Bon Appétit

our white door The ‘Door’way to delectable delights

Fernando and Griselda speak of their venture which is a representation of globally accepted concepts with a local touch Dodol Samosa ways, there have been surges in orders, especially with less people going out to eat, and more people ordering in. It helps that they deliver their food across Goa as well. However, the downside is that there has been a surge in people cooking from home. As a couple who runs Our White Door, there is a broad division of tasks. Griselda is in charge of the kitchen and Fernando handles operations. However, they are both very fluid in the way they work and at the end of the day, it is a team effort. It’s just the two of them running responses, and they want to create as the business without any staff, and they Fernando and Griselda Monte da Silva many favourable memories as possible. Once they collect this data, they go back are grateful for the help and support received from everyone who comes By Sybil Rodrigues and craft a menu, accounting for the kind forward to help them when they need

Our White Door is a family run catering of service the client wants, the number of extra hands on deck. Fernando goes on business, by Griselda and Fernando courses involved, and all the restrictive to speak about roadblocks and difficulties Monte da Silva. While Griselda is a chef factors mentioned above. Every menu is a faced by them in their line of work “It can who has worked in the culinary space one-off created for the event in question. sometimes be hard to get through to the across several cities in India and overseas, Their signature dishes are always a local population to try something new; Fernando is a photo-journalist, and food labour of love, a representation of globally to take a risk on the unknown. In Goa, and travel writer. The two decided to accepted concepts or dishes with the we find that people prefer to stick to the tinker with Goan food in order to make incorporation of a local ‘hero’ or focal dishes that they’ve tried and tested, rather it more appealing to today’s audience, for point. One of the best examples that they than along the path less taken. Another whom photo-friendly food is paramount. can point out is their ‘Dodol Samosa’, issue that we often face is that having to

Fernando speaks on the idea and which has been lauded as ‘a must-eat pre-plan isn’t looked upon favourably. inspiration behind Our White Door. “We when in Goa’, and now gets sent off to People are used to being able to walk into were looking for people who could work people across the country. They were a store, and pick things up from a shelf, with what we had in mind – a slightly left the first people in Goa to commercially so sometimes when we say that we have a of field menu – for the evening festivities. make Japanese Cheesecake, known in 24-hour turnaround window, it isn’t seen Unfortunately, we wound up coming short social-media circles for its characteristic as a favourable factor to account for.” on that front. When we realized, to quote ‘jiggle’, and airy texture. They have finally They sign off with a message to U2, that we couldn’t find what we were launched their own custom versions aspiring culinary artists. “I think there looking for, at the time of the wedding, of the profiterole. Fernando explains are two things we’d like to talk about we understood that there was a niche of about their two variants of profiteroles. on this front. The first is to pick an area sorts. There was a dearth of caterers who “Our own signature variants include that you’re good at, or a kind of cuisine were willing to approach food other than two interesting combinations. The first that really interests you, and do all you the manner familiar to them, with regard is filled with mango crème pâtissiere, can to be good at it. The second, and we to being hired to handle large-scale events with a thin layer of white chocolate on can’t stress on this enough, is make sure in Goa – in 2017, the literal ‘hired gun’ top of the choux bun. The mango puree that every single aspect of your costing in the culinary space in Goa was hard to used to make the cream is sourced from is accounted for. A lot of this happens come by. We decided to fill that gap, by an Afonso mango tree that is standing because in Goa, people are largely selfcooking for those who needed the kind of on the plot of our ancestral home since sufficient. People often fail to account for services that we provide.” 1969. We preserve all we can until it runs cost of time, which could go into doing

The idea was to give clients the liberty out, and then wait for the next crop to something else productive, to decide what they wanted to eat. “In repeat the process. The second of these and needs to be paid Goa, as consumers ourselves, we often variants is the Triple Chocolate. We use for. I think that these find that people give you a list of what various kinds of chocolate in the crème two things are they make, and you have to pick your pâtissiere, and different avatars of these both supremely various courses from those pre-set lists.” for crunch and dusting as well.” They try important in

