Switzerland - Update

{Fondue}

Oh, I know, I know! I've been a terrible blogger. Too obsessed with my work to update. But, you're right. I've recently had to move continents for my work. And, I love it. But, unfortunately I haven't had time to write about it. Yet. In all honesty, I don't have the connector cord to connect my camera with this silly Mac, and the SD card isn't being read on it either. For some strange, strange reason. More on that later. Maybe.

I am currently in Geneva, Schweiz at the moment. No, I am not the lead actress for a new Yash Raj Films project. Dreaming on. I am literally at the helm of international affairs. Hah! Again, dreaming on. But, I'd like to be.

I am working at the World Trade Organization. Whoopie! It's actually quite exciting. I get to sit in on meetings between countries who decide trade policies and whether or not you should be paying those extra $50 on those shoes imported from Italy, or pay $10 lesser on clothes exported from India, Bangladesh, etc. Disclaimer: the above data is a figment of my imagination. I wouldn't really tell you what they decide in there. You'll need to get in my not-so-comfortable shoes for that.

Anyway, I just wanted to come by and say Hello with a few updates from where I am at the moment. I do hope you will enjoy some of my iPhone photos lately, if you'd like to see.

{The United Nations at night}

{The Broken Chair outside the UN - in memory of landmine victims}

{Good Morning, Geneva}

{Posing on the WTO lakeside gardens}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Memories from England II

{Mum and Dad in front of the Cutty Sark in London}

My final set of favorite photos! There are still loads more, but the one's I have put up symbolise the best and most memorable moments, conversations and stories of the trip. The one's that made me happy. Enjoy ~

{We're back. Queen's College, Oxford}

{Conversations and reasonably priced ales at the Oxford Union}

{Cream Tea at the First Coffee House in England}

{Sugar Drop}

{Mallards atop The Turf Tavern Pub in Oxford}

{Enjoying Bizarre Bath}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Memories From England I

{Little French Stall on Brick Lane, London}

*Sigh* *London Pangs*

A friend of mine has recently been having 'London Pangs' (c). She's been missing London like crazy and in a way reminded me I have pictures I promised I'd share, which I haven't. So here we are, sharing! My trip to the UK this year was lovely. I was there with a big chunk of my family. These photos I'm sharing were part of a very memorable holiday, where I really got to show The boyfriend why I love the UK so much. Please share my joy and excitement of revisiting one my favorite places in the world. 

Photos below were taken in a plethora of locations including London, Oxford (various pubs) and Bath.

{My brave friend Anne, who was attacked by a swan} 

Not really. We had some lovely red cherries to gorge on while punting in Oxford. Mushing up the cherries made it look as though we had blood on our hands. And lo and behold a swan was near. I don't know if you've heard, but Swans are protected by the Queen. Which is why I'm holding my tongue against those, well, slightly nasty creatures. They hiss (like snakes) and peck at you, which hurts. 

{The so-called deadly Swan}

Back to our story. Which I think should be aptly titled (for lack of *any* imagination) - A little improv, clever (!) photography and lots of mushed cherries. So, as evident from the title of this story, we mushed cherries and dropped them before The Swan making it look like blood dripping from it's beak and took photos of the deadly Swan and of Anne looking slightly harassed and attacked. And her missing thumb. The End. 

Ok, I'll admit. Not a great story. Moving on.

{Relishing some Guinness and London Pride and riveting conversation}

{Dad at Far From the Madding Crowd Pub in Oxford}

{Mum at FFTMC in Oxford}

{At FFTMC in Oxford}

More coming soon.

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Review: Out Of The Box, Hauz Khas

{Worst White Russian Ever}

Right, since I have on my own taken up the role of the tackle-bad-food-joints-in-Delhi-crusade, I am going to continue my rant on how bad the service really is in Delhi restaurants. 

Last night, at Out of the Box, Hauz Khas (OTB), we had a "wonderful" experience. 

As we made our way over a large number of steps,  we found that there was no one to direct people to their tables at the entryway. So, we wandered about until we found a suitable place to sit. Once sat, we waited about 15 minutes for menus, after repeatedly asking two different waiters. We then spotted a more suitable table that had just been emptied, and seeing as it were a free-for-all we headed down to make ourselves comfortable there. Waiting for another couple of minutes or so, we finally caught hold of a waiter and proceeded to tell him how we have not been waited on, at all. 

Since our menus were not being brought to us, we proceeded to check out the menu on Zomato's iphone app. Finally with our menus, we happily ordered our drinks and food but not before finding out, 'surprise, surprise!', some items on the menu were not available. Alright, deep breaths.

Since I don't want to annoy you with our regular wait intervals, please note that between any two events we waited about 15-20 minutes (which we understand for food, but drinks? Really?). 

