Hunting is not a sport. It is murder!

I can understand why the cave man went out hunting. He had to find food. And I am sure that along with hunting, the cave man also gathered - berries and fruits and all that veggie stuff. What I can't understand is how man has made a sport of hunting poor defenceless animals. And how man can take pleasure in killing another magnificent creation of nature? This rant is because of a programme I saw on TV last week. The channel in question is VS and they have featured programmes on hunting and fishing. The episode I happened to be watching was one in which some misbegotten idiot wanted to achieve his lifelong ambition of killing a bear. Why was I watching? It was some kind of horrified fascination and a fervent hope that the bear would somehow escape. I was destined for disappointment as far as my hope was concerned. The bear was killed, and he died an agonisingly slow death due to a punctured lung. Why is this sport? Men go in armed with rifles and bullets, and the bear only has his claws and teeth for his defence. How is this fair? How can this be thrilling? Of course, I admit that walking into the jungle, tracking a beautiful animal like a bear is thrilling. My question is, wouldn't it be better if we shot a bear with a camera and not a rifle? What right do these men think they have, to kill another animal for sport? The episode I watched was heartbreaking and enraging at the same time. These idiots hide in camouflage till they spot a bear who unfortunately walks into shooting range. The bear who was killed (murdered) was a beautiful black bear in his prime. He probably had many more years of living, mating and creating little adorable bear cubs which of course would turn into big bears like their papa bear. Alas, this was not to be. The idiot shot the bear while the bear was doing his bear thing of searching for food. He shot the bear somewhere near the shoulder. The wounded bear ran off into the jungle to hide and lick his painful wound. What enraged me was, if they were "brave" enough to shoot an poor, defenceless unsuspecting bear, they should have been brave enough to follow it and end it's suffering. But no, satisfied that the bear was mortally wounded, they went back to their warm camp bed, sure that the poor fellow would die during the night and they could "recover" the dead animal in the morning. They did recover it in the morning; death resulted from internal bleeding and a punctured lung. The poor thing literally "drowned" in its own blood. What a painful death. These "brave" hunters did not have the guts to kill an animal outright. These "brave sportsmen" do not have the courage to face a bear, look it in the eye and kill it. No, these freaks who burden this earth hide behind camouflage and shoot animals and let them die an agonisingly slow death are cowards of the first order. They are a blight on the face of this earth. They are not sportsmen. They are soulless creatures who murder in cold blood. They deserve an end like they mete out and hopefully they will get it!

My experiments with alcohol

Alcohol is one of the best things known to man. In fact, people like me consider it to be the greatest thing since sliced bread, shopping malls and retail therapy. So it is no wonder that the next step in my food and beverage career would be experimenting with alcohol. Make no mistake, by this I mean my making drinks and other assorted goodies with alcohol, not just consuming them. I have been a consumer of all alcohol related things long enough to start experimenting with making and serving them on my own. I have achieved moderate success in this endeavor, thus this blog post.

After quite a few booze parties and falling in love with tequila, I have come up with my signature Margatini. This drink has been called many things like straight up margarita and/or margarita on the rocks. For the curious and others as well, this is a yummy blend of two classics, the margarita and the martini, (as the name suggests). The drink is simple! I have heard tell that in simplicity lies great beauty, and this is true of the Margatini as well. The recipe you ask! I use Jose Cuervo’s tequila and margarita mix. I know I am supposed to use triple sec and simple syrup and all that, but Jose Cuervo puts them all together in their margarita mix. No point in re inventing the wheel there!
The ratios are simple, 1:2. One shot of tequila, two shots of the mix. Pour into shaker with ice. And shake well (around ten times like you make iced tea). Rim the glass with salt and pour. Voila! The Margatini is ready. And if you want to make it look pretty by adding garnish, go right ahead. I personally feel that garnish just gets in the way!

I must thank Z'Tejas in Bellevue Square for introducing me to this drink. The first time I had this drink, I loved it, and had to have the recipe for it. Our server told me that it is made the way a typical Margarita or your favoourite margarita is, except it is shaken and not blended! And that's the way I make it.

And now onto my other recipe: Jello shots. I made these for our New Year’s Party and these are a great way to get people drunk. My disclaimer, these contain a lot of alcohol, so be careful of how many you have. Also, they don’t hit you immediately, but when they do, it is Whammo! So don’t eat these and drive. The recipe is again very simple,

6 ounces Jello (large box)
2 cups water (boiling)
1 cup water (cold)
1 cup alcohol (8 ounces) (cold)

Dissolve the jello in the boiling water, add cold water and the chilled alcohol; pour into jello moulds/shot glasses and let set. They take at least 4 to 6 hours to set. Chilling them overnight works best. Enjoy them (responsibly!).

