April 2012

The Archives

• Thermomix

  04.26.12 | Permalink |Experience| Comments Off on Thermomix

  It is one very popular talk about kitchen gadget in my FB recently. Looks like every other person in my FB group is getting it. They have also put up pictures of their cooking that makes me drool. For me it is very expensive appliance and I don’t think I want to get one unless it is FREE.

  However, today I went into eBay to look for one, just for the fun. I found one that is priced at 330 EURO on bid from Germany. The bid was about to end in 5 hours. I asked my friends who have 1 about the details and brand. All was matching to the description. By the way, the details were in German.

  I Google for fake Thermomix and found that some buyer actually got a toy Thermomix from eBay. I contacted the seller and ask whether this is a real unit or toy. He said it was toy and it was in the description. Yeah the description was in German. Someone won the toy for 460EURO, pretty expensive to me.

  Anyway, beware of toy Thermomix out there! It does exist

  

• India Food

  04.18.12 | Permalink |Travel| Comments Off on India Food

  
  

  

  In Hyderabad, I heard that their biryani rice is very famous. Biryani is rice mixed with a meat curry dish. I do like their Basmati rice. It has very fragrant and less starch. In fact I got some back to cook. Besides this, their butter naan is also delicious. It must be eaten while it is hot. It is crispy and very tasty. It goes well with the vast variety of different curry.

  
  

  
  

  The first day, my colleagues took me to a buffet. It looks like buffet is very common in Hyderabad. Every day I was having buffet. One thing about buffet is that you can taste all the different curry there is. I tasted mutton, chicken, fish, dhal and seafood curry, all at one go.

  At the end of the meal, I was given some Indian sweets to make the mouth fragrant. I tasted 1 but I didn’t get use to the taste.

  
  
  

  I must say that I enjoyed the food there so much.

  Hotel Room Service:
  

  
  

  Lobster Tail
  

  Chicken Drumlets coated with curry spicy powder.
  
  

  Look at the special lemon that is wrapped with cheese cloth to prevent the seed from falling on to the food. What a great idea.

  
  
  

• Impressive Service At Novotel But ….

  04.06.12 | Permalink |Travel| Comments Off on Impressive Service At Novotel But ….

  I was in India last week and I must applause the ground service people in the Novotel Convention Center Hotel in Hyderabad. They were very courteous and polite. Everywhere I go, they greet me, always asking me if I needed help.

  Most nights I would order room service for dinner because of my work schedule. India time zone was a little difficult for me to adapt. Once I finished work with my India counterpart, I need to rush back to the hotel to have meetings with the US folks as they wake up.

  Anyway one of the meals that I ordered had a very tough beef. The in dinning service called and asked my feedback. I just made a small remark about the beef being tough, not tender enough. I didn’t expect much from my feedback. The service manager called me again and told me that he will offer free dessert. I was happy to hear that but I was also too full for dessert. I passed.

  One thing they did was really out of the way was, after I return back home, I got an email next morning from the hotel. Apparently I left my GAP sweater in the room. Yeah I notice that when I was on the plane, freezing throughout the journey. They told me that they can courier it back to me. The next day, I receive it. Kudos to all the housekeeping & in-dining service people.

  Now the bad part is that the front desk charged a security deposit on my company credit card. I have no idea about this until I returned and saw the charge on my online statement. My company travel agent booked the hotel for me so I wasn’t aware of that charge at all. I was a little disappointed because really I was about to write to tripadvisor.com sharing my great experience with the hotel. It will take 15 days for them to release the charge to me. The only thing I wasn’t happy that they made a charge without my consent. There goes your compliment to tripadvisor.com.

  
  

  View from my room:
  

  Room Service Dinning:
  

  Security Checks