The amount of metal and color-void in there makes makes me claustrophobic; I have no use in my life for so many nuts, bolts, tubes and yabadity with peculiar angles and prosaic functions - or so I had thought. I rethank the unthinkable when I made a visit to the hardware store with my husband today. A hardware shop is to a man what a shoe store is to a woman: The jaw-numbing, finger-curling greed to touch and own everything in sight.
June 12, 2011
June 3, 2011
My Love Affair...with Bell Peppers
From my breakfast eggs to my dinner rice, from salads to chicken karahi (soups and pasta!), bell peppers have been creeping their way into my cooking too much. For the past month, a day has not passed that I haven't had them in one form or another. At any given time I have a superbly-well-replenished stock of bell peppers in my refrigerator's vegetable rack. A carefully halved bell pepper adorns the central shelf of the fridge at all times too, waiting to be sliced/julienned/diced and consumed - the other half I have already eaten. My skill with the knife has improved immensely with all the slicing and dicing and julienning of bell peppers I have been doing recently.
Bell peppers are botanically fruits but are considered to be vegetables by most. They add zest to just about anything but the combination of chicken, cheese and bell peppers can kill with intense savory overload. Boiled, baked, sauted - they make my food look and taste hot. I'm not getting over this love affair any time soon.
June 1, 2011
The Phantom (Very Satisfactorily) Revisited
While having an active imagination has many benefits, having one on overdrive can be a major pain in the hindquarters too. You tend to demand answers to just too many questions from the writer of a book or director of a movie. The frustration is almost palpable. The creators bank on this imagination to answer the unanswered but that backfires for me all too often. This explains why the very last scene of Titanic saved me from crumbling with heartbreak and the last page of Gone with the Wind
left me depressed for an entire week. No doubt that's also the reason for Scarlett
.
Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera irks me to no end: Too many questions, too many ifs-buts and just too darn much left to the imagination. So when I recently came upon Susan Kay's Phantom, I, with shaking fingers and a heartful of optimistic anticipation, clicked to download it on my Kindle.
Oh, what a delightful ride! Very similar to the extremely single experience of watching a fantastic movie of your favorite book. To say that it appeased me is not enough: it combined wit and emotion with flowing writing to create a beautiful journey that should have been Erik's life. For my romantic self, who savors sitting awake all night reading beautiful stories of strong men with tragic pasts who find love and redemption, this book was the complete package. If you're a Phantom enthusiast, you must pick up this book for the weekend to explore what is possibly beneath the "tip of the iceberg" of Erik's person, as the author puts it. It was a quick and satisfying read for me. I don't plan on reviewing it here; I'll just add some quotes I highlighted while reading.
Erik bound like an animal in a cage: "I am still unable to explain that strange mental paralysis, except to acknowledge that the mind is capable of erecting barriers far stronger than any physical fence. Such is the key to all illusion, and God knows it was a key I learned to turn often enough on others. For me, at that moment, the illusion of captivity was so complete that even had he left the door unbarred I sometimes wonder whether I should not still have sat there, staring through the bars, like a hopeless chained animal who knows no better than to wait patiently and endure."
Erik's scruples on killing women: "...by and large they were unworthy prey, women, fragile creatures who already seemed created to endure too much suffering; cruel husbands, childbirth, and early death… And it's really very difficult to kill someone when all your inner instincts would oblige you to take off your hat first!"
Erik attempting to frighten Christine: "I seem to remember how very little it takes to frighten you, Christine. But you really shouldn't be frightened of Death. He's very approachable, really, not at all aloof, never passes by on the other side of the road simply because he's not been introduced. He makes no distinctions of class… a flea-bitten rat or a beautiful princess, it's all the same to Death. But of course, like anyone else he enjoys a little novelty in his work. It helps to pass the time."
left me depressed for an entire week. No doubt that's also the reason for Scarlett. Gaston Leroux's Phantom of the Opera irks me to no end: Too many questions, too many ifs-buts and just too darn much left to the imagination. So when I recently came upon Susan Kay's Phantom, I, with shaking fingers and a heartful of optimistic anticipation, clicked to download it on my Kindle.
Oh, what a delightful ride! Very similar to the extremely single experience of watching a fantastic movie of your favorite book. To say that it appeased me is not enough: it combined wit and emotion with flowing writing to create a beautiful journey that should have been Erik's life. For my romantic self, who savors sitting awake all night reading beautiful stories of strong men with tragic pasts who find love and redemption, this book was the complete package. If you're a Phantom enthusiast, you must pick up this book for the weekend to explore what is possibly beneath the "tip of the iceberg" of Erik's person, as the author puts it. It was a quick and satisfying read for me. I don't plan on reviewing it here; I'll just add some quotes I highlighted while reading.
Erik bound like an animal in a cage: "I am still unable to explain that strange mental paralysis, except to acknowledge that the mind is capable of erecting barriers far stronger than any physical fence. Such is the key to all illusion, and God knows it was a key I learned to turn often enough on others. For me, at that moment, the illusion of captivity was so complete that even had he left the door unbarred I sometimes wonder whether I should not still have sat there, staring through the bars, like a hopeless chained animal who knows no better than to wait patiently and endure."
Erik's scruples on killing women: "...by and large they were unworthy prey, women, fragile creatures who already seemed created to endure too much suffering; cruel husbands, childbirth, and early death… And it's really very difficult to kill someone when all your inner instincts would oblige you to take off your hat first!"
Erik attempting to frighten Christine: "I seem to remember how very little it takes to frighten you, Christine. But you really shouldn't be frightened of Death. He's very approachable, really, not at all aloof, never passes by on the other side of the road simply because he's not been introduced. He makes no distinctions of class… a flea-bitten rat or a beautiful princess, it's all the same to Death. But of course, like anyone else he enjoys a little novelty in his work. It helps to pass the time."
Happy, scrumptious reading!
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