This is a slightly premature what-happened-on-the-weekend post.

Friday. Dinner at Maza with Little A (Maza is the new Afghan place that's opened on State Street.) Chapali kababs. Searching for Angelic. Deciding that the Great Dane is a better option. (Mmmmmmm Honey Blonde beer!) Eternal Sunshine for the Spotless Mind.

Saturday. Breakfast at Mickey's Dairy Bar. Cricket World Cup at Union South. Ice-cream with Ms. Non-Sequitur at Union South. (Mmmmmmm Orange custard chocolate chip!) Cook-out at Uncle J's place organized by Cousin Q. Holy crap a food festival! Barbecued short farmer's market ribs. Barbecued Mexican-marinated pork. Beer and lot's of it. Tossing the frisbee. All kinds of dips and finger food including Cousin Q's looks-bland-but-has-a-kick chili dip. Made from habanero powder! More beer. Tossing the ball for the dog. Watching a looong croquet game. Barbecued chicken and veggies (including pineapple!). Brats! Sitting my the fire and identifying movies from their soundtrack. (Who knew that Baby Got Back is in the Charlie's Angels soundtrack!)

Sunday. So far, I've just got this post. I better come up with something quick!

Two funny movies that illustrate the basic differences between American and British humor.

Blades Of Glory with Will Farrell and John Heder is an over-the-top comedy about men's figure skating rivals who are forced to dance as a pair. This is typical watch, laugh and never think about again stuff. Funny but forgettable.

Hot Fuzz with Simon Pegg and Nick Frost is British cop-comedy. High-strung cop is sent to small village where he uncovers a swan and a conspiracy. This will become a cult classic or should anyway.

The good folks at Chin's have figured out how to get repeat customers. Just say nice things in fortune cookies. Last two times I've been there, my fortune cookies have read "You will become an accomplished writer." and "You are going to have a very comfortable old age." Yeah, I need to go there more often.

And in science news these two articles caught my attention Sluts and vermin and Smarter people are no better off

Everything's coming in pairs... strange.

The Blame Game
By Chris

In case you were wondering who’s to blame for the Virginia Tech massacre, I’ve created a list this morning to keep track. Feel free to send in any that I’ve missed.

There are no words. Just sadness...

I saw Ravi Shankar and Anoushka Shankar in concert last night with Ms. Non Sequitur, Kitkat, her hubby Bongoli M and by boss A. The whole experience was awesome. But there was a distinct difference in the two performances.

They were both technically flawless. But everyone, including people like me who haven't really studied Indian Classical, agreed that Ravi Shankar's performance was on a different level from Anoushka's. And I think I know the reason- it's because unlike Anoushka, Ravi was letting himself be moved by the music. Somehow, that added something special to his performance.

I guess Anoushka will get in time too.

Weekend.
Friday. Hoofers Sailing Club social at Hawk's. Maduro's with crazy P and his crazier friends. Home at 4 after mac and cheese pizza at Ian's.
Saturday. Early phone call from London T. Sleep deprivation. Shopping at the mall. New garage for car. Storm. Canceled plans to go Cocoliquot. Crappy pizza from Rocky Rococo's. Music and helping Ms. Non Sequitur pack for her trip to Puerto Rico.
Sunday. Gym. Calming Ms. Non Sequitur during a last minute pre-trip panic. Dinner at Dotty Dumpling's and drinks at Paul's Club with Little A.

Current music to trip on: No Quarter and When The Levee Breaks by Led Zeppelin. Why are all the best bands English?

Accidental trippy music. I was listening to Spaceboy from the Smashing Pumpkins album Siamese Dream. I was also opening random links on Digg and opened What We Still Don't Know - a documentary about origins - in a background tab with the intent to checking it out later. (I didn't know when I was opening it that it was a video which would start playing automatically.) I was also coding. The result was some extremely mellow alt rock layered with some trippy words discussing life, God and science. Maybe I should post a mashup on YouTube...

And we don't know
Just where our bones will rest
To dust I guess
Forgotten and absorbed into the earth below

-1979, Mellon Collie and The Infinite Sadness, The Smashing Pumpkins

This the 200th post! Wow, I lasted for a lot longer than I though I would...

This week has been interesting. Work was the focus of things until Thursday. Then on Friday it was cricket time! Streaming video works fairly decent on Shoutcast TV. Unfortunately as is always the case, the Indian cricket team decided that if Hob is going to watch, we better lose. Badly.

With that bitter taste of defeat in my mouth, I decided what better way to cheer myself up than a couple beers at the Union with people who have no idea what cricket is :) I met KitKat and her friends from development studies (or something... Humanities is all fluff according to me... KitKat is going to kill me when she reads this.), Ms. Non Sequitur and her friend the linguist (or something) and Musical JA and his friend Roberto! After getting slightly wasted, it was pizza at Gino's. I think pizza tastes better if you're drunk. And the waitress noticed my Amsterdam T-Shirt. She was Dutch. Or something.

