Pizza Hut Reviews - Inorbit Mall, Malad - Head for Pizza only!

It is a weekday, a not so busy afternoon and hungry hour of the day. I hopped into Pizza Hut in Inorbit Mall, Malad. I have been here a dozen times earlier and gulped down dozen pizzas. This time I decided to ditch the famous Pizza at this brand place.

So, I opted for a Cheesy Jalapeno Poppers, Cheese Alfredo Chicken Pasta and Belgian Choco Milkshake. And looks like chefs often mess up with food they are not known for.

Poppers were fine. A bit on spicy side though, but bearable spicy. They were served with Chilli Mayo.

The Pasta seemed like they were sun-dried. Some of the Fusilli Pasta hardly had any sauce over them. A little more sauce would have made my day better. Chicken were added in the form of Sausages. Well, I was expecting soft-yet-chewy Chicken pieces. The 2 toasts alongside the Pasta were terribly toasted. Looks like it forgot to pop out of the toaster at the right time.

The Belgian Choco Milkshake was may be prepared by a first timer. If you serve lesser chocolate in a chocolate milkshake to a chocolate lover (Ok that was a lot of Chocolate), the chocolate lover will go into depression! You cannot make this mistake! Lesser chocolate?? Least expected after paying Rs.169. The Crooked Spiral presentation of Chocolate Syrup wasn’t enticing either. May be that was indeed done by a first timer :(

A dried Pasta, burnt toast an be excused. But lesser chocolate, Noo!
Anything besides Pizza at Pizza Hut is surely not recommended.

Stacks And Racks - The Hidden Gem of Malad - Restaurant Review

An American Restaurant in Malad, Mumbai, Stacks And Racks is a hidden gem in the area. With a unique setup inside the restaurant, Stacks And Racks aces in many aspects.

The Food we gulped

Chicken, Fish, Pork, Egg, Veggies, the menu comprises of all of them. Many dishes were rum infused or beer battered. Strangely only the food had liquor. The restaurant doesn't serve liquor separately. We ordered Nachos, Lasagne, Burger, Chocolate milkshake and Cheese cake. All of them won our hearts.

The Nachos is loaded with Chicken, Cheddar Cheese, Jack Cheese, Black Bean Paste and Salsa. An awesome combination I have ever had, yes the best nachos I have ever had.

The Chicken Lasagne was covered with Sauce and Cheese Sandwiched between sheets of Pasta. We dived into it as soon as it arrived, that is just after taking pictures.

After having these, we were almost full, except for a little space for some more hogging. So we grabbed the Nemo Burger. After 2 dishes of chicken, fish couldn’t be missed. This one was beer battered, my personal favorite. Divided into halves, we gulped down the burger in no time.

Chocolate milkshake in a mini plump bottle with visible chocolate sauce around was cold and refreshing. Ann’s Philadelphia cheesecake with Blueberry dripping across the corner is definitely the best one to sum up our meal. Even with a full tummy, we could gulp the bites easily sliding down from our tongue to our stomach.

The Interiors we see

Uniquely setup interiors with pictures of American fellows hanging on the walls. Pincodes of areas along with their names. Stacks and Racks painted on brick style wall. Entrance of the restaurant showcased how you should not miss the burgers of this place.

Ambience and music

The flat screen television displayed some reality show with no audio. Music played on the speakers by Bieber, Enrique and more. At times, it looked like weird combination of music being played and the reality show singer singing on the television. May be a repeat telecast of a football match would have worked better!

Our visit during the early afternoon of a Wednesday, didn't witness lot of hoggers. Few tables were occupied by couples and solo eaters.

Surely a must visit American Restaurant. You will fall for the Foooood :)

Destined to be... - A Poetic Mind

I wish we were destined to meet earlier,
Our lives would have been more merrier.
I would have been in your arms,
Been most important of all your charms.

My feelings were dead and life was plain,
You swung in by and rose them again,
Laying my head on your chest,
You caressed it with all your best.

