My first Wedding Anniversary at Barbeque Nation

MY First Wedding Anniversary, it’s been an exact year celebrating the life with the companion. Indeed it’s the best feeling to share things and to be heard. Girls always need attentions, there is no limits to it and I am so proud as well as glad to say that my Hubby have been so humble and empathetic for all the things happening in my life. For being belonged to a typical Indian Culture the power/freedom given to me not to change my name and choose be known as before marriage sounded is something in my view incredibly inevetible to ignore. We have been more like best
friends, sharing stories, weird jokes but also have some common passions like cooking, traveling and one of the most essential is shopping.

Two weeks before my first wedding anniversary I bought one gift for him, (which he insisted) a coffee mug, but could not hold back the secret and gave him the same evening, wishing it in advance. Well you must be thinking a coffee mug...well it is for his office purpose and what else could be expected form a girl it has to be something good and useful thing indeed! But just , just a day before my 1st wedding anniversary, yesterday he asked me what gift I was giving him this anniversary to him.......well "I thought I gave the gift so called the bold shinny black coffee mug".......ummm......I haven’t planned yet I replied! (Safe answer lets shop NOW)

23rd July,2008 My first wedding anniversary and yet another day celebrating my life as always a good start of a day with the cup of hot ginger tea prepared by my hubby in the morning. Busy phone lines for the wishes and where is the party to night a question after the every wish became today's jingle. So how do I feel after one whole year? Questions without any full stops....." Good....infact Great...!"I chuckled.

Soon when hubby went to office, I thought to do some SHOPPING. Went to the shop and bought a nice purple shade t-shirt. I had not planned to buy for me but having to the glance at the female section collection, got little tempted and bought for myself too a nice bright sky blue color.

Well I believe the only way to make your hubby happy is to buy something for yourself, as when you are happy , hubby is also happy to see your happiness..... so I thought to buy for myself too.

Came back home after a tini-mini shopping and started dreaming how would we make this evening more happening and memorable! Suddenly the door-bell rang; well Hubby took a half day and came back home early........Surprise! Surprise!! We cooked the kheer (Indian dessert) together and spent time together remembering some of the most happening times together in a year.

All those wonderful traveling to the beautiful destinations we did. There are more than 15 different places I have visited in past one year. And nearly 50 blogs are written in "Humming Today", so I show both thumb Up this year with background music of mauja mauja...!

Anyway coming to the celebration day, in the evening I gifted him the t-shirt I brought for him, He got so delighted and as for my return gift he said we shall be going in due course of time to Amby Valley, Lonavala-Pune. Well, that’s the pretty good deal and I am so excited to go there.

Then, we got ready, and worn our new t-shirts and went out for dinner to the recently opened Restaurant "Barbeque nation". This restaurant is the one of the biggest third outlet opened at Bangalore. Infact it was today celebrating its first 30 days/1month ceremony. I shall give more information about this restaurant in my latter blogs.

Well we reached the 3rd floor, entered the restaurant, first impression........"it’s a damn a huge place". In the mean time saw a chef......"I think I have seen him somewhere...do I know him...?" I thought. "Please this way sir, this table..." the service person guided us nicely......"Thank you". While we were making ourself comfortable on the table, I was wondering about that Chef .."I think ,I know him..." I told hubby, that chef looks like one of my senior of IHM, Guwahati college. He can be a look-alike also, anyway let us order starters. The barbeques placed on the charcoal on the table, instructions given how to do it by yourself, well ! this is a new and excellent concept, which I have never seen at any restaurant or hotel.

I am really hungry, can’t wait so asked the Restaurant Supervisor how much time it will take to cook these. "Maam, 90% it is done it shall take only 5minutes." OK! Suddenly he asked question that amazed me......"Maam, are you from Hospitality Industry?” For couple of seconds many thoughts hassled into my mind. My first thought was, "how does he know? Second thought why he is asking that too with the positive and assured answer" Yes! Very firmly I replied, Ahhh....how you know. Followed with another question, did your Chef told you? He said "yes! The chef thinks that you are his collage junior" I soon interrupted, requesting him, "Can I please meet the Chef?" He soon made a call and called the Chef to meet me.

