Embers @ Nandana Grand

A very impromptu decision to go out for lunch led us to Embers @ Nandana Grand in Koramangala. The catch phrase of this restaurant is "Global Cuisine" and hence I was quite skeptical about how good the food is going to be. I generally feel that many of these multi-cuisine places tend to screw up some cuisines and have had many practical experiences as proof of this. It is much better at times to find a niche and stick to it. In other words, its not gonna suffice if you are "Jack of all trades". You need to be a master of at least one of them.

Coming back to the review, all the items turned out to be surprisingly quite good at the buffet lunch. They had a good spread comprising of Chinese, Italian (just one dish), North and South Indian dishes in this lunch buffet priced at Rs 149 + taxes. We started of with "Cream of Spinach" soup, which was quite well done and was served at the right consistency and temperature. This was followed by a generous helping of Babycorn manchurian (they called it Shanghai Babycorn). I totally loved the manchurian. The taste was just how I expect a manchurian to taste i.e., not too much of ginger-garlic-soy sauce masala.

There were three salads. One was the regular green salad. The second one was a mixed vegetable salad in a nice vinegar based dressing. The third one was a pineapple-paneer salad of which I ate only the pineapple :D I am somehow not a huge fan of Paneer. I prefer Cheese :D

For the main course, there was Penne in a vegetable and cream sauce and again it was the just the way I like my Pasta to be. Among the north-indian stuff, there were Aloo mutter and Dal fry. Both were very well done. There were two non-veg gravies also. Rotis were served directly at your table and were soft and warm. Among the rice items, there was Chicken Biryani, Vegetable Schezuan Fried rice, Plain rice along with Rasam and Curds. Accompaniments like papads were also present.

Dessert comprised of a yummy tasting carrot halwa and fruit salad. Needless to say, all the items on the menu were very well done. Of course, I cannot give first hand opinion of the non-veg dishes as I am a vegetarian, but my friend did say that the non-veg dishes were quite good too.

Should you go there? YES! A perfect place to take a foreign dignitary for lunch as the food was not very spicy and there was just the perfect amount of variety among the Indian fare.

PS: Almost forgot to mention. Another "My kinda restaurant".

(Don't) Picture This

Time : Around 6.30 am
Location : Somewhere enroute to Hyderabad
In : Train

I wake up to a beautiful morning with a nice breeze blowing in from the window. I think "Wow! It feels so nice to wake up early in the morning and watch the country side go by. Oh! Just in time for Sunrise. God knows when was the last time I saw the sun rise!! Hmmmm...."

Then, the inevitable happens. (Warning: Read ahead only at your risk) I see a half naked man in the fields doing err.... his business.

Ewwwwwwwwwww!!!! Why god Why ??????

PS: Had been on a trip to Hyderabad over the weekend. Post coming up if I am not feeling lazy to type :)

A familiar feeling

You think its been 3-4 years. Things would have changed. I would have moved on. Those feelings would have gone by now. But hey, What do you know ?!! When I saw her recently, all I could think of was "God! She is so Beautiful!". She still manages to make my heart beat faster. I just could not help but admire her.

I feel that everyone sub-consciously has a mental image of what their perfect woman/man should look like. Many might be aware of it and some may not be. When we actually meet someone who matches this image, the infatuation just happens. In my case, I dont think I will be able to get over it any time in the near future (I have had this infatuation from the past 7.5 years). I am not repenting or anything of that sort. I am very much aware of the practicalities of life and enjoying my life at present very much. But, each time I see her, she just takes my breath away!!

I so relate to this song right now -
Anisuthide Yaako Indu
Neenene Nannavalendu
Maayada lokadinda
Nanagaagi bandavalendu
Aahaa yentha madhuraa yaathane..

I dont want to translate the above lines to English as I dont think I will do a good job of the translation and it wont be able to capture the meaning of this song as intended. So, the readers of my blog who don't understand Kannada, Please Excuse :)

Indi Joe - 2

I had been to Indi Joe for lunch today and I came back feeling so satisfied. It never fails to satisfy my foodie brain. I am so thankful that this restaurant exists in Bangalore! Incase, you have not yet realized, it is among my favourite restaurant in Bangalore.

Mungaaru MaLe

Finally!!! A decent kannada movie with dignified kannada being spoken!

I had heard a lot about this movie and watched it on tuesday evening. Its a simple love story with just the right amount of characters. No extra characters in the movie for the purpose of comedy. The photography(or is it cinematography ?) is amazing! Very scenic locations, all within Karnataka. No songs or sequences being shot abroad. The best part of the movie for me was the way in which Kannada was spoken. It was so dignified and cultured. Generally, among the kannada movies being released of late, the style in which the language is spoken is so crass and pathetic. It actually hurts me to hear my language being spoken that way. In this aspect, this movie delighted me to the core. Would definitely love to watch the movie again to hear such nice kannada :)

Mungaaru MaLe means "pre-monsoon rains". The entire story takes place over a period of 8-9 days in the pre-monsoon season. Set mainly is Madikeri, the story revolves around Pritham (played by Ganesh) and his love for Nandini (played by Sanjana). It has just the right amount of emotional drama without being over dramatic/melodramatic.

The scenic locations and cinematography are the things to lookout for. Truly spectacular. The music is also very good. The songs and the lyrics are straight from the heart and describes the feelings very very well. Must hear songs are "Anisuthide Yaako Indu", "Onde Ondu Saari" and "Kunidu Kunidu Baare".

Go watch the movie if you are a ardent kannada movie fan. It is a breath of fresh air amongst the typical remakes and gangster movies.

Ha Ha Ha

Last week, when I went to the salon for a haircut, I saw that they had renovated the place. The old salon was gone and in its place stood two salons - one for the men and the other for the ladies. Any guess what they had named the two salons ?

