Bring out the Disney Princess in You ~ A Play Date With Dove

On the 8th of May I received a call from Vineet from Team Indiblogger asking me if I would be game to be a part of the #DovePlay event on the 11th. I explained that I stay hundreds of miles away from Mumbai where the event was supposed to be held. To my utter surprise I was informed that Dove and Team Indiblogger were pairing up to fly in some lucky bloggers from all around the country to Mumbai, just for the event!! My excitement knew no bounds and I answered with an affirmative.

Not to mention, I was super excited to go to Mumbai not just to attend my first Indiblogger event but also to meet my blogger friends whom I had interacted with only virtually till then. Bloggers from Kolkata, Delhi, Indore, Ahmadabad and Bangalore were flown in to Mumbai early on the 11th. I knew we had rooms booked for our stay at The Mirador hotel. What I did not know was the royal treatment we were about to receive from the moment we landed in the city of Bollywood. Everyone of us had a car waiting to escort us from the airport to the hotel where all us bloggers hugged and introduced ourselves before we were taken to J.W. Marriot, Juhu where the actual event was taking place.

Images- Indiblogger

We arrived a little late (thanks to the Mumbai traffic) and registered ourselves and received our name badges, baggage tags, team tags and route maps and activity detail sheets. It was really nice to see how thoughtful the organizers were who took care of our heavy bags while we had fun chatting, sipping wine and running around. We them moved over to the counters with quirky accessories for us to pick up. Now, what do a bunch of women do when they find such amazing props and a swarm of photographers? Yes, you guessed that right- they pose away to glory.

The banquet hall was decorated with beautiful lamps and the place sure looked like a fairyland with everybody dressed in white. We were taking our seats with our cups of coffee and glasses of wine when I spotted Vinita, Janaki and Anuradha. I knew them and Pankti from Indiblogeshwaris but it was lovely to meet them in person!! I also met Nivedita, Soumya and Pooja whose blogs I had been reading for a long time. They turned out to be awesome-r in person :)


After the photo sessions, we all settled down as our host of the day, the extremely pretty and talented Freishia Bomanbehram from NDTV Good Times' Hangout Amreeka took over the stage.

Selfie Time- Freishia, Me and Pallavi. Picture Courtesy- Pallavi

 We were asked to split up and divide ourselves according to our groups. The attendees were all equally divided into 12 groups of ten members each. I belonged to Team 2 and my team mates were Vinita, Shayoni, Pallavi, Suman, Sam, Michelle, Tanyaa and Tanya's mom, Bienu (we had a member less). We were quickly asked to name our teams on a hairstyle and we named ours "French Braids".

Team French Braids- Vinita, Me, Sam, Pallavi (in front), Shayoni, Suman (at the back) and Tanyaa
Picture Courtesy- Pallavi

Next up was a quick introduction session where we got to know our team mates a little better. We were asked to give our partners a compliment. The extremely sweet Suman wrote "Beautiful eyes- Mrignayanee" on my badge :D

Pictures- Indiblogger and mine

The next part was my favourite bit from the evening. We had two zumba instructors up on the stage to get us warmed up for the next few hours of exhilarating fun that we were about to experience. I for one have two left feet and can't dance at all. The only dance I can do is the chicken dance and twerking and that is exactly what we did.  I can't explain how amazing those 20 minutes were. The catchy beats got everybody on their feet, even the initially reluctant ones. Imagine a hall full of women all dressed up dancing and twerking to the tunes of Gangnam Style!!

We had hardly seated ourselves after a crazy session of dance-however-you-want when Freishia came up again on the stage to explain to us the next few activities that were lined up for us and for which we had to complete and play with our teams. Three teams were asked to compete with each other at a time at one activity.

Images- Indiblogger

The first activity was Hips Don't Lie. All the team members were given a huge Hoola Hoop each and were asked to balance it. The person who can keep it looping the longest wins. Tanyaa from our team was a pro and thanks to her, we were the champions in this activity!!

Images- Indiblogger and Dove

Next in line was Have a Ball. Three team members were asked to step into a ball pit containing multi-color balls and sort out only the White Dove Marked balls and throw them at two other team mates who were ready to catch them in baskets they were provided. Our team proved to be a really competitive one as we threw balls as fast as we could and the others at the catching end caught them equally fast. Special mention to Vinita who didn't miss a single catch and was pivotal behind our massive score of 300+ balls in this activity. As you might have already guess, we won this activity as well !!

