Glass Cutting

If you think my life is all about hobbies, you're not too far off ;-)

My friend Anj told me about Uncle Patel's glass-cutting class and at first, I was apprehensive but when I found out that Tiffany's lamps were made out of cut stained glasses, I signed-up right away.

Mr. Patel run his little "school" on his balcony, which is also where he does gardening. He'll give you a little history on the glass cutting industry but the hands-on teaching is actually done by his assistant, Murli.

Sure I've cut my hands numerous times but according to Mr. Patel, it's baptism and everyone goes through it at least once. Glass cutting is not all you will learn at Mr. Patel's but it is the most important skill. After cutting, the sides of the glass are made blunt with a grinding stone and then covered with thin strips of foil. Finally, soldering is done to stick 'em all together.


Soldering.

Here's Anj happily soldering her window glass with Murli watching attentively.


What did I say about "watching attentively"?


It's no Tiffany's lampshade but it's a lampshade I made, with Murli's help of course.

Glass Cutting Info:
Uncle Patel
Phone: 080-25260035

Spanish Cookout at Caperberry

I attended another unlikely-to-happen-in-India-event last weekend - a Spanish cooking class.

Capperberry has always been one of my favorite restaurants in Bangalore so when Mama B asked if we wanted to participate in the cooking class, I signed-up right away! Caperberry head chef, Abhijit Saha must be by now, one of the most famous chefs in Bangalore. He's literally bringing Bangalore's gastronomical scene up to world standards. I think by collaborating with Food Lovers' magazine, and offering cooking classes in the Capperberry kitchen itself, he's luring people like me to come back for more!

The class started at 10 a.m. on a Saturday. Participants were divided into groups of 8 people.

First dish - Vegetable Empanadas


Filling empanadas dough with grilled chopped vegetables.


Everyone had a chance to make their own empanadas.


(sorry, shaky hands make blurry photos) Empanadas served with Romesco which is a dip made of bell peppers, almond, bread and a bunch of other things.

Second dish - Chicken Al Ajillo


This is a super simple dish with only 4 ingredients but taste absolutely delish!

Third dish - Crumb Fried Goat Cheese


Mixing goat cheese ingredients.


Forming cheese patties before dipping into batter and then into the fryer.


Ingredients for spicy tomato sauce.


Crumb fried goat cheese with spicy tomato sauce.

Fourth dish - Minted Lamb Chops with Red Wine


Here's one thing I've learned that would be helpful to you cooks out there. The chef added a big spoonful of mashed papaya into the marinade to tenderize the meat.


One of the bestest lamb chops I've ever eaten!

Fifth dish - Catalonian Style Spinach, Raisin and Pine Nut Filo Triangles


Chef "A" stuffing filo triangles.


The one on the far left is mine!


Filo triangles with alioli, a form of aioli.

Sixth dish - Fried Calamari


Calamari is soaked in milk then dusted with seasoned flour before dipping into the hot fryer for 40 seconds.


A fairly simple dish to make and only perfect when eaten right off the fryer.

The whole class took about four hours but we got to eat everything we made. After the class, Chef Abhijit served us a full meal, some of the dishes served were the same ones we had just learnt. So, you can imagine how stuffed I was by the time I left the restaurant.

Happy Chefs.

Read about what Chef Abhijit served us for lunch on my other blog.

Sunfeast 10K Run

I was never a runner. Running 20 minutes on a treadmill is like pulling teeth; too painful and I can't wait for it to be over. Last weekend, some way or another "A" convinced me to run the Sunfeast 10K with him. I didn't put up too much of a fight, since after all, if I wasn't running, I'd be waiting around in the stadium for an hour for him to reach the finish line. And besides, I could always walk the 10 kilometers and yes, it would take 2 hours or more, but that's what I "could" do.

