Yum mum’s tantrum recipes!

Yum mum’s tantrum recipes!

Do you have to win over your kid with chocolates or ice-creams every evening just so he scrapes his snack off his/her plate? Are you tired of these continuous tantrums — ‘I don’t want idli’, ‘Ew it’s tomato soup’ or ‘You make poha everyday’! You get the gist. Every mom must’ve wondered if they could make their kiddos eat healthy food without the consequent, ‘I don’t like this and that’, that usually follows after you’ve comfortably tucked him/her into the special dine-in chair. Well, Mummy Ka Magic extends a warm embrace to all those moms. You know you’re in for a treat when you watch Indian snack recipes with a tasty twist being whipped up in minutes. That’s what the mom in you roots for. The idli becomes colourful, pizza masaledaar, but healthy, and the soup chutneyfied! Amrita Raichand, as the host, is every inch a desi competition to the sizzling Nigella Lawson. The show is shot even proves the point somewhat. The attempt may be deliberate but it is effective. A family bonder for sure; you’re hooked instantly. For the aspirational mom, Amrita is a diva when it comes to cooking. So you obviously expect her to churn out dishes that please the eyes and indulge the tummy. At her colourful kitchen therefore, you get recipes ranging from hash browns to pancakes, burgers, cakes, cookies, shakes and more! She fuses the nutritious broccoli with tingling peppers and adds just the right dose of cheese. There’s as much cilantro as there is chaat masala in her recipes. Oh! And your pizza can also have a ‘saucy’ smile or the sandwiches a caterpillar walk!

Can the Puritanical city go back to pub city?

In an ideal world, stilettos would have massager-inserts in them; French fries would do what the Ayurvedic Triphala powder (the cure-all triumvirate of amalaki, bibhitaki and haritaki herbs) does: scrape away “ama“ or toxins from your body and make your waistline shrink; and ministers could watch porn in state assemblies without having to resign for their transgressions.

It has been an interesting week for us Bangaloreans, inured as we are to the antics of our ministers. I can just see it happening, retold in a war reporter's voice: “Three ministers; one scandal; three resignations.
Who's up next?“ At least we have a snappy name for it: Porngate, although the “Watergate“ suffix is getting a little old. Why not Indianize it? Porn raja (king of Porn) sounds like a Ram Gopal Varma film and suits the situation just fine. One of the three Porn rajas in question, ironically, was the minister for women and child development, who had earlier linked rape to how a woman dresses, rather than the perpetrators.

It is a question that arises every time a politician gets caught in a sex scandal: Are we being overly puritanical in our judgement of them? People watch porn. It is only the truly foolish who watch porn in a public setting. The ministers probably thought that they wouldn't get caught and it is this hubris that causes a downfall time and time again--for men of many stripes, whether it is Bill Clinton, Eliot Spitzer, Tiger Woods or Laxman Savadi. The more interesting question is the tug of war between two moral temperaments in this city that I now call home.

As a relatively new Bangalorean, I don't relate to the lament from old Bangaloreans about how the city used to be--about how the city was “air-conditioned outside“ and the boulevards were paved with flowering trees planted by the German horticulturist, Gustav Krumbiegel, under the reign of the Mysore Maharajah; and about how pubs flourished all over the cantonment. For a newcomer, the weather still seems cool--global warming and rampant construction notwithstanding; the rain trees still cloud the sky and the moniker “Garden City“ still seems apt, in spite of environmentalists protesting the number of trees being cut to widen roads for the Metro. The last title, “Pub City“, however, seems particularly inappropriate for what has now become a Puritanical City.
On the one hand, you have a populace that is liberal and cosmopolitan and on the other, you have a government that seems to be getting prudish and repressed by the day. How Bangalore resolves this tug-of-war will determine its future.

Historically and temperamentally, Karnataka is a genteel and tolerant state. Kannadigas are intrinsically soft-spoken, courteous and welcoming, “solicitous to a fault“, as one IAS officer put it and “won't do anything to hurt another person's feelings“.

