See's Candy @ NEw Park Mall - Indulging in Chocolate

The other day, Mahi & I went down to our good 'ol New Park Mall. This mall is the one closest to our current location. It isn't a very big mall, in fact, by American standards, it's a pretty small mall. That’s where I introduced Mahi to See's Candies - my favorite candy store. The stores are typically black and white and project a very retro look. The service too is very old-fashioned - a lot of warmth and coziness, with a strict adherence to their motto - "Quality Without Compromise".

There are over 100 different varieties to choose from, and the candies have no additives / preservatives - only fresh ingredients, procured from across the globe.

The first See's Candies store & kitchen was opened on Western Avenue in Los Angeles in November of 1921 by Charles See. The sparkling clean, black and white shop was designed to resemble his mother Mary See's home kitchen.

By the mid-1920's See's had expanded to twelve shops, and further expanded to thirty shops during the depression. By 1936, See's was able to expand to San Francisco. Mary See died in 1939 at the age of 85, but the company kept growing.

Following World War II, See's Candy Shops grew as California grew, and opened more shops throughout the state. In the 50's, See's established itself with the new and growing phenomenon of shopping malls.

Today See's Candies are sold in over two hundred shops throughout the West, a true sign of their enduring popularity. And, to this day, Charles See's living motto, "Quality Without Compromise" continues to guide the company.

My personal favorite there is the Milk Almonds – these are roasted almonds, coated in chocolate – simply out of this world. We also were exposed to the remarkable service here – the sweet lady at the counter kept giving us multiple samples to try out – in fact towards the end, we had to virtually refuse, for fear of being unable to waddle out of the store !!!

Our initial experiences in the US

I know it's been quite a while since I posted anything here. Well the reason for that was that we (Mahi & I) were in the critical phase of an overseas transfer. What with the running around for the Visas, ticketing, travel procedures, packing etc, we hardly had any time to post anything!!

We sold our car in India, a panther black Ford Fiesta 1.6 Sxi ABS just after 9 months of purchasing it. Thankfully didn't end up taking too much of a hit on it. Also sold my XDA II mini to a colleague.

As of now, we both are based in Fremont, California, and are put up at one of the Extended Stay hotels. These hotels are designed keeping in mind the fact that people might need to stay long term here. Each room had a mini kitchen, TV, DVD, refrigerator, etc. Also there are laundry machines within the building itself, a multi-gym, pool etc. The company will put us up here for 2 weeks, post which we would need to move into an apartment. We have hunting for the same in and around the Fremont and Newark areas.

Met up with Mayur and his wife Purvi and they've been great help in taking us around. Incidentally, they have recently picked up a Lexus 350 SUV, and boy is it good!!! Amazing.

Also, did some basic grocery shopping for the essentials to get operational on the cooking front.

Traipsed around New Park mall today, taking in the sights and the sounds. Also, made the traditional stop at the ColdStone Creamery for some soulful and sinful ice cream!! The ColdStone Creamery chain was setup in 1988 (almost 20 years ago), by Donald & Susan Sutherland, and they serve up what they call "Creations". This basically means that one gets to customize their ice cream, they way they'd like it. You can choose from a range of nuts, toppings, biscuits, mints, fruits, chews, etc. and not to forget - ice creams, to make your unique creation. The ingredients that you chose are placed on an ice cold granite slab and they mixed together. That's where the name is derived from. You can read a lot more about it here and here.

Will post more details as we experience the sights and sounds here.......

The Hyderabad Derby

This weekend, the six of us Murli, Vyshnavi, Shashank, Fauzia, Mahi & I went to the Hyderabad Derby at Malakpet, Hyderabad. Murli and Vyshnavi had passes to the event, and had invited us. They had also invited Sanjay & Anu Khendry.

Traditionally, while races are held every weekend, the big derby's are held only twice a year. This years' derby was sponsored by Vijay Textiles.

The dress code for any of these events is strictly formal - trousers, shirts, blazers and a tie. While I did blanch at the thought of formal wear, having worn it for 2 and a half years continuously in the NDA (National Defence Academy), I decided to go through with it, for the experience.

We all piled into Shashank's car (an Opel Astra), and I drove. Boy, I don't remember the last time I drove an Opel. Vyshnavi's father is one of the Stewards in the racecourse, and as such we managed to get premium parking.

On reaching there, we made a beeline for the main hall. Apart from the horses and races, the racecourse is also famous for the food. Simply mind blowing. We had reached the place at about 1215 hrs, and as such, lunch was already served. The non-vegetarian section was exceptionally good, and so was the vegetarian stuff too. The food included Biryani, Haleem, Mirch ka Salan, Palak Paneer, Chicken and Mutton dishes, and a few more which I don't recollect as of now. The dessert section included Khubani ka Meetha, Ice cream and Rasmalai. Quite nice.

Post lunch, we moved into the VIP area, to witness the races. I can say this with conviction, it is a completely different world out there on the field. While it took us a while, and help from a kindly old gentleman there, to learn the basics of betting on the races, the emotions that run there are really something.

Right from the time that the horses are brought out on parade, and placed at the starting gate, to the time that the take off, clear the tracks and finish in the race, emotions run high amidst the crowd. People surge to the fences and shout out ecstatically.

