It's Friday (TGIF) - a day late

It's been a long week...jet lagged, long and varied work hours, change in diet...I'm looking forward to the weekend. My friend/coworker Cheryl is off to Kerala to spend the weekend with some of her friends on a houseboat cruising the backwaters of the west coast of India. I was invited, but decided it would be good for my body, mind and soul to spend a relatively quiet weekend that did not involve trains, planes, or automobiles.
Looking back over the week, I have managed to have a couple of great meals in between work assignments.
Monday Night Cheryl and I went to Samarakand, which features northwest cuisine, with Allison, Jason and Samila. The three of them are from Australia, and work for HP. The food was great and we sampled tandoori grilled foods and curries from that region.

(L-R Samila, Jason, Cheryl, Allison, me)
Tuesday night was a celebration for Cheryl's team leads. They were recently promoted, so this dinner was in their honor. We had dinner at Ebony, as I mentioned here. We ate on the outdoor terrace, which was great since the weather has been so nice. The meal was great (again). We had a number of traditional foods,

and of course the traditional, celebratory Sula Champagne.
Here is Nisha, Joseph and Philia toasting their accomplishments.

And finally, me with the city lights in the background.

Current temperature - 73 degrees

One of the bad things about traveling, is that there are things back home that you miss. That is obvious. One of the good things about traveling, is that there are things that you MISS. For example, it is about 10:30 pm. I just got back from a nice team dinner, on the terrace of Ebony, which is on the 13th floor of a building in central Bangalore. It is currently 73 degrees. That is pretty sweet. Not to rub it in, but I think that beats the forecast temperature in Hudson of 32 tonight. True, it's not snowing and -10, but still. Definitely makes me look forward to spending time with Sean and Rose in the backyard, grillin' and chill' this summer!

Unfortunately, I will also miss Cugs and his family, who are in town for his niece's wedding. So the Nags Head Gang (less Kean and I) will be hanging at the Lizard tonight (I miss you guys!) By the way Tim, you were back in Ohio two years ago when I was in Paris. You need to schedule better!

Things have been going really well so far, no dead bodies, good weather, good food, great host, etc. It's kinda weird. Things have not changed since the last time I was here. I'm right next to the room I stayed at last time here at the Taj Gateway. It is a mirror of my old room. The staff is the same and they still know my name (it's embarrassing, you'd think I should know theirs). So I won't bore you with the same old stories, but I will share some pics instead (I know that is what you come for anyway!)

On Saturday when I arrived, I was invited to attend one of Cheryl's friends Jacquie's (below with Ali) surprise birthday parties. Once again, I was welcomed as if the other guests had known me forever. Well I had met most of them my last visit :-)

It was a really nice time, traditional Indian food...

...and of course, Texas Hold 'em!

Sunday was very relaxing, not much sleep the night before as my sleep patterns have just returned to normal (I hope). But did get to hang out at the pool, get some sun and then return to Jamavar at Leela Palace for a great meal. This place is pretty cool.