I 'love' good food. Love eating out, love homemade food too (but say I just 'like' cooking).  But being a food critic, that is just by choice - for benefit of others. No one critics home food, and seriously there is no point doing that.  But while eating out, I always consider few aspects - taste, presentation, quality, service, and ofcourse value for money (not necesserily in same order).  In this section I would be posting review of few restaurants, eat outs in and around Chennai. Folks are most welcome to post their comments, and of course add in some more reviews.

Recently I have gotten my reading appetite back, and have finished reading quite a few books. Humor though was never one of my things, may be I can blame it on not being come across good humor stuff. My encounter with humor was more or less limited to comic books till I was in school, and not I get my dose from the comic strips of magazines, newspapers etc.

Have heard a lot about P.G. Wodehouse from one of my friends, who is a huge fan, and wanted to give it a try. Last I was in the bookstore, found this 'The Girl in Blue' on sale and bought it. Could not start it though for more than a month though, I had borrowed couple of other books and I had to finish those first. As I was going home for a week and my one way journey is about 32 hours (yeah!), I carried that book with me. And first thing I would have to say is, the book was un-putdownable. Still 10 more hours to go, for the completion of my journey and I have completed the book. I had always been a digger for English literature, and long since I have read one. May be that made it more interesting.

Girl in Blue, is a miniature painted photo frame of a rich lawyer's great grandmother which he wins on a auction paying a princely sum. But he eventually ends up losing it. And his nephew, who is a struggling comic artist, is summoned to go in search for that prized possession. This nephew Jerry, who is also the protagonist of the story, has the fortune that his dad left with this uncle as a trust fund and his lady love at stake (pretty much), and he must use all detective skills (or any other for that matter) to get the miniature back. There are quite a few interesting characters in the book; some weird, some funny, some good hearted and some not so, somehow end up getting related to this Girl in Blue. And that is when things start getting interesting.

Enough said about the story, now read it to know what unfolds and how. Wodehouse in the old English style of writing, and a dash of humor here n there keeps the book quite interesting.

As my fiancée says, humor requires higher cognitive thinking, turns out I am in the elite group! Next time I am going to book store, I am looking for a collection of Wodehouse, they sell about 10 books together, of course with a discounted price. And of course, humor added in my favorite genre of literature.

It has been long, since I posted anything new in this section.  Well, I have not tried my hands on many new recepies for almost sametime.  Guess that has to do with, yummy indian food being available almost everywhere and anywhere, after I came back to India.  I just want to try them all, before going back to my own cooked food again.

Learnt couple of new Marathi recepies though from a friend recently, and tried my own variation. They seem to put sweet in almost all the dishes, and I am not a huge fan of that. Among those one recepie is Sabudana khichdi, which I liked a lot and more importaant factor is is, others liked it too, and I shared that recipe with so many friemd already.  I know its not a very unique diss, and type this name and google it, and you would find 10-12 webpages containing this recipe, but I am going to put it anyways.

Ingradients:

1. 1 cup sabudana - wash it with plenty of water, soak it in that water for about 30 minutes. Drain the water and keep the sabudana for 5-6 hours. (this part is important to get perfect base for the khichdi)

2. Peanuts - roasted and ground (coarse powder, not too fine) - half a cup

3. Potato, cut into small cubes - 2 medium

4. Cumin - 1 teaspoon, for garnish

5. Green Chilli - 2, cut in small pieces

6.  Chilli powder - as per taste

7. Lemon juice - 1 mid sized lemon

8. Oil - 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1.  Heat the oil in a pan, add cumin and then green chillis.

2. Add the cut potato after cumin and chilli are fried, and cover the pan.

3. After potatos are almost done (5-7 mins), add the crushed peanuts into the pan, and fry it for couple of more minutes. Add some salt to taste(one teaspoon) at this point.

4. Meanwhile sqeeze the lemon juice into the sabudana, add some salt (2 teaspoons), chilli powder as well and mix it with a spoon (or just toss it in the bowl).

5. Add the sabudana, once the potato and peanuts are done. Mix them well in the pan and cook for couple of mins. Do not add water, at any point of time.

This is a good snack, and can be a good sunday brunch as well. Best part, it gets done in minutes!!

Try it out and let me know how did you like it.

