Got two new badges and I am absolutely in love with them. Thanks IndiBlogger !
This one is for Save Tree : Go 100 % Paperless At Workplace
This one is for Origin Of A Beautiful Smile 🙂
SKYHY – A rooftop restaurant
First of all thanks to Zomato for the complimentary pass. 🙂
Situated on 5th floor of the building this is a new entry in the list of rooftop restaurants. The restaurant occupies two floors of the building (4th and 5th ) and can be called a full time entertainment zone for both kids and adults. They have a bowling area, two huge screens showing matches on 4th and 5th floor, music and ample seating area to enjoy the fresh breeze.
We went for Sunday dinner and chose to sit on the top most place which gave a nice view of the city lights. I had read on Zomato about the live music but yesterday there was none instead some really loud music playing on speakers.
Now the food! The menu has a variety of Chinese, Indian and Continental cuisine. We ordered for a Ginger Ale and a Mint Melon with Mushroom Tacos for starters. Mushroom Tacos were basically cheese stuffed mushroom with a crispy layer outside served with fries and mayonnaise. I liked the dish however wished it could have been served hot. For main course we ordered a veg cutlet sizzler and penne pasta in arrabiata sauce. The veg cutlet for the sizzler was nice, it had spicy Indian flavours. The pasta was good. Overall enjoyed the food. The bill was around Rs 1200 including taxes for two people.
With good ambiance and food the only thing this place lacks is service. The service was too slow and had almost killed our appetite. We had to ask twice for water as well. If the service quality is improved this can be a regular chill out place in Gachibowli.
Jewel of Nizam – The Golconda Hotel
This restaurant was on my list from a long time and finally today we made it here for lunch.
The restaurant truly lives upto its name – Jewel of Nizam. The ambiance of the restaurant is absolutely royal. The navy blue arm chairs and the fine silver bone china cutlery sets the mood that we are dinning inside some palace. I was in love with the glasses and the specially crafted dinner plates they had.
We chose for a set lunch menu . It was designed to give a glimpse of Hyderabadi cusine at one go. There were three set menus to choose from : Non-vegetarian with prawan, non-vegetarian and a vegetarian menu. We chose one vegetarian and other non-vegetarian menu. The set menu primarily have a welcome drink, assorted melons, shorba, three types of starters, five types of main course dishes, choice of bread, biryani, haleem and two desserts.
I personally loved the starters part, the malai kebab was awesome. The shorba and biryani was ok not that great. Kewati dal was nice. For desserts we had kaddu ka halwa and sevai kheer – both were nice.
Finally the price for two was :Rs 3000 approximately. Although bit expensive place but we enjoyed our visit.
Change Begins At Home
This advertisement by Ariel is surely a great initiative of telling the society that a man and a woman are equal in every respect and household responsibilities for both are equal too. When I read the statistics of how our country thinks a women or a girl should behave, its horrific but unfortunately true till today.
Thank god my childhood and now my married life both are different ! Or I say we as children have learnt from our parents that how a beautiful home works. Both my parents were working , so there always used to be paucity of time of how to manage the job , the kids and household work. I must say my parents were super humans. How beautifully they had divided the household work and taken care of me and my younger brother is a wonderful example of how couples should be.
I am lucky to have a husband like my father. I have not known cooking till I got married and I don’t know laundry till now. The urge to learn new dishes have made me a better cook than my husband but he is still better in managing laundry. So just like my parents, both of us are working too and we too have very limited time in finishing this household work. So to finish up quickly and spend quality time with each other , I cook and he does the home laundry. He knows how to sort the cloths, which cloths to be washed together and what not to be washed together and bla bla bla everything related to laundry. Sometimes I feel may be washing machine is his first love ;-). Well I love the fact that he takes care of my cloths so well but the only disappointment comes when he takes such a good care of my cloths that I do not get a reason to shop more often. A shopaholic girl like me will understand this feeling better. Jokes apart ! Whenever I tell our story of how we save on time to my friends or relatives, most of them are in a state ofshock ! They don’t believe me or say I am making up stuff.
People should understand that gone are those days when women used to be at home doing all household chores . They work too. Then it surely becomes a man’s responsibility to share the household chores with her. It’s not non-manly to do laundry, it about an understanding husband who helps his wife with her work. So my only advice to the married men will be : help your wife, show some love and extra love will come your way for sure ! It’s time to change and not let the prejudices pass on to our next generation.