After finishing each activity, a few bloggers were selected for a fun interview where they were asked about the activities and the memories they triggered. I for one felt like a celebrity giving one interview after another (I gave 5 in total!! :P ) describing my childhood and the merry time I was having at the event.

Images- Indiblogger and mine

The third event we had to complete was what all of us loved the most - Dress Your Tresses!! Team members were grouped into sets of two and were given different hairstyles that they were to make on each other. Michelle was amazing at this as she did my twisted bun in less than 2 minutes. I made the twisted side pony on her which was more messy than neat (*sigh*). Again, for the third time, our team won this one!!

Images- Indiblogger and mine

The fourth activity was Jigsaw Puzzle. Each team was given a handout of a life size Dove puzzle that we had to assemble together. Each team was provided with 1000 points. The faster one completed, the lesser points lost. Guess who won this one? Yes, we did, once again!! :D :D

Images- Indiblogger and mine

After dancing and screaming with joy over winning all the four activities,we gathered up at the photo booth to click pictures with our newly made girlfriends and were then taken to the Dove Salon where haircare and salon experts from Dove were ready to give us our hair transformation we so badly needed. I reached a little late and had to do with a quick updo which I forgot to click pictures of :(

Pranav Thakkar

We then moved over to the pool side area where we had a mix-o-logy match off between the representatives from each team. Each of these members had a open bar in front of us and they had to make an innovative drink of their choice. Pranav Thakkar, an expert mixologist helped us with some insights about making the perfect drink.

We then proceeded over to the dining area as it was already 9p.m. And what spread we had there. The happy foodie in my was delighted to find my choicest favourites up on the tables. I filled up my plate with all that I liked and sat down with Suman and Pallavi, eating and chatting merrily. The dessert platter had a few Indian delicacies like gulab jamun and rasmalai and an overdose of chocolate yummies- heaven for a chocoholic like me. I had a major chocolate overdose on the scrumplicious mud pie :D Oh, did I mention there was an open bar? :P Yes, we could go up and order whatever we wanted and as many we wanted :D I was so busy eating and gulping wine that I forgot to click any food pictures :(

 It was 9:45 p.m. before any of us realized. The main results were to be announced and no surprise, Team French Braids was the clear winner. All of us members received a spa voucher worth Rs. 5000 from Dove to pamper ourselves even more. By  10 p.m. all our drop cars had arrived. Team Indiblogger had very thoughtfully arranged for drop down facilities for every one of us to ensure we reached our homes and hotels safely. We said goodbyes with heavy hearts, hugs and huge beaming smiles on our faces.

 

Images- Indiblogger and Pallavi

To say I had an amazing time that evening would be a complete understatement. I knew I was going to meet some of my favorite people but what I hadn't expected was I was going to have the time of my life. I cannot thank Team Indiblogger and Team Dove enough for the entire experience. Thank you so very much for taking me back to my childhood, making me do things I would have never thought of doing as a grown up, for all the new friends I made and for taking such great care of us the entire time.

Team Indiblogger

I'm back home in Kolkata but with a bag full of wonderful memories and goodies that Team Dove gave us. Each one of us who attended the meet came home with a really heavy goodie bag consisting of a Philips Hair Straightener/Panasonic Blow Dryer, a very pretty dove shaped hair pin and Dove's Intense Repair hair therapy shampoo and conditioner combo. We also received our Indiblogger t-shirts with "I blog therefore You are" etched at the back.

I've always been a huge fan of Dove's hair care products (especially their Nutritive Solutions range) and they have always worked for my hair. I haven't as yet tried this new one from the Damage Solutions range but I'm quite sure the products will live up to the claims. One of the many reasons why I love Dove and their products is how they use common people like us (instead of professional models) for advertising their products. Also, they do not make too many big claims that they cannot fulfill. Instead, they talk about achievable changes with their products which they always achieve. Dove does not promise to magically transform your hair overnight into Rapunzel like tresses but promises to take the very best care of your mane which the princess in you very much deserves :)

I'm sure I'm going to use this Shampoo and Conditioner combo a lot this Summer-Monsoon coz this is the time my hair acts the craziest and is damaged the most. The range is specially designed with keratin actives which work on damaged brittle and split hair to nourish them at the cellular level to avoid breakage. So now, you can have fun experimenting all you want with your hair while Dove promises to take care of your lovely tresses and keep it shining and healthy!! Know more about the Dove Intense Repair Range here.

I'm really really looking forward to my next meet.

So, have you tried this new range yet? What are your opinions?