Completed reading Arvind Adiga's Man Booker prize winning book 'The White Tiger'.  I liked the book okay, not great or even good.  It left me wondering, was this just another 'The Slumdog Millionaire'?  The storyline almost is a rags to riches story, with a dark undertone to it.  Book ends with a note of guilt, sarcasm and a kind of uncertainty.  I liked that, even though I have certain weakness for 'happy endings' or even 'fair sad endings'.  That is the only point, which makes the book stand out, but it left me thinking, was that enough?The protagonist Balram Halwai alias Munna is born in a village in Dhanbad, which has been oppressed by the rich landlords for ages.  There is scarcity of money,food, shelter, education and everything else that is needed for human life to sustain and grow. Then there is a constant fear of what waits ahead each day of and bondage of just being a poor man or that of being a lower cast.  Even with persistent wish and effort by his parents for his studies, Munna ends up working as a helper-boy in the village tea shop. But he always has this urge to break free of this 'rooster coop' of servant hood and be his own master.  He finally manages to do so, at later part of his life, but by doing things he is not proud of. The path was far from easy, and away from fair n just.  But may be being fair and just would not get you anything in life; he consoles himself.I have read few other Booker Prize winners, and loved most of them. The White Tiger has touched the darker side of human mind in a fine manner, but that's about it. The story, the plot, the characters are quite ordinary. Had the ending been different, it could have been a story for a Bollywood movie some 20 years back. Now I think, may be the turn it's plot took towards the end,  convinced the judges.  Now, I would really want to read a few other books those were in the running for the award.

The other day searching for Salman Rushdie's Fury in the library, I found Haroun and the sea of stories.  Well, honestly speaking I have never heard of this book of his.  I had read The Midnight's children couple of years back, and whatever reasons bring Rushdie into news time and again, it was hard to imagine that he would write a fable (read a children's book).  Quite amazed, I picked both the books from that aisle, and blame it to my curiocity I picked up Haroun and the sea of stories first and finished reading it in a week.  Well, I am not that slow a reader, but I pretty much get time to read, when I am commuting to work/home.

The story is set on a very sad city, a city so ruiniously sad that it has forgotten its name.  Based there are a eleven year old boy Haroun, his storyteller father Rashid and his mother Soraya.  Haroun and his family seem to the only happy people in that sad city, but things change when one day Soraya runs away with their neighbour Mr Sengupta.  Which makes Haroun's father, also known as Shan of Blah very sad and eventually he looses his ability to fascinate people by his stories.  Haroun feels his rudeness towards his father's storytelling and imagination is one of the reasons for his sadness and tries to get back his father's abilities.  He soon finds out that Rashid's subscription for the magic story water has been cancelled somehow.  To get the subscription enabled again, he ends up in a strange magical world of Kahani, which has loads of amazement and adventure in store for him.  And this is not a spoiler as all children books have happy endings, Haroun with his wisdom and courage just does not make everything right in his family, he also makes the folks in the city remember its name.

The book subtly potrays the social and to some extent political problems in Indian sub-continent.  Many names of characters, and some places are either Hindi or Urdu or influenced by these languages.  Usage of symbolism is quite obvious and makes the book more interesting.  The book has obviously been influenced by Arabian Nights, Alice in Wonderland, Lord of the Rings and similar other classics.  There has been several indications of Pop culture, as well as Indian culrure .  The bus driver Mr Butt have been called 'looney tune' by some passengers.  Captain 'Mudra' of Chup city who can barely speak can convey a message only through an act called 'Abhinaya', Mudra means a posture and Abhinaya is performing an act, withought having to open one's mouth, conveying a message throughexpressions, both terms being used in Indian classical dance.

This amazing book, which tells the good ol' Good vs Evil story, with a much deeper meaning and with a very interesting and captivating set of charactersis an amusing read for children as well as adults.

Credit of this recipe goes to a friend of mine. But I liked it so much (and moreover its so simple to make) I really could not resit posting the recipe here. Nimona is a popular recipe from Bihar and UP area in India.  The preparation is real easy, and it tastes amazing.

Ingradients:

1. Fresh/frozen green peas - 2 cups
2. Spinach (washed and cleaned) - 1/2 cup
3. Garlic - 3-4 large pods
4. Coriander leaves -  1/4 cup
5. Green Chilli - 3-4 nos
6. Red Chilli - 1 (for garnish)
7. Cumin - 1 tea spoon
8. Bay leaves - 2 nos
9. Ginger - 1 inch
10. Oil - 1 tablespoon

Preparation:

1. Wash separately and grind the peas, spinach, coriander, garlic, green chillis and make a smooth paste.
2. Heat oil in a deep vessel, fry cumin, red chilli, bay leaves, and finely cut ginger for couple of minutes.
3. Add the peas paste and a cup of water in the garnish and cook while stirring on medium heat.
4. Cook for 15 to 20 mins until the peas and spinach is cooked, the colour turns from light green to dark green.
5. Add some butter just before removing the pan from the heat. This can be served hot with rice or chapati.

