It's a New Year!

My best-of-2023 list... 

This is my first column of 2024. But this week I am looking back – and giving you a taste of all that made 2023 (despite its many miseries) bearable for me. Here, in no particular order, is my best-of-2023 list.

 

Best trip: My love affair with Italy will endure forever, but this year it was another destination that left me stunned by its beauty and captivated by its charm. Morocco had everything that I could have asked for: a beautiful seaside town in Tangiers, a bustling modern city in Casablanca, a spectacular historical centre in Fez. And that’s before you even start on the beauty of the Atlas mountains. An unexpected bonus was the friendliness and warmth of the Moroccan people, and the truly breathtaking Oberoi hotel in Marrakech that made me feel proud to be Indian every time I walked through its doors.

 

Best book: I know the book was published in 2022 but it wasn’t until 2023 that I picked up Bonnie Garmus’s Lessons In Chemistry – and was completely blown away. It wasn’t the conceit of cooking being seen through the lens of chemistry that enticed me so. It was the character of the heroine herself. I don’t think there has ever been a character like Elizabeth Zott in fiction – and I doubt there will ever be again. If you have read it, you will know what I mean. And if you haven’t as yet, you have a treat in store for you.

 

Best movie: I had to wait till the fag end of the year for this one and, frankly, I went into it with zero expectations. But Kho Gaye Hum Kahan surprised me with its sensitive yet entertaining exploration of the world of today’s 20-somethings and their obsession with social media. The tone was far from preachy, the direction had a light touch, and the star cast stepped up with some of their best work. The star of the show was undoubtedly Ananya Pandey, whose emotional journey was the core of the movie.

 

Best TV show: There was simply no contest in this category. Slow Horses on Apple TV (based on the book by Mick Herron) was the best thing on television in 2023. It wasn’t just that Gary Oldman gave the performance of his life as the shambolic Jackson Lamb, whose slovenly exterior hides a razor-sharp brain and reflexes you wouldn’t expect from an overweight, out of shape, washed-up old spy. The rest of the cast is excellent as well, but it is Oldman who carries the show, helped along by the best writing in the business.

 

Best meal: You will probably expect me to name some fancy restaurant or an iconic chef. But the truth is that the meal that stood out for me was one that was grabbed on impulse, cost very little, but which packed a pretty punch when it came to flavour. It helped that I consumed it in surroundings of outstanding natural beauty, the splendour of the Sakura trees in full bloom providing an elegant complement to the egg katsu (sandwich) I had picked up at a grocery store in Tokyo. The creaminess of the boiled egg, the unctuousness of the mayonnaise set off the sweetness of the white bread perfectly. Heaven in every bite. 

Read Alert

Summer holidays are the best time to get stuck into a good book

It’s time for our annual tradition. You head out for your summer break. And I share my reading list with you in the hope that you may enjoy some of the titles I loved. So here goes with this year’s summer reading list. Dive right in! 

• Lessons In Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus: This is one of the best book I have read in the past decade. When chemist Elizabeth Zott has to resign from the all-male team at a research institute she is offered a job as the host of a cooking show. Against her own instincts she signs on and her revolutionary, science-based approach to cooking soon makes Supper At Six a national sensation, with housewives following her lead to change things around — ‘one molecule at a time’.

• The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett: This is the first of three whodunnits which feature — wait for it! — Queen Elizabeth II as the sleuth who investigates murder mysteries with the help of her close aide, Rozie. The conceit works brilliantly, with the author weaving in scenes from royal life lived on royal estates with the intricacies of an investigation run by an invisible royal hand. An absolute treat for those who love both the late Queen and suspense thrillers. 

• Whips by Cleo Watson: If you adored Jilly Cooper then you will absolutely love this whip-smart (pardon the pun!) debut from former political aide to Boris Johnson, Cleo Watson. (And if you haven’t read Jilly Cooper then drop whatever you’re doing and go out and buy a copy of Riders!) Set in the dog-eat-bitch world of Westminster, this is a bonkbuster in the best Cooper tradition, with politicians standing in for polo players. And though Watson insists that her characters are not based on real people (ha!) half the fun lies in deciphering the faces behind the caricatures. 

• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner: This memoir by the indie rock singer, Japanese Breakfast, came out a couple of years ago but I only read it recently on the recommendation of Brunch editor, Rachel Lopez. Michelle Zauner writes movingly about the death of her mother and her fear that she will lose her Korean heritage in her mother’s absence. Her only recourse, she writes, is to cook the dishes her mother used to make for her. The only way to cope with her mother’s loss is to become her - at least in the kitchen. A universal story of love and loss that is, nonetheless, life-affirming, this will resonate with everyone who has ever grieved for a loved one. 

• The School For Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan: What happens when a young, frazzled mother has a bad day and ends up abandoning her infant daughter for a few hours? She is reported by her neighbours, loses custody of the child, and in a dystopian world, is sent off to a school set up for women who have to be retrained in the art of good motherhood. In the tradition of Margaret Atwood’s A Handmaid’s Tale, this chilling story will leave you thinking hard about how we idealise motherhood and the unbearable pressure we bring to bear upon mothers, both good and bad.