(e:Mike), How come you don't do such outrageously spooky literary narratives anymore?

Cue the music for this Sunday's Singalong...

::DOWNLOAD SOUND::

Granny's always ravin' and rantin'
And she's always puffin' and pantin',
And she's always screaming and shouting,
And she's always brewing up tea.

Grandpappy's never late for his dinner,
'Cause he loves his leg of beef
And he washes it down with a brandy,
And a fresh made cup of tea.

Chorus
Have a cuppa teeeeeeeea, have a cuppa tea,
have a cuppa tea, have a cuppa tea,
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja, Rosie Lea
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja Rosie Lea.

If you feel a bit under the weather,
If you feel a little bit peeved,
Take granny's stand-by potion
For any old cough or wheeze.
It's a cure for hepatitis, it's a cure for chronic insomnia,
It's a cure for tonsilitis and for water on the knee.

Chorus
Have a cuppa teeeeeeeea, have a cuppa tea,
have a cuppa tea, have a cuppa tea,
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja, Rosie Lea
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja Rosie Lea.

Tea in the morning, tea in the evening, tea at supper time,
You get tea when it's raining, tea when it's snowing.
Tea when the weather's fine,
You get tea as a mid-day stimulant
You get tea with your afternoon tea
For any old ailment or disease
For Christ sake have a cuppa tea.

Chorus
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja, Rosie Lea
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja Rosie Lea.

Whaaaat ever the situation whatever the race or creed,
Tea knows no segregation, no class nor pedigree
It knows no motivations, no sect or organisation,
It knows no one religion,
Nor political belief.

Chorus.
Have a cuppa teeeeeeeea, have a cuppa tea,
have a cuppa tea, for Christ's sake have a cuppa tea,
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja, Rosie Lea
Halleluja, halleluja, halleluja Rosie Lea.


From Muswell Hillbillies, The Kinks, 1971

Guaranteed. I mean, just take a look at the overall vigilante tough-as-only-a-class-monitor-pet-can-be attitude of whatever the hell this thing is.

I am completely speechless. I have NEVER seen the Accordion being played at such a blinding pace! This is a baroque period piece written for a full string symphony! It is part of a playlist that ROCKS!

He has his own unbelievable channel on youtube:

---

• PS: I am not sure what is up with all those eye-poppy-candy-coloured balloons in the background...
  
• PPS: via (e:Himay) via Sara Watkins on Twitter

(e:Heidi) and I went out to dinner at the Tokyo Shanghai Bistro yesterday. It was a nice outing to wipe out a bunch of disappointments and catch up. Thank you, Heidi! :)

The food was great, the service was courteous, the prices were very reasonable and the ambience was perfect. I would certainly recommend this place for a nice dinner.

A bunch of people asked me to describe the menu and since my head is filled with snot, aches and gloom today, I am taking the easy way out:










We ordered the Agedashi Tofu and the Yaki Nasu - an eggplant dish.

The Eggplant dish was very rich, coated in sesame oil and I think, some soy based sauce and slightly sweet but delicious.

The "deep fried" Agedashi tofu was very lightly fried. It looked to me like freshly made tofu so the deep frying didn't leave much of a crust. It had a very soft rather than chewy texture. I liked it with the sauce it was served with; Heidi, not so much. The tofu could have used a nice dash of pepper or red-chillie sauce on top.

















We ordered vegetable egg rolls and the vegetable soup to go. I just had the soup for lunch - it was amazing. I am inspired to make it at home. Any food that makes me want to make it in my kitchen definitely makes the cut of "really delicious" in my kictionary. ;-)



We also ordered the Vegetable Mei Fun and Sesame Tofu - both of which were pretty good.

The Mei Fun was very noodle-heavy and could have been better with a few more vegetables - so I can't say it was entirely my kind of fun. Those who avoid veggies like the plague might have had a field day with this dish. We asked our waitress to make it spicy - but the spice was well below the mildest I have eaten. So I guess you could confidently spike that spice level up and still end up with a tolerable "American" spice level.

The Sesame Tofu was actually sweet but tasty - with a strong sesame flavour. It was served with broccoli and somewhat oily rice.











Overall, everything was a trifle too oily for comfort but fairly good with reasonable prices. Our waitress was very accomodating and pleasant. Since the Tokyo Shanghai Bistro is very roomy inside, it didn't seem crowded even if a constant stream of people came to check it out and have dinner. I would definitely go again to try other things on their gazillion-item menu. You should too. :)

I am determined to match all the glorious colours of the fall leaves in every dinner this month!


Vegetable Upma with Coconut-Coriander-Tamarind Chutney.


Here's to Fall!

I remembered this video when I read your message:



I don't buy Chili Flakes. I think the ones available here are wimpy and a BIG disgrace to all chillies across the planet. If you want the kick of Indian chillies for your seasoning, get a bag of dried ones from the Indian Store - Super Bazaar (Sheridian and Bailey).

Tear them apart with your hands and voila - you have some awesome chilli seasoning for peanut oil. You could also pop them in a pre-heated oven for a few minutes till they loose all moisture (Don't burn them, you won't be able to get rid of the insane burnt chillie incense from your flat in forever!) When they are dry, they become very brittle. You can either give them a very brief whizz in the blender/food processor or go the satisfying mortar and pestle way.

Bon chilli-flakit!!

by a rude network outage, I was going to post this poem. But now that the (E:strip) chat has revived, I guess the poem is somewhat out of context. Regardless, I seldom waste my poetic efforts at drama.

So endure, you must.

---

So, farewell then, (e:strip) chat.

---

So.
Farewell then
(E:strip) Chat

You were
a good
friend of mine

Figures. You
And I were
usually ignored

Except that
Unlike me you
don't go to grad school

(e:Jim) perhaps
realized this
and spoke

But mostly
it was
a lonely soak

The other woman
does have
more curves.

But then Keith's mom
thinks you
might revive again.



With apologies to EJ Thribb (17.5)

---

References
1.
2.
3.
4.

Felt like a really light supper today and threw this together in 10 minutes. It's so simple, it takes almost zero effort.

1. Heat 1/2 tsp of peanut oil on high heat - 10 sec
2. Throw in some whole cumin and black peppercorns
3. Wait for the cumin to sizzle - 20 sec
4. Roughly chop red onions, toss in seasoned oil for 2 min
5. Chop green bell peppers, toss with onions for 2 min
6. Add a generous tablespoon of red chillie powder. Toss well.
7. Chop one big tomato, toss with the rest for 5 min
8. Add chopped fresh mint, cooked black-eyes peas/navy beans. Mix.
9. Squeeze half a sweet lime in and toss.
10. Serve and layer with hot tomato juice from the pan.

Yesterday's Twitter stream made me realize that, though people (well, okay, I mean (e:paul)) talk about Kuni's regularly here, I have never actually eaten there. I considered this rather anomalous behaviour and a couple explanations came to mind.

I have walked past it innumerable times so given my defective mind, I must have checked it out at some point, not liked it and thus erased that memory from my consciousness. Or maybe like one of those Tralfamadorians, not chosen to focus on the experience because of the expense or just the blandness of the food.

But the fact of the matter is I really haven't ever been there. Since I can't justify going there today, I made this for lunch.


Steamed French Beans fast-sauteed with garlic, dried red chillie flakes, Thai green chillies, split yellow lentils, white lentils, homemade spicy hummus and soy sauce. Served with a light sprinkle of coconut and lime juice.

Prep time: 20 minutes
Around $3 for 5 servings

Yes, this is exactly why eating out feels like such an unsatisfactory and unacceptable rip-off.