Saapadu -- Foodie Weekend Continues..

After experimenting with Mexican food, you would think that we would be satisfied for the rest of the month. But, No. Anyway, I am getting ahead of myself. Lets start at the beginning. It all started when the Arien forgot to lock his helmet to his bike on Friday. When he came back - the helmet was missing. Sometimes, the Arien's trust in other humans is too shocking to be true. Well, end result, we had to go helmet-hunting in JC Road over the weekend. We invited the Taurean. With the Senior Arien away at Pondicherry, the Taurean was feeling a lil lost. We walked into the first shop and both the Arien and the Taurean fell for the Cross helmet and purchased one each. Ya... and I am known as the shopaholic... Hmpf!! Anyway...

After the purchase both of them acted as if they had climbed mount Everest and said in one voice "Lets Eat." The timing was kinda between a snack and dinner and I was not sure when the choice was taken out of my hands. We walked to MTR (Mavalli Tiffin Room) - a place that I was visiting for the first time since I moved to Bangalore 11 years ago. They mentioned that dinner would be served at 7:45 and tickets would be given at 7:30. It was around 7:15 and so we decided to wait. The waiting Room was quite old-fashioned and had a board mentioning where we were and was kinda funny. I did not even have my camera for the historic moment was all I was thinking when I remembered that I had my cell phone and viola - a grainy pic of the Waiting room.

And then the meal started.... Firstly, the Arien is a huge foodie and wanted a Yelai Saapadu but we were given steel plates. The Arien was a lil disappointed but cheered up when he saw the items arrive one after the other. First up was fresh orange juice, which tasted heavenly, arriving in a silver tumbler. I heard that that was the tradition at MTR. Coffee was usually served in silver tumblers. Wow!! This was followed by the thick coconut chutney, payasam, alu palya, kosambri, vadam, and then Masala Dosa. You could have two dosais but if you had more, you would regret that decision sorely. This was followed by Bisibele bath, Vaangi baath, and steamed rice with sambhar and rasam. And then... (yes, there is more) we had curd rice followed by ice-cream. I stopped after the Vangi bath but both the Arien and the Taurean went on and on and on. Naturally, I had to tease them for that. I think we had had enough for the month now. If you have not visited MTR yet, ... Do so NOW.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Coziest Seat @ Ofc

Mexicano Foodo -- Foodie Weekend

Our regular weekend plan usually consists of a movie followed by lunch. Lunch is the usual traditional south or north indian fare. While the Arien is a big fan of traditional Indian food, I am fond of experimenting with different cuisines as long as the items are vegetarian. For the first time, the Arien suggested we visit Taco Bell in Koramangala. Naturally, I almost fell of the chair.

Because our weekend is not complete without a movie, we saw Source Code, before we visited Taco Bell. Thankfully, Source Code was still running in the theatres. The Arien put on his best "Back-frm-the-USA" air and ordered a chicken burrito while explaining what a burrito was. This was the first time I was trying out Mexican food, and so I ordered the veg burrito instead of trying out the other dishes.

The burrito is like a roomali roll made from wheatflour with paneer and alu stuffing for the veg burrito and shredded chicken for the chicken burrito. The roll also consists of rice which was quite interesting. We had opted for a combo and ended up with Nachos and unlimited coke/Mountain Dew/Miranda/Pepsi refills.

Price-wise, I was surprised. It was not as expensive as KFC or McD. Taste-wise, I liked the burrito, but not the Nachos. I think it had to do with the oil it was fried in or maybe the masala. Not really sure. The soft drinks were ice-cold and I was unable to drink it until after we finished the meal. The Arien added that this was how it was in the US as well. I could see his "B-F-T-USA" cap re-appearing :P

April Jes Whizzed Past

After resolving to write one post per week this year, I am amazed to see the title of this post. But, seriously, it was a case of too many things going on at the same time. First, came the news of the Arien's impending visit to the US. While I initially toyed with the idea of accompanying him, I dropped it because his itinerary was hectic and I had a release coming up. Then, came the shopping frenzy for the Arien because we found out tht it was around 5 degrees in Chicago.

After a major send-off from his family which kinda became a lil too much for his two week trip, he was gone. I opted to take up additional work to keep myself occupied. Also, my cousin and family were visiting me the week after and so I was all set. Soon, I was very busy: chatting with the Arien in the morn and in the evening, working on the day-2-day office work, completing the additional work that I took up, catching up with 2 old friends and colleagues over dinner at Tangerine, travelling to Mysore with the extended family, MIL's short visit - the general crabbiness that follows, Easter weekend and the hoo-haa that follows, etc. etc.

