Month: April 2013

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Try out and learn ;)

These days, I look out for different restaurants in the vicinity of our house. I check out the menu and the reviews on the Food sites before planning a visit.

Recently, we visited a Punjabi restaurant which was given a very good rating on a Food site. The reviews were also pretty decent. When we reached the place, we were happy with the ambiance of the restaurant. We ordered one starter and Chicken Biryani. The starter was served nearly 15 minutes later. It wasn’t cooked well and didn’t taste good. The quantity was quite a lot, but how does the quantity matter when the taste is not good. We didn’t say anything. We waited for the next dish in our order i.e. Biryani. To our horror, this one also turned out to be very bad at taste. S was very annoyed. He reported the problem to the manager. The manager realized it was their mistake. He said he wouldn’t charge for the Biryani and insisted on ordering something else. Since we already had most of the Biryani, we ordered a dessert instead of main course. The dessert that we asked for was not available, and was replaced with something else without our consent. S asked him how he would react if put in a similar situation. He was helpless and was giving number of excuses for the not getting the ordered dish. Anyways, we had it and left from the place with a promise that we’d never visit that place again. I wonder how did the restaurant get such a good rating on the Food sites.

Today, we visited a restaurant popular for Pizzas. This one was also given a good rating. Hence, we thought we’d go for lunch there. The ambiance looked pretty decent. We thought the food would also be ok. We ordered one starter and a pizza. The starter didn’t taste that good. The pizza was not good either. Though it looked fine, it tasted as though it was burnt. When we reported this to the manager, he said that the dish was made that way. Huh! We quickly finished off everything as we were really hungry and left from there. The place was too expensive too for the kind of food they provided. Trying out new restaurants can be too expensive at times, especially when the food is not worth the money you pay. But, that doesn’t mean you stop trying out. You never know you might get lucky some day! 😀

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Italian food for a change!

Yesterday, the weather was too hot. Hence, S and I didn’t go out anywhere during the day despite it being a Sunday.

In the evening, I recollected that I had to check out the menu of an Italian restaurant. When we had last been somewhere close to the restaurant and had seen it from a distance, we were curious about how the restaurant is and whether we could pay a visit there sometime. It came to my mind before dinner and I started checking the menu. The menu seemed pretty decent. They offered some good starters and pizzas. I thought, “Good! We can sure go there sometime soon”. And then S said, “If it is decent, let’s go there today for dinner”. And, I had no problem with it.

We booked a table at the restaurant – “Via Milano”. We got ready soon and reached there. The restaurant was situated on the top floor with a roof which was open from the sides. We were given a table which was situated in the center of the restaurant which was elevated. A nice cool breeze was blowing and S was so happy that we visited that place. He was feeling too hot in the house and really wanted to go out for sometime. He was enjoying the breeze so much that he was more silent than usual. He was happily feeling the breeze and getting mesmerized. Hehe 🙂

We ordered for a starter, some soft drinks and a pizza. The starter was good. The pizza was also good. It had a super-thin crust. It was soft and was nicely topped with chicken and pineapple. We enjoyed the pizza, but there was one problem. By the time we finished half portion of it, it had turned too cold and chewy. It would have been better if they served it hot. The service was quite good. But, I found a few flaws. We were sitting in a Non-Smoking area and the people besides us wanted to smoke. The waiter asked us whether we were ok with it. I told him that we were almost done and they can after we leave. But, to our disappointment, they were allowed to smoke in the Non-Smoking area in our presence. It was a little annoying as I have a problem with the smoke, but we ignored it. We quickly finished the billing and left from the place.

Overall, it was a decent experience, as far as the food was concerned. The ambience was nice and refreshing too, but service and hospitality could have been better.

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Tea-time reminiscence

Yesterday, I had green tea in the evening after my afternoon nap. I must tell you that it is super-refreshing. It brings back energy within few minutes after you have it. After having the first sip of tea, I went back in time. I started thinking of the lovely moments I spent in the evenings with some good friends I made at my workplace.

In my 6 years of work-life, I have been very fortunate. I have made the best of friends and have shared some lovely moments with them. And you know what, the special person of my life was also one of them. Yes, S and I worked in the same organisation for quite sometime. I loved the little conversations we had while having tea even when we were just friends.

Apart from S, I made a lot of other friends in office. No matter how much we were tied-up with our work, we made it a point to meet up during tea-time. The intention was not only to have some refreshing tea and munch upon snacks to satiate our hunger, but also to have little conversations. These conversations gave us a lot of reasons to smile, laugh and ponder over things related to our lives. I loved listening to the funny kid-stories narrated by my mommy friends, the marital-life dramatic stories narrated by newly-wed friends, work-related serious stories narrated by the tense friends, team-related fun stories narrated by friends(associated with a team), and many more. I remember each one of those friends as they have made a mark in my life by their presence at some point of time.

Today, I feel that I’ve been blessed to find wonderful people at my work-place. As the weekend approaches, I am sure you have already made some nice plans to enjoy it to the best. Happy Ugadi friends! Will pray that this year brings a lot of happiness and prosperity in your lives.

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Summer bliss!

Little things that give a blissful feeling during these hot summer days –

1. A breeze making its way into the house through the windows.
2. Washing face with some cold water especially after spending sometime in front of the kitchen stove.
3. Sitting beneath the fan after doing some household work.
4. Going out for walks in the evenings when it is nice and breezy.
5. Visiting the Ice-cream parlor to have one’s favorite ice-cream.
6. Having the fruit of the season – “Mango” in the form of Aamras or just like that.
7. Having coconut water after a tiring journey.
8. Waking up early and listening to sounds of the birds.
9. Drinking a glass of water just after waking up in the morning.

And the best of all –
10. Listening to mama’s stories about her best attempts to keep one of the scariest creatures of the world i.e. Lizards at bay 😉 😀