Tag: COVID

For the Love of Pizza!

May 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

*** Post written just after the lockdown ***

Firstly, let us give a classy Chef’s kiss to the Italians who brought Pizza into the world! Thank you! (I would also love to thank the inventor of pani puri, but that is a post for another day!)

My earliest memories of Pizza are from my schooling days, when all of us, a bunch of more than 7 kids (give or take, at each instance) would haunt our favourite Global Bakery, order a small pizza, eat a slice each and smile like Cheshire Cat!

Birthdays, meant parties at our adda, the Global Bakery! (It is still busy and thriving. The Country Oven, just opposite to Global Bakery never had similar luck. It failed to take off from the start and eventually, closed the shop, forever.) That started my love for Pizza.

Once we ended our hectic +2, pizza became a routine, which later increased manifold, as soon as I started earning on my own! (Go Midland Bakery!)

I also love the fact that, the girl gang in my workplace, would visit Pizza Hut and eat pizza to our heart’s content. Ah! Who can forget all the beautiful memories I have with my friend SV and RR who would eat pizza with me, once in a while, during our training at Infosys, Mysore. In-fact, my friend SV managed to hurt the pizza hut guy at the Food Court-2, by calling him an uncle! (He looked like a 30 year old and we were a couple of 20 year olds, he was hardly an uncle, but it was just the case of a slip of the tongue, aadat se majboor!) He took offense to that and refused to serve pizza to us (others would serve us), till we stayed at the campus for all the 5 months of training. Those were the days!

Even though I have been in love with Pizza since my teens, this post is not about me!

Na-uh!

Later on, once Mr.Bee and I moved to Charlotte, Pizza was our go-to lunch and dinner during our lazy days. We would order in, laze on the couch with remote in our hands, binge watching Netflix. I introduced some dramas to Mr.Bee like Switched At Birth, Gilmore Girls, Cheers, Fraser,Fixer Upper by Chip and Joanna, Love It or List It and he introduced me to Avatar: The Last Airbender, Heroes and also Fast and Furious films,(which I loathe by the way)

I remember eating Pizza filled with mushrooms, from Mellow Mushrooms. (I am not a fan of mushrooms), the particularly soft Papa John’s Pizza with a pickle on the side, the usual favourite Pizza Hut and Dominoes. But the taste I have always admired and begun to miss is the Garden Fresh Pizza from Fuel. The friendly atmosphere at the pizzeria was a plus. I love my pizza with a topping of Basil, accompanied by the yummy Garlic Knots and chilli flakes with more than a sprinkle of oregano.

Mr.Bee had ordered Fuel Pizza on the very first lunch we had, after landing in Charlotte, so ya, Fuel has a special place in our hearts. (The Korean eatery Emzy was his first choice, which was apparently closed on that day, since it is in the Business district of Charlotte, where everything remains closed on weekends!)

Office parties for Mr.Bee always meant eating pizza, which is the best option for vegetarians in the USA. You can always add toppings according to your taste.

Even if Mr.Bee loves pizza and had eaten more pizzas than me, he is not what this post is about, either!

It all started with the Corona Lockdown, which made it hard for pizza lovers like us to eat out, the solution was to make pizza at home. Luckily, we don’t have a heavy duty oven good for baking! (Lucky, because, we would have piled on many kilos in weight, if not for the absence of the said baking oven!)

So, making pizza is how we spent the weekend.

Before and After!

Credit goes to Mr.Bee for making pizza, he was the Chef in this case and I was his Sous Chef, cutting the veggies for him and guess who liked it the most, GBee!

Yup, this post is about our new fan of Pizza, GBee. He loves pizza, but hates all the toppings, he removes all the veggies and gives them to me, very respectfully! So he is just eating a thick crust with tomato sauce and black olives on it and nothing else, not even cheese!) Can we really say he loves pizza? I am not sure now!

Mr.Bee was happy, he has a fan in his pizza cooking phase. Since then, we made pizza one more time. He also tried his hand at sandwiches too. (Mr.Bee discovered his love for cooking during the lockdown. Now that there is no lockdown, we don’t see him cook, as regularly)

GBee was so happy about pizza being made at home, he ran out to the main gate, shouted at the top of his lungs about pizza, surprising the guests of our top floor neighbours!

Announcing the pizza being made!

Confused strangers!

We have managed to fool GBee into thinking sandwiches are also pizza! Guess who loves sandwiches now?

