I moved to Dubai!

Hi guys,

Once again I start with an apology for my lack of posts! I have a reason though. A very legitimate reason. I moved to Dubai!

I moved here around a week and a half ago and I'm excited and scared in equal measure!

This is a new chapter in the journey of my life and I am looking forward to it. Moving here was a leap of faith. I am not someone who takes risks easily so for me this was a big deal. I am looking forward to a new life here and hoping that destiny has good things in store.

This is a little something I wrote about it.

I believe that every little change is meaningful, but something this big is definitely going to have major effects. Looking forward to unraveling them in the future!

This blog will continue and I have promised myself I will be more regular here. However, location specific posts will probably be at a minimum, unless its something I really love and want to show to the world at large. My readership and audience is global and I think it's time to start giving them something that is relevant and useful, too.

I'm still going to be writing about food, but it'll take on a different aspect that I am excited to share with you in the coming days!

Because who doesn't love Cinnabon!

Apart from this, I am finally finally starting to focus on the skincare and wellness posts that I speak about writing but never get around to.

I have a list of topics and I want to get around to covering them asap. I big part of this decision has been the realization that I love my blog and somewhere along the way I kind of lost ownership. I started to post what I thought people wanted to read. But you know what? My best and most read posts are the ones I wrote because they were posts that I wanted to read. Turns out that's exactly what resonated with you guys too.

So I'm going to continue doing that and this time I'm going to create the best content I ever have!

Cheers to many more posts and I hope this blog becomes better and better every day.

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Harry Potter Book Launch at Trilogy

I attended a book launch of Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. One of the numerous launch parties all over the world, hosted and attended by obsessed fans like myself. This particular party was hosted by Meethil and Ahalya Momaya, who own Trilogy, at Lower Parel. 

Check out my Hedwig pendant! 



This is what greeted us on arrival.

Like yay nine and three quarters! This sets the tone for EVERYTHING. And it was mad decorative skills on display. Check it out!

Write your feelings to all your favorite characters!

And.. and... we got food! Yummy food, really. Plus the amount of kids there, I'm sure the sugary stuff was very welcome.

And you see that chocolate there? It/'s a snitch! An actual GOLDEN SNITCH chocolate.

And the games and props! Crazy stuff. We had so much fun with the quizzes and guess-the-character and the awesome props.

I was, in particular, obsessed with this one.

We took a break from the games, and then it was picture time! Time to take inspiration from the Dark Lord.

Then, back to the fun games. Once that was done. we (and a roomful of way more kids than adults) could write letters to Madame Rowling, and Trilogy would mail it to London! How awesome was that? Then we put it in this box. Isn't it adorable?

After everything was done, there was cake! Isn't that the bestest cake? Always. Poignant. And yummy!

That's Ahalya in black. She's the sweetest ever, and one of the reasons I would keep going back there.

OF course, I had to pose with that too!

And back at it again with that hat. And the house banners! *love*

And while we were leaving, we were shown an illustrated edition of Harry Potter and the Philospohers Stone. Apparently, only the good kids get to see it. I was so proud of myself.

Isn't it beautiful?

Aaaand signing off with a selfie ft. the awesome hat!

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Culinary Challenge at The Lalit, Mumbai

First off, I would like to apologize to all of you sweethearts for not posting anything this past month. It's been a really hectic time for me. I know I should have posted more often, but I hope you guys can forgive me! I have been posting reviews on Zomato on and off this past month though. Check out my profile there (100+ Zomato followers now yay!)

And now, for the very delayed post about an amazing event that happened at the Lalit Hotels -  the Grand Finale of The Culinary Challenge.

The culinary challenge is a platform where the Chefs from The Lalit, Mumbai are encouraged to come out of the cocoon and fly with their imagination to create something new, or something traditional.

The participants are free to create dishes which are Traditional, Contemporary, Fusion, or Classic. I was really excited to see what they would come up with. And I was pleasantly surprised with each course! The plating, the textures, and the taste (of whatever I could taste, being a vegetarian) - it was all so good.

First, the chefs.

And now, for the food.

The first course was called 'Seafood Delight', created by Chef Farooq Shaik. 
 It was a cold seafood platter with so many different dorms, tastes, textures, and taste. And it was an absolute delight to look at.

