Thyme Pass

Winter Warmer

2011-12-02T18:22:00.001Z

As the temperature outside plummets, theres nothing like a bowl full of french onion soup topped with a generous slice of homemade garlic and cheese bread to warm my bones. Whats your winter warmer?

Summer Recap

2011-10-13T21:26:00.002+01:00

As we move well into autumn, knocking on winters door, its time for a summer recap to warm my bones.

We had an early summer this year with temperatures reaching the mid 20's as early as April. My favourite memory of that month was a week long trip to Tuscany. We went with friends to a picturesque little village called Poppi. My enduring memories of that trip was a tastefully furnished villa with spectacular views of a medieval castle, rolling hills and vineyards. Our hosts Franseca, her mother and our chef Mamma. Learning how to stuff a quail, roll fresh pasta and make stuffed tortellini. Finishing several bottles of fantastic wine. Spending most mornings in the heated pool even though the temperature was sub optimal.

A room with a view.

This March our friends G & S had a gorgeous baby girl and asked us to be her fairy parents. She is a feisty little poppet, keeping her parents on their toes and bringing much joy to all who spend time with her.

Mandarin ducks at the Isabella Planatation

The best bits of summer was my week off in London. I spent a day trekking through Richmond park and exploring Isabella plantation with a friend. I started training for a 5k with my friend A and my sil A. I discovered my love for running, who would have known! A day spent with both the A's exploring portobello street walking into random pubs and then changing in S's office and continuing our 5 k training that evening around Lincoln Inns field ruing the fruli 's we had consumed. I entered and ran the Adidas 5k and finished it in 35 minutes and 8 seconds. I tried to get S to run but he seems to prefer spending time at the cricket nets in regents park with the boys.

My quota of luck this summer was pretty decent as well. I won 80 quid on the lottery. I got centre court tickets at Wimbledon this year. I discovered a beautiful lavender field close to my old apartment and enjoyed it till summer ended and we moved. I got to watch a bit of village cricket in Torquay.

Cockington Cricket Pavillion

Lavender fields

I have also realised S and I have developed a yearly routine of events. We always catch some cricket and tennis every summer. We explored Taste of London with my sil and enjoyed every morsel. S used his BFI membership to catch some interesting movies, unfortunately this year we will be in Bombay during the festival. We have trekked through Dorset for 4 years in a row and this year was no different. We always catch an interesting musical act at the Royal Albert Hall and this year it was Shankar Ehsaan Loy. We always get a large quota of Ethiopian/ Eritrean and Korean food into our system.

Durdle Door

Dolsot Bimbim Bap

I also made the biggest purchase of my life. S and I bought a house. We spent the best part of a year hunting for an apartment and fell in love with a house. We moved a month ago and are slowly trying to make this 80 year old house into our home. I am sure there will be many more stories from our new house but I will leave that for another post.

All in all its been a fabulous summer and I would not change a day. Hope your summer was just as memorable.

Bhaag

2011-08-01T17:13:00.007+01:00

I have moved from being able to run 1 minute only to running 40 minutes. It started with trying to complete the C25K before a vacation in the hope I could squeeze into my swimsuit. A friend and I met for evening runs around the common and Richmond park. The vacation came and went, but the running stayed with me. I'm exhausted and everything hurts at the end of 40 minutes but I love it. I've signed up for a 5k this September with my sil and we hope to finish it in good time. I am using the run to raise some money for a cause close to my heart. Its not a huge distance in the grand scheme of running, but the numbers will get bigger and the times shorter ( I hope!).

I think I have got the bug, Bhaag!

Snow !

2010-01-13T18:38:00.010Z

This is becoming a yearly phenomenon in London. Snow!! I love it. I stay in Greater London so suburbia with all its greenery looks even better with a bit of snow dust. I had a long trek into Barnes today for a course that was cancelled thanks to the snow. The south western trains were a mess and after 4 hours of travelling, like a sardine packed into a tin, I was all wound up. So, I spent the chance day off by walking down the lane I live in and taking pictures. I look at this every day as I drive into work and I kept telling myself, I need to take some pictures. Its a lovely tree lined road and when it gets dusted with snow, it just starts looking a wee bit magical.

Santa and his baubles!

2009-12-30T21:43:00.007Z

So christmas came and went. Mine was white, food filled as always and perfect. 2009 wraps to an end and when I look back at this year, I will think of it as filled to the brim. I did a lot this year and I hope 2010 continues in this trend.
I hope the new year brings you what you seek, and on that note I leave you with santa and his baubles!

Diwali

2009-10-20T22:25:00.004+01:00

Diwali this year was all about:

- Food; we had a delicious menu of kalmi kabab, channa puri, maa ki dal, malai kabab, samosas, matri, kachoris, assorted sinful Indian sweets.It was a meal that will make me pay in inches.

- Friends old and new; Diwali started with four friends and then ended up with ten, all the more fun, noise and chatter.

-Firecrackers; it was a small display but it was entertaining, reminiscent of childhood pattakas, we had sparklers, dodgy chakras that had a mind of their own and noisy colourful rockets. It was just the right amount for the small patio space and we didn't have the bobbies knocking on the door.

- Tea lights; they were in every little diya I owned and they were oh-so-pretty.

- Rangoli; I couldn't source powder this year so I used flowers and the artistic input of my bil to end up with a pretty little mango design.

- Dressing up; yes we went the whole hog and it was lovely. All the girls dressed up in their Indian kurtas and jhumkas and the boys did their part too. It was the last touch to a good evening.

- Teen patti and charades; in true Diwali tradition we played teen patti (a form of Indian poker). We then moved on to charades to end the evening. It was a riot and we laughed the night away.

- Thumma; much of the Diwali menu this year was thanks to Thumma. If you haven't seen this Andhra gem, google "vah re vah "and try some of his recipes. He is entertaining at the very least and his recipes are all spot on.

This year we had a gathering of so many different people, old friends without whom the food would have never materialised, new friends without whom the evening would not have been as much fun. Here's wishing you all a Happy Diwali and a Prosperous New Year

Green Fingers

2009-09-01T20:02:00.008+01:00

I have a little outdoor space (patio) in my apartment and I have always wanted to grow a vegetable patch and a little tropical urban garden. I love plants in urban spaces, it softens harsh architecture and generally brings a little cheer to a drab place. Everyone at work has been bringing in apples and berries from their gardens, all this has made me want to get into this very British past time. However, I also have a previous history of killing house plants. Sigh!.

So despite lofty aspirations of a tropical paradise in my little patio, I decided to start on a small scale, with a few veggies, that can grow indoor and survive the fast approaching autumn and winter months.

A few weeks ago I set of to homebase and picked up a few seeds, a germinator box, some compost and pots. I spent an entire Sunday afternoon planting my herbs, in the germinator box and re- potting my old house plants that looked close to death. If I can nurture this lot for a few months without too many disasters I will venture into increasing my brood of plants.

As the weeks passed my little seeds grew into shoots, stems and leaves. I now have a thriving box of basil, spinach, chillies, carrot and coriander saplings that will shortly need potting. Lets hope my fingers are slowly turning green.If they do the next step will be guerilla gardening.

Mid- August Lunch

2009-09-01T18:35:00.011+01:00

This bank holiday weekend we decided to take it easy, put our feet up and spend a little us time together. S had already charted out our itinerary for the day. So Saturday morning was spent heading into London. I stopped at Heal's to pick up a very cute little 2 person tea pot with an infuser. As I am the only one in our household of two that drinks tea, this was perfectly sized for my daily cuppa. I picked a bright red one and used it over the weekend to have real adrak chai, complete with tea leaves that I picked up from Bombay.

After a quick lunch at Benito's we headed to the Renoir at Brunswick Square, to catch the Mid- August Lunch (Pranzo di Ferragosto) . This sweet Italian film is actor/director Gianni Di Gregorio's debut film. He plays the role of a cash-strapped son, looking after his ageing mother in Trastavere, a suburb of Rome. Over a 24 hour period, he is coerced into taking on temporary care of three more elderly women. The movie is an observation into the care of the elderly with a little charm and wit. It is an effortless 75 minute journey into the life of three elderly woman who bicker over television rights but over a period of two days become friends. They bond over Gianni's patiently prepared food, palm reading and life in general. Gianni is an inherent soft-hearted rogue whose cure to every problem in his life is a swig of Chablis. I left the movie with a little grin inside me.

We spent the evening by Vauxhall at the Riverside pub. It is located at a beautiful spot by the river bank at St George's Wharf looking across Vauxhall bridge. The buildings by this pub, however, are an eyesore. They are stern, lifeless and almost cardboard-box like in their appearance. Not one of my favourite developments in this city.

