Drama Review :) Drama : CFG Pondy Food Guide Orchestrated by : Nishanth, Mani Prabhu and Veeren Koneru Participants : Rama Krishnan, Nishanth, Karunakaran, Meena Chabbaria and family, Poorni, Sharanya, Jagadish, Sathya Narayanan, Chinna Win, Lalitha Kishore, Chinna win, Cheshta Malik, Abhijit, Vidhya Nanditha Narayanananan, Priya NM and Little Advait. Entertainers : Sathya Narayanan, Chinna Win, Mani’s brother Mother Figure : Tasneem Aunty :P Friends : All of them but specially to Sharanya and Poorni for the company Children : Meena’s Kids, Advait Grandpa : Ramki :P Anna and Uncle : Sathya Chef : Ramki Plot : Left for Pondy on 6th Morning at 8:30 AM. Stopped enroute for an entertaining breakfast by Ramki. It was Pongal, Chutney, Chapathi and Aloo curry. On the way stopped for coffee at Coffee hut and took a break from the sweltering heat in the tempo traveler. Reached Pondy at 1:30PM and went down straight for lunch at Tantos. Decent food but the best thing that there was the Iced Tea . Totally lovely for the sweltering heat. The food was just about ok coz there was absolutely no spice in the food and it was totally bland. From there the next stop was the place of stay for some relaxation and rest. Left at 6:00PM for the beach and from there on to dinner at Le Orient. Again Italian and no taste at all. The lasagna’s and Pastas of the world all in one day at Pondy. Only thing was that it was bland. A group split from the larger group and headed to Natural Icecream. The icecream was totally heavenly and deliciously out of the world :). Headed back to the hotel and the ladies had some nice gupshup watching the IPL match while men were at their hotel doing Daru Desi :P. About 4 of the group headed off at 5:30AM the next day for a photoshoot of the damn super models (read fatsos :P) with the Chief Photographer of the event. This was at an Isolated bridge on the beach surrounded by the sea. It is every romantic person’s dream come true :). With the photoshoot all wrapped up by 7:00AM, Caffeine beverage for the morning with some crispy hot vadas was the next agenda. From there back to the hotel and joined the rest of the group. The entire group headed for breakfast at India Coffee house and believe me we all felt so content and satiated after the lovely Sambar idlis; Poori Masala, Masala Dosai, Filter Coffee . The group had some serious discussion outside the place regarding the next candidate for elections and it turned out that one very young lady called Tasneem Ayub was elected. There was a hue and cry around her and all wanted a glimpse of the future lady of the nation :P. The Lady left with her bodyguard to the Ashram. The followers left as well with some of the group heading to the chocolate house. And the group saw a restaurant that all of them were familiar with and burst into joy. Some split between choco house and the restaurant but eventually all of them gathered to celebrate the nomination of the lady :). A part of the group travelling by tempo traveler and headed off to the respective rooms to wrap up and had a lovely lunch at the Hotel they were staying. Finally the stomach felt safe again , the tongue seem to have regained the color and the buds the taste. The tempo group left with complete contentment and on the way back got to know each other a little more. :). The group definitely felt like one family. Next Trip being planned by the temp group soon ;) P :S : I would have to thank all of them for helping, supporting and motivating me all the way and special thanks to Sathya for bringing the wheelchair for without that I would have missed out on the entire lot of fun. I also want to thank Nishanthand Jagadish for pushing the chair and giving me company as well. Love u guys. U made my trip to Pondy totally worth it :).

