Exploring new horizons in cooking

As of early 2010, my cooking involved only pan frying, steaming, grilling and closed-wok "currying". I tried deep frying a couple of times in an effort to make pan-fried pork shops and chili chicken -- a very popular dish in south India...especially with booze -- but only succeeded in smoking up my small North End apartment. So I don't deep fry anymore. In the past couple of months, however, I have been spending more of my cooking time baking and roasting stuff using the oven. I have been making my own bread too!

There are plenty of bread making recipes along with the ingredient list on the web. So I won't go into too much detail here. Pictured below are the steps to make simple whole wheat bread. The whole thing takes about an hour. Typically I do this Sunday morning and then use the bread up over the following week.


1. Mix bread flour with active dry yeast, honey and warm water.

2. Add salt, melted butter and, in increments, whole wheat flour. You want to add the whole wheat flour in increments until the batter easily comes off the container and yet is slightly sticky.

3. Roll the batter around in a pan containing a thin layer of melted butter until the batter has a coating of butter. At this point, the batter should be firm and come easily off the container without sticking. Cover the container using plastic wrap or foil and let sit until the batter doubles in size (not pictured).

4. Punch batter down and place in loaf pan.

5. Wait until the batter rises an inch or so above the rim of the loaf pan. Then place loaf pan in oven. Set oven to 350 degrees. Set timer to remind you in about 30 minutes.

6. After 30 minutes, turn the oven off and take the loaf pan out of the oven. Baste top of bread with a thin layer of melted butter.

7. Yum!

To store this bread, use a bread box. If you don't have a bread box, leave the bread in the loaf pan and let it cool first before covering it with aluminum foil. This way, the bread should keep well for a few days.

As a final note, I recently bought a pressure cooker. I have used it successfully to prepare pot roasts. In a future post, I will post some pictures from that piece of cooking.

Cuvee Christophe 2005 (A brief wine review)

Click for larger picture.

Typically I just get a bottle of Mondavi...easier to open a bottle with a cap. Occasionally I try a more expensive bottle either for myself or as a gift for someone. According to Dave at the Golden Goose market in the North End, the Christophe 2005 sells for USD 40 but was on sale at half the price. He exclaimed that a chef friend of his liked it so much that he ordered a whole case. Anyway, for the price, I was convinced. I have to say that this is a very good wine -- especially in relation to the cheap wines that I normally consume -- with a comprehensive enough after taste.

Blood-Thirsty Gentlemen

Cricket - South Africa in India 2009/10

Man, what a Test match series this has been!

India were pummelled in the 1st Test at Nagpur by a world-class South African bowling attack on the back of a Dravidian like 253 from Hashim Amla in the first innings. Then, a week later, India have bounced back in the 2nd Test after having completely outplayed SA, and despite Amla's grit on the fifth day, to draw the series. A 3rd test, in Chepauk, for instance, to replace the remaining One Day International (ODI) matches especially in light of the upcoming Twenty20 overload -- aka IPL -- would have been a great decider. I mean, what're a few more sleepless nights for me. But ODIs cannot be completely ignored especially in India. I am just glad that the Board of Control for Cricket in India (BCCI) asked the South Africans for two Tests to replace four of the originally planned seven ODIs.


Amla was a pillar of resoluteness for the South Africans.

M Vijay, who is relatively new to the Indian Test side and debutant Badrinath seem to have done enough without really contributing. You could argue that they were both just starting to play at the International level but that does not explain South Africa's own debutant Alviro Peterson's fine performance. Well, well, we will just have to wait and see if Vijay and Badrinath can do better. Also, even if Yuvraj gets fit, I don't think that he should be included in Tests in the near future. An opportunity must first be given to Virat Kohli or Manish Pandey.

During the 2nd test, I remember Ravi Shastri commenting that if India won a few matches on a pitch like the one at Kolkata, they can handle pitches anywhere in the world. Very true! Hats off to the groundsman to have prepared a proper Test wicket. However, we cannot always expect a pitch like that elsewhere in India. In late 2009, Doug Bollinger's performance (5/35) during ODI six in Guwahati that sealed the seven ODI series in Australia's favor spoke volumes as to what a bowler with tremendous pace can accomplish on flat pitches that generally provide nothing for a fast bowler. So going forward, in the bowling arena, Abhimanyu Mithun must be given an opportunity. I have a feeling that Ishant Sharma can only perform well on bouncy pitches owing to his tall height, lankiness and lack of pace. Mithun, with his much higher pace, tall height and more robust build, should be able to do better at both home and away.

I do agree with some fans that Test series should be planned better, comprise of either three or five matches and must be played only on certain grounds. However, as seen in this series, any number of Tests would still make for a gripping experience as long as the teams involved can play high quality Cricket.

Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain - 2001 (A brief movie review)

Warning: Spoilers possible.


Amélie was filmed in Montmartre, a hilly district to the north of Paris city.

This was a clean movie that some guy had uploaded in HD format on Youtube. I had flown through Paris many times before but have not actually spent any time in the city itself. I had been planning to go there sometime during the next 12 months. And it was in "preparation" for this tentative trip that I sought out French movies on a dreary New England Saturday a few weeks ago. Amélie was the first movie I decided to watch. Bad choice. I have yet to look for and watch another one.

Paris isn't simply a setting here. The city is delightfully in your face and quite a bit of daily life, as it happens in markets to train stations, can be seen. If any one has watched director Jean-Pierre Jeunet's other work (he directed one of my favorite movies of the 90s, Alien Resurrection), you will know he has a strong sense of visual style. This is clearly evident in the movie. The colors are rich and saturated and we are not bothered by issues like environmental pollution.

Amélie herself, as the radiant titular character, is a reflective and aware young woman who is quietly seeking the love of her life. After the second time watching this movie, it suddenly dawned on me as to why so many women, in their online profiles, mention it as an alltime favorite. The combination of the portrayal of both Paris and Amélie in this movie can be empowering in more ways than one. I have to admit that the movie did make me feel a bit embarrassed as to how I have sometimes responded to situations with the women in my life. I don't think that I will ever defer from taking a physical only interest in the occasional beauty that walks into my life. Reality is reality. But I figure I can go about it in a much more contemplative manner.

As in any really good movie, supporting characters are fleshed out well without being obvious in their performances. A couple of scenes, like when Amélie returns the oddball's (AKA Nino) album, seemed overly dramatical and is the kind of scene you typically would find in mainstream Indian movies. But I didn't draw an inference like that while watching the movie as what unfolded in each frame kept my senses glued to the screen.

I read one critic's view that the movie in its exaggeration of Parisian life does not do anything about representing the city's multi-cultural aspect. To put it bluntly, the critic voiced that no non-white actors were part of the cast. To which, Jeunet's response was that the character of Lucien was played by an actor with a Lebanese background. I thought both arguments were weak and probably unnecessary. The critic was being silly. Just look at how American filmmakers undermine the solidarity of both white and non-white races by attempting to be politically correct in movies and commercials. Sometimes not being politically correct can provide rewarding results. As for Jeunet, he need not have responded...and especially using the Lucien character as an example. Anyone who has seen the portrayal of the Lucien character would tend to agree with me.

The soundtrack is addictive and I have already made a playlist of it on Youtube while the audio CD and DVD are currently sitting in my Amazon wishlist. All in all, a terrific effort by Jeunet.

I give it quinze thumbs up!

Last Post - 2009

As old man winter tops the hill, I start spending a lot more time in my apartment, y'know, learning new stuff. No snowboarding this winter because of a niggling right knee injury that has recently become a bit too active for my liking. I will consider snow sports next year...or maybe I will just go ahead and do a bit of low impact snow shoeing. I do like the feel of crisp, cold air and that moment when snowfall makes your tracks disappear almost as fast as you make them. Squatting and overhead pressing as always will help keep the knee and all my other joints running smoothly. It is when I don't train that I start feeling a bit rusty all over: that right knee throbs with a dull, warm ache, the left shoulder starts stinging and I end up leaning for an indefinite period against a wall thinking of nothing.