The men's salon was called as "Abhishek Men's Salon" while the ladies salon was called as "Aishwarya Ladies Beauty Parlour" :O For a second I did not know what to say and then I burst out laughing loudly on the road :)) Jesus christ!! People and their thoughts!! They had even put up posters of the stars on the respective salon doors.

A Typical Conversation

This is how a typical conversation between Shub and me goes.....

--------------------------------------------------
From: PizzaDude
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 2:50 PM
To: Shub
Subject: foodies delight ...

I bet u didnt know abt this!!!
B-)

http://www.tastespotting.com/page/7


-------------------------------------------------
From: Shub
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 2:54 PM
To: PizzaDude
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

nooooooooooo!
looks awesommmmmmmmmmmmmme! :D
happy now? :P
I've decided I'm gonna make something special every weekend...starting this weekend...wanna start baking! :)
wish you were here to taste the stuff ! :D


--------------------------------------------------
From: PizzaDude
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:02 PM
To: Shub
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

Buhahahahahahahaha.. :P

Total drool material.. That too we now have 17 inch LCD monitors in office.. every photo at the site looks equally big and much more droolicious :D

All the best with ur baking adventures.. keep me updated.. what r u planning to start with ? I so wish I was there to taste all the stuff... kinda reminds me one of the episode from "Joey" where he is judging the lasagna made by one of the characters in the show :D


--------------------------------------------------
From: Shub
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:06 PM
To: PizzaDude
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

planning to start with carrot cake ( remember the one we ate at coffee bean? Yumm :D )
I also have a 17 inch lcd monitor!:D

Did I tell you I made lasagna once about 3 months back?! turned out quite nice...should try it again!


--------------------------------------------------
From: PizzaDude
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:16 PM
To: Shub
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

The only thing I remember eating at Coffe bean was the "Apple Cinnamon cheesecake".. the rest is a blur... Did we eat the carrot cake the first or the second time ? I think it was the first time.. I was too overwhelmed by the cheesecake to rememeber anything else... Oooookay, now I want to eat that cheesecake.. Waaaaah! :'(

u remember the photo I took @ coffee bean in holland village where I posed next to the array of baked goodies.. reminds me of photographs people take standing next to famous tourist spots/monuments... =))

You made lasagna ????? Wow!!! sounds def interesting... We both should be apartment mates.... you cook and I taste and vice-versa :D Am jus thnkg how mast it would be.. hee hee... We will be two fat people in no time at all.. hey wait a min.. we would be exercising buddies too then... rememeber the friday-lunch-is-a-treat-by-person-who-does-not-go-to-gym-ateast-4-times-a-week rule ? And how I used to lose almost every other week...


--------------------------------------------------
From: Shub
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:24 PM
To: PizzaDude
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

yeah chinnu totally! we'd be great as flatmates! Totally on the eating and working out part! wah how cool taht would be! :D
first time at coffee bean : cheesecake and thousand layer choc cake!( can't forget that!)
2nd time mushroom quiche and carrot cake!! aaahhhhh! :D
how can YOU forget such stuff?! SHAME on you! an insult to the food if you ask me :P


--------------------------------------------------
From: PizzaDude
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:32 PM
To: Shub
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

Like I told you, I was toooooo overwhelmed by the cheese cake to remember anything else... Btw, the second time, we also had another cheesecake.. I think it was a blueberry one.. Oh yeah!! I now rememeber the chocolate cake.. and also that cheese and tomato sandwich we had at boat quay.... and then we had gone to Lau Pa Sat for dinner... dutta n danny had some meal combination, while we had a mango ice-kachang and a banana split... we took photos too.... see.... I rememeber B-)


--------------------------------------------------
From: Shub
Sent: Friday, February 09, 2007 3:33 PM
To: PizzaDude
Subject: Re: foodies delight ...

yeah yeah ! :) By the way remember your BLOG? POST then! :P
I just did :D


And that is why this post came into existence :D

Taam falafels

By now, the regular readers of my blog must have realized how much I like to try out different kinds of food and visiting new restaurants. The restaurant I visited recently as part of my new-year-resolution to visit-many-more-new-restaurants is called "Taam Falafels". I spotted this place quite some time ago and was dying to go there. And the day finally arrived recently and man, was I thrilled!!! :D

The restaurant is set in a quiet part of residential Koramangala. Its on the first floor in a corner building, with the front done completely in Glass. This lets in ample amount of sunlight, giving the whole place a fresh and cheerful feeling. The place is done in the shades of Yellow and Green which further add to that bright atmosphere. At tables next to the glass wall, you can enjoy your Mediterranean meal while basking in the glory of the sun on a bright sunny afternoon.

This is a completely vegetarian place. The main item in the menu is obviously Falafels, accompanied by pita breads and hummus. They did have many dishes, but the prominent items in almost all the dishes were the ones mentioned before. I ordered a "Vegetarian Platter" which consisted of eight different kinds of salads, two pita breads, two falafels, hummus, some vegetables and an assortment of 6-7 chutneys and dips. The salads and the accompanied dressings were really good. The pita bread was extremely soft and were a treat to eat. I also liked the hummus and Falafels, but since this was my first time in a Mediterranean restaurant, I cannot comment on its authenticity. But I totally enjoyed the food. In fact, I felt that the meal was quite healthy too as not much oil was used in the preparation.

Apart from the meal combinations, you can also have some individual items, pita bread sandwiches, juices, coffee, etc... Nice place I must say, but maybe a bit expensive. On considering the locality it is situated in, it seems quite obvious to be priced on the higher side. A complete meal for two may cost you about Rs. 350. A nice break from the regular grind of Roti-Curry or Rice-Dal.

Ta`am falafel, #565, 4th Block, Koramangala, Bangalore-560034
Ph: 41469595, 41169868

Crazy Kiya Re

I always wonder why is it that I start liking songs much more only after I see the video. :-?

