Food, Fun and Friends – Fantastic weekend

A couple of weeks back, we got an invitation from an amazing couple to comeover and spend the long weekend with them along with some more friends, it brought in all questions into my mind along with the excitement of visiting a new place.

Nestled in the middle of the Californian arrid and hot desert landscape, Ridgecrest is about 170 miles from my house. The few things one would notice during this three hour drive is empty roads as you move from the busy freeways of the southern california major cities, raising temperatures and thinly population small towns.

As we arrived on the hot late afternoon, the warm welcome from the hosts and home like atmosphere turned on my relaxed vacation mode.

As the evening set in, other invited friends joined and the atmosphere became more vibrant with kids having their playful moments, non stop conversation and delicious food. Time flew and suddenly I realized it was 1 am in the morning.

At the end of the first evening, I wanted to think and note, what all did I eat or was prepared. After all being a foodie, the must be part of this blog has to be food and a lot of it.

Menu for the first day

• -          Kachoris (Fried dumplings with special filling)
• -          Chicken cutlets (Minced chicken seasoned wth spices and then fried to perfection)
• -          Amchur Chutney
• -    Pani Poori
• -          Special Bengali Sweet

Can fried food ever be bad… my mouth is watering as I write these.

With the above, just for the snacks, an extensive dinner was definitely on the cards.

Now the dinner menu

• -          Fish Curry
• -          Chicken Curry
• -          Rice
• -          Dokhar Dalna
• -          Mochar Ghanta
• -          Lebu pata diye daal
• -          Aamer chatni
• -          Kamola Bhog Sweets

The next day started with some several rounds of tea along with muchies. As everyone came to life, we started with a yummy and heavy breakfast

• -          Fulcopir Singara / Samosa
• -          Boiled eggs
• -          Fruits
• -          Chicken Sausage
• -          Jelebis

With this the entire gang hits the pool. Kids had their time on floats and the adults had few hours of water  volley ball. It was lots of fun and we were exhausted at the end.

Lunch was a must after all this

• -          Baigan Bharta
• -          Dal Makhani
• -          Peas and Keema
• -          Rice
• -          Roti
• -          Salad
• -          Misti Doi
• -          Pantua

Tired gang took to the bed after this happy and fulfilling lunch. As the evening set in, we played cricket and badminton. As this was on, the preparation for an elaborate barbeque session was working behind the scene.

The barbeque started with Tandoori and Teriyaki chicken, fresh roasted sweet corn, chicken sausages and not to forget the paneer and veggie skewers.. my favorite…

You would think this would be all, but wait we had shrimp biriyani and kulfi to follow this. Well I was about to miss the pumpkin raita, which was just amazing. Can anything better happen for a nice evening.

As the night set, we were close to the end of an amazing weekend. Thinking of starting in the morning from Ridgecrest in order to make it here by noon, the departure time got pushed to afternoon after another elaborate lunch which included Mutton curry, Cholar daal, Luchi, Alu Dam, Rice and Boondi. With all this good food, the challenge was to keep eyes open and drive back.

I know a lot of this blog sounds like a menu list or all about food. The intent was to share my experience of how I spent a weekend with family and friends. This will be in my mind for a while now and I did cherish each moment of this.

Thank you again to the hosts who were just amazing.