Books binge

11am-Sunday

I realised I was done with my chores for the weekend. Laundry was done and neatly piled up. Had whipped up a simple meal for the day. The kitchen had been scrubbed clean, the dishwasher loaded and cranking away to glory. The plants had been watered, the tiny apt tidied up- I was really done!! And I had the rest of the day to myself. I had made no plans to go anywhere and wasnt really motivated to make any new ones anyway. I checked and rechecked my list of to-dos. Nope, nothing missing there.

Alright, I decided to myself. Today is officially the veg-out day. Yaaayyy! It's been a while since I've had one of those. I had some books that I wanted to get for a while. Reading was probably the order of the day. I checked my library's catalog online- No luck! All the books I was looking for was either checked out or on order.

After a quick brunch, I dashed to the nearest Borders. I systematicilly found each of the books I was looking for and piled them up in on corner. Whoa!! All of them were hardcover editions, none in paperback-yet! That's gonna burn a hole in my pocket, I thought to myself. Two of the three claimed a 20% off for Borders club members(That I am-phew!!). I flipped through the pages of all of them and was convinced I need to have all three. Thus convinced, I moved towards the counter- Why not? I thought to myself. Today I need to read and hence I need all the ammunition I can get.

The lady at the counter scanned my Borders club card and said a few words that sounded like music to my ears- "Ma'am today you have a personal shopping day pass to Borders. You get an additional 10% off on all items!!!!!. You must have received our email notifying you." Aah well, maybe I did and I deleted it as usual. But what a stroke of luck! Usually I never make it to any of these discounts and sale days cos I am so bad at keeping track of them.

The cash machine totalled up my purchases. Although it wasnt cheap(in the true sense of the word), I had received sufficient discounts on the books to not make me feel guilty about the splurge.

Armed with some spicy Haldiram snacks, diet coke and hot tea, I settled myself on the couch. There I remained till this morning. I had ravenously devoured one and a half book by then, interspersed with a few rounds of dozing. I got up only twice. Once to get a refill on the snacks and then later for dinner.

Apart from those two trips, the couch has been my resting place for most of the delighful Sunday.

For the curious, that made it this far, the books I got were :

Robin Cook's Crisis
Frederick Forsyth's Afghan
Paulo Coelho's The Devil and Miss Prym.

Reviews will be posted later.

Career counsel

I tried this quiz at blogthings on a whim. While I use blogthings as a stopgap arrangement to distract myself, this one kind of intrigued me, because these days I really wonder if I am in the right job. Granted, I do, what I've learnt to do for so many years now and learnt to do it well and give it all I have- but all said and done- is THIS really my true calling?

One of my favorite quotations goes :

"It's no good running a pig farm badly for thirty years while saying,
"Well, REALLY I was meant to be a ballet dancer."
By that time, Pigs will be your Style."
-Quentin Crisp

So true! Maybe thats what it is. I've been doing this job for so many years that this is all I know. Perhaps if I'd started out being a ballet dancer, I'd have done that well enough. While technical skills has never been an issue for me, I suck at people skills. After a while, regardless of how many skillful arrows you possess in your quiver, its your social skills and marketing skills that really help you move upwards. I've learnt this valuable lesson a tad too late.

Now that I have identified my issue- there are two solutions. One, that I improve on the skills to succeed or change my profession to something that doesnt need any people skills. Research maybe? I can almost see myself in a white coat holed up in some dimly lit lab. I've always wondered if I could've taken to arts/crafts/literature full-time. I am constantly told that I wouldnt have succeeded as much as I have in this current profession. But its about the road not taken. Do I have the chance, time and patience to retract and start all over again?? Does life really give everyone a second chance? I am constantly amazed at people who make enormous shifts in their profession at any age and still go on to succeed. I wish I could will myself to do that.

So this is what blogthings came up with :

Your Career Type: Investigative

You are precise, scientific, and intellectual.
Your talents lie in understanding and solving math and science problems.

You would make an excellent:

Architect - Biologist - Chemist
Dentist - Electrical Technician - Mathematician
Medical Technician - Meteorologist - Pharmacist
Physician - Surveyor - Veterinarian

The worst career options for your are enterprising careers, like lawyer or real estate agent.

http://www.blogthings.com/idealcareerquiz

The last line makes sense- I abhor lawyers. Looking at the options suggested though -one thing that pops out is the Dentist portion. I guess thats a logical conclusion from the assumption that I am "precise, scientific and intellectual". Bah!

And Surveyor??????!!!! Whatever!

To sum it all up, I either improve on my people skills and climb the corporate ladder or sign up for a degree in veterinary medicine and be surrounded by pets.
Oh, did I mention- I hate pets?

Food for thought, indeed!

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So while on this topic, I also tried this one. I loved what it had to say!

http://www.blogthings.com/whatadvanceddegreeshouldyougetquiz

You Should Get a MFA (Masters of Fine Arts)

You're a blooming artistic talent, even if you aren't quite convinced.
You'd make an incredible artist, photographer, or film maker.

So what say?

Liberty

There is an age, an age when everything is a challenge
Every challenge is welcome
As one adds more lines around the bark of one's life
Probably a stress is all its become
The mind reads like a to-do list
Nothing's ever done and festers like a cyst
To trudge along the same path becomes a chore
Time outs in life are no more
To a soul that aches to break free
The mind's doctor prescribes liberty

JFI for August- Akki Rotti

My first food blog and offering for the JFI for flour hosted here

Being from Karnataka and Bangalore the one dish that came to my mind when "flour" was mentioned was the mouth-watering brunch soul food-the akki rotti. There are many interesting additions for the simple "rice flour" to dish out mouth watering variations of the akki rotti. My mother usually makes it with onions and freshly grated coconut. This gives the akki rotti a crisp texture(which my poles-apart sibling loves). I, personally, love the softer version. That of adding cucumber and sometimes dill leaves. Dill gives a wonderful aroma and of course abundant proteins. Grated cucumber dispenses water and the soft texture. During the season, most Bangaloreans would add fresh avrekalu(aka surti papdi lilva) - but then in that season Bangaloreans would add this ingredient even to their tea and coffee, if they could!!! :)

So, without further ado, here's my humble offering- the akki rotti

Ingredients :

Rice flour (sieved to remove lumps)- 2 cups
Grated cucumber - 1 cup
Chopped dill leaves - 1 cup
Green chillies - 5-6(according to taste)
Jeera - one or two teaspoons
Salt - according to taste


Mix all the ingredients together and knead into a soft dough with warm water. Add water slowly while kneading so that the dough doesnt get too watery.

Once the dough is ready, heat the tava and start making rottis(I make mine using aluminium foil with oil spread on it). Divide the dough into hand-size balls and pat them with sufficient water and oil so they are flat. When tava is hot enough, spread some oil over the tava and invert the aluminium foil and sprinkle cold water on the reverse, so the roti peels off onto the tava. Cook well on both sides. Serve hot with any kind of side-dish like green mint-coriander chutney, pineapple gojju, onion-tomato gojju or even tomato sauce. Its seen here being served with Indira's red bell-pepper chutney(yumm!!!). This dish makes one very thirsty- so make sure you drink plenty of water during and post-meal. Oh and its lights-out siesta time after this brunch. Of course, Sundays are reserved for Bisibelebath!!

Bon Appetit!