La Fattoria Chester

August 11th 2016 - Dinner Party Food - ***** Ambiance - ***** Service - **** Value for Money - ***** Two days prior to my visit to the restaurant, I had a quick glance at the menu which was very Italian. It was a birthday celebration meal of a friend. She made the choice of this restaurant. Authentic Italian was something my taste buds are not quite used to. So I wanted to be enthusiastic about my visit by choosing my food prior to my visit. The restaurant was pretty much packed at 8 P.m. The ambiance was very Italian. It was filled with loud and pompous chats and laughs of happy diners. That sure was a pleasant welcome. Everyone in my group decided to have starters. I decided to share a starter with another friend. We ordered Tomato Garlic bread. Our decision to share the starter was a wise one as the portion was huge for a starter. It tasted good so zero complaints. A friend who decided to order Cheesy garlic bread all for herself could only eat like 5 forkfuls of her main course as she was stuffed with the starter. For the main course I chose LINGUINE AL PESTO. It arrived beautifully plated. The plates were huge and so were the portions. I was pretty much full after eating half the plate but I ended up finishing 80% because of the taste. For someone who finds it hard to enjoy new cuisine like me, this delicious dish is the answer. TAGLIATELLE AL SALMONE seemed like a great hit among-st my fellow diners as 6 of them went for the same item in the menu. It tasted good was their common review. While another friend chose GNOCCHI ALLA PAPALINA which she clearly enjoyed. After finishing my meal I took some time to appreciate the beautiful decor that was put together very creatively. The quirky mirror installed in the ladies room is a great inspiration for DIY craft. The quirky posters laid beautifully on the walls carry the Italian feel pleasantly well. If you are going to celebrate a birthday in the restaurant then gear up for some loud celebration by the staff which is a sweet gesture from them. All in all this was a very pleasant trip. Probably I will make it my next destination for food when I am very very hungry to make sure I do full justice to the food served. A little suggestion to the restaurant would be to make it easier to the customers to split the bill by itemizing individual items ordered. Or perhaps may be even provide the menu along with the bill to easily work out the costs of the items that they ordered.

Evolving relationships

Everyone needs a medium to evacuate their inner feelings (specially the hurtful feelings) while people like me who are very forgetful need a post like this to remind myself on a later day, others just keep it hidden within themselves and cook the problem to a bigger one. So here I am to pour out my inner feelings.

As an independent individual we are constantly evolving in terms of our behaviour, problem handling, choosing what is best for you, choosing who are best for you to have a long term relationship with. I during my evolving process choose to ignore the people I started with in this world ( I am not judging whether they are best for me, they will be a major part of me no matter how much I change). Little did I know that not everyone thinks like me. I as an individual need to fit into all the various conditions they set to evaluate if a person is worthy for them to keep in their life. 

Someone once told me in general Indian mindsets are so self absorbed that they are insensitive towards others shortcomings. This is such a true statement. We blame western society for everything that goes wrong in Indian society but western society has evolved a lot and become very conscious to not hurt anyone based on their shortcomings. I never heard of the word Dyslexia until I was in India, because in school I have seen repeat offenders being punished with a cane stick, getting a spelling wrong is not the end of the world but research showed that repeatedly spelling words wrong is actually a psychological problem. But as an Indian we have been shown always that unless you score as high as 100%  you are not perfect. If you are just managing 60% then this gives a right to the person who is making 80% to bully you. 

How hard is it for people to realise that I am not in this world to participate in a rat race, I am satisfied with what I have and I have enough to help others. I bet the rat race participant neither has the satisfaction nor the heart to help anyone, all he has is a fake status which he uses to bully the people whom he considers as not up to his level. Most people come to a realisation of life when they have faced hardships in their life, but I have made sure that the race participant never faced any hardships in his life and I feel responsible for never letting him see the true and mean world.

At the end all I wish is that the rat race participants take a break and realise that no one is perfect in this world. What you treat as worthless may be very valuable for someone somewhere in this world.

Bonding with the street

Bold Street - The most happening place of Liverpool be it day or night, technically I have never been here in the night but I guess it would be certainly happening owing to the number of pubs in the adjoining little streets of Bold Street. I was a loyal pilgrim to Bold Street in 2011 and 2012 when all I had was public transport to grab some Indian groceries and the famous Matta's store catered to all my needs. Then once I got my car I became distant to Liverpool until last weekend when Mr.B and his lovely wife invited us both for a meal at the new Indian place called "Mowgli".