P.S:

  1. I have recently come across the diary I had been writing during the lockdown, so I am posting them here now, before they turn too irrelevant and old! I also have posts during toddler years of GBee. I just need time to get everything on the computer!
  2. Now, almost 2 years after this incident, GBee is still not interested in eating veggies on the pizza, except black olives and he has completely stopped eating sandwiches!

Till the next post, adios my friends!

Among the Dragonflies!

May 18, 2023 / / 0 Comments

*** This post was written in during the Corona Lockdown of 2020***

How to spend time during the lockdown?

Well, GBee and I spend our mornings chasing after dragon flies.

It all started when it was decided that all the terrace space was going waste, so pots have been installed and seeds sown. Luckily for us, Rain God blessed us early on and with regular watering by Mr.Bee, the seeds have sprouted and plants grew in size.

We have climbers of cucumber and bottle gourd, plants of ladies finger (okra) and beans. Little coriander stalks with a couple of florets at the top, wave at us, with the slight breeze that lingers on the terrace, always.

The result of a dozen potted plants is, we now get to see a minimum of 10 dragonflies flying about our terrace at any given point of time, mostly the early mornings. Some 50 dragonflies already zoom around the bigger trees in our vicinity. (Almost all houses have huge trees.)

QueenBee and GBee discussing the dragonflies!

The impromptu meeting of the dragonflies!

To kill time, one fine morning, I showed GBee a dragon fly, resting on a random plant. Boy, was he hooked! Our daily routine now includes selecting a dragon fly and stalking it (out of its wits!), till it escapes from our line of vision by zooming away, above into the sky, probably for a peaceful life!

I, sometimes hum my favourite song, ‘thuneega thuneega’, a Telugu song, about two childhood friends running after dragonfly! (I am into situational songs!)

Now that we see dragonflies on a daily basis, we have discovered there are many varieties of them, which differ in colour, size and also texture. (Some look like they have been polished and some look rough, like they were chiseled by an amateur artist!)

Sadly, we are nowhere near Harry Potter’s amazing skills as a Seeker. He has keen vision which makes its easier to see and snatch a snitch in almost all his Quidditch matches.

GBee and I tried stalking a young dragonfly, which was hardly visible. It was a difficult task, because the fly was so thin and grayish in colour, matching the cement flooring on the terrace. It flew at a height of 5cm from the ground (low flier), and was difficult to perceive. I, now admire Harry Potter even more!

Nope, I and Gbee are not meant to be seekers, but we may get there soon, with practice and a little hardwork, stalking the dragonflies, that is!

P.S:

  1. This was before KBee was born.
  2. I hated the lockdown, because that made GBee a silent kid. Luckily, once the lockdown was lifted, we would regularly visit maternal grandparents, because, we didn’t trust any other place during Covid and slowly things came back to normal.
  3. Incidentally, during PP-2 graduation ceremony in March 2023, all the parents of GBee’s classmates had similar stories to share, about kids being affected due to Covid lockdown. (Parents were asked to speak on stage during the ceremony, impromptu!)

Till the next post!

Ornithology

April 15, 2023 / / 2 Comments

Zoology is a wide branch of science dealing with study of all kinds of animals and insects of all shapes. While we already learnt a little about insects in Entomology post in the A-Z Blogging Challenge, today we will learn more about Ornithology, i.e, the study of birds.

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O for Ornithology.

Everything, from studying birds in their natural habitat, through bird watching to observing their behavioral pattern and also the sounds they make comes under Ornithology. Ornithologists classify and categorize data by observation and also collecting bird skin and blood for scientific purposes. Bird blood is analysed to check for any pathogens or viruses, which can come in handy during the season of bird flu and the likes.

Birds picked up for studies are generally tagged and coded and data is updated, after regular checks.

Bird data is collected and stored at curated repositories where different bird specimens and parts are stored for studies and also as museums for people to visit and learn about. Natural History Museums come under this category.

Bird Collection museum Storage

The study of bird eggs is a study in itself called Oology, which is a branch of Ornithology.

Oology – Eggs of varied shapes

Did you know that the shape of the egg depends on the mother and her ability to fly?  Did you know the colour of the eggs is because of the mother bird’s diet?

The birds which are more apt to fly at high altitudes tend to produce elliptical eggs, where as birds like ostrich which can’t fly lay spherical (almost ball shaped) eggs. The only exception to this theory is the penguin, which only walks/runs on snow and ice, lays elliptical eggs. Ornithologists presume that, the elliptical shape of penguin egg may be due to its ability to swim in water!

