Pixie Dust

"You can't cook to save your life, man!"-a friend had said it to me some years ago. At that time, I truly couldn't cook. I couldn't even boil an egg right. I was student then in Aberdeen and luckily I had friends who I shared an apartment with and who were better at it. I just did my part by doing all the dishes after the meal. Needless to say when we had to part ways after college, I had to cook for myself. I would depend on ready to eat microwavable food, cheap take-away and the likes.

A time came when I had moved to Edinburgh and was sharing a dwelling with a childhood friend of mine from India, Ashwin Shenoy. This guy was heavier than me and needless to say, he was more passionate about food than me. This is when I was introduced to the right use of masalas and the ingredients that made great Indian food. He made a great teacher because he was very specific about the meal that me and him would eat and tolerate none of my mistakes-"Is that how you finely chop the bloody onions?!", " You sure the chicken in the curry is dead yet?!", "If you add any more of the chilli powder, you will need to take the fire extinguisher with you to the restroom tomorrow!", "Keep stirring! You will burn it otherwise!” were some of his remarks during the act. I loved the fact that I was getting the hang of it. That point of time, I knew what a fine dish the 'finely chopped onions' would make. I was the apprentice and he was that mental Gordon Ramsay from 'Hells Kitchens'.

After that, I was an experimental chef. I would try stuff the conventional way with a dash of my own twist. The mixture of flavours will sometimes backfire but I was getting better. The main ingredients are- cumin, coriander and red chilli in powdered form, mustard seeds, cumin seeds, garam masala (a blend of spices like nutmeg, clove, cinnamon, cardamom powdered together), curry leaves, turmeric powder. With these you can pretty much make a decent curry out of anything! Again, you will need to know when exactly to add it to the pan and what it would do. It’s like 'Pixie dust' for an Indian chef.

Before leaving to Sweden, I was shopping with my mom for these masalas and she was surprised how I knew about all these. She probably never thought I used these specific items that probably only Indian women were fussy without. Great success! I am still yet to cook for my foreign friends here to know how they find my culinary skills. Just yesterday I made this 'Pepper chicken Chettinaad' and it was gorgeous! A link to the same that might get you lot interested-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=thQvn31Wdn4

Next time I meet Ashwin, I might challenge him for a cook-off! This blog is to encourage readers to try the real Indian food in their own kitchens. Also, this is a token of appreciation and gratitude to my dear ol' friend Ashwin. Without his inception I couldn't have become a person with decent aptitude for Indian cooking.

PS. Do check out the related links to the video on youtube. He is a good cook.

Recycling pays!

We are trying to "save" the planet these days- we believe in animal rights more than ever, fight for endangered species, cuss establishments that pollute the environment, encourage people to use non renewable resources judiciously and what not. But what percentage of people actually does it in your country?

In Britain, we do ask for shoppers if they want plastic bags at the cashier in supermarkets, hoping that they might have reusable bags on them. If not, we generously offer them any number of plastic bags to carry their purchases. Some double the bags in case it breaks, some triple the bag if it’s their favourite hooch and some even come up with wisecracks when you ask them if they need bags, my favourite reply from a customer- "No no, I‘ll balance the items on my head till I reach my car". All I am trying to get at is that people, if not completely apathetic about their actions are sometimes offended by the idea of recycling. I have never seen people reusing the free bags either, after all it’s free! Why should someone be rewarded for an act that might keep their own locality clean? Forget the larger picture- plastic is not only non biodegradable, it’s a menace. Such a menace that companies pay "third world" countries to take care of their waste. That’s completely another topic for another day of blogging.

In Sweden I was surprised with yet another system that encourages recycling so vividly that it actually is remarkable. To begin with, when you are shopping a commodity that has glass, plastic or alloy packaging (cans), you can look for monetary value on the packaging. It ranges from type of packaging- cans can have a value of 50 Ore or a Kroner. Large PET bottles can have a value of 2 Crones. The idea is this- you can choose to throw it away and not feel guilty about not recycling but lose some money. Intelligent, ain’t it? Or what would be more intelligent is if you kept the empty cans and bottles, returned it to the supermarket those came from, you could have a wee bit of extra savings!!

