Tag: pizza

For the love of Pizza

December 1, 2025 / / 0 Comments

My earliest memories of pizza are from my childhood, when my friends and I would haunt our favourite Global Bakery, order a small pizza, eat a slice each and go to our evening tutions.

When one of our friends had their birthday, we would celebrate with a pizza along with 200 ml each of Coca Cola or our desi favourite, Thumbs Up. Those were the best days, of no worries and screen-free childhood!

The nearby, Country Oven was somehow unsuccessful. Everyone preferred the Global Bakery.

Anyway, schooling was the time my love for pizza started.

Once I progressed to college, getting pizza delivered became a routine. Mid Land Bakery got most of our business. These orders grew manifold, once I began earning.

I miss those days when the Technical Division team girls had a fun lunch at the Pizza Hut and ate to our hearts content.

After marriage, when Mr.Bee and I, made Charlotte our new home, pizza had been the go-to lunch or dinner, during our lazy days.

Even though I have been in love with the Pizza, this post is not about me!

I remember my first ever pizza in Charlotte, which had nothing but mushrooms as the topping. (I hated the Mellow Mushrooms pizza, by the way. I am not a fan of mushrooms, even though they are one of the rare sources of protein for vegetarians.)

Then came the particularly soft Papa John’s pizza, who knew my heart and always sent extra pickles for this desi girl, Queen Bee! I could savour their soft pizza, thanks only to their pickles.

Then there was Vapiano Pizza, which had the best ambience and was the true Italian pizza, but I felt no connection! (Sadly, it was shut down during Covid lockdown and now the new pizzeria in it’s place is, the Bella Ciao)

The Pizza Hut pizza was good too, but could hardly conquer my taste buds.

The Fuel Pizzeria’s Garden Fresh Pizza with my all time favourite topping of Basil had me salivating like never before. Mr.Bee loved to have a Margarita Cheese Pizza. At Fuel, we ordered half and half, one half with my choice of toppings and the other half with three kinds of cheese for Mr.Bee. Sweet deal! The added advantage was of the ambience, which was friendly, but not too friendly.

Incidentally, the FUEL pizzeria was close to Mr.Bee’s office and that added to the charm. I also loved their Garlic Knots, which were my “soul” food, they made my soul happy!

The day we landed in Charlotte, we had pizza from Mellow Mushrooms, Mr.Bee got negative marks for this choice of pizza!  He didn’t know about my aversion to mushrooms. To compensate, he took me to the Fuel pizzeria for dinner and that saved his neck!

Team lunches and dinners for Mr.Bee always meant Pizza, he must have eaten more than twice of my share of pizzas, but still, this post is not about him either!

During the lockdown, the one person who missed pizza was none other than GBee. Yes, this post is about my elder munchkin and his love for the Pizza.

Thanks to lockdown and the after effects of it, we stopped eating out for a while. To satiate our demanding taste buds, we even made a pizza at home, with the head chef/ baker being Mr.Bee and the sous chef / baker being me!

Once GBee saw that we were making him a pizza, he was excited and I don’t remember how we made him sit for full 45 minutes, till it was done.

He was so excited, he rushed outside to the main gate, as soon as he heard the gate open. He shouted at the top of his voice about pizza being made at home. Sadly, the visitors were confused and were in too deep a conversation to even respond to the kiddo.

GBee sharing his happiness with random strangers!

Since we didn’t have an oven good enough to bake a sinful pizza, we made it with desi jugaad. That weekend had been memorable.

Before and After – Homemade pizza

Credit goes to Mr.Bee for the tasty pizza. Guess who loved it the most?  GBee.

Although, he picked out every piece of vegetables on the pizza and piled it onto my plate, he still loved it! If only he ate it with all the vegetables, he would have been a bigger pizza fan!

Some day I would love to go to Italy and try the pizza there, probably made by a nonna . Does anyone have similar dream?

P.S :

1. Down the line, when we wanted to feed GBee to some sandwiches, we would bluff that they were just mini-pizza and he would believe us and eat them. Now, he is old enough to recognize the bluffs.

2. KBee, surprisingly doesn’t like pizza. We always order garlic bread for him to eat. Our choice of pizzeria in Hyderabad is the Pompeii. (The pizza is to die for!)

3. Before our flight to India, when we were finally returning home, Mr.Bee and I ate at the Fuel Pizza, one last time.

Kochi to Palani

May 4, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Mr.Bee and I were celebrating 10 years of married life this April and we craved for a vacation.  We had many destinations in our list from heavyweight like Paris to desi islands of Andaman and Nicobar, but chose Kerala because our youngest just turned four and we wanted him to have a safe travel experience along with food for his extremely selective palate. Kerala it is!

