I just found heaven in Pune!! :)

As some of you might know and rest will know, I have been missing Thai food a lot since I came back. Enough to have G send me some packet of spices so I could make it when we really missed it bad.

Past couple of times that I went out for dinner, my dad told us about this place called Thai House on Dhole Patil Road. However, we were always headed to some other specific restaurant and never really went to this place.

Last time we drove past the restaurant, we saw that the owners look like natives of Thailand. Neeraj and I went these last Sunday and were pleasantly surprised with decor. Its very much like the Thai restaurants in US. The ornate furniture, the pictures of the Thai King, the small fancy offerings.

The owners are from Bangkok who have lived in India for 6+ years. The menu is purely Thai. No impurities of Malaysian/Singaporean or Desi Chinese :) Neeraj and I drooled over the menu and I could not bring myself to read the entire menu. We were estatic to see Tom Kha Gai, Chicken Satay and Phad Thai. We started with an order of Chicken Satay which was divine..probably the best satay I have had ever.

The portion was sufficient for three people. Neeraj and I, managed to finish it ourselves :) We also ordered Tom Kha Shrimp and were pleasantly surprised to get a fairly big bowl of soup, unlike the "one by two" soups that you get in most Indian restaurants. The soup again was so good. Just the right amount of Lemon grass, galangal and coconut milk.

The next was an order of Panang Chicken, Chicken garlic and pepper, and rice. By then we were really full, but we wanted to try as much food just because we were so thrilled to see all the familiar names.

The chicken garlic and pepper was dry and deep fried. So, although we asked them to pack the panang chicken, we helped ourselves to a bit of it. We realized later that the menu did say that this was a dry dish.

The panang chicken lived up to our expectations and so did the other chicken dish. The rice was wonderful aromatic Jasmine rice.

Neeraj and I also tried the Thai iced tea and a fruit drink for about 25 rs. each. Would pass those, as that can kill your appetite for the food.

The whole meal cost about 450 rs. And this included one to-go dish which we ate the next day.

All in all, we could not wipe the grins off our faces for the next 1 hour :)

Directions:
Go to Dhole Patil Road and go past Ruby Hospital and Hotel Kapila. This is in the strip mall past the first cross-road on the right.

Haunted by Himesh..

Why can't I go to any place without having to hear this guy sing in the exceptional nasal voice?? Why is it that, frustrated with Radio mirchi, I turn off the radio and turn it on again after a couple of hours, to find Himesh songs..

AARGH..is this the only musician around. (If I may call him one). I refuse to believe that this is the only person making music. Play me some Norah Jones, please....The weather demands better music than Zhalak dikhalaja. Please. Please..I miss 96.5 KOIT :(

Bombay Brasserie

Beware all ye hungry souls..A food post coming up..

Went to Bombay Brasserie last night. Finally have started eating chicken and it feels good!! :) um..um..good.
When I got my visa for CSU way back in 2000, thats where my Mavshi took me for dinner. This was a new concept. BB had an unlimited kabab buffet where they charged 350 Rs for non-veg and 250 rs for the veg menu. They served 8 kinds of kababs, biryani, daal + roti and sweet (icecream, gulab jamun, firni and rabdi). They started with the regular kababs (chicken tikka, chicken shahajahani etc), moved on to a couple of seekhs. You could have unlimited portions of each and if you liked somethng, you could have more of a particular kabab. Each and every kind of kabab was unique and tasty. By the time you reached to Biryani, you really did no justice to it.

Last night, we decided to go there after much planning and anticipation, only to find out that they now have the kabab buffet only in the mornings..bummer!!

Although all the kababs are in the menu and cost about 160-180 rs each, you do not really order one of each kind of kabab. We ordered three and each one was awesome (especially the seekh pudina). The main course of chicken gravy etc was okay. Somehow since we were all prepared to dig into a all-meat dinner, it was a little disappointing.