Anyway, service begins. First came the beer. You really can't go wrong with beer. But, cocktails? Yes. Not thinking that bad service would also culminate in bad food/drinks (and trusting them so), I ordered myself a yummy white russian. Or so I thought. What I could taste was ice water and a subtle undertaste of baileys', which by the way burned me a hefty Rs. 400+. What does a rational person do when they encounter a terrible/non-working product? Ask for a new one or a replacement. As did I. Who wants to guess what they brought me? Look at the photo above for hints. No prizes - it's obvious. They removed the ice that had already melted and brought the drink back to me in a surprisingly 2 minute window. I'll applause them for that. No. Not really.

Annoyed and not willing to argue, like a lot of consumers in Delhi, I went with it. Next, food. With the things we ordered, I can't fault them much, except that the food tasted just about alright. My enchiladas tasted like a Shawarma and the Shish Touk, I thought was average, nothing spectacular. We did, however, really enjoy the Chettinad Chicken with Malabar Paratha. It was, by far, the best thing I had that night and would highly recommend it. Yum. Unfortunately, as you may have figured, technology and I aren't the best of friends and she bails on me when I really need her. Which is why, I don't have photos of the food we ordered. Next time, I'll make sure, I promise. 

Just to add to my crusade, have you checked out Akosha yet? If you haven't and if you do, in fact, have any consumer concerns or issues that have not been resolved by your respective companies, do try them out - they're extremely helpful and very effective!

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Review: Underdoggs Sports Bar and Grill

{Image Via}

If you want your money stolen, please DO go to Underdoggs. At the bar during the IPL match (Delhi vs Kolkata) on May 22, 2012 (tuesday), because of the limited number of tables we ordered our drinks at the bar. The bartender brought us our drinks and charged Rs. 1800 for two glasses of Stella and a gin and tonic. We know there's inflation and what not, but that was ridiculous.

So I asked the man who served us that I wanted the receipt, a reasonable request I presume. Shocked and in awe the server repeats, "Bill???". He wanders off for a while and returns to tell us that our bill is actually Rs. 1600 and returns the stolen 200 to us. I insist on the bill yet again. FYI it is my right at any institution to request and receive a bill or receipt for any transaction. Again, flustered he runs off to appear another 10 minutes later. The innings are almost over.

He waltzes up to my friend, testing our integrity and says, (translated) "Sir, your bill is actually 1655, are you willing to pay the other 55?" We say yes. He's MIA another 10 minutes. I catch hold of him and inform him that if he doesn't bring us our bill in the next 5 minutes, I will file an FIR (First Information Report) against the entire establishment for 'cheating' under S. 420 of the Code of Criminal Procedure.

Two minutes in, and the bill is finally brought to us. The calculations seem correct and includes a service charge for giving us our drinks at the bar. Lovely.

Ignoring that, we finish the rest of the match and leave, never to return to this racketeering hole they call a sports bar. I wonder, how many other poor souls they may have successfully duped, or cheated.

Moral of the story: Never forget to ask the establishment for your bill. It's your right.

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The Housewarming

What's the best thing about decorating or moving into a new place? Housewarming! 

I love throwing parties and being hostess. If it were a well paying job, I'd be doing that. 

So we invited some friends over for a chat, some good booze and amazing cheese, if I do say so myself. No, seriously. Good. Cheese.

Besides, I was really excited about using our new slate cheeseboard. So, up for dinner we had toasted baguette and focaccia with an Italian olive oil dip, four basic types of cheese, that go well with wine, with accompaniments, a green salad, mini bruschetta and guacamole toast, caprese on skewers, ravioli tossed in pesto and a vegetarian version of that. Our lovely friends brought over Beef and Vegetarian Biryani and some gorgeous Tiramisu. We finished the night with great conversation and a game of Jenga. Thanks for coming guys!

{Cheese Platter}

The star for the night, at least for me, was the blue cheese paired with the grapes. The spiced holland cheese was quite popular too. Pairings for the Brie and Gruyere were Salami, sundried tomatoes and toasted baguette and focaccia as well. With cheese, it's important to take the cheese and lay it out at least 15 minutes before your guests arrive. Cheese should be served at room temperature as it takes a little while before it becomes soft. This allows all the lovely flavors through and lovely cheese tasting experience. 

{The Prepped Up Bar}

For the teetotalers we had lemon iced tea, a different offering than the regular sodas and juices. To pair with the cheese, we kept a bottle of Merlot since it's a wine that goes well with almost all kinds of cheese and a Pinot Grigio for the white lovers. Although, The Passi enjoys fixing drinks, we took a shortcut and picked up a few bottles of the readymade Margarita, Long Island Ice Tea and White Russian. You serve up good tasting drinks, don't waste time running about but actually conversing with your guests and getting people tipsy much quicker.