*****Warning - Read this message only if you have the time because it is going to take a good 10 mins of your time. So here it goes :***** CFG Pondy Trip April 2013 Saturday 6.30 am : Left from home to ccd adyar. 7:30 : Reached adyar to be greeted by a bunch of eager foodies all set for a fun weekend. 8:30 : After lots of discussions and decisions, finally we decided to hit the road. Between 8:30 and 9:30, laughed and sang like crazy and got almost killed a couple of times :-P 9:30 : Breakfast halt - Ramki sets another record by cooking pongal and potato curry in 28 mins for 20 of us. 11:00 Back on the road towards pondy.After phone calls, messages, degree coffees.. We finally meet the great Mani and veeren to take us to tanto. 12:30 - Settled down for a good meal in tanto. Beautifully arranged tables and yummy ice tea kept us going all through lunch. Pizza, pasta, salads and loads of pics later, we landed in aurovillle bakery. 15:00 - Finally reached the hotel to freshen up and relax after all the eating.. ;-). We also had strict orders to be ready by 6 to visit the beach. 19:00 We were at the beach munching away at all the small eateries around the beach. One of the many perks of being in a big group. We also got those little devil horns and showed off wearing it and walking.. :-) 20:00 - Got to the much talked about Le Orient. What a beautiful place it was. Although the food and service was disappointing, we had a whale of a time jamming and making all the noise we could. 22:00 - Headed to the natural ice cream outlet for some amazing fresh ice cream. We also got to sing a few songs with vidwaan on the guitar. Rest of the night was ipl, lots and lots of laughing and half sleep.. :-P Sunday 05:30 - Left the hotel for a small visit to the beach and broken bridge. 06:15 - After going around in circles for a while, finally got to the broken bridge. One of the most serene places to be early in the morning. After a small photo shoot with three poor models and one awesome photographer, went straight to get some hot vadas and filter coffee. 08:30 : By then, it was time for second breakfast and we went over to the very famous Indian Coffee House and hogged and hogged and washed down all the food with some excellent rose milk and ended up paying 60 bucks each. Money very very well spent. 10:00 : The group split into two to head to Zuka and Ashram. Tasneem aunty had a go at travelling in a cycle rickshaw and all of us made sure that everybody on the road noticed that we were a lively bunch.. ;-) 12:00 We get this super surprise visit and three awesome people land in pondy. After the hi hellos and excitement, we headed to The Asian house. Although the interiors were inviting, we had to leave the place after a bitter quarrel due to lack of service. Nevertheless, we headed back to Zuka and pasta bar veneto to finish off a very satisfying lunch. Some awesome chocolate deserts to top it off from Zuka too. Our trip almost ended here i thought because all we had to do was to check out and head back to Chennai but i was wrong. We got to stop at Marakkanam and Alamparai fort for some lovely pictures. And finally, it was over!! Some highlights of the trip were the awesome little ones from Meena's family and Chesta's little sweetie pie. They always kept us on our toes. I have to say, if not for Satya , his guitar and his comedy, we would've missed out on a lot. Not to forget the amazing photographers who captured every second. And all the others for being such great company and being okay with everything. It was one hell of a trip and worth every second. Thanks for making the trip guys, can't wait for more .. :-) Love you all!!!! :-*

looks like everyone had said everything about the pondy trip!A heartfelt thanks to Nishanth, Mani and Veeren for organizing it so well-the place we stayed was so comfy and neat,i felt as if we are the "bridegrrom side" in a marriage when you guys personally came and checked upon us :P Regarding the group we traveled with-just one word-FUN!! Whether it was Meena's kids or nephew,her parents(aunty and uncle was totally cool with all the singings(!) and dancing in the van), Sathya's funny dialogues and expression's,not to mention his guitar, Chinna's awesome singing and clicks, Vidhya's comments and sportiveness, Rama Krishnan's cooking on the road and his half truth/half lie stories, Sharanya and Poorni's quick wit & sarcasm's, @tasneem aunty's sweet comments(no negative things about anything), @priya's cake and her quite presence in the room, @cheshta and abhijith with their little hero, @jagadish who was so sportive inspite of us pulling his legs............ Aarti/dilip and fazil's surprise visit.......wow how many variety of personalities who came together to have fun and food......... Not to forget the responsible drivers of our TT or Tasneem aunty's duster who made us travel the distance safe and sound! 3 cheers to CFG!!looking forward to many more trips like this :) and whoever missed it this time,do make it to the next trip :)

My Effervescent Views : CFG Road Trip - Pondicherry Day 1 http://theeffervescentcook.blogspot.in/2013/04/pondicherry-trip-day-1.html

