Best thing you ever ate

These days I have been watching a lot of food shows...the likes of Iron Chef. Now, food network has this new show called 'The Best Thing I ever ate'. On the show they ask chefs and food critics about the best thing they ever ate in a particular category, for instance salty. And then the show takes you to the restaurant where they ate this food.

On one show, Iron Chef Michael Symon said something like this...A great dish is one that makes you change the way you feel about that food. Here are some recent foods that changed how I felt...

Ahi at Venice Beach, CA and Eel sushi at Sushi me, Bellevue, WA- I never felt comfortable eating uncooked food but these made me change my mind

Steak at Culver city, LA- Though I am a beef lover, never got it right with steak but I cannot forget this dish

Hot pot, China Road, Syracuse- I don't believe in having to cook my own food at a restaurant but definitely will make an exception for this one. The dish involves a hot pot of spicy brew which is placed on your table and you can add different meats to it and eat it with sauces that you can blend yourself

Burger at Petit Toulouse, WA- just the very best burger I have had

Mantwo and Dwopiaza at Helmand- the blend of spices and perfectly cooked dishes have biwitched me...I just can't stop thinking about it

Favorite songs of 2009

Had a blast year jamming to crazy numbers on my car radio. Here are my favorites. The lyrics of some of these are ridiculous and the videos are insane but the songs are awesome...check them out on youtube at your own risk!

Kanye West - Heartless
Lady Gaga - Bad romance
Pit bull - You know you want me
Sean Kingston - Fire burning on the dance floor
Jay Sean and Lil' Wayne - Down
Black Eyed Peas - Boom boom pow

Ode to my Ford

Had to say good bye to my baby today
Even though I knew we would have to part someday
I secretly wished I would never have to give you away

You made me feel truly free
Because of you I could pack my bags and flee
From all my worries in a jiffy

As I combed the east coast in serenity
Never knew I was counting down 50 thousand miles
And not what I thought would last for eternity

Still it gives me joy to know you will live on
Through your transmission and engine
Just sad that it won't be my song

Ever forgotten to put on pants?

Yesterday I was waiting for a bus in Seattle, on my way to church when I seen a man who seemed to be well dressed-- in a suit, with a tie, dress socks and shoes...only thing was he wasn't wearing pants! He was in his boxers.

Now, we guessed all sorts of reasons he wasn't wearing pants. But it was a cold day and he couldn't have just forgotten or could he?

Today we got our answer in the news, check this out. It was the 9th Annual No-pants On The Subway Day and was organised by a group called Improv Everywhere. Its mission..to cause 'scenes of chaos and joy in public places'.

Favorite books this year

This year was a pretty good year for me with regard to reading books. I like to think that I love reading. But in the past I stayed way from it because I felt that it would eat into my work hours. I abandoned reading for so many years that I began doubt the veracity of my love. Anyway, in keeping with trying to live the life I love, I have gone back to some bedtime reading. I try to get my hands on books that I "should" have read when I was younger, just so that I don't go through life not knowing them. Also, trying to read about things that I am interested in. Here are a few thoughts about the books I read this year.

The Alchemist - Paulo Coelho
A magical story about achieving your personal legend. About not being afraid to embark on the journey towards achieving your dreams due to fear of failure. Speaks of how if you want something bad enough the universe works to make it happen. Its a story about the importance of the journey and not the destination.


Jonathan Livingston Seagull - Richard Bach
It is an inspiring story about a bird that learns that his body is only limited in his thoughts. If you free your thoughts there is no limit. Also, perfection is not in speed or numbers because they are nothing but limits. Perfection is in being there.

