San Carlos Art & Wine Festival

Ever since I came here, I have been reading about Art & Wine Festival but somehow never got a chance to attend it. It's a festival organized by the Chamber of Commerce of each city in the Bay Area. The biggest one of them all is the Mountain View Art & Wine Festival.

I was very upset that I couldn't attend any of these due to some reason or the other. Luckily, while browsing through the Caltrain brochures, I found out that the last of these festivals is going to be in San Carlos. I checked out the dates as well as the location. Close to the Caltrain station-that made things easy. Actually, most of the Art & Wine festivals were held in locations that were very close to the station.

The one in San Carlos was right across the station. It was a two day event. I was quite taken aback by the number of stalls at the festival. Hats, scarves, pottery, dolls, sculptures-everything on display. It was fun checking out the vast array of items. Not to mention the wine. There were equal number of wine stalls selling wine by the glass. People had to buy a glass and a token to taste the different types of wine.

There were a few food courts too. And of course the downtown was full of restaurants on either side of street. As usual, vegetarian choices were very limited. So I settled for a veggie gyro which was ok-tasting. Since it was scorching hot, instead of sampling the wine, we headed to the nearest Starbucks store and got a milkshake.

Tattoo, mehendi, face painting and other fun booths were the main attraction for children. There were music performances on both days too. Sadly, we didn't have time for any of them.

Overall, the festival was more like the exhibitions in India which have a lot of items on sale but most are ridiculously expensive. Yet, we all love going there despite the crowd. This was something similar except that I wish it had more yummy food.

Palo Alto International Film Festival (PAIFF)

I came across the details of this film festival on a flyer outside a store while strolling down California Avenue downtown. I came back home and checked out the website. It was exciting to me that it was very close to the Caltrain station (accessible to me) and that they had some interesting volunteering opportunities. I immediately signed up for two shifts.

Now, this is the second year of PAIFF and they mainly showcase independent films across different genres. It is a four day festival in the last week of September and the movies are shown in 3 different theatres-Palo Alto Square 1 and 2 and the Aquarius theatre. They also have free movie screening for the public in the outdoor theatre at the festival village.

I volunteered on two days. The first was at the office before the day of the festival. I was in charge of answering phone calls. Honestly, I was very nervous as I didn't know what kind of questions I had to answer. A few calls asked me details like parking space which I had no idea about. Then the volunteer manager handed me a list of names and phone numbers and asked to call each one to see if they are available for volunteering. It had 120 numbers! Imagine the horror of having to call each one and repeat the same message over and over again. Most of them went directly to voicemail. Overall it was a tiring process and honestly I had expected something more fun that this. To compensate for this boredom, I took an hour long break and treated myself to yummy burger and fries at a nearby restaurant called 'Workshop' On the whole my first volunteering experience was nothing like I'd imagined it would be.

My second shift was on Friday. It was but natural for me to be skeptical about it after my first experience. Nevertheless I still went there. This time I was working at the Festival Village. I was assigned to the Information Booth. My responsibilities included answering questions about the event, directing patrons to the appropriate places. This definitely was fun. I got all sorts of questions ranging from details about the movies playing, show times to silly questions like if I had chewing gum. It indeed was fun interacting with so many people in one day. There were two other kids assisting me at the booth. One of them had no idea what he was doing and was giving all sorts of crazy, wrong answers. I even suspected he was talking to himself. A total wacko.

There were food trucks selling very yummy and cheap food. When I got a chance I went to check out the food there. I must admit, I had the yummiest sandwich in the Banjara Bistro truck. I reminded me so strongly of 'Kachi dabeli' I got into a conversation with an elderly gentleman who was also volunteering. We had a nice chat while devouring our food.

Digitally remastered version of the movie 'E.T' was being screened on the big screen to celebrate the 30 anniversary of the movie. Before the movie began, there was a small Q&A with some of the members of the technical crew who worked on the film. Although they were all Academy award nominees or winners, sadly I didn't recognize any of them.

 Though I didn't stay back to catch the movie, I received this

and saw this. Which I thought were really cool.



As for the actual film festival, I used my free ticket vouchers (volunteer perk) to watch 2 movies back to back (yeah, I love doing that). I saw the movies 'Butter' and 'Zarafa', both of which, I thought, were absolutely wonderful.


Overall, it was totally worth volunteering and participating in the Palo Alto Film Festival. I'm definitely going to attend it next year too!