My craving for kababs is not yet satiated and I am sure I will go there on a weekday for lunch!!

Directions to the place: Go up to Ruby Hall Clinic on Dhole Patil road. Drive straight to the end of this road where you will find Mainland China, La Dolce Vita and Bombay Brasserie.

Why can't the English teach their children how to speak???

My all time favorite song. Love it!! The reason I remembered this was because yesterday I was reading something and I came across the word "conceited" and I was like wow!! thats a word I have not heard in a long time. The everyday English that we use is so different than the English we learnt in school. I am not saying that one is good or bad, it hit me that such simple words are not in use..

Well..I guess its okay. I dont want to say "Jolly Good" instead of "cool" or "awesome" :)

Its all in the name_for_u_421

Disclaimer: All names here are imaginary and I just made them up as I wrote this.

With chat and e-communication taking over phone and letter conversations, online identity is getting importance since thats what you are known as in this parallel e-universe. When your parents name you, they give quite some thought in the whole naming process and come up with a name that best suits you, your background etc. However, what is it with screen names like XXX_for_you, or I_am_XXX. Why can't it just be your name or something that is sensible? What are you telling someone when you have a screen name like XXX4U4ever. HUH?? I just dont get it.

That 80s show..

Aashiqui ribbon, kabatuar ja ja dress, Friend cap with the pigeon, Hum aap ke hain kaun purple sareee....

How many of you grimaced at the mention of these outlandish fashions. As I type this, I was watching "Mere rang main" from Maine Pyaar Kiya. Channel surfing is what I do on weekends that Neeraj decides to work. The channel before that was showing a Govinda-MAdhuri Dixit movie. Her outfits made me look away and change the channel before it got too weird. Bhagyashree's furry, ribbony, netty clothes....what were they thinking..what were we thinking trying to ape them. Not much obviously.

What was it with bad hair with false hair implantations, bad colors, worse netted stocking with ribbons and bows and the Pooja Bhatt perm (although I still want curly hair once..for the heck of it:)).

Fortunately for my mother's sensibility, I was saved from committing some of these fashion crimes at that time. But I still remember wearing big dangling hoop earrings with florecent color tights with long tees. My mom had put her foot down when I insisted on buying those pink or orange cycling shorts..God bless her!! Who decided to make cycling shorts a fashion statement?? And what was with the dhoti salwar and balloon skirts? I remember that my mom finally compromised and bought me a skirt which was made in the tee-shirt material which did not 'balloon' as much. I must have worn it once, after which my mom cut it and made two skirts :))

Growing up, since my mom stitched most of our clothes at home (which we thought was uncool at that time), we always had unique clothes. And she tamed the current fashion craze into a more decent outfit...and yet..I did rebel once in a while..I wish I could get my hands on those photos and burn them..

I remember chopping off my hair that was below the waist to get the trendy bangs and shoulder length hair. I still regret it, because I never was able to grow it that long. I went further and got the Demi Moore Ghost cut. (I am not that ashamed of it!!:).

I guess only time will tell which of todays fashions will make us laugh a few years down the line..

For all of us who get 500 forwarded e-mails a week from certain people....... I had to share this:


I must send my thanks to whomever sent me the email about rat crap in the
glue on envelopes because I now have to use a wet sponge with every
envelope that needs sealing. Also, now I have to scrub the top of every
can I open for the same reason.

I no longer have any savings because I gave it to a sick girl
(Penny Brown) who is about to die in the hospital for the
1,387,258th time.

I no longer have any money at all, but that will change once I receive the
$15,000 that Bill Gates/Microsoft and AOL are sending me for participating
in their special e-mail program.

I no longer worry about my soul because I have 363,214 angels looking out
for me, and St. Theresa's novena has granted my every wish.

I no longer eat KFC because their chickens are actually horrible mutant
freaks with no eyes or feathers.

I no longer use cancer-causing deodorants even though I smell like a water
buffalo on a hot day.