If we met not like we were destined to be,
Together we could be for years to see,
Similar likes and similar habits,
Compatibility would have been our chit.

Together we could live our passion,

With our own life of creation.

All crumbles of the day,

At nights, on bed they would lay.

Biting your ears gently,

Rolling my tongue on your shoulders,

Down goes my fingers slipping off,

When you rescue them with your Palm.

Holding hands tight, tucked behind on wall,
You look at my eyes, with desires they call.
Pressing with power, you don't let me move,
I wish for more, wildness for which I drool.

How long it took for me to understand,
The place where I currently stand.
Only thing I can do is long for you,
Hoping to meet someday out of the blue.

HypnoBirthing – A Blessing for Pregnant Women (Parentous)

(This article was originally published by me on Parentous.com)

“Hypnosis” as known to all, has been a controversial treatment and often gives goosebumps when suggested. But a lesser known fact is that hypnosis for pregnant women has worked wonders, if practised correctly. Practising hypnosis during pregnancy is termed as “Hypnobirthing”. Framed in simple words, it is a relaxation technique which helps pregnant women have a painless delivery.

What is HypnoBirthing?

Relaxation, being peaceful & stress-free and a having positive mindset is of utmost importance

When a woman is pregnant, everyone around her offers advice, gives instructions and some of them even scare her about the painful delivery phase. Most of her life, she is made to believe that pregnancy and delivery is very painful. But most of the advice given by people would be based on things they have heard and not experienced. So it’s important for every pregnant woman to get the instructions verified by a certified expert. Also, it’s well-known to all of us that getting scared and stressed during pregnancy is the biggest enemy for women. Relaxation, being peaceful & stress-free and a having positive mindset is of utmost importance. Hypnobirthing helps you exactly with this. It is a technique which if practised correctly and regularly, trains the pregnant woman to experience normal delivery without the pain.

How does HypnoBirthing benefit?
A pregnant woman could easily get stressed out, angry, irritated or emotional. It’s often difficult for her to control her emotions even if she wishes to. But these emotions if over-experienced, could affect the baby and result in unwanted situations. Hence it’s absolutely necessary to keep yourself and your little one calm and peaceful. Practising hypnobirthing regularly could keep your mind fresh and calm. In this technique, a woman learns to hypnotise herself with deep breathing and thinking of the positive things. She lets confidence, peace and positivity inside her and removes stress, anger and uneasiness sheltered within her.

 

You must be wondering if confidence, peace and positivity can really help in birthing. Well, there’s a direct connection. Lack of these positive emotions result in tightening of muscles which in turn interferes with the birth. So, being stress-free helps in releasing stress hormones leading to comfortable birth, lesser chances of Caesarean section, chances of lesser time taken to experience labour and lesser use of pain relief medications. And the most important benefit: as your have been practicing HypnoBirthing throughout most of your pregnancy, your baby will be more peaceful and composed in nature.

Use the right terms!

The whole motive of HypnoBirthing is to maintain a positive environment and a peaceful mind

It is human tendency to associate words with emotions. So a term like ‘Cervix Dilation’ could create panic. HypnoBirthing teaches you to replace it with a milder version like ‘blossoming’, replacing the phrase “Time for Delivery” with “Time to meet your baby” and many more such replacements. The whole motive of HypnoBirthing is to maintain a positive environment and a peaceful mind.

Where can you find it?
HypnoBirthing has not really become popular in India and you might find very few places where you can actually find experts teaching this technique. But you can always opt for videos and practise it regularly during your pregnancy days after consulting your doctor for healthy birthing and peaceful baby.

That Woman You See – Sujata Parashar Book Review

With the emerging gender equality and women empowerment strides, the book That Woman You See by Sujata Parashar is a plus 1 for the efforts put by human rights activists. Sujata, who is herself a human right activist, has rightly portrayed the ideas of a modern woman. The woman likes to express her views in the way she wants to. She doesn’t prefer to hide her feelings.

