Chp 758. Pune Mizo Mothers Dinner

This is a post for food lovers :)

Earlier this year, the Pune Mizo mother's group of our PMCF church had a potluck dinner. For those who are unaware, a potluck gathering is where every participant brings along one or two dishes to contribute. It was a strictly mother's only event, and even the husbands were not allowed to participate. I was invited :D

And so this was how it happened.

My lonely single bachelorhood had grown to such an alarming rate that even the mother's group was concerned about me. "No bleeding heart should beat alone", that was the motto of our Pune Mizo mother's group (even they may not be aware of their motto :P ). So in the hope that my rusty frail heart might find hope again, they invited me and gave me advice and encouragement about relationships.

Left to right: Pi Remruati, Pi Carol Mazuali, Pi Teresa, Pi Baby Sainguri, Pi Athari, Pu Lonely heart, Pi RSPy, Pi Mateteii, Pi Rosy, Pi Zodini and Pi Madiki.

I loveee how Pi Rosy's son is looking at me in the above pic! :D

As Khalil Gibran once wrote, "Love one another, but make not a bond of love: Let it rather be a moving sea between the shores of your souls." Well, I am here standing and waiting by the sea, all by my lonely self, with the full support of our Pune Mother's group acting as the lighthouse that will guide the boat towards me… don't let me drown… :)

The mother's group had a prayer meet, which was followed by them learning a song they were going to perform at Church later.

I on the other hand was in the other room babysitting all their children. I managed to teach some of their kids Shakespeare and Quantum Physics, so it was a productive night :P

Once the mothers were all satisfied with their song rehearsal, it was finally time to eat! Here are some of the lovely dishes they brought to the potluck dinner that night. Thanks to Teresa and Zodini for giving me details about the dish and the names of the "cooker". All the moms were great cookers. But that night Teresa was under a lot of pressure, so she was a pressure cooker. :P

Yummy Pork boiled with Mustard leaves by the host Pi Baby Sainguri.

Drumstick buhchiar! The drumstick leaves were brought by Pi Madiki, and Pi Teresa turned it into bai buhchiar (kedgeree) at the venue. St. Teresa, the Patron Saint of Bai :D

Nice Mizo style Dal by Pi Baby Sainguri.

Delicious Beef fry by Pi Madiki, though I suspect her husband might have a role in cooking this :D :P

Chicken with skin buhchiar by Pi Teresa. By the way, is it correct to translate buhchiar in English as "Kedgeree" or are "Broth" or "Stew" closer to it?

Top: Chicken sausage by Pi Mateteii. Methi tauh by Pi Remruati. Correct me if I'm wrong, but if I'm not mistaken, "Tauh" is a method of preparation by mixing crushed peanuts, garlic and chillies.

Bottom: Nutrela bawl by Pi Carol Mazuali. Bawl is another indigenous method of preparation where ingredients like Zawngtah (Parkia speciose aka stinky beans) along with Soda, Salt, Ajinomoto and Saum (fermented pork fat, Teresa said the English word for Saum is Saums) are added to the mix.

Clockwise from top: Tomato, Capsicum and Dhania mix fry and Mula salad along with Changkha (Bitter gourd boiled) with Bastenga by Pi Zodini. Hmarcha muh (grinded roasted chillies with some pork fat) by Pi Teresa. Chicken fry by Pi Athari.

Apart from all the delicious dishes above, there was also Alu Chops prepared by Pi RSPy, and grinded Baibing (Alocasia fornicate) prepared by Pi Rosy. However, I somehow missed taking their photos.

So I had to search on google for the images for those two dishes to put on my blog in case Pi RSPy and Pi Rosy feel left out. Here is a picture of Mizo style Alu Chop from Google image search:

[Pic source: Mizo online store MizDen]

And here is a picture of Baibing from Google image search.

[Pic source: Loughborough University]

Yeah that's Professor Baibing Li :D

Anyway, we really enjoyed the awesome dinner. Mothers are the best when it comes to cooking awesome cuisines. We all ate so much that night.

And so that was my memorable escapade with our Pune Mother's Group. They filled my empty stomach with food, and my empty heart with hope. I felt less lonely that night as I reached my single bachelor pad. I even listened to "Nobody knows" by Tony Rich Project only five times before sleeping that night, for a change.

Here's to the awesome support system from our Mizo community. Hope you enjoyed the scrumptious Mizo food. Cheers for now everyone, happy weekend.

Chp 757. Indigo Delicatessen

This is another post dedicated to saying farewell to my "naus" here in KP. Having known them since I moved to Pune, it is indeed sad to see them complete their studies and go back to Mizoram for good.