As the evening passed we were both quite famished and headed to Myungga at Soho for dinner. This little restaurant churns out delicious Korean fare. We had some yummy Khimchi- pickled cabbage with chilli and I tried some Gui twigim- deep fried oysters, which were not to my taste. For our mains we went straight to the barbecue menu and had Bulgogi- marinated beef strips and Jumul luk- sliced tenderloin seasoned with sesame oil and garlic. Both our mains were delicious, what I loved about this meal is the little grill on our table, and the fact that our meal was cooked in front of me. It's a smaller version of a Mongolian barbecue. It was plenty of theatre, but I loved it.

We walked all the way back to Victoria, taking in the sights and sounds of London on a Saturday night. It had been a day well spent.

Girls about Town

2009-08-28T20:15:00.008+01:00

Spent last Saturday catching up with some girlfriends in different parts of town. You have to love an all girls meet-up, add some good food and a nice restaurant to the equation and it adds up to a whole load of fun .
We decided to meet up at The roof terrace gardens at Babylon for a late lunch. Now I had heard good things about this restaurant especially the location.

I was not disappointed the location is stunning, perched a 100 feet above Kensington high street this restaurant is situated above a terrace garden complete with a small pond and orange flamingos.This beautiful exotic garden is spread over 1.5 acres of the roof terrace with a Spanish, Tudor and English woodland section. There was a wedding party in process when we arrived and so we could not explore the gardens which was disappointing but we got to sit above it in the outdoor section of their restaurant.

The menu is classic British fare which changes with seasons, which initially got me skeptical.The food was pricey but as we had settled for the set menu it was more reasonable. The food was surprisingly delicious but there's nothing classic British about it. I had a delicious black truffle risotto, followed by a perfectly baked sea bass and rum cake to satiate that sweet tooth of mine. The service was impeccable, we were seated inside but on requesting them for outdoor seats we were accommodated. To compensate for their reasonably priced set menu the cocktails are priced on the higher side. We had mojitos which were not up to scratch but the mango margaritas were delicious. It was an afternoon well spent, we all had a good laugh while watching a wedding party taking place in the gardens below.The sun was bathing us on this perfect august day. We were pampered by our attentive staff inspite of two small accidents involving spilt food. We left feeling well fed and well cared for.

After this lovely meal with the girls I headed out to watch Kaminey (Bollywood Flick) with another friend at the Trocadero. Thanks to the temperamental tube service from Kensington I reached a little late and the theatre was packed. We got seats quite close to the screen which was a bummer,the movie was what I would call Eh!. It was watchable, some of the songs were great,the camera work was stylish and tarantinoesque at moments,but it was still eh!

We then headed out to Benito's Hat a small Mexican joint at Goodge Street.The weather was perfect and London was bustling so we decided to leg it to Goodge street. Benito's was a small colourful place with minimal seating. We settled for burritos which were very generously sized and at 5£ a piece very generously priced.We had steak marinated in chipotle chillies and chicken burritos packed with rice, refried beans,cheese, salsa verde and guacamole. The food tasted as good as it looked, we sat for hours working our way through their generous portions,catching up on life in general.

I enjoyed the conversation as much as my meals through this day. It was all about us girls we moaned, laughed, gossiped , exchanged interesting blogs, promised to make this a monthly event and generally acted silly at moments. I got to try two completely different restaurants and some great food. Sometimes a girl just wants to have fun!

Supercool !!

2009-07-28T09:36:00.004+01:00

I have just blogged some of the backlog that should have been posted a month ago. I'm back after a month long vacation, well rested and all. It feels good to be back home. While your sifting through the many posts I hope to write this week ( I have the week off before I start work) , catch this absolutely awesome supecool wedding entrance video. These guys just make me smile :)

Cupcakes and Anniversaries

2009-06-20T11:06:00.002+01:00

On June 16'Th S and I crossed the 7 year mark without an itch in site. It doesn't feel like 7 years. Possibly because our first 3 years were spent more like students living together. What can I say, so far the rides been awesome and I know it can only get better. I took the afternoon off on June 16'th and headed out to finish some last minute shopping before leaving for India. We had not planned on doing anything special as our social calender was booked for the next 4 days and I just could not eat out anymore my stomach was on strike. I called S to tell him I was going to lounge about at home. The closet romantic that he is, he took the afternoon off and surprised me while I was grocery shopping. He had a little bag of cupcakes from Bea's . We headed home on a working weekday to spend the afternoon together a guilty pleasure, while devouring some delicious cupcakes.

Sabbatical

2009-06-20T10:59:00.003+01:00

It has finally ended. Nearly 4 years at my current employer has come to an end. We don't part on unhappy terms, I love the people I work with. I am going to miss them dearly but it is time to move on. They gave me a lovely sending off. Mr W and all my girls from work made me a farewell decay monster cake with rotting teeth and all. This is probably one of the sweetest gifts I have ever received . I now leave for Bombay in a day and am going to enjoy 4 blissful weeks of unemployment. There is much catching up to do and I have so many blog posts lined up in my head but there has been no time. I am not complaining I like my full life.

Gastrocnemius Workout

2009-05-29T10:19:00.011+01:00

Lulworth Cove

We spent this bank holiday generally lazing and then recovering from a long trek in Dorset. I have recently reconnected with my old tuition friend. She is quite the traveller and is a very outdoor physically fit individual. S had mentioned our previous rambling expeditions in Dorset to her and she was quite enthusiastic about trying another day trek . So we decided to go down to Dorset again. I have blogged about the Jurassic coastline previously and it is gorgeous. We have a standard path that we frequent which is rated as moderately difficult. Now I mentioned this at work to Mr W and he suggested we try the walk along Lulworth cove. He promised me it was not too strenuous and the views were well worth it. So I pestered S into trying this walk even though the websites had rated it as difficult. Silly me.

We reached Dorset after a 3 hour drive on Sunday morning. The weather was gorgeous and everyone south of Surrey seemed to have got the same idea as us. Head to Dorset. After a long drive involving discussions on work, economic crisis, country ratings ( both S and tuition friend are economists) we finally reached our destination with my bladder reaching bursting point. It was packed. I was quite certain now this walk would feel more like a pilgrimage given the vast number of cars and people at Lulworth. Boy was I mistaken.

Audience along the way

The walking path was a killer. It was strenuous from the word go. We choose to walk along the coastline as the views were truly spectacular. Most of the walking paths were uphill and the gradient increased as we progressed. We walked 7 miles which is not much but it took us 3 hours given the gradients. After crossing the first gradient most of the crowd gave up. There were many small pebbled beaches along the way which was where most people were headed. We trudged on.

Durdle Door

Tuition friend like a true pro came with a customised 3 litre water bag with an interesting large straw contraption to keep her hydrated and dry fruits for the walk. I came with chutney sandwiches, minimal water, mango juice, cherries and bananas, most of which was left in the car as S refused to carry that much weight up hill. I groaned and moaned through most of the ascents but the views at the end made it worth the pain. The high point actually managing to finish the 7 mile walk. It felt like an achievement. Lulworth cove is truly spectacular, choose a sunny weekend and head out for the perfect gastrocnemius workout.

Alive and kicking!

2009-05-29T09:18:00.006+01:00

While I dust off the cobwebs on this page I realised I have neglected it for over a month! Ennui has taken over me. I am just plain bored with blogging. I think its because I haven't figured out what I want this blog to be. I want it to be a reflection of my life but that's too personal to bare to all and sundry. I want it to be a catalogue of all my culinary adventures but I don't quite have the skill or motivation to pen it down. I want it to be a diary where I record events I want to share but as I start typing down my thoughts I am constantly chopping down words/events as some things are better left unsaid. All this leaves me with little to say. So now after a month of blogging abstinence I have collected enough fodder for a few posts. May be that's what this blog will be, an irregular record of my thoughts.

Things that have changed in my life.

I am moving on, I leave my present job on June 19'th. Shortly after this I am off to India for 4 weeks, to attend the much awaited family wedding and generally spend some much needed TLC time with the parents. I start my new job in August so this allows me a gap of over a month after spending 4 years of working as a GDP.

I have now shifted my career path to a large extent. I am either nuts or its the ennui at work, especially with my current corporate employer. I am not a fan of corporate dental bodies, I agree dentistry is a business but it's also a service and if the only thing that drives you is profit it's a dreary job. I now move into community dentistry. After 4 years of being a self employed general dental practitioner, my view of NHS general dentistry is a tad jaded. I move onto full time employment where the work load will be less target driven or income driven where I hope to learn and make a difference or at the very least try something new. If it all goes pear shaped its back to GDP work at worst so I have nothing to lose. In case you haven't realised by now, I am just convincing myself this move will be good.

