Cooking Event

I am not particularly crazy about cooking.But when our team organized an offsite at a cooking school, I wanted to try it out.

 

The event was conducted at the Draeger's Market in Menlo Park. A small section of the store is turned into a cooking school. We arrive there at 11.30am. The 15 of us were divided in 3 groups. 'Rustic Italian' was the theme for the day. 3 groups together was responsible for cooking up one complete meal. Keeping with the theme, the groups were appropriately named as 'Team Milan (my team, yay!),' Team Rome' and 'Team Venice.' Each team was also assigned a dedicated chef to help them.

Team Milan

Team Rome and Venice made a salad, grilled vegetable and dessert. 

Blending

Grilling

Our team was tasked with making 'Homemade Farafelle in creamy lemon sauce with peas and mint.' This was exactly what I wanted to make so I was thrilled. All ingredients were duly measure and prepped for us to work with. Our chef, Sukanya, had already kneaded some dough for pasta and also made a sample of the farafelle pasta. There was fresh flour, eggs and butter kept ready in the blender. All our team had to do was run the blender to get the dough kneaded. The next part was the most interesting. The dough was then put through a pasta maker and rolled multiple times to get flattened strips. These were then cut using serrated cutters and then pinched to make the bow-tie pasta. Everyone took turns to do this. Afterall we were making pasta for 15 people so we used all the help we could get.

Pasta making

More pasta making

I took up the job of chopping onions. I got started with it and chopped a whole bunch of them. Others busied themselves with zesting and juicing lemons, cutting cherry tomatoes and chopping mint leaves.

Chopping

Once all the vegetables were done, we moved on to make the sauce. Most were still occupied with the pasta so I took over the making of sauce. A large quantity of butter was melted, onions sauteed, heavy cream and spices were added. Post a few tastings and adjustments we were ready with the sauce. It was a fun experiment. With Sukanya in tow, I had no fear of going wrong.

Sauteeing

 

Once all teams were done, the final touch was provided by the chefs and post a 15 minute break, the meals were served. Unfortunately, I didn't click any pictures of the final product :( But it was a satisfying meal with the best dish being the pasta!

It is a fun place to be and can be an excellent team building activity. I hear kids host their birthday parties there although it is quite an expensive affair. Nevertheless I had a great time donning the Chef's apron followed by a delicious lunch. They even provided us a copy of all the recipes scaled down for 6.

What: Cooking class
Where: Draeger's Market 1010 University Dr, Menlo Park CA
Fee: $125

Family trip to the East Coast

I have family visiting from India so I foresee a lot of fun travel in the future. The first of our trips was to the east coast. We covered Niagara, New York city and Washington DC over a period of 7 days.

Selfie in the flight

Since it was their first time in the US, we covered all the tourist spots and highlights of each city.

Maid of the mist and Cave of the winds in Niagara.

Maid of the mist

Niagara falls

Cave of the winds

Statue of liberty, One world observatory, Empire state building, Central park, Grand central terminal, Wallstreet, Brooklyn bridge were spots we covered in NYC.

Empire State Building

Grand Central

One World Observatory

Cruise to Statue of Liberty

Statue of Liberty

Brooklyn Bridge

We barely had 24 hours in DC so that limited us to seeing the White House, Lincoln Memorial, US Capitol and Washington Monument. It was a super sunny day which drained our energy and walking the distance between each of these monuments made it even worse. Towards the end, we resorted to using Uber! The only place we could enter was the Lincoln memorial and the rest of them were merely photo ops. Since I wasn't too keen about American history, I didn't spend time learning more about the monuments and so I don't have anything to write about them :)

The White House

Washington Monument

Lincoln Memorial

US Capitol

We were visiting most of these places for the second time so the excitement wasn't there. The only exception being the Niagara falls which invoked the same sense of awe as my first visit.

Sunny SoCal

This President's Day weekend, we decided to take a trip to SoCal. We planned the trip along with my namesake and brother-in-law. As it was a last minute plan, I didn't have much time to do my usual research and planning. This did not stop us from having a fantastic vacation.

The stunning California coast

We headed out of the bay area on Friday afternoon and were pleasantly surprised to find no traffic on the way. Our first stop was Morro Rock around 5pm. We reached there just in time to catch the beautiful sunset. The breeze was very cold and so was the water so we couldn't really hang around and play. We managed to get some great shots of the sun setting behind the huge Morro Rock.

Morro Rock

Our hotel was located in Arroya Grande which was a perfect place to access San Luis  Obispo and Santa Barbara. The next morning, we headed to Pismo beach which was ten minutes away. The weather was gorgeous. The warm breeze and the bright sun made it a perfect day. We sat on the pier for a long time looking at the rise and fall of waves. There were  a few surfers in action. I could have stayed at the beach for the entire day but we had a few other places to explore so we set out. There was something very calming about the beach and I can tell I'm going to go there again.

At Pismo Beach

Brown Pelican

Next up was San Luis Obispo downtown. We treated ourselves to a scrumptious Moroccan lunch and then strolled along the San Luis Creek. The mission and several restaurants flank the creek. We also passed by an alley which has bubblegum stuck all over it and is aptly called 'The Bubblegum Alley.'

San Luis creek

SoCal has a large number of vineyards and wineries. So we decided to try one out. Kelsey See Canyon Vineyards was our pick. It is a small winery with the major highlight being the dozens of peacocks that roam the grounds. As most of us are not wine connoisseurs, the wine tasting was just a different experience.