For a few weeks, I'd been reading articles in Bangalore Times on how to prepare for the 10K, and of course we hadn't done crap (the last time I ran long distance, specifically 5km was a year ago). So, "A" and I just decided to go for it. The plan was to have a big plate of pasta and sleep early the night before the run. That would've been a good plan but unfortunately, social obligations kicked in and we went out with friends for a spicy andhra meal instead.

Next morning, we woke up at 6:00 a.m, had 2 bananas and drove off to the stadium where the run would begin. While warming up, my stomach started to act up from the andhra food. I paced back and forth and tried to ignore the pain, which was only getting worse by the second. Of all the days I could've forgotten to bring tissues! Under normal circumstances, I would have held it in and waited till I got home to use the toilet, but I know running would only make it worse. I had to go. I found a porta-potty and thankfully, there was a small toilet paper roll in it. It was by no means clean or stench-free but I couldn't care less at that point. Note to self; NO spicy andhra food before any runs next time.


At the Kanteerva Stadium, waiting for our turn to run. There were about ten thousand participants.

While I was running, there were many, many times where I promised myself I could stop and walk for a few minutes at the next corner, but when I reached the next corner, I would see an old auntie or an overweight person running in front of me and I couldn't justify slowing down if they were still running.

Finally it took me 1 hour and 26 minutes to finish, but I did it! I completed a 10K run without stopping!



I caught a bug the day before the run, hence I was as sick and non-functional for a good four days after the run. Good excuse to be bedridden and a great way to recover.

Sa Re Ga Ma Pa

There is Indian Idol and then there is Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, which is the Indian equivalent of "do re mi fa so" and is also a television singing competition.

Sid, a TV show/movie producer and "A"'s bff, was helping with the production of the Karnataka finals (the state where Bangalore is located) for Sa Re Ga Ma Pa, and he invited us over for the shoot. Of course, none of us understood Kannada (the official language of Karnataka), but we thought it would've made an interesting evening anyway.

To convince Sid's bosses and clients that we were not just some random people off the street, "A" and his parents were posing as local musicians and producers and I was to be a popular singer from China, which is funny considering how I have never been to China and the only phrase I know in Mandarin is "woh pu huey jiang hua yu", which translates to "I don't know how to speak Mandarin".

The event was held at one of Bangalore University's halls. Sid gave us a tour of the production room backstage.

Contestants prepping for the contest.

View from backstage

The audience. We were seated on the first row from the stage.

The host started the show off with a song. We later found out she was lip-syncing.

One of the contestants. Check out the four drummers and their drum sets. Pretty elaborate, huh?

The experience: too shockingly loud both from the volume of the music and the random firecracker explosions in front of the stage. Two hours later, after the fifth and final contestant had sung, I thought it would be a good time to leave. On our way out, Sid said that that was only Round 1 out of 5 for each contestant for the night. I think you have to be a fanatic to stick around for that long. I'll leave that to the local Kannadigas to enjoy the show. It was interesting to see the "other side" of Bangalore though.

Cleaning Bangalore

Before you start saying "Oh, why doesn't she just clean her own room", I just want to say that I'm doing this for a good cause.

"A" signed me up for the "Let's Clean Bengaluru", an event created by a Facebook group that inspires Bangaloreans to "Reclaim Bengaluru... It's Yours! Keep it clean". The day to clean was August 15th, 2009 and anyone and everyone can participate. You can clean the smelly clogged drain that your neighbors seemed to have successfully ignored for the past 3 months or your driveway or your neighborhood park. "A" chose Cubbon Park.

It started out with the four of us but "A" managed to convince three other friends, a group of kids and a few random men in the park to join us.




With a whole liter of homemade "lemonade", we managed to (happily) clean-up a good portion of the park in 4 hours.

According to the Facebook group "Here are the results: 4700 participants, 6000 bags of garbage, 5800 bags collected by BBMP, 200 bags failed to be collected by BBMP."


Our personal result: Approximately 40 participants, 11 extra-large garbage bags, and bags collected by BBMP: unknown.

