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Shekhawati Region of Rajasthan – Nawalgarh & Mandawa

After spending amazing time in Jaipur and visiting few of the most popular places of Jaipur. On Day 3 we headed to a less explored region of Rajasthan i.e. Shekhawati region.

As mentioned in my first blog this is region is located in Northern part of Rajasthan. It consists of Jhunjhunu, Sikar & Churu district.

Places we visited came under Jhunjhunu district. As per the guides this region was founded by ‘Rao Shekha’ and named after him.

About the region

This region consists of some of the most beautiful and iconic havelis. Word haveli means big house or as per our guide “Havadaar” ghar. These havelis were build by some of the rich merchants of that time.

This region was a part of ‘Silk route’ so the merchants were quite rich. They built these havelis to show off their wealth. Few of the famous havelis are situated in Nawalgarh, Mandawa & Fatehpur.

We visited Nawalgarh on our way to Mandawa. It’s around 120 Km from Jaipur and it’s a National Highway 52 via Sikar.

The most famous haveli in this place is ‘Podar’ haveli. After restoration it was converted into a museum and now it is maintained by the Podar trust.

This place is really beautiful, with lot of frescoes. Fresco is a technique in which the painting . It is done when the plaster is wet so that the paint penetrates the plaster and becomes fixed upon drying.

There are 2 courtyards with different kind of frescos all around it.

The door that connects these 2 courtyards was(is) amongst the most beautiful gates in the country.

There are around 700+ frescos in this haveli, these frescos depict many scenes from Indian mythology as well as some modern trends like trains and dresses and also European culture. All the colors used in these frescos was obtained naturally.

There is entry ticket which is Rs 75 pp and timings are from 8 AM to 8 PM.

The museum displays the art and culture of Rajasthan,different festivals and way of celebration.

Different types of bridal costumes which brides of different sections of the society wear.

There is a section which displays different turbans which holds specific significance and are wore on different occasions .

In the marble art section, there is this beautiful artifact of a Rajasthani women. Build out of single piece of marble.

There was a school at this place which was converted into a museum. To accommodate the kids, they constructed few rooms on the first floor.

The caretaker/manager of this place showed us the Haveli and informed us each and every detail about the place plus. He helped us in clicking some good pics as well ?.

After completing our tour and taking a lot of pictures, we continued with rest of the Journey towards Mandawa which another 30 Km. We booked the stay a place which was 9-10 km before Mandawa city.

Mandawa is 236 KM from Delhi.

On the way we stopped at a hotel and to our surprise it was one of the most cleaned and hygienic and modern roadside hotel/property. It has auto on lights in bathroom with contact less flush etc.

We had tea here and it was really good. Place name is – Hotel Om, Sikar Road. You can see it on the left side while coming from Jaipur and going towards Mandawa.

We stayed @The Desert Resort which is part of WelcomHeritage hotels. It’s design replicate the rural culture. It has mud houses/huts of different sizes.

The Desert Camp — Desert Camp main entrance

This was the second time we didn’t find the service up to the mark as per 5* standards(First one was with Sofitel BKC Mumbai which is one of the worst service we ever had)

So, there was a film crew who has occupied most of the resort and we were given choice of 2 rooms, one in each category and the rooms were not cleaned at all.

The covers of sitting area was dirty there was dirt on the floor on the table, we called multiple times for all this.

Also not sure if there was shortage of staff but as there was a bottle kept outside of room which was there when we arrived and was still there when we were checking out.

Another thing is there was garbage left by guest in the main garden area right in front of reception and few of the housekeeping members pass by but no one picked it

Overall their attitude was not at all good which is totally opposite of the people of this region. We booked this place for 2 days but moved out after one day to a different property.

And this was one of the best decisions as we got the chance to stay in one of the original heritage property more than 100 year old Haveli – Vivaana Culture Hotel

Day we reached Desert resort we relaxed as we were tired of walking a lot in Jaipur and explored the property itself.

