When Reality Finally Bit!!!

It was, as parties are sometimes wont to be, quite civilised. Most of us were meeting for the first time, so there was a lot of good behaviour, much warmth and fuzzy, lots of compliments, no wild games, absolutely no gossip or nasty comments about the rest of you food bloggers. Zilch. (What a disappointment!) Even if you e-mail me or accost me on chat for the inside story, I won’t have any unless I manufacture some. We were a most unhealthily self-absorbed, egoistic, narrow-focus group who only discussed our food, our figures, our families, our work, our food, our figures …

Some of us were so polite or so timid we didn’t even want to guess who the others were. A couple of us could be heard shouting “No way! Don’t give up so fast! You have to guess!” and had to beat off others saying, “Hey, hold on, don’t tell her who you are!” before they could give themselves away.

And the ones who finally guessed didn’t have it easy, either. “Now, tell me, what made you think she was Lavi and I was Renuka? C’mon, tell me!” demanded some others.

As the bloggers trickled in and started giggling (like yours truly who had no clue Who’s Who as she got in the door), the guessing games began. “But you’re not the dead giveaway you said you were!” said one to another, while another revealed her name only to be chided for talking too soon. “I can’t, I can’t, please tell me who you are, I’m here only for five more minutes,” begged Bharathy, who was on a flying visit, only to be told, “Well, take three more minutes to guess, and we’ll put you out of your misery in the next two.” Some bloggers were guessed by the food they brought.

There was a profusion of food, and Lakshmi, our gracious host, got stuck with most of it. And this ungracious guest told her she wouldn’t mind throwing her home open for the next meet, as long as the leftovers weren’t given to her. Talk about seizing the moment! Ugh!

There was ethnic (Jayashree’s chakkavaratty or Chakravarthi, as Valli blithely kept calling it), artistic (a sprig of curry leaf oh so beautifully centred in Arundathi’s dish of mango curry), exotic (a Greek bread called Ladenia made by Rachel, our Darling Baker), sinful (Nirmala’s Florentines, great big round things of chocolates and nuts), time-honoured (Kamalika’s chakkara pongal) and rapidly disappearing (Kamini’s potato tikkis) and much more for which I don’t have the adjectives right now. And of course I have to be contrary and focus on the non-food part – my illustrious friends have discussed and published all that, many thanks to them.

A couple of us even went the extra mile and brought party favours of coconut burfi and banana bread, bless their loving, giving souls! And all of us have unanimously, wholeheartedly agreed that we should meet again in another three months, every three months, in fact. And no Dad, we won't have to close down our blogs - we handled it real carefully!

In the style of the tease that I have become in the last few weeks, here are a few photos from the potluck. We had fun, didn’t we? Eat your hearts out, you others! Or have one of your own soon and tell us all about it!

Naan-sense - making the naan. No, you don't have to guess whose hands those are!

Breaking bread, the first few moves

Are you being served? Rossogulla-time!

Backsides are allowed, they said, when I asked permission!

Sweet farewell! Arundathi's banana bread was one of the party favours. Valli's coconut burfi was the other.

Food Bloggers Meet Humour Report