Thanks to you, I have learned that my prayers only get answered if I
forward an email to seven of my friends and make a wish within five
minutes.

Because of your concern I no longer drink Coca Cola because it can remove
toilet stains.

I no longer can buy gasoline without taking a man along to watch the car
so a serial killer won't crawl in my back seat when I'm pumping gas.

I no longer drink Pepsi or Dr. Pepper since the people who make these
products are atheists who refuse to put "Under God" on their cans.

I no longer use Saran wrap in the microwave because it causes cancer.

And thanks for letting me know I can't boil a cup water in the microwave
anymore because it will blow up in my face, disfiguring me for life.

I no longer go to shopping malls because someone will drug me with a
perfume sample and rob me.

I no longer shop at Target since they are French and don't support our
American troops or the Salvation Army.

I no longer answer the phone because someone will ask me to dial a number
for which I will get a phone bill with calls to Jamaica, Uganda,
Singapore, and Uzbekistan.

I no longer have any sneakers -- but that will change once I receive my
free replacement pair from Nike.

I no longer buy expensive cookies from Neiman Marcus since I now have
their recipe.

Thanks to you, I can't use anyone's toilet but mine because a big brown
African spider is lurking under the seat to cause me instant death when it
bites my butt.

Thank you too for all the endless advice "Andy Rooney" has given us. I can
live a better life now because he's told us how to fix everything.

And thanks to your great advice, I can't ever pick up $5.00 dropped in the
parking lot because it probably was placed there by a sex molester waiting
underneath my car to grab my leg.

If you don't send this e-mail to at least 144,000 people in the next 7
minutes, a large dove with diarrhea will land on your head at 5:00 PM and
the fleas from 12 camels will infest your arm pit's and crotch, causing
you to grow a hairy hump. I know this will occur because it actually
happened to a friend of my next door neighbor's ex-mother-in-law's second
husband's cousin's beautician's daughter...

What makes you respect a person?

Wealth
Health
character
Personality

Something else?

Updates..

Interior Decoration
Finally its done and they are out!!! It took forever, loads of yelling, followed by indifference to get it done. We deducted the penalty clause and got the polishing done again (for the fourth time) for no extra cost from a differnt guy and they are out.

Eye update
I still see a few cells, I know its weird, but these are are cells you draw in a 11th std biology class. with circles and a dot at the center clustered together, but they are almost gone..

Latest restaurant discovery
'Polka dots' in Aundh. Its a small place, not much of a quiet sit down place, but good variety of food. I tried the stir fry veggies and Neeraj had the lasagna. I think the Italian food must be more popular. Entrees are in the 100-150 range and portions are not too big. But arrive early to find a place. Gets busy later in the evening. Their blue berry creme brulee was sin-sational!! :)

By far, most American tasting authentic Thai food has been at Flags..Plan to go eat Mexican there next.

IBM rocks..Nokia does too
My laptop battery is dying and I happened to get another battery from a new laptop, R series (not the T-series that I have) and boom..its back to 3+ hours :) I love it when things are standard. Nokia does it well too. Nokia chargers for any phone anywhere in the world are same. Unlike LG phones with poor battery life and inconsistent charger that you can't charge unless you have your model specific charger!!!

International cuisine - II

Happened to go shopping at Dorabjee's in Camp yesterday. This is one of those places that has been around forever and yet holds that firangi-parsi charm for the Puneites living in the more maharashtrian areas. Going to Camp used to always be associated like going to downtown. It was a common hang out place and I don't think the charm will ever run out..atleast not for me! :)

Anyways, so the cafe outside Dorabjee is one of those cake-sandwich-pastry places. Yesterday, there was a new place that sells Tibetian Momos. They are like Dim Sum and very tasty and extremely economical. I tried the veggie momo (they have chicken and mutton as well) and it comes with a red chilli garlic sauce.