The property is good with some activities as well(which are very costly like Rs 1500-2000 per activity) we didn’t do any activity as most of these activities we were going to do in our next destination.

In Mandawa city there is a lot to see and can be covered in half day or max a day’s time. All the tours are done walking only. The guides here knows multiple languages as before pandemic most of the tourists were foreigners.

Beautiful Frescos of different Havelis in Mandawa

Fun Fact 1 – our guide asked us which language we prefer we said Hindi then he said he is not comfortable in Hindi as their native language is marwadi and after that he can talk in English, German, French etc.

Fun Fact 2 – Bajrangi Bhai Jaan wash shot in Mandawa (Pakistan part)

Frescos inspired from different historical events

There is a fort in Mandawa which is now a hotel and there is entry fee and as per the guide it was not worth.

There was this one golden room and the ticket price of that was 100 pp and that was not worth at all. So, you can avoid that and can save some money. Why not worth as the room was not maintained at all the family living there have stored all the crap and the walls and ceiling was not maintained.

After completing our tour of Mandawa we came back to the Haveli where we were staying and had a tour of that as well.

They also do village walk but not sure if it was due to pandemic or we were Indian tourist the person was not at all interested in taking us for a walk, so we did that by ourselves.

100 room Haveli and a beautiful yellow door of some house with Frescos

You will see a lot of cows and bulls and cute little kids playing in the evening, we went to a vendor who make Bangles but we were little late as they have already turned off the furnace(small one to make bangles).

He didn’t even showed his own property(he works there was customer relationship manager at the property) with any enthusiasm or interest.

The Maze waterway in the middle of the courtyard is a tribute to the amazing human ability to negotiate problems and came out free at the other end.

We gave the same review in their feedback book and to our surprise the owner does check that, and we got a WhatsApp message from the owner Mr. Atul Khanna very next day when we were on rout to our next destination. He apologized for that person’s behavior and informed us that there CRM is very enthusiastic.

There are different category room starting from Deluxe, Luxury and Royal. We got the opportunity to stay in Royal room which was quite amazing and weird as well.

Weird in the sense that the bathroom of this room was on the first floor and it’s an open bathroom.

The room is very beautiful with frescos all over the room. This property has 2 blocks, basically they acquired the haveli adjacent to theirs and combined it.

The Luxury rooms with frescos are there in second block and on low occupancy they close that block to save some money.

Overall with mixed experience we enjoyed our stay in Mandawa and will definitely recommend it to everyone.

Gandikota and Belum Caves

Gandikota is a hidden gem, also known as Grand Canyon of India. Gandikota is a small village on the banks of river Pennar in Andhra Pradesh. Planned 1N/2D road trip from Bangalore to Gandikota and Belum caves. Gandikota is around 292 Km and it’s NH 44 i.e. highway to Hyderabad. The roads are awesome, it’s … Continue reading “Gandikota and Belum Caves”

Gandikota is a hidden gem, also known as Grand Canyon of India. Gandikota is a small village on the banks of river Pennar in Andhra Pradesh.

Planned 1N/2D road trip from Bangalore to Gandikota and Belum caves. Gandikota is around 292 Km and it’s NH 44 i.e. highway to Hyderabad.

The roads are awesome, it’s a 4-lane highway and state highway after Kodur with quite less traffic.

Route took –

Outer ring road from home till Hebbal Junction and merged into NH 44.

Bangalore – Kodur – Muddalakuntapalli – Sunnampalle – Mukkandlavarikothapalle – Kadiri – Kutagulla – Kanampalli – Venkatpuram – Rachumarripalle – Muddanur – Ananthagiri - Gandikota

There are toll on this road. The state highway is also in good condition with occasional bad patches.

If you love to drive fast, then you will fall in love with this highway (please don’t drive fast you will save few minutes but will be risking your and others life’s).

