VIBGYOR

Probe der 100 wein - 2-nd May 2009, Kallstadt

Some glimpses into the wine probe. When we reached Kallstadt it was dead,

there were 5 stalls of sweets, toys and dart and shooting games and a children's ferry wheel in the middle. There was a hall with a white and black banner called "Probe der 100 weine" and there were two security guards outside. Disappointed at the lack of fan fair, we decided to walk further into the vineyards when Vidya and I thought it would be a shame to walk away even without looking in. So we went in to be accousted by two security guards.

 

"Ausweis bitte". (Identity card, please)

"Oh.. I do not have it - fuhrerschein gehts?" (Will the driving license do?)

They flipped mine to the date of birth and smiled. They looked at Vidya's and the smile turned broader.

We walked in. 12 Euros entry fee but unlimited tasting for 100 wines. Some special ones will cost 1.5 Euros extra (for the Raritein) and the others 2.5 Euros (Eiswein).

We went out to a crowd which was more interested in cake and coffee. We shrugged - let us try on our way back. After the cake and coffee we walked back here. While Parmanu, a non drinker found a colleague to talk to and then went on a long walk in the vineyards, we wine lovers spent our time sampling the different ones. Here are some pictures.

and we did come away with some of them though advised by Parmanu's colleague that we should perhaps come back on May 18-th when some wine cellars open with their Vintage collections - and why not - it gives an additional chance to walk in this lovely village and be a part of the special culture that belongs here.

Eating out

"You should try this place around the corner. It has the best dinner in Brussels". I was being driven to Gare du Midi one Friday evening on my way to Germany. The taxi drivers in Brussels speak English - some with difficulty providing me to try my three words of French and some quite easily providing me with insights into immigrants lives or into some Brussels life in different strata of the society. So it was that as we crossed the intersection of Chaussée de Waterloo and Rue Washington, he gave this all sweeping comment about Hector's chicken.

I resolved then that I should end my self imposed exile from these joints which in my mind were fast food. Yet, my schedule and my laziness prevented me from walking out to one of these.

After a week of staying away from any serious non vegetarian except fish, I talked my husband to visiting this corner fast food with red signs proclaiming the chicken chef. As I ordered, a basket of chicken tenders was thrown into hot oil to fry itself out. I paid and picked up the bag and walked home in complete anticipation. Tripping over my saree in my hurry to reach home, I swore in impatience as the traffic lights turned red as we approached.

Perhaps it was the anticipation, perhaps it was the amazement that a fast food could really serve the best food in Brussels, I am afraid to say that Hector's chicken as only confirmed my view about oily deep fried chicken tenders and it will be sometime before I remove my lack of faith in fast food chicken fries joints.

Will I listen to recommendation from taxi drivers in future? - I think I will - you never know where there is a hidden gem.

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The other day I had been to Nespresso to get their new flavours. I had seen 5 new colours on the window of the Nespresso shop in Milan and my curiosity was aroused. So I took the liberty of a free Saturday morning to get my new flavours.

 

What caught my eye was Indriya from India. I had tasted their previous flavour from India when they had brought out the limited version. It had been too strong for me but there were others who had loved the strong coffee. The colour of the Rosabaya from Columbia caught my attention than any other feelings besides knowing that Columbia had a big coffee production. There was nothing of interest in the Dulsão though... I do not know why I was intrigued by this - perhaps because I did not know before about Brazilian coffee.

I also bought 2 packs of the lungo new varieties. Again, I do not know why - was it my inherent loyalty to the brand or was it George Clooney? There were untried Lungo varieties still at home. Yet, the compulsive buying disorder played up just when I was ordering.

 

Once I was there I picked up two Dolcettis (Framboise-Gingembre or Raspberry-Ginger and Fleur d'Orange or organge flavoured) at exorbitant prices.

 

In anycase, one box of Columbian is almost over. Indriya is not as strong as the last one - though I agree with Nespresso that it is probably best used in Capuccino rather than as espresso.

I do love the Framboise-Gingembre and I have not yet opened the other Dolcetti - it says it needs to be finished quickly after the bag is opened.

and yes, Parmanu can make out now which capsule I use - I tried to cheat him to finish the most unpopular one in this household - the strongest "Ristretto". He patiently put up with it for 2 days before venturing out with the courage to say it - "there is something different about the flavour you have been giving me - can I have the Columbian in future?"... sigghhh... I still have another 5 capsules of the Ristretto. Any volunteers to drink it?

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As I was returning from the Nespresso shop, I noticed the Sushi Shop which had escaped my eye before. I ventured into it and found a few intriguing things. It was quite affordable, the take away did not seem to have wilting fish, the menu could satisfy a few of my cravings and yes! they deliver at just 2 Euros extra. I went away with a Menu box and a book of Menu. The next two weeks I would have no chance to eat Sushi, I assumed.  

My husband is revelling in his new found skill. These holidays he finally learnt how to cook and made the full meal all by himself (before all my readers go into wonders let me explain - in his own terms "Even when I cook these things it tastes so good - you must have taught me the easiest things"). So there was really no chance to eat out with all the culinary experiments ongoing. So finally day before when we were both tired, I picked up the phone and ordered Sushi for myself and California rolls with cucumber and avocado for him. 

