The Dramatic Walker's park!

The other day after a heavy lunch at a Restaurant the boy and me decided to go for a walk to one of our favorite walker's park and we did.

I've been to a lot of parks before and the sight there is usually fitness freaks, wannabe fitness freaks, health conscious youngsters, preventing diseases middle aged adults and following doctor's advice on walking elders. Or, at the most we might see some children enjoying their swings and see - saws if there was any at the park.
But, I was shocked by the sight at the park I used to go to before I got married. It was late afternoon and the sun was beginning to set.

Every corner at the park, I saw couples mostly unmarried or in a relationship kinda couples sitting so close to each other. Some were the desperate ones and some were the get a room kinda ones. I was surprised though I took a short walk around and the boy couldn't control his nap by the time I came back.

It was entertainment for me and peace for the boy.

The scene opposite to where we were sitting.

Some hanky panky happening (If you look closely or zoom in) I focused on all four sides to where we sat.

The path I took for a walk.

A beautiful looking tree that was being dug out.

A small lake alongside the path.

The huge tower.

Nice day with lots of memories.

Until next time.

P.S - Ignore the slang words. I couldn't find more appropriate words to match what was in my head.

This post is going for the #MondayMusings on Write Tribe.

Restaurant review - Mainland China!

This was my second time visit to Mainland China - Anna Nagar and I went there the second time because of the wonderful food and amazing experience we had during our first visit.

Both the times we opted for buffets and the spread was wonderful. The cost of a buffet for one person is Rs 640.
The starters consisted of Prawns, Chicken and minced meat and dumplings, fried wontons and soup. The main course had a variety too. My favorite was the Lamb with hot sauce and the Fish in Chilli mustard sauce. We could also try the vegetarian if we opt for a non - vegetarian buffet and that's a plus.

The dessert platter was good I would say. Just, for the fact that the dishes were not exquisite. They had ice creams of three flavors, meery mousse - a coconut and creamy mousse, a chocolate tart, gateaux, silk cake (I never tried that) and Darsaan. Darsaan was my favorite last time and this time.

Overall, a memorable day and good food but, heavy on the pocket too. The vat and service charges came upto an amount wherein another person could've had another buffet.

Here are the pictures.

The table we dined at.

The buffet section, one part of it as the others weren't filled up.

My plate of food.

His plate of food. A typical foodie's plate.

Longshot of his plate with some pickled veggies.

The dessert side.

Very good experience and I would rate the Restaurant a 4/5. 4 because of the cost.

Hope you enjoyed reading. Until next time.

The French Connection!

The post title put a smile on my face.

The other day when I was off from work and we decided to go out to run some errands (the boy and me). We had a casual conversation about work and some other plans and suddenly I remembered the boy was taking french classes online. Yes, there is an application for android users (not sure about Nokia and iTunes though) to learn French and when I was busy on Instagram one fine day I saw a fellow Instagrammer suggesting this app, I tried it a few weeks and it was very interesting but, I had no time to continue.

When the boy started employment with a new company and had a new client to report to, he was excited as the client was French. He was also determined and said there is no more excuses but to learn French. I suggested this application to the boy and instantaneously he downloaded and he was on.
So, to check his progress I asked him. He was riding his bike when he got thrilled and started bragging his French skills. The basic ones like 'La robe est rouge, Le garcon' etc. He also mentioned that its so easy to learn the language and he can almost understand the mails that has been sent to him in French. I smiled and patted his back. It made him proud.

Surprisingly the virtual apps are trending nowadays and even ads on the tele are becoming more.
Duolingo is a free language learning app that includes languages like French, Spanish, Norwegian etc and it is fun and easy.

You can check this app on the play store or they even have a site for the web users. Here is the link Duolingo.

The cute little bird is the logo for the app.

Hope you enjoyed the read. Until next time.

Restaurant review - The sick US!

It was a Saturday and I was sick and he was sick too. I had a severe cold while, he was just catching it. We had some work at the watch showroom and decided to have a coffee date after but, since we were sick we then zeroed in on Chinese and it was one of our favorite places.

We had Soups and starters and were full.
I had a burnt garlic and chicken soup while the boy had crabmeat soup and for the starters we had Dragon Chicken which is chicken sauted in a hot/sour sauce along with cashews.

Overall, it was a good supper and solved our purpose.

Here are the pictures.

All of them.

The beautiful chinese lantern outside.

Until next time.

My take on Bagels!

This week is a little relaxed due to the fact that I'm on spring break and it's an entire week of off from work. Initially it was good, I relaxed, woke up a little late and my day was non-chaotic. But 2 days gone and I'm already bored.

I was going through some recipes and then I found one on Bagel's. I really don't know what they are except that they are a bread product. And, I've not baked anything using yeast for quite sometime now.

It was late noon when I started making them. I gathered all the ingredients and got going. Voila! They turned out just fine. Unexpected actually!! I will be making more of these I'm sure.

A little information before I show you the pictures.

Bagel - It is a bread product traditionally shaped by hand into the form of a ring from yeasted wheat dough which is first boiled for a short time and then baked. They are popular in Canada, and cities with large Jewish population. The place of origin is Poland. Source - Wiki.

Here are the pictures I managed to capture.

They were all glossy and beautiful looking.

I slathered some butter and it melted almost instantaneously.

Bagels will be great for breakfast or for teatime.

Until next time.

Being thankful!

Everyday is a blessing.

You have to be grateful for each waking morning because people out there are praying that they wish they survived barely 24 hours.
The other day at Church, the pastor asked us to pray for those suffering from dreadful diseases like cancer, stroke and AIDS. But, just before that I was praying for a successful career, a good life and many other things when I realized I'm praying for ordinary things whereas those people must be dreading to sleep because of the fear of not waking up the next day. I was thankful for the life and I said to myself.

'Today, I'll begin' my prayer and day by being thankful for what I have.

This might trigger lots of thoughts to many of us but, take a minute and Thank God for the life, the food, the shelter, clothing and the family we belong to. I am.

Until next time.

Palmfruit/ Nungu/ Ice Apple Chocolate milkshake

Palm fruit or Nungu is found a lot in India during Summers. The Palm fruit is a natural coolant and it contains many health benefits and also has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties. It contains various vitamins too.

One such Summer's morning we were passing and found an array of vendors selling Palm fruit and we ended up buying it. We bought about 6 fruits for Rs 25 which was decent.

I've never liked to have the fruit as it is because of its slimy nature. However, hub had it and suggested I make a drink out of it.

I quickly took the blender, no measurements just eyeballed all the ingredients and had a refreshing delicious drink and I didn't feel the taste of the fruit at all. I liked to have it in the wine glass for some reason and I even got hold of a straw to get the summery effect.

Here's what I did.
Steps:
I added 3 nos of the fruit carefully peeled to a blender.
I added about 1/2 cup chilled milk to the blender along with some dark chocolate cubes.
For flavor and enhanced taste you can add 1 tsp of vanilla essence and 2 tsp of sugar.
Blend all this together for about 1 or 2 mins till it forms a milkshake consistency.
Pour in a glass and enjoy.

P.S- I did not add ice cubes, sugar and vanilla essence. You can add all of it for enhanced taste.

Here's a picture I managed to take.

 It was lovely and I will definitely try it again.

Until next time.