Friday, May 02, 2008

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.




48 comments:

  1. whoa! That was one cool meet, I must say! This is such a wonderful get together...I can imagine! Waiting to know more of ur 3 month meets :-D

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  2. Gosh, I had no idea there are SO many food bloggers in Chennai. Fantastic report. 'Clearly a great time was had by all.'
    lol at 'backsides'. :D

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  3. Seems to be the hot news today!! Have been reading about this at so many other blogs as well. Glad you ladies had a fantastic time!! :)

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  4. Sra seems like a fun meet,where did you meet Chennai or hyd? I was in India mid Apr for 2 weeks, would have been fun to catch up

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  5. trust you to come up with such entertaining post!...and those pictures..my god I didnt' remember that you took them!...ahahhah..they are real tease!...

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  6. Lovely post Sra, as expected fromu.. and with those unusual shots.. too good!.. atleast I got to see the hands of the host.. hehehe.. :D.

    Siri

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  7. How fun! Salt Lake has about 10 food bloggers now and we're going to have a party this summer.

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  8. you said it all... and I loved the "backsides allowed" pictures...

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  9. Civilized we were probably just this time :D

    Great writeup ungracious guest!

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  10. Very well written.....as all your posts are....I've always enjoyed reading your blog and now that we've met I have even more reason to stop by.....

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  11. :) That sounds like a fun meet... Put all you girls together in one room, and no gossip at all??? Come on.... :) Okay, give me the real story in e-mail... :) Or even better, give me the scoop about everyone you met... :) BTW, did you make a snack?

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  12. looks like you had lot of fun. I tried to guess whose hands those were (even if you told us not to! he he), but gave up. Any clue? Just kidding. Glad you have fun meet.

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  13. Wow! what a rocking party!!! :)

    Miri

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  14. u gals had a great time i guess..

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  15. Dhivya, it was fun, I'm already wondering what to make for the next meet.
    ET, even I didn't know till I was invited to this meet. Thanks. I cropped the backsides a little, actually :)
    Kalai, try and join us some time!
    Sreelu, no wonder you've not been blogging regularly. Endalu mandipoyuntayi.
    Valli, I've been planning this since I set foot in the door! ;)
    Siri, others' hands are there too!
    Kalyn, that must be a lot of fun, wish I could be there to eat your low-cal food!
    Kamini, ha ha! I knew that would be cause for amusement.
    Rachel, you and Jayashree were the quietest, not only was I ungracious, I felt loud compared to you folks!
    Jayashree, thanks. Same here.
    Sig, I knew you'd understand about the gossip :-D - I was dying to ask questions about the rest of the blogworld, but {shrug} ... too bad! Everyone was so saintly!
    Uma, there were more than two hands. Now tell me, how do you guess hands based on blogs - ha ha ha - am laughing at my own joke, not at you.
    Miri, it was fun. Let us know when you come down here, we'll have one just for you!
    Divya, yes, we did! It was quite exciting!

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  16. I agree with Sig...so many of you girls together and no juicy gossip...Sra, hope you know my email :-DD...but honestly, it's nice to know you girls had so much fun :-))

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  17. Well written. An entertaining post. Reading your post made me feel a part of it.

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  18. FUN FUN FUN!!! Who is that with single braid? I am guessing SRI!!:D The other one is you or Rachel? Man! Sounds like fun. I think everybody will be able to guess who I am if we all ever meet!!!;D

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  19. wow!u guys had a lot of fun!did u meet in chennai?so those are ur hands?

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  20. I have been reading everyone's post about the meet since yesterday and all of them just say one thing...FUN and GOOD FOOD! It is so nice that so many of you could make it and have decided to do it regularly.

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  21. Where are the othe back sides and why are you obsessed with the girl in plaits and wearing the pink/green salwar kamiz.

