Monday, July 28, 2008

Experiencing Chicago in 3 days...Chicago, do you not like me?

I know I haven’t written anything in some time, but this weekend warrants it. I was roped into spending a good chunk of change in Chicago -in a hotel I would have never booked and with a person I would never want to see again. Flashback Dallas- I worked with this person a long time ago and knew her to be slightly superficial. She called me a month ago, gave me a sad story of being dumped and wished she could see me again sometime soon. I foolishly albeit courteously offered Chicago as a weekend getaway. I felt bad that she got dumped by her rich 52 year old married “boyfriend” who had 4 kids and liked horse-racing. FYI, her initials are SB which is surprisingly also an abbreviation for Skan*y Bi*ch.

Fastforward weekend- Day 1 When I met her at the hotel, she was sitting at the bar. She met me out at the lobby in a sundress that was …really a long shirt…with a really deep neck. She said that I should freshen up and meet her at the bar. 20 minutes later, I walk into the bar and see her chatting up with some guy. Turns out guy is 51, single and loaded. Let’s call him grandpa. So grandpa said he had a PhD in logical philosophy but didn’t know who Carnap was. Grandpa also kept referring to his girlfriend who we will refer to as “imaginary friend”. Anyway grandpa was so smitten by SB, he bought our drinks all night, ordered expensive champagne and drove us around. All before we went to Sound Bar (because SB heard it was cool and wanted to be seen there) and he got thrown out of the line. Turns out grandpa doesn’t carry an ID ..because he looks like a grandpa and didn’t expect the fine burly gentleman outside Sound bar to ask for ID. No ID No Entry- official Sound bar policy :). I think grandpa went home to his imaginary friend. We went inside Sound bar, she didn’t find any other guys to buy her drinks, so we went back to the hotel.

Day2- Shopping..only at Nordstrom and Neiman Marcus because SB doesn’t want to buy un-classy clothes. Memorable quotes of the day : format- "SB quotes"(And my personal thought of it) - “My b**bs look so good don’t they? “ (Me- Yes thats all I look at all day) ”All these guys keep looking at me.” (Me- huh?) “I hooked up with so many cute guys in South Beach” (Me-so do other sl*ts) “I hang out with celebrities all the time” (Me-Sure you do) “Oh look grandpa is texting me again and asking me out on a date:” (Me-aww thats cute ..you shoudl buy him some Bengay) “I want to get laid so bad” (Me- cant help you ..I dont know anyone who's into commercial s*x) "I am a part of this exclusive social networking group that is by-invite only" (Me- duh, I know how escort services work) "Ever since I lost weight, I look classy" (Me-yes as classy as an expensive wh*re)....anyway, since I had decided that I was going to be drunk every time she talks, all this was very funny in a Sienfeld kind of way. Later that night she kept mentioning that she wanted to meet some guy she knew from South Beach who was in Chicago now. This guy, let’s call him, fratboy, apparently was like a brother to her who also happens to have a hot body and a lot of cute guy friends. Long story short, she basically left me at a bar without telling me she was leaving and turned up at the hotel room in the morning the next day. I went to bed on a Saturday night, on a vacation in Chicago, at 11:30 pm. yeah.

Day3- I woke up alone in the room. Got coffee, looked at the nice day outside and decided to take a stroll. Before I could leave, she arrives in the room and pretends nothing happened. I never ask her where she was, why she left yadayada ya. Later during lunch she tells me that she had apparently told me that she was leaving the bar and went to meet fratboy. Her- “It was really fun, there were so many cute guys and I kissed 3 of them, I had so much fun, you should have been there” Me- “You didn’t tell me you were leaving, you didn’t call me later” Her-“Oh it was so crowded there, I probably forgot” (Theory of Relativity actually says that it is a logical statement). She added that she slept at fratboy’s place and he was sleeping next to her, naked, holding her all night. Me- “That’s doesn’t sound very brotherly” (refer to day2 comment of fratboy being brother-like) She-“No it was nothing really, I felt so safe” Me- “Dr. Phil would not think so”. It was a very quiet afternoon where no one really spoke, we checked out of the hotel and I was ready to leave Chicago. In the hotel lobby, she thinks she forgot her electric toothbrush. Since she couldnt find it, she throws a fit, opens her bags, screams at the hotel staff for stealing her $200 toothbrush and asks me to check my bag to see if I accidentally took it. No SB, I wouldnt take anything of yours, not even a pen you write with much less your dirty f*cking toothbrush – god knows where your mouth has been. She mentions that the toothbrush was given to her by her ex but now she would have to buy one. Sniff Sniff. When she asked me if I could walk her out when she was leaving for the airport, I said “No, I think Im going to stay at the bar here, it nice and cool…oh and I’ll keep an eye out for your toothbrush in case I see someone with it”.

