Crumbs of L'Heure Bleue

Neither of day nor of night 

A fleeting grace, ephemeral delight

A savory seed, in sweetness grown

An abode in a luscious cream tone

Spoons of flavors from Alice's world 

A subtle whisper yet drastically bold 

Imagination of the Mad Hatter, 

Sweet wisdom of liquid gold

Colors from galaxies near and far 

Landscapes of clouds and mythical lands 

Aroma from the worlds unknown

A universe in a cookie or a scone 

A tiny portion with nostalgia within 

The evening snack sizzles, never meant to quite fit in.

/ 14

: 87

Alternate Title: Twilight Crumbs.

L'Heure Bleue (or 'The Blue Hour', as it is famously known in France) is the perfect time for an evening snack, which happens to be the prompt for today. 

Copyright © 2026 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Nothing To Read Here

So, the other day, I ditched "real" food again.

Why? I wouldn't know. I do not have reasons for everything my brain wants me to do.

But I had to include rice for atleast one of my meals. So, I decided (or my brain did, I don't know at this point) to make a porridge of some sort for lunch and udon for dinner.

The tuna porridge with barely anything in them tasted like the autumn air with whiffs of nostalgia. I couldn't figure out what was so nostalgic about it but got glimpses of an era (or a world) I am not from but felt the familiarity. It was strange... how the unfamiliar felt familiar. The sesame oil fragrance from the toasted gim (seeweed sheets) brought me back.

The dinner was uneventful, in comparison. With just 3 toppings (which included the leftover tuna from lunch), I made some Yaki Udon. It tasted like it has always tasted... blast of mystery with a hint of umami. Even though the shitake mushroom was not added, like I always do, but the umami flavor profile was still there... obviously I do not know how. I guess some tastes leave their ghosts behind to fill that void.

And that's how another day was ... uneventful enough to not have any photographs and eventful enough to scribe a story in the pages of my memory. Does it not remind you of something?

Copyright © 2025 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Crème Brûlée-d

Cold. 

Visibly frozen. Feels cold too.              

But it is that unseen warmth

That gives it its

Distinct Identity. 

Only the chosen ones 

Would know

And could feel

The warmth

That solidifies and unifies

Its sweetness. 

Bold.

Hard. Tough like a weapon. 

But the essence is in that

Creamy gentle softness

That defines its 

Existence. 

Only the souls

Who have the 

Empathy to cross that

Firm shell

Can immerse in that 

Soft caress. 

/11 + 12

: 72

Copyright © 2025 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

Food and Love

It was almost twilight. The rains had slowed down a bit by then. I was jostled with apprehensions and was juggling myriads of thoughts and emotions until I reached the cottage hotel. On reaching the hotel, the host and his team welcomed us with the warmest of smiles, some amazing home-baked cookies, and a comforting cup of hot Kashmiri Qahwa.

The warm reception by the team and the steaming cup of Qahwa melted all my apprehensions and worries. That was the first food that welcomed me to Kashmir. And what a beginning it was! Splendid, in every sense! In true way, it set the tone for the rest of my stay in the valley.

After the quick snack, we retreated to our room. After an hour or so, one of the staff members came to ask for our choice for dinner. There was no menu to choose from, just like we do not have in our homes. We could request for anything as long as the requisite grocery is available in the kitchen pantry. On further discussions, we got to know that Kashmiri rajma (kidney beans), unlike other rajmas, need not be soaked before cooking. That sounded interesting to us; ergo we chose it as one of our options for dinner. The dinner was delectable, to say the least. It had the comfort of dinner at home. What started with the cookies and Qahwa was cemented further by the dinner and I was finally at home, completely.

Food truly is an emotion. Good food, cooked with love and served with care, can establish an unfathomably strong bond, and can connect memories and emotions.

The next day I walked into the dining room for breakfast with the same feeling as I would have at my home. I knew whatever will be served will be something that I would definitely connect to- something that would have the solace of some happy, and amiable memories. And it was. Aloo ke paratha was just the way I would have liked. What better way to start your day! Normally, when on a trip, we prefer to visit other restaurants for lunch and/or dinner. However, this time it was different. We lived there for five days and we chose to have food there whenever chance favored.

We never missed any dinner there except once when we went out to a restaurant which I had in my bucket list for that trip. That restaurant was somewhere near Lal chowk area, which apparently was a place for protests and not as safe (as per some news media). Our host offered to drop us to the restaurant. Such warming gesture- who does that now-a-days! We did not want to be of inconvenience to him, but he insisted.

So, that evening, he accompanied us in his car till the restaurant. On our way there, we discussed about a lot of fun things. The songs in his playlist were some of the jewels of 70s and 80s music, which also happened to be one of our topics of discussion. He even sang few of the songs in his soulful voice. It never felt even for a moment that he was not a part of our family or we were there as part of for our trip. It felt as if we are just going out for dinner in our hometown. We halted for a few minutes near Lal Chowk. The place itself spoke about its magnificence and beauty.

On reaching the restaurant, he told us that he will not be joining us for the dinner. We insisted him to join us. He was an amazing company and a warm person. Insisting him to join was never out of question. However, he wanted to have dinner back at home, which we understood and did not force further. Further, he told us to give him a call when we are done with our dinner, so that he can come and pick us back. On listening to this, we were just out of words. I felt gratitude to a level that I never knew before could exist. We went to the restaurant, had Kashmiri Wazwan and some other dishes, which no doubt were scrumptious and brilliant.

During our dinner, we decided that we would not bother him again and we will go back by ourselves. But he, being the chivalrous person that he is, called us to tell that he is reaching to pick us back in 5 minutes. We were just finishing our desserts then. The sweetness of the dessert was nothing compared to the gesture our host showed us. It has been the best family trip we ever have had till date… all thanks to our host, his team, and the people of Kashmir. (You might have noticed that I never mentioned anything about the sightseeing places.) Food, which connects our mortal and immortal forms in some inexplicable way, and the love and warmth of the people made the trip what it was. Soulful!

Copyright © 2021 One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

The Magical Lantern

#FoodieTour

Distance or effort doesn’t count when it comes to have good food. I knew, my flight would reach Bangalore well past lunch time and I might have to eat the in-flight lunch. However, my plans are made and modified around food, not the other way around. I skipped the in-flight lunch, and settled for a can of juice instead. It was year-end and I do not even need that as a reason to celebrate. As soon as my flight landed in Bangalore, I called The Lantern to reserve a table for me. By the time, I reached Ritz Carlton, it was almost 3 o’clock in the afternoon. 

There was no body in the restaurant when I walked in. I was warmly escorted to my seat. I was told, as other tables were available I could choose any one, though that place is reserved for me/ Nevertheless, I chose to be seated there, as I liked that place the most.

The menu was wonderfully designed, it was neither too extensive nor too limited. The variety and range in each category was nicely thought out. I chose Granny Smith mock-tail and Crystal Prawn Dumplings to start with. The dumpling skin was velvety soft. The prawn filling was extremely delicious. The Granny Smith was refreshing. The hint of cinnamon and a tang of mint complemented the freshness of the green apples perfectly. If anyone can relate, just imagine the feeling of having a sip (or morsel) of something; and after you gulp it down, you immediately want to reach for the next sip - just because the taste was so wonderful, you just cannot imagine living without it, even for a moment, but then again hesitate thinking that it will end sooner, if you take immediate sips. Granny Smith was exactly that. 

I had Chilli Chicken for main course. I would not have Chilli Chicken in any restaurant unless there is no other choice. However, this time I made an exception, just hoping to get a good surprise. And it really was. The sauce had a very nice fragrance. The dish was really good. I was satiated after having the Chilli Chicken. 

Dessert- To have or not to have, that was the question. I could have done without having a dessert. Then again, every meal could be done without a dessert. It’s not an option, it’s a choice! Finally, I made that choice. And what a choice it was! Warm Ginger and Lemongrass Soufflé with Raspberry Chilli Sorbet. It looked like a marvel. The sorbet was placed in a caramelized sugar shaped in a flower cup. The simplicity of presentation enhanced the grandeur of the dish. I got completely immersed in admiring the beauty of it. On being asked by the waiting staff about the taste of the dessert, I realized that it’s been ten minutes and I have not even tasted it. I just touched the Soufflé with my spoon. I literally just touched it and warm gooey goodness oozed out of it. The sight was a splendor. It was like magic. It had a nice rich creamy texture yet it was so light. It just melted in my mouth. The sorbet had that slight sour-sweetness of raspberry and a zing of chilli which elevated the dish to a whole different level. A dash of the lemongrass flavor was doing wonders to the taste of the soufflé. And when you taste a bit of soufflé and a bit of sorbet together, it’s like a burst of magical explosions happening in your taste buds. It felt like time has taken a pause to relish the moment. By far, that’s best dessert I ever had. 

I was happy to have made that choice to go to The Lantern for a rather late lunch. To sum up the experience, the restaurant had a nice ambiance, be it the inside seating area or even the outside layout. The décor was reminiscent of the oriental setting. The staff was great. They were keen on making everything go perfect. The food was fantastic, both in taste and presentation. I might as well take the liberty of saying that it looked wonderful, but it tasted better (as opposed to the reverse in most of the places). I had a wonderful experience.

