Looking back at Food Revolution Day 2015

Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much. Helen Keller.

A little more than a week since the Food Revolution Day and though a part of me is happy and content that everything went off well (finally I can put up my legs on the coffee table and ponder about the beautiful memories we created together); if you were to ask me to be really really honest I am terribly missing all those days (read the last five months).

Endless planning, organizing, exchanging hundreds of emails, eating up each other heads, agreeing, disagreeing, sleepless nights because I was too excited to sleep before each of the events and those happy faces of all the little ones who made Food Revolution Day 2015 so very special.

Yes, I am missing it all. More importantly I am just missing being around all the wonderfully generous people who came together, who went out of their way and made this happen. Alone we can do so little; together we can do so much said Helen Keller. So true. None of this would have happened without them.

Thank you for being part of Food Revolution Day 2015. 

Thank you for going the extra mile.

Come with me for I want to take you with me through my Food Revolution Month 2015 which is what we did here at Dubai. We celebrated the entire month and we had a blast. This is going to be a long post so I suggest you sit down with a cup of coffee :)

3rd May 2015: We began the month with 100 tiny chefs from the Indian High School dancing to the Wiggles on the 3^rd of May. We squashed, we took a pledge and we asked lots of questions on why we need to eat healthy food. Finally we ate our squash it sandwiches and we loved it. 

These children were all part of the Young Chef Club at the school and some of them were even food inspectors (you read it right!) These little guys go around the junior school checking their friends’ lunch boxes!! So I decided to make these chefs/leaders in the making my partners and not just participants. They are now telling everyone about Food Revolution and have this huge responsibility on their tiny but very strong shoulders to spread the love of real food and cooking. I am so proud of them.

Thank you Principal, Indian High School for joining hands and for food educating the students. Thank you Ruby for doing this with me and thank you team Jamie’s Italian for waking up much before your work hours and becoming a part of this event.

See the full album here.

9th May 2015: Next up were the subscribers of DinnerTime. Each month I work on a menu for their subscribers as a DinnerTime Chef but the menu in the week of 10^th-16^th  was super special for through this menu I shared with them another part of my life; the Food Revolution part of my life. We invited everyone to cook Jamie Oliver’s Squash it Sandwich along with us so we included that as the vegetarian recipe in the box that week. It was a great feeling to see the subscribers joining millions across the globe.

Thank you Anette and the entire team at DinnerTime for agreeing to my request not just this time but always. You have always supported me and it truly brightens my day when you encourage me and indulge me like this.

15th May 2015: The big day. The global day of action. We were all up really early smashing it up at Jamie’s Italian. 100 children alongwith their parents. It was like a mad mad carnival where we played with food. There was “humble water” to drink, fruity ice popsicles to lick, a flour station to get our hands messy, pasta machines to see how fresh pasta is made and ofcourse nonstop squashing. Tattoos too. 

We took a pledge to eat more veggies and fruits, we swayed to the Food Revolution Anthem and proudly collected our certificates. 

Wearing colourful food revolution T shirts it was a like rainbow decided to show up in the desert that day.

Thank you Mansij, Luis, Anish and the entire team at Jamie’s Italian. You guys are the best. Always ready to go that extra bit. I am missing all our morning “meetings” where I felt as if I was a part of your team.

See the full album here.

16th May 2015: It was a long day but we weren’t done yet. 120 kids and their parents joined us at Lafayette Gourmet the next day. 120 workstations were ready to welcome them; recipe cards and pledge sheets, ingredients and rolling pins. 

The children tasted and tested different types of new foods (purple carrots!), made their own recipes for orange, green and pink juices, made ravioli from scratch (big hit!) and after all this took their places at their workstations. 

The atmosphere was simply amazing (read: Goosebumps inducing); 120 of them reading the pledge out aloud and squashing the veggies and fruits.

Thank you Chef Russell and the entire team at Lafayette Gourmet for believing in this event. For those 1000s of emails we exchanged, for your time and for always-always teaching the children about food (not just that day but all year round). Thank you Tony Lootah for that wonderful produce. Thank you Team Tavola for the rolling pins and more.

See the full album here.

I made such lovely memories and those of you who know me well, will know how I like to capture the little and big moments in my life. Food Revolution Day 2015 couldn’t have been complete without this rolling pin.

Before I end this post, I also want to share how everyone from media supported Food Revolution Dubai and me.

Thank you Suzanne and Linda for inviting me to Dubai Eye 103.8 and to your show and giving me chance to tell everyone at Dubai about Food Revolution. (Podcast part one here and part two here). We also made the squash it sandwich in the studio.

Today is Jamie Oliver's birthday & yesterday we had his food revolution ambassador, Prachi Grover from Dubai in our studio teaching Mohit how to make the 'SQUASH IT' sandwich in exactly 3 minutes
Posted by Radio Mirchi UAE on Tuesday, May 26, 2015

Thank you Mohit and Tamanna for inviting me to Radio Mirchi UAE and to your show. It was a lot of fun squashing that sandwich. Listen to the show here.