Ganesh Chaturthi

The first Indian festival after our big move here. With all the crazy, hectic schedule, I definitely wasn't prepared for it. However, I'm proud of how well I managed it :)

Since I didn't want to bite off more than I could chew, I decided to keep it simple. To begin with, I didn't even have a Ganesh idol. I went to the nearby Indian store and picked up a Ganesh photo. 

Now for the prasad. Last year I had bought some modaks from a sweet shop and used it as prasad. This year I wanted to make something on my own. I spent a lot of time going through YouTube videos on modak recipes. They didn't seem too easy and I wasn't in a mood to take any risks. So I decided to make this:

Choco-coconut barfi-my own version of the barfi with a twist. Although I wouldn't say it came out perfect but it sure as hell tasted amazing. I packed some and gave it to my neighbours. "It tastes exactly like my grandma's barfi" they told me. It felt so good to be appreciated for the hard work. Next, I took some along with me to my gym. I fed the instructors and they were ooh-ing and aah-ing about the delicacy. I knew it was a hit with them. 

I just lit a lamp, offered the barfi, played the aarti on YouTube and prayed. That was how simple my first Ganesh Chaturthi here was. 

What a weekend!

After all the running around that we have been doing for the last few days, this weekend we had planned to just laze around doing nothing. But it was not to be!

On Saturday, we were invited for lunch by our neigbours. They had some pooja at home and 3 other families were invited too. I had a good time eating all the sumptuous food and socializing with everybody. And we got invited for a birthday party the next day.

That meant we had to rush in the evening hunting for a gift. We took the next bus and went to Target, picked up a fancy toy that teaches ABC-pretty useful gift for the 2 year old birthday boy. Since we had come to Target, we decided to strike off a few more things from our shopping list. And we ended up spending our evening shopping. We had dinner in Sunnyvale downtown.

As we were waiting for our train back home, an old lady walked past us. She kept starting at us and then sat on the bench ahead of us. I caught her staring at us and also noticed that she wasn't wearing any shoes. I thought she was going to come and beg for money but strangely she didn't. She then started smoking. Meanwhile, V was on the phone. Suddenly, the lady shouted "Go away!" I thought she was referring to the man who just walked past us. She turned and screamed again "You're pissing me off" We decided not to pay any attention. A few minutes later she yelled " Stop, you're irritating me" That is when it dawned on us that she was talking to V. She did not want him to talk on the phone as it was troubling her for some reason. The funny thing was that V wasn't even speak-all he was doing was saying an occasional 'hmm' in response to the phone conversation. She kept telling him he was loud and that he should go away. V told her "You might want to do the same if it's disturbing you" She replied " You don't have to tell me what I should do" V said "Same goes for me too" Unable to say anything further she just screamed " I know your type"

While all this was happening, my heart was racing. Now, I've heard of many stories where crazy people pulling out guns randomly. I was just praying that the matter ended quickly. But V continued talking. After sometime, a young guy came and sat next to the crazy lady. And she immediately yelled at him "Go away". The poor chap was so scared that he said OK and walked away.

Our train came and we started walking towards the door. She did not board the train. Instead, she started speaking in what seemed like a mix of Italian and Spanish. For all I know she must have been talking gibberish. But I was more than happy to get away from the paranoid lady. It was a very scary experience, at least for me. Although we had a good laugh about it later.

On Sunday noon, we took a ride with our neighbours and arrived at Las Palmas park-the party venue. The place was decorated with balloons and animal pictures. I tried my best to socialize with some of the guests-all were strangers to me. After a while, I got tired and gave up. Food seemed like a better option.  After the cake cutting, we pounced on the food-all my favorite items on the menu-parotta, kurma, biryani, manchurian. Yummy!

On the whole, this weekend was anything but relaxing. The upside was that we had amazing food as a consolation.

California Avenue Downtown

After a week of assembling furniture and looking up more stuff to buy for the home, Friday was the time to relax and unwind. V suggested we check out the California Avenue downtown. Just like the Sunnyvale and Mountainview downtowns, Cal Ave is also near the Caltrain station-which is a blessing for us since we depend so heavily on the train.

