Birthday celebrations at Jamavar

I wanted to make the day special for my husband. I asked my colleagues to help me choose a great place for a fancy, romantic dinner. One of the suggestions was Jamavar at Leela Palace Kempenski.

The name instantly struck a chord and I had made my decision. I looked up the internet to get their numbers. Made a reservation a day in advance. Since his b'day fell on Saturday, I didn't want to take any chances or make him wait for a meal. I was in touch with Franklin at the hotel. He said they could help with arrangements and i was only too happy to take all the help they were giving. We had our discussions about the arrangements and the 'shoo-shaa' that I wanted. He even called me back after checking with his colleagues, just to confirm that 'it would all be taken care of'.

On 23rd evening, we landed up at Jamavar. We were taken to a lovely table in the outdoors, separate from the rest, facing the lawns and elegantly decorated. The gentle Indian instrumental music playing in the background added to the beauty of the place. I couldn't help noticing the lovely lanterns that adorned the walls and the bespoke silver cutlery that was laid out on the table. This was just the beginning of a beautiful evening, i thought. We ordered our drink, and some starters.  The food was good. Not bad, but not excellent either. Just good. We had some grilled vegetables for starters, a mocktail, rotis and  kulchas and Dum Aloo Kashmiri. The Dum aloo kashmiri was not at all up to the mark. It was just boiled potatoes in tomato gravy. As the helpings were generous, we didn't bother to order rice. But we didn't mind it much. The excellent hospitality and non-intrusive, thoughtful service more than made up for it.

Half way through, the surprises began: a large beautiful bouquet was brought to to our table. When I gave it to Satti, he was surprised. And happy. And excited. When it had sunk in, it was almost time for us to leave. Just before we left, the cake came... a huge, delicious chocolate cake with a happy birthday song from the guys... It was just awesome. I was grinning from ear to ear!

What I loved about the place was the wonderful coordination and the attitude - I didn't have to as much as make eye contact with the guys to remind them about the arrangements. And the timing and thoughtfulness as well - just perfect. They selected the table for us to ensure that the celebration was as private as it could get. Elegant decoration for our table came with compliments. When we leaving, 3 of the guys came and wished my husband a happy brithday!

I left a thank you note for Franklin and the others. They made the evening so special for us that we'll remember it for many years to come.

Pasta Party!

Well, this one was pending for a long long long time. Maybe ever since I got married. Or from even before! So, we decided on an impulse that we would have a Pasta Party at my place on the evening of 25 Jan. Invitees: Rashmi and Vivek only..and of course Satti and I were the hosts.

The Menu: Vegetable Penne Pasta, Grilled baby corn and Chocolatey Chocolate cake.

As it was a last-minute plan, I had to make do with whatever supplies I had and how much ever I had of them. I figured that we'dd fall shorf of the main ingredient - the penne pasta itself. So went shopping to buy a few more packs so that the servings could be generous. But, couldn't find in any store close to home. So, bought more veggies instead. Rushed back home and started cutting the vegetables. Here's what i used: Onions, potatoes, carrots and green bell peppers. Cut them into thick long sticks. While i was doing this, the husband enthusiastically offered to help so that we could be ready by the time our guests arrived. So he started getting the other ingredients out of the fridge: Shezwan sauce, cut black olives, Mayonnaise, Cheese, pepper powder, tomato ketchup and salt. We had very little tomato ketchup so diluted it with a few drops of water. Now, we were really running out of time.

So, on one side, we started boiling the pasta and i put the vegetables into the microwave (with a dash of olive oil and salt on it). 3 sessions of 2 mins each and my vggies were ready for use. The Pasta was also just right. Drained off all the water and quickly rinsed it in cold water so that it doesn't become sticky. Got the pan ready to mix 'em all up. The husband was thoughtful enough to have made the base sauce ready by then. He'd put in Olive oil, shezwan sauce, tomato ketchup and the sliced onlins and some secret ingredient which he wouldn't disclose to cook up the mouth-watering sauce. By then Rashu and Vivi were ther already, totally excited.

back to the cooking, into a heated pan went a dollop of butter (didn't care about the calories!), the magical base sauce (as my husband likes to call it), the pasta and all the vegetables. Added some more tomato sauce , and shezwan sauce to make spicier. sprinkled black pepper powder and salt before mixing it all well. We realised that it wasn't soupy enough and were worried that adding water would make the gravy very thin. Added milk with cream instead - thanks to a handy Tarla Dalal Recipe book.

The final stirring and mixing was when the aroma starting flowing out of the kitchen and made our guests impatient. So, delegated some work before we were finally ready to eat. Get the plates and forks ready. Pick the accompaniments: Cheese spread and Mayo with olives. Before taking the pasta off the stove, added a generous portion of chopped black olives, a quick stir and we were ready to go.

By then, the cake had also been cut, ready to be served immediately after the main course. Served the pasta with the accompaniments. Everyone was so hungry that no one bothered about the garnigh. we all hungrily and greedily ate up the delicious, pasta. THe pepper made it a tad bit spicy which thoroughly complimented the cold weather. Served HUGE pices of cake and the mother-in-law treated us to some fruit salad as well.

Needless to say, with 2 generous helpings each of Pasta, cake and fruit salad, we were all STUFFED and couldn't get ourselves to move..not even to put our plates away! I loved the feeling :D

And so ended our wonderful, fun, and tasty Pasta Party. Thanks to Rashu and Vivi. Special thanks to Sathya for cooking up the DELICIOUS magic base sauce and to my mom-in-law for the Fruit Salad dessert. :D