We all began the journey into CFG as strangers and today are as good as family, infact some of us even closer... And that is why it dint matter that Pondy was hotter than chennai, the restaurants were being mean [not giving us food] and we were all tired & exhausted but still we had our spirits intact. The Pondy trip was officially the 1st road trip with the CFG gang, not counting the one to The Farm or Eco Kitchen/shiraz cafe. Even though a bunch of us could not join the others on Saturday, we had our own plans and agenda. What was it? To land in pondy sunday morning and surprise the others.. buhahaha and where we successful in that or what! Hi5 all around boys... I messaged Sharanya every now and then asking her location, and she innocently kept sharing it with me. We tried reaching Mani, Tas Aunty, Nishanth but to no luck and finally managed to reach Meena who gave us their location- we are heading to ashram. Soon after aunty called saying they were on MG road headed to ZUKA.. Ding dong, bells went off and we drove straight down and surprised the living day lights out of the lot.. esp Aunty and Nishanth [man, you win the award for best expression da] and Chinna.. the expression on their faces- Priceless!! That is what i call the beauty of CFG. We have all known each other less than a year or little more, but we are so connected that it makes a world of difference to see each other... :) Hungry and tired, we binged on the starters at PBV, i enjoyed a Bacardi breezer and others their lemon iced tea before lunch plans were made. Alas, a few decided to head back to chennai already [buh bye you all ] and the remaining piled into available cars [we all just packed in like sardines in a can] and headed off towards the beach to asian house.. Well agreed they dint give us food, kept us waiting, had a few losing their tempers, but atleast offered chairs and Ac to cool off in. After a good hour, we all huffed and puffed outta there [not like the big bad wolf in the story but like all worn out creatures in the blazing summer] and went in seperate ways. "let us go back to PBV for lunch.." was the statement. but finally, one car headed to Baker street, one to zuka and other to PBV.. hehe.. such mentals we were... hunger satiated, smiles returned just in time to bid adieu to pondy and to the 2 awesome guys who hung around, bore our brunt and kept us good company.. Oh and i also met a very knowledgeable little boy in the trip.. hehe... Sreeram,, college student he said,but very knowledgeable esp when it came to liquid matters...lol..he likes em blue.... was good meeting you da... and then, we were back on the road, but not without any excitement. amidst all the yakking, cracking and singing, we pulled over and spent a few minutes at the salt collection place- Marakkanam and then again went off the main road towards Alampara fort. both times with Abhijit n co in tow :D As Cheshta said, the sign of a good trip is another gets planned. While we waited for the boys to finish their photo shoot and arrive, Sharanya, Cheshta and I had planned our next road trip!! woot woot... here's to more such trips, more such fun moments and days ahead!! :D

My two cents on the Pondy Food Trip A group of completely different individuals can have loads of fun. Hotel or restaurant does not matter when people enjoy just good company. Man with a guitar can be fun. Photographers can be dangerous for restaurants. People are as old as they want to be. Impromptu plans are the best . Some people can still fit in Baby chairs. CFGians think the same way- stopping by the salt banks all together. Excursions are a lot of fun. Keep fun uncomplicated!

