Go Cold this Summer - Part I

So it is hot, very hot! Especially if you are in a city like Delhi where it is already 45 degrees and your daily newspaper has front page news saying- The weather will just get worse!

So In my attempt to make the summer bearable, I decided to sample some nice cold beverages in 3 different formats. Option 1 was to go out to restaurants and sample their range of drinks / shakes. Second was to try out new products available in the market. Option 3 to try making something at home. This is part I of the whole exercise as part II with a similar format will follow. 

Option 1 – Thick shakes and Milkshakes at some really good places in Delhi. Must try are some of the following. These guys really know their shakes. 

Try the simple chickoo and banana milkshakes at Flipside with their banana nutella pancakes. The combination is so good, you want to keep going back. 

                      
                                                          The Flipside Cafe

The malt shakes, belgian choco thick shake at big chill - This is an all time favorite. 

Zo at Hauz khas is very good for their mocktails, cocktails, milkshakes and the food. The menu is limited but  you wont be disappointed.

Cocktails at Chilis - This is only for the money. One of the affordable drinking places in Vasant Kunj. Try their range of Margaritas, LIIT`s, Mojitos. Happy Hours are from Monday to Friday only.

Cold coffee options at Gloria Jeans is a good option for comfort food, the 3` O clock snack during work hours.

Option 2 - Sampling new products available in the market. After a friend recommended it, i decided to sample what I think is a new product in the market – Tzinga, made by Hector beverages, based out of Gurgaon.

If you look at it staring at you from the supermarket shelf, the packaging is light, but the creative is attractive. Besides it just costs like twenty bucks for one packet. The good part is, it is easy to carry and doesn’t weigh too much, also easy to dispose. Each packet or Tzinga pouch equals one glass which is about 200ml.

Among the flavors – Tzinga comes in 3 favors, all of which are fruity. The tropical trip is average, doesn’t have so much of an after taste. I personally liked the lemon mint as it seemed like a mix of lime and pudina. 

The orange is more fruit based, does not seem like a energy drink which is good. 

The drink gives you an instant shot of energy thanks to the caffeine content. If you not used to, even one glass can be difficult to consume. But Tzinga overall is still worth a shot.

I was surprised to see it available both at the super market and at my local chai wallah.

                              

Option 3 – So this is my own attempt at making something.

Make it at home – Blend any fruit – Mango or chickoo or Banana with milk

If you want to make it more it more interesting – Add Bourbon or good day or Oreo biscuits. No sugar.

If you want to make a thick shake – Add a scoop of any ice cream – Chocolate or vanilla

Do try it at home, it takes all of 5 minutes and then you realize why pay for a shake when you can make it at home.

Please add any suggestions / recommendations to the above.

So this is the end of the wedding season for me..

So this is the end of the wedding season for me. For at least the next 6 months I dont want to attend a wedding, reception, roka, sangeet, engagement! I need a break from weddings! So weddings are great fun, but they are also exhausting. Physically, financially and emotionally exhausting!

In the last few months, I have attended a lot of weddings at different locations across the country. I know it is more of a ‘my generation’ thing, cause at one point of time, I had 5 weddings, across 5 consecutive weekends in 5 different states. I had the energy to attend only 3, cause they were not only of really close friends, but also because I have a regular job to go to over the weekdays.

Weddings are about the flavor of the region, of that state. Be it the lovely calm, elegant, musical church wedding in Trivandrum, or the beautiful, chilled out, gorgeous, Bengali  wedding in Kolkata to the loud, energetic, full of life, dramatic Punjabi wedding in Chandigarh, there is  something about attending a certain wedding in that state. They bring out the real flavor, and make the whole occasion larger than life. 

Weddings are about food; mouth watering, lip smacking, kick ass, heavenly food. And the sweets that follow are just orgasmic. From the various types of fish and Bengali sweets, the gol gapes, chaat pappdis, chicken tikkas, roganjosh, amritsari chole to the beef curry, meen curry, poppadums, wedding cake in Trivandrum.

Weddings are about participating in all those pre wedding functions that matter to the bride or the groom. The Simant Poojan in a Maharashtrian wedding, the feast laid out to the Bengali groom and his friends on his last day as a bachelor, the stealing of the grooms shoes, putting up an act together, making a fool of yourself at a sangeet or the loud, reverberating, free flow of alcohol at a punjoo cocktail.

Weddings are exploring the city you are in and having a ball with your friends. From breakfast at flurry`s, lunch at Bhojohori Manna, the boat and tram rides near howrah, rock garden, sector 17 market to the lovely kovallum beaches.

Weddings are about meeting the family. You have always heard about a cousin, a relative, but you had never met them till now.  And then you have a face to the name. You can see the mom, she is both extremely happy and a little anxious. Or the father, who is a little tired or the grandparents who perhaps have waited all their lives to be present for that moment. 

Weddings are about that ‘THE’ moment, a moment which changes things for a lifetime. The bride covering her face with the betel leaves, as her brothers take her around the groom. Or the groom tying the thali in the bride’s neck, or the pheras, and the sindoor. It is that moment, which is emotional, when all the focus is on the bride and the groom, and the bride’s mother is silently wiping her tears, although she knows her daughter is going nowhere and is going to live close by. 

Weddings are emotionally taxing.

• One because you have practically grown up with the bride/ groom.
• You know them, possibly more than what their new spouse knows them.
• You have discussed weddings, marriages, boyfriends, relationships with them for all these years, but you never thought the day would come so soon. 
•  With each wedding, your number of married friends overtakes the number of single friends.
• Somewhere in your tiny head, the pressure for your own wedding is mounting,
• But most importantly you have dropped down on the priority list. For the time being, he/ she is not going to be always available. There is the post wedding customs, the setting up of the new house, the honeymoon, the falling in love with the new husband / wife, the flooding of happiness. You definitely don’t want to call them in the middle of all of these, and crib about your job, boyfriend, or of not having a life.   

Well personally, I have had a lot of fun, in the number of weddings I have attended in the past few months, it’s been awesome! But I am also a little tired.

Firstly because I have no more new clothes to wear at ceremonies, I would have to go with repetitions.

Secondly I think I need a break, need to spend a couple of weekends in Delhi doing nothing. Traveling for work during the week is bad enough, weekends just knock you off. And then of course the emotional bit!

So thats that for now until the next bbm, whatsapp msg, phone call, fb status which says - Guess what! I am getting married ;)

Yeti - The Himalayan Kitchen

In a mood for some Spicy Hot Nepali food on a cold winter delhi night ? Yeti is the perfectttt place for you!
Its a fine spread for someone who wants to try a different cuisine. It houses Nepali, Tibetan and bhutanese dishes. 

Yeti is located at the Hauz Khas village in south delhi, above bagels, right next to the Kunzum travel cafe.
The place is kinda always full, so either go early by 8pm or be ready to wait. They do not take phone reservations. The ambiance is cosy, done up with brick walls, prayer flags and brass bells. Their food spread is interesting, and given its a new cuisine, would recommend sample a dish from all 3 regions - Nepal, Tibet and Bhutan.

For starters we ordered the special veg platter which includes the aloo sadeko (yummy potatoes), bhuteko chana (snacky stuff), the wai wai sadeko and the tingmo. One word of caution, the food at yeti may not be compatible with all digestive systems, so watch what you eat. The Thukpa and the Momos are also really good (Both veg and non veg). But given you can either of them anywhere, suggest try something new at Yeti. In the main course must try are the Datchi chicken for non veggies and the Datchi potatoes for veggies (bhutanese dishes), also pork lovers should try the fried pork.