Isn’t it interesting how, ostrich and penguin which can’t fly, are birds, whereas bats which fly, are not! Wait, bats are not birds? They can fly, yes, but they don’t lay eggs like birds, but give birth to young ones. (Birds are safe from the blame of COVID crisis! Mammals, we blame you!)

Interested in learning more about birds? Then go ahead and begin the study of Ornithology!

P.S:

  1. The other hobbies starting with an O are the Japanese art of paper folding called Origami and Opera!
  2. When you think of Ornithology, it is very difficult not to remember Salim Ali, who is synonymous to ornithology in India. The Tamil movie, directed by Shankar, 2.0, starring Rajnikanth and Amy Jackson where Akshay Kumar plays the villain who has a soft spot for birds is actually based on the Bird Man of India, Salim Ali. The movie sucked big time, thanks to glaring loop holes in the story. Thanks but no thanks!
  3. Cell towers and aeroplanes are hazards birds face on a day to day basis.  Did you know birds can’t see glass objects like windows?
  4. Even though I am posting about some important topics, I am not going too deep into the subject, as I want them to be easy to understand. Feel free to dig deeper if I could pique your interest. Till the next post, adios amigos!

Baking is fun!

April 4, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Pat-a-cake, Pat-a-cake baker’s man,

Bake me a cake as fast as you can,

Pat it and roll it and mark it with a ‘B’,

Put it in the oven for baby and me!

so goes the rhyme….that is how much fun baking can be, if you put your mind into it!

B for Baking….

If you search the net for the definition of baking, you will know that, baking is a process in which cooking is done using dry heat, like that in an oven or cooking on hot stones or even hot sand. (I remember when my mom used to make yummy Osmania biscuits, which she baked on hot sand and fed us poor souls! She loves to cook, so I have tasted many varieties of dishes and that has made a picky eater like me into a complete foodie. Thank you Amma.)

Thankfully, baking doesn’t only mean cooking in oven or on hot stones and sand, it can also be done through steam, called steam baking and our own pressure cookers are the perfect examples of that. You can even buy Steam Oven if you are invested in cooking healthy!

But it is difficult to talk about baking and not to mention French Bakers and their breads.  While we lived in Charlotte, NC, USA, Mr.Bee and I used to visit a French Bakery Amelie, which always had a heavy inflow of customers, coming for their chocolate eclairs and croissants. Although I didn’t mind eating there, I still missed the curry puffs from our Desi bakeries, back home! I love their bread, though. Never seen so many different shapes of bread and I found heaven on earth. (Bread makes me salivate!)

Anyway, baking is a good hobby. I managed to bake a cake on GBee‘s third birthday, during peak COVID lock-down, with the help of Mr.Bee. I decorated it with crushed Gems, because GBee loves them, like a lot!!

The cake may not look like it, but it was yummy. We made it with bourbon biscuits, thanks to my friend K. (Even Marie biscuits can be used to bake a cake. They are Indian alternate to Graham Crackers)  Even though the cake had a wonderful taste and vanished into our mouths an hour after our baking, GBee hardly had a spoonful. He hates cakes. Even now, he only eats the chocolate flowers or balls which are used on top of a cake for decoration, but leaves out the main cake!

Now that I think about it, Mr.Bee baked me a cake, a year into our marriage.  He made it from scratch, moulds, multi purpose flour, whisking, baking in oven etc etc. (we were in USA then) I think it was a chocolate lava cake or something. Thank you Mr.Bee, once again!

Mr.Bee made the cake, topping it with my favourite fruit, strawberry.

So, have you even tried baking as a hobby yet?

P.S:

  1. Cooking in a Tandoor (clay) oven to make naan comes under baking.
  2. The French bread that I love is the Wheat Stalk bread, which I had at the Venetian, Las Vegas. (That might be because I loved the place as well!)

3. I love watching MasterChef Australia. It taught me so much. Although I don’t cook most of what is shown in the series, I enjoy watching chefs exhibit their creativity.

I also love a webtoon, Gourmet Hound, which taught me so much about French Baking!

Let me add Li Ziqi in the mix! She is a Chinese vlogger, whose videos I watch, which promote healthy traditional way of living.

