Grilled chicken or any grilled meat for that matter is a no muss no fuss kind of dish which is healthy, is easy to make but is superbly tasty. While it may sound like something exotic, something which we usually eat at a fine dining place, it is actually a basic dish which can be a dish in itself or be used as a focal point and then a full-fledged meal built around it.
The Continental Palate
Continental food refers to dishes which originate in the continent of Europe be it Spanish, Italian or French etc. Continental dishes favor herbs rather than spices and their sauces are not used as gravy rather as a dressing to the main course – mainly meat. This dish I’m about to give the recipe for is a continental dish though I do not know which country it specifically belongs to. This is my take on Grilled Chicken – recipe is totally a self-invented one.
Ingredients:
Boneless chicken – 250gms.
Vinegar – 1.5 tsp.
Ginger Garlic paste – 1 tsp.
Salt – to taste
Pepper – 2 tsp.
Dried Thyme – 3 tsp.
Dried Oregano – 3 tsp.
Dried Rosemary – 1 tsp.
Red Chilli flakes – 1 tsp.
Onion – 1 large
Potato – 2 medium
Oil – 2 tbsp.
Butter – 10gms.
Method:
Make light slice marks on the chicken. It is preferred that the chicken is in 2 or 3 large slab like pieces. Marinade with vinegar, ginger garlic paste, salt, 1 tsp. pepper, 2 tsp. thyme, 2 tsp. oregano, rosemary and red chilli flakes. Keep for atleast half an hour.
Meanwhile, thinly slice the onion and cut the potatoes into thin round slices.
Heat oil in a grill pan.
Arrange the onion and potato slice around the edge of the frying pan and sprinkle salt, pepper, thyme and oregano over them.
Lay the marinaded chicken pieces in the centre.
Now scoop butter into small globs and distribute over the chicken pieces and the onion and potato. Let it cook on low flame.
After 15 minutes, turn the chicken and the onion and potatoes. They should have a nice brown char on them. If not, keep for longer. This depends on the thickness of the chicken slabs.
Let the other side me similarly grilled for 15 minutes or so until fully cooked.
Grilled chicken with accompaniments is ready to feast on! Have it with lightly toasted bread for best results.
This quantity should be enough for 2 people, multiply accordingly for more numbers. This is such an easy dish to make with minimum prep. but with utterly delicious results.
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 7 – Letter “G”.
French food, I have always heard, is highly technical and involves precise measurements and use of ingredients. The various regions of France are known for and boast their own specialized dishes e.g. Lorraine, Champagne, Burgundy, Brittany etc. Somethings are common like wine, coffee, and breads! Oh! their breads! Melt in the mouth delicious, you will always find some at every table accompanying whatever dish you order.
From my observation, the French love their food. Mealtimes are almost religious; lunch is atleast an hour and dinner is a leisurely affair lasting for as long as you wish it to be. They dine early while there is still light out so there isn’t really a “tea-time” per se, and breakfast is not a fussy meal as well. When they dine out, they almost always eat al-fresco. I mean most of the restaurants I visited were crowded on the outdoors seating but empty inside. They enjoy the weather and their food.
The Parisian Love
On my solitary trip to Paris, I had a variety of French food, most of which I, unfortunately, do not remember – or was never able to pronounce – the names of. I do remember baguettes, confit duck, braised veal, cheese board with a sharing platter of blue cheese, tuna, pork etc. And…I also remember the French wines! Oh yum!
French Food
However, before you get your hopes up, I want to say that is merely an appreciation post for all French food. I have not yet tried making any French dishes at home except crepes and…French toast. Though as Rani said in “Queen”, this is probably “Indian French Toast”.
For crepes, I use this recipe, its not mine: Allrecipes
Ingredients:
Bread – 6 slices
Eggs – 2
Milk – ¼ cup
Salt – to taste
Pepper – 1 tsp.
Oil – for shallow frying
Method:
Slice the each of the bread pieces in half.
Beat the eggs in a flat-ish bowl.
Add salt, pepper and milk and mix well.
Now, dip the bread triangles into the egg mixture and hold for a few seconds. Turn over and repeat the process.
Heat a frying pan and add oil. Shallow fry the dipped bread pieces in the frying pan making sure to turn over so that they are evenly fried till golden brown on each side.
Serve hot with ketchup.
Tip: Don’t keep it dipped in the egg mixture for too long or it tends to tear away into blobs.