I had purchased the audio CD of Dhoom 2 about a month back and did not find the songs all that great or catchy. But after seeing the movie last weekend, I have not been able to get those songs out of my head.. Not that I am complaining (infact, I am playing them over and over on my PC). The song "Crazy Kiya Re" would be quite appropriate in describing the effect the songs have had on me since yesterday. This is not the first time that I have observed such a thing.

Has this happened to you too ?

Engaged

I am not talking about myself, but about two close friends of mine. Both were my class mates in college and are now soon to be Mr and Mrs. I am feeling all god-fatherly about this latest turn of events. Its like their love blossomed right before your eyes and now it has grown and matured. Hee Hee. I am so happy for them!!

Before they officially told us about their relationship in college, a couple of us kind of knew that things were definitely going to happen between them. There are certain signs you see. Like going by themselves to the samosa stall during the break, the conversations between them in class.. and lots of such minute but very obvious behaviour patterns!!

So, come this weekend, Mr B and Ms R are all set to get offcially engaged! All the best you guys and a warm HUG to both of you.

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Contest -2

Update: Answers Published!!

1. In the episode "The One That could have been - Parts 1 and 2", what was Phoebe's profession ?
Answer: Stock broker

2. Who were the nap partners ?
Answer: Joey and Ross.

3. Who plays the part on Chandler's Dad ?
Answer: Kathleen turner

4. Joey had an imaginary childhood friend called Maurice. What was his profession ?
Answer: Space Cowboy

5. "Well, if you cant talk dirty to me, how you gonna talk dirty to her ? Now tell me you want to caress my butt". Who tells this to whom ?
Answer: This is told by Joey to Ross. Ross is dating a girl who likes to talk dirty and Joey tells this when he is prepping up Ross for it.

6. What is Janice's full name ?
Answer: Janice Litman Goralnik née Hosenstein

7. What was Monica's nickname in High school ?
Answer: Big fat goalie

8. Which actor dated Jennifer Aniston on FRIENDS and also in real life ?
Answer: Tate Donovan, who played the character of Joshua Bergin. He was a client of hers at Bloomingdales. They dated for a couple of episodes on the show.

9. Ross and Monica used to take part in an annual Football match. What was it called ?
Answer: Geller-Bowl. This continued until one year Monica broke Ross' nose, and their parents forbade them from ever playing football again.

10. What was Ross's score in SAT ?
Answer: 1250 out of 1600. He tells that he got 1450, when Monica corrects him.

ISYS

The first thing that struck me on entering this swanky and cosmopolitan restaurant at the President Hotel, Jayanagar is the colour Blue and the ambience. It reminded me of the restaurants at New York or LA which are generally shown on Discovery TLC. They serve Continental, Indian, Chinese and Thai cuisines and do a pretty good job in all of them. When we entered, we were promptly shown to a table. At that time, the restaurant was quite empty. It started filling up steadily and after an hour it was full with families, couples, kids and all variety.

We started of with some cocktails. I ordered a Mimosa (Orange juice and Red Wine). For my friend, the waiter suggested a "Jumaroo", which supposedly is the bartender's speciality. Curiosity got the better of us and we placed the order for it and it arrived soon with lots of drama. About 3 waiters came to prepare the drink while some 3 more waiters were around watching apart from the people seated around us. It is made from Orange Juice, Red wine and Blue Curacao. The waiter started off with orange juice in a wide mouthed glass. In another glass, he took the Blue Curacao and lighted it using a lighter. It started burning with a thin and almost invisible flame. He then placed a small pair of tongs over the glass containing orange juice, over which he placed two small inverted glasses. Over this he poured the slightly flaming Blue Curacao such that it gently falls onto the Orange juice without mixing with it. So, you have two layers of juice. The orange juice is at the bottom and the blue curacao on the top. He then took a glass of red wine and poured it over the orange juice + blue curacao from a height. The result - the wine went and sat at the bottom of the glass. So, we now have "Jumaroo" which contains three layers of liquid - blue curacao on top, orange juice in the middle and red wine at the bottom. How much do you think this costs ? Take a guess!!!


After relaxing over our respective cocktails and mocktails, we ordered soup and starters. I had a Gazpacho. Not very great. I have tasted better. Nothing exceptional of the other starters either. They were the regular indian stuff. Along with the starters, we got a complimentary bread basket. The bread was wonderful. Soft and sweet. The bowl in which the bread was served is worth mentioning. The bowl itself looks so eatable. Check out the picture below.


For the main course, Dutta and me shared an american chopsuey, while Dannyboy had a mutton biriyani. Both were quite good. I was quite satisfied with the food and the ambience. I must check out how good their continental stuff is.

One thing that bothered us was the noise. Once the restaurant got filled up, it became quite noisy. The music playing in the background was hardly heard and it did little to make the atmosphere more relaxed. But otherwise it is a nice place. Quite sophisticated and maybe quite ideal for a lovely and cosy date, barring the noise. Other thing that I observed was the wash basin in the restroom, or to be more accurate the absence of it. There was no basin under the tap. Under the tap, there was a slab of marble which was slightly slanted so that the water drains away. It was the first time I saw something of that sort in a restaurant in Bangalore.

Price wise, it was quite worth it. A lunch for three cost us about Rs 1200, with drinks. Quite reasonable by Bangalore standards. You should definitely check out this restaurant sometime.

ISYS, The President hotel, Jayanagar 3rd block, Bangalore.

Kannada Film Names

This came to me as a forward and I must say, its one the hilarious forwards I have received.