4. The other hobbies starting with a B are Barbecuing , Badminton and Body Building. I have a long list of hobbies to post, so there will be a windfall of posts this month. Till the next hobby post, cheerio. Oh, do check out all the links in the post, if you want to go deeper into the topic. Au revoir my French bread loving friends!

Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey!

February 24, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Long ago, but not very long ago, in 2019 B.C. (Before Covid!), Mr.Bee , I and GBee, then an only child, flew to Maldives, for our summer vacation. (Do visit Maldives if you love to travel, because, nothing beats the quaint little cluster islands! Nope, Tourism Department of Maldives has no idea I am promoting their country. It’s just goodwill.)

Anyway, while we were returning to the airport, (There will be a detailed post about our travel, soon), we met a fellow Indian, a doctor at that. She was serving the people of Maldives. It is my privilege meeting her, because, anyone working on an island, for people’s health needs all the respect one can give! The said doctor , KV became a very good friend of mine. (I don’t make friends easily. I am an introvert and introverts generally treasure their friends.)

We have stayed in touch and I hope to meet her again some day. She stays in Pondicherry, so I need to plan well ahead to visit her!

Meanwhile, KV once suggested all her friends to watch Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey! (a Malayalam movie on Disney Hotstar) As soon as she did, I watched it, sacrificing my precious sleep and I don’t mind it one bit.

It is one such movie you should never miss. What a movie!

Movie Name: Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey!

Released in: 2022

Actors : None that I know of. (No Malayalam Super stars in the movie)

Queen Bee watched in : December 2022

Firstly, if you thought the story has hints of patriotism, since the title is the lyrics of our Indian National Anthem, then you are greatly mistaken.

The movie is about Jaya, a lower middle class girl from Kerala, whose life decisions are always made by her father and maternal uncle and after marriage by her husband. She is not even allowed to study as per her choice. Her uncle is against her studying away from home and manages to convince her dad that studying in a local college is the best choice for Jaya.

She adjusts to a course, falls in love with a lecturer there, who in fact encourages her to study well. Turns out, he is not as good as he lets on, he is a possessive guy who is also abusive. (Yuk! Possessiveness and abusive nature are both repulsive, in both men and women.)

Like all Indian parents,once her love story gets out, she is soon married off to the first guy her parents find for her. I liked the subtle emotions the heroine Jaya shows, like how she is frustrated when her uncle is crying during her bidaai. (He was the one who spearheaded her marriage!)

The initial days of her marriage show that her husband Rajesh is a guy of routine, who hates trying anything new. It is, personally,  so off putting and exasperating at once. He eats the same food every single day! I mean, how is that even possible? If someone takes the pain to cook something new each day, they should be appreciated for putting in effort. But Rajesh begins to abuse Jaya! (Maybe the song from Saaho, Saiyya Psycho, would have been apt here!)

At first, he feels bad that he slapped Jaya. He takes her out on a date to appease her.  But the same story keeps happening in a loop, slapping her, taking her out.

Jaya’s mother in law and sister in law, who stay with the newly weds, have no say in the house.  Jaya reaches out to her parents and they tell her to shut up. Just when we begin to think the movie is going to take a routine turn, Jaya shows us what a topper with a will of steel can do. She gives back what she gets, the abuse, to her husband! (That is the moment which made me sit up and watch!)

From this point on, the movie is on an upward curve. It is more like who will let their guard down first and who will win.

I really loved the acting of the lead pair. Jaya made me admire her grit and determination, Rajesh made me want to kick him repeatedly. Top class!

Even when everyone is against Jaya for turning against her abusive husband, only her brother seems to understand her, which was unexpected. We never see much bonding, but, when they have a common enemy, it shows, blood is truly thicker than water!  (In typical Telugu movie style, it is called Rakta Sambandham!)

The one scene that I liked a lot is the one, where the egoistic, chauvinistic hero, (I have never used such adjective for a movie hero, ever!) finds his mom and sister in the kitchen. His mom had been a young widow, his sister had been abandoned within a year of marriage by her husband.  But both manage to survive, because women are mentally strong. The hero is already defeated, because, he knows he can’t survive as a single man!

Thankfully, it is not a sob story. It is more about women empowerment and teaches us without being preachy and I love it more for that! If you are up for watching a movie, why not go ahead and watch Jaya Jaya Jaya Jaya Hey and you can thank me later!

