Movies for the month

Have been watching too many movies lately. Given up on reading totally since the last 3 weeks. Some nice movies., some bad but just watching them on blu ray and on a big screen TV makes any movie fun :)

Blood Diamond (5 stars)- Absolutely fantastic. Leo rocks!! Even more than Matt Damon and George Clooney as of now :)

Fantastic Four 2 (3 stars) - Time pass action movie

Transporter 2 (2 stars) - The action scenes are crazy but I still don't know (spoiler) how they were going to transfer the antidote...was he going to breathe it out. Just totally made no sense. There is only so much of my brains that I can stop using ;)

Dhoom 2 (2 stars) - Hated all the lovey dovey stuff and the ending. What the ??? Should have kept it brainless action like transporter 2

Ratatouille (3 stars) - Not a big fan of animation.

Eragon ( 3 stars) - General time pass movie.

Shrek ( 2 stars) - Couple of fun scenes. Otherwise pretty boring

American Gangster (4 stars) - Interesting movie but requires concentration.

Watched some movies again - Bourne Ultimatum , Oceans 13, Rush Hour 3

Happy Holidays and a Happy New Year

We went and checked out some of the holiday lights yesterday. This was the most amazing one. He has half hour shows where the lights are synchronized to music which he transmits on 95.5 fm. You just park in front and enjoy half an hour of fantastic music and lights show.




Below are some random pics taken during the holidays. I baked some cookies for the neighbors (Swedish christmas cookies and chocolate dipped sugar cookies).

Kite Runner and Namesake

Kite Runner


In my opinion this book is really good. It is very well written - very gripping and keeps you emotionally involved in the story the entire book and even after. According to me the story is about relationships and how our actions affect not only our life but the lives of others as well - how Amir's lack of courage changed his relationship with Hassan and also his father, how Amir's lie changed Hassan's life and how Amir trying to be honest in the end changed Hassan's child's life. It also shows how some environmental factors are so ingrained in our brain that they never change. No matter how mean Amir was to Hassan, Hassan never did anything to retaliate. He just accepted it because they maybe friends but he was a Hazzara (lower caste) and it was ingrained in him to accept whatever Amir did or said without any resistance. It also brings out the character of Hassan, of how strong he was mentally. On the other hand Amir always took advantage of this fact and this shows the lack of mental strength or courage on Amir's part.

Another interesting part of the story is that it is set with Afghanistan in the background and the author has also done a really fantastic job of portraying Afghanistan and how it has changed over these years from a common man's perspective.

I had initially ignored this book because I thought it was all about Afghanistan, taliban and the war and we hear enough of that in the news. But there is no political agenda just a very real story. I would highly recommend this book

Namesake (***)

This book starts of well exploring the life of Indian immigrants and their kids in the US. After reading this book, I sort of realized that ABCD (American born confused desi) is a misnomer. It is not the American born child who is confused. But it is the desi parents. The child knows what want values/customs they want to adopt from America/India. It is the parents who are torn/confused on how much of the Indian customs do they push on the child or to what extent they accept the American traditions for the sake of the kids.

The author has handled the story of Ashima and Ashok very well - their values, how they try to cling to their memory of india by celebrating festivals with Indian friends or making Indian delicacies with American ingredients and how at the same they are ready to accommodate and change for the sake of their children who are more American than Indian by celebrating Christmas, thanksgiving and halloween.

She has also done a good job of portraying Gogol as well and how he wants a life totally different from what he had as a kid with his parents. This is shown in how easily he falls in love with his relationship with Maxine. Maxine and her family are poles apart from his. But after that I sort of lost interest cause it gets boring. I don't really understand why he marries Moushami or why he suddenly hates her friends. Basically I just don't get the whole Moushami thing.

I think where I find the book totally lacking was that they did not have anything about Sonia. They did not explore much her relationship with Gogol, how they were alike or different and why her life turned out much better than his.

It is a good read starts of well but somehow once Ashok died I sort of just wanted to get done with it.

Happy Dasara

Happy Dasara to all.

Tried to recreate my parents dasara feast at home. Was very nice. We had a long list of TO DO's after that but just slept after a happy meal :)


(2 kosambari's/salad, beans sabji, raw banana sabji, mango chitranna, sambar, rasam, rice, dal, semiya kheer...only thing missing was the banana leaf)

Austria-Germany trip

Just got back after a wonderful week in Germany and Austria.