I am joining the Ariel #ShareTheLoad campaign at BlogAdda and blogging about the prejudice related to household chores being passed on to the next generation.
Soups and Salads – A Healthy Affair
Initially I was reluctant to visit this place. My doubt was how can I fill my stomach with just soups and salads. That’s not me. I prefer all three meals like a king !
So one day when I decided to follow a strict diet regime but a hunger pang had hit on me, I decided to visit Soups and Salads and satisfy my appetite. To feel less guilty of fact that I am going to breach the diet , I just ordered for a Tandoori Chicken Salad and a Green Tea.
A big bowl of salad came to me with a cup of green tea! I started with my fork and spoon and lifted my head only when the bowl of salad was over. A salad , so tasty !
So now on with or without any diet regime on my mind, I love visiting this place. On my next visit I tried the brown rice with vegetables. It was yummy! The brown rice was cooked perfectly.
The dishes they serve are healthy, tasty and obviously stomach filling. There are many options beside salads and soups like wraps, pastas etc.
The restaurant is compact but nice. You can see some cooking books placed at one corner of the restaurant. I have seen people enjoying their food and working on laptop simultaneously. It’s a nice place to chill out and avoid extra calories. One more plus will be the price, the restaurant is very economical. The staff is friendly.
Little Italy – Restaurant Review
Little Italy is a fine dining Italian restaurant in Hyderabad having several outlets in Hyderabad. Although it is a vegetarian restaurant but I can bet that non-vegetarians will also have a great time here. I recently visited their Hitech City outlet for lunch and opted for lunch buffet. They have a ala-carte menu too.
First of all, the ambiance of the restaurant is simple yet classy and comfortable. I preferred to get my seat near the huge glass windows which ensure privacy and gave a great view of the high -rise handsome buildings of hitech city and the busy traffic flow.
Now coming to the most essential, the food ! One word to summarise the entire buffet will be “FANTASTIC”. Little Italy’s lunch buffet was basically a pre-set menu where one get to choose a soup,a starter, a thin crust mini pizza, a pasta / risotto / lasagna. They serve unlimited quantity of fresh juice on table , there is a live counter for salads of your choice and my favourite counter was of various dips, breads and nachos. Oh! a counter for unlimited awesome desserts too !
So for my lunch buffet I took Creamy Tomato soup and Tomato Bruschetta which was crispy and perfectly oregano flavoured. I tasted both the fresh juices – watermelon and the other was mint flavoured. Then I chose Nawabi Pizza which was a blend of Italian cusine with Indian spices and Risotto. In between I took a round of nachos and breads with different dips like salsa , hummus , mint etc. Finally the dessert and my favourite on that day was mango cheese cake and eggless caramel custard. The dessert was amazing and I could not stop myself from taking the second serving.
The lunch at Little Italy was surely a delight and I am going to visit this place again. The staff was very prompt and courteous. The service was wonderful and beyond expectation. The lunch buffet is around Rs 500 on weekdays and Rs 700 for sunday brunch which makes the whole affair a more worthy deal. The restaurant is surely not overpriced for the quality of food it serves.
I will recommend this place who wants to savour some Italian dishes at an affordable price in Hyderabad.
Things I Did In Mumbai !
Dreams do come true! That’s what I have always believe in and this is what happens with me. Not boasting my luck just sharing a spirit of mini happiness. Happiness of a childhood dream coming true although partially true.
Oh yes! Finally been to Mumbai and saw my favourite SRK’s home: “Mannat”. Mission accomplished halfway. Now the target is meeting him in person and I will soon achieve this too.
I was in Mumbai for a day only. It’s too short time to visit this wonderful city. People like me who are visiting Mumbai for first time, do remember the travelling time is too long and you have to cover a long roads to explore the city. So my suggestion will be start as early as you can. I started my day with Siddhivinayak Temple, then Mahalakshmi Temple and thereafter Haji Ali Dargah.
After my visit to Haji Ali Dargah, it was almost noon and the sun was shining bright. So I decided to sit inside the car and take a tour of our favourite flimstar bunglows in Mumbai. Obviously I started with Mannat. I wish I could enter any one of those huge mansions or get a glimpse of anyone. But unfortunately neither happened.
Thereafter, I moved towards the famous Juhu Beach which was crowded more than my expectations. I clicked few pictures and had some vada pav from street vendors. I will tell my fellow travelers please check the spice level. I had one ice cream and a bottle of water to control the hotness of a single vada pav! Thereafter I moved to Colaba Street. A must visit for the shopaholics. I just bought and bought till I felt hungry and then went on to enjoy a pasta and a drink at Leopold Café.