I will miss the people I work with, some of my amusing adorable patients, general dental work, my Mondays off (sob!) and the proximity between work and home.

I am excited about my new place of work, my clinical head ( she grilled me during my interview but she seems sufficiently motivated to encourage me to try new things in time) learning new skills, driving to work ( yes its still a thrill) and my fabulous new surgery.

I got my driving license I am legal to drive so keep off the roads.

I have seen a lot of turmoil in family and friends lives this past month. Its been painful for both me and them. I hope things settle down for all involved.

I have had a serious wake up call with regards to my health and my general out look on life. Its too short to worry about what the world thinks, to fret over petty matters. If you have your health in order everything else can be worked on. Its the basic building block and I need to get mine in order. As for life, its been good in most respects. I have people that care about me around me I could not ask for more. Life is like a tree the dead wood slowly gets cut off for there is no other way to survive and thrive.

I have been very lucky my profession allows me so many choices while other people are losing their jobs or having difficulty finding employment. People always need their teeth fixed, thankfully!

I have spent a lot of time with different people, friends and family this month. I made an interesting blog friend shes been trying to get me to train for a marathon in September but that deserves a separate blog post. I met up with an old tuition friend. We last saw each other in 1997! Yes, in India you have tuition friends, we got friendly on the bus journey into our tuition class, she was in the genius section, I was in the average one, but somehow our paths crossed in the accounts section. I spent a lot of time with my anchors from dental school, they keep me sane and are basically family. I spent time with a little pumpkin who like her mother has her finger on the pulse of baby fashion. Its been a good socialising month.

So those are life's updates in bits and pieces. I have also kept my stomach busy with many new places visited, new recipes experimented on friends . While all this was happening I also notched up another year. Yes and I'm still alive and kicking.

Chutney Mary

2009-03-14T20:08:00.010Z

Chutney Mary is the first love-child of the Panjabi sisters of Masala Zone, Veeraswamy and Amaya fame. I first came across this restaurant thanks to a passionate foodie blogger, Lulu. Since then, I have frequented this gem in Chelsea with family and friends. It never fails to please.

My favourite meal at this restaurant is their Sunday lunch. At 22 pounds per person, which includes a starter, main course and dessert, it's very reasonably priced. They used to have a limited set menu for these lunches but thanks to the recession they have become more generous with their choices. Now you can choose from their entire à la Carte menu. The setting is beautiful. It has a glass conservatory at the centre of a non descript building and the stylish decor and the strategically placed beautiful foliage gives it a warm relaxed feeling. They usually have live jazz music on Sunday which sets the mood for a relaxed lunch.

Saffron Chicken Tikka

Dabba Ghosht

Yam Tikki with Blueberry Chutney

Vegetarian Thali

Sea Bass in Mustard, Mangalorean Prawn curry, Goan green chicken curry

Their food, like their setting, are like individual pieces of art. It tastes as good as it looks. I know I will be back for many more lazy Sunday lunches here. Are you tempted?

Chocolate tart with coffee icecream

Mango Panna Cotta

Sita Sings the Blues

2009-03-06T18:23:00.007Z

This clip has been doing the rounds now for a while. I picked up on Nina Paley through Sepia Mutiny a few years ago when she first started her illustrations on the Ramayana. I love her buxom Sita set against Annette Hanshaw's angelic voice. If you want to catch this imaginative take on the Ramayana on big screen, head to Watermans at Brentford this Sunday. The Tongues on Fire Asian film festival is screening this little gem, details can be obtained from their website.
If you cannot make it to Watermans you can catch the entire movie here.

Help Gaurav

2009-03-04T17:55:00.009Z

Gaurav is my sil A's batchmate from B- school. He has been diagnosed with AML ( a type of blood cancer). He needs financial help for his treatment. If you think you can help, go to

www. helpgaurav.com

If you cannot help, you can pray for him and his family. Sending all your positive vibes to Gaurav.

Monday musings

2009-03-02T14:35:00.006Z

I spent last Monday getting up at an unearthly hour and tagging along with S into the city. I usually wake up at an unearthly hour to get ready for my driving lesson but this monday I had to apply for a schengen visa. Inspite of leaving early I had a long queue of approximately 30 people ahead of me waiting to apply for their visas. After a considerable wait I was done with my work and I was suitably famished. I called S and tempted him with dosa at selfridges. I had heard about the Indian spread at their garden cafe food hall a year ago, but we some how never managed to try it. I browsed around oxford street while S made his way to join me from chancery lane. It took us a while to figure out the garden cafe was on the upper most floor but we finally managed to get there. The food spread was decent, they had masala dosa/chicken dosa/ channa masala/ fresh naan straight off the tandoor/biryani/veg/nonveg thali. I settled for the chicken thali and S decided on a masala dosa.

The masala dosa was very generously sized and accompanied with sambhar and chutney. The thali had the customary raita, pickle, chicken curry, paneer, kali dal, rice and fresh warm naans. The meal as a whole was decent, the sambhar and chutney were terrible, stay away, the dosa was decent. The thali was great except for the paneer. I love these quick lunches with S in the city on my days off. It breaks up the day and gives me company for a few short hours. I'm enjoying mondays off while they last.

Grooming Primates on Facebook.

2009-03-02T13:03:00.012Z

I have been neglecting this blog again while I facebook, twitter, read other blogs, read books and generally lead a normal life. It's amazing the number of social networking sites and tools that have developed now, to eat into our time. Most of us utilise some or all of them (as in my case).

Why do we use them?

Out of the 201 odd "friends" on my list, 15-20 of them are actual friends or family members that matter. They know my number or email id and really do not need a social networking site to keep in touch. In fact, some of my close friends have boycotted facebook and stuck to the old fashioned email/phone. They find the entire social networking scene extremely intrusive in their private life. They do not wish to see other peoples' holiday photographs with pets, housekeeper and child in tow. They do not wish to broadcast their life to all and sundry on their 200 odd list. They do not wish to receive a status update when some one farts.

When I skim through my facebook there are many people who I barely know or do not wish to know. People who now can see the comings and goings of my life thanks to access to my private wall conversations etc. Its the same with twitter and to a certain extent with blogs as well although I feel I have more control over these two, I cannot control what photos I am tagged in or what people say on my wall. I can delete posts or tags but that would be bad facebook etiquette, or would it?

The entire process of social networking according to the Economist magazine is an exercise in primate grooming. Have a read of the bits that I thought were quite interesting or click on the link for the entire article.

From the Economist Article :

THAT Facebook, Twitter and other online social networks will increase the size of human social groups is an obvious hypothesis, given that they reduce a lot of the friction and cost involved in keeping in touch with other people. Once you join and gather your “friends” online, you can share in their lives as recorded by photographs, “status updates” and other titbits, and, with your permission, they can share in yours. Additional friends are free, so why not say the more the merrier

But perhaps additional friends are not free. Primatologists call at least some of the things that happen on social networks “grooming”. In the wild, grooming is time-consuming and here computerisation certainly helps. But keeping track of who to groom—and why—demands quite a bit of mental computation. You need to remember who is allied with, hostile to, or lusts after whom, and act accordingly. Several years ago, therefore, Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist who now works at Oxford University, concluded that the cognitive power of the brain limits the size of the social network that an individual of any given species can develop. Extrapolating from the brain sizes and social networks of apes, Dr Dunbar suggested that the size of the human brain allows stable networks of about 148. Rounded to 150, this has become famous as “the Dunbar number”.

What also struck Dr Marlow, however, was that the number of people on an individual’s friend list with whom he (or she) frequently interacts is remarkably small and stable. The more “active” or intimate the interaction, the smaller and more stable the group.

Thus an average man—one with 120 friends—generally responds to the postings of only seven of those friends by leaving comments on the posting individual’s photos, status messages or “wall”. An average woman is slightly more sociable, responding to ten. When it comes to two-way communication such as e-mails or chats, the average man interacts with only four people and the average woman with six. Among those Facebook users with 500 friends, these numbers are somewhat higher, but not hugely so. Men leave comments for 17 friends, women for 26. Men communicate with ten, women with 16.

What mainly goes up, therefore, is not the core network but the number of casual contacts that people track more passively. This corroborates Dr Marsden’s ideas about core networks, since even those Facebook users with the most friends communicate only with a relatively small number of them.

Put differently, people who are members of online social networks are not so much “networking” as they are “broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle,” says Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project, a polling organisation. Humans may be advertising themselves more efficiently. But they still have the same small circles of intimacy as ever.

After quite a bit of social networking I have to agree with this article, my list of friends is a farce. I have 15, maybe 20, people on my list that really matter. I have at times updated my status with useless junk. I enjoy catching up with friends' lives but I can do that through email with more privacy and with my close friends and family that is what I do. So facebook is just filled with primates broadcasting their lives to their second tier friends, and I get a large number of these useless broadcasts. So why do I continue...I guess I'm still grooming eh?