5km Run

Yes, I used to also wonder how could one possibly run at all in Bangalore with too much auto-rickshaw fumes in the air and massive human traffic everywhere. Then some company (I’m sure there are others but I just know of this one because I got drag into it) called Nike, organized a run club at one of the big parks in the city called Cubbon Park. Normally, traffic is allowed to pass through the park but for the safety and wellbeing of the runners, the roads are closed from 6am to 8am on Saturdays.

I’ve only ever run at the gym, at most 2km and usually in the evenings when I’m fully awake and stressed from work or life. Hence, running 5km non-stop at 7am that morning during my extended vacation felt very strange. The whole run took about 34 minutes (I know, I know, it’s lame and no where near world record but hey, at least I didn’t quit) and at the end of the run I have a sore left knee, a throbbing right foot and enough endorphins to keep me happy for the month.

Nike Run Club India

Ashram, Hennaed Hair and Threading before 30

SPA
What did I do on the weekends that I was "supposed" to be in Malaysia? I overindulge in self-pampering. Last weekend, I got my nails done and a full-body Swedish massage at Spa.ce, a spa on Cunningham Road. Being a massage whore, Spa.ce more than met my expectations. The interior reminded me of 17th century Chinese merchant house and the tranquility and serenity of the place is so pleasing, I almost forgot how pissed I was for not being able to board my plane the night before.

ASHRAM
This weekend, my yoga friend Pritika said she was going to an ashram about an hour outside Bangalore and I shamelessly invited myself. The swami himself was in Bangalore and will be giving kalpataru darshan and since this weekend was supposed to be cosmically special (because the stars are aligned or something), the whole ashram was overcrowded with devotees coming from Tamil Nadu to Kerala. The hall we were in had a capacity of 1000 people but since they won’t turn down anyone (including Pritika and I who were late for the event), the total attendees came up to over 2000! All I could think about was the recent temple stampedes that killed a few hundred people.

No, I didn’t get enlightened nor did I get see any blue snake but two strange things happened. During the earlier session, swami asked us to close our eyes and sit straight and gather all our sorrows, sad emotions and thoughts. He repeated this about fifteen times and out of nowhere, people started to wail. It’s bad enough I can hardly concentrate on picking the right thoughts to gather, I was distracted by the guy sitting next to me who was shaking spastically from crying. Before I know it, tears were trickling down my cheeks.

After the second session, swami would give darshan (blessing) so everyone formed two lines on the sides of the hall. We were given strict instructions (knell on the side of swami, close your eyes, lift your arms and ask swami something. you may also give swami a non-aggressive hug). Pritika and I waited in line for two hours and then realized people were cutting in front of us. So Pritika came up with a brilliant plan; to tell the ladies in front that I have to get on a flight at 1am to Malaysia, which is partially true because I am indeed getting on the flight the following night. I couldn’t stop cracking up (we’re not supposed to talk or laugh) but I felt so guilty for blatantly lying in front of the swami in this very spiritual place just to be blessed by a holy man before I turn 30.

HENNA

The grays on my head are not new. They are not there because of aging nor are they there due to stress. My brother started getting them at the age of 12 and my sister has a few strands as well so it must be hereditary. In any case, in striving to be au naturale, I got my hair hennaed at Ayush. It’s messy and doesn’t smell too pleasant but I’m glad I didn’t have to do this myself. I read about how you should leave the henna mixture on your hair for at last two hours and as a result, you will have “dark and shinny looking” hair. At Ayush, they would ask you to rinse it off after 30 minutes but that’s because they want to attend to the next customer. Knowing this info in advance, I brought a shower cap and was set to walk out of the store with my head covered. I left the mixture on for three hours and as a result, my hair is softer and darker with a hint of auburn color.



THREADING
I can’t leave India till I get threaded at least once. I don’t have much facial hair to begin with but the fine hairs are most time consuming to pluck. On my way home from Ayush, with henna in my hair, for Rs50 (US$1.10), I got my brows and upper lip threaded at Salon Mousse (12th Main, Indira Nagar). It took the beautician 2 long threads, a total of 3 minutes and not a trace of redness on my sensitive skin.

