Ganesh Temple, Flushing, NY

We had a chance to go to Ganesh temple in Flushing, Queens in New York city, was very first of the traditional Hindu temples in USA. While there are so many Hindu temples in New York city, this temple continues to be among the most prominent of them. The temple is constructed using granite and the rituals follow the South Indian tradition. The gopuram, the architecture, the interior decoration is definitely the master piece. My mom felt so happy when she had a chance to circle the Nava graham after really long time. The temple has a Canteen in the basement which one shouldn’t miss out. Definitely a temple to visit during Ganesh Chathurthi celebrations.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Spruce Run, NJ

Recently we had a chance to celebrate Siva Anna’s birthday in Spruce Run recreation Area which is about 45 minutes’ drive from our place. It was bit chilly in the beginning and later sunny as the day progressed. New Jersey has got lot of National Parks and recreation areas and Round Valley is a close one near to Spruce Run. We had pot luck and everybody cooked different varieties of food and it was a feast in the end. We finally cut the cakes for Siva Anna and the kids had a nice time playing in the sand near the beach. Thanks to Siva Anna’s family, Sivaraj Anna’s family and Arun’s family which made our stay in US very memorable and joyful.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Shenandoah National Park, Virginia

Recently we had a chance to explore Shenandoah region in the state of Virginia for the long Labor Day weekend. It was about 5 hours’ drive from our house to Shenandoah Caverns which is definitely must in that area. It has a mile long guided tour which shows the various facets of the Cave and the illumination with colorful lights adds glamour to it. The temperature inside the Caverns remains 54 F throughout the year. We had a chance to have our lunch at Texas Road House and I must say it was a great ambience and good food to dine out near the highway exits. Thanks to Torsten who motivated me to visit this place when he visited the same last year.

Next day we had a chance to explore Skyline drive of around 65 miles in Shenandoah national park which was simply breathtaking. There are four entrances to this national park: Front Royal, Thornton Gap, Swift Run, and Rockfish Gap. We did the drive from Swift Run to Front Royal on a nice sunny day. The panoramic view of the chain of mountains from the Skyline drive was phenomenal and awesome. There are so many parking spots in the skyline drive where one could get a clear view and can take photographs.   We had our lunch in Mexican Restaurant and I must say Mexican Cuisine has lot of varieties and bit similar to Indian one. All in all, it was a weekend to remember.

Cheers,

Sathish Kumar S

Crystal Golf Resort, Hamburg, NJ

Recently we had our team outing in Crystal Springs Resort in Hamburg, NJ not the Hamburg in Northern Germany but in NJ. Most of the cities in North America have the names from Europe and got to show the amount of European settlements in North America. We had a cooking competition in the morning, split in to four teams and every team should make an appetizer, main course which will be tasted by the Chef and will decide the winning team at the end. The allotted time for cooking is 45 minutes. We had an international team with team members from India, Russia, Germany, Taiwan and Ecuador.

My colleague Sergej said in the brainstorming session that even if we lose never mind but let’s try something innovative. We decided to cook Go Cheese with Strawberry sauce with it. In addition to that we made Chicken, Shrimps and mushroom. It was so much fun wearing Chef Aprons, cooking gloves and it’s a perfect team building exercise. The results were based on the tastiness of the food, cleanliness, team work and presentation of the food. In the end our team emerged as winners and we were presented with a bottle of wine from California and 100$ gift card from Chinese restaurant. I think Go Cheese with Strawberry sauce did the trick for us.

Followed by this cooking competition was a nice buffet and we chilled around in the golf playing area for some time. Then comes an interesting sport ‘Soccer Golf’: hitting the ball with the leg but placing the Soccer ball inside the big Golf hole. We never noted down the points and we just played for fun by placing the ball inside the hole. The weather stayed absolutely fine and it was a perfect day for Soccer cum Golf. It was so much fun to drive the Golf cart between the flag sticks holes and drinking beer in between. All in all it was a day to remember and thanks to Werum for sponsoring such a team building event.

Cheers,
Sathish Kumar S