Fun, fun things!
I took the KingLong bus right from one end of Bombay to another. Hubby had a dental appointment which took almost two hours in all so I waited impatiently for it to get over so we could go to the Strand booksale!
The Strand Bookstall has a yearly book sale with books being discounted up to 80% on the marked up price. Needless to say, the not very airy hall which hosted the sale was buzzing with bookworms some of whom had brought their very noisy kids there. My husband went over to the Cook Book section while I took my time over the Fiction and Classics sections.
The list I carried with me was useless as I didnt get any of the books on it. That didnt stop me from buying a few books though. Read about it here.
We were out at 2:30 pm, hot and a little light-headed (mostly me) from tilting my head, craning my neck etc. to read the titles on display. And yes, hunger. In a rare flash of inspiration, we cabbed it all the way to another suburb with huge mills converted into super-spacious and glitzy malls. Lower Parel. That's where we were introduced to Hard Rock Cafe, tucked away in the corner of an adjacent mill.
Super plush interiors greeted us with a warm and alternate-world kind of welcome. We sat in a booth type of seat with comfortable high-backed sofas and ordered a plate of quesadillas with good portions of sour cream and guacamole dips with our drinks, a beer for him and a non-alcoholic cocktail (Sweet Sunrise - orange and a few other marvelously combined juices with loads of ice) for me. We added a side order of mashed potatoes, the centre of which was scooped out to contain gravy made with great-tasting beef broth. With barbequed chicken and fries for him and a plate of pasta with a divine sauce made from a combination of cheeses topped with garlic bread (wonderful, wonderful bread) and a good portion of grilled chicken.
Unfortunately, the portions were a bit much. We couldnt have any dessert. Which was bad because we were looking forward to a Home-style Cheesecake.
Price-wise, it was very, very expensive. We're not coming back unless there's a great band playing live. But the ambience we could enjoy only that day - nearing on 3:30 with only two other tables occupied. I gazed at the costumes and guitars on display, belonging to distinguished personalities such as Madonna, DMB, Aerosmith etc.
Sunday was quiet. My mom-in-law made a great fish curry (dry). Surmai (a fleshy, sea water fish) was the catch of the day and very tasty with the bright red masala (ground dry red chillies, coconut, spices) hugging it. I made an entirely microwaved curry of mixed veggies and mushrooms in a lightly spiced coconut milk gravy. Crushing garlic and cooking them awhile with chopped chillies and onions really turns on the anticipation levels with their lovely aroma. This dish went really well with the spicy fish and rice.
Sunday evening, we went to a flower show (which was basically a collection of wilting flowers decorated in floral arrangements). One arrangement sprung out of an actual wooden boat propped up at one corner. Disappointed at the lacklustre flower show, although we did see some rare flower types, we turned to look at the stalls selling handicrafts. I got beautiful terracotta earrings shaped like sunflowers. We went to the chaat counter where we bought bhel puri and sev puri - two must haves in Bombay. We finished that and headed for the free tea samples with our tongues still recovering from the spices in the chaat. Two elaichi (cardamom) chais later, we bought one of their ready cardamom tea packets.
After a fun hour of exploration and tea-tasting, we headed home to an episode of South Park on the computer as my in-laws watched their favourite Marathi channel on TV in their room.
I dont really hate Mondays when I have a lot of great books to dive into when I take breaks from working.
How did you spend your weekend?
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9 comments:
Sounds like a great weekend :) That food sounded delicious!
My weekend was jam packed, wakeboarding and a hangover does not mix! ;)
Ah but must have been loads of fun! Yeah, I'm dreaming about the food all of today.
I spent it way too busily. I need a break from all my family!
:) I really love time-out from the family once in a while to bum out the way I like it! :))
Books, food, sounds absolutely fabulous! I loved hearing about your weekend! Mine was fun too--I had my birthday party, and my friends came over for snacks, wine, and knitting.
I love, love, love booksales :-)
Thanks for commenting on Marta's blogpost today.
Leah: A knitting party...with cake and snacks and close friends: loads of fun! I'd read this book about a Knitting Circle...that's what springs to mind when I think of your party.
Britt-Arnhild: Booksales draw me like a magnet even if I have to travel 2 hours one way to get to one! :) Marta's blogpost was really fun to read, she seemed excited about the visit in all. My pleasure!
I love the way u describe food...makes my mouth water:-(
I used to love these book sales[in b'lore] too but any book I wanted never had any discounts on it & I used to end up paying the full amount:-(.
Hi there! Thank you, thank you...one thing I do well :). Yeah, but if you pick the book from Strand in Bombay they usually give you a 20% discount anyway...even if there's no sale.
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