Okay why is it important for us? Because we had lots of good food, met good ol’ friends, had a good time! Isn’t that what we are all about: Good food, Good friends, and a Good life!

So, let me recap what all happened, and then I will follow up with the new recipes. I am sooooo excited!

First stop: Harrisburg, PA. Let me say one thing, wow, for a small little place, it is power packed! Has lots of good stores for shopping, good deals, lots of good grocery stores, lots of Indian grocery stores.

We lived with Maira jaan and her parents. Maira is so gorgeous! Maira’s mom, Sadia, is such an awesome cook. She is a great artist too. I will post some of her recipes.

They took us to Hershey town. While I have been to the Chocolate Factory long back, its always been in the winter. But it is Maira loves it, and Sadia says its much more fun in the summer with the rides and stuff.

From Harrisburg we went to Baltimore, to dear friend Tehsins. She has a new house! Its so lovely. Its purrrfect!
And the food she cooked; Oh, oh! Thai Curry with chicken, Chicken manchurian, super simple fried rice (ofcourse, its all Indian-ized!).

In Baltimore, Tehsin treated us to the Aquarium located in the downtown, right at the Inner Bay (I think that’s what it is called). It was so much fun! The highlight was definitely the Dolphin show and the 3-D movie theater which was playing our sons favorite movie ‘Diego’!

Did lots of grocery shopping, again awesome Indian and Chinese grocery stores!

So, I know even though its winter up here in Northeast Ohio; its still possible to have fun. Just take the effort and drive to a little bit warmer place. This way you get to meet your friends, spend some time with them, (of course remember to invite them to your place too), enjoy good food (also help them however you can, so its less taxing to the host), and have a good time!

Gotta go, I have to cook lunch now (planning to cook the Thai curry with chicken now, and then use the Shan Chicken Ginger masala).

I will come back and post the super awesome recipes, and promise they are super simple too.

Till then, take care!

Cook chicken, eat chicken, go out finish the snow man that we started yesterday. See, told you, big plans.

And more… but incase you are planning on being lazy, then check out these couple blogs I found, very cute, interesting, and maybe, you might get inspired by some diy projects.

I am in love with lcy, good work Alaina, and then, found h&h.

Alaina has good taste, and that shows from her blog, her home . Love your style, love your home. H&H have awesome diy projects. I am dying to try out the leather monogrammed key chains.

Okay, that is it for now.

But before I head to the kitchen, wanted to mention how easy it is to use sprouts in your food often! So, read my next post, and puh-lease start eating more sprouts. More sprouts = more protein and what not (actually, I am not sure what else, hence, the ‘what not’, but I do know, that they are good, ‘cos mother says so, and we all know, the mother is right)

Till then, on the way to discovering, or more like I bumping into new things.

Au revoir! Good-bye!

Koyla

Do you like the feel of sand under your feet, the smell of fruit flavored hukkahs, the beautiful Morrocan and Arabic designs with lamps and little cabanas for a cozy gathering with your family and friends?

Well, if you are in Morocco or Saudi Arabia, then its no problem! But if you are in Mumbai, then you are in luck!

We (I, Murad, my little one, Timsi, Sameer and Ruveer, their little one) just went for an impromptu dinner the other night to Koyla restaurant, which has all the things I described above.

It was lovely. Though its seriously getting hot here, the open air restaurant which is on the last floor of a small building, was a pleasant surprise. They had lots of fans going around, so I did not feel the heat. Also, the ambiance was so inviting. You just wanted to relax there. But with two little toddlers, we managed to get some pleasant moments in between.

The kids had the most fun, playing, rolling in the sand.

The food was good, we ordered veg platter, dal makhani, butter chicken (yummy), and assorted breads. The butter chicken was definitely the best. The breads got a little chewy. The dal was good, not too spicy or oily.

The food was moderately priced.

