Goa! Good people, Good food, Good life...
Goa, by air, is just an hour away from Bombay my home city and I can't for the life of me fathom why I don't go there often enough. Not that when I do go there I relax, for you see Goa for me is serious work. There are so many restaurants to check out, so many hotels - resorts, boutique, luxury and leisure to discover, so many chefs to learn from about Goan cuisine, and yes so many friends to catch up with, it hardly leaves any time to lie in the hammock and dream. Well, Goa is Goa and the only getaway to have achieved the distinction of being featured in our magazine as UpperCrust Destination a second time. But then there is something special about this place. Sosegado, it's in the air, it's in the blood of the local people, it's in the cuisine, on its beaches, in the dazzling sunlight, it's there on the Mandovi I discovered, as I raced in a speed boat down the river with my friends Wendell and Jerome, two of the nicest Goans I know (yes, yes, Jerome may have been born French, but now he is as good or better than any Goan). As for Loulou, she is my soul-mate and I am sure a lot of people see that reflection in her too. She is that kind of a person.  Olive oil is all the rage in India these days. Thanks to which it is now comparatively easier to buy it off the shelf right here in our cities. Though I must confess I am such an olive oil snob I still prefer to buy mine from Europe and trudge back with it, like I did from Santorini in Greece recently.We have for you a whole lot of Indian recipes in this issue that lend beautifully to cooking with olive oil. The chef who helps you along is none other that Sanjeev Kapoor so make sure you try each one of them, asap. While we are on the subject of olive oil I have to let you know it was Busybee who first introduced me to it. On Sunday mornings, he would potter around in the kitchen. In some virgin olive oil, he would toss in plenty of finely chopped fresh garlic, stem and all, and then quickly break in a few eggs. Ver-ry nice. I don't think Sanjeev has tried this one, but he should and christen it Busybee Eggs! And talking about Busybee brings me around to The UpperCrust Show. Where not only did our chief guest Amitabh Bachchan inaugurate India's biggest and best food and wine extravaganza, but also release the latest Busybee book, A Star is Born. I am beholden to this extraordinary human being. He truly inspires me, like he does the whole world, no doubt. |
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