I had a chance to visit Sula Vineyards thanks to a cousin’s location wedding and was suitably impressed with the locale. I’ve been to the Chaddsford Winery in Pennsylvania, USA a few years ago with a full tour so I was looking forward to this, especially since India isn’t really known for producing wine.
Opening with the fact that India is a “new world” wine country, our tour guide took us around the Sula Vineyard production facility, from the crushers to the fermentation tanks.
This post is way overdue (months and months). This was my first attempt to make Black Forest Cupcakes and it was a success! Of course, there were those moments where I walked impatiently in the kitchen looking into the microwave while it was still on to see if the concoction of flour, eggs, cherries, melted chocolate etc was rising up in each cupcake cover. The cakes, surprisingly turned out to be soft and fluffy.
If you’re reading this, and want to catch up, here’s Part I and Part II.
Right, after realizing towards the end of the previous scenario that there was no hope in the angle I was taking, nor does a company like Reliance care much for the complaints of a dissatisfied customer, or his blog posts. However, the social media push somehow (details left out intentionally, sorry!) got me in touch with their head of enterprise services.
After writing a long & annoyed letter to Reliance, here’s what they offered:
Dear Customer, We regret the inconvenience caused to you. This is with reference to your e-mail regarding “Waiver For Service Faults”, registered under the Service Request ID 142081510. Please note that your complaint has been resolved with the resolution, the net not working complaint registered has been resolved within the given time period. Hence we are unable to process the waiver.
My e-mail to Reliance broadband this morning following my issue. The issue might seem simple, but the principle bothers the hell out of me. I know what it’s like to run a Service Delivery team, with targets and closing times and whatnot. But the deplorable service some (read: many) ISPs take on makes me really wonder.
Is it because you’re pretty stuck with using them once you sign up that they don’t really have to worry about after-sales support and services?
Yes, geniuses, I do know that IE8 requires Windows Server 2003 Service Pack 2.
However:
They should mention that up front somewhere, not in itsy bitsy letters at the bottom The error message should say so — you need to upgrade to SP2 for example. To me, this reads like Server 2003 is not supported period, which is just infuriating. Finally, having to download this install using Google Chrome is just absolutely beyond me.
Trying to get work done in India is…well, a mess. People here though really should work on ‘planning’ — thinking things through so that you’re preparing for the next step while you’re finishing up this one. So that, you know, you don’t drill a hole in one side of the wall only to realize there’s a column set on the other side and you can’t drill though, and now need to drill two meters away instead.
Emily Shardlow Last Updated: Dec 1, 2010 Select a subject, and you can pretty much guarantee that someone, somewhere, is blogging about it. One of the most popular worldwide topics is food, and here in the UAE, we have our own burgeoning community of food bloggers — people of different ages and nationalities who share an ardent dedication to all things foodie, from tried and tested recipes to local restaurant reviews and essays on memorable gourmet experiences.
Yowza.
This morning’s Analytics report caused a well-founded exclamation.
I’ll let the pictures do the talking :)
Believe it or not, but I’ve actually never spent a Diwali in India. Until this time, that is.
One side of me sees a massive festive season. Another sees just another excuse for people here to take massive break, relax and NOT work! (Most places have 8–10 days off in a row) That said, the last couple of days (and nights) have been marked by festivities all around, lights everywhere and the loudest firecrackers at night when you try to wind down for the day.
In the heart of Bandra, Mumbai lies the heart of every Indian fast food(chaat) lover- Elco Pani Puri Center. Operating since 1975, this institution has grown from small stalls to a two floor fast food center. And the quality of food has never diminished. Each dish from their ragda pattice to their dosas to the famous Mumbai chaat to their kulfi falooda to their juices, brings forth a tasty, wholesome, full of flavour experience which I have to say is the freshest possible.
Such a remarkable name for an educational entity.
What were they thinking?
Dear @EtisalatUAE, as an ISP and all, you do know we use forward slashes in URLs, right Sigh. This is in all their ads. About their ‘fastest broadband’ service, ironically.
Luckily for them, Chrome auto-corrects the address. Safari on the other hand, isn’t so smart.