After regaining myself, I moved to visit the iconic Gateway of India and a spectacular view of Taj Mahal hotel from there. The glamour and aura with which the Taj stands there is spectacular. The night view with glittering lights is amazing. There are many horse driven caravans on the roads for those who want to enjoy it differently. But I preferred to move towards Nariman Point and Marine Drive. When I reached at Marine drive the only wish was to hold those cold breeze from the sea and the passing time. Unfortunately none of them waits for anyone! From there it was almost 11 pm in the night and thank god it’s Mumbai so I did not worry about my dinner and went to Trishna – another gem in restaurant category. I will suggest to try the prawn biryani there. I was staying near airport and thus while cruising the city entire day, I had crossed the recent Bandra Worli Sea link. It’s a testimony of manmade wonders. Finally, I ended my marathon of Mumbai darshan with a hope to visit this city again and meet SRK.
The Bestseller She Wrote : Book Review
My Copy Of “The Bestseller She Wrote” from Blogaada
This was my first book of Ravi Subramanian. Before starting with the book, I thought it will be like any other new generation novel, very much like the character Shreya in the beginning! Fortunately, I was completely wrong. The moment I started reading the book, I got glued to it and could not put it down. Mr. Ravi Subramanian, your book was surely “UNPUTDOWNABLE”! There was a kind of addiction till I completed with the entire story. Although a book of approximately 400 pages but it is a very quick read because of the story and language used by the author.
The plot primarily revolves around Aditya, a mid-aged banker cum bestseller author who has a wife (Maya), a six-year old son (Aryan) and a lover (Shreya). The story grows when a happy family man Aditya falls in love with Shreya and betrays his wife Maya and son Aryan. Shreya on the other hand is only ambitious of getting her book published and be in the list of bestseller author. How the life of each character intersect each other and rolls up and down in the storyline is very interesting!
I am not a much of fiction lover but this story was so close to a modern living that anyone can relate to and believe that this is very much possible in today’s time. Further some incidents from the life of real time bestseller authors like Chetan Bhagat makes the character of Aditya more real and creates an element of fun as well.
Things that I liked about the book were: a) The way the author has built up each character in the book and their conversations, it seems the plot was going in front of me and I can see it, I can feel it! b) Secondly, the book is written in very simple language which made the story more real and enjoyable; c) The twist and turn in the story were given at suitable pace. The moment the reader starts making a prediction, there is a turn! I simply loved it. d) The story is so well knit that even a smaller incident is connected to something big in the end. Like the handwritten editing of the manuscript by Shreya initially was a negligible incident but later when she used it for her advantage was an awesome come back in this thriller. Similarly, scribbling on the book and how Aditya connect all the dots in the plot from the hint etc. e) The author has done a brilliant work in bringing out the fact that how a common situation can be perceived differently by two person. The debate between whether a book is a product and has to be marketed like a commodity or a book is a matter of personal interest was a nice read.
However there were few things that I did not like while reading the book like a) the brand name of each and everything the characters are eating or wearing or somehow related in their daily life. The way they do things made it clear that they have an elite lifestyle. Such unnecessary detail kills the story. b) I wanted to know something more about Maya and Aryan who mattered the most to Aditya and eventually to me as well.
By the end of the story, I was in love with the book! It was a great read over the weekend. I will recommend this book to my fellow readers as well and to those who are yet to try the new budding Indian authors.
I would also like to thank Blogadda to give me the opportunity to read and review this book.
PS : I am reviewing ‘The Bestseller She Wrote’ by Ravi Subramanian as a part of the biggest Book Review Program for Indian Bloggers. Participate now to get free books!
Kerala : From Hills To Sea
Kerala was on my travel list from a long time and finally we managed to tick mark the place partially by covering Munnar, Thekkady , Alleppey Backwaters and Kochi.
Kerala is known for its beautiful landscape ranging from hills to backwaters to sea and no doubt it truly lives to its title – “Gods Own Country”. Everything is so beautiful and pure that can hardly be found anywhere else in this world. Far away from noisy sound and smokey air, the pristine land of Kerala brings you close to nature.
We started our 5 day trip from Hyderabad to Kochi. The plan was to reach Kochi by air and then directly head towards Munnar – the Tea Capital of India. It took us around 3-4 hours to drive from Kochi airport to Munnar. On our way to Munnar , we saw the majestic Cheeyappara Waterfalls. Thereafter we visited a spice plantation garden and saw how the famous Indian spices are actually grown and processed. It was a great experience ! By this time it was already dark and we retired to our homestay.
