We keep coming back to the doughnut in spite of knowing that there’s hardly anything good about it. It’s deep fried, made of refined flour, super high in calories and sits in our stomach like a ball of rock. So why do we love eating these? It’s simple, they are delicious.

A chilly winter’s evening is made all the more enjoyable with everyone gathering around a barbecue and savouring hot kebabs straight off the grill.

As we get ready for the New Year, or rather the New Year’s Eve party, it would do well to remember to serve, and eat, fortifying food, given the alcohol that will be consumed. This week we look at two diverse dishes that are excellent for serving at parties and great for health.

If we survive Friday, 21-12-2012, we should definitely celebrate Christmas in a big way. While we leave the gift buying to you and your wallet, we have some suggestions about the food and no, it does not involve turkey.

With Christmas just under a fortnight away, this is the last chance you will get to make your Christmas cake, though it is too late to soak your dry fruits in alcohol.

While planning a party, one of the first things we worry about is what finger food to serve.

When we see 10 year old kids making cakes and puddings we would have happily bought off a five star patisserie shelf, we often wonder where we go wrong.

Duck is readily available these days and with winter approaching, makes ideal roasts.
More than Indian, Chinese and Continental cuisines are ideal for duck.

For festivals, we usually try to do something different. Thus during past Diwalis and Dussehras we have delved into Western sweets and fusion desserts. This year, however, we re-visit the good old traditional desi mithais which our festivals are known and loved for.

The much touted opening of the “Playboy Club”, the first nightclub in India of the iconic magazine, at Goa’s Candolim Beach received a jolt on Saturday with chief minister Manohar Parrikar saying that he would permit the club to open only if everything was in place.