And that's how the night unfolded - 8 years of CFG

Having been planning this for over 2 months, when the D-Day arrived, we were all a bundle of nerves. Tickets were sold out, everything was organized, volunteers knew what they had to do - yet we knew confusion might reign!

And the girls were planning what to wear. Now, for the men, it was simple - jeans / trousers, shirt. For the women, the choices were plenty. Dresses, salwar suits, sarees and what not! I decided to wear a black dress my friend had got for me. Unfortunately, it was a few sizes too large and it sat in the closet without seeing the light of the day. And when it did, it saw the most wonderful evening ever. (Big thanks to Tasneem Aunty for altering this dress to fit me).

We assembled at the Town Hall, Residency Towers at 4 pm to set everything up. From unpacking the bags, putting the gifts into these bags, arranging them to setting the tables we were running hither tither that we forgot it was past 5 pm and we needed to get ready. As we ran (well.. ok.. we used the elevator) to the 11th floor, girls gossip abounded in room #1115. Right from make up to shoes to ordering room service and checking out the mini bar (sadly there was nothing inside) (and ahem.. I am not making the rest of it public) - it was almost as if we were in a wedding.

Dressed to Kill - literally - the girls were radiant in their sarees and suits and dresses. The men looked equally handsome in the formal attire (why, oh why don't you men wear formals more often!)

It was the 3000th day of CFG and the guests of honor included the who-is-who of the food industry - Chef Mahadevan, Chef Soundararajan, Chef Praveen Anand, Chef Pushparaj and Mr Ravi  (Namma Veedu Vasantha Bhavan). Actor Nakul made a brief blink and miss appearance as he had to run back to his shoot.

As the event unfolded with a brief history of CFG and a quiz program (courtesy Kamalika), it was Aswin's performance that had the audience in splits. Absolutely delightful, as he poked fun of everyone in the venue and outside (I'm not saying who.. wait for the video), Aswin - you stole the show and the evening and everyone's hearts. Salute!

Preethika and Tasneem (Akbari) did a great job hosting the event and a special thanks to all the volunteers for pitching in and helping with all that was required.

What was most important was that it didn't feel like an event, but more like a family function - I'm sure Ali will agree with me here. And with this, I wish CFG many more years of success!

Ali ji - next event - you know where :)

(PS: We all headed to Bikes and Barrels for a quick shot, after which I had to leave. Rest of you, ride / drive safe)

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Tyrst with Food - Go CFG!

** This is my first post after a 2-week break from everything. And I couldn't of think of anything better to write, as it suddenly hit me that the CFG anniversary was only a week away.**

It was the year 2004, an year of a lot of not-so-good things in the making (including the tsunami). However, two amazing things happened. And these would go on to change my life forever. And to both, I am deeply thankful to Peep (aka Pradeep Raghunathan). Peep founded Iyers and CFG on Orkut.

Those were the days when Orkut was a rage. (And I still believe Orkut connected us much better than what Facebook is trying to achieve these days - may be it was just the beginning of social networking)

I was initiated into the Orkut community called "Iyers", which would later on see many weddings happen (so much so that a leading newspaper quoted that matches were made in Orkut). We were called OI (or Orkut Iyers and yes I am proud of my heritage) and used to meet regularly online and offline. Our late night yahoo conferences were the funnest ever. (Rums, Vid, Darth, KP, Parasu, Anti, Shanky, Sri, Divi - I am sure you all remember this as much as I do - and Yes that mama in the profile pic is Peep's FIL)

Chennai Food Guide was a natural progression of this group. An extension of Iyer-ism so to speak; Only this group had more to talk & write exclusively about food, visit restaurants, learn to identify what goes in (and what should go out), and to bring out the chef in us. This was my foray into food. And to all of you who ask me how I got into food blogging and the likes, there you have it - the history of the incident and the geography of the accident ;-) It's on this group that I met lot of like minded people - Vinay, Nishanth, Doc Waz, Vasi, Bharat (dude where have you vanished?), Rajiika and so many more. Our food trails were endless.

Some of us met recently, and was good to talk to Peep after ages and that too about food. Peep, we missed you! I think you should start getting more active.

One of the highlights of the CFG on Orkut, was our meet that happened in The Farm (OMR). Dipesh Sharma (who was then part of The Farm) and Arul Futnani happened to invite the group for an on-the-house dinner to review their food. And what followed was an unprecedented turnout of over 70 people, most of whom we didn't know existed in the group! DD and Arul - I still fondly remember those moments!

As Orkut lost its charm and Facebook made way for most of these communities, CFG was resurrected by Mohamad Ali and Nishanth. There are lots more people now, many more organized events (Showcase, Diner's club, Bloggers Meet) and to top it all, we now celebrate our 8th anniversary, the 3000th day of CFG, on the 29th of this month at the Residency Towers, TNagar. (At INR 999 per head, you'll get to witness what CFG is all about). I, as part of the CFG family, welcome you to take part in our celebrations and here's wishing CFG many more years of such celebrations.

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