Barack Obama in Austin : Round 1 in the K household

R and I have both been passionate followers of the Primaries, R more so than me. Since we are a house divided on the issue, though we both support the Democrats this election, we have many long and heated 'conversations' on the subject. We have both agreed to disagree without trying to convert the other to our cause. I have been supporting Senator Clinton till now, while R is a staunch Barack loyalist. I would like to make this clear that I do not oppose Senator Obama, I think it is the policy grounding that I got in my planning degree which makes me support Hillary who as is evident in her speeches and debates, is an unashamed policy wonk, though of course the idea of the first female US President is in itself tremendously exciting. I do of course believe that she is thoroughly qualified to be the President. When we heard that Barack Obama would be conducting a townhall in Austin on the 28th of February, we both jumped at the chance to attend.

The townhall was supposed to start at 9.30 am at the Austin Convention Center. R, I and our friend A, in our enthusiasm got there at 7.15 to discover a long line outside. People had started lining up at 5 am! Well. Austinites are definitely passionate about their politics! The doors opened at 7.30 and we were able to get excellent seats in the third row, about 15 feet away from the podium. By 9.30 the place had pretty much filled up and one could feel the excitement in the air as everyone waited for Barack Obama to show up. He showed up around 9.50 to the loud chanting of Yes We Can! There is no denying that he is an extremely charismatic and gifted orator, with excellent control of the audience who were hanging on to his every word. The 15 minute speech felt a little jaded though, but the blame is probably on this media driven age where we have heard and read the speech many times over. I had two questions, one was about his plans to invest in green energy and the other to invest in funding research at Universities. Both got answered along with other questions and I must say that though of course there was not enough time to answer it in as much detail as I would have liked, he did have polices I would agree with. In all, he was able to take only six questions on subjects ranging from 'No Child Left Behind' , the US Patent Office, fiscal responsibility for the government, foreign aid to Africa to creating jobs for the next generation. I personally thought the highlight of the debate was the fact that he seems to be keen about fiscal responsibility, even though liberal Democrats are often accused of being big spenders. The 'cute' moment of the meeting came at the end, when he took a question from a 9 year old who actually had two questions, the first one being if he would sign her book.

I liked the fact that he doesn't offer a panacea to everything and doesn't promise that the government would solve everyones' difficulties. He emphasized that although the government could put helpful policies in place and help people along the way, it is up to people to be proactive and take charge of their lives. I thought that this attitude overall makes him a compelling choice for the Democrat nominee. Of course I am still not a total convert till I give Hillary a chance!

Indian curry at Java Noodles

After enduring a considerable period of time feeling nauseated by the sight, smell and even thought of food, I felt really happy at having regained a semblance of my former appetite. I still don't feel like eating any kind of meat. But the one exception I can always make is for the Indian chicken curry at Java Noodles, an Indonesian restaurant in Austin. One might well wonder why would an Indian go to eat Indian chicken curry at an Indonesian restaurant. I did run a quick Google search on Indian curries in Indonesia, but not with much success. I have no idea if it is eaten in Indonesia or if this is creation that took place in the US. Since Java Noodles is a good 14-15 miles from my house and the Indian curry is served only for Sunday lunch buffets, it's not a regular feature of our lives. But some days, the craving hits and I start dropping not so subtle hints to R and a few other friends. Fortunately R and our friends like the food there too, so not much persuasion is needed.

Making sure that we have a light or preferably no breakfast in order to do justice to our hearty lunch, we reach Java Noodles around noon. First I head towards the soup counter and help myself to tangy coconut soup. After that although there is a decent spread of other good stuff like satay, nasi goreng, rendang etc, I head directly towards the Indian chicken curry, ladling plenty of curry in a soup bowl along with 1-2 chicken pieces.I also help myself to some the crusty bread, which is perfect for sopping all the curry. One of the key features that makes this curry is that the chicken is not boned unlike the flavorless morsels which are usually served at other South Asian places where boned pieces are poached beforehand and then added to the curry while it is being heated. The fact that the pieces cook along with the curry lends it a special flavor. I am not sure what other ingredients are used, but I would guess there was liberal use of minced onions, grated coconut and lots of turmeric. I have tried the other food there before, and although it is quite good in it's own right, I don't want to to dilute the flavor of my favorite and so have given up on trying anything else. I do hope the restaurant adds this dish to their regular menu soon!

