Thanks, Andy! That is so sweet of you! It seems like this holiday season is the flu season! I'm sure you know how horrid the stomach flu can be. I still can't wrap my head around the fact that 13 of us (my co-workers and I) out of a total of 20 people, fell ill at the same time, on the same day! On Monday, my dad fell ill with the Stomach flu. Then on Wednesday, it was my turn. I thought I recovered on Thursday (I felt like the symptoms had eased), but no such luck. I could barely make it through Friday and had to leave work at 3 PM. The office had reduced to 7 people when I left! Sheesh! And now, my poor mom is sick. My dad has since recovered and I am just limping along. I hope you and your loved ones are doing well. I'm glad you recovered from your illness! Do take care of yourself and stay warm, man! Don't let the flu get you!

Thanks, kipper! That means a lot. My family and I are experiencing a horrid bout of the Stomach Flu. On Friday, out of a total of 20 people, 12 of my co-workers called in sick and chose to work from home. Then, as the day wore on, I started to feel really ill. I couldn't eat lunch. I barely had any thing to eat for breakfast. I informed my boss and left work at around 3 PM. Be careful and take care of yourself, man! Don't let the flu get you. It's like folks all over the world, are sick with the flu!

Sunny but cold.

My entire family falling ill during the Christmas period.

Oh, what the hell...I love this movie so much and I'm now watching it again, tonight! It's right up there with my absolute favourites.

Ahhhh!!! My favourite band in the whole wide world and my favourite tipple! Life doesn't get any better than this!!

Well, after objectively lending my ears to and familiarizing myself with this brilliant band's entire discography, my top 5 albums are: 2112 Moving Pictures Caress of Steel Counterparts Vapor Trails : Remixed Edited to add: I must say that compiling this list, was one of the hardest things that I've ever had to do!

Bad Santa!

Yeah, my brain is a jukebox!

Jesus Christ! Andrew Sachs has also died this year?! Fuck!!! Manuel was hilarious! One of my favourite characters in Fawlty Towers! As it is, I was feeling so bloody cut up about the death of Bernard Fox. What a perfect moment to find out about Andrew Sachs! I found out about this just today, thanks to that horrific and creepy looking montage of 2016 (along the lines of the Sgt. Pepper album cover) that has been posted on this thread, of not only all the famous people who passed on, but of also Brexit and Trump's victory. Ugh!

Beautiful, yet so underrated

Sounds fabulous, CP! Enjoy!

Dinner tonight: Piping hot Sambar (a Southern Indian lentil based vegetable broth), Dalia, Green Beans and Cauliflower Curry, plenty of Salad and curd (suck it, rain gods!!).

Horribly rainy and cold, all thanks to the after-effects from that bloody cyclone that pounded Madras, last night! Ugh! Had to actually stay home from work today, because of excessive flooding in my neighbourhood!

Speaking of veggies: My favourite vegetables are: Cabbage, Cauliflower, Green Beans, Onion (thanks to having salad with my dinner, nearly every day), Capsicum, Okra, Eggplant, Spinach and Broccoli My least favourite vegetables are: Kumara (Sweet Potato), Beetroot, Sugar Snap Peas, Pumpkin and Carrot I did not include Tomato in the list of my favourite vegetables (I was so tempted to!!) as apparently, it's a fruit!

I couldn't possibly agree with you more, CP! I love my fruits and veggies, too and I just can't imagine life without these! You can (as you very rightly pointed out), rustle up something simple, yet delicious with the help of a few basic ingredients.

My dad and I eat practically everything, CP. Chicken. Lamb, Seafood....you name it. My mom on the other hand, is a vegetarian. She can eat egg based dishes though (she especially loves cheese omelettes) , but that's about as far as she'll go. There are non-vegetarian Italian restaurants here in Bangalore, but we chose Little Italy, so that my mom in no way, felt excluded on her special day!

Thanks guys! It was such a wonderful evening! Double the birthday celebrations, double the fun (so glad my mom's birthday is the next day after mine!) You guys are absolutely right. Cheese Fondue is indeed from Switzerland. But interestingly, there is a variant of Cheese Fondue called Italian Cheese Fondue. The difference between the Swiss dish and what my folks and I feasted on that night, is the fact that rather than using a type of Swiss cheese like Gruyère (for instance), various types of Italian cheese such as Mozzarella, Fontina, Provolone, Romano, Parmesan or Asiago (or a mixture of these, if one's feeling particularly adventurous ) can be used in place of Swiss cheese. The chef had used a combination of Fontina and Parmesan cheese that night, to prepare the cheese fondue! Here is the closest recipe that I could find to what the chef prepared at the restaurant that night: http://www.vegetariantimes.com/recipe/italian-fondue

This is just pure fuckin' gold!