The Chef came and replied "Rachana...!” Yes Sir, Hi...how are you? Well! HE is my senior of college IHM,Guwahati and I am not wrong, amazing the world is so small, today I feel. I meet him after long 4 years, and he still remember me with name and He is here standing right inform of me...With in minutes, my all nostalgic moments, images, faces of colleges, friends, teachers all came in front of my eyes, and my eyes soon turned a bit watery. Yes! I got a bit senti!!

I introduced him with my hubby and another surprise for him to accept, "You got married...when...?” Well this is my first wedding Anniversary, TODAY! He said we were today his guests and everything has to be specially ordered. What a great evening and double treat, first my celebration and now meeting my senior after such a long time gave me an immense pleasure. He (Chef Pradeep Kumar), is a busy person, still he took some time and sat with us sharing our collage days thoughts. It was a great moment for me to think and wonder that we did not had much conversations in collage. But an urge to meet old friends activates an intact bond, we still share as of being a senior-junior. We talked about our few common friends, teachers, college building, studies etc. On his instructions we were give high priority in serving. We got more delighted when a surprise chocolate cake to cut was brought by Chef Pradeep. He's been truly wonderful to us and I feel so blessed to have such seniors. It was simply the best day of my life with so many happy moments that shall be cherished all throughout my life.

While still all these surprises are sparkling and tickling my life, I dont want to forget to mention that I owe a humble "Thank you" to my hubby for SIMPLY Tackling Me so nicely around the year with all the mood swings and demands made..

Hope you liked our article. Don't forget to share your view/comments or link to us. Cheers!

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Its time to give a break - Pondicherry

French ruled it for 300 years a 480sq.km. area of Coromandel Coast. I traveled 296Kms from Bangalore, without imagining that I shall enter a completely new world. I thought, I was in India but felt as being in France.

Serene Territory, a definite spot Pondicherry was on my travel map last weekend. Away from the heat and hassle of metro city, Pondicherry was nice option to travel and enjoy the calm waves of Bay of Bengal.

It’s a small city with vast range to explore things. And if one gets bike on rent with a very reasonable price, than the traveling pleasure multiplies. I got on to my rented bike and moved on, into the magical lanes of White built Pondichery where breath taking fragrance of flowers and serenity of air was waiting for me to explore.

First Day:

I got charmed to see French culture so well flourished not only in town planning, road sign boards but also in the restaurants where I enjoyed the French Cuisine delicacy. It’s a unique experience to see the place still have French connection known as “India’s little France” making a difference from rest of India. It’s amazing to see that Pondicherry still have the French touch, where the policemen wear the red kepis preserving the wonderful heritage of French.

Beach is another beautiful attraction at Pondicherry. The Serenity Beach is 1.5 kilometers long. It’s a beautiful site to watch as it is cool and clean. This beach also have a magnificent tall statue of Mahatma Gandhi placed between 8 pillars and a memorial commemorating the soldiers who lost their lives during the World War I. This beach is ideally suited for relaxation.

The Le café Restaurant on the beach just adds the wonder to the convenience to sip the coffee and enjoy the ultimate beauty of the waves of “Bay of Bengal”. This restaurant also helps in arranging the tour trip for Pondicherry. They not only have outstanding staff but also excellent menu. All during my stay in Pondicherry, I thoroughly enjoyed my French breakfast and evening tea in this restaurant.

On the bike cutting the edgy air with the swiftness of speed no distance was far. Firstly , we went 8 kilometers away form Pondicherry towards Cuddalore Main Road to see the Paradise Beach. This is also called “Plage Paradiso”.

It is located at Chunnambar near the mouth of the backwater. Here I was amazed to see proper merging of the back-waters and the beach. One can enjoy the holidays by either boating in backwaters or play making sand mountains on the beach. If one is lucky, one can also see dolphins playing into the sea.

Coming back it was the lunch time, and no chance I wanted to miss to have French food. I wasn’t sure where to head soon there found a French Bakery. I asked on of the person there to suggest us some good French Restaurant. And the reply came “Well, I am the owner of the first French Restaurant of Pondicherry and for the way you can follow me..!” I was simply amazed to know about “Hotel de Pondicherry” have served people for almost a decade and finally I was enjoying the authentic French Cuisine. Also this hotel is also popular for some scenes shooted of the popular movie "Jism"

 The large number of Churches in Pondicherry of 18th and 19th century is yet another legacy left by the French. So my evening spot was to attend the Friday prayer of “Sacred Heart Church.” There is beautiful glass painting depicting the story of Lord Jesus. Large number of people had gathered there to offer prayer and it seemed as if the moment had got still in the aura.

