Christmas cake mixing with Madhura Naik at the Westin

Click on the pic to view slideshow Festivities are in the air and as we near the end of the year, Christmas and New Year’s Eve are the major celebrations we look forward to. But not many of us know that there is one more interesting and exciting event and that is the Cake Mixing ceremony which many 5 star hotels conduct nearly a month before Christmas. To participate in this internationally observed ritual, I asked Madhura Naik, the Face of UTV Bindass, the feisty Tee of Pyaar Kii Yeh Ek Kahaani (PKYEK) and the activist of Shapath, to join me in the cake mixing at The Westin Mumbai Garden City and partake of the exotic lunch at their Italian restaurant, Prego. The actor was smartly attired in jeans and a black georgette shirt. We were welcomed by The Westin team and offered Bailey’s Irish cream as a welcome drink. After I introduced Madhura to the dynamic AGM of The Westin Hotel and my dear friend Anuraag Bhatnagar, we were in for a surprise. The lobby sported several glass stands covered with colorful cloths and Madhura was escorted to unveil them. To everyone’s utter amazement, each glass case revealed chocolate caricatures of animals and cartoon characters, thereby launching the Chocolicious Festival the hotel was putting up for the festive season. The actor, seen in Star Plus’ Iss Pyaar Ko Kya Naam Doon, loved the chocolates as she said, “I am sweet-toothed and a chocolate person.” We were then lead by Executive Chef Ajay Chopra and others to a section where heaps of nuts, cherries, tutti-fruitti, glazed cherries, cashews, dry fruits interspersed with bottles of rum, whiskey, wines and other liquors adorned a long trolley. Soon we donned aprons, chef’s hat and gloves and got ready to play our parts in the annual Christmas Cake Mixing ceremony, as it is called. Madhura was thrilled at the sight and even tasted a couple of cherries. At the chef’s behest, everyone started mixing the fruits while pouring the spirits generously on to them. Madura enjoyed the experience as she wetted her gloved hands into mixing the ingredients for the Christmas cake. We were invited for lunch at restaurant Prego and I got talking with the perky actor. It was after she did a music video that Ekta (Kapoor) spotted and offered her the role (PKYEK). Japanese is her fave cuisine, and a hardcore non-vegetarian, she has done a course in digital animation. Furthermore, fashion is her passion. “All the clothes I wore in PKEYK were from my personal collection and I never repeated any of them,” she revealed while I wondered how her wardrobe must overflow with designer wear. We were served bruschettas, pizzas, cannelloni and lasagna that we polished with a relish. Accompanying the eats was Sangria and after first refusing to have wine, Madhura finally relinquished. Prego is a brightly done-up fine dine Italian restaurant with an open interactive kitchen and a tempting dessert counter displaying gelatos. It also extends to the alfresco dining area. I queried her about Karan Kundra whom she is dating but that’s for another time since Madhura with her VVIP pass had to rush to town for the Sunburn event where the international dance music trio Swedish House Mafia concert was slated to entertain a 45 thousand music loving crowd (which got canned later due to Balasaheb Thackeray’s death). So then it was bye but not before Pooja Vaswaney from The Westin presented us with an attractive goodie hamper. A nice day with positive vibes that The Westin always exudes, I took leave promising to come back soon!