After the huge success of kannada film MENTAL MANJA, people suggested the below names for the recent/upcoming kannada films..
Sentimental Seena
Nightout Nagamani
Loose Laila
Kari Basya
Kalla Narayana
Blade Baira
Dabba Rathni
Dicchi Suresha
90 Kumara
Kaddi Kallesha
Mental maja.. Daridra nanja
Tikkalu Timmanna
Tukaali tammanna
Dingchak Daamini

The last one was my favourite =))

Dharwad Trip

There is some kind of thrill in deciding for a trip impromptu. I have always had loads of fun on trips decided like that. My Singapore trip was one such kind(although we decided and booked tickets one month before the actual date of departure, we decided on it, got leave and booked tickets in a day or two... you get the point?). Trip to Dharwad was also one such thing. Decided on it, booked tickets almost instantly and luckily even got confirmed tickets :D

It was supposed to be a two day trip, but eventually turned into a three day one. We left Bangalore on a saturday night and reached Dharwad on Sunday morning. The ongoing journey by train was very pleasant. Surprisingly, the train was quite empty. My friend, lets call him as 'S' and I were up quite late and were generally talking. The train was to reach dharwad at 6.45 am and since we were up quite late, were wondering if we would get up on time to get down at Dharwad. Nothing of that sort happenend though (it would have been fun if that would have happened). Woke up quite early and it was still dark outside. Saw the sunrise after a really loooooooooong time! God knows when was the last time I saw one. A friend (who also happens to be my colleague and boss) had come to receive us at the station and he took us to his home. It was such a pleasure to be out of Bangalore. The life there went on at its own pace and I was totally enjoying the relaxed atmosphere and lifestyle. Not that I hate the lifestyle in Bangalore, but everyone likes change every now and then.

I ate lots of new stuff. There is such a marked difference in the food between Bangalore-Mysore region and Hubli-Dharwad region, the latter being very much influenced by maharashtrian cuisine. Even Chaats also tasted quite different to the ones available in Bangalore. Enjoyed that too. :D

We visited quite a few places around. The first was a village called Saundatti. Its quite famous for the "Yellamma Temple" and also for the devadasi system. Nearby there is this dam on the Malaprabha river. Its built mainly for irrigation purposes. We visited it in the evening, just in time for sunset. Spent more than an hour over there taking photos and soaking up the serene environment around. The other major place we visited was the Magod Falls. Its about 80-100 kilometres from Dharwad. Its quite popular and I realised why after seeing it. The falls are extremely magnificent, cascading down in two stages. I dont know if there is path leading to the waterfall. The actual viewing spot is at a distance from the waterfall. The waterfall is amazing!!! I could not help but stare and be awed by the sheer power of water and the beauty of nature and forests around. The only sound was the roar of the waterfall. The photo below definitely does not do justice to the actual waterfall. It looks even more spectacular in real.

Learning to drive a Car

Yup, that's what I have been trying to do since the last three days. Been planning to learn it from quite sometime. It materialized recently. Through the course of the classes, I realised that I am more scared of hitting someone on the road than on being hit by someone. Ofcourse this is even more compounded by my fear of huge vehicles on the road, the erractic bangalore traffic and the concern that I will cause a traffic jam!! Man, I have issues (read that as lots).

Plus, learning to drive a car apparently makes me very very thirsty!!

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Contest -1

UPDATE : Answers Published....

Starting off with a contest on F.R.I.E.N.D.S trivia (Thanks Enigma, for the idea). Restating the obvious, I ask 10 questions and you tell the answers :O Lets see how much knowledgeable you guys are about F.R.I.E.N.D.S ;)

1. Which actress was originally approached to play the part of "Rachel Green" ?
Answer: Courteney Cox. She was the only one among the cast who was famous before F.R.I.E.N.D.S happened. At that time, she was also in the list of the "Most Beautiful Women". She chose to play Monica because she felt that she somehow related to Monica's character.

2. What is Chandler's middle name ?
Answer: Muriel.

3. Which movie does Rachel claim as her favourite ?
Answer: Dangerous Liaisons.

4. And which is her actual favourite ?
Answer: Weekend at Bernie's.

5. What is the name of Joey's bedtime penguin pal ?
Answer: Hugsy.

6. Who essayed the role of Phoebe/Ursula's stalker ?
Answer: This role was played by David Arquette, who is also Courteney's husband. That episode was telecast in Season 2 or 3.

7. "Well, I relied on a carefully regimented program of denial and wetting the bed". Who said this and when ?
Answer: This is told by Chandler to Rachel, when she asks him how he coped with his parents divorce.

8. Who breaks up with Ross because of his constant whining ?
Answer: Janice. This was in season 5, after Ross's marriage breaks up and he is also on sabattical from work.

9. What does Joey put on his head to scare Chandler during Thanksgiving ?
Answer: He sticks his head into a dead Turkey to scare Chandler, but then his head gets stuck there. Lol!

10. Who used to sing "I am Bea, I drink Tea, Wont you dance around with me ?" ?
Answer: Ross. They actually show Ross and Monica as kids with Ross wearing his mom's hat, playing with Monica's Tea set and singing this song.

General Yak Yak

Looks like I am suffering for a case of "Bloggers Block". I am at a total loss of words to blog about and neither is something interesting happening in my life. :( Maybe someone can tag me. Enigma suggested that I have F.R.I.E.N.D.S contest on my blog. Now, that is an awesome idea!!! I happen to know lots and lots of trivia about it. Infact, couple of my friends refer to me as "F.R.I.E.N.D.S Dictionary". :D So, in my upcoming posts you will definitely have some F.R.I.E.N.D.S related contests.

I recently purchased a copy of "The Fountainhead" by Ayn Rand. Its quite a famous book and many of you may have already read it. I had previously read this book about 6 years ago. I did not like it all at that time. Felt it was too philosophical. Although I got the main flow of the story, I was not able to understand many of the deeper and subtle meanings. Maybe this time I will be able to appreciate and understand what Ayn Rand is conveying. She calls it as "Objectivism".

A long holiday is coming up on account of Diwali. Am going to Hubli-Dharwad along with another friend for a couple of days to meet up with some friends. Hoping to have a great time and ofcourse eat some authentic Dharwad pedha. More on the trip in the upcoming posts.

Wish you all a Happy and Safe Diwali!!

