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“When is duck not duck?” In Bombay
So… when is duck not duck?
It could be a fish if you live in Mumbai!
I first had ‘Bombay Duck‘ in New York when visiting a Parsi friend from Mumbai. It was masala dried – stinky, chewy, very different but also quite good.
Then I moved to Bombay and discovered fresh bombil, deep-fried is beyond yum! If ever asked what goes superbly with a chilled beer? The answer is ‘Bombil Fry‘ aka ‘Bombay Duck.’
When a duck ain’t a duck
Bombil is actually a lizardfish… uh yeah… this duck is now actually a lizard? What is it with the misleading names and this fish?
It is rather popular with folks from Maharashtra… and the dried form is privately ‘smuggled’ across borders – hence my tasting contraband ‘Bombay Duck’ in New York back in the early 90s.
Any food in your ‘hood’ with a misleading name?
I’ve also come across :
- 水煮鱼 aka Shanghai “water boiled fish” that is actually drowning in oil!
- Or “prairie oysters” that are… ahem… fried baby bull balls
Other Sunday Snaps:
We have our home back!!
I cannot even begin to describe the amazing pleasure it is to FINALLY have our home back! No lingering construction work, no workers crap cluttering our balcony, no walls waiting for plastering, no unfinished painting to be done. Nada!!
The work only began on our building in March 2015. And was only supposed to take 2-3 months. Hmmm….
We aren’t yet truly ‘home free’ as work continues on other flats so we still contend daily with the whir and whine, pound and bang, however our home is blissfully worker free. And back to normal!! (more…)
Obsessions… playing with piano keys
My partner suffers from the occasional bout of artistic obsession…
For some time, it wasn’t a new film, play or even music. It was piano keys!
No it wasn’t playing piano… it was creating art installations out of piano keys from one of first pianos in Bandra… as in over 100 years old!
The keys laid out after manic cleaning
What happened to the piano that came with these keys? Well… it was transformed into a bar some time ago. I recently met its owner and saw photos of its transformation – remarkable!
What happened to the piano keys? Here are a few of the pieces my partner created.
One project in process…
Wait…. wait… wait….
And the finished product:
There are also very practical “Keys for keys”
He also created a “Leaning tower of keys” and the final project was the “Key Lamp” which had a few iterations before finally becoming what you see here…
I’ve often been the beneficiary of his obsessions. When he says, “Let’s not get rid of it. I have an idea…” Chances are something quite interesting will be the result.
Anyone have an obsessive quality? Any interesting outcomes?
Related posts:
Hey monkey! Gong Xi Fa Cai!
I’m really missing Chinese New Year!
It may seem strange that a Canadian woman living in India would be missing CNY. However I love the dragon dance and joyous celebration. Heck, for years I used to organise the annual CNY banquet when I was with the Hong Kong Canada Business Association.
And after criss-crossing between Singapore, Malaysia, Hong Kong, China where it is celebrated with great gusto, back here in Bombay, feels like a let down.
Only sign of CNY this year was an Uber notice from my Singapore account, ads for Chinese restaurant deals and a few exuberant greetings from friends scattered in other parts of Asia. Hmm….
However, it got me thinking about the plurality of ‘New Year’ celebrations. How each is linked to the cycles of a particular region, community or religion.
Here in India we have a whopping 16 regional ‘New Years’ – from Holi to Maha Vishuva Sankranti to the Punjabi Vaisakhi or the Bengali Boishakh. Then throw in the Parsi Nowruz or Muharram starting a new Islamic calendar, top it off with the western import of Dec 31st… and you can see there are an awful lot of New Years celebrated in this country!
For each, it is a special marking of time… a transition from old to new.
So for those celebrating CNY – Gong Xi Fa Cai!!!!
And those not? If you live in India… another New Year celebration is just around the corner…
Related posts:
Vienna Store’s Elephant Sized Surprise
Once upon a time there was a humble store on Hill Road in Bandra, Mumbai, India.
Then along came an artist who transformed it into a great big happy blue elephant! Festooned with red, this pachyderm attracts smiles from passerbys.
