Food Photography

There was a time when I was scolded, whenever I took or attempted to took photo of the food items on my plate. Gone are those days. Food Photography is on the main stream now. In my mobile I can see a special settings "Food" in its camera. 

So, whenever there was a plate full of colorful items in front of me, I never missed to take photo of it. Sharing here, some of them. Each of the plate has many memories behind it. So, I am convinced that, food photos are another way to carry the memories with us. 

Samosa, Sweet bun with butter, Sweet bun with Jam - A Chennai special items, available in most of the bakeries in Chennai. Makes a good tea time snack. Used to be our frequent even tea time snack.

Mutton Biriyani, Chicken Gravy, Egg, Raitha - Our Favorite special Combo prepared on Special Occasions, and definitely at-least once in our trips to native.  

Hot Mutton Soup, with added Pepper. 

Even after reaching native to attend a wedding in Kerala, we couldn't attend the wedding, due to Corona Phase - II confusions, where they demanded a Corona Negative Certificate to cross the Border and enter Kerala. Thus, we missed the wedding feast too. Thought we will miss the "Maru-Veedu" function and the "Maru-Veedu Saapaadu" too. As Expected the "Maru-Veedu function" was cancelled, as it scheduled on a full lockdown Sunday. But the Groom was kind enough to pack the food and door delivered to all the relatives in native. Thus, we still enjoyed the "Maru-Veedu Saapaadu". Vegetable Biriyani, Mixed Veg Curry, Raitha, Pappadam, Pineapple jam. The combo also had Curd rice and Paayasam, that are not featured here. Tasted Pineapple Jam, as a side dish to Vegetable Biriyani, and it was divine. 

Nanjil special Kappa with Onion pakoda, as Evening Tea snack. 

Poori-Masala : Almost Everyone's Favorite Breakfast.

Rice with Chicken Kulambu, Chicken Fry and Boiled Egg. This lunch attains its special status as a Non-Veg dish that was made on a Full Lockdown day, with no shops open. A home grown Hen, sacrificed its life to make this happen :-).

Nanjil Special Thala Vaalai Ilai Saapaadu - Rice with daal (Ghee added), Avial, Carrot poriyal, Onion-Potato Curry, Tomato pickle, Inji Pachadi, with Pappad. Sambhar, Rasam, Two varieties of Payasam, Butter milk, Curd will follow. Makes a satifying feasty lunch. 

Virudhunagar Bun-Parotta, now available in Trichy. We got this from a small shop in Trichy. Crispy, tasty, oily, and with a Non-Veg Chaalna, it had a divine taste. Don't ask me whether its a healthy dish... We all know the answer... :-)... But can be had once in a while... :-)...

Virudhunagar Bun-Parotta, soaked in Chaalna.

A 15th Wedding Anniversay Special Heart-Shaped Omlette, spcially made by my friend, and Gifted to me.

Another photo of the 15th Wedding Anniversary Special Omlette.

After a long time, we had dosa with Fish Curry and Fish Fry. Freshly caught fishes, that we bought within minutes of Catching them in river Kauvery, near Mayanoor Thaduppu Anai (Karur-Trichy Road). The taste of crispy Dosa with Fish Curry is Ultimate, and it becomes divine when a piece of Fish Fry is folded into the Dosa soaked in Fish Curry.

Rice with Chicken Kulambu. Lucky to get a full leg piece :-).

My All-time favorite Tomato Rice, with Egg Omletter, Samsa and Mango pickle.

Mutta-Parotta, Parotta, Dosa with Chaalna.

Horizontal view of Mutta-Parotta, Parotta, Dosa with Chaalna.

- SPGR.

Book Fair Visit

 Before exchanging our "Super Splendor" bike for new one, I wanted to have a long drive with my friend. So, we started out in an afternoon, and the idea was to go on the GST road upto Perungalathur. It was a pleasure to drive my drive, especially with my friend behind. The Perungalathur area has changed a lot. I had come to this place twice earlier, for a happy joy ride. Once when my sister got a baby, when my friend's sister got a baby. On both the occations, my extreme happiness made me to take my bike that was parked in my office parking lot, and to go on for a long ride. I came upto Perungalathur, and bought sweets in a sweet shop near the Perungalathur bus stand, and distributed them in office, on both the occasions. There were only a few shops in that place in those days.

But in our today's trip, I found lots and lots of shops, the area has grown big and posh. After crossing the Perungalathur area, took a U-turn and turned back. On the way back home, my friend wanted to visit the "Book Fair" that was put up near the Tambaram Railway station. She had noticed the Book Fair during the on journey. It was a small book fair, including old and new books. Most of the old books were available at half the price. 

I thought my friend will just browse the books and select one or two for purchasing. But she went on to check book after book, and almost saw all of the books present there. Finally we selected 3 tamil novels. 

They were - 

1. Vellai Nirathil or Poonai (By Lakshmi)

 2. Idaiveligal Thodarkindrana (By Vaasanthi) and 

3. Soorya Vervai (By Melanmai Ponnusamy). 

We also took Mom's advice over phone for selecting the books. We also decided to have another trip with our little friends on Saturday. On Saturday we all went in our car, and reached the venue around 2:45 PM. We were there almost till 4:30 PM, and we selected a lot of books, including tamil novels, english novels and books for kids. Again this time, we were constantly consulting Amma for her inputs to select books of Tamil authors. We all had a happy time there and we all were busy selecting books. Kids were running up and down, selecting various books for them. 

Below is the list of books we purchased on that day.

1. Puzzle Train

2. A Tale of Two Cities - Charles Dickens

3. The Prince and the Pauper - Mark Twain

4. Detective Stories - Sherlock Holmes

5. Vikramaditya's Throne - A collection of 32 Moral Stories (For my little friends cousin sister)

6. Brave Little Train

7. Fire Engine Flynn

8. Might Mac

9. Jokes & Riddles

10. The Sleeping Beauty

11. Prayachitham - La Sa Ramamirtham

12. Vanitha - Lakshmi

13. Vaani - Ramanichandran

14. Pavalamalli - Lakshmi

15. Kadasi Vari - Vaasanthi

16. En Veedu - Lakshmi

17. Thulasi - La Sa Ramairtham

18. Manjal Veyil Maalai Nee - Kaanchana Jeyathilagar

19. Porkasu Thottam - Indira Soundararajan

20. Andharangam Alarugirathu - Rajendra Kumar

21. Kathoram Oru Kavithai - Anuradha Ramanan

22. Nadhasura Osaiyile - Ramanichandran

23. Thulli Varuguthu Vel - Indira Soundararajan

24. Nesam Marakavillai Nenjam - Ramanichanran

25. Azhagana Kathaigal - Anoothama

- SPGR.

28-Feb-2021.