Gold Coast

Author: Nelson De Mille

After reading Wildfire, I’d become a huge fan of Nelson de mille! Almost anywhere and everywhere I could lay my hands on his books, I did. The more I read him, the more the craze wore out. This novel was the nail on the coffin!

A lawyer husband and a wealthy wife lead a happy life on a huge estate that was gifted to the wife by her parents. Their peaceful life is interrupted by the moving in of a mafia-don in their next door estate. Little did they realize what impact this event would have on their future! It starts with a friendly chat and ends with a killing, literally. The couple visit their neighbors as a courtesy and the wife finds herself attracted to the house next door and the don. Her visits become more frequent and her husband, even though not wanting to be a part, gets dragged into family dinners and parties followed by favors showered on him by the don. These he returns with lawyer-ly favors to keep the score even and before he realizes, he steps into the trap and is the lawyer for the don in a case of murder. This is exactly what he wanted to avoid in the beginning! The story has interesting twists and turns.

I liked the base concept but I didn’t like the way the story was weaved. The start was pretty sloppy and the element that pinches me is that – though the protagonist is smart, he’s not smart-enough! Something so unexpected of Nelson’s stories.

Bottomline: It’s a time pass read.

Places to see in Barcelona

Continuing on my previous post on Barcelona, here are things we did and liked as well as what we didn’t like. A tip: you *must* get a guidebook with you if you’re an avid sightseer and read it! We used Fodor’s “See it – Barcelona” and I must say it was very helpful. You can also go to Fodors but its not as comprehensive as the guide book.

Things to do:

1. Port Vell: This is the port of Barcelona. Nothing specific, its just good to roam around here. If you’re fond of shopping then there’s the Mare Magnum mall which has all the famous stores. You can spend an evening here. We ate at the “Take away” and I don’t know if it was my appetite or the food but the vegetarian pizza we had here was very tasty! So was the gelato.
2. La Sagrada Familia: This was the church that Guadi couldn’t complete in his lifetime. It looks awesome from outside! The intricate sculptures on the church are worth seeing; BUT if it says there’s construction going inside do NOT pay 11 euros for the entry ticket! We did and were not at all pleased with what we got to see – construction infrastructure! Construction frames all around, signs, restricted path and what not! There was absolutely nothing inside and by that I mean really NOTHING!
3. Parc Guell: This is another place which houses some of Gaudi’s work. The art pieces at the entrance are gorgeous! Its a nice place to see.
4. La Pedrera (Casa Mila): By now, like us, you would have realized that Gaudi was an important man in Barcelona :). He was actually a very famous architect. La Pedrera is an apartment building built by him. Its a beauty in itself! We took the audio tour and realized how much more we enjoyed the architecture because of the audio. Entry with audio tour was around 11-12 euros.
5. Manzana Discordia: This is a block of three apartment buildings a little south of Casa Mila, also on Passeig de Gracia. The three buildings are Casa Batllo, Casa Amatller and Casa lleo morera. We didn’t go inside any of these, just relished the outside views especially the Casa Batllo. And it was not until we read the guidebook which explained the inspiration behind various facades of the building. So read the guidebook’s section on the place before looking at it to appreciate its finesse.
6. Palau de la Musica Catalana: This is a famous concert hall and is very beautiful from the inside. The entrance includes a guided tour so that’s a good thing. Its situated in an alley so be careful for signs or rather keep asking people. We had crossed it and didn’t even realize till we asked somebody and were told to retrace our steps. Most of the guidebooks suggested watching a concert here to comprehend the beauty of the hall but unfortunately we couldn’t. Entry was around 12 euros.
7. Mercat de la bouqueria: This is one of the many open farmer’s market in Barcelona and a famous one. We had some delicious fresh fruit juice and fresh fruits here. The area around it was also lively so it was fun walking on those streets.
8. Museum of history: Barcelona is based on top of the roman city Barcino and it is the ruins of this city that are housed in this museum. If you’re interested in historical things, then this is a must I would say. How often do you get to see ruins from the roman time! The entrance includes the audio tour. Entry was around 6 euros.
9. Flamenco show: This I think is a must watch. Depending on your interest in music and dance, go for an appropriate show. Though I’m quite interested in watching music and dance, my Dh isn’t so we decided to go for a reasonably-priced show so that we have our cake and eat it too! The place for a good reasonable show is Tarantos in Las ramblas. The ticket is 7 euros and the show is for 30 mins. It begins and ends with the dance performance each of which is around 5 mins and in between the two is song recital which I must say is not as engrossing as the dance. the dances were awesome and such a pleasure to watch! If you’re fairly interested in dances, I would say that you should try one of 37 euros show which lasts for 1-2 hrs. Of course I don’t know how much of it is dance but I hope for that money a lot of it is. Here’s a flavor it:
   
10. Magic fountains: These are located close to Plaza d’Espanya and though there are not as great as the Bellagios of Vegas, they’re good to see if its not a detour for you. For us they  were walking distance from our hotel so it was nice otherwise I wouldn’t have made a stop specifically for them.