Elements

I had been planning to go to this restaurant right since it came into existence (July 2004), but ended up going only last week. Nice place I must say!! Its on two levels. You can choose to either sit inside (ground floor) or alfresco (terrace). Going by the name, the theme is of the basic five elements. Oh, btw its a continental restaurant.

They have a quite huge and interesting menu. Although I did observe that there were more non-veg dishes than vegetarian. That said, the vegetarian food was quite good. On a scale of 1-5 (5 being the higest) the food can be definitely be rated between 3.5 and 3.75. We started with Cream of Mushroom soup, Spinach Fritters and Garlic Bread. The soup was lovely and the Garlic bread was amazing!!! Can't say the same about Spinach Fritters though. It was quite oily and it had a very prominent greasy after taste. Dont go by its fancy name, its basically a spinach bonda.

For the main course we had Corn and Spinach Steak, Veg Strognoff and a creamy spinach dish, whose name I forgot. All of them were really good. They have a nice collection of desserts too. I had a Lemon Cheese cake and yes, it was equally delicious as it sounds. The only catch was the quantity. The biscuit base and the cheese layers were almost of the same size as opposed to a traditional cheese cake.

Pricewise, it is definitely on the higher side. Might cost you around Rs 250-300 per person. They dont serve alcohol/cocktails. But they do have hookas available in many flavours.

Elements, #197, Nandidurg Road, Bangalore. Ph: 32904513

Blogoversary

Its exactly one year since I started my blog and put up my first post :D Yaay!!! In the past one year, I have put up 45 posts, which comes to 3.75 posts per month. That quite pathetic. Had hoped to put up much more than that, but kya kare... Hopefully you will see my blog updated more frequently.

This reminds me of the FRIENDS episode, where Monica and Chandler are celebrating their first anniversary and monica gets them tickets to Las Vegas. She says that they can start their celebrations on the plane and can so be called as "planeversary". Haa Haa Haa.

Would love to do something similar for my "blogoversary", but due to certain constraints can't go off to Las Vegas, or for that matter even to Goa. So I thought I shall celebrate it "my" way. I will go and have some amazing Chocolate Walnut Brownies at Pizza Port in Koramangala! *drool* They are totally awesome. I had mentioned it here long ago. Anyone wants to join in the celebrations ?

Oh Yeah, the treat is on me!!

Cute Office Assistant

I am talking about the Cat, one of the office assistants in Microsoft Office. I find that cat and its animations totally funny. The way it purrs, sleeps, when it peeks and sees what you are doing, the noise it makes when a hand comes and scratches it on its head. Hee Hee...

I had to really struggle to get that snap of the cat sleeping. It just did not want to go to sleep. :D

Which one among the Office assistants is you favourite ?

F.R.I.E.N.D.S Stuff

I am absolutely crazy about the TV sitcom F.R.I.E.N.D.S. I have seen the episodes so many times that I remember almost all the dialogues. Just a clip/picture from an episode and I will be able to recognize from which episode and season that is from. Infact, couple of my friends call me a talking F.R.I.E.N.D.S dictionary. Its true.

Being such a huge fan, its quite obvious that I like to collect F.R.I.E.N.D.S merchandise. So on my recent trip to Singapore, I came across the original DVD's of F.R.I.E.N.D.S and purchased the Season-5 DVD set. Due to financial reasons and other intended purchases, had to restrict myself to just one set. Else I would have definitely purchased the DVD set of a couple of other seasons too.

I just love to purchase music and film DVD's. Its so tempting. Since I started earning, each time I walk into a music store, I chance upon something that catches my eye and end up buying it. Initially, I was not at all aware that F.R.I.E.N.D.S was available on CD's and DVD's. Once I discovered it, there was nothing to stop me. Not that I brought all of them at once, but have been purchasing and collecting them over time. I have only seen the CD's of F.R.I.E.N.D.S in India and that too the ones from Saregama... not the Warner Bros one. Right now in my collection, I have the complete Seasons of 8, 9 and 10 on CD and Season 5 on DVD. I plan to buy the remaining seasons sometime soon. But I do not want the CD's. I want to purchase the original Warner Bros version DVD's. So when I go abroad the next time, I definitely know what I will be spending money on.. :D

The other F.R.I.E.N.D.S merchandise that I came across was the book "The One With All Ten Years, F.R.I.E.N.D.S ...'TIL THE END" by David Wild. Chanced upon it at Crossword. That too at 60% off. I immediately picked it up. Paid around Rs. 500 for it. Certain people were shocked to hear about it, but then who cares!! I have been wanting to buy somethng of that sort for ages and was not going let the price tag stop me. Its an amazing book. Its got lots and lots of awesome high resolution photographs, trivia, episode guide and interviews with the cast and crew. Its definitely a must have for any F.R.I.E.N.D.S merchandise collector. If you are a F.R.I.E.N.D.S merchandise collector, pick up this book at a bookstore now!!!

De Lekkerbek - Belgian Cafe

De Lekkerbek. This is the name of a Belgian cafe on 80ft Road, Koramangala, Bangalore. A nice, small and cosy place which serves up some great food. The ambience is great too. Looks like not many people are aware of its existence. Just the perfect place to lounge around and enjoy a nice hot cup of coffee. The fact that it is not crowded is a huge attraction for me.

I have visited this place about 3-4 times with friends of mine in the past 1.5 years. Quite less visits compared to how much I like this place. It was my friend Shub, who discovered this place. Since it is about 150 metres from my office, Shub, Pills and myself decide to check it out. All of us liked the ambience and food. Also its quite resonably priced by Bangalore standards!! Oooooohh..Also a very interesting menu! *drool*

I had been there today after a looong time for lunch along with a friend of mine. As usual the food was great. Not at all a noisy place. You can sit and have a decent conversation without being bothered. The place can seat about 20 people at a time. It has been renovated quite recently. The serve breakfast, lunch and dinner. Till now, I have only tried out Pancakes, Waffles, Baked beans on toast, Vegetable grilled sandwich and Minestrone soup. Liked all of them. Especially Waffles, which is served with sugar and Maple syrup. Yum!!! I have not yet tried their pasta. Will be having it the next time I go there. Along with these, they also serve juice, ice-cream, muffins, coffee, crepes and many more interesting things. Do visit the place. It is definitely worth going (over and over again). :D

De Lekkerbek - Belgian Cafe, V3 Trinity, 1020, 1st Floor, 80ft Road, 1st Block, Koramangala, Bangalore. Phone: 91-80-4131 3553.

