The Historian

Author: Elizabeth Kostova

A very engrossing book! I must say that there are very few such books these days when you just can't leave the book till you read the end and this book is a member of that elite club. The only problem I had with it was that it is supposed to be a true story and it's focus is on Dracula (a european emperor who becomes a vampire).

The story is about the author's father's life. Her father is a historian and while doing his graduation he comes across a strange book that the figure of a dragon and the word "Dracula". On showing it to his advisor he realizes that there's more to it than meets the eye. After this discussion, his advisor disappears adding to the mystery. So he starts off his search for his advisor and the dark secrets. During his search he meets several other people who've recieved a similar books and offer to help him out. He also encounters the author's mother who has her own reasons for doing research on Dracula.

The book is very well written. The author has weaved the story from the letters from her father and with research of her own which included talking to historians her father had worked with.

Bottomline: A must read.

Rama, a thai restaurant in San Diego

Cuisine: Thai
Price: $$

Rama is a thai restaurant in/near Gaslamp Quarter (in San Diego downtown). The ambience is simply fabulous. As you enter there's a lounge and from there a passageway leads to the dininig hall. There are sheer curtains between each table setting providing privacy to each party. The service is excellent, one of the best that I've seen. We just had to specify once to the waiter that we wanted our entrees vegetarian and then on he took care of everything. Even when he brought the hot sauce varieties he only brought the vegetarian ones without us needing to say so. This was when we discovered that the green chillies in a transparent liquid is actually green chillies in fish sauce! Coming to the food, it was also very scrumptious.

So all in all, the restaurant is almost perfect but that comes at a price. It's somewhat expensive. The only water that is offered is bottled water and yes you've to pay for it!

Rating: Excellent

Contact: Rama Restaurant
327 Fourth Ave.
San Diego CA 92101
619 501 THAI(8424)

Tropicana non-vegetarian juice!!!!

This is my most harrowing discovery: Tropicana orange juice with omega-3 fatty acids has fish oil and other fish products! Who would've ever thought that a fruit juice could contain animal products and that too a juice advertised as "freshly squeezed orange juice"!! Then I did a search and found this link that lists all the Tropicana, Minute Maid and Florida Naturals juices that contain animal products. On reading the discussion on that post I found that OJ with Vit D from Tropicana are vegetarian but not vegan and from Florida Naturals are NOT vegetarian. Whoa! That was a saving grace.

This just adds the number of items where we need to check the ingredients list!

Gifts for Kids Drive

It's the holiday season; a season for giving and sharing, a season for spreading joy. Every child would like to recieve a gift on Christmas morning but not everybody is so fortunate. I'm volunteering for the Eugene Bowman Economic Empowerment Inc. and helping them provide christmas gifts to children. Most of these children come from single-mom household and live at or below poverty. Had it not been for EBEE they wouldn't have had anything to look forward to for Christmas but thanks to EBEE they will have a christmas lunch and a gift. If you're in San Diego, then you can help too by donating a gift. It could be a gift card, a toy, clothing or anything else. If you're not in San Diego but would like to help, then also do let me know.

Of life and death

(Teachings from Gita) When a man is nearing his end, he gets to whatever he'd been thinking of in those last moments. Thus, if you think of God then you'll be united with Him. If you were thinking of your house, you'll be born in your house. However, the form in which you'll be born will be decided by your deeds in this birth. For example, a man living in a house thinks its his house. The ants living in that house also think that its their house.

What does a man think of in his last moments? Mostly, you think of those things that you've spent most of your life thinking. Depending on your environment, education, interests etc., your mind may be impressed with certain things. It could be desire for a house, family or anything else. These thoughts which occupy your mind most of your life are also the ones that linger in your mind in your last moments because you've exercised them for so long. However, you can substitute these thoughts with some other with practice. If you want to escape this viscious cycle of life and death, then you must think of God and only God in those moments.

P.S.: This chapter in Gita which talks about death is the most difficult to grasp and hence the long gap in my posts on Gita.

Turkish Short Stories From Four Decades

Author: Aziz Nesin

These are folk tales from Turkey. Most of them are interesting, though some of them have a sad ending which I didn't expect in a folk tale. I've read a couple of folk tale books from India and they either have a happy ending or a moral to teach you in the end. This is what I found missing in some of these stories but overall they were nice.

Those who've read folk tales in the past must've noticed that they tend to have a typical blueprint. For example, let's say they start with a person A leaving his home for destination X. On the way he meets B (where B could be a person, animal or a situation) as a result of which his circumstances change in some way. Going further on he meets C which again change his circumstance. In this way he meets N number of these till he reaches his destination and hence gets drastically transformed: he might be very poor when he started but very rich by the time he reaches his destination. So on and so forth.

It makes a good subject for light reading.

Bottomline: A good read.

Dal Makhani

If you're looking for the restaurant-style dal makhani, then this is the recipe for it! It's a Sanjeev Kapoor recipe.

What you need:
1 cup black whole urad dal
2 tbsp Red Kidney beans/Rajma
1 tsp Cumin seeds
6 cloves garlic
2 inch ginger (I use ginger-garlic paste)
1 tsp Garam Masala
1/2 cup fresh cream (Since we don't get fresh cream here, I used heavy cream available at Trader Joe's)
1 tsp Red Chilli powder
3 tbsp butter
2 tomatoes
1 onion
1 tbsp Oil
Salt to taste

Let's make:

1. Pick, wash and soak whole black urad and rajma overnight in three cups of water.
2. Peel and chop the onion, ginger and garlic finely. Wash and chop the tomatoes.
3. Cook the soaked dal and rajma in three cups of water with salt, red chili powder and half the chopped ginger till dal and rajma are cooked and soft.
4. Heat oil and butter in a thick-bottomed pan.
5. Add cumin seeds, when it crackles.
6. Add chopped onions and fry till golden brown.
7. Add chopped ginger, garlic and chopped tomatoes. Sauté till tomatoes are well mashed and fat starts to leave the masala.
8. Add boiled dal and rajma to this.
9. Adjust seasoning.
10. Add garam masala powder and simmer on very low heat for fifteen minutes.
11. Add fresh cream and let it simmer for another five minutes.
12. Serve hot with Naan or Paratha.