Mr.Bee booked our flight tickets to Kochi for the last week of April. Driving a car in Kerala would have been a cheaper, better and scenic option but GBee is not a patient traveller.  He warned us early on that he hated travelling more than 2 hours in a car! He likes to reach destinations sooner and get into holiday mood, faster! (After our Maharastra tour fiasco, we were apprehensive about travelling in a car)

As our flights were booked and hotels reserved, Mr.Bee and I planned our travel itinerary, we had a rough idea of what we wanted to see and what not to miss at any costs.

DAY 1:

On the morning of Good Friday,  we boarded our flight to Kochi after filling up on the airport Pizza from Jamie Oliver’s Pizzeria, which was superlative, to say the least. We originally planned on checking-in to the executive lounge, but the serpentine line outside it scared us. We bought some snacks too at the Dadu’s counter as a last minute snack option for later in the evening at Kochi.

We said our hellos to the airhostesses and sat in our seats, me on the aisle seat with KBee occupying the window seat and GBee in the middle. Mr.Bee had the aisle seat across us.

I felt very cold in the flight and covered myself up with my scarf, while the kids were happily enjoying the view out of the windows.

Out of India or Outer Space!

For a moment our kids thought we were going out of India. I said no, then they decided we were just travelling to outer space for our vacation! Seriously though, vacation in outer space, who are we, Sunitha Williams and family?

As we were near our destination we had a little bit of turbulence and GBee decided we are going to crash! He was not scared, just excited that we are crashing, whatever that means! Thanks to the turbulence I changed the seats and let Mr.Bee sit with the kids and I had a quick nap.

Meanwhile Mr.Bee ordered Maggi noodles for the kids who were suddenly hungry and once their stomachs filled up, they became more excited, if that was possible! (noodles were too spicy for them, but have you ever heard of kids rejecting junk food?)

We landed at Kochi and KBee was worried that our 2 suitcases were not to be seen and that we only had one hand luggage! At the baggage claim, he found it interesting to get our luggage back on the conveyor belt.

After calling our cab driver, whom we booked for a week, we exited Kochi and were on the way to Palani, going from Kerala to Tamil Nadu.

Mr.Bee and the driver N were the only ones awake. I had a quick nap and the kids slept soundly in the back seat of the white Ertigo. Both had their heads in my lap and I was fresh as a daisy after my nap. Since it was Good Friday, the roads in Kerala were filled up with more than 500 Christians on road. While a few were enacting Jesus’s crucification others were singing songs and praying as they continued their procession, without any traffic interruptions.

We stopped at a snack point, where we had hot chai, which was mediocre and had some freshly made bajji. The mirch bajji was sweet and the plantain bajji was oily but eatable. Since both the kiddos had their heads on my lap, only Mr.Bee could get out of the car. I also asked him to buy us some banana chips and jack fruit chips, which turned out to be the best decision that day.

Jack fruits for sale at ‘Mollywood’ – the snack stop on highway

Our driver drove smoothly and even at high speed the car felt like it was fully under his control. We travelled in small village roads, short cut to Palani, that’s what N said as he took the route. The beautiful Kerala, the clean roads and the village atmosphere caught us off guard and Mr.Bee and I continued praising Kerala and it’s beauty. We already fell in love with Kerala 2 years ago, when we travelled to Wayanad.

After almost 4 hours of our drive, I decided to wake the kids up or they wouldn’t sleep at night! GBee was already complaining as soon as he woke up that we were still in the car and it was dark outside. I fed the kiddos the fresh chips and that shut them up. They began to enjoy the drive even though it was dark outside.

As soon as we entered Tamil Nadu, we found many windmills and counted them. That was the most fun we had that night. Soon, near Pollachi – Palani road, we saw thunder, lightning and rain. Inspite of all that, we kept counting windmills and at one point KBee shouted “I found a wind bill!” and all of us laughed.  Then little-little kiddo KBee reprimanded us for laughing at his mistake and shut us all up, effectively!

Just 3.9Km away from our destination Palani, we waited near the railway crossing for the train to pass. As I was looking around, to remember the moment as much as I can, I saw a huge ant hill, enough to hold a family of snakes!

We reached the temple town of Palani at 9:40 p.m, had difficulty finding our hotel Subham. After a good 15 min of confusion,  we finally reached the hotel. Kids had plain dosa and I had podi dosa for dinner and managed to drag our feet into bed.

Our day1 of vacation 2025, had come to an end!

P.S:

1. As soon as we reached Shamshabad Airport,  Hyderabad,  I saw PVP, son of late PM of India, who was travelling with his family.

Even GBee met one of his friends from school at the airport.  The said friend was flying to bangalore,  while we had earlier flight to Kochi.

2. As the car reached Pollachi – Palani road, GBee observed that the car was just gliding on the road, thanks to the rain. He said there was no need to drive the vehicle in rain! These little conversations bring me immense satisfaction and I try to understand a little about their psychology.

