ashacat

A winter poem, by me:

January, After the Thaw

Holy Bast,
why do I live Here
rather than in Egypt
where it is Warm
and Breezy and 77F
Sharp icy Blasts
strike me as I Cross
parking lots or my front Steps
turning me inside Out.

or, in other words.

Geezitscoldout.

Sitting in the extra-comfy chaise, finally getting to my email, with a cat stretched out along one leg. It's like having a heat pack since my leg is bare. Not that I am complaining. Spent the day working on my draft; I have one section that I keep forgetting to add. No brainz. I just want this chapter to be OVER. No babycare for tomorrow so I have to wait until 1. naptime or 2. 8 PM or 3. Thursday AM to get back to it. It all depends on how much rest I get tonight.

How is it that the cat has at least half of this chair??

The Pregnant lady called in to Char Koon at 8:00 PM last night for Malay Curry noodles. I ate more than I have at one sitting in months. It is made of almost pure anti-netcurmudgeon -onium. Just lacking the eggplant, really. Has shrimp & mushrooms along with chicken pieces and a spicy sauce on top of very thin rice noodles. mmmm. hmmm. Time for left-overs!

India Kitchen is located at 394 Tolland Turnpike Manchester, CT in a former Roy Roger's building.

Went out Thursday night with matociquala , netcurmudgeon , and taichigeek for archery and dinner. We tried India Kitchen which has opened recently. Three of us are experienced admirers of Indian food, two have been to India and I am part-Indian, from both North and South India. So we are an informed group when it comes to Indian cuisine.  I'm still bemoaning the loss of Ambassador of India, but Indian restaurants vary tremendously so I didn't know what to expect. First, the decor is surprisingly peaceful. The interior has been remodeled in soft soothing colors and there is a sense of space beyond half-walls and partitions. I had wondered if we would have the classic pink and red decor of many Indian restaurants, but no, the gods were kind to our eyes.

Second, but really important: the staff are wonderful - they are very accommodating and helpful. There are 2 cooks, one for South Indian specialties and one for North Indian specialties. This is fairly unusual around here - it is hard to find good south Indian food in a restaurant. There are a large number of menu offerings from appetizers to dessert. I would rate the prices at medium expense; a shrimp curry is about $14.00 while vegetarian dishes are around $10.00. Two vegetable samosa were $4.00 as was an order of paratha, which was one paratha cut up into four pieces.

We ordered a variety of items: 

appetizers
Poori bhaji - round fried whole wheat puffed bread with a potato, onion & carrot curry.
Masala dosa - a crepe-like dish made with rice and urad flour and filled with a potato, pea, onion curry
Vegetable samosa - a triangular savory pastry filled with potato, pea, peanut (I think that is what that was!)

The fillings for all three varied greatly with respect to spice-level and spicing, with the poori bhaji being very mild. The dosa was not as crisp as I like, but the filling was pretty tasty and it also came with a dish of sambar (lentil-based loose curry) and a delicious coconut chutney. The pooris were puffy and flavorful, not greasy. The samosa seemed like it had been out for a while just because the pastry was not as crisp as I prefer. Filling and associated sauces were yummy - and more spicy than I am used to.

dinner
We ordered everything to be medium spiced EXCEPT for the lamb vindaloo which we asked to be spicy because its a VINDALOO and spiciness is compulsory.
Lamb vindaloo - good cuts of lamb, nicely spiced to provide a satisfying lip buzz
Chicken makhani (butter chicken) - good pieces of chicken, rich sauce. Comes with almond slices sprinkled on top.
Malai kofta - this is usually a dish with pureed vegetables mixed with cheese into balls that are then fried and then served with a cream sauce. The veggies weren't pureed enough for my taste and I disliked the corn kernels and raisins as ingredients. 
Channa masala - chickpeas curried in tomato sauce with onions, ginger, garlic and herbs. Apparently the spiciest dish on the table and much enjoyed by those who tried it. I didn't, but that is because I had gorged myself earlier.  Apparently it had a good front-end grab versus the later buzz of the vindaloo.
rice - okay, but not very aromatic
paratha - not what I would call paratha...which is a folded, pan-grilled bread. These looked more like naan and tasted very dry.

drinks
sweet laassi -- or it could have been a plain laassi, not certain.
mango laassi
sprite with grated ginger (for my unhappy tummy) since they didn't have ginger ale.

