while ManUtd, Liverpool and Chelsea won, I was immediately tagged or mentioned in numerous comments and posts on Facebook :)

Aaaahhh… like I said before, this is all a part of football fan war, and this week, we shall take all the banters and insults and troll posts with open arms :D

But one thing I must point out is, whenever ManUtd wins and Arsenal loses in a particular Game Week, my friends always bring up the "3000" issue.

What is the "3000" issue?

The 3000 issue is a very infamous incident among online Mizo football fans. It was this landmark and momentous occasion when I challenged DigiMalt to a bet on Facebook, a bet that was witnessed by more than 10000 people.

The bet was for 3000 bucks.

Back in 2012, Arsenal had reached the "round of 16" at the Champions League. Unfortunately, Arsenal faced AC Milan in the first leg and lost 4-0. Now to beat AC Milan with more than 4 goals in the second leg was quite impossible, though there was still a small chance of doing that.

In the meantime, my dear friend DigiMalt who is also an admin of inkhel.com, one of the top Mizo websites for sports, published an article with the headline - "Arsenal knocked out of Champions League". This was condemned by many, especially Arsenal fans.

He even challenged people to a bet to prove him wrong. I of course jumped in immediately, accepting his bet on the basis of technicality. Yes, the chances of Arsenal beating AC Milan in the second leg by more than 4 goals was bleak, but technically, they weren’t still knocked out of the league yet. I carefully framed my sentence structure and DigiMalt who was all pumped up right then, accepted my bet!

A truly funny incident indeed. Read all the screenshots of that incident below and be the judge and tell me if you think Digi or I won that bet :D

Eventually, many days later, Arsenal did beat AC Milan 3-0 in the second leg, which was an amazing feat, but that wasn’t enough to move through, in terms of aggregate score. But as you can see from the bet above, the bet was about whether Arsenal was knocked out of the Champions League back then or not after the first leg, which as you can see, was apparently not so.

I am still waiting for my 3000 bucks to this day DigiMalt! :D

Whenever I meet people, they would ask me if Digi had paid up his end of the bargain. The other day I met the Chief Minister of Mizoram Pu Lal Thanhawla and the first thing he asked me was, "Digi a chuan i cheng 3000 chu a pe tawh che em?" And I meekly replied, "La pe nang"…

Ok just kidding about that last part… but seriously DigiMalt, where is my 3000? :) :D :P

Cheers :)