I am quite okay with drunk youth getting home by midnight.

The shrill moral policing that has become the norm in this state is a recent phenomenon. Although relatively unknown, a 15th century work in Kannada literature is Janavashya, written by (or ascribed to) Kallarasa. Janavashya follows the tradition of a number of works that tried to make the aphorisms of the Kama Sutra, Vatsyayana's treatise on the sexual arts, accessible.
Ratirahasya or Secrets of Rati, the wife of Kama, the Hindu God of love, is a famous Sanskrit work, written in the 13th century by Pandit Kakkoka. Janavashya is a Kannada work that falls into the category of ancient Indian erotic literature. In it, a young wife asks her husband about the various arts of lovemaking and the book is a conversation between them.
Kallarasa describes 12 ways of hugging and 12 ways of kissing. It describes women as Padmini, Hastini, Chitrini, and borrows postures freely from the animal kingdom as a means of getting sexual pleasure: postures named after bulls, elephants, deer, hare and frogs were used. This syncretic approach is a hallmark of ancient India and it is something that we have lost in the race towards specialization and compartmentalization of our lives.

Harking back to a glorious past is no solution to Bangalore's current woes.

What can be done to liberalize this city? Easing the 11.30pm curfew is an oft-quoted solution but I am not sure that it will change mindsets. Frankly, as a parent, I am quite okay with young children getting home by midnight. My solution would be twofold: This state's elected representatives have to factor in the urban populace that they represent. I understand that politicians have to please a variety of constituencies. Issues that may seem sacrosanct to an urban voter such as staying out late at a pub will have no relevance to the lives of the sugar traders of Mandya district or the mine worker in Bellary. But in no other state, including neighbouring Tamil Nadu and Andhra Pradesh, does this chasm exist between the city and its politicians. Perhaps the way for urban citizens to bring our city back to its liberal roots is through conversation: to actually attempt talking to the politicians that we scorn or malign.
Shoba Narayan was kicked to discover that Ratirahasya has a Facebook page and that five people “like“ it. Why only five?