Pic Courtesy: TripAdvisor

Mrs.C wanted to try the Liverpool's answer for authentic Indian food. I was very excited about this place as it served Indian street food, and I could not resist the feeling of downing all those yummy pani-puris. The restaurant's ambience was very simple and elegant at the same time, full marks for keeping the theme alive through the ambience.

I was quite skeptical and happy at the same time that Mrs.C loved Indian food as I remember sending onion pakodis with zero spice for her, they could be literally called as Onion rings instead of pakodis. When the food was actually served at Mowgli, I realised Mrs.C enjoyed the food mainly as it was the same 0 spice level. But much to my disappointment the food turned out to be of 0 salt level too. My most favourite bits from the menu the Bhel puri, Baptized as Yogurt Chat Bombs, and Pani Puri, Baptized as Tamarind water bombs were very sweet to taste. It  could be the location of the restaurant that influences the spice levels of the restaurant but my review of the restaurant would be that the food is over-priced and the taste is too much modified away from the authentic style.

Once again Cheadle scores better when it comes to catering to all spice levels. No wonder IndianTiffinRoom in Cheadle is always so crowded that we need to reserve a table atleast a week ahead.

Pic Courtesy: Bacononthebeech.com

From my current home IndianTiffinRoom is about 32 miles and Mowgli is about 27 miles. I will conclude by saying that I prefer those extra miles any time when it comes to great food.

Change

Did you ever wish life just stays the same without any change, you could perhaps get up each day the same way, get ready the same way, take the same path to goto the same workplace daily. Cook and eat the same kind of food every week. Basically all this counts as a luxury, mainly when you hate to take risks that can damage this luxury. Even a little change feels like a huge risk to take. May be all this is because your life did not take the same direction as you planned in the past. Even when good things start to change your life in a good way, you become suspicious every second and every minute about how long this happiness will last, then you start testing the source of this change. You question it, you tease it, you ridicule it, you kick it. This is a hard phase for everyone involved but only the tough one withstands and stays. If the happiness decides to leave you it means your life stays the same way without any change.

Maniratnam's Geetanjali - 25 years of a classic

ManiRatnam has a unique style of narrating a story. This story starts with the graduation ceremony of a young man who is not bothered a lot about his future. His life is all about breaking rules and teasing girls. Witihin the first 15 minutes of the story, he suffers a serious accident. The treatment for which reveals his serious health condition. He is suffering from Cancer and has very few days left. So he decides to spend the last few days away from his sobbing parents and sets off to Ooty.

In Ooty lives the female protagonist Geetanjali, she seems to be a happy-go-lucky girl who goes about playing pranks with her eve-teasers. She has a little gang of siblings who help her with her accomplishments. In a turn of events, Prakash gets attracted to her, but then he comes to know that even Geetanjali is suffering from a heart condition that won't let her live longer. He gets inspired by the courage displayed by Geetanjali even though she knows that she has very little time left.

The story slowly reveals how the two go through ups and downs before realising the love for each other. They decide to stay together for the rest of their lives. 

The flirting skills of Prakash and the mischeivious pranks played by Geeta along with her siblings are the funny bits in this movie. Ilayaraja's music sets the right mood for this classic love story. Even after 25 years, the music of this movie gives the same relief to the 90s kids....This is indeed a classic love tale worth watching countless number of times.....

Good old days

I have many great memories associated with this song...The male actor truly represents my dad and the female actress my mum. No wonder all of my dad's friends came back watching this movie back in 1993 and told us "This is your family story". I cannot imagine a couple to be so understanding in this day and age. Touch wood, My folks were!!! Imagine a man having to be a Househusband owing to bad circumstances and the lady taking up his share of responsibility as well as making sure we all were well fed and lived in a tidy home. My mum still has the diary which had all the details of our family's monthly income and expenses. She, the elegant Leo, was good at managing a happy home with just 1000 rupees each month. My dad who is now 56 years old (i guess this age was in 2011, he never ages lol) does not know much about cooking other than managing to make coffee, tea and Omelette. Both me and my brother were below 10 years of age and unlike this super fast generation never had much high demands nor understood the complexities that such difficult times brought. I can never remember seeing my parents having a fight in my 20 years of life that I lived with them. Not only was my dad an easy-going person (but again no one is perfect in this world), but my mum is a very understanding and forgiving person. No matter how much I adore my dad the adult me now realizes that he should have pitched in to make my mum's life easy a bit. But I am sure my Gemini dad always made my mum's mental life easier using his great sense of humor. Also, they never had any difference of opinion even in the case of my dad's parents.

Thanks to Sandeep Gadila

For helping me explore the world of fusion...These two stand out from the rest in my opinion

Note: Ear/Head-phones Highly Recommended