When I was younger, thanks to being a shy little kid, I used to take refuge in the kitchen under the pretext of helping Mom whenever guests came over to our house. My sister, the social butterfly, preferred to take on the task of entertaining the guests. As a result, I picked up quite a few kitchen tips like how to cut vegetables, how dishes looked in the intermediate stage of preparation etc. To this day, I am the official taster in my house and in relatives' houses. I can always tell when "something" is missing in a dish and adjustments can be suitably made.
Despite these forays into the kitchen, I did not know any actual cooking. I learnt to make exactly two things - tea and rasam (I once made killer rasam which made my granny appreciatively sigh "Get some gold bangles for the hands which made this divine rasam" (nah I did not actually get the bangles :-()) - these dishes being two of my most favorite things to drink/eat.
Life went on this way till I was thrust into the role of head-chef at home for a few days when in college. Though I acquitted myself reasonably okay then, other than sporadically trying out some exotic recipe from some magazine (this was before the days of food-blogs) I never voluntarily cooked.
All this changed once I moved to the US for grad school. Obviously, there was no mom around to place plates filled with piping hot food in front of me. If I wanted to eat, *I* had to cook (or persuade a room-mate to cook for me).
For the first time in my life, I began to appreciate just how much effort cooking involved. I mentally cursed myself for all the times back home when I had whined, "Not idli for dinner again", "this dosa is not hot enough, can I get one off the stove", "Aaargh, do I have to have left-over sambhar" and so on. I especially hated the clean up and doing dishes that the end of every cooking session entailed. I decided that cooking was an annoying chore which I had to do.
When I moved out on my own once I started working, I cooked huge pots of food over the weekend which then served as lunch and dinner for the rest of the week. This got boring soon enough but I thought it was definitely preferable to slogging night after night in the kitchen.
But - during the weekend, I slowly started cooking different kinds of food - recipes from cookbooks, recipes from mom, cravings that had to satisfied RIGHT NOW and so on. Soon enough I realized that what was annoying to me was not the cooking. It was the cleaning part of it. Mincing, chopping, measuring spices, stirring and other essentials of cooking was something that I did not mind. Heck, I actually *liked* it.
The next time I went to India, I offered to cook a meal for my family. Though she had her doubts, mom agreed. My parents and sister were pleasantly surprised with the end result. Duh - did they really think their foodie daughter would have survived by herself for so long in the US if she was making inedible food?
In any case, these experiments with food gave me enough confidence to actually cook for relatives when they came to visit me in the US instead of whisking them straight to Saravana Bhavan or Udupi Palace which is my standard operating procedure for visitors. These relatives were amazed that I could cook. Seriously, I think once someone has seen you as a drooling baby, they assume that you will never grow up and do "adult" things like cooking, driving etc!
Last year, after S and me got hitched, I got a full time guinea-pig, er, appreciative recipient to test my cooking on.
If I am a foodie, S is a super foodie. Which works out great because S is a good cook (it is my theory that people who love food with a passion are typically good cooks as well). For the first few months of married life, we took turns outshining each other in the kitchen. This caused an unforeseen problem: within a couple of months, we had gained back all weight lost for the wedding plus some. Not good at all. So, the enthusiasm had to be curbed.
Nevertheless, with S being such an eager taster, I have become only too willing to experiment*. Not everyday - fixing daily meals still mostly bores me - but over the weekends I usually try my hand at a new recipe or two. And, I actually look forward to it**. Yup, I am discovering the cook in me.
*Of course, not every culinary end result is a spectacular success but the suspense about the final product is part of the fun.
** It helps that S is willing to do the dishes afterwards :-). I still hate that part.
Tuesday, April 27, 2010
Wednesday, April 14, 2010
Spotted
New kind of herb tea at work:
Am wondering if they are trying to send some kind of message here.
Am wondering if they are trying to send some kind of message here.
Wednesday, April 07, 2010
Clash of the Titans
Movie-makers seem to have been bitten by the 3D bug since Avatar happened. A slew of 3D movies are coming out these days. I have always found 3D movies to be a lot of fun since the first time I watched one (remember My dear kuttichatan? My mom still recalls both sis and me reaching out eagerly to grab ice-cream in one of the scenes).