Bangalore to Belum — Beautiful view on NH 44

We started around 6.00 AM from our place, it took 1 hour to cross the airport toll from out place. There are good options for B/F few kilometers after the toll. We stopped at Indian Paratha Company.

Heard a lot about Indian Paratha Company from friends and were thinking to visit this place from long. Finally, we got a chance and made our first stop here.

It’s quite good option to have heavy B/F with large glass of tea. They have 2 sitting options few tables inside and then outside. It’s quite nice to sit outside in the morning as there is less traffic, less noise and pollution.

Taste was good, they serve parathas with achar, curd & chutney. As it was early morning time, we had ginger tea which they served in a big glass. Tea was priced heavily around Rs 60, but taste was good. Toilets are not that clean and small toilets.

After having heavy B/F we stopped one more time as washroom break then directly to the hotel in Gandikota. We reached around 1 PM and after checking in directly came for lunch.

There is only one place to stay in Gandikota and that is Haritha Hotel which is run by APTDC i.e. Andhra Pradesh Tourism. There are limited rooms available here and can only be booked through APTDC website.

Do carry print out of booking confirmation.

Haritha Hotel Gandikota — View of rooms @ Haritha Gandikota

Rooms are air conditioned and cost very nominal i.e. Rs 1500/night on weekdays and Rs 2000/night on weekend. Nothing is included in the price but the food here is quite cheap.

There is no other restaurant near by as this is located right next to Gandikota Fort, which is far from nearby towns.

One of the speciality of this hotel is you can drive your car right up to your room and park it there itself.

Volkswagen Polo — German beauty soaked in over night rain

Nearest towns are namely Tadipatri, Gooty and Guntakal. The road after the highway to the hotel is single lane road but in good shape. You might be able to see Tatireddy Narasimha Reddy Dam at a distance and Pennar river on the right.

Tatireddy Narasimha Reddy Dam — View of Pennar river

It’s a decent property with big room and small washroom. Room was nice decently cleaned and doesn’t smell foul. They do have TV and set top box. There is option to stay in tents, as this is a government property, they have lots of open space.

For full review of this property please check my TripAdvisor.

Food was OK here, mostly they have limited options. Taste was OK, and price was low we paid around Rs 770 for 4 meals and evening snack for 2 persons.

Bangalore Gandikota — Somewhere on the way to Gandikota

Best thing about this hotel is the view and is located right next to fort. They do have some outdoor activities at additional cost like kayaking which is organized by some other organization. For it you have to track down to Penna river which takes around 40 min.

After lunch, went to relax for some time. After freshen up head out to visit the main attraction – Grand Canyon of India. It is called Grand Canyon because a spectacular gorge formed by river Pennar which goes through the Erramala hills.

Grand canyon Gandikota — Mesmerising view of gorge

You can take you car inside the fort and park it near the Mosque. From there walk/climb/jump/balance to reach the point where you will be mesmerized by the beauty of the gorge and river Pennar.

Gandikota Fort — Way to the gorge inside Gandikota fort

As it’s full of rocks so please do wear comfortable shoes and relaxed bottom wear.

Sunrise/Sunset view must be amazing here. We couldn’t witness the sunset as it was all cloudy that evening and we had rains in the night.

After enjoying the evening at the gorge came back had some snacks with a cup of tea and then went to room to relax.

There is one positive point about this place is there is no or very limited cellular n/w, so you can totally enjoy the time with friends and family.

But has one drawback Google map won’t work so download the map of this region in advance.

After dinner we slept early, had a good night sleep and then woke up early. Went to the terrace of our room (one unique thing about this place is each room has its own terrace). The morning view was simply amazing. Click some pics and then went down to get ready to leave.

After B/F we checked out and head to Belum caves, it’s around 61 KM 1.30-hour drive. It’s a state highway and nice road with traffic as you have to cross towns.

Gandikota to Belum Caves — Gandikota to Belum

There is ample parking space and the entry ticket costs Rs 50 -60 for Adult and Rs 30 for child.