Chaddi luvin

2009-02-10T18:15:00.008Z

This valentines day don't get your knickers in a twist over the sri ram sena. Show these morons some pink chaddi luvin.

Sigh!

2009-02-04T21:09:00.006Z

I opened the freezer this evening to see what I could find to fill this empty belly of mine. This is what I found.

A bowl of snow.

Me: Umm...I can see a bowl of snow in our freezer
S: Yes.
Me: What? Why? How?
S: It snows like this every 18 years...* sheepish grin*
Me: sigh...

Kati roll

2009-02-03T09:07:00.012Z

Kati roll is a kind of street fast food popular in Calcutta. In Bombay, we call kati rolls frankies. Aga brothers in colaba always served up a mean frankie. I was quite excited to hear we finally got a branch of Kati Roll in central London. I've already had a taste of their food in New York and it was a nice spicy quick bite. Frankies aka kati rolls are basically parathas fried on a tava with ghee/oil, this may or may not have an egg added onto it depending on your preference. This is then stuffed with beef/chicken tikka/ shammi kebab/ potatoes /paneer. This stuffing is marinated in spices and garnished with red onions and lime juice. This is Indian street food at its best.
Last Monday after meeting S for a quick pint at the charming grand old Cittie of York in Holborn, we headed of to Kati Roll on Poland street. The place was empty on a Monday evening, the gentleman at the counter yanked up the volume on the desi music once he saw us. The bright orange walls plastered with large old hindi movie posters added to the ambience of this little box. We had a chicken tikka roll and a shami kebab roll. The tikka roll was very ordinary, the chicken was rubbery and a let down. The shami kebab roll was yum and we had specifically asked him to make it spicy. It was a decent quick meal and didn't quite break our pockets.

Did I love Kati Roll ? Well, given that I have not found another option in london, I will go back. I can go back and have the shami kebab rolls very happily as long as I remember to tell him to crank up the spices. The veggie options- aloo masala rolls were tried out by a friend this weekend and were honestly quite bland. There is potential in this little box serving rolls they just need to get their spices right. I cannot rave about it but I would go back for a quick meal.

Snowed in!

2009-02-02T16:48:00.008Z

Last night and this morning while everyone slept, there were two strange brown people doing the rounds of our neighbourhood making foot prints in the snow. For both of us, this is the first time we have ever seen so much snow, 10 inches of snow fell overnight. It was simply spectacular. It's truly amazing how this powdery cotton white dusting makes everything look so magical.

The Universe is smiling on me and my own

2009-01-26T10:57:00.007Z

I do most of my blogging on Mondays as its my day off. Its my end to the long weekend where I collect my thoughts, finish my paperwork, catch up with family and friends on the phone and generally laze about. I have decided to make this day a bit more efficient by going into the city for half the day and doing something interesting. I haven't yet decided what that will be for today hopefully by the time I reach the end of this blog post I would have made that choice.
This post is basically just a big shout out to the universe to say thank you. Its been smiling on me this past week, work has been steady. I have booked up my driving lessons, so I'm working my way up on the new year wish list. My MJDF portfolio has been partially finished and signed off, I have been slaving over this folder for 3 months attending a course after work every Thursday and its finally paid off. The biggest news though is my SIL ( sis- in -law) A has found her lobster.

This means I have six months to prepare myself for the wedding. So I will basically be starving for the next few months to fit into the role of the sexy sister in law. I am looking forward to the excitement and madness that comes along with any wedding in the family. The general good spirit,mehndi, clothes, drama, and unadulterated happiness for those who partake in it. This is the first family wedding that I will be attending after mine and I am going to enjoy every minute.
I look forward to meeting the new addition to our family, K who has given A a skip in her beat. I hope the universe smiles on these two lobsters constantly.

P.S. I have settled on an afternoon at the National Potrait Gallery for now. They have a constable and Leibovitz collection, the things I do to keep my mondays interesting...

Antidote to Monday morning blues

2009-01-19T09:02:00.006Z

Imagine heading into work on a monday morning and being greeted with this, the ultimate pick- me- up via dulwichmum

Salaam Bombay

2009-01-15T20:48:00.016Z

I reached bombay with mixed feelings, my grandad had passed away a week before I arrived. I had been looking forward to this visit for months but I now felt unsure of what I should feel. All of that disappeared on reaching home, one look at my mum made me realise things were ok. We wept and went through all of apuppas last moments but somehow it was comforting to be able to talk about it, to let it out.

So much has changed in my city, so much construction everywhere, so much unruly crazy traffic, so much new wealth, so much potential. All this intense construction but not a thought has been given to the infrastructure needed to cope with this increase in population, especially in south Bombay. I don't want to moan about my first love so I will concentrate on the fun bits during my vacation.

No visit to Bombay is complete without a pilgrimage to Mondy's, that was done thanks to friends who called us just as we were about to hit the sack and blackmailed us into getting our arses there. It was worth it, it was a fun chilled night and I didn't get to go back to mondys again after that night. The joint has gentrified! It used to be the place to go to for a pitcher of Kingfisher on a hot afternoon, you sit on those old wooden tables with checkered table cloth with a noisy fan above you and play your favourite numbers on the jukebox while being served by an irritated waiter in non- descript clothes. Now you get wine along with your pitcher, there's air conditioning and the waiters are all dressed in similar uniforms lacking personality. Somethings stay the same though, the jukebox still eats your coins and skips your numbers and the murals on the wall by mario miranda always make me smile.

My favourite place during this trip was the Dome at the intercontinental on marine drive. The terrace bar is a location worth visiting. You get a birds eye view of the queens necklace and the entire lenght of marine drive from NCPA upto walkeshwar at the other end. Its stunning location and Mediterranean white decor creates the perfect mood for an early evening drink or late dinner. We met friends there for drinks on a friday night but I was advised the food menu is nothing to write home about so we made dinner reservations at Joss. The kebab corner housed within the intercontinental is a better option for a meal. I know I will return to the dome just to soak into that breath taking view. The other nice thing I noticed was that most of the patrons were not just hitting puberty unlike a lot of other lounge bars in Bombay. I think a 4000 rupee steep bill for drinks only, may be whats keeping the teeny bopper brigade dressed in strings away and hallelujah to that.

Joss set in Kala ghoda is the brainchild of Farrookh Khambata and describes itself as a modern far eastern restaurant. They have an interesting sushi menu and the big favourite is the miso encrusted chilean sea bass. For dessert I stuck to the joss hot kalhua souffle which is their signature dessert, you need to place the order 30 mins prior to consumption. My friend decided to experiment with a really interesting dessert called a strawberry chocolate sushi made with chocolate maki rolls served with kiwi wasabi and a blueberry shoyu dipping sauce. It was such a beautiful delicious dish and the Kiwi puree had just a dash of wasabi.

The food scene in Bombay is alive vibrant and growing with each passing day. There is so much potential to experiment and there is money and interest in food in the city for this industry to flourish albeit a little slowly now that the recession has set in there too.

Warm chocolate Mud pie and Blueberry cheesecake at Moshe's

I was good during my recent visit I didn't splurge on unnecessary shoes and bags, I shopped with prudence and my only splurge was a zardosi embroidered clutch. A girls allowed a few luxuries in life. My favourite quick shopping joint is Bombay stores.

So much has not changed in bombay, my building still puts up christmas lights and decorates the gardens. The old timers in the building still expect you to visit them for chai and biscuits. The house is still very noisy each morning as every walla in the city comes visiting, from the doodhwalla ( milkman), kachrawalli ( garbage collector) dhobiwalla ( laundry man) sabji walla ( grocer) the list is endless. Bombay stores still stiches my school uniforms. Celejor still makes the best ever almond chocolate pastry and Camy makes malai sandwiches that make my heart sing. Its still a nightmare to drive to the suburbs it took us 2 and half hours to bandra from colaba I am sure a local train is a more sensible mode of transport. Formal evening trousers are still called ladies fancy pants and my watchman still calls me be baby at the ripe old age of 30.

This vacation was every thing a trip back home should be, we were pampered well fed and spoilt rotten by both sets of parents. Friends and family showered us with attention and the food and weather was all good. You can't ask for much more can you?

New beginnings

2009-01-12T16:44:00.003Z

A new year beckons new beginnings. I am back after a long and relaxing trip to Bombay I will gloat about all my culinary escapades in another post.
I hope and wish for many things like most new years.I have decided not to be greedy and edited my long list of hopes and wishes down to the following.

