Brown Motion

I was wanting to pen my joy of traveling by trains in Germany during the summer of 2014.  It is somewhat weird to describe the feeling one (me) gets when on board a tube made of steel and glass traveling over or under ground or through mountains whether at a crawl or at over 200 kph. It is first and foremost a means of transport.  Therefore every train I was on was essentially just an appliance. But then once you got past that technicality it was something else...to a buff like me it was engineering and nature coming together in a sublime experience that can make your heart sing..or whatever the poetic incarnation of 'the trains are alive with the sound of....is'. Here then are some pictures of these appliances that took me north to south and west to east as I traversed the Deutschland.. Regional Double Deck Train in Berlin HBF (main station) Regional Express near Berlin Berlin Tram near Alexanderplatz Berlin Metro or U Bahn Berlin S Bahn Dresde

A lot of foodie influences make for a wonderful film showcasing cast and crew from various continents. Directed by a Swede (L Hallstrom whose film credits include movies about edible items - Chocolat, Gilbert Grape etc); the film stars are French-Canadian, British, Indian and an American of Indian origins.  The Indian hero of the film has a food item for a last name - Puri (a puffed fried bread made from wheat flour). It is a tale, an adaptation from a book - about two restaurant owners who vie for success in the French countryside.  One is an established Michelin star winner and the other across the street - 100 feet apart- an upstart started by a migrant family from India. As cuisine goes the story tries to dispel the notion that one country's food can be superior to another while conveying that what really matters in the end is in the palate of the beholder.  It also does a decent job of effectively showcasing some masala - the edible kind - not item numbers - that is at t

Not something a kid in a dimly lit math classroom might encounter.  Far from it unless that classroom happened to be in a home in southern China or at least in a restaurant that served this delicacy. I am refering to the food preparation that I enjoyed with some work colleagues at a going away event (for another colleague) over lunch.  Lunch was at a local Cantonese (that which is from southern China - specifically the Canton aka Guangdong; and Fujian provinces) restaurant close to work. Dim Sum or DianXin literally means pieces of the heart - as in small bite sized food portions lovingly made for someone - if I remember - based on my research in talking to the locals who are from that part of the world. But for the English speaking crowd it is simply 'Dim Sum' which is available in variety of Chinese restaurants in California given the preponderence of the expats that love their native food.  The food traditionally is small portions prepared individually in steamer baske

One of those feel good (food) films of this year.  It is all about the food and sights and sounds of places across the contiental USA. A renowned chef working at a LA area restaurant decides to spin a daring feast for a blogger / food critic about to visit that night.  He is banking on complete surprise and a wow factor when the owner played by Dustin Hoffman comes in and advises against it.  He plays safe and wants hired help (chef -Favreau's character) to focus on cooking what works, that pays the bills. That takes away from the chef whose creativity feels inhibited and he decides to take a chance on himself to prove what he is capable of.  With some cliched storyline involving a divorced father (also the chef) that yearns to spend time with his kid who is growing up missing him, and some item number (by popular vote played by the estranged Sofia Vergara in her loud over the top mannerisms) the story tends to showcase the spunk of the protagonist who despite being ignorant of