Sale Time!

There are two season in the city when almost everything in the shops are on sale and that really is the best time to go shopping especially on big ticketed items like furniture and electronics.

Lasting for about 4-6 weeks each time, one sale period starts from after Christmas and the other from mid Aug thereabouts.

When we first arrived, we cashed in on the Aug sale to buy our furniture and electrical appliances. Think we saved quite a bit of money thanks to the sale.

Some of the sale promotions really made us do a double take. One smaller shop was advertising "Buy 3 get 2 free" but we knew that it was going to be near impossible to get 5 items from there.

Walk into the bigger departmental stores, and your ears will be greeted with sale slogans that are aired in replay mode and there is something with how they say the phrase "absolutely free". Unforgettable.

"Spend Rs5000 and get xxx absolutely free". "Buy xxx now and get xxx absolutely free". 

Well, last week was the last weekend of the sale and this was what I picked up from Accessorize at 70% discount. So pretty!

A purse that looks like an postcard/ envelope

Notelets with pretty prints

My 2010 Christmas wish list

As Christmas is nearing and of course my birthday after, this list will save you the trouble of what to buy for me. :)

Ok, I am kidding because this list is for the hubby! Can someone tell him to read this please?

It has been awhile since I have been left to the feeling of longing and wanting as instant gratification has been my mantra for quite awhile now. If I had managed to escape the temptation of instant gratification, I must than thank my short attention span.

My Christmas wish list for 2010 till date:
1. Sushi Tei with sashimi salad, sushi roll, beef suyiyaki
2. Adidas-Sennheiser earphones
3. Satay (thanks to MasterChef Australia that ignited this craving)
4. Set of measuring cup and weighing scale
5. New clothes
6. Christmas dinner at Aly's
7. Tod's Ivy Sacca Media Shoulder Bag
8. Basilico Sunday Brunch

Hm, after making the list, the items seem to neatly fall into two categories: shopping and food. Not too surprising I must say.

Made in India

Take a closer look at things that we usually buy and chances are that it will be a "Made in China" tag.
Not surprising since everyone know that in a populous country, production costs can be kept very competitive.

Right here in Hyderabad, most things that we see are "Made in India". Refreshing change, I thought. I mean after all the news about China using inferior or unacceptable materials for toys or even milk, how worse can it get right?

When shopping here, most of the tags shows that the clothes are manufactured here. When a country is big, I can see how important it is to support your own domestic market. It creates jobs and when things are produced here, of course it is cheaper as compared to goods that have travelled on a plane/ ship.

I have not mentioned it before but if you shop here, you will see quite a few major brand's boutique. Nike, Adidas, Lacoste, Esprit, Mango, Aldo, Pepe Jeans, Tommy Hilfiger, etc. I was thrilled! There is actually shopping to be done!

Well, true and not true. I can go shopping for an entire day and not buy anything. Some of the things are cheaper than back in Singapore but the quality and design is totally different. Nike shoes were heavier and most designs totally not cool. Casual bags were of cheap material and even though I really need a bag (mine is peeling after arriving here), I could not bring myself to buy one.

Brands like Mango and Aldo has got a good mix of local and important products but the imported ones are so expensive! I reluctantly stepped into Charles and Keith to look at the bags after much persuasion from the hubby (I mean, to buy Charles and Keith outside Singapore?!?!) and found that the bags are more than SGD100!

Closer on the home front, my kettle just malfunctioned on me today. The hubby had mentioned that his morning drink tasted different and I told him that we had changed from choc Horlicks to the Cadbury brand. Since it is not nice, let's not buy it again.

Later in the morning, as I was having my breakfast, I did my morning routine of drinking warm water first and nearly choked. The water had the taste of something burnt. I smelt it and confirmed the same. I went to the electric kettle and that same burnt plastic smell was overwhelming. So, it wasn't the Cadbury.


Hubby had gone to buy a new one in the afternoon and we agreed no "Made in India" kettles. The price difference was great but what to do? When I bought my pots and pans, I had insisted on getting imported ones just in case if the coating of the pans was not of accepted standards. After searching high and low, we finally found Teflon (Made in France) and bought it.

We bought honey on one of our supermarket trips for me to make honey drink or to cook with but never got the chance to use it. A few days after as I was reading the papers, it was reported that most honey made in India had a higher level of antibiotics than normal and was not allowed for import into certain countries. They did not mention anything at all about what should local consumers do (how about a product recall and get a refund?) but I reckon that the same product in the domestic market is usually the same quality or worse.

Let me show you what happened to one of my plates one fine day after microwaving food on it.

Best! I first saw sauce leaking and I thought that the clingwrap was lousy. But when I started to take the plate, I was shocked to see that the veg remained in the microwave and I had a ring plate in my hands! But well, I honestly am not that surprised and thought it was quite funny even. And yes, these plates are sold as microwave safe.

