29 September
2018
28 September
2018
From the bartender’s corner – Domo Arigato
I believe that means Thank You in Japanese but I have no idea what Ran Duan – the mixologist at the Baldwin Bar in Woburn, Mass who came up with this cocktail – had in mind when he chose this name.
One of the most interesting ingredient is the couple of drops of sesame oil giving it the faintly nutty aroma. Other than that you have the mezcal, some fresh ginger juice, simple syrup, lime juice and chilled club soda.
Refreshing drink for the evening.
26 September
2018
Quick 5K on a cloudy, humid morning
24 September
2018
From the bartender’s corner – Tamarind Mezcalita
If you like slightly tarty cocktails you might like this.
This has tamarind paste, bitters, agave, cinnamon schnapps and lime juice. Make sure you rub some jalapeno in the rim before you get the salt applied. Tamarind goes well with salt, sugar and the heat of jalapeno. The smokiness of the mezcal just makes it yummy!
23 September
2018
Only for the second time this year…
Lately, I have been going thru a running rut. I cannot seem to get enthused to go for the long runs that I used to love. Worse, these days after a couple of miles, I feel tired and out of breath. I guess age is starting to slow me down.
Last night, I wrote to a few of the old long distance runner friends to see if running with the old friends might get my energy back. Lia agreed to run a 10 miler with me. It has been a long time since I have run 10 miles. In fact, I checked my record book – that was on Feb 3rd.
I got hungry, tired and wanted to quit after a few miles today too. But thanks to Lia, I continued to keep up with her and finally managed to finish 10 miles.
I think I am going to run with the long distance runner friends of mine till I can get back to my old energy level.
Thank you Lia for keeping me going.
22 September
2018
From the bartender’s corner – Last of the Oaxacans
Finally, I hit upon a mezcal cocktail that I particularly like. This has mezcal, lime juice, maraschino liqueur and green chartreuse. Three fairly strong ingredients (from aroma and palate point of view) that actually co-exist well and let each other have enough space to play with. There is just about the right amount of smokiness for me. Also, I like my drinks a little less citrusy, so I went light on the lime juice. If you fancy a smokier version, use a reposado mezcal.
I am sure you have realized by now that the name is a play on Last Word (cocktail which has all the same ingredients except instead fo mezcal, it has gin) and The Last of the Mohicans. Of course the espadin for the mezcal comes from the state of Oaxaca in southern Mexico.
22 September
2018
This is ridiculous
Sat down at the breakfast table this morning after my run and saw this packet on the table. No idea whether this is for Sharmila or Nikita (fairly sure it is not for Jay Jay or me) but that really does not matter.
This just makes no sense to me.
First, did you know that there are different kinds of makeups – like the stubborn ones, the compliant ones and the – I guess – schizophrenic ones? And how do they even decide whether the makeup is stubborn and not simply misunderstood?
Hilariously, there are degrees of stubbornness, it would appear. Neutrogena prides itself in dealing with the “most” stubborn ones.
99.3 ???? Not ninety, not ninety nine, not ninety nine decimal nine … But precisely ninety nine decimal three??? Did Neutrogena go around putting makeup – nothing but the most stubborn variety, mind you – on one thousand women in a mall and then go around scrubbing their faces only to find that the results were unsatisfactory on seven such women?
I had to chuckle at that #1 Choice of Makeup Artists bit. Those artists are made up for sure.
I am not done. Yet.
Why 114 towelettes? Whose great packaging idea was that? Not 100, not 120, not 125 but 114. Hundred and fourteen? Did some family of 19 people demand that they be able to divide the towelettes evenly amongst them, or what???
Ok. Now I am done. I need to scrub out some sun tan I got on my face from my run 🙂 🙂
22 September
2018
The continental divide in my knowledge
Once I finished memorizing all the African countries, I asked myself if I could extend that to learn all the country names in the world. Naturally, I started by Googling “How many countries are there in the world?”
You would think it should be a straight forward answer. Far from it. The definition of a “country” is not as clear cut as I had thought it would be. There are countries that the UN recognizes. Then there are are completely autonomous areas with their own government and no control from outside – but they do not go for UN membership (e.g. Cook Islands). Kosovo is not a recognized country by UN, but it competes in the Olympics as a nation.
In fact, if I have this right, there are 195 sovereign states recognized by the UN, 201 partially recognized states, 204-207 de facto sovereign states, 206 Olympic nations, 211 FIFA countries and get this – 249 countries that have their own ISD (country code for telephone numbers) codes!
Anyways, finally memorized the names of all the nations recognized by the UN. Trying to understand the definition of continents was a trifle more tricky. Learnt some really interesting tidbits about continents. See how many of these you knew:
1. Which continent is Greenland in?
2. Which is the continent with the most number of countries?
3. Which is the continent with the least number of countries?
4. How many countries have contiguous area that straddles over two different continents?
5. This one is specially for my friends who live in the USA like me. How many countries in our continent?
16 September
2018
5 miles of rain soaked run
15 September
2018