Both Fernando and Griselda feel to shop local, for dishes where they don’t getting costs that dining shouldn’t be a complex need to use imported produce, and in on point, affair. They sit down with their clients, the process, wind up buying from small which at the chat about dietary restrictions, allergies, scale farms and village-based suppliers. It end of the and flavour-profile preferences. Most was precisely that ideology that led to the day is the importantly, they look into memories creation of their uber-popular, eggless d i f f e r e n c e involving food. They often have to take ‘Tambdi Bhaji Quiche’. between working into consideration that a memorable The lockdown, they feel, has been a hard and working meal can evoke all kinds of emotional double-edged sword for them. In many smart” Triple Chocolate profiteroles 50 | Business Goa industry Dossier | september 2020

sweetpeeps On a sweet journey

Siya Wadji

By ameya nayak

As a teenager, Siya had always been interested in baking, especially fresh vanilla and chocolate flavoured cakes at home during vacations which used to be her favourite pastime. Never had she thought that she would eventually make her hobby for baking her career!

Computer software and programming always had an enormous impact on her mind, as a result of which Siya graduated as a Computer Engineer from PCCE, Verna. Thereafter, she worked at an IT company for about a year where it struck her that that’s not what she wanted to do or be. This led her to figure out her way to become the cake artist that she is today and begin her own venture, Sweetpeeps!

Speaking of how Sweetpeeps happened, Siya mentions her inescapable love for gigantic and ambrosial cake indulgence which made her take keen interest in their presentation, décor, aesthetic value, figurine making and so on that ultimately made her take the step and start Sweetpeeps, which is currently based at St. Inez in Panaji.

At Sweetpeeps, Siya believes in baking cakes from scratch and decorating them with all the love and care possible – a task that requires immense patience. They have a variety of cakes ranging from regular cakes to birthday cakes to wedding cakes to structured cakes and the chandelier cake which happens to be a Sweetpeeps specialty. Their eventual goal is to make the customers cake dream come true! Siya further says, “I have had this on my mind since I was a kid. I truly wanted to become an entrepreneur; and like it is said, one shouldn’t let go off an opportunity that comes knocking at their door. Sweetpeeps was that opportunity for me!” A computer engineer-turned-baker, Siya Wadji speaks of her passion for baking that led to the creation of her ‘sweet’ venture, Sweetpeeps

Sweetpeeps believes in quality over quantity hence the mission is to deliver the best with no compromises whatsoever on the quality of the cakes. Their signature bakes include the Rasmalai cake, the Belgian Chocolate Brownies and the New York baked Cheesecake.

When it comes to customer feedback, Siya says that the response has been overwhelming where each passing day makes her realize that there is still a lot that has to be accomplished. Sweetpeeps is glad to cater to its customers who have been part of the business since day one along with new clients that keep adding to the family every day, making it bigger and better!

In addition, Siya pompously says that the target is to make happy moments special with their cakes, thus molding themselves to fit each customer’s unique wants and desires. While she wishes to reach out to as many cake lovers as possible, expanding Sweetpeeps is her plan. She says, “Letting people know that Sweetpeeps is not just about baking cakes, it is the artistic way of presenting cakes, which is the goal.”

When asked what message she would like to put out there for her customers, Siya signs off saying, “Cakes have always amused me since the time I learnt what a cake was. And now, finally, I have something of my own... Sweetpeeps! ‘Love what you do and you will soar high’, I believe. So now that I have ventured into this world of business, everyday seems to be a new lesson. Every cake is taken up as a challenge, to not merely finish it on time, but to get the best of what I put in. When you finally get it on the table and walk away, you know you did something for someone’s special day. This is very rewarding and you know it’s worth every inch of the effort that goes into its creation”

Gurunath Kelekar releases Konkani book Kashe Ashille Gandhiji Goan freedom fighter and staunch Gandhian, Gurunath Kelekar has written a book in Konkani Kashe Ashille Gandhiji (How was Gandhiji). The book highlights the life of the ‘Father of the Nation’. Kelekar, has earlier also translated Gandhi’s autobiography The Story of My Experiments with Truth in Konkani and been the recipient of the prestigious Sahitya Akademi Award for the same.

