Spa Review - Four fountains de stress spa

Of all the guilty pleasures of modern life , there is nothing i enjoy more than the pleasure of good spa. So when Maithili from Four Fountai ns De-Stress Spa in Bangalore reached out to me for a session , i ofcorse was delighted with the opportunity. Four fountain De stress spa is a national chain with  they have 6 operational centers and the Sarjapur one is walking distance from home :) :) 

Okay so first up, the spa is located right on the outer ring road so definitely very easy to locate. However  i was not too impressed with the fact that's on first floor with some car spare part / garage type of shops on ground floor,  but once insider the Spa facility it transforms itself a soothing place with dim lights and right relaxing fragrances, just how a spa should be.

Once inside, you are asked to share some details about your lifestyle and little bit of medical history basis which the therapists decide what sort of treatment would suit you best. Very professional !!

Packages are for housewives, Car commuters, Travelers etc etc , basically depending on what your body might be going through on day today basis and consequently what kind of massage will suit you best. One can obviously chose out from their range of services on offer. 

I was recommended to go for a deep tissue massage and a facial and i can assure you those two hours was very very relaxing my therapist , Nirmala (I think, I am really bad with names), made sure i was comfortable and the massage and facial was great. 

The best part was the foot massage she gave after she applied face pack in facial, which was first in my experience and total bliss.

All in all i really liked the place and would surely recommend checking it out. Although my massages were complimentary in general the prices are more reasonable than other places and you have all sorts of membership programs & weekdays offer that make visiting this completely worthwhile.

Starbucks Pre Launch Event

Starbucks is finally in bangalore, after much media space about the location fight for first coffee shop, it finally opened in Kormangala. The event was marked by a gala opening event and courtesy FBAI, some of us food blogger got invited and got a chance to be part of a slightly crazy evening.


As you can see there were people waiting right outside..

Facade 

As soon as you enter, a very cheery welcome from the servers

Happy faces to greet 

So you know what to order 

Your order next

Seasonal speciality 

Motto to live by 

The famous cup

Check out the crowd ..it got really maddening after a while

Crowd @ event 

Happy to see indian estate blends as well..i am guessing Tata plantation coffees

India estates blend ....Interesting !

And just for this evening you could also get your caricature made in your coffee cups 

Absolutely loved this wall paper

Seating upstairs 

Lovely drink to conclude a lovely evening 

Happy Chhath Puja !

In the middle of biggest Bihari festival, Chhath Puja. 4 days dedicated to the Sun God, considered to be a means to thank the sun for bestowing the bounties of life in earth.

Tea Talk

Couple of fridays ago (yes festival, family food and fun came in between of blog posting) Splenda organized a tea tasting session at Infintea and FBAI invited few bloggers to attend the event. So on a a rainy friday afternoon i trekked across the other end of town (Cunnigham road) to attend this event. I am personally not a huge tea drinker myself but  family is huge fan and my mom is diabietic and takes sugar supplement with her tea, so this event made sense for me to go and check out despite the crazy rain.

First about the place, the event was  held at Infinitea a quiet tea room thankfully situated on the main road in Vasanth nagar. Spread over 2 floor (ground and mezzanine) the place is all wooden and has bit of old world feel to it.

The event was obviously held to promote the newly launched Splenda , a sugar substitute in India. The makers claim that Splenda is made from sucrose and closely mimics the real sugar and hence a better substitute to sugar and perfect for all (even pregnant women).

Splenda - a new sugar substitute

Gaurav - Owner of Infinitea took us through a journey of tea of how tea plant is grown and the complete harvesting and drying and brewing process. Given his family background of Tea plantation, his knowledge is excellent and guides you really well on the type of tea to suit your palate. We were served five varities of tea starting with the palest and mildest White tea to the full body Assam gold black and ofcorse the good old indian masala chai.

