Panfusine

Christmas for me in terms of memories were localized to Nairobi, Kenya, where I spent a chunk of of my growing up years. Our neighbors were Goan & I can still mentally taste the Christmas platter of home made goodies that used to be sent up the week of the 25th. Cheese straws, fruitcake, Karanji's filled with coconut & sesame..these were the first things that came to mind & acting on my thoughts i decided to whip up a batch of shortbread cookies with the aim of incorporating the flavors of karanjis which are deep fried traditional festive desserts made with coconut, common to western India ( in addition, shortbread , is possibly one of the few cookie recipes that do not compulsorily call for eggs which I try to work around due to my inherent lethargy!) Shortbread is a cookie made primarily from flour, butter & sugar. Its  a classic Scottish dessert &  due to the expensive ingredients that went into it, it was reserved for special occasions su...

 Even as I type this note, a part of my brain wonders what I'm doing trying to write a restaurant review... So, rather than treat this with such an objective eye, Let me just rephrase this as a blog entry on an almost perfect brunch session with a friend, on a cold rainy December Morning.  Coming to think of it, sampling one entry on a menu does not even remotely qualify as a review, but Kudos to Jyoti Ananth, for her awesome selection of venue & menu..  Alice's Tea Cup has 3 locations in NYC, & we picked the one on E 64th St or Chapter 2 as they refer to it on the website.  There was a wait of about 30 minutes ( a sure fire way of determining the popularity of the restaurant) & they were prompt in calling us on our phone to let us know that our table was ready. The restaurant itself is housed in one of those cute quaint brownstones so characteristic of NYC. The furniture so adorable in their cobbled English country cottage style. The adj...

 With the Advent of the holidays, a must see seasonal attraction of New York City's infinitely fascinating facets sets up tent in Union Square & Columbus circle. The last time I had roamed this awesome bazaar was a decade ago in the waning days of  grad school. When the opportunity to do this again arose, boy! did I grab the opportunity. This time I had a mission, the food stalls! (not that the others were of no use, boy the kinds of knick knacks from all over the world on sale there, you have to see this to believe it!).  For those of you who are wondering what the %^&^% I'm jabbering about, let me back track. The Union square Farmers Market is a part & parcel of life in New York city.. Remember the scene in 'You've got mail' where Tom Hanks & Meg Ryan grab a bag of Pretzels & fresh flowers & sit down wondering how they keep accidentally bumping into each other? That's the spot! ( http://www.grownyc.org/unionsquaregreenma...