The caves are largest caves in India. We visited after the rainy season and major part of the caves was closed as it was filled with water and mud.

There are lights and large fans installed to keep pumping fresh air so that one won’t feel suffocated. If full cave is operational then it is advisable to take a guide.

Belum caves are natural caves formed by underground water. The entrance looks like we are going in a pit and only after entering that pit you will be amazed to see the hug and amazing caves.

It will be humid and hot inside the caves; cloth selection should be accordingly. Walking path inside the cave is nicely laid so you can take stroller, but it will be bumpy. Our daughter was small, so we carried her in her carrier.

We spent around 1 hour in the caves and came back, if it was fully open then one can spend around 2-3 hours exploring the caves.

Coming back to Bangalore from Belum it was different route –

Belum – Bugga – Tadipatri – Anantapur – Rapthdu – Kodur – Bangalore

Belum caves to Bangalore — Belum to Bangalore

From Rapthdu you will merge on NH 44 till Bangalore. Kilometer wise it is few KM more around 10-15 KM. One can plan a trip the other way as well i.e.

Bangalore – Belum – Gandikota – Bangalore

On our way back, we took lunch at NH 7 Refuel which will come after Indian Paratha Company. You must take ‘U’ turn which is little ahead but not too far.

Food was Ok here it was based on Punjabi theme so major food item was non-veg and we are pure veg. so after digging in the menu we finally settled for Makki ki roti sarso ka sag and chole bhature.

Makki ki roti and sag was good but they didn’t serve any gud (jaggery). Chole bhature taste wise were nice but bhatura was too oily. Service was kind of slow and less staff.

It is a huge place with 2 sitting option out of which one is inside in the main hall and other is upstairs in open with a view of highway and landscape.

Over all it was amazing experience exploring the huge natural caves for the first time and the view of Gandikota and Panna river.

Note - All the pictures are from our trip taken by us.

Drive-in Beach Kannur

Kannur has one of the most beautiful beaches we have visited till date. It’s also known as ‘Crown of Kerala’ due to various reason and its geographic location. After we bought our first car it was my husbands wish to drive the car on a beach and splash the sea water while driving through the … Continue reading “Drive-in Beach Kannur”

Kannur has one of the most beautiful beaches we have visited till date. It’s also known as ‘Crown of Kerala’ due to various reason and its geographic location.

After we bought our first car it was my husbands wish to drive the car on a beach and splash the sea water while driving through the waves (just like what we use to see in movies). So, while planning our holiday he came across Kannur and immediately it was his first preference to visit this place.

After doing some research for route & stay, we finalized one home stay through Airbnb. Our home stay was located right on the beach, well not exactly right on the beach but stone throw distance.

It was around 310 Km from our home, we started early but not that early around 5.30 AM. With kid it’s hard to leave very early, you keep thinking if you have kept all the required things for your kid or not till you sit in the car and leave.

What we have started doing is we pack all the luggage a night before and arrange it in the car, only thing we leave for the morning is the food item and ourselves ?.

This leads to less hassle in the morning to arrange the stuff, less sweating which leads to fresh mind and body to start the long drive. We took 2 stops one for B/F and another a loo/tea break, also it helps in relaxing the legs which is required if only one person is there to drive.

Coorg Gate Karnataka — Coorg Gate, stop just before entering Kerala

The route was quite straight forward till we reach Kerala, then some ghat section comes through the beautiful jungle. Our second stop was just before the ghat/jungle section at Coorg gate, that’s the only restaurant on the right side. It has ample of parking, nice clean toilets (w/o health faucet).

The route we took was –

Mysore highway till Krishnarajasagara road, then from there Bilikere – Hunsur – Gonikoppal – Vayathur – Iritty – Mattanur – Kannur

Most of the road is in good shape till we reach kannur but just before kannur there is road and new airport construction going on so there are some diversions, mud road etc. otherwise no issue at all.