The laassi's met with approval - particularly the sweet laassi which was not too sweet and did present undertones of rose water.

total cost with generous tip: $80.00.

We enjoyed this meal and I have high hopes for another visit. I think, with some specifications when ordering, this restaurant could be quite good. What specifications? I would ask that the dosa be crisp...I don't want it to act like a wrap. I also think that the spice settings need to be consistent; the poori bhaji was mild mild mild and the channa very spicy.  And the malai kofta just didn't taste like what I have had in the past. I don't know what else to say about it. On the very plus side: Each dish tasted different - and looked different. No series of dishes that all looked brown and tasting the same. (I've been to far too many Indian restaurants like this, uck!). And I really appreciate the ability to order South Indian food. 

I'd like to sample their idly sambar, chole batura, uthappam and pakora dishes as well as their shrimp curries. I am amused that chicken soup is on the menu and wonder what it tastes like. I'm also keen to try the keema naan, which is a clay-oven baked flat bread filled with a minced meat (probably lamb) and onions. There are a number of rice dishes: Coconut rice, curd rice, lemon rice, etc. and biryanis that look promising. Though I am usually not a fan of Indian desserts they do offer kheer which is rice pudding, and a few other items. I might have to try the carrot halwa at some point.

So...a good restaurant worth visiting and experimenting with! They seem to be open to suggestions. They do take-out, a lunch buffet (about $9.00 and they advertise over 20 items) M-F, delivery (!), and catering.

Go there...we need a GOOD Indian restaurant in the Manchester area (sorry Ali Baba, it just isn't working for me).

I took Sunil to the Mall yesterday. By myself. An intimidating excursion without another grownup to field the toddler, but he needed shoes and I needed to get some Father's Day gifts.  So off we went. We arrived at 10 just as the mall stores were opening. I gave him a bottle before we went in, but he didn't finish it. So I packed him, bottle, baby bag in stroller and we set out. First a pretzel, because I needed a snack and Sunil enjoys them. Shoes purchased -- for $20.00! -- and a toddler with happy feet. No more pointing at his toes and groaning. On the way back to the car we stopped at the play area where he could climb around and do what he enjoys best: Observe Other Kids. A hair more fun than Observing Vehicles. But it was hot and he was getting tired so I gave him the rest of the bottle and we headed back to Sears and to the car. At Sears I had just handed a clerk 2 men's shirts and turned to pull the stroller to the check-out when I realized that Sunil had spewed. Not an "oops" or a dribble. A flood of Biblical proportions. All the formula, all the pretzel...all over him, the stroller front, the floor.

My first instinct was to just stare and say Oh, Sunil EEEEEWWWWWW!!! His first instinct was to grab at me so I would get him out of the stroller. The angels who run the Land's End checkout rushed to us with a huge roll of Industrial paper towels. I began cleaning up. By the time I finished cleaning the stroller, undressing and then re-dressing Sunil (who spent some time loitering in his diaper while I rummaged for clean clothes), several buyers had lined up and one kind soul offered to help me roll the stroller out since Sunil couldn't sit in it. I managed to purchase the shirts, get a screaming red-faced child and stroller back to the car with said kind soul and not completely lose my mind (or gut contents...I'm really queasy these days). 

The only reason I can figure for the flood was that with the heat of the mall the formula spoiled and Sunil's body rejected it. And it was surprisingly hot in there, particularly the kiddie play area.

Sunil and I took a 3 hour nap to recover.

Himself is wandering around the kitchen moaning "bay-bay-bay-bay-be" and banging a pot lid on the tile floor. I just finished cleaning up after a spectacular barf care of formula and peach yogurt melts. mmmm. All over him, me and a spot on the couch. I'd be less annoyed but I am currently going through my summer clothes as it is about 90 in the shade today, and I find that I am too fat for most of my shorts. So now I smell vaguely of peach barf and I feel FAT. After cleaning us both up I found myself barricading both the humidifier and the telephone with the pre-set emergency buttons from Sunil; he's into everything and I can barely keep up.

Calgon take me away.

Not to jinx it, but I think spring is here or just around the corner in CT.