Highlights of the trip

- The Autobahn rocks!! A highway with no speed limits...what more can one ask for :) (an extremely powerful car). You can drive at an average of over 100 mph easily and you don't feel a thing. DP was driving at over 200 kph and I did not even realize till he told me. I only wish we had a more powerful car and dp could have easily gone over 250kmph. Well one of the things I felt was you drive looking at your rear view mirror more than in front because there is always someone behind you going faster and you better move out of their way for fear of being a "car snake". Also they are driving so fast that they disappear from your view within seconds. So no point watching the front ;)

- The alps are absolutely breathtaking. The drive through the Tirol region in Germany and Austria was amazing. Surrounded by the Alps on all sides, we didn't know where to look..it was absolutely breathtaking.

- Vienna is one of the most beautiful cities in the world. I would say Paris is the only one that can compete with it. And we had so much fun shopping there :)

- Kaffe and kuchen...no other better way to spend an evening.

- Austria has the cutest road signs. How can you not love a country which has road signs like this




- Why can't there be an Oktoberfest here.

- You drive from one country to another and you have to show no passports/visa, the highway remains the same and there is no real indication that you have crossed into another country besides a small board hidden somewhere with the name of the country. It is hard to believe that less than 100 years ago, these nations were at war with each other continuously

- Nothing is more scary than driving on Marienplatz in Munich when the Glockenspiel is about to ring. There couldn't be a narrower road or more people walking around looking at the sky instead of the road!!

- How is it humanly possible for a single person to eat such a large dessert. We were the only ones struggling :( Can you believe..DP struggling to finish a dessert.




- Not really a highlight but more of an observation. Austria was really affected by the World Wars. A lot of the palaces/churches etc were partially or fully destroyed and had to be rebuilt. The affect of the wars did not seem as significant in London or Paris. Maybe we just didn't visit some of the places in France and UK that were really affected.

Description of the places we visited and pics:

Rothenberg ob de Tauber:

This is a medieval town on the way from Frankfurt to Fussen/Munich on the Romantic Road. There are quite a few such towns on the Romantic road but this is the only one that is a walled city/a fortress. Typical cobbled stone streets with shops on both sides. A really nice market square and castle gardens. And the city hall has a tower with breathtaking views of the entire city and the valley beyond. You can walk along the wall of the city but we were too jetlagged and hungry and instead spent the time devouring some local pastries.

Fussen:

This is where we spent two nights. It is about an hour from Munich and very close to one of the most popular castles in the world..Neuschwanstein (All the disney world Cinderella castles are based on this). The town is really a small cute town with views of the alps. Had one of the best pastas in the world here...and also the most delectable desserts.

Neuschwanstein and Hohenshwangau:

This is a really fantastic castle and the best part about it is its location in the Alps. The throne room and the singers hall inside are very impressive. Not really worth going for an inside tour of hohenschwangau but worth going up to the castle for the views. Definitely go to Marienburke (Mary's bridge) for an amazing view of both castles. Also no visit to the castle is complete without spending some time at the nearby Alpsee (lake).



Innsbruck

The drive from Fussen to Innsbruck is the best I have been on. With the snow capped alps on all sides and some really nice valleys with picturesque lakes, it was just too beautiful. We stopped a million times to look around and tried taking a lot of pictures but no photograph can do any justice to how beautiful the entire region is. Innsbruck is also a very pretty town surrounded by the alps on all sides. The main attractions were the Golden Roof, the old town which has some really nice buildings and very nice window shopping, Hofkirche (where King Maximillian is buried) and ofcourse it is the home of the Swarvoski crystals..huge stores with lots of displays and jewelry...a disneyland for any woman ;)

One of the things I wish we could have done was gone for a ride on the luge. Well there is always next time :)



Salzburg and HallStat

Picturesque is how I would describe both these cities. Salzburg is really beautiful with the Mirabell gardens and palace, the Alstadt and the hohensalzburg fortress all adding to the beauty. Because Austria was ruled for a while by the Romans, Roman architecture is very prominent here in the buildings and also in the numerous fountains in the city. Salzburg is of course very popular for being the birth place of Mozart and also because the movie Sound of Music was filmed here. They have a lot of classical music concerts here. In fact you can just walk around in the old town and you would have heard a wide variety of instruments along the way and the street performers are really good too. We got to attend a concert by a Belgian pianist and violinist in the Marble hall of the Mirabell palace. The best part was, it is not some huge concert hall but just few rows of seats (8 probably) arranged just for the event..making it all very personal and nice. We even got to talk to the composer and get pictures.