The collection of 9 short stories, all focus on a single idea, but in different manner. The stories beautifully depicts on how the modern day woman would like to act upon in different situations. A woman who finds that her son is taking the wrong path in his marriage, stands up for her daughter in law’s rights by behaving rationally.

With a pinch of romance and tinges of suspense, all the short stories keep you hooked up till the end of each of them and wanting for more in the next one. Although the climax of most of the stories didn’t entice me. They seemed to be either incomplete or unsettling to be a good climax, probably because I expected more twists in the story. But the unsettling part is something which raised my excitement to read the next one.

All in all, a wonderful book by the author Sujata Parashar, deserves a quick read while having your afternoon bites at your favourite restaurant (like I did 😉

Oats Green Poha Recipe

Well technically this shouldn’t be called a poha because it’s made of oats. But we have to name it with something familiar to those home cooks who want to cook healthy. So here is an all healthy oats green poha made of plain oats, coriander leaves and more.

Oats Green Poha Ingredients
You can easily guess most of its ingredients. But the measurements are most important.

Oats Green Poha Ingrediants

Serves 2-3 people

2 cup roasted Oats

1/2 cup moderately sliced onion

1 teaspoon ginger-garlic paste (adhrak lasun)

1/2 cup finely sliced potato

1/4 cup raw/roasted/boiled peanuts (seeng)

1/4 cup green peas (matar/vatana)

1/2 cup ground coriander leaves (dhaniya pattha)

4-5 curry leaves

2 small green chillies

1/2 lemon

1 teaspoon oil

1 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)

1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)

1/4 teaspoon turmeric powder (haldi)

Salt to taste

How to make Oats Green Poha

Heat oil in a Kadai.

Add mustard seeds and cumin seeds one after the other.

Add onion and ginger-garlic paste.

Add potato, mix and add water enough to cook the potato slices.

When half cooked, add peanuts if you are using raw. If roasted or boiled it can be added later.

Add green peas and mix.

When the ingredients are cooked, add haldi powder, green chillies, curry leaves, salt. Add the peanuts now if roasted or boiled.

After few seconds of mixing, add coriander leaves paste and mix well.

Yet after another few seconds of mixing add roasted oats, lemon juice and water (if required)

Note: Add less water to make it less mushy.

Mix it well and your Oats Green Poha is ready to eat.

Oats Green Poha Ready!

If you try out this recipe, do let me know in the comments.
Till then, keep cooking, continue eating!

Corpokshetra Review – Deepak Kaul

Book name: Corpokshetra – Mahabharata In The MBA Yug
Author: Deepak Kaul
Publisher: Bloody Good Book

An out of the box thinking, that’s the power of a book author. And Corpokshetra author, Deepak Kaul, has done exactly that.Who would have pictured Duryodhana visiting the Starbucks, or Duryodhana inviting the Pandavas for poker game over the Whatsapp? Kaul has made us do that!
Mahabharata is well depicted in today’s corporate world. Hastinapur Enterprises, Indraprastha Airlines, all entities are well in place. Despite of knowing the popular story, you will be certainly glued to the book till the end. The humour and flow of the story keeps you engaged. The heavy thick books and hundreds of episodes are intelligently concise in this 142 pages Corpokshetra making it a quick read.

The epic has been recreated and inspired many authors and filmmakers. Some of them excelled while some couldn’t pick it up. Deepak Kaul belong to the first category. The light-hearted nature of the book gives the reader the liberty to go beyond imaginations. When Draupadi is pulled out during the dice game (poker), she is more concerned about her hair which took hours to get done. Brothers cursing the iPhone and regret for not buying a Samsung instead! That is so us! In short, the author of Corpokshetra has hit the right node.

Corpokshetra an MBA Yug Review: 5 out of 5

Legend
1: Naaaah!
2: Think twice before you go for it!
3: OK!
4: Great!
5: Out of the World!

Have your reviews & experiences with Corpokshetra? Do share in the comments below.