Till Next,

My Visit to the Four Seasons Winery at Baramati

I remember waking up on the 5th of February to my cell phone blaring out Train's Mermaid. A sleepy me somehow manged to say a "hello" when Shayoni excitedly asked me if I would be game for a trip to Baramati. I for the love of god couldn't figure what she was talking about and I just said a yes, disconnected and went back to sleep. Some more minutes later I got another call from her explaining to me that Baramati was 100 kms from Pune and I was supposed to reply to a mail from team Gingerclaps if I wanted to be a part of the trip to their winery and resort. I jumped up and immediately replied with a big "YES". A week later we received the confirmation that a team of six of us Kolkata bloggers were actually going for a two day trip to Baramati, Maharashtra.

It was pretty late when we arrived at Pune airport on the 16th at about 9:30-10 pm. Two cars were waiting to take us to Baramati, a 1.5-2 hrs drive from the airport. The driver accompanying us was a merry fellow (I forgot to ask his name) who told us that there were several sugar mills and a pharma factory in the area the winery  is located. A distinct smell of freshly crushed sugarcane stayed with us the whole time.

It was around 12 midnight when we reached the spot. All four of us in our car were hungry like wolves and we have stopped on our way to buy a few bites, packets of chips and Maggi noodles (they are life saviors, I tell you). The moment we got out, we were astounded by the enormity of the place we were supposed to lodge in for the next two days. We stood in complete silence, absorbing the beauty that stood in front of us as Mr. Adtnu Tiwari, Brand Manager-Wines came down to welcome us and help us in finding our respective rooms.

I was given a room called Bordeaux, a wine making region in southeastern France. Inside I found my bed neatly made, a tray of coffee cups, a water heater and sachets of milks, coffee, sugar and tea bags, and a chocolate waiting for us. I quickly ran over to Shayoni's room to find her's identical to mind except a few minor differences. Her room was called Napa Valley perhaps and a pretty picture hung in each of our rooms giving us tit-bits about the regions that our rooms were named after.

My Room- Bordeaux

The three of us girls, Deepa, Shayoni and I left Animesh to himself as we gathered in Deepa's room for coffee and Maggi noodels which Deepa made for all of us in the coffee cups in her room. We then decided to inspect around despite being awfully tired an sleepy. We were delighted to see so many stars so clearly (stars are hardly visible from the area we live thanks to all the pollution). We sat by the pool side sipping our warm coffee and chatting away till late.

I was determined to see the sunrise the next morning and woke up early around 6 am and woke the other three girls to join me. We came down dressed to find Shikha and Dolon already up and dressed clicking pictures. We were walking up watching the sun slowly come up in its scarlet hues when we found Mr.K.Balakrishna waking towards us and introducing himself as the General Manager and Unit Head. He joined us for a trek around the beautiful hilly region as he asked us to look out and spot deer which run free in the valleys. Shikha spotted a few deer paw prints and soon after we saw a couple of deer galloping down in the valleys.

Before sunrise :D

We returned to find breakfast ready for us which consisted of fresh fruits, cereal, tea, freshly made orange juice, multigrain and white bread toast, blueberry muffins, custard filled danish (as Poorna di explained to me), Cheese and mushroom omlette, idli-vada sambar and much more (I can't recollect the rest  ).

Breakfast!!

The super-yumm food was prepared by chef Hitesh Gautam from Hyatt Regency, Bangalore who was the sweetest of people as he happily agreed to show me around the kitchen and immediately posed for a picture with Deepa when I asked. 

 Shayoni had a splitting headache and felt unwell because of the turbulence we faced during out flight to Pune. It was raining crazy when we left Kolkata and we had to pass through many air pockets. So she took a nap while the rest of us changed and gathered up in the conference room as Bala sir explained to us the nitty grities of grape harvesting and wine production - the sugar content detection process, adding the yeast, the temperature etc etc.

That is Bala sir explaining to us the technicalities of wine making

After the theory , we went down to see the wine extraction area, the cellar, the barrel room, and the bottling and labeling areas.

We tasted different grapes, the ones used for making the wines are distinctly smaller and sweeter than the normal table grapes that we usually eat. Something new that I learnt here was that the red grapes Pinot Noir is also used to make white Champagne apart from making red wine. We were also taken to the storage tanks where we tasted grape juices and wines in their different stages of production.

The grape juice extraction process

 These oak barrels that you see in the picture below are used for three-four times and then are either sold away to bourbon companies (the oaks with the wine absorbed in them add a new note of flavor to the bourbon) or are used for decoration purposes or as planters. A device called a "wine thief" which looks like a pipette is used to get the wine out from these barrels.

