New York Rules!

On Saturday we headed to the city as I had a MHC reunion picnic planned in Central Park. It was a beautiful day to be outside and catch up with friends I hadn't seen for years. Ammi & Nelson kept themselves busy by visiting the MET. Afterwards we all met up for dinner on the west side at a place called the eatery. It was a contemporary restaurant with an Italian & American menu. The ravioli I had was really good. Nelson enjoyed his burgher as well. The evening was breezy and refreshing, a real delight to be walking through the city.

On Sunday afternoon we headed north on route 9 all the way to Rhinebeck. Along the way, we stipped at the Poughkeepsie Galleria, for a little retail therapy. I had been wanting to visit this town since the hype about Chelsea Clinton's wedding last week. It was a cute little town with lots of good restaurants with plenty of outdoor seating. We drove around the town first, stopping the by the river at the Rhinecliff train station to see the sunset. Then had dinner at Terrapin, a restaurant acclaimed for fresh high quality cuisine. We chose to eat at the bistro side and had to forgo outside seating which was reserved for restaurant diners. But The same menu was available at the bistro side for lesser price. We started the meal with a hot (seafood) and cold (cream corn) soups. Our pasta entrées of ravioli and gnocchi was really good. Nelson ordered a duck quesadilla that was served with a great mango salsa. With three entrées and two soups and desserts shared between three of us, our entire meal was less than $100. We even had leftovers of our pasta as we wanted to save room for dessert. The crème brulée and the molten chocolate cake was definitely worth every calorie intake. The ride back was easy and pleasant on this cool sunday night.

Family Visit

My uncle from Toronto visited with another family for a long weekend. Their main goal in terms of sight seeing was to visit NYC. On Friday they toured lower Manhattan including Wall Street, South Seaport & Battery Park. They also took the Staten Island ferry to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. The next day we joined them and acted as local guides through the city. Our first stop was at Central Park. The kids were immediately attracted to the rides at the summer carnival at the skating rink. It was pricey with $7.50 for admission and $2-3 per ride or game. But I had fun with the kids and indulged their carvings for snacks and drinks. The adults were too tired of walking to see any of the notable attrcations of the park. Afterwards, we walked down to Rockefeller Center and had dinner on the west side. At the request of my aunt, we had Mexican food at Ariba Ariba. The host was really nice and was quick to seat our party of twelve. We enjoyed the food and everyone got some much needed rest after walking. After dinner we strolled through Times Square and stopped at the M&M store along the way. Though we had plans to visit the Village & Chelsea area, the adults had had enough of sight seeing.

In addition to NYC we also took them to Palisades Mall, Woodbury Commons as my aunt is an ardent shopper. The most fun part for me was spending time with my eight year old cousin who is the most adorable kid in the world. How I miss him :((

Indian Adventure (Part 4)-Varanasi

We were on our way to Varanasi on a bumpy Spice Jet flight. We reached there late on Saturday evening due to flight delays and hence had to miss the arthi (a worship ritual)on the steps of the Ganges everyday at 6.30pm. But the wedding festivities kicked off with a welcome dinner at a South Indian restaurant. The whole next day consisted of bridal events including the sangeeth followed by a cocktail reception. The sangeeth was the most fun part of the ceremony as it included the dance that I was part of. The most surprising performance was a dance performed to a bollywood number by the bride & groom themselves. Next day, we headed to Mirzapur, the bride's hometown. which was about 2hrs away from Varanasi. On our way we toured a carpet factory, which supplies products to several well known American stores, as Mirzapur is well known for its carpet industry.

The wedding processional was led with the groom on a white horse surrounded by family and friends making his way to the bride's quarters. The entrance of the bride preceded by her beautiful niece is etched into my memory.
The wedding ceremony which included the walking around the fire four times lasted for less than an hour. This was my first experience of an Indian wedding and it was just like the movies. I was so happy for my friend. The weather corporated and everything went as planned. After eating lots of good food, we headed back to Varanasi late at night.