Tomato Soup

I have loved tomato soup ever since I was a child. Steaming hot soup with lots of croutons, a swirl of cream and generous sprinklings of freshly ground black pepper.. yum! Hotel Darshan in Pune at the intersection of Prabhat Road and Karve Road used to serve really good tomato soup. In Austin, Romeo's serves a really good tomato basil soup. Tomato enthusiasts know that the best tomatoes are available here in summer, but this is a great way to eat some tomatoes in winter too. This is also a great lunch option with some crisp toast instead of the croutons.
However I am not a big fan of tomato soup loaded with cream, it takes away from the natural taste of the tomato. I much prefer a lighter soup with a more concentrated tomato taste. The addition of cream is basically for thickening the consistency and to give it a smoother texture. One way to get round this is to add cornflour, but a better way is to add boiled carrots or potatoes. Carrots are preferable for the color as well as the taste they add to the soup.

Start by washing 4-5 big tomatoes, usually Roma. Cut a cross shape at their stem end to make it easier to peel them later. I take 2 carrots, wash them thoroughly, cutting the carrots into 2-3 pieces each. Set some water to boil, enough to cover all the tomatoes. After the water comes to a boil, add the tomatoes, stem end up, along with the carrots.

Let the water boil for some time, till the skin of the tomatoes starts shrivelling and the carrots turn a little soft. At this point, turn off the heat and remove the tomatoes and carrots from the water with a slotted spoon. I save the water to add to the soup later. I usually wait till the tomatoes cool down before peeling the skin. Blend the peeled tomatoes, and carrots in a blender to a smooth puree, adding some water from the boiling pot if needed. Pour the puree back in the boiling pot. Add about 2tbsp of butter, 4-6 peppercorns, some salt and some basil if desired. Bring back to a boil. Allow to simmer for 5-10 minutes before tasting for salt. Add a little sugar if desired to balance the tomatoes. Simmer for 5-10 minutes more and tomato soup is ready!

Awaiting The Deathly Hallows

Along with many other things, my genetic inheritance from my parents is a love of reading. My mother and my father both love to read, though they both read very different genres. Back in Poona, our house is crowded with book shelves. The one thing I have never been denied (for the fear that I might be spoilt) is a library membership. I even got to choose my own library at the age of seven as I was not too happy with the selection from the library my mother went to. Not too many Enid Blytons there! People who lived in or are living in India will remember that libraries in India are usually small private enterprises, usually housed in an outhouse or garage and run by retired folks or ladies who look at it as a part time occupation. The first thing I wanted to do after some super stressful exams was to go home and read a good book, stay up late in the night reading. I think I always disappointed my peers who would have rather gone out partying or at least for a movie.When I saw the library collection at UT, Austin (yes, I am a Longhorn!!), the tenth largest in the United States, according to the American Library Association, with 8,937,002 volumes, I was elated. Every book that I could think of, I could get.

This week, me and my friends are living in eager anticipation of Harry Potter - The Deathly Hallows, surely the biggest phenomenon in the book reading world to date. Part of the Harry Potter experience has been this waiting period between each book, of going over the many possibilities of what could happen and finding out what actually did. I got into the series quite late - just before the launch of book 4. Once I started reading, I was addicted. Always on the lookout for a good book, the fact there were 3 more books to follow made me extremely happy. Book 7 will be the culmination of the series, when all the missing links get tied in and all the questions get answered (hopefully not too tragically). I wasn't around when Lord of the Rings was being published, so cant really compare it to what it must have felt like to wait for the later parts. But I do feel really lucky to have been around for this series. I am sure having all seven books at hand is not the same! So 5 days, and 10 hours to go .........

The Cool House Tour

Austin is routinely rated among the best places to live in the USA. Most ratings seem to elicit just a good natured yawn from long time residents - sort of like... well we already knew that, didn't we? Tell us something we don't know. I confess I hate Austin summers, but there is little else i don't like about this city I now call home. A booming metropolis on the make, with a small town feel, getting more and more diverse by the day with a young energetic population, Austin offers a lot of opportunities to do well 'Austiny' things. Like spending a Sunday going about town, carpooling of course with good friends S and S, to see and experience 8 environment friendly houses at the start of the Austin summer. The Cool House Tour 2006, organized by the Texas Solar Energy Society and the Austin Green Energy Building Program offered 8 houses that have incorporated different features to go green. Looks like in addition to all the accolades Austin regularly receives, it is now aiming to become one of the greenest cities in the US. Way to go!! As an architect by education, and an environmentalist by vocation, I loved the idea. After visiting each of the houses, (no we did not skip a single one) I was even more impressed. All the houses looked very different, reflecting the personalities of the people who lived in them. All of them were warm and inviting and had none of the cold mechanical look that might be associated with green buildings. Careful and judicious use of green building features like ceiling fans to reduce the load on air conditioning systems, sensitivity to site design, use of appropriate and sometimes recycled building materials, water tanks, bamboo flooring etc. combined into the very distinct design of each building led to a very pleasing effect overall. I and R came back with some resolutions, (The Cool House Tour- our resolutions), which we hope to gradually incorporate into our own house. So if you are in Austin at the start of summer, do try and go for the Cool House Tour!

