Thanks to David for hosting his Birthday celebratory dinner divan on August 13th. He and 12 of his friends made a most pleasant group. They were easy to please and easy-going and polite to boot, not to mention a good-looking group of young people. They were extremely appreciative and appreciated as an ideal group!

The menu was chosen by the Birthday Boy who knows a thing or two about Indian food and wanted his faves on it. We started by veggie samosas in the garden. The main dinner was chicken biryani, lamb vindaloo, sambhar, aloo/gobi, saag/paneer, raita, kachumbar and naan. The dessert was mango phirni and cake. The evening was perfect weather-wise, I had been fretting a little at the beginning of the week because it had been raining. The one oversight was that I over-looked charging the battery of the camera so unfortunately there is no pictorial evidence!

So for your next celebration or intimate event, why not book a private divan?.

My first divan on this visit to BsAs was at a lovely condominium in Nunez. Another aspect I enjoy about this work is that it takes me to areas where I would not otherwise venture and of course meet people whom I wouldn't otherwise either. My special thanks to Mario and Silvia for hosting this event.

Thanks for the introduction Sandy. Hopefully David and Gina who live in Toronto parttime will want to experience a divan this summer in my backyard!

As usual without private transportation getting ingredients for the meal is a major project in and of itself; again thanks to Gina and David for dropping off all the heavy goods the day before.

Being a local audience and not having much experience with Indian food the menu was on the mild side, in as much as the dishes were not lacking in spice but were not overly 'picante'. The menu was (of course) heavy on meat - chicken tikka masala and beef curry with potatoes, moong dal, bhartha, raita and pita. Dessert was halva which was followed in true porteno style with helado (ice cream). Some of the best is available here. It was a pleasure to sit at table with this group which was very lively and entertaining. When I left at midnight, the party was still going strong!

Thanks everyone but specially David, Gina, Silvia and Mario.

On one of the coldest nights so far we had a lovely dinner party with a very lively bunch. Being that there were some 'foodies' in the group I tried some more variations.

We began with Onion pakoras with mint chutney, which were quite tasty and non-greasy. This was followed by a course of soup in the form of Dal with kachumbar, garnished with sour cream and a mini-mathri (kind of Indian cracker, which is traditionally served as a snack). Surprisingly it was the most popular of the dishes. Even my son said that the addition of the kachumbar (kind of Indian relish or salad made of cucumber, radish, onions, tomato and in this case beans, corriander and lemon juice) really enhanced the texture of the dish, not to mention the flavours of course.

The main course was Badami gosht, which was lamb marinated in yogurt and saffron and then slow cooked, with ground almond masala and coconut milk. Served with raita, tendli (gherkins cooked with mustard seeds and curry leaves) and paratha.

Dessert was mango kheer with jackfruit and lychees marinated in lychee liquer. And the surprise was taht a friend had prepared an after dinner drink of some very fine scotch, creme de cacao and franjelico. My, it was quite heavenly. Needless to say we were nice and toasty and full.

The cherry on top was a private mini concert by a friend who sang Spanish songs of his own composition accompanied by a guitar he had just purchased.

This just up check it out -