Though I slept late the previous day, I woke up fresh and ready to meet those others who had arrived the previous day.After a cup of hot and refreshing coffee, I headed out to meet them.
Most of them
were ready.The dress code for the day was White. So its a white top with blue jeans or white sari or salwar. I chose to wear a white top that I shopped for just for this day.With matching accessories, I was ready to head out.
The moment I met Archana, Kamalika, Padma Rehka, Pradnya[who came there with her cute 3 year old son,Shlok], I felt like it was a re-union. I am still amazed how a group of ladies who have never met
can be this close and converse easily without a break. We were chatting
the whole time there and I am sure no one felt the other one was a
stranger!
Vaishali came to pick us up and I was so glad to meet her in person after chatting with her over the phone many times and she being one of the reasons that I made this trip happen.
We piled into her car and Vaishali took us to the Sabarmathi river
banks. The river front has been converted to a 10.4 km stretch of walk
way which is open for the public. It was inaugurated on August 15th
2012. A boat ride is also available and Vaishali told us that it was
open from 11am on wards.
The sights around was breath taking.With the sun just peeping out the chill breeze was so invigorating.
We were busy clicking the sights around and never hesitated to request passers by to click our pics in different positions and at different locations!
People were looking at us and must have wondered what we were up to so early in the morning with lil kids and busy clicking and posing.I am sure none in our group minded any of that.
After a while Vaishali took us back to the hotel where the other sessions were to take place. She took us for a drive through the streets of Ahmadabad and showed us the bazaar street and the old lanes that heritage touch.
The city was waking up with vendors and shop keepers busy getting their prepped for the day’s business to pick up.
As usual we were busy clicking and lil dude was busy trying to snatch the camera from my hand!Thanks to him, I now have loads of shaky picture to boot!
On the way, Vaishali stopped when she this person….
Apparently Vaishali had ‘interviewed’ him and clicked pics and he too remembered it..
In his cart were bottles of pickles and a whole bunch of fresh fennel. Honestly that was the first time I am seeing fresh fennel and once again, we got out of the car and started clicking pics oblivious to the fact that a small crowd had gathered around us watching us with keen interest as to what we were clicking..
Vaishali asked him to pack us a little from each jar for us to sample. WE loved eating the sweet and sour pickles and what I loved the most was the fresh fennel…
We reached the hotel and Vaishali had arranged a beautiful and tasty breakfast for us. Once the jalebis came in, each one of us shamelessly started gobbling them up. I can’t even remember how much I ate.After a while I decided it was not worth keeping a count because I was reaching fro that bowl of sweets more often that I could keep pace with counting.
Then came the fafda with khadi and papaya chutney , kamman, khandvi, sandwich dohkla,Sev khamani [prepared from left over dhoklas].
The food was so delicious and I just couldn’t stop eating. I felt that my tummy behaved like a bottomless pit!
I ate and ate and yet I was hungry for more. Lil dude loved the Fafda and ate it with gusto. The Kichdi that was prepare for the kids was so tasty that we ate that too! I loved the Sev Khamani and I remember telling Vaishali that I am going to stay there and taste all the gujju food and then only leave Ahmadabad.
Then we donned our BM Apron that Vaishali had specially designed for us and I really felt proud to put it on and be a part of this wonderful group.
Soon after breakfast, Ruchi, a profession chocolate maker came in for a chocolate demo.She demonstrated the proper method of tempering chocolate and the right moulds that have to be used to get the best chocolates etc.
Ruchi showed us how to make Bon bons and chocolate cups.While she was explaining, we especially Kamalika, was busy clicking away. We loved to watch the ‘ chocolate rain and drizzles’ and all of us wanted to click it and Ruchi was such a sport and repeated it for us and this happened many times while we wanted to click some of the steps when she made the chocolate cups etc.
The chocolate cups in preparation……
In the first click is the owner Mr.Mehta and the person in the last pic above is the baker who prepared the awesome cake decors.
The shop had a wide range of cakes that I could not stop myself from clicking each and every one of it.
While we waited for the workshop to start,we watched in awe as the baker quickly turned out several types of cakes for the shop.
Then he showed us how to decorate cakes and also demonstrated chocolate cigars, chocolate fans, edible flowers with cream etc.Being a professional , he was so fast in doing things that we requested him several times to slow down.
In the middle of all this Lil dude suddenly decided it was not a good thing to be quiet or perhaps he had seen too much of chocolates and cream or he was bored,or whatever, started to get cranky. I took him outside the work area to the bakery to relax a while with lil dude.Srivalli joined me a bit later and both of us sat there to chat[what else will we do!!]. Mr.Mehta started chatting and soon we were telling him about BM and he was quite impressed.
He also showed us several clicks of his egg less creation.Check out Mr.Shimul Mehta‘s FB link to see how gorgeous his cakes are….
