CPK!!

P and R got us some awesome pizzas from the California Pizza Kitchen at Georgia. Till then, I felt there was no variety in the vegetarian pizzas that were available in the States. It was always just cheese and tomato and basil and that was it. So when I mentioned this to P, he immediately decided that I must get a feel of the CPK varieties! The pizzas that they ordered were  - Greek, Mexican, Japanese Eggplant and American

And wow.. I got the variety I so missed during this trip! My favourite was the Greek pizza, which had avocados instead of chicken, to make it purely a veggie delight!! Next came the American pizza which was the only one which did not "Go easy" on cheese :) I simply loved it. The Japanese had toppings of eggplant and broccoli, and the Mexican variety had artichoke hearts in it (we finally found out how artichokes actually were supposed to be cooked, after the "popat" experience at Cafe Manna, where they gave us grilled artichokes, and we thought we didn't know how they were to be eaten!)

CPK it is for pizzas. :) - http://www.cpk.com/menu/pizzas/

The best Tomato Soup ever

Noodles and company... Another foodie joint in the States, with a nice concept. They have various kinds of soups and pastas catering to different palettes - Mediterranean, Asian, American to name a few. I have been to this place thrice now, but the one thing that swept me off my feet there, was the awesome (awesome) tomato bisque (soup) that they served. It was completely out of this world. Take my word for it!!! I have never ever tasted soup like that anywhere in my life!!! The thickest, creamiest, tangiest, yummiest soup ever! Would love to go once again to N&C just to have more of this soup.

Hats off to perims

It was wonderful to read the article about our dear Shyamala periamma. :) It is nice to see that her talent was recognized and written about so well. The Mambalam house has always been a constant hubbub of activity, with one or the other guest coming in from every part of the world, staying over, chatting away and relaxing on the famous "balcony" of the house. As a family, we used to keep teasing her that come what may, she will never fore-go her music classes, and even if hell broke loose, she would be teaching her students sincerely in the "vaasal-room" of their Mambalam house. And her patience and smile is a taken-for-granted fact!

Hats off to Shyam perims. We love you!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Quick new trial.

Before leaving the hotel room for my next visit, I wanted to try out some new recipe. And the recipe had to be simple. I was too lazy to carry out a major process of buying stuff, grinding, marinating, mixing, waiting and what not. As I browsed for recipes, I found one that fit my requirements exactly in a blog that I follow - http://savithrispot.blogspot.com/2007/07/ravenous-for-rosti.html

I like potatoes in any form. And potatoes combined with cheese had to be good! :). So I tried this recipe, with a slight variation of adding pepper instead of red chilli powder (just because I had lots of pepper powder to be used up!). And wasn't it yummy! Here's a pic of how it looked while cooking!!!