IT WAS LOVE AT FIRST SIGHT

Romanesco broccoli, or Roman cauliflower, is a variant form of cauliflower.

To me, it's Just. Plain. Pretty.

And so of course, it went straight into my trolley at the food store. And then in to my salad bowl, but not before this (badly taken on the mobile phone) picture got taken.

Salad recipe -

Ingredients:

Pretty broccoli, cut into florets and boiled

Shallots, finely diced

Cherry tomatoes, diced into halves

Sprouts 

Salt, white pepper and a sprinkling of herbs to taste

What to do:

Toss in all the above ingredients into a big wooden salad bowl (or any other).

You could also add any other salad-y ingredients you like.

Add the seasoning.

Dish up! Eat! Enjoy!

SUPER DUPER GROSS

Bugs of any kind are NOT my friends. Taking a chance at friendship, however, was this furry fiend who was merrily plonked inside a head of cauliflower. Suffice it to say we didn't get along, and the not-so-little monster was evicted from Cauliflower Heaven. And no, I don't particularly care what happened to it next, really. Ick. Ick.

AGE + RELIGION + MARITAL STATUS = STUPID JOKES

Annoyance, storm of locusts style.

C'mon, give people a break. The movie mags are full of supposedly howlarious jokes, all because a leading lady of Bollywood married the guy she was seeing, also a huge star, a day or two ago. Stupid, crass, insensitive jokes that touch upon their age (difference), religions they follow (obviously different) and the fact that he had been married before, and has two children from the marriage. 

How does any of it matter, is what I would like to know? Two grown up individuals, capable of making a decision as well as the next person, two people who are committed to each other and have decided to take their commitment to the next level - and what they get is flak. Does it make a difference whether they're years apart in age? As with any couple, isn't it obvious that one would be older than the other? And as for being previously married, again, really, does the chap need to be hung, drawn and quartered for that? And if the both of them happen to follow different faiths, where's the problem. Isn't the world full of people in mixed marriages? And should one of them choose to convert to the other's religion, isn't it a personal decision? It's not like they're making everyone on the planet do the same, are they?

Incidentally, the children from the previous marriage attended the wedding ceremony. Clearly, a couple of pre-teens have more maturity than a whole bunch of twits adults put together.

Grow up, goss rags!

SNOW CONE...

... in a cup.

Those lurid colours you see? Myriad flavours, ranging from cola to berry to vetiver to blue curaçao, topped with a dash of rock salt for that added flavour.

*Picture courtesy: The trigger happy husband

TO BE TAKEN WITH A PINCH OF... SUGAR

ONE LONE CROW

... At my window, a rainy day this monsoon.

FROM THE ARTS FESTIVAL

Wouldn't be me had these pictures been shared in time. 

Of course the Kala Ghoda Arts Festival (see more here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kala_Ghoda_Arts_Festival) took place sometime at the beginning of this calendar year in Mumbai, and the pictures were gasping for breath deep down inside the Land of Memory Card. Finally fished them out, and here are (a few) of them.

Enjoy!

 A classical dance recital

 An installation made of old discarded clothes (being almost a year ago now, my wonderful memory doesn't help to recall as to why the concept)

 A riot of colours, those scarves. Again, failing memory is the excuse for not being able to recollect the hows and whys.

And saving the best for last, my personal favourite - the serene Buddha.

EXTINCT FOR A REASON, RIGHT?

So a well-preserved woolly mammoth was discovered in Siberia some days ago. And that brought about the usual articles about mapping the fossilised DNA to recreate a brand new mammoth at some point in the (near) future. 

All very fascinating, and no two ways about it - a giant leap in scientific progress. With something like this, there seem to be endless possibilities ahead. 

So then what comes to mind is Jurassic Park. Digressing, must admit that none of the sequels were as cool as the first movie (but then, which sequels are, for the most part?) though. Dinosaurs fascinate me no end, and the very idea of real live dinos.... oooooooh. For the same reason, The Lost World is one of my all-time favourite books. (Read more about it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Lost_World_(Conan_Doyle_novel).)

But back to the patiently waiting mammoth. Isn't there a reason it turned extinct in the first place? Ditto dodos, dinos, and all other species (flora, fauna and animal alike), for that matter. I'm thinking out loud, but I do wonder what recreating extinct creatures will do to the Earth as we know it today? For one, the ecological dimensions are starkly different, let alone the geography. Each of these species survived an age, and died out a death (natural or otherwise) subsequently. Bringing in that mammoth - would it survive in today's world? Would it cause more damage to our surroundings, or succumb to them? Would there be serious pandemonium, à la Jurassic Park? Would there be a battle for survival, between man and beast? (No, no, we're not debating who's the man and who's the beast here. That's for another post.) Possibilities, again, and some of them not very pleasant.

If there's a show of hands, I personally want a bright shiny new dinosaur.

BAN IT NOW! REALLY?

So for a while now there's been talk about how tobacco based products are going to be banned. Or maybe the ban's been implemented, even. Why? In a bid to ensure that the consumption declines, and thereby leads to (hopefully) a lower rate of cancer victims. While I don't deny that the statistics of those affected by the dreaded disease are painfully high, and that tobacco consumption contributes to incidences of a certain type of cancer, I do wonder about the ban.

What happens with a ban is this: there's a brouhaha, it gets written about and talked about, the dailies are splashed with pictures of stores being raided, and then comes that bit about people purchasing on the sly, never mind the ban, thank you very much. Sloooowly, much   later (and on the quiet), the ban gets lifted/ terms and conditions of the ban change, much like a starlet changing clothes for a magazine shoot, and life goes back to normal. That is, those who weren't put off by the grotesque imagery on packets of said products, go grab them in their eager little paws once more.

I don't know if there's a solution here, honestly - you may even question whether awareness campaigns even cut it any more. And hence a ban is justified, according to some. At least that way, access is that much tougher, and consumption goes down. On the flip side, a (not so?) small little black market flourishes, and the ban is effectively moot. Becomes a farce, like so many other things.

So if not a ban - what? What will make people pause, think twice before reaching out for that ciggie? for that tobacco product that seemingly gives a high? I'm not a fan of smoking, both passive or active, and strongly believe that never mind burning a hole in your lungs or throat or mouth, look no further than your pocket to begin with. There itself the hole burns deep. In fact, passive smoking gets my goat, and how: why should someone else be at the receiving end of what you're subjecting your lungs to, and that too not out of choice? 

I'd rather pay my shopping bill instead of a hospital's.