Dr. Dreadful--Indian style

the makings of curry

I was never that into science growing up but I did always love the Dr. Dreadful Drink Lab. Anyone else with me? I never thought about it before, but maybe my interest in mixing spices and bizarre flavor combinations is somehow associated with the strange, carbonated, colorful concoctions that entertained my palate around the age of 8. Who knows. Either way, I seriously love mixing and matching flavors and finding creative substitutes for things I can't find or use here (eggs, sour cream, quick rise yeast, etc). I have also had my fair share of things blow up on me to claim an even stronger association with a science lab (tomatoes in my mixie, hot soup in my mixie, boiling chenna in my pressure cooker, the list goes on). Thankfully I've escaped with only minor burns and a lifetime's worth of lessons on "this should not be mixed with this".

My favorite thing to make is curry. The big lesson of the night the first time I made curry is that sniffing the freshly ground spices of curry is similar to inhaling flour, except there's chilly powder in curry. Explosion of the sinuses.

Still learning.... :)

Cyclone Jal--almost

We were set to have a huge cyclone hit Chennai a few weeks ago; In anticipation of the cyclone's arrival, Neil and I went to the beach to watch the waves. It's hard to capture through a camera, but they were pretty impressive. The cyclone ended up being considerably smaller than expected, which we were thankful for because it felt kind of intense leading up to it! Here's some footage of our first 'almost a cyclone' experience...

Looks can be deceiving

This might look like a normal hand, but it's not. It's actually a hand unintentionally marinating in chilly (yes, that's how it's spelled here) oil. I thought I would be quick and chop chillies with no protective covering. FAIL. After soaking my hands in whole milk 3 different times they still felt like they were on fire for the next 8 hours. I learned this lesson in August.

Fast forward to October. Again, I am cutting chillies. I DO protect my hands this time (an inside out grocery bag works wonders), but I fail to protect my eyes. For some unknown reason I decide I need a closer look while I'm chopping. Result: left eye on fire.

Take note: chillies are not for wimps.