Bloggers' Buzz, 2013, an event recap

Bloggers' Buzz, the event we were all working towards, was on the 23rd of Feb and I am proud to say, in spite of a few glitches, it was a success. We had a whopping 24 attendees and was a day full of fun. Although the 4 of us Nupur, Preeti, me (and Suchi in spirit) had to run around doing most of the things, we were happy to have hosted a bunch of enthusiastic, non fussy bloggers from all over UK and Europe. Thanks to our fabulous sponsors and speakers, without whom we wouldn't have been able to do justice to the event.

The event kick started at 10am with breakfast, sponsored by Total Greek Yoghurt. Their fabulous yoghurt pots with fruit compote, chocolate and blueberry muffins and fruit juice were thoroughly enjoyed by all. Whittard of Chelsea sponsored our tea and coffee for the day and so there was a never ending supply of both. The favourite among a lot of bloggers were the peppermint tea, which was smelling so lovely when taken out of the packet. So you can imagine how it would have tasted. The breakfast session was followed by an informal introduction where all the bloggers introduced themselves and their blogs. We were then ready for Jeanne of Cook Sister who did a presentation on "the basics in photography". 

 

All of us came prepared with our camera manuals and some even with their dslr's. The power point presentation was informative on a whole lot of levels. Although some of the technical details were going over our heads, I am sure, at the end of the day we did take home some valuable information on how to shoot in manual mode. Jeanne was kind enough to answer all our doubts and she even showed us a presentation she had prepared earlier regarding post processing photographs. This I think was a very interesting session and I hope we get Jeanne to do it in detail for us another time. Thank you Jeanne for being a sport and guiding us amateurs in a lot of ways. 

She also announced the winner of the Hotel Chocolat sponsored giveaway we had hosted and Shweta of Merry Tummy won the hamper for her innovative French Crepe cake layered with blueberry sauce and topped with mango mousse. I'm sure she's enjoying the hamper to the max. 

 

After a long lunch of aloo bondas, aloo parathas, a veg pulao and paneer tikka masala sponsored by Sri Krishna Vada Pav, we were all happy and fulfilled. The fact that lunch was pre-packed in a convenient plastic box was a saving grace for us, as it helped us reheat them in the microwave and hand them over to the invitees without any fuss of serving and such. The only problem was, the microwave was rubbish and we couldn't heat them up well. Nonetheless, I guess everyone enjoyed lunch. Thank you SKVP for providing us with yummy food.

 

The most awaited session for the afternoon...the macaron making demo by the lovely Dora of BoBo Macarons was a big hit. Macaron obsession is something we food bloggers pride about and Dora, with her wit and humour, made the demo so much fun. She taught us all how to mix and whisk and pipe and even better, most of got a chance to try our hand at these. She also brought some of her signature flavoured macarons to try out and boy we all freaked out on those yummy lil things. Thanks to Dora for taking time off her busy schedule to come and teach us a thing or two about macaron making. Do check out her fabulous website for more details on orders and flavours and such.

We then went on to Glam Media's session on monetising blogs through ad networks. Charlotte did a short talk on Glam media and how it can help bloggers, followed by a question and answer session where all of us had a bunch of doubts to ask and clear. I mean why wouldn't we want to make a bit of pocket money from our hobby right? Glam Media helps us in doing so and we thank Charlotte and Glam media for doing this session for us. 

(with Charlotte of Glam Media)

 

By around 4.30 we were all exhausted after a long day of food, photography, master classes and networking. But wait, we still had some yummy cutlets sponsored by Urban Tadka to make its way through. That and some hot tea and coffee put an end to an eventful day. The bloggers were sent home with a goody bag full of products sponsored by various brands. They included:

Signature sweet box from Devnaa

Cooler bag from Total Greek Yoghurt

Assortment of Silver Spoon products, Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract, Billingtons sugar products and a Baking Mad recipe book

Online cake decorating voucher from Dream Cakes

Discount voucher from Avedna Ayurveda

Popchips

A special thanks to Ilovesabji.com and Avedna Ayurveda for part sponsoring the venue, PromoSourcery for sponsoring the bags for goody bag and our photographer for the day Abhijeet for managing to capture all those wonderful moments. Last but not the least, all those who attended the event and made it a success. 

Blueberry-lavender gin and tonic

For the past couple of months a whole bunch of us (Nupur, Suchi, Preeti and I) have been busy planning Bloggers' Buzz- a food blogger meet, and its been pretty overwhelming thinking that the big day is in 2 days time. We have managed to rope in 25 bloggers and food enthusiasts and a good number of generous sponsors for the event. We will just have to wait with fingers crossed that nothing goes wrong on the day and the event is deemed a success.