Yes, that's a baby octopus! There's also lady fish, salmon ceviche, and prawn mousse. A closer look -

Those translucent balls, as well as the translucent sheet everything is placed on, is a tomato consommé sheet. Consommé is a very tricky thing to get right - and he did. The brown rocks that you see are actually dainty balls of bocconcini cheese coated with olive dust. It was superbly created. 
The presentation of this dish was really the most interesting of all.


Next up, we have the 'Mehfil-e-Murgh' consisting of four types of chicken variants; created by Chef Parmeshwaran.

Clockwise from top - Dhaniya-Pudina Murgh, Papad Murgh, Deconstructed Parda Murgh Biryani, and Murgh teh-pe-teh.

The Dhaniya-Pudina Murgh is essentially a herb crusted chicken roll. The chicken breast had a perfect texture and was very well cooked. It was served on a gravy with a tomato onion base that went well with the green chicken roll.

The Papad Murgh was created by dipping the chicken tikka balls into a papad mixture. I was quite surprised, having never encountered anything like this before. But the texture contrast of the murgh malai tikka and the papad was just beautiful.

Next up, the Deconstructed Parda Murgh Biryani. 

That's a basket made of chicken juliennes held together by chicken mousse. I personally liked this one the best out of the four because it was so imaginative and superbly done. The basket is covered with a dainty golden roti.

And you take the roti off, and voila!

There's chicken flavored rice inside. Deconstruction, indeed!

The last of the four is the Murgh teh-pe-teh. This was a layered dish, with chicken mousse layers interspersed with one layer of khoa mixture and another of a potato-paneer mixture. Once it was all layered, it was coated in a cashew-cheese-cream mixture before being oven-baked. This was also a favorite and it was quite difficult to decide between this and the Deconstructed biryani.

Are you guys salivating yet? I thought so. There's more to come.

Our third course by Chef Rajendra was titled 'Sunahri Nalli with Akhbari Pulao & Mahi Bhatakali'.

This dish combines pomfret and mutton with a rich pulao. This is a treat for people who love seafood as much as they like their meats. With a creation like this, they won't have to choose. The fish had a lovely texture, and the gravy was well flavored and well seasoned. 

Next up, the 'Lobster Thermidor with a molecular twist', created by Chef Rajan.

  The lobster was cooked in a white sauce and deglazed with white wine. Gruyère and parmesan cheeses were added to the mix. 
The roses are actually made of deep fried potatoes that have been manually shaped.
The lobster was accompanied by a porcini mushroom risotto, deconstructed feta cheese spheres, and mango caviar.

You can see those more clearly in the next picture.
 

To top off this already spectacular creation, it was flambéed right at the table!

 Spectacular, isn't it?

This is how it looked at the end, just as it was settling down.

This dish was enjoyed by everyone at the table. It was flavorful and made an impact.
 
The last course, and most definitely not the least, dessert! Named 'Circle of Life' and created by Chef Heena Shah.

It was a veritable wonderland. She chose to stick to two dominant flavors throughout. And it was amazing how much she experimented in that. 

Hence, we were treated to orange and rose mousse, orange panacotta, orange caviar (with a chili reduction!), orange parfait, macarons, and orange ice cream.

The presentation was impeccable. Like the candied rose petals in such straight lines. It truly was a work of art. But then again, I am partial to desserts, so of course I am going to wax eloquent about it.


That wraps up the dishes! The winners, you ask? 


It was difficult, let me tell you. All the dishes were so good that it was a trying task to choose. After much deliberation, here's who we picked!


First place went to the 'Mehfil-e-Murgh' consisting of four types of chicken variants; created by Chef Parmeshwaran.

Second place went to the dessert 'Circle of Life' created by Chef Heena Shah.

Here are the participants, with Executive Chef Aungshuman Chakraborty - just ouside Baluchi, at the Lalit Hotels, Mumbai. It is a fine dining restaurant which is known for Mughlai and North Indian cuisine.   

I had an amazing time at the Lalit that day. You can read my review of the 24/7 restaurant here, and to do justice to the awesome desserts, a separate dessert review.

Writing about all this awesome stuff has made me quite hungry. I'm off now, but do let me know which dishes you liked best in the comments below! Also, comment below or tweet at me if you want recipes of these dishes.

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Restaurant Review - Sweetish House Mafia

Food: 5/5
VFM: 3.5/5
Ambience: 5/5
Service: 4.5/5

I have loved Sweetish House Mafia since the early days where one had to buy goodies from a nano car. Now there are three outlets! This review is about the Bandra outlet, which is adorable. The Lower Parel branch is little more than a takeaway place.