And here I thought I’d be going after just the one provider today…
Actually, first of all, I do want to thank you. I mean, waiving my renewal fee and giving me lifetime validity on my phone — pure genius and you guys do maintain the best offers in the market, no doubt about that!
However I have a slight peeve.
You have a ‘more international’ option, wherein I get added credit for a limited time, but only for dialing international numbers. To be clear, I cannot use this credit for a local call.
Yes, I totally did not notice the date. However, it must be salvaged, and salvaged now. Kicks things into execution Sorry, but you can’t say no.
The last two months have been nothing short of crazy. And not the good kind.
But this is me, starting over, trying to pull it all together. Vowing, over and over again, that next time it will be better.
I feel like a broken record.
The festival of Ganesh is marked by specialist sweets — primarily laddoos and modaks. Home-made samples of the latter for this year’s festival can be seen here.
I have the auspicious honor of putting together post number 100.
I can’t give you the cliched it’s been a long journey, because it hasn’t. But it has been a fantastic ride. The naihar food blog started with a simple concept — I wanted to take my family-derived love for food (and the fact that we ran a little catering gig on the side) and share it with the online world.
I know exactly what they mean…
Today we celebrate five, a whole, complete number and a stepping stone to many more.
Five is…for fighting. For the British Security Service. For those individual fingers that make a solid hand.
What I did to my tyre this fine morning.
Put together some onions, garlic, red and yellow peppers and corn and you get delicious home made style pasta! All in our secret tomato sauce- a secret because of its secretive ingredients.
Want a taste? Let me know, Ill make some for you. Even the garlic bread!
For now, enjoy the photos from my kitchen.
I have now taken my infatuation with the creation of the perfect cheesecake to the next level. Trying to figure out different ways to make the cheesecake set is an interesting if difficult feat. I trawl through cookbooks religiously on a regular basis, for a little light reading of course, as any aspiring cook would do.
Though some would bake the humble cheesecake for the new york style, others put gelatine in to set the cream cheese.
I have three words for you. White chocolate clusters. Little bites of heaven. Indulgence at its best. There are no rules, so go crazy. You need good quality White Chocolate, Brazil nuts, (sultanas or raisins if you fancy) and some biscuits. The biscuits need to be crushed, the white chocolate melted, and Brazil nuts chopped. Mix together to form a gooey white chocolaty mess. Spoon into bite-size clusters on baking paper (or as per picture into mini cup cases), leave to cool, and then decorate with milk/dark chocolate.
Cheese and Chive muffins. I like experimenting in the kitchen, this is the first time I have tried making a savoury muffin, and I must say they were delicious. I used a recipe my mother uses, and it wasn’t too hard to follow.
ingredients:
1 egg
¾ cup water
1 cup self-raising flour
½ tsp salt
125g grated cheddar
1 tbsp fresh chives
½ tsp pepper
coarse sea salt (optional)
A late night after movie chocolate craving brought me right in front of Starbucks, one of the only cafe’s open at midnight. After going through the selection of desserts, I decided to devour a Molten Chocolate Cake (who can say no?)
Now before you go all how-can-you-commit-a-sin-against-the-holy-grail-of-molten-chocolate-cakes(Chillis to the non enlightened crowd) I merely wanted to try it. Besides, I didnt have much choice a that time of the night. So how was it?
We took some time out from our busy trip — ok I lie, we had a lot of free time to cook — to put together some Dahi Vada. For the initiated, Dahi Vada are an Indian ‘chaat’ item popular all over India made by first making ‘Vadas’ which are soaked in water, and then served after dipping them in flavored yoghurt, topped with coriander and spices. Wikipedia is kind enough to tell me that it is called as thayir vadai in Tamil and perugu vada in Telugu, mosaru vade in Kannada and Doi Bora in Bengali.
The National:
The Telecommunications Regulatory Authority has said that Blackberry Messenger, Blackberry E-mail and Blackberry Web-browsing services in the UAE will be suspended as of October 11. The suspension is a result of the failure of ongoing attempts, dating back to 2007, to bring Blackberry services in the UAE in line with UAE telecommunications regulations.
Oh, brilliant. Coming hot at the heels of this news where they were “clear” that “we don’t have plans to stop them” by the TRA Spokesperson, this is starting to get ridiculous.