Last weekend, S said that Clash of the Titans was out. Since the movie is mythology based with scope for plenty of monsters and CGI, we shelled out an extra 10 bucks for the 3D version of the movie as we thought it would be paisa-vasool*.
We had reached the theater at 11.00am for a 11.00am show. No problem - usually the trailers run for a good 20 minutes or so before the movie starts. We put on the dorky 3D glasses and settled down. When the movie started, the titles leapt out of the screen. Cool - this was going to be good!
The movie continued on its mythological way. After a while I realized that I could not see any 3D-ish effects even in the places where 3D effects should have been obvious - like a coin being flung towards the screen, a sword being pointed towards the audience etc. Was this really 3D or what? To validate my suspicion, I took off my 3D glasses and peered at the screen. Whereas for Avatar, the entire screen was kinda blurry when I took those glasses off, for Clash of the Titans, the movie continued being crystal-clear.
Aaaaargh! Evidently the movie makers had 3D-fied about 10 minutes of Clash of the Titans for the trailers and left the rest of the movie as is. Effectively, we had paid 10 extra bucks for a few minutes of watching fancy-looking titles.
Only after we returned home did I read on the Net that the movie had had 3D effects added after it had finished being shot. Essentially the producers had decided to cash in on the 3D-mania without actually spending much on it besides adding the words 3D to the title, and providing dorky glasses to the theatre patrons.
The movie itself was not too bad - an okay masala entertainer as movies in this genre usually are. Regardless, we felt cheated.
Flash news for the producers: Dorky glasses doth not a 3D-movie make.
*value for money
Last weekend, S said that Clash of the Titans was out. Since the movie is mythology based with scope for plenty of monsters and CGI, we shelled out an extra 10 bucks for the 3D version of the movie as we thought it would be paisa-vasool*.
We had reached the theater at 11.00am for a 11.00am show. No problem - usually the trailers run for a good 20 minutes or so before the movie starts. We put on the dorky 3D glasses and settled down. When the movie started, the titles leapt out of the screen. Cool - this was going to be good!
The movie continued on its mythological way. After a while I realized that I could not see any 3D-ish effects even in the places where 3D effects should have been obvious - like a coin being flung towards the screen, a sword being pointed towards the audience etc. Was this really 3D or what? To validate my suspicion, I took off my 3D glasses and peered at the screen. Whereas for Avatar, the entire screen was kinda blurry when I took those glasses off, for Clash of the Titans, the movie continued being crystal-clear.
Aaaaargh! Evidently the movie makers had 3D-fied about 10 minutes of Clash of the Titans for the trailers and left the rest of the movie as is. Effectively, we had paid 10 extra bucks for a few minutes of watching fancy-looking titles.
Only after we returned home did I read on the Net that the movie had had 3D effects added after it had finished being shot. Essentially the producers had decided to cash in on the 3D-mania without actually spending much on it besides adding the words 3D to the title, and providing dorky glasses to the theatre patrons.
The movie itself was not too bad - an okay masala entertainer as movies in this genre usually are. Regardless, we felt cheated.
Flash news for the producers: Dorky glasses doth not a 3D-movie make.
*value for money
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
I can't think of an apt title
These days, what with women's lib and everything, the old adage, "Behind every successful man is a woman" is slowly taking on a new avatar: "Behind every successful woman is a man". Still, I found this bio-profile of the Consul General of India in San Francisco, Susmita Thomas, totally hilarious.
Slightly self-trumpety as it sounds, I have no issues whatsoever with the first three paragraphs. But what on earth are the last three paragraphs doing in the Consul-General's profile? The description about her husband Ravi's achievements is even longer than her own! This chap is in no way related to the Indian Embassy other than being the Consul General's husband. How is what he did, is doing and going to do even relevant in this context? Perhaps this is how Susmita is supposed to show her loyalty to her husband - don't know! Aaaargh!
This brings me to another question: am I the only one who finds the practice of women doctors in India identifying themselves Dr. (Mrs.) Female DoctorName on name-boards odd? How many male doctors are there who have the compulsive need to identify themselves as married by saying something like this: Dr. Male DoctorName (married) on their name-boards?
Slightly self-trumpety as it sounds, I have no issues whatsoever with the first three paragraphs. But what on earth are the last three paragraphs doing in the Consul-General's profile? The description about her husband Ravi's achievements is even longer than her own! This chap is in no way related to the Indian Embassy other than being the Consul General's husband. How is what he did, is doing and going to do even relevant in this context? Perhaps this is how Susmita is supposed to show her loyalty to her husband - don't know! Aaaargh!
This brings me to another question: am I the only one who finds the practice of women doctors in India identifying themselves Dr. (Mrs.) Female DoctorName on name-boards odd? How many male doctors are there who have the compulsive need to identify themselves as married by saying something like this: Dr. Male DoctorName (married) on their name-boards?
Monday, March 29, 2010
New look
Finally, I tried out the new Blogger template designer. It is so much easier to change the various elements of the blogger page. Thus, in about 15 minutes of picking and choosing, my blog has got a new look. Sweet! Though I usually avoid it in interest of speedy loading, this time round I could not resist picking a background picture.
Do hop on over and let me know what you think. For the lazy ones, here is a screenshot of "The New Look":
Do hop on over and let me know what you think. For the lazy ones, here is a screenshot of "The New Look":
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Vidathu Karuppu
Last week S discovered all the episodes of the Vidathu Karuppu television series on some website online. If you recall, Vidathu Karuppu (VK) is part two of the thrilling Marma Desam stories penned by Indra Soundarajan. VK was telecast on Sun TV more than a dozen years ago. It was one of the very few TV series that I watched regularly. I still remember waiting eagerly every Thursday night 9.00pm for the next episode of VK.
So when S asked if I was interested in re-watching it, it took very little thinking on my part to say yes. Other than remembering the climax, I recalled nothing whatsover of the series. So we started watching it. And I realized all over again as to why I was so attracted towards the series.
Each episode is divided into scenes from the past and the present - both these parts are rivetingly done and more often than not, end in an event which leaves you with burning curiosity as to what happened next.
Needless to say, S and me were completely hooked. The main advantage we had was that we just had to click on the next button to see the next episode instead of having to wait a whole week to know what happened (man, it must have been excruciating back then to wait for a entire week - and even more exasperating to see a a few minutes of recap every week when that time could have been used to move the story further). The downside was that we were completely addicted.
On Sunday we finally finished watching the series (ya in one week we watched all 84 episodes of it and yup while working full time and everything). The series was as satisfying as ever. We are still discussing the nuances and we kinda miss the characters now - addiction withdrawal symptoms I guess. I wonder how come such thrilling serials no longer get made in Tamil these days. Instead we have these sob-fests called mega serials which go on for years together. Ugh.
Another thing I liked while watching VK was seeing how naturally the various characters were dressed. But I wondered at the protaganist Reena's clothes. She mostly wore extremely loose tops and jeans/skirts or tent-like salwar kameezes. She was supposed to be a modern young woman from Chennai - so why was she wearing such ill-fitting clothes? Then I realized with a pang - that's exactly how most "normal" Chennai girls used to dress back then. Including me. *blush*. Oh well, you live and you learn, no?
If you know Tamil, Vidathu Karuppu is a must watch series. It has aged well with time and is as gripping now as it was more than a dozen years ago.
p.s. do you know if DVDs of good Tamil serials are available for sale?
So when S asked if I was interested in re-watching it, it took very little thinking on my part to say yes. Other than remembering the climax, I recalled nothing whatsover of the series. So we started watching it. And I realized all over again as to why I was so attracted towards the series.
Each episode is divided into scenes from the past and the present - both these parts are rivetingly done and more often than not, end in an event which leaves you with burning curiosity as to what happened next.
Needless to say, S and me were completely hooked. The main advantage we had was that we just had to click on the next button to see the next episode instead of having to wait a whole week to know what happened (man, it must have been excruciating back then to wait for a entire week - and even more exasperating to see a a few minutes of recap every week when that time could have been used to move the story further). The downside was that we were completely addicted.
On Sunday we finally finished watching the series (ya in one week we watched all 84 episodes of it and yup while working full time and everything). The series was as satisfying as ever. We are still discussing the nuances and we kinda miss the characters now - addiction withdrawal symptoms I guess. I wonder how come such thrilling serials no longer get made in Tamil these days. Instead we have these sob-fests called mega serials which go on for years together. Ugh.
Another thing I liked while watching VK was seeing how naturally the various characters were dressed. But I wondered at the protaganist Reena's clothes. She mostly wore extremely loose tops and jeans/skirts or tent-like salwar kameezes. She was supposed to be a modern young woman from Chennai - so why was she wearing such ill-fitting clothes? Then I realized with a pang - that's exactly how most "normal" Chennai girls used to dress back then. Including me. *blush*. Oh well, you live and you learn, no?
If you know Tamil, Vidathu Karuppu is a must watch series. It has aged well with time and is as gripping now as it was more than a dozen years ago.
p.s. do you know if DVDs of good Tamil serials are available for sale?
Thursday, March 18, 2010
Faith
While driving to work this morning, I was hearing NPRs broadcast about the latest series of allegations of child abuse against priests in the catholic church. These priests are supposed to be people in God's service and they behaved worse than animals! Even more disgusting is the fact that their higher ups actually tried to protect the predators instead of stripping them of their titles and kicking them right out of their community. How will people continue to have faith in a religious institution if they know that even the most vulnerable and innocent members of it have no safety?
Not long ago, another of those Hindu Con men, sorry God-men, in India got exposed for what he was - a greedy, lustful charlatan. This is not the first time this is happening. Religious and spiritual figureheads being caught doing immoral, illegal and criminal activities is something which happens in India with even greater regularity than the coming of summer. In fact, the more I read such news, the more I wonder every time I hear about a new God-man or spiritual guru, as to when exactly that person will be found to be a fraud as well.
Given that such news has become a fact of daily life, I have never been able to look up to a religious or spiritual figurehead. Since childhood, I have always strongly felt that my religious faith and my spiritual inclination is something intensely personal between me and the supernatural force that I believe guides the universe. I do not need a "broker" to talk to God or a spiritual guru (the very term spiritual guru sets my fraud alarm bells ringing) to guide me onto the path of truth or whatever, thank you very much. Really, I cannot see what makes someone else, who is just as human as I am, closer to a higher power or more blessed or more divine because they claim that is so.
However, there are plenty of people, not necessarily illiterate or uneducated who totally believe in their gurus no matter what anyone else says. I was seeing a rather disgusting interview on the internet the other day where the fraudster Swami was giving some cock and bull story as to why he was inculpable and the interviewer was actually looking at him like he believed every word was true! Whoever came up with the phrase "blinded by faith" knew what they were talking about.
I guess for every hundred fraudster gurus out there, there might be a genuine guru. But if you were so enlightened and free of the materialistic world, why would you encourage people idolizing you and worshiping you as God? Isn't renunciation of all worldly wants the first step towards a "pure" life?
However, as I said, faith is something which is intensely personal and I have no interest in questioning other people's choices and beliefs especially since I get annoyed when people question mine. Live and let live without causing any harm to anyone is my motto.
Still, it does not stop me from feeling anger at the gullibility, naivete and faith of people which enables the fraudsters, every time such an expose happens.
Not long ago, another of those Hindu Con men, sorry God-men, in India got exposed for what he was - a greedy, lustful charlatan. This is not the first time this is happening. Religious and spiritual figureheads being caught doing immoral, illegal and criminal activities is something which happens in India with even greater regularity than the coming of summer. In fact, the more I read such news, the more I wonder every time I hear about a new God-man or spiritual guru, as to when exactly that person will be found to be a fraud as well.
