Pairing beer with cake: Chocolate Stout Cake

I want to try baking this chocolate cake with the Sam Adams - Chocolate Bock beer .. and then serve it with glasses of the same brew :)
And maybe add a scoop of vanilla ice-cream into the beer glasses .. A perfect harmony of favorite foods - Cake, Ice-cream and Beer!

http://sweetapolita.com/2011/10/chocolate-stout-cake-with-whipped-vanilla-bean-frosting/

Christmas Rich fruit cake

The cake: http://allrecipes.com/recipe/christmas-cake-2/
Icing: http://www.bbcgoodfood.com/recipes/4883/classic-winter-fruitcake

The Day we had our Rock n Roll wedding.

We got married in the Fall of 2011 in New York City. The fresh sunshine overshadowed the mild chill in the air and the entire day is etched like a canvas filled with gorgeous colors in our minds.
Every moment of every minute of that day is like a love song in our memories .. and we cannot stop smiling when we watch the images from our wedding!

Our wedding ceremony was a divine experience at the Church of The Blessed Sacrament in the Upper West Side. The walk down the aisle, the gleaming congrgation filled with our families and loved ones, the sacred altar and all those moving moments left most of very emotional.

The party began right after we said "I Do" :)

The party stretched from Central Park in Manhattan into waterfront loaction at The Surf Club in the uptown suburbs of NYC. We never stopped laughing, dancing and rejoicing at what we thought was the best day of our lives!
Watch us and our Rock n Roll wedding video

World's most romantic islands!

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/worlds-most-romantic-islands/1

Cruising along the most beautiful roads in USA!

Americas's most scenic roads :)

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-scenic-roads

I have been here in Maine .. in fact those are some of the rock/sea-cliffs on which our team did some challenging night rock-climbing :)

http://www.travelandleisure.com/articles/americas-most-scenic-roads/21

Californication :)

These are a few resorts in the Golden State that I absolutely adore for having weaved in so much harmony with nature and of course the art of being luxurious without going overboard!
http://www.postranchinn.com/reservations/

Island Escape

I have been nurturing a secret amazement for housing that dangles from trees or is lodged over water! The latter appeals to me more as I find the beach and ocean expanses so very romantic. So anything in a lagoon, or a shallow reef or further out in the deep waters of a tropical ocean is definitely a vacation of choice for me!

Listed here area a few examples of extremely luxurious over-water resorts. They say 2/3rds of all such resorts in the world are in the Maldives! So even though I'd love to vacation in the Carribbean, Turk and Caicos islands or Hawaii - I may consider a trip further east to experience romantic isolation in one of it's most unadultered forms :)

http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/11/five.overwater.bungalow.resorts/index.html

http://www.kiwicollection.com/blog/inspirational-photos-island-escapes/9309

Hiking in the USA

With over 2 billion acres of contiguous land mass, there is a lot of ground to cover in mainland USA for any avid travelers worth their salt!

The link here highlights some of the most favorite hiking destinations in the USA. Go conquer a few trails, camp under the open skies and unite with nature!
http://www.cnn.com/2011/TRAVEL/05/14/favorite.hiking.camping.spots/index.html

Food (and some beer!) in Flushing, Queens, NY

Mingle Beer House
37-04 Prince St.
Queens, NY 11354
718.939.3808

It's not just beer that's served here but also tasty food in a karaoke environment - Perfect!
I hear they have at least 6 varieties of beer on tap including a pricey Chimay($11). The Taiwanese appetizers and stir-fried foods add a spicy twirl to an evening of beer drinking and mingling :)

Review of other popular food joints NY Timeout

I am also reading this other blog by a foodie on a 'shoe-string' budget .. quite an apt source of inspiration for me !

40 days of meatlessness..

The transition from hearty, beefy foods to seemingly lackluster vegetarian chow can be challenging and almost cruel to our hungry palates :)
But let's not fret this season of Lent - because when you venture into the NYC outdoors, a satisfying vegetarian meal is anything but a challenge to find. And NO, I am not saying that we enter into those mainly meat-based restaurants and sit down for a meal made up of slimy salad juices and silly-looking sides!

There are many fantastic places that will serve a generous vegetarian meal that consists of almost all the flavors that one's gastric senses would crave for. And yeah while they are not abundant, fortunately I have been able to discover a bunch of what's not only the best but also the super affordable ones :)

(In the Village):
Counter
Sacred Chow
Café Himalaya
Red Bamboo
Gobo
Hummus Place

(Uptown):
Candle 79
Josie's
Peacefood Café
Maoz

(New places still to be tried):
Quartino (Roman Trattoria - Noho)
Taim (Middle Eastern - West Village)

Mundo Café (Turkish - Astoria)

And as I'd like to think, a touch of velvety fish here and a spattering of meaty broth there won't hurt our abstinence routine much :)

Mitsuwa ..

The largest Japanese marketplace in the US - that's what Mitsuwa is in a nutshell! This place is a wonderland for lovers of Japanese food, groceries, household stuff, electric appliances, and the culture.

And I am part Japanese at heart :) So I have always been in awe of Mitsuwa, and that it's east coast location is less than a few miles from where I live, makes things all the more exciting!

Situated along the Hudson river in Edgewater, New Jersey, this Mitsuwa center is more of a mini-mall than a traditional supermarket. From Japanese tea/mochi selling kiosks to book/video stores to restaurants/sushi bars, this gigantic location will meet many demands.
And of course, the supermarket section sells everything from packaged snacks to grade-certified Angus beef.

So here's presenting to you .. Mitsuwa
Oh, and here's the English version of the site

Enjoy... Tanoshimo :)

Unique n essential NYC stores

Yesterday I walked into Fishs Eddy, an NY institution that has been around since 25 years into the business of (in their own words) 'doing dishes'! These guys have dedicated their cheerful vintage-like stores to selling one-of-a-kind kitchen and lifestyle items that are also quite affordable.

My visit to the Flatiron store felt like walking into a charming small-town shop - filled with gorgeous articles for sale! Needless to say, I walked out with a few unique gifts :)







More such essential NYC shopping institutions that I plan to visit

And also some other favorites from Yelp


Happy NYC shopping!

A placeholder and the closing of my favorite Indian restarant in New york City

Why is this a placeholder post?

I just got back from my short vacation to India. And both, my mind and heart are brimming with tales to write. Alas my overpowering schedule and dreaminess has got the better of me. I have also started maintaining a small (really cute) diary of places and food zones I'd like to visit. So I think it's just a matter of time before I start transmitting juicy bits of information from my black diary to my blog!
This placeholder post serves as a self-reminder :)


Now for more on my most favorite Indian restaurant in New york - Tabla.
It was where I had the most delightfully inventive yet completely authentic Indian flavors-bathed meal of my life. This was the summer of 2010 and I must thank my friend profusely for taking us there on his birthday, else I don't think I would have ever entered through the doors of Tabla on 24th St and Madison Ave in Manhattan.

The setting was classy and upscale and yet there was nothing even remotely pretentious about the attitudes or the food that was floating in there. The dishes served were groundbreaking from the first appearance of the food through the flavors exploded by the last bits. Quality of ingredients, retention of natural colors and the build-up of flavors - everything about Tabla had won me over.

Chef Floyd Cordoz, the man behind the food at Tabla says a few words in this article on the closing of Tabla on 31 December 2010.
http://blogs.villagevoice.com/forkintheroad/2010/12/floyd_cardoz_di.php

I am glad he recommends some upcoming Indian food places to try.. I know I will without any regrets!
Junoon Restaurant 27 West 24th Street, New York, NY 10010-3290