I love books since I was a little kid.  The interest for it started with  the stories my dad used to tell me when I was a toddler,  and then he started getting me books whenever he went out.  And then we moved to a different part of city, where I found a treasure of story and other books in one of our neighbour's small home library.  I remember it was one summer vacation and I finished almost all the books for my age by the time vacation was over.  I finished almost all the books before that uncle got relocated to a different city .  Then I had my school library, which was good,  but we had only one library period in a week, and we could borrow a book only during that period.  We did not have much chioce there, library being quite small.  Then I had started getting interested in comics, and found a shop nearby, that used to lend used comics for a minimal price.  I remember how desperate I used to be, when I ran out of books to read.  My dad subscribed to few magazines at home, and he still used to buy books for me whenever he got a chance.  But even then, I had missed presence of a good library in my town.   Then when I started going to college, to my utter disappointment my college library was full of only technical books and occassionally some self help or job oriented periodcals.  I would have been to that library just couple of times in 4 years of college life.  But then I had started saving some money and buy few books and ofcourse borrow books from friends.  But during college and at later part of life when I got a job, my craze for books diminished quite a bit..I had lot of other things to keep me busy.  But I was in look for a good library always, never could find a good enough one.

Couple of years later my work assignment brought to US, I have been in two cities in US since.  Here finally I found the libraries I had always been looking for.  Even work hours are really crazy for my project here, but I usually manage to visit the libary once in couple of weeks.  The library's here are huge, plenty, up to date, and really pleasant place to be for book lovers.  Some of the libraries have Wi Fi, and a cafeteria.... what more do you need to spend a Saturday afternoon!  The audio books, movie DVDs and cassettes are the additional advantage there.  And you can borrow upto 300 books, audio or video at a time..huh! Once a guy in the library told me, its like a Movie rental store, just that you get these for free, and get to keep them for longer. 

Even today in the world of internet, love for books and library amazes me.  Almost everyone who commutes using public transportation here has a book inhand, and it is indeed a pleasant sight.  When information (about anything under the sun..well and the moon) and entertainmnet are just a click away,  taking considerable amount of time to browse through a book store or a library takes real love and admiration for these printed charms.  Ofcourse the libraries have kept themselves up to date with the advance of technology.  Browsing a book is  lot easier with online cataloges, so is reserving a copy on advance.   

I feel even at this WiFi age, books and libraries have not lost their importance.  And moreover, people despite of their age, profession or social status need them and love them today, almost same if not more than yesterday.  And from the trend today, I have a strong feeling it is here to stay for quite a long time now.

I finally installed Linux (Ubuntu distribution) in my personal laptop (Dell Inspiron).  The 'finally' starts with a friend's persuation of giving Linux a try, who is a fan and follower of all open source softwares and strong opposer of piracy in any form.   He let me do couple of test drives of Ubuntu in his personal laptop, before I was convinced to get it installed in mine.  So the 'finally' ended today after I installed Ubuntu's Hardy Heron (8.04 LTS), for those of you new to Ubuntu, they release new versions twice every year on 4th and 10th months.

The transition from Windows from Ubuntu (its just the initial phase though) was not pretty smooth, atleast for someone so un-geek as me.   But I have to agree for a open source OS, its truely amazing.  The GUI  has a neat look, is easy to use, and does not take very long to get comfortable with.   I have to still do some more plug in installs to use webcam and video etc.  And I have to use some other software to be able to connect to GTalk and Yahoo messenger.  However it would be easier for me  to use Citrix to do a remote desktop login to my work desktop.  Windows goes through 3-4 painful pop-ups to connect to me remote desktop.

I faced some problem with Windows though while installing Linux (while making my laptop a dual boot; Windows and Linux).  We had to cleanup my laptop, and take backup of all my data and files etc.  While fragmenting the disk to allocate space for both OS, it took almost a day as we tried several methods.  And finally ended up having to installing both OS, starting form a clean disk.  It was fun though.   My Windows gave me problem afterwards though, while running the updates, they failed several times and removing other softwares installed along with it..Picasa, Skype, GTalk etc.   I had to install those all over again.   Seems there was some problem with window's updates during those couple of days..may be my bad luck. And my Windows updates are still pending.

But I am doing pretty well with Ubuntu, so far so good.  Would keep posted when I would explore new functionalities of Ubuntu.

