The outdoors, indoors

I miss my little Hibachi grill. Gone are the days of gorgeous Californian weather, barbecues galore and lounging on the deck till sunset. Living on the 28th floor of a typical Manhattan apartment building with no balcony to boast, I can barely get excited about grilling. But my grill pan has improved my life a little bit. Whether it's 90 degrees and sweltry or cool and perfectly calm, I count on my new best friend in the kitchen for grilled vegetable skewers, portobello mushroom burgers and a host of other barbeque delights. The only problem was that I set off the alarm bell whenever I turned the grill pan on. I've finally learnt how to keep the fire alarm in check by opening all the windows and my front door as well.

I ordered a pack of pre-made vegetable skewers from Fresh Direct a few days back. Usually, I like the to assemble the veggies myself but given the price of peppers these days, the prepared version was actually better value for money. And it came seasoned with olive oil, rosemary, salt and pepper. It went from fridge to heated grill pan and voila, ten minutes later, grilled veggies were ready to be relished.

I also made a side using cooked brown rice, papaya, pitted black olives, red wine vinegar, EVOO, roasted slivered almonds, sea salt and freshly ground pepper served on a bed of lettuce with papaya wedges as garnish. Raghav came over for brunch. I was totally surprised that this hard core Delhiwala who likes his chickenmutton actually appreciated the vegetarian meal. It was nice catching up with him and enjoying a barbeque meal in the comfort of air conditioning!