I hope this year brings the world a little bit more stability financially and politically .
I hope my digits work harder on this blog and the universe gives me more time to work on it.
I hope to shed the unnecessary kilograms I carry as an appendage this year.
I hope to finally get my driving license ( its high time).
I hope to travel to strange and mysterious lands.
I hope to choose my friends more wisely and hold on to the ones I never worked hard to get.
I hope to find many more culinary delights in this beautiful city.
I hope to find more time to read.
I hope to make changes I have been avoiding.

I wish this year brings my family, friends and their new born babies much joy, luck and good health.
I wish my hair would stop greying so blooming fast.
I wish I could see Adele and cold play live.
I wish traffic in Bombay would get better.
I wish for a warm long beautiful British summer.
I wish my course work would end its such a bore.
I wish to learn to be more patient.

So here's wishing you and all you hold dear a hopeful 2009.

Apuppa

2008-12-07T20:47:00.008Z

My apuppa(grandfather) passed away this afternoon in Bombay. We all knew he was on his last legs but it was a thought I did not want to accept. He had a nasty fall and his frail body could not keep up with his active mind and recover. I know he suffered in hospital this last month, for a man who has never spent more than a few days of his life in hospital being on a ventilator with numerous tubes stuck to his arm must have been scary and difficult to cope with. He was mobile and active till his fall a month ago albeit a little frail. Finally this afternoon he stopped fighting and let go. He died peacefully at the same hospital where I was born.

I wept this morning when my parents passed on this news to me. I wept with relief that he was not suffering and he had gone to a better place peacefully. I wept because I will be in Bombay next Sunday and I wont get a bear hug from my short frail apuppa. I wept because I had lost my biggest supporter, in his eyes I was a superstar. I wept because my mother had to watch him suffer for a month and I was not there to help. I wept for two children who have lost a father and four grandchildren who have lost an apuppa. I wept for my grandmother who will be lost without him even though this may all take a little while to register. Old age can be cruel when you have an active mind but your body gives up. I don't think any of us can complain about his life, he led a good life, he achieved so much in his life to make us all proud and be an inspiration and at 89 years of age his life was long and fruitful.

I wept because I wanted to see him for one last time. I know he is looking out for all of us from a better place. In true apuppa style he has asked for his ashes to be spread at the Gateway of India in Bombay a city he loved.

Oh bébé

2008-11-14T22:28:00.005Z

Once upon a time there was a little girl called capucine and so the story goes....

Once upon a time... from Capucha on Vimeo.

Isn't she just precious!

via Neatorama

A day to remember

2008-11-05T21:14:00.017Z

Its been a roller coaster week. I had a lovely short vacation with "the parents" visiting. It was a lovely much needed break for all of us, I enjoyed all the perks of having mum at home, including warm hot meals of my choice ( lots and lots of seafood). The weather was at its worst, wet and windy which didn't stop me from dragging them all over town.

We started their visit with a farewell plus Diwali party at home. This was my first time cooking for 13 people, yes 13! That's a milestone in my books as I can barely manage cooking for S and me, I usually go into a panic when the numbers increase. To cut a long story short we managed, S and mum were at hand to do most of the hard work. 13 people + baby arrived, ate and left alive and happy.

The downside during this trip was my grandad had a fall, which cut short the parents trip here. He is currently awaiting surgery in Bombay, he's a trooper and I know he will get better.
This week the overwhelming excitement surrounding the elections in America has reached its crescendo with Obama winning the election. Finally we will have an educated intelligent individual whose lineage is a reflection of the melting pot called America . Finally we get rid of the village idiot who has been leading that country to ruin. Finally we see an African American with the name Barack Hussein Obama lead America, create history. Whether he succeeds or not he has most definitely given a generation of children hope and the ability to dream big.

November 5'Th is a day to remember for me Obama will now give his country and the world some hope and a better tomorrow.

This day is also special because my S crosses another year. We cracked open the bubbly and enjoyed a quite evening just the way S likes it with family. S, I hope this birthday brings you much joy and hope. Here's to you on a day to remember for many reasons.

Happy Diwali

2008-10-28T18:16:00.004Z

Electric proms

2008-10-22T23:28:00.010+01:00

The BBC electric proms start today and runs on till Sunday. I registered to buy tickets but it was not to be ( yes you need to register in order to buy tickets!) .

I am now doing the next best thing sitting up and catching these melodies on BBC2 as it takes place live at the Roundhouse. I am looking forward to listening to Adele, Jamie Cullen, Beth Rowley, Oasis, African Express, Razorlight, Nitin Sawhney and many many more artist perform in one big musical melting pot spread over 4 days.

I shall now retire to my telly as Burt Bacharach creates magic on the piano. I leave you with a bit of Adele to make you feel my love.

Staying alive

2008-10-22T20:27:00.008+01:00

I now have research to back this up, Saturday night fever helps you stay alive.

"Link

Oct. 15 (Bloomberg) -- A dose of ``Saturday Night Fever'' might help mend a broken heart.

The Bee Gees' disco anthem ``Stayin' Alive'' from 1977 has 103 beats a minute, close to the number of chest compressions needed for cardiopulmonary resuscitation to work, according to a study at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria. Students who listened to the tune while practicing CPR on a dummy learned to give the right number of pumps, an abstract of the research in the Annals of Emergency Medicine said.

The rhythm stayed in their heads. Five weeks later, the participants delivered compressions at 113 beats a minute, still an acceptable range. Ten doctors and five medical students took part in the experiment.

``This was a small study, but the results are encouraging enough that a further study, using a larger and more diverse population, is warranted,'' said David Matlock, one of the researchers, in a statement distributed by the American College of Emergency Physicians. The results will be presented at a meeting of the Dallas-based group later this month, in Chicago.

Merkato Cravings

2008-10-21T18:09:00.011+01:00

I first discovered Merkato thanks to a foodie couple M&M. They asked us to meet them at Kings cross 2 years ago for an Ethiopian meal, which was how our love affair with this little mama & papa joint began.

Merkato is amharic for market, it lies on Caledonian road nestled between a kebab takeaway and a bookie shop. We entered and were surprised to find most of the 6-7 tables at this joint full. The smell of spices and incense wafting through the room filled my nostrils and I knew at that moment we were going to enjoy this meal.

My best memories of Merkato apart from the food is the service, we are always served by this beautiful tall elegant Ethiopian lady with cheekbones to die for. She is warm, attentive and makes the meal a better experience. I don't know if she recognises us but we are always treated like regulars, special. I am guessing she uses this charm on all her patrons.

We start our meal with ayib- spiced cottage cheese with spinach. Ethiopian food is eaten out of a single plate lined with injera bread. Its communal eating at its best, you use your fingers much like Indian food. This sour dough bread which reminds me of a well fermented kal dosa is about 20 inches in diameter and lines a large plate. This bread is dipped in delicious stews called w0ts- my favourtie is the tibs wot ( beef ) and doro wot ( chicken) . They do very nice vegetarian wats and a spicy rich slow cooked split pea dal called shiro. The secret of the wots lies in the sauce which has a distinctive flavour of berbere a potent combination of various spices.All this is usually washed down with Bati Bira. Both S and I love spicy food, our Indian palate has been singed for decades with spices, Ethiopian cuisine was made for us.

We have dragged every friend, visiting relative, neighbour, colleagues from work, willing to experiment to this little joint. We have spent many Friday nights there with friends enjoying the warm service and the delicious food. We all get Merkato cravings, once you have had a taste of soul food you keep going back for more.

Maggi

2008-08-22T18:09:00.009+01:00

Yes it's true, I have to share my S with Maggi. He has an undying affection for Maggi and me. We have crossed continents and he still yearns for her. The carb rich masala laden slurpy slippery thing that she is. Recently he has not had easy access to her. This has caused withdrawal symptoms. He has made many trips to the local Indian store, pacing the aisles trying to spot her but someone seems to get to her before him.

Two weeks ago we made a trip to Saravana Bhavan in the east end for a dosa hit. I should have realised then, that this long trek to the other end was not to see friends and their new born bundle of joy or for dosa. It had more ulterior motives. S had come to find his masala hit. There she was squashed into two cardboard boxes in one corner of Shakti stores. Masala Maggi! I pretended not to know him while he stuffed her into his basket his hands quivering with joy. He happily stuffed his plastic bag with maggi not noticing the look of surprise and sympathy on the cashiers face. The cashier then glared at me, wondering why the poor man did not have a wife who could cook him a decent meal, little did he know.

All is well with his world now as my my nemesis lies stuffed in our kitchen cabinets.

Equestrian Dentist.

2008-08-12T19:54:00.007+01:00

Anything quirky regarding dentistry will be posted on this blog. I was home blogging the previous post, watching the Olympic highlights and I caught the galloping dentist.