There is a competition up and running for the event and its being judged by Jeanne of Cooksister, who is a well established blogger and photographer. In between all the BB work and some deadlines on the work front I couldn't whip up anything spectacular or innovative for the event, but the thought of winning a Hotel Chocolat gift hamper made me post something anyway.

I am not a big blueberry fan except if its in a muffin. So I was pleasantly surprised when the combination of lavender and blueberry in this drink made it to my top 5 (yes i have a top 5 in my mind). Lavender is quite over powering in this drink, but its such a nice and fragrant herb that I love using it in cakes, cookies and drinks. Here are two ways you can use up lavender l

Makes 6 servings

Water- 1/4 cup

Sugar- 1/4 cup

Dried lavender- 1/2 tsp

Blueberries- 2 cups

Gin- 1/2 cup

Tonic- 200ml (2 small cans)

Ice cubes- as required

 

Make a sugar syrup by boiling together the water sugar and dried lavender..

Boil, stirring occasionally, till the sugar is completely melted.

Close with a lid and let it steep for about 15 to 20 minutes.

Once the times up transfer the syrup into a glass and cool in the refrigerator till ready to use.

Meanwhile, wash the blueberries and tip into a saucepan with 2 tbsp of the sugar syrup and 2 tbsp of water.

Cook on medium heat till the blueberries break down and gets slightly cooked. It doesn't need to be that pulpy, just break them all down with a wooden spoon.

Cool and strain into a large bowl, diluting it with water if you find the juice is not falling through.

Add the gin and give a good stir. 

Do a taste test and if you need more sugar add the remaining sugar syrup.

Add ice cubes to the glasses and pour in the drink about half full..top with the tonic and enjoy :)

Notes: Add lemonade instead of tonic water for a change

Ignore the gin for an alcohol free version.

Muddle some mint leaves with the blueberries and I'm sure it would be great.

Mysore masala dosa and an event announcement

Before you go ahead and judge me by saying, omg another dosa recipe, who needs that? let me confirm that its actually for my benefit than yours because i really had to have a fool proof recipe on record since my life was wasted searching the internet for chutney and masala recipes. I don't make my own dosa batter, let me make that very clear, and am very happy with the results the ready made dosa batter gives me. 

I also suck at making a normal sambar and an even simpler chutney which is why I like to serve dosa with chicken curry (for dinner that is) and idli with fish curry. Have you tried the combo? Its divine, really it is! But on some very rare occasions, I feel like going all out and the Mysore Masala Dosa was an after effect of one of those days. 

I have fond memories of Mysore masala dosa and I don't think i have had any as good as the ones from Sangeetha restaurant in Nungabakkam, Chennai. My hostel was just around the corner from the restaurant and on Sundays, usually after a hang over from hitting the clubs the previous night, we would all wake up by around 11 or 12 and conveniently miss breakfast at the hostel (which would be upma or something uninteresting like that). With rumbling tummies we would then start discussing brunch/lunch options. Ideally it would be Crescent hotel which we would want to go to, for their yummy Prawn biryani (which btw if you haven't tried, YOU SHOULD!), but mostly we would all be broke and so Sangeetha Vegetarian restaurant would be our next best choice. And the Mysore masala dosa there is perhaps one of the best i have ever had. Let me assure you, this is no where close to what they serve, but it was good enough to shut me up about Mysore masala dosa for a while.

I would suggest you make all the items a day ahead so you dont ruin the whole assembling process. My dosa making skills are not so good and mostly the first 2 or 3 dosas always get dumped. Either the heat is not right or the spreading is not correct or something usually goes wrong. I also like my dosas crispy and so this time I was determined to make them right so I could take a few pics, which is no easy feat. One, because there are not many ways to make a dosa look appealing and two, they don't really stay crisp for that long. So this was the best I could do :)

For a recipe for perfect dosa batter, check out this informative post by Sala here

If it's idli's you are looking for then Nags has summed it up pretty well in her post here

I, on the other hand, use the store bought batter for both idli and dosa. I always freeze the batter the day i pick it up and it stays for a really long time. I thaw it at room temperature and use it as desired. I usually make idlis the day I open it. I mix a tsp of baking soda to the batter and leave it for about an hour. This has fetched me really really soft idli's. I then thin down the batter with some water for using it in dosas, or if I'm up to it I separate them in the beginning itself and use them accordingly. But really, if you are up to making your own batter, follow the above mentioned links like the Bible :)

Mysore masala dosa

Dosa batter- around 1 cup

Ghee- enough to drizzle

For the filling

Idli podi/ mulaga podi- here & here (I buy mine from the store. Yes, I am a disgrace to the food blogger community)

Onion chutney

Red onion- 1 medium, roughly chopped

Garlic- 4 to 5 pods, peeled and roughly chopped

Chilli powder- 1 tsp

Tamarind paste- 1 tsp

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Heat oil in a pan and add the onions and some salt

Sauté on medium heat till they become a light brown in colour.