It is indeed the Himalayan Kitchen, refreshing to eat a new cuisine which is also yum to the palate. The pricing is decent, an average meal without alcohol for one person would be around 400, also their portions are pretty good.
Special Thanks to Rahela Khorakiwala for introducing me to Yeti :)

Lodhi Garden Restaurant

Lodhi - The Garden restaurant!

So need a place for a sunday brunch ?
the perfect place to pop the question ?

Finally a place with the best ambiance ever. Right in the middle of the city, next to the beautiful Lodhi gardens is nestled Lodi - The Garden restaurant. Candle lights, lamps and lanterns, cart tables, outdoor seating, plush green lawns, Lodi honestly has the best outdoor seating arrangement in Delhi. So do this, call up Lodi, get reservations, and take her out for that friday evening. You will not regret it!

 

Booths for Outdoor Seating

The inside seating is also cosy and comfortable and makes for a perfect sunday brunch destination. Coming to food, the options at Lodi are limited. It is strictly continental, and there are very few items on the list especially for vegetarians. There are fixed meal options for about 1000 bucks, but one does not have a great deal to choose from.Try the white sauce pasta, was quite decent. For starters we had the falafel with the hummus tzatki, with green peppers, pita and pickles.

Their alcohol spread is good, got to sample wines from some new vineyards. Wine for the glss (100ml - 300ml) is between 250 - 400. Cocktails are for about 450 - 600 bucks. A full mean without alcohol would cost you about 500-600.

Indoors

Nagaland house

One of the few things i like about Delhi is the fact that it is the capital city. Awesome roads, the metro, highways, freeways, cleanliness, great infrastructure, space (for someone coming from bbay), ministerial roads and houses, foreign embassies and my latest attraction - the state bhawans! Every state has a state house or a bhawan which has offices, rooms to stay and a canteen where they serve that states cuisine. Some of these canteens are open to outsiders, and the food cooked is subsidized. For example, Andhra bhawan is a hot favorite and awesome for spicy andhra food. 

Recently we decided to start sampling food from other states and in the process try and visit every state bhawan. Giving me company in this task was Rahela Khorakiwala. We had tried Tamilnadu bhawan a while back, and decided to try out some newer cuisines. The first one on our list was Nagaland house.

Nagaland house is very close to the Jor Bagh metro station, on Aurangzeb road right next to Jodhpur house. The canteen is a small, quaint place. They dont really have a menu or a buffet system. Its more like whats cooking in the kitchen today? All the excitement to try out some naga food kinda went for a toss as little did we know that Nagaland was known for dog meat and dont have veg food! Excerpts from our conversation.

Me - Khane mein kya hai ?
Man from Naga canteen - Pork hai
Rahela - Pork ke alawa ?
Man - Chicken curry, mutton curry, fish curry
Rahela - Veg mein kya hai ? pointing towards me, yeh sirf veg khati hai
Man - Veg mein kuch nahi hai
Me - Veg mein kuch nahi hai ?
Man - Hum apke ke liye dal ya kuch sabsi bana sakte hain (really sweet of him!)
Me - Naga style veg mein banayege na?
Man - Nahi, regular style
Rahela - Nagaland mein veg mein kya ban ta hai?
Man - kuch nahi, sirf non veg hai.
Me - Sirf non veg?
Man - Haan
Me - To breakfast mein kya khate hain?
Man - Ande khate hain

So that was it, only non veg! a lesson well learnt, next time call up the bhawan and check if they have veg options! anyways after convincing rahela that I will manage with the non veg gravy and rice we decided to stay back and eat at Nagaland house.

The guys there were damn sweet. They got us a plate of chicken gravy and rice. Knowing that I was veg, they also bought in some veg dal, boiled cabbage and a yummy veg soup. There was the naga mirch chatni to go with the rice. I however had the chicken gravy(without the chicken pieces) with the rice and the chutni and it was yummy! A little spicy, but good food. The soup was fresh, perfect, one could even mix the soup and the rice and eat it.
The best part of the evening was the bill, it came upto 120 bucks per head, a freaking steal for so much khana!