P.S:

  1. The most important thing that one needs to remember is that women listen! So be careful about what you talk around her. She may look homely and demure, but she packs quite a punch and she can accomplish anything she sets her mind to!
  2. This is one such movie which gets top marks for the effort, the story, the presentation.  I watched the movie when I was feeling low and it instantly cheered me up. Why not watch it and decide on my credibility?
  3. The other malayalam movies that I love are Mohanlal’s Drishyam (Sorry Venkatesh, I love the original better, even if I saw it a lot later than yours!) and Ayyappanum Koshiyum.
  4. Bidaai or Vidaai is the process of sending away one’s daughter after marriage.
  5. Dear friends, if you ever meet someone who is being abused or if a victim confides in you about his/her partner being abusive, kindly help and support them. Even a famous actor like Johnny Depp was abused by his wife, so men and women can both be victims of domestic abuse.

The Magic of the Lost Temple

February 6, 2023 / / 0 Comments

Although I am a self confessed book worm, I have read very little books by Indian authors.  That being said, the only children’s books I have ever read were comics like Tin Tin, Aesop Fables, Hans Andersen’s stories, later progressing to Nancy Drew mysteries, Hardy Boys and my all time favourites the Famous Five series by Enid Blyton (which made my childhood worthwhile!). Then I jumped right into the world of murder mysteries and never looked back. (Its either mysteries or biographies for me. I know it is a weird combination!)

Years later, when I wanted to introduce GBee to some good books, I began my survey and came across Ruskin Bond. (GBee is still  5 year old, so getting him to sit at a place is something on its own, making him read will be a mountain of a challenge, for now).

I decided to pique his interest in books through puzzles and meanwhile, I stumbled upon books by Sudha Murty(who needs no introduction), during a recent car trip to the temple town of Yadagirigutta, a 2-hour drive from Hyderabad.

The title of the book forced me to buy it and I wanted to know her writing style.

Here goes the review, after an apparently lengthy intro.

Book :  The Magic of the Lost Temple

Author : Sudha Murty

Published in :2015

QB Bought in : 2023

Genre : Children’s book

The story is about Nooni, (short for Anoushka), a city born only child to her Doctor father and bank officer mother.  Her life is filled up with school, studies, summer camps , swimming classes and yearly trips to Coorg. (Did I say, she is from Bangalore?)

Anyway,this city born kiddo is sent to Somanahalli, for her summer, because of her mother’s training in Delhi. She lands in paternal grandparents house and this is the turning point of her life.

She gets to learn many things first hand, about almost everthing. I couldn’t help but draw parallels to my own childhood.

Sleeping under the stars and counting them, admiring the Moon (which generally plays hide and seek with us, from our city apartments), the types of plants and medicinal trees in Indian village houses, similar to the garden my ammamma (maternal grandmother) had in our village. Aaji giving hair massages to Nooni and washing it with home grown Shikakai with a bucket of hot water (so unlike the showers we take in cities) reminded me of my mamma(paternal grandmother) doing the same for me, in Laxmi Nagaram.

Nooni never knew sweets were made at home during festivals and marriages. She only knows buying the sweets over the counter at Haldirams!

As the story progresses, Aaji tells the story of Somanahalli step-well, which mesmerizes Nooni. The step-well might have been a fiction, but Nooni discovers the said step-well! (here the story reminded me of Famous Five series by Enid Blyton, because of the adventure involved).

A Step well looks like this

What I liked:

The values. It reminds of the good old days, where the families helped each other during any function. They were there, whether it is a celebration or a death, to give us a helping hand. (Today we find very little of that)

The rules. The elders before us, often made rules for a reason. If they say, don’t open a temple during an Amavasya, it had a valid reason. There is a reason the elders dictated that one should enter a temple only after cleaning themselves. That was proved beyond a doubt during the time of COVID pandemic. We began to understand how important cleanliness is.

The style of writing is as simple as that of Ruskin Bond. Let me tell you a little secret. It is very difficult to write in simple prose. So if you find a writer who specializes in simple prose, BINGO, it means the writer is a gem!

P.S:

  1. I loved the back story behind the idea for the story. Goes to show a small incident is enough to create beautiful stories, if you are a creative person.
  2. Hans Andersen is the Dutch writer, who wrote the most famous stories of The Mermaid, The Emperor’s new clothes, Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling and more. He is a legend as far as children’s books are concerned. If you have not read any of those, go ahead and read them. If you have forgotten them, read them to refresh your memory. I just wonder what must it have been like to be a famous author during those times!

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