If you are thinking, what a pain would it be to carry the items back to the supermarket, stand in line to give it to a cashier and then carry on shopping- think again. There are these machines that resemble an ATM setup inside the hanger of  the supermarket, just before the entrance. That is where you have a diagrammatic display by each counter to indicate what goes there.

The picture on the right shows a bunch of students trying to get some cash off the party they had previous evening. Personally, it seems like they have a treasure box of beer cans and hooch bottles and Coke PETs. Looks to me like they are also gonna have another party from the cash they get of the machine ;)

As you load in a can there is a display that shows the cash you have earned for that can. With each addition, the display kicks in a growing value. It’s quicker than you think it is. It’s like spoon feeding a hungry baby. Now when the cans are all consumed by the machine, you press a nice green button that prints out a small slip with the amount you deserve. Then you go to the counter which pays you for your PET bottles the same way. These slips are kept together when you are going to the cashier to pay for the purchases made that day for reimbursement. If there are no purchases, the cashier will still give you the cash with a smile and say "Varsagod" ("Here you are").

Hypothetically speaking, if one was a derelict and had no means of earning, he could still collect cans and plastic bottles and go to the nearest supermarket for to collect his reward. No 'National insurance number' required.

I wish there were more systems like this all over the globe-some nominal payment for a person who is willing to be a part of recycling. I am sure there are people who still don't want to be a part of the scheme simply because they are not interested to carry the waste back to the supermarket. Or maybe they are a bit too posh for a deed like that. Tell you what though, I wouldn’t mind picking a stray can on a bus or a park and add it to my collection. It really pays.

'Would I do it otherwise' is my food for thought tonight.

"Calling in sick"

"Ma! How many times have I told you I don't like cabbage!"- that was me like 4 months ago when I was at my grandparents house in Udupi, India. I am a fussy vegetarian and a comfortable non vegetarian as my mother once pointed out. Its true- if theres meat on my plate, I am the happiest eater.

When I was working in Britain, I had the chance to improve my culinary skills as it was a necessity then. Its easy to cook in a western society, thanks to the supermarket galore. We can find food in well preserved and processed forms- cans, vacuum packed, tetra-packed and what not. I enjoyed cooking for myself and later, to show off with some of my British friends. I am a student again now and so I am improvising on my culinary skills. Its over 2 months since I got here and I had this strange feeling today- I miss my family. Don’t get me wrong, I am certainly not the type who sulks a little and reaches for his cell phone to call home the next second. I love the dynamics of human emotions.

I would literally tell my mother what to cook for me that evening or only eat half my fill. She would'nt like it, so she would accommodate my 'brat-ness'. I know, I know- I am a despicable brat. All of a sudden today, I am ready to eat a plate full of the cabbage salad my mom usually makes just to entice that emotion in my head. If I ate the salad with a smile, it would make her happy. If I make a meal for myself and enjoy it, it only makes me happy. There’s no fun in that these days. Am I turning the corner, food habit wise? Am I just home sick?

To be honest, I dont think either of it is true. I know, I know- I am shameless.

I tell you what though, next time my mom is cooking for me, I will make sure that I ask for the very same cabbage salad and enjoy it with a smile on my face. Let’s see what she would think of that. She might do a back flip! On the other hand, I might not do it because I detest the sight, smell and taste of cabbage. It is a pale green whorl of nightmare for my palate. I am just feeling sick writing about it. The taste from memory is enough to put me off. I don't think I can go the classes tomorrow. I think I will just call in 'home sick' tomorrow and hope that my teacher will understand.