How does one explain an erroneous successful transaction?
Buca di beppo is one of my favorite Italian restaurants in Philadelphia. I probably couldn’t single out a specific reason, but there’s a lot going on for the place. A nice traditional ambience, really friendly staff and great desserts. Well the food’s good too, but that has to be the case if we’re going to talk about it! A quick mention about the Pope room (pictures of which you can see towards the end).
A recent addition to the restaurant galores of Philadelphia, Chocolate by the Bald Man is a neat little outlet with an absolutely amazing chocolate feel. That’s right. Chocolate lovers, the time has finally arrived!
With 100% pure chocolate pipes running throughout the outlet, big drums stirring live chocolate all around and canisters of chocolate all around, the instant smell of pure chocolate hits you as soon as you set foot into Max Brenner.
Who can say no to chocolate. I can’t say no to bread. What happens when you put the two together?
…Sorry, I was busy finishing the loaf. What were we talking about?
??
Take two tea lovers with a passion for food (actually they were just hungry), breakfast moving into brunch time, and one of the best tea cafe’s in Dubai and what do you get? Whittard of Chelsea!
This quaint little tea cafe(they do have coffee) is a delight to the eyes and photographers. All the wonderful blue, and quirky tea paraphelania on sale will make a girl go awww!
My companion, Chirag and I settled on the vegetarian omlette and iced teas.
I think I’m mildly disappointed they didn’t make a vuvuzela shaped cake :)
Question: How can you follow so many people?
Answer: I don’t read the timelines of all the people that I follow. Instead, I only deal with @s, Directs, and tweets that contain “guykawasaki” and “alltop.” I am not reading everything everyone I follow tweets, but I answer almost every @ and Direct. Question: Then why do you follow everyone? Answer: I follow everyone for two reasons: first, common courtesy; second, so that anyone can send a Direct to me.
Foodscapes-english.pps
Recieved this mouthwatering presentation. Superb photography, but it did get me hungry for bread and cheese :)
He pretended to read the paper, all the while staring at the escalators to see if she was coming down. He tried not looking too eager.
They drove back, him in silence, her chatting away about recent occurrences with the friend she just met. He liked listening to her. Besides, he was too excited and jumpy deep down — he didn’t know why — and he didn’t want to show it.
Issac Newton contributed three laws to Physics, Orion’s belt is made up of three stars, Hinduism believes in a Trinity (creator, preserver & destroyer, called the Trimurti).
Yup, everything from science to religion, and astronomy in between likes the number three.
This point comprises three lines, yup, three.
Interesting (and rather valid) point of view on startups, on why it’s possible for startups that later in the game are more successful because they execute better.
Suppose you have an idea for a startup, and then do some research only to discover there are already similar products on the market. You become disheartened and wonder if you should abandon your idea. In fact, the existence of competing products is a meaningful signal, but not necessarily a negative one.
Day 2 in Philadelphia, and a visit to Reading Terminal Market was in order. To the uninitiated, Reading Terminal Market is best described as a farmer’s market with an awesome hotchpotch of options. True to its style, and enclosed in a just-right closed space within Center City Philadelphia — 12th and Arch to be precise — Reading Terminal offers a wide variety of foods, from baked goods to flowers, meats & seafood to produce and a number of eateries.
To begin with, this post is dedicated to a certain reader of the blog who, when asked for suggestions for improvement, complained that all our reviews are way to positive. Well, here we are, you pessimistic person you, our first negative review.
??
At the behest of a close friend who had also never tried the place, my first lunch in Philadelphia after three years was at a place creatively called Currito Burrito, right on the?
Father’s Day celebrations found me at a family favourite one Sunday evening. Bukhara in Samlesbury is commonly known as having ‘authentic’ Indian cuisine, though I have never figured out if the attributes of being ‘authentic’ referred to the chefs being south Asian, or the food being truly Indian inspired? Needless to say, we all have our favourites, and this is particularly busy haunt for the Asian communities in the North West.
Omg, there’s something called the Snapple??Theater, with larger than life size models of the infamous iced tea!
Can’t leave New York without a visit to one of it’s historic pizzerias. Pictures from Famous Famigla, courtesy some poorly configured wi-fi router.