{The Living Room}

{The Party People}

{Some Food, Cocktails and Good Conversation}

{Having a Go at Jenga}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

A Taste of Delhi

{Creamy Afghani Chicken at Location #2}

So I'm back in 'saadi dilli' (my Delhi) for a bit and while I wait around before I graduate in June I'm hitting the town for some good food, wine and lots of catching up. 

First on my list was a popular Food Tour on Trip Advisor, the Delhi Food Tours. It's run by a lovely couple Prashant and Ayesha, who personally conduct the tour and explain everything you need to know about different types of Indian cuisine concentrated in this amazing little melting pot of a city. 

The tour usually lasts about two hours and they personally take you to different joints and present to you the best they have to offer. With Indian food being so extensive and all that variety, it's important to let someone guide you to what you should really try and what you should give a miss. 

Wait a minute. Trust someone else's taste? No way! Well then, tell 'em what you'd like and they'll try to give you the best version of it, or at least the most authentic version of it.

Although I grew up in Delhi and as a rite of passage, visited all the places they took us to, we tried things I never would have ordered myself. I'd like to think I'm adventurous. Well, slightly. But when we go out, I tend to order my regular adventure. So it was good, going to the same haunts but trying something completely different. And loving it. 

I'd love to tell you where we ate, but that's the USP of DFT. Mystery. For us dilli-waalahs, it was a surprise at every step. For me, it was tasting new memories in the same old spots that already hold so many amazing childhood memories. 

I can tell you this though, we started off in South India with a nice vegetarian pre-set meal supplemented with chicken curry and a well-charred mutton fry. We then moved up slightly North/Northwest for Afghani-style creamy tandoori chicken, biryani, sheermaal (sweet milk bread with holes in it) and melt-in-your-mouth mutton kakori kababs. Though I frequent Location #2 a lot, I have to say that my favorite when it comes to Kakori's is the newly christened Sab Ki Khatir. However, the Afghani chicken at Location #2 was Ah-may-zing. *Drool*

We moved slightly further north for butter chicken (or chicken tikka masala to the rest of the world. Short rant - its not an English delicacy and it was in fact invented in India. Harumph). Finally, we proceeded all over India for dessert. I'm really sorry but Location #4 is not pictured in this post. Why, you ask. I was so full my brain stopped working. Literally. Give the over-stuffed lady a break, will ya?

All in all, a fun night with great company and ree-uh-ly good food. If you'd like to go on a Delhi Food Tour then please, by all means, contact Prashant or Ayesha here.

On a side note, you're probably shuddering in your chair right now thinking about the Delhi Belly. For those of you not in the know, it's the terminology applied to traveller's diarrhea contracted in India especially by tourists. If that's you, DFT has something special for you too. 

{South Indian Thali at Location #1}

{Punjabi Butter Chicken at Location #3}

{Punjabi 'Dal Makhani', ie, Rich Black Gram or Lentil Curry at Location #3}

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Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Foodie Fridays: Cranberry-Lime Iced Tea

Cranberry-Lime Iced Tea

Great summer quencher and with not too many calories. Tea has great benefits whatever form you take it in and so does lime juice. Add some mint and you've got a healthy iced tea which is a great substitute to colas and doesn't take too long to prep. In fact, you could make a jug and leave it in the fridge for later.

If you have friends over during the day, make a big jug, get different sized glass jars and have yourselves a great iced tea.

For 1 jar of this yum drink you'll need:

• cranberry juice
• lemon juice
• tea bags
• honey
• mint leaf ice cubes 

Method:

• Combine the cranberry juice and lemon juice in a jar, mix well and refrigerate. 
• Simmer the tea bags in cups of water and let them steep for 4-5 minutes. Over-steeping can make it really bitter and the solution cloudy. Throw out the tea bags, add the honey and let the tea cool down to room temperature. I like to refrigerate the sweet tea for an hour before adding it to the juice mix, but you can add lots of ice and it'll still be great. 
• Throw in some of the mint leaf ice cubes and pour the sweet tea to the jar and mix well. You get the minty zing as the mint flavoured ice melts in the iced tea. 

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Foodie Fridays: Elvis's PB&B Snack

This is one of my favourite snacks. Its Elvis Presley's famous 'fried' Peanut Butter sandwich. I'm afraid, however, its my healthier version. Elvis's PB&B ... and B has no jelly, just peanut butter, lots of butter, bacon and banana. I wouldn't recommend Elvis's sandwich fried in bacon fat. Ours, on the other hand will be multigrain bread, peanut butter, banana and olive oil instead of butter.