Vienna Store, Bandra, Mumbai
A young friend recounted the tale how excited she was to check out this amazing quaint little place.
And what exactly is it? A cheerful cafe? A cute curio shop? An artful daycare?
Nope!
It sell eggs. As in wholesale eggs. As in cartons and cartons of eggs. That’s it.
They say not to judge a book by its cover but… in this case one can be forgiven for not instantly connecting elephants with eggs!
Related posts:
11th Quarter Summary – Confession time
Most folks who blog get to a point where they hit an impasse… and things either flounder, falter and flop or…. change. I’m not yet ready to give up, but have certainly faltered a time or two.
Let’s be honest, I’ve been pre-occupied with a crazy long list of company / business related activities, interspersed with enjoying life and… yes… distracted by my other blog ‘Whisky Lady.’
Sure I still WANT to write but the ideas that pop in my head inspired by an experience or conversation just haven’t been making it to the publish stage.
And don’t even get me started about drafts! Anyone else have an embarassing 60+ gathering dust in your drafts folder?!
Clearly it was time for an intervention, clean-up and figure a way to get “back on the saddle” for a a renewed posting groove! (more…)
Punjabi khaana in Delhi!
When traveling, a gal has got to eat! In 2015, I had several trips to Delhi. Normally I keep it a quick ‘grab and go’ kinda meal unless it is a sit down business lunch or dinner.
However during my December trip, with the chill in the air and a little time on my hands between meetings I had a ‘proper’ sit down Punjabi lunch with chole (chickpeas), laccha parantha, pickles and salad. It was simple and completely satisfying!
Punjabi lunch
Now I’ve ordered hot chole bhatura from a local dhaba in Bandra and have even been known to make it at home from time to time… however it is just not the same as the spicy tangy incredibly delicious version most joints make in Delhi.
There are lots of other amazing Punjabi dishes… any other favourites out there? Ones that are simply not quite the same outside of either someone’s home or a particular location?
Related posts:
Whisky Lady – Jolly January
Yeah! This is officially the beginning of “Year 2” since I started sharing a monthly round-up of Whisky Lady sampling adventures!
January started off slow… then picked up pace to cover 25 whiskies – including back-to-back whisky tastings last night and the night before!
Light, bright, delight and woah!
Toasted roasted ‘go to’ green beans
Most of us have ‘go to’ recipes… something quick and delicious that you can make on an instance without even thinking.
This one is so crazy simple, you can literally make it in minutes. Makes a great side dish, cold you can jazz up any salad throwing some of these green beans in too!
And today, I mixed it up a little substituting one ingredient – super yum!
Interested?
Everyday French Beans
Here goes:
- Green beans, sliced roughly in 3 inch bits – can parboil first but not required
Then in a non-stick pan
- Heat a dollop of oil on high
- Drop in 1/2 teaspoon each of cumin seeds, yellow or brown mustard seeds and sesame or sunflower seeds
- They should start to pop and sizzle almost immediately
- Thrown in the green beans
- Then a dash of salt and cayenne pepper
- Just keep tossing around for a few minutes until everything gets nice and toasty – it is best when the green beans get a bit ‘singed’ to bring out a roasted flavour
Today I substituted sunflower for sesame seeds – wow! Will definitely do a repeat of that… maybe experiment with other seeds too…
Related posts:
Confessions of a recovering academic
Once upon a time I flirted with becoming an academic. Perhaps a serious affair is a better way to describe it… but after a decade I had commitment issues.
Sure I loved teaching, I could even handle the hours of meticulously marking papers, gobbling up thick heavy tomes? No problem! Regurgitating papers and essays? Well… I would start by procrastinating then spew out content – sometimes with passion and sometimes merely intellectual curiosity.
You need to understand, the University of Manitoba (U of M) environment was where I grew up. I was a professor’s brat which meant the University was where I went to nursery school, where I learned to swim, where we went each summer to Mini University for ‘camp’, where I used to hop a bus from school to attend piano lessons… in short it was always home.
Photo: UManitoba.ca
Everyday Asia 