"Cauliflower comfort" written by Tinypliny on estrip.org

Category: eating in

05/15/11 05:13 - ID#54290

Cauliflower comfort

Lunch is served...

Ãœber-tasty cauliflower stew:

Season olive oil with mustard seeds, urad dal, karuveppelai, coriander seeds, cardamom, dried red chillies and cumin.
Add finely chopped garlic, ginger, jalapeÃ±os and sautÃ© for a bit.
Add salt and roughly chopped tomatoes and green peppers. SautÃ© till tomato is mostly cooked and its juices come out.
Add uniformly chopped cauliflower. SautÃ© till tender yet crunchy
Garnish generously with chopped coriander leaves.
Serve and devour on a rainy day like today!

Permalink: Cauliflower_comfort.html
Words: 81
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/15/11 05:27

Category: dance

05/13/11 09:40 - ID#54274

Ballet Class with Olga

I really enjoyed Anne Bass's wonderful documentary, "Dancing Across Borders".

In particular, I loved this sequence from the documentary.

It showcases an intense ballet lesson that Sokvannara "Sy" Sar, a Cambodian who came to NYC to learn ballet, takes with Olga Kostritzky, simply the best beginner ballet teacher there can be.
Notice Sy's perfect form and the controlled leg lifts. I wonder if I will ever get there.

I had no idea Google put whole documentaries online on Youtube. You can watch the entire film here:

Permalink: Ballet_Class_with_Olga.html
Words: 104
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/13/11 09:40

Category: dance

05/12/11 12:16 - ID#54269

Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana

After pining for yoga class for a month, I finally made it yesterday. Thanks mainly to a strategically timed phone call from (e:Paul), just as I was getting ready to spend the evening in the office.

In class, Erin gave us the option of trying the Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana (compass or sundial pose) or leg splits. I was secretly interested in going the splits way because of my not-so-secret obsession with ballet. But the sundial/compass pose looked pretty cool so most of the class that had an opinion at that point voted in favour of trying it out. I decided to abandon my secret agenda and went with the class.

And, wow! The Parivrtta Surya Yantrasana was totally worth going with the class chorus.

That doesn't mean I reached the full expression of the pose. Far from it. But I ALMOST got there with a yogi's choice scaled-down version. (e:Paul)-Super-Yogi later told me that this pose was tough, even for him. He has a theory that he is only good at asanas that involve upper body strength (but we all know it's just a theory and a flawed one at that, because I did watch him out of the corner of my eyes, and he totally reached the asana!)

After yoga, (e:Paul) and I hung out for dinner. We cooked palak paneer (which, I thought was a slight disaster because our most-probable guess purchase of a "paneer"-like-Italian-basket cheese pulled a meltdown in the frying pan). I should have known better than to have trusted an Italian cheese to behave like paneer or at least have tested it before throwing it all in or just used the most-probably-fry-able Goya Queso Blanco, instead. But I didn't do any of these things.

I guess there is always next time but If you will excuse me, I need to go and bask in my yoga mediocrity and palak-paneer miscalculation now.

Permalink: Parivrtta_Surya_Yantrasana.html
Words: 323
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/12/11 12:17

Category: eating in

05/11/11 09:48 - ID#54261

Cheesy fact.

According to wikipedia, the US was the world's top producer of cheese in 2006, making about 4,275 metric tonnes of cheese every year.

However, the US didn't quite make it to the top ten cheese consumers or the top ten cheese exporters.

Where is all the extra cheese going? Cosmetics? Bricks for cheese houses?

Permalink: Cheesy_fact_.html
Words: 58
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/11/11 11:06

Category: dance

05/11/11 06:38 - ID#54259

Who was Martha Graham?

I am absolutely fascinated with the Google doodle today! It just keeps getting better and better. I followed links and read so much about Martha Graham because of that awesome doodle.

And now, the inevitable. I want to try out Modern dance!!

Permalink: Who_was_Martha_Graham_.html
Words: 57
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/11/11 12:14

Category: dance

05/10/11 11:42 - ID#54257

Missed yoga so much...

that I went to Zumba today.

