March Madness - The Good Man Goes Shopping!

This is what was special about last month...this man....

went on a business trip, to this place....

And, the month was nothing but March Madness! Well, long story short, it was a business trip that lasted a week. He also got to do some sightseeing, and shopping, went to Harvard University, and also met some of the nicest people he knows (more on that later).

So, I was saying...shopping...well, we all know how important that is, right?...right?...RIGHT.

So, it was a whole new experience for my husband, and, as with everything else in the country - the culture, the people, the food & the size of each portion (!), the number of choices for even a simple cup of coffee! - shopping too, had him flummoxed (does any one even use that word nowadays!).

Anyway, he did have to buy another huge bag to stuff in all of his shopping...and here are some of the things I loved... (Okay, I know this is purely 'showoff'..but this is my blog...and the only place I won't be boo-ed off the stage), so...

This lovely silver necklace that he surprised me with...

Notice the beautiful pendant on this one...totally love the little plant thingy...

and my photography... :P

My husband did something else that is so unlike him... he bought me this...

and IT. WAS. GOOD! Black, by Kenneth Cole (I don't know who he is...but God bless him!) - Eau de Parfum for Her (simply means, 'smells like a girl'.) and I love it!

My husband also got these...

'Jacob' is my crazy sweet brother, and 'Captain Debbie' is my husband pushing his hidden agenda at my 2-yr-old!!

He also got this for my lovely sister Jone...

It says "Sung...Alfred Sung"...and I can see why...it smells so lovely, I would sing too!

Oh, and my wonderful husband also went and got li'l Debbie this book...

At this point, I would like to add that Debbie actually got a lot of other cool stuff from equally cool people...

For instance, this coloring book (which, as you can see from her expression [you can??], Debbie reeealllly loved!)...

and they came with these pretty coloring pens...

and these were a gift from the lovely, absolutely friendly, and warm Deborah Lee Hill, who is the mom of two adorable little girls...and shares the same cool name with my daughter...

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She also sent Debbie these books that her daughters used to read...

These are totally Kiddies-Approved!

And those are Debbie's little hands owning them..."Amma, these are MINE...don't photograph them...Nooo, what are you dooooinnggg???" Yeah...we like to make everything dramatic around here...!

I reviewed these books here...if you are looking for good reads for your li'l 'un, these are pretty much up there...

Also, these cute clothes from Old Navy were nice to receive...cute summer clothes are in, anytime... :)

And Debbie wearing one with really pretty colors (we're really going with the summer look here), although I couldn't get her to stand still long enough to get the dress in full...and don't even ask about the constipated (for want of a better word!) expression...she is kinda cute even with the expression, though...incurable mom-pride kicking in!

The good man brought some interesting eats, too...lotsa candy...for the little tike in the picture...some chocolate chip cookies, a weird, packaged steak, and other stuff I cannot recollect....What I really liked was this...

Planters DayBreak Blend Berry Almond Trail Mix (okay, you can totally read that from the picture!) This was the first time I tasted granola, and I had no idea the stuff was so good. I don't think anyone at home was all that crazy about it (more for me!), and I would simply grab a handful everytime I walked past the tuck-box (yeah, we have that) and munch away...and my mom will give me a glare that means, "Like you need all those extra calories, HUMPH"!!

I also took a picture of this bag of crisps ('potato chips' is what we call it), not because they were the best I've eaten, but because I liked the package (that happens, right?)

The granola makes another appearance there, because I like it so much!

Anyway, final item on the list of things  I liked, this book on Boston's history. I enjoyed reading it!

Disclaimer: No cameras were hurt in the making of this post, although they were 'borrowed' from their rightful owner i.e. the husband of this blogger. Shaky photographs are so because a certain 2-yr-old couldn't leave well alone, over exposure is due to the human-melting hot sun that we have to tolerate nowadays (Yaay for global warming, people), pretty backgrounds are silk sarees and churidar shawls that have been put to better use, and total awesomeness of the blog is all MINE!! hee hee!