After the workshop, we shopped for some baked goodies in the bakery and ordered some more to take back home. Mr.Mehta gifted us with a Ferrero Rocher cake.I will tell you what became of that cake tomorrow…
We left the bakery and Vaishali took us out for an authentic Gujrathi Thali lunch at the Sarbhara, Karnavati Club.
Lil dude decided that it was enough with hos fussing and fell asleep the moment we entered the restaurant. And I gladly enjoyed a great lunch.
Never in my life have I eaten like this! I never said no to any dish that was being served!As I said earlier, I was beginning to think to think my tummy was bottomless!!
This is our lunch Thali. Seeing this I really began to miss Lil Angel.She would have loved to have a few dishes from this thali….
All of us waited till all the dishes were served and never dared to touch the thali till the end of service. Guess why?Yea, to click the pis of course. We needed to take pics of any thing that is edible[being food bloggers!] and this thali was too beautiful to pass.
We had a scrumptious lunch with Vaishali explaining the name and ingredients of each dish and we were digging into the food like hungry folks who have never seen such a thali before!
Then pan was served and Vaishali[once again] showed us how to assemble and eat it…
We walked out leisurely and by that time, the restaurant was almost empty.We happily clicked a few group shots and proceeded out….
.A few of them returned to shop for toys for their kids and returned to the
hotel the hotel. We we went to a cloth store and we got some nice salwar/kurti
materials and saris.
a while but by the time we got back to the hotel we realised we had very little
time to get ready for the barbecue dinner that Vaishali wanted to take us to.
and lil dude was now very bright and ready to take on what ever was next.
Lil dude was dressed up in a cute little sherwani that mom had got and just as
I was about to get ready, Princi mam[Yea, its Vaishali] walked into my room and
gave me a look that said she was not happy with me. I was still in the white’s
and almost all of them were ready. She asked me to hurry else we won’t be
getting a table for dinner.
was the quickest dress change ever! I was ready in the traditional attire with
the necessary accessories, all under 1 minute! I was amazed myself.
traffic was heavy by then and we kept
chatting about food, personal stories, the city …
claustrophobic, that he began to get
cranky. Nothing could be done to distract him.I had a tough time with him in the car….
if the Barbecue place was located in the outskirts.Vaishali nodded and then
after a while we got down. Suddenly it dawned to me that we had come to
Vaishali’s house.
and we were speechless! The path way to her house was beautifully decorated and
lamps were lit. It was like welcoming VIP’s and I suddenly realised she had
done all this for us!
soon we were wandering around her beautifully decorated house.
around and then we adjourned to the lawn where there was a roaring bon fire,
for some barbecue.
her daughter served us with all her love. God knows how many trips they made
between the table and the barbecue!
tikks,barbecued mushrooms and cauliflower and sipping the cool juice that
Vaishali served us. I suddenly missed Lil Angel and was wondering what she
would be doing at that moment.She loves to gaze at the night sky and the more I
sat there, the more I missed her.
to click some group snaps. After fooling around with different postures and
positions , the photo shoot was done and we were invited inside for dinner!
of some more food did not dazzle me! We has some Naan,dal and Vegetable pulao and to top it up we had
musambi/sweet lime ice cream , orange ice
cream, and cassata. Then came Vaishali’s carrot terrine with Gualb jamun.Even after that heavy meal, we were able to indulge into these desserts.
Vaishali made for us. Delicious is not
the right word for it.Actually, I must find some new word for that.It was so
good!
beside the two sleeping children and started chatting while the rest of the gang
headed out for a Rotla demo.
itinerary was scheduled for around 9am. So we had ample time to catch up with
our beauty sleep….
Take a look at the Blogging Marathon page for the other Blogging Marathoners doing BM#25
Bon Appetit…
wow, I so envy you guys, the whole event looks awesome and of course with sessions and yummy food. Thanks for a great update.
Loved reading each and everyone's jubilee posts, honestly you guys captured very well this beautiful meet.
Such a busy,long and well organised day again, glad to see ur lil rocking star. Beautiful post again.
love this post and vaishali is great in hosting
Adhiraacreations
Healthy recipes
love the breathtaking views of the city – such a packed day – who could believe one could do so much in one day. so happy it was such a gr8 experience for you
Nice recollection of Day 2 PJ
Not only yours, but my stomach was also behaving like a bottemless pit! Like Nandini said, how we ate and ate and ate!
Also, I think poor Sidhu was claustrophobic in the car. Because the moment he got out, he was fine!
It's lovely to see new pictures in your post PJ, those way through the city were nice..:)..and you managed to write about everything!
I guess you captured the city's beauty at its best! Awesome narration with sprinkles of your emotions!!
Wat a detailed post PJ…every bit of what we did that day is in here! Love it 🙂