Tip: You can add chopped onions, tomatoes, coriander leaves, chillies to spice up the whole thing but I like it plain and simple so I have mentioned the basic recipe.
Indian French Toast. (I confess, this is a borrowed picture. I will come back with better personal pics.)
This is where the Indian version varies with the classic version – the accompaniment. We have it as a namkeen / savory dish whereas the classic French toast is had with syrup and is a sweet dish. Either way, it makes for an ideal breakfast or even evening snack.
Tip: I once tried a version where I tore the bread into bite sized pieces and made the French toast as tiny, crispy tea snacks. People loved it. You may try it out.
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 6 – Letter “F”.
There are some foods which are like ambrosia, some little pieces of heaven which you are only blessed with on special days and events. And when you are, you thank your lucky stars and stuff your face! This little dish was my manna during childhood and that feeling has not changed in adulthood. There were rare occasions when ma used to make these and I just gorged on them.
From my Homeland
From the east of India, my homeland Kolkata, I bring you this purely Bengali dish – “deemer devil”. This is a crunchy fried ball of boiled egg with a thick coating of spicy mashed potato. It is a little complicated and time-consuming recipe which is probably the reason for it not being made very often but I assure you the end justifies the means. Occasions like festivals or guests coming in were times when these got made and the connection to this dish is totally from the heart!
Ingredients:
Egg – 6
Potato – 7/8, large
Onion – 2, chopped
Coriander leaves – handful, chopped
Green chilli – 2, thin round slices
Salt – to taste
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.
Cumin seeds/jeera – 1 tsp.
Coriander seeds/dhaniya – 1 tsp.
Amchur powder – 1 tsp.
Chaat masala – 1/2 tsp.
Bread crumbs – 100 gms.
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
Boil 5 of the eggs and all the potatoes.
Dry roast the jeera and coriander seeds. Cool them and grind them into a fine powder.
Lightly fry the chopped onions till lightly brown.
Mash the boiled potatoes roughly; it doesn’t matter if there are little lumps.
Add the fried onions, green chilies, coriander leaves, salt, red chilli powder, powdered roasted masala, amchur powder and chaat masala and mix well. It should form a tight mixture and not a watery one.
Peel the boiled eggs and cut into halves longitudinally.
Now, carefully coat the boiled egg halves with the potato mixture evenly – about ½” thick.
Beat the remaining raw egg in a bowl and spread out the bread crumbs on a plate.
Dip the potato coated egg halves in the egg wash and then roll them over the bread crumbs to form an even crust.
Heat oil in a deep pan. Now release the balls into the hot oil and fry till golden brown.
Serve hot with kasundi (mustard sauce) or ketchup.
If you make these, let me know how they you like them but I can assure you, you will be a hit among your guests and family!
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 5 – Letter “E”.
Junk food is my comfort food. There’s nothing like sitting with a huge packet of Lays Magic Masala and munching away. Don’t judge me! I have had an incredible childhood where I always had yummy food at home. Of those, some of my favorite foods included deep fried goodies. Granted, they were not an everyday occurrence but whenever these treats were cooked at home, my day was made. These are vegetarian or non vegetarian deep fried bite sized wonders which are a burst of flavour on your tongue; the crunchiness simply adds to the experience.
It’s Desi and Home-made!
The connection is totally desi! The dishes I am about to describe are all Indian. Whichever part of India we travel to, these will be available in some form or other and by various names. Home-made is the best way to go and trust me, these will turn out delicious!
Pakoda / Peyaji / Kanda Bhajji
Ingredients:
Onions – 2, medium sized
Turmeric – 1 tsp.
Salt – to taste
Besan (gram flour) – ½ cup
Green chilli – 1 or 2 (optional), thinly chopped
Water – as required
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
Cut the onions into thin slices.
Add the besan, salt, turmeric and green chillies.
Now mash in the besan with the onions so that the juices of the onions are released, and a cakey mixture is formed. Add in water as required so that the final result is a sticky batter, lightly coating the onions. The batter should not be too runny or thick.
Now heat oil in a deep kadhai (pot). Put in the onion batter in dollops and deep fry till golden brown.
Drain the fries on absorbent paper and your yummy pakodas are ready to be enjoyed with a cup of tea!
Tip: For best results, midway through frying using your spatula to flatten the dollops like a coin. It helps in better heat distribution and even frying.
Preparation stagesPakode!!
Daal Fritters / Tele bhaja
Ingredients:
Masoor dal – 1 cup
Bengal gram (chholar daal) – 2 tbsp.