I had dish long back in a restaurant in India. And couple of days back when we were almost out of vegetables in our kitchen with just some frozen stuff in the refrigerator, I thought of trying out this dish. Checked couple of recipes in net, and tried it out with some variations of mine. The dish came out pretty good, with comments from my friends as: it tasted somewhat like veg kurma (Chennai style).

Ingredients:

1. 2 medium potatoes - chopped into small cubes
2. Cut beans - 1 cup
3. Carrot cut into small cubes - 1 cup
4. Cauliflower (small florets) - 1 cup
5. Green peas - 1/2up
6. Onion - 2 medium
7. tomatoes - 2 medium
8. Cashew - 8-10 nos
9. Green chili - 3-4 nos
10. Cumin seeds - 1 spoon
11. Ginger Garlic paste - 1 table spoon
12. Cinnamon stick - 1/2 inch
13. Cardamom - 2-3 nos

Preparation:

1. Fry the vegetables in one tablespoon of oil for some time. Cover it and cook in medium heat for sometime till the vegetables become tender.

2. Fry green chili, and cashew in little oil. Grind it along with one onion, 2 tomatoes, ginger garlic paste.

3. Take out the vegetables from the pan, and keep in a separate bowl. Heat some more oil in the pan, add cumin seeds, cinnamon, cardamom. Add diced onion after a minute and fry it till golden brown.

4. Once the onion is fried, add the paste that was prepaed earlier. Add some turmeric powder (optional), and chili powder (according to taste, if required) and fry the paste until the oil separates. Mix it frequently and add 2-3 tablespoons of warm water if required, to ensure it does not get stuck on the bottom of the pan.

5. Once the masala is done, add the vegetables and mix it for sometime. Add a cup of warm water, cover it and let it boil for 5-10 minutes in low to medium heat. Garnish with coriander leaves.

This can be served with rice or chapati.

Etiquette is a defined (or undefined) set of mannerism and behavior in a community or any social occasion. This is what makes a civil human being and its the first step to sophistication. Work etiquette is a basic requisite for any corporate job, well actually any job for that matter. This might vary a bit from country to country, based upon the culture and social structure; but ground rules are the same almost everywhere. Etiquettes at work help building a healthy work culture and reduce the stress level to quite some extent.

Lets have a few points jotted down here.

1. Be at work on time : This would be he ground rule one. This one never goes unnoticed by your boss and co-workers, and needless to say this is a much appreciated trait anywhere and anytime. No one would expect you to stay till late (unless there is some urgent deliverables). You would not have to make excuses, or answer anyone. And most important, it gives you a feeling of satisfaction; and thats a great way to start your day at work.

2. Dress appropriately : Be very careful about what you wear to office, your attire gives the first impression about you. Your clothes do not need to be expensive, all it needs is to be neat, ironed, of proper fitting, and makes you look smart. Flashy colors and designs are a strict no no. And of course no low or revealing cuts in your clothes. Accessories are always welcomed, but they should suite your clothing and appropriate for work attire.

3. Do not discriminate based on gender or race: How much educated and civil we may be, or portray ourselves to be, discriminations are not non-existent yet in our work cultures. Be it race, gender, social status or any other kind of discrimination, it makes people uncomfortable, increases the workplace stress, and decreases productivity in a longer run. Avoid making racist or gender specific jokes. And treat all your co-workers the same way.

4. Be cautious while using phone at work: Using your cellphone for longer duration, while you are at your desk could be disturbing for your colleagues. So go outside finish your conversation, if you think its going to be longer than a few minutes. While using your work phone, keep you volume low while on the phone, make use of headphones instead of speakers if you have long calls or meetings over phone. Avoid using work phone for your personal calls, or giving the work number for on line registration for your subscriptions etc.

5. Stay away from office gossip: Gossip has never done anyone any good. It can just hurts other people, breaks friendships, and makes people less trustworthy. And in office especially, others personal life, or even professional stuff as long as you are not directly involved with this; should be none of your botherations to care for.

6. Do not mix personal and professional life: Your personal and work life should stay separate. Your friends and colleagues are connected to you in different level of emotions, and that distance or barrier should be there for all good reasons. You can share some of your personal stuff at work, but that has to have a limit, especially the 'not going so good' parts. You can end up being the topic of office gossip, or be looked upon by your co-workers, as a guys who says it all to everyone. On the other hand, avoid asking people questions, that they could be uncomfortable answering. Or even giving advises without being asked for.

Following some basic etiquettes makes our and our co-workers life easier and the work-place becomes a better place to spend a major part of our day.