Places we did not appreciate much:

1. Museu Picasso – I’m certainly not an art connoisseur so I would’ve only appreciated it if there were some famous paintings of his, which there were none.
2. Santa Maria del Mar: Though I remember reading a lot about it and hence was quite eager to see it but couldn’t understand why it was so famous. Maybe because it was closed and we couldn’t go inside.

Our new temple

My DH gave a new look to the mini-temple we have at home by painting it. Since before-after comparisons are my favorite, I found this old photo of the temple (I wish I’d taken one just before painting):

and here’s how it looks now:

Those paper garlands and flowers were made by my MIL – aren’t they beautiful?!?! She’s very good at these things.

Yummy thin crust pizza!

After my trip to Barcelona, I’m all in for thin crust pizza! So I found this recipe and got to work! The result – a delicious tasting light thin crust pizza – what else, duh?!?!
Ok, so it was little overcooked but it was yummmmy! To make a comparison, I liked it more than the previous pizza recipe that I’d posted. A good thing about this recipe is that it doesn’t require fermenting so you can make it whenever you want, no preparation required. Here’s another photo elucidating the thickness of the pizza. Background accessories (read cola) courtesy my DH :)

Here’s the recipe:
Ingredients:

1. .25 oz. packet of active dry yeast (or 2 1/4 tsp)
2. 1/4 tsp. granulated sugar
3. 3/4 cup 110 degree water – I just used lukewarm water
4. 1 3/4 cups all-purpose flour
5. 1/2 tsp. salt
6. Trader Joe’s pizza sauce
7. Shredded mozzarella cheese
8. Chopped green pepper, onion, tomatoes and finely chopped jalapenos, cilantro and ginger. Don’t gape at the last two, try them once on your pizza and you’ll be hooked!

Method:

1. Dissolve yeast and sugar in water; allow to rest for 8 minutes.
2. In a separate bowl, combine flour and salt.
3. Pour yeast mixture over flour mixture and mix well with a heavy spoon.
4. Turn dough onto a floured surface and knead for 2 minutes.
5. Working from the edges to the center, press dough into a 12" circle. We've also found that holding the dough up, off the counter and stretching it works well, too (keep rotating the dough circle as you stretch to keep an even circle forming).
6. Place dough on a lightly greased pizza pan and stretch dough to edges.
7. Spread sauce over crust and top with cheese and desired toppings.
8. Bake in a 500 degree oven for 8-12 minutes, or until edges are golden.

Notes:

• I used the clock wherever the times were called out.
• I was extra careful in making sure that the water was lukewarm because I’ve read that too hot can kill the yeast while too mild will not activate it.

Trip to Barcelona

Recently we made a trip to Barcelona and I wanted to share the lessons learnt. I’ll try to cover everything under the sky that I can think of.

Weather: I start with the hot and cold because that’s one thing I can never forget about my trip there :). If you’re like me, doesn’t like hot and humid weather, then August is the month to avoid.

Accommodation: If you’re from US, then you need to be acquainted with the facilities provided in the hotels of Barcelona. We stayed in a four star (Hotel Catalonia Plaza, Plaza d’Espanya) and hence I would like to believe that the facilities we got must be above average. The double beds are approximately the size of a queen bed. Iron is not included though the receptionist mentioned that it would be delivered to our room if we needed one. The room had a nice layout: a mini corridor led to the room and had the entrance to the bathroom. The bathroom floors was shining like mirror; and was quite spacious. We had an organization-negotiated rate so we got it pretty cheap for 110 euros (including continental breakfast). The breakfast was separately 16 euros and let me tell you, it was good! There were cereals, fresh fruits, desserts, breads, meats, cheese, coffee and fresh orange juice – the oranges were being juiced right in front of you – that fresh!

Going around: Even though most of the guidebooks that I read suggested that buses were the more common means of transport, we used the metro (or subway). There are two main advantages of using the metro: you don’t need to look at the timings, every train runs every 5 minutes and it’s easier to map the trains than find the routes of buses. The disadvantage is that you would need to walk a lot because sometimes the station is a little far from the sight seeing spots. Also, to reach the spot from the station you would need to ask people on the way – at least we needed to because the map was not always clear at the street level. The people are pretty helpful so that’s not a problem. The two day transit pass (includes subways and buses) costs 11 euros so that’s not bad if you want to do two days of jam-packed sight seeing.