What I talk about when I talk about running - Haruki Murakami
The writer talks about running as an exercise and a metaphor --- that's the way he puts it and that is exactly what the book is about. It is written by a Japanese novelist who is also a serious marathon runner. He talks about how he needs to run to survive and how it has made him the writer that he is today. Some of my favorite lines are
* Pain is inevitable but suffering is optional
* I'm struck by how when you are young you really need to prioritize in life, figuring out in what order you need to divide your time and energy. If you don't get that sort of system set by an early age, you'll lack focus and your life will be out of balance.
* It is precisely because of the pain, precisely because we want to overcome that pain, that we can get the feeling through this process, of really being alive - or atleast a partial sense of it.
*Quality of experience is not based on standards such as time or ranking but on finally awakening to an awareness of the fluidity within action itself.

I'd love to live the kind of life the writer lives - living and writing in Hawaii while training for marathons and triathlons. I have always been curious about why people run marathons. This book walked me through the experiences of a marathon runner and I got my answer.


Anna Karenina - Leo Tolstoy
The book revolves around the life of two people a woman Anna and a man Levin. Both very different in nature, one at first thriving in and then falling out of high society, and the other consumed with finding his purpose for life in the countryside. The drama surrounding the characters could almost distract, even dissuade the reader from the underlying wisdom that was infused into the thoughts and actions of the characters. I love the way Tolstoy incorporates philosophical discussions into the story, about almost every topic that is of any importance to the average person. He talks about work ethic, religion, politics, marriage, family, wealth, relationships, education, death, birth, betrayal, hatred, love, and everything conceivable. His descriptions of emotions and scenic beauty, both are mind-blowing and intense, making you feel and see like you are actually sensing them yourself.

Life in Jerusalem

Found this article very interesting--it is about life within the walls of the city of three faiths. The picture painted by the correspondent is brilliant. I hope to travel to this place someday...

How to Set Goals You Will Actually Achieve

Do you shy away from getting goals because you can see that it is going to take a lot of time and work to reach there? You know it would be good for you but then you envision how bad it would be if you fail? I know I do that all the time.

I came across this article on understanding the nature of time and how it relates to goal setting. It talks about not worrying about time commitment cause the time will pass whether we set a goal or not. Who knows if we will live to fulfill our goals? Just do it if it helps you today! Why take on the imagined burdens of tomorrow?

Definitely worth a read: How to Set Goals You Will Actually Achieve

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Nobel Peace Prize for a few months of effort?

Don't get me wrong - I am a huge Obama fan. Even so, I think this is nothing but Obama mania. I agree he is putting in great effort towards achieving Peace. But a Nobel peace prize for 8 months of effort?

Here is a list of the Nobel Peace Prize Laureates. Notice the others who share the title and some of the controversial winners.

To be able to laugh at oneself!

For the uninitiated, Ph.D. comics is a comic strip about the desperately funny lives of Ph.D. students. Anyone who has been along this path will vouch for the absolute veracity of the stories. Check this link out...vacation vs stress graph and this Ph.D. qualifying examinations.

Procrastination is .... blogging?

Neat animation -

Serious funny movies

You know the type of movie in which you feel mixed emotions that are poles apart. I watched Little Miss Sunshine again. My all time favorite serious funny movie that takes me from laughing out loud to fighting back tears all at the same time.

Recently I also watched this 1988 movie - The Accidental Tourist. It is a slow and quiet movie about a guy who writes travel books for business travelers on how to feel as if they have never left home even when they are miles from it.

My favorite line from the movie is...
"I'm beginning to think that maybe it's not just how much you love someone. Maybe what matters is who you are when you're with them."

Gmail's auto-pilot feature

Need help answering your emails...let Gmail do it for you. All it needs is a training set of about 100 emails.

Check this out! Gmail's new auto-pilot feature

What does OK stand for?

OK = oll korrect
Learned about the origin of OK on the radio.
Read more about it here

Blue Jays and Robins

Spring is near. This morning, there was a congregation of robins singing in the woods beyond my studio apartment. I watched as they flew excitedly from one tree to another chasing each other or just hopping around from branch to branch. There were atleast a 100 orange breasted birds and also a blue jay. I was left wondering, what was a blue jay doing with these robins? Don't birds of a feather flock together? So I looked for clues online and I now have a story of my own.