Thank you Dina & the entire team Mother Baby Child for the write up.

Thank you Cindy & Team Good Taste for sharing the events with your readers.

Thank you The Indian Trumpet for sharing Jamie’s letter with all your readers. 

Thank you Liz and the entire team at instagram for sharing my story on the Food Revolution Day with all of your followers. This was incredibly special and overwhelming. Read the complete post on their blog here.

Thank you Libby, Jo and the entire Food Revolution Team for bearing with all of us, for answering our innumerable questions and for bringing it all together. Thank you Jamie for inspiring. 

Last but not the least. Thank you parents and thank you little ones for celebrating with us. 

Keep cooking, keep trying out new things and keep making faces (because making faces and rejecting is also a part of growing up).

Give yourself a pat on your back for you are all AWESOME.

At the last event one little girl came and told me she really really had fun today and when would be the next Food Revolution Day. I whispered in her ear, guess what it is tomorrow ! That’s right. Every day is a Food Revolution Day!

Images: If you like any of the pictures on the blog and would like to use those please write to me. I put in hours of work behind each post and would love to share it with you but it would hurt me if  use those without my permission.Just ask! 

A New Year present from DinnerTime.

Do you guys remember how about a month and a half back I felt I didn't have the energy to cook and began to treat it as a boring chore? The truth however was that in the midst of work deadlines, a very active four year old, managing home and thousands of other things that always need our attention and those that seem to show up without notice I had lost my enthusiasm to cook and the creative team at DinnerTime helped me get it back. 

With fresh ingredients delivered right to my doorstep at a time chosen by me, a great mix of protein and veggies, simple recipes that all took under thirty minutes and they tasted awesome; I was sold (Oh and leftovers too which were transformed into fresh lunches for the next day).

Read my full review here.

And today I want to share that experience with all of you. A generous present from the team at DinnerTime for the readers of Orange Kitchens to get you kick started into eating healthy,wholesome and most importantly home cooked meals. Yes! you read it right. A giveaway! 

A DinnerTime box worth 300 AED for two and worth 420 AED if you are a family of four is up for grabs.No worries if you are gluten allergic for they have it all covered.

Here's how you could win of their boxes. All you need to do is to leave a comment here on why you think this box should be yours. It could be anything really...if you think it will help bring about a change in your food habits or introduce you to new ingredients or recipes or even save you from the hassle of planning a menu for at least a week!

Ofcourse you may increase your chances of winning by doing any/all of the following for each of these will earn you an extra point:

1. Like the DinnerTime FB page or  follow them on Twitter and share the contest on your FB Page/Twitter respectively.

2. Like the Orange Kitchens FB page or follow it on twitter and sharing the contest on your FB page/ Twitter respectively.

Leave me a comment for each like/share to make sure I know about it :) If you already "like" one/both just let me know and I will put in another entry for you.

Since DinnerTime currently covers only Dubai the giveaway is valid for Dubai Residents only. But the rest of you need not be disappointed for you can always participate for a loved one staying here and we promise to send them the box with your compliments:)

The last date to participate is 5th of February'14. The winner will be announced on the 6th February'14.

Good luck people!

Images: Personal Album & logo from DinnerTime.

Getting my cooking mojo back: with DinnerTime.

One fine morning about three weeks back I announced to my family that I was considering employing a part time cook for I didn’t have the time or the energy to prepare meals for all of us each day. Loud gasp from all of them! Strange looks and mumbling under breath followed. Translated it meant but you love to cook and we love to eat what you make and we have been spoiled silly all these years and how will a cook who would probably make the same twenty things over and over again make us look forward to getting back home for a hot and full of love meal each day (with all due respect to people who have cooks and the very talented cooks who help homemakers and working people put their meals on the table).But they said none of the above. “Aah…okay…sure if you feel the need for one start looking around. I “heard” their thoughts though and decided to ignore them.

So I began my search for one. But before I could even employ one I realized it wasn’t that I had no time to cook (it really doesn’t take more than forty minutes to cook if you have four burners and an oven running, right and especially for someone who loves to cook) the real issue was between all the work deadlines, bringing up a child and managing home suddenly I didn’t feel inspired enough to cook and I had zero enthusiasm to plan my meals. It was taking too much time and as a result each week I would end up buying the same fruits, vegetables and proteins and come mealtime I found myself looking at the fridge and wishing the ingredients to rise, come together and become a meal on their own. Have you ever been in a cooking rut?

Just my luck that the very next week the lovely people of DinnerTime got in touch with me  and I decided to give it a try.