Hinrich Romeike a German dentist won gold in the individual show jumping event. Read more here

Why I blog

2008-08-12T18:08:00.010+01:00

I have always loved drawing and writing. I have never been any good at it, but I love doing it. Both activities relax me, allow me to use my creative juices and are just plain fun.

I started writing short poems at a very young age in a notebook that I had covered lovingly with green cellophane paper. My aim was to get the last words to rhyme, they never made any sense but they sure did rhyme. Then my dad gave me one of his company diaries, it was a small pocket diary with gold embossed on the cover. The pages were crisp and I made it my secret diary, writing to an an unknown friend discussing my fears, my crushes, my days at school, my anger at parents not allowing me to do something. I sat every night and religiously scribbled through it, little did I realise how therapeutic it was. I loved being able to write freely without being judged.Then life took over, I had homework, school activities, friends, books to read and the diary was kept aside in one corner forgotten.

Sketching is another love of mine, again I do not possess an extraordinary talent but I find the whole process of concentrating for hours while I sketch and create something so relaxing. I first got introduced to art in school and I sucked. I remember constant C's on my report cards thanks to my sweaty palms which would constantly smudge my water colours. Then I had an art teacher who asked us to use any medium we wanted and I used my ball point because it doesn't smudge, the rest is history. I sketched my way through Junior college and Dental school, making hours of boring lectures pass quickly. Most of my old notebooks have something drawn along the last few pages. I never shared my sketches, friends saw bits of it as they sat next to me during these long lectures. I sketched for me, not to be judged. Some where along the way the sketching and writing stopped, work took over. I never seemed to find the time to sit and draw/write.

I got introduced to blogging, thanks to S. He has his list of favourite blogs on his sharp reader, most of them related to economics. Over the years he has forced me to read the odd interesting article, trust me their aren't too many of them in economics. This got me to read about things that interested me, food blogs, life blogs, political blogs, health care blogs, book blogs, bitchy blogs. Reading these blogs has been entertaining, funny, thought provoking and irritating at times. Some of these blogging folks have actually carved out a career for themselves thanks to their talent.

Now I got into blogging a year ago as an experiment.My biggest hesitation about writing online was criticism and judgement passed by random folks. I blog about everything I think I can share and want to share. I don't blog to be judged or to change the world, I have no misgivings about my writing skills. I don't write to get onto peoples blog rolls. I blog because it relaxes me, it makes me think. I blog because I have so much to say and S is not always willing to listen to it all, an anonymous audience with no say works for me. I blog because I love it and that for me is reason enough.

For me my blog is reminiscent of my gold embossed black pocket diary, I write to share, to release, to create my own little world where I have a conversation with my known/unknown friends out there (cousins + family mostly). Hopefully I will persevere and not let this lie in a corner as life and work takes over.

Signpost Humour

2008-08-04T12:41:00.007+01:00

We were at southbank this weekend heading towards southwark tube station after a leisurely meal at Youngs. We passed a building site and this sure did make me chuckle.

Weekend Barbecue

2008-07-28T11:18:00.013+01:00

I had a lovely weekend, thanks to glorious weather and fabulous company. A potent combination, I say! We have chums who will shortly be shifting from their beautiful river-facing apartment to another swanky non-river-facing apartment in the same building. Not that we needed an excuse to pile on there, but we decided the present place needed a solid farewell.

We reached after a long traffic-riddled drive but the smell of well marinated kalmi kebab, paneer, Thai chilli sausages and paprika sprinkled halloumi cheese revitalised these weary bones thanks to A's well honed culinary skills. The increase in temperature was perfect for some lovely mojitos. Now, K has developed a well-nuanced routine to deliver these delicious cocktails. The most important portion being the "tribal crushed ice " dance. I think it's typical of us dentists to improvise, when you don't have a blender to crush you innovate. S took a real liking to this method and I foresee large cracks on our kitchen tiles shortly. I think a pictorial display would be of better help.

Ice cubes + towel + Crazy K = Crushed Ice

Mint+ Lime+ Crushed Ice+ Bacardi+ Soda

Mojitos

(Kalmi Kebab+ Chilli sausage+ Halloumi)/A = Yum

We headed back on Sunday afternoon listening to Radio 4 . The thing about old friends is that you pick up where you left off. You don't judge, you did that years ago and you accept each others' shortcomings. Making friends now at this age seems so much more complicated and difficult, or maybe it is just me. I dont have the patience or the acceptance I had many years ago. Or maybe they just have a lot to live up to.

Pet Peeves

2008-07-14T21:29:00.012+01:00

Patience is truly a virtue, especially in my profession and I have a long way to go. Most people hate going to the dentist, and many sit down in my chair look me straight in the eye and go " I hate the dentist". Well in case you haven't noticed I happen to be one! I just think its rude. You can be scared of me, but hate is such a strong word.

Now don't get me wrong I understand dental treatment can be scary and painful, especially if you have neglected your teeth for years and decided to visit me when a tooth starts aching. I empathise, I try to be as patient as humanly possible by myself, but I fail sometimes as I am only human. Something most patients never understand like you we too are mere mortals.

Some of the many excuses I get for rotten teeth/ neglected oral hygiene that really bother me.

1. " My mum had rotten teeth its in the family"

Its a myth, decay is not infectious like influenza, you do not catch it from someone you develop it because of poor dietary habits or poor oral hygiene in 95% of the cases. Don't blame mum or extended family for your rotten teeth!

2. " My teeth just started crumbling after the kids were born they took all my calcium"

Its a myth, yes research in its very very nascent stage is looking into reduced Vitamin D levels in young mums affecting their teeth. But your teeth are not rotting because of that, they are neglected and they are now crumbling like any neglected abused item would.

3. " I don't like the feeling of flossing I won't do it"

Well I wish I could say that, I don't like cleaning your neglected smoke stained mouth I wont do it! We all have to do things we don't like because their benefits far outweigh the actual dislike/discomfort. Its only a piece of thread !

4. " I think my 4- year old sons teeth are stained does he need them polished/whitened"

Key point here, he is FOUR.

5. Don't come in for your check up with yesterdays dinner stuck between your teeth, its rude! You don't go shopping and try on clothes after a one hour sweaty session at the gym, or do you?

6. No it is not ok to use your mobile phone to answer calls when you are sitting in my chair and taking up 15 minutes of my precious time.

I could go on forever but these are a few of my pet peeves. We all have to suffer idiots, thankfully they make up a very small percentage of my day.

My long day was made a little better by my youngest patient of the day a 6- month old little girl. Mums health visitor noticed her bottom baby teeth coming through and advised her to take baby to the dentist. She was perfect, she chewed on my gloves and gurgled and smiled. I don't think she hates me, she wasn't vocal about it. Mum took a picture of me checking her teeth, and I will soon be added to her scrapbook under baby's first day at the dentist. This was my first scrapbook entry and it made me realise why I love my profession.

LEGO

2008-07-10T19:31:00.011+01:00

This afternoon over lunch I was browsing through the British Dental Journal and came across a very amusing letter written by a dentist. The picture says it all.

The poor tyke got a piece of Lego stuck over his incisor.The piece was so soundly stuck it ultimately had to be cut off. You can read the entire letter here.
I can only imagine a little boy doing this! I am amazed that the dentist had the presence of mind to take a picture of the offending item.

Prabhudeva on acid.

2008-07-02T18:58:00.009+01:00

I saw this internet meme on the andrew sullivan blog thanks to S. I will let the clip do the rest of the talking, enjoy.

Tennis Diaries Part Deux

2008-07-01T20:48:00.009+01:00

Today was a scorcher, the temperature hit 28 degrees in London. Not the kind of day you want to spend indoors. This was perfect tennis weather and S and I headed off to Wimbledon. They still use the old Route Master to ferry spectators from Wimbledon station to the courts and it was a nostalgic bus ride, reminding me of my days on the Mumbai bus services (BEST).

We reached the grounds and headed to court no 1 to watch our first match. We saw the lithe Williams sister Venus hesitate and then decimate Tamarine Tanasugarn. We were then pleasantly surprised by the Chinese wildcard Zheng Jie who beat Nicole Vaidisova in an evenly fought three set match. She is the first Chinese player to reach a grand slam singles semi-final and the first woman to go so far at Wimbledon on a wildcard.

We had our fill of tennis and then sauntered around to find something to eat (I have a never ending pit inside of me). Most people had come prepared with large picnic baskets filled with wonderful looking/smelling food items. We walked all through the grounds, Henman Hill, now rechristened Murray Mound/Mount, was full of folks soaking in the sun, tennis and strawberries and cream. Wimbledon is tennis at its best and well worth a visit if you live here.

