Four Seasons Wines Curtain Raiser- dinner with Abhay Kewadkar

Seven cities and ninety restaurants over three weeks. Does sound like madness,right? That's exactly what Four Seasons planned to do with their new plan. Quite an ambitious project,goes without saying.But we didn't really have a very clear idea about the grandiose of the project until we reached The Park on the D day. Saffron was the chosen venue for the dinner with Abhay Kewadkar,famously known as the father of Indian Wine who also happens to be the director of Four Seasons Wines.

                                                              Food and Wine, as we all know, go hand in hand but in stead of the usual "you can't have wine without food", Abhay chooses to believe that one can't(shouldn't?)have food without wine, as he told us before dinner. And he has decided to dedicate his life towards the awareness of the fact that Indian Wine is really at par with its European counterparts. India, as a country might have started out late but it's up there. Four Seasons is a living example of this. Launched four years back, it's already the second most popular wine in India and a growing favourite with the wine drinkers abroad too.

                  If wine is there, can the "what food to pair with what wine" debate be far behind? The diners muttered their bits and pieces of wine knowledge-Sauvignon blanc is sweet and spicy at the same time, Shiraz goes well with spicy cuisine, red wine should be paired with red meat and white wine with white meat and of course, the myth that wine doesn't go well with Indian food. Abhay patiently answered all the queries while we filled ourselves with mouth-watering appetisers like the vegetable kakori kebab, chicken tikka kebab and an out-of-the-world kebab prepared with wait-till-you-hear-it green peas! Free flowing wine and the amazing hospitality of The Park staff made sure we were quite filled(and drunk) before the dinner even arrived. But a super yummy spread comprising naan, corn pulao, tandoori roti, dal makhni, chicken and mutton gravies, dum aloo stuffed with paneer,paneer with vegetables in a coriander gravy, crisp vegetable salad, raita,flourless chocolate cake and a lot more is difficult to ignore. As my grandmom used to say,the tummy is always flexible. I found the piece of wisdom to be true that night.The third helping of the flourless cake- warm and gooey with chocolate oozing out of it DID ruin my shirt but it was so worth it!

           Partnered with Poshvine, the events will be on from 28th August to 3rd September, tentatively . Some of the outlets chosen are Spaghetti Kitchen,Benjarong,Kalash-HHI,Tangerine,KK's Fusion,Oberoi,The Wall,D'Sovrani and Charnock City.I sure as hell am going to attend these. Stay tuned for all the details.

                                                                           And,a thought I'd like to leave you all with-did you know that an ordinary European consumes 50 litres of wine per year on an average? You didn't,right? Akshay has reasons to believe that India isn't far behind. Let's prove to the world that we are better than a glass of whiskey or rum with our good ol' chanachur.

 

And now, coming to my outfit, we all know florals have been a rage for a while. I'm not very girlie when it comes to my dressing sense. So,I took my time to adapt to the floral trend. But once I got into the groove,there was no stopping me.

Floral pants,satchel,brogues-B.K.Market,shirt,rings-New Market,bow tie-Howrah Bridge

The evening all our dreams looked real...

We walked by the sea,
hand in hand,
a sudden breeze messed my hair up
and you said something about how beautiful I was.

We walked by the dusty road,
hand in hand,
the cars sped past us honking like the giants they are
but we were too drunk with love to notice.

Would you remember the conversations that came to a sudden halt
the moment our eyes met?
Would you remember my soft drunken ramblings throughout the night?
Would you remember how stupidly we reached out for each other under the tables
only to break into nervous giggles?
Would you remember all these long after I'm buried under the cloak of time as one more broken heart?

Constraints are all we have,you say.
You are probably right.
Our unfinished sand castles by the beach will probably never be finished.
The dreamy laughter in the early hours will probably always be a dream.
But,until the demons wake up with their ugly heads,
I'll always remember the evening full of hopes,
slowly creeping into a surreal night.

Jeggings,peplum,satchel,loafers-B.K.Market,ring and neckpiece-New Market

One more exhibition comes calling for its monsoon leg!

Exhibitions in and around Kolkata are things that we blogging community try not to miss. This time it was the monsoon leg of High Street Via Moda at Shisha. The formal invitation came a tad late even though friend and fellow blogger Uparna had already given me a headstart,thanks to her stall in there. Anu and Shreya offered to accompany me and we were all geared to check out the overpriced collection with not a single penny in our pocket(it might have something to do with the fact that Shreya shopped till she dropped at West Side downstairs).
                        The collection,a little too blingy for my taste,was elaborate and varied though. We browsed through the stalls in a lightening speed - lured by the promise of chaats and aloo tikkis once we were out(which was fulfilled to the hilt). My choice of attire for the evening was a maxi dress worn as a skirt with a black blouse and pink cardigan. The neon green shoes are a new possession and I was close to tears when one stupid lady raped them in the metro and the bow came out in the morning. One pack of Fevikwik took care of the crisis at the moment and I was good to go. Let the pictures do all the talking-

Maxi dress(worn as a skirt),top,cardigan,bag-B.K.Market,ring and neckpiece-New Market,shoes-Simpark Mall

On a different note,life has never been more poignant yet beautiful. Love,in no matter what form,is magical when it happens. It makes you feel more alive,more meaningful and worth living for. And you feel blessed of course. I hate college these days. After such a close interaction with mature working professionals during my internship,gossips in college seem so childish and pointless! I find it difficult to sit through the drab classes and miss the view of rain soaked Rajarhat from my cubicle. But,life must move on. And so will I. Hopefully. Till then,take care and spread the love.