That makes zero sense, but welcome to my life. The genre-defying deviation was because of some eleventh hour "planning" and last-minute dashing - which didn't produce much results except for a big sign outside the yoga studio which said something to the effect of:

Class is lamentably very full today. You are welcome to join us some other day for yoga, but NOT TODAY, you tardy little rat.

I almost retraced my steps back home when I remembered the zumba poster at my ballet/salsa studio and decided to check it out instead. It was an interesting experience. Zumba is like dancing an alternate-universe crazy version of salsa mixed in liberally with aerobics and strange disco-like moves which defy categorization. I was drenched in sweat by the end of the class but didn't really feel like I learned anything new. Who knows, I might even have unlearnt some salsa steps that took me ages to get...

I really really REALLY miss Erin's yoga class. I am 99% going to the Vinyasa session tomorrow and planning on getting to class early. I hope the 1% doesn't show its evil petty face at 4:00 PM.

Permalink: Missed_yoga_so_much_.html
Words: 196
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/10/11 11:44

Category: the odes

05/09/11 07:44 - ID#54250

Why would you pay $5.95...

For this advertisement/article from 2004:

when it's available freely here:

Amazon sells the most random crazy things.

Permalink: Why_would_you_pay_5_95_.html
Words: 35
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/09/11 07:44

Category: i-tech

05/09/11 07:37 - ID#54249

He's dead, Jim!

Awwwwww. Snap!

Hate it when it happens and I lose a tab out of the zillion I have open.

Permalink: He_s_dead_Jim_.html
Words: 21
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/09/11 07:37

Category: science

05/06/11 07:45 - ID#54225

e:libertad, how did you quit smoking?

(e:libertad), I know you have told me many time in fragments how hard it was but could you please share, in a consolidated post, how you quit smoking finally?

How long had you been smoking?
How much were you smoking?
When did you start?
What brands were you smoking?
How long did it take for you to quit?
When did you start trying to quit?
What all did you try?
What worked?
What didn't work?
What do you feel was the most helpful and the least helpful?
Who helped you?
Who didn't help you?
What factors dangerously pushed you into relapse?

This is a LOT to ask of you, I know, but I am honestly VERY VERY interested in success stories like yours who have fought single-handedly against a whole CORPORATION of evil. It's amazing really that your individual will power fought and defeated commercial interests who are pushing out this drug to the masses and encouraging addiction with a sole purpose of financial gain and complete disregard for the financial, health and emotional burden of communities across the planet. I think people who quit smoking are perhaps the strongest people anywhere.

Permalink: e_libertad_how_did_you_quit_smoking_.html
Words: 193
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/06/11 07:55

Category: buffalo

05/05/11 11:29 - ID#54220

Amtrak Buffalo Exchange Street Station

Has anyone ever tried getting tickets at this station? I just booked some "pick up at station" tickets and am now nervous if this station has anyone there for giving me the tickets! All the times that I have traveled from this station, I have never seen the "office" open, ever.

EDIT: I went to the Buffalo Exchange Street Station yesterday and got my tickets. I didn't even need a print out of my confirmation email - which was great because I didn't have it anyway. The lady at the counter just asked for my photo ID and confirmation number and handed me my ticket. Their hours are from 6:30 AM to 4:00 PM Monday through Friday and yes, they mainly deal with handing out tickets to people who have booked tickets online.

After some more snooping around in the Amtrak website, I found two more information pages:

Station Hours for Amtrak Buffalo Exchange Street Station:
Station building with waiting room details for Amtrak Buffalo Exchange Street Station:

It says ticketing hours are from 6:15 am to 4:00 pm, Monday through Friday. Its closed on Saturday and Sunday.

I checked out google maps to see if anyone has ever had a successful ticketing experience at this station and found TWO place pages!!!

Place page one:

Amtrak: For Station Information Only Call
75 Exchange Street, Buffalo, NY 14203-2918
(716) 856-2075

Vague reviews. The latest one is mine - that I definitely intend on updating soon.)