Safety: Ok, that’s something you ought to worry about in Barcelona! Its mostly pick-pocketing/mugging. Among our conference people, there were two who got pick-pocketed, another who was close to getting mugged and another who had a break-in into his hotel room! I don’t want to scare you but that’s the reality. You must watch your purse at every moment when you’re outside. The pick-picketers seem to target tourists only.

Food: Vegetarian food is not that popular here. The options we had were: margherita/cheese pizza, falafel and 1-2 kinds of pasta. We finally found some indian restaurants and that provided a much sought relief! The price differed by location. In popular places, on average you would spend 10 euros per person if you’re economical; otherwise 15-20 euros. Water is not free in restaurant; you need to buy. It could be as expensive as 2.5 euros for a 250 ml bottle!

Language: Mostly you can manage if you know english and soon you can figure out meanings of the commonly used spanish words. If you’re a vegetarian, know that “vegetariano” means vegetarian and “solo vegetal” means only vegetables. That is helpful! Pescu, carne and pollo mean fish, meat and chicken respectively.

Shopping: we just shopped for souvenirs and found that some bargaining was prevalent.

Its been a long post, so I’ll try to cover the places to see in another post.

Namesake

Author: Jhumpa Lahiri

My mom gave this book to me. I haven't been particularly fond of Jhumpa Lahiri after reading "Interpreter of Maladies". Ihe stories were good but after 2-3, I felt I only needed to read the introduction and I could pen down the rest of the story. However, this being a largely acclaimed novel of his I thought of giving it a try and yes it was pretty engrossing! At every page, I wanted to know how the story would unravel on the next!

The story starts with an indian couple based in US - the husband did his schooling here while the wife came over by virtue of the marriage. First quarter is devoted to the wife, how she feels alienated initially and has a hard time. Slowly and gradually she gets adjusted and gives birth to a baby boy. The rest of the story is centered around this boy who's named Gogol (after the author Nikolai Gogol). When he goes to the school for the first time, his parents want to give him a more formal name Nikhil; but he likes to be called Gogol. So he's stuck with Gogol to his parents' disappointment. However, as he grows up and has to explain to all and sundry the hows and whys of his name, he realizes he doesn't want to be called Gogol and changes his name to Nikhil. All through this he's angry with his parents for giving him such a name. He dislikes it even more when he comes to know that life of the namesake author was full of sadness; little did he know why his father was so attached to that name. In his youth, he dislikes all things Indian including people and culture. He has an american girl friend, lives with her, in her parents' house, eats american food and in an american fashion. Hardly caring about his own family. Not for long. His father's death jolts him out of his reverie and it is interesting to see how his attitude changes towards his family.

Like his namesake, I think his life was also miserable - all due to his own attitude.

The story is not out of the ordinary. I would say that's the typical story of an American-born Indian in those times and that's exactly the reason we've an acronym ABCD (American-born confused desi); but the way he has written is very interesting.

Bottomline: Good.

Eat, Pray and Love

Author: Elizabeth Gilbert

As the front page of the book says, its a true story of a woman who travelled Italy, India and Indonesia. Its all about her experiences in those countries. In Italy she savored food, in India she immersed herself into devotion and in Indonesia she found love.

You would think so what is so special about it that she wrote a book?!?! I would say not much, you too could write your own if your experience was as novel as hers. She left America in a mentally devastated state and reached Italy. Why did she chose Italy? Because it was her long time desire to learn the italian language, the italian way. How many people would do that? Doesn't mean all she did was study italian, she enjoyed the good food.

After her stay in Italy, her next stop was India where she went to an Ashram. She'd been introduced to the Guru of the ashram in America and had decided that she wanted to go to the Ashram in India. She spent a few months there, getting up before sunrise, chanting sanskrit shlokas in the wee hours of the day, sweeping temple floor for hours, eating vegetarian food and getting aclimatized to a place so constrasting to her own. It was most interesting to read this part of the novel and I think that was for multiple reasons. Being an Indian, I felt proud reading about India. Then this was the spiritual portion of the book and spirituality always interests me. It was here that she attained mental peace.

Last was her stay in Indonesia where she went because a few years back she'd met a medicine man in Indonesia who'd said that she'd be back in Indonesia and then she should teach him English. Her stay here was in stark contrast to that in India. It was here that she indulged.

It was not an overwhelming novel as I expected it to be based on its ranking amongst the best sellers. What I enoyed reading was her courage and adventorous spirit.

Some take-away quotes from the book:
"Devotion is diligence without assurance."
"You can control a lot of things and one of those is the thoughts that you harbor in your mind".

Bottomline: Ok.