Tuesday, January 01, 2013

2012 in Food

2012 was a big travel year for us - we started the year in India and finished it traveling the west coast of the US. In between, we visited Yellowstone, Puerto Rico, New Orleans and a few other destinations. This provided us with a rare opportunity to try out multiple cuisines and restaurants around the country. Given that both of us enjoy food, we made very good use of our travels to try and sample as much local food as we could, and check out a couple of fine dining destinations as well. And while we were at home we spent the time meeting friends and family and enjoying good food and wine, as well.

No trip to Chennai, India can be considered complete without a mandatory stop to Murugan Idli Kadai - with those yummy idlis and multiple awesome chutneys. Since A was visiting after a couple of years, we had an invite to what seemed like every house in the city, which meant a week of non stop biriyani and sweets. Amazing!

In London, we were thralled by the coffee culture. Their strong and short cup of coffee leaves the american version far far behind. We loved Monmouth coffee company with its drip coffee process setup behind glass counter.















At the Borough market in London, we sampled a lot of local food - the sandwich at The Roast stall in the market is to die for. We wished we could spend a few more hungry days there - just look at the cheese below!














April rolled in with A's bday, our new apartment and much awaited spring. These provided more than enough occasion to dust out the baking pans and whip up some dessert.




























In May, I finally graduated from B-school after three grueling years and we celebrated at David Burke Townhouse  in NYC, where I consider the whole meal to be a stage for their dessert grand finale.


2012 finally made our dream trip to Yellowstone a reality - D, A and I had a blast wildlife watching and I had my first taste of a bison burger (not made from the bison below!)

Summer also brought with it ample opportunity to barbecue and use up our CSA abundance, with an all time fave being Kale chips.



In his usual style, A made me a fantabulous b'day cake and bowled me over by giving me a surprise gift to attend bread making classes in Le Pain Quotidien, NYC



In Providence, RI our starving selves were completely satisfied at Los Andes - a great restaurant with live (loud) music and in Newport, RI, we tried great clams at Flo's clam shack and an amazing Sunday brunch at the Clarke Cooke House (ps - try the eggs benedict) - which has a great view of the bay.

It was Lobster time again in August courtesy of B and her wonderful parents in Vinal Haven, Maine coincidentally during the same week as the Maine Lobster festival


Towards the end of summer, we headed ourselves south to Puerto Rico to snorkel, zip line and just laze around in the warm sun and blue sea.  We obviously had to try the mofongos in the Luquillo kiosks, but we also came across a curious lollipop better known as pilones.


Things quieted down a bit towards the end of summer but we picked up our travel again when Fall arrived and we headed to B's parents' lake house in Vermont. We were incredibly thrilled to not only try loads of butter and cheese from Vermont Butter and Cheese Creamery, but we also got to tour the facilities. And we returned home with enough butter and cheese, not to mention the fab cheese board to last us a few parties and more :)

Our much awaited NOLA trip happened after thanksgiving (and the great pecan pie). Words really cannot describe the great foodie experience in New Orleans - the music and the food was uplifting to body and soul. 


The banana foster breakfast is a must to start the day off right in NOLA and we had ours at Ruby Slipper. 


'A' convinced me that no trip to Bourbon street is complete without the Hand Grenade, but I wasn't convinced - I preferred the hurricane at the Lafitte's Blacksmith shop bar


But both of us did become BIG fans of the beignet and coffee at the Cafe Du Monde

Our big brunch in New Orleans was at Commander's Palace in the Garden district - the turtle soup spiked with sherry was definitely the star there, assisted greatly by the gumbo.

We ended the year with a week long trip traveling from San Diego to Las Vegas via Death Valley National Park. The serene and beautiful park was great this time of the year. In San Diego, we hit Searsucker at gas lamp quarters and picked up a decadent dark chocolate cup cake at Sprinkles in La Jolla.



Christmas eve brought us to Tom Colicchio's table at Craftsteak in MGM, Las Vegas.  We also remembered to stop by Thomas Keller's Bouchon bakery for a quick macaron fix and at Todd English's PUB for some great sliders. 

After such great food and christmas cookies over the holidays, I could not resist a last dessert, and mini chocolate chip caramel bundts sweetened the end of 2012.




Wow! 2012 was definitely an amazing food year.
Happy new year!



2 comments:

Rahul said...

What a delectable post! :) Happy new year to you guys!

mirror said...

Its time for another post?