Place page two:

Buffalo Exchange Street Station
United States
amtrak.com

No reviews or phone numbers but it has train schedules!
However the two measly train timings on that page are dated and most uninformative.
What the hell? I am going to post my review on this page as well.

I wonder how many other place pages exist for this one tiny joke of a station. Such a disorganized mess!

tinypliny writes at 10:29:10 05/13/11 - Comment #62297: Got my tickets and posted an update on Buffalo Exchange Street Amtrak Station.

tinypliny writes at 11:26:41 05/07/11 - Comment #62216: Cheap. Flexible. Two key words.

Around $160 cheaper. Flexible: I can shuffle my travel plans without charge as many times as I want to. I would be bankrupt if I did that with flights. I am going to NYC to help my brother move to a new flat and he doesn't know for sure when exactly he is moving so I keep changing my travel times according to whatever information he gives me.

libertad writes at 09:23:28 05/07/11 - Comment #62214: Why are you taking the train? Is it cheaper than flying or do you have a fear of planes or for environmental reasons?

tinypliny writes at 07:28:48 05/07/11 - Comment #62210: What I meant to say is I AM taking the 4:18 AM train again. DAMN typo!

tinypliny writes at 07:28:12 05/07/11 - Comment #62209: Central Terminal is not walkable from my place. I'd rather have the "hut" upgraded than having a train station further away - that I can't walk to.

I am not taking that 4:18 AM train again. I re-scheduled my trip. (I have to say that Amtrak is very accommodating about rescheduling trips if you have just received a confirmation and not bought the physical ticket. So, you could potentially reschedule your ticket as many times as you want without a charge till you actually print it out at the kiosk or get it at a ticketing booth from a clerk. That's really convenient and beats any airline experience.

Since I am traveling at 4 AM again, I guess I will have to make the trip down to the train station soon to see if I get tickets.

vincent writes at 08:12:22 05/06/11 - Comment #62202: Yea the "Hut" at Exchange Street as one of my friends calls it is a sad thing. Those people that think that The Central Terminal could re-open are nuts. Unless things go totally catastrophic and we are forced as a nation to go back to rail due to forced energy conservation, it's not going to happen.

At least we're going to get "higher" speed rail on the near horizon hopefully if it survives the Republican chopping block.

tinypliny writes at 07:51:19 05/06/11 - Comment #62192: Unfortunately, Amtrak doesn't let you print online tickets like airlines. It's ridiculous really. They email you a confirmation number and you need to take that confirmation number to a ticketing kiosk or a ticketing window run by a clerk to get the actual ticket. It's so behind the times.

They also mail the tickets to you if you select that option (but it is available only if you are more than 2.5 weeks away from your trip). Sometimes they forget to mail it out and you need to make several calls to the consumer help centre to make them mail it out - sometimes a week before your journey. It's a hassle.

I have taken the 4:30 AM train from the exchange street many times and had my brother mail me tickets from NYC post haste. I have also taken the bus all the way to the Depew station just because there is a ticketing kiosk there and I wasn't sure there was one on exchange street (there isn't). It is SO ridiculous that they can't even install a simple kiosk in the exchange street station - it's as if they hate the people who take the train from downtown buffalo!

tinypliny writes at 09:18:25 05/05/11 - Comment #62184: I will find out and post about what happened soon. I am going to NYC.

metalpeter writes at 05:34:58 05/05/11 - Comment #62178: Wish I could be of some help.... That being said I wish that and think that the way all trains should leave and go to Buffalo (even though it is closed) is through the Central Terminal , the place downtown and the one out on Dick road or where ever it is.... I also with out ever doing so think trains are a better way to go then planes... It used to be at least they could travel in the snow and ice unlike planes.... Granted for long trips it would blow but trains need to take over planes.......

leetee writes at 04:15:09 05/05/11 - Comment #62175: It's hours are very limited. When my nephew and his friend were in town, we drove them to the station on Dick Road. Apparently, some of their fellow train travellers got on the train at Exchange Street then hopped off to pick up their tickets at the Dick Road station.