Song: Don't Stop Dancing

Artist: Creed

At times life is wicked and I just can't see the light
A silver lining sometimes isn't enough
To make some wrongs seem right
Whatever life brings
I've been through everything
And now I'm on my knees again

But I know I must go on
Although I hurt I must be strong
Because inside I know that many feel this way

[Chorus:]
Children don't stop dancing
Believe you can fly
Away...away

At times life's unfair and you know it's plain to see
Hey God I know I'm just a dot in this world
Have you forgot about me?
Whatever life brings
I've been through everything
And now I'm on my knees again

But I know I must go on
Although I hurt I must be strong
Because inside I know that many feel this way

[Chorus]

Am I hiding in the shadows?
Forget the pain and forget the sorrows

Am I hiding in the shadows?
Forget the pain and forget the sorrows

But I know I must go on
Although I hurt I must be strong
Because inside I know that many feel this way

[Chorus]

Am I hiding in the shadows?
Are we hiding in the shadows?

Its a well known fact that Bay area is known for its Indian restaurants all over the country. I have been fortunate enough to have explored small but significant number of these restaurants, tip of the iceberg you can say. Not a connoisseur of food myself and being very specific with my taste (I Love Chicken, period), I still would want to guide people with similar tastes in the bay area. The category of people who should like this read are the ones who:

1. Love Indian Non-Veg (chicken, mutton)
2. Love spicy stuff
3. Don't like to experiment a lot because "Good Food" is not something you fiddle around with
4. Like to reorder the dish if they absolutely love it
5. Don't shy away from ordering more than what is required because deep down they know that they can take a "To Go" and eat it the next day

Disclaimers:

• The chef might have a bad day at the same time when you happen to order. So don't blame me.
• Some of the restaurants mentioned below are awesome with veg food as well. But some of them fall flat on their face. So take your vegetarian buddies at your own risk or wait for my blog on vegetarian restaurants (It might be a while before that comes out)
  
• The restaurants and their menu items listed are what I happen to order on that day. They may still excel in other stuff which I didn't taste.
  
• I am not responsible for personal prejudices or your bad luck.
  

Lets begin, shall we?

In no particular order of preference:

Temptations - 288 Castro Street, Mountain View, CA‎
A great restaurant if you like authentic Indian-Chinese Fusion food. Service not so great but the food makes up for it.

My Recommendations:
1. Chicken 69 - Ideal starter
2. Sweet Corn Soup
3. Hot and Sour Soup
4. Red Chilly Rice with Chicken/Veg - Long grain basmati rice stir fried with vegetable/chicken and mixed with red chili spicy sauce
5. Singaporee Rice with Chicken/Veg - Long grain basmati rice stir fried with vegetable/chicken and mixed with Turmeric

Peacock - 2798 El Camino Real, Santa Clara, CA‎
The best place for Dum Biryani be it veg or non-veg. Also the mutton curry. Authentic Indian style. I am serious when I say that I was on verge of tears when I ate it as it reminded me of my mom's cooking. A great place for buffet considering most of the Indian places suck when it comes to buffet.
My Recommendations:
1. Chicken Dum Biryani
2. Mutton Curry
3. Mango Ice Cream

Turmeric - 141 S Murphy Ave, Sunnyvale, CA‎
A little expensive but great ambiance and a very nice change if you get bored of other places.

My Recommendations
1. Ragda Patties - Potato patties stuffed with a blend of homemade cheese, herbs and spices. Served with chickpeas
2. Paneer Mircha - Cottage cheese in a yogurt based sauce tempered with whole red chili and cumin seeds
3. Chicken Biryani

Spice Hut - 594 E El Camino Real, Sunnyvale, CA
Great place to get a "To Go" for home. Ideal for one of those days when you don't want to cook or you just ran out of groceries. Spice Hut calls itself the Indian Fast Food Center. Pretty accurate I should say. Their Combination plates are worth every cent.

My Recommendations:
1. Veg/Chicken/Egg Puff
2. Chicken Chettinad

Kabab and Currys - 1498 Isabella St, Santa Clara, CA‎
For hardcore Kabab fans. Their Kababs are world class. They serve Kababs during Buffet. Need I mention any other reason to go there?

