Crab Feast and Book Signing

[DonRocks]

That was the best $62.50 I've ever spent.

($60 for the dinner and book; $2.50 for dry cleaning my shirt.)

Thank you to Sudhir (and everyone else at Spice Xing), Monica, and Daniel for an amazing evening!

Cheers,

Rocks

[StorageLady]

P.S. Final attendance at the event is 40 people. Awesome!

Thank you so much for putting this together. I had a fantastic time - loved meeting Monica and Sudhir Seth...And of course, the food was phenomenal...If I weren't in mixed company, I would have licked my bowl clean..As it is, I will treasure my once-white now curry spattered white tank as a reminder of a lovely evening with the DR crew.

[KMango]

An enchanting evening on all fronts! Monica, your stories and perspectives are more of an inspiration than you know. Chef Sudhir, hats off to your kitchen and the rest of the gracious and skilled staff. This was my first visit to Spice Xing, and I’ll be back for certain. Daniel K., thanks again for organizing, the thoughtful gestures like your heads up about the adjacent ATM were a boon for convenience. And to all DR attendees, your conversations and company are always filling on many levels.

I had a lot of fun diving into the savory-sauced shells. If anyone happens to be filming a horror movie, you'll want to get a copy of the “before” and “after” photos of my table napkin.

[fstewart6]

Thanks to everyone who made this so successful. The food was wonderful. I loved Monica's stories (especially the okra tiramisu) and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes in Modern Spice.

Frances

[DanielK]

Thanks to everyone who made this so successful. The food was wonderful. I loved Monica's stories (especially the okra tiramisu) and I'm looking forward to trying out some of the recipes in Modern Spice.

Frances

Just to put her on the spot a bit, and link in social media:

I've known Frances for more than 15 years. Haven't seen her in ages, but she saw my post on Facebook about this event, and she signed up for the board and the event that day. So cool!

[hillvalley]

Curry leaves (no relation to curry powder)

Crab cake and slaw (from the book)

(The first crab dish is missing, we were half way through the finger licking goodness before I realized I forgot to take out the camera.)

Second crab dish-(after devouring the crab) (Chef Seth's recipe)

Dessert (from the book)

(Is anyone else having trouble loading pics? I have at least half a dozen more to share that won't load.)

[DonRocks]

I think it's because the pictures you're trying to load (and the ones you have loaded) are enormous - they take forever to open and they're huge when they do - I can see microscopic organisms in them! I suspect if you resize your pictures to 500K, or at least less than 1 meg, before trying to upload them, that will solve all the problems.

[goodeats]

I suspect if you resize your pictures to 500K, or at least less than 1 meg, before trying to upload them, that will solve all the problems.

Agreed that resizing is the answer. I actually had to resize the pics posted in Volt thread because I found out this version will not inform you if your pics are too big or if you have filled your max. The only message that comes up is, "Error file not loaded" or something like that.

---

*Will someone breakdown their thoughts and tastes on the dishes??*

A lovely Pomegranate cocktail paired with the elegant interior of Spice Xing

I don't want to crosspost with hillvalley's lovely pics, so I will post in the holes:

Basket of warm and freshly made Red Onion Naan:

Crab Tikki was the first dish and also on page 84 (see above picture)

Pollachi Crab Masala:

Crab Gassi Mangalorean with Okra, plus a Wheat & Mint or Regular Naan option:

Chef Sudhir Seth and the lovely Ms. Bhide:

[Monica Bhide]

Just wanted to take a minute to thank everyone who came out. I really enjoyed seeing all the familiar faces and meeting a few new folks. Thank you so much for your support, encouragement and kindness. I really appreciate it.

[Ericandblueboy]

Queries on the two whole crab dishes.

1. POLLACHI CRAB MASALA - how's the spice level? Could it use more heat, less heat?

2. CRAB GASSI MANGALOREAN - this wasn't hot, right?

Any feedback on the crabs would be greatly appreciated.

[DanielK]

Queries on the two whole crab dishes.

1. POLLACHI CRAB MASALA - how's the spice level? Could it use more heat, less heat?

2. CRAB GASSI MANGALOREAN - this wasn't hot, right?

Any feedback on the crabs would be greatly appreciated.

Neither dish was what I would call hot.

In fact, the spiciest thing at the table was probably the potato accompaniment to the masala.

[mdt]

Queries on the two whole crab dishes.

1. POLLACHI CRAB MASALA - how's the spice level? Could it use more heat, less heat?

2. CRAB GASSI MANGALOREAN - this wasn't hot, right?

Any feedback on the crabs would be greatly appreciated.

Both dishes were excellent. Neither dish had any heat, and in my opinion did not need it.

[DanielK]

Both dishes were excellent. Neither dish had any heat, and in my opinion did not need it.

In fact, as I reflect on this more, relegating the heat in the Masala dish to the starch accompaniment was brilliant. Still fed the desire to have some kick in the meal, but allowed the subtle, sweet taste of the crab to shine through the spice (not heat, spice) in the dish.

[monavano]

That was the best $62.50 I've ever spent.

($60 for the dinner and book; $2.50 for dry cleaning my shirt.)

Thank you to Sudhir (and everyone else at Spice Xing), Monica, and Daniel for an amazing evening!

Cheers,

Rocks

Laughing!! Both Mr. MV and my shirt went into the laundry this morning, after being "Shouted-Out" last night. It was so much fun cracking crabs! My best bite was a huge finger-full of crab meat with sauce. Well, that and the first course-crab cake. Well, that and the dessert, too! Monica is an inspirational speaker, and so engaging. We had a wonderful table, which made the night even better. I am looking forward to cooking from Modern Spice...Mr. MV too!

[monavano]

**will suggest for photo uploads.....publish your photos to Flickr and then use that photo address to publish in DR. The size is perfect to see once enlarged from the thumbnail.

[Sudhir Seth]

A big thank you to all the DonRockwellians who braved their way thru cracking shells and all.

An even bigger thank you to DanielK who was of immense help in coordinating the entire affair.

Good luck to Monica with her future writing endeavors.

Last but not the least, I think we owe a lot to Eric whose first mention of a Crab dinner in early June sparked this entire thing and though we missed him on Sunday evening he is scheduled for a Crab dinner one of these days at Passage to India.

Cheers

[hillvalley]

**will suggest for photo uploads.....publish your photos to Flickr and then use that photo address to publish in DR. The size is perfect to see once enlarged from the thumbnail.

I've asked a number of times (can't find the thread) for someone to explain step by step on how to resize and upload photos. I (and I imagine others around here) need more explanation than publish to flickr and then publish to dr.com. Do you do it as a link? As an attachment?

[monavano]

I've asked a number of times (can't find the thread) for someone to explain step by step on how to resize and upload photos. I (and I imagine others around here) need more explanation than publish to flickr and then publish to dr.com. Do you do it as a link? As an attachment?

I like that with Flickr, the size of the photo is perfect, so it does the resizing for me. I copy the photo address and use the img icon above. Be careful that you don't have a v=0 at the end of the URL. Erase it....the img wont upload if you have that in the code.

[MC Horoscope]

Congratulations, chef, on such a wonderful dinner! I have had crab in the shell in roux-based stews before in Louisiana, so the two crab dishes with the sauces were familiar to me but so new due to the spices! And what a deal, to hear Monica speak and get her cookbook! We certainly mean to try out some of the recipes. It's good to know that all the ingredients we thought might be exotic can be found in our grocery stores, or in Indian grocery stores in the area.

I meant to ask Monica if she could recommend a store or two in the Langley Park area, then come to find out that there is a spice store near me in the Colesville area of Silver Spring on Vital Way (near the Marymount Animal Hospital at Randolph and New Hampshire.) It's called Manna Sweets and Spices. Has anybody tried it? Shall I give it the old college try for the team? What if they even have the mysterious asafetida?

I also was curious to know about other okra dishes in Indian cuisine. In Louisiana we cook okra a long time until it becomes almost a paste that we use as a roux in an okra gumbo, which does not have a flour based roux where I come from. We form the base of our gumbos either with a flour-based roux or this okra that serves as a roux after we have cooked it down to almost a paste. I wonder if Indian cuisine does something similar with okra?

Thanks, Daniel, for organizing this!

[DonRocks]

I meant to ask Monica if she could recommend a store or two in the Langley Park area, then come to find out that there is a spice store near me in the Colesville area of Silver Spring on Vital Way (near the Marymount Animal Hospital at Randolph and New Hampshire.)

To you, Vital Way is "near the Marymount Animal Hospital"; to me, Vital Way is the home of The Bagelry (not to mention being the shortcut I take from Randolph to New Hampshire, always, always bypassing China Dynasty and Pizza Hut).

[diningindc]

P.S. Final attendance at the event is 40 people. Awesome!

This was an awesome event! I thoroughly enjoyed meeting everyone and Monica was a gracious hostess!