Before I share with you my experience of using their dinner service, let me share what DinnerTime is and how it works. In short, each week DinnerTime’s chef creates a menu and shares it in advance. Should you choose to try it out they go and get the ingredients for you, write down the recipes and deliver the food box right to your doorstep. Sounds like a fairy godmother just stepped in, no? (I am sorry I have been watching way too many fairytales thanks to Sara and this was the only comparison I could come up with). Read how DinnerTime was born here

So at a time slot chosen by me the food box was delivered and I have to tell you that both Sara and I were excited to open it and discover the contents of our “treasure” box. The ingredients looked fresh and beautiful. The chicken and the fish were from Choithram’s and there was fresh Australian meat, the veggies were from local Greenheart Organic Farm and there was a fresh baguette.

The menu for the week was:

 Crustless mushroom quiche with a crisp green salad in a honey mustard dressing

 Thanksgiving roast chicken with bread and onion stuffing, cheat’s cranberry sauce and steamed broccoli.

 Provencal fish in a tomato basil sauce served with grilled eggplant

Beef cashew with a cucumber thai salad

And I have to say I enjoyed each meal and so did my family.

So why and how did it work for me:

• I loved the fact that there was variety; egg, chicken, fish and beef with adequate veggies in each meal and carbohydrates too. So each meal was both wholesome and nutritious plus there was range in what we were eating through the week. And all of the produce was fresh.
• All the meals and I repeat all the meals took me exactly 30 minutes like they promised (I did take out all the ingredients on the counter and read the recipe twice and did several things simultaneously which in any case I think most of pressed for time people do. But even if you are not really the types to treat this like a race you still won’t take more than 40 minutes. I am slightly crazy so to test this I followed the recipes to a T and set up an alarm for 30 minutes to prove them wrong. But DinnerTime won and my husband had a good laugh that his wife is crazy as ever). Also I must mention that the vegetables, protein were all washed and chopped within those 30 minutes.
• Coming to instructions, I am sucker for well written recipes, instructions, notes…whatever you may want to call it. And their recipe cards made me super happy. At this point I must mention DinnerTime did not bribe me into playing their brand ambassador. Honestly they did impress me so much so I told me extended family about it and everyday they would ask me to send the snap of the meal we were eating that night. However I am person who likes to eat and read cookbooks/recipes with her eyes so I would have appreciated if the accompanying pictures on the recipe cards were as appetizing as the recipes were.
• There was absolutely no wastage. I used up all the perishables since they were given in just the right quantities except for 2 eggs, some sage and a lemon. I was also left with a lot of onion powder, sesame oil and bread crumbs which is great since that can be stored and can be used to make the recipes once again or try out new ones.
• All the meals had leftovers which meant with some creative thinking we had lunch ready. The recipe mentioned if it would yield for two or four and it did (though we ordered the box for two) so it was great value for money.
• Crustless mushroom quiche with a crisp green salad in a honey mustard dressing : Had half the quiche left and we ate it with half of the French baguette from the next recipe
• Thanksgiving roast chicken with bread and onion stuffing, cheat’s cranberry sauce and steamed broccoli: Had half chicken left which I shredded and made into a wrap the next day. Had half the steamed broccoli which was converted into a simple salad with some sesame oil that was already there in the box, some sesame seeds and chilli flakes.
• Provencal fish in a tomato basil sauce: We were three of us so if you are ordering the box for two then you would still have lunch for one. I would actually mash up the fish and convert it into fish balls with some gravy to make it into a meal for two.
• Beef cashew with a cucumber Thai salad: Four complete meals out of this once again.

But most importantly it got me my cooking mojo back. Should you try it? Yes, whether it is for the convenience of the ingredients delivered straight home or to take away the pain of meal planning or when you know it is a busy week/month at work and you still want to eat and serve homecooked meals or simply to try out new flavours and new recipes.

A big thank you to DinnerTime for giving me chance to review and for being a part of my kitchen.

Have you ever lost your cooking mojo? How did you get it back?

More about DinnerTime:

Each week a new set menu is created by DinnerTime’s own chef including one meat dish, one chicken dish, one fish dish and one vegetarian, pasta or soup dish. Next week’s menu is presented in advance, and the customer has the option of choosing whether or not to have the food box delivered. Delivery options include regular subscriptions to weekly or fortnightly dinner deliveries as well as ad hoc delivery at your convenience. Everything that comes in our box is carefully selected and each recipe tested. We do the dinner planning for you and create a weekly menu with great care taken in achieving a well balanced nutrient content, good quality products and organic choices whenever possible. They do expect you to have some basic pantry staples like rice, oil, vinegar, etc at home.

Disclaimer: All views expressed here are my own and DinnerTime invited me to try out their dinner service. 

Images: Personal Album.While you enjoy reading this post with visuals.Please do not use them without asking. They belong to Orange Kitchens unless otherwise stated