My Recommendations:
1. Kababs in the lunch buffet

Amber Cafe - 600 W El Camino Real Mountain View, CA 94040
One of the few restaurants who have successfully experimented with the Indian Dishes in an American style. They close little after 10 on weekdays and hence provide you with the best chance of getting hands on some Indian food if you start at 9:45 pm (Lets face it, we all have faced these situations where the restaurant closes before you make up your mind)

My Recommendations:
1. Chilli Cheese Toast - A mixture of cheddar, pepper jack cheese with green chillies, spread on toasted bread and gratinated
2. Chicken 65 - Actually a pizza. Curried chicken chunks with curry leaf , topped with red onions , cilantro and cheese. Finished in the oven.
3. Amber Chicken Wings - Mouth watering Chicken wings marinated in spice blend and cooked in the tandoor, their version of buffalo wings


Anjappar - 458 Barber lane Milpitas, CA 95035
A recent restaurant (probabaly a month old). I was taken to this place by my friend who claimed that they are famous back home(India) for south Indian non-veg specialties. His claim was right. I cannot remember as of now the dishes that I ordered but they were all good. Not so great for veggies.

Tandoori Bites - 3730 N 1st St # 120 San Jose, CA 95134
A bit nostalgic about this place since it resembles and in fact betters one of the Indian places (Sher-e-Punjab) in Tucson, AZ. Not a great place as compared to the ones mentioned above but just a couple of the dishes stand out.

My Recommendations:
1. Spicy Chicken Biryani
2. Chicken Tikka Masala and Butter Nan

Masala India Grill - 39158 Paseo Padre Pkwy (between Capitol Ave & Walnut Ave)
Fremont, CA 94538
A great find of late. Awesome place to grab quick and decently priced Indian food. Their lunch combo of 7 bucks includes Nan, Rice, Kheer and 2 items of you choice. Plenty for the hungry stomach and the empty wallet.

My Reommendations for the 2 items:
1. Achari Chicken
2. Chole
3. Black Pepper Chicken
4. Shrimp Curry
5. Chicken Curry
6. Dal

If you are still reading and feeling hungry then my job is done. This is all that I got for the time being. There are a lot of pure vegetarian places (Madras Cafe, Luckys, Komala Vilas, Milan and Tirupati Bhimas) I like to go to but I leave that for some other time.

It was just another one of those (rare for me) days when you feel awesome after work and want to have fun (nevertheless). So we headed to this new restaurant, quite close to my house. The name of the place stands for heaven in hindi/urdu. The rest of the blog will explain why I am not mentioning the name directly.

A cozy little place at first sight, it looked like it would be a decent dinner. But if I am blogging about it then it definitely didn't turn out to be one. Two of us went through the menu and I ordered the food to the waitress. One plate chicken samosa, one chicken biryani and one Shrimp Pepper Masala. I specifically told her to make everything spicy. To a normal human being this would definitely sound enough for two people. But the waitress has other ideas. She asked my friend after listening to the order as to what would he like to have. My friend politely said that that would be enough for both of us. Now either she was not in her right mind or she insulted me by looking at my size or this is what you get in "Heaven". Never mind (I did :P)

Moving on, she poured some water for me and totally neglected my friend. Same thing happened when she laid out the plate for me and forgot about my friend. Finally when the order arrived, I was in for some soul searching for the definition of spicy. The menu described Shrimp pepper masala as having Onions, Spices, Green Pepper and Shrimp. I am not kidding when I say that there was only one item mentioned in the description on the plate in front of us. The shrimp was there alright. But it was accompanied with only tomato gravy. That too it tasted like Heinz ketchup. Now last time I checked that is not the definition of spicy. I requested her to make it spicy. I usually prefer not to send the dish back to the chef coz I am reminded of Road Trip movie and how the guy's sandwich came back. But the dish was so much into the ketchup that I didnt have a choice.

The chef I guess was trying hard to make me realize that I have landed in heaven and this is how it is. My theory is that he wanted to throw me a challenge. However hard I try he will not put any amount of spice in the dish. Anyways, I lost the challenge and took a "to go" for the shrimp. And yeah the Biryani. Has anyone ever had the good luck of having a dish made in whole lot of resins and shredded cocunut alone? There you go. The biryani was just like that. In the midst of all of this the waitress kept neglecting my friend. Even the complimentary desert (which was the only decent dish that night) comprising of gulab jamun was served only to me. That is just one plate was served.

