Personalised Whiskey Glasses from Perfico - Or How to Please the Husband!

Every birthday I wonder what to get for the hubby and ever so often the birthday passes by with plenty of good food and celebration but no gift. This year too it was the same. And it left me feeling disappointed once again that I hadn't found anything interesting or perfect enough for my man, my rock, my best friend.

A month or so ago I saw an email from Perfico.com. The subject line mentioned gifting and out of curiosity I had a look. A quick browse through the email and then through their website and I was caught. He'd sent me links to his range of personalised whiskey, champagne, and wine glasses.

As I looked at the various options the idea of having whiskey glasses with the hubby's initials etched on them looked more and more attractive. Here was something I thought would be appreciated by the Single Malt loving hubby. Not quite a birthday gift I know considering a few months had passed but why get technical?

I responded expressing my interest and in a week the postman rang my bell. The glasses were superbly packed in form fitting thermocole inside a sturdy cardboard box. As I took them out I was quite delighted to see the hubby's initials framed in a wreath perfectly positioned on the sides of the glasses. The glasses themselves are of good quality and very clear and the etching has survived a couple of washes in my dishwasher quite well. To be honest we've also been enjoying juice at breakfast time in these glasses.

Perfico has a massive range of personalised gift options and when I say massive I really mean it! Browse their website to find everything from personalised coffee mugs, beer mugs, wine glasses, etc., to aprons, passport holders, flip flops (!),  and much, much more. You can personalise the item of your choice with whatever writing you like including images. Impress the boss, woo a girl, say sorry to Mom, please the hubby, whatever is the need of the hour!

They're also offering free shipping across India.

Disclaimer: The product was sent by Perfico, not purchased by me.

The IFB Neptune VX Dishwasher - A Review

Finding domestic help in Kharghar has been an endless nightmare and I finally decided to end the trauma and get myself a dishwasher. It's another matter that I ended up rebuilding the kitchen to accommodate it but at the end of the day, I'm glad I did.

The Buying Experience
Choosing a dishwasher should be simple. You walk into a shop, ask to see the dishwashers they have available, get a thorough walk through of the functions and options on a couple of short listed models, and finally pick one to be delivered home. The reality is nothing remotely close.

We went to Croma, Aarcee, and a couple of other shops only to find that they rarely even have a dishwasher on display. And if they do, don't expect them to have a clue about how it works. Granted dishwashers aren't selling like air conditioners and washing machines for laundry but if these shops made a better effort I'm sure they would.

The problem with buying online was two-fold. I didn't feel confident that I would have someone to turn to for any after sales issues, and secondly, how would I know which machine is out of date and what's the new one in the market.

Eventually, I asked on Facebook and I got a lot of genuine advice and useful information. I discovered that IFB has its own stores called IFB Point and there was one nearby, in Nerul. We went there to see if we could get a dishwasher that suited our needs and budget. What I liked best was how well informed the sales lady was. She knew the machine inside out, was able to answer every question that we had, and gave us a lot of sensible and practical information instead of a scripted sales pitch. This is where we discovered that a model we shortlisted earlier (having seen it online) had been discontinued by the company.

We finalised the IFB Neptune VX and placed our order. We paid INR 34,200 for it.

Delivery and Installation
Delivery was as prompt as promised and the machine arrived within 48 hours after payment. Installation took a little longer, to an extent delayed by the incessant rains in Mumbai at the start of the monsoons. Once the technician arrived and opened the packing we discovered that the machine was damaged, there was a big, deep crack on the top. The technician pointed it out to me, apologised for the damaged piece and said it would be replaced immediately.

I waited for a couple of days but there was no sign of the replacement. Finally the hubby called the showroom to enquire. Much to our surprise the showroom had no idea about the damaged machine or the replacement! However they assured us that the replacement would arrive within 24 hours, and it did. I expected that it would get installed within a day or so but that was not to be. Another few days passed and finally I went back to the showroom and asked what was going on. Frustrated with the lack of coordination between the showroom staff and their technical crew I said if it was not installed and functioning by the end of the next day I would personally bring the machine and leave it at their premises and they could refund my money.

Anyway, a technician arrived the following day and we finally had the machine installed. I had to call a plumber to install a different tap of a certain specification so that the dishwasher could be installed. It would have been a far easier experience if the company made sure that the technician had the requisite skills to change basic plumbing fittings OR if the company informed customers in advance that specific plumbing is required.

After installation the technician gave me a demo. He wasn't prepared to answer any questions and only wanted to recite his scripted run through of the functions and how tos.

The User Experience

It's about a month since the dishwasher is here and I can only say I am very happy to have it.

Like most people my first concern was with the oily vessels or those which had burned bits of food stuck in them. As with hand washing, I let the vessels soak for a while and then put them in the dishwasher. The results were quite impressive and in the case of one of my heavy bottomed frying pans I could see the original colour of the pan again!