3. In Kerala, I found that people placed 1 foot high brass lights in the middle of the main doorway, probably to scare away any wild animals or reptiles, which are very common in villages.

Lights in Kerala village homes

4. The kids loved windmills and we enjoyed the drive from Kochi to Palani and the kids didn’t even ask me, “Are we there yet?”

 

Home Alone – The Queen Bee version

April 5, 2025 / / 0 Comments

Long ago when I was busy with my job, designing super passages and under tunnels, leading a carefree life, my family had to travel. I excused myself from the trip and stayed back alone at home. I didn’t want to miss out on the fun at my office.

Being in ‘the’ design team in our office was a heaven. It was like being in a girls gang. 6 of us, under the guidance of the most cool headed team leader, our AGM. Those were the days. Since we had the most technical knowledge, due to our area of work, there was always someone who needed our help! We were always busy and had most fun during breaks, being in the same age bracket also helped! We even celebrated each others birthdays with much fan fare, cake cuttings and gift givings. It was the golden period in the technical division.

It is rare to find such camaraderie in civil engineering companies, because, we either have above 65 year old consulting employes or 20 something employees, fresh out of engineering colleges. That is because civil engineering needs experienced people to guide the young blood and thanks to software boom, most people avoid civil, it being a job which also includes site visits. (Personally,  I love visiting the construction sites and looking at our designs in their magnitude.)

Anyway, it all comes down to me staying alone at home for 2 days and 2 nights! Thankfully, I spent the days in office, doing the work I love in the company of the team that I admired, so that’s that. But once I returned home, I was all alone, like Kevin McCallister, except there was no imminent danger of rogues and thieves entering the flat, then!

While I planned on watching my favourite TV shows and  eating my dinner in a jiffy, the tough part was sleeping alone in the flat!

As soon as Mrs.G saw that I had parked my Mahindra Flyte in the cellar, she gave me probably 5 minutes to fresh up and knocked my door.

She meant well….

Mrs.G asked me if I wanted to eat something. She even asked me what I had in mind. I gave her a vague answer, as I really had no idea what I wanted to make for dinner. I didn’t intend to inconvenience her.

I wanted to eat samosa cutlet chaat, pani puri and even a pizza. But I refrained from telling her all that. I don’t remember what I cooked for myself,  but Mrs.G returned to give me a bowl of freshly made potato fry and won my heart and stomach too!

That hit the spot. I slept well, thanks to a full stomach.

Even the clothes hanging from the peg, which made a ghostly shape didn’t scare me, one bit!

Even the rhythmic sound of anklets and whispers around me, could hardly stop my droopy eyes from closing!

“Good night, to you too” , I whispered in response!

P.S:

1. Who doesn’t like a bowl of potato fry!

2. Although I don’t celebrate Christmas,  December 25th is not complete without watching the handsome and naughty Kevin McCallister being left home, alone! White Christmas is a dream…

3. Chandler Bing is one of my favourite characters,  which inspired the dialogue in my third cartoon.

Till the next post, cheerio!

Zumba Rumba!

April 30, 2023 / / 0 Comments

We are now on the last hobby post and why not dance with joy at the prospect of completing a challenge, the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2023!

Let’s start some music and enjoy dancing Zumba!

So, for Z it is Zumba Dancing!

Compared to all the other hobbies in the hobby posts, Zumba dancing is the youngest! Zumba was invented in 1990s, by a Columbian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez. It is a fitness program developed using cardio exercises and Latin based dance moves.

Did you know that Zumba dancing is trade marked by a gym?

Well, Zumba is popular around the world, thanks to it being a full body aerobic and cardio workout. It combines the dance styles of  salsa, flamenco, chachacha, hip hop music and tango.

A Zumba dancer can burn 300 to 900 calories, which is a good number, considering we take in more than 2200 calories with just a single 14 inch pizza! Although it is advisable to eat only 2 slices of pizza in one sitting!

Thanks to the popularity of Zumba, we can enjoy the workout from the safety of our own homes through Youtube videos or can even subscribe to the Zumba DVDs, if you are up to it.

It is a good thing to take up Zumba, because, not only will it be a good hobby with the added advantage of fitness, but also reduces the chances of heart diseases.

Incidentally, Zumba is also banned in Iran and Israel! If you stay out of both Iran and Israel, why not go ahead and learn Zumba dancing? You will be both fit and happy! Give it a go, chalo Zumba!

P.S:

  1. The other hobbies starting with Z are Zip Lining, Zulu Dancing and Zoology. (We already saw two hobbies related to Zoology, entomology and ornithology. So I have refrained from Zoology in this post).
  2. Zombie Hunting comes under hobby with a Z, if it really was a thing!!
  3. Rumba roughly translates to Party!
  4. So, today on April 30th, we have come to an end of the Blogging Challenge. I will be back within the week with my regular posts. Do watch out.

Till the next post, adios amigos!

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