Beautiful color of herbal tea

Tea testing menu - we were served all five

Interior @Infinitea

Gaurav was also joined by Dr Prema HS a well known nutristionist in bangalore, who briefed the group about basic dietary needs and importance of a balanced and nutritious diet. She also clarified various questions regarding tea drinking habit popular across the country.

Tea sommelier Gaurav Saria (owner of Infinitea) and Dr. Prema HS (nutritionist) 

I tasted Splenda and have tasted various sugar substitute commonly available in market and while i am not sure about the health claims but the definite good part was that there was no chemical / bitter after taste in my mouth after using Splenda which is common with other brands available.

A fun an entertaining afternoon, where i got to meet few fellow blogger from across the city and had some good tea and good food, oh what fun !

Chicken Kebab, loved the serving style - totally stealing it in my next party

Yummy fried prawns

Packing to ensure complete freshness of tea

Tea

Tea

And more tea

Evening sky

This is how Bangalore sky looked in evening today, fresh and peaceful. 

A day out of town - Nandi hills

Couple of weeks back, one fine sunday morning we planned a quick drive away from the city. After much internet research we zeroed on nandi hills.

To reach nandi hills , you have to drive towards airport and its about 40 km from airport, so from our place in bellandur it is about 90 kms, thankfully it was sunday morning hence the traffic was fairly ok and we reached there in about 2 hours. The drive is very smooth once you cross airport and quiet a pleasure once you reach the grape vineyard (Grover's vineyard) area. I guess we went during the grape season cause there were people standing on sides of road selling fresh grapes at half of bangalore prices :)

highway from airport 

As we turn from highway towards the vineyard 

The last trek of drive is slightly uphill with few hairpin bends, nothing difficult but definitely have a drive a bit carefully coz there are enough morons on bikes and cars who drive with half their mind even on such roads.

Once you reach nandi hills (about 5000 feet above sea level) , after 8 -10 km of uphill drive, there is a sort of a landing area where you have to buy a entrance ticket. Parking is a bit of a mess as there is not much of designated parking space for cars, so you park alongside the walk area.

Nandi hills,  famous for nandi temple arguably from around chola time , has now been developed into one big park area. I was quiet surprised to see how well maintained it is. its neat, garden area is well maintained and the best part, they have made these canopy sort of viewing areas all around the edge and it makes for a nice experience. There are sufficient seating area for people to sit and watch the beautiful  view.

Canopies for viewing area

view from top 

It being a sunday it was quiet crowded but somehow with enough dustbins and washrooms around, thankfully it was quiet clean ( yes i am little obsessive about that) and was pleasurable to walk around. There were lot of families with big picnic hampers and ideally it is great place for family picnic you just have to be a little wary of monkeys around ..yes there are few around ..not too much but if you have food on you be careful.( waise i don't get the association of monkey with hill station ..any idea why they are on every hill station ? don't think they are particularly cold loving creatures) and yes that brings me to the weather. Weather wise, even though its 5000 ft above ground level weather is a atleast 2-3 degrees hotter than bangalore, late 20s i guess.

In terms of things to do, its mostly about chilling out, beside the nandi temple there is kid play area with some swings etc. and a  small restaurant that serves decent food, not much option but decent food at reasonable prices.

Later i realized you can actually stay here ( details here) and actually i wont mind that. Can plan a trip so that you come early  sat morning , spend a day at vineyard stay the night at nandi hills and leave sunday evening ....

My recommendation , do visit this place even if you are not staying the night , nice place to spend time with family and considering its so close to bangalore, worth spending a day.

Rushing to diwali

So, somewhere between looking for inspiration for diwali decor and actual diwali evening ..i found the much needed kick to actually do something (what's with me and deadlines !!), here are some rushed photos..

At the entrance ...

Welcoming the goddess

cute butterfly strings..

Rangoli made super easy with frames

Pink diyas from SN market , delhi :)

Building, decoration & firecrackers ...

and finally our pooja room (shelf),

Welcome dear goddess ...let this be a start to a happy, healthy,  fun filled new year..