We too tried our hand at betting on the horses - no large sums of money, smaller sums. Thankfully, while we didn't make any money, we ended up recovering whatever we had bet, so all in all it worked out OK.

SASCON2007 - The Annual Sierra Atlantic Sales Conference

Today, we formally kicked off SASCON2007 (Sierra Atlantic Sales Conference 2007) at HICC (Hyderabad International Convention Center). The tag line for the event this time was Opportunity. The last time the tag line had been "Achieve the next".

The venue is really fabulous. The HICC is part of the Accor group, and the whole setup is not even a year old in Hyderabad. Everything is squeaky clean, spic & span.

As part of the kickoff, we had an inspiration sales video running, which i put together over the last few days. Nothing special, just mixed a bunch of photographs and text together.

We also had a traditional Hyderabadi Chowki dinner on the evening of the 18^th. The Chowki dinner is symbolic of the Nizam rule, and was the royal formal dinner of that era. It involved sitting down on the cushions and eating out of silver plates and drinking from silver / golden goblets. While we definitely didn't have the golden goblets, we did have highly polished plates, and silver serving bowls. Each Chowki could accommodate six people, and all in all people had a whale of a time. The dinner was very well received and kudos definitely go out to the entire arranging committee, including us (as usual - no modesty!!!).

Will try and upload the video too that I had created, space permitting. For now, you can feast your eyes on some of the arrangements and decorations for the dinner.

New Year Celebrations

We had a really small but good get-together on the night of the 31^st at our place. Murthy Uncle, Meena Aunty, Mom, Dad, Rayo, Mahi & I were the constituents of this group.

But I'm getting ahead of myself here. Had swung by Rayo's place in the evening, and since everyone else there was going over to Zenobia aunty's place for the celebrations, we (Mahi, Rayo & I) decided to head home.

We diverted via the New Food World which has opened up opposite Poulomi Hospitals, next to Sainikpuri. Picked up the Pillsbury rich chocolate instant cake mix - not for the microwave but for the cooker, as we decided to make the cake the hard way. Incidentally, the cake was an egg less one.

Headed home, initiated the baking process and sat down to watch Star Wars part III - Revenge of the Sith, as this whole month, Star Movies is telecasting the Star wars Saga every weekend.

While we were watching the movie, Meena Aunty & Murthy Uncle came over, and we all had dinner together. The dessert of course was the cake.

We all got down to a few rounds of Uno, as well as Scrabble also known as Spell-O-Fun. We finally finished the scrabble game at about 11:50 pm, followed by a small photo shoot. Murthy Uncle won, followed by Mom, Meena Aunty and Rayo.

We also called up Chinni and Raja at the stroke of 12 and spoke to them.

All in all, a quiet new year bash.

More scoop on City Center and Food!!!

Well yesterday we formally raised a toast to Kailash. Actually it wasn't a toast really, but in true Hyderabadi style & spirit, decided to take him out to lunch.

As all lunch outings revolve around the critical parking issue, we decided to not take our vehicles, and instead decided to walk across to the eating joints at the City Center. An initial description of the mall is posted here.

As I had mentioned earlier, it has a bunch of restaurants on the top floor. Interestingly, these all belong to the BJN Group, same guys who operate Angeethi too. The restaurants are IndiJoe (a global cuisine place), Sahib Sindh Sultan (an exclusive Indian place) and Aromas of China (as the name says, an oriental place). Apart from this, it also has a pub called Firangi Pani, as well as a conference room.

Now, I must say, that these places are amazing. If you haven't visited / seen them, do see them ASAP, and if you have already seen them, then see them again and again and again.....
The attention to detail in all these places is mind boggling.

We had lunch at IndiJoe. The buffet costs Rs.135/- plus taxes, but believe me, the variety is mind boggling. Six types of salad (veg & non-veg), 8 types of desserts, Indian, Italian, Oriental, and Continental cuisines were part of the main course in the buffet. Of course, no drinks are included as part of the food, but hey - they have the chocolate fountain as part of the dessert !!! Lip-smacking!!!

Post lunch, we decided to explore the other restaurants. Sahib Sindh Sultan, is a restaurant set in the year 1853. It has a massive train coach / bogey inside which can seat about 20 people. On either side of the coach, they have setup mirrors facing each other, so when you actually look left or right, it's looks like a long train - pretty innovative. The coach also has tracks and gravel underneath which have been suitable lit to add to the overall effect. Inside the coach, the design is similar to the trains of the bygone era. It has luggage racks above the seats which have British top hats, and women's felt hats placed there as part of the display.

The seating area out side the coach can accommodate lots more, and is setup like the platform for the train. It also has a ticket counter, a book store etc. The staff too are dressed as per the clothing of the yesteryear!!!

Firangi Paani, the pub, is again set in the era of the Raj, in India. Authentic rifles on the walls, motifs, stained glass, leather sofas, all speak volumes here. The tables are setup as huge gunpowder casks, and all in all it gives a very English feel. A whole lot of polished wood too.Towards one side, they also have a small dance floor set up.

Didn't get a chance to see Aromas of China, as that is slotted to open next month, but will definitely take a look at it once it opens up. The picture sure looks nice though. Am sure the cuisine too will be great.

All in all, a really nice experience.