In my previous post, I talked about my recent experience at Cafe 1730 with Debbie, Remruati and Genevieve. And now with Jacqueline also gone, here is a post dedicated to them at Indigo Delicatessen, one of my favorite joints here in KP.



Since Jacqueline and Genevieve are so into modeling, here is me putting some of their high-resolution pics on my blog. As we all know, photos sent/uploaded on WhatsApp and FB are all compressed to a smaller size. Here at my blog, all you have to do is click on the images to see (and download) the high res quality.



Of course, I started the day with my favorite Bloody Mary.



Indigo Delicatessen makes one of the best Bloody Marys in Pune and you should definitely try it out. This particular drink is not on their menu but the bartender can make it for you if you request it. I am such a regular to this place that the first thing the waiter asks me as I enter the place is if I want a Bloody Mary :D

We ordered a couple of starters. What I like a lot about Indigo Delicatessen is that apart from their usual fixed menu, they also have a daily special menu list that changes every day.



Watermelon, basil and ginger with vodka Lemonade, and a Muskmelon and Kiwi with white rum Mojito. In front is a Tropical berries, triple sec with vodka Martini :)



More dwinks.



Photography time :)



Jacqueline trying to give that "pensive thought" looks.



Triple Halo Genevieve.



Every single pic I took of them was immediately followed by, "Khawi minlo thawn rawh". Ahhh I miss the good old days when the response used to be "Ka lawm e". Kids these days… :)



When you end up taking a lot of pics, sometimes you become good in finding the right props to go with the pic, like this one :D



As the saying goes, nobody is too old to learn new things. I learn a lot from my naus every day, like apparently there is this other app called Instant gram or Instagraham or something like that which is better than Facebook according to them. Genevieve told me that in that app, people upload photos, but unlike Facebook where you pose normally, in that app you have to exaggerate a bit while posing. She showed me one such example:



Ahhh looks interesting, but it also looks like you have to put in a lot of effort. That's probably why I am still not on it.

Anyway, our next order - Salmon steak with mashed potatoes and boiled veggies in tartar sauce arrived and it was really really good.





After a satisfying brunch, we took a walk across the street to my favorite shop in KP, the "Entertainment Store" (in my previous post too, this was where we went to after our lunch). This place is a goldmine for geeks and fans of Marvel, DC, Harry Potter, LOTR, GoT, Asterix and Obelix etc.





I was supposed to buy a Hogwarts related gift for my other friend Jacqueline, so Jacqueline helped me looked for a gift for Jacqueline. Hahaha, Jacqueline is such an uncommon Mizo name, and yet there I was, involved with two of them at the same time :D



Eliminatus apparelus! :D :P :P



And with that, we were done with shopping. I did end up buying a lot of stuff as always. Here's a picture of "Beauty and The Beast, part 1"



And here's "Beauty and The Beast, part 2"



And finally, here's "The Beast part 1 and The Beast part 2"



Aaahhh you see what I just did there? You get it, you get it, huh, huh? :D Yeah… this is why I am still single :(

Anyways, here's what I bought from the store:



Bobblehead baby Groot. Soooo cute :)



Dany's dragons. From left to right: Rhaegal, Drogon, Viserion, and Icy Viserion.



And so, that was a memorable end to a beautiful day spent with my dear naus Jacqueline and Genevieve. Here is me wishing them all the very best in the future and hope they graduate with flying colors. I will miss all the times we spent together and laughter shared, and hope they excel in life! Cheers.

Chp 756. Cafe 1730

Earlier this month, I finally got to visit Cafe 1730, situated at the end of Lane 6, Koregaon Park. Even though I have passed this place so many times since I moved to Pune, I always ended up going instead to "Effingut Brewerkz", which is on the ground floor within the same building.

I've been to Effingut at least 50 times now because of their awesome house brews, music and live match screening, and it is just a walking distance from my house. And every time I leave the place, I always look above at the "Cafe 1730" sign on the first floor and tell myself, "Hmmm, gotta try out this place next time", but then it was always back to Effingut again.

So eventually, since my dear neighbours and much beloved "naus" Debbie, Remruati, Genevieve and Jacqueline were leaving Pune for good, I decided to give them a farewell brunch at Cafe 1730. As I have mentioned in my previous Birthday post, all of them had just completed their college education and it is now time for them to head back to Mizoram.

Jacqueline couldn't make it that day due to her final exams, but the other three turned up (even though they too had their final exams going on, ahhh… looks like I might be seeing some of them in Pune again... just kidding :D )

As the four of us walked towards Cafe 1730 from my house, we stopped by briefly at Cologne Spa where our dear friend Rini works. They haven't been to her place of work yet, and so I took them inside the spa.