Email Spam Facts | Blog

Email Spam Facts | Blog
I found this interesting blog post on Spamming and its history over at wisdeo.com. Fun read, but kind of really explains why I have 200+ mails in my Gmail inbox every week, and I hate having to 'select All' and 'TRash' it every time around...AAARRRgh. If you are like me, this article makes you feel better...unless you are from India, then I foresee some serious blushing...:P

Fun Poll! Vote Away!!

[polldaddy poll=2889618]

Happy Birthday, G.J. Hamilton

"The only way to keep or receive love it to give it unconditionally and selflessly". This is the quote for 12 March, on my quote holder on my desk.

I can't think of a quote that applies more for my wonderful husband than this. His patience stretches so long that I still haven't done something to snap it! Thank God for that...

Stuff he loves: music (some classical western music is always playing on a speaker somewhere if he is home!), aetheikka appam (plantain fritters) - he loves the stuff...his staple food if he is traveling!, spending time with Debbie (lot of wrestling...a grown man and a 2-year-old?... Go figure!...sigh..., singing at the top of their voices, watching YouTube videos of Mickey Mouse and Pingu, etc.), choral singing (my husband has one of the best tenor voices I have heard...I am being partial here, but I don't care :P), reading up on his latest interest (he will read up like crazy on whatever occupies his mind at the moment...everything from kidney stones, rheumatism (for me), train timings in Tamil Nadu, universities across the world, management skills, MBA courses, Dr.Chidambaram, heart surgery (for his Dad), things to consider while traveling abroad, how to use his camera, what do 2-year-olds eat?, everything, everything... Note: this is probably one of the reasons he has never really read this blog!... Anyway, Hamilton belongs to the clan of people who believe that information is power...so he reads... Don't be shocked if, soon, our family moves out, to make place for his books (*rolling eyes here*). He loves Sachin Tendulkar...a die-hard fan of the cricketer! Loves him so much, if he starts talking about the guy, it usually turns into an epic!

Hates: Nothing. That's it. Hate is a strong word that this man prefers not to use...What can I say?...Other than, "Why the heck is he with me?!?!!"

One unforgettable thing about him: How he cried along with me, when we heard my Dad passed away. The look of pain in his eyes, when he saw my pain... Well, he is one reason my family was able to stay strong through it...

What he has, I wish I had: His unwavering unshaken faith in God, and his spirituality. I wish I had that.

Happy Birthday Hamilton...You are Special!!

Top Stuff I Can't Cook Without!

I'm no good at cooking. Let me make that absolutely clear, going forward. But then, I guess, it is pretty obvious, if I have to write a post on stuff that I can't cook without. A good cook makes a feast out of anything! Also, most daughters can never be as good as their mothers... or is it ONE daughter.... yeah, I think this rule pretty much only applies to me.... and I will stop this meaningless rambling now, thank you.

Anyway, there are some things I cannot cook without. Especially since I am supposed to create ethnic South Indian dishes which taste good, are suitable for my spice-intolerant daughter (btw, that is not a real allergy, just 2-yr-old tantrums!), and do not set off the 'Eat Only Healthy Boring Food' Radar of my better half! So, I have a list of stuff that always goes into my cooking...logical conclusion? We eat the same food pretty much everyday!!! This is going around in dizziness-inducing circles. So...

Onions - I cannot cook without onions. Please tell me no one else can, too...pretty please?? I have to start every meal by chopping an onion. Unless I throw some onions into cooking oil and stir them around, I feel an ominous foreboding that things will go wrong! I feel this every time I make Rasam. And I'm usually right :(

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Chilli Powder - I have to have all my food glowing red!! Otherwise, I feel it does not qualify as real food. Also, I have to have my food tasting super spicy! so, when something like Vegetable poriyal calls for green chillies only, I feel apprehensive. Some times, I sneak in a pinch of chilli powder, and usually the above-mentioned RADAR goes off.

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Tomatoes - Tomatoes are so beautiful, so colorful, so necessary. And I can't cook without them. Unless I cut up a tomato, and throw it in, squishy pulp, seeds and all, I feel I have failed myself greatly! Tomatoes were totally banned at home for a while, due to health reasons of the residents, and I WAS LOST. Yes, more LOST than the people in LOST! So, I just made rasam!! ... (Go back to 'Onions' and read again... gaaah!!)

