Can you be a foodie - a food blogger, and not be an avid food-show watcher? Na-ah. I don't think so. I love watching cookery shows and cooking reality shows. From Top Chef to Kylie Kwong, from Hell's Kitchen to Nigella Lawson. I am, what you would call, a food-show fanatic. I get a warm glow in my tummy watching Nigella eat, Kylie shop, and Bobby Chin travel all over Asia sampling exotic food. And I love the excitement of Gordon Ramsay's challenges, watching the exquisitely plated Top Chef dishes and rooting for my favorite Chef-testants.
But my all-time favorite is definitely the gorgeous Nigella Lawson. What I love about her is the way she is unapologetic about her passion for eating! Don't you think that's the first sign of a good cook? You have to appreciate the taste of great-tasting food before you start cooking anything that tastes as good. And Nigella's uninhibited pleasure in the smells, flavours, and colours of food is what sets her apart. Instead of that perfectly poised and politically correct TV host, here is a woman who is not ashamed to lick her gravy spoon or wipe her soup bowl clean on national television! Her impatience, her lazy short cuts, her sounds of contentment while devouring something she has just cooked - its all reminiscent of just how I am in the kitchen! And I'm sure many others like me... None of that clinical precision and spotless white aprons and chef hats for me, thankyouverymuch! I would much rather have decadent good food made and finished in a jiffy!
Ok, now that this post has turned into a Nigella Lawson eulogy (!) let me get to the point. Me and my crazy friend SM can spend hours discussing Nigella's recipes and slobbering over the phone (yuck! but unfortunately true... do not judge us pls). And the one thing we covet more than her well-stocked larder and her amazing cookware is her signature knife. She uses it to chop all kinds of greens, coriander, chillies, garlic and stuff. Its this amazing crescent-shaped knife with handles on both sides, and Nigella apparently got it on a holiday in Italy. So how the hell were we going to ever lay our hands on such a cool knife? :(
And then I discovered Crawford Market. If you don't know about this amazing maze of roadside shopping in South Mumbai, you have no idea what you are missing out on! If I have to do justice to the wondrous fares on sale there, I will have to write another long post on it. Suffice to say that on my very first visit, I just walked towards the market and the very first stall had on display this amazing knife that me and SM have now officially christened the Nigella Knife! And all for the princely amount of Rs. 200/-
(Pics courtesy - SM)Unfortunately, there was just one piece available. And so, the generous soul that I am, I decided to gift it to SM for introducing me to the joys of Crawford Market. Of course this was under condition that she immediately chop something with it and mail me pics for this very post :)
