Hello Blog post and a quick round-up

Hello Blog! I've been away for quite some time now, neglected the blog, but had quite a few posts written in head all along, but not sure when they would all see the light of the day..Anyways, without dragging too much, I will jot down the highlights of what I was upto while away from blogger

* I turned thirty !! Doesnt feel any different.We had a simple do with family at South Indies..Did a good amount of shopping two weekends prior to the D-day.In fact, I keep telling S that some of the items for the big three-oh are still pending, which I would shop in due course .I have taken some resolutions for myself , starting from letting-go of incidents that disturb me, to not be scared/frightened and to build teh courage to see how things unfold, to read more and to write more and to be decisive.

* I visited my parents after a gap of 6.5 months. Even while I was staying away from parents, I used to visit them every 4 months, but this time, I managed to be connected with them by phone for 6.5 months.

* My dad fractured his hip and it scared the hell out of me..This happened two days after I met them (which I'd mentioned in the previous point) and my dad was put up at a different place that day from my mom and the 7 odd hours of travel before which my mom could see my dad and convey me how he is was a huge period of stress for all of us..Thank God, Thanks a million for protecting dad . Kindly bless daddy and help him recover fast.

* I met my friend from college after 8 years .We were constrained for time, but glad that we met and did a quick catch up.

* My friend HV and I , inspite of staying in the same city all along, we hardly meet..We catch up on phone and text messages often, but, have not visited each others homes so far..This situation was reversed when I went to her house last Friday. It was raining, maid hadnt come, mil not home, I had to prepare dinner after coming back, and left office not-so-early..Inspite of all these reasons, I decided not to postpone and went ahead..Glad that it happened, instead of my usual procastination..

* The one year of not celebrating festivals have come to an end (due to S's uncle , and the first aniversary is also done ). I had a relaxed schedule during the festive ocassions, since there wasnt work in the kitchen preparing delicacies, but, glad that the year went by , as it was quite boring to put up dolls for Golu or invite Amman to our home for Varalakshmi Vratham or do the 4:30AM -oil bath on Deepavali.

* I've become addicted to Fruit Smasher game . Everyday I play atleast 3-4 times and end up straining my eyes and scolding the game :)..Need to come out of it soon..

* In between all of this, our team delivered a major milestone under my leadership and  there is a line-up of the next set of milestones..Thanks to the team for staying by and making it happen.It was a roaler -coaster ride with many weeks and months of slogging over days and nights and over weekends!

Let me also put up a short review of restaurants that we ate at in the recent past:

Samarkhand:  Rich , mouth watering Afghani Dhal is the highlight for vegetarians..So are the nannas, plain ones which are so soft on the mouth , rather a bit heavy on the pocket..Afghani rasa-malai melts in the mouth..I ordered Kumbh Ki Galouti against the chef's recommendation , and if anyone is reading this, pls dont order this when you go.Order Kumbh Khazana, if you are choosing one of he kumbh flavours. It is pricey , but can be done once...in a while..Last I remember going there was with my colleagues many years ago, when I used to like their parathas, but now we settled for roti and naan. The interiors are dark, with dim lighting, service is prompt , portions are small, but taste is real good., pricing is on the higher side.

Nandoos: S suggested this place and their speciality is this "peri-peri" which is nothing but different levels of red-chili in their food varieties..
For veggeterains, there is this traditional burger, sandwich,pasta, pizza, ..we ordered a burger and pasta and the pasta was good , when compared to the pasta served at Pizza Hut kinda places..Pricing is similar to Chilis, but portions are smaller compared to Chilis.I hear that Nandoos is famous for their chicken delicacies..

Sreeraj Lassi bar: we have become fans of this place..Our regular order there is Gud-Bud and Falooda. Very very nominally priced, Gud-bud is rich with three flavours of ice-cream, nuts, cherries, wafers, essence..Falooda is also equally good. soft on the pocket and when it comes to the taste of the ice-cream(considering the price-point), I dont see a much difference once you start gorging on it..

Corner House: Corner House is another of our frequently visiting ice-cream shops..Our standard there is Hot caramelo pudding, but last time, we ordered fruit jackpot, and another cone, thanks to the overdoe of ice-creams last week, S is sneezing and coughing now(:

Imli: This is situated in the interior streets of Indiranagar (inside the road where Domino's Pizza is on 100ft Road,IndiraNagar). We wnet for a dinner, food was just average, servers didnt know what is the speciality of their restaurant, they say every food item listed in their menu is their speciality, which is good for their marketing, but it is not shown in the food they served..we had specifically ordered lassi without any sugar in it, but we were provided with a glass full with loads of sugar in it..We were frustrated and didnt want to spoil our evening/night by arguing with them, hence wated the 100 bucks on lassi (: It still haunts me for having paid for the lassi which we never had(: Very average food, I wouldnt go there again..