Hungry in US - Monterray, CA: Indian Summers

Do you know the Chinese food in India. Its not Chinese. Here is what is happening to Indian food. Well not the exact analogy, since Indian is so unique you can only go so far as to corrupt it..anyways hungry from our long drive we come down to the nice city of Monterey in the night. Read that this place is a tourist destination - well not in the night.

Indian Summers. Music is arabic, not a single desi in sight. Its definitely a happening place, but chilly and the fireplace you see in the pic is not for show. You need the fire to keep warm. Well food, me and Sharayu tried to Non veg with Spicy Fried fish not spicy, Chik Jalfrezi - mysteriously spicy since we didnt see chillies. The veggies had a good time with the Maakhanwala, the dal and the peas jeera rice. They even went as far to say this was the best they had! Come on now Non Veg is also food, you have to make both of them good.

Anyways we had to leave before the Reggae band started playing. Yes Reggae band in and Indian Restaurant. On the expensive side...

On a foodie blog roll! No.3:

Hungry in US - Aptos, CA: Manuel's Mexican

I was growing loathsome about Mexican food in the US. Mexican is close to the Indian cuisine, but I just simply didnt like the fast food version. Until we got hungry along CA1 and decided to have some mexican. Thank you GPS, for guiding us to this delightful place. I like mexican now, especially at Manuel's.

Hemant guided the vehicle to this blink and you miss restaurant. This place is pretty old with and old style mexican tavern feel to it. The service was very warm and friendly. We needed a lot of guidance with the orders since we were new to this authentic cuisine which is unlike that of taco bells. Lot of variety for Non Veggies. We didnt want to risk anything meaty on the road so we opted for everything Vegetarian. Which again the hostess guided us. The Cheese Enchilada I had ordered was enchanting. Delicately made pockets of veg stuffed with cheese and covered in a wonderful tomato bean gravy melted in my mouth. Sharayu had the Quesadillas and the guys had the traditional Bean Burrito which were pretty decent. The Salsa Fresca was adequately hot. The Mexican equivalent of masala Papad - the Tortillas and Habanero sauce kept on coming. We generally dont have deserts, cause in the US, the portions are huge. Still we decided for the hostess's suggestion and again she hit the sweet spot with Flan and Mexican ice cream - a nicely spiced (not hot spice) chocolate ice cream which she described as 'her favorite ice cream'. Its really really good.

For those who would want to know and should know, they do not take Amex :)

San Francisco - City by the bay

Man is measured by his friends. I am a billionaire. Before I reach the US invitations, plans and discussions arrived or started with gusto. So dear pal and ex boss Sharayu and her Husband Hemant lay it down for me...first weekend its Frisco!

And not just any tepid car tour, we biked over the golden gate bridge. If you can imagine joy, aching muscles and wind blasted wide eyed exhilaration in one moment multiplied by several hours.

We had to buy a 3 bike rack, exchange it for a new working piece, load up the bikes then start to SFO from Surajganj, CA (Sunnyvale for noobs). The good thing in this season is that Sun sets at around 8.10 pm so you can do a lot of activities in day light. First stop FisherMans wharf. This place is the chowpati of SFO, but not a beach. It has rows of Piers, some of which are functional. Rohit had to rent a bike from here and off we go.

Slopes are killer in SFO. Killed my gears right off the start. My Bike was rescued by Hemant with his common sense and plain mechie skills. I dared not change my gears but then as can be imagined, I stress the slopes are killer. I crawled my way up the slopes while Sharayu, Hemant and Rohit were floating like fairies up the the picturesque route.

The route went through beaches, through awesome lawns, through lovely neighborhoods, through hills, through scenic high point vistas, through the golden gate bridge..through a mindbendingly beautiful montage of sights and sounds.

Biking over the Golden gate bridge is an experience not to be missed. The win blasts and chills you while you over look the pacific over one shoulder and Frisco city over the other. You see the traffic stream mixed with tour busses and you wonder why they are boxed in steel when they could be biking or else walking over the bridge. Get Sunscreen. Just after we went over the bridge is an awesome ride down slope into sleepy Sausolito. Unexpectedly we come across a bunch of Indians and among them is a pal Rakesh. What a coincidence.

A nice ferry ride took us back to Pier 39 where we had parked the car. Like little kids back from an amusement park we went back home with a glow and deep tan on our face, ache in our body and warmth in our hearts.