If you want to eat this..
You need to go here in Sunnyvale, CA
Food
Did anyone notice?
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 :-).
Europe : First trip : Thoughts
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.
- Architecture : One word.. beautiful!!!
- Food : Two words.. healthy and small portions.
- People : Friendly
- Public Transportation : Clean, Efficient, Affordable
- Technology : I personally thought that the technology in US was more advanced.
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)
Update – Loosing Weight.
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…
Loosing weight!!
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 : Chepala Pulusu
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.
Ingredients
- Cat Fish : 3Lbs
- Onions : 3 (large)
- Thai Chill : 6
- Tamarind : 10 gms (or use 2 table spoon of tamarind paste) : 6i
- Ginger Garlic Paste : 3 table spoons
- (sambar) Chili Powder : 3 table spoons
- Curry Leaves : 5
- Cumin Seeds : 1 tea spoon
- Mustard Seeds : 2 tea spoons
- Turmeric : 1 tea spoon
Preparation
- Skin the cat fish, cut out the fins and tail.
- Cut the fish into medium size pieces and wash with turmeric and salt (this takes out the fishy smell).
- Pour 5 table spoons of oil in a broad pan and let it heat for ~2 minutes.
- Add mustard and cumin seeds and let them sizzle for ~30 seconds (this is known as thalimpu in Telugu).
- Add curry leaves and let them sizzle for ~20 seconds.
- Add the chillies and onions and fry them.
- Add 1 table spoon of salt to soften the onions.
- Add turmeric powder.
- When onions start to brown, add the tamarind water.
- Add the chili powder and let the contents simmer for a few minutes.
- Lay the fish pieces on the mixture evenly (after this point, don’t move the fish pieces since they can fall apart).
- Cover the pan with a lid and let the contents boil for 15 minutes.
- Serve hot with white rice and enjoy :).
Visuals
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Chicago's best Korean Restaurant
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 :).
More on cooking
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
- Indian – Andhra
- Indian – Tamil
- Indian – Punjabi
- Indian – Gujrathi
- Indian – Kannada
- Malaysian
- Vietnamese
- Chinese – Cantonese
- Chinese – Mandarin
- Italian
- Mangolian
- Korean
- Middle-Eastern
- Russian
- Polish
- Japanese
- Brazillian
- Costa Rican
- Cuban
- Mexican
- American
- Korean
- Ethiopian
- Argentinean
In short, I love my food :).