Restaurant Review - Cafe Silan, Menlo Park, CA

Cafe Silan is in downtown Menlo Park, at 867 Santa Cruz Ave, Menlo Park, CA.

This is a small, Kurdish restaurant, with some pretty tasty dishes. My favorites:

- The appetizer - flat bread with dip. The dip is delicious!
- Some pizza with keema or ghosht on it. Very simple, and very good. To completely change the flavor, try it with the spicy sauce on the tables
- Salad with kebabs. The kebabs were good, but the salad was excellent!

Silan is on my once-a-quarter restaurant list now

Crossing 95K Visits

I just crossed the 95K visits mark on my blogs, on Friday:

• The serious blog - all about Tech, Startups, Revenue
• The all-purpose, main blog
• Blog on cars - one of my passions
• Blog about Travel topics, including not just destinations, but also food, wine, etc.
• The older, retired Autos blog

Looking forward to 100K.

And on a smaller scale, my profile on blogger has now been viewed over 1,400 times.

Crossed 80,000 Visits On My Blogs

Early in February, I crossed the 80K visits mark on my blogs.  Nice. 

My blogs are:

• The serious blog - all about Tech, Startups, Revenue
• The all-purpose, main blog
• Blog on cars - one of my passions
• Blog about Travel topics, including not just destinations, but also food, wine, etc.
• The older, retired Autos blog

And on a smaller scale, my profile on blogger has now been viewed over 1,000 times. 

Batonnage - New Wine Consulting/ Blog/ Site

What is Batonnage?  It is the wine making operation of mixing up the lees (dead yeast cells from fermentation) in the barrel with the wine to release the mannoproteins, improving the flavor, mouthfeel, and stability of the wine.

Did that impress you?  How do I know this?  A close friend,  has fired up a site http://www.batonnagewine.com/

If you're looking to host a wine event in the bay area, check out this site, or just email info@batonnagewine.com  and ask them your wine questions. 

In particular, check out the blog for helpful and timely tips.  My favorite for 2009 - Batonnage's take on the best value wines

Carlton Hotel Mussoorie In Winter

A couple more photos of the beautiful Carlton's Plaisance Hotel in Mussoorie, India. 

The photos are from the very large front lawn, facing the hotel.  There is a lovely hill with a temple behind the hotel.  Kids love running up that mountain.

Restaurant Review - Himawari, San Mateo

Himawari in San Mateo in the bay area (California) is one of my favorite restaurants, specially when its getting close to 9 pm (it doesn't close early, except on Sundays).

Himawari is a Japanese restaurant.  They have sushi, of course.  But their specialty is ramen, udons, and that kind of stuff.

My favorites are the Shio Buttercorn Ramen, and the Tan Tan Men.  Having grown up on Indian food, I prefer a bit more taste, a bit more saltiness in my food, and Himawari delivers.

Favorite side dish - the sesame spinach.  (Although I think all their appetizers are great)

It is located at 202 2nd Ave., San Mateo, CA

Mussoorie Hotel, Carlton's Plaisance

Some more photos of the Carlton's Plaisance hotel in Mussoorie in India.  (Previous photographs are here).

These photos are in winter.  Mussoorie is absolutely beautiful then!

This is the front lawn, which has swings, and a canopied area to sit under (when the weather is good, of course)

Restaurant Review - Zao Noodle Bar

Zao Noodle Bar, University Avenue, Palo Alto, California. 

A couple of my friends really like Zao -they say its tasty, healthy, convenient, and decently stylish.  And now for something completely different....

When you order take-out (or take back left-overs), you get one of the great bits of Zao - their plastic bags.  These are tough, resilient, stylish.  They're much better for carrying things than the bags you'd get at Safeway.  You can use them for quite a while, too - they have longevity, I kid you not.

And finally, they're great for odor containment.  I carry an extra Zao's plastic bag in my car at all times.  That way, whenever I get takeout from any restaurant, I can always put it in the Zao's bag, and make sure the car doesn't smell.  

Mussoorie, Carlton's Plaisance Hotel Photos

My folks run a bed-and-breakfast in Mussoorie, called Carlton's Plaisance Hotel, up in the Himalayas in India.  It is one of the most beautiful places in the world. 

Here are some photos of Plaisance in winter.

This is the yard on one side.  There is a table-tennis table, and a half-basketball court here.

This is Bugsie, the playful St. Bernard

Page Rank Increase For My Blog

My non-serious cover-all blog,  Capoeirista,  just got a Page Rank bump of +1 ..... its now got a PR=2. 

Ah well, slow and steady, I guess.