Why does the last piece always taste the best?

That last slice of pizza. That last piece of cake. That last sandwich. That last piece of chocolate. Or even that piece of 'not so interesting' banana bread. 

All these have one major thing in common.

They all taste so much better than that original 'whole' portion.

               The last slice

According to new research, our brains may be wired to remember the end of an experience more warmheartedly than the beginning. Actually, humans may be hardwired to view the “last” as “best,” according to a Huffington Post article about new research published in the journal Psychological Science. 

 Phoebe Ellsworth, PhD, and Ed O'Brien, two scientists from the University of Michigan, were interested in whether we remember the end of an experience more fondly than the beginning and middle parts. Why were those final nibbles savoured more than the others? 

Simply identifying the ‘last piece' of chocolate as the ‘last’ made eating it more positive, and this emotion coloured global judgments of enjoyment,explained Wray Herbert, Phd, on Huffington Post. 

 So there you have it, that key word, is "last." 

Effectively, it sets off alarm transmitters inside the brain and the human being reacts differently .ie convinces himself that the 'last" piece is definitely better than ( all) the previous ones. 

 Try it out for yourself and you will see that it really does work that way. As for me, I really don't need much thinking on this. You see, the reason that I decided to write this piece is that I'm totally convinced. That last piece certainly tastes much better!

Magical Moments on a beautiful Spring afternoon- The Pinewood Cafe, Barog- My video on You Tube

Its Spring in the hills and my husband Avi and I have decided to spend some time in beautiful Himachal Pradesh- a state that we come back to time and again. Each season has its own special charm and there is something new to discover and enjoy every time we come.

En route to Himachal, we definitely make a stop at a beautiful little cafe in Barog. Called The Pinewood Cafe, it has everything one could ask for and then some! Apart from from their very special coffee and mushrooms on toast, it has the best possible range of flowers that one could think of.

So this time, we were greeted by a veritable sea of poppies - large, red and very beautiful. Then there were more flowers, including one called Paper/Tissue flowers, very unique and very beautiful-Something you really have to see to believe. Check out the video I've posted here and you will know exactly what I mean.

More Himachal stories unfold as the days go by so stay tuned folks and let me know what you thought..  

. 

The Chocolate Room Muscat-Revisited

Any good restaurant is definitely about more than the food. It has to have a total package, of which the front house service, the customer care and the efficiency of response to feedback rate very high on my list.In that context, some of you may recall my blog post on my first visit to The Chocolate Room Muscat a couple of months ago. While I had loved almost everything about the place, this is what I had to say about the coffee on that day.  

"The presentation looked great and must add, the tart tasted good too. However, call me fussy, but the coffee was another story. It wasn't anything like the Latte I'd been expecting. Of course, this wasn't my regular brand but to me the coffee tasted overly  sweet( in my book, sugar is never mixed in the cup before bringing to the customer). It also tasted nothing like coffee.

So when Vic came around to ask me if everything was OK, I promptly pointed that out. That was when I learnt that it was actually a Belgian chocolate concoction and that all their coffees have an element of that flavour. Must admit, I wish I'd known that earlier......."

Shortly after the blog post came up , I was pleasantly surprised to receive an e mail from  Jergen Enriquez, The Operations Manager at the Chocolate Room. 

"Thanks for visiting our cafe & trying out our menu! It was a pleasure to serve you and we look forward to do so again in the near future! :)

We are also thankful that you spared some time to give us your honest feedback which is very valuable for us.

It is great to know that you loved our ambience, food & service - we assure you that the standards will be maintained  at all times.

We noted your comments on your blog. We will assure that our staff will educate our guest when it comes to our products in our menu before taking the final order. 

I would like to know if it is possible to meet you or contact you so I can discuss our whole products and our specialty coffees available in our cafe

Chocolaty Regards

I thought that it was an extremely positive response to my comment and I found myself looking forward to my next visit to The Chocolate Room. As it happened that took quite a  while but let me say it was well worth the wait!

Last evening I found myself back there with a group of friends to  cclebrate the birthdays of three of the ladies and this time Jergen  was there to take us through the story of coffee in general as well as the Chocolate Room coffees in particular.

Jergen talks to us about Coffee

If I  told you all that we learnt about coffee from Jergen, I think I would need a couple of pages, so I will come straight to the point and show  you what we ordered. 

Cappuccinos and  latte -good old fashioned coffee which tasted even better than it looked

It was just past 6 pm and we decided to order a range of  coffees, crepes and open sandwiches followed by a chocolate  dessert and at the end of it were delighted with our choice. With the smiling Jojo to serve us and obligingly click photographs we enjoyed ourselves thoroughly for a couple of hours at the Chocolate Room. 

Would we go back there again? The answer - a unanimous Yes! 

You see we haven't even gone through a thirtieth of the wide ranging Chocolate Room Menu...

All of us- Clicked by Jojo

Open sandwiches- Great anytime treats

A triple chocolate dessert- Fabulous!

Thoughts on Approaching Autumn

Beautiful Mashobra

"There is a harmony in autumn, and a lustre in it's sky.
Which through the summer is not heard or seen.
As if it could not be, as if it had not been!" 

(Percy Bysshe Shelley)

And who would not agree?

Autumn- When summer leaves us, and we approach the year's end.

When the leaves on the trees start changing colour, and there is that very slight nip in the air...

Autumn in France

Or did we imagine it?

When sunsets become even more beautiful, and make us want to watch them just that much longer....

When we start debating, do we need to delve into our wardrobes again, for could winter really be far behind?

When a Caramel Machiatto with cinammon scones is just irresistible....

When festivities abound..... wherever you may be in the world.

When every photograph you take has just that "teeny weeny" sharper edge.....

And finally, as George Eliot once famously said, "Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns."