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Wednesday, November 24, 2010

French Toast Recipe

I must now provide a cooking interlude to all of this restaurant posting to give you my personal favorite, easy-to-make, ultimate tasting French toast recipe. It is very simple to try at home, and if morning time is short, especially on school days, you can prepare the batter the night before and just fry the bread in the morning. Anyways, here it is:

Ingredients:

4 eggs
2 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk
1/4 teaspoon vanilla extract
12 thick slices (local pav in halves works well) of bread

Instructions:

1. Beat the eggs, sugar, salt, milk, and vanilla in a shallow dish (I like to use a low and wide bowl).
2. Once you have prepared the mixture, either put it in the fridge if you are going to make the actual French toast the next day, or soak the bread in it if you are making it for now. I like to give the bread an extra long soak before frying it because if you cook it right, there will still be some of the batter left inside of the bread when you eat it, and will make a soft and gooey component to the flavorful bread.
3. Heat butter on the pan over medium high heat.
4. Fry each slice of bread in the pan until there is a slightly golden-brown color to both sides (flip the slice half way through).
5. Take the bread once it's ready out of the pan and sprinkle each slice with a small spoonful (it depends on what kind of bread you are using) of cinnamon sugar - make the cinnamon sugar by mixing cinnamon powder with sugar.

Enjoy!

Ray's Café and Pizzeria

This place is by far a hidden gem. No - scratch that - this place is a hidden diamond reflecting precious silver light just ready to be mined. It is right next to/inside Nature's Basket (one of the reasons why Ray's is good - it has access to imported goods), and if you go just a bit left to the door of it you will find a path that will take you around the side of the shop and into a nice little cozy area with an inside and outside place to eat - Ray's Café. I must say - out of living here for 5 years - this restaurant has the best pizza, specifically pepperoni pizza, I have ever had in Mumbai. Yes, it is better than Jazz By The Bay. Yes, it is MUCH better than California Pizza Kitchen. It is pure gold. The inside of Ray's feels very new and clean, and is a pleasant and relaxing place to dine in. The pepperoni pizza, called the Ray's Special pizza, comes in a choice of three sizes - 6 in, 12 in, or 16 in. When I go there, I order to 12 in to feed myself - so you might wanna get your sizes straight before you order. The service is quite reasonable, and for the pizza that you are getting, so are the prices (though you will find this pizza to be on the more costly size of pizza in Mumbai). Plus, the inside is set up so that there is a counter at the end of the room, in which behind it there are a couple guys hand-making the pizzas with care (and they are fine with people taking pictures - I would recommend doing so). The Ray's Special is constructed with real, delicious, mozzarella cheese. That's right, I said it - REAL CHEESE. MADE FOR PIZZA'S. And it taste's so, so, so very good. The crust is a mix between a thin crust and a thick crust, but it more leaning towards being a thin crust. It also has a crisp, fresh taste to it, and is wonderful. And I haven't even gotten to the pepperoni yet. The pepperoni is the best I have every tasted within a restaurant in Mumbai (I can see how being next to Nature's Basket relates to this). They are big, juicy, yum-yum-elicious slices that generously cover each slice of delectable pizza. My mom came with me on this expedition, and ordered a Med Salad. I tried it, and it was actually very good - it had certain dried fruits, such as some raisin-like things (it's hard to remember), with some fresh greens and other little treats hidden in there for you. All in all, a trip to Ray's for a nice Sunday (or why not any day!) lunch is a must-go-to, and I know that I'll be making that a regular place of mine too.