Birthday & The Barbecue Evening

Fresh charcoal is ready

Thanks to Jesner and Ancy for presenting me yet another beautiful evening. I am soo late to create this post. Got caught up in some critical works. But I decided to air this today itself.

And yes, it was a grilling evening, and Ancy's birthday celebration.

Jesner was ready with the grill when I reached at their place yesterday. The grilling a was kind of tutorial for me. Learned the aerodynamics of grilling (Didn't get the aerodynamics part? It is all about utilizing the air around to make the coal burn better & the chicken to taste awesome. Never mind, I know, the topic is complicated as it spells.)

He instructed while I performed the grill setup. Yipee, I learned to setup a barbecue kitchen now.

A wonderful evening. A cute patio with couple of chairs, chips, creamy cashews and soda.  Ancy was busy preparing dinner inside, and came occasionally to the patio, in-order to make sure we aren't burning the chicken and delivered professional suggestions :)

Jesner and I was discussing various topics, while the chicken was getting grilled. 

After an hour and a half of grilling, we ate that chicken mercilessly with pulav and ancy's signature green salad. Finger licking good.

Let's go through some of the main clicks of that day.

Filled the fresh black charcoal in the holder and burned it from the bottom to get started.

After few minutes, the smoke started emerging from the charcoal holder.

Then the smoke began to gush out like thick clouds escaping up into the sky. Means that the charcoal and the fire is having some serious conversation now.

After few minutes the smoke started settling down. Means, the coal is on fire and no more smoking :)

The charcoal on fire. To start the grilling, the color of the charcoal should turn to ash.

Charcoal is ready to cook.

Jesner placed the chicken on the grill. Well marinated from the morning, the chicken smelled good!

Half way through the grilling. Few more minutes for the chicken to get cooked properly.

Tada, let's eat it. Proud for the first personal grilling. Thanks Jesner for your tutorial and walk through :)

Isn't the chicken looking yummy!

The tools which helped us to prepare our dinner.

That was yummy and yummy to the heart.

Followed by Ancy's birthday celebration. The shot through the leaves on the flower vase. 

A different evening with a different experience with a wonderful family...

Manu chettan & Nisha chechi's Kitchen

The thick gravy with onion and tomato, with Kerala spices, I didn't need anything else...

It is a month in US and I already started missing Kerala food and tea. 

Ani knows my love towards tea (which I inherited from Jeeju. He is a great Tea Lover) and she had a good control over it back in Bangalore. Still at office, I used to have a lot of tea in between the work. It became a habit. And the tea which Ani makes, it got a very homely taste. 

It was a month since I had a tea of that kind. And the first thing Nisha chechi gave was a cup tumbler of tea. OMG, that was a lot of tea for me. But each and every sip of it, enjoyed to the core.

I think they noticed it and Nisha chechi told me this, "whenever you feel like having this tea, feel free to stop by". I took it serious though. I don't mind the 22 mile drive to have this tea :)

I love to explore the cuisines near by like a food nomad. There are only few restaurants, in a 2 km radius in Arlington, that I have not visited. Covered decent number of restaurants in Dallas and Fortworth.

But now, I wanted Kerala food. That emotion was deep inside my heart and abruptly came out when Nisha chechi gave the Kappa. I loved it, loved it to my heart and enjoyed each and every piece of it.

Tony chettan is a Kappa lover and so I never missed that in Bangalore. But I never expected that encounter in US. 

Must say that, it was delicious! 

The kappa upperi, egg curry, pork roast, biriyani, appam - was I lost in the midst of those wonderful makes? YES, I was :)

Loved the moments spent with them. Spoke for a long time, watched a movie half through, discussed fashion & photography, drank a litre of tea...Wonderful moments...

Kerala style egg roast and beef curry with coconut milk. The egg curry was outstanding with the appam. I never had beef curry with coconut milk before. I have marked this recipe for trying out in Bangalore. It was so yummy!

Super soft Kerala appam. It literally melted in my mouth...chechi told that it's first time shes making it. Anyway, it was hard for me to believe that. It was the touch of a professional :) 

Can someone suggest me a combination to beat these guys. Don't waste time. They are the best.

I was reluctant to have the wine. When came to know that it was pure home made, i thought of trying a bit. Yes, it was home made.

The white and yellow biriyani, surged the Indian Coffee house memories into my head. The exact same taste of well cooked ghee and rice, and juicy chicken masala mixed. See that rose color salad. Ammachi's recipe back home

Boiled rice, kappa and pork roast. Shall we forget about this for the time being. I want to sleep peacefully. Mouth watering!

Here comes the famous, Kerala mango cut pickle. Yes it is pickle - I tried to train my mind with these words. At times, I treated this as a curry. 

Fairchild Type K20 Hand Held Aerial Camera

I stared at this camera for some time. Then I compared the size of camera in my hand with this and wondered how this was handled by people, that too in the middle of the World War 2. 