Next morning we did a brief tour of Varanasi. We rented a taxi and had a local guide take us to the ghats (large rows of steps) that lead to the river. Among the several ghats along the river, only a handful of them are considered sacred. We saw a dead body being cremated while another cremation was being set up. This was a common and routine occurrence on the banks of the Ganges as it is considered holy to be cremated here. Then the ashes are thrown in to the river. The pollution the area was unbelievable as we walked though the alleys ways of the heart of the town. It was surreal to see the convergence of the old traditions along with the modern way of life.

Then we were on our way to Saranath, the place where Lord Buddha made his first sermon, which one of the four holy sites visited by Buddhists. Due to the terrible traffic, we had no time to stop and make any offering at the temple. We just drove by the site as we didn't want to risk missing the bus back to the airport. Our flight back was thankfully uneventful and we returned with memories of a wonderful adventure.

Indian Adventure (Part 3)- Jaipur

We arrived in Jaipur in the evening and checked into Khandela Haveli, the hotel we enjoyed the most. We seemed to be the one of few guests during this off season and the service was excellent. We had dinner and breakfast at the hotel restaurant and the food was really good. The Jaipur dishes had a distinct taste. We also enjoyed the freshly made pancakes and other breakfast items which were plenty available. The hotel had a courtyard in the middle and a rooftop pool. In the night, there was a free puppet show which featured the famous Rajasthani puppets.

Next morning we had a full day of activities planned, starting by visiting the Wind Palace (Hawa Mahal)which had impressive facade that has been preserved well. Then we
visited the Amber Fort Palace, the first citadel of the ruling Rajputs located a few miles away from Jaipur. Located at a higher elevation and surrounded by Lake Maota, the view of the complex was amazing. From a distance, the surrounding walls of the fort resembled the great wall. We had an elephant ride up which was fun except for the continuous cajoling by our elephant driver for a large tip. The tour of the palace along with the historical caveat was enjoyable. The mirror work on the palace walls from mirrors obtained from Belgium was truly spectacular. The large number of rooms (I believe it is 24) allotted to the queens, each of which had a separate entrance that could be used by the king, was a an interesting feature. On our way back we stopped to take a brief look at the Water Palace, a summer palace build in the middle of a lake.

Amidst the Rajasthani heat, we made our way to Jantar Mantar, the largest observatory built by Jai Singh II, the founder of Jaipur who showed a great aptitude for maths and astronomy. It contained several large geometric devices, with the world's largest sun dial, being the most noted in my memory. It was too hot to explore each exhibit carefully. Our last stop of the tour was at the City Palace. which is being occupied by the current royal family. The guide pointed the present king's vehicle as we passed by. Part of the palace has been converted to a museum that displayed the history of the Rajputs. One of the display items was the largest silver pot in the world which was used to carry holy water for the Maharaja on his tour to England.

The rest of our evening consisted of shopping at various parts of the city. The walled city of Jaipur which can entered through its majestic gates, was the first planned city of India. The city was painted pink in the late 19th century as a sign welcome to the Price of Wales who visited Jaipur. The store fronts in along the main city roads are still maintained that way. The royal buildings are painted in yellow to make the distinction. We also visited several artisans who practiced carpet weaving, block printing, precious stone cutting and polishing, which are famous industries in Rajasthan. I was very happy to find a sari for the wedding along with other small items, during our shopping spree.

American Idiot!

As an early Birthday present to Nelson, I planned a day in NYC this past Saturday. As I was recovering from a terrible cold, I really would have liked to reschedule the plans,but I had non refundable theater tickets. Our brunch reservations were at Má Pêche, a new Vietnamese French restaurant by David Chang. The best time I was able to obtain online reservation was for 11.30am but we were half an hour late due to the subway construction in Queens, where we had parked. But the hostess seated us immediately and I was surprised to see the place look only about 60% full. I was a little annoyed that they tried to make us share a table with two older ladies despite the number of free tables available. We ended up being seated at the table next to them and had great service for the rest of our meal. We had the $25/per person three course prixe menu. In addition, we had a plate of oysters to start. The squid salad I got as my appetizer was my favorite part of the meal. The grilled trout, my main course, was a but dry, but I really liked the chili sauce on the side. Nelson's rice noodles with minced pork was delicious. I would have certianly had it if not for the pork. The mini desserts left me wanting more and I hence I bought 3 cookies from the milk bar on my way out.