LOUNGE REVIEWS - Jumjoji, Mumbai - Diva Piccola, New Delhi

LOUNGE REVIEWS    Jumjoji, Mumbai    “Stocks available till Parsis last“ is the promise that Jumjoji--Mumbai's latest Parsi eatery--makes. It's quite unlike some of its more illustri- ous peers, where the dhansakh could get over before the clock strikes 2 in the after- noon. There's something else that sets Jumjoji apart from all the other Parsi eater- ies: It's in Bandra, a suburb, unlike most that are in south Mumbai. Jumjoji is Gujarati for “please eat heart- ily“ and is co-owned by Boman Irani, a businessman, who comes from the dimin- ishing Parsi-Irani community of Dahanu, a small town on the Maharashtra-Gujarat border more popular for its chikkoo (sapota) farms. Irani says the restaurant handpicked people from a hotel manage- ment institute at Khopoli, who were then sent to the kitchens of some of his relatives to learn the fine art of home-made Parsi food. But he clarifies it has nothing to do with the names on the menu--Piroja Irani's Chicken Sticks, Freni Aunty's Mut- ton Dhansakh and Pari Batliwala's Chicken Kebabs are just made-up names. The good stuff The dark blue-black décor is modern, with dim lighting and plush seating quite unlike a typical Irani restaurant that comes with round wooden tables covered with che- quered table cloths and ancient wooden chairs. Each of the six odd tables has a tra- ditional Parsi candle, complete with the sort of small glass vases that are definite fixtures in a fire temple. The walls have photographs of well-known names from the community--from Sam Manekshaw to Ratan Tata and Cyrus Broacha. It makes a great first impression with a cleverly worded menu--“Rarely will one come across a vegetarian Parsi, like a teeto- taller Parsi or a below-the-poverty-line Parsi“ or “vegetarian dhansakh that uses a legal substitute for mutton“ or “for Parsi eccentricities, sugar on request“. Fortunately, the food tastes refreshingly, though subtly, different from the standard Parsi fare available in the city while still retaining some traditional qualities. While Zenobia Satarawala's Chicken Cheese and Onion Sausage (`180) provides a gentle start, Jumjoji passes the test with the mut- ton dhansakh itself. Accompanied with aromatic brown rice, the thick gravy is rich in flavour without being overwhelming though the mutton itself could be better. The patra-ni-machi (steamed fish smeared with chutney and wrapped in banana leaf, Rs.450) is delightful, while the mutton kheema (served with pav, not sliced bread, `190) is richer and spicier than at most Irani restaurants. The portions are generous--most dishes can be shared by two people, unless they have a wrestler's appetite. And yes, they do serve that Parsi staple--the syrupy fizzy Raspberry drink--besides wine. The notsogood The large wall projection of television is unnecessary, considering this venue will not be the football fan's first choice on a match night. There were too few pieces of mutton in the dhansakh while the patra- ni-machhi is a really small piece of fish. Parsi food fans will also miss the chapati. The lagan-nu-custard (`110), packed with cinnamon essence and pista, is again a deviation from the wobbly, familiar ver- sion. It might be a bit too sweet for some. Talk plastic Considering Jumjoji scales up the Irani dining experience, it offers value for money with some dishes. Wine cocktails come at  Rs.225, while imported wine costs  Rs.440 and upwards a glass.  Farida's Vegetarian Dhansakh is  Rs.210, Chicken Sali,  Rs.240, Akuri, Rs.90, and Gul Shiavaksha's Veg Pulao costs  Rs.210. A wholesome meal for one without alcohol will come to  Rs.500 on an average, including taxes. Jumjoji, No. 4, Ankleshwar Building, ONGC Colony, near Lilavati Hospital, Bandra Rec- lamation, Mumbai. Diva Piccola, New Delhi  The fifth restaurant by Ritu Dalmia (the third Diva eatery though), this one christened Diva Piccola, or “baby diva“, opened last week in Delhi's hottest foodie haven, Hauz Khas Village. We had heard last year that Dalmia had been scouting around the bylanes of the village to set up this eatery. The small, 25 covers, “no fuss, Italian home-cooked-style food“ eatery is located in the same lane as Delhi's legendary gym Power House. The good stuff The place is bathed in warm tones of olive and mustard which, despite its haphazard layout, makes it inviting. We ordered Mar- gharita and Piccante (tomato sauce, chilli flakes, spicy salami and crumbled sau- sage) pizzas. The pizzas, fresh from the wood-fired oven, are not the usual disc- shaped ones. They are rectangular; the crust is moist and soft. Alongside, we ordered a ravioli filled with minced meat, tossed in red wine, butter and demiglaze. The brown sauce had a robust meaty flavour with a hint of garlic and was a refreshing change from the run-of-the- mill creamy sauces most pastas in India are doused in. The menu is a delight for vegetari- ans. Six of the eight starters, five of the eight pastas and three of the five paninis are vegetarian. The baked cheese cake was delicious as was the berry compote with the panna cotta. It was freshly made, with a slight tangy taste. The panna cotta was not rub- bery in texture and mildly sweet--just the way we like it. The not so good Yes, this is a small place, but does the menu have to be this mini? Why transport a drinks menu from a café-style eatery to an Italian eatery? For heaven's sake, “Old- fashioned Lassi“ is not an accompaniment for pizza or pasta. Ask us, we tried it. The manager should avoid recommending it because this watery version is no match to the old-fashioned lassi available in sweet- shops across the city. Out of the seven pieces in the ravioli dish, two had almost no stuffing while the rest had a stingy portion. When we pointed this out to our server, the manager apologized, saying the stuffing unfortunately “slipped out“ when the ravioli was put in water to be cooked! Talk plastic All desserts start at `270. The Margharita pizza is for `380, while the Ravioli is for Rs.430 (taxes and service charges extra). A meal for two (without alcohol) plus a child cost us Rs.2,697. Diva Piccola, first floor, 30, Hauz Khas Vil- lage, New Delhi.