“Food is so primal, so essential a part of our lives, often the mere sharing of recipes with strangers turns them into good friends. That’s why I love this community.” ~ Jasmine Heiler When I read this quote, for a second it felt it was absolutely apt for CFG, as that’s how it felt on the CFG Pondichrry Food Trip. Sharing food and good times with people in CFG has turned them not just into friends, but family! The page being flooded with posts about the CFG Pondicherry Trip, I’m sure we’ve made you jealous enough about missing the trip. Here’s my take to add a little fuel to the fire! Having missed the first half of Saturday’s fun, we joined the CFgians post-luch outside Auroville at Pondicherry. Our caravan of cars and a tempo traveler drove to the Hotel spearheaded by our local hosts- Mani & Veeran. Their genuinely warm welcome was evident in every little step, from getting us settled in the hotel to driving us around the city, planning our meals or pointing us in the right direction (and even entertaining our son! ) Thank you guys for tirelessly entertaining us and looking after us so well! You were the best hosts anyone could ask for. In the evening everyone got together at the beach. There was an instant feeling of camaderie and joie-de-vivre. A great group of people came together like a family bonding over short eats by the beach. I loved the way people were looking out for each other, fighting over who gets to take charge of our son, the way Sathya spotted a vendor and immediately picked-up devils horns for the kids(though the Adult kids seemed more interested in getting clicked with them!!). After a lovely walk by the beach we headed to L’Orient, Neemrana Hotel for dinner. Our hosts had made pre-arrangements but it was a still and hot evening and we chose to take shelter in the AC room. Bundled in a small room and split among a few tables we had our share of fun singing, laughing, joking with Chinna, Satya and Mani’s brother jamming on the guitar & Piano. The service and food wasn’t upto the mark but the group made up for it. After dinner, some of us headed to have some yummy Natural Ice cream while the others called it a day. And while our family of 3 called it a night, the rest have their stories of fun to tell. The next day for some started at 5:30 am with a photo shoot at the beach while for some it started with some yum South Indian breakfast at The Indian Coffee House, & as usual, hats-off to our hosts to be at our doorstep so early in the morning on a Sunday! The sveltering heat brought with it a lovely surprise when Fazil, Aarti & Dilip joined us. Some more food fun @ Pasta BarVeneto, Zuka, Bakers Street, The Promenade (as we all split-up) n some not-so-much fun@ The Asian House as they messed-up our lunch, but I guess some downfalls bring the group closer, what say? N some are blessings in disguise, as our lunch at Pasta Bar Veneto was good and I heard that Baker’s Street guys were happy too. Our journey back was nice n adventurous. Yes, great minds think alike. We were planning on stopping to see the rock salt preparation & we spot Fazil’s car…n then follows some flashing & photography! ;) The Alampara fort ruins was a surprise detour. Thanks guys. We would have never known about it. And foodies don’t ever stop thinking about food. We tried getting our hands at some food at the Krishna Iyer Mess but it was closed, & a birdy told me that Fazil, Aarti, Dilip & Sharanya went to Haji Ali!!! A trip is a success if another one is planned before it is over…and that is exactly what happened. Before we reached Chennai, the next one was already being planned… I’m in love…with CFG!!! They say people who love food are warm at heart. I believe I saw the proof over this weekend. Cheers!

okay now that most of u have written about the trip .. i decided to write from our side too :) it very very rare to see virtual friendships turn into physical ones and when they turn into almost family like bonds . it was one hell of a weekend , we did cause momentum in pondy :P coming from different backgrounds , food preferences and taking time off from busy schedules it is very difficult to get along with each other but the kind of affection i saw among everyone , looking out for each other , getting irritated then cooling off , the jokes , the endless fun makes me rethink if i should move to chennai :) nishanth & ali ji- kudos to your awesome effort tasneem aunty - it is very rare to see people who are beautiful on the innerside and the outside ,there is a positive aura around you :) vidhya - you are such an inspiration . thanks for the tips on food exploring . sharanya - your review is soo beautifully written like the person you are . poorni - i hope the rose milk made up for everything else :P rama krishnan - boss we asked for a parcel of breakfast and you totally for got us ..and you should open pr here . satya - your guitar skills were sooper . liked the ilayanila one u played in naturzz but u know how scared the owner got thinking we might not leave his place for the whole night . meera- you and the family were sooper cool , your daughter and the boys are very very wellbehaved , i know they take after you . lalita - i saw how bewildered you were looking at all the nv and even then u were very cool .. cheers. priya - waiting to taste your cakes soon . karan - took inspiration from your tattoos . lovely pictures. chinna - hope you had fun clicking around . sreeram - sooper cool dude . jagadish - we should eat more of advay's imaginary pizzas . chestha and abhijeet - pls will you trade advay for anything . hes one angry young man already . u guys were super chill . fazil - i still dont know y you were blushing yesterday :P aarti - it was fun knowing you . yesdee - they did put up the flexi banner , avoiding the beach side for quite a few days :P mani- the glass breaking was in perfect unison . i hope i din't miss out on anyone . ps : to all the other members here i know how hesitant we are to meet new people but after seeing and reading all the posts here if you are still hesitant you are for sure missing something , so get out of the houses , take time to meet all the awesome people around :)