Suggested pairings:
strawberry jello - rum, vodka or vanilla twist
orange jello - peach schnapps or rum
lime jello - tequila
watermelon jello - vodka
grape jello - 1/2 vodka and 1/2 blackberry schnapps
lemon jello - vodka
raspberry jello - vodka
apple jello - butter shots

Of course you can play around with different flavors and liquor and come up with your own unique recipe, but be sure to enjoy them responsibly.

Employable but unemployed

It took me about one year to get my EAD(employment authorisation document) what with all the bereaucratic roadblocks and whacky rules! And the fact that it is valid only for six months and it takes about six months to get a new one. Which basically means the moment you get one, you need to apply for the renewal. Of course there is no such thing as a "renewed EAD". It is the same process as the first one, with all the same documentary evidence to be submitted and fresh biometrics. All they do at the biometrics stage is take your fingerprints and picture. As if my fingerprints change from one EAD to another! They remain the same. How about just having the fingerprints in a database? With this country's obsession with fingerprinting each and every person who enters the borders, they should be glad to store fingerprints in a database.

Now, after getting my EAD, I am having trouble finding the perfect job. I know that the cynics will tell me that there is not such thing as a "perfect job", but I am not looking for perfection in its strictest sense. I just want a decently paying job in training. Surely that is not too much to ask. Of course, the rub is in the fact my idea of 'decently paying' and prospective employers' ideas differ slightly. And when there are so many more better qualified people out there, what chance does poor me have?

So it is serving coffee at Starbucks and thinking of going back to school part time. Now, one of the benefits of working in Starbucks is the free coffee. Alas, I am off coffee! But serving coffee is fun, making it with those big milk steamers and espresso machines. It is amazing! And the tips are great too. I could use this kind of cash in my life.

As far as next steps in my career, who knows? I might go from a barista to a bartender! Maybe I should go to bartending school instead of going in for some stuffy course like organisational psychology. I will think about it later. For now I am enjoying my new job, working with really fun guys, making coffee and meeting some great people. And this is way better than what I was doing till now, and I count my blessings.

The Incomparable Helen

There seems to be a renewed intrest in Sholay and the Mehbooba Mehbooba song thanks to Ram Gopal Varma's remake and Mallika Sherawat's cavorting to the tune in Himesh Reshamiya's remix. Don't really know what these guys were thinking when they decided to get inspired by the classic Sholay. The movie had achieved cult classic status. Forget my generation, this generation is also familiar with the movie. They spout lines from the movie like "Kitne aadmi the?" and "tera kya hoga kaaliya?". I am sure that the popularity of this movie is not due to the remake (Aag) or Himesh Reshamiya's remix.

When Himesh Reshamiya decided to sing this song, I am sure he thought he would well suited for this song cos he sings in a nasal voice. I don't really know how people can be his fans. If you've heard one song, you've heard them all. The result is quite atrocious. And Mallika Sherawat cavorting around awkwardly in the video does not recommend it to viewers. Unless of course you really "admire" her.

And Ram Gopal Varma has cast his favourite "item" girl Urmila in his version of Sholay. Now, I am sure Urmila has a multitude of charms but this particular video hardly showcases them. The expression on her face is quite pained and her movements awkward(for lack of a better word). In fact, the first time I watched the video, it seemed as if Urmila was vulgarity personified.

Then I watch the original Mehbooba Mehbooba with Helen. Man, was it a refreshing change to watch Helen dance in this song. She was graceful and beautiful. Bollywood's first successful cabaret girl and belly dancer extraordinaire really sizzles the screen in this song. As she did in all her other songs. Who can forget her in Don, Caravan, Teesri Manzil and Howrah Bridge? At first openly reviled and secretely admired for her "vampy" roles, Helen proved to be the most successful seductress and Bollywoods original "eve". Research shows that her fan base hasn't dminished much over the last fifty years. Helen always was perfection and grace personified, in spite of her costumes or lack of them. In all her roles Helen was never vulgar, like some of our modern day "item" girls are.

Though Mallika Sherawat and Urmila Matondkar have attempted to charm the audience in the most recent versions of Mehbooba Mehbooba, it remains just that, an attempt. They are nowhere in Helen's class. Helen to this day reigns supreme as the Mehbooba Mehbooba girl.

Back in action

Am finally back in action after like about three months, maybe more. All this while I was on a glorious vacation in India. Well, most of the while anyways. Been back about two and a half weeks now. But I had a wonderful time at home; in spite of the fact that it was summer in India. I realised what the term "Indian Summer" means. It means unrelenting, brain frying heat. It was HOT HOT HOT! But I realised one thing. India with all its heat and dust is still more colourful and vibrant than any place I have ever seen in all my life. I was so glad to be back that I even embraced the horrible summer eagerly.

