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Jewellery exhibition at Mayasir

Ornament craft is a long-standing part of the Bengali culture. Local artisans have been bestowing us with the harvest of their craft for several generations now. With the intention of highlighting the local talent, Mayasir has arranged a jewellery exhibition starting January 22 till February 1, 2004.

The collection is inspired by the antique traditional jewellery of Bengal, with a twist. Keeping in mind the current trend for fusion, the ornaments on display are an exotic combination of designs of the ancient Bengal with trends in the Western world of fashion. Designer Maheen Khan has combined silver and wood with both cut and uncut stones to create a totally different effect. She has also blended semi-precious stones such as garnet, feroza, tiger's eye, amethyst, and amber, etc. with silver to create modern designs with that unique Mayasir touch.

So head on over to Mayasir to catch a glimpse of these works of art. The exhibition will be held at the two Mayasir outlets at 39, Kemal Ataturk Road, Banani, and 3rd Floor, Concord Arcadia Shopping Mall, Road 4, Dhanmondi

By Sabrina F Ahmad

New year's collection at Stone'N'String

Stone'N'String, the trendy new outlet located at 34 Gulshan Avenue (Gallery Apex/Bella Italia complex), specialises in fashion jewellery with genuine gems and fine crystals.

Stone 'N' String has displayed a great new range of fine Swarovski crystal jewellery. Contemporary designs, high quality, and a wide variety of fashionable colours provide plenty of choices for casual or party wear. Reasonable prices at Stone'N'String also make ideal gifts this festive season.

Short kurta at Dressydale

Fatua or Short kurta is in vogue these days. In men's fashion it has been going on for quite some time now. It is a new craze in the mainstream girl's fashion. Girls in Jeans and fatua are rocking the streets of Dhaka.

Fashion house Dressydale is bringing a new wave in this trend. For the first time Dressydale is brining out a fatua collection. Prevalence of handloom is the speciality of this collection.

Tie-dye, patchwork, pin tuck, jardousi, and katha stitch added extra elegance to the collection. With the hand loom collection, there is also cotton, silk and georgette fatua.

These cool outfits are available in all three outlets of Dressydale situated at UAE complex Banani, Ambala complex, Dhanmondi and at CDA Avenue, Chittagong.

Kay Kraft arranges khadi utshab

Once upon a time khadi was the symbol of freedom. We all know the story of how weaving of khadi became a strong movement against the British colonialist. Throughout time, machine made textiles has outdone this complete deshi fabric.

In recent times a movement to revive our lost glory is on the way. Kay Kraft, one of the major fashion houses of Bangladesh has arranged a Khadi Utshab recently. From January 15th to 18th the exhibition was held at the WVA auditorium. The festival was dedicated in the memory of late Shailendranath Guha one of the pioneers in the area. Khalid Mahmood Khan, the coordinator of the 'utshab' explained the thoughts behind the array. He explains how Guha elucidated them about khadi and encouraged them to revive the tradition.

Kay Kraft used khadi in their production line since the origination of the fashion house. They wanted to go beyond the edge of using khadi only for panjabi, fatua and shawl. They combined the temperament of designer cloth into traditional theme. Eid coinciding with winter was another aspiration behind the arrangement. Along with traditional panjabi and fatua, the utshab displayed alternative use of khadi. Cushion cover, handbag, sack, bed cover, saree and shalwar-kameez all made with this remarkable fabric was in the show.

The fabric for this utshab was made by Arun Guha from Chandina, the son of Shailendranath Guha, Roghunath Boshak from Patrail, Tangail, Motiar Rahman from Manikganj and Safi Mahmud of Norshindi.

The making of khadi is a unique process. Starting from spinning the yarn to dyeing the thread and then all the way up to weaving is done by hand. Weavers at the exhibition displayed this unique process of making the fabric on handloom known as charka in Bangla. Poet Shamsur Rahman and sculptress Ferdousi Priobhasini inaugurated the festival.

By Shahnaz Parveen

Tips

Groovy gravy

1. Always use ghee or butter instead of oil to get a good flavor to the gravy.
2. Fry the ground Masala in reduced flame, so that it retains its color & taste.
3. If Masala sticks to the pan that shows quantity of fat included is not enough.
4. Never discard water in which vegetables are cooked, use it in gravies or soups.
5. Pressure cooker or pressure pan can be successfully used for frying, which minimizes cooking time.
6. When coconut is used in grinding Masala, do not fry for a longer time.
7. When tomatoes are not in season, tomato ketchu or sauce can be used in the gravies.
8. To retain color in the gravy, always use ripe red tomatoes. Discard green portion, if any.
9. Good variety chilies & chili powder also gives color to the gravy.
10. As far as possible try to use long variety red chilies. Dry it under sun for few days & powder coarsely & use this.

By Vidya Prasad

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Hanging Out

American Burger

How many of you would love to eat out in a place that exclusively serves burgers? Well, many of us enjoy sinking our teeth in luscious, juicy burgers and spend the afternoon away. In Dhaka, American Burger is the first and the only place to become consumers' no. 1 choice in food outlets by selling only burgers.

With one branch in Gulshan and the other in Road # 11 of Banani, American Burger has already managed to win the hearts of Dhaka's burger lovers. The crowd inside the Gulshan branch only proves the extent to which American Burger has succeeded to attract dozens of customers to its little outlet everyday.

The Gulshan branch is quite small, allowing very few people to sit inside the shop. But you can always take your burger in a parcel and sit in a quiet, cozy place with your friends and enjoy the mouth-watering food. Once you reach the front of the shop, your guts will screech in appetite and your mouth will water from the smell that comes out of the shop's chimney.

There are burgers of various kinds available at American Burger; you can opt for the plain chicken or beef burgers, or the ones with cheese laid inside, or the double burgers. A plain chicken burger will cost you Tk.50 while a plain beef burger will cost you Tk.40. The staffs will prepare the burgers right before your eyes as you drool over to set your teeth on them.

By Wara Karim