Then I found some interesting pictures on Google. Wow, these cameras were really handy :) 

These were the light weight hand held camera used for a variety of aerial photo uses until the end of WWII.
As far as modern cameras go they are definitely not a "Lightweight" unit. Uses a 5 inch wide roll film - and takes 5 inch x 4 inch negatives.

The lens assembly is set at infinity focus - so no focusing is possible - and they have a variety of speeds to select. Lens will be designed for B&W film - often using red or orange filters to cut the haze.

A valuable piece of history...

And there are some out there for sale.

The Tulips...

The Tulip encounter for the first time in my life. I was madly clicking the pics all around. People were so excited to be around on the first week of spring. Trees and nature, coming back to their life.

The red tulips with a white border. It really looked like the flames on the sticks.

They were so beautiful in the sun.

The purples were so beautiful and my favorite color of course. 

A mix of beauties...

Bright in the shade.

© Images by Anoop Savio

Fortworth Botanical Garden - Beauty Of The Nature

I am big lover of nature and so this weekend, it was the botanical gardens and preserves.

I don't mind spending hours walking around, relaxing under the tree shades, listening to the beautiful chirpings all around. I love those moments. 

I was at the garden gate on Saturday at 8 in the morning, which is their opening time. And roamed around and clicked pics for a couple of hours and an hour without using the camera. 

The beauty of the nature is un-explainable. it has to be experienced. I was literally going through the same.

The Fortworth Botanical Garden was established in 1934 and describes itself as the oldest botanic garden in Texas, with 2,501 species of native and exotic plants in its 21 specialty gardens.

I had a tough time to cover 85% of the entire garden. It was like a workout session for a week's pending items. Wooh.

Below is the list of the main gardens:

• Conservatory (10,000 square feet) - tropical displays of orchids, bromeliads, and trees.
• Four Seasons Garden - Hundreds of iris, daylily, and chrysanthemum varieties.
• Fragrance Garden - small garden with fragrant plants and fountain.
• Fuller Garden - pathways and lawn; site for weddings and garden parties.
• Japanese Garden (7 acres; established 1970) - the Fort Worth Japanese Garden, with three koi ponds, waterfall, bridges, teahouse, pagoda, pavilions, meditation garden.
• Lower Rose Garden - rose garden inspired by Villa Lante (Italy).
• Oval Rose Garden - hundreds of roses; renovated 2002.
• Perennial Garden - perennials with culinary herb collection, as well as ponds and small waterfall.
• Trial Garden - evaluation site for hundreds of species of perennials.
• Water Conservation Garden - demonstration xeriscape garden.
• Water Wise Entrance - entry garden with agave, Texas sage, salvia greggii, Mexican Bush sage, red yucca and Esparanza. (Source Wikipedia)

Everything is free, except the $5 for the Japanese garden. But it is worth paying for.

Must visit and recommended place from my end.

Oliver & His First Easter

Meet Oliver.

I spotted him at a park while on a trail, being photographed by his parents. Requested their permission for a click and they agreed to it. 

He's enjoying his first Easter today. Cute isn't he?

A Moroccan Experience

When Jesner & Ancy suggested Kasbah Grill, I was speculative about the place and the kind of food. As their taste is similar to mine, I knew that it won't be a flop. But Kasbah blew my expectations away. 

The mint tea was the first suggestion from Jesner and I loved it. I know how to make it now and am going to try it at home.

The food was excellent. I never had that much big lamb leg piece in my life. Hand size, juicy meat loaf, was a real treat for my taste buds.

The ambiance was unique, with Moroccan antiques all over the place and the music which takes you for a Moroccan tour.  

Wonderful place and a must visit.

A Joyful Chirping

No matter who we are, a beautiful day is what we all need.  

It is a blessing, if your mind is enjoying things around on a wonderful morning. Because there is a heart which looks out for simple things to enjoy.

It rained in Texas on Saturday night. Sunday morning was cold and freezing. Wanted to sleep under the warm blanket, but then I cannot compromise on my Jesus. Had to wake up and go to Potters House for the service. 

I took this video once I reached Mansfield to pick up Jesner and Ancy. When I was about to get out from the car, this beautiful chirping caught my attention. There was nobody out on the street and people weren't awake.But this bird was singing the song. 

Might be that he's so happy for another beautiful morning...

Six Flags over Texas

This is one place which is very close to where I stay and never visited. 

+Six Flags over Texas is one of the biggest amusement park in the world. I would have gone to this on the first day of my stay, but there is no fun without a company. I wish at least Ani would have been with me. 

Took this video on a weekend evening, when I was taking a stroll through the neighborhood. You can hear the excitement of the people on the roller-coaster. 

One BIG recommended place to visit in group...

Met Couple Of Transformers This Week

The feel of meeting transformers :)