This issue is packed with my favourite foods and seems to have become, inadvertently, an editor's special. It may have something to do with the fact that we have selected food which goes with the season. And monsoon is my favourite time. Hot chocolate and the rains hmm . . . And we've discovered the best way of making it. At home with cooking chocolate that you melt much like cheese for fondue.

When its pouring cats and dogs what can be better than a pot of trotters slow-cooking on the burners. The ITC's Grand Maratha did that for us one rainy morning. And on another, I bunked work and prepared for Christmas! I made Cherry Brandy and Plum Rum. It's to die for.

'Tis the season of peaches and asparagus and doesn't matter if you can't find the �imported white� from Germany. Go to the bazaar and buy the homegrown stuff. It's good enough.

There's dry fish dismissed off as down-market by most people. Ananda Solomon made some of the dishes we wanted, but my all time favourite is still to be got at Rio Rico at the Mandovi in Goa. It's called Sukem and is made of tiny, dry shrimps with kokum, that amazing souring agent.

My current favourite restaurant in Bombay is India Jones and Chef Manish Nambiar is the new whiz kid on the block. Check out Page 144. . . you'll know what I mean. To the best of my knowledge this is the only place where you can pick live Grouper out of a tank and have it prepared to suit your mood du jour. Well the overall concept behind India Jones has worked. Sanjiv Malhotra, take a bow.

We know why the Chief Minister of Maharashtra enjoys the kind of disposition he does. It's the cooking at home. We experienced warm hospitality at the lunch we shared with Vilasrao Deshmukh and his charming family. A pleasure, the food and company.

Famous people's eating habits and lifestyles, we find, interest people. In this issue we have managed to put together a very diverse mix. Mark Tully, Richard Holkar, Byram Jeejeebhoy, Purobi Babbar, Big Show, the WWF wrestler from US who when saying farewell swept me off my feet � literally!

Our sequel to Bombay continues. Chinese tops the list for eating out. We give you my friend Rashmi Uday Singh's list of top restaurants. The interesting part of Bombay is the melting pot aspect. So many communities have contributed to so much food variety. We picked on three lesser-known cuisines of Bombay. The East Indian, Sindhi and Khoja khanas. I had loads of fun shooting at these occasions. The foods were so different and the people too. Bombay is so interesting. For all the love and money I'd never trade it for any other city in the world. It's people and food in that order that makes our lives and Bombay has it. You may as well take a bow too, Bombay!

My complaint against myself is I haven't indulged in enough Indian countryside life this year. I guess I can blame it on my flute lessons. Or Pandit Hari Prasad Chaurasia, our oh-so-exuberant cover person who is offering you those rosogollas so sweetly.

My life has changed thanks to the music Panditji creates from that simple, ordinary-looking piece of bamboo stick with a few holes in it.

I've had a strange association with the flute and always longed to be able to play it. Now that I am started I am at peace and feel fortunate enough that through my music association with Hari Prasad Chaurasia, I've even made a foodie connection.

Go on, read, see what a cool person he is...

Farzana Contractor