Tomato Pickle (tomatoche lonche)

Tomato pickle is a finger licking good relish, which both I and R love. Lots of tomatoes, garlic, and chillies, sort of like an Indian version of a cooked salsa. My mother made this frequently and I always ate it more like a bhaji (vegetable) than a lonche (pickle). I love to have it with some simple amti bhat or varan bhat. Though earlier I used canned sliced tomatoes for convenience, I have come back to dicing tomatoes myself, even though it is a fairly laborious task as a lot of raw cut tomatoes yields a comparatively small amount of the cooked pickle. Although the preparation time is not much except for dicing the tomatoes, it does take quite a long time to finish cooking. But being patient pays off when you taste the saturated hot garlicky tomatoey taste! When I recently saw the theme of Regional Cuisine of India - June hosted by One Hot Stove, I knew what my entry would be. This is my entry for RCI June: Maharashtrian Cuisine.

Recipe
About 2.5-3 cups of diced tomatoes.
5-6 green chillies, diced into rounds
5-6 cloves of garlic , sliced thin
salt to taste
some sugar, if needed
1 tsp mustard seeds
1 1/2tbsp oil
5-6 kadhipatta (curry) leaves (optional)

Heat the oil in a kadhai / wok. Add the mustard seeds after the oil is hot. After the mustard seeds splutter, add the garlic, green chillies and curry leaves. After the garlic turns golden and slightly crisp, add the tomatoes. Stir the contents of the kadhai, add some salt.
Leave on medium heat, till all the juices from the tomatoes evaporate and you can see the oil separating from the mixture. This part takes a fairly long time. Taste the mixture and add some sugar if the tomatoes are very sour. Turn the heat off and let it cool down for some time.

Living in Tacoland

After spending almost four years in Tacoland (Austin) with it's umpteen number of Taco Shacks, Taco Delis, Taco Cabanas and of course the ubiquitous Taco Bell, one tends to take the taco for granted. Though I did fall in love with the first ever potato egg cheese breakfast taco that I ever had (lots of hot salsa on the side, of course), nevertheless I have never gone somewhere just to eat tacos. Till I discovered Torchy's Tacos on South First - a humble mobile food place, it reminded me of the Chinese ( really Indian Chinese) food vendors near University Circle in Pune. Though our moms frowned at our eating there, and the food was not perhaps the best (nostalgia makes everthing taste better), it was always a fun place to go to with my friends, sit on our two wheelers, munching chicken lollipops and eating spicy chicken Manchurian with fried rice.

Torchys reminded me a little of the same, though it is located at a much prettier setting, by the side of a creek with red lanterns strung on tree branches. However the rest of it is bare basic functional with a few plastic chairs and tables between the two mobile foot eateries. The food is good and justifies the line of people always seen there. The first time I went there, I had the monthly special Cool Runner taco comprising of Jamaican Jerk Chicken, avocado, mango, cheese and freshly squeezed lemon in a flour tortilla. It was so good that my Ranch Hand ( I hope I remember the name correctly here) taco paled in comparison and I don't recollect it at all. It wasn't bad at all, but the Cool Runner just completely overshadowed it. The unusual combination of the spicy Jamaican Jerk Chicken with the sweet- sour mango flavor and the smooth avocado and a squeeze of lemon juice was just delicious. I was left thinking if only I had ordered two of the same. Two were plenty of food for lunch and more than enough motivation to convince R to make the trip back with me some day.

The next time we went, we also had our friend A ( always willing to try something new), all of us ravenous after a 5k ( to be honest, I walked). We got done with the 5k around 11 am, a perfect time to eat some tacos. After a long and circuitous drive from Mozart's to South First (for some reason, many streets were closed downtown), we reached Torchys only to discover to my great dismay that they had changed the monthly special (yes, it does change every month). So no Cool Runner this time. I ordered the Baja Shrimp and a potato, egg, and jalapeno breakfast taco. R ordered the same while A ordered the breakfast taco along with a fried avocado taco ( highly recommended by vegeterians), all on corn tortillas this time). The Baja Shrimp was yummy with fried shrimp in a creamy sauce and shredded cabbage and carrots. The creamy sauce probably had crushed jalapenos in it. The breakfast taco was good too, but I ll opt for a flour tortilla for the breakfast taco next time as the corn was a little too strong a flavor for the egg and potato mixture. R and A liked their tacos enough to order one more. Go Torchys! I ll be coming back for more.