James Ramya Rajan J

Most folks get retrospective hitting this number. I am just swamped doing the chores of #OhBoy What I am feeling though is a sense of gratefulness. For all what life has offered up to now and where it has me today.

I am grateful for things at home. Couldn’t ask for anything more.

I am grateful for things I get to do at work. I am enjoying it and hope the folks around me are too :) I am grateful for the kind folks in family and friends circles, for keeping us in their thoughts and helping us at times of need.

At this stage of life, you know nothing lasts forever. You just savor the most out of the present and hope the good things last as long as they can and the tough periods are short and leave you with learnings!

Here is to life, the great 40 years and some more to come :)

The Fat Boy, Alwarpet, Chennai

I used to be crazy about toppings (pepperoni, meatballs, sausages). Over a period of time, I’ve grown to appreciate the bread/crust of a pizza more than the toppings on it. Now all I crave is a pizza base cooked to perfection with a basic topping of tomato sauce and mozzarella.

@thefatboychennai is one place that bakes such perfects pies. Their airy dough, beautifully charred in their wood fired oven, is such a delight to have. You should check them out if you are in Chennai!

The one in the picture is their Hot Boy pizza. If you love spicy food, this is your pie. .

#Pizza #Food #DiningOut #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

These beautifully ripe and plump Rumani mangoes were plucked last week at a farm on ECR!

While last summer we had 13 varieties of mangoes, this year has been more satisfying with just 2 varieties - Imampasand and Rumani.

#Mango #Mangoes #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Picked some of these Rumani mangoes 🥭 off the trees in a farm on ECR. Sunday is progressing well! 😜

#Mangoes #Mango #Summer #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

A couple of days ago, we had been to Abid’s at Spur Tank Road, #Chennai for tasting their #Ramzan iftar menu.

Loved both their Mutton #Haleem and #Nombukanji. Their Haleem was way better than Fisherman’s Fare and Pista House and very reasonably priced too. This was our first time tasting Nombukanji and really loved the lightly flavoured rice and meat porridge.

For the main course, we ordered Pathar ke Gosht and Laham Mandi. Pathar ke Gosht was soft for the most part. But the Mandi was the star of the meal. This highly flavourful Yemeni rice dish was very mild on spice. With the red sauce that was spicy and tangy, it was just perfect. The mutton though looks tough, was falling off the bone.

We ended the meal with our favourite dessert Khubani ka Meeta served along with heavy cream. Heavenly.

At home, I found myself enjoying the lingering flavours of the food in my hands. It was a wonderful meal.

#DiningOut #Food #Chennai #Ramadan #Iftar #Mutton #LahamMandi

#WallArt

Kappa Chakka Kandhari, Haddows Road, Chennai

Today’s breakfast was this set 7 course breakfast at @kckfoods.

At ₹275, where you can go on stuffing as much as you can, this is total value for money. The dishes were,

1. White Bread with Mutton Stew

2. Idiyappam with Chicken Curry

3. Ramassery Idli with Sambhar and Podi

4. Appam and Egg roast

5. Puttu and Kadala Curry

6. Vattappam and Duck Mappas

7. Kappa and Fish Curry

And we wrapped it all with a nice hot Sulemani Chai

#EatingOut #Chennai #Mutton #Chicken #Appam #Idiyappam #Puttu #Kappa

New Pattukottai Kamatchi Mess, T Nagar, Chennai 📍

This was how the epic lunch at the New Pattukottai Kamatchi Mess started.

While this might not look much, their approach of making every gravy/kozhambu on the menu available along with unlimited rice is easy to make anyone a glutton.

Loved everything that was served—Mutton Sukka, Prawn Masala, Viral Meen fry, Chicken Theregal, Crab Masala, Chicken gravies, Crab Curry, Mutton Kozhambu, Fish Curry etc. Among all of those, Brain Fry and Karuvadu Sambal were pretty epic.

Just one advice. Don’t go there if you have to work post lunch.

#Food #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

First Himam Pasand of the season!

#SummerLove #Yellove #Mango #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

The joy of seeing rows of neatly arranged books!

#Chennai #ChennaiDiaries #Library #Books #PublicLibrary

We have some news to share… 😇

#ChennaiDiaries

Weekend mode!

#Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

And the franchise was exercised!

#Chennai #Elections2019

Say hello to the Blue!

#NewGadget #iPhoneXR #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

Ugadi Food ➡️ Over eating 🔜 Food Coma .

#Food #Festivals #Ugadi #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

The mind knows the season is not there yet, but the heart cannot go past seeing them!

#Mango #SummerIsComing #Chennai #ChennaiDiaries

A basic meal of few parotta variations from Nellai Vairamaligai and Chocolate Sorbet from @amadoragourmeticecream was our dinner last night. Both were 🔥!!

#Food #NellaiVairamaligai #Chocolate #Sorbet #ChennaiDiaries

Days that begin with such perfect #egg dosais are loving in every way. Hope you all having a very lovely day as well!

#Food #Breakfast #ChennaiDiaries .

PS: Also good for #flc2019

It has been a week, that we had these beautiful and soft croissants 🥐 for breakfast. Still remains one of the best croissant I’ve had in India!

#auroville #food #Pondicherry #travel #latergram

On the way back from Pondicherry last weekend, we stopped by at Moonrakers for some of their seafood dishes. Loved their tawa squid the most, followed by their prawns and crabs.

#food #seafood #diningout #chennai #mahabalipuram

Sunrise scenes from the Pondicherry team outing last weekend.

#travel #sunrise #pondicherry

#Pizza night with the @nfnlabs team at Puducherry!

#TeamOuting #Travel #Food

Sunset at #Pondicherry.

#Travel #Seashore

And this is the latest gadget purchase from the Amazon sale going on! @UltimateEars Wonderboom. Cute little one that packs a punch.

Dinner scene today—Salna Mixing Parotta !! 🙌 And price for this 3 parotta piece is ₹45 😱

#DiningOut #Food #Chennai