One Month in Pictures + What I am Loving| Food Trails in Bangalore| Bangalore Diaries| What I found in Bangalore

While I was away from blogging in the the month of September, I was busy exploring a new city -Bangalore. I visited this crammed up, extremely busy city previously but, this visit wasn’t from a traveller’s perspective. I was occupied with shadowing dietitians, learning the nuances of dietetic counselling. Most of the days, I kept myself between home and office. The thought of withstanding Bangalore’s traffic after a busy day at office was quite unsettling.  I would like to take you all through a trip of what I found during an erratic and impulsive hopping spree across the city.

Linoui’s Dark Chocolate at Phoenix Market City. The best dark chocolate I have ever tasted!

Banana Cake and Ginger Chai at CHAI POINT. Starbucks for TEA, I would say!

Pretty sight of flowers on a holiday morning ❤

Books, spices, a wide range of premium olive oils @Foodhall, One MG Mall.

Take a look at the round spices in the last horizontal column of the above collage. Black Pepper, Pink Pepper and All spice from left to right! Pink pepper, sounds fancy right? From distance, they reminded me of sparkly sugar toppings that are sprinkled on the top of cakes and cupcakes. By the way, interestingly they are not a member of the pepper family. Pink peppercorns are dried berries of Brazilian pepper tree and have a lighter peppery taste and impart fruity fragrance. ‘All spice’ also known as Jamaican pepper has a powerful medley of aromas of cinnamon, black pepper, nutmeg and cloves.  I tried the tzatzki, harissa mayo, pesto mayo, greek goddess mayo and a couple of cheeses.

Some kitchen ware to ogle at 😛 @foodhall; One MG Mall.

Apart from these I have come across ginger beers and exotic coffee syrups, tea leaves and many more. Walking in food hall, was an culinary educational experience!

My eyes went bright as I stumbled on Jamie Oliver’s book – one of my favourite Chef! 😀

Delicious and mouth watering Gunda berries, a famous Gujarati pickle 😀                                                                                  Never found a store bought pickle this tempting and fresh!

 

Apollo fish and Smoked Chicken Bao at Kylie’s Bao, Church Street.

Cheeni Kum, a special line of premium sweets and savoury wing of Anand Sweets. I was floored over the name than anything else. 😀

By the way bought the Pasanda pickle from the Cheeni Kum store. Pasanda pickles are available on Amazon too.

Amidst the dusty and crowded market at KR Puram , the freshness of the flowers was a respite to the artsy mind.

So that’s about this trip to Bangalore. Let me know of your experiences in this urban jungle! 🙂

 

Arti’s Homemade Products: Review

I can hardly remember what’s happened few hours earlier. Wait! Its not that I have a short term memory loss.:D  Recalling things bit by bit has always been tough, especially when it comes to tasting a wide range of foods. More the experiences, more the tendency to loose out one or the other detail. Most of the times, Instagram comes to my rescue. But, at moments when I am pressed for time, I just simply capture the shots and ruminate on them later. I wonder how food critics and fellow bloggers manage to pull off very well. I should try asking them for tips 😀

Today’s post is about my review on Artis Homemade Jams & Sauces which is based out of Bangalore. Though, my foodie heart still yearns for more expeditions in Bangalore, I am contempt with what all I could taste during the last month. With an increasing fan base for her sauces and jams among friends and family, Arti Vineesh Kumar stepped up with a mission to share the joy of homemade goodies free of preservatives to a wider audience. I stumbled upon her facebook page few months ago. Back then delivery wasn’t extended to Hyderabad, pushing the idea of trying them to a backseat. Finally, during my visit to Bangalore, I seized a chance!

Personally, I believe and endorse consuming food that is seasonal. Lesser the food miles, fresher and nutritious the food is. Arti shares a similar philosophy too. And when I find food and sustainability intertwined into one idea, my respect doubles up for it. It was good to meet her in person. There is no experience like meeting people who share similar interests, right? 😀

While gooseberry, mixed fruit were also available, I chose pineapple jam. Arti gave me samples of others too and I have reviewed all the three jams and ketchup today.

Pineapple Jam:

a) Texture: Smooth and runny.

b) Spread: Perfect, ran across the bread slice at one go!

c) Flavour Quotient: Though it wasn’t overpoweringly sweet, the flavour of pineapple wasn’t strong enough for me. Would have loved if it had a strong pineapple punch.

Gooseberry Jam: (flavoured with cardamom)

a) Texture: Smooth but rubble like.

b) Spread: Didn’t slide across the bread slice easily.

c) Flavour  Quotient: Optimum and well balanced. Cardamom infused very well into amla.

Mixed Fruit:

a) Texture: Smooth and runny.

b) Spread: Prefect, ran across the bread slice at one go!

c) Flavour Quotient: Optimum and well balanced.

Tomato Ketchup:

a) Consistency: Smooth and thick.

b) Spread: Prefect. Ran across the bread slice at one go!

c) Flavour Quotient: Freshness of tomatoes reflected well and the sourness of tomatoes is balanced with right amount of sweetness.

Freshness oozed out of all these products. I tried all of these on the top of a toasted bread slice.(Of course, on four separate days. Couldn’t stomach all in one day! :D)  Winner for me would be mixed fruit jam and tomato ketchup. Priced at Rs.218 for 300 gms and Rs.320 for 500 gms (pineapple here), I found it to be a bit heavy on the pocket if one consumes jam on daily basis. But, for someone like me, whose jam consumption  is quite limited, it could be a good buy for those rare cravings for all things fresh and subtle. If you are have a picky eater at home or would like to alter a spice, customisation is available too.

Got bored or vexed of the dull, thick jelly like jams and sauces that lack vigour? Try Arti’s products, to relish the natural goodness of seasonal produce! Would love to hear about the jams and preserves that left a remarkable impression on you.

Disclaimer: This review is purely based on my personal taste preferences. Everything written here is entirely out genuine love for natural products and is not part of any promotion campaign. Prices of the product could probably vary as per the flavour and type of product.You could contact Arti directly for updated prices and catalogue.

PS: I would want you to hear this track ,a rhyme which is so fun to sing along! Stumbled upon it in the morning and played it in loop for quite sometime. Rhymes aren’t only for kids, right? ;P