Yesterday I saw flocks of robins as I drove around town.

Night before last I heard peepers:) They are tiny frogs that emit a high pitched peep over and over and over AND OVER. They're somewhat raucous after a while if they are too close, but they're really cute and definitely a sign of spring when they start to call.

I spent yesterday afternoon blowing leaves off of gardens I didn't know existed. It's kind of cool, this discovery phase of living in a new place. There are deep purple crocuses blooming around the outside post lamp, purple and yellow ones on the south wall of the garage and I found tulips and daffodils and something that looks like peonies based on last year's dead leaves in a garden to the west of our driveway by some shrubs I've yet to identify. Pretty fun. And there are daffodils around a lot of the trees in the backyard, as well as lilies and some evergreen viny plants. We may have a rose garden too, just at the edge of the woods by a wood pile. I need to blow leaves off of the pachysandra and vinca which are growing on a bank by the drive. There's a little garden further down -- I guess that area gets a decent amount of light; I thought it was in deep shade but it gets afternoon light right now. I don't think it will once the deciduous trees leaf out though. I still don't know what is growing around the post lamp...clematis? It's quite woody. And there's a flowing tree by the pachysandra that's a mystery to me. 

Of course it was 19 degrees out when I got up to feed Sunil. Who, by the way is definitely a toddler now. He's quite opinionated and has his own agendas. Of course, his agendas and our agendas don't always match, and then he finds out that his parents don't stop their lives for him (always) and that he has to learn to wait for what he wants. Its a tough lesson to teach and very hard for him to take right now. Luckily he still has a great sense of humor and fun and is still distractable. Oh look! A brightly colored thing!

I bought him a Fisher Price popcorn popper toy which he is busy figuring out. It's got the multicolored balls of different sizes under a clear globe that pop up as he pushes it. They used to have wooden handles and wooden wheels. This one is PLASTIC and looks ergonomically correct which may be why he's spending a lot of time pulling it and using it like a cane.

spring spring spring spring

It was 2 degrees F out this morning.

TWO DEGREES!!!!!

Much paw shaking

What is it about Stop & Shop that renders me homicidal? Full disclosure: I hate shopping. I hate grocery shopping even more because I really don't like thinking about food and I'd be perfectly happy to take a pill, thank you very much, rather than deal with what to eat for lunch. With a baby food has become more complicated though there are a lot of organic baby foods out there. But for some unexplicable reason shopping at S&S has become a chore fraught with frustration, anger and much tooth grinding. I cross the threshhold and immediately wonder how fast I can get out of there. Highland Park doesn't do this to me, neither does Whole Foods but that's a really spendy store so I haven't gone recently. Perhaps it is the vastness and high exposure to flourescent light. Perhaps it's the fact that their products are arranged in a way that defies logic. Perhaps it is a reaction to so much utter crap that is being sold to us -- sugary cereals, oversalted soups, nutrition-free,. fat-laden snacks, large plastic home goods, drinks made with artificial dyes and other polysyllabic ingredients unknown to me (even with degrees in biology). I'm not a health nut; I eat pizza and hamburgers and french fries, but when I go to Stop & Shop I come away with the sense that the food and drink industries are waging a war against the American population.  Keep the suckers' taste buds happy and the population wont rebel against the freaking insanity of the last decade. I try to buy the least processed products; fruit vegetables. But milk is processed -- so I buy local, hormone-free milk and pray a lot. And I know the baby food is processed, but it is organic (does that even mean anything?). I am rarely inclined to read ingredient labels, but last year I read practically all of the labels on products I bought or considered buying and it was SCARY.

We can have a raised garden bed or some container plants where we now live; I am strongly considering going into organic gardening. There's also an organic farm nearby that you can buy shares of and then get produce during the growing season. Should do this. Now.


...I just called the farm; they no longer grow food crops for humans. It was too time consuming. The recommendation: Whole Foods. sigh.