Glassware comes out sparkling and if you have stubborn gummy patches on bottles from labels, the hot water and steam in the dishwasher takes care of it all.

Ceramics and china also get squeaky clean. I've seen an occasional food particle still on a plate or bowl but all it took was a rinse under the tap and it was gone. Not a big deal at all.

The machine cleans stainless steel very well, the hot water certainly seems to help the vessels come out really clean. There's no white film like you see from washing powders and cakes.

Though I have washed many of my wooden spoons and spatulas in the machine I won't do it frequently. I don't think the hot water and intensive cleaning is good for the wood.

Heavy vessels like pressure cookers, woks, frying pans etc fare very well in the dishwasher - no grease, no patches of food particles stuck to the sides, and of course, everything is cleaned inside and outside. No more reminding the maid to wash under plates, outside the pans, clean the handles, etc.

Do I recommend that you buy a dishwasher? Yes I do.

Do I recommend the IFB Neptune VX? I certainly do. In spite of the hiccups while installing, the machine has turned out to be a blessing and I am cooking more because I don't have to worry about piles of dirty dishes in the sink.

Marathon Bloggers

Choice Pork - A Pork-centric Enterprise from NE India

I received an invitation from Arohan Foods, the makers of the Choice Pork Natural range of products, to visit their Guwahati office and to sample a few of their products. What piqued my interest the most was that this company dealt exclusively with pork. Added to that was the fact that it was based in the NE and claimed to use fresh Indian ingredients only, sourced mainly from the North East. I asked the hubby if he would like to check them out and he eagerly agreed.

We found the office in what looked like a residential building and proceeded to go up. A bright and clean space, the first thing I noticed was a line of huge freezers. Just the thought of packets and packets of pork products sitting in there chilling made me happy :)

We were ushered into the office and introduced to Anabil Goswami, Head - Strategy and Business Development, who welcomed us very warmly. We settled down in his office for a long chat about Choice Pork Natural and of course, all their products. Anabil won me over in minutes. I asked him what made him start Choice Pork Natural and his answer was three magical words "I love pork". If you know me at all you know that these words are absolute music to my ears. It's why I started The Porkaholics on Facebook!

Anabil is one of three friends who got together to start Arohan Foods and launch Choice Pork Natural as a brand. He told me how they were particular about showcasing pork as the star and insisted on having the word pork in the brand name itself. There's no doubt that pork is not exactly the most popular meat in India and there are many biases against it.

Many of us also have misconceptions about the NE, it's people, the cultures, and how enterprising (or not) they are. Anabil and his partners wanted to change a few of these misconceptions and decided to set up a company that would sell its products across the nation - products from the NE, a brand from the NE, with ingredients sourced mainly from the NE, manufactured in the NE.

And thus, around three years ago they started Choice Pork Natural which is now available in Delhi, Mumbai, Navi Mumbai, Bangalore, and of course all over the NE states. I was really happy to find out that Hypercity stocks their products because that means I have easy access. They are also in talks with an online grocery chain so you might soon be able to order their products online.

As we talked about the company a parade of the products began to appear in front of us. Sausages, frankfurters, salami, mortadella, bacon, the parade was endless! And it was delicious.

Here are pictures of some of the stuff we ate-

Juicy porky sausages flavoured with allspice berries. These were just fantastic. Since these came out towards the beginning I greedily ate two forgetting about the goodies that were going to follow! We also had garlic flavoured sausages which we forgot to take pictures of.

The hubby loved these, I wasn't so impressed. But that's a personal taste thing and I have to say these were juicy and full of pork.

Lightly grilled slices of salami with bits of fat scattered in each slice making them juicy and delicious. Choice Pork Natural products are made with absolutely no fillers - there's pork meat, fat, salt and spices. No soya. And believe me, we could taste the difference.

As you can see there's a nice balance of meat and fat on these bacon strips. Compared to the bacon I've eaten so far I found these to be very low in salt. Now o one hand low salt is an excellent thing, but since we associate a salty taste with bacon I was a little confused with this one. It's excellent quality bacon though and I would love to make my bacon jam with this.

This belly roll was made on trial and launched only locally in Guwahati during Christmas and New Year. It was the best Indian processed pork product I have ever eaten and I cannot wait for it to be launched properly all over India. Can you just imagine these with a couple of fried eggs and toast for breakfast? Heaven on a plate!

Mortadella with pistachios! I love this combination and I'm really glad that there's an Indian company making it and doing a good job of it too!

You can see more about the products and where they're available on the Choice Pork Natural Facebook page

The visit to the Choice Pork Natural office in Guwahati was one of the highlights of our trip to Assam. We had plans of going out for lunch but after this smorgasbord of delicious pork in every avatar we just rolled back home!