Given that such news has become a fact of daily life, I have never been able to look up to a religious or spiritual figurehead. Since childhood, I have always strongly felt that my religious faith and my spiritual inclination is something intensely personal between me and the supernatural force that I believe guides the universe. I do not need a "broker" to talk to God or a spiritual guru (the very term spiritual guru sets my fraud alarm bells ringing) to guide me onto the path of truth or whatever, thank you very much. Really, I cannot see what makes someone else, who is just as human as I am, closer to a higher power or more blessed or more divine because they claim that is so.
However, there are plenty of people, not necessarily illiterate or uneducated who totally believe in their gurus no matter what anyone else says. I was seeing a rather disgusting interview on the internet the other day where the fraudster Swami was giving some cock and bull story as to why he was inculpable and the interviewer was actually looking at him like he believed every word was true! Whoever came up with the phrase "blinded by faith" knew what they were talking about.
I guess for every hundred fraudster gurus out there, there might be a genuine guru. But if you were so enlightened and free of the materialistic world, why would you encourage people idolizing you and worshiping you as God? Isn't renunciation of all worldly wants the first step towards a "pure" life?
However, as I said, faith is something which is intensely personal and I have no interest in questioning other people's choices and beliefs especially since I get annoyed when people question mine. Live and let live without causing any harm to anyone is my motto.
Still, it does not stop me from feeling anger at the gullibility, naivete and faith of people which enables the fraudsters, every time such an expose happens.
Thursday, March 11, 2010
Tuesday, March 02, 2010
Bullet points
- The key to enjoying restaurant food is to never look up its nutritional information. Recently we ate at PF Changs and when we got home I looked up the calories in the sesame chicken bowl I had. Turns out it was 525 calories per serving and apparently the plate had *two* servings in it. So I had had a whopping 1050 calories for lunch and this was not even counting the appetizer and the soup. Gaaaaah! I am so not going to look up restaurant calorie information henceforth.
- Watched Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya. I liked the low keyed tone of the movie and the very down-to-earth, real-life dialogs, settings and clothes. Even the clothes in the dream song-sequences was something which "normal" people could wear. I enjoyed the movie though I thought the second half dragged a bit and I was not totally satisfied with the turn of events. Another outcome of watching this movie was me actually being able to stand (and maybe even *like*) the hitherto extremely annoying Simbu. Also, though I had not heard the entire soundtrack of the movie before (really) I thought the songs, though forcibly inserted in some places, sounded good on screen and have now downloaded them to hear them through.
- Is Karthik the most happening name for movie-heroes? Off the top of my head, I remember that the heroes in Alaipayuthey, Mozhi and now, Vinnaithandi Varuvaya were called Karthik. Or is it because Karthik is a very common Tam name? I had three classmates named Karthik in undergrad and have three cousins named Karthik. Don't know. I can only be happy that Babu/Bharani or some such name did not catch the fancy of movie-makers.*
- I have become a big fan of guacamole. I found this recipe which is so easy to make and yummy as well. Avocado being made of plenty of good stuff, it is a total win-win situation I say!
* I have nothing against people named Babu or Bharani. Just that I hate those names for no reason.
- Watched Vinnaithaandi Varuvaya. I liked the low keyed tone of the movie and the very down-to-earth, real-life dialogs, settings and clothes. Even the clothes in the dream song-sequences was something which "normal" people could wear. I enjoyed the movie though I thought the second half dragged a bit and I was not totally satisfied with the turn of events. Another outcome of watching this movie was me actually being able to stand (and maybe even *like*) the hitherto extremely annoying Simbu. Also, though I had not heard the entire soundtrack of the movie before (really) I thought the songs, though forcibly inserted in some places, sounded good on screen and have now downloaded them to hear them through.- Is Karthik the most happening name for movie-heroes? Off the top of my head, I remember that the heroes in Alaipayuthey, Mozhi and now, Vinnaithandi Varuvaya were called Karthik. Or is it because Karthik is a very common Tam name? I had three classmates named Karthik in undergrad and have three cousins named Karthik. Don't know. I can only be happy that Babu/Bharani or some such name did not catch the fancy of movie-makers.*
- I have become a big fan of guacamole. I found this recipe which is so easy to make and yummy as well. Avocado being made of plenty of good stuff, it is a total win-win situation I say!
