Reminder!

Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash. Tazo better than Stash...........

On the other hand, nothing's better than home-made masala chai!

Jay, Golightly!

It's strange.

Every time I saw Audrey Hepburn drawl "darling" in Breakfast at Tiffany's, I imagined Jay Gatsby saying "old sport". So much in common, those two: the "real phony" escort and the bootlegger "worth the whole damned bunch put together". Their professions: damned, but their ideals: tinged with a childlike purity. Their lifestyles: lavish, but their dreams: simple. Their names: forged, but their identities: sacred.

Putting aside the obvious (somewhat nagging but not indulged in) issue of plagiarism, I ask: What did these two men (F. Scott Fitzgerald and Truman Capote) have in common that made them choose such similar themes, and then treat them in exactly the same manner?


P.S. Just saw Breakfast at Tiffany's ... I think the novel much better than the movie, Hepburn notwithstanding. I understand the Hays Code and all that, but it would have been much better left alone - especially minus 2E and the narrator's romance with Holly.

Spaghetti ... what?

It is amazing how many "new" produce items I find in the aisles at Jewel. They're all there, if we only know where to look. I was hunting for sweet potatoes for dinner (baked, with yogurt on the side ... ummm!!!) and stumbled upon an entire shelf filled with squash. Not zucchini or the little yellow summer squash - those I cook with all the time. These were the larger ones - acorn squash, butternuts, and the very interesting spaghetti squash.

Spaghetti squash, when cooked, tends to split into thin strands, much like angel hair pasta. I simply baked the entire squash (with skin) for a long long time :-) then removed the seeds from within. The squash is a mild yellow, on the outside and the inside. The skin is tough, but methinks much softer than our traditional "bhopla" pumpkin. The flesh inside is quite bland, which is a good thing, as it can be eaten as an exact substitute for the real angel hair pasta, marinara sauce and all! The flesh is lighter than bhopla flesh, but filling, so you don't need very much to make you happy. If you do, here's a thought: it is light on the calories too. And, as I discovered, it tastes great with the "traditional" pasta accompaniments!


The bowl on the left is the squash with a highly veggie-infused "quick" marinara sauce. I made the marinara with tomatoes (of course), green peppers (capsicum) and white sweet corn. A dash of dried herbs brings out all the flavors of the sauce. The bowl on the right ... well, that's somewhat of an inspiration. It is squash with "Summer's pretend but absolutely delicious (if I say so myself) pesto" with walnuts sprinkled on it. Notice I said, "pretend". It isn't pesto sauce at all. It is green coriander chutney in a little bit of yogurt topped with chopped walnuts. Where did I get the chutney from, you ask? I made it! I'd been craving Ma's chutney for a while, so I decided to make it myself. Coriander (cilantro) leaves, peanuts, grated coconut, green chillies, salt, sugar and lime juice. Did I miss anything, Mother?? (The list sounds about right, and the chutney tastes wonderful! I've made it before, but not for a long time now. I think it'll go great with my slice of bread for breakfast; give me a temporary break from bread and honey, not that I have anything against that combination, but still).

So, I think you've gathered I've had a good (read: fun) dinner tonight. I topped it off, British old school style, with a thin slice of cheese. Romano. Nope, no pangs ... of either guilt or hunger. I'm just too satisfied to bother!

Rainbow!

I saw a rainbow for the first time in Chicago! Arched right across the Sears Tower, this evening. Anyone who knows me and my fixation with rainbows knows that I'll most likely live off this moment for the rest of the year, and pretty much until the end of my PhD.

It was rather fortuitous, really. It had been raining all evening, and I couldn't go out for my usual walk. I decided to stay home and cook for the week. (More on that in the next post, by the way.) I was quite busy for about an hour, and then walked over to the window at around 8:30 pm to take a little break. The weak evening sunlight was just breaking through the clouds, the light was mild yellow, the air was damp and the ground was fragrant. For a seasoned rainbow-hunter like me, I knew I only had to look around to the east. And there it was! Here's an "East and West" photograph. (Actually, reading L to R, that's west and east, respectively.)


I haven't touched up or anything, so it is very faint (I was surprised that I was able to capture it in the first place) but I hope it is at least as visible to you as it is to me!

Some like it hot, some like it cold...

... and I like it either way! (Just not nine days old.)

I've been craving a milky dessert for a while now. A few times I caught myself looking longingly at the Baskin Robbins store nearby - and that almost never happens! Then I thought it was time to ... just do it. So I did.


Custards are my fun (and relatively healthy) way to get my sweet fix. I just use the Brown and Polson custard powder (all it contains is cornstarch, vanilla essence and a teeny little bit of salt to taste) -with their custard recipe (calling for milk and sugar). I add an entire bunch of fruits to it - apples, oranges, pears, grapes - and it tastes delicious. I usually like it at room temperature or a little lower but not cold. But I was wondering about "summer and winter" custard desserts that can be eaten hot or really cold, and came up with these two.

The one on the left was with a cold custard. I took a large handful of frozen berries (strawberry, raspberry, mulberry, blueberry) and crushed them to the consistency of a slush in the mixer along with a tablespoon of honey. You can then put it together with the cold custard. It tastes like slightly melted ice-cream, but better! The honey really holds the slush together.

The one on the right was a warm custard, made fresh. I chopped up a peach with the skin. I then heated up a few tablespoons of water with a little jaggery (guud) until the water was sizzling and the jaggery had dissolved. I stewed the peaches in this water till they were soft. (You don't want to put too much water because you don't want to throw away the water or all the nutrients from the peach will be lost.) The warm peach tastes fabulous with the custard, giving it just the right amount of tartness and sweetness.

Mmmmmm...!!

A Month (or many) in Pictures

A lot of these photographs are "impressionist", i.e., taken from my cellphone camera, right there in the moment and, usually, on the run!

Fall 2009 and Spring 2010: The end of one cycle of growth, followed by the start of another.

X'mas decorations at the base of the Hancock building, Dec. 2009.

Sunlight streaming in through the trees and the steam, May 2010.

A Convention of Santa Clauses - a child's human Candy-land!, Water Tower Place, Dec. 2009.

Yechh!!! Should I call this one "It does NOT happen only in India!" or "Oh well, here we are again!" Taken at the entrance to the hospital, April 2010.

Springtime is here, April-May 2010.

Look at this cloud. "Hand of God giving life to Adam?" Michelangelo would be pleased! Sistine Chapel ... oh, I meant, Chicago sky, June 2010.

Daisy among cottonwood fluff, May 2010. These were Everywhere last week, in some places so deep that they looked like someone had removed the stuffing from their pillows and spread it out in 6" thick layers on the ground.

Fetch the Samovar!

Ahhh... the pleasure of reading Tolstoy's War and Peace (1812 Battle of Borodino) with Tchaikovsky's 1812 Overture playing in the background! And on a Friday evening: it's the icing on my demi-weekend cake.

You know what ... I'll fetch the samovar ... er, teacup, myself. Midnight 'drinkie', anyone?