Speak only if it improves upon the silence
-- Mahatma Gandhi
-- Mahatma Gandhi
Saturday, September 19, 2015
Grey's Anatomy, Season Finale (Season 11)
A confession is in order here - after a first few episodes, I had stopped watching this season because I simply couldn't take any more of their conflicts - Meredith and Derek, Owen and Amelia, Callie and Arizona. It seemed like discord was in the air - literally and figuratively both. On top of it, while looking for some other information connected to this season, I stumbled upon the revelation that Derek dies in one of the episodes towards the end. That did it! I stopped watching altogether.
But Grey's has been one of my favorite shows (despite the fact that I don't like Meredith Grey's character much!) since I started watching it a couple of years ago. So I couldn't resist myself from watching the Season Finale.
As always, it was good. The efforts these people put in to save the family of 3 was amazing. I couldn't stop myself from comparing it to the state of affairs in India (forget about the hospitals! If people come across accident victims, they are more interested in taking photos than transporting the injured to the hospital). It was sad to watch the end of many relationships - Meredith and Derek, Owen and Amelia, Callie and Arizona, Jackson and April. I guess the only couples left holding hands are Bailey and her husband and Alex and Jo. Hope we don't have to see them calling it a day by end of next season.
I was surprised that Meredith asked Alex if she and kids could move in with them. I was always under the impression that people there value their independence and freedom more than anything else. Sorry to see her sell off her beautiful hilltop home.
It was also heartening to see Jackson accept his mom's second marriage so easily. In India, we believe that marriage is something to get into when you are young. Old age marriages are frowned upon. Wonder if Weber has told Catherine that Mary is his and Ellis Grey's daughter. Can't really see Catherine accepting it wholeheartedly. Now that they have tied the knot, let's see how far they walk together.
What I liked most of all is the grand party that will be Meredith's last memory of the house that once belonged to her and Derek. Seemed straight out of a Sooraj Barjatya movie - all members of a big happy family dancing and singing together. :-) I also loved Meredith's reaching out to her stepsister and sister-in-law in one of the last scenes - so the three of them could dance together. Looks like her character is going to see a big change in coming seasons.
Here's looking forward to Season 12 :-)
But Grey's has been one of my favorite shows (despite the fact that I don't like Meredith Grey's character much!) since I started watching it a couple of years ago. So I couldn't resist myself from watching the Season Finale.
As always, it was good. The efforts these people put in to save the family of 3 was amazing. I couldn't stop myself from comparing it to the state of affairs in India (forget about the hospitals! If people come across accident victims, they are more interested in taking photos than transporting the injured to the hospital). It was sad to watch the end of many relationships - Meredith and Derek, Owen and Amelia, Callie and Arizona, Jackson and April. I guess the only couples left holding hands are Bailey and her husband and Alex and Jo. Hope we don't have to see them calling it a day by end of next season.
I was surprised that Meredith asked Alex if she and kids could move in with them. I was always under the impression that people there value their independence and freedom more than anything else. Sorry to see her sell off her beautiful hilltop home.
It was also heartening to see Jackson accept his mom's second marriage so easily. In India, we believe that marriage is something to get into when you are young. Old age marriages are frowned upon. Wonder if Weber has told Catherine that Mary is his and Ellis Grey's daughter. Can't really see Catherine accepting it wholeheartedly. Now that they have tied the knot, let's see how far they walk together.
What I liked most of all is the grand party that will be Meredith's last memory of the house that once belonged to her and Derek. Seemed straight out of a Sooraj Barjatya movie - all members of a big happy family dancing and singing together. :-) I also loved Meredith's reaching out to her stepsister and sister-in-law in one of the last scenes - so the three of them could dance together. Looks like her character is going to see a big change in coming seasons.
Here's looking forward to Season 12 :-)
The Distant Echo - Val McDermid (Spoiler Alert!)
On my last visit to the library, I was lucky to find a Reader's Digest collection of four novels. This was the 1st novel in the collection and I finished reading it last night.
The plot can be summarized like this - it's Christmas time and four students returning home from a party late at night stumble across a body of a young woman who has been stabbed and left to die in the street. They know her as a waitress - Rosemary Duff - at the bar they frequent. She is barely alive when they find her but by the time they fetch the policeman on duty some distance away, she is dead. The four are witnesses for all intents and purposes but since they were the first on
the scene and the police are unable to make any significant progress on the case, the needle of suspicion starts moving in their direction. They endure isolation, beatings and life becomes hell.
