Step Out in Style with Comfortable Loafers

Summers are here, and so are loafers!  Loafers have made a comeback in the fashion scene, and how.  Almost every major national and international shoe brand has come up with their range of loafers – and in their trendy new collection, modern cuts and designs are giving good company to the classics. And if you are still opinion that loafers are basically casual wear and do not fit into your corporate cubicle, then it’s time you do a rethink for now there are loafers and moccasins designed to perfectly gel with your formal office wear, and make a perfect alternative to wearing stuffy lace-up shoes in summer.

Moccasins are slightly different from loafers however in many online and offline stores they figure under loafers. It is important that one understands the difference between the two styles so that they can match them up with the clothes accordingly. The easiest way to make out between the two is that while moccasins come with laces, loafers are without them. However also remember that the laces on moccasins are just for style and cannot be tied. So loafers are basically flat, slip-ons. Both of these designs now come in a range of designs and material ranging from suede to leather.

While loafers can be smartly paired up with formal and semi-formal office wear, it definitely ups the wearer's style quotient when teamed with casual wear. For a formal office look, you can pair them up with trousers and chinos. And if you are heading out for a party or informal outing, then you can team them up with denims, cargos and track pants. Make sure you pick up colours that suit your personality and clothing style - while black, brown and different shades of tan look great for office-wear, blue and maroon pep up casual wear. So what are waiting for, loafers are a perfect summer pick-me-up! So if you want to look stylish this summer, put your best loafer-clad foot forward! 

Kellogg's Waale Guptaji ka Naashta

Kellogg's waale Guptaji has got everyone's curiosity piqued. His nashta (breakfast) is the talk of the town - from his children's buddies to his neighbours, everyone wants to be invited over to his house for nashta...so much so, that now even he is wondering what all this nashta, nashta hullabaloo is all about. Frankly, this Kellogg's waale Guptaji got me curious too...why everyone and their uncle wanted an invitation to nashta at Guptaji's house, I wondered. Until I saw the nashta video. Here, check out the video and I am sure you too would join the 'Guptaji please invite me for naashta' list!

And I am sure after watching this video, you too have started wondering about what's oh-so special about Guptaji's naasthta. And if you are not enough baffled already, there's a whole bunch of Kellogg's waale Guptaji ka naashta videos to not just make your curiosity soar, but also get you drooling about the irresistible breakfast variety at Guptaji's house.

Needless to say, since I have already browsed through all the naashta videos, I know what treasure trove of awesome naashta recipes Mrs Gupta has, and all of it rustled up from Kellogg's cornflakes - from lip smacking cornflake coconut laddoos to crunchy chapatti chivdas, there are over 100 mouth-watering cornflake delicacies to try and savour! Then there's cornflakes chana chaat, cornflake khatta moong, apple cinnamon cornflakes...drool-worthy indeed! Come to think of it, in all those recipes, I can see reasons enough for me to go and ask Guptaji, 'Naashte pe kab bula rahe hain?'

And if my earnestness wins him over, and he indeed decides to invite me, I have my favourites list ready for Mrs Gupta! Starting with cornflakes chana chaat and cheesy cornflakes, and then moving on to cornflake coconut laddoos and walnut cornflakes choco balls. And of course, a date shake - an instant energizer made of cornflakes and dates - to settle it all down.

The good thing is that all these delicacies are so quick and easy to rustle up and require such less ingredients that I need not feel guilty about making Mrs Gupta work too hard in the kitchen. Why, since Mrs Gupta enjoys putting exciting snacks together I might in fact ask her to make some apple cornflakes pancakes and a plate of basil curd dip too! Greedy me! What do you say?

Okay, okay...I must come out of my Mungerilal ke haseen sapne mode and should actually go about doing something about getting myself invites to Guptaji's house. Thankfully, the good folk at Kellogg's have put up all their lip smacking recipes on their website, so even if the naashta invitation from Gutaji's house takes time in coming my way, I know how to work up some cornflakes magic on my own. And why not, I have over 100 mouth-watering cornflakes delicacies to try and savour!

Guilt Free Delights and Latte Art at Longitude, Le Meridien

Latte art never fails to fascinate me. Sometimes when I look at the beautiful patterns intricately etched on the coffee foam, I wonder if they are for real or work of some photo-shop expert. So when I got an invite from Le Meridien to come over to sample some of their guilt free delights and admire the works of their latte art experts at Longitude, their coffee house, I looked forward to the event.