Saturday, after an insane 20 minute jog on the bike path behind my house, I decided to head to Union South and watch the Australia-South Africa match. That was so much better than in India-Sri Lanka game. After South Africa started to lose, I decided that I'd had enough cricket for the weekend.

Then I went to watch 300 with Sailor M! The movie is violent, cartoonish, picturesque and has some of the worst dialog in recent years. You should watch it. It's like Kill Bill meets the Gladiator meets the Lord of the Rings. We followed this up with dinner at Casa De Lara and a pitcher of frozen margaritas! After this Sailor M had to go to her friend's birthday party, I hope she got home ok :)

And this morning, I watched the second half of Altered States, a completely crazy movie about a researcher who does ayahuasca while in an isolation tank. Thank you i-me-moi for your insane recommendations!

It's 1:38 pm on a Sunday afternoon and I'm at work. There's no one else here yet. I have just finished my extra-hot habanero burrito from Qdoba. So why am I not ranting?

It's because I spent last night dancing like a junglee at the High Noon Saloon to the great sound of The Kissers! An Irish rock band and Guinness in my blood, what more do you need on St. Patrick's Day? Others to partake in the festivities were Ms. Non Sequitur, Sunny D, Laid back C, their friend StayC, and later in the night Smiley R and her husband J. I'm so sore from all the head-banging today, my neck ache has a neck ache!

Drunk Post Warning: This post was written while inebriated.

Just got back home from a session of crazy dancing at Madison's with Q and her crazy friends. We danced to the likes of JT, Fergie and all kinds of crazy chick music like Avril and Kelly Clarkson. It was totally awesome!

Before that it was Gomeroke at the High Noon Saloon!. I was the closing act of the night with my rendition of Hotel California by the Eagles. I forgot the song midway but didn't care and sang out loud anyway! I rocked the house! (Humility clearly isn't my forte.) I'm totally doing this again... Before me, apparently Q sang and was, according to her uncle J, number 3 for the night. (According to uncle J, I wasn't quite in the Top 5 'cause I forgot the lyrics, but I "did good".)

And my apologies to Ms. Non Sequitur for choosing such a long song and killing her chance. I promise I'll let her go before me next time.

The adoring public demanded it so here it is... a brand new post!

What is Hob listening to?
Interstate Love Song by The Stone Temple Pilots. If I sing at Gomeroke (Live band karaoke) this Friday (contingent on whether I get to go for it - horrible horrible work) then it's a toss up between this and You Can Leave Your Hat On by Joe Cocker. (Actually looks like they may not know either of those songs.... hmmmm... well there's always The Beatles... maybe something like Come Together or Helter Skelter?)

What is Hob touching?
His shiny freshly shaved head. Here's the deal on shaving your head:
a. Shaving the front is easy with a Gillette Mach 3, shaving the back using an extra mirror is slightly disorienting at first but you get used to it.
b. Day 1: Your scalp is like sandpaper and catches on everything!
Day 2: Your scalp is now has a slightly rough feel to it. Your sexiest looking day.
Day 3: Now there's this absolutely delightful fuzz that feels so good to run your hand through (for both the hand-runner and hand-runnee)
Day 4: Uh oh! Beginning to look like hair again! Time to shave... tomorrow!

What is Hob smelling?
a. Nivea Aftershave straight from India. This seems to be unavailable in the US and I didn't pick up any more during my visit... I wonder if Nivea makes cologne?
b. Clean fresh spring air. Holy crap Batman! I had forgotten what spring was like over here.

Who is Hob leching?
Ana Beatriz Barros as usual. And all the hot women in Madison who seem to be enjoying warmer weather by bringing on the spring fashions. I like. (That "I like" to be said like Borat.)

What is Hob tasting?
Success! And Harvest Cheddar Sun Chips! And beer, glorious beer! (St. Patrick's Day this Saturday!)

• You feel the wind. Really feel it.
• You realize just how many times you would fidget with it (A lot.)
• Most people who know you will do a double take. But some won't even notice until much later.
• You will do double takes in the mirror.
• The strangest people will call you names.
• People who have threatened you with dire consequences if you ever did it, will basically just say "whatever" and get on with life.
• Most of the time you'll forget you've done it, until you see yourself in the mirror or touch it.
• When you imagine how you look, you won't imagine that you've done it.
• In a shower you quickly realize why it evolved in humans in the first place - to keep suds out of your eyes.

Things you notice after shaving your head for the first time...

