The Book INDIAN PANTRY

[Rushina]

Anyone read the book The Indian Pantry or its latest reprint the Indian Kitchen - it contains information on almost everything in the Indian Kitchen. Okie I have obviously clicked wrong, this was meant to be in the Indian Pantry thread. I was working on a post on Pahari Food and wanted that to be my first but since This is Que sera sera....

Id like to say here am very happy to have found egullet - have been unable to stay away but that will sort itself out in a few days once the initial enthusiasm has run its course. Apologies for bringing up old topics and causing general mayhem, I noticed a couple of days ago that about 10 topics one after the other had my name on them!

Here are some topics I am planning on adding in the coming weeks, I would like it if you could let me know if something has been done...

Uttaranchal food the cuisine and my experiances with it

Some good Indian restaurants in India and dishes i reccomend

Hot and SOur Soup - I love it and the places I like it best at

Trade - to trade books and all stuff food related- (I say this cos I read in someones post a while back they had spare copies of timelife history of world food. I am looking for those and maybe a trade could be worked out...)

Favourite ingrediant - the one thing you are inspired to cook by

favourite kitchen gadget

the most exotic ingredient on your shelf - good stuff / bad stuff and disastrous stuff

The best (fill at will) ever and where it was that u found it

Memories with food

Rushina

Rushina

Edited January 21, 2004 by Rushina (log)

[BBhasin]

Rushina,

you have taken over these forums! Hail to the queen.

bhasin

[mongo_jones]

Rushina,

you have taken over these forums! Hail to the queen.

bhasin

yes, rushina for forum leader!

[Rushina]

THanks guys! Unfortunately nothing for a blush in the smilies.

Don't worry however the enthusiasm will cool down...

By the way Id mentioned the Strand sale elsewhere. It is on now and there are great books going at amazing prices including the Indian Kitchen and some other excellent cookbooks!

I bought some 20 of them the other day (My love for books comes second only to food) Bombay egulletters please to go....

Rushina

Edited January 22, 2004 by Rushina (log)

[bague25]

Rushina

I quite like the Indian Pantry (BTW I have it in English and in French).

When in Bombay, I used to be such a regular at Strand that Mr Shanbhag gave me a 15% direct discount on the books!

Do you collect cookbooks/food related books? Which are your favorites? Do you have classics like the Larrouse Gastronomic. Larrouse has some excellent cookbooks unfortunately most in French (My fav after the LG is the Pasta cook book).

[Rushina]

I am sure you miss Strand! Where are you now? I have travelled around the world but have not found a bookshop that is so actuively interested in making their customers happy. I have been shopping at Strand since I was 13 and I used to save up money and mom took me there to buy a book everymonth. FYI Mr. Shanbag was honored recently. My son is only 2 years old but I took him for the sale this time and he is the 3 generation from our family to shop there. Mr. Shanbag was there and he was so sweet, he actually gave my son a book!That is probably what makes them different.

TO answer your question, yes, a large poart of my book collection is cookbooks. I have the Larrouse Gastronomic among a whole lot more. I like Sophie Grigsons Ingrediants book as well. Have you read that? I like food history and cuisine history related books too.

Planning a special meal for me is an adventure, to keep in mind the guestlist, balance everyones tastes buy ingredients, a last minute change because you planned something else but found the biggest freshest head of Broccoli... sorry getting poetic now... anyway part of all that is flipping through my cookbooks for at least 20 minutes and being thoroghly inspired...

Rushina

[bague25]

Rushina

I work in Brussels from Mon to Fri noon and the rush "home" in France (near Bordeaux) from Friday to Sunday evening. This will change in a couple of months time (hubby & daughter will come to Brussels for good). I'll be glad when that happens...

I usually plan my menus after shopping since I invariably do some impulse shopping and I'm bad at following lists. Sometimes I think I have an ingredient and then realize it's at the other 'house'...

I miss not only strand but a lot of other places in Mumbai - there used to be a "raddiwala" at Shivaji Park where I spent hours looking for 'phoren' food magazines at a reasonable rate...

[Monica Bhide]

Rushina -- looking forward to reading about your experiences. I would love to know more about you as well.. how about a little bio

[Vikram]

I have been shopping at Strand since I was 13 and I used to save up money and mom took me there to buy a book everymonth. FYI Mr. Shanbag was honored recently. My son is only 2 years old but I took him for the sale this time and he is the 3 generation from our family to shop there. Mr. Shanbag was there and he was so sweet, he actually gave my son a book!That is probably what makes them different

This conversation is making me ill. The owner of Strand is an unctuous old humbug, who goes on and on about how he only cares for books, doesn't believe in making a profit, doesn't care for honours, doesn't bother with competition, while in the other breath bitching non-stop about other bookshops and doing his damndest to make sure he gets every bit of credit he can get his hands on.