All said and done when we moved to the counter to pay for the amazing (read as disastrous) dinner one thing on the lunch buffet menu card cracked me up. The mint sauce was spelt as "Mint SAUS". This is with 100% honesty and after 4 or 5 confirmations.

To conclude, if this is heaven I dont want it. One restaurant definitely off my radar :P

I have been listening to this track for a while and I dont know the exact reason but I love the lyrics of the song. Just felt like sharing this with others. Many of you must have heard it already. The guitar obviously was one of the other factors why I liked it.

So here is the the you tube link to James Blunt - You're beautiful

and the lyrics go like this:

"My life is brilliant.
My love is pure.
I saw an angel.
Of that I'm sure.
She smiled at me on the subway.
She was with another man.
But I won't lose no sleep on that,
'Cause I've got a plan.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.

Yeah, she caught my eye,
As we walked on by.
She could see from my face that I was,
Fucking high,(Real version)
Flying high,(clean version)
And I don't think that I'll see her again,
But we shared a moment that will last till the end.

You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
I saw your face in a crowded place,
And I don't know what to do,
'Cause I'll never be with you.
You're beautiful. You're beautiful.
You're beautiful, it's true.
There must be an angel with a smile on her face,
When she thought up that I should be with you.
But it's time to face the truth,
I will never be with you. "

Is it too early to announce,
That my pains will be reduced to ounce.
Is it too soon to dream,
A new life with the slate almost clean.

Life is a roller coaster I accept,
Ephemeral highs and seemingly long lows,
Moments of decisions you always regret,
Chances of fate defining life changing blows.

In my defense, I learnt from past mistakes,
Put in all the measures and that I don't fake.
Gave up all joy and pushed myself hard,
Relentless in pursuit and played my best cards.

Its been long, out in the cold,
Things will be better I was told.
Its an honest heart that makes me feel,
I am now on top of the life cycle wheel.

Is this the final thing for the time being, I wonder
Breaking the silence may not be a blunder.
I have had enough I try to assure myself,
The sufferings have gone far off to dwell.

It gives me joy, it makes me feel good,
But the mind warns me to be patient, I think I should.
It is too early to announce it out loud,
Just take the sign as a silver lining in the cloud.

I have waited for long might as well for some more,
Life can be dicey, I cant afford to be again sore.
It is too early and it can wait,
The movie is better than the trailer thats what they said.

I just remembered this introductory quote from the Movie Holiday (2006). This is Kate Winslet talking to herself at the beginning of the movie.

"I've found almost everything ever written about love to be true. Shakespeare said "Journeys end in lovers meeting." What an extraordinary thought. Personally, I have not experienced anything remotely close to that, but I am more than willing to believe Shakespeare had. I suppose I think about love more than anyone really should. I am constantly amazed by its sheer power to alter and define our lives. It was Shakespeare who also said "love is blind". Now that is something I know to be true. For some quite inexplicably, love fades; for others love is simply lost. But then of course love can also be found, even if just for the night. And then, there's another kind of love: the cruelest kind."

"The one that almost kills its victims. Its called unrequited love. Of that I am an expert. Most love stories are about people who fall in love with each other. But what about the rest of us? What about our stories, those of us who fall in love alone? We are the victims of the one sided affair. We are the cursed of the loved ones. We are the unloved ones, the walking wounded. The handicapped without the advantage of a great parking space! Yes, you are looking at one such individual. And I have willingly loved that man for over three miserable years! The absolute worst years of my life! The worst Christmas', the worst Birthday's, New Years Eve's brought in by tears and valium. These years that I have been in love have been the darkest days of my life. All because I've been cursed by being in love with a man who does not and will not love me back. Oh god, just the sight of him! Heart pounding! Throat thickening! Absolutely can't swallow! All the usual symptoms." - Kate Winslet

The movie was pretty good and I particularly liked this dialogue. All so many things regarding the scenario discussed above were put forth so subtly.