Taste of London

2008-06-22T10:53:00.005+01:00

Yesterday evening S and I headed of for a Taste of London at Regent's park. This annual exhibition of food houses stalls from some of the top London restaurants, cooking classes by master chefs, local produce, live music and good wine and champagne. Some of the restaurants on show were Cinnamon Club, Tamarind, Benares, Kai Mayfair, Toms Kitchen, Le Gavroche, L'Atelier du Joel Robuchon, China Tang and Café Anglais. I had a fabulous time, tasted some great and not so great food. Loved the wasabi prawns- Kai Mayfair, chicken tikka - Benares, lamb chops and grilled shrimp- Toms kitchen, bengali mince meat cutlets with beetroot- Cinnamon club, Shrimp with curry leaves and soft naan bread- Cinnamon club, Soft chocolate cake with mascarpone - Le Gavroche. The food at the Tamarind stall was a let down. Bought a few goodies, books and some fresh cheese- Black peppercorn, garlic and chives and Sweet chilli from the Isle of Man stall. The icing on the cake was meeting Atul Kochhar at the Benares stall, it just about rounded up a near perfect day.

Nintendo DS- Cooking for Dummies

Ray's Jazz cafe- Foyles

2008-06-17T19:41:00.008+01:00

This Saturday after our culturally enriched afternoon at the British library we were both a tad peckish and needed our daily caffeine hit. S needed to find a book on multivariate blah blah and I wanted a good restorative dentistry book so we headed of to Foyles at Charing cross. I love book stores, I am not a voracious reader, I don't have the time for it but I do enjoy a good read when time permits. I love the musty smell of paper and the silence you step into in a book store. We parted ways, S went to explore his multivariate blah blah section and I got comfortable in the basement in a small dental section.

As hunger set in again, we headed towards the in house coffe shop. S had heard nice things about the cafe at Foyles . Now most book stores have nondescript Starbucks/Costas with elevator music playing and are generally speaking quite generic in nature. I was not expecting a tiny room squashed to the brim with every possible jazz Cd with a small corner that could barely seat 20 people housing the cafe. Ray's Jazz cafe at Foyles was a revelation, you enter a little jazz box with soul and coffee wafting through the room. Seating consists of small log boxes cozily placed to maximise the space. There was a small queue for seating unsurprisingly and we managed to find a spot by the window sill which served as our table. We sat listening to ella, drinking coffee, indulging in a decadent chocolate truffle and carrot cake while watching the world go buy along Charing Cross road.

NHS rant

2008-06-16T14:30:00.005+01:00

As I work in the nhs, you will be reading a lot of this. Sigh read and despair.... This comes from the nhs blog doctor.

Happy Anniversary

2008-06-15T22:04:00.013+01:00

For my S.

I met my permanent roommate 7 years ago. We met for the first time at Mondy's my favourite hole in the wall joint in Bombay. He was tall lanky, had horrendous floaters and a general swagger about him. We sat from 6 in the evening till closing time, sipping draught and listening to Floyd on the jukebox. Once they kicked us out we drove through the streets of Bombay endlessly not wishing to part. I had never met this man before and there I was talking non stop about life, love, my hopes and fears.

Since that day our relationship has grown many folds, he has now become my permanent roommate. Over 6 years we have changed continents and taken gambles with our lives and careers loving every minute of it. He taught me to be patient, to look beyond my four walls, to dream and achieve, to cook ( i think i got conned into that), to love the Beatles, to give football a chance, to place an apostrophe correctly ( they don't give punctuation weightage in dental school).

We both have changed, he is not lanky anymore thanks to his wholesome cooking( and too much takeaway), he has lost the floaters( honest it wasn't me), but the swagger remains. I don't know what gets two people together, fate, karma, parents, friends, small hole in the wall cafes? Whatever our reasons I thank them all, because I found my best friend at Mondy's that evening.

Ramayana at the British Library

2008-06-15T19:03:00.009+01:00

As the weekend rolled in, S wanted to see the Ramayana exhibition at the British Library. Now this sort of thing is not usually my cup of tea, I like museums in small doses and I tolerate exhibitions when there is something visually pleasing. The clincher for me was this was an exhibition of Rajasthani miniature painting depicting the Ramayana. Also having lived in London for nearly 4 years, I finally had a good excuse to visit the mother of all libraries.
Some facts about the BL which tickled the grey cells.
-they have 150 million items in their collection
-If you read 5 items a day it would take you 80,000 years to see the entire collection.

The Ramayana is one of the most famous epic stories from Hindu mythology that has been repeated over centuries. It is a classic old mythological fable about a super hero, his love, his dysfunctional family, his struggle, his war, his strange sidekicks, and his victory.

The British library has acquired the Ramayana manuscripts commissioned by Rana Jagat Singh of Mewar (1628-52). These manuscripts were acquired by the British Museum in 1884 and from there made their way to the British Library. The entire story has been illustrated in three different styles of Mewar painting. These beautifully crafted miniature paintings are bursting with colour and emotion, each page has a myriad number of characters packed in. The precision and detail with which each character was painted was a pleasure to watch. All the paintings were accompanied by little synopsis explaining each portion of the story.

Apart from the paintings, the exhibition also has evidence of this epic's influence on other regions of South east asia. I saw the Ramayana epic depicted in puppet form, on a 300 year old tapestry made in Sri Lanka, carved into stone walls of the temples of Angkor Wat, performed by ballet artisans in Java. It was amusing to see how strangely the characters were depicted in different regions, the Indonesian puppets seemed to favour long noses with a hunched posture and long limbs. Not the ideal superhero build but then who am I to judge.

In the foyer of the library they had a little video display of the Ramayana series that did the rounds on national telly in India during the late 80's. I remember those Sunday morning sessions when life came to a standstill in every Indian household as we watched the fine art of overacting with cheesy special effects. They even had a little DVD pack of the entire series at the BL shop, S was having none of it.

This rich old fable has now been brought into the 21'st century in a very stylish Virgin comic called Ramayan Reborn. As the years pass I see this story keeping up with times and lasting another 2000 years.

Tennis diaries

2008-06-13T17:56:00.006+01:00

Tennis season in London has begun. We were lucky this year as we got centre court tickets for the Artois championship at the Queen's Club. This annual all male tennis championship takes place as the precursor to Wimbledon.

So this Wednesday the two of us took the day off and headed off for a fun day of live tennis washed down with some pimms and beer.

The Queen's club is much smaller than Wimbledon but very charming. The old Club house built in 1886 reminded me of Bombay Gymkhana and is probably similar to many of the old clubhouses built during the Raj days in India. Like the Bombay Gymkhana, membership is by introduction only making it very exclusive.

We started the day with Roddick, who woke up after dropping the first set and then sailed through the remaining two. The next game was the lovable Spaniard, Rafael Nadal. He came, he conquered and he left. He owned the court for his straight two set win. In a way it was disappointing not to watch someone give him a run for his money. He has the most gorgeous biceps and unfortunately seemed to have a perpetual wedgie that needed constant adjustment during the match. S was not pleased I noticed, but apparently I was not the only one.
What amazed me apart from the exceptional quality of tennis was the ball girls at work. These little girls in bright red skirts and white bikers scurried about the court collecting and throwing tennis balls at a frenetic pace. There seemed to be a method to all this madness, I just couldn't figure it out. We ended our tennis session watching Djokovic and Nalbandian at work, both of whom were equally amazing players.

Apart from the tennis, it was the people I enjoyed watching. Women were dressed in beautiful jimmy choos and summer dresses, men in smart blazers and straw hats.This was a social event where competitive tennis also happened to be on display. There seemed to be a large number of private school types, toffs, corporate types, and a few brown souls like us. I heard a lot of jeeves and wooster lingo bandied about, it felt unreal. The Queen's club felt like a little upper class oasis where time stood still. As the day ended, everyone dispersed for a spot of tea and Victoria sponge. All in all it was a jolly good day of tennis old chap!

Turning 30

2008-06-04T20:18:00.013+01:00

Yes dahlings, it has finally happened. I crossed over into nether nether land. I turned 30. When you are 10 you can't wait to be 16. You want no deadlines on your nights out, you want to grow taller, grow breasts, wear a bra, wear short skirts. You can't wait to have your arms waxed, get a boyfriend, get rid of the glasses and be popular.

Then you're racing towards 20 because you want to get older, you need your independence, you curse the day you discovered waxing, you decide you can never be thin enough, you have your heart broken and mended, you want a driving licence, you want to earn some moolah, experiment, travel, get more boyfriends, discover alcohol, get drunk and find your place in this world.