Time Domain Aliasing Cancellation and Perfect Reconstruction

Hey Wait ! Don't run away !!! This post is not going to delve into any sort of technical details. I can understand your shock at seeing such a techie title on this blog. I too had the exact same reaction to the title the first time I read it. I was like, What the #@$% is this ????

I came across this title when I was studying some DSP concepts recently. I realised how much I had forgotten whatever I had studied during engineering. So, reading through those topics got me thinking about the final year of my engineering, where we had taken up a course in Digital Signal Processing (DSP). It was one of those "hyped" courses, where the pass percentage was not very high. Most were paranoid about such courses and many joined tutions for the same. Thankfully, I was not one of them. I still dont understand the logic of joining tutions during engineering. If the lecturer is bad and the textbook does not make any sense, then its kind of understandable. But the lecturer who handled this course was an amazing chap and there is definitely no dearth of good textbooks on DSP. But still, the students joined. Mainly because in the previous batch of students who had taken up this course, many had flunked. I dont understand why students get so influenced by this trend. Can't they think logically ? I have also observed this trend in subjects like "Fields and Waves", "Control Systems" and "Engineering Graphics". Literally, the entire class used to go for tutions for these subjects.

Coming back to what I had originally planned to put up in this post, the lecturer who taught us this course was an amazing chap. He has handled subjects for us in almost all the semesters and that too on different unrelated topics. From "C Programming" to "Operations Reaserch" to "Microprocessors" to "Digital Signal Processing" to "Fields and Waves". And he did justice to all of them. His notes were very much in demand. I still have his notes in most of the courses he taught. And he never used to read out the notes from a previous year's student's notebook. He used to dictate them by himself. Man, I am a huge fan of this lecturer. I happened to meet him about 4-5 months ago and he is still very much the same. Absolutely no change at all.

Apart from our lecturer, I am also so much reminded of my engineering friends. The masti we used to do in college: bunking classes, not listening in class, last minute preparations for exams, internals, results... etc. DSP was one subject we hated to study. We liked the classes and were in awe of the subject, but hated to study it for the exam. So much of fourier transforms in that course. It can be quite intimidating, with all those sigma and integration signs. We all heaved a huge sigh of relief after we finished the exam, which turned to be quite easy :D

Now that I am studying so many of those concepts again, they all seem so easy. I realised that it takes time for the concepts to sink in and I think three years have been more than sufficeint for the same. I am totally enjoying studying this subject now.

StatCounter

There is this cool site called StatCounter.com. It provides an invisible/visible counter and allows you to analyse and monitor visitors to your webpage/blog in real time. Each time someone access your blog, information like: from which city/IP address your page was accessed, the ISP, referring URL, keywords used to reach your page, etc., will be recorded. Totally amazing... Many of you might already be aware of it.. I came to know recently and I am so amazed and excited about it, like a kid who has been given a new toy :D

The best part is that its Free !!! Check out the site and see for yourself the features they offer.

My Cooking Adventures - Spaghetti

A couple of days back, I was in full josh to cook... So thought of cooking up some spaghetti. I had purchased a packet of spaghetti long time ago but had never got around to cooking it. So armed with it and some vegetables, I proceeded to make an extremely simple version of "Pasta Arabiatta"... And it turned out so well... Man, I managed to impress myself big time !! U must know that when I cook, I am extremely critical of myself. Even if the salt is a little more, I am like, Shit!! I screwed it up!! So, was maha khush when the dish turned out really well.

*Floating on cloud nine thinking about it*

Oookay, coming back to the post, and the recipe.... I must say that this post is very much inspired by foodie blogs like Saffron Hut and Food for Thought... I am so amazed by their passion for blogging about their cooking and ofcourse by the awesome photography...

Here is the recipe.....

Ingredients
(serves 2)

For the sauce :

1. Tomatoes - 5 medium sized ones
2. Onion - 1 huge
3. Mustard seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
4. Jeera seeds - 1/2 teaspoon
5. Extra virgin Olive oil - 2 tablespoons
6. Ginger - I small clove
7. Freshly ground pepper - to taste
8. Oregano - to taste
9. Salt - to taste
10. Sugar - 1/2 teaspoon

For the Pasta :

1. Dry Spaghetti - about 75 strips
2. Extra virgin Olive oil - 1/2 teaspoons
3. Salt - 1 Teaspoon

Method

1. Thoroughly wash the tomatoes and chop them up. No need to chop finely.
2. Chop up onions. Again, no need to chop finely.
3. Chop a small piece of ginger into small pieces. You may use ginger paste instead.
4. Put them all in a blender and blend till a smooth flowing liquidy paste is obtained. Make sure that the tomates and onions are finely blended. Trust me, you will not like the final product, if they are not finely blended (source: previous cooking disaster(s) by Your truly)
5. In a open cooking pan, heat the olive oil. Once heated, added the mustard seeds followed by the jeera seeds.
6. Pour the tomato-onion-ginger liquidy paste made in step 4. Be careful when you do so... Due to the water content in this paste and the hot oil in the pan, there will be lots of hissing, sizzling and splatterting of the paste. And it hurts big time when this hot paste falls on your skin.
7. Continuously keep stirring this mixture. This prevents the paste from splattering. Add salt as per your taste. Continue cooking on a medium flame for about 10-15 mins. It will take more time if the quantity is more (Duh??).
8. In another vessel, take about 2 litres of water. Add a teaspoon of olive oil followed by 1 teaspoon of salt. Bring this to boil.
9. Once the water has boiled, add the required amount of spaghetti. My advice: Dont break the spaghetti.. My belief is that the longer the better!! It will take about 10 mins for the spaghetti to be cooked al-dente. This is very very important.
10. Once the spaghetti is cooked to perfection, drain out the hot water using a strainer. Immediately pour cold water on this. Or else, even better, hlod the spaghetti laden strainer under running cold water. Keep it aside.
11. By this time, even the sauce would have been cooked. Add the freshly ground pepper, very little sugar and oregano to the sauce and cook for a minute or so.. You may also add some tomate sauce/ketchup if you like..
12. Once done, remove from fire and leave it for a minute.
13. In a plate, spread the spaghetti. Pour the sauce prepared in Step 12 over this and serve immediately.