They loved the place, and as always, were immediately busy taking photos for their Instagram story :D Ahhh... kids these days.

We couldn't stay there for long as Rini was busy attending to the customers and booking appointments, and it kinda looked bad that all of us were just sitting in the reception area. We left the Spa and went next door, which was our destination - Cafe 1730.

I loved the decor and ambience inside, though I must admit the natural light coming in from the large French windows was a bit glaring to my eyes. They have a large smoking section as well, and here's one of the wall decoration photos I took when I went outside to smoke.

It was finally time to order :)

So here is my review of the food and drinks at Cafe 1730 along with their price so you can judge for yourself if it has good VFM or not.

Like I always do, whenever I go to a new joint for the first time, I always start with a Bloody Mary. I have this habit of judging how good the quality of a place is based on the quality of their Bloody Mary. If that is good, chances are, every other drink on the menu is good too.

Their Bloody Mary cost ₹ 395/- which was cheaper than most other places.

It was awesome! It had the perfect mix of Tabasco and Worcestershire sauce along with the right amount of Tomato juice and Vodka.  I knew right then that everything else was going to be good too.

The girls ordered their Mocktails as well.

"Summer Blast" – Litchi juice, Cranberry juice, Lime juice and top with an Ice cream, "Blueberry Colada" – Blueberry crush, Pineapple juice and Coconut cream, and "Paradise Booze" – Peace & Apricot crush, Lime, Sprite and Soda. I love the Summer Blast the most, it had a very tangy and refreshing zing. All of them cost ₹ 225/- each, which was a very reasonable price.

For my next order, I went for the House special – the "1730 Ice Tea". This was their signature cocktail, a variant of a Long Island Ice Tea, and it consisted of five different White spirits, Sweet & sour, Black currant crush, Blue Curacao topped with Ice and Cola.

AMAZING! Yup, if you ever go to this place, make sure you try this out. I was expecting it to be a bit sweet, but it was perfect. In fact, I liked it better than an LIT. Cost: ₹ 495/-

Soon, our Hors d'oeuvre arrived. Yumm. Butter Garlic Prawns tossed in Chilli flakes and other Spices (₹ 395/-). This melted right in our mouth.

Goan Special Beef Chilli Fry (₹ 355/-). So good. If you like Goan specialty, then you'll really like this.

Next, we tried to order the Korean Beef, but unfortunately, they were out of it. And so we ordered the Tender Lemon Chicken (₹ 225/-) instead, which was Cubes of boneless Chicken grilled to perfection, sautéed in creamy lemon sauce.

By the time we were done eating the three appetizers, all of us were quite stuffed, and so we decided not to order Main course, lolz. The food was really really good, and definitely worth the price. We ordered one more round of drinks before leaving the place.

The girls went for a Café Frappe (₹ 175/-) and a Green Apple Ice Tea (₹ 125/-).

Meanwhile, I went for the "Chocolate Dream" – Vodka, Baileys, Kahlua, Chocolate sauce shaken with ice and served in a Martini glass glazed with Chocolate sauce :)

Totally worth it at ₹ 395/- It also served as a good dessert, like an alcoholic chocolate pudding :D

Here's some art photography…. :)

Some more art photography :P

And with that, we were done with Cafe 1730. Debbie, Remruati and Genevieve were super happy. See, it is not difficult to please college-going girls :P

I will really miss these crazy folks a lot. Since we all live in the same neighbourhood, I used to call them over to my place all the time, like when I'm at home alone and about to watch a blockbuster movie on a boring weekend afternoon, and they would reach my place in 5 minutes. And being treated like their elder brother, they didn't care about their looks in front of me, they would just come over in their pyjamas with no make-up on, sometimes without even brushing their teeth, and they would share all sort of stuff with me, the kinda stuff girls don't usually share with other guys of their age group. That's how close we were.

We roamed around KP for some more time, digesting the good food and drinks we just had. We visited the "Entertainment Store" and they selected a couple of Marvel and Cartoon Network T-shirts for me to buy. They too ended up buying a lot of Harry Potter and Avengers merchandise.

As we headed back to my apartment, we marvelled at the "April Pâr" flowers in bloom.

And with that came to end our scrumptious outing at Cafe 1730. I plan to go there again soon, and this time I will definitely have their Main course :D

Wishing Debbie, Remruati and Genevieve a safe journey back home and all the best with their future career. And to those of you looking for a review on Cafe 1730, hope this post was a bit useful. Next post, I will be covering our recent outing at "Indigo Delicatessen" so stay tuned. Until then, cheers.