Storage and labeling 

After spending about 3 hours underground in the cellars, we started feeling hungry again. We returned to the restaurant to find Chef Hitesh ready with our lunch spread. This is what we had -

Hors d'œuvre and First course

 Hors d'œuvre - A contemporary twist on the traditional Methi Matti served with Four Seasons Sauvignon Blanc.
First Course- Basil Chicken Tikka with Pineapple Panna (a twist to the traditional Aam-panna) served with Ritu Viognier.
Main Course - Buttered Salmon on top of Cashew Upma, Fiery Prawns with saffron sauce served with Four Seasons Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon.
Dessert- Baked Doi (a twist to the traditional Bengali dessert "bhapa doi") with basil seeds and Gulab Jamun on top of Dudhi Halwa (a traditional Marathi dessert made out of bottle guard) served with a special late harvest Chenin Blanc (this was my personal favorite coz I prefer the sweeter of the wines).

Main course and Dessert

 After a scrumplicious lunch, everybody headed over for a power nap while Shayoni, Shikha and I decided to go sit on the open terrace by pool. Shikha was pretty reluctant to dip her legs into the pool, so Shayoni and I decided to sit by the side with my legs dipped in the water, splashing water at each other.  Later when everybody was away drinking tea and munching on quiches and cookies, the two of us decided to go check out the different rooms - the would be library, the conference room and the topmost floor which was still under construction. The chateau isn't open for public for the next 1 or 2 years for they are still expanding the number of rooms and working on improving the hospitality section.

Before Sunset

The dinner was a barbeque party besides the pool. We had an assortment of fresh fruits like ripe strawberries, figs, kiwis; different kinds of cheese ; breads ; and barebqued chicken, lamb, fish and veggies accompanied by different types of reserve wines which went perfectly well with the food. The highlight of the evening was the live music played by Jake and Mynah, who came down from Mumbai.

Barbeque Party by the poolside

The next morning saw us getting up early as we had to catch our flight in the morning and had a drive of 2 hours in front of us till we reached the airport. We hurriedly grabbed our breakfast which consisted of muffins, croissants, omelettes, cereal, fruit juice, fresh fruits and upma and bid goodbye to the place and the others who stayed behind.

It has been almost a month now and I'm still not over it. That was one of the most memorable holidays for a really long time. A big thanks to team Gingerclaps, UB group, Bala Sir, Mr. Adtnu and Malavika for making it so enjoyable.

Till next,
Love

Wine Trail with Four Seasons

A bunch of us, Kolkata bloggers consisting of fashion, beauty, lifestyle and food bloggers met on the 6th of July 2013 for a very enjoyable and informative session of acquainting with the wine extraction and preparation process, courtesy Four Seasons wines. I had attended a similar wine appreciation and food pairing event organised by Four Seasons last year at Oasis, park Street. You can find details of the same here.

So, what are the new things that happened this time? For one, compared to the mere seven bloggers last time, this year nineteen of us bloggers came together to share our love for wine and learn the knick knacks to appreciate it better.

The fashion, beauty and lifestyle bloggers

The food bloggers

The event was held in the very beautifully lighted Rose Room at The Conclave at Rabindra Sadan, Kolkata. The evening started with an introduction to the ancient process of grape cultivation and wine preparation from the ancient Greeks and Romans during the Dionysian satyr festivals celebrating fertility and health to the modern day advanced mechanisms. Our host and speaker of the day , Mr.P.P.K Mitter, fondly referred to as Peter who is a representative of the UB group, explained to us how the procedures during wine extraction works and resolved the doubts and clarified the myths regarding wine and alcohol.

Unlike last year, this time we had a detailed power point presentation which numerous slides which gave explicit information regarding the types of wines, their cultivation, harvesting, the areas where vineyards can be grown, the new and innovative technologies adapted by the UB group for the extraction of Indian Wine and the different types of glasses and equipment used for drinking and extracting wine.

After the initial introduction to the preparation process and the extraction of different types of Indian wines, Peter helped us understand how wines are to be tasted, paired and evaluated.