Guilty pleasures are a must for all. Mine is the humble cheesecake.??Whether it is shop bought or home made is always a sticking point for me. The love and care??I put into making cheesecakes at home, is what makes the end result worth the time I painstakingly spend in the kitchen. Here is a little something??I rumbled up today, with some Indian Alphonso mangoes, and??all the other everyday ingredients I found in my fridge or larder cupboard at home.
A late night decision while skimming through a recipe got our family interested in making graduation cupcakes for the sibling marking his entry into the working world. Recession be damned, these chocolate goodys are topped with a nice slice of After Eight, and twizzlers matching the school colors.
(We went with ready cupcakes and toppings, but at least they do look like the convocation cap :P)
Pizza from the campus days @ California Pizza in University City, Philadelphia.
And Snapple Iced Tea. bliss
What is Mohampar, you ask?
The best description I found for Mohanthal is gram-flour fudge. A traditional Gujarati sweet, Mohanthal is a soft, melt-in-your-mouth type of delicacy, very popular during certain Gujarati festivals like Navratri. This recipe is another??naihar specialty, made and distributed to perfection.
??
Deep Dish Vegetarian Pizza, Mango Iced Tea, Strawberry Lemonade, and the company of two crazy girls- Uno’s Grill is certainly a treat!
Divine dessert fit for the Lords!
Oh and Romano’s Macaroni Grill gives them in a size that will make you say “oh Holy Lord”
Picture the scene. Your big corporate meeting, people flying down from Europe for a day. Let’s all meet they said. We insist we have everyone. Schedule for late Thursday afternoon? Super.
I coordinate with a local contact to attend. Oh, I can’t make it, I have to pick up my kids Thursday afternoon. Right. How about a different time? Yea, that’s fine.
My battery proceeded to die in the evening. So he called me, and I missed it.
What your e-mail address says about you
Living by yourself during your University days are a great way to bring out the hidden cook in you. Searching for simple, effective recipes for one can be a fun challenge, especially when you try to emulate something you see in a restaurant or cafe.
Presenting a sample of the good ol’ days, if we can call them that, the Black bean burrito. I really didn’t want to leave the house this morning, and I managed to find black beans, mushrooms, onions, some greens, oat wraps and this is very important ?
If you’ve been following this blog (you have, haven’t you? Fine, say that you have?), you’ll know I’m a sucker for iced tea. So after having iced tea a few times at Whittard of Chelsea at Festival City in Dubai, I finally succumbed and picked up this little wonder.
Ah, Whittard’s iced tea from the comfort of my own home.??
After looking at the mouth-watering Mango and curried chick pea salad captured in Chirag’s post, I decided to try my hand at it. So with the help of my mom, I marched into the kitchen with laptop displaying the recipe. What happened next was a blur of cumin seeds, coriander, mangoes, chickpeas, mom telling me (okay okay, screaming) for almost breaking the mini-blender (I WAS EXCITED, OKAY? Hmph) and spinach leaves.
Such a typical day.
Paneer.
Sorry, but that had to be the first word in this post. Say hello to a nice quiet North Indian meal with some of our absolute specialties. Highlights from the evening include delicious Paneer Tikkas — that looked so good I couldn’t stop taking shots — cooked on charcoal.
For the main course, we had Methi Kofta in Chana Curry, Navratan Korma and Jeera Aloo, pictured in that order.
And…Google’s at it again. You have to give these guys marks for creativity. Screencaps from today’s pacman’d logo, which also lets you play the game, in 1- and 2-player modes. Brilliant.
Right, so my post refers to this article, written about this event. (see also this). It’s fairly obvious from the comments section of the article that I felt rather strongly about the way it was written, because it represented very poor journalism on various grounds. Rather than go point by point on the issues I had with the article (I tried starting the post that way, but boy did it get too long), I’ve decided to approach it from another angle.
…which seems to have been pulled down.
Mugg & Bean makes for a nice snazzy little outlet based in Abu Dhabi Mall. It’s quite unfortunate actually that they’ve shut down their branches anywhere except Abu Dhabi. With a menu that boasts a variety of options for every meal of the day, it is a bit of a wonder why they didn’t exactly take off as a concept.
It also helps that there aren’t too many options in Abu Dhabi, unlike Dubai, where you can stop for a bite or a quick drink and also be able to work.
This is funny…and time-consuming..and goes back to clicking button
Vending machine to dispense gold.
I found a link for an interesting??recipe??(thanks ParulBh) for a curried chickpea salad with alphonso mangoes. I had to give it a try, it being mango season and all that. (Watch this space for nice mango season!)
I gave it a shot and was fairly impressed with the results. I deviated a little away from the recipe itself.
End result: a delicious (and quite filling) salad. It could have used a bit more lemon for some extra zing, and I probably should have waited for it to chill before downing it.
Today’s XKCD has a font reference!
Anonymous:
I love the way you eat in relish; I love the way you work in concentration’ I love the way you smile in happiness; I the way you sleep next to me in peace. And oh, I love you, too.
Definitely the big circular one, and the pacman one, and the console one, and and…please mommy, pleeeeease?!
Unique and creative bookshelves
A really good post on the current standard, or lack thereof, of browsers, and interesting insights into why things like iPhone apps seem to offer much better experiences.
Sachin:
The web as an application platform stinks, and I think this is even more apparent now as we see incredible iPad apps being released. Why are iPad apps, in their initial versions, so much better than websites that have existed for years?
So here’s how Microsoft defines humor. I particularly enjoyed noticing the list of Recommended Readings. All Google needs to do is setup a similar definition and the world will be a better place.
What? Can’t take a joke?
Overview Has a positive and constructive sense of humor. Can laugh at himself/herself and with others. Is appropriately funny and can use humor to ease tension. … To improve your proficiency, ask yourself the following questions on a regular basis: In a seemingly serious situation, what nuggets of humor or irony can I find?
Watching @localarchade team argue on stage is more entertaining when you have @theregos’ diva-ing his phone :P
What did we learn today? When Etisalat says there’s no problem at their end, you shouldn’t believe them.
Okay, seriously, where do I begin?
Let me take you through my day today. At 10:30 a.m. I received a call from a customer of mine telling me they had lost all network access — the IP phones weren’t connecting, they couldn’t receive e-mail, etc. etc. Since no other engineer was available, I visited the site.
Brioche Dor??e??is a little cafe by the massive fountain structure at The Dubai Mall??that possesses a nice, quiet ambiance and a nice selection of breakfast food, along with sandwiches and salads.
While I didn’t snap it up, they make an excellent and delicious eggs platter — 3 eggs cooked to your choice, lettuce salad and grilled veggies — for a nice AED34.
A quick visit to Whittard of Chelsea??at Dubai Festival City??to have their delicious Mango Indica. I love the setup they have, with a very English feel to their crockery. Their menu can feel a little overwhelming due to the sheer choice (and they could have used better printer and fonts!), but they’re a must visit for any tea lover.
Think Mexican and you are immediately reminded of a vast array of dips from the chunky salsa to the healthy guacamole. Let’s not forget the crispy??nachos to go with them. Oh, and the fajitas, burritos, quesedillas smothered in cheese, beans and sour cream.??Divine.??
??
With??Spanish influences on their??cuisine, Mexican food uses a lot of corn (think nachos), peppers (think jalapeno) and beans in a variety of different ways. And??On The Border?
Android vs iPhone
How to pick a typeface.
A flash mob is a large group of people who assemble suddenly in a public place, perform an unusual and pointless act for a brief time, then quickly disperse. Thanks Wikipedia!
The Dubai Flash Mob is an initiative to operate a flash mob in Dubai, started with one random tweet and is now backed some awesome tweeple, not to mention a pretty cool choreographer.
For starters, you can help them choose their logo, here are the options:
??
I had an amazing type of ice-cream today from Cold Stone. It’s an ice-cream AND a cupcake. How awesome can that get? I’m not a fan of cupcakes primarily because of the dollops and dollops of unnecessary icing they put on the actual cake (HEY! I’m entitled to freedom of speech, okay?). The last time I had a cupcake, I had to cut off the 3 inch icing and eat the cake with chocolate bits in it.