No Indian please, Italian, Thai or Continental will do

No Indian please, Italian, Thai or Continental will do

A menu of dal, pulao, raita with desserts gulab jamun, gajar halwa is passe. People would rather have Chinese, Continental, Italian rather than spicy Indian cuisine



Remember those days when your mom started preparing food 2 to 3 days in advance if you had some guests coming over for dinner. The menu would ideally include parathas, two main course gravies, pulao or biryani, dal, raita and green salad.
And desserts like gulab jamun, gajar halwa would complete the sumptuous meal. However, this long menu is passe. These days people prefer Chinese, Continental or Italian cuisines than those regular masaledar Indian items.
Homemaker Sangita Kumar couldn’t agree less. “Gone are the days when people would prepare typical spice adorned shahi daawat for guests. Now the food scene has changed. Most guests prefer having an Italian dinner with pasta or something. In fact, my husband who is quite traditional has also developed a liking for Chinese and Italian cuisines mainly due to its time saving factor,” she said.
Be it at home or in restaurants, these cuisines are taking away the sheen off the Indian menu and one the main reason is the time factor. Pranav Kohli, a resident of Virar mentioned that when he and his wife visit restaurants, they open the Chinese or the Thai menu most of the times.
“When Trisha and I go out for dinners, we usually order for something Chinese as we both like Chinese, pastas, lasagnas. I have noticed that the duration for serving Indian cuisine is more than these items. One of the main reasons we shifted from Indian cuisine is the serving time,” he added.
In fact, hoteliers too agree that people have drifted from Indian to other cuisines.
The beverage manager of a reputed hotel seconds this observation and says, “Not just hotels, but at homes too most guests are not served with items from the Indian cuisine. One of the main reasons for this change is the sauces used in Chinese, Italian and Thai cuisines, which are easily available. Just boil the noodles or pasta, chop a few vegetables, add the sauce and your dish is ready.
“However, Indian cuisine is mostly curry-based and all the ingredients have to be freshly prepared, which is time consuming. However, as trends change, Indian cuisine will again make a come back.”
Borivali resident Barkha Sreshtha added another strong reason. She said, “Indian cuisine is something that we know to prepare. However, these cuisines are very glamourous in appearance. They are all new recipes and it is the best way for the host to flaunt their culinary skills.

Everyone knows I make biryani very well, but when people come to know that I am equally brilliant in preparing prawn thai curry or creamy chicken penne, it is worthy of praise.”

Comfort food for Winter

Comfort food for Winter

Harissa Grilled Prawns

Prawns 4nos

Arborio rice 50gm

Saffron water 1tbsp

Parmesan cheese 5gm

White wine 1tbsp

Lemon wedge 1

Butter 100gm

Fresh rosemary 5gm

Stock 10ml

Marination

Whole red chili 4nos

Coriander seeds 20gm

Roasted cumin seeds 20gm

Garlic cloves 4nos

Olive oil 1tsp

Crushed pepper 1tsp

Salt To Taste

Method

Make a paste of all ingredients and marinate the prawns, and refrigerate it for some time.

Make risotto with saffron water & stock.

Grill the prawns till well done

Make beurre-blanc with white wine reduction.

Add butter, garlic, seasoning and lemon juice into it.

Mould the risotto in centre of the plate, arrange the prawns in coin shape and place it on the bed of risotto

Garnish with fresh Rosemary.

Dressed the prawns with beurre-blanc

The dish will be accompanied by sautéd vegetables.