This article by Ann Hingas speaks about blue jays being raiders of other birds' nests. They are known to especially like the nests of robins and take them up for nesting. So my theory is that a blue jay left her egg in a robin's nest. And the robin later returned to the nest, hatched the egg, and continued to look after the blue jay as her own, possibly, along with her own baby robins. Now the blue jay lives as a robin and migrates along with this flock, stopping once in while at some woods in Baltimore.

Well, I know its a long shot. You could have many reasons to disapprove of my theory. Quite a silly discussion but I learned something about blue jays today and won't forget it because of this story. And wouldn't it be awesome, if the robins did not judge the blue jay for having a different color?

Shape shifting material

Caught this on CNN, coincidentally on the morning after I watched Transformers. Researchers at Intel have collaborated with Academia to invent shape changing material or programmable matter.

Intel's Andrew Chien says that someday we will be able to morph objects to fit our needs. Check out the video.

Too bizarre for Zimmern

This evening, I caught Andrew Zimmern of Bizarre Foods in Delhi on the Travel channel. The guy eats everything under the sun- strange animals, all sorts of body parts- brain, eyes etc. don't want to go into the details. Anyway, he refused to eat Pani Puri that was being sold by the hawkers in Delhi!

He said not drinking water in such countries is what keeps him safe. Even though I know he would probably get terribly sick if he did eat it, I can't get over the fact that a guy who eats unbelievably bizarre stuff was beaten by Pani Puri. Can't wait to see Tony defy Zimmern's reservations by trying Pani Puri.

Even so, recently I have been enjoying Zimmern's shows. Especially the one on Bolivia- the women wrestlers were a sight. Also, the other stuff in the episode on Delhi - the Bengali food with banana flower and stem, the Kashmiri food (thirty-six-course traditional Wazwan meal which he had with Rohit Bal), and the Gurudwa Bangla Sahib were all quite intriguing.

Memorable retreat moments

Last weekend, I went with the the PROMISE group to a fantastic retreat and outward bound experience at the Rocky Gap state park in Western Maryland. This is the post I put up on the PROMISE blog.

The PROMISE retreat was an amazing experience for me- awesome new friends, the great outdoors, and time for introspection. Quick countdown of my most memorable moments of this weekend.

1. The hilarious and most interesting introductions in the ballroom on Friday evening. I thought it was a great idea to not give us name tags and have us learn names. Initially, all I could remember was the interesting bit of information people added to their introductions but soon I got to know their names.

2. Taboo!! It got us all together. We could forget about our grad school worries while we immersed ourselves in the game.
3. At the fire station. (I already shared this at the retreat) Denise Ashman said something that I will take along with me into my everyday life. When I couldn't get a fire started, I was upset. Denise mentioned how some times there are things greater than we are. Like fire, that has been around much longer than we have. So when we try our best and things don't work out, we should be humble and accept it. I am going to remember this when my research experiments fail and instead of getting angry with myself and feeling dejected, I will accept the situation, humbly and keep trying.
4. Olympic moment at the water station. Daryl asked each of us about our Olympic moment- a moment in our lives when we achieved something for ourselves. It was a great question- we got to hear about every ones special moments and it made me realize what mine was.

5. The team building experience with the Polar Bears at the Shelter station. It was empowering to see that we could build a shelter together out of twigs, and leaves. Also, later on when we were asked to think about our team dynamics, I realized how wonderfully we worked together and how much I learned from the experience. I now know where I fit in a team situation and what I need to work on. It was an eye opening experience for me.

6. The skits were so creative- I don't think any of us will forget any of the air crashes, the girl rabbit, and poor Sanjit who caught on 'fire' (the fire act was hilarious) and was eaten by the polar bear.

7. The campfire- the campers, the marshmallows catching fire, sticks without marshmallows poking the fire, and songs in different languages.

8. Word Blur- in the game room :D
9. Hike in the snow. Newly equipped with outdoor survival skills, five of us set out for a walk to the dam and bridge on the other side of the Lake.

