meet the women!

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Michigan, United States
It all started with some brie and grapes. On a not-so-warm saturday in Michigan, four women came together for breakfast at Ajitha's red blanketed dining table - unaware of the parallels they share. Conversations and laughter were shared until the the topic of cheese came up. A pause. The women looked at each other with such excitement; hearts raced, eyes gleamed and forks were dropped. Parmesan, Montasio, Blue, Gorgonzola and of course Brie, were all incorporated in our discussion. Susan's light bulb then lit - she 'coincidentally' had a bar of brie and a bag of grapes in the trunk of her car (gasp! the blasphemy!) Ajitha then rummaged through her kitchen drawers for bowls and knives - it was grabrie (brie injected grape) time! <such a great idea i tell you! With stuffed mouths, we conversed of our love and upmost devotion for food and cheese - quality food and flavor to be precise. Yum! 'Lets document our worldly culinary adventures through restaurants and diners?', was an idea that popped. The result of such conversations? this little blog.

Tuesday, May 11, 2010

Zingerman's, Ann Arbor

Well, what can I say about Zingerman's that has not already been said. I count it one of my many blessings being able to just drop in at Zingermans, be it the Deli, Bakehouse, Creamery or Roadhouse - it is always an adventure!
Last week was a bonus week and I got to go to Z's 3 times!! Thanks to Sridevi who wanted to pick up cheese for her dad in India, we had lunch at the Roadhouse and then went to pick up cheese at the Deli. Lunch was delicioso! Monisha, Sridevi and I decided to split a salad, entree and dessert - perfect portions (saved us from waddling out)!!! Couple of hours later we were sampling cheeses, breads, olive oil, vinaigrettes and last but not least - Gelatos!!
Life does not get better than this!!!!!!! - AK

oooo Zingermans! where do I begin?? I think I fell in love with Ann Arbor solely because of Zingermans (No Aunty, not solely, I love you too)! When your taste-buds are overwhelmed and you need something to refresh your palette, you head to Zingermans - It's fresh and clean.
I bought a small bucket of their raspberry sorbet, and I, ummmm, finished it in thirty minutes. yes, thirty minutes. I think we were watching '30 minute meals with Racheal Ray' on the Food Network and before she was done with her dessert, I was done with mine. YUM! i would trade my Jimmy Choos for a month supply of sorbet!
Yeah, like AK said, we went to Zingerman's Roadhouse and the portions were perfect - 3 courses shared between 3 people. My favorite was the salad - a crisp plate of baby spinach with a tangy yet honeyed dressing (goat cheese vinaigrette I'm guessing).
mmmmm Zingermans. If you haven't been to Zingermans, you're missing out! I reckon everyone needs a dose of Zingermans few times a month if not once. -monisha :)

Monday, May 10, 2010

Enso Pictures

Classic Mother's Day Picture (Ajitha and Megha)


















Enso's (East Lansing)

So its mother's day and the whole lot of us decide, hey, lets head out for 'your typical mother's day' brunch at a good restaurant. Ajitha googled websites after websites and finally ended up at Enso's in East Lansing. Problem was, it was over an hour drive. But hey, mothers day right? The reviews sounded great and the ratings seemed pretty high. We got excited.
The four women and a man (Ajitha's husband), head out on Sunday morning to this hyped place..

The outside, as you can see in the picture on the left with Susan, was part of a mediocre strip mall. But from what we've learnt with experience, don't ever judge the food by its exterior.

As we entered, the ambience was welcoming, they had a little waterfall wall as their feature and even had a wall of newspaper clippings framed to show their local recognition.

Did I mention that this is Monisha writing? Well, this is what I thought of the place. Great ambience, the waiters were all good looking (so ladies, if not the food, get there for the men). I think that was such a plus - its always great to watch something pleasing while eating haha!
The buffet display didn't look very elaborate but I thought, maybe the limited food would taste better. The asparagus soup was over-cooked and too salty. I liked the salad and the pasta station. The desserts were disappointing with their dry cakes and did not taste like they were made at the restaurant itself.
I'm not judging the a la carte but the buffet was definitely not worth an hour drive.

Ahh! A week of indulgence - shopping, food, fun and camaraderie - and birth of this blog. Thank you guys for all the hungama. Well, now that it is quiet :)) time to reflect.
Enso's - Good reviews prompted the visit. Loved the ambiance which can probably be best described as cosy and comfortably contemporary. Our server got off to a shaky start forgetting spoons for coffee, Monisha got served third of a glass of water.............but he slowly got it together (did we intimidate him? Could it have been the B^lgari??) Food, not a huge spread, good enough selection for vegetarians, the Chi salad with raspberry vinaigrette was very nice, omelet - ngehh!, potatoes - the cooked pieces were good, unfortunately not all was cooked, pasta was good, unfortunately nothing, at least on the vegetarian side warranted pigging out. Desserts disappointingly obvious that they were not made in-house. I did like the little raspberry tarts and the lemon raspberry cake and of course did manage to nibble through the pecan pie, chocolate cake etc - just cannot seem to resist anything sweet, even if it is mediocre :(
Will I go again? YES never for a buffet but would like to try their signature dishes. - AK aka Ajitha

I was so excited to eat at Enso's and I even starved in advance to be ready for the hyped up buffet. The drive was 1 and half hours and after eating there I don't think it was worth it at all! Like everyone else said, the ambiance of the restaurant was fantastic but in my opinion the food did not live up to my expectations. I did enjoy their stuffed chicken (I am not sure of the exact name). The chicken was stuffed with some kind of cheese and it was really quite delicious! The deserts on the other hand were VERY disappointing because you could tell that their deserts were definitely not made in house. Most of the cakes were dry and the only desert I semi-liked was their chocolate cake. On the service side of things, I thought our waiter was quite accommodating and overall his friendliness canceled out his forgetting to bring us spoons for our coffee. Will I go there again?? No, I don't think the food matches the quality it needed to be especially since the buffet was 28 dollars. - Megha