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Cooking Oil (lots of it) - Okay, I know it is bad to have too much cooking oil. Cholesterol, and all that stuff. But, hey, try scraping burnt stuff off the bottom of your kitchenware after leaving it on the stove, to go assist your kid with potty, and you will resort to a LOT OF OIL too! I now use less oil, and more tomatoes... (go back in circles...your eyelids are getting heavy...you are feeling sleepy...you will now zonk down on your simmering gravy!) By the way, my favorite cooking oil is GoldWinner Sunflower Oil (and no, I'm not paid to say that.)

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Rice Batter - this is a white batter made from rice and urad dal, used to make dhosas and idlies. And I cannot do without it. Why? Simply because we have dhosas or idlies most everyday! If you are a South Indian working mother-cum-juggler, juggling five different things...oh, you know...life and all its ingredients...well, you definitely know the advantage of making idlies! Shout out to all the mommies with whistling idli cookers...forget the iPhone, I think we should deify the man (or woman...probably a woman...Men don't care either way, I think!) who invented the idli cooker!! Pour the batter into little idli plates, mount it on the stand, lower into said cooker, close, light stove, forget. Listen for the whistle and turn it off. DONE!! Time invested: all of 10 minutes. Result: hot idlies for breakfast, probably even dinner... Others in the house: Not Happy. Me: VERY VERY HAPPY! :D

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Spices - viz. Coriander, turmeric, chilli powder (the super 3!!!) I do not know how to make the food have any kind of flavor, if I don't use these three...Okay, right now, I am slightly beginning to feel sorry for my family...the poor consumers of my half-hearted sorry excuse for cooking. So, invariably, everything kinda tastes the same... If I don't add tomatoes...you see my predicament? Cooking is really hard, I tell you!!

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="113" caption="turmeric powder"][/caption]

[caption id="" align="aligncenter" width="125" caption="coriander powder"][/caption]

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Wooden Spoon - Okay, this is technically not an ingredient, but I hate the scraping sound that metal spoons make on cooking ware. And, when I cook, I really need to stir a lot, and peep into the dish or pot...just to reassure myself that everything is going as planned! So, I cannot do without my trusty wooden spoon. It is one of THE BEST things my Mom bought me! I love my wooden spoons, and fiercely guard it from runaway 2-yr-old hands wanting to clank wooden spoons on metal plates and generally be noisy, and grown up men who generally allow 2-yr-old daughter to make ear-splitting noise and drive mommy mad in the kitchen, so that they can get some time alone on the computer!...Sigh...where is this going?!?!?

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Television - Okay, this is probably high on the quirky-bizareness meter! But I have to have the television on. I love the house we recently moved into, because the kitchen is right next to the sitting room, where the TV is situated in a nice angle, easily seen if I stand at a certain angle near the kitchen sink...rented house SCORE!! Also, the recently added soft couch means that after every paranoid stir of the gravy, I can literally run out the kitchen, directly into the said couch, sit under the fan on super-fast, wipe away the free-flowing perspiration (direct result of the sweltering South Indian heat that is sucking away my life-energy for the past few months!), and watch So You Think You Can Dance!, or some romantic comedy on StarMovies...anything goes...

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So...There you have it..stuff I cannot live without, in my kitchen...What's your favorite stuff that brings out the gourmet chef in you...or simply helps you tolerate the task of making a meal thrice/frice (my word for 'four times'!) a day?

Why should companies use Twitter?

A time will come when sales and marketing reps and public relations students will be trained on the uses of Twitter for promotional and marketing tasks. There is no ignoring the immense reach and power of this medium.
Why is Twitter apt for public relations tasks? The reason is simple. "What's Happening" is a simple query that lets people candidly talk about something that they find is of great value, and believe that many will gain from. Therefore, the direct understanding is that when a person takes the trouble to share some information with the world, it might be useful information, information of value. Of course, this does not include "I am having my lunch" updates!
Therefore, when a public relations firm approaches the public through the medium of Twitter, it meets people with open minds. The first battle is already won!

in reference to: (4) Twitter / Home (view on Google Sidewiki)

To Kill a Mockingbird - Harper Lee

It seems like I'm slow on the uptake on most everything... Twitter, blogging, mommy-ing, cooking, reading To Kill a Mockingbird... yeah, you heard me right...I didn't read the book till a few days ago... :/ But, hey! I read it, didn't I?