Salt – to taste
Kashmiri red chilli powder – to taste
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
Soak the two pulses – masoor and bengal gram – for atleast 1 hour.
Drain the pulses and grind them into a paste in a blender. The wet pulses should be enough to be a paste; if not, add water in tiny teaspoon measures.
Once the daal are ground to a paste, take it out into a bowl and add salt and Kashmiri red chilli powder.
Now whip/beat the mixture with a simple hand whip. This aerates the mixtures and makes the fritters fluffly.
Now heat oil in a deep pan and add the batter in small balls.
Deep fry till they are golden brown and then drain onto absorbent paper. Crunchy fluffy daal fritters are ready!
Tip: This recipe can be done without the Bengal gram. The Bengal gram is my personal addition to make the fritters truly crunchy. I sometimes add yellow and green moong as well. Multi-daal fritters taste as good as the original version.
Daal / lentils
Mixture
Daal Pakoda
Beguni / Eggplant fries
Ingredients:
Eggplant – 1 (preferably thin, long one)
Salt – to taste
Turmeric – 1 tsp.
Besan (gram flour) – 1 cup
Water – as required
Oil – for deep frying
Method:
Slice the eggplant longitudinally to form fillets. Of ½” thickness and 2” or 3” in length.
Marinade with salt and turmeric.
Create a batter out of besan and water. The batter should be slightly thick and gloopy, not runny at all.
Heat oil in a deep pan. Coat the eggplant fillets in the batter evenly and drop into the hot oil.
Deep fry till they are golden brown and drain onto absorbent paper.
Enjoy with hot rice and daal!
Tip: Add a tbsp. of the hot oil into the batter and mix. It makes for crunchier fries.
(PC: Whatanindianrecipe.com)
Chicken Pakoda
Ingredients:
Chicken – 200-250gms., boneless
Ginger garlic paste – 1 tbsp
Vinegar – 1 tsp.
Soya sauce – 1.5 tsp.
Salt – to taste
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.
Egg white – 1 egg
Flour – 1.5 tbsp.
Cornflour – 1 tsp.
Oil – for deep frying.
Method:
Cut the chicken into cubes. Marinade with ginger garlic paste, vinegar, soya sauce, salt and red chilli powder for minimum half an hour.
Add the egg white, flour and cornflour and mix well.
Heat oil in a deep pan. Now fry the chicken pieces till they are golden brown.
Serve hot chicken pakodas with ketchup or mayonnaise.
All the recipes above are ideal for 2 people. Try out these simple but delicious deep-fried wonders at home and let me know how they turn out. I know any of these on any given day would just make my day!
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge: Day 4 – Letter “D”.
As far as my memory goes back, I have seen my mother baking cakes. I used to love watching her whip up cake batter and I used to love helping her with the mixing. I remember sitting and gazing with wonder at the ease with which she made those cakes – vanilla, orange, chocolate. And then I had the utter happiness of eating those divine cakes. I developed a love for cakes since that tender age and have never fallen out of love.
Under her tutelage, I learnt how to bake cakes on my own; the measurements, the techniques, the little tips and tricks of baking a cake and then icing it. Eventually, once I had my own kitchen, I ventured onto making cupcakes, adding my own twist here and there.
Travel Connection?
Cupcakes are global! Enough said. That is the connection. In every country I have been to, every hotel breakfast buffet has had cupcakes of some kind or another. Even buffet restaurants here in India almost always have cupcakes in their dessert option. Without further ado, here’s my recipe for chocolate cupcakes with buttercream icing.
Ingredients:
Flour – 1.5 cups (~200gms.)
Baking powder – 1.5 tsp.
Cocoa powder – ¾ cup
Butter – 75gms. (at room temp.)
Sugar – 1.5 cups (~180gms.)
Eggs – 4
For the icing:
Butter – 25gms. (at room temp.)
Powdered sugar – 1/3 cup
Warm water – as required
Method:
Sieve together the flour, baking powder and cocoa powder. This helps to create a homogenous mixture and to avoid lumps. Do the sieving at least three times.
In a mixer, mix the sugar and butter together until they are properly blended.
Add the eggs and blend thoroughly. Pour the mixture into a mixing bowl.
Next, add the dry ingredients’ mix 3-4 tbps. at a time and mix by hand until you get a nice smooth dough.
Tip: Always be sure to mix in the same direction be it clockwise or anticlockwise. The whole mixing can be done in a mixer or a food processor, but I find mixing by hand is the best atleast partially as indicated above.