When I say that in spite of the heat, India ia still colourful and vibrant, I mean how alive it is. Imagine this, The heat lies like a heavy pall over the earth. The earth herself is parched, thirsty and dry; waiting for the first rain. Not the slightest breeze offers respite from the suns rays. The bushes are dry, and the trees, dusty. There is not a sound to heard anywhere, not even a birdsong to break the opressive silence. When suddenly you hear the softly tinkling bell that cattle wear around their necks. And see them, followed by a girl holding a stick to hurry them along. Suddenly, the whole place seems to come alive as the cattle make their way home kicking up dust in their wake. Just as the dust is settling, you see a flash of lightning and hear the distant rumble of thunder. You cast your gaze upwards, and in the horizon, you see rain clouds. And just like that the whole scene in front of you comes alive. Birds start chirping, there is a breeze with a hint of moisture that promises respite from the unrelenting heat. The plants and trees seem to stand at attention for the rain. The first few drops don't even reach the parched ground. They evaporate before that. And then comes the deluge, warm, life giving rain. The plants and trees seem to flutter and dance in the wind and the rain. That is when you realise, summer is over. The rains have come.

There is nothing like the first rain to make one aware of the power of nature over man. The monsoons in India are like nothing else on earth. The warm rain, the cold winds, the smell of rain drenched earth and the sight of growing greenery....makes me feel happy to be alive!

Hard work

When I first created this blog I seemed to be brimming with enthusiasm, to say nothing of inspiration. Now, it has been ten days since my last post. I have realised that blogging is hard work once the initial enthusiasm has faded away. Adi had said as much in the beginning, but as usual I chose to ignore his words. But he was right. Now that I have discovered that blogging is hard work, I am planning to have a schedule. Probably set one day of the week aside as my blogging day. Maybe I shuld blog every Tuesday. This way it will give me a week to think of things to blog about. And if there is a schedule to maintained, maybe Calliope will smile on me once again. One can only hope.

Food blogs and friends

I know I waxed eloquent about food blogs yesterday and yet I feel that my tribute hasn't done justice to how helpful they are. As usual, I was browsing through food blogs today and made a wonderful new find. Injipennu's Ginger and Mango. It is a really good blog of mallu recipes. Authentic mallu recipes. Ooooh! what a find. Though there are a lot of non vegetarian recipes on the blog, I still found enough veggie recipes that delight my foodie soul. The recipes of quite a few things I used to shamelessly scarf down at my friends' places during my childhood have been posted on her blog. Now, I just can't wait to try my hand at some of those recipes. (drool drool) Unfortunately, my characteristic laziness to go grocery shopping and Mayuri's (the Indian store here in Bellevue) lack of veggies in stock have led to a nearly empty refrigerator and a craving for mallu food that has to be satisfied. Now it looks like I have to wait till the weekend arrives to satisy this particular craving.

I could of course, drop into friends' places and scarf to my hearts content. A good thing that Adi has good friends here who (hopefully) don't mind not so little me dropping in solely with the intention of having some good mallu food. (If they do mind, they are too polite and nice to let me know that.) I just love those people. Dileep and Praseeda, this is my tribute to your gentle and understanding souls who put up with me solely because I am married to Adi. And to your hospitality and wonderful company during a weekend, not to mention yummy food at your place.

Muses and Apsaras

I just created this blog today and this is the third post. Looks like Calliope is sitting right on my shoulder and inspiring me to express my self today. (should I compose an ode to her?)Or maybe it is just the excitement of going home, or of creating a blog. Talking of Calliope, I wonder if the muses have any additions to their ranks. I mean of late there seems to be more prose than poetry in this world (pun intended). So I wonder if the muses have changed their areas of specialisation or if they have recruited more nymphs for positions like "muse of internet blogging" or "muse of emailing". No offence to Calliope or the other muses of course. I mean when we have Erato, who is the muse of erotic poerty, why can't we have muses for blogging or emailing? I would really need a muse for emailing. Calliope, Zeus bless her, seems to desert me whenever I sit down and try and mail one of my friends. I try and think of something nice to mail about, but what is nice or exciting about waking up in the morning and going through your routine for the day? If you did something exciting like bungee jumping for a living, then you might have something exciting to write about. But I guess after the first two or three jumps, even that begins to pall and becomes routine. So the point I am trying to make with this rather long winded explanation, is that I don't know what to write when I want to email a friend.