Since Cal Ave is not a city in itself, the downtown is also much smaller. It has one lane of eateries and that is about it. Since I was in a mood to try some new cuisine, I spent my time reading through the menus of some of the fancy places. There were the usual Mediterranean, Italian, Indian, American restaurants. I walked passed each, getting a feel of the ambience, crowd, menu and of course the aroma. One particular place that had an inviting fragrance, buzzing crowd, lively music was  

La Bodeguita Del Medio. But as predicted by V, they were booked and the wait time was at least an an hour. Since we weren't in a mood to wait, we picked the next best place-Spalti. 

A classy looking Italian place with candle-lit tables. As we stood checking out the menu, the maître d' offered us free starters-bruschetta. I was amused by the cute way he said 'bruschetta' with a strong Italian accent and I gave in immediately. 

The food to my disappointment wasn't up to the mark and so I'm not putting up any pictures. It was too cheesy and lacked any strong flavor. The chocolate mousse though was amazing and made me forget the average food.

Next time I visit this downtown, I'm sure to make a reservation at the La Bodeguita, although they have exactly one vegetarian fare on their menu!

Monterey Bay Aquarium

Labor day weekend and we had no plans for several reasons. No car, no energy after the endless shopping trips, need for relaxation at home, more shopping. However, our neighbors had already made a plan and invited us to join them. And we did :)

The plan was simple-start on Sunday morning and head to Monterey Bay Aquarium, then the beach and finally end the day watching the fireworks at Great America. But the only thing that we did manage to do was the Aquarium.

For starters we started from home more than an hour later than decided (expected due to kids and 4 families involved in the plan). Next, the freeway was jam packed and it seemed everyone was heading out to Monterey beach. The journey that was supposed to take an hour and a half took three hours.

The Aquarium has two floors and is huge-the biggest I've ever seen. The 'Jellies Experience' was  one of my favorite exhibits. It displayed a wide variety of jelly fishes and they were gorgeous to look at. They looked almost surreal. I could stand there looking at it for hours.

Jelly fish

Sea Dragon

Another fascinating one was the 'Secret lives of sea-horses.' With heads like horses, tails like monkeys and pouches like kangaroos, these tiny fishes are such interesting creatures. Their ability to change colors, the male fish giving birth to young ones and the mating dance are all so intriguing.

The giant Pacific Octopus is a sight to behold. It is gigantic in size and one of the main attractions of the  aquarium.

The 'Open Sea' is yet another awe-inducing exhibit. The different types, shapes, sizes and colors of fishes underwater can be seen in the open sea.

Anchovies

There was also a touch pool where volunteers would explain the different the creatures and visitors were allowed to touch the fishes. This one was the favorite of all kids.

Overall it was a very educative and fun visit. The place, however was very crowded and noisy due to kids.

It took us about 3 hours to tour the entire place. After which, we headed out to the Monterey downtown. We bought a fridge magnet and got ourselves a hot chocolate. It was already six and we skipped the rest of the plan and came straight back home.


What: Monterey Bay Aquarium
Where: 888 Cannery Row, Monterey, CA
Hours: 10 am-6 pm (check website for holidays & specials)
Admission fee: $34.95

Friday Eve in Mountain View Downtown

Within no time, 15 days have passed. After spending most of my time making lists, looking up stores/deals/furniture online, I was more than delighted when V pinged me on Friday noon asking me if I was willing to go to Mountain View downtown. Suddenly my boring day looked brighter.

As decided, I took the Caltrain from home and met V at the station. I was monstrously hungry. We stepped into a Greek restaurant-Gyros House and ordered hummus. To our surprise, it came with regular bread instead of pita bread. What was even more surprising was that they had no pita bread at all. A Greek restaurant with no pita? I was way too hungry to judge the hummus and I ate a major portion of it, although I couldn't finish it.

We were supposed to have dinner with friends so we didn't order anything else and decided to stroll along the downtown. Compared to the Sunnyvale downtown, MTV has a lot more variety in terms of cuisines and restaurants. There were at least 2 restaurants of each cuisine. As I walked passed a Mongolian place, I was fascinated by the way the noodles and vegetables were stirred on a large skillet. However, V told me that non-veg food was also prepared on the same skillet so I had to take heart only in looking at it instead of tasting.

Until our friends arrived, we whiled away time in a second hand book store (one of the few places of common interest for both me and V). When the rest of the people came, we chose yet another Mediterranean restaurant-Cafe Bucklava to have dinner. Food was nothing great but we had fun laughing and talking. It was an evening well spent.