A TREAT FROM PALAKKAD
"Get me chips,” is my singular request to friends coming from Kerala. After munching through countless packets of banana and jackfruit chips, I have picked a favourite—SNR from Palakkad. Doritos, Pringles and Lay’s pale in comparison. These chips have crispy, paper thin and irresistible versions in different flavours that I pair with drinks, meals, dips and everything in between. The secret ingredient, in my opinion, is the quality of coconut oil. It infuses them with the mildest hint of coconut, with no greasy feeling, which makes them addictive. Even the bananas they use are grown only to make chips. I am told they are known as Alathur chips, because the shop SNR is located in that town. The best way to have them is as soon as you get your hands on the packet wrapped in brown paper. —Jahnabee Borah
LATE DEVELOPERS
The joke in the title of Belle and Sebastian’s latest album—their 13th full-length—is that they were remarkably early developers, zeroing in on their signature smart, quotable DIY pop sound almost from inception. Apart from When You’re Not With Me, an exercise in sprightly dance-rock, Late Developers doesn’t defy expectations—it simply meets them. ‘Will I Tell You A Secret’ has the erudition and catchiness of their classic tracks (We were happy until we said tomorrow/ We were happy until we looked ahead), as does the driving ‘Give A Little Time’. I’ll take you to places/ where they sing their hearts out/ thundering joy, Stuart Murdoch sings on the title track. They have been doing that for over 20 years. —Uday Bhatia
COFFEE KICK
Martinis are hugely legit right now—yet, despite being one of the oldest cocktails imagined, they are not very popular in India, mainly because we like our cocktails sweet. Enter Martini variants like the Mangotini, Appletini and the Espresso Martini—the last is not a classic by a long shot but is at least a notch above the fruity ones. I tried the new Sleepy Owl Coffee X Jimmy’s Cocktails Espresso Martini kit this week, with a splash of gin and a couple of ice cubes in the Martini glass helpfully provided in the kit, and the result was not bad, with a distinct coffee kick and manageable levels of sweetness. I am neither shaken nor stirred by it but is it a good cocktail for chilly evenings? Yes. —Shrabonti Bagchi
A CLEAN BOTTLE
A lot of us are tired of carrying plastic bottles everywhere. I found a great solution recently in the Ocean Bottle. Made from recycled stainless steel, the Ocean Bottle does not leak or sweat and can easily retain temperatures for six hours. What I like most about this reusable bottle is that it has an innovative leak-proof seal and double opening design. The top half even doubles up as a drinking cup. It’s dishwasher-safe, has an easy carry loop and comes with a 10-year warranty. For every Ocean Bottle sold, the company funds the collection of the equivalent of 1,000 plastic bottles—that’s roughly 11.4kg of plastic—across collection centres in Brazil, Egypt, Ghana, India, Indonesia and the Philippines. You can get the bottle in 500ml and 1 litre sizes—and a variety of colours—on oceanbottle.co, starting from Rs. 3,000. —Nitin Sreedhar