India update 4
16 - 18 Feb 2007

Let's begin with some more general vegetarian goodness. I was in the mood for spicy stuffed bell peppers (capsicum to Indian folk) and my mom indulged me! Along the way I also learned how to make them. I was planning pictures at each step but the battery on my camera gave way and needed to be recharged. Well here they are anyway , along with matki chi usal - a dry curry of moth bean sprouts, ambat varan - a sour garlicky daal, bharleli kashmiri mirchi - bell peppers stuffed with spiced chick pea flour, shrikhand - a yogurt based dessert and karela - fried bitter gourd.



What happened next was a puja (Satyanarayan puja) at our house. Of course this meant the mandatory fast before the puja - fast of course, being a relative term as you can have your fill of sabudana khichadi!



And after the puja was over there was a veritable feast served in the traditional banana leaf shaped dish (Ideally you serve in a real banana leaf but it's hard to find large clean ones these days!) Traveling clockwise in that plate we see salt, lemon, cucumber roasted peanut salad, green coconut chutney, yogurt, puran - sweetened boiled chickpea mash, fresh cashew curry - these aren't your run-off-the-mill roasted cashews, these are fresh from the fruit, soft and creamy and utterly delicious, and tragically unavailable anywhere in the US, lightly sauteed fresh okra, rice with varan dal, chapaties, and masala dudh - milk flavored with saffron, almonds, pistachios etc. etc.



I'm thinking of having another puja before I leave, just for the food...

Anyway, after that on Sunday, I had my buddies over for lunch and there was more great food. Unfortunately I didn't take any pics of the food, but I can list what was on the menu - chicken curry, dry chick pea curry, jain style potato curry, faras bean curry, an assortment of chutneys and pickles, and for dessert dudhi halva - a halva made of dudhi, an Indian gourd, shira - a halva made of semolina and ice cream!

Later that evening I went for the Roger Waters concert at the MMRDA grounds in the Bandra-Kurla complex. I didn't have any great expectations from this thing so was blown away by how good it was! The lights, the sounds, Dark Side of The Moon! He finished with Comfortably Numb! I'll post some pics later when my friend has a chance to get them off his camera phone.

We ended the night with roomali roti - a soft-as-velvet flat bread that's made by tossing it into the air (roomal is the Hindi word for a silk handkerchief), bheja fry - fried brains, chicken bhuna - roasted chicken curry and seekh kababs at Bademiya's at Colaba! Eating on the street, off the hood of your car that's been propped up by a Coke bottle (sorry Thums Up bottle) has it's own unique charm that cannot be reproduced anywhere else!

So this is going to be a giant mash-up, I'm going to try and use the EXIF information on the pictures to try and figure out what was ravenously pounced upon when... Forget it, let's forget dates, let's just say that I ate this between...

12 Feb - 15 Feb 2007

First up, some unpleasantness. The dreaded potato stir-fry. This bhaji is my mortal nemesis but dad and bro love it, so it gets made anyway. Needless to say I took a picture of it the kadhai, but it never got on my plate. (That's a lie, I did eat some with rice. It tastes nice but it's generally too dry for my palate. I like juicier things!)



Here's a random picture of a street vendor taken from my terrace. Look at the fresh vegetables that we'll never buy! (You don't buy from the vendor in front of your house unless you're lazy. Like a good little Indian you go to the market and bargain with all the vendors there...) The black stuff in the basket on the right is grapes. And there's tea (I think) in the aluminum container.



Here's our carrom board. My dad's a champ but I beat him sometimes...



Here's something I like! It's curried scrambled eggs with green peppers (or capsicums as we call them here!) Along with are some fresh fulka chapaties!



Next up, liver curry! Mmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmmm! This contains all kinds of offal like liver, heart, kidneys! Very incredibly tasty! And it's being served with jwarichi bhakri - a special flat bread that's exclusive to my state. Nutty, salty, with a texture that's unlike any you've ever had! My mouth exploded when I had this!



And now for something which is exclusive I think only to my village, possibly only to my extended family! The Maharashtrian version of breakfast cereal - chaha-pohe! Chaha is tea and pohe is flattened cooked rice! Dunk pohe into a saucerful of hot tea and scoop up spoonful after delicious spoonful. Caffeine and vitamins in the same dish!!



My mom asked me what she should make for dinner.
I said "Sabudana vada!"
"What? That's just a snack!"
"Not if I have a dozen or two!!!"
Yes, ladies and gentlemen, last night I had two dozen hot off the frying pan sabudana vadas with green chutney and Maggi sauce!
And to the uninitiated, sabudana is well explained in Wikipedia, vada simply means fritter. Sabudana, potatoes, peanuts and chillies! I am going to make this when I get back to Madison!



