Panini Night and Happy Christmas!

We were down in Atlanta this year for Christmas and had a great time celebrating with the boys. Holidays are just more fun with little kids around. There were lots of presents to be opened, many of which were food related. Bindu got Suraj a great panini maker from Williams Sonoma, something he's been eyeing for quite sometime. My parents got him a panini cookbook to go along with it, so on Saturday night Suraj, Praveen, Naveen, and Ankur were put in charge of our panini dinner. They made three delicious paninis for all of us - a three cheese and roasted veggie one, a turkey, watercress, and brie one, and a dessert panini with nutella, bananas, and hazelnuts. What I found most striking about this dinner is that it took the boys roughly three hours to make it and created a huge mess.

We were also treated to a lovely cheese tasting of stilton, parmesan, and Bindu's favorite - the aged gouda. I did my best to sound like I knew what I was talking about as I described the cheese (luckily, I recently flipped through Murray's cheese guide - another Christmas gift).

What did I get for Christmas? Something I've been wanting for the longest time! A grown up girl watch - something for those occasions when the Timex Indiglo I've been wearing since age 10 just isn't appropriate. Thanks Creamy!

Woodfire Grill

From Bindu:

So Kavi is going to kill me if I don't blog about this one and of course I forgot to take pictures, but last Saturday, Suraj and I, along with our favorite foodie neighbors Leslie and Andrew, got the chance to experience Woodfire Grill, more recently made famous by head chef Kevin Gillespie who received a third place nod on top chef.

The amuse bouche was a specially prepared slice of beet, which most definitely amused my bouche :). For starters Lesley had a delicious mushroom fricasse, I had the pumpkin risotto, Suraj had the laughing bird shrimp with meyer lemon sauce. Our entrees included two steaks, one pork and I got the sablefish which came with a lovely green puree and some roasted root vegetables which were delicate and perfectly diced just not enough of them. The fish was tender like cod and had a brown butter sauce that could have used more flavor. Suraj's steak came with amazing fingerling potatoes with diced garlic.

For dessert we opted for the carrot cake, the pumpkin flan, the chocolate/pistachio cake and the doughnuts, I won out with the pumpkin flan, it just tasted so pumpkiny and delish. The pluses of this restaraunt were definitely the sustainable local produce which we were informed was picked that morning, everything was just extraordinarily fresh and exquisitely prepared, although some of the items could have used a bit more flavor. The wine pairings that came recommended were really perfect and the service was topnotch. All in all makes my atlanta top five and I would definitely return.

Posto

New York City got it's first taste of snow a little earlier than usual this year. The blizzard that dumped 18 inches of snow on Manhattan and stranded my Dad in NYC for two extra days gave us an excellent opportunity to enjoy dinner close to home. Ankur, my Dad, and I trekked our way to 18th and 2nd for some super thin crust pizza at Posto. We started off with some garlic bread with marinara and then made our own veggie pie. The pizza at Posto is probably not the best in Manhattan, but it is solid. The only downside to the restaurant is that it's extremely small and that the pricetag for pizza seems a bit much at the end of the night. The restaurant does have a great homey feel and it's a much nicer way to enjoy a slice on a cold night than standing on a street corner. I highly recommend the bread pudding for dessert as well!

Alleia

While on my wonderful two week vacation over Thanksgiving, my parents treated me, Ankur, and Suraj to a night out in Chattanooga at a new Italian restaurant called Alleia (poor Bindu had to stay home with the kids - don't worry, she let us know just how tragic this was). I don't know quite what I was expecting, but it was definitely the hippest restaurant I've ever been to in Chattanooga. The steamed mussels and cannelini bruschetta made for excellent starters, but I think we were more satisfied by our entrees - the balsamic pork shoulder, butternut squash tortelli with sage butter, and whole roasted trout. Everything was cooked to perfection in a simple, Northern Italian style. The emphasis was really on the quality of the preparation and ingredients. I don't remember what we had for dessert, but I do remember thinking the food was exceptional and definitely comparable, if not surpassing some of our favoring New York Italian eateries. It's always hard to come back from vacation, particularly when you have a family that treats you like you've just come back from war every time you come home!

Thanksgiving

For as long as I can remember, Thanksgiving has been my favorite holiday. It's the one day of the year that's set aside for the sole purpose of being grateful for your loved ones and eating lots of carbs, what could be better than that??!! When I was younger, we would often go to the Enjeti's house to celebrate Thanksgiving, and it was here that we got our first taste of the traditional American Thanksgiving meal. Over the years, the recipes have changed somewhat, but that great, joyous feeling I get when sitting around a table with the people I love most in the world and eating a meal we cooked together never has and never will. This Thanksgiving was even more special because I hadn't been home for it in five years, and it was the first Thanksgiving I got to celebrate with my boys, Kiran and Kethan (although they refused to eat anything but marshmallows). Notable additions this year were the roasted beat salad and scalloped parmesan potatoes, accompanied by the usual sweet potato casserole covered in marshmallows, turkey, fresh cranberry sauce, and sister schubert roles to name a few.

Kiran wanted to sit next to the marshmallows.


I spent the week after Thanksgiving having a lovely girls week in Atlanta. My mom, Bindu, and I spent four days shopping, lunching, and just generally doing all the things we never have enough time to do together. It ended much to quickly, but it is a week I will never forget!