Visit Bangalore Day

Last Saturday I decided to seek ideas from the Lonely Planet (because all my new friends are busy), which landed me at the Karnataka State Tourist Development Corporation (KSTDC) where I signed up for a Bangalore sight-seeing tour.


Bangalore is called "Garden City" and this is one is Lalbagh Park. It's actually quite surreal to see a park so well manicured and maintained smacked right in the middle of a pretty polluted city.


Tipu's summer palace.


Bangalore museum

From my photo selection, I’m sure you can tell that the tour was pretty lame but I guess if you have a tight schedule and want to see Bangalore, this would be perfect. Fare: Rs190 on a “Volvo” A/C bus.

More Bangalore tour pictures.

I won’t be me if I didn't over-book my weekend. The tour took about 6 hours and ran over about 45 minutes and addition to that the Bangalore traffic resulted in my very late arrival to the Americans in Bangalore Meet-Up dinner event.


I swear it is way more fun than it looks.


Indian desserts.

More Meetup pictures.

Cooking at Shalini's

Sunday was too much fun. My co-worker Shalini invited me to her home to cook and eat. When I arrived, she made dosa(or dosai) for breakfast.



Then, we strolled around neighborhood with her children and we picked up some more ingredients for lunch.



Shalini decided that we should make Gojju. Gojju, I was told, is a curry dish with a variety of vegetables and shaved coconut. This one we made has a base of tomatoes and potatoes.



GOJJU
Ingredients
4 spices - (mustard seed, urad dahl, channa dahl, jeera)
3 med. chili peppers - chopped
6 med. tomatoes - chopped
2 med. onions - chopped
2 med. potatoes – chopped
3/4 glass of water
a handful of peas
a handful of fresh curry leaves - crushed
a handful of coriander – chopped
1/3 a coconut – ground (about ½ cup of coconut. This is actual coconut, not coconut milk)
2 tsp ghee
1/2 tsp jaggrey (this is a pre-processed form of sugar)
1/2 tsp turmeric
salt to taste
a lot of oil

Method
* Heat Oil
* Add 4 spices and fry till mustard seeds stop popping
* Add chili, onions, curry leaves, ghee and cook till soft (about 5 mins)
* Add tomatoes, potatoes, peas, coriander and water
* Add jaggrey, salt, coconut
* Let it cook for 30 mins or until potatoes are soft. Add more water if needed.


Shalini's grinding coconut to be added to the Gojju dish.

Apparently, it is quite usual for families to make fresh chapati everyday. The chapati here is mixed with methi leaves, which supposedly adds flavour and is healthier.

CHAPATI
(serves 4 people)
Ingredients
Methi leaves – chopped
2 cups wheat flour
1 ½ tsp salt
2-5 tsp oil
½ sp sugar
1-5 cups water

Method
* Mix flour and salt
* Drizzle oil and sugar and mix with hand
* Add methi leaves and 1 glass of water and knead dough in sections
* Add oil and water as needed (unless you are a health freak, according to Shalini, then you can leave out the extra oil)
* Knead a lot to make your chapatti fluffy
* Keep aside for 10 mins, covered
* Form small balls (slightly bigger than a golf ball), flour and roll and flour and roll until it resembles a disk
* Put rolled-out dough on a flat pan. Drizzle oil and flatten on both sides.
* Chapati will be ready to eat when the color turns caramel brown. Yumm…


Chopped methi leaves with wheat flour.


Knead chapati dough.


Make golf-size balls from dough and flour it before rolling.


Rolling out dough.


Shalini's husband showing how to roll-out chapati dough.


These are spices that Shalini and her husband would use for the foundation of almost every dish. (L-R: Urad Dahl, Jeera, Mustard Seeds, Channa Dalh)

Shalini's husband showing the gojju dish.

And here's my first self-made chapati. *grin*

More photos taken at Shalini's here. Thank you Shalini and family for your generous hospitality!