After The Hiatus

I’ve been quite lazy and simply bored to put down my experiences for the last three four months (not that I was a regular earlier as well) but in a cheap attempt to garner publicity and prevent the blog from being put on IV feed to keep it from dying, I just thought I’d post more frequently…

This last fortnight’s highlights have been my trips across the UK, the continent and the US – five countries in 10 days on business meetings with a weekend each spent in London and New York, culminating in an NYSE listing of one of our companies.

On the way, I managed to eat and drink in several fantastic restaurants in Frankfurt (Gusto at the Villa Kennedy), London (Gastro cuisine at The Ebury Pub – classic Italian at La Strada – Indian at Chor Bizarre and Benaras – single malt cocktails at The Salt Bar – Chinese at Royal China – British pub food at Wetherspoons), Chicago (classy Italian at Il Mulino), New York (single malts at DBA and The Bitter End), Indian at The Katti Roll Company, general lunch at the Fanelli Cafe and The Olive Garden and fusion food at Breeze), apart from packed sandwiches and sodas that we consumed on the flights between cities we travelled.

The highlight of this trip were two culinary finds – Il Mulino in Chicago – the food was simply incredible and rich – I had the Grilled Zucchini Starters and the Risotto Primavera together with bread soaked in olive oil and washed down with red wine – passed on the dessert although I did managed to drink some of the cranberry grapa that ensured a sound night’s sleep.

The next find were single malt cocktails that I sampled a weekend earlier in London at the Salt Bar. Whilst I was first shocked at the idea, the liberal side in me sort of took over and I can attest the experience was worth it. Both the cocktails usually use a Jack Daniels base, in our case we tried two single malts. The first cocktail was The Honey Old Fashioned, which replaced the traditional bourbon with a Bowmore 15-year that was then stirred with honey, ginger and orange zest. The second was a Smoky Manhattan, which replaced the JD with a measure of the Laphroaig Quarter cask and orange bitters instead of angostura.

Also clicked several pictures in London and NYC, two cities that I love to visit and simply walk around – the weather was quite benign and I pretty much walked 4-5 hours each day – my new acquisition, the Canon IXUS 800 IS, which I think is a pretty cool camera and quite useful for a someone like me, whose hands cannot stop shaking while shooting a picture – great zoom, great functionality and quite mobile.

Pictures coming soon, watch this space!!!

Cheers
S