We have a corporate event coming up with all our partners. I guess nobody trusted the CEO to give a good speech, so I am the official bartender 🙂 I have been experimenting with a a few cocktails to match our company colors (you can check it out at www.quantumspatial.com). This is one of the two that I have settled on.
A Blue Monday is made from vodka, cointreau and blue curacao.
The origin of the name is – ah! should I just say “very interesting”! It involves a monkey’s testicles – so I am going to let you Google it up… 🙂
The drink goes back to the 1920s and was invented in Paris at Harry’s New York bar. The owner – Harry MacElhone is usually credited with the invention…
This drinks has orange juice, absinthe, gin and grenadine.
Because I did not get to run at all! Well, it did not start that way. I did venture out for a run this evening. I had figured I would put in a short run since both the legs are still stiff and after the last couple of long runs, I have a slight pain on the upper face of the left foot. Thus, I went to a different start point on the regular trail and what do you know? It was closed! Even the parking lot was closed. I had to turn around.
Very frustrated at this, I was wondering what to do and reluctantly decided to drive for fifteen minutes to the next trailhead to put in a quick – and maybe even a shorter run! On my way, I saw a sign that said there was going to be a race tomorrow and one could come in to the shop to register.
Swerved into the parking lot without giving it any more thought (I can be easily distracted that way). I went inside the shop and enquired what the race was about. They said they were raising money for Cancer Research for Children. “Fair enough”, I said to myself and told them that I wished to register. At that point, they informed me that 5Ks and 10Ks were sold out.
“What distance do you have left?”, I asked.
“Only half marathons, sir”, they said.
“Ok. Give me one of those”.
And thus a few minutes later, I walked away with a race registration bib in my hand. And without any more fuss, drove back home straightaway without putting in even a foot of a run today 🙂
The problem is that for the first time I checked the race route online and realized that it is filled with hills 🙁 It is 21 kilometers and more over multiple hills!! First time I will be running this distance without any proper training (all those training calendars, peaking, tapering and good stuff) or any preparation whatsoever.
First goal tomorrow morning is to take a couple of painkillers and survive the race at all costs!!
One of those classical cocktails, Vieux Carre gets its name from its place of origin – the French Quarters in New Orleans (which is also called Vieux Carre). It was invented by Walter Bergeron in the 1930s. The bar he worked in when he invented this was called (and still is) Carousel bar. If any one is visiting New Orleans, this bar is inside Hotel Monteleone on Royal St (between Bienville St and Iberville St).
On the lighter side, any Bengali having a vague idea about French pronunciation is probably going to stay away from this drink – “kenona ei drink-e oder bhoy korey” 🙂
This cocktail has Rye Whiskey, Cognac, Benedictine and bitters.
The couplet was written by Agha Bismil but was used by Nusrat in his qawwali “Ankh Uthi Mohabbat Ne Angrai Lee” written by Purnam Allahabadi
“Mehfil mein baar baar unhi par nazar gayee
Humne bachayee lakh magar phir udhar gayee
Unki nigahon mein koi jadoo zaroor tha
Jis par pari usi ke jigar tak utar gayee”
In the gathering, my eyes kept drifting towards her
I controlled myself a thousand times; still they went back to her
There was some eternal magic in her gaze
Whoever it fell upon, he lost his heart and everything else
I got a real good chuckle reading this….
Apparently Larry received this in his email box.
URGENT!!!! HELP NEEDED!!!!!
A friend of mine won two tickets for the 2017 Super bowl from a local radio station. He won box seats plus airfares, Marriott Hotel accommodations and $3,000.00 for miscellaneous expenses.
When he won them his wedding date had not yet been finalized. Now it turns out the only date available at the church for their wedding is Super Bowl Sunday – So he can’t go.
If you’re interested and want to go instead of him, it’s at First Lutheran Church at 5 PM. She is a fairly nice looking girl about 5’5″, clean, cute, great personality and her name is Kelly. She will be the one in the white dress. (Ring is paid for)
If interested, contact me ASAP for more information!
Over the weekend, when we went to drop Natasha at NYU, I made some interesting friends – but then again, don’t I always? 🙂 One of our friends – Ishita – had opened up their apartment which is bang opposite the NYSE for us while they were in India. That was an incredible help – if not for anything else – just the logistics of storing stuff, getting stuff delivered and all that before we moved her in.
The first morning, I was up before everybody and decided to go out for a Starbucks. (I know, I am such a creature of habit !!). As I stepped out of the building, the building security guy opened the door for me. I just stopped there and made some polite chit chat and then told him that I am really not awake before I have my coffee – so I was going to get some coffee and then come back and talk to him.
I got my coffee and for good measure got him one too and started chatting with him. Was pretty fascinated by the whole conversation. My usual “So, where are you from?”, met with with an unexpected “Burkina Faso” reply. I had to stop for a second to get my geography right. That was the first time I had met anybody from Burkina Faso in my entire life!! My mind raced to remember what it was called before. After a few seconds, I told him – “You know, our geography teacher taught us about your country – but we remember your country as Upper Volta”. I distinctly remembered Mrs. Bhowmic teaching us about Ghana and its cocoa production and one of the neighboring countries called Upper Volta. I had asked her about Lower Volta and she had told me that there was no such country. That day, I had determined that Africa was a very confused continent. Albeit with some majestic elephants and lions 🙂 I was probably in eighth grade.
I found out that Brian Coulibaly (the young security guy we are talking about) had his entire family back in Burkina Faso and has been in America for a few years. He loves New York and will not move to any other place. An interesting side story to coffee – he told me coffee is good for me. He has been drinking since he was in single digits in age. Apparently, in western Africa, people start drinking coffee very early and is the equivalent of drinking tea in India or the Middle East. (Basically, you drink it many times but in much smaller amounts than we are used to in America).
He talked about their capital – Ouagadougou and their political system (apparently very corrupt with frequent coups and upheavals) and general economy (very poor country). I asked him about their President. He tried very hard but struggled to remember his name. We moved on to other topics about the country.
After spending a good 20 minutes I came back to our apartment. Later in the day, when we headed to NYU, he was gone.
The next morning though, as Niki and I stepped out to get some coffee (we were all up early – it was the move in day!!), he again opened the door for me and gave me the President’s name!! Apparently, he had to call up his mom that day to remind him of the name. I was suitably impressed. We got Nikita to take a picture of us.
I wish Natasha was there with me for her to realize – as great a day as it was going to be for her – how blessed she and we are in this country!!
P.S. I later Googled his country and found out an interesting factoid – a woman in his country bears 6 kids on an average!!!
