18 August 2017

Sun. Spot.

This is the first time I saw the sun during this trip in India. Every single day in the last week – be it in Delhi, Bangalore, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Kalyani, Lucknow or Kanpur, all I saw was totally overcast skies – and I mean not a single break in the cloud cover the whole day.

It is like India got a head start on the full solar eclipse a few days earlier…

For the first time, on the drive from Kanpur to Lucknow airport, I was able to spot the sun. Asked the driver to stop the car so I could take a couple of shots…

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14 August 2017

Birds I grew up with – Common Myna

I am not sure if all my friends in India will agree with this – these days, there seems to be far less number of the common birds that we grew up with. I remember seeing a lot of sparrows (chorui pakhi), crows (kaak) and common mynas (salikh) everyday in those days. I barely see any these days.

This trip, so far I have spotted a common myna and a crow from the balcony of my dad’s house…

This is the common myna.

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8 August 2017

From the bartender’s corner – Bees Knees

This is a cocktail from the Prohibition era. Gin was made in all sorts of spurious ways. The cover up from the smell and taste, often honey and lemon juice was added. And then called Bees Knees – what is a Prohibition era slang for “The Best”. I tried with more authentic gin – The Botanist and used Barenjager honey liqueur with fresh lemon juice.

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6 August 2017

From the bartender’s corner – The Tuxedo #2

Even if you are not a big fan of martini, chances are you will like this cocktail. The ingredients include gin (I am experimenting with The Botanist), Dry Vermouth, Maraschino Liqueur, Orange bitters and Absinthe. The Absinthe is not mixed with the ingredients – rather used to rinse the inside of the martini glass (and then the excess is thrown away). Garnish with a cherry to keep the theme of Maraschino liqueur.

The result is a big mixture of aniseed and cherry in the nose with the juniper mostly in the length.

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