In French means "setting in place." When cooking, the term is used to describe preparation done before starting the actual cooking process. I love watching cooking shows although I might never get to cooking unless someone puts all ingredients mise en place
Lately, even though tedious, making your own pasta right from the scratch, seems to be every chef worth his salt's favourite. The light is so on the Pasta making machines.
Wednesday, November 08, 2006
Tuesday, November 07, 2006
Opposites
"Bravery stands midway between cowardice and rashness, one of which is a deficiency, the other an excess of courage." - Plutarch.
Even in a controlled environment, I have proved myself to be a coward. On an ordinary park swing, I am scared to go higher, I cant take the chemical reactions happening and theres another fear of what if I fall down or still worse, what if I fall down with the swing.
Few years ago, I went on a trip to Kulu Manali with my friends and colleagues. The trekking incident could be turned into a case study. We just started climbing some untrekked path. We were all excited to begin with. People in groups had their paces.
When we reached like quarter way, I thought I had this moment where I just avoided what could have been a slip down into the water. After which, I started having my little doubts about how wise is it to move on? My friend who was still a little behind, was scared and said she couldnt go any further and had to retreat. At this point, although reaching the top had its allure, it seemed it was better to just give up and go back. What if I went further, and changed my mind about climbing. What is that fear where we just freeze? There was a tricky spot on Stone Mountain,Atlanta too, where I thought the best thing to do was just stay put. It took a lot of coaxing from others and absolute unfounded trust that I could get out of that spot. Two of our party, reached the top, one of them lost her chappal. Now, in climbing, all strategical thinking is spent in making atleast one person reach the top for the teams merit. But in our case, although the call was just one persons, even the climb down had to be planned properly. It was not as easy as it seemed. We got some of the stones rolling down with a fisherman shouting at us. Even quarter treks are not easy, but they are fun.
Even in a controlled environment, I have proved myself to be a coward. On an ordinary park swing, I am scared to go higher, I cant take the chemical reactions happening and theres another fear of what if I fall down or still worse, what if I fall down with the swing.
Few years ago, I went on a trip to Kulu Manali with my friends and colleagues. The trekking incident could be turned into a case study. We just started climbing some untrekked path. We were all excited to begin with. People in groups had their paces.
When we reached like quarter way, I thought I had this moment where I just avoided what could have been a slip down into the water. After which, I started having my little doubts about how wise is it to move on? My friend who was still a little behind, was scared and said she couldnt go any further and had to retreat. At this point, although reaching the top had its allure, it seemed it was better to just give up and go back. What if I went further, and changed my mind about climbing. What is that fear where we just freeze? There was a tricky spot on Stone Mountain,Atlanta too, where I thought the best thing to do was just stay put. It took a lot of coaxing from others and absolute unfounded trust that I could get out of that spot. Two of our party, reached the top, one of them lost her chappal. Now, in climbing, all strategical thinking is spent in making atleast one person reach the top for the teams merit. But in our case, although the call was just one persons, even the climb down had to be planned properly. It was not as easy as it seemed. We got some of the stones rolling down with a fisherman shouting at us. Even quarter treks are not easy, but they are fun.
All play and no work
" If all the years were playing holidays,
To sport would be as tedious as to work."
- Shakespeare.
From childhood, I never remember feeling that another holiday is a waste. May be because, end of each holiday meant beginning of school which was 'Monday Blues' at its height. Life could have been different if there was something other than holiday and school to make that transition not seem so abrupt.
That one holiday I will never forget in my life is the one I took at age 10 with my sister who was 9 years old then. I do not remember why we had those holidays. Oh even before we go into why, I should mention that I just read about change in the Child accompaniment policy of Valley Metro - Children under the age of eight must be accompanied by a responsible person. Earlier this limit was age 6. The note also had the definition of a responsible person as someone who had control over the child. In our case, I was the responsible person, but I dont think I had the real control. I cannot recall why we had the holiday, but early in the morning when it was still dark, we were at a railway station , where still our hostel warden was inclined to stop us from going home as we were kids. There were many other students on the trip, but their stop was earlier than ours. By some lapse of getting caught in myriad of things that a person has to think, the point of objection slipped from the warden's head and the next thing we know, we are on a train to go home. The only thing I remember about the train trip is that we passed some mountains on the way. They must have just seemed so because the track tunneled through that land. Once we got down the train, the route to our house was straight. Only thing was that , while the train station was at one end, our house was at the other. As my sister and I kept walking, halfway we saw our neighbor and we knew we were in the right town. This neighbor owned lots of Readers Digest. Unfortunately, I was only at an age to pass them off as incomprehensible.
I cannot remember if I then had the fear of missing the stop.
Once I forewent a holiday for work, but that project got scrapped after I came back from another holiday. I did enjoy the work.
All the way from home to bus-stop to school, one thing that would constantly worry me was, have I forgotten some homework. In grad school, one doesnt have to worry about this. Homeworks rule. Another big fear was not being able to answer when asked to stand up to answer a question. I lost this fear only when I came to undergrad, when professors stopped asking questions that way.