There are a lot of beautiful lakes around salzburg and the region (lake district) is called Salzkammergut. The town of HallStat is one of the most picturesque of the lot. The city was a salt mining center. The town is really quaint, very nice to walk around and really beautiful and a lot of shops selling unique salt and soap stuff. They have a really nice museum too. There are some ice caves close by that we wanted to visit but unfortunately the cable car that takes you to the cave was closed for renovation.



Vienna

This is a very very beautiful city. Reminded me a lot of Paris. All the buildings are very architecturally rich. And you see different kinds of architecture too - Roman, Greek, Gothic. It has some really gorgeous palaces, churches and museums. We visited the Schonbrunn palace which is very similar to Versailles. The palace is really opulent inside. They have some of the best paintings - huge ones depicting events like coronations, wedding etc. The amazing part about these paintings is each person has been painted with so much detail - very unique be it expression or clothing or..etc. The palace also has lovely gardens at the back and side with a huge Neptune fountain at the back. One of the most unique things in this palace is the Glorietta - a sort of gazebo on a small hill at the back with a pond et all and a terrace with fantastic views of the castle/gardens and the city of Vienna in the background.

Another very nice palace here is the Hofburg palace in the city. The treasury in the castle is a must see with crowns, jewelry and various other valuable items stored here. This palace also houses the Spanish riding school with the most gorgeous lipizanner horses. They have a performance every sunday but we were not there so missed it. But we got to view the training sessions where they do some of the stunts and dances to classic music.

Other places we visited were the Stephansdom (Gothic church), St. Michael's church and the parliament. We did not go into any of the museums but hung around in the museum quarter. We walked all around the inner ring road that has the most amazing buildings - parliament, city hall, musems, palace, opera, theaters...

Ofcourse one cannot go to Vienna and not see an opera at the StatsOpera (the national opera). It is beautiful inside..very regal. The opera was also very nice...especially the sets, the orchestra and the music.





Munich

Really loved Munich. The Mareinplatz area especially is so alive. Munich was a town full of monasteries and it still seems that way with numerous churches. One keeps hearing the bells of the various churches every now and then, almost like a continuous live orchestra. You also get exceptional views of the city from the top of St. Peter's church. The Residenz palace and the Englistener gardens are pretty close to Marienplatz..and it is really nice to walk around too.

We also visited the BMW museum. Ofcourse to visit the factory you need to reserve atleast 4-5 months in advance. Anyway they were closed to visitors when we were there since they are coming out with the new models.

Last but not the least, one cannot visit Munich and not somehow be part of the oktoberfest. We missed it by a week. But we went to the fair grounds and checked out people busy at work setting up their stalls. Also a lot of excitement in general everywhere about the starting of oktoberfest.


Overall a really fun trip. Would definitely want to go back again
- Get a more powerful car and drive on the autobahn
- Visit the BMW factory
- Spend more time in Vienna
- Take a ride on the luge
- Ummm...coffee and pastries. Can never have enough of that ;)
- Go for a hike on the nordkette...(Kidding ...this should get DP out of jetlag ;)


Tips:

We found the book Rick Steves Austria & Germany very useful. He has a good list of all the places to see, attractions and activities in each place and also suggestions on how long to spend your time there. We covered a lot of places in 10 days and this book really helped us in planning our trip. We got a lot of other guides but we did not even use them.

The nicest thing about the book was his tips like go during lunch to visit the palace to avoid the crowd, how to see an opera in Vienna by buying a standing row ticket and reserve a spot by tying a scarf, the vignette pass etc. Some of these things are very hard to find out unless you know a very helpful local person.

Pineapple gojju

Absolutely yummy. The reason you attend weddings and functions in Bangalore. No function is complete without pineapple gojju in the meal :)

Ingredients

Pineapple - Canned is fine. Cut to small pieces
Urad dal - 4 tb spoons
Methi - 2 teaspoons
Coriander seeds - 2 teaspoons
Tilseeds - 2 teaspoons
Red chillies - 10
Tamarind - lemon sized (Soaked for 30 mins)
Jaggary - 3/4 cup
Dry coconut - 1/2 cup
Seasoning - Mustard seeds, haldi, curry leaves.

Method

Roast all other ingds. except jaggery and tamarind. Make powder. Set aside

Heat oil, put mustard seeds. After it stops sputtering, add haldi, curry leaves.
After a minute, add pineapple, stir well, cover and leave on low fire for 10 minures.
Add tamarind, jaggery, salt, powder to pineapple based on your flavor level.

