Having come back from a one month stay in the US, which had a beautiful cool weather, I'm finding Mumbai even more hot and humid! The summer heat really gets one down with a loss of appetite and a desire for cold and refreshing beverages and food. Some of the items on my daily menu include a variety of milkshakes - mango, chikoo, banana, peach and strawberry. Lassi and chaas, cut water melon and juice, marsh melon and some chilled iced tea, nimbu paani, a combination of vegetable juices like beet root & tomato, carrot & mint etc.

For the milk shakes put one small bowl of chopped fruit and a glass of milk with one tsp of sugar. Blend in a blender till smooth. Chill and serve!

For the vegetable juices, put one bowl of grated/chopped vegetable, 1 glass of water. Blend and strain through a sieve. Chill and serve.

My favorite milkshakes and juices are -

1) Banana in the morning and mango/chikoo in the evening.

2) Carrot & orange & mint.

3) Orange and sweet lime (mosambi)

Kill the scorching summer with a few of these chilled drinks!!

"I have been in the US for two weeks now in Rochester on the East Coast and thought I would share some of the interesting things I have experienced with Food. I visited Wegmans the Food Super Market that my children buy their food and groceries and have been amazed by the sheer number of products and variety in each that it offers. It takes me a long time to just go through the fruit and vegetable sections , since there is so much variety - 10 different types of tomatoes... several types of spinach ... cut and packaged in different ways to suit various needs. That's just two items. There are hundreds such with as much variety. The section on milk has at least 10 to 15 types of milk with different fat content , enriched etc. I could spend the whole day browsing through their dairy, meats, Bakery , confectionery, provisions and other aisles.

I was surprised to see in my children's Fridge packets frozen food - Masala Dosa, Mysore Masala Dosa, Idlis and Khandvi which they pick up from the Indian store , but was a little 

skeptical of how they would taste. But have to admit that I was pleasantly surprised with the Dosas which tasted good and were almost as good as enjoying dosas in an Udupi restaurant in Mumbai!

That's Indian enterprise... doing things to make Indians abroad feel at home giving them the convenience of having the food they love, without having to spend hours preparing it!"