Wednesday, September 02, 2009

California Strawberries

Strawberry picking time! We headed for strawberry picking in the morning, at our favorite U-Pick at Swanton Berrry Farm. Bad news bestowed! The strawberry field was quarantined due to suspected moths (an agricultural pest!)! Heck! I thought only humans were quarantined for the H1N1 swine flu! Now, our favorite strawberry field has been quarantined too! With just a little good luck on our side, we were recommended to go to their neighboring fields. Phew! It sent bright spark to all our faces. We thought we have spent ONE HOUR down Highway 17 for nothing. Ok. At least, there is something. Some 'healthy" strawberries for us to pick.


After that mild exercise of picking strawberries, we drove further down to our favorite cioppino stall. I am sure Phil's Fish Market is no stranger to those who have watched FoodNetwork since Phil was featured before. And this is definitely not our first time there. With A&S with us this time, we ordered more food. Seafood chowder, fried calamari (rings and tentacles) and of course, a huge bowl of slurpilicious cioppino. It was completely satisfying!


Indian food @ Peacock, Santa Clara

In our one week in the Bay Area, we also tried two establishments that serve Dum Biryani. We had take-out from Kabab and Currys, at Santa Clara (famous for its Dum Biryani) and dine-in at Peacock, also at Santa Clara(above).

Dum Biryani is a famous Hyderabad dish, where the meat (chicken, mutton or lamb) is layered with the rice and cooked under low flame in a sealed container. This style of cooking is sometimes called Dum Pukht. And naturally, biryani cooked this way is called Dum Biryani. Yum yum yum! and not *Stupid Dum Dum* ... ... ^o^


I like basmati rice a lot - and so what happens when basmati rice is mildly infused with the aroma of the chicken and lamb and all the spices ? I love thee even more!

How to choose a web host

An engineer by training, I am used to things in table-format. For this, the rating site on website hosting has won my heart. At a glance, I could clearly see the Top 10 Web Hosting Providers organized neatly by the provider, price, space, traffic and by reviews. Any one of you interested to get a web host for your personal domain can really check out this website. In addition, there are specific categories for web hosting to choose from. If you are looking to start a forum website, they have a category under Best Forum Hosting. If you are looking to start a blog, they also have a category under Best Blog Hosting, which provides information on an affordable web hosting plan. This site also has Articles for you to empower yourself with the knowledge of web hosting. Rather than hard-selling on web hosting, having knowledge of it and being able to choose wisely is a smarter way to go ahead when picking your web host. Even when you are confused by technical terms such as server, hardware and traffic, do not be. This site explains them in simple terms. So now, who won the Best Web Hosting Awards in September 2009? Check it out and you are on your way to your preferred web host.