Tales of travel and food with a touch of spice
Hey, all ye Food Bloggers! Am sure you would understand how awesome it feels to be featured on a Website as ”FOOD BLOG OF THE DAY ”!Yes Yes, I have been featured as Today’s Food Blog of the Day for my post on Shahi Khichadi! I have also earned a Badge which is now proudly displayed on my blog!
Clink Clink! Champagne and Cake, please!
Thank you Team Foodista for this amazing honour!
I think I am soon going to get myself an iPad, why ?
There’s so many random thoughts that vanish by the time I get home and I can’t really seem to hang to all those different bits of paper on which I scribble stuff…I think I just wiped my face on a blog post that will never see the light of the day …sigh…
For the cute angel that gurgled at me while I walked past today , you made me smile and helped me put back my dwindling faith in the general good and humanity in general, god bless xx
After a rather disturbed few days ,owing to many things ,especially knowing I am miles away from my parents and my dad is just recovering from a surgery , I have been living sort of underground.
I felt as if what I was doing was weird in a way, as if , almost mechanical.
Maybe some higher power came into play …. today was exceptionally sunny ,though the weather is swiftly moving towards an early Autumn and it’s getting cooler on the whole, we enjoyed some glorious sunlight for the better part of the day.
I went for a stroll with a shopping list but turned around half way and walked to the common instead, luck I did , I had a this amazing feeling of calm like a warm blanket wrap itself around me .
I left as if this massive weight had lifted off my mind and I could think straight again
The sunlight was shining through beautiful white, fluffy clouds and I saw this airplane fly past,I kept watching till it became a tiny little speck in the sky and eventually was swallowed up by time and I sent hugs to my daddy and my loved ones, though I cannot visit them but am sure my love has reached them via some secret angels flying alongside that plane….sighh….
Didn’t want this blog post to languish in my drafts folders , I wrote it on the day I saw the Olympic Flame at Ealing Broadway- 24th July 2012 Tuesday ,ALSO wanted to post pcitures of the 2 Olympic events and blog about the excitement surrounding the Games,so had to start somewhere……
I was relatively unaffected by all the BUZZ surrounding the Games,almost immune in a way , but I guess what turned things around almost 360 degrees inside my brain was watching the Olympic Flame along with a large crowd ….
On the 23rd Monday the flame was set to pass by through Wimbledon , I did manage to just catch a glimpse and was rather disappointed as the crowds moved off and I didn’t get any pictures. So with steely determination and a purpose in mind I set off the next day to see the flame near Ealing Broadway .
I set off early, the weather was unusually amazing , the sun was shining brightly ,in fact a bit too bright for me as I spent over 2 hours toasting under the direct heat just to watch the flame pass by .
But if ever there is a shared experience with a bunch of strangers that I shall cherish then it is this … and of course in the next 2 days am off to see some events at 2 different venues , but this particular experience makes me go all quite and i can replay the scenes in my mind over and over again ….
The crowds had just begun to get in and throng the sidewalks leading to a public park close to the Ealing Broadway station, I stood at one such sidewalk , thanking my stars that I had arrived early and had found space to lean against a railing . I had for company a primary school teacher who was very nice and chatty (thank god !)and a rather grumpy looking lady on my right who wasn’t too pleased by my arrival as she had to ”make space ” for me on the railing , sigh, it takes all types to make the world now doesn’t it ?
No sooner had I settled and Ms.Teacher and me were discussing the current political situation , that there was a large influx of crowds , the Sun decided to turn up the heat by several notches and a large group of police men and women started patrolling the streets .
The first sign that the torch bearers were to arrive ! yay !
An old lady then came and I quickly helped her squeeze in next to me (on my right of course 😉 !!!) , she was very , very ,well, very chatty 😉 but very sweet all the same, then came along 2 boys aged 9 and 6 ,extremely fidgety and with their old aunt and decided that Ms.Tecaher and me were perfect people to chat with , so as they enlightened us about how the world appears to them and their opinion about almost anything , we started taking it all in.
Vendors hopeful of selling BG flags, balloons and all other bits and bobs were trying their best to tempt their wares .
At this point I really thought I would faint and was so grateful for The Metro I had picked up earlier at the tube station , it was my cap and was my shield from the Sun and it’s persistent HOT HOT HOT presence.
Loads of cars and buses kept passing by the road making me wonder how the cops would manage the crowds and the other vehicles of the sponsors that were to pass by as they headed towards the public park for the evening celebrations – a mass public party so to speak !
Let me count down the minutes to when the flame actually arrived by way of sharing the pictures I clicked …
It is an event that celebrates human spirit and brings together the world like no other and what better way to make bring closer to the people of GB, than giving us all a chance to be a part of the Games if only as spectators to watch the flame pass us by ….For this chance am ever so grateful and I know this is a memory I shall cherish forever and share with all my loved ones as I have shared with you
I love reading and I love spending time in bookstores curled up in a comfy chair ,with the smell of new books all round and slipping away in my mind on crazy adventures to faraway places or chasing killers through the pages of a racy thriller.Whatever your genre’ of books , a visit to the historic Daunt Bookstore in London at Marylebone is a MUST!
Why ?
Well ,for one ,it’s inside an old Victorian building and though set now amidst a lot of modern shops around in the heart of Central London , one step inside and you are instantly inside a different world.
When you walk into the main area inside also where one can see a glass stained window and the steps leading to the basement and to the mezzanine sort of area and if you don’t fall in love with this book store then you are probably not one of the crazy book lovers that exist !
The beautiful eco friendly jute carry bag that one can buy from bookstore also has a stencilled image of this very view ,so readers feats your eyes on the image below and I hope it makes u sigh , I did , rather audibly so …
It’s old world charm coupled with the fact that they do have rather large and well researched collection of books is any book lovers dream come true.
