We Love Kerala Food

Even though we like to explore the international cuisines, there is an extent that we can live on it.

Afterwards, the taste buds craves for our homely food. If that is not available, then at least some spicy (with no trace of sweetness in it) Indian food.

Ani mentioned the other day about badly having a Kerala sadya. She said, cost is the secondary part when she searched for Kerala sadya around the city. Even if it is costly, she wont mind paying to enjoy it, once in two months. But the fact is that, it is not even available to pay for it :)

Thats a true fact indeed. Sometimes you wont mind to tire yourself out for getting the good regional food.

While I was in Texas, traced the fact that the nearest Kerala restaurant is located in a gas station, 45 miles away from the place where I stayed. But I drove there every weekend just to grab the lunch with Kerala rice, beef fry, thoran, sambar and papad. No joke :)

This pics are related to somewhat similar kind of situation.

The Continuous Realisation - We CAN'T live without the Kerala food. Period!

She loves baking

Cooking is a common interest that we share. Trying out new recipes is a fun thing for us. At times it can be a disaster, but its always a learning for the future :)

Ani loves baking. And then it became my interest too.

The final outcome was an excellent chocolate cake. Yummy one. Good job dear..(I did that design and spoiled it :) )

Making a good cake is a skill. And we are improving it every time.

This baking plan was an instant one. But I already had the plan to prepare Kerala Sytle Beef Ularthiyathu. Just couldn't refrain from executing the plan.

Doing something together with your dear ones, which they absolutely love to do, its lots of fun. No one is sacrificing then, rather compete to enjoy the moment.

Meeting Robin Hood at the Nottingham Castle

Another blessed weekend, while searching for a place to visit, Nottingham castle came into the plan. We didn't realise that it is close to the place where we live. Didn't think twice. We headed to the castle.

There is an admission fees of £6 to enter. There were mixed reviews about the place on travel sites. But a look from the outside made the place promising to visit. So we took the ticket and began exploring the place.

The big entrance to the castle. The ticket counter and the souvenir shop operates under this place. Not much people were around. People were concentrated around pubs and restaurants near by mainly. Weekend - that explains :)

The view from the garden was majestic. There is a vehicle route to the top of the palace, but we decided to take the walk through the garden, spent some time there and visit the palace.

Ikey will be in his stroller for the majority of the travel that we does. At times we feel sad to see him calmly sitting in it and enjoy the view. And it is no fun. So we always make sure that he gets his piece of happiness exploring the place, when it is the right time. So it was his time. The entire palace garden was his. And he enjoyed running and walking around the place.

Approaching the entrance of the palace, you have wonderful views of the Nottingham city. Palace is placed to see the entire city at a glance. Beautiful views...

We spent some time inside the palace looking at it's history and museums.

On the way back we saw 'Robin Hood' visiting the palace. When requested for a click, he readily accepted with a smile. He is the city's own new age Robin Hood it seems. Where ever an event related to the Nottingham history happens, he will be there. A very familiar face for us now.

The Historic Waterway and loads of boats

One fine Sunday, after getting out from the church, I took a halt at the signal thinking about where to go from there. Didn't plan anything for that weekend as I was excited for Ani's and Ikey's arrival.

Rather than exploring the weekend, I wanted to cherish on their arrival and getting them settle down comfortably.

The weather was cold and was very cloudy. Using an umbrella is not at all option when it rains. I got at least 3-4 umbrella damaged, under the fierce wind conditions. And learned to walk in the rain rather than trying to fix the umbrella when it get flicked by the wind.

And that answers one of the questions I had when I reached here. I was the only person with the umbrella around :) But, I learned.

What I loved about this place is that it looked detached from the city. Even though it exist in the center of the city, this place had its own feel and rules.

The boats are used for two things. For travel and to stay. Stay? Oh ya, like a furnished home. Think about a floating home. That is it.

There is a long history behind this canal. Search for Nottingham Canal and if you like history, you might enjoy.

Initially thought of spending some time walking alongside the canal, but I walked for close to 3 miles. I wasn't feeling tired or losing my energy. It was such a fresh walk.

There are houses on the canal side with bridges to the canal. Wonderful backyards to enjoy the canal views and boat repair shops...It is a different world all together.

The place was kind of filled with families who wanted to enjoy a post lunch afternoon. Feeding the goose, swans and fishing, all were spending quality time with the family.

To share this excitement, took Ani and Ikey last week. Not everyone has the same mind set. She seems to like visiting the Primark (not any more) more than this place :)

Can't take these delays anymore

When you really want to get home and the delays happens, I dont want to express that feeling :) But HOPE really works...The best option around.