With all the stops and road condition it took us 7-7.30 hours to reach our home stay, by lunch we were at our home stay.

We booked Ivorycoast’e home stay through Airbnb and believe me it was simply awesome experience with our host. Our host is simple, humble, polite and friendly guy who will help you in every manner.

Ivorycoast'e Kannur — Balcony of our room

They serve fresh, homemade Kerala style food at very reasonable rates. We didn’t go anywhere else for any of our meal. If we are out somewhere then we finish that site and came back to have the lunch and then after some rest head back to another place.

Another benefit of our home stay is distances from the places to visit, it was like in the middle of Muzhappilangad Beach and Kannur Light house & St. Angelo’s fort. Ivorycoast’e has 6 rooms, 3 on ground and 3 on first with porch, balcony, garden area with table chairs kept.

(For more detailed review of the property visit my TripAdvisor)

Here you have your B/F, Lunch/Dinner served which you can enjoy with cold breeze coming from the sea and magical sound of sea waves.

Thottada Beach is just 50 mtr away from the Ivorycoast’e, it’s beautiful, clean, calm beach. It’s located behind the residential area so not many people come here. In the morning we saw only 4-5 people doing there morning walk or exercise. You can easily enjoy your time with family and loved one’s w/o worrying about any kind of disturbance.

Ivorycoast’e is mostly popular with foreigners which come here to relax for 10-15 days and explore the local culture. When we were there Theyyam festival was being celebrated in a near by temple. Our host was kind enough to take us to witness the festival.

Believe me it was amazing experience.

Other than relaxing at our home stay we have visited Kannur light house, and St. Angelo’s fort and the most important place for which my husband had planned the holiday i.e. Muzhappilangad Drive in beach.

Muzhappilangad Drive in beach is one of the largest in Asia. There is entry fee of I think Rs 30, it’s around 5 Km in length so you have enough space to drive your car or find some place away from crowd. The beach is very clean, its awesome experience driving your car on the beach (as per my husband ?).

Muzhappilangad Kannur — Beautiful sunset

We have visited in the evening to witness sun set and it was amazing experience. It was special as it was my daughters first beach holiday. She was initially afraid of water as it was too much of water coming and going also it was her first time on beach. After some time, she was enjoying her time playing with sand.

There is one thing one must be cautious about i.e. washing the under body after driving the car in sea water.

Second day of our visit we went to see Kannur light house and St. Angelo’s fort. There is also a museum below the light house which has a collection of different types of lights used in different types of light house etc. there is ticket to enter the light house and museum which is reasonably priced.

The view from the top is quite magnificent you can see sea at one end and greenery at other. Even in sunny day it was very pleasant on the top due to cold breeze. There is separate ticket to go to the front of the compound sort of walking space with garden at one end, it’s good for morning/evening walk beside the sea. Parking is available on the premises which is free.

Timings are – 10 to 6

There is documentary played inside the museum, in local language and English which gives more information about the history of light house and types of light houses.

For St. Angelo’s we have to first pay the entry fee as it is located in cantonment area, then there is parking that one has to pay. Entry is free. It’s a Portuguese fort built in 1505.

St. Angelo's Fort Kannur — View of Arabian sea from fort

There is ample space inside the fort and has a cliff like end of the fort. There are watch towers on the walls and a chapel in the premises.

From one the walls of the fort we can see the port where the fisherman park their boats. Fort has some beautiful trees inside it’s an ideal place to relax, watch sunset and enjoy the breeze. School children comes here for picnic or visit to learn more about history.

We have really enjoyed out stay here, it was amazing experience in the home stay with amazing homemade Kerala style food and in the town with amazing long drive from Bangalore.

Visit Month – January

Note - All pics are from our trip and clicked by us.

Cochlear-Hear Your Way!