Wine tasting at Kelsey See Canyon Winery

Peacock at Kelsey See Canyon Winery

Avila beach was our final destination for the day. We found a nice place to sit and relax, waiting to watch the sunset. Vishnu busied himself in trying to get some good pictures. The warm breeze made it very enjoyable to sit unlike the beaches in Santa Cruz where the wind chill drives you crazy. We had dinner and called it a night.

Avila Beach

Sunday was the day to explore Santa Barbara so we drove there. We visited the Botanical Garden which turned out to be very hot and not too much fun. Then we went to downtown where Vishnu wanted to check out the Santa Barbara Museum of Art. The museum was undergoing renovation so they had limited art on display. They did have a few notable artists like Monet, Dali and Renoir. I was very exhausted and hungry after that so we headed straight to find food.

Botanical Garden

Post lunch, we went to the Stearns Wharf. It being a long weekend, the place was packed and we had to park quite a distance away. I wanted to rent a bike and enjoy a nice bike ride along the coast but I changed my mind after seeing the crowd. We went to the end of the Wharf and sat watching the waves, seals and the boats in the water. It was very peaceful. We hung around until the sun went down.

Stearns Wharf Santa Barbara

I had heard a lot about Solvang, a quaint Danish village. We reached there after dark so could not really see any of the architecture or explore the shops as most of the stores were closed. It was quite a let down but we managed to get some great pizza in a downtown restaurant and we were content.

Monday morning we headed back home taking in the lovely sights of the California coast. The breathtaking views of the blue ocean and the coastline are enough to fill your heart with awe. It is a photographer's delight. We stopped at one viewpoint to snap some pictures and got back home wishing to be back soon.

California Academy Of Sciences

California Academy of Sciences is one of the museums situated inside the Golden Gate Park. I've been to this one during my earlier visits to the US. I went there again this weekend as my brother was visiting me.

The main attractions in the academy include the multilevel rainforest, planetarium and the aquarium. These in my option are a must-see. 

The rainforest has been recreated complete with all the insects, birds, fishes and reptiles. They have even managed to replicate the humid environment which adds to the authenticity of the experience. Macaws, gorgeous butterflies and lots of geckos and colorful frogs are on display. Most of them are so well camouflaged in their surrounding that it becomes a game to find them in their case. They have recreated the Bornean forest floor, Madagascar mid-story and the Costa Rican forest canopy. Once you reach the top level, you have to take the elevator to the ground floor where you can get an underwater view of the Amazon flooded forest. It is a breath taking view with all the colorful fishes and their surroundings. You have to see it to believe it!

The planetarium is equally impressive. There are set hours for the shows and you can get passes for those right outside the planetarium. The 75 foot dome is huge and impressive. They showed is a documentary on asteroids which was informative as well as entertaining. It almost felt like one of those immersive rides at Universal Studios. Who wouldn't love that!

The aquarium is enormous and houses marine habitat from Philippine coral reefs, tropical rain forests as well as the California coast. Each exhibit has a digital display that provides you info about the marine life. I was awe struck by the vibrant colors and the varied shapes of all the creatures. Made me appreciate the magic that is nature. Again, very tough to describe and should be experienced. 

The last exhibit that we saw was the one about earthquakes. There were three levels. The first one was a mini dome with a screen showing a short presentation on how earthquakes are caused. The second one was a room that mimicked the 1906 and the 1989 San Francisco earthquakes. It was a small sample of how scary and intense those earthquakes must have been. The final level was general information about preparing for and staying safe during an earthquake. 

There were several other exhibits but by then we were exhausted and it was time for us to leave.

Parking is free on the street inside the park but finding a spot is tough. The parking garage is conveniently located but expensive. So taking public transport is a good option. In addition, if you provide your bus or train ticket, you can get a $3 discount which is pretty neat since the actual tickets are expensive at $34.95 per head. 

Highly recommend this place if you're even mildly interested in aquatic life, biodiversity and science in general. 

What: California Academy of Sciences

Where: 55 Music Concourse Dr, San Francisco CA 94118

When: Mon-Sat 9:30am-5pm and Sun 11am-5pm

Cost: $34.95 per head for adults

P.S: I only have pictures of the aquarium as I was too busy looking at the exhibits and forgot to click!

Gokarting

I'm back after a while. Work is keeping me busy and I know that isn't a very good excuse. Anyways one of the fun things I have done in a while is gokarting. I did try it once in India and that was an outdoor one. 

I planned a gokarting event at K1 Speed with my colleagues. Everyone was interested to begin with but as usual people started dropping out as we were nearing the actual day. In the end it was Vishnu and I along with my colleagues Ronnie, Sulekha and her husband. 

K1 Speed does not accept reservations for groups smaller than 8. This meant we had to show up there and wait for our turn. It being Friday evening, the wait was quite long. I think we waited almost an hour before we could gokart. 

Each race consists of 14 laps and the price for each race is $20. If you buy more than 1, it gets cheaper. We decided to go for the 3 race package which costed us $45 plus a $6 license fee. We were given helmets and assigned specific carts. The actual race was a lot of fun. The track has lots of twists and turns which adds a lot of thrill to the race. There are employees with flags to tell us to slow down or give way to other carts depending on the situation. 

The race track

The wait between each race was a little annoying and I wish they happened one after the other. To add to it I had not eaten before so by the time we were done, I was starving. On the other hand, eating right before the race would also not be a good idea given all the sharps turns and curves you have to maneuver. 

Despite that I enjoyed the actual experience of the race. I wasn't racing to win. My goal was to just have fun and I did pretty well. Vishnu managed to win one of the races which is pretty impressive. It was a nice friday night activity with friends.

The winner!

What: Gokarting

Where: K1 Speed, Santa Clara

Cost: $20-$45