I guess, being a Sunday night, it was rather difficult to get a good place to sit, but we waited, and we finally got a little tent of our own with a nice big table, and comfortable cane chairs.

All in all, a good night.

It has another location at Colaba. I dont have the address for it though.

This one is situated near the Infiniti Mall, in Andheri.

I would rate this restaurant easily 4 out of 5.

Me realized earlier, what a fool me is

Me used “me” inplace where “I” should have been and vice versa. Now you know what pain me feels.

Not anymore, its not me, its I. I am going to be more careful how I use ‘me’ and ‘I’ in future.

Thou shares my pain too?

I heard not a single man is allowed in, not even the photographers or the maintenance staff. The entire event from start to finish has been handled by women. I like that women in control.

All women, all day!

p.s. I plan to go, lets see if I can make it. Then I will post about it.

While I know protein rich food is very essential for you, there is a study going on that suggests that protein rich food if not balanced by carbohydrates may lead to gall stones, which if untreated may lead to gall bladder cancer.

On the other hand, foods like parsley,celery, fish oil, whole grains, fruits and vegetables, beans and pulses contain cancer fighting compounds.

So not only should we eat healthy, but always eat in moderation and a balanced way.

To health and happiness!

Thanks a million dear Timsi (okay, Timsi is my darling nephews’ darling little wife). She got me a RD, how nice of her. Brought back old memories.

Sorry, I know what you all must be thinking: ‘Alright, come to the point girl/woman’. (I prefer girl, still see myself as a teen)

So, you know I was browsing interesting posts on another interesting blog (like moi), and came across, an interesting link, which got me to my dear RD’s website, now why didn’t I think of that earlier.

Okay, its never too late.

So here you go:
http://welcome.readersdigest.com/digital-editions/13things.htm?trkid=OBRN007

Its about secrets your waiter wont tell you, or would want to tell you.

Trust me, read it, next time you visit a restaurant you will be very very careful.

But, today while speaking with Yasir on iphone apps, he said, that he had gone out to Chipotle to grab a burrito, and while waiting in line, he pulled up the app for counting calories to check how many a Chipotle burrito has.

And that’s how Yasir’s order changed from “One chicken burrito please” to “One chicken burrito bowl”.

Let me explain.

A burrito with everything they have behind the glass couter in it, has about 1800 calories, and the shocking part is that the tortilla (the ‘maida roti’) they use is 25% off the total calories. Oh, how I love the tortilla.
And hence the change in Yasir’s order. He ordered the burrito ‘sans’(sorry for showing off my French) the tortilla. Good job Yasir, so proud of you!

Okay we all now that all fast food has thousands of calories. Agreed.
But, we all can make small changes, save a couple hundred calories easily. And couple hundred calories say five times, it at least 1000 calories. Agreed?

Duh- yes!

Okay, 3 cheers for brilliant iphone apps, that open our eyes to a whole new world of better choices.

We while in Kashmir, rarely ate outside, mostly it was either at Gulf Royal or a couple restaurants in Srinagar Downtown.

But one thing we learned, always order the non-veg platter from the menu. We ate at Alka-Salka restaurant, and their platter was too good! I would rate it easily 4.5 stars! The chicken and meat so well marinated, not too hot and spicy, so it was good for the stomach too. And taste, excellent! All in all, I think the best platter for the best price.

Recently in Mumbai, we ate at Punjal Grill by Jiggs Kalra, its a beautiful restaurant near Juhu Circle. It had a wall with water flowing down it, lovely sight, but if you watch it too long, you might get a headache. The non -veg platter they had was pretty decent, the fish on it was very good, I and the husband agreed.

Finally, moral of the story, always go with the non-veg (or veg platter for Vegetarians) as it has most of the good things on the menu, and also, ask the portion size, if the platter is for 2 or 4 or 6 people. And after the platter, you barely have any place, so I would recommend ordering some good Dal (lentils) with rice, or just a simple paneer (Indian Cheese) curry with naan.