Tag: Spanish

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!

Zumba Rumba!

April 30, 2023 / / 0 Comments

We are now on the last hobby post and why not dance with joy at the prospect of completing a challenge, the A-Z Blogging Challenge 2023!

Let’s start some music and enjoy dancing Zumba!

So, for Z it is Zumba Dancing!

Compared to all the other hobbies in the hobby posts, Zumba dancing is the youngest! Zumba was invented in 1990s, by a Columbian dancer and choreographer Beto Pérez. It is a fitness program developed using cardio exercises and Latin based dance moves.

Did you know that Zumba dancing is trade marked by a gym?

Well, Zumba is popular around the world, thanks to it being a full body aerobic and cardio workout. It combines the dance styles of  salsa, flamenco, chachacha, hip hop music and tango.

A Zumba dancer can burn 300 to 900 calories, which is a good number, considering we take in more than 2200 calories with just a single 14 inch pizza! Although it is advisable to eat only 2 slices of pizza in one sitting!

Thanks to the popularity of Zumba, we can enjoy the workout from the safety of our own homes through Youtube videos or can even subscribe to the Zumba DVDs, if you are up to it.

It is a good thing to take up Zumba, because, not only will it be a good hobby with the added advantage of fitness, but also reduces the chances of heart diseases.

Incidentally, Zumba is also banned in Iran and Israel! If you stay out of both Iran and Israel, why not go ahead and learn Zumba dancing? You will be both fit and happy! Give it a go, chalo Zumba!

P.S:

  1. The other hobbies starting with Z are Zip Lining, Zulu Dancing and Zoology. (We already saw two hobbies related to Zoology, entomology and ornithology. So I have refrained from Zoology in this post).
  2. Zombie Hunting comes under hobby with a Z, if it really was a thing!!
  3. Rumba roughly translates to Party!
  4. So, today on April 30th, we have come to an end of the Blogging Challenge. I will be back within the week with my regular posts. Do watch out.

Till the next post, adios amigos!

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!

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