This was very much like the potstickers you get in US..!! I am totally hooked on it. And, they are steamed, so no calorie problem.

This is turning out to be a food blog!! :) So what?? ;)

If you are missing international cuisine in Pune..

Check out 'Flags' near Inox. It is not that pricey as compared to the food that you get there. We have been to the more authentic Italian places like "La Dolce Vita" and "Merlot", however although the food is awesome, it sure does burn a hole in your pocket.

Flags has a 20 page menu, more like an encyclopedia of foods all over the world! :) The cool thing is though we tried Indonesian, Italian, Thai and Mediterranean food, everything was quite authentic tasting. Have eaten some of that food in the original country and US, I was pleased with what I got.

Phew, relief...Was missing Thai red curry and rice..Now only if the bird flu goes away, so that I can dig into non-veg food as well...

Mango season..

is fast approaching and I am in India after 5 years in summer, and Neeraj after 8. So we are mighty excited about it..Thenga to y'all who will have to live with mangoes from Mexico..:p

On a parallel thought, read Amulya Malladi's 'A Mango Season' if you get a chance.
Amulya Malladi's homepage

7 and 1/2 phere...

Happened to catch a pretty sidey movie called 7 and 1/2 phere on cable last night. Did not watch the whole movie but the last hour was quite interesting. It was inspired a little bit from Bowfinger. Basically the plot is that there is a family which is pretty drammatic which chachas, chachis, dadis, teenaged daughter, precocious brats..the whole nine yards. Juhi Chawla is an aspiring director, who either is short of money or ideas decides to shoot a tv serial based on their life from an apartment in front of this house (of course, without this family knowing). And then the chaos begins.

What struck me was a dialogue towards the end of the movie. She says that movies and tv serials these days can't just have something, it has to be a little more than something, can't just have rich people, you need very rich people, can't just have 7 phere, you need to have 7 and 1/2 pheres!! Everything has to be a little more...

How true!! past couple of weeks, I have had the time to catch up on saas-bahu type serials and yeah..The evil chachi always has to have weird makeup and is forever scheming against the larger-than-life father-in-law and miss goody-two-shoes bahu..Or they can't run into an unexpected person without the camera zooming in on both the characters from atleast 10 different directions!! Do we really see this kind of families and people and situations in real-life? Probably not!

Miss. Ekta Kapur sure has changed TV forever and I better rush to find out If Salonee gets to meet her ailing mother and if Bani's husband will accept her..

Back after a break..

After a short, unexpected break, I am back. Have been lazy for the past 10 days...and that felt um..um..good! Hopefully, back to routine in a couple of days...Will post more later

Interior decorator Woes - part 2

It only keeps on getting interesting!! The last visit from our interior decorator was on the 18th Feb. And like I previously mentioned, they abandoned the work and left. We were debating about whether we want to contact them, get the remaining work done ourselves or just forget about it. The nagging feeling of having been taken for a ride, just would not go away. It is an ugly miserable feeling to know that someone decides that your time and money is worthless. However, Neeraj, fed up with this man and his daughter, decided that we have had enough of him.

Now, kahani main twist!!

My parents also had some work to be done at their place. We had initially heard glowing references about this man from people. So, I make the BIG mistake of recommending him. And needless to say, they are doing a miserable job there as well. However, poetic justice is that my parents (smarter from age and our experience) did not pay them the full amount. For a job that was not done right, which needed to be redone, he had the nerve to charge money for doing the job twice!!

Now, Miss. Decorator lands up to collect money at my parent's place. My mom, tells her to get her father and then discusss. They vanish again for 10 days. Then, today, Mr. decorator calls my parents and says he wants to discuss money affairs and further work to be done. My dad calls me and asks me if he should hold this money hostage and have them contact us for our work. Why not?? We really have given up on him anyways.