#MyFriendAlexa This is in continuation with my blog Importantance of hearing screening for newborns. As I have already introduce Cochlear implants to you, let me share some more details for Cochlear implants. Before we start this in detail we need to understand How hearing works? Our Ears have three sections Outer Ear that catches sound … Continue reading “Cochlear-Hear Your Way!”

#MyFriendAlexa

This is in continuation with my blog Importantance of hearing screening for newborns. As I have already introduce Cochlear implants to you, let me share some more details for Cochlear implants.

Before we start this in detail we need to understand

How hearing works?

Our Ears have three sections

Outer Ear that catches sound waves and send to middler ear.
Middle Ear transfers the sound waves in the air to mechanical pressure waves that are transfer to fluid in the inner ear.
Inner ear ( Cochlea ) then converts the pressure waves into sound signals that our brain understands.

So basically what happens is

Sound waves enters the ear canal and strikes the eardrum.

With effects of these sound waves the ear drum and the three bones know as ossicles with the middle ear vibrate.
With the effect of vibration moving in the inner ear fluid, the tiny hait cells present in the cochlea detects the movement and change them into chemical signal that can be taken by hearing nerve.
Then these hearing nerves transfer the signals to brain with electrical impulses and their these signals are interpreted as sounds.
Sharing a quick video of this for better understanding.

Now the question is what is Cochlear Implant?

Cochlear implant is an electronical medical device that replace the function of damaged iner ear cochlea and send sound signals to the brain.

How Cochlear Implants works?

Their is two parts of Cochlear Implant.

Sound processor worn outside the ear and it contains microphone, batteries and this can be attached with cloths for small babies.
Implant this is actual implant and is placed inside ear through small surgery.

Coming to how implant works..

Sound processor that is worn behind ear captures sound and turns it into digital codes.
Then the sound processor transfer the digital codes to the coil on the outside of the head to the implant.
Then the cochlear implant converts the digitally coded sounds into electrical impulses and send them along the electrode erray placed in the inner ear.
Here the implant electrodes stimulate the Cochlea hearing nerve, which send the impulses to the brain and then they are interpreted as sounds.
Here is a small video for easy understanding.

What age a child can get a Cochlear Implant?

How early you get to know about the baby hear loss ,you can cinscon your doctor and with proper test and cinfconfirmat of level of hearing loss, Cochlear implants can be done with 12 months of age.

How long is the Cochlear Implant surgery?

Surgery takes three to four hours. During the operation a small incision is made behind the ear and internal device know as receiver stimulator is places under the skin and is secured to the child’s skull.

Why one should have Cochlear Implant?

It is better then a normal hearing aid- Hearing aid amplify sounds and cochlear implant channel sound to bypass the damaged part of the cochlea and directly stimulate the auditory nerves. The implant generates signals and send to auditory nerve and then it is send to brain, where they are recognized as sounds .
Understanding of full sentences is better with cochlear implants the hearing aids.
They can hear better in table meetings, crowded places and restaurants.
Talk and hear on phones and can enjoy music.
They feel more safe with cochlear implants as now they can hear alarms, approaching vehicles and traffic.
Newborns start normal development and start connecting with their family members and other people as now they can hear them and respond back.

Points to take care

Cost- yes this is really important point as these implants are bit costly so one can choose from the different model and contact them for better price.
Taking care the device should not get hit by any hard object.
Protection from water- but now they are coming up with new device which can be worn for swimming too.
Maintenance – changing batteries and wires.
Takes times and proper training to get used to with sound through device, as sounds are translated through device first and may sound unnatural, but for newborns its good as they start hearing through this and learn this way.

Cochlear has come up with new Nucleus 7 which can be connected and control directly from your smartphones.

How Nucleus 7 is helpful for parents?

With new smart phone app now parents are able to monitor important aspects of child’s sound processor usage.
Parents can monitor the battery life of sound processor and current status of device,feeling confident about functioning of device.
Parents can now track the time in speech and coils off with the hearing tracker.
They can locate the missing processor with find my processor feature in app.
They can minimize any time child spend without sounds.