Mushroom & spinach with mango salsa

Spinach & mushroom salad with mango salsa is dressed with Balsamic vinegar dressing. A flavorful & elegant salad with seasonal mangoes to enhance the tanginess. This spinach salad makes a nice rain time salad; however you can enjoy this any time of the year.

Ingredients

Ripe Mangoes 2nos

Red & Yellow Pepper 1each

Jalapeno Slices 5gm

Green Chili 5gm

Tabasco Sauce 2ml

Lemon Juice 10ml

Salt to taste

Button Mushroom 10nos

Chopped Garlic 10gm

Onion- Chopped 15 gm

Blanch Spinach 35gm

Olive Oil 30ml

Parmesan Cheese 5gm

Fresh Basil Leaves 5gm

Fresh Thyme 5gm

Balsamic Vinegar 20ml

Honey 10ml

Brussel Sprouts 10gm

Rocket leaves 10gm

Ice Berg Lettuce 20gm

Method

Cut the ripe mangoes & bell peppers in to small pieces.

Sauté chopped onion, chopped green chili, chopped coriander & chopped jalapeno in olive oil.

Remove them from the flame & add brunoise of bell peppers & mangoes in it.

Season it with few drops of tabasco and lemon juice.

Slice the mushroom and sauté it with chopped garlic and chopped onion.

Add the fresh herbs in it and season.

Sauté the blanched abd chopped spinach with garlic in olive oil and keep it separately.

Garnish

Blanch brussels sprouts, toss the brussel sprouts and season it.

Heat the balsamic vinegar and honey in a non-stick pan till one string consistency.

Take 4-inch height & 3-inch diameter mould.

Spread the spinach as a bottom layer in the mould at the centre of the plate.

Them the mushroom mixture and on top the mango salsa mixture.

Freeze it for some time so that it sets properly.

Now keep brussel sprouts on one side and bunch of rocket leaves on other. Glaze them with balsamic and honey reduction.

Mushroom & Onion Steak

Ingredients

Onion 3 no.

Button Mushroom 100gm

Shitake Mushroom 50gm

Balsamic Vinegar 1tsp

Boil Potato 1no

Jalapeno Few Slices

Chopped Coriander 10gm

Processed Cheese 5gm

Brie Cheese 5gm

Parmesan Cheese 5gm

Olive Oil 30ml

Spaghetti 50gm

Chili Flakes 5gm

Garlic 2cloves (chopped)

For Sauce

Tomato Sauce 1tbsp

Lemon Juice 5ml

Chopped Green Chilly 1no

Chopped coriander 10gm

Fresh Herb (for garnish)

Method

Take a pan & add oil, garlic & mushrooms. Sauté them.

Slice the onions & sauté with balsamic vinegar

Now grate the boil potato.

Mix the all above ingredient with jalapeno slices, grated cheese & seasoning, mix them well.

Now make two medium size steaks, and cook on the griddle plate till golden brown colour.

Make spaghetti aglio-alio but adding seasoning, chili flakes & olive oil.

Make sauce with the above mentioned ingredients.

Put the spaghetti with the help of a tong in centre of the plate, arrange the steak on it.

Dress it with the sauce and arrange some sauté vegetables on the top of the plate and garnish it with fresh herbs.
The chilly evenings of the winter calls for some indulgence. As the sun sets, our taste buds demand something spicy, crunchy and warm. While most people reach for a plate of bhajiyas and samosas, the health conscious prefer having a bowl of healthy soup or yummy steaming momos. So experiment with these recipes by Anshul Sethi, the unit chef of Fortune Park lake city

A great restaurant is one that treats every guest as a celebrity

A great restaurant is one that treats every guest as a celebrity



Most big city restaurants don't realise that a great eatery is not one that treats celebrities better.
It is one that treats every guest as a celebrity 