Preheat the oven at 180°C for 10 minutes.
Meanwhile, grease your cupcake tray, place cupcake liners (if available) and ladle the batter into them. The cupcake molds should be filled upto ¾ height only to allow space for rising.
Bake for 20-25 minutes until a tester (usually a fork) comes out clean.
Cool the cupcakes and then its icing time!
For the icing, mix together butter and powdered sugar, adding a little warm water to ensure correct consistency.
Spoon the icing onto the cupcakes and then use a butter knife dipped in warm water to smooth them out over the surface of the cakes.
Optional: If you have piping bags, use them to pipe your buttercream icing onto your cupcakes.
Delicious cupcakes are now ready to gorge on! Try this recipe out and let me know how it turns out for you. I’m sure you will love them.
IngredientsFresh from the oven!
With Icing…not too pretty but it was my first try with piping bag!
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 3 – Letter “C”.
I love cooking, I really do, but sometimes when I am too tired after a workday I feel like taking a shortcut to cooking. Again, I am a huge foodie, but those foodie tendencies are more inclined towards non vegetarian food or desserts. I am not a fan of vegetables in general and do not eat most vegetables. The ones I do eat, I need to make them more interesting once in a while to keep myself interested. Out of these 2 proclivities was born the idea of baked vegetables.
This is an – almost – healthy dish with lots of vegetable and is easy to make at home. Its delicious to eat and brings a twist to boring, everyday vegetables.
Which Cuisine?
This is essentially an Italian dish. However, I have never been to Italy and don’t really have a connection per se. Italian is simply a cuisine I love and Italy is a country on my bucket list. In fact, had in not been for the pandemic, I would have had visited Italy last October. Be that as it may, here goes my simple but lovely recipe for baked vegetables.
Ingredients:
Carrot – 1 medium, chopped
French Beans – 100 gms., chopped
Peas – ½ cup
Cauliflower – ½ of a medium sized, diced/cut into half florets
Potato – 1, diced
Garlic – 4/5 cloves, chopped
Flour – 1 tbsp.
Milk – 2 cups
Salt – to taste
Pepper – 1 tsp.
Red chilli powder – 1 tsp.
Oregano powder – 2 tsp.
Thyme powder – 1 tsp.
Cheese – 1.5 cup, grated
Butter – as required
Oil – 2 tsp.
Method:
Boil the chopped carrots, french beans, peas, potato and cauliflower with a pinch of salt in a saucepan till they are about ¾ cooked; al-dente. Drain them once done.
Meanwhile, let’s prepare the white sauce which brings the whole dish together.
For the white sauce, heat 2 tsp. oil in a frying pan. Add chopped garlic and sauté till you get the nice fried garlic smell. Then add a knob of butter (~1tbsp.).
Once the butter melts, add the flour and keep mixing so that it doesn’t form lumps.
Now add in the milk and keep sauteing to avoid lumps.
Once the sauce starts to thicken, add in salt, pepper and red chilli powder, thyme and oregano and mix.
Add ¼ cup cheese and mix.
Adjust taste and take it off the heat.
Grease a baking tray with butter. Preheat oven for 5 minutes at 180 °C.
Add half of the boiled veggies to the baking tray like a layer. Ladle the white sauce over the veggies. Sprinkle half the grated cheese. Repeat for a second layer.
Bake the entire thing for 15 minutes, making sure the cheese has melted and become slightly golden brown.
Garnish with red chilli flakes and oregano. Baked vegetables is ready!
Ingredients
White sauce preparation
Preparing for baking – layering Ready to bake!Presenting…Baked Vegetables a la Nils!
This may sound like a lot of steps but I just broke it down for ease of understanding. It really is quite simple to make and is pretty fast. Please try out and let me know how it turns out!
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 2 – Letter “B”.
The quintessential American breakfast, apart from cereal, consists of pancakes. Drenched in syrup, this hot, fluffy, fried floury goodness is loved by one and all, young or old.
Pancakes come in many varieties like sweet or savory, plain or blueberry, with maple syrup or with strawberries, with cheese or with chopped veggies and so on. However, the basic recipe remains the same and the rest are just additions or simple substitutes. What I will be sharing here is the basic recipe which, although initially sourced from various sources, is now my own recipe with adjusted quantities.