10. And last all the amazing new friends. They share the same graduate life I do, with its highs and lows. It was great meeting them all and I hope we keep in touch.

A very huge thank you to the PROMISE team for organizing this special weekend. I hope this event will continue in the coming years.

How do we pick our friends?

Do you find yourself friends with people who have ideologies that are poles apart from your own? It is difficult to find people who think in the same way as you about most things. I guess that is the reason people find it hard to make friends. Picking the right friends is important as we trust our friends with our thoughts and dreams, which makes us extremely vulnerable.

So how do we pick? Every person brings along a wealth of knowledge, experience and insight. The more unlike you they are the more their friendship enriches your life and you grow as a person. Often, I find that I have the most incredible conversations with people whose view points contradict my own. My mother has mentioned, more than once, that she finds it strange that I can get along with people that seem so different. And sometimes my friends and me wonder together, how is it that we are so close when we hardly agree about anything?

Well, today during such a "wonder full" conversation, my friend who is diametrically opposite me said that she has been thinking about it and she said "the only thing that is absolutely essential to agree on are the most important principles- and the rest is peripheral stuff that does not matter". It is so true!

So what are these important principles? For me, it ultimately does not matter what their political or social ideologies are. It does not matter whether they hate or love to exercise, the color blue, or President Obama (;-D). I am most comfortable with people who are honest, dependable, caring, earnest, and lend me a listening ear.

How do you pick your friends? Are there principles you can't compromise on? I'd say give it a thought- it helps to know what matters to you. And when someone who is very different comes along it will be easier to be friends with them.

Anger Management

Everyday we are faced with people and situations that cause us to get angry. Sometimes it is an acquaintance that makes a hurtful comment to get back at you or maybe it is something that you misconstrue to be directed at you. At other times, it may something as trivial as an external event that is causing your well planned day to go out of whack making you irritated and angry, e.g., traffic.

Well, I don't know about you but I have trouble controlling my temper. You don't want to be a passenger in my car when I am stuck in traffic. I let anger take control of me. I behave ignorantly- stop making sense, become spiteful, say things that could cause pain to the person on the receiving end, inadvertently ruining my piece of mind. Once the harm is done, I can do nothing to take it back. What is the difference between an angry person and a bear? Why haven't we as a race evolved in this area?

Anger is a defensive mechanism against hurt. We are wired to protect ourselves, but instead of letting it control us we can take steps to harness it productively. In an effort to evolve beyond my baser instincts, I looked online for help and came across this interesting article on anger management. It discusses reasons why some people get more angry than others and suggests effective ways to deal with it in a healthy manner. Thought I'd share it with you, in case like me you too are having trouble in this area.

Technology you just hate

Does a piece of technology cause you to hyperventilate? Do you wonder why was it ever invented? And who are the fools that use it?

Today a friend told me that she heard this being discussed on the radio. People called in to list things like - bluetooth headsets for mobile phones, facebook, and someone even called in to say they hate cable television. Personally, I like all of the above. I guess everyone has their own personal war with a particular piece of technology.

I am curious to know, what piece of technology do you find infuriating? Is it social networks like twitter, orkut, facebook, or the PC or is it the Mac, Vista or Leopard? or maybe it is SMS or email, mobile phones or iPods? Whatever it is, leave me a comment that way my readers (I like the sound of that) will know too.

For me it is the Apple iMac's mouse- it has just one large button (which physically is one button but is in fact two buttons which are touch sensitive), a clickable scroll ball and two side squeeze buttons. I don't see why they had to reinvent the mouse. The regular mouse with two buttons and clickable scroll was just fine. I understand when a new technology makes a difference but not for this particular one.

To be fair, I am sure some incredible technology lies within Apple's mouse or they wouldn't call it the Mighty Mouse, would they? But then, they do call their tech support guys geniuses. Have you been to the' genius bar' ( in other words the tech support desk) at your local Apple store? They greet you by saying, "a genius will be right with you". Anyway, I should end confessing I am one of those who use the mighty mouse everyday..lol