AN EVENING TO REMEMBER

...is what the evening of 1st June will be, given that the maestros are performing!

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Point Reyes National Park, CA

....the only thing that a man can do for eight hours a day, day after day, is work. You can't eat eight hours a day nor drink for eight hours a day nor make love for eight hours—all you can do for eight hours is work.....

—William Faulkner

ALONE

I sit slouched on the couch, laptop on my lap, meaninglessly surfing the internet and refreshing my email page every five minutes or so. I look back at the clock on the wall. It is 5 o’clock. On any other day, I would be outside my apartment complex waiting for you to go to the park for a walk or a run. But today is different - I ignore the clock’s toll and sink even deeper into the couch. I don’t feel like heading out; not yet. 45 minutes later I have overcome my inertia and I head out. I consider carrying my iPod along but instead take my cell phone.

I take a deep breath and start walking. I pause briefly outside your apartment, as if waiting for you to emerge – silly me! I have an idea; I call your cell phone, only to reach your voicemail. Just as I am telling myself to gear up to be alone henceforth, you call. We chat for a little bit, then, you hang up and I am alone again.

I don’t spot many familiar faces on the trail today. But when I do see one, I smile at them eagerly, hoping they stop me and ask about your absence. None does. With no one to point new flowers to, or share the excitement over spotting a new bird, or exchange notes of domesticity and satisfy the inherent girlish (or womanly) need to babble, the trail seems to stretch longer than usual. I try to focus my mind on something other than our times together.

I get back home after an hour that seemed painfully long. No extra gossip time at your apartment steps today, nor any beseeching to stop by for a cup of chai. Hmm..I’ll brew my own chai or even better, make myself some lemonade from the lemons you left for me… :)

POINT REYES WILDFLOWERS

We went hiking at Point Reyes NP this Saturday and ended up doing the Woodward Valley Loop (~13mi./21km)! We hadn't planned on a particular trail and took up trails hoping to catch some wildflowers or seeing the ocean and thus ended up doing such a long hike. Bear Valley Trailhead was where we started our hike. The trail was wide and foresty with occasional meandering streams along the way. But what fun it is to hike on a level trail!? So we climbed up the Meadow Trail to Sky Trail. We continued to Woodward Valley and then went down to Coast Trail. As we traversed hills, the blue ocean views only got bigger and bigger. We took a break for lunch and then continued on our hike. We got back on the Bear Valley Trail on which we took another short break at Divine Meadows. We spotted a herd of deer at a distance. I was hoping they'd do some sprinting for us, but they were in no mood for that, since they did not budge. The hike wasn't too strenuous (no drastic elevation changes); of course we were exhausted after being out all day, but it was all worth the wildflowers, deer we spotted, the bird songs we heard and the clear views of the ocean.

I wish I had taken many more flower pictures, oh well...I need help identifying the 1st two flowers in this post. These we spotted on the Bear Valley Trail, two bright little things all by themselves. They were right next to each other and kind of similar yet so different....I'd appreciate if you could point me to their names....

Sky Lupine

Indian Paintbrush

Monkeyflower

Blue eyed Grass

Iris douglasiana (Douglas Iris)

P.S. - We avoided the restroom at Divine Meadows, hoping to use the ones outside the Visitor Center. But that was a bad idea, since the Visitor Center was closed and the restrooms locked by the time we got there! (6pm-ish)

WILDFLOWERS 101

We were hiking at the Henry Coe State Park last Sunday. The drive to the park is beautiful. The surrounding mountains were green from the earlier rains and in patches dotted with yellow and orange wildflowers. The last part of the drive was along a narrow winding road that kept going up steadily and offered some lovely views.

Newspaper articles about the possible abundance of spring wildflowers this year had gotten me quite excited. So we chose trails that promised us wildflowers. My ideas of floral abundance were not quite met, but maybe we were too early for them. Our camera batteries conked off just a little after we started taking pictures. Anyways, here are a few that we managed to capture...

California poppy

Ookow

Miniature Lupine (?)

Mountain Violet

FRIED GREEN TOMATOES

I had been craving for some tangy green tomato chutney for quite some time, but I never saw any green tomatoes at the local grocery stores. I had some nice, green tomato salsa at S's place and then I couldn't take it anymore. L suggested I look for Tomatillos in the stores. Last week I found the green tomatoes at the Indian grocery store. I asked the clerk there if they stocked any green tomatoes. He gladly took me to a box full of green tomatoes that he had stowed away fearing nobody would want them!!

Armed with the perfect, sour green tomatoes I turned them into this spicy-sweet n sour chutney.

The secret of life? The secret's in the sauce.

I am an absolute bum when it comes to writing down recipes. G, you asked for it ;)

RECIPE

• Roast some sesame and cumin seeds.
• Roast some garlic cloves and green chillies with just a little bit of oil.
• Roast coarsely chopped chunks of green tomatoes till they soften. Optionally you can saute them in oil. In order to save my non-stick pan I added just a little bit of oil. You can also add onions if you wish.
• Grind the ingredients together after adding salt and sugar as per taste.
• For the tadka - Heat a little bit oil (may be like a tablespoon). Add asofoetida, mustard seeds. When the seeds begin to crackle, add methi seeds, curry leaves and dried chillies.
• Pour this over the ground mixture.
  
• Garnish with cilantro.

HOLI

Holi is an important Indian festival celebrated enthusiastically almost all over the country. To most Indians, the word Holi conjures images of people spraying color and water on each other, but my Holi is always sans colors. Until a few years ago my family used to light the traditional Holi bonfire in our front yard. Neighbours would gather and we would enjoy the warmth of the fire along with multiple rounds of sweet, wet coconut as 'prasad'. Often we would toss potatoes and onions in the fire and later savor these roasted veggies. In our effort to be as green as possible, we no longer have the bonfire in our yard. Instead we go to the community bonfire in our society.

This year's Holi was away from home. I did miss the bonfire and the festive spirit, but I tried to ring in some cheer by making the traditional Holi fare - puranpoli. Here are some images of our Holi meal.

Corn Pakodas

Puranpoli and Katachi aamti

Potato bhaji