Which is fine, I guess, more power to him and I wouldn't care if (a) his prices really were that good and (b) he had the books. He doesn't have either really because please understand, Strand is a remaindered bookshop, not a proper bookshop which means you don't get the latest stuff, only what they've managed to pick up from remaindering agents abroad so its always going to be hit or miss, and also the margins will be pretty big, so his so called discounts are not as much as he could give.

If you want real discounts try Fort Book Depot (FBD) sales, good stuff, good prices and without Strand's hype. Or New & Secondhand at Dhobi Talao where I recently picked up a whole bunch of the Time Life Foods of the World books for about Rs100/- each and a wonderful old (from the 50s, forget the edition) copy of Elizabeth David's French Provincial Cooking for Rs150. Or at the other end of the scale there's Lotus in Bandra which gets the latest stuff, including many of the food books (you can also order them), though unfortunately its all at full price. (Crosswords sadly is not that good now and Oxford was always a nice cafe with a silly bookshop attached).

Buy from Strand now and then by all means, I do too, but there's life beyond it too. Discover it!

Vikram

[Rushina]

Vikram,

This was only about sharing a memory, and current information...

I am aware of what you say about the owner and also aware that noone gives discounts for the general good... however I choose to ignore that part. If ithats what gets him going... It does not stop me shopping at the other shops. I am a regular at Oxford and Crosswords too.

Thank you for the other suggestions Vikram. I actually have been the the New and Second Hand bookshop but it was just the once and I found it too huge to search through at that time. It is easier to go there if you know what you want., i think...

I also found the people there were not too interested in helping, but then I was only a student then. Hmm I think I will take a trip there this week. Did they have more of the timelife books? I did not know about Fort Book Depot, where exactly is it?

Oh and I might be getting some Vanilla beans, I have a source checking, PM me if you are interested.

Rushina

[Rushina]

Hi Monica, okie I am going to go post a bit about mself on the bio forum.

Hey there Bague25, that sounsds like a punishing schedule! What do u do? How old is the daughter? I can understand why youd want to rush home on the weekends! I have a son who will be 2 on Monday and i can't imagine being seperated from him.

Rushina

[bague25]

that sounsds like a punishing schedule! What do u do? How old is the daughter? I can understand why youd want to rush home on the weekends!

Rushina

This is just a temporary transition situation. I work at the EU. My daughter's seven and yes my biggest pleasure when we are all in Brussels will be the luxury of spending a lot of time with them. It's not such a punishing schedule (I commute less than some persons I know)

Looking forward to your bio.

[Monica Bhide]

that sounsds like a punishing schedule! What do u do? How old is the daughter? I can understand why youd want to rush home on the weekends!

Rushina

This is just a temporary transition situation. I work at the EU. My daughter's seven and yes my biggest pleasure when we are all in Brussels will be the luxury of spending a lot of time with them. It's not such a punishing schedule (I commute less than some persons I know)

Looking forward to your bio.

Would love to hear more about you.. a bio perhaps. Your posts always much such pleasurable reading!

[Vikram]

Thank you for the other suggestions Vikram. I actually have been the the New and Second Hand bookshop but it was just the once and I found it too huge to search through at that time. It is easier to go there if you know what you want., i think...

I also found the people there were not too interested in helping, but then I was only a student then. Hmm I think I will take a trip there this week. Did they have more of the timelife books? I did not know about Fort Book Depot, where exactly is it?

Sorry to sound so rude about Strand, its just a long standing peeve of mine. And you're right that other places have their drawbacks too - the New & Secondhand people really do have a rather baffling attitude to selling their books. But you can find the cookbooks quite easily since they are in and under the main counter in the shop - just check to the left hand side.

I think there were a few Time-Life books left. If you're ever in Bangalore ask Mr.Murthy at Select Books, just off Brigade road, for them.

Fort Book Depot has an office that's impossible to find in the depths of Bazaargate, but in case it doesn't really sell through there, but through the sales they have at regular intervals around the city. Just look out for signs saying 'FBD Sale' or small ads they take out in Mid-Day or Bombay Times.

Oh and I might be getting some Vanilla beans, I have a source checking, PM me if you are interested.

I am very interested in vanilla beans. You want to swap a bottle of East Indian bottle masala for some?

Vikram

[Rushina]

Hi

I just got back from new and second hand, they were as helpful as ever and there are no timelife books left.

Guess I will have to give the Bangalore shop a shot. Do you have a nuber fot them? I thought i would give them a call and if they have em then ask a friend to pick them up.

Rushina

[Monica Bhide]

They are always for sale on eBay at good prices and most of the sellers shp worldwide.