I just reviewed what I have written and sounds like the procedure to carry out a science experiment... Haa Haa.. But I am lazy to go and redo the whole thing.. So Please adjust!!

Overcoming Laziness to Blog

Off late, I have been so lazy to blog..... Dunno why.... When I feel like blogging about something, I dont have an access to a computer.. and by the time I get to one, I would have lost all the enthusiasm to compose the post and blog it!!

Why the hell I have become such a sloth!!! Very Very Bad.....

So, today I overcame that laziness and put up a post!!!

*Pat myself of the back* :D

I have been following up on other blogs very faithfully though. Since last week, the blog that has got me hooked is Sayesha's blog.. Have been reading up the archives and comments and having a total blast!!!

And now I have to think of a title for my post... Dear God!!! I find it very very hard to come up with a decent title (maybe another reason why I feel lazy to put up a post).

Singapore Travel - Day 2 & 3

On the second day, we set off to Sentosa Island after a late breakfast. We caught the MRT and went to Harbour Front Station, from where we went to sentosa by the cable car. The view from the car was absolutely awesome. Got a lovely view of the Singapore harbour, the sky scrapers of Raffles place and Sentosa Island. During the first half of the ride, I was too busy taking the pictures. It was only during the second half that I decided to be selfish and shut off the camera and enjoyed and soaked in the great view :D

Sentosa Island is a nice place. Lots of tourist attractions around, but felt that it is kinda over hyped.. For lunch, we had taken Rava Idli and some pudina chutney made by Shub. I must say, I have never relished eating idlis some much as I did that day. Not that I was very hungry or something, but the idlis and chutney was really good. After the meal, we went to the Dolphin Lagoon at Palawan beach to watch the dolphins. Must say kudos to the trainers and the animals for the amazing show !!! This was followed by an hour of kayaking at Siloso beach which was lots of fun.... After the kayaking experience, we spent time by playing in the beach. I learned how to float :D. Must try improving on that at one of the pools in Bangalore. I was told that the beach was man made. I believe that the sand was imported from New Zealand!!!


Once the night set in, we went to Underwater World. In the entrance there is a touch pool, where you can actually touch some of the fishes. Ended up toughing a catfish. It was not at all slimy as it looks. Quite rough actually. There was also a Sting ray which apparently is safe to touch. When I went to touch it, I got quite scared.. Kept remembering the documentary I saw about sting rays on Animal Planet. Never thought I would feel like this. Anywayz, we continued our tour and saw many amazing underwater creatures like sharks, huge fishes, etc... Infact I dont remember their names...

We stayed over that night on the beach. Late night walks along the beach and much more catching up with friends followed. It was totally great !!!! Slept quite late, but woke up quite early the next morning. The beach was really good in the morning. There was a peacock just roaming around on the beach!!! We then boarded a bus back to the mainland and went to "Little India" for breakfast :D

Later in the evening, we paid a visit to the SunTec City Mall.. Huge place with four huge skyscrapes surrounding it. Managed to sneak upto the top floor of one of those towers and got a sneek peek of the view from the top. And what a view view it was !!!! Totally breath taking... I really envy the offices which are present on the top floor and the people who work there... It would be a great view from your office window... A view to take out all the stress away.. Trust me !! Its a pity could not click a picture. :(


Visited the "Bar None" at the Marriot hotel later.. Nice place and met one nice person ;) Lots of Good music and leg pulling by friends, returned back at around 1 am.. What a nite !!

Food Cravings

Of late, I have developed a craving for a food which is currently not in my reach :(( and that happens to be the food that was served on Singapore Airlines... Contrary to what many people tell about airline food, I totally enjoyed the food that was served on Singapore airlines during my recent travel with them. On the return journey, I fell asleep, due to which I was not able to have the food. And now I have developed a craving for that food..... Not only was the food great on the flight, but even the way it was served was also very appealing.. It was so neatly arranged... and ofcourse, no coments on the person who served it ;)

What do I do ????? How do I satisfy my craving ???

Ofcourse, I cant go ahead with the simplest solution of them all, i.e., travel on singapore airlines to have the food :D, cos u have to pay for the tickets and its not like its 100 bucks!!

Singapore Travel - Day 1

The day started by landing at Changi Airport in Singapore. I was totally awestruck by the structure. It is huge and so well maintained. There are so many flights in and out of Changi everyday. Had to wait for my friends to come and pick us up. So after the formalities we wandered around the airport and were just looking around for sometime. Once my friends arrived, we went to have breakfast. Breakfast and some catching up later, we boarded the MRT to proceed towards Boon Lay station, from where we had to catch a Bus to NTU. My friends are students there and accommodation had been arranged for us over there.

On the MRT, we got a nice view of Singapore. There are mostly apartments. Independent houses as in Bangalore are hardly present. The roads are so well maintained and clean. Infact you could lick them ;) Although I had hardly slept the previous night on the flight, I was in full josh and was in awe of what I was seeing !!! Sleep seemed to be the last thing on my mind.. More catching up on the MRT :)

The rest of the afternoon was spent in cooking lunch, yakkity-yak, eating, catching-up and relaxing, etc..