Thursday, April 10, 2008

My original recipes

In case some day some one thinks of the same and makes it famous .....This is my time stamp to recipes I have thought of without any prior external input (4/10/2008)

My Original Recipes

Cocktails

1. Bloody Subbalakshmi: Vodka drink
2. Yoga high: Green tea liquor Vodka drink

Appetizers/Salad

1. Bacon Bouquet with greens and vinaigrette

2. Taro Chip with sake drunk hamachi and pineapple pulp

3. Flavored fruit aspic on queso blanco

4. Flourless shrimp taco ***

5. Grape leaves stuffed with thai talapia

6. Steamed wontons with coconut legume sauce

7. Naan frittata ***

8. Mango spiced salmon nigiri with chocolate caramel strip



Entrees

1. Quail adobo with mashed potato and moong

2. Pan seared scallops with japanese reduction

3. Paprika tuna steak with south indian pearl onions

4. Cumin peppercorn steak with baby potatoes and plum tomatoes


Dessert

1. Rasberry tea jelly with pearls
2. Fresh strawberry with corriander cream
3. Scrambled mangoes



*** These are twists on things I saw on TV/Internet

Wednesday, December 26, 2007

bhenchut madarchut
bhenchut madarchut
bhenchut madarchut
bhenchut madarchut
bhenchut madarchut
bhenchut madarchut
hmm

Thursday, December 13, 2007

I had this dream that I was running along the lake
Seemed like simpler times, summer with expectations
The sky was perfect and goals were set
Didnt expect this unusual winter complication
What would my spring senses do?

Monday, October 08, 2007

Experiencing Chicago in 6 hours

As some of you know, I was in training for the Chicago marathon since March of this year. The race is a standard 26.2 miles (42 kilometers) course that takes you through the city downtown, western suburbs, Chinatown and Chicago lake front. Sounds beautiful doesn't it? It is. 40,000 participants and around 100,000 spectators. Lots of cheering, jazz bands, live music, drag queens and Chinese drums to keep the 40,000 idiots (me included) running. I have never experienced a collective energy like this ever before. I have never trained for anything like this before and just standing there with the others at the start line was worth the 7 months of not drinking on Fridays, waking at 6:00 am for long runs on Saturdays and Sundays and spending Mondays wondering why I was doing this to myself.
Now for the bad part (you probably anticipated this coming, didn't you): Chicago weather by Oct is generally a high of mid-60's F (18 to 19 C) which is perfect for running. Perfect. Chicago temperature yesterday, the day of the marathon, was a high of 93F (34 C) with humidity of 80%. Thats a muggy summer day in Bombay. Imagine running for 4.15 hrs in that weather. The 4.15 hrs was my goal to finish the race. I thought since it is SO hot, I would add 15 to 30 minutes and finish by 4 hrs 45 minutes. I wish. By mile 7, my knee started bothering me, by mile 10, I was feeling the 93 F heat. At mile 14, as I sweat every ounce of moisture from my body, the Kenyan runner had finished the fucking race. Also, at the 14th mile, the guy in front of me just collapsed and fainted. Very encouraging. At mile 17, I had gone thru 7 glasses of water, 4 packs of salt (yuck), 3 energy gel packs and a lot of pain-denial. Thats when the police started stopping us saying the race was canceled. A guy was dead because of running in that weather and about 300 ppl hospitalized. But as any other runner would react in that situation, I kept running.
So to REALLY stop us from running anymore, the police started hosing us down with water. They opened the fire hydrants on both sides of the street and made sure all of us were wet, very very wet. So now, I was completely drenched, with shoes full of water that made running a oh-so-nasty experience. You would think that should have made me stop right? Oh no...Of course I wanted those blisters in my feet. At mile 20, I stopped running and started limping. Two of the blisters on my sole had burst and I was wincing with every step. The police by this time started gathering up ppl and boarding them on buses. I waited to get on one for 40 minutes. Gave up. Decided to walk the rest of 6 miles. By mile 25, since I was getting so used to the fucking pain, I decided to run again :). So I ran the last 1.2 miles. Finished the race running. Woo-hoo. In 6 hours. So much for my time goal.
Moral of the story: Should you run? Yes. But expect running-addiction and lack of common sense when it comes to running.
Would I do it again? Of course. (Proof to the moral of the story)
Any funny incidents? Yes: Guy in front of me with the shirt 'I'm slow, Get the fuck over it' .
Woman spectator with a sign at mile 17 saying ' How are your nipples doing'.
Guy with the sign at mile 14 "The Kenyan has already won this, I'm going home'

