Skip to main content

My favorite things

I am a man of simple needs or so I think.

Love traveling - to see, to smell, to eat and to learn.  Some of the favorite places visited that I might actually go back for more include Japan and New Zealand and Europe for the most part.

Love eating - I said that already -

  • Pomfret fry - not many know how to but when done right this is an amazing fish dish
  • Batata Wada - used to be a cheap delicacy on the Pune Mumbai express route at a station at the bottom of the ghat called Karjat made by a family called Divadkar's.  Came with a garlic, red chilli powder mixture called chatni.  There were some claims it had saw dust but it was still tasty.  Nowadays I opt for another purveyor at a way stop, this one in the hills of Lonavla also on the same route.
  • Coconut Chikki - one of those truly desi treats that when done right is a blissful time suck.  Literally.  It is a sugary hard candy like substance that you can stick in your mouth and salivate over.  Best ones are Maganlal's in Lonavla.
  • Mitha Paan - a mouth freshner and again a desi treat - done right is another time suck.  Many local establishments in Pune or Mumbai by the roadside.  The shadier the outfit the better the Paan.
  • Pav Bhaji - If memory serves the one outside VT now CST station called Canon has/had the best.
  • Sushi - I love fish and their eggs.  The freshest deal was outside Tokyo's Tsukiji market which I visited recently.  Japanese government is moving this world's largest fish market to make room for an Olympics village.
  • Burger - A meat patty inside a bun.  One of the very best ones was at a place called Fergberger in Queenstown, NZ.  Fresh is the taste - the meat walked in as we waited in line so did the buns (From the bakery next door) and the condiments included a berry jam and beet slices.  One of the memorable lamb burger was labeled Bun Laden.
  • Pilsner - tried some good stuff in Germany but call it nostalgia I still remember the taste of a chilled Hayward's and Kingfisher blue to be my faves.
  • Mojito - a good one crafted with just enough mint and sugar and ice.
  • Old Monk Rum - with water and ice - perfect any evening.
A good read - comedy mostly and serious stuff in form of non-fiction for the most part.  It tends to be far more exciting than fiction.

Purpose in life - other than leave behind a productive citizen in the form of our child, I am not sure.  I wasn't consulted beforehand.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

But What If We're Wrong?

I attempted to read this book by author Chuck Klosterman backward to forward but it started hurting my brain so I decided to stop and do it like any other publication in the English language.  Start from page 1 and move to the right. Witty, caustic and thought provoking this is a book you want to read if you believe that the status quo might, just might be wrong. At times bordering on being contrarian about most things around us it tries to zero in on the notion of what makes anything believable and certain in our minds.  The fact that there is a fact itself is ironic.  Something analogous to the idea that you can never predict the future because there is no future. Many books and movies have tried to play on this concept - best that I recollect (I think I am) was 'The Truman Show'.  This book by Klosterman attempts to provoke the reader to at least contemplate that what they think they know may be wrong. He uses examples like concept of gravity, and how it ...
2 comments
Read more

You are important to us

Followed by piano music.   Followed by 'we are experiencing heavier than usual call volume'.  Sounds macabre like bleeding during menstruation or after a ghastly attack with a weapon on a hemophiliac.  Sorry Mrs. Johnson but it appears little Gertrude here has been bleeding heavier than usual what with her night time activities competing with the woodchucks in your neighborhood. Some services even go as far as to pick a random day to say - 'if you were to call us during the Chinese lunar month when the moon is axiomatically hugging the polar star with Jupiter intravenous when call volume is light'.  Well I will be damned.  I thought  I had checked with my astrologer before I placed this well focused call but  I guess this is what you get for listening to a quack. Umph! I am not sure which marketing genius came up with this personal touch concept of informing the caller that you are really a jackass for actually calling the customer serv...
Post a Comment
Read more

Of Jims and Johns

Here is another essay on the subject of first names. As in birth names. Or names provided to an offspring at birth. While the developed world tends to shy away from the exotic like Refrigerator or Coca Cola for their new production there is a plethora of Jims and Johns and Bobs or Robs. Speaking of which I do not think there is a categoric decision point at the time of birth if a child will be hereafter called as Bob. I mean have not yet met a toddler called Bob or Rob for that matter. At some point though the parental instinct to mouth out multiple syllables runs out and they switch from calling the crawler Robert to simply Robbie to Rob. Now speaking of - it is strange that the name sounds like something you would not want Rob to do - i.e. Rob anyone. Then why call someone that? After all Rob Peter to Pay Paul is not exactly a maxim to live a young life? Is it? Perhaps Peter or Paul might want to have a say in it? Then there is this matter of going to the John. Why degrad...
2 comments
Read more