I am sure that this will not be the end of my "Made In India" story. Ask me the next time you see me and see what else. 

Eating out: Hard Rock Cafe @ Banjara Hills

Never did I think one day that I would be in possession of this. When I started my collection, this cafe was not even in existence!

 I don't remember exactly when but somewhere during my flying days, I started collecting Hard Rock Cafe (HRC) shotglasses. Not sure how many I have altogether now but there should be about 30-40 of them. For my collection of HRC shotglasses, I make it a point to buy them only if I have been to those places. That's why I will always tell friends not to buy me HRC shotglasses when they travel because they have been there, not me! 

When I was moving to the hubby's place, I had to pack them all into a box and while packing, many memories came back to me. When I look at each location, it reminds me of the city and sometimes, finding HRC in a foreign city is not easy at all!

In Seoul, I was alone and had walked for almost 1.5 hours before I found Hard Rock. I had a good time walking in the city but I had almost gave up. I still remember what the restaurant looks like in my mind. On a hot afternoon in Sydney, this kind stewardess had offered to go with me in a cab to HRC. At Niagara Falls, we took our passports along so that we can walk through immigration to the Canada side, Ontario to buy a different one. And my Boston's shotglass is still with Keith!

Some of the HRC shotglasses that I have are collector's items because they have shut operations in the city. And it goes on and on and on...

Last Saturday, I was brooding at home with no appetite as I felt the onset of a flu. When the hubby asked where we should go for dinner, my moody reply was I don't want dinner. It was already coming to 9pm and thought we would phone for food delivery eventually. That was until I watched Man vs Food on cable television. The host was in one of the American states trying to conquer some eating challenge and when I saw the humongous steak sandwich, my stomach gave a weak growl. I want my steak too! The power of television...

Beef is not a staple in most restaurants, so besides a hotel, it would be HRC that is closest to us. The menu is largely the same as the other outlets but of course, they had plenty of Indian vegetarian options too.

I didn't have to think because all I wanted was the 8oz steak. Hubby had the burger as usual. I must have been hungry because I found the 8oz steak not enough! A 10oz would have been perfect.

We only found out that the fryer was not working when the food was served and the onion rings were replaced by nachos instead. Was a tad disappointed because what is a burger without fries or onion rings with ketchup? I was so looking forward to snitching the onion rings from the hubby.

Anyway, the place was buzzing with really loud music (FYI: not Indie music) and cricket was being screened. Conversation was difficult with the loud music but it is interesting to people watch instead. HRC Hyderabad opened late last year. Though it is not as crowded as the HRC back home, it is one of the happening place to be with a young crowd and small number of expats. However, it is a different story on Thurs nights when the local crowd throng this place to listen to performing bands. The last time we went on a Thurs, we couldn't even get near the door.


As we left, the music was still buzzing in our ears. So, even though I have bought my shotglass, this will not be a one time visit. I will be definitely still be back to get my steak fix from time to time. Just hope that the fryer is working!

Update: For the third time that we were there, there was still no onion rings available. Makes me think that maybe they do not serve it at all!

Moving House!

We are finally moving into our permanent place today! Our agent - Vinay had found the place for us about a week ago but was not able to move in as the tenants were only moving out on the 15th.

During the last few days, the hubby and myself had been going on shopping sprees. It is not the usual shopping spree that I would usually do but its great fun! Items that we have been buying are household items like pots, pans, pails, crockery, etc. I know it sure doesn't sound like anything close to glamourous but its fun doing it together. Its like playing house - setting up your own place and buying what you want in the house. We now have many big bags of shopping sitting in the room waiting to be moved on top of our luggage from Singapore. Can we make it in one trip? Hm... we will find out later.


Today will be a long day moving things, then cleaning up the new place. The cable tv guy from Tata Sky and delivery of other items like washing machine will come in tomorrow. Hopefully the broadband guy from Reliance will also call us back today so that we can arrange for internet access at the new place soon.


One interesting thing to note about services here. The business is not set up for customers to do a walk in to their shops or to call the company's hotline. What most consumers do here is to leave their names and contact number on their website and wait for them to call you back. When they call back, they will send guys down to your house in the next one to two days to do the necessary. Even travellers cheques can be exchanged this way where the company staff will come to your house with the cash and required documentation! Guess the million dollar question here is: When do those people call you back? So far, as we are setting up new accounts, they have been quite prompt and will call back within 24 hours. But in forums when there are issues with the products and services, the companies almost seem to like never return calls.


Alright, guess we will not be having internet access for the next few days as we are getting the new place set up. Will update everyone again once we get settled in and hopefully post some pictures too. Wish us luck!