This Boxing Day, we were out. Not out of Melbourne like last year but as in out in the city, enjoying the sunny day and hunting for great bargains. And I did find that Boxing Day does land you some great bargains on electronic items. But for all other stuff all through the year, there is DFO.
It just so happens that 26th December is also the day that Hubby Dearest proposed to me. It's been 4 years now and the day is still important to me.
Anyhow, that is beside the point of this blogpost. So romantic ruminations aside, we decided to drop in to Camy's Shanghai Noodle and Dumpling Restaurant at Tattersalls Lane in the heart of the CBD to get some food inside us before we continued our bargain-hunting. Surprise, surprise there were no logn queues like last time and all of the previous times we have been here. In fact, the restaurant was quite empty inside as well.
It wasn't hard to figure out why as soon as we took a seat. A rude, absolutely disinterested and snobbish waitress led us to our table. We were seated right opposite to the kitchen from which a stale, strange smell wafted out.
Let me clear it at this point itself that although I have been a fan of the restaurant's food the day my friend introduced me to this outlet, my husband has never been quite fond of it. He cites lack of service and disrespect. Over a period of time, I started to see his point but it was never as bad as this time. Absolutely appalling!!!
And having spoken to a few friends now, I know that a lot of them have stopped visiting this place citing the same reasons. No wonder. When Hubby Dearest' pork dumplings arrived, they were simply slammed on to the table. Mind you, I would serve my pet with more respect than they did us. Absolutely mannerless and disgusting service. And to top it, his fried pork dumplings showed no signs of frying, were absolutely cold to the touch and were just a bit warm inside. When asked how they are (since I can't taste them, being a vegetarian), he said it looks as if they simply pulled them out from a hot case and it was quite obvious that they were not prepared fresh. Is this how you serve food to your customers? I have the right to a freshly-cooked hot meal when I am paying money at any outlet.
This small eatery has received rave reviews in a number of magazines. And no doubt that at $6.50 for a plate of 20 vegetarian dumplings and $6.80 for a plate of non-vegetarian, it is definitely value-for-money. But who the heck cares if the service is so rude and pathetic and the food equally so. My once-favourite eatery is not so favourite any more. The standards are going down and down.
Our drink arrived with another thump on the table and so did my steamed vegetarian dumplings, which were okay to taste. At least, they were freshly cooked and steaming from inside. But nonetheless, Camy's needs to realize soon that food is not only about taste or about being value-for-money but about customer service as well. A smile on the waitress' face might even lead me there the second time, even if the food is not quite up-to-the-mark.
In this case, I swore I am never ever going back to this eatery again. Serving cheap food does not mean that you can treat your customers in the most disgusting manner possible. I am totally off this place. Try it at your own risk.
Sunday, December 27, 2009
Thursday, November 5, 2009
Gourmet Dum aloo
Hi,
After a few hectic days at work, I am back. The other day, I had some free time (which is a very rare occurrence). So, I thought why not make Dum Aloo-a royal dish from Kashmir in india. I had some baby potatoes on hand and this would be the perfcet dish since hubby dearest and me absolutely love it.
Well, why is it called a royal dish, you may ask. That is because it makes use of cashew paste and is really rich and heavy (I have omitted the cashews to keep it low on calories) and it takes around 2 hours, or sometimes more, to prepare. Truly,a dish fit for a king. Obviously, this is my working version of the dish and I haven't got a peek into the kitchens of the royal chefs to see how it is made. But this was a recipe I borrowed off my mom(who makes it super-good, by the way) and improvised it so it doesn't take toooooo long.
I had some ingredients pre-prepared and as I said, I did take a few shortcuts. The dish still turned out to be fine. So I am assuming my shortcuts worked.
Literally, 'dum' means pressure and 'aloo' means potato. So its actually potatoes cooked under pressure. The quantities that I made were enough to serve two.
I had a few baby potatoes lying with me...so I just peeled them and washed them well to remove all traces of dirt. Last time I made this dish, I first boiled the potatoes in a pressure cooker (oh, the pressure cooker is such an important part of my cooking....I would die without it) and then peeled them. Trust me, last time it was just so difficult to handle them. Their small size coupled with their slippery skin made them impossible. So this time, just to make things easier for myself, I simply peeled them and then parboiled in the microwave.
So here are the potatoes, lying in some water. I kept them in a microwave for about 7 minutes. They got kind of soft but not mushy. The trick for this recipe is to keep the potatoes whole and not too soft that they crumble. They should be easy to break and yet remain whole.