My very pregnant pal K and me spent hours browsing ,reading -of course after settling ourselves near this massive stain glassed area on two cane chairs, but hey the basement is cosier , quieter and a proper ”loose yourself in the moment” type of setting .
I did find it annoying though that some people who came in , didn’t bother to speak in hushed tones or put their cellphones on silent mode ,grrrr , I dislike such bad habits ..note: making angry bird faces 🙂
I must also add that it was very nice indeed that one of the staff members allowed me to click these images inside with the promise that it wouldn’t disturb anyone.
Of course it would be massive injustice to us and the bookstore to walk out empty handed so K purchased a book on parenting and I decided to go for a classic : Three Men in a boat by Jerome K Jerome .
I did have an small debate whether I should allow myself to splash out on other books or beautiful post cards with vintage prints but on my shoe string budget and part time employment income it just didn’t seem right , oh well , in hope of happier days 🙂
After such a beautiful experience it was necessary to end the day perfectly so after a brief de-tour to a rather interesting shop selling fresh sea food,we landed at Patisserie Valerie ( the foodie in me just ended up walking into the sea food store ,chatting up with the friendly fella there and chomping on a green green sea weed which looks like thin tiny sticks with joints evenly spaced, it is naturally salty in taste and one can eat it after lightly stir frying in a generous blob of butter just as you would relish say, fresh asparagus !I unfortunately can’t recollect the name of the weed or of the store , oh well ! ) I am ever so grateful to the shop owner who was kind enough to let me click these images !
Well, after these visual delights , we allowed our senses to be bombarded with the amazing display of a maddening variety of cakes,pastries,pies and chocolates on display at the Patisserie Valerie. After settling onto a table I decided to gorge on a tart . Unfortunately, I was so besotted with the place and later lost in the experience that I didn’t take any pictures inside this wonder-full cafe. Established in 1926 all their 50 cafes spread across England have an undeniable charm, one must visit to know. Of course, now they are high tech too with a website and social media presence.
It certainly was one magical Wednesday but we had to part and get back from Victorian Times to attend the mundane tasks of our daily existence, ever so reluctantly we did…
Thomas Harris has described this bit about his character Dr. Hannibal Lecter very vividly in his book. Of how he has many ”rooms” in the ”palace of his mind” where he has stored very colour full memories associated with various stages of his young and happy childhood , until war , disaster and finally the tragedy struck which turned him into the dangerously intelligent doctor with a taste for human flesh.
It may sound odd to draw an anaology from this biut somehow the memory palace started taking birth deep inside my head .
Many a times when I am reading a book , watching a film or simply taking a walk, if something or someone reminds me of a special memory from my life . I walk back in time and relive it , in all it’s glory , am sure at times I even imagine and add to that memory , just to amuse myself . Make a happy memory happier , a scary one less frightening.
God alone knows how many such ”rooms” we all have in our personal palace of memories stored inside the least understood but most mystifying part of us – our minds….
It’s been a fine few Sunny days this week , with no rain , the cloud all baby blue with fluffy tufts of white cloud like cotton candy flitting about , all pleasing to the eye. I notice more when I walk around , I smile to myself as I see the whole place washed in bright sunlight . I love the feeling of not wearing a heavy coat or finally getting a chance to show off my pedicure and my new Accesorize chappals 🙂 with shiny beads that glint like a million diamonds in the morning sun !
Even the early morning office goers seem to be smiling in spite of the rush!
The pubs are full in the evening with the wooden benches finally occupied with footfall fans enjoying the game with their mates.
My favourite park is packed to the brim with mum,s buggies, happy babies, toddlers of all shapes and sizes with pink cheeks crowding around the happy ice cream van vendor .
I hope this lasts though , I could really soak up a lot more sun. The evenings are definitely still chilly and as I wrap myself in my spring denim jacket and pace up home from my evening stroll , I look at the spanking new Coffee shop that;s come up around the corner .
Is my lazy little ”end of the road” locality going to loose it’s villagey charm I fear ? Sighh… anything and everything is bearable I feel if the British Summer soaks up the nation in all it’s summertime glory and if last years extended autumn was anything to go by then let’s hope for a spiffing one this year round too !
I am suffering …it’s a crazy mix of Hayfever and a viral infection which is messing with my throat . So I am congested , sneezing ,wheezing,coughing and drowsy all the time .
As is my practise every morning , I logged into my email to check and there were 2 emails from my council library to come and collect the reservations – – Two Ruskin Bond books I have been waiting to get my hands on for months now !
In spite of all the misery , I am smiling , ready to rush out and get the books home, will then curl up on the sofa with a dozen fluffy pillows, a HOT mug of tasty chicken soup and read till I sleep into a blissful sleep – hopefully 🙂
I cannot believe I have gone through life not having read any of his awesome books , to think that he is of British descent and that many of the big book stores here do not stock his books is really sad . But thankfully the libraries run by the council’s in London are all connected so even if these books were miles away in another borough, I simply reserve them online ,albeit for a nominal charge and then just wait for then to make their to the library next to my house .
What I am looking forward to the most is slipping away into the bylanes of India’s northern states , seeing it through eyes and loosing myself in the magical tales he has weaved . I am sure he already has a long list of fans world over and I have added my name to that list . So Hayfever and a sore throat not withstanding, I am going to go get the books right away .
Ok maybe after a small ,much-needed nap 🙂
I am SURE it’s the SUN , it’s making me feel so cheerful,peppy , and am doing a zillion things more than I would on a gloomy day !
I have thrown open wide the windows , m actually hoping to do most of the things on my LONG ”To Do” list , I am smiling to myself and humming some silly tune 😉
Yes , am sure it’s the sun !