Add the chilli powder and continue to cook for a minute or so. 

Remove from heat and leave aside to cool for a while.

Add the cooled mix, garlic and tamarind paste and blend to a smooth consistency.

Resist the urge to add water, but if absolutely necessary, add a tsp or so and increase gradually.

You can do the above without cooking the onions by pulse all the ingredients in a blender. I find it a bit too overpowering and so I cook the onions.

Potato masala

Potaoes- 2 medium, quartered and pre cooked

Mustard seeds- 1/2 tsp

Curry leaves- a sprig

Asafoetida- a generous pinch

Onion- 1 medium, thinly sliced

Ginger- 1.2 inch piece, thinly sliced (optional)

Green chillies- 2, slit

Turmeric powder- 1/4 tsp

Salt- to taste

Break down the pre-cooked potatoes using a fork, but don't mash it up. Keep aside.

In a kadai heat the oil and temper mustard seeds, curry leaves and asafoetida.

To this add the onion, ginger and green chillies and cook till the onions wilt and turn a light brown colour.

Add the turmeric powder and cook for a minute or two after which you dump in the potato and give a good stir, making sure the potatoes are well mixed with the masala.

Check for salt, add a dash of water to prevent it from drying out and cook for a further 2 to 3 minutes after which you can transfer the masala to a serving plate and keep ready. 

Accompaniment

Sambar- here & here

Coconut chutney (recipe adapted from here)

 

Grated coconut- 1/2 cup

Shallots- 1 small, roughly chopped

Ginger- 1/2 inch piece, peeled and roughly chopped

Chilli powder- 3/4th tsp

Water- 2 tbsp, adjust accordingly

Salt- to taste

Oil- 1 tbsp

Mustard seeds- 1/4 tsp

Curry leaves- a sprig

Grind together the coconut, shallots, ginger, chilli powder and salt with the water in a blender till you get a smooth paste.

In a saucepan, heat the oil and splutter mustard seeds and curry leaves.

Keep the heat to medium and pour in the coconut paste mix along with about a 1/4 cup of water.

Cook, stirring continuously, till you see the steam coming from the spatula when lifted off the chutney. 

make sure the chutney doesn't boil.

Also adjust water according to taste. I like mine a wee bit thick, so i reduced the water.

Assembling

Keep a non-stick dosa tawa over medium heat.

When ready, add a ladle full of dosa batter and spread it in a circle.

Drizzle a spoon full of ghee over the spread out batter and along the side, lightly dabbing it into the batter. Wait for the dosa to slightly cook.

Spread a spoon of the onion chutney, sprinkle some idli podi and cook till the dosa slightly crisps.

Finally top one half of the dosa with a generous serving of the potato masala, fold over and cook for a minute or two after which you can transfer to a serving plate.

have them warm with a side of the chutney or sambar.

Bloggers' Buzz event announcement

A bunch us food bloggers met early this year in London and we had such a blast, we thought it was high time we took this whole thing to another level. So we brainstormed a bit and came up with Bloggers' Buzz, a platform for like-minded people to come together to share their passion for one thing- FOOD.

This is going to be a one day event with food blogging related master classes like basics in food photography, ethics and copyright, monetising your blog etc. and there will also be loads of networking opportunities with those attending. If that's not good enough then wait till you see the fabulous sponsors that we have roped in for the event and we assure you, you will be leaving the event with a big smile, some new friends and a goody bag full of surprises.

If you are a food blogger based out of UK or Europe or someone who simply fancies food in general, then this is definitely where you need to be. Do check out our official event blog http://bloggersbuzzuk.blogspot.co.uk/ for more details and updates and register right away as we have some really cool prizes to be won for a few competitions we will be running from Jan onwards. If you would like any more details regarding this, drop in a line to Nupur at bloggerbuzzuk@gmail.com or just leave a comment on this post :)

We are counting on you guys out there to make this event a success. So do book a place and feel free to spread the word. The more! the merrier!

With loads of love and Christmas cheer,

The Bloggers' Buzz Team