That the folks at McDonald’s are once again aggressively pushing the “super size” meals? It was interesting that, they stopped doing that after the backlash against the “high calories” and the obesity caused by these meals a couple of years ago. Do you remember the “Super Size Me” movie from 2004?
Looks like it is back to business as usual 
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I recently got the chance to visit Barcelona, Spain for a business trip. Being my first real trip (I have had a lot transit layovers), I was really excited about the trip. Did it live up to my expectations? Yes and No.
And yes, Europeans wear suites to a football game . But then, I guess, I shouldn’t be generalizing after just visiting one city in Europe.
If you get a chance to visit, Barcelona, I would highly recommend visiting the Barri Gotic (old part of the city with Gothic architecture) and Sagrada Familia (unfinished cathedral by Guadi). And don’t get intimidated about taking the public transportation. It is easy to figure out and the people are very friendly.
And do ensure that you have a ton of money . With the exchange rate at today’s rate, it is not cheap to visit Europe ..
Here are some pictures from the trip. For a complete list, click here.
The Hotel, I stayed at
Subway station in Barcelona
Door knob on an old building
Graffiti (it seemed to be everywhere and apparently is considered art here)
Column (with Christopher Columbus at the top)
Street Musician
Ecofriendly taxis
The Cathedral
Paella (the real deal)
I have been regularly working out for the last 4 weeks and man what a difference it makes .. When I started off, I could barely run for 5 minutes without panting like a dog.. Am up to 35 minutes now and can run ~3 miles without stopping. Long way to go before I can do a marathon.. but a good start.
I also successfully lost 5 lbs as promised. Now the goal is to loose another 10 lbs before end of Jan 08. I should mention that it makes a big difference in energy levels and the way you consume food. Even though, you don’t go on a diet per se, just that fact that you are working out makes you eat less and more conscious of what you are eating. I guess, you finally realize, how difficult, it is to burn off those 100 calories from the small pop can ..
Graph from Traineo showing the results of the last 1 months workout…
Most people make their resolutions around the New Year. My resolution to loose weight and get into shape came around when I went on vacation with my family over the thanksgiving weekend. We went to the Grand Bear Resort in Utica, IL for the holidays. The resort had a indoors waterpark and when I got ready to get into the water, I felt ashamed to undress because of my shape . I came up with a resolution than and there to get into shape. I was never a fit person, but the two marathons I ran in 2004 and 2005 forced me to work out and as a result, feel good about myself. I want to take up running again and hopefully fullfill my lifelong dream of learning to swim and complete a tri-athlon.
My sister and brother-in-law were good sports and decided to keep me motivated by announcing that they were going to loose weight along with me. We have a small bet going along to keep us on our toes. I wanted to find a tool, which would keep us connected with each other about our progress. My search lead to several sites, that would do this.. and I finally decided on Traineo (http://traineo.com/). It is a web 2.0 site that allows you to keep track of your goals and progress. Very cool..
Now.. the real challenge is to loose those flabs .. Wish me luck!!!
Recipe for fish curry (AKA Chepala Pulusu in Telugu). Credit goes to my Athayya (mother-in-law). Lakshmi and I learnt a lot of new dishes during her brief visit to Chicago.
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If you are in Chitown and want to taste authentic Korean food, I highly recommend San Soo Gap San located at 5247 North Western Ave. Lakshmi and I had dinner at San Soo Gap San for our anniversary . It is not the most romantic place, but you will really get a kick out of preparing your own BBQ. In addition to falling in love with Korean BBQ, I also discovered a new beer. OB (Oriental Brewery) Lager Beer is a light lager made from Rice. It has a mild taste with a light crisp hop character. Beer lovers should try this .
P.S: Make sure you don’t wear any expensive clothes to this restaurant. You will end up smelling like smoked BBQ, by the time you are done with your meal .
One of my favorite sites (blog) on cooking is http://mahanandi.nandyala.org. The author has a great writing style (which I hope, I can copy one day ) and an awesome taste for unique dishes.
On a random note, here is a list of cuisines I have tried so far
In short, I love my food .
If you are hungry and want to cook something quick (which is the case with me and Laksmi all the time ), here’s a recipe for masala upma. Upma is a south Indian dish usually eaten as breakfast. It is also eaten as a snack and can be prepared pretty easily. Masala Upma is a variant of the dish with some spices and vegetables. Credit for the recipe goes to my sister-in-law.
Ingredients:
Here’s a picture with all the ingridients in their glory
Process:
Heat up some oil in a pan. Add a spoon of mustard seeds (aavalu), Cloves, Cinnamon and let them sizzle for a minute. Add the onions and when they get golden brown, add the chillies, bay leaves, mixed vegetables, salt and the cashew nuts. Stir fry for a minute and add 4 cups of water (add two cups of water to every cup of rava). Bring the water to a boil and add the rava to the mixture, while stirring it. When the mixture thickens, let it simmer for a few minutes and add some chopped cilantro on the top. Enjoy the dish hot .
Here’s a picture of the dish
We went to Ros Dashen, an Ethiopian restaurant to celebrate a friends upcoming birthday. For those that haven’t tried Ethiopian food and like spicy cuisine, I would highly recommend trying it. In addition to the tasty food, the whole experience of sharing the same plate is very interesting. The food is served on top of pancacke like sour bread that you end tearing up and dipping/wiping the food in along with the rest of the folks at the table. Here are two pictures that show, how much we appreciated the food..
This is what we got…
This is what it ended up as…
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