Blogger’s Meet- BM #50 – Chennai – Day2

Before going into the details of second day, I would like to mention about one more session that happened during the night. Nandhini talked about sour dough starter and baking whole grain breads. And after that she made dough for a whole wheat bread with her sourdough starter and then we went on chatting for the rest of the night. After having a small nap in the night, the next day we started early to the beach to view sunrise. It was so nice to see the sunrise and I surely missed my daughter as she was the person who is always asking me about the beach. Some of them played in the sea while some like me watched the sea and others playing.

I totally missed out on this. After finishing our outing in the beach, we headed for breakfast. Breakfast was completely south Indian and we had so much chatting in between relishing. Then we headed home, we changed and again we headed out. Unlike the first day, the second day was completely spent out door.

As I live in Madurai, I have so little baking products available there. And whenever I visit Chennai or Coimbatore, I make sure that I purchase a few items. This time, they took us to Waltax road and this is a baker’s paradise. When I enter the shop I feel like I am in heaven. The wonderful aroma of baking supplies makes me stay there longer. I did some purchasing and then went round and round the store..

Once we were done in Waltax, we were about to go to Hotel E. But before going, Nandhini asked us whether anyone is interested in prop shopping. After a tiring shopping in Waltax, I was in no mood to go for another shopping. But she tempted me. We two went to another shop. I just went to have a look at all the props but I ended buying a box full of props. By the time every one was in the hotel.

When we entered hotel E, I was awestruck looking at the grand entrance. There was a surprise waiting for us inside. There is not much to talk but the pictures will explain you clearly..

Once we were in the hotel and finished looking at all the interiors, we then had our lunch there. Padma’s husband who works at Hotel E, has arranged for a buffet for all of us and it was a huge meal. There were breads, pasta, spaghetti, dumpling sauce, so many varieties of salads, pickles, flat breads, gravies and a whole lot of desserts. I managed to try all the desserts which were absolutely delicious. But before trying, I was sceptical as there were so many cakes and I didn’t want to end up eating eggs. At that time Padma clarified that all the desserts were egg free and so I had no problem tasting them. The dessert list is longer but I managed to taste mostly all. Rasmalai, Gulab Jamun, Clusters, Choco Brownie, Pineapple mousse, Mocha Pastry, Ice cream Walnut and Banana Bread. We had a fun time eating there and more fun awaited us in the kitchens.  Padma introduced us to the hotel GM. Mr. Gaurav Gupta and he welcomed us all to the conference room. From there we were taken to the kitchen where Executive Chef Balaji and Sous Chef Hari Babu took us around the kitchen. They patiently explained every thing and demonstrated two south Indian dishes for the bloggers from North.

The Kitchen

Kara Kozhukattai

Keppai Roti

Executive Chef showing us around the bakery

Rolls which went into the oven

Next in the bakery section, chef Ramesh, demonstrated a few desserts.He made two types of mousses, a filled chocolate and chocolate decorations. Though we were full, we had a serving of both the mousse.

This is a chocolate tree they made for some event.

Look at the natural look wood like chocolate!!!

 After our session in E, we thanked Padma’s husband and the GM and left for home. There we changed to our next dress and again we went out. Organizers had one more surprise for all. We had the Chennai blogger’s family waiting for us in the hotel. Again there was a heavy dinner. We were introduced to all the family members and had fun time with all. Mainly kids had a wonderful time playing together.

Once we reached home we were so tired that we went of to sleep immediately. The next day brought more surprises and to know about them come back tomorrow…