I've always liked the cookies, and the quality has been maintained from the very beginning. Also, the decor and ambience makes it a place you definitely wouldn't mind hanging out at. The interiors are also so cute, the decorative elements, the board games, comics, and the tables are great too.

Oh and also, this thing :

 
Do you know what those little containers are for? A closer look:

I absolutely love when a place makes that added effort, and this is just one of those things that makes you fall in love with a place instantly.

 
All the cookies look so delicious, you don't really know which cookie to get. I eventually zeroed in on the s'mores. They warm it up a little which really got the chocolate chips all melty. And there is one fat marshmallow on top of the cookie, right in the centre. It was quite stretchy and it tastes a little cinnamon-y. Or brown sugar. Or both. I'm not really sure, but I surely liked it. I thought it was cinnamon. Their cookies have always been delightful and the s'mores cookie was no different. 

A Nutella milkshake as an accompaniment to the cookie was not as good as we expected. I expected a little more Nutella flavor, which I don't think was asking for too much, specially from something with that name.

However, the second time I went, it definitely contained a generous quantity of Nutella so I was quite pleased. And now for my favorite :

This is the red velvet sandwich and it is delightful. Total foodgasm. It is the best by far, and I've tried a lot. I haven't tried their Nutella Sea Salt cookie, however, and that's supposed to be the best, so I might have another favorite. Who knows?

The place is very pretty and brightly lit. Outdoor seating is little benches and faux grass. That adds quite a nice touch, I think.

Overall Rating - 4.5/5

Follow me on Zomato for more reviews, and find me on Instagram and Twitter! I promise awesome pictures, food and otherwise.
 

BNLF at the Lalit + Food Truck!

I was at the Lalit Mumbai, attending BNLF which I've been writing and writing about. The day was finally here. As I have told you all, I was part of the Stage Crew, and hence I was running around backstage, and it was an awesome experience to interact with all the keynote speakers. It was a day very well spent.

I am still a little dazed about the conversations I had with all the keynote speakers that day. It's just too precious to write down. But they all wished me luck for this blog, and so I carry an enormous amount of goodwill with me from people who have achieved so much and yet are humble and amazingly supportive about my blog. You can find out more information about the event - just go on Twitter, search for the hashtag #BNLF. You will find a wealth of information that you can apply to your own life, whether you are a blogger or not. You'll find more information there than I can ever give in an article, however much I write.

And now, for the food truck!

Food trucks aren't exactly legal in India, because they don't have the provisions for permits legally. In fact, the law doesn't have any specifications for a food truck in the first place. So it's kind of a grey area. However, this food truck is within the Lalit Mumbai premises, and parked at one place on those premises. Hence, it is perfectly legal. And also delicious.

The man in the picture is Chef Rajeev, who oversees the menu, operations, and general functioning of the food truck. He very sportingly agreed to pose for my picture, as you can see.
 

They were giving us food samples for a limited time (I got lucky to be there at the right time!), and so I got to taste the bean burritos and also some yummy quesadillas. Served with sour cream and salsa sauce. Each and every part of the meal was truly authentic Mexican food. And the quality was great, which is to be expected because after all, it IS the Lalit. 

These were the two boys working at the truck. The one on the left is Rahul, and the one on the right is named Law. Yes, I did a double take at his name too. Really, they were quite sweet and all smiles, even in the crazy heat. It's truly the people who make a difference about the experience you have, irrespective of what event it is. And between the three of them, they made sure nobody went back disappointed.

Indiblogger, BNLF and the Lalit made sure we had an awesome time. Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for updates, and pictures (food and otherwise). My facebook page is up now, you can find me there too.

My Pretty Simple Day

I created this very simple board, with the name of my blog on it, including the hyphens that are a part of my blog link. I keep it propped up on my table, and it reminds me what I am working towards - making my little spot of the internet the best I can make it. So today, I just decided to click a few pictures with it. Taking my board out in the pretty sunshine. Here they are:

Hello board!

Photo Credits: Mikhil Mehta

In other news, I'm going to head out for the BNLF briefing soon. Been looking forward to the event for quite a while and it arrives tomorrow, I just can't wait! Follow me on Twitter and Instagram for updates, BNLF and otherwise. My facebook page is up, too. Thank you for all your support, and do comment and let me know what you would like me to write about.

xx

Myra