Note: If you want to make the dish a bit richer, you can soak about 15 cashews at least half an hour earlier. These will later be used to mix in the paste that will go into the curry.
While the potatoes got cooked in the microwave, I made a powder by hand grinding about 5 cardamoms, 2-3 small-sized barks of cinnamon and 5-6 cloves. I also added a bit of roasted cumin powder. This mixture of powders is so essential to the dish and is a key ingredient, as you will discover.
Right after doing this, I made a mix that was going to form the base of my gravy. This is the base which is normally used for almost all North Indian curries. I sometimes make it in larger quantities and it keeps safely in the fridge for about a week. So I already had some of it lying with me. Its okay if you want to make it fresh. This paste contains 1 large onion, two tomatoes, about 2" piece of ginger, about 6 cloves of garlic and a green chilli. I always add green chilli since it just adds so much of flavour. If you have soaked cashews, they go into the mixture at this stage and get ground along with this paraphernalia. So, then I simply give a good whisk with the hand grinder to this mixture.
Now, the dear baby potatoes were waiting to be cooked. So I drained them, heated oil in the non-stick pan and shallow-fried them. This took me about 10 minutes. Make sure that the potatoes are drained well and are dry before you put them into the oil. If required, wipe them with a clean kitchen cloth. Any kind of water will make the oil splutter and can be dangerous. Heated oil and water is not a good combination.
Now my baby potatoes have turned out to be a beautiful brown. I took them out and drained them on an absorbent sheet of paper. As you can see, some of them are quite brown and the others are not. As long as they seem to be cooked on the inside, it's fine. Obviously, they have also been cooked a bit in the microwave so shouldn't pose a problem.
In the same pan, I heated the oil again and added the dried spices to be roasted. Keep stirring till it starts giving off a lovely aroma. Its quite heady, I tell you.
Once the dry masala was cooked, I added the onion-tomato paste and gave a good stir. Allow it to cook for about 5-7 minutes.
While the mixture cooked on the gas, I made a mixture of fresh yoghurt (make sure its not sour yoghurt)and some milk and whisked it really well to give it a smooth, watery consistency. Make sure there are no lumps.
I then put this milk and yoghurt mixture into the mixture that was cooking on the gas and gave it a good stir so that it formed a uniform curry.
I then added red chilli powder, salt to taste, turmeric powder, dry coriander powder (available at most Indian grocery stores) and garam masala. All these were about 1 tsp each except the salt and the red chilli which was quite substantial since I love my food spicy.
I then put in the baby potatoes and mixed well to coat them with the curry and allowed it to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Voila!! A royal dish is ready.
I took it to work and it tasted amazing the next day since the flavours had had time to absorb overnight. If you want, you could drizzle some cream over it but I would prefer to skip those extra calories, thank you.
You can serve it with garlic naan, roti or bread. I pciked up an Afghan naan at the local supermarket. It turned out to be as soft and buttery and garlicky as I had expected. Made a perfect meal. As for the aftereffects, I was practically dozing off after my lunch.
Try it on a day off when you have lots of time to cook and lots of time to snooze afterwards.
You can cook it now and start posting your pics to me. Let me know if there are any questions and obviously I would love to read all your comments at the bottom of this post. Feel free to write and let me know your experiences. I look forward to hearing it all.
Love
WIMO
After a few hectic days at work, I am back. The other day, I had some free time (which is a very rare occurrence). So, I thought why not make Dum Aloo-a royal dish from Kashmir in india. I had some baby potatoes on hand and this would be the perfcet dish since hubby dearest and me absolutely love it.
Well, why is it called a royal dish, you may ask. That is because it makes use of cashew paste and is really rich and heavy (I have omitted the cashews to keep it low on calories) and it takes around 2 hours, or sometimes more, to prepare. Truly,a dish fit for a king. Obviously, this is my working version of the dish and I haven't got a peek into the kitchens of the royal chefs to see how it is made. But this was a recipe I borrowed off my mom(who makes it super-good, by the way) and improvised it so it doesn't take toooooo long.
I had some ingredients pre-prepared and as I said, I did take a few shortcuts. The dish still turned out to be fine. So I am assuming my shortcuts worked.
Literally, 'dum' means pressure and 'aloo' means potato. So its actually potatoes cooked under pressure. The quantities that I made were enough to serve two.
