Thai Food goodness after a stressful day

July 22, 2012

I was having a really bad day while heading home from work in Mumbai. It was fortunate that my friend Sanjana, a former YUVA volunteer and intern, whom I haven't seen since forever was also not in the mood to cook and is reaching Kharghar just a few minutes ahead of me. To top it off, she lives near the Little World and Hiranandani central areas.

We met at the newly opened Arcee electronics store near Little World. I was inside because 1) I was looking for a Blackberry (thinking of getting one) and 2) Because I don't want to stay outside. Hehehe :D

She followed me in and was on the lookout for a fridge. I'm really happy for her coz she's on the way of furnishing her 2-bedroom flat! Yey! She really loves to cook so it's good for her too! Anyway, after that, we decided to head to The Cinnamon Tree, a restaurant nearby. We've had dinner once at The Cinnamon Tree before and wanted to eat there again yesterday.

Sinigang na Hipon - a proper dinner!

After four and a half months of being here in India, I finally succeeded to find all the ingredients needed to cook a proper Sinigang na Hipon (Sour Shrimp Soup) for dinner!

Since it's been raining like crazy here in Kharghar almost everyday, I was just craving for a sinigang dish. Pork is most likely not available so the next option is fish. Though it was raining, I went out to the market after work and headed to the "machi" area. Last time I was there was almost two months back and the only shrimp available was the small ones (as in okoy mode). So, tonight, to my surprise, there's shrimp! Kind of semi-prawn actually. It cost me Rs 50 for 125gms. Not bad!

Bahá'í House of Worship (Lotus Temple)

March 25, 2012

Another must-visit place we headed out to while in Delhi was the Bahá'í House of Worship, or more popularly known as the Lotus Temple.

As the name suggests, the temple is aptly named Lotus Temple because of it's structural design. If it is not that obvious in the photo, it's either I took a really bad shot or you need to have your eyes checked. :)

Penguin Books' Spring Fair (aka Learning About Contemporary Indian Literature)

March 24, 2012

After coming back from the Akshardham Temple, I decided to make good on my plan to check out Penguin Book's Spring Fair that was happening at the nearby India Habitat Center. This is in line with Penguin Books India's 25-year anniversary celebration.

The night's event was a reading, something like a competition in a way. The winner of the "reading competition" gets the shot at becoming Penguin Books India's next big thing!

Swaminarayan Akshardham in Delhi

March 24, 2012

After eating, we went back near the Red Fort area to find another fort that's supposedly accessible to us. We went round and round till our faces burned (thanks to Kevin's sunscreen for damage control) and finally realised that the fort we were looking for is actually part of the Red Fort and can only be accessed by going through Lal Quila!

Anyway, by the time we realised that, it was already so hot that when I reminded Kevin and Rosie about my plan to go to Akshardham Temple (thanks to Brod Dwight Ronan for telling me about it), we settled to take a tuktuk instead of returning to the Chandni Chowk station and traveling towards Akshardham station (I think two train changes are required).

Akshardham from a distance

Hygienic Restaurant at Old Delhi

March 24, 2012

All that walking and basking (aka burning) in the sun made us hungry. Actually, thirsty at first but later on, hunger kicked in as we saw the menu on this "hygienic" restaurant.

Chinese Thali of some sort: chow mein, manchurian balls,
veg fried rice, and chili paneer

Old Delhi Red Fort - seat of the Mughal Empire

March 24, 2012

There was a time, long long long ago, when Muslims thrived in India. However, hundreds of years later, the Muslim population is now considered as one of the minorities in the contemporary Indian society. Nevertheless, the era of the Mughal Empire has been marked with several monuments (click on the monuments tab) like tombs, mosques and gardens.

Apart from these monuments and places of worship, the Mughal Empire also built the Red Forts to serve as their seats of power. I heard there are many red forts in India. One of the most famous is the Red Fort (Lal Quilla) found in Old Delhi.