* I have nothing against people named Babu or Bharani. Just that I hate those names for no reason.
Friday, February 26, 2010
Weekend
When the alarm rang this morning, my sleep-addled brain wondered why on earth I had set the alarm on a Saturday morning. Then I slowly realized that today was only Friday. Then began to wonder what happened to yesterday's Friday. And then - okay, as you can see, I was totally confused and annoyed that it was not Saturday today. On the brighter side, today is Friday which means tomorrow is Saturday. Which is far better than waking up thinking it is a Saturday only to realize that it is *Monday* (that has happened to me as well - that week correspondingly seemed to be the longest of my life).
I think it was only after I got to the U.S. that this concept of weekend being a BIG thing was introduced to me. I mean, I liked in weekends in India as well (other than that awesome year of my life when I disliked weekends because I could not hang out at school with my friends). However, since I was going to school/college back then, besides going out, weekends also usually meant catching up on pending school/college work. Also, no matter how much you try, such work always runs as a background process in your mind.
One of the best things I like about working life is that it is possible (at least most of the time) to completely detach yourself from work once you step away from the office. Which is why I think weekends take on a special significance as it is a complete break from the daily grind. On weekends, you can sleep better, eat better, be vetti better and the possibilities to relax seem almost endless. That is, until Sunday evening rolls around and you wonder where on earth all that time went to!
Grad school was when I first started chanting the TGIF mantra. Our department even used to host TGIF parties every Friday! My friends and I were a relaxed bunch and most weekends meant renting out a car and going somewhere, mostly to hike or camp. Of course this meant doing night-outers on other days so we could catch up on course work but hey, weekends spent doing nothing were a criminal waste of time, no? I still remember my parents worriedly hinting that they thought their daughter had gone abroad mainly to be a wanderer until I sent them my grade sheet and quelled their fears!
Though I remember doing this in childhood as well, grad school was when this "got to do something on weekends" and "got to travel for long weekends" concept got permanently embedded in my psyche. Thus, now, weekends are treated special and long weekends are treated specialer. So much so, a weekend where I don't put a foot outside the house sometimes becomes a treat in itself!
Luckily, S has turned out to be an even more enthusiastic chanter of the TGIF mantra than me. So now our household has two ardent members of the "Go Weekend!" brigade. I have no idea what we are planning to do this weekend. Still, am mighty glad it is Friday today. TGIF, folks!
I think it was only after I got to the U.S. that this concept of weekend being a BIG thing was introduced to me. I mean, I liked in weekends in India as well (other than that awesome year of my life when I disliked weekends because I could not hang out at school with my friends). However, since I was going to school/college back then, besides going out, weekends also usually meant catching up on pending school/college work. Also, no matter how much you try, such work always runs as a background process in your mind.
One of the best things I like about working life is that it is possible (at least most of the time) to completely detach yourself from work once you step away from the office. Which is why I think weekends take on a special significance as it is a complete break from the daily grind. On weekends, you can sleep better, eat better, be vetti better and the possibilities to relax seem almost endless. That is, until Sunday evening rolls around and you wonder where on earth all that time went to!
Grad school was when I first started chanting the TGIF mantra. Our department even used to host TGIF parties every Friday! My friends and I were a relaxed bunch and most weekends meant renting out a car and going somewhere, mostly to hike or camp. Of course this meant doing night-outers on other days so we could catch up on course work but hey, weekends spent doing nothing were a criminal waste of time, no? I still remember my parents worriedly hinting that they thought their daughter had gone abroad mainly to be a wanderer until I sent them my grade sheet and quelled their fears!
Though I remember doing this in childhood as well, grad school was when this "got to do something on weekends" and "got to travel for long weekends" concept got permanently embedded in my psyche. Thus, now, weekends are treated special and long weekends are treated specialer. So much so, a weekend where I don't put a foot outside the house sometimes becomes a treat in itself!
Luckily, S has turned out to be an even more enthusiastic chanter of the TGIF mantra than me. So now our household has two ardent members of the "Go Weekend!" brigade. I have no idea what we are planning to do this weekend. Still, am mighty glad it is Friday today. TGIF, folks!
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