Ratatouille - A must watch!

Remy the rat was fascinated by a french chef who inspire him to cook! So what does he do? He tried roasting a mushroom by pegging it into a roof top antenna over the chimney. How did it taste? "Lighteningy"!! Oh did i forget to mention there was a thunderstorm?

My weekend movie pick Ratatouille was a total entertainer, I was left howling and rolling on the floor for most of the movie and the rest of the time I was in total awe of the totally realistic impression of the busy kitchen.

The moral of the story? - Anyone can cook! (I wish it was that easy...wait I wish I was Remy the rat!) Remy's totally unrodently talent takes in a gastronomical journey to Paris and a yester-years great restaurant. The movie than goes on to tell the story of the unlikely friendship between an young men and the furry creature, and the journey of a life time to great food and deep realisation. Sounds very serious? Not at all...you just have to see it to experience it.

A Love Song

I miss you love
Even when you are here
Sitting beside the fire
Playing your favorite tune

You and your guitar
A sweet love affair
I see from afar
Sitting in the dark

It's suppose to be me
In your arms there
Singing along with you
As you strum your guitar

But it has been years
Since our love affair
Now its just a memory
Snapshots tucked in a diary

The fire burns low
Your face is in the shadow
Your eyes look through me
To another face in time

See me love, see me
I am still here
Siting by the fire
Waiting for our love song!

A gray cat walking a gray fence in a gray backyard

For all those bookworms, I am sure this line will be familiar. While I loved the Gift of the Magi when I read it, I somehow didn't grasp the true extent of these few lines until I came to UK. The weather here gives a new meaning to the word gray.

I dread the gray skies. I live in a beautiful town and now that winter is packing up, the English tulips and daffodils are making riots of color. I would love to take a picture but the gray skies don't afford enough light to capture the bright colors. Want to explore the beautiful countryside? Gray skies mean it might rain.

I am yet to see London in a sunny disposition. About a week ago I was passing through London and was persuaded to experience London eye - which is basically a giant Ferris Wheel which gives you a nice bird eye view of the London.

Since we were passing through on Saturday, we stopped in to see the sights and found it to be very very gloomy. We decided we try the Eye on our way back on Sunday. The long queue for tickets was also daunting and we enterprisingly booked online for the Sunday trip.

Sunday started sunny and remained sunny till we stepped out of the Westminster tube station- IT WAS RAINING! Imagine our dismay - all the planning, all the money - right down the drain. We only got hazy, blurry shots of Big Ben (Its the only thing big enough to be recognized in the hazy photos!) I have come to dread the BBC weather reports more then the current stock market news!

I hope I will get to see and a bright orange tabby walking on a white picket fence on a sunny afternoon. People, wish me luck!

Look- Sheep!!

That's what my husband kept repeating throughout our trip to Scotland. It went to the point where the rest of us pretended not to know him. It didn't help that Scotland had more sheep then people - there were sheep on the hill side, by the river, by the loch, in the farm, on the road......You get the picture I hope. Of course, my Hubby's attempt at taking pictures of sheep in far away hills from a moving car got him only fuzzy results. It seemed that our Scotland trip will get over without affording him the luxury of immortalizing sheep's at a close quarter. And then it happened - we had to stop to let a bunch of sheep cross the road (remind me of the buffaloes on the road to Hi-tech city in Hyderabad).
Enlarge picture to see the fabled sheeps.

My husband was out of the car with his handy cam - with the professionalism shown by journalist in war zones - proceeded to video record the behinds of at least 20-odd sheep. Needless to say he was very proud of his accomplishment and we breathed a sign of relief knowing we need not screech to a halt every time he spotted a sheep anymore.

Disclaimer:- No Scottish sheep was harmed in the writing of this blog!

Video killed the radio star....

Remember that retro song!! Well a recent blog by a friend made me realise Notepad has killed my muse! Confused? Well notepad is the computer program i use to doodle. I switched to notepad recently as in the past I always preferred good old fashioned pen and paper. Now, somehow I find that I have more ideas to jot down when I have a piece of paper in front me than a open notepad page on my laptop.

On that note, I remember one train journey from Kolkata to Chennai during my student days. I was nearing Chennai, as the steadily increasing heat in the sleeper compartment indicated. It was almost dust and the view from the window was a water body in the distance that ran along the track and merged with the skyline - which was curious mix of grey and brilliant orange. And all I wanted to do was write down this words that seem to run around bouncing inside my cranium. Of course, even if i had dug up my trusty diary, i seriously doubt I could have written anything with the trains swaying motion. But the scene will always stay in mind -like a mental snap shot!