For those weirdo's ('thats a harmless joke'-smiley) who love cabbage, heres a traditional konkani recipe -   http://www.konkanirecipes.com/recipes/cabbage-upkari

Iceman

Being students we know the anxiety we have while going about preparing for an exam. As we get closer to the doomsday, we would love it if everything goes according to convenience- finding the scientific papers readily, not having to go to the college library just to get access to some journals that you have to pay from any other source of internet. What would be great is if you had a room mate who would love cooking scrumptious meals just so that you can carry on with your preparation! Last thing we want is something like your bicycle with a torn tube, or too much snow or rain that makes it hard for you to get around to library or even while shopping for groceries.
Well, this month was exam time for lot many students of biology. And many will concur when I say that biology exams are not just mildly unpleasant- the complex words involved, the statistics they use these days to prove work in research, the genius papers that you have to understand to write a well structured answer. I might have exaggerated a bit considering it was 'take home exam' in Genetics. But nevertheless, it means we have to be that much more accurate in finding the answers, even if they were just 10 questions with a fortnight to finish.
Personally, I take my own jolly time to get the '.pdf' files necessary for helping solve them questions. It took me 4days to just get me to look at the questions handed by email. On day 5 having looked at the questions, you feel confident that it can be done in good time before the due date, and so you relax. Only virtually when you start working on the first question (you are almost in the second week by then) do you actually realise that you need help. Since working with friends is allowed during this type of exam, I used to walk to my good friend Yonathans place. We used to share research material and talk how to go about a tricky question.
Once when I got to his house, he was trying to start his notebook. When I got by him, he tells me smilingly, "I think my laptop is bust". It was 4 days to submission then. He had no back up copy of the file with the answers he had typed in by then. He had lost all the .pdf files stored in it. He had to use the library (which was about a mile away) from then on to virtually start from scratch!
He said that to me with a smile! If was in his shoes, I would have flipped and panicked like I had to get married the next day.
He cool-ly gets ready- wears his layers of warm clothing, gets his gloves and hat on and says to me- " I'll walk to the library and you can join me there if you have problems with any question ".  I was blank. We had this other fella with us that very day when it happened, and I asked him, "Would you have taken it so well?". He says to me immedietly," Are you sh"%"$& me!".
Sometimes I would meet him in the library working on one of them library computers. I would discuss the answers and offer him research material that would accelerate his answers. What astonished the most was this- not once did I hear him say anything like, "man, I wish the computer had'nt conked up at a time like this". I was hoping he would. I wished he would. That would make me feel better.

He was a superman to me for having taken that crisis so gracefully.

He is a man of faith, I could tell that by all the religious bling he had in his room. Did it have something to do with his reaction? Did he have a special gene in him that codes for some kind of hormone that allows him to keep his brain serenaded no matter what? (not sounding like a geek, hopefully)

I don't know. I guess I will always wonder how he did it. He actually managed to finish the test a day in advance while I was still two answers away. He did it. He did it in style. What can I say, I hang out more with him hoping to induce myself some goodness from him. He is my personal hero- a man who stays 'cool' no matter what, coining a name 'The Iceman'.

I know what you might be thinking- are the results of that test out yet. No, they are not out yet.
;)

Tipsy love

Come the eve of friday, I usually am thinking what's on my things to buy for the weekend list. And usually, the top of my list is beer. I love my drinks, in fact nothing used to make my weekend more fun than drinking with my friends. When I came to Uppsala as a student, during a weekend I went to a supermarket to find out what beers they had. I checked out the entire supermarket but all they had was only a handful of names with low acohol content (2.8-3.5% v/V). It was utterly strange for me because in all my 4 years of living in Britain I had never come across a supermarket with no 'real' alcohol to sell. That's when I spoke to my Swedish friend inquiring about what was the deal regarding alcohol, and man, was I impressed.
Systembolaget stores are the only stores where you can buy alcohol from. Systembolaget is a Swedish innovation from mid 1800's that gives the government a monopoly over alcohol retailing.They are stores that only sell a different range of alcohol with a collection of imports from over 40 countries. A direct link to the factfile of systembolaget-
http://www.systembolaget.se/NR/rdonlyres/8C39020E-492A-47A1-B578-021AF5833CD6/0/foretagspres_03_eng.pdf
What they do is, regulate the flow of alcohol. Their standing conviction is that the more the people know, the better they will learn to handle alcohol.
During my student life in Scotland, I used to work night shifts in a local petrol station which sold alcohol till 10PM. My shifts started at 11PM and went on till 7AM. At that time, I have seen drunk mishaps at its epitome- a bunch of kids wearing suggestive attire,holding a bottle of Vodka beating a man. People of different age groups passed out in the vicinity of the station. I had to involve the cops. One of the questions I was then asked is if I sold alcohol to minors. Well, I had'nt. Someone else was. Ask the NHS, as to how many casualties related to alcohol poisoning they have to deal with on weekends. An interesting read from a 2007 article from the guardian-http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2007/oct/14/drugsandalcohol.health