Second Day:

Believe it or not, I woke up early in the morning in the excitement of watching the waves of Bay of Bengal. Walking on the clean beach feeling the pleasant breeze of is a unique experience that I have never experienced before though have seen many beaches.

This morning we went ahead with our plan to visit "the City of Tomorrow". It is located about 10 km north of Pondicherry in the jungle area. There is a calm atmosphere, peace and greenery. It was aimed as a Universal Town, where people from different nationalities, faiths and beliefs could live in peace and harmony and devote in better living and green environment. The experience to be there was universal, a moment of forgetting all the limitations and boundaries and working for the mankind together. They were celebrating this year as their 40th Anniversary. But unfortunately not much progress has been made in last 40 years due to the less support of Govt. But the place has powerful peace and that’s what matters today after all.

We came back Pondicherry city, filled up our stomach with delicious food and went back to our very cozy and homely guest house to have some rest. It’s strange hot humid weather which often makes us feel uneasy to be outside home for a longer duration of time. Accommodation is never a problem at Pondicherry, there are many have many Hotels, resorts and guesthouse. We preferred to stay at “Vatica Guest House”. Such Guest House are cheap and excellent to live in. Its specialty is that it’s a resident house, so one feels very homely staying there with all hygienic properties measured. Above all it is quite close to beach and main market.

So after having a good rest, in the evening we decided to move on to our next destination “Auroville Beach”, where I found a large number of French. For the moment, I felt as if I was not in India. It was simply ideal for a quick dip and then being carried away by the cool breeze. The beach is attended by the Safety Guards which adds up to a very positive picture of the effort made for tourism. But I believe there is still a large scope for improvement and enhancement to be made for the recreation of the tourists. This beach also has some small resorts for the people who want to wake up in the morning go to the beach have a dip come back have a sip of beer again next morning same routine to follows with a picture perfect view of beach.
elieve it or not, I woke up early in the morning in the excitement of watching the waves of Bay of Bengal. Walking on the clean beach feeling the pleasant breeze of is a unique experience that I have never experienced before though have seen many beaches.

Third, the Final day:

It was a final day and a moment to experience the synergic of Pondicherry. We went Lord Ganesh’s “Parikrama Arilmigu Manakula Vinayagar Temple” to offer morning prayers. "Lakshmi" was waiting for us to shower her blessings. She was huge but beautiful, wearing silver anklets in her feet. Lakshmi, the “Her-Elephant” comes everyday in the temple and showers her blessings by putting her trunk over the head of the visitors of the temple. But her blessings are not free, she blesses only if you feed her with a bunch of green grass. And we were one of the lucky to receive the blessings from her. It was indeed an amazing moment. I was completely charged up with Lakshmi’s gesture.

So with all those positive charges it was time some more rejuvenate. Yes! Shopping was on my cards next. Pondicherry is a complete shopper’s paradise. Pondicherry is popular for its exquisite traditional handicrafts, excellent quality hand-made paper, hand-woven mats and carpets, perfumed candles, wooden antique furniture and sculptures, semi-precious jewelry, pottery etc. But my fascination there was the fine fabrics on competitive prices which are easily available on the streets of the market and also at various boutiques. Boutiques have their own distinct style and bountiful variety of products.

After empting my pocket in the market my final traveling aim was “Sri Aurobindo Ashram” is a compulsory visit in Pondicherry, without which this trip was incomplete. The world renowned ashram was founded in the year 1926, by Sri Aurobindo and his Mother Mira Alfassa who was a French painter. The ashram attracts people from all over the world. It is the landmark of peace, wisdom and discipline. Everyday people come and meditate in this ashram. The Ashram’s courtyard has memorials of the Mother and Sri Aurobindo under the tree. As part of meditation, the disciples of the Ashram beautify the memorials with the different colorful and fragrant flowers. A very spiritual feeling prevails through the Ashram. It’s a feeling that cannot be expressed in words but surely it’s a mesmerizing magical moment to visit the Sri Aurobindo Ashram.

The light filtering from the hand-made beautiful paper lamp which is embossed with real dry flowers and leaves reminds me the fragrance of white long lanes of city, high tides of Bay of Bengal, steep small sips of coffee at le Café, serene beauty and poised peace with equisetic aroma of French Cuisine.

