Every day something "memorable" happens. Every single day and yet I can't seem to remember to write about these memorable things. Too much is always happening. Sometimes it's complete overload of the senses.  Our scenery is always colorful, always crazy busy, always interesting.  ALWAYS.  Even when the interesting stuff is driving you insane....it's still interesting.  I find myself always posting about the "big things" that occur here. There are little things that I want to remember about our time in Bangalore too. Like today, John and I met at the RX clinic next to his office building to purchase some meds for Bruce.  It was a lovely day, the weather here in Bangalore is serious vacation weather almost year round. Beautiful weather, crisp and clear....it was a short walk back to his office and too soon I said goodbye to John and I of course boarded my vehicle with Shankar at the wheel and went on with the rest of my day. But as John and I were walking together on a street in Bangalore, the thought hit me again, you know the one, the "I can't believe we are here, how did this happen?" thought that goes through my mind at random times.  I'm smiling as I am thinking of this as I always do when I wonder how we ended up here.

There are so many things that I am going to want to remember and hope that I do about our time here.  I want to blog about everything but there never seems to be enough time and so tonight, I am going to post a few pics and a few blurbs and hope that someday you my friends, will ask me about these particular posts. I'll be happy and excited to share the happenings.


The balls in the air pic below was taken at Bruce's school last Saturday.  The put on a "family fun day" and it certainly was.  We are thrilled that he is attending TISB and will post more about that at another time. We love TISB!

Ahhhhhh but later on that evening was truly a special night that we will always remember.  It was our first Dandiya festival that we attended put on by our community. For the past two weeks we all met in the play ground area and practiced "dancing with the sticks" and all the other dance moves for Dandiya night.  It was my first time wearing Indian traditional wear and my next door neighbor and I couldn't help but laugh when we showed up at our Dandiya festival wearing the same exact outfit!  Only difference was our dupattas!  It was such a lovely night filled with families, food, laughter (some of it directed at John as no one could believe that he actually wore the Dandiya traditional men's costume) and dancing under the stars.  No alcohol whatsoever and yet we had the most fun time and really embraced our new community and they embraced us in return and that night will always hold a special place in my heart. 

Bruce and I practicing one more time! This is a bad pic, you can't see Bruce's arms and hands but he's moving his sticks quickly and I guess the camera just didn't catch it.  By the way Bruce LOVED his outfit.  He wants to wear the hat all the time too!

Sandya helping me adjust my dupatta? Don't know if I'm spelling that right too tired to spell check.  But apparently I was not supposed to wear a bra and she was draping the dupatta to elegantly cover the bra area in back that was showing. Thank you Sandya!

My sexy husband can pull of any look! Can I just say how proud I am of him? He didn't even blink when the traditional outfit was shown to him, yes it was flashy and had alot of bling and MC Hammer would have killed for those pants....but in all seriousness John was an amazing sport and all our neighbors told us repeatedly how much they appreciated that we were trying to embrace their culture.  Yes, next time John will most likely wear the more modern long Kurta for Dandiya night....or maybe he won't!  God I love him!

And then there was dancing....loved every single minute of it!

The guys getting jiggy...

This is my next door neighbor Sandya.  We could only laugh and compliment each other on our taste in fashion!

End of the evening for us.  Very full, wonderful day and night.

Today I am excited to share a story about our three amigos, Bert, Dharam, and Gaelan. Best friends and business partners, they are the proud owners of California Burrito!  Oh yes, burritos in Bangalore.  It's a good thing!  Can I just say that I am so impressed with these guys? Coming to India and opening up a "Mexican" restaurant...opening any kind of restaurant anywhere is difficult, but doing so in a country like India?  Let's just say you have got to have determination, patience and a damn good game plan and did I mention patience? Getting my SIM card and setting up my phone plan was almost my undoing here, I cannot even imagine how much harder opening a restaurant must be. Especially a restaurant that offers a whole new kind of genre of food to this country. There are very few "Mexican" restaurants in Bangalore, and I'm sorry but Taco Bell just doesn't cut it for me.These guys decided to go big or go home. They dug in their heels, did all the necessary surveying, research, homework, anything and everything to get this business venture from just an idea to fruition and are on the verge of major success. It's really hard to believe they are so young because they are so business oriented, so hard working that even when they are away from the "the site" their heads are always in the game. Always thinking on ways to perfect their food, to make their "burrito" the best that it can be, coming up with ideas to make sure your dining experience at their restaurant is one that you will truly enjoy and will want to make a return visit.  The location, the staff, the ingredients, the temperature inside their eatery, nothing is left to chance and the food..... aye yi yi, as little Dora's backpack would say "Yum, yum, yum, yum, yum. Delicioso!" We are talking chicken, veggies, salsas, tortillas, guacamole recipes, all these items on their menu are fresh, and tasty. It is the best comfort food I have come across in Bangalore so far. These guys know their stuff, they even taught me how to make a fantastic sour cream.  The food is great and their signature drink the "Pink Nimbu Paanio" is a refreshing version of a pink lemonade, it's really good! The guys have always asked for our honest feedback and it is truly a pleasure (and relief) to report that California Burrito hits all the marks and then some.   Pictured here are from left to right, Bert, Dharam and some of their staff.  There is a professional, exciting, fun vibe going on as the guys prep their staff and their stations.

Above is Gaelen, sorry about the blurry pic!

On your left is Bert.

My apologizes to everyone regarding the size and quality of the pics, jeeeeeeez I suck at adding pictures to this bog.

But I hope the pics tell the tale of the fantastic job the terrific trio has done in bringing California Burrito to Bangalore, thanks guys, well done, well done!

Follow this link to a cool write up in the Wall Street Journal:
http://blogs.wsj.com/indiarealtime/2012/10/01/bringing-the-burrito-to-bangalore/


I have a feeling we're going to hear alot more about these guys in the near future, in fact I guarantee it!