The NY Connection
While I was in New York, I had the chance to taste the original version at a cute breakfast place just round the corner from my hotel. They were mini pancakes smothered with maple syrup. Yum! Eating them fresh from the oven with hot coffee is the stuff ideal holiday breakfasts are made of. Since then, pancakes – American style – have become a breakfast staple at my home. Here’s the recipe I use.
Ingredients:
Flour – 1.5 cups (~180 gms.)
Milk – 1.25 cups (~250ml)
Eggs – 2 small
Sugar – 1 tbsp.
Salt – ¾ tsp.
Baking powder – 2.5 tsp.
Butter – 1.5 tbsp, melted
Oil – for frying
The above ingredients are enough for 12 pancakes of about 6cm dia. each.
Method:
Mix all the dry ingredients together in a bowl with a whisk (I feel that creates a more homogeneous mixture).
Add the milk and the eggs and mix well. However, do not beat too hard.
Finally add the melted butter making sure its not hot or it will curdle the egg. End result should be a smooth batter.
Heat a flat frying pan and the lightly oil it (preferably with a silicon brush).
Once the oil is hot, ladle the batter – about 5 tbsp. for one pancake – onto the pan and let it fry for about 3-4 minutes. Then the pancake and fry the other side for a couple of minutes. Both sides should be light brown at the end.
Enjoy the hot and fluffy pancakes with chocolate syrup or strawberry syrup, or any sweet syrup at that.
Ingredients (these are half measure for 6 pancakes)Final batterLadling batter
Cooking processVoila! Pancakes!
That’s it, the easy and quick recipe for American pancakes! If you try it out, do let me know how it turns out.
This post was written for Blogchatter A2Z challenge; Day 1 – Letter “A”.
Writing is a matter of discipline. Just having an idea isn’t enough. One needs to sit down for long enough at regular intervals to take the idea to fruition. But, writing needs to be fun too!
For a long time, due to various reasons, I have been in a fuzz and unable to drum up enough disciple and enthusiasm to write a new post. I was more interested in spending time watching mindless stuff on Netflix/Prime or, reading. I wanted to dedicate enough time to my reading this year and so I took on Blogchatter Reading Challenge – been doing well at it too; currently at #13 on ReaderBoard.
Gradually, though, I felt myself wanting to get back to writing. And I remembered, the last time I had fun writing was the MyFriendAlexa challenge. Thus I decided to participate in this year’s A2Z challenge by Blogchatter for the first time ever. For the month of April, I will be writing one post each day except Sundays and the posts will start with each letter of the alphabet. Hence, A to Z! Talk about jumping in the deep end huh?
My blog is about travel but I certainly haven’t travelled enough or that far and wide to have that many posts. So I had this germ of an idea and here goes my theme for A2Z.
“FOODS OF THE WORLD”.
I will be writing about various dishes I have had during my travels which I have had the opportunity and the skills to make at home. Again some of them may simply be dishes I love but have never dared to try at home. Some of the dishes will be desi dishes/family recipes which I’d like to share with the world. I am aiming to mix it up and bring in colour, yumminess and a little knowledge to my posts.
Looking forward to writing and reading. Bring it on April!
I have been a bookworm all my life; ever since the time I have a memory of, I have had a book in my hand. Nothing gave me more happiness than curling up with a book and getting lost in the world of fiction; it still does. Be it Enid Blyton or Nancy Drew or Robin Cook or Nora Roberts – I just gobbled up those books and was always hungry for more.
As a child, most of my free time was taken up by reading. Once I started reading, I got so lost in a book that everyday chores were forgotten. What was food and sleep when you could read? I remember finishing Harry Potter and The Order of the Phoenix in 2.5 days flat!
Reading helped me build up my vocabulary, know about the world and its people, live and travel vicariously…
However, adult life and its vagaries sometimes leave little time for such simple pleasures. I keep meaning to read a particular book but somehow cannot seem to make time for it. Also, sadly, the advent of OTT platforms have cut into my reading time.
In a bid to do more reading, I’m participating in the #TBRChallenge by Blogchatter. My goal this year is to read 15 books. I hope I can live up to this target and rekindle my friendship with books.
Follow this space for book reviews of some of the books I will be reading this year. Happy Reading!
I have lived in Kolkata for more than half my life but I barely ever took trips to nearby places of interest. There’s so much to see and do in and around Kolkata! In these uncertain times, all we can afford – safely – right now in terms of travel are day trips. Taking all necessary precautions for Covid (details below), we were able to have an enjoyable day at the scenic location of Raichak.