And finally to finish off on a sweet note, here's pictures of two of my favorite desserts - on the left, malai sandwiches (Imagine two flattened rasgullas with sweet heavy cream in the middle!) and on the right, halvasan (I'll need to research more and find out exactly what this contains, suffice is to say that it's delicious!)

So I've slacked off, so sue me! Big update coming tomorrow morning.

India update day 2 - 11 Feb 2007

I slept for almost 12 hours. That was probably the last of the jet-lag!

After waking and playing zombie for about 10 minutes, the smell of hot dosas drew me to the kitchen. My maid Sujata was making dosas. I pigged out and had 5! And 2 idlis! All accompanied by the special green chutney that accompanies dosas.



And it's just 11 am. I'll update this again at the end of the day. I smell a feast coming on! I'm off to watch the India - Sri Lanka one day match!

And here we are at the end of the day! I had mutton curry for lunch. Delicious! And mutton curry, bheja fry (fried brains) and gaboli for dinner. Followed by rasgullas for dessert! I'm in culinary heaven right now.



And as an added bonus, here's pics of some Narayandas laddus that my mom made.

India update day 1 - 10 Feb 2007

I got home 1:30 am on the 10th and ate kheema-pau after getting home. Kheema is minced goat meat which is usually curried. Pau is simply bread. Here's a pic!



As I hadn't slept at all on the Amsterdam-Mumbai leg (I watched Little Miss Sunshine - awesome!! and Walk The Line - also awesome! and one episode of the Office - always great,) I beat the jet-lag pretty well and got a couple hours sleep in.

Waking up, I had more kheema-pau. Then my mom pop's the surprise on me! She had frozen Alphonso mangoes and Mahabaleshwar strawberries since summer! Whoa! Here's pics of the mangoes and strawberries thawing out. As you can see they lost firmness in the freeze-thaw process, so we decided to convert them to aamras (mango juice) and strawberry milkshake instead.



For lunch we had palak paneer (green spinach curry with cottage cheese) and valacha birda (curried brown bean sprouts) with fulka chapatis fresh of the griddle!! (In my gluttonfest I forgot to take pics.)

Yum yum!

As soon as my jet-lag leaves me, I'll step out. Update for day 2 is next!

It's time for the annual adventure! This Thursday, I fly to the Greatest City in the World - Mumbai!

Here's hoping I can meet up with all the readers and lurkers and hanger's on of this blog. So please email me (address in the top-right corner,) and I'll send you my contact info (and also reveal my secret identity to those who don't know it yet!!!)

I was in West Virginia over the weekend for work. Here's the story...

WV was just so ... boring. The only exciting thing on the whole trip was the first day when I was driving from the Charleston airport to this factory in Sissonville which is about 15 minutes away. So anyway, I had directions from Google Maps and they seemed to be panning out ok, until right in the end where it asked me to take this road called Tolley Hollow Road and claimed that 1 *** Drive would be at the end of it.

So I turn into Tolley Hollow Road and it's this tiny little single lane road which seems to snaking higher and higher into the mountains. All I see along the way are these little trailer homes right out of Blue Collar TV and I think to myself, "Something is wrong here but then again Google Maps seems to be saying I'm on the right track." After about 10 minutes of a road which just kept getting worse, I look ahead and see that it's not paved any more!! I stopped and after maybe 3 tries succeed in turning around. This old Southern gentleman had stepped out of his trailer home and was curiously watching this Indian guy driving a red Mitsubishi Galant struggling to turn around.

So I say to him, "Hi sir, I seem to be lost, I'm looking for the factory of *** corporation."

"*** Corporation, haven't heard of them."

"They make spark plugs"

"Ah! You mean the spark plug factory, yeah, just follow Tolley Hollow Road all the way back to CR21, go past the highway bridge and turn right on River Bend Road."

"Thanks so much, I had directions from a computer but this is where they got me!"

Anyway, it turns out that Google Maps was not just a little bit off but more than a mile off, in the wrong direction! Next time, I plan to use MapQuest. You should too!

The rest of the WV trip was boring. We had some snow/rain on Sunday which made driving a mess. Apparently there were a lot of wrecks but I missed all of them. I spent Sunday and Monday night at the bar of the hotel and explained to a couple of Australian dudes the finer points of American football while watching the Colts comeback and beat the Patriots!

Happy New Year 2007 to everyone who's reading!

After a great time in Las Vegas and a lot of thinking during the long flights (I was just traveling for the whole day, on the 29th and the 1st!) I decided on quite a few things.

Goodbye Internet. It was nice knowing you but I need to get out more in the real world. No more hours spent on Slashdot, Digg, del.icio.us and scans_daily. That time shall be spent in the gym, at bars, and generally out of the house.

I'll still update this blog but it's going to be much fewer and far between. And the updates will be about stuff I did out there!