I had a few baby potatoes lying with me...so I just peeled them and washed them well to remove all traces of dirt. Last time I made this dish, I first boiled the potatoes in a pressure cooker (oh, the pressure cooker is such an important part of my cooking....I would die without it) and then peeled them. Trust me, last time it was just so difficult to handle them. Their small size coupled with their slippery skin made them impossible. So this time, just to make things easier for myself, I simply peeled them and then parboiled in the microwave.
So here are the potatoes, lying in some water. I kept them in a microwave for about 7 minutes. They got kind of soft but not mushy. The trick for this recipe is to keep the potatoes whole and not too soft that they crumble. They should be easy to break and yet remain whole.
Note: If you want to make the dish a bit richer, you can soak about 15 cashews at least half an hour earlier. These will later be used to mix in the paste that will go into the curry.
While the potatoes got cooked in the microwave, I made a powder by hand grinding about 5 cardamoms, 2-3 small-sized barks of cinnamon and 5-6 cloves. I also added a bit of roasted cumin powder. This mixture of powders is so essential to the dish and is a key ingredient, as you will discover.
Right after doing this, I made a mix that was going to form the base of my gravy. This is the base which is normally used for almost all North Indian curries. I sometimes make it in larger quantities and it keeps safely in the fridge for about a week. So I already had some of it lying with me. Its okay if you want to make it fresh. This paste contains 1 large onion, two tomatoes, about 2" piece of ginger, about 6 cloves of garlic and a green chilli. I always add green chilli since it just adds so much of flavour. If you have soaked cashews, they go into the mixture at this stage and get ground along with this paraphernalia. So, then I simply give a good whisk with the hand grinder to this mixture.
Now, the dear baby potatoes were waiting to be cooked. So I drained them, heated oil in the non-stick pan and shallow-fried them. This took me about 10 minutes. Make sure that the potatoes are drained well and are dry before you put them into the oil. If required, wipe them with a clean kitchen cloth. Any kind of water will make the oil splutter and can be dangerous. Heated oil and water is not a good combination.
Now my baby potatoes have turned out to be a beautiful brown. I took them out and drained them on an absorbent sheet of paper. As you can see, some of them are quite brown and the others are not. As long as they seem to be cooked on the inside, it's fine. Obviously, they have also been cooked a bit in the microwave so shouldn't pose a problem.
In the same pan, I heated the oil again and added the dried spices to be roasted. Keep stirring till it starts giving off a lovely aroma. Its quite heady, I tell you.
Once the dry masala was cooked, I added the onion-tomato paste and gave a good stir. Allow it to cook for about 5-7 minutes.
While the mixture cooked on the gas, I made a mixture of fresh yoghurt (make sure its not sour yoghurt)and some milk and whisked it really well to give it a smooth, watery consistency. Make sure there are no lumps.
I then put this milk and yoghurt mixture into the mixture that was cooking on the gas and gave it a good stir so that it formed a uniform curry.
I then added red chilli powder, salt to taste, turmeric powder, dry coriander powder (available at most Indian grocery stores) and garam masala. All these were about 1 tsp each except the salt and the red chilli which was quite substantial since I love my food spicy.
I then put in the baby potatoes and mixed well to coat them with the curry and allowed it to simmer for about 10 minutes.
Voila!! A royal dish is ready.
I took it to work and it tasted amazing the next day since the flavours had had time to absorb overnight. If you want, you could drizzle some cream over it but I would prefer to skip those extra calories, thank you.
You can serve it with garlic naan, roti or bread. I pciked up an Afghan naan at the local supermarket. It turned out to be as soft and buttery and garlicky as I had expected. Made a perfect meal. As for the aftereffects, I was practically dozing off after my lunch.
Try it on a day off when you have lots of time to cook and lots of time to snooze afterwards.
You can cook it now and start posting your pics to me. Let me know if there are any questions and obviously I would love to read all your comments at the bottom of this post. Feel free to write and let me know your experiences. I look forward to hearing it all.
Love
WIMO
Sunday, November 1, 2009
Why is this called 'World is Moi oyster' and do you know of the Melbourne Cup??
Right....So I told my friends that now I am on to the blogging bandwagon and this is the name of my blog. One of the first questions that was raised was-why is it called 'World is moi Oyster'?
Quite a sensible question, my friends, I tell you.
Well, the blog is so named because I sincerely believe that the world is my oyster. I was born in India, came to Melbourne, plan to go to Canada now and then travel the entire world, one place at a time. I consider myself a citizen of the world and feel very restricted if forced to remain within certain parameters. The entire world is my home.