Raichak (or Roychak) is located on the banks of the river Ganga or, as it’s known in Bengal, river Hoogly and is an ideal place for a weekend vacation. Pleasant stay, fabulous views and self-pampering – from what I read and saw. However, due to the situation being what it is, we decided to do a short day trip instead to relax our exhausted minds and jaded lives.
Getting There
We drove to Raichak from Kolkata (northern part) on a bright and sunny Saturday morning. The road to take is via Behala-Alipore-Diamond Harbour Road-Noorpur Road. There are signs on the Diamond Harbour Road to guide you so it should not be too complicated. The journey should take around 2 – 2.5 hours depending on road traffic.
Tip: The main chunk of the journey is via the Diamond Harbour road which is a 2-lane road with a lot of traffic. The Noorpur road isn’t in a very good condition. Do account for these when you plan your travel timings.
Precaution: We had rented a self-drive car from Revv for our month-long stay in Kolkata for the ease of getting around and to avoid availing public transport. Upon receipt of the car, we quarantined it for 2 days before starting to use it.
The F fort
Formerly the Fort of Raichak, this has now been converted into a 5 star hotel/resort by the Radisson group. The fort had been built during the British times to keep watch on the water traffic of the Hoogly river. Later, the fort fell into ruins due to dis-use. Whatever remained of the fort was lovingly restored and refurbished and now conserved as an ode to bygone times. One can see the crenellated walls and the towers of the fort which were used a guiding structure and foundation for the current hotel.
We looked around at the colonial themed interiors and the very interesting décor of the F fort hotel. We then strolled around the well-maintained grounds enjoying the breeze and the greenery. There isn’t however a view of the river from the grounds; but we could tell that anyone having rooms at the higher floors of the hotel would be offered a superb view.
F fort entrance
The F fort façade
The F fort façade
Main hall/lounge
Main hall/lounge
Interior decorations
F fort Garden
Clock tower
Inside “Raichak on the Ganges”
As we were leaving, we chanced upon my very best part of the hotel visit – an almost life sized chess board! The chess pieces were black for Indians and white for the British. Each piece was sculpted as realistic figures having an English and an Indian counterpart. E.g. Indian rani vs. English queen, Indian kazi vs English Bishop. It was fun to discover this and examine the pieces. (We ignored the racist tones of this find.)
The giant chess set
Lunch
Lunch was an amusing affair. While there are quite a few restaurants at the resort with varied cuisines, we didn’t want to take a risk and so packed a lunch from our home. Problem was, where to sit and eat? There didn’t seem to be anyplace around – the resorts weren’t going to allow outside food. So, we parked at a side road and had our picnic right there in the car. Serving up four plates in that tiny space wasn’t easy but we managed it; it included a lot of yelling, instructions and balancing work! But, it was worth it. Homemade fried rice and chilli chicken had never tasted better!
Tip: For future reference, F fort and its adjacent resorts have multiple restaurants which you can try out when we get back to our “old” normal.
Walk by the River
The whole area has now actually been converted into a “hotel conglomerate” meaning: it houses several boutique hotels / resorts called Raichak on the Ganges. The resorts are Ganga Kutir, Anaya, Ffort Hotel and Ffort Suites. There are spas, golf course, lounges, pools, sports paraphernalia on hire etc.
After lunch, we drove the short distance to the Ganga Kutir resort. This one is situated right on the banks of the river and consists of separate cottages with a common lawn. We took a walk on the open lawn sloping down to the river. The actual water edge is cordoned off by wire barrier for safety purposes.
The view before us was magnificent. The wide bountiful river with its calm waters ruffling in the evening breeze was such a beautiful sight to behold! The setting sun created a perfect backdrop to this postcard-ready vista. Boats and launches travelled up and down the river and completed the typical river “scene”. The holy Ganga in all its beauty mesmerized me. This was the essence of our trip.
Tea to end the day
We turned homewards with the last rays of the sun. On the way home, we had tea and cake in the car to cap off our wonderful day by the river. The tea was also prepared at home and carried in a thermos flask. By evening, it wasn’t so much as steaming but more of a mildly warm cup of tea which still tasted like heaven because of the wonderful day we had just had!
Precautions: We had our masks on at most times (took it off when people wern’t within 6 feet of us) and had pocket sanitizers to clean our hands as soon as we touched anything (which was only a couple of times). As mentioned before, food, water, snacks and tea were all made and carried from home as well as plates, cups, and cutlery.
