Birthday Vegetables: Dovetail

My birthday is my favorite day in the year. It's the one day where I get to speak to everyone I care about and yes, it makes me feel very special. I even mentally check off all the people that I expect to call me that day and invariably, I am never disappointed. I've known people who don't like to advertise the fact that it is their birthday; I, on the other hand, am telling everyone who cares to listen! There's not much to complain about, especially when friends go out of their way to make it even more special for you. This especially came through when I asked my friend KF to surprise me with a restaurant at her offer to take me out for a birthday dinner, resulting in her inspired choice of Dovetail.

Sambar By The Bay: Dosa

There are a number of times that I have asked and been asked the question - "If there was only one type of food you could eat for the rest of your life, what would it be?" Invariably, I have only one answer to that - South Indian, and more specifically, dosa. It is far and away my favourite food. The crisp rice-lentil pancake accompanied by a steaming hot bowl of sambar, potato masala and chutney just make for a perfect, well balanced meal. It is my first meal in the morning each time I go home and the only dish I can really eat multiple sittings in a row! There was a time back in college that any trip to New York would always involve a first stop at Pongal, which at the time was the only place in the city you could get a decent dosa. Times have changed since then and the arrival of Saravanaa Bhavan and Tiffinwallah have made Pongal an afterthought for dosa in New York. However, as I have discovered on some of my recent trips there, the Bay Area has developed its own contender in the imaginatively named Dosa.