Fast forward to 2003 - a quarter of a century has passed since Rosie's unsolved murder. The 4 students have become successful in their chosen professions, some of them even have families now. Just when all is going well for them, the cops in the old town where they used to study decide to investigate cold cases using latest forensic techniques. Rosie's son, who no-one except her own family knew existed, bursts on the scene and the first of these 4 witnesses dies - under mysterious circumstances. It is only when the second one dies that the remaining two realize that
there is a connection that ties these deaths to Rosemary's death all these years ago. And that the only way they can hope to survive is to find who killed her that night.
The crime isn't hard to crack - once you know that the paint on Rosie's cardigan must have come from a boat or a caravan that someone was painting. There is no ambiguity about motive either. But still the setting and the characters, even the language, made for a pleasant reading. I never would have thought that anyone, except for sailors and captains in pirate movies maybe, would say 'Aye' instead of 'Yes' or 'Yeah' in real life :-) I am going to definitely look out for more novels by the author.
The second novel in the collection is Trojan Odyssey - by my favorite author Clive Cussler. So no prizes for guessing that I am counting minutes, make that seconds, till I can turn to the 1st page :-)
The plot can be summarized like this - it's Christmas time and four students returning home from a party late at night stumble across a body of a young woman who has been stabbed and left to die in the street. They know her as a waitress - Rosemary Duff - at the bar they frequent. She is barely alive when they find her but by the time they fetch the policeman on duty some distance away, she is dead. The four are witnesses for all intents and purposes but since they were the first on
the scene and the police are unable to make any significant progress on the case, the needle of suspicion starts moving in their direction. They endure isolation, beatings and life becomes hell.
Fast forward to 2003 - a quarter of a century has passed since Rosie's unsolved murder. The 4 students have become successful in their chosen professions, some of them even have families now. Just when all is going well for them, the cops in the old town where they used to study decide to investigate cold cases using latest forensic techniques. Rosie's son, who no-one except her own family knew existed, bursts on the scene and the first of these 4 witnesses dies - under mysterious circumstances. It is only when the second one dies that the remaining two realize that
there is a connection that ties these deaths to Rosemary's death all these years ago. And that the only way they can hope to survive is to find who killed her that night.
The crime isn't hard to crack - once you know that the paint on Rosie's cardigan must have come from a boat or a caravan that someone was painting. There is no ambiguity about motive either. But still the setting and the characters, even the language, made for a pleasant reading. I never would have thought that anyone, except for sailors and captains in pirate movies maybe, would say 'Aye' instead of 'Yes' or 'Yeah' in real life :-) I am going to definitely look out for more novels by the author.
The second novel in the collection is Trojan Odyssey - by my favorite author Clive Cussler. So no prizes for guessing that I am counting minutes, make that seconds, till I can turn to the 1st page :-)
Asia Kitchen by Mainland China, High Street Phoenix
We have visited this place before - once. The Phad Thai was good (even a shade better than that dished out by my favorite Tamnak Thai!) but Khao Soi, with its overuse of coconut milk, was a total disappointment. I was so turned off by the whole experience that I haven't cooked Khao Soi at home since then. :-(
But we wanted to go for Chinese food and I have vowed never to set foot in Noodle Bar again (quantity and price are in inverse proportion to each other!). So Asia Kitchen it was. This time I didn't have much to lose as I knew they had already messed up one well-known dish. Might as well go for something new.
So we ordered Teriyaki Chicken - I have seen it featured on the menus of too few restaurants (and hence refrained from ordering it thinking they won't be able to do justice to it) - and Nasi Goreng. Okay, go ahead and say it - neither dish is Chinese. I agree but I had made my choices.
Teriyaki was good but didn't quite match with the taste that I remember from my US days. The server had asked us if we wanted it mild or spicy. When I had asked for mild, I didn't quite think that it would be nearly sweet. At least it wasn't a total disappointment. Nasi Goreng was good too but I would have loved a little more flavor.
To summarize, this recent visit did change my initial perception about Asia Kitchen. I would definitely visit them in future to sample some more of their offerings. :-)
But we wanted to go for Chinese food and I have vowed never to set foot in Noodle Bar again (quantity and price are in inverse proportion to each other!). So Asia Kitchen it was. This time I didn't have much to lose as I knew they had already messed up one well-known dish. Might as well go for something new.
