Ginger- NY

146 East 55th Street
New York, NY 10022
(Bet. 3rd & Lex Ave)

An awesome place for sashimi and pan asian food. Specials such as fried red snapper, fried duck, Beef with mango sauce- OMG

Great sea food with a great view of Manhattan - Chart House

Chart House,(Double Awesome!!)
Lincoln Harbor,Pier D-T
Weehawken,NJ
(201)348-6628

Just cannot describe this place. The view is breathtaking and the food is amazing.

Mantra - Indian Restaurant,Paramus,New Jersey

Mantra
275 New Jersey 4  Paramus, NJ 07652
(201) 342-8868

Beautiful place and awesome food.  An upscale Indian restaurant with great decor and friendly staff. They have
complimentary table side chaat which is delicious. Our group ordered a bunch of stuff here:
Appetizer:
Fish Amritsar, Samosa, Lassuni Gobi and Barrah Kabab
Entrees - Rogan Josh, Saag Paneer, Lamb Vindaloo, Patrani Macchi and Chicken Makhani
Dessert - Banana Flambe(made table side) , Rasmalai

Everything tasted great - this place gets 5 star rating

Here is a picture with the hilarious waiter - Sam.com

Vimala's Curry Blossom,Chapel Hill, North Carolina - real Ghar ka Khana

Last weekend was my birthday weekend and we decided to try Vimala’s Curry Blossom cafe. This is a counter service restaurant with tables and chairs placed out in the courtyard with live music. The food is simply awesome. When I say awesome- it is like the Sunday lunch I grew up eating at my house. My mom would cook the finest mutton curry, fish curry, sambar, fish fry. Vimala’s kitchen food brings back those memories. Vimala came and met us and made sure we had a good home cooked meal starting with pakoras, mango lassi, dinner menu included tandoori chicken, mutton curry, fish curry, kachiya more, thoran and her surprise for us in the end  - PAYASAM. There were fresh chapattis, bhatura and naan bread along with steamed rice.

This is one place that reminds me of 'home away from home'. I miss my mom’s food but I guess with Vimala’s down the corner, I have found a way to fill that gap.

Phone: (919) 929-3833
E-mail: vimala@curryblossom.com
Address:
431 W. Franklin St.
Chapel Hill, NC 27516
inside the Courtyard

Chart House,Weehawken, New Jersey

Double Awesome!!

What an absolutely amazing place- great food, great view and great service. Absolutely great for office parties and family get togethers. The place is pricey, but worth every penny. Above are some views and snapshot of food we ate alongwith the scenery from the restaurant. I tried their salmon covered in bacon and Manhattan while my friend Gina tried the scallops on a bed of corn- yummmyyyyy

The find of the week - Park and Orchard,New Jersey

Park and Orchard - AWESOME!!!
240 Hackensack Street - East Rutherford, NJ 07073 - (201) 939 9292

My girl friends from TCP, Randi and Gina celebrate their birthdays the same month as I, so we decided to have a combined birthday party. The venue selected(highly recommened by Randi) was Park and Orchard. Got to say, this place has food that can satisfy any palate. Lots of choices for the veggies, vegan and ofcourse pasta and meat lovers. The atmosphere is very laid back and food very tasty. Really! you can't ask for more

What a refreshing way to start my week

Landed in EWR airport this morning in a real grumpy mood – nothing different  today, got up at  3.30 am in the morning, caught the early morning flight and of course guilt stricken for  leaving my precious kids behind.

Usually I take the taxi from the airport to work, but today an elderly limo guy asked me if he could give me a ride. I was of course very hesitant as he had no placard; he said he will give me the same fare as the local taxi. So I decide what the heck - this is my treat, Arrive work in style and not even pay the big bucks.

Well what do I say, this happened to be the most thrilling ride. This taxi guys name was Alex and he is from Armenia. He made sure I was comfortable, wanted to know if I would like to listen to music or news, as we were driving he asked me if I was from India and if I wanted to hear a Hindi song. That really caught me by surprise. He said growing up he saw lots and lots of Hindi movies and figured the only way to woo a girl as shown in the Hindi movies is to sing songs. He sang ‘Mera Joota hai Japani….’ And ‘Jimmy Jimmy …aaja’ . The words were all wrong- but the tune was perfect

Then he asked me what my name is, when I said Irene- he said, it was the perfect name for me- just as Hurricane Irene left destruction behind I leave broken hearts behind. Such a sweeeeeeet guy. He absolutely made my day, my week and my years to come. Will never forget this drive, nor Alex – here’s to the best limo driver in the world J

China Grill, New York City

China Grill
60 West 53rd Street
New York, NY 10019
(212) 333-7788
Absolutely Fabulous place to eat - this place is pricey, so come prepared to lighten your wallet. We chose the 'NYC Restaurant week' to visit this place. The price was $35 per person+$10 Mango Martini+taxes. We had a choice of 2 appetizers, 3 entrees and 2 desserts
Appetizers: Fried Clamari Salad and Spicy Pork Dumplings
Entrees : Glazed Salmon with Barbeque sauce, Drunken chicken, Skirt steak with Lomein
Dessert: Chocolate Tarte and Icecream
Drink- Mango Martini

Here are some pictures

Fun times in Hartford - last few days of partying

Last few days at Hartford were mostly send offs and partying- after having worked with the group for almost a year and a half it was sad to see the family go - here are some pictures

Peruvian restaurant 'PIOLIN' in Hartford, CT

PIOLIN Jr. - 860 Main Street, East Hartford, CT -(860) 282-7378
Peruvian Food at its best !!
I had visited a Peruvian restaurant in Chicago, courtesy my colleague Juan and absolutely adored the food. I did not remember the name but the taste of the food and the high of Pisco Sour lingered in my memory forever. When I was on a project in Hartford and met my friend Juan again, we decided to find out a local Peruvian joint. Piolin Jr. did not disappoint us one bit.
There are two Piolins in Hartford - Piolin Jr and Piolin. I would HIGHLY recommend Piolin Jr. The ambience is great and so is the food. I tried Ceviche de Pescado(Diced Fish Filets marinated in a spicy sauce), lomo saltado(stir fried beef with onions and tomato over fries and of course lots of Pisco sour.
Parking is a problem as it is on the main road, there is some parking behind the building and food portions are HUGE- so order wisely :)

Pisco sour

Ceviche

With my friends John and Timothy

Beef Seco

Juan and Valentina