Memories, Anniversary and Spice World

How often does this happen to you? You are doing something else like ironing or driving along a country lane etc. and lots of ideas come in your head about the things you would like to mention in your blog??  This happens to me all the time!!

Well this morning I was going down the memory lane, on my drive to work and I remembered this day 37 years ago when I got married, on a shoestring budget, in a Registry Office with a few close friends. We didn’t have much money but we were young, happy and ambitious. I wasn’t good at housework or cooking but that didn’t seem to matter at the time. Life was good and slower than what it is today.

Lots has happened since that day but I still remember that day as if it was yesterday. Life has changed so drastically and quickly since that day. In terms of everyday life and technology, we now have more and more gadgets to make life interesting. Things get invented all the time and everyone wants to acquire the latest technology. I’ve seen telephones going through a transformation from landlines to mobiles to Skype, facetime etc…There was a time when most people didn’t have a phone and you had to rely on a good friend or neighbour to allow you to make or receive calls. You had to book with the Telephone Exchange to make International calls. When using phone boxes you had to make sure you had enough change and today you can talk to anyone anywhere in a world at any time at a fraction of the cost. Does anyone remember sending a telegram and later telexes and then sending messages using the fax machine? Now we hate it when the internet is slow or down or our latest model mobile phones don’t manage to get a signal!! How did we manage without  Google, You Tube, Face book and Twitter!! Nowadays children play all their  Games electronically and you hardly see any children playing outside. ( Hands up all those you remember playing cricket, Nagel and gilli danda outside? or Kho kho, hop scotch or skipping? ) Now all our books are on Kindle or similar devices. Our cameras have gone digital and we can email pictures, videos and music to anyone and anywhere in the World within seconds. Our phones are mini computers. I won’t even try to talk about the Cable TVs etc. which seems to keep everyone hooked. How did we manage without blogging about all the topics under the sun?  I for one never imagined I would make so many friends around the World and Blog about food!

Our eating habits have changed too!! We tend to rely so much on ready foods and we don’t spend much time in the kitchen!! I remember foods like bread, biscuits, sweets and chocolates were treats for me when I was growing up. Every day food was simple and seasonal. Now you can get pretty much everything all the year round. I am trying very hard to keep to the authentic traditional cooking as much as I can simply because I know that Retro recipes like mine are going to become very popular soon. People are beginning to realise that ready foods and takeaways are a nice treat occasionally but they need to eat freshly cooked food every day if they want to enjoy a long and healthy life.

I think that’s enough of my nostalgia and I should tell you about my Anniversary dinner at a local Indian restaurant called Spice World.  Several taxi drivers had recommended this restaurant to me but yesterday was the first time I ate there and I must say that overall it was an enjoyable experience.

The restaurant location is on a main road so easy to find but you would need to drive to it or take a taxi.  It has plenty of parking.  The restaurant was laid out nicely with lots of space between tables.   We were a bit disappointed that their chairs weren't a bit higher or with arms to enable a disabled person to get up safely.  

The restaurant makes 70 different vegetarian and non vegetarian dishes and you can eat as much as you like for a fixed price.  The food looked fresh, hot and very appealing. The restaurant didn't serve alcohol but you could take your own alcoholic drinks which they would serve you at no extra cost.

Here are some of the starters:

Here are some of the main course curries:

We tried out the varieties of pakoras.

We also tried out at least 8 of the vegetarian curries.  The Okra curry was my favourite.

They had 4 different varieties of rice and a similar variety of naan breads. They also had a salad bar which also had pickles, chutneys and some fruit.

All the food was piping hot and we really enjoyed the meal.  The staff were very friendly and helpful.

Their sweet option was fruit or a variety of ice cream. I would have loved an Indian sweet dish such as Ras malai or Gulab jaman.

I would have preferred my food to be spicier but I am sure they kept it mild to please the majority of their customers.

It's not one of those places I would say you must visit when in the area but certainly worth a visit if you are looking for a reasonably priced restaurant with a variety of dishes.  I will certainly be eating there again. Not just for the food but also for the view:

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