And I am loving it! It's a classic, and sometimes classics have a small problem... they were great in their time, but their reputation is often bigger than the actual effect it has on me. Its probably due to the fact that by the time slow-poke me gets to read them, I have already read more contemporary (meaning 'better') stuff or, well, the concept is a bit outdated. Don't blame the book, blame myself.

Pulitzer Prize winning novel To Kill a Mockingbird was an exception, and a pleasant one at that. If you are a slower-poke [ha! New word in your face!] than me, then I will tell you the story.

Spoiler alert (now that is irony! Warning a 'Spoiler Alert' for a book the whole world except me has already read, ha ha ha...spoiler alert.. get it?... get it?...Aah, never mind...)

The story of the happenings in the little town of Maycomb, Alabama during the Great Depression, is told through the perception of a 6 year old Scout Finch. Scout, along with her brother Jem and sweetheart Dill, observe people and events and share their thoughts with each other. The highlights of the novel are the questions they ask Atticus Finch, father of Scout and Jem and a lawyer who is seen as too progressive for his times.

The children's understanding of the world is tainted by the callous comments, narrow-minded prejudices and the baseless superstitions of the neighborhood. Sometimes, they act based on these - their fear of Boo Radley because they believe the wild stories about him - and sometimes, even their childish innocence refuses to believe the nonsense they hear - for instance, they refuse to believe that Black people are inferior to the White. When the children take their perceptions to their father, Atticus' response to them, and the way in which he interacts with black people and others who do not 'fit in', is what moulds the perception of the children.

The ultimate test for the prejudiced little town comes when Tom Robinson (a Black slave) is accused of raping a young White woman called Mayella Ewell. The irony of the situation is that it is the Ewells who live a degenerate life. A brood of unruly and unwashed children, a perpetually drunk father who beats his 20-something daughter, a daughter who made an inappropriate advance on the poor Black slave who feels sorry for her and helps her out with chores. Bob Ewell walks in on Mayella. Tom, who had been trying to refuse the 'White lady' without seeming too rude, runs with terror when he is spotted in this compromising situation. In his own words in the courtroom, "You would have done the same if you were a Black slave". True to his fear, he is accused of the rape of Mayella Ewell.

The jury believes a White woman's lie over the truth and condemns Tom Robinson to a death sentence. Later, Atticus is broken to find out that Tom was shot when he tried to escape from prison. As if enough tragedy was not going around, the children - Scout and Jem - are attacked by Bob Ewell, who comes after them with a knife to spite their father. Bob holds a grudge against Atticus, as the latter subtly exposed the degenerate lifestyle of the Ewells at court, in front of the entire town. The children are mysteriously saved by a stranger whom they did not see in the dark. Later, to their surprise they find out that it is Boo Radley, the same recluse whom the town has not seen for many year, who chose to remain indoors, watching the world go by. The only interaction he has with the children is to leave little carved figurines and other trinkets in the hollow of a tree. Jem and Scout would pocket these gifts with glee, but wonder who they are from.

Bob Ewell dies in the tussle, falling on his own knife, when he was pushed away by Jem. Atticus is now full of consternation and says that it is not fair to protect his own son from the law, since it seems the 12-year-old was in fact the one who killed Bob Ewell. To this, the town sheriff flatly refuses to acquiesce, and claims strongly that it was Bob who accidentally fell on his own knife. There was absolutely no evidence to prove to the contrary...

I told you...Spoiler Alert...!

Not much is known about Harper Lee, a woman from Alabama who chose to live life as a recluse and let her work speak for her. And speak they do. The poignant tale of childhood innocence trying to grapple with the harsh reality of an age of prejudice and injustice, is something that each one of us can relate to.

Now, if I can only watch the movie.... I know... I'm a slow poke... whatever...