Category: coffee

A Year Made In India -Chocolates #1


The Indian Chocolate and coffee experience this year has been a good surprise especially when you don’t have the options of going out at all. 
Amul chocolates :
Dark chocolates, it wasn’t easy to find good dark chocolates as such in India. 
And when you have run out of your Lindt dark chocolate stock, And aren’t going to be travelling until things settle,  imports to aren’t coming by easily. You have to look out for options. And Amul dark chocolate was the only option I had in my city. Yes, I have had mason & Co and Fidler & Frank in the past. two of the finest dark chocolates I have eaten. But unfortunately, they aren’t available in my city, and I am a little hesitant to order them online. Amul chocolate became my saviour. It’s got the perfect balance of sweetness and bitterness. And if you haven’t tried it yet. 
You are underestimating one of the best Indian Brands that have flavours like Mocha, Orange, Hazelnut and single-origin flavours from Venezuela, Peru, India 
₹100 onwards for each bar of chocolate 
All Things Chocolate:  I am not sure! How many of you have even heard about this? These chocolates were divine! The combination and the feel of the packaging make you wonder are these truly from & Made in India, Jaipur These chocolates were so good! That we made a special visit to the Clove store in Mumbai to pick them up. 
₹180 onwards for each bar of chocolate 
La folie: One of my favourite cafe in Mumbai, Bandra and when you hear they also have chocolate you want to try the dark chocolate. But with jaggery replaced instead of white sugar, this chocolate wasn’t tasting like chocolate though… ₹250 for each bar of chocolate 
Soklet Chocolates:   Hadn’t known about this brand at all until I visited foodhall in Mumbai last year and discovered and tried it recently  The mint Nibs with dark chocolate and was slightly disappointed with the taste as it was more like honey after taste. ₹200 onwards for each bar of chocolates 
Dider & Frank:   If there is one of gourmet make in India Chocolate who’s whole range I have tried is this one right from the coffee, Orange and Mint chocolate all are very very good!! ₹300 for each bar of chocolate 
Mason & Co:  Bassed in Auroville, Tamil Nadu.A Chocolate that’s I first noticed at a cafe in Mumbai, The Pantry and a few later noticed it again Blue Tokai it was a few months later did I finally try the 70% Dark Chocolate and it was good! This was the first time I tried a gourmet Indian dark chocolate that has flavours like Mint in Dark Chocolate, Espresso dark chocolate and Coconut Dark Chocolate. ₹295 for each bar of chocolate. 
Fabelle: ITC ( Indian Tobacco Company) It is difficult to associate a Cigarette brand and hotel chain with Chocolates especially when you think of chocolate it’s always Cadbury. But, if you haven’t tried the range of Fabelle chocolates from ITC you certainly have missed trying out one of the most underrated chocolates that just melt in your mouth. There are chocolate bars as well tin gift boxes available from Fabelle. ₹450 for each bar of chocolate. 
Smoor Chocolate: A Cafe Brand from Bangalore that is known not only for their cafe but their chocolates too. I tried the cranberry Dark Chocolate and instantly loved the taste of the chocolate. Smoor since the last time I tried has a range of things to offers. Dark thins, Brittles and a whole new range of dark chocolate additions. 
₹300 onwards for each bar of chocolate. 

How many have you tried? And which one is your favourite?

The Subtle Art of not giving a F***K & Think like a Monk – Book Review !!

The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K
A book, That I had heard a lot about. But, never did I find out what it was about. Maybe because it had become such a big sensation and had hit the best-selling charts. That I was slightly sceptical to read at that time, So this year… In The Bookclub we decided to read “The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F**K” And literally within two days, I was done reading this book. 
Let’s start with what I liked about this book. 
The tone is very conversational, with examples for explanations, so that it becomes very relatable, unlike other self-help books the language is easy to understand. 
The authors refer to his situations in his life, this makes the book trustworthy and gives the confidence to be the change. 
the chapters too are captioned with the doubts or questions we always come across or have come across that makes it a fun read. 
Yes! Happiness is a problem, We always do have a choice, Why we must say “No” and We are always wrong about everything.
This book is like you have always heard someone say those same things, but this time you are not listening, but you have understood his argument. 
CHAPTER 1: Don’t Try
CHAPTER 2: Happiness Is a Problem
CHAPTER 3: You Are Not Special
CHAPTER 4: The Value of Suffering 
CHAPTER 5: You Are Always Choosing 
CHAPTER 6: You’re Wrong About Everything (But So Am I) 
CHAPTER 7: Failure Is the Way Forward 
CHAPTER 8: The Importance of Saying No 
CHAPTER 9: . . . And Then You Die 

 

Think Like Monk – Jay Shetty.

You might think, If you have read a book on spirituality, Zen, Buddhism all are the same. Yes, Most of them are very similar to a great extent. But giving relevant examples that one can connect to the current generation, can install the belief and practice of enlightenment yet again.

Whether it was Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse to finding out the secret by Rhonda Byrne or To know about the Monk who sold his Ferrari by Robin Sharma to Learning The Art of not giving a F**K Mark Manson to Thinking like a Monk by Jay Shetty.

All have their way of telling you the same thing, But they use the relevant examples to keep the practice going- If Think as a monk spoke about Brain Acton’s rejection to not giving up and come up with WhatsApp to giving each of us simple practices to practices to live a life of detachment.

Jay Shetty’s this  book, one should read today if they want to connect and change their way of living.

The book is written in three parts – Let Go the first part, Grow second and Give the last part…With some practical applications.

September Book Reviews!

