Reading: A Bend In The River.... by VS Naipaul...

I tried making this dish around the time I got back from GR & TUR...and it was so good, that I have been wanting to post this on my blog! I am only 6 months behind :-}

Eggplant, Greek Style -

- Get one of those medium to big eggplants...

- Cut them into thin slices

- Coat it with oil on both sides

- Put it on a pan, sprinkle some salt & red pepper (to taste)

- Pre heat the oven to 360*

- Stick the pan in the oven

- Remove once it turns crispy and reddish

For the toping:

- Cook white rice (1 cup)

- Take a pan, heat it

- Add butter/ghee

- Add garlic pieces (3, chopped)

- Add 1 onion, finely chopped

- Add 1 green pepper/capsicum, finely chopped

- Add 1 tomato, finely chopped

- Add some oregano, basil, parsley, salt and red pepper (to taste)
- Saute it altogether for about 7-8 mins
- Add the cooked rice and mix it well

Once it is done:

- Top the eggplant with the mixed rice

- Add mozarella cheese (shredded)

- Stick the slices back in the oven

- Remove when it melts...

Its ready to eat! You can eat it just like that or you can eat it with some garlic bread...whatever suits you...

After being in a long, extended state of coma, i finally found the strength to resuscitate my blog. I am not sure if it will ever recover fully from the state of vegetation it was in...but I will do my best to give it everything a normal blog deserves to be given to be saved!!!

Gosh...this talk is an outcome of watching Grey's Anatomy non-stop. I have been watching this drama series supposedly shot in Seattle...although there are only a few snippets here and there that seemed to have been shot in and around the Space Needle and the Pike Place Market...but anyway, i am so addicted to it, I have already watched Season 1 & 2 in 2 weeks...all the episodes that people have watched over a year...

I beg for my forgiveness...yes I chose tv over my blog!!! I don't know if my blog will forgive me for cheating on it like this, but i promise it will never happen again!!

So, this being my first attempt at getting back to blogging in a long time, I plan to just leave with some usual excuses for MIA that I always give...work was busy...life got busy...and tv...:( but I will make up for the lost time...that is the right thing to do, isnt it??

Another year has almost passed...and days are going by so fast...it is getting cold and gloomy here in Seattle...with some rare bright and sunny days...The mountains are beginning to look shiny with snow...

So i see myself spending more time indoors and definitely there is a little hope left for my blog...

Tut Tut Tut....Bush's bull shits....


http://breakingnews.iol.ie/news/story.asp?j=155538020&p=y555386xx

-HD

Such Massacre?

I was astounded to read and hear about the Mumbai blasts yesterday. The pictures and the news clips sent a shudder down my spine and I was too bemused to even let a sigh out loud.

I just wanted to offer my sympathies to the dead and the families of the dead.

Who are those people I thought to myself, what must be running through their veins - blood, or poison?? What must they be made of, to be able to plot the death of hundreds of innocent so mercilessly? Hundreds of husbands, wives, mothers, teenagers, children, who, at the end the day must have only wanted to go home to their loved ones? All of those innocent people's lives just ends in a flash, faster than the speed of light, in a bomb blast?

How can some people (or animals) take lives so easily for a piece of land or for some dead woman's statue, or even a political need to prove one religion is superior over the other!!!????
Arent enough people dying around the world in hunger, earthquakes, hurricanes, etc...???? Do we need to add to these deaths by adding multitudes of plotted killings? The war, the genocides and what more?

I read about the similarities of what happened in Mumbai yesterday to the 9/11 attacks on NYC and the incident in Madrid. I also read something about the Shiv Senaiks causing riots and ultimately threatening to set Mumbai on fire, if no resolution to their quests were found...

It could be that the Shiv Sena (whose primary motto is to hate Muslims) has seen this as a two prong attack for both venging the insult to Meenatai's statue and to slur the islamic population with terrorism connections...OR it could very well be the terrorists!

Whatever it is, my memories of a city that I was born and raised in is soon fading away...Memories about taking the train to Chowpatty beach, to Nehru Planetarium...about eating fun foods at Khao Gully and shopping for fun clothes at Fashion street...about meeting up with friends and going for a movie at Sterling or Regal....or just about walking down Marine Drive...all of it is soon fading away in the misery of the dead in the bomb blasts.

I will continue to pray for those families that have lost their dear member(s) in this bomb blast.

-HD.

Fit as a Fiddle :)

Sorry have been away from the blog world for quite some time now. Work has kept me busy during the week and its only been 2-3 weekends since I got back from my vacation. So just got caught up with all the news, gossip, cooking and a whole bunch of exercise!

I have been somewhat obsessive about my work outs the last 6-8 months. Well it keeps my mind out of trouble and helps me sleep better at night. I don't sleep too deep otherwise. With about 45 mins - 1 hr of cardio, I am KO when I hit the bed.

Yesterday I signed up for an Abs (Tues-Thurs) class cos I thought due to my continued consumption of rice, I was getting way too bulky around my midrif...along with my cardio kick boxing class....which comes right after the Abs class...

I also am going to do some drop-ins on Pilates...every Mon-Wed. Pilates are supposed to stretch your muscles out and make them look leaner along with building your core strength.

Someone I know recently told me I am morphing into a yuppie as I continue to work hard and work out even harder :) I am picky about the foods I eat, organic milk, free range eggs etc...about which I never was concerned once upon a time. But, that is my way of including all the positive variables in life that I have control over...as for the things I dont have any control on, I just try to let them be...(actually thats a lie, but whatever)...

So anyway, I think all that I am trying to say here is that, looking back at my life about 5 years ago in Bombay and looking at my life now, a lot has changed...I would eat just about anything - Pani Puri, Vada Pav on the roads...without any worries about whether it is good for me or not...and now, I analyse everything I put in my mouth...I just wonder Has life gotten more complex?

Maybe yes, maybe no...but I can surely tell that I am getting fit. I never understood the concept of fitness when I was in India completely...I thought staying skinny was being fit....but now I know better...cos I would not be able to run 4 miles in India as I do now...I would not have been able to hike 6 miles uphill as I would now...

Just a realization that I thought I would share...

Mumbai Rudest?

http://in.rediff.com/news/2006/jun/20mum.htm


Wonder why Athens did not show up on the list...cos I thought that place would just beat it all...maybe they forgot to include that??

Ah the smell of rain in the air and the touch of humidity...its all too familiar Seattle and I am back home. Boy! am I glad...Needless to say the vacation was awesome but I guess even a good vacation could get to you if it lasts too long and thats what I felt this time... I actually missed home, home cooked food and all the familiarity of being at home! So I am back now and rambling away about how glad I am...

I do have to talk about the last part of our stay in Greece, the visit to Nafplio and then later taking the flight back to Seattle, but before that...still getting out of jetlag and trying to move slowly across rooms like as if I have forgotten how many steps would take me from one point to another...:)

This weekend I am just planning to experiment with cooking in general and may be try out some new recipes, unpack and take long hot showers to ease of the stress from missing good old Seattle waters...and finally catch up with blog reading...

Alright, thought I should give an update on my whereabouts and stuff like that...I have only had half a quota of sleep, going back to taking the rest...

Nice day all!

~HD