Opening soon at Mirdiff City Center
This is the (in)famous paan, happily chewed by millions from Indian sub-continent.
There are different types of ‘Paan’. The one attached here is the most widely eaten- ‘Mitha Paan’. There are many different types of paan, some even containing certain type of weeds.
Apple’s upcoming inventions.
No Dubai food blog would be complete without a mention to our beloved Wildpeeta crew. That’s right, they’re baaaaaaaack!
A few scenes from the re-opened location in Healthcare City and the shawarmas taste bigger and better this time around. With a new branch coming up soon and some additions to the menu as well, we’re excited to have our regular tweetup hangout back :)
A gorgeous shot of iced mocha against mango iced tea from Caribou Coffee taken by??Devina Divecha.??
You’ve got to admit, the iced tea looks way cooler :)
It felt like stepping into Willy Wonka’s factory.??
My first time in the much hyped candy store, Candylicious located at Dubai Mall was nothing but sheer excitement at looking at everything candy and chocolate — from flavored lollipops to chocolate shaped stars to tubes filled with gummy bears reaching the ceiling — it was pure ecstasy. I’m a huge fan of desserts but particular ones and I love my candy. So going on an empty stomach to a candy store really made me go berserk and buy things I didn’t want.
Not the best of cupcakes, but these are rich chocolatey goodness, with thick, chewy frosting. Who can say no to chocolate?
??
Oh and they photograph well!
Our brunch table from today. We stuck to an Indian-heavy menu due to the audience, but threw in some pasta and hummus for good measure.
??
I mean, you can’t have breakfast without hummus. And orange juice, yes, orange juice. And bread.
??
Well, you get the idea.
A team of Russian and American scientists has discovered a new element that has long stood as a missing link among the heaviest bits of atomic matter ever produced. The element, still nameless, appears to point the way toward a brew of still more massive elements with chemical properties no one can predict. … We’ve never discussed names because it’s sort of like bad karma,” she said. “It’s like talking about a no-hitter during the no-hitter.
Fantastic Pizza at Fratelli La Bufala, Dubai.
Here’s the list of computer hosts running on my Home LAN. If you know the reference, we must talk!
[vimeo 9925756 w=500 h=278]
A fun video by ABC1’s hungry beast on Google’s progress.
(Source:
https://player.vimeo.com/)
The two companies have created an exclusive, easy-to-use Skype mobile offering for 3G smartphones. Verizon Wireless 3G smartphone users with data plans can use Skype mobile to: make and receive unlimited Skype-to-Skype voice calls to any Skype user around the globe on America’s most reliable wireless network; call international phone numbers at competitive Skype Out calling rates; send and receive instant messages to other Skype users; and remain always connected with the ability to see friends’ online presence.
Saying that we love food and feeding people is probably an understatement.??
Here’s a brunch table we set up when we had family pass by Dubai last year. We love variety, and typically our brunches (this was a milder version) comprise at least 25 different items to sample. And yes, it includes everything from jalebis to fresh fruit to dhokla to bread!
Random things you discover at 1 a.m.
The Emirates Driving Institute gets hacked at some point.
They proceed, like anyone would, to remove the hacked statements. But as security fixes go, they do it so efficiently (ie, not like this) that they leave out the metadata. This is obviously a brilliant move, because you do a little google search for them, and voila, Corti is now famous.
Oh, since you’re going to ask, I was on a special assignment from Samar Owais at 1 a.
The naihar concept for food has been around for some time. Over time, we hope to have a full site up much like we did before.
Until then though, we bring you the naihar blog — a place to share food, of all kinds. Enjoy the pictures and comment away — we’ve integrated facebook commenting to make this an easy process.
Happy fooding!
The curse of a g33k. Ofcourse, I wouldn’t know anything about that…
Sysadmin to the rescue. Absolutely love it.
The March 18 movement started in honor of blogger Omid Sayafi, who died in Tehran on the same day in 2009. If you’d like to be a part of this movement, I suggest you follow on to this blogpost, giving you details on how to be involved, through videos and a PSA.
Bloggers across the globe are being imprisoned for writing posts that are deemed “blasphemous” or are accused of “spreading false information harmful to the country.
Chirag Desai