Spicy chicken and beans will do a body a world of good. Try washing it down with a bit of Jamaican rum.

Last month I finally left a comfortable job of 10 years for an unknown length Contract position in the Back Bay. The previous job allowed me to make a steady living and will without doubt stay fondly in my memories. With solid and genial colleagues, I had a swell time there and was able to pursue my hobbies and outdoor activities fully.

But no more driving or getting stuck in traffic!

So far the new position, on the 30th floor of a well-known landmark, has been interesting enough as I am finally getting to work on technologies that I had wanted to be involved with for a good while. Plus I can't quite get enough of that late evening light which, like the perfect suit, splendidly drapes itself over Boston all the way toward the bluish-gray waters of the Atlantic off the city's waterfront. I do not yet know how this new position will turn out in the next few months but not knowing was part of what I was taking on when I decided to make a change for, I hope, the better. These days I go to bed early like 9. I am up by 5 AM, at the office by 7.30 and out by 4.

Last winter, I started working on hand balancing during the long winter evenings and could by early summer do a free handstand that lasted a few seconds. I hope to conquer the handstand fully this winter. My rock climbing experience in the past few years has proved that while my grip has steadily improved, it is nowhere near as good as it could be. So specialized grip work in anticipation of next season's climbing is in the near future. I am also on week 3 of a 10 week deadlifting program to get my 1 RM on that lift upto 400 Lbs. The program was conceived by the incomparable Ed Coan. I am already twitching thinking of the brute force I will need to conscientiously apply tomorrow evening, the 4th week of the program, in an effort to pull 355 Lbs off the floor of my folks' basement. I stopped deadlifting in gyms a long time ago. After the 10th week, I will move on to something else...probably a standard bodybuilding program.


Stuff I will be using to strengthen my grip at home. For resistance, I just tie an adjustable dumbbell to the hooks. Next spring, my brother and I plan to start using a Farmer's Walk implement to develop our grip.

I recently completed a book called The Atlantic Shore by John Hay. This book was written around 1966 and describes the beauty of the ecology of the coast from Long Island to Nova Scotia. The book is science that reads like poetry. An elderly neighbor of a friend of mine down in Weymouth lent it to me. I just ordered another John Hay book that I found on Amazon called The Way to the Salt Marsh. I am anticipating that one will be caressed with care just before I fall asleep for the next month. I am also on Misha Glenny's Balkans. That one will take a while longer to finish. I've been reading it a bit in the train on the way to the office.



Following my pleasant experience with Chamomile tea starting early this Fall, I ordered, at the recommendation of my brother, Green Tea Kombucha a couple of weeks ago and have found it immensely enjoyable, drinking up to 3 cups a day. In comparison, this past week I have had about 3 cups of coffee in total.

And for those evenings when I particularly don't feel like doing anything, I will just put my feet up and lose myself in blue swirls of fragrance...

A great man once wrote,

"It's time to stop micro waving your testicles or whatever it is you do to sterilize them. Look above you. There are stars in the heavens above. Look around you. There are trees, mountains, and rivers to explore, women to f..."

With that thought, I will sign off now.

Worst Shopping Run Ever

David emailed me a link to this video today. Hilarious!

Celestial Seasonings Chamomile Herbal Tea (A brief product review)

I developed a taste for this tea recently. It got even better once I started adding half a teaspoon of homemade honey -- $4 a jar -- given to me by Russ at the office. With the honey, this tea tastes like iced tea, only milder...and warmer, of course. I prefer the tea with honey as the honey makes the tea somewhat thicker in composition. I am now drinking up to two cups a day. I don't add milk or cream to it.

Try this tea with a cream of wheat breakfast. I have not made any coffee at all at home in the past week.