My words

I feel cochlear implant is such a nice way to bring your baby back to her normal development as without sound they are not able to connect with surroundings. Yes main concern is for surgery and costing as getting this implant is costlier and not everyone can afford. Hoping government comes up with better easy schemes that anyone can afford getting this implant. Do share your views on this.

Here are some words from happy family of Cochlear implants.

I am taking my Alexa rank to the next level with Blogchatter

Baking with Academy of Pastry Arts

It was a great pleasure meeting Chef Kimberly Rozario at Academy of Baking Arts and learning some really important tips and tricks that are must for baking a good cake. Chef Kimberly RozarioWe had nice time learning Berry Vanilla Gateaux with a special culinary class conducted by Chef for all the bloggers. This full pastry is … Continue reading “Baking with Academy of Pastry Arts”

It was a great pleasure meeting Chef Kimberly Rozario at Academy of Baking Arts and learning some really important tips and tricks that are must for baking a good cake.

Chef Kimberly RozarioWe had nice time learning Berry Vanilla Gateaux with a special culinary class conducted by Chef for all the bloggers.

This full pastry is made in 4 step. Sharing the full receipe.

☑️ Chocolate almond sponge

Ingredients – Quantity (gram)

Almond paste/marzipan – 150
Whole egg – 62.5
Egg yolk – 37.5
Egg whites – 137.5
Sugar – 50
Cake flour – 40
Callebaut cocoa powder – 20
Dark chocolate Callebaut madagaMada 67percent – 75

Procedure

Mix almond paste with paddle. Add in egg and egg yolk slowly until smooth paste.
Change to whisk attachment and whip mixture above until fluffy.
Make a medium peak meringue with egg whites and sugar.
Fold in meringue into 2nd mixture.
Fold the sifted cocoa powder and flour and then continue with melted chocolate.
Bake in 6″ ring for approximately 25 minutes at 165 degree C.

☑️Berry Jelly

Ingredients – Quantity (gram)

Ravifruit blackberry puree – 200
Ravifruit raspberry puree – 100
Ravifruit strawberry puree – 130
Sugar – 15
Cold water – 40
Gelatin – 8

Procedure

Dissolve gelatin with cold water.
Warm all purees with sugar until the sugar is just enough to dissolve.
Melt gelatin and mix with the puree mixture.
Pour into mould and freeze it.

☑️Red Glaze

Ingredients -Quantity (gram)

Water – 75
Sugar – 150
Glucose -150
Condensed milk – 100
Gelatin – 12
Milk chocolate Callebaut 823NV 33.6percent – 150
Red colorant

Procedure

Bring sugar, water and glucose to boil.
Add in bloomed gelatin and condensed milk.
Pour the mixture over the milk chocolate and add in colouring to emulsify.
Finishing- Glaze with raspberry glaze and garnish with chocolate decor and chopped raisins with gold dust.

☑️ Vanilla mouse

Ingredients – Quantity (gram)

Milk – 150
Whipping cream – 120
Vanilla pod – 1/2 stick
Egg yolk – 120
Sugar – 90
Gelatin – 8
Italian meringue – 120
Cold water – 40
Whipping cream – 135

Procedure

Dissolve gelatin with cold water.
Bring cream,milk and vanilla pod to boil.
Mix egg yolk and sugar and gradually add into hot mixture.
Continue to bain-marie until 83 degree centigrade with spatula. Add in gelatin, wait until slightly cool down ,strain and fold in Italian meringue.
Lastly fold in whipped cream.

It was a long process and we learned so many nice tips from chef as.
☑️ Importance of right heating temperature.
☑️ Moisture control while you microwave food item ( This one really good tips as I often get my food items dry while microwaving ). So you need to use cling wrap while you microwave.
☑️ To avoid air bubbles in glaze or any medium you need to use whisker at the bottom only and still if you get some bubbles you can use cling wraps to remove from top.
☑️ If you are planning for long term baking you should invest in a good quality silicone moulds that’s maintain shape in regular use and good quality food colour and cocoa powder really make a difference in the final product in terms of taste and colour.
☑️ For getting a good glaze and shine to your cake you need to keep insure the right temperature and time of glaze and cake.

