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Good Housekeeping launched in India in October 2004 through the India Today group. In less than two years, it became a household brand touching women’s lives, and through them, their families. It has a circulation of 80,000 and is widely read across the country. Its core audience is the middle to upper middleclass, urban woman. It covers everything from health and family to beauty and food. The edge is that even while being aspirational in parts, the magazine basically talks of and to real, everyday women. It is 125 years old in the US and more than 80 years in the UK. Globally, it’s the leading magazine in its genre, and is published in 11 countries.

GH has an annual show  (had 4 shows till date, all in Delhi) that brings the magazine to life. They invite experts to conduct workshops and experientials on various topics that our magazine covers. There are many competitions and quizzes that give visitors a chance to win prizes; they walk away with several free goodies. A celebrity chat show is always popular and has become a regular feature. People can also buy stuff for their home and food items amongst other things.

Last year I was approached by them to write a regular column in the magazine. I was more than thrilled. Here are same for past 6 months.

JANUARY	FEBURARY	MARCH
APRIL	MAY	JUNE

Hello everyone

Valentines is round the corner and we have decided to conduct a workshop for those who are interested to learn how to cook and bake.

Perfect for Valentine’s Day: Join us for a unique chocolate tasting and cooking experience that’s sure to be both romantic and memorable. You and your partner will heat up the kitchen as you learn cooking techniques and prepare an array of international gourmet items with hands-on instructions.

The menu will include an appetizer, salad and desserts!
WHEN: 12/13th of Feb, 2011 1pm – 2:30pm and 3:30pm- 5pm
COST: 2500 for couple
WHERE: Market Café, 8, Middle Lane, Khan Market, Delhi

We have designed fresh seasonal menus for the event. Guests don’t need cooking experience to attend. The price includes cooking instruction by me,recipes using the finest, freshest ingredients, copies of the recipes, chocolates, and the camaraderie of cooking with new friends!

To register, please pay registration fee by mailing us at learn@foodaholics.in or simply drop by the cafe itself!

YOU CAN CHECK OUR VALENTINES SPECIAL AT http://www.foodaholics.in/index.php/valentines-spl

Have you imagined how much labour and love goes into making one meal?

I always get emails and phone calls from young aspiring cooks and chefs. People seem to have this holy reverence for a pastry or culinary chef. And just like the trends on Twitter, they seem to envision a long hat, dazzling array of stainless steel kitchens equipped with automatic state of the art tools filled with lines of pastry/chef assistants swarming around in a room in a wonderful rhythm.

Part of this is true, the rest is fiction. Sometimes you need to wake up but never stop dreaming and I’m here to tell you how. The view is always best from the top. When you become the main head in your organization or the executive chef things look much sweeter, the journey, however, begins at the backdoor of the restaurant where inventory worth thousands of rupees of products every morning gets unloaded.

The hard work starts early in the morning wee hours before dawn when most of your friends and relatives are snoring away to glory. You don’t wait for the roosters call. What this job needs are 2 things: – Diligence (patience) and Perfectionism. The easy part is being surrounded by chocolate, sweets and other yum for the tum foods, but to hone your craft and to be the best you have to put in many many hours. I think Malcolm Gladwell had it half right. It would take 20,000 hours.

Everyone starts at ground zero. You know nothing when you start and all those knowledgeable, exciting chefs you’ve hero-worshipped all your life will show you how to run your kitchen. That was my first lesson.

To every profession, even cooking, there are good and bad sides. It’s not easy to survive culinary schools for those who don’t understand the physical requirements of the profession: Lifting hefty pots, being on your feet for eight hours (probably more), stirring barrels of stocks, sauces, rolling pounds of dough scooping lots of cookies and ice creams. The job requires a lot of out of you to begin with. Simply having an eye and a palette for food does not make one a chef. That was my second lesson.

As time progresses the chef is less of a Cook and more of a manager. He or She becomes responsible for a myriad of things, ranging from employee training, menu development, spoilage and waste control, to budgeting and the overall ambience of the establishment. While the term multitasking has become dominant in today’s culture, on the line, however, this word takes on an entirely different meaning. Think of being a chef as a balancing act walk on tight rope with a looming deadline and pleasing the largest audience of any profession (a lot of people eat food). You cannot choose what you must end up doing, but you can choose what you should focus on. But you will have to do everything once to understand and grow as a full-fledged chef. That was my third lesson.

When you start small you’ll be worried about the day to day activities and learning the recipes. Once you start to master them slowly and get into an autopilot, the skill that separates the newbie’s from the professionals is the amount of detail and experimentation that the chef puts into his or her plan. That means you’ll be responsible for creating a number of entrees, appetizers, salads, and/or desserts flawlessly over and over again. In simple words a chef is someone who can repeatedly multitask, is disciplined, has an aesthetic sense of food and can manage and churn meals. The most important ingredient in all of this is a smile. That was my fourth lesson.

The ladder to success is a bit taller than it seems in the papers. One thought step at a time. Don’t expect overnight success. Even the top stars of today didn’t have it overnight. It is difficult for new chefs to have their skills recognized without an established history of success in a variety of workplaces. So work around a lot, do all sorts of dishes, niche yourself after you have gained expertise not before. You have to do your job well whether it is menu items are being produced correctly and in a timely manner or ensuring proper food safety and sanitation in the kitchen at all times or the ability to delegate, consolidate and maximize labour is another part of the job.

Being aware of all things that are occurring at all times is necessary to any successful restaurateur or chef. Although the food is the major concern of the kitchen it far from the only responsibility that you have to worry about. The career recompenses the talented and the enterprising kind that can see opportunity and grab it.

So as a chef, here is a 4 course meal recommendation to your success, tuck in!

Salad: Find a mentor

Appetizer: Work hard

Main Course: Multi- task

Dessert: Smile- always!