Salivation Of A Saint By Keigo Higashino. 

My 3rd Book from Keigo Higashino, 2nd one of the year and two and half days of another page tuner from Keigo Higashino.

The Writing is so engrossing. Murder has already being committed in the first thirty pages and You might have the hint of who the murderer might me. But How it actually happens remains a mystery…Until Detective Galileo works around the theory with the Police officers and comes to the conclusion. A Book & author you wouldn’t want to miss reading, Who surprises you with a perfect Murder Crime that you wouldn’t in your wildest thought, imagined to take place like the one mentioned in the books and with logical backstory and supporting evidence, This book is all  the more enjoyable where you just want to read  more stories like these from Keigo Higashino one of  my new favourite Crime/Thriller who doesn’t disappoint. Now the next one I want to read is his bestseller “The Devotion of Suspect X”

Seventeen by Hideo Yokoyama 

A Story about a plane Crash that took place in 1985 and How the piece is reported by

Kazumasa Yuuki, a reporter at the North Kanto Times who is responsible for covering the news of the Plane Crash. The Story revolves around the daily battles of the power struggles and office politics in the Print Media and Media as a field .

Itself ,But in 2003 Seventeen years later, Yuuki remembers the adrenaline-fueled, emotionally charged seven days that changed his and his colleagues’ lives. He does making on a promise he made that fateful week—one that holds the key to its last solved mystery and represents Yuuki’s final, unconquered fear.

Though I picked up this book for the story. What I enjoyed the most was the way it was written,The Writing and setting was just like how internal politics & power takes over.

When it comes to reporting & publishing news. If you are looking to read a nice Investigate Journalism book on reporting a disaster. This one you should be reading.

A Story written by a writer who has been in the journalism field for years working with Jōmō Shimbun the largest general circulation daily newspaper based in Gunma prefecture, Japan. The same region where apparently the Aeroplane Crash takes place.

Seventeen, is a slow burn but a very interesting. Battles, arguments over departments who feel they contribute & our more important for publishing business are well written. I guess writing a setting one knows, does truly bring out the authenticity in the writer while writing his story. Hideo is best known for six- four a murder thriller.

After Dark by Murakami 

Yes! This year I have read more than a couple of books from Murakami. Ranging from his Bestseller “Kafka on The Shore”to “After Dark” Though the style remains the same in the writing,The ideas that are shared in the writing by the writer are amusing to immediately get you interested in wanting to read the book. The same thing happened After Dark. After Dark is story that’s written describing the dreams and psychology of a person while in sleep, the thoughts, the nightmares etc. Coincidentally just like After Dark being Murakami’s Eleventh novel. This also happens to be my Eleventh read from his collection.

The Story revolves around a night in Tokyo where two college students bump into each other after a long time.

And Mari one of the protagonist in the story is approached by the manger of a restaurant as Mari is fluent in Chinese and the manager isn’t and request her to act as a translator for her. Soon both open up about their feeling within Mari opens about how she became fluent in the language and her feeling and comparison with Eri who is sister.

Meanwhile, strange things have been happening at the sister Eri’s place. Eri has already gone to bed by the time the events of the novel take place, but as she asleep strange things happens around which the writer narrates in his writing.

The Novel like most of the authors works ends abruptly, without any definitive answers to its many mysteries.

Incase you haven’t read any of the works by the authors and are considering starting of. Please don’t read this book first read a couple of his other works first.

2020 Thoughts!

Ever since 2020 began! 
It’s been setting up new challenges every day. 
Two months into the year and we were all dealing with a pandemic that even more than six months later doesn’t seem to end. 
As the year moved ahead! We lost a legend and one of the best actors in our Hindi Film Industry. Just when we were coming out of these two shocking deaths. We were thrown a mysterious death of another actor. Which was cited as a suicide, but reports were pointing to murder, three months later we still aren’t sure whether it’s a suicide or a murder. 
While there was just a hand full of those who questioned and wanted justice to be served for the late actor as it was strongly pointing towards a murder 
But, Things started to change when we were forced to pick up a side as one of the prime suspects in the investigation was arrested for Drugs and also used PR tactic’s to defend herself exclusively with two Broadcasting channels without first being questioned by The CBI. 
Weeks later, An Actor who began the fight of justice for the late actor, who had also being vocals and her ”Nepotism” Conversation took an ugly turn for. Leaving her with no movies offers. Plans to come to Mumbai and is not only threatened for her remarks a couple of days ago for comparing the city and situation with an enemy territory but just a few hours before her arrival to The City of Dreams! Her Office is tarnished citing reasons, illegal construction work. 
Mind you all these series of events are taking place while India is at its peak on the Coronavirus. 
The economy has hit it’s lowest since we had our independence and our in the middle of a war with another neighbour of ours. 
And what hurts the most is people who are considered role models, people who are looked up by Millions and Billions not just from our country, but from around the world. 
Haven’t spoken about anything at all from the injustice or justice for a late actor whose death remains a mystery, For an actor who’s office has been attacked wrongly. 
Or for the matter of where our country is headed in terms of our economic mess, How one should be tackling the pandemic or for that matter about the tensions amongst the borders, Are they all scared to open their mouths, Are these the people we aspire to be like? 
Where is the Freedom, If our well-known celebrities themselves can’t speak about anything? 
Is this the country we want to live in? Where there isn’t any democracy any more, but just dictatorship from all sides… Where power is also being misused by the powerful and not used the way it should be used. 
Where we speak up in minutes and condemn the West, but can’t really address and speak about the issues that are taking place in your motherland.