In the evening, we went to the Central Business District. Its called as Raffles Place and is full of skyscrapers !!! Lots of photos were taken and the eye-candy around was admired ;). We then went to this place called as Boat Quay. There is a river, on the banks of which are lots of restaurants and pubs.. We were feeling quite hungry, so we went to this coffee shop called "The Coffee Bean and Tea Leaf". I ordered a cheese cake and it was total drool material !!! I have never tasted such an amazing cheese cake in Bangalore. Yummy !!!

This was followed by generally walking around the area. We then went to "The Esplanade". Near this there is a small statue of "The Merlion". More photos. Was learning how to use my new Digicam in a complete manual mode, like setting the exposure, shutter speed, etc, etc... We then went hunting for a restaurant to eat dinner. ended up going to "Lau Pa Sat".. Its basically a huge food court. There are not many places serving vegetarian fare... Chanced upon an Indian stall (the only one serving veggie). This was followed by a bite of a Yummy "Banana Split" and a not so yummy "Mango Ice Kachang".



Once dinner was over, we got on the MRT and headed back to NTU for catching up on some much needed sleep.

First Flight Experience

I totally enjoy travelling to new places and exploring it. Last time ended up going to North India and Dalhousie as a part of a trekking camp. This time, myself and Mahesh ended up embarking on a trip to Singapore. Two of my friends, Shub and Danny stay there. It was a total fun experience . Full masti !!!!!

It was first trip outside India and the also first trip on a flight. So was extremely excited about it. We decided on the trip in such a short span of time and almost booked the tickets instantly. I should say that we were quite lucky to find a good offer on the flight tickets. So did not end up spending a huge money on the tickets, which meant that we had more money to spare for sight-seeing !!!

We landed up at the airport quite early in the hope of getting good seats on the plane. We managed to get window seats, but unluckily they were above the wing. So the view was quite restricted. Also, the flight was at night. :( But it was a good experience. I was quite excited about the flight journey and at the same time started feeling quite nervous. Right from the time I was a kid, When I used to hear news about flight crashes, I would internally resolve that I would never travel by flight. But over the course of years that disappeared and was replaced by the excitement of flight travel. But I guess some fear of the plane crashing still remained. To make matters worse, I regularly watch the program "Air-Crash Investigation" on NGC, which I find extremenly interesting. So, after the plane taxied onto the runway and got into position to accelerate down the runway, I started feeling quite nervous and excited at the same time. The plane started accelerating and it was not at all smooth as it looks on TV. The plane was shaking and I could feel the vibrations from the engines... I was like shit !!!! and was internally screaming in my mind. The feeling at that time was quite exhilarating. And then the plane took off and I relaxed after that.. whew !!! Now I feel like laughing at myself recounting that experience.

The rest of the flight was quite uneventful. I had never expected the jerk on landing. Felt little nervous at that moment, but then felt OK once the plane slowed down....

The food was quite good on the plane. Before the food was served, we were handed a menu detailing the food that would be served. What surprised me immensely was that it was in both English and Kannada !!! Now that was something I had never ever expected !!! It was a total surprise. I dont think such a thing is even there on any of the airlines in India. FYI, I travelled by Singapore Airlines :D Plus there ware individual entertainment units (LCD TV + remote) for each passenger. Ended up watching the movie "Rumour Has It" on the flight. I mean, I had to watch the movie, cos it starred Jennifer Aniston, who happens to be one among my favourites :D

Totally enjoyed on the trip. More details in posts to follow.

lol...

I find it so amusing when I get these mails which compares men and women and tell who are better or luckier people... I dont mean to be a sexist, but some of them are so funny... Here are some snippets from a mail I got recently and it tell as to why men are Happier people.

1. Wedding plans take care of themselves.
2. You can wear a white T-shirt to a water park.
3. Car mechanics tell you the truth.
4. You don't have to stop and think of which way to turn a nut on a bolt.
5. People never stare at your chest when you're talking to them. [ :)) ]
6. You get extra credit for the slightest act of thoughtfulness.
7. You almost never have strap problems in public.
8. You only have to shave your face and neck.
9. You have freedom of choice concerning growing a mustache.
10. You can do Christmas shopping for 25 relatives on December 24 in 25 minutes.
11. You don't freak-out when you go to a party and see another man wearing the same shirt, instead you become buddies.

Hee Hee.. :D

Tremors in Bangalore !!!

Yesterday, we felt tremors in office... I did not realize it immediately. Couple of my colleagues told me so and after that was able to feel the steady vibrartions.... Was stunned... Earthquake in Bangalore ?????????? Oh My God !!! Immediately went to rediff.com, ndtv.com and checked if any news was there about it... There was no news....

They were like steady tremors..continuous. I did not know how to react.. and the best part is no one seemed to be bothered.. Everyone was like, Can u feel the vibrartions ??? and then nothing... they went back to their usual routine.. For a second, got little scared. And then thought, what the hell !!! If an earthquake was intended to strike bangalore, there is nothing I could do about it. Its all fate.. Thinking so, got busy with work.. and kinda forgot about it...

Later I came to know that those tremors were not because of an eathquake. Infact the road infront of my office is being completely relaid and a fresh coat of asphalt was being applied.. I feel like a complete fool now.. :D (in my defence, I have never experienced an earthquake/tremors).

My new Digital Camera

Atlast I got to purchase a digital camera !!! I have been wanting to have one from a real long time.... I am so excited about it !!! Infact, gonna go on a photo clicking spree. Check out the pictures below.

I was reading the manual yesterday and its so overwhelming. There are so many features and infact I am such a rookie in photography, that I have no idea what many of them are used for. Guess it will take me a while to figure it out. Right now, content with staring and admiring the camera :D

The best part about the camera, is that it has got a 3-inch LCD display screen and its so compact.. Its like watching a miniature TV.

Cant wait to use it like a pro !!!