The baby is taking his first morning nap all week. And it is because he woke up at 1:40 this morning, bawling. He had thrown up a few times yesterday, perhaps a reaction to full-fat milk which I have been adding to formula in an effort to wean him off of it. It's pretty expensive and at this point according to some baby books, he should be off. But I have a sensitivity to full-fat milk, so perhaps that is what set his stomach off. Anyways, I sent netcurmudgeon off to get Pedialyte and Sunil took some of it. Three wardrobe changes later and he seemed stablized. There was no fever, no other apparent discomfort except when hurling. In fact, he was in a great mood though being held over the sink and stripped of his clothes wasn't popular. Poor little thing. Anyways, he woke up and I thought he needed some Orajel or Tylenol for his gums (teething AGAIN) or nasal spray because his nose seemed congested. So I tried the Orajel, (not interested), tried the Tylenol ("no no no") tried the nasal spray (yes, please) and brought him back to his room for some cuddling over my shoulder. After about ten minutes I set him back in his crib, but he started crying again so I made up a bottle of formula which he guzzled. Guess he was hungry/thirsty. A bit came back up, but he finally got to sleep. And so did I at 2:15.

I don't think he is sick -- I think he's a bit of a mess mainly from the teething, secondarily from the whole milk. I'll try him on 2% in a few days.

I've had a good week writing an introduction to my dissertation. It's painstakingly slow, but I AM writing at least. My mother is a goddess; she's been coming over for 4-5 hours a day to watch Sunil while I work. And while he naps she's been doing our laundry and dishes. Goddess.

And, BTW, webwyrm  the Irish tea from Trader Joe's is keeping me alive. I ought to hook up an intravenous line. Thanks!

I'm glad I don't live in Barrow, Alaska. Here's the weather right now:

Wind Chill Advisory in effect until 6 am Friday... Skies ranging from clear to mostly cloudy through the night. A few flurries possible. Northeast wind 10 to 15 mph. Temperature near 25 below zero. Wind chill 45 to 55 below zero.

While here in Connecticut it's a balmy 18 degrees F.

Baby's asleep. Time to do chores...like his never-ending laundry. With self-feeding comes a new pair of pants after dinner and sometimes lunch depending on what he has eaten. I must have witnessed this process before but I don't remember my sister going through it. Or perhaps she was much neater.

I've made a resolution to use as many of the toiletries I have before buying anything new. Like all those little lotions, soaps and hair products that I have picked up from hotels. Either CVS is getting more expensive or I am paying more attention, but geez. I also want to use more of the food up that is already in our pantry and has been for, I dunno, around 5 years. I jettisoned the really old stuff before we moved. That was an eye-opener. I made Jello pudding from one of the cartons I've had for ages and I don't thing time improved it. It wasn't bad per se, but it wasn't as good as it should have been. Thus...eat this stuff up and don't buy it if we don't plan on eating it soon. Soonish. I had canned pineapple from 1995, for goodness sakes!

And I am CRANKY because someone snored ALL NIGHT LONG and someone else who has a tail and pointed ears shouldered the baby gate aside on the stairs and walked all over me while trying to chew my hands from 4:30 AM to about 6 when she finally got fed. It's a good thing I already own several good pairs of mittenS, Cat.

My life with baby.


6 AM...awaken to netcurmudgeon 's alarm followed by the howling of a cat and then the sounds of Sunil waking up. Disregard cat and baby and burrow under pillow.

7 AM...cat sitting on my chest purring loudly (tummy is full thanks to netcurmudgeon ) to remind me that the baby is getting louder. I hear "va va va va VA VA VA VAAAAA!!!" from down the hall. Time to get up, change the baby's diaper and feed him.

8 AM...Sunil has had breakfast, I have yet to touch my cereal or tea. I carry Sunil to his play area -- the family room -- which has most of his toys and stuffed animals.  He makes a beeline for netcurmudgeon 's open laptop, of course. I close the laptop and open up the beater we have donated to Sunil's cause. Yes, one year old and already has his own laptop. Gods be with it --yesterday he was standing on the keyboard. I think he liked the feel of the keys under his toes. Sunil wants to be carried around the house on a tour. He likes to visit specific objects: Two touch-activated lamps in the living room, the light in the dining room, a couple of cat toys (balls that rattle). He plays with a giraffe shaped block while I stuff myself with cereal. I try to tire him out with a game of chase. Then we start to read a book when I notice a distinct odor emanating from Himself.