It’s about “Pondicherry”,
Its time to “give a break”..

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Hyderabad Blue - BIRYANI

India have a lots of clues and hints which defines it as Incredible..and one of them is Hyderabad.

Hyderabad, which have turned up as the fifth largest metropolis of India, the state capital of Andhra Pradesh, known for its rich history, art & culture...

But today it have an identity as booming IT City. Beautiful monument Charminar adds up to its beauty..more when thought about the beautiful & bold ladies born & brought up..like Miss Asia-Pacific 2000 Dia Mirza; Tennis player Sania Mirza...

The City of Nizams smells like Heaven and the credit goes to The Briyani....the famous "Hyderabadi Biryani".

Sources say that the biryani is originated from either Persia or Arabia. Biryani is derived from the Farsi word 'Birian' that means "fry before cooking".

But in the Hyderabadi Biryani, neither the meat nor the rice is fried before cooking but they are marinated in a paste of yogurt and spices. The 'the marinated meat' is transferred to Handi (deep vessel) forming the layer of meat. The next layer is of the Rice, which is also marinated into yogurt. The Handi is sealed with dough of flour and left for Dum cooking for hours.

When the meat and rice are cooked, the seal is opened and we find the flavoured colourful biryani which have more of yogurt flavour with species.

Hyderabadi Biryani is accompanied with Dahi chutney (curd & onions); Mirchi ka salan - a chilly curry. The salad includes onion, carrot, cucumber, & lemon wedges.

~ But to enjoy the flavour of Hyderabadi biryani one doesn't need to go Hyderabad and eat...rather one can move to the "HYDERABAD HOUSE". Its an International chain of Restaurants. I recently went there, one in Bangalore. The ambiance was great..something very much soothing and warm and easy-going.

We almost reach at the peak hours of the dinner time...and hence had to wait out side for the table...indeed a busy restaurant. There is also the facility of Take-Away. The staff of the restaurant was calm , friendly and suggestive..which really helps to the people like me cumming for the first time..

Soon we got the seat.. and without wasting much time order was placed.. Chicken Tikka and the very original Hyderabadi Biryani. It did not take much time to come and I was very much impressed by the piece of art in food to see. The chicken looked marvelous...so juicy-hot-spicy. Simply mouth-watering.

I don't know what to say...it was luck or unluck but indeed i was fortunate enough to have a to the candle light dinner. There was the power cut...Hence, the staff placed lighted Candles on each table. Well then we had CANDLE-LIGHT DINNER. It was then I realised that the aura of the restaurant was not only good in looks but practically was great. The Candle made the room glow and above all inspite of so many candles there was no smoke which made us sit comfortably and enjoy the food.

Indeed, it added to the flavour of the food. The Hyderabadi Biryani looked as prefect as anything. With lots of aroma, flavour, beautifully blended of colours and spice. The Rice were cooked just on the right temperature..that i could even count each rice. The chicken tasted great, it was so soft that one dint even need to have fork or knife to cut it. The curd provided as the accompaniment was smooth and tasty. And the chilly-curry just completed the whole meal so well.

The HYDERABAD-HOUSE indeed is the place were one can enjoy the very ethnic flavours of India. And "Hyderabadi Biryani is the right staple to smell and taste."

~ Check out the link: http://www.hyderabadhouse.com/

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"Gulp of Joy or Hook for forest Habitants"

Some smells reminds some warm memories..and COFFEE did the same..

People are addicted to different things & when it come to me..coffee make a wonder ..

i love coffee- THE Experience...of enriching the thoughts and feeling...moving on the ride into the sweet memories lane sipping slowly each aromatic gulp of coffee. Coffee have been linked up to the wonderful time i had in life...

My coffee ride started a long back at home when my mom used to prepare coffee for me during winters. NESCAF'E has been the best brand of coffee in INDIA . Nescafe is still the one dat i keep in my kitchen closet..its quick to make and nothing can destroy its flavour and aroma.

College and coffee went hand-in-hand. Hectic College timings made me walk into the restaurants for coffee..and then it was CCD, Cafe Coffee Day at the door-step. Hanging out with friends in CCD was the most awaited thing in my whole day at college. The cozy sofas and rocking music, all added up fun' sipping Coffee. And as the logo of CCD says...indeed there is a lot more we can do on the coffee table.

Moving on in life...here I am in B'lore and the CRAZE for COFFEE is still there. And here I discovered KALMANE KOFFEES.

Kalmane koffees have a great interesting history as follows:

In 1879, the rich soil of Kalmane estate gave birth to its very first Coffee Plant. Today, 125 Years and four generations later, the estate sprawls across 1000 acres in Chikmagulur, Karnataka and grows uniquely flavoured Arabica Coffee inter cropped with black pepper.

Kalmane estate is also known for its superior quality high grown Robustas to yield exceptionally washed Robustas. This coffee specialised restaurant attracts all generations to enjoy almost about 19 variety of coffees.

They indeed use the freshly crushed beans for the coffee which makes it so aromatic, smooth and pleasant to enjoy. The price ranges have all type of people to serve. The place is warm and just perfect for sipping coffee.

It have its own USP of serving the traditional south-India Filter coffee, flavoured differently with cardamon, cinnamon and very famous Mysore Nuggets.

Expresso coffee have about eight variety to choose. One can also choose the beans they prefer to have and buy after being crushed and made powder just in front of you.

At present Kalmane Koffees have around 6 outlets in Bangalore and the way it serves, I am sure its going to be sooner all over India.

Read more on coffee at given link... http://www.nationalgeographic.com/coffee/

But how a "gulp of a joy-coffee endangered the species (Rhino, Tiger and Elephant )" living in the forests... Beleive it or not but its true..as reported by the world's largest and most experienced independent conservation organizations "WWF".

Coffee lovers like you and me all over the world are unknowingly drinking coffee that was illegally grown inside one of the world’s most important national parks for tigers, elephants and rhinos...somewhere it really shatters whenever NOW i smell coffee...make sure you read out this shocking story..and what the biggest company of coffee producer STARBUCKS need to say..

..Let the..."GULP OF JOY-Coffee" be not Hook for the forest Habitants...

.. Expresso Yourself....!!

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Potluck - Home is where food is..

Its just a quarter of time I came staying in BANGALORE.. one of the most profound IT city of INDIA. For almost a month I was having food outside..everyday discovering new tastes and restaurants of the city..

Almost fed up one fine day of all those I really liked..that is "enjoying new flavours", all I was craving for HOME-FOOD. I wanted food that was prepared by mom, less oily and spicy....this is something I never realised when I used to eat at home.

It was then when my Hubby took me POTLUCK...

For the time being I could not understand why did we came there..as we both are fond of good food and I could not expect that GOOD food at a HOME turned Restaurant-POTLUCK. But I was wrong...the home turned restaurant was indeed homely-friendly and full of home-food aromatic.

POTLUCK is situated close to some of d major IT companies like Honeywell, Oracle, Accenture, HSBC, IBM, Mahendra, Aris Gobal and above all (IIM)INDIAN INSTITUTE OF MANAGEMENT,Bangalore.

LINK to IIM-B:- http://www.iimb.ernet.in/iimb/

The chairs were very comfortable and the table was of simply perfect height. All around it was neat and clean with almost superb warm colours on the wall, which made sitting there so easy.

And here came a uniformed waiter with water goblets and water-jug in his hand..good service.

All the utensils are stainless-steel and adds up to more homely Indian culture.

I was also amazed to find so much of variety in every section in the MENU-CARD. The starter were about 24 and main-dish about 20, breads variety was almost 18-20. It have everything Starter, Main dish, Bread, Rice, Desert, Accompaniments and Beverages.

Awesome collection and so affordable, my tummy was half full by having a glance to the menu.

We stared with the starter, MOONG-DAL CHILLA, Veg-omlette, Bread-Dhokla. It was served with mint chutney, which is indeed a delight.

And when the food came, the quantity seemed so optimum to consume whole.

Believe me full points to the flavour, taste and smell of the food. I simpled loved the chapati(Indian Wheat Bread).

In beverage, I took Mango-LASSI, which was smooth-sweet and had a nice flavour and smell of mango, with a refreshing taste.

Though i don't have a sweet tooth but i loved to eat the MOONG-DAL ka halwa there. It is so delicious, cooked in desi-GHEE, with chopped almonds.Simply ymmmmyyy...!!

So friends, in this way, POTLUCK became my favorite place to enjoy eating home made food.

Please do check the given link to the POTLUCK..

http://potluck.in/

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