2020 Birthday | Lockdown Party | Happy Quarantine

Happiness delivered to our home, courtesy: JW Marriott, Delhi

In these challenging times, the 'normal' as we knew it, has been thrown for a toss and hanging out with friends, heading to the pubs, dancing until the feet hurt, family holidays, celebrating milestones, victories, birthdays -  all have been relegated to memories of distant past, a throwback reservoir, from where we all are stingily sneaking our essential-to-survive-doses-of-happiness. And while we are waiting and hoping for this craziness to end sooner than soon, to wake up to the day when we will no longer have to grapple with the restrictions imposed by this global pandemic; for now the sad reality is, it's getting tougher to navigate through the no-highs and all-lows of existing times.

Post lockdown, 2020 Birthday is no more a day to look forward to!

The joyous moments are all about having fun, celebrating with your loved ones...probably that's what gave birth to the term- "the more the merrier", but coronavirus outbreak has put a screeching halt to all of it with a 180 degree U-turn - no friends, no parties and especially a big NO to 'the more the merrier'!!
Could there then be even the remotest possibility of celebrating your loved one's birthday in style, let alone make it a memorable one?
A week ago, facing the very same question, I was in a major dilemma, what to do, to make my daughter feel special on her birthday! Running into our 12th week of lockdown, initially imposed by the government and now a self-imposed one, for the safety of my vulnerable eighty-two-year-old mother-in-law, what should I do to bring some sunshine into otherwise bleak days? In the absence of her friends, their effervescence, if only there was some way to switch on the cheerful-celebratory mode and dispel the gloom of isolation! I was desperately looking for some way to convert the more-often-than-wanted low vibes to a sustainable-high-for-a-long-time! haha..Big wishes in these times but I'd read somewhere, "Shoot for the moon. Even if you miss, you'll land among the stars.”
Not that my dotty had asked for anything or was expecting any surprises but you know, how a 'mommy's heart' thinks and to see that sparkle in her eyes, I set on to actually pull off an elaborate ten-course meal (Italian, it being her favorite) by myself! I jotted down a few of her favorites, surfed for the recipes, noted the ingredients I needed, and approached my son to take me to Khan-Market for the birthday dinner shopping. (post lockdown, even the basic ingredients for our day-today cooking are not available in our vicinity, that is when I'm residing in Punjabi Bagh, one of the decent localities of West Delhi.)
But the CoViD scare is too real and too hard to wade through so trip to Khan Market was outrightly rejected both by my hubby and sonny dear! Seeing my unduly long and sullen face, my son tried to cheer me up saying, "mom, just not possible to get the spinach & ricotta ravioli 'right' in your first try" and that sucked! Terribly to say the least!

But then, it was him only who came up with this brilliant idea, to bring in the birthday with few home-cooked simple Asian flavors with a complimenting cake and a good wine and for the next day, he'll help me execute my planned menu but sourced from outside. The next big question was, in these tough times, who fitted the bill to deliver delectable delights, taking care of the hygiene of the highest order in terms of, cooking, packing, and delivering.

Well, with some smart thinking, a little ingenuity, and the perfect use of availing JW Marriott's service of 'delivering happiness to home', we could tick almost all of the boxes - from the copious cake to bottomless glasses of wine to a specially curated Italian menu with help and suggestions from JW Marriott's beverage head, Ian Sedwell.
Initiating a 'lockdown birthday party' to be just a delizioso dinner done in style, we ended up having a bella notte not to be forgotten anytime soon or maybe, a beautiful lockdown memory to be remembered for lifetime!!!

There were bags and boxes loaded with seven-course Italian meal starting from aperitoves to antipasto, moving on from primo to secondo, not to forget the insalata and artisan formagie replete with an awesome dolce; all delivered in style in Marriott’s chauffeur-driven black car accompanied by an executive!! 

And therein lies the reason for penning this post under 'Eating Out' because, in the comfort of our very home, we could create, five-star like fine dining experience, courtesy: Marriott On Wheels.

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2020 Birthday | Lockdown Party | Happy Quarantine

Extremely immaculate and impressive packing. Care taken to deliver the accompanying condiments right down to the tiniest detail!!

Selection of artisan cheeses, crackers, whole wheat bread, condiments, pickles, Cajun walnuts, roasted almonds, prunes, dried apricots, olives, and a whole lot…

Semi baked, stuffed focaccia ready to go in the oven…

Pizza Parmigiana - sundried tomatoes, fried eggplant, onion, ricotta, mozzarella
Pizza Pepperoni with smoked provolone and ricotta cheese

Loaded with freshness, very Italian-y, Classic Caprese!

For the mains there were:
Lamb Lasagne
Spinach and Ricotta Ravioli
Carbonara Spaghetti (pork sausage)
Penne Rosa
Milanese Risotto with saffron and aged Italian risotto

The ‘happily ever after’ was Classic Tiramisu where the ladyfingers were oozing rum!
Another surprise awaited Guzz...an ornamental mango cake bedecked with gold flakes, pistachios and flavorful truffles dropped here and there, a beautiful gift by her bestie, Aishi, and this too was courtesy: Marriott; another speciality of theirs.

For finale, we lingered over a perfect double espresso straight from my son’s Nespresso !!!

Standing true to its tagline, Marriott delivered much more than it had promised - happiness not till our doorsteps but right down to our hearts!!

If you have a special date marked in your calendar and you are absolutely clueless how to create those ‘special celebration vibes’ in these not so normal times, let Marriott On Wheels take over and watch the magic roll…
Trust me, you can never go wrong with this choice!
All you need to do is, pick up your phone and dial - 9999785258: ROHIT SHARMA (head of market).
It’s as simple as that to make it a day to remember for your loved ones. :)

And now a glimpse into ‘a small something’ we did, to bring in the ‘big-day’—
Red wine, few starters prepared at home and for finale, the best ever, Hummingbird Cake!!

I had prepared:
Thai Raw Mango Salad
Cheesy baby spinach & mushroom triangles with cilantro & basil dip
Chicken skewers with peanut dip
Chicken khao-suey with accompanying condiments and Sticky Rice

And keeping in tune with the asian flavors, we ordered a deliciously tender, amazingly moist, layered cake packed full of tropical flavours - the bananas, the pineapple, the spices and loaded with tons of nutty pecans from Ave Maria!!!!