9:30 AM...have warmed my abandoned tea up but only had a couple of sips. I've now changed Sunil's diaper twice and he's had a mid-morning bottle. My attempt to put him down for a nap was greeted by hollers of indignation and charges of mistreatment. He gets 15 minutes or so to get this kind of stuff out of his system and perhaps fall asleep. No go. After 20 minutes I lifted a rather self-satisfied baby out of his crib. Evidently he's been standing at the crib rail detailing his plans for retribution to a stuffed animal audience. I decided to take him out to the town library where my mom is volunteering. Spread the joy of parenting:) Of course Sunil is still in his night clothes so we have to find day clothes. I rummage through the piles of clean laundry on our bedroom floor to discover very few baby day clothes. But I do find an outfit, fold whatever clothes I have found which is an interesting task considering Sunil is romping through the laundry holding a sock in each hand. We manage to get back to his room and I change him into his daytripping outfit (warm + no stains!), stash folded clothes into his dresser, and strip his crib and take his laundry downstairs. I zoom back up to collect Sunil and we put his laundry in the washer. This involves a baby trying to climb into his plastic go-cart-like laundry basket as i am trying to take laundry out. And then a baby trying to climb into the front-loading machine while I am trying to load it. 

10:15 AM...After laundry Sunil climbs back up the stairs to get to the upstairs balcony. I let him climb because it is good exercise and he needs to burn off some energy. It is probably his favorite place right now because I twined colored lights around the railing. He crawls around batting the lights and exclaiming over them. I stretch and massage my right arm which suffers from tendinitis -- due to carrying a 25 lb baby most of the day. As I stretch he comes racing back to me and I realize as I pick him up that my arm is wet and, eeeeww!!
Back to his room. My baby has exploded in his diaper. What food produced this foul stuff?! One diaper and outfit change later I decide to abandon any thoughts of taking him out. A freshly changed baby toddles to his bookcase and tugs at Goodnight Moon. We sit in a rocking chair look at the pictures while he practices turning cardboard pages. He really doesn't want to hear the story. I try another book, but reading time is OVER and it is obviously time to visit the balcony again.

11 AM... I put another load of laundry in the washer and I give Sunil another bottle. He yawns. AHA! I trundle him up the stairs, grab a big towel and lay it over his mattresss. He starts beating on my arms as I place him, his Sneetch and Max toys, and two big soft blankets into the crib. The writing is on the wall and the baby is in the crib. More protesting, but I can see the his eyeballs are practically rolling back and he can barely keep his head up. I head back downstairs and stick my teacup into the microwave, vowing to sit in the sunshine-drenched kitchen, finish my tea and read the paper until I no longer hear protests and promises to get union representation from the floor above.

And now I am supposed to think academic thoughts??!! If I switch gears too suddenly I might fall over into a pool of sunlight and be lost for hours.

Wow. Just wow. This sounds like an awesome cat...

as long as you don't mind feeding it rabbits on the run!

http://shopping.yahoo.com/articles/yshoppingarticles/89/how-much-is-the-kitty-in-the-window-22000/;_ylt=Apcj9oeyz9tOeaCTma4Q_RcbTxoF

Sunil now has 6 teeth: 2 upper front and 4 lower fronts. They're sharp, as I learned a week ago when he grabbed my finger and bit down because he's teething and his gums hurt. With all the pain involved in growing teeth it's a good thing that we don't remember it later. But for the meantime I try my best to distract him from the pain and now have some children's Motrin which seems about as effective as the children's Tylenol...which is *not very*.

Despite the pain, he has his moments of fun and happiness like sitting outside in the sunshine today, splayed across my lap watching cars go by while chewing on a piece of my cinnamon raisin bagel.

You Should Live in Missouri

If you don't want to live in Missouri, you might also consider: Washington Alaska Arkansas Georgia Indiana

I am not convinced.

Baby's napping!!!!! Quick get online....what have we here?


Here's an article that expresses why I love steampunk. It's got that roll up your sleeves science, elements of fantasy and spectacle and OOOOOH PRETTY!

http://weirdtales.net/wordpress/2008/09/17/five-thoughts-on-the-popularity-of-steampunk/


Interested? Girl Genius is an awesome web comic, and the only one I am currently following with my much limited free time, in the steam punk genre. Find the beginning comic page here

It's mesmerizing so remember, if you find yourself looking up and 9 hours have elapsed...you