Category: the odes

05/15/11 09:59 - ID#54295

Guess what?

Permalink: Guess_what_.html
Words: 2
Location: Buffalo, NY
Last Modified: 05/15/11 09:59

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

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