My culinary skills are a mix of Indian, Asian, Mexican, Italian and English. I speak three languages. I have friends from all across the world. My accent is now half-Indian, half-Aussie. The looks I invent for myself are influenced from all eras, and from all parts of the world. I consider myself to be very flexible and adaptable to the situations around me. Therefore, it is no surprise that the world is definitely my oyster.
I really hope that clears up the air about the unusual name for my blog. Note the 'moi' in my name. The only reason I couldn't take up 'my' was because the blog name was already taken up.....poor me.
Anyhow, tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day. For those who don't know, it is one of the biggest horse racing carnivals in the world. The city literally comes to a standstill; it's crazy. There is obviously a whole lot of betting going on but more than that it is the 'Fashions on the Field' event that holds up the viewers' attention. The ladies dress up in their finest dresses, best hats and walk in with quite handsome men. It is really a sight to see and an excuse for the ladies to indulge. I am pretty sure, sales just go over the roof for all major shopping chains.
Well, no surprises the TV channels are more focussed on who is wearing what rather than the dear old horsies.
I, too am keeping my eyes fixed on the 'fashions on the field' and will be pestering a colleague, to give me all the details. After all, she is going to be there at Ground Zero tomorrow.
Quite a sensible question, my friends, I tell you.
Well, the blog is so named because I sincerely believe that the world is my oyster. I was born in India, came to Melbourne, plan to go to Canada now and then travel the entire world, one place at a time. I consider myself a citizen of the world and feel very restricted if forced to remain within certain parameters. The entire world is my home.
My culinary skills are a mix of Indian, Asian, Mexican, Italian and English. I speak three languages. I have friends from all across the world. My accent is now half-Indian, half-Aussie. The looks I invent for myself are influenced from all eras, and from all parts of the world. I consider myself to be very flexible and adaptable to the situations around me. Therefore, it is no surprise that the world is definitely my oyster.
I really hope that clears up the air about the unusual name for my blog. Note the 'moi' in my name. The only reason I couldn't take up 'my' was because the blog name was already taken up.....poor me.
Anyhow, tomorrow is Melbourne Cup Day. For those who don't know, it is one of the biggest horse racing carnivals in the world. The city literally comes to a standstill; it's crazy. There is obviously a whole lot of betting going on but more than that it is the 'Fashions on the Field' event that holds up the viewers' attention. The ladies dress up in their finest dresses, best hats and walk in with quite handsome men. It is really a sight to see and an excuse for the ladies to indulge. I am pretty sure, sales just go over the roof for all major shopping chains.
Well, no surprises the TV channels are more focussed on who is wearing what rather than the dear old horsies.
I, too am keeping my eyes fixed on the 'fashions on the field' and will be pestering a colleague, to give me all the details. After all, she is going to be there at Ground Zero tomorrow.
I suggest you go and have a look at the finery and take a look at the very good-looking website by visiting http://melbournecup.com/Melbourne-Cup-Carnival-2009.html
Have you ever attended a gala party? What were your experiences of the entire ritual of dressing up? Do post your comments below. Would love to hear from y'all.
lots of love
worldismoioyster
Have you ever attended a gala party? What were your experiences of the entire ritual of dressing up? Do post your comments below. Would love to hear from y'all.
lots of love
worldismoioyster
Thursday, October 29, 2009
intro---my first blog post...what this blog will be about
Hurrah!!! So after so many days of just thinking about it and reading tons of blogs, I am on the bandwagon myself. Can't believe it. So what is my blog all about.....well, lots of things. So many that I can't really classify it into one particular category.
First, I thought, hey I'm interested in cooking....so let me go create a blog about cooking. Then started coming my other interests and passions-vegetarianism; environmental issues; natural beauty products; reading; walking; dancing; DIY and so on and so forth.....So this blog will incorporate all this and more. Thoughts on everyday life and anything at all that strikes my fancy.
Obviously, I am also looking at getting feedback, sharing tips, comparing notes and life in general. All this comes from a passion of writing and hopefully, this will be the start of it all....
First, I thought, hey I'm interested in cooking....so let me go create a blog about cooking. Then started coming my other interests and passions-vegetarianism; environmental issues; natural beauty products; reading; walking; dancing; DIY and so on and so forth.....So this blog will incorporate all this and more. Thoughts on everyday life and anything at all that strikes my fancy.
Obviously, I am also looking at getting feedback, sharing tips, comparing notes and life in general. All this comes from a passion of writing and hopefully, this will be the start of it all....
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