Looking through the glass bricks of our bathroom window facing west.
Going to the Movies
Today, we saw House of Flying Daggers from the same guy who made Hero, Zhang Yimou. Flying Daggers did not come close to having such an engaging story, relying too much on the atmosphere instead of the characters. The time spent watching this movie was not time well spent.
Skyping
About a year ago, I installed Skype but had no one to talk to. Today, I use it to talk with Michael Geesmann in Berlin, Germany, and Caroline uses Skype Out to talk with her mom in Frankfurt, Germany. Michael is an old friend from Frankfurt who now makes a living working out of his apartment selling various small gift items on eBay. Since last September Michael and I have talked for free for a total of many hours. Another old friend, Olaf Finkbeiner, is also using Skype but he is rarely available. Using Skype Out Caroline has talked with her mom for about a dozen hours with a cost of only .02 cents per minute. Voice over I.P. or VOIP is a dream on broadband, but using Skype Out to call our friend Jay Patel in Bombay, India, on his cell phone hasn’t worked out yet; the connection is far too noisy and impossible even to establish anything resembling a conversation. Having a chat window open while at the same time talking is the best of both worlds – telecom and the internet; as we talk, we send links back and forth, introducing each other to various websites.
Grocery Store
Food City is a local market aimed primarily at Hispanic shoppers. Caroline and I love this store as the prices can be as much as 70% cheaper than Albertson’s or the other large chain grocers. In addition, the shoppers are friendlier, and the choices for ethnic cooking introducing us to new food items have been wonderful.
Grocery Shopping
I Drove 26 miles south to Lee Lee’s Asian Grocery in Chandler to pick up 20 lbs of brown rice, a lot of fresh mint, green tea, Pak Choy, and a couple of boxes of Nag Champa incense. The next stop was the Guadalupe Farmers Market for some Mexican squash, tomatoes, strawberry’s, red onions, garlic, zucchini, and a dozen whole wheat tortillas. Off to DeFalco’s Italian Deli for lasagna noodles, tomato sauce and paste, balsamic vinegar, and some spinach tagliatelle. Back across the valley to Whole Foods where I picked up ricotta, fresh mozzarella, and a block of Asiago Mezzano Monti Trentini dry cheese to be used on our pasta dishes. Down the street to Henry’s, and I pack up some bulk products, 6-grain hot cereal, walnuts, flaxseed, quinoa, couscous, and rolled oats; closer to home is Food City for some apples, bananas, pears, jalapenos, and cilantro.
Making Sambar
Sambar is a South Indian dish typically served with Idli. For this recipe, I’ve made some changes to make it more of a stew than a soup. The original recipe comes from Raenu’s mom after having dinner at their house one evening and falling in love with her Sambar.