So we ordered Teriyaki Chicken - I have seen it featured on the menus of too few restaurants (and hence refrained from ordering it thinking they won't be able to do justice to it) - and Nasi Goreng. Okay, go ahead and say it - neither dish is Chinese. I agree but I had made my choices.
Teriyaki was good but didn't quite match with the taste that I remember from my US days. The server had asked us if we wanted it mild or spicy. When I had asked for mild, I didn't quite think that it would be nearly sweet. At least it wasn't a total disappointment. Nasi Goreng was good too but I would have loved a little more flavor.
To summarize, this recent visit did change my initial perception about Asia Kitchen. I would definitely visit them in future to sample some more of their offerings. :-)
The Sassy Spoon, Bandra
I liked the location - facing the street with big windows. Never mind that all I could see out of them was the incessant traffic on the Bandra street. And I liked the decor. But what delighted me the most was the menu - I could see a lot of items that I haven't seen on menus of places that I have visited so far. Never mind that I had no clue whatsoever to what some of the words even meant (e.g. what in the world is Pappardelle?). :-)
But the dish 'Paella' was familiar - I had once watched a chef cook seafood paella in a TV program. Of course, I wouldn't have gone for the sea-food version even if it were available on menu - I don't think I am up for eating a concoction featuring mussels, crab, squids and other assorted sea-creatures, however exotic it might sound. So I chose 'Brown rice paella with beans, olives, grilled artichokes, grilled fennel and pickled peppers'. Now that one familiar dish was selected, next one had to be something different so we went for "Thai style chicken with birds' eye chilli and oyster sauce with spicy noodles". Since we were not sure of the quantity of both dishes, we didn't choose any third one to begin with.
There wasn't any significant delay in serving. Of course, since I was eating a paella for the first time in my life (and that too in India!) I didn't have any benchmark to judge it against. So I would just say that it was good but I was disappointed because I was expecting a somewhat different taste than some kind of mildly spiced rice. I suppose a sea-food paella would have it because the juices from the sea-food would seep into it. Or it could be that the dish was adapted to suit Indian
palate.
Speaking of spices, when the server asked me if I would like the "Thai style chicken" mildly spiced or spicy, I should have gone for the latter. The 'mildly spiced' version turned out to be very little spiced. I would also have loved more chicken. Not too impressed with this dish!
So as far as my score-card goes, the quantity does seem a little insufficient for the price charged but I definitely want to come back to sample more dishes on the menu - even if some of them turn out to be duds. Oh, and I would definitely like to drop by once for their high tea - served with freshly baked scones and clotted cream. Sounds yummy!
P. S. They do have handmade ice-cream available. We were served tiny portions of it in three different flavors at the end of our meal. Alas, the portions were too tiny to make an assessment of the flavor and texture. So I might order one serving of it on my next visit.
But the dish 'Paella' was familiar - I had once watched a chef cook seafood paella in a TV program. Of course, I wouldn't have gone for the sea-food version even if it were available on menu - I don't think I am up for eating a concoction featuring mussels, crab, squids and other assorted sea-creatures, however exotic it might sound. So I chose 'Brown rice paella with beans, olives, grilled artichokes, grilled fennel and pickled peppers'. Now that one familiar dish was selected, next one had to be something different so we went for "Thai style chicken with birds' eye chilli and oyster sauce with spicy noodles". Since we were not sure of the quantity of both dishes, we didn't choose any third one to begin with.
There wasn't any significant delay in serving. Of course, since I was eating a paella for the first time in my life (and that too in India!) I didn't have any benchmark to judge it against. So I would just say that it was good but I was disappointed because I was expecting a somewhat different taste than some kind of mildly spiced rice. I suppose a sea-food paella would have it because the juices from the sea-food would seep into it. Or it could be that the dish was adapted to suit Indian
palate.
 |
| Thai style chicken |
 |
| Brown rice paella |
So as far as my score-card goes, the quantity does seem a little insufficient for the price charged but I definitely want to come back to sample more dishes on the menu - even if some of them turn out to be duds. Oh, and I would definitely like to drop by once for their high tea - served with freshly baked scones and clotted cream. Sounds yummy!
P. S. They do have handmade ice-cream available. We were served tiny portions of it in three different flavors at the end of our meal. Alas, the portions were too tiny to make an assessment of the flavor and texture. So I might order one serving of it on my next visit.
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