If it was holiday and school then, it is work and vacation now. Where does leisure fit in? I once read that at one point in time, some people didnt mind what they had to do for work as long as they could do as they wish in leisure. Goethe's novel 'Wilhelm Meister' stresses on the importance of choosing ones vocation. But if one choses what they wish for vocation, is there a chance left for another as leisure. If Wish, is seen as just one to be able to focus properly, then for those who work in their interest field, if leisure is occupied with the same, is that when tey turn workaholics? And for all those, whose wish is pending for leisure, do work and leisure seem mutually exclusive. When exactly are we equipped to delineate these?
To merge or not to merge...
To sport would be as tedious as to work."
- Shakespeare.
From childhood, I never remember feeling that another holiday is a waste. May be because, end of each holiday meant beginning of school which was 'Monday Blues' at its height. Life could have been different if there was something other than holiday and school to make that transition not seem so abrupt.
That one holiday I will never forget in my life is the one I took at age 10 with my sister who was 9 years old then. I do not remember why we had those holidays. Oh even before we go into why, I should mention that I just read about change in the Child accompaniment policy of Valley Metro - Children under the age of eight must be accompanied by a responsible person. Earlier this limit was age 6. The note also had the definition of a responsible person as someone who had control over the child. In our case, I was the responsible person, but I dont think I had the real control. I cannot recall why we had the holiday, but early in the morning when it was still dark, we were at a railway station , where still our hostel warden was inclined to stop us from going home as we were kids. There were many other students on the trip, but their stop was earlier than ours. By some lapse of getting caught in myriad of things that a person has to think, the point of objection slipped from the warden's head and the next thing we know, we are on a train to go home. The only thing I remember about the train trip is that we passed some mountains on the way. They must have just seemed so because the track tunneled through that land. Once we got down the train, the route to our house was straight. Only thing was that , while the train station was at one end, our house was at the other. As my sister and I kept walking, halfway we saw our neighbor and we knew we were in the right town. This neighbor owned lots of Readers Digest. Unfortunately, I was only at an age to pass them off as incomprehensible.
I cannot remember if I then had the fear of missing the stop.
Once I forewent a holiday for work, but that project got scrapped after I came back from another holiday. I did enjoy the work.
All the way from home to bus-stop to school, one thing that would constantly worry me was, have I forgotten some homework. In grad school, one doesnt have to worry about this. Homeworks rule. Another big fear was not being able to answer when asked to stand up to answer a question. I lost this fear only when I came to undergrad, when professors stopped asking questions that way.
If it was holiday and school then, it is work and vacation now. Where does leisure fit in? I once read that at one point in time, some people didnt mind what they had to do for work as long as they could do as they wish in leisure. Goethe's novel 'Wilhelm Meister' stresses on the importance of choosing ones vocation. But if one choses what they wish for vocation, is there a chance left for another as leisure. If Wish, is seen as just one to be able to focus properly, then for those who work in their interest field, if leisure is occupied with the same, is that when tey turn workaholics? And for all those, whose wish is pending for leisure, do work and leisure seem mutually exclusive. When exactly are we equipped to delineate these?
To merge or not to merge...
Saturday, November 04, 2006
I dont want to live a 100
My friend told me of her far relative celebrating her 100th birthday. They had a tough time finding a birthday card. When I think of it, I think I will just live till 50. I dont know why I am so sure of it. I would die, if I had to live more than that.
************************
Oh today I had been given a chance to play an Angel in my friends life. I noticed that their dishwasher was on this 'low water' alert mode. I reported this beep to them. whatever they did to this piece of info, eventually they have a bigger cleaning problem than they started with before they put the dishwasher to use.
I just got an idea for a tag 'Instances you played an Angel'.
Maverick
************************
Oh today I had been given a chance to play an Angel in my friends life. I noticed that their dishwasher was on this 'low water' alert mode. I reported this beep to them. whatever they did to this piece of info, eventually they have a bigger cleaning problem than they started with before they put the dishwasher to use.
I just got an idea for a tag 'Instances you played an Angel'.
Maverick
Thursday, November 02, 2006
Eight things about me.....
Tagged, I speak...
1. I had a hair cut again.
When you go for a hair cut, stick to what you want.
Dont let the stylist distract you .
2. I might stop hating decoction.
I tried Orange pekoe tea with just hot water. It was good.
3. I felt very glad yesterday.
4. In my morning blindness, I had to hunt for my toothbrush. This is the first time it happened in 2 decades...
5. I get into the unbreakable loop of eating if there hot and sweet snacks involved.
6. I am an incorrigible squirrel, with an unaffordable appetite for nuts.
7. I am back to reading. The pile of books in my room will soon find their way to library.
8. There's surely more than this about me. We havent even scratched the surface.
1. I had a hair cut again.
When you go for a hair cut, stick to what you want.
Dont let the stylist distract you .
2. I might stop hating decoction.
I tried Orange pekoe tea with just hot water. It was good.
3. I felt very glad yesterday.
4. In my morning blindness, I had to hunt for my toothbrush. This is the first time it happened in 2 decades...
5. I get into the unbreakable loop of eating if there hot and sweet snacks involved.
6. I am an incorrigible squirrel, with an unaffordable appetite for nuts.
7. I am back to reading. The pile of books in my room will soon find their way to library.
8. There's surely more than this about me. We havent even scratched the surface.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)