 I am not a coffee person, and only opt for a cup when there's no tea available, so have never really had a chance to try coffee with latte art. So it was a pleasant surprise to get a coffee cup with an image of India Gate intricately etched on the top! Okay so this was for real, no photo-shopping tricks here! The baristas of Le Meridien are such experts at their art that when one of the invitees demanded the Taj Mahal on their coffee, it took them just minutes to recreate the monument on the coffee cup!

While I marvelled at the patterns of Qutub Minar and Taj Mahal, in just a few minutes Lord Buddha appeared right in front,

his calm face etched on a cup of coffee. Neat! While the interesting patterns kept the invitees hooked to the coffee counter,

an array of desserts pulled us back to our tables. Introduced as guilt free delights, these sugarless desserts

not just looked tempting, but were also a delight for the taste buds. 

What followed was pure indulgence - with options like Blueberry Cheesecake, Mocha and Milk Chocolate Cake,

Fresh Fruit Flan Cake, and Orange Raspberry Delight Cake, who wouldn't want to indulge! In all it was a delightful evening with delightful combination of arty coffee, tempting desserts and great conversations!

Beer, Burgers and More at The Westin Gurgaon

Succulent, melt-in-your mouth burgers, and chilled draught beer makes for one evergreen and fuss-free combination.  And the Westin Gurgaon's just concluded Beer, Burgers and More Promotion made sure the patrons had their fill of this delicious combination. The hotel's signature all day diner Seasonal Tastes keeps coming up with interesting promotion themes and the week gone by was all about sumptuous burgers and unlimited pours of chilled draft beer to go with it!

What made the beer and burger combination more interesting was the fact that guests could sit right next to the live cooking counter and personalise their burgers according to their taste - right from the kind of patties they wanted, to the filling choice of bread and the filling that went in. There were option aplenty both the vegetarians and the non-vegetarians - from soya and tofu patties to shrimps and chicken, you name it, they had it. 

Besides the Beers and Burgers, the 'More' in this themed promotion too was a foodie's delight. From mouth-watering golgappa and chaat counter to elaborate buffet spread, there was enough variety to make even a picky eater spoilt for choice. Even yours truly couldn't help but try 'sample' after sample of golgappes and chaat papdis! :)

So the next time you are wondering about where to indulge your taste-buds, head to the Westin's Seasonal Tastes,

for you are sure to be greeted with a food theme that you will find hard to resist! Happy eating!

Recipe: Smoked Eggplant Mash, toasted croute Patty (By Chef Jolly)

Welcome back! Hope you tried your hand at making them chickpea patties, and found the taste every bit worth the time spent making them. So as promised, I am back with recipe number 2, shared by Chef Surjan Singh Jolly at the Canola Bloggers Meet. This one is called Smoked Eggplant mash, with toasted croute.

So here we go!

Portion Serves 4

Ingredients

250g eggplant (large), smoked over coal ambers

2 tbsp canola oil

1 tbsp ginger, peeled and finely chopped

2 tbsp garlic clove, finely chopped

2 red onions, peeled and finely chopped

3 tomatoes, peeled and chopped

1 sprig coriander leaf washed and finely chopped

Salt to taste

1/2 tbsp lemon juice

3-4 toasted bread strips

Method:

1. Wash the eggplant, wipe it dry and place it on a char-grill/roasting tray and roast in a pre-heated oven at 250 degree C for 20 minutes or until the eggplants bake skin on.

2. Peel the skin and wash it under running matter, if you wish you can remove the seeds inside.

3. In a pan, add canola oil and all the ingredients listed above, except for the toasted bread strips.

4. Mix it all well and cook for 3-4 minutes.

5. Check for seasoning and serve the eggplant mash a spread on toast.

6. You can also this mash as a sandwich filler.

The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.

Recipe: Pan-fried Chickpea Patty (By Chef Jolly)

Hi there! In my last post about Canola bloggers meet, I had promised to share two interesting quick snacks recipes shared by Chef Surjan Singh (aka Chef Jolly) and here I am with one of them. So get ready to make super-quick-to-make and super-health-to-eat Pan-fried Chickpea Patty! Yes, Chef Jolly has given an interesting twist to your regular chickpea (kabuli chana) and turned it into a patty with a difference. Cooked in canola oil, it's light on the stomach and yet very filling.

So here we go!