Really Good Morning - Pancakes w/ Maple syrup

Well according to me "Good Morning" is sort of a misnomer. Mornings are never good for me. I am always groggy, ill tempered and hate to get up. But yummy pancakes with maple syrup, and in bed makes for a great morning!!

Ingredients for Batter

1 1/4 cups sifted all-purpose flour
2 tablespoons sugar
1 teaspoon baking powder
1/4 teaspoon salt
1 1/4 cups milk
1 extra large egg
1 tablespoon melted unsalted butter or margarine
1/2 teaspoon vanilla extract

Method

Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt into a small mixing bowl and make a well in the center. Whisk the milk, egg, melted butter, and vanilla until smooth in a 1-quart measure. Pour into the dry ingredients, and whisk until creamy. Set aside for a while

To make pancake, just pour a cup onto the pan. Make sure pan is not very hot

Back in London again - Scones and tea

One way that we reminisce about our trip to London and kind of relive it here is by enjoying afteroon tea, or specifically tea and scones with butter/cream/jam.

Below is a recipe on a scone that works. Ofcourse the first time I tried it looked mouth watering but tasted bitter because I used baking soda instead of baking powder (first disaster in cooking :(( ). Below is a description of when to use baking powder and when to use baking soda.

Some recipes call for baking soda, while others call for baking powder. Which ingredient is used depends on the other ingredients in the recipe. The ultimate goal is to produce a tasty product with a pleasing texture. Baking soda is basic and will yield a bitter taste unless countered by the acidity of another ingredient, such as buttermilk. You'll find baking soda in cookie recipes. Baking powder contains both an acid and a base and has an overall neutral effect in terms of taste. Recipes that call for baking powder often call for other neutral-tasting ingredients, such as milk. Baking powder is a common ingredient in cakes and biscuits

Lesson learnt: So if you see baking soda but don't see buttermilk, recheck recipe and think twice ;)

Ingredients

2 cups flour
4 teaspoons baking powder
3/4 teaspoon salt
1/3 cup sugar
4 tablespoons butter
2 tablespoons shortening
3/4 cup cream
1 egg
Handful dried currants or dried cranberries

Method:

Heat oven to 375 degrees.

In a large mixing bowl, combine flour, baking powder, salt and sugar. Mix well. Cut in butter and shortening. In a separate bowl, combine cream with beaten egg then add to dry ingredients. Stir in fruit. Turn dough out onto a floured surface. Roll dough out and cut into biscuit size rounds. Bake for 15 minutes or until brown.

Twist to the recipe (Courtesy Ina Garten from Food network): Add orange zest

Maddur Vada

This is my first recipe posting. I have decided to log all recipes that I have tried and that works so that next time I want to make it, I don't have to google for it all over again and figure out the changes I made to it etc.etc..

Here is the first recipe for my most favorite vada. Used to eat it on the way to Mysore from Bangalore without fail..and always so yummy and the highlight of the trip.(Let's go to mysore, we can eat maddur vada on the way)

Ingredients

1/2 cup rava
1/2 cup rice flour
1/2 cup all-purpose flour
Green chillies, chopped
2 onions, chopped
2 tbsp. coriander leaves, chopped
3 tbsp. melted ghee
1 tsp. salt
Oil for deep frying

Method

Mix together all the ingredients except the oil, adding very little water to make a stiff dough.
Flatten on hand and fry.

Courtesy: Payaswini's Cookbook

SAP Open tennis

Last week we got to enjoy a few games at the SAP Open Tennis championship. They had 4 top seeds visiting this time - Safin, Murray, Roddick and Blake. We saw the first round game of Safin and Murray. Safin was entertaining as usual...giving us hope for a longer match everytime ;) There were some good shots but otherwise Safin had it easy. We did witness few of his tantrums on court but nowhere close to what he is capable of. At the end of the game he spent a lot of time signing autographs and even taking pictures with general public. That was really cool and we would have gotten one such picture if it wasn't for us having no batteries in the camera and not being able to get one there.

Business proposition for next year: Have a stall with disposable cameras and battery.

The other first round game we saw was between Murray and Kim. This game had some really good shots and a good display of power tennis.


The third game we went for was the finals. We were hoping we would get to see Safin and Roddick battle it out, but I guess getting up at 9 for a game was too early for Safin (in his own words) and Roddick just ran into a better player (Murray). We didn't have much hope for the game between Ivo Karlovic and Murray. But it was a lot of fun and very close. Some amazing serves and shot making. I wish these games were 5 sets instead of 3. It was so much fun watching it.

Some pics from the finals.