CHEEYAPPARA WATERFALL
Next day we had planned for sightseeing in Munnar and nearby. The specialty of Munnar is its lush green Tea Garden. The first sight of tea garden was mesmerizing! It was an amazing amalgamation of nature and man’s hard work. As we ascended over the hills the view was getting better to best.The lush green tea garden , the blue sky and the white mist in between was a heavenly experience. There are many water dams, water falls, rose garden on the way to top of the hill where we stopped and clicked hundreds of pictures. My best stop was at Tata Tea Museum which showed us a documentary of Munnar’s history and processing of Tea (from leaves to tea packets). I bought variety of green tea and black tea from the museum shop. This brought an unwilling end to our Munnar visit.
Tea Garden View
Tea Garden View
View From Hill Top
Third day, our next destination was Thekkady. Thekkady is known for Periyar lake and national forest. After a 3 hours drive through the tea garden and thick green forest we reached Thekkady. There are many spice plantation garden on the way. We had only one day in Thekkady, so we did the famous Periyar Lake Boating, an Elephant Ride, few hours of relaxing Ayurvedic Spa at Shantigiri and an evening show of Kathakali.
Periyar Lake
Elephant Ride
Kathakali Performance
On fouth day, we started for our houseboat stay at Alleppey Backwaters. Alleppey is around 4 hours drive from Thekkady. We spent an entire day on houseboat which was an unique and memorable experience. The boat did a cruise in backwaters of Alleppey where we could see the natural flora and fauna and city settlement on the banks. Looking at people using boat instead of car and bike for their day to day activities was an experience of a kind. In houseboat we were served the traditional Kerala food.
Alleppey Backwater and Houseboat
Alleppey Beach
The final day was for Kochi. It took us around 2 hours to reach Kochi from Alleppey. In Kochi we visited the Dutch Palace , Jewish Synagogue, the Chinese Fishing Nets at Kochi Beach, St. Francis Church and ended our day with the sunset at Marine Drive.
In Front of St. Francis Church
Sunset at Marine Drive
With these beautiful experiences we ended our trip to Kerala. The memories we made there will be cherished by us forever.
Once you have traveled, the voyage never ends.
But is played out over and over again in the quietest chamber.
The mind can never break off from the journey
–Pat Conray
Origin Of A Beautiful Smile :)
After marriage it took me few weeks to realise how true my grandma’s age old theory was; the way to man’s heart is through his stomach. So in order to win my man’s heart I decided its time I should conquer the kitchen of my house and prepare some yummy dishes. Things were not smooth at all for me. I had learnt the art of multi tasking with my office work, shopping online, eating and listening music but multi tasking with a hot pan of oil, knife, pouring so many ingredients in a particular sequence was surely a nightmare! Felt like some rocket science to me! Plus the paucity of time to cook those dream recipes after office and balance between not to gain weight by eating those yummy recipes had almost taken away the charm from me to enter my kitchen and cook.
One day I shared my disappointment with my mother that how things are getting difficult and confusing for me. I am loosing control over my kitchen and I hate it. Then there comes a priceless advice from her of how to maintain my mental peace and apply the grandma’s age old theory into this modern time. Mommies are always great and a rescue in such hard time. She introduced me to the quick, easy and lip smacking range of McCain products. I bought my first packet of potato smiles and from there started the journey of me being a very innovative and super cook in the family. For me the icing was that I can bake and eat McCain, no need to fry. That means no oil, no weight gain, just fat free delicious snack ready in 3 minutes. Moreover the smile on the face of my family members was simply an awesome feeling. Its a bundle of joy.
I was back to my kitchen conquering it again with a higher zeal. My husband was already impressed. Target had been achieved : winning the heart of my man. I can testify now that my grandma’s age old theory was true and my super mom is always a saviour for me.
I have now started innovating with McCain products. Few of my favourite innovations have been Allu Chat, Wraps, Sandwitches, Burgers and much more. Guests in the house are no more trouble now because I always have a pack of McCain with me. Easy storage and quick to make has made it all the more useful to me.
Thanks McCain for making us smile everyday and enjoy delicious snacks in the comfort of our home. So my dear friends now we know that a beautiful smile originates from a happy stomach. 🙂
McCain : Lets Put A Smile On That Face. Source: McCain India Website
ANYTIME GUP-SHUPS 