The event for the day was seeing American Idiot on Broadway. Nelson has always liked Green day music while I knew next nothing about them. He said the show was great and I managed to fall asleep even amidst the loud rock music. The costumes and the stage were very vibrant. I hope Nelson enjoyed it as I really wasn't able to relate to this type of rock opera.

In the evening we went up to Queens to meet up with my sister and had dinner at Bangkok Cuisine in Forest Hills. It is a nice little restaurant with beautiful decor and good affordable thai food. The traffic on the Whitestone bridge was terrible as it took us almost 2hrs to get back to Westchester.

Indian Adventure (Part 2)- Agra & Fatehpur Sikri

Our journey from Delhi to Agra was uneventful except for stops made almost every hour to pay tolls. In time for lunch time we checked in to Amar Hotel. After a mediocre lunch at the hotel, we started our sight seeing by visiting the Baby Taj Mahal, the precursor to the Taj Mahal but termed 'baby' due to its small size. It was built by the queen Nur Jahan as a mausoleum for her family members. Made with white marble encrusted with jewels, the only asymmetrical features of the entire complex is that the tombs of her father and mother.

Having refreshed our selves from some petha, a delicacy of Agra, we headed to the red fort (agra fort) in the afternoon sun. This fort was built under the great Mughal Emperor Akbar in the 16th century. We mostly toured the living quarters (about 25% of the whole complex) that consisted three palaces for his three wives. The rest fo the fort was occupied by military.The top of the fort and a great view of the river Yamuna though it has nearly dried out in the past few years. We also walked through the tower which had a nice view of the Taj Mahal that was used to imprison Emperor Shah Jahan by his son. Shah Jahan was imprisoned in order to prevent him from building another Taj Mahal in black marble as mausoleum for himself, thus bankrupting his kingdom. The entrance of the fort and the gates were strategically built with many means of keeping the enemy at bay.

Around 6.30am, next morning we were on our way to see the Taj Mahal before sun rise. It was truly breathtaking to see the amazing mausoleum built with white marble set against the grey sky.The entire structure was built so symmetrically with four identical gates on each direction and two mosque like structures (of one which actually funtins as a mosque) on each side. After taking some initial photos from afar we entered the mausoleum by wearing foot covers to prevent dust on the site and spent some time walking about the premises. Built by the Emperor Shah Jahan in memory of his beloved wife Mumtaz Mahal, it is one of the greatest architectural tributes to love. This was definitely one of the highlights of our trip.

On our way to Jaipur we stopped at Fatehpur Sikri, a fort built by Emperor Akbar in honor of a Sufi saint who predicted the birth of his son. At the entrance was the sacred mosque which was overseen by a priest who claimed to be a descendant from the family of the Sufi saint. This fort seemed more open and spacious than the Red Fort, possibly due its location and the presence of greenery. This complex also contained three places for his three wives. Though they differed in size, they had been built at the same cost. The pavilion where Akbar met with the general public was still maintained as a beautiful garden. Though this served as the empires capital for a few years it had been abandoned due to its poor water supply that could not sustain its growing population.

Back Home

I was still recovering from travel fatigue so the weekend consisted of a lot of nap time. On Saturday morning, we headed to the Ossining farmer's market for the first time and bought some fresh veges and eggs. There were several stalls with breads and desserts that I plan to explore on a future date. The fruit seemed too expensive compared to grocery store prices from last week. In the afternoon, we ventured out to the Westchester and had dinner at Turkish Cuisine in White Plains. It was a small place with good food. My mum I were able to share a lamb kebab while Nelson had the grilled chicken plate. The salad was especially good and even though I'm not a fan of meat, I liked the lamb. Now I hope that I'm fully recovered and ready for the rest of the summer in NY!