Back at home in India too, getting your hands on alcohol regardless of your age is easy. The casualties involved afterwards is what  bothers me. More and more minors I know of in my town indulge with alcohol about 2-3 times a week.

It will be a never ending debate finding loopholes in existing systems regarding sale of alcohol all over the world. But what I realised was, when people get together and install a system like Systembolaget it shows their concern for general health of the public. It invokes a civic responsibility and asks for people to understand the use of alcohol.
My personal instances with systembolaget-
I was clean shaven once and rejected the sale of alcohol till I showed them my passport ( I am 26 years old). Worked out as a compliment for me.
The second time I went, I showed them my ID even before the cashier asked for it. For which, she gave me a gift- a pack of party quiz cards( I ain't kidding, it was pink!). Too bad she only had the cards in Swedish.
Me and a friend were together in the store once, when we got to the cashier, she says pointing to me, "You have to show me some ID as well". I had a 2 day stubble then, so it was'nt the beard.

I have loved living in Uppsala as a student so far and I think learning about systembolaget scores more points for Sweden in my book. And yeah, the stores are open only half day on Saturday and closed on Sundays- asking you to be a bit more organised and disciplined.

Unintended offence

I love photography so much that I go to great lengths to get well composed shots. This is what happened once when I was in Gamla Uppsala on a weekend just to cover unseen parts of Uppsala.

Me and a friend had been to Gamla, to check out the museum there. It was late in the evening and we knew our chances of the museum being open would be thin. We had plans to wander around and take pictures. We walked around till we discovered a bunch of mounds blocking view to sunset. So I just raced to one of the mounds. There was a foot high fence which got me curious as to if we are allowed past it, or its to prevent pet dogs from wandering there. I looked around to see if there were anyone else on top and I saw a couple on top. So I raced to the top myself and took pictures of the view from there.

 On the way back I saw a lil' boy from a bunch of kids waving at me, so I waved back at him. When I got closer, I realised he s trying to say something to me in Swedish. All I got of his words was 'inte bra'. My friend was waiting there to tell me that I was'nt supposed to climb it and that the mounds were actually burial sites of three kings-Aun, Adil and Egil from the 5th or 6th century. A little more about the mounds-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gamla_Uppsala
I grinned at him and said, " I m sure they would'nt mind". But then it got me thinking. The little kid knew that I was'nt supposed to tread on dead people. What about the old couple that was on top of one of them- did they ignore the sign? Did they miss it or were they tourists like me?
Technically speaking, the kings in the mounds would have returned to its molecular carbon form and dissipated within the earth, but we have somehow made rules to not offend the dead. I think mankind cares more about the dead than the ones alive.
I did'nt mean to offend the kings. I bravely walked to the top looking at people already on top. I just wanted to use that a vantage point to cover the area. Could I actually have insulted the dead or people who made the rule more? Its just like removing your footwear when you enter a Hindu temple- its to maintain hygiene we are told. But what about the cleanliness of our feet?
Its all good though. If the ghosts of the kings were to meet me for revenge, I am sure we will have a laugh together once we got talking. After all, all that matters in the end is the intention as wisely quoted by one of my favourite musician. Andrea Bocelli.