•  There are three different types of wines based of color- White (generally golden or yellowish in tinge), Rose (Pinkish colored) and Red ( deep maroon to dark purplish in color). 
• Wines are grouped into 3 other sections - still wine, sparkling wine and port wines. 
• A lot of wines and alcoholic beverages, those prepared in the Old world countries get their names from the areas of their production like Champagne (in France), Port (in Portugal) and Scotch (the whiskey from Scotland). The same name cannot be used for the same spirit  produced in any other area of the world.
• Wine can be best appreciated by following the 4 S's- See, Swirl, Smell and Sip. This evokes the four senses. By clinking the glasses, one evokes the fifth sense of hearing.

The four S's

• UB group exports White Indian wine and Red Indian wines under the label name of Ritu, meaning seasons. Within the small time of its launch in India, Four Seasons wines have gained immense popularity and have received numerous accolades and awards for their quality.
• Wine glasses are to be held at the stem and touching the curved area where the wine is contained is to be avoided. This is to ensure that the wine doesn't get warmed up by the heat transferred from the body of the drinker. 

The five wines we tasted were Sauvignon Blanc (white), Viognier (white), Blush (rose), Shiraz (red) and Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon (reserve red wine).

 The food from The Conclave provided the best accompaniment for the five different wines we tasted.

Special thanks to Peter, four Seasons wines and The Conclave for the amazing experience.

Lastly, we all left the event tipsy with not just happy memories and a lot of wine related wisdom but also a beautiful Wine Appreciation Certificate. Now, I am a certified wine enthusiast (that is definitely going to make a lot of my friends green with envy). Yay!!  

To good times *Cheers* 

P.S.- For those who want to know more about the types of wines available under the Ritu and Four Seasons label can refer to Four Seasons's Facebook page and their blog.
P.P.S.- Not all photos were clicked by me. Thanks to Anupriya, Debiparna, Aniesha, Pooja, Animesh and Kamalika for the remaining pictures.

Cheers and Clinks :D

Hello bloggy dosts,

I was amongst the lucky few bloggers from Kolkata to be invited to an afternoon of wine tasting and luncheon, sponsored by Four Seasons wines in collaboration with Oasis Restaurant. The event cum bloggers' meet was held on the 28th of July at Oasis restaurant, Park Street, Kolkata. Seven bloggers including me had gathered for a very informative and enjoyable session of wine tasting and its pairing with food. Here are a few highlights and things I learnt from the event-

The invite for the event (couldn't help sharing it, it's so pretty :D)-

The ladies (and bloggers) who attended the event. (Yeah, am not in the collage, I forgot to add my pic :P)

What do women do when we are together? Yeah, you guessed that right,

We talk and we pose

L -R - Ayantika, Anupriya, Debiparna, Sayantani, Shamita, Sayani, I and Uparna

Okay, enough of our pictures. Now coming to the main event :P

Here is the menu-

The wines and food we tasted-

The Four Varieties of Wines we tasted-

Chenin Blanc-

Viognier-

Barrique Reserve Cabernet Sauvignon-

Blush-

The lovely Shamita Singha,  Miss India Earth 2001 and a wine enthusiast turned wine taster was our host for the afternoon, who taught us the this and that of wines, their tasting and how they can be paired with food.
She explained to us the four Ss of wine tasting- See, Swirl, Smell and Sip i.e. you enjoy the wine with your four senses.

The things that we learnt-
1) Wine is an agro product and not a spirit unlike other alcohols.
2) "White wine with white meat and red wine with red" is not entirely true. The pairing of wine with food is different for each palate. White wines generally go well with lighter food and the reds taste better with spicier food.
3) Grape juice is originally colorless and the red wines get their color from the skin of the red grapes they are extracted from. The juice is kept with the skin for around 24-48 hours to extract the color out of it. This also gives the red wine its characteristic acidity and complex flavor which is from the tannin extracted from the skin.
4) There are three varieties of wine classified on the basis of colors- White, Rosé and Red. The rosé too gets it color from the skin, but it is left with the juice for lesser hours. Hence, the lesser intensity of the reddish tinge.
5) The date on the wine bottle is not the date when it was bottled but the date when the grapes were harvested.
6) Wine should be ideally served at room temperature, the European standard room temperature. So if you are in India, make sure you serve it chilled (for as you know our room temperatures are no where close to the European room temperatures).

All the seven of us had a great time getting to know each other and tasting the wonderful food and the wines. Special Thanks to Shamita Shingha, our host ; Mr. Akshay Gopal and Mr. Peter Mitter from Four Seasons and Mr. Pratap Darayani from Oasis for the extremely enjoyable event.

P.S.- Not all the photographs are mine, some of them are shared from Anupriya and Debiparna. Thanks to the two of you. Click on the images for a larger view.

Till next.
Love
Swarnali