A great summer cooler to go with the PB&B is a big jar of Cranberry Lime Iced Tea. (Recipe coming next Foodie Fridays!). If you ask some of my friends, they'll tell you how addicted I was to Iced Tea all through high school. I'm not a big coffee fan. Well, except the cold coffee you get at the Delhi High Court Canteen. Its more like a coffee milkshake. Yum. I digress, yet again. 

Peanut Butter and Banana Sandwich

Right. So we will need (for 1 sandwich):

• 2 slices of multigrain bread
• Smooth peanut butter
• 1 ripe banana
• Your favorite olive oil for cooking

Method:

• Slice the banana lengthwise in half and then slice the halves lengthwise again.
• Pour some olive oil in the pan and lightly fry the bananas until golden brown. Slightly cooking the banana gives it a great cooked/pan fried flavour. Cook for not more than 20-30 seconds on each side because its very easy to overcook and burn the banana. 
• Lightly toast the slices of bread before putting them in the pan. 
• Spread some of the smooth peanut butter over one slice and the sliced banana on the other slice. Put one slice over the other to make a closed sandwich.
• Place the sandwich in the pan, turning it over every few minutes until crispy and brown. You can pour some more olive oil if you like. 

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Foodie Fridays: Cranberry Toddy and Cookies

Its raining, its pouring and I'm done with Hot Sams and Chai. Typically, during the monsoons one finds themselves craving something yum and hot, even though its not cold but just raining.

And since its been raining constantly, we've done the samosas, the dhoklas and salty tid bits (namak pare) accompanied by Chai, that is, tea, not chai tea. I find the term 'chai tea' quite redundant actually. It literally means 'tea tea' in English, which loses chai its purpose and meaning. I digress.

So, I made some cranberry based Toddy and Nutella cookies. I'd love to say I was feeling adventurous about making toddy with cranberry juice. We were out of apple juice.

Cranberry Toddy

1 part Pimms

3 parts Cranberry juice

1 Tbsp Honey

1/2 Tbsp Cinnamon powder

2 Tbsp Lemon juice

Method:

• Heat the cranberry juice in saucepan over low heat.
• Add the honey, cinnamon powder and lemon juice and stir slowly
• Let the juice mixture begin to simmer and add the Pimms. 
• Let the mixture slightly simmer and take the pan off the heat. Let it sit for 1 minute.  

Tip: Keep tasting the simmering mix in case you'd like more cinnamon or lemon juice. 

Keep reading for the Nutella cookie recipe!

Nutella Cookies

130 g All-purpose flour

150 g Nutella 

100 g Sugar

1 egg

Method:

• Mix the dry ingredients then pour in the nutella and the egg.
• Mix and then knead the cookie dough
• Make 1 inch balls and flatten them on the cookie sheet. And just pop 'em in the oven.  
• Bake for 7-8 minutes at 180 C (350 F) 

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)

Foodie Fridays: Breakfast Muffin Sandwiches

Breakfast, the most important meal of the day. Right? It should make you smile in the morning. It should initiate the day's circle of love. Good brekka, happy you, happy surroundings. Well, mostly. 

We're making Muffin Sandwiches today, with a twist. I couldn't actually find English Muffins in my local store (Really, what's the point of making something if you can't find the ingredients in your local store!). So, I improvised. A much quicker and healthier option is to replace the English Muffin with Multigrain bread.

Ingredients:

For one sandwich:

• 2 Multigrain bread slices
• 1 egg 
• Grated cheese
• Hollandaise sauce (or Mustard or whatever else you like to accompany it)
• Pepper for seasoning
• Oregano flakes for seasoning

Tools:

• Muffin Baking Tray
• Round cookie cutter/glass bowl or tumbler 
• Oven 
• Cheese grater
• Your breakfast plate
• Cup of your favorite tea or coffee

Its THAT simple.

Method:

• Using the cookie cutter or the bowl, preferably the diameter of which is equal to or bigger than the diameter of a muffin cup, cut out circles from the bread slices and toast them in the oven. Add some cheese on top of half the slices and bake till the cheese melts. You can stick these in a hot oven (read 350 F or 180 C) for 2-4 minutes and they come out hot and crispy. 
• Meanwhile, crack an egg in each muffin cup (depending on how many sandwiches you'd like). Stick these in the oven as well for 15-20 minutes until the yolk is cooked through. (If you like runny eggs then cook between 10-15 minutes (depending on your oven!)
• Place the cooked egg on the cheesed slice, add a pinch of pepper and oregano flakes and pour some Hollandaise sauce on the egg, cover and enjoy!

Have a great weekend!

Photo Credits and Copyright: All photos have been taken by Gayatri Kumar and belong to Look who's Wearing (LwW)