--------------------------------------------------

Links for The Lantern:
https://www.zomato.com/bangalore/the-lantern-restaurant-bar-the-ritz-carlton-bangalore-residency-road
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/hotels/india/bangalore/dining/the-lantern
--------------------------------------------------

Copyright © One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

‘Bliss’ful Memories

#FoodieTour

It was a lazy afternoon. There were things for which my attention was more needed, but at that moment the only thing I could think of is to let everything just be! I thought of stepping out of my house and exploring the afternoon in its full splendor. I started walking, sans a destination. But, then again, why think of a destination when you can have a beautiful journey. I witnessed the warm breeze melting with the fragrance of the flowers, mused over the clouds forming and reforming, and beheld the afternoon folding its crease to a beautiful twilight.

Roving, I reached near the Forum Value mall. I had no intentions of going inside the mall, probably because I did not have any rationale to be there. Nonetheless, I still moved in. There were no activities going on in the mall, which otherwise is a quite regular thing in the Forum Value. There, standing in all its glory, was Bliss, the chocolate lounge. The sight of so many varieties of chocolates at one place was reason enough for me to walk in. I had never been to Bliss before (every time I visited the mall prior to this specific visit, was for some work. And by work, I mean for only getting/purchasing essentials, and never for leisure stroll). However, this was a different jaunt.

Bliss’s appearance theme was chocolate; no surprises there. The seating area had comfortable couches. I was given the menu as soon as I seated myself. I certainly needed more time to zero in on the flavor of the chocolates. Hence, I opted for a spiced hot chocolate and a mushroom sandwich to start with. The hot chocolate arrived before I could decide on a single chocolate flavor. The sandwich arrived immediately after. I gave my decision-making forces some rest and immersed in the delicacy. The sandwich bread was wonderfully soft. The cheese melted into the mushroom slices, giving it a rich, creamy texture and a slight nutty zing. The show stealer, however, was the spiced hot chocolate. The amalgamation of the rich dark chocolate with the hot milk was lip-smacking. The subtle hint of the cinnamon aroma and its sweet-spicy taste elevated the experience of the beverage to a whole another level. The purple twilight, the amazing sandwich and the heavenly hot chocolate was a perfect combination one could ask for. That defined the word ‘Bliss’. How aptly named!

If I would not have been so full, I would have had another of the hot chocolates without a single thought. I had to get some of their chocolates too. The staff at the counter helped me in choosing the flavors of the chocolate, which I packed for home. They were equally delightful. That entire journey, if I may call it so, was sort of serendipitous. Every subsequent time I visited Bliss, hot chocolate (spiced, simple dark, and white being the different varieties) became my usual order. Though it was not a first of a kind of my “journey”s, and certainly not my only visit to Bliss, it definitely was a memorable one.

Memories are enigmatic. They can make us relieve cherished moments time and again. Life is all about treasuring old memories, venturing into new journeys, making new memories there, and then cherishing them forever. Let life be redolent with memories. After all, it’s One Life To Live!

--------------------------------------------------

P.S. : The chronicled experience here entails for my visit to Bliss-the Chocolate Lounge years back (2012-2013-ish).

--------------------------------------------------

Copyright © One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved

The Fundamental Element

The other day, I was travelling by a city bus and as usual and as expected, the traffic was too much of a headache. I know, complaining about traffic are clichéd these days, but one just can’t stop complaining specially if you are running late and you are caught up in the nightmare you least expected. I, generally, do not dislike being stuck in a traffic in the rush hours but I do find it a little inconvenient if it tends to become the reason for me being late (you see, I hate being late). In that particular day, the day I am talking about, I had to reach a place in an hour’s time so that I can be there 10 minutes prior to the time appointed. It usually takes some 30-35 minutes from my place to reach the place I was heading for (plus some 25-30 minutes were obviously the buffer time allowed for traffic rush). This is a story during the halt of the bus I was in, on that day, in a traffic signal; and it’s not exactly a story.

I was sitting in the bus and everything was pretty normal. There was nothing unusual in that transit till the bus stopped in a traffic signal. Well, that was exactly not in the signal, we were some 500 meters away from the signal, stuck in the traffic. I saw two kids playing by the roadside. It seemed that they had devised their own game and they were on it. Covered in soil and dirt from head to toe, it was rather difficult to distinguish their faces clearly. Their clothes were tattered but it seemed they hardly bothered about it. I did not understand the language they spoke, so I didn’t really know what they were conversing. As they were playing, a kid younger than these two came out from a frayed tent which was laid nearby. I think, this little one was perhaps young enough to speak. He wanted to play with his two siblings (perhaps) but I guess the older kids were finding it a bit difficult to accommodate the younger one into their team. In this fiasco, a girl of around 12 came out and handed over something in a leaf to one of the older kids. Whatever it was, it was food that was not enough in quantity for one kid. The two older kids settled down by the side of the road, placed the leaf in between them and divided that small portion into two and started eating. The little kid, who was staring at the two of his siblings, came crawling to them and continued staring at them. These three kids were conversing something which obviously I couldn’t understand. After some moments I witnessed something that is a very natural scenario in our country but made a kind of impact on me that I can never spell in words. The older kids shared their already small portion of lunch with their younger sibling, making the portions even smaller. The three kids shared the leaf of meal they had. The older kids even helped the young one with the food as he was finding it a bit difficult to eat on his own. That was it when the traffic cleared and the bus I was in moved ahead.