As a month, April rocked. I mean, I have not had it this busy for a while both professionally and personally, but I was really tired and cranky by the time the Easter week came to an end. I think I was totally zoned out. I felt like I was in a Giant wheel that kept spinning, spinning, and spinning and while I love Giant wheels, I was kinda wanting to step on good ole stable earth for a while. The Arien summed it up by saying "All U really wanted was everyone out of your house - rite?" I agreed :P

Image Courtesy: http://geardiary.com/

Wordless Wednesdays -- Michael Connelly discusses The Lincoln Lawyer Movie.mov

Aadukalam

Another Tamizh movie -- I finally caught up with my backlog :) The Taurean insisted that this was a movie totally worth watching. Now, he is not a fan of Dhanush and is aware that I am not one either. Naturally, I was curious. Thankfully, the arien had purchased the VCD a while ago (ya ya - thiruttu VCD). So, we made haste (have been reading too many books set in sm other era) and watched the movie last weekend.

Surprisingly, this was one movie that totally lived up to the hype. It stayed true to the script and you are drawn to Karruppu (Dhanush), and his unflinching faith in his rooster and his mentor, Pettaikaran (Jayabalan).

Image Courtesy: http://kollywoodz.com/movie-preview-aadukalam/

The Story: The story revolves around rooster fights, which is considered a sport in Madurai. Pettaikaran is known for his wins and Karruppu (Dhanush) is one of the lads who handles the roosters and feeds them on a daily basis. A policeman, who belongs to a family who were known for their wins, has been losing to Pettaikaran and wants to have that one last match that will enable him to reclaim his lost glory. Pettaikaran does not want to give in but is forced to. In the last match, Pettaikaran again wins. It is around this time that Pettaikaran asks Dhanush to kill his rooster, because it can never be a winner. Karruppu believes that his rooster has the capability to win and decides to participate, mainly because he is provoked by the other team. This angers Pettaikaran and he announces that Karruppu's participation does not count as Pettaikaran's entry. The policeman loses 3 matches against Karruppu and Karruppu wins a huge sum of money. Pettaikaran is happy for Karruppu. What happens next forms the rest of the movie.

Wah Wah:

• The script is clearly the winner. A taut storyline, an interesting twist makes it worth the while.
• Songs are good. The dapanguthu number, Otha Solala, is choreographed to suit the movie and not Dhanush, who is known to be a good dancer. (You can totally understand his joy and his crazy moves)
• Taapsee, as the anglo-indian girl, is a doll to look at. (Not Kaif-like barbie but those cute ones you had forever as a kid). Her dialogues are few and she has given it her best.
• Pettaikaran -- a fantastic performance.
• Ending - so not typical.

BAH:

• Nothing really.

I enjoyed the movie, the rustic feel of it, the love story hidden amidst the fights. In fact, it brought to mind, Murrattukaalai. A film that made Rajni, highly popular and a superstar. That movie dealt with bull fights in Madurai and Rajni played a larger than life character. While this movie cannot be compared with that classic, it still earns its place in the Hall of Fame.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Outing with the Team (Movie + Lunch)

Image Courtesy: www.bollywoood3000.blogspot.com and www.bjngroup.in

Angadi Theru -- Market Place

The title of this movie means market place or more specifically a road that only consists of shops. Angadi (Shop) + Theru (Road). Since the movie is filmed in Ranganathan Street,
Chennai, the title fits very well. I was actually surprised that Angadi was a tamizh word. I thought the Tamizh word for shop was Kadai (Not Kadaai Paneer, Kadaai Vegetables etc.). I knew that Angadi was a Kannada word which meant shop. Hmmm.. Interesting - the way Tamizh and Kannada are linked.

Image Courtesy: movie.suleka.com

The Story: The movie is 'bout a fictitious shop "Senthil Murugan" that is in Chennai on Ranganathan Street. The shop recruits their salesboys and girls from remote villages in Tamil Nadu. The primary criteria for recruitment is that the younster should belong to a large family and must be the primary bread-earner. The hero, whose father dies in an accident at an unmanned railway crossing is ob. chosen because he is the sole bread-winner. His friend, who fails his XII, wants to escape his father and lies to get the job. The movie show cases the life of these salesboys and girls.

