March 2009
"Local" Drinks across the World
Chicha from Latin America
Chicha, a pale yellow, milky drink common throughout Latin America, originated with the Incas, who drank it during festivals and other rituals. It is traditionally prepared from a specific kind of yellow maize (jora) and is usually referred to as chicha de jora. It has a pale straw color, a slightly milky appearance, and a slightly sour aftertaste, reminiscent of hard apple cider. It may also be made from manioc root (also called yuca or cassava), or fruits, and other ingredients.

Chicha is drunk either young and sweet or mature and strong. It contains about 1-3% alcohol.

Modern day chicha is not necessarily alcoholic, however. There are many variations of the original recipe using fruit juices and other ingredients such as oatmeal, rice or manioc root.


Chicha is often served communally, to foster a sense of community and solidarity, and encourage a sense of equality. It is generally served in a small, hollowed-out gourd, called a pilche, and passed from person to person. In traditional communities, it would be considered offensive to refuse to share a drink of chicha, and so visitors are told that they must sip it in order to avoid stepping on anyone’s cultural toes.
 
         
     In the News...
 
Expired beer sold in state: CAG report

JAIPUR - Between 2006 and 2008, beer worth Rs 20.21 lakh which had crossed the expiry date was sold in the state, says a report of CAG...

7 Mar 2009, 0145 hrs IST
Click here

 
 
 
 
   

Buzzing Nightlife

Wink
Taj President,
Cuffe Parade,
Mumbai - 400 005.

Tel: 91-22 6665 0808

Timings: 7.30 p.m. to 1 a.m

Musicians who play here: Jonqui

Wink, the pan-Asian bar at the Taj President, sports a new look these days. An entirely suspended glass bar—perhaps the only one in the city—houses one of the most exclusive collections of spirits. With more than 40 brands of whiskies and rare malts such as a great 40-year-old Glenfiddich and a sublime 1964 Girvan first batch distillation, premium and regular scotches, Tennessee, Bourbon and Canadian; WINK will surely leave the ever increasing whiskey lovers asking for more. Likewise, a 25-year-old Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac will be the brandy lover’s delight.

WINK also provides guests with an exhaustive selection of the finest wines from over 150 countries, available by bottle and by glass specially chosen by Master Sommelier Richard Dean.

   
 
But the best part is the music, which plays an integral part in the overall ambience and experience. Drop in with friends on a Thursday or a Friday evening to check the music out. It all begins with light music and slowly builds to a crescendo of high-energy music, pumping up your senses through the night. The bar has also taken to playing host to the hippest Indian.

Wink has introduced a new ChocoWink menu. Try the Choconut Martini, Choco Orange Martini, Easter Bunny Martini, Peppermint Patty, Choco Princess and Liquid Bourbon Ball.

For food, try any of the great finger snacks.

  
     
 
Cocktail Recipes

BACARDI Rum Mojito
    This ultimate summer cocktail also tastes great all year round.

    50ml BACARDI Superior Rum 25ml fresh lime juice
    2 tsp unrefined castor sugar
    12 mint leaves
    75ml soda water
    Lime
    Ice

Tear the mint leaves into a tall glass and pour over the lime juice, sugar and BACARDI Superior Rum. Stir until the sugar is almost dissolved. Fill the glass with cubed ice and top up with soda water. Stir again and garnish with a wedge of fresh lime. Add more sugar to taste.

 
     
 


Dining Destinations

Wasabi By Mori Moto
The Taj Mahal Palace & Tower
Apollo Bunder
Mumbai 400 001
Tel: (91-22) 6665 3366


Reservations recommended

Lunch: 12:30 hours - 14:45 hours

Dinner: 19:00 hours - 23:45 hours


CHEF Masaharu Mori Moto, after whom the new Japanese restaurant at the Taj Mahal Hotel & Tower in Bombay has been named, is one of the great characters of the culinary world, having distinguished himself from other Japanese chefs by infusing European and Western cooking techniques and ingredients into his preparations.

Wasabi is not a classical Japanese restaurant, but a classically done contemporary restaurant which offers a Japanese dining experience in Bombay. Unique for a Japanese restaurant, Wasabi offers vegetarian sushi and teppanyaki. The restaurant’s classy and contemporary crockery is stark white with a green band demarcating that which will be kept for the vegetarian clientele.

Most of the ingredients come from Japan including 17 kinds of seafood, a variety of sauces, the wasabi, the sushi rice and four types of sake (warm and cold) which go into the making of 12 sake cocktails.

The Black cod marinated with miso, tenderloin steak with tiger prawn tempura and wasabi sauce, lobster cooked in eight spices are simply delicious. Other popular dishes include Sushi and sashimi, with tuna, salmon, fresh water eel, shrimp, crab, flying fish, octopus, squid, sea urchin, and some Japanese variety of fish with names like kanpachi, aji, kohada, hamachi, ikura.

Beautiful Japanese color combinations and aromas (because the Japanese eat with the eyes first) characterize Mori Moto’s unique cuisine, while the preparations infuse traditional Chinese spices and simple Italian ingredients which he presents in refined French style.

The ambience is breathtaking and the food complements the beautiful setting.
 
     
 
Drunken Humor

You Might Be A Drunk If...

...you can focus better with one eye closed.

...you go to donate blood and they ask what proof?

...mosquitoes spiral down to the ground in circles after biting you.

... your job interferes with your drinking.

... the glass keeps missing your mouth.
     
 
Trivia

EDWIN "BUZZ" ALDRIN
The second astronaut to step onto the moon, Aldrin told an audience in 1976 that he had been an alcoholic for several years before the Apollo 11 mission of 1969. He quit drinking only two days before his historic flight with Neil Armstrong and Michael Collins, but resumed shortly after his return to Earth. Aldrin now is an active crusader in the fight against alcohol abuse.
 
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