The kind of emotion that was spreading among these three kids was something worth witnessing. It might sound simple and very general but that emotion can be felt only by being in that moment. I felt a very strong emotion that left me spellbound and I couldn’t explain myself what I was feeling at that moment. At a time, when we don’t give food a thought as in a necessity, it still is. Most of us are too busy with other important matters and food has become a very trivial part of our lives. And whenever we actually talk about it, it is the luxury part of it that comes through. But for some, food is the only thing they can think of, because they have a life to sustain and for that, they have to hard earn the food. In my graduation days, I once saw a family of four eating out rice out of a small thrown away polythene bag. The rice was thrown away in that poly bag and most of it lay spread on the dirty, dusty road. But the family was eating the rice with so much ecstasy, as if it’s the only thing they dream of. Sad, but true. This is the face we all try hiding and most of the times ignore the very sight of it. These people struggle all through their lives just to sustain the life they have got. They do not want much from life, in fact they do not dream of getting anything else. The only thing that bothers them is their very survival. It’s the most fundamental element, sometimes taken as a luxury,  and sometimes the core of very existence.

Copyright © One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved.

Right from the platter!

If you are passionate about one thing in your life, and there’s no other thing that you can even think of, then definitely destiny will play its way to shape it for you. But it’s you who has to smoothen it further and work for it with all the passion. That is, if you have a dream and you work to achieve it, you will definitely achieve it.

Pick up any example. I mean example of any personality who made it large. By the way, I got the recipe for this article from a recent reality show for chefs called “Master Chef India 2”. Being a food lover, I love watching reality cook shows. I have followed (though not all episodes) Master Chef Australia, Master Chef USA, and Hell’s Kitchen, to name a few. I was not a very regular viewer of Master Chef India-2 though, for which I can blame a bad internet connection and absence of a TV. However, my vacations started, I got access to the TV (thank God for that) and I loved watching the show. That was the 10^th day of December, Saturday. The participants (8) were assigned a task to cook the dish of a 2 Michelin Star Chef of Hong Kong. They were supposed to work in pairs. At a point of time when nervousness comes naturally, I saw Jyoti ji consoling Joseph (who were both a team) just like a mother would do when her child loses confidence or/and is nervous. She was asking him to just relax and….. Wow….This happens only in India…..The following day was the elimination round.

11^th Day of December.  That team was in the elimination round. Finally Jyoti ji got eliminated. But, once her name was called upon for elimination, I saw Chef Vikas Khanna saying some very humble words to Jyoti ji and even touching her feet. He said that he wants to touch the feet of a mother who is of no comparison to any chef in the world. He said that this is the reason why no food cooked by any of the world’s greatest chefs could match the essence of a food cooked by a mother. And believe me I was watching the show spellbound and this part of the show was the “wow factor” for me. I mean a Michelin star chef himself praising the dish cooked by a participant, who is a mother, was just something… You will never experience such things on a Gordon Ramsay Show, never ever.

Chef Vikas Khanna who hails from Amritsar, Punjab is now one of the most prestigious hospitality group owners in the US. His success story might not be so dramatically discussed by some. It might be just another story. But, he is a personality who can easily be taken as a source of inspiration. From cooking in ‘langars’ to being an executive Michelin star chef of the Junoon Hospitality Group cannot be just another story. It takes the exact temperature, the right amount of spices, the perfect condiments and precisely chosen ingredients to make a good dish. But the precise garnishing and the specific attitude makes it perfect.

What I mean to tell is that, he had a passion for food from his childhood. He wanted this to be his life. He worked for his passion and he achieved it. Sounds simple, does it? But believe me, it is not. Having a clearly defined and distinguishing passion is not that easy. It even takes half a lifetime to discover your passion. But if you have it, just work to make it happen. And that is not easy as well, but not trying is worse than failing. 

Like I always say, keep dreaming and make them real.

----------------------------------------------
Update (December, 2016): I have been following Chef Vikas Khanna's shows because he inspires me. His interaction with people in his 'Twist of Taste' episodes are so humble and motivating. Truly, a gem of a person! 
----------------------------------------------

Copyright © One Life To Live. All Rights Reserved.