My View: It is a realistic movie, with a lot of sub-plots and a number of characters. Each character does justice to their part and the director has ensured that they do not overact and unnecessarily add drama or comic relief. If you wanted to experience the life of a salesboy or girl, I feel that this would be the best possible depiction of it. A slice of life is how I would describe this movie. In some weird way or maybe it was intentional, everything about the shop "Senthil Murugan" reminds you of Saravana Stores, including the character who plays Annachi and Sneha who does a cameo. The movie was released last year in March. Don't get put-off by the looks of the hero and the heroine and avoid the movie. The script is the hero in this movie. Hats off to the director for taking up the not-so rosy side of life and for staying away from the cliched endings.

Wah Wah:

• Hard-hitting, realistic movie with an undercurrent of hope


• No unnecessary characters or comedians - the friend provided the much-needed comic relief.


• Good selection of actors to play key roles - sneha in a cameo playing herself.


• The song "Aval appadi onrum azhagillai" was nice and apt.

Bah:

• Slow pace after the intermission and slightly depressing

Meeting with the Master Storyteller

Yes.. I am referring to Lord Jeffrey Archer, who was in Bangalore, last week. I would have missed the event altogether if it had not been for a chuntu advertisement. The Sunday Times included a small ad 'bout the author's book-signing event. I called the Senior Arien, from whom I inherited my interest in books, and asked if he would accompany me to the book signing event. He agreed immediately. The Arien sulked a bit because I had not invited him. Well, he is not that into books and he comes home only around 10 pm and he knows this.

So, at 5:30 pm on Wednesday, 9th March 2011, myself and the Senior Arien were on our way to the Reliance Time-out outlet on Cunningham Road. Unfortunately, the store had no idea 'bout the number of folks who would turn up on a weekday at 6 pm. The number of chairs were few and occupied by the time we entered the place. The author, Lord Jeffrey Archer, entered the building and then moved to the dias around 7 pm. He kept the crowd enthralled with anecdotes, his success-story shared in a self-deprecating manner, references to Indian celebrities such as Sachin Tendulkar and R K Narayan, making the audience Whooop in delight. He also tackled questions from the audience, some of whom were ~9 years of age, while others were as old as 60. All this with a twinkle in his eye and a Grrowwl for the photographers who annoyed him.

It was after 8 by the time we pushed our way to the dias. It took him a second to sign his name before we were out of the dias. The queue, with folks yet to get his signature on the book, was right up to the entrance of the outlet. The senior Arien, who was completely tired after standing for two straight 2 hours, realized that he was better off than the guy who was still standing at the queue :D It was after 9 wen we finally reached home. Surprisingly, the Arien was at home and I was late. I bladed him to death 'bout my experience. He wanted to know if I managed to get a picture of myself with the author and my response was to show him this snap. What you are seeing is 1/4 of the actual queue. The fact that Jeffrey Archer even agreed to sign all the books was very generous of him. Overall a nice experience.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Only Time Will Tell

Wordless Wednesdays - Finished, Finally!!

Lunch @ Sue's Kitchen in IndiraNagar

This weekend, both of us wanted to eat at some place we had not been to and I opted for Sue's Kitchen. I had heard 'bout this place from a few colleagues and friends. The cuisine is Carribean and that in itself was going to be a new experience for us.

I was so fed up of the buffets I have been to offlate, that I was ready to enjoy any change. The food was quite different and nice. I was also amazed at the vegetarian variety. There was a Ghar-ka-Khaana feel to the food. I especially enjoyed the Calypso Rice, the Russian Salad, and the fried vegetables. The Arien found some of the non-veg items slightly sweet. He likes his meat to be spicy. Some of the dishes were spicy and the Arien enjoyed those. He went in for seconds which means it was good. There was a karela subji which I avoided that the Arien bravely tried. By the time, we started on the Dessert, I was stuffed. The Dessert was simple, no zillion pastries to choose from which was a blessing, and yummy.

The place was quite empty, two or three couples, at the most and usually accompanied by chattering or yelling toddlers. Surprisingly, majority folks who came, were malayalis. While I was slightly disappointed with the ambience, the lunch for two turned out to be quite expensive. Parking is a challenge sometimes - someone from the resturant helped us out and so it was easier for us. Overall, an OK experience.

Wordless Wednesdays -- Confessions of a Shopaholic