Thinking of muses again, it is surprising how we so readily take to Greek mythology. Greek mythology is great, fun to read and quite complicated too. Rather like our own Indian mythology. But, so far, I have not come across muses in Inidan myhtology. Unless we equate our Apsaras to the Muses. Greek Mythology has nine muses now though it started off with three: Aiode, Melete and Mneme. We but have four Apsaras (that I can remember now) Urvasi, Menaka, Rambha and Tilottama. I guess these are the most famous of our apsaras, delighting Indra and his court with their graceful dances. No wait, Indira's court has 26 apsaras. But so far I have never heard of any of them performing specific functions like being the muse for something. Hmmm...a good research project to undertake. I guess I shall hie to it!

Cooking and Food blogs

Like I said before, I have been cooking for some six months now. I find it a hassle still. Even though I am a foodie(as evidenced by my ample figure) and cooking was one of my hobbies, I still find it hard to cook everyday. Of course, everyday means every weekday. I don't cook on the weekends. Who does? Even if it is just five times a week, cooking still bothers me. The point is, me being such a foodie, I prefer authentic meals. None of this fusion jazz like broccoli sambar or artichoke dal for me. I am sure that these things do have a certain appeal, but I shudder with horror when I hear things like this. Which brings me back to my quandry. How to make yummy food a la Mummy! I never paid any attention to how she made a lot of things which I took for granted...like palakura pappu(Spinach dal), kakarkaya(bitter gourd) fry, dosakaya pachadi and so on. All I paid attention to was how much I could eat, how much was left and if I could have more of it for dinner. After coming here and forced by my own "foodieness" to cook, and not being intrepid enough to experiment on my own, I turned to the good old standby for information; the internet. And then I discovered the world of food bloggers.

I went crazy for a few days, drooling all over my laptop when I read their recipes and saw the photographs that accompanied the recipes. The long forgotten hooby of cooking reared its head again. Since then, I have been constantly surprising Adi (my husband) and myself with my cooking. And contrary to what you might think, the surprises were all pleasant. Of course I have the numerous food bloggers to thank for them. So this is my tribute to all those cooks and food bloggers who have the patience to experiment with new recipes, the talent to cook yummy food and the thoughtfulness to post their recipes on thier blogs so that lazybones like me can have some good food.

One of the blogs I go frequently to is Indira's Mahanandi. She is from the same state as I am from. Andhra Pradesh. And it is well known that we Telugus are crazy about food. Her blog contains recipes for the food that Mom made at home. I always refer to her recipes whenever I want some yummy Andhra food. And I seem to want some yummy Andhra food most of the time. Other times, I crave some yummy Kerala food. (yeah yeah! I crave yummy food. Period.)The fascination for Kerala food is because I grew up in this delightful place called Trivandrum. It isn't so great now, but it was a paradise when I was growing up. Lush, green and beautiful with an age old charm that only truly old cities have. And for some Kerala food, it is either ask Adi to cook or refer to Ammupatti's thoughts. More than her recipes, I like the way she talks about Kerala Iyer culture. Her blog is truly a joy to read. As for other recipes, I always go to Mahanandi again. Indira has a comprehensive list of food blogs on her site. So it is easy navigation for me.

I really wonder what I would have done if all these food bloggers weren't there. I know for sure that I would be having the same few tired recipes over and over again. Thank you Indira and Bhagavathy and all the rest of you food bloggers.

Going Home!

Well, I am happy to announce that I am going home! Back to Glorious India. I am leaving the unimaginative and cold land of the US of A and going home to hot, dusty and colourful India. Even if it is just for two months. I can hardly wait. Of course I have to shopping cos I want to get my friends something from here, but shopping for friends is pure pleasure. A labour of love indeed. Unlike shopping for relatives, who give you a list of things when they hear that you are going home. Some relatives, like my Pinni are so great that I don't mind shopping for them. But others are just too much. Anyways, I am not about to let those people spoil my fun.
Apart from looking forward to the shopping, I am aslo looking forward to the food at home. Now that I have been cooking regularly (albeit reluctantly) for six months or so, I have a newfound respct for Moms. I get all bothered and flustered when I have to cook some Dal and Subzi once a day. Moms did that for years, and did it three times a day. Made something for breakfast, lunch and dinner. And on weekends, snacks with tea too. They are simply amazing poeple. And they made such YUMMY food too.
How can I forget the coffee at home? Mom's signature blend of Peaberry, Plantation and Chicory, freshly roasted and ground used to fill the whole house with its aroma as it percolated in the filter. If I close my eyes, I swear I can almost smell it again. Ah! I just can't wait to be home...sung in the tune of Lion King's "I just can't wait to be king". Oh, I just can't wait to be home....