I normally deplore delivered Sushi - they are not that fresh by the time they arrive from RestoPresto even if ordered from Shogun, one of the better Sushi restaurants I have been to. So when my door bell rang just in 20 minutes, I was astonished. As I stirred a mount of Wasabi into the soya sauce, I realized that my worry about not ordering extra wasabi was unnecessary - there was enough wasabi even for the wasabi smoker like me (infact there was even some left over at the end).

Yet, when I closed my chopsticks around the Sashimi, I realised that the pieces had not been disjointed from each other. I am a poor chopstick user and it took me a bit of struggle to pry the piece I was targeting free from the next one. The thin thread joining them should not have been there if it had been cut as Sashimi should be carefully cut (I learnt from a bit of research later).  Apart from this grave mistake, the fish was as fresh as it could be when delivered. As I smoked the wasabi in pieces in between, the tuna and the salmon melted into my mouth. With 4 different types of fishes, I was a satisfied customer for the money I was paying. Of course I could have had better one if I had gone to a couple of other restaurants - I would have also ended up paying 3 times as much as I paid.

So I think after two years, I have found myself a place to order dinner from, get it quickly and still have the satisfaction of getting my return on investment. If I feel like it, this place is close enough for me to walk to and sit with other people around me.

Altogether, I think it is a good discovery for a normal evening eat out - not for a special evening though.

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A new shop has opened 2 streets away from my apartment. With a name like "Kerala" there was no doubt I was going to enter it. I now get the special bananas and some pickles and spices without having to talk myself to going all the way to Chaussée de Gand. Best of all - I get to speak in my own language, Malayalam and with a weather and atmosphere as in Bangalore, I can even imagine that I am back in Bangalore. Altogether, it has been a good 2 weeks with respect to food.

What I ate yesterday

I got into a mood to treat myself. I had a great weekend and had my calmest weekend - I cooked the fish just as in my childhood days and was tempted to eat it with rice. However in view of my growing tummy (people have started asking when the baby is coming), I decided to go for a good looking salad instead. Here is a picture for all to savour. Now off for dinner with Heidi.

Excess of Bleu Danois

Never try to finish a box of Bleu Danois on a salad - it can keep you awake all night. I had a box of this cheese which I decided I finally have to finish off. I found since last evening that making salad takes just 3 minutes and salad with fried fish can be cooked in less than 10 minutes. Cooking, cleaning, everything done in 10 minutes. It was a dream discovery. Besides, the new recipe I concoted last night seemed to serve me quite well - that was until I decided that it may not be a bad idea to finish this cheese. I had  about 7/8-th of the box to finish. So I generously crumbled all the cheese onto the green, sprinkled it with some seeds and a sauce plus some oil (should try with garlic oil next).

30 minutes later, I was sitting and struggling through the salad - even removing the crumbs of the cheese did not help - the pungent taste had permeated the whole bowl. Even my Guava juice seemed to taste different (ok ok.... it is all very weird combination - perhaps wine might have helped but I have to work late tonight). So here I am with my brain feeling completely wired up - I can feel it taut across my head. I am about to shower to see whether that makes any difference, change the sheets and put up my feet to read the documents in bed.

Music and cooking

This afternoon: Für Elise - renewed efforts at playing it.

Pachakaracha meen curry:

Fish

Coconut scrapped

Chilli powder

onions - 1 tablespoon

green chillies - 1-2

salt

tamarind paste - 1/2 tsp

curry leaves

Grind the coconut with red chilli powder to paste. Grind in the onions lightly. Boil this, add the tamarind paste and curry leaves and salt. Once this is boiled add the fish pieces and keep on heat until cooked. (Wish I had the clay pot used for this fish curry - that would have been the genuine original taste.

Woes of a pumpkin

My diet consists of weird things now. However for a Mallu pumpkin, today's dish was not too strange. The only missing part was the rice. I bought a 250 gms of seafood mixture, boiled it with red chilli powder and turmeric powder (garlic and pepper are missing from my larder at the moment). As I began to eat, I relished it. Towards the end, all I felt was throwing the whole thing away - I long for the rice that is cooking inside the rice cooker for a certain stick in my house. These are woes of a pumpkin who cooks for a snakegourd.

Here is what I am struggling to finish. In the meantime the snakegourd has thrown himself outside into the balcony, like a fish out of water jumping into the lake as soon as it is exposed to the air, to escape the fisherman's atmosphere that has built up in this apartment.

Guacamole

Since yesterday I have just had one thought - Guacamole with spicy burning red grilled chicken coated with a heavy coating of red chilli powder. Having married a vegetarian who hates most of the vegetables, I have lost the interest to cook anything interesting. As a result my hobby of cooking has been relegated so much underground that I hate the mundane cooking. I remember those days when I loved to experiment with new things.... The latest love is this avocado dish which I had with Grilled Tuna last week during the seminar.

Ramblings of the stomach

... on popular demand (well Alpha is popular and when a popular person demands something that becomes popular demand).

After many days I cooked at home today - made a paneer curry. In between I cleaned the refrigerator and found peas curry I had made on Monday night. I added it to the paneer curry and made mutter paneer. My home-food starved husband ooooh-aaahed over it. I never told him that the mutter in the curry was the peas curry he had refused to eat 4 days ago. He never reads this blog so I really am not worried about him reading this.

Alpha, yes... but that is a secret since I am in NJ just for 8 days :) and will fly back after that.