Ingredients:

100g chickpea (Kabuli chana), boiled soft
50g malai paneer/curd cheese
2 tbsp canola oil
1/4 tbsp caraway seeds or cumin seeds
1/4 tbsp black cardamom seeds, crushed
1 medium spiced green chilli, finely chopped
30g coriander leaves, finely chopped
2 tbsp lemon juice,
1/2 tbsp asafetida powder
Salt to taste

Chef Jolly at work

Method:

1. Coarsely blitz boiled chickpeas using a food processor and add roasted caraway, curd cheese, black cardamom seeds, green chilli, coriander leaves. Mix well.
2. Add 1 tbsp canola oil in a hot pan and temper asafetida.
3. Add the chickpeas mix and blend again with salt to taste and lemon juice for tanginess.
4. Make small balls (table tennis ball sized balls), and use the centre of the palms to flatten them.
5. In a hot, non-stick bottom pan, pour remaining canola oil to pan-fry the patties golden brown evenly on both sides and serve it hot with a side dip, relish or chutney.

Alternatively, you may glaze it with canola oil spray and oven bake it at 200 degree C for 10 minutes on each side to serve it with a tangy dip.

And here it is - ready to it!

The second recipe is coming in the next post. Stay tuned. :)
The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.

Canola Bloggers Meet: To Understand Canola Better

Canola, the premium priced cooking oil being market by Canada is slowly and steadily making inroads into the Indian market. While the leading chefs and decision makers from the food industry are gradually acknowledging and promoting the health benefits of this oil, average Indian family still seems sceptical about Canola's relevance in their kitchen shelves. And this is why representatives of Canola Council of Canada are travelling across potential markets to spread awareness about Canola oil and promote its exposure in different types of cooking. To this effect, they recently organised a bloggers meet where health benefits of Canola oil were discussed in great detail.

If you remember, last year Canola had tied up with renowned chef Kunal Kapoor for a Cook for Cause event, where I got to be a part of the team of bloggers who cooked for the lively kids from the NGO Katha, an NGO that works in the field of community development, child welfare, education and literature. This year, besides the informative session of Canola facts, it was popular chef Surjan Singh (aka Chef Jolly) and his interesting recipes that added the fun element to the otherwise focussed-on-facts event.

Now before delving into the finer details about health benefits of Canola oil, here's a recall of the canola oil trivia I have shared before.

• Canola Oil comes from the crushed seeds of canola plant. These seeds are tiny and resemble poppy seeds, though they are brownish-black in colour.
• Canola and rapeseed plants look similar but their oils are very different. Canadians researchers used traditional plant breeding to eliminate the undesirable components of rapeseed and created 'canola' - a contraction of Canadian and ola.
• Researchers say canola is very stable oil that doesn't break down at high temperatures, so it's ideal for sautéing, stir-frying, deep-frying and other high-heat applications.
• Its smoke point - the temperature at which it begins to smoke and degrade - is one of the highest of all cooking oils at 242 degree centigrade.

As mentioned above, the focus of this meet was spreading awareness about the health benefits of Canola oil, and Canola panel, represented by Mr. Bruce Jowett, Vice President of Marketing Development, Canola Council of Canada, Ms. Ritika Samaddar, Registered Dietician and Nutritionist and Chef Jolly.  While Mr. Jowett shared interesting insights on the latest consumer research on edible oil consumption patterns, Ms Samaddar talked about the various health and nutritional benefits of canola oil and how it helps you get fitter.

Here are some pointers that will help with a better a understanding of how canola oil works is good for health - 

• Low is saturated fats - Canola oil is slow in saturated fat. Saturated fat raises the bad LDL cholesterol in the blood and has been linked to increased risk of coronary heart diseases.
• A source of omaega-6 fat - Omega-6 must be consumed in diet and is important for the brain and for the growth and development of infants.
• High in omega-3 fat - Omega-3 fat must also be consumed in our diet, as it helps protect against heart attacks and strokes.
• High in mono-unsaturated fat - Mono-unsaturated fat may reduce the risk of coronary heart disease by lowering bad LDL cholesterol in the blood and helping control blood glucose.
• Cholesterol and trans fat free - Trans fat raises bad LDL cholesterol and lowers good HDL cholesterol.

While Mr. Jowett and Ms Samaddar emphasized the health benefits of the oil, Chef jolly explained about the texture and taste of the oil, explaining how the oil adapts to most Indian cuisines and leaves no lingering smell. He also prepared two interesting snack items,which were cooked in canola oil, and also shared the recipe of the same (sharing the recipe in the next post). The event was rounded off with high tea, with a sumptuous spread of delicacies cooked in canola oil.

Chef Jolly cooking with canola oil

High tea spread cooked in Canola oil

The Canola Bloggers Meet was organised by Canola Oil in association with Blogadda. For more information about Canola, you can check this website.