Now that I am 30 I enter a new chapter in my life wiser (and wider) knowing I enjoyed the last 20 years. I had a great birthday, thanks to S, with a lot of bubbly at a French pub , a dash of jazz, a little bit of love, and a lovely picnic feast from Fortnum and Mason at Green Park.

Here's to turning 30.

Sunday Lunch

2008-05-11T19:04:00.011+01:00

As a child, I remember my mum preparing puris on special occasions. It was usually made when we had guests over. I loved using katoris to cut out small circles from the atta dough. She would keep reams of newspaper on the side and we would be given the task of lining them up in a nice row ready to be deep fried, fresh just before our guests arrived.

I have been craving this dish for quite a while and I had a bag of atta (powdered whole wheat) languishing in one of the cupboards for a while. S missed the rasta aloo bhaji which was a staple part of his diet during his days in Delhi.

So on Sunday we did a bit of googling and recipe hunting and settled on a relatively easy recipe which resulted in this.
Utensils required- A rolling pin, a wooden flat chopping board , medium- small circular pastry cutter/Katoris and a nice strong man to knead the dough ;)
2oog (1 1/2 cups) atta (chapati flour)
1/2 teaspoon salt
170ml (2/3 cup) of tepid water.

Sieve the salt and atta into a mixing bowl, make a well in the centre, add the water and mix into a pliable dough for 5 mins. Oil your fingers and use a well floured surface because this is sticky business. Place a little oil in the mixing bowl around the dough and leave aside for 30 mins

Roll out small lemon sized balls, place on a well floured flat surface (wooden board) and roll out into a flat pastry about 1mm in thickness, then use your katori/ pastry cutter to cut out circles about 4 cm in diameter. You should get about 30 such circles. Now for the sinful bit, fill a karhai/ heavy based saucepan one third full with oil and heat. To test the oil temperature place a small piece of atta in the oil, it should rise to the surface in a few seconds. Deep fry your puris in batches until they are crispy, puffed and golden brown. Drain on paper towels .

Aloo bhaji: Potato Curry
4 medium Potatoes Peeled
1 tsp of Cumin Powder
1 tsp Coriander ( dhaniya) Powder
2 tsp of Garam Masala
1 tsp Red Chilli Powder
1/2 tsp of Mustard seeds
1/4 tsp Asafoetida powder
1/2 tsp Turmeric Powder
1 tsp of Ginger Garlic paste
1 tomato ( 200mg tinned tomatoes)
One fist full of coriander leaves
2 tbsp of Oil
Salt as per taste

Heat the oil over medium heat. Add the mustard and cumin seeds and let them sputter. Add the asafoetida, turmeric, coriander and cumin powder and fry for 1 min. Next add the ginger garlic paste and saute for 2 mins.
Add the tomatoes in and fry on medium heat until the oil separates ensuring they are nicely fried, alternatively add the tinned tomatoes. Add the potatoes and ensure they are well coated with the masala mixture and fry for 1 min. Place 1/2 a cup of water into this mixture, salt and cook potatoes till you get a nice curry consistency.
Enjoy with hot crispy puris

Rambling in the rain

2008-05-07T18:56:00.014+01:00

Bank holiday came and went. S decided we needed to take up the quintessentially British activity of rambling. We decided to explore the Jurassic coastline in Dorset. Rambling, otherwise known as walking, has its roots set as far back as the 19th century when people migrated to the countryside for rest and recreation. Over the years various associations were set up for the protection of ancient footpaths and open spaces, many of which ran through privately owned land. Predictably, this led to arguments between the landowners and the ramblers.

The most recent spat occurred when the singer Madonna challenged the rights of ramblers to walk across her multi million pound country estate.

The morning was not too sunny, ideal weather for a 5- mile walk, or so I thought. We packed all our essentials, cling film wrapped chutney sandwiches, mackintoshes etc now all we needed was a spell of good weather. The drive was gorgeous, the English countryside in summer is truly picturesque. Bluebells and yellow carpets of rapeseed farms.

The journey to the coastline took us about 2 hours, and by the time we reached, the weather had forsaken us. I was more than happy to drive about, browse through the local shops and head back but S was not having any of that. So we gobbled down cold chutney sandwiches, then got our macks and headed off.

The walk we chose was rated as moderately difficult. I think the constant drizzling rain made it a little more treacherous thanks to slushy hillsides. We trudged along fields heading towards the coastline, greeted along the way by several grazing cows, sheep and fellow ramblers in no particular order.

When we finally reached the sea, the view was spectacular. This coastline has been designated a world heritage site. It is 185 million years old and is made up of a series of limestone cliffs of various sizes shaped over millions of years by erosion. At the end of the walk I was wet, I had the wrong shoes on, they were caked in cow dung and I could feel muscles I never knew existed.
What made it worthwhile was this backdrop.

I think I've been bitten by the rambling bug ;)

Priceless!

2008-03-07T22:37:00.007Z

I came across this thanks to S on you tube. If you belong to my generation from India you grew up on these fillers on DD. ek titli anek titliya...enjoy!

Wahaca !

2008-02-08T18:54:00.000Z

Oaxaca( pronounced as wa-' haka) is a city in Mexico, famous amongst many things for its varying variety of street food. It is also called the 'Land of Seven Moles'. Now London has a little bit of Oaxaca in covent garden and I had a taste of it last friday. S wanted to go try this place out for sometime and last friday after a relatively light day of work I headed of to the city for a taster.

Wahaca is a bustling mexican restaraunt serving a variety of mexican street food. As you may have guessed the name has been spelt phonetically to allow ease in pronounciation. The atmosphere on friday is great, it's bustling with people and the staff were stretched but seemed to be coping well. I felt like I had just entered an open plan kitchen in a contemporary mexican street market. The only problem is the waiting period, we had to wait an hour for a table and they don't take reservations.
While waiting for our table i saw these brightly coloured packets that looked like matchboxes. I opened it expecting to find a matchstick, instead I found little cardboard sticks with jalepeno seeds on it! What an absolutley brilliant marketing idea. Imagine the local curry house giving you a cumin or mustard stick along with your takeaway. I haven't grown my pepper seeds yet, but I am looking forward to sprouting my new bunch of chilli plants shortly.

Apart from the free chilli plants the food was pretty decent and economically priced. S tried a bunch of their small street food platters of which the frijoles made of smoky black beans, crumbled cheese, spicy slaw and fresh salsa was my favourite. The rest were quite bland. I tried the Bass a la mojo - Sustainable sea bass with a corn and jalapeno salsa. Served with coriander rice, charred baby gem leaves and a red chilli. It was fresh and perfectly seasoned for my spice loving palate. Everything is accompanied with a red and green salsa sauce, which can be used to spice up the dishes a bit more. We ended the meal with 2 rounds of flavoured tequila , Hibiscus and Tamarind, which you are meant to savour and not slam. They both tasted like fenny to me, and I did'nt really appreciate the savouring bit , but if tequila is your tipple they have a wide range to choose from.

An interesting bit of info about Wahaca is the chef and owner is 2005 Masterchef winner Thomasina Miers. Wahaca is simple tasty mexican food , the ambience is entertaining and fun. The food needs a bit more tweaking and is a tad bland in some instances. I would go back for a fun evening with mates and a few more wahaca chilli sticks.

Release me

2008-01-30T21:13:00.000Z

We started this joint blog a few weeks ago, and then hit writers block. A little early for it given the amount of content we have put up. So after some gentle coaxing from Shanks, I decided to get my digits active.

While settling on a topic to start on my first blog I was browsing through Itunes. Yes, I buy my music online! This got me thinking on the many musical influences in my life. I love music, amongst many other things. I treat music like food, experiment and you always pick a few gems. Today's pick is Alison Krauss an American blues-grass country singer and fiddle player. Wiki has an interesting read on her for all those interested.

Music was something we were brought up with at home. My mum is a big Kishore Kumar and carpenters fan, she introduced me to the melodic tunes of Karen and Richard Carpenter. My dad was at the other end of the spectrum, he is a big Doors fan. I remember spending weekday evenings lounging about listening to roadhouse blues while dad nursed his evening tipple. I woke up many mornings to the rich voice of M S Subbulakshmi singing Venkateswara Suprabhatam. I never really appreciated her voice, i put it down to age and the fact that she was my wake up call at 6 every morning. Either way music has always been an integral part of my life.

Music is food for the soul, poetry and harmony in a few rare instances

I am the wilderness locked in a cage
I am a growing force you kept in place
I am a tree reaching for the sun
Please don't hold me down
Please don't hold me down

I am a rolling wave without the motion
A glass of water longing for the ocean
I am an asphalt flower breaking free but you keep stopping me
Release me
Release me

Time pass

2008-01-13T17:28:00.000Z

Welcome to our blog. Some food, some music, some sport and some politics. Most of all, some idle time pass.