As per plan, my dad asks him, about our work and he says it is complete. Thats when my dad says its not and that he should talk to us. Mr. Decorator calls us from there and Neeraj refuses to talk to him saying he is busy (this was because in the past 8 months, not once have they asked if we are free and if they should come over) and I tell him to come on Saturday. He wants to know why we feel that the work is abandoned when he thinks that he has completed everything!!!

I told him that I have a two page list of all the things not complete. He acts shocked..offended even..and says that he thinks there is not a single thing incomplete. I tell him, how does he decide that when no one has visited the site for almost a month! He says that communication should be two way and the fact that he did not even come to COLLECT MONEY is proof. I tell him, that can be interpreted in two ways. And please call us on Saturday and then visit, (almost tempted to ask if I should give him the address in case he has forgotten!!) and to bring darling daughther with him!!!! That should be interesting ...

So, then he tells my father that he is not intersted in doing any more work for them and that they should ask their conscience and then pay him his dues. My dad reiterates that he should complete the work and then collect the money. Isn't my daddy the best?? :)

Patriotism...or something like it.

I woke up today morning to a car speeding past our house loudly playing "Rubaruu" from Rang de basanti. I was like "what the #%$^?!". Whooshing past houses disturbing people with loud music was all that this song meant to them. Strange huh? The same song that some one wrote in their movie review, they could not listen to the song after having seen the movie..Are we taking this whole patriotism thing too seriously, I mean, a few weeks ago, some one was playing "jhalak dikhlaka" and I was amused and thats all..

TIME..
Ketaki Karpe-Kolgaonkar's post almost contradicts what I feel right now. Its like time has come to a stand still. Wish I could just fast forward a few months or atleast a few weeks...

That little voice inside you...

thats brutally honest and is hard to ignore. And yet, our interior decorator & architect seem to have successfully managed to block out any thing called as conscience.

Dont want to mention any names publicly, but if you are in Pune and want to get any interior done, and dont want to get an headache the size on mount Everest, then send me a message, I might give you their names. If you have been recommended a father-daughter pair, I could confirm if its them...

Even with a penalty clause of 3000 rs per week for every beyond 10th feb, (a step we were forced to take for work which was not done even in the middle of Feb, to be completed on 15th DEC!!), they have not bothered to visit the 'site' for over two weeks and frankly I think we have paid them more than enough to pay their fees and cover any unpaid expenses. So this father-daughter pair decide to disappear and leave work (some of which is crappy) unfinished.

IS there no thing such as conscience which does not allow you cheat people?? Is it so easy to ignore that little voice? Am I wrong in wanting to call them up and yell at them? Am I not being silly if I just let go to avoid any confrontations?????

Heres to a comeback ...again....

My dear cousin Radzee has blogged after a year...hopefully the next blog will come sooner..:p

Cooking in my own house..

People who know me, know I am not fond of the traditional poli-bhaji kind of cooking. Ask me to make Chicken Marsala or gobi manchurian or any kind of rice dishes and I am always up for it. However, since May 9th 2005, I have not really cooked in a kitchen I can call my own with my own utensils.

Finally the American pots and pans are out and I thoroughly enjoyed making and then eating mixed veggies bhaji and poli (not made by me!). Neeraj made a dish we customized back in US inspired by one of those fake-meat restaurants. If you love mushrooms, here it is:

Wash mushrooms and if you have the patience make cut the stem as well as the bulb into fours keeping them joint at the center. If not, just chop the entire mushroom in fours.
Chop lots of garlic into small pieces, the costco frozen, chopped garlic does not do this justice.)

Heat a little oil and add half of garlic to it. If you like the taste of burnt garlic, then you can brown it or just make it pink and then add lots of soya sauce to it. Let it get thick and start to caramalize. Then add mushrooms. They will start to sweat quite quickly and the soya sauce will stick the mushrooms.

Once the mushrooms look a little done, (depending on how soft you like them, I like them crunchy) Add the rest of the garlic, give it one toss and done! Serve hot with a sprig of basil at the top!

Yummm....