THE GOLDEN RULE OF RESTAURANTS IS THAT THE RICH CAN'T PAY MORE THAN THE REST OF US BECAUSE THE PRICES ARE FIXED

IT WAS a conversation with the chef Vikas Khanna (whose Junoon restaurant in New York has a Michelin star but who is probably better known in India as the star of Masterchef) that got me thinking. Vikas wanted to know why Indian restaurants do not bother with greeters.He told me about experiences he'd had at various Bombay restaurants. He would wander in looking for a table and then hang around waiting for someone to notice him. He was not the only one, he said.
He had discovered, while he was waiting, that other guests were receiving the same indifferent treatment.
Vikas's bewilderment was based on his experiences in New York. In the West, the restaurant hierarchy goes something like this: chef, manager, and then, jointly in third place, the sommelier and the greeter.
The greeter is the person who meets guests at the door, receives them warmly, leads them to their table, asks them if they will have something to drink and then, hands the table over to the serving staff. Because the experience begins the moment you enter the restaurant ­ and not when you're seated at your table ­ the greeter can make or break the evening for you.
Hotels have worked out that the quality of the welcome usually determines whether or not resident guests will like their stay. So, enormous effort goes into ensuring that all guests are greeted warmly ­ by airport reps, doormen, reception staff, etc.
It should be the same with restaurants. And that, in fact, is the attitude in the West. In India, however, even hotels who understand how resident guests should be welcomed fail to extend this principle to their restaurants. Vikas's bad experiences related to well-known Bombay hotels and others have similar stories to tell. In my experience, however, the hotels are not the main problem. By and large, they get it right. It is the stand-alone restaurant sector that is the problem.
At most stand-alone restaurants ­ certainly the new ones, anyway ­ the job of greeter is given to a girl from the North-East. Usually, the young lady in question has never worked in a restaurant before and has very little to do with the waiting staff. 

ANY WAITER WHO DOES NOT WRITE DOWN A MEAL ORDER SHOULD BE SACKED

She is given no training at all, is not taught how to recognize guests or how to choose which table to take them to. Frequently, she is paid an extremely low salary and unlike the waiting staff cannot hope to supplement her income with tips. Naturally, she treats the job as a stop-gap and spends her time looking for alternative employment with better prospects. In the West, greeters are highly paid and restaurants try and steal the best greeters from other places. When a new restaurant opens, it will be at a considerable advantage if its greeter has come from a successful or well-known establishment. The greeter will know how to handle guests, how to welcome them warmly, and how to select an appropriate table for them.
Indian restaurants don't seem to have worked this out. Partly, this is because there has been such an explosion of stand-alone establishments that nobody has had the time to work out the rules and the techniques required for successful restauranting.

My conversation with Vikas made me think of the other global restaurant rules of which our new breed of dining entrepreneurs seem blissfully unaware.
Here are some of the lapses that I have noticed over the last year:

LIGHTING is key to the success of a restaurant. Very bright lighting is associated in the restaurant business with canteens and fastfood places. Very low lighting is the hallmark of sleazy bars and dives.
The trick is to find something in between that suits the ambience a restaurant is trying to create.
Most hotel restaurants will now hire a lighting designer to plan the level of lighting and many will have three different light settings for different times of day. Serious hoteliers are obsessed with lights. I was once at Ziya, the Indian restaurant at the Bombay Oberoi at Biki Oberoi's table. He paid less attention to the food than the lights, making the manager change the levels again and again till he thought the balance was right.
Stand-alones can't always afford lighting designers so it is understandable that they don't necessarily get it right. What is unforgivable is that too many of them don't even bother to experiment with lighting levels.
One simple test of a restaurant's lighting is this: does the lady dining with you look better or worse than normal? If she looks worse, then the lighting is a flop. If she looks radiant, then your dining experience will probably be superb because the restaurant has been planned by someone who understands the business.
There is a second, more basic, test. Can you read the menu? If you can't then does the restaurant offer torches or little reading lights? If it doesn't, and if the lighting levels are too low to be able to read, then leave and go and eat elsewhere. They probably don't want you to be able to look at your plate either. And God knows what they'll put into it because they know that you won't be able to see it.

SERVING BASICS There's a book written by a waitress at Thomas Keller's Per Se restaurant in New York. She explains how the waiting staff were trained for months before the restaurant opened so that not only did they understand every dish on the menu but that they respected `the bubble'.
`The bubble' is the space that surrounds each guest at the restaurant. The task of the waiter is to provide excellent service without ever entering the `bubble' or invading the guest's personal space.
Diners want to feel pampered not violated; loved rather than raped.
I don't expect stand-alone restaurants to have the kind of money Keller spent on training his staff. But it's important to explain the nature of personal space to waiters. All too often servers will lean close to guests, reach around them to clear plates or put their hands next to their faces while putting down the food. Others will hang around the table, destroying the intimacy of the dining experience.
Sometimes, they will forget the basics. Any waiter who does not write down a meal order should be sacked. It doesn't cost much to give your staff pads and pencils and if they still don't use them, then they should consider alternative careers. I've lost count of the number of times waiters have forgotten dishes, have got the order wrong or miscommunicated the guest's preferences to the kitchen.

TABLES Remember that most Western restaurants are designed for plated service. They are not designed for Indian or Chinese service, where serving bowls also have to be accommodated on the table.
All too often, Indian interior designers simply copy the look of Western restaurants without worrying about practicality.

This is why, when you go to so many Chinese or Indian restaurants, you discover that there is no room for the serving bowls on the table. So, waiters will insist on serving you and will try and fill your plates at one shot so that they don't have to come back. Or ­ and this is even more irritating ­ they will put your serving bowls at a nearby counter. So each time you feel like some dal or more fried rice, you will first have to catch the eye of a waiter and then entreat him to bring the bowl to your table. Often you will forget what is still left in the serving bowl and will leave the restaurant with lots of the food you ordered ­ and paid for ­ left uneaten.
A corollary of this phenomenon is the reluctance of restaurants to give guests larger tables. It is a rule of thumb that if two of you go into an empty Chinese restaurant, they will still give you a table for two and not one for four even though the larger table will remain unoccupied the entire evening.
Why do restaurants do this? Search me. I have no clue.

SNOBBERY Restaurant menus are great equalisers. The man at the table next to mine may be a billionaire. But he is paying exactly as much for his steak as I am. The golden rule of restaurants is that the rich can't pay more than the rest of us because prices are fixed. (Which is why foolish, vulgar rich people order expensive champagne or whatever to draw attention to their wealth ­ the food does not really given them that opportunity.)
Of course, there are hierarchies. Not all of us can afford expensive restaurants. But once we are in such a restaurant, we are equal to every other guest at every other table. Any restaurant that does not recognize this and treats one table like dirt while lavishing attention on the vulgar rich is a restaurant that is not worth going back to.
One of the saddest aspects of the big city restaurant boom is that newer restaurants have not recognized this. They still don't realize that a great restaurant is not one that treats celebrities better. It is one that treats every guest as a celebrity. We go to restaurants to feel good about ourselves. And any restaurant that makes us feel bad is run by somebody who has no right to be in this business.

How to Pick the Perfect Watermelon Fruit

~How to Pick the Perfect Watermelon ~ 

With summer upon us and watermelons every where in the grocery stores; I thought I would share my tried and true method for picking the perfect, sweet, juicy watermelon. If your like my house, we love watermelons!! Summer just wouldn't be the same without them, but who wants a yucky, mealy, no-good watermelon.

Tried and True Method: See these little black bits on the scar of the watermelon? Believe it or not...that's sugar. These sugar bits are juice that has made its way out of the watermelon. It tells you the watermelon is sweet and juicy. These sugar bits can also be found on the ends of the watermelon. The more sugar bits the better! I have never picked a watermelon with these sugar bits and EVER been disappointed.

ENJOY EATING SEASONAL FRUITS!!!!!!!!!!!