Kashe Ashille Gandhiji is a book that reveals significant information on the life of the great leader – right from the time of his birth on October 2nd, 1869 to his assassination on January 30th, 1948; with extracts about his transformation into ‘Mahatma’ and the Satyagraha movement as well Dr. Mahendra Kudchadkar is President of IFAS Dr. Mahendra Kudchadkar has been unanimously elected as President of the Indian Foot and Ankle Society (IFAS), a national body for foot and ankle surgery in India, for the year 2020-21. Dr Kudchadkar said that he is proud to head IFAS in India for 2020-21; with over 800 memebers which is a rarity to a medical practitioner in Goa. “I am humbled and honoured by the privilege as I was elected unopposed.” While elaborating that this superspeciality provides training for younger orthopaedic surgeons who wish to specialize in foot and ankle surgery, Dr Kudchadkar said that the platform also provides international exposure to aspiring foot and ankle specialists.

Moreover, he expressed his gratitude to his national mentor Dr. Rajiv Shah and international mentor Dr. Kartikh Hariharan who is based in the UK Dr Jayant Vaidya leads major advancement in breast cancer therapy The University College London (UCL) has made a major breakthrough in breast cancer research in which one shot of radiotherapy is to be administered to the patient, unlike traditional mode of treatment that requires weeks of therapy. The findings of this novel study, led by Dr. Jayant Vaidya, professor of Surgery and Oncology at the UCL Surgery and Interventional Science along with Professor Michael Baum & Professor Jeffrey S Tobias as co-authors of Targeted Intraoperative Radiotherapy (TARGITIORT) that involve large international randomized trials have been published in the British Medical Journal that confirms its effectiveness in the long term. Dr. Vaidya has stated that their findings make for major revolutionary treatment wherein women can have their surgery and radiation therapy for breast cancer at the same time

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Jennifer Lewis Kamat to lead FSAI Goa Chapter Fire & Security Association of India (Goa Chapter) recently had the online installation ceremony of their newly elected office bearers and Dr. Jennifer Lewis Kamat was elected president. The newly elected president said that she would work hard to spread the awareness of ‘Safety and Security’ to the citizens for ‘Safe and Secure Goa’. She also envisaged that the educational and awareness program in cyber crime and security will be organized for the citizens, along with which there would be educational and awareness programs on safety and behaviour of structures and materials during and after fire, programs in schools and institutes, hotels and hospitals, pharma companies and other manufacturing units, as well as women safety programs Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay takes over as Director (Operations), goa Shipyard Ltd Brajesh Kumar Upadhyay has assumed charge as Director (Operations) of Goa Shipyard Limited from 1st Sept 2020. Upadhyay has taken over from S J Kamat who superannuated on 31st August 2020. Prior to taking over as Director (Operations), Upadhyay was at the helm of Forward Project Group Department responsible for increasing GSL’s outreach into global defense market. He had spearheaded GSL’s export projects of 11 Fast Interceptor Boats and Damage Control Simulator and has hands-on production experience on Missile Corvettes, Offshore Patrol Vessels and Fast Patrol Vessels and other class of vessels

135

1. In 1983, which Indian advertising guru retired from Clarion as Chief Executive and Executive Vice President?

2. Which major brand group of Reebok is named after a famous golf player?

3. Which is the first musical instrument to appear on an Indian coin?

4. Where in Gujarat did Reliance set up its first petrochemical complex?

5. In 1990, who launched a personal fashion label named Lavanya?

6. Which professional services company did Bruce Henderson establish in 1963?

7. The Pyramid store was started by which Indian business group?

8. Hans Wilsdorf is associated with with luxury brand?

9. Identify this famous business writer

Answers to BG Quiz 134: 1. Financial Times 2. General Motors 3. Herbert Hoover 4. Kozhikode 5. Dreamworks SKG Pictures 6. Jagdish Bhagwati 7. Dr Anji Reddy 8. Michael Kors Email your answers to businessgoa.media@gmail.com First all correct entry will get 1 year’s subscription to Business Goa