Chef is full of knowledge so the full session was a good learning one and just wished I can get some basic cakes class to get more of this pro version ?.

Would like to tell you more about Academy of Pastry Arts

Academy of Pastry Arts is an esteemed group of Professional Culinary & Pastry Schools with Pan Asia presence like Malaysia, Philippines, Delhi NCR, Mumbai and Bangalore. There journey started in 2010 with the flagship school in Malaysia and now, the company is growing exponentially with plans to be in Dubai and Indonesia soon.

Their infrastructure speaks volumes with a cumulative area of about 80,000 Sq ft consisting of 46 kitchens and other facilities like amphitheatre, cafeteria etc. With such amenities, it can be safely said that they are the biggest brand in Asia.

The academy uses cutting edge technology, mixed with ingenious techniques, specifically designed to teach the art, science and techniques of creating good food and methods needed to excel in the food industry.

Their are many course available at the Academy and you can choose the one you want, few listed below –

CULINARY DIPLOMA PROGRAM

Duration: 6 Months

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Benefits of sitting on floor and eating with hand

#MyFriendAlexa Nowadayswe have culture of sitting on dining table and eating with fork and spoon, same we are following with our children. But have we ever thought why our traditional way of eating was actually sitting on floor and eating with hands! Our elders also used to sit on floor and eat with hands. So … Continue reading “Benefits of sitting on floor and eating with hand”

#MyFriendAlexa

Nowadayswe have culture of sitting on dining table and eating with fork and spoon, same we are following with our children. But have we ever thought why our traditional way of eating was actually sitting on floor and eating with hands! Our elders also used to sit on floor and eat with hands.

So today I was listening to Dr. Rhutuja and can’t agree more, every word she said was true and just want to share the same with you all.

Nowadays we have nice and costly high chairs for our kids, and from starting we let them sit on high chairs with food and most of the time they are on chairs or sofas. Slowly this becomes their habit and they will not sit down on floor. Let’s discuss how this changing lifestyle affects our kids heath in long-term.

Benefits of sitting down and eating:

1. Yoga posture (Sukhasana)

Our traditional way of sitting on floor while having food and if you have noticed while doing yoga also we sit on floor, so it’s a two-way benefits as you are doing yoga also while eating (sukhasana).

2. Easy Digestion

While sitting on floor and eating we tend to move forward and bend to eat and by this way we helps our abdomen muscles in secreting digestive juices which helps in easy digestion of food.

3. Strengthen Lumbar region

Sitting down and eating helps kids maintaining good body posture, opening their hip-joint and giving more flexibility to their pelvis and legs and strengthen their lumbar region of the body.

4. Family bonding

It’s not only kids will sit and eat, as a family you all have to sit down together and eat. This will help in some family bonding time also.

5. Improves Blood circulation

It helps in improving blood circulation by relaxing the nerves and calms your body, that helps in easy digestion too. As when you sit on chair your blood circulation is directed towards feet and while sitting in crossed legs position heart receive proper blood circulation.

6. Eating with hands

While sitting down we should also teach them eating with hands then with spoon/forks. Traditionally we eat with our all fingers as per ayurveda our five fingers are the extension of five natural elements ( will discuss it in my next blog ). While eating with five fingers it energies the food and helps to keep all pranas balanced.

7. Flexible

When your kids body is easy and flexible while sitting on floor, sitting on chair is not be hard. But if you let your kid only sit on chair every time it will be hard for them to get flexible and sit comfortably on floor.

For encouraging kids we need to step forward and set an example for them, they love to do what we do so why not share some good habits that we had from our elders.