How am I feeling? Like ass. I decided to go to office today (a codeine induced decision). Am on painkillers and eating for 4 people.

Any insights? Yes. Indian genes are shitty when it comes to running. Indian genes are a life-saver when it comes to running in 93F weather and not getting a sun-stroke.
Kenyans are weird

Sympathy, congratulations and moral support expected from you guys.

Monday, July 30, 2007

Thodi is my thair sadam

I discovered something new about myself this past weekend! (apart from the sad fact that Im allergic to avocado) Thodi is my music equivalent of thair sadam - tada!!!
(To the ppl who do not know of Thodi - Thodi is a super duper carnatic music ragam that makes me happy and thair sadam means curd rice which also makes me very happy)

So I was sick (avocado induced hurling) and sad (hurling and hugging the toliet) this weekend. The typical closet tamilian that I am, my first instinct was to load up on thair sadam and talk to mommy (which I did- she says everything will be ok). And then I wanted to lay down and listen to music - so then came the all important question - what do I listen to? Should I impress myself with my indie music collection? Plays songs from bands that only the bands know about? Feel proud that I listen to music that will become famous 4 months from now? And while Im listening to this music watch Current TV? How about I complete the trifecta by reading sushi recipes? How cool and soho would I be eh???

But all that seemed like too much work - all I wanted was to listen to good old thodi songs preferabbly by M.S.Subbalakshmi and eat thair sadam and revel in the fact that I would, at that point make my daddy proud. And thats what I did- I cannot tell you how comforting thair and thodi are for me ... And know what? While I was listening to Thodi and eating my thair sadam, I looked online for carnatic composers and their work in Thodi ragam. Copied songs, talams and composer names onto a spreadsheet, drew a pivot table to see who did the most work in Thodi ragam and made a pie chart of the same...turns out that Thygaraja had the most number of thodi krithis..totally smoked Dikshitar and Papansam Sivan! How cool is that???

(Thyagaraja, Dikshitar and P.Sivan : carnatic music :: biggie, tupac and P.diddy : rap music)

Oh BTW Biggie was right...

Friday, March 23, 2007

Late-afternoon/caffience-crash-induced-IM

me: kundi
Anonymous friend: kusu
me: kuppai
Anonymous friend: poochee
me: kaka
Anonymous friend: pee
me: pee-tunni
Anonymous friend: pee-nari
me: panni-pee
Anonymous friend: yanai-pee
me: kaka-pee
Anonymous friend: olli-pee (Olli: Thin random guy we know)
me: he doesnt have pee da
Anonymous friend: yeah ok i take it back
me: kurvi -pee
Anonymous friend: erumbu-pee vanthu
me: palli-pee
Anonymous friend: attu-pee mixed with mattu-pee
me: ur ex-roomate-pee
me: karpa-ermamaddu-pee
Anonymous friend: i love you
me: love you too
me: Im going to blog this shit