    BTW I sent you a mail, check it. My pref is the last mail I sent with a single attachment, what is yours, let me know

    Sandeepa

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  22. i guess will hv to do with only the 'backsides' and yes the hands & the hair ....lol

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  23. Sunita, yes, luckily, I was the last to leave, so I had the most fun of them all!
    Jayasree, thank you, that's a v nice thing to say!
    Asha, keep guessing! Saw Rachel's comment below?
    Mallugirl, there are more than one pair of hands, which could mine be, you think? ;)
    Tee, welcome back! Yes, there was a lot of noise too!
    Sandeepa, what can I say? Some backsides are more photogenic than others'? :-D They were rolling out the nans and frying them, and I took pix then. Have replied to your mail.
    Rachel, LOL! Asha should do 'match the following' more carefully!
    Richa, yes, only the unidentifiable body parts, regretfully! :)

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  24. Whaaaat? no gossip?! You disappoint me now, Sra!
    Maybe you could manage some the next time? ;-)

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  25. u know i will pester u for more details :D..glad u guys had fun...

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  26. Very nice to hear that all the bloggers had a meet. Native of chennai but I am blogging from Hyderabad, co'z of work.

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  27. Really cool, hope you had great fun... I would like to have friends through blog network. Unfortunately now I am leaving Hyderabad.

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  28. wow, that looks like a really fun time! Thanks for sharing it.

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  29. Nice post for the fun meeting you had....well next time i am going to recognize you from your hands.....:P

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  30. Looks like it was great fun, Sra. I've only met one blogger in person. Would love to host a party myself, but have to wait until we get a bigger place. Can you imagine a crowd of women and only one bathroom?!?

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  31. Seems like good fun!! So what did you make?? And, oh, where's the scoop??

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  32. Dear sra....this is not the right forum to write this..however, just wanted to check whether my email reached you or did it reach the spam folder by any chance....sorry couldnt reply to you that day on chat...was attending to something else, before i could reply ...:-)

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  33. hey hey sra, that meet must be one of the best times right!! Looks like everyone had fun!!

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  34. Wow... thats a lovely review ..enjoyed reading every bit of it!!

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  35. WOW!... That would have been real fun time....Keep enjoying....

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  36. Sra..Do The meme..I have tagged you with love.

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  37. Sra, that was a really fun post. Loved reading it. Seems like you had a great time.

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  38. I can't believe you are in Chennai. Please do this again next time I visit Chennai.

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  39. TBC, next time, as someone said, we will keep some time aside specifically for gossip!
    Rajitha, I gave you some yesterday!
    Priya, welcome, and thank you.
    JJ, hi, thanks.
    Bhags, I'll see if you get it right.
    Susan, now, that would be a difficult thing to manage. :)
    Jyothsna, I made paneer. No scoop:(
    Padmaja, yes, we had a lot of fun.
    Swati, hi, thank you. Let us know when you come here.
    Sukanya, will do, most certainly.
    Lavi, I will, sooner or later :)
    Priyanka, we did. There wasn't a single silent moment!
    Suganya, of course, and you'll take beautiful pix of us!

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  40. Wow Sra looks like u guys had a great time... whose hands were those???? anyways i loved the bracelet in there...

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  41. grrrrrrrrr.... i am so green with envy! and no, i dont think we r ever gonna have blogger pot luck here in UK!!! well, sra madam... what did u cook for PL? did u miss to post it in this article or i missed reading it? ;)

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  42. sra dear you sure created a sensation by posting those backsides!..heheheh...I thought you had taken more backsides...those must've sure created even more uproar!

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  43. I come back just to see people's guesses.....:D

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  44. I would need to relocate to have one of these get-togethers! :(

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  45. Prema, will tell her to see your comment.
    Sia, I guess being in the same city makes it easier. I made a paneer dish - it's in a post called 'In Memory Of'.
    Valli, they were enjoyed! :-D
    Rachel, not too many more!
    Cynthia, just visit, we'll give you one you can't forget!

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  46. Faaantastic write up..!!
    Well I was half stoned seated with you all :)..
    was glad that I could meet you all coz I didnt expect that I could make it :)

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  47. Wa fun thing to do! I have never, personally, met another blogger. I don't even know anyone else that blogs... (How pathetic)
    Sounds like you had a great time!

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