Could not think of a more appropriate Valentine’s Day drink. Citron Vodka, raspberry liqueur, cranberry juice and lime juice. Got the perfect red color. The usual garnish is a lime wedge. Sharmila gave me a better idea – I put in a strawberry slice. (Placed upside down, it looks somewhat like a heart).
Came home after the run and sat down for breakfast next to Nikita who was finishing up. Since she is the queen of procrastination, I tried to get her a jump start on her weekend work…
Me: How much homework do you have this weekend?
She: A lot
Me: Have you made a schedule?
She: No
Me: Why are you sitting here? Should you not get started on your work?
She: I don’t feel like it
Me: (sarcastically) Well, at least schedule in one hour tomorrow evening for crying since you will have unfinished homework.
She: (even more sarcastically) I would give you a nasty look right now but you already have one!
I went back to my breakfast, having been squarely beaten in my game of sarcasm!!
Put in a couple of miles by myself before Mr. Discipline Samaresh showed up at 8 sharp. And then Surajit joined. Put in another four miles – which felt like a lot more since Mr. Long Strides Surajit was pacing me at 8:30 min/mile. The trail was pretty desolate in the below freezing temperatures this morning.
“Sharaab kaisi, khumaar kaisa
Yeh sab tumhari nawazishen hain
Pilayi hai kis nazar se tu ne
Ke mujhko apni khabar nahin hai
Tere pyaar ne, teri chah ne
Teri behki behki nigaah ne
Mujhe sharabi bana diya
Ke sharaab peena sikha diya”
Roughly translated (improvements welcome)
“What a drink! What an intoxication!
These are all gifts from you
How have you inebriated me with your glances?
That now I have lost all my awareness.
Your love. And your longing…
Your flirtatious looks
Has made a drunkard out of me
(For) they have taught me how to drink”
Today is Saraswati Pujo in India. This is when we celebrate the Goddess of education (knowledge) and music. I also call it the Bengali Valentine’s day but that is a completely different topic to be discussed another day.
A common practice during Saraswati Pujo is to submit some of your text books or pens and pencils to the idol during the day of worship. The convention among us was to put in the text books of the subjects we feared the most of failing – hoping Goddess Saraswati will see us thru in the tests.
Today, as I took a picture at the end of the day when all the decorations were coming down in our local Saraswati Pujo in Atlanta, I could not help notice the number AP Calculus text books next to the idol (watch carefully next to the swan) 🙂
The four stages of making a good cocktail…
a. Getting the right portions of the right ingredients.
b. The proper shake (or stirring or layering)
c. The preparing and decoration of the garnishing
d. The taking of the picture.
Well, actually, the fourth step is “drinking”. But for my blog, I throw in the Step “d”.
Speaking of taking pictures, if you have ever wondered how I take those pictures with perfect black background and drink color, here is what I do. I got a yard of smooth black velvet fabric (about $5) from Joann Fabric. I throw that on our dryer. (Well, the dryer part is not mandatory. Since I have to share Sharmila’s laundry for my bar space, it is convenient for me). Important thing is to just “throw the fabric” – meaning no creases or edges. Then I take the picture and crop out the part I do not need.
