Monday 26 January 2009

The Universe is smiling on me and my own

I do most of my blogging on Mondays as its my day off. Its my end to the long weekend where I collect my thoughts, finish my paperwork, catch up with family and friends on the phone and generally laze about. I have decided to make this day a bit more efficient by going into the city for half the day and doing something interesting. I haven't yet decided what that will be for today hopefully by the time I reach the end of this blog post I would have made that choice.
This post is basically just a big shout out to the universe to say thank you. Its been smiling on me this past week, work has been steady. I have booked up my driving lessons, so I'm working my way up on the new year wish list. My MJDF portfolio has been partially finished and signed off, I have been slaving over this folder for 3 months attending a course after work every Thursday and its finally paid off. The biggest news though is my SIL ( sis- in -law) A has found her lobster.

This means I have six months to prepare myself for the wedding. So I will basically be starving for the next few months to fit into the role of the sexy sister in law. I am looking forward to the excitement and madness that comes along with any wedding in the family. The general good spirit,mehndi, clothes, drama, and unadulterated happiness for those who partake in it. This is the first family wedding that I will be attending after mine and I am going to enjoy every minute.
I look forward to meeting the new addition to our family, K who has given A a skip in her beat. I hope the universe smiles on these two lobsters constantly.

P.S. I have settled on an afternoon at the National Potrait Gallery for now. They have a constable and Leibovitz collection, the things I do to keep my mondays interesting...

Monday 19 January 2009

Antidote to Monday morning blues

Imagine heading into work on a monday morning and being greeted with this, the ultimate pick- me- up via dulwichmum




Thursday 15 January 2009

Salaam Bombay




I reached bombay with mixed feelings, my grandad had passed away a week before I arrived. I had been looking forward to this visit for months but I now felt unsure of what I should feel. All of that disappeared on reaching home, one look at my mum made me realise things were ok. We wept and went through all of apuppas last moments but somehow it was comforting to be able to talk about it, to let it out.

So much has changed in my city, so much construction everywhere, so much unruly crazy traffic, so much new wealth, so much potential. All this intense construction but not a thought has been given to the infrastructure needed to cope with this increase in population, especially in south Bombay. I don't want to moan about my first love so I will concentrate on the fun bits during my vacation.

No visit to Bombay is complete without a pilgrimage to Mondy's, that was done thanks to friends who called us just as we were about to hit the sack and blackmailed us into getting our arses there. It was worth it, it was a fun chilled night and I didn't get to go back to mondys again after that night. The joint has gentrified! It used to be the place to go to for a pitcher of Kingfisher on a hot afternoon, you sit on those old wooden tables with checkered table cloth with a noisy fan above you and play your favourite numbers on the jukebox while being served by an irritated waiter in non- descript clothes. Now you get wine along with your pitcher, there's air conditioning and the waiters are all dressed in similar uniforms lacking personality. Somethings stay the same though, the jukebox still eats your coins and skips your numbers and the murals on the wall by mario miranda always make me smile.

My favourite place during this trip was the Dome at the intercontinental on marine drive. The terrace bar is a location worth visiting. You get a birds eye view of the queens necklace and the entire lenght of marine drive from NCPA upto walkeshwar at the other end. Its stunning location and Mediterranean white decor creates the perfect mood for an early evening drink or late dinner. We met friends there for drinks on a friday night but I was advised the food menu is nothing to write home about so we made dinner reservations at Joss. The kebab corner housed within the intercontinental is a better option for a meal. I know I will return to the dome just to soak into that breath taking view. The other nice thing I noticed was that most of the patrons were not just hitting puberty unlike a lot of other lounge bars in Bombay. I think a 4000 rupee steep bill for drinks only, may be whats keeping the teeny bopper brigade dressed in strings away and hallelujah to that.

Joss set in Kala ghoda is the brainchild of Farrookh Khambata and describes itself as a modern far eastern restaurant. They have an interesting sushi menu and the big favourite is the miso encrusted chilean sea bass. For dessert I stuck to the joss hot kalhua souffle which is their signature dessert, you need to place the order 30 mins prior to consumption. My friend decided to experiment with a really interesting dessert called a strawberry chocolate sushi made with chocolate maki rolls served with kiwi wasabi and a blueberry shoyu dipping sauce. It was such a beautiful delicious dish and the Kiwi puree had just a dash of wasabi.



The food scene in Bombay is alive vibrant and growing with each passing day. There is so much potential to experiment and there is money and interest in food in the city for this industry to flourish albeit a little slowly now that the recession has set in there too.

Warm chocolate Mud pie and Blueberry cheesecake at Moshe's

I was good during my recent visit I didn't splurge on unnecessary shoes and bags, I shopped with prudence and my only splurge was a zardosi embroidered clutch. A girls allowed a few luxuries in life. My favourite quick shopping joint is Bombay stores.



So much has not changed in bombay, my building still puts up christmas lights and decorates the gardens. The old timers in the building still expect you to visit them for chai and biscuits. The house is still very noisy each morning as every walla in the city comes visiting, from the doodhwalla ( milkman), kachrawalli ( garbage collector) dhobiwalla ( laundry man) sabji walla ( grocer) the list is endless. Bombay stores still stiches my school uniforms. Celejor still makes the best ever almond chocolate pastry and Camy makes malai sandwiches that make my heart sing. Its still a nightmare to drive to the suburbs it took us 2 and half hours to bandra from colaba I am sure a local train is a more sensible mode of transport. Formal evening trousers are still called ladies fancy pants and my watchman still calls me be baby at the ripe old age of 30.




This vacation was every thing a trip back home should be, we were pampered well fed and spoilt rotten by both sets of parents. Friends and family showered us with attention and the food and weather was all good. You can't ask for much more can you?

Monday 12 January 2009

New beginnings

A new year beckons new beginnings. I am back after a long and relaxing trip to Bombay I will gloat about all my culinary escapades in another post.
I hope and wish for many things like most new years.I have decided not to be greedy and edited my long list of hopes and wishes down to the following.

I hope this year brings the world a little bit more stability financially and politically .
I hope my digits work harder on this blog and the universe gives me more time to work on it.
I hope to shed the unnecessary kilograms I carry as an appendage this year.
I hope to finally get my driving license ( its high time).
I hope to travel to strange and mysterious lands.
I hope to choose my friends more wisely and hold on to the ones I never worked hard to get.
I hope to find many more culinary delights in this beautiful city.
I hope to find more time to read.
I hope to make changes I have been avoiding.

I wish this year brings my family, friends and their new born babies much joy, luck and good health.
I wish my hair would stop greying so blooming fast.
I wish I could see Adele and cold play live.
I wish traffic in Bombay would get better.
I wish for a warm long beautiful British summer.
I wish my course work would end its such a bore.
I wish to learn to be more patient.

So here's wishing you and all you hold dear a hopeful 2009.