Monday, February 13, 2012

The art of fooding

It has been very long that i really settled down to write anything. After much thought and introspection, it suddenly sprang in my mind that writing on food will be the most apt thing for now. Food has always been one of my prime loves of life, and very strangely I have to forcibly keep my distance from most of the eatables for some time now!! Well, when & if i explain the reason for this distance,people will say it is well justified, but for a food lover like me, any reason would appear heartbreaking :() !
Yesterday, while flipping through various channels, i stopped to watch a food show on a national English news channel. Then there were food shows on other entertainment channels and channels specifically dedicated to food & cooking. Trust me, when you have to abstain from a particular thing which you are attached to, it attracts you all the very more. So, i kept on dedicating my time of a leisure Sunday to these channels and was intently watching at the various recipes being cooked and discussed. And after a time, it felt that as if the aromas were flowing out of my TV screen!
There was a discussion on north eastern cuisines - the thukpa,dim sum,hot steaming soup,garlic chickens & prawns, noodles served wrapped in banana leaf which kept hot & steaming because of some internal charcoal being put into the wrapping. The anchor was venturing from eatery to restaurants to roadside joints enjoying the cold weather and treating her taste buds. In the long slurpp to take in a considerably long strand of freshly made noodle in prawn soup, she got engrossed and i had to change the channel. Next stop was a food channel where recent food trends and newly opened thoughtful food joints with their menus were showcased. Oh God! why do i bump into these things always - was my thought. And with quick dismissal of the negative thought I started concentrating. Here, a proud cook was showing their newest entry : a cheese ball which was filled with mozzarella cheese inside and wrapped in mashed potato & other herbs and then deep fried in simmering white oil. Lovely! i could only gather this much. Ah! on the brighter side, i also learned that any cheese filled ball / patty / cutlet should never be fried in very hot oil, the temperature should be just a bit high otherwise the cheese melts and spills out. 
From here, i ventured for some news channels. But will you believe my luck! huh, another english news channel was on air with its weekend foodie show. Here, trust me, the anchor was looking so completely smitten by the prospect of eating what was being cooked in the show that it almost satisfied my taste buds. It feels good to see that there are others who can feel the same passion and portray it so well. I instantly envied the show and definitely the anchor. He was on some trip to Italy and was there in a famous joint discussing the italian recipes and a cook was preparing some pasta and chicken stuff. Here, i learned that be it any country the basics of cooking remain almost the same, the oil could oilve / white / mustard / ghee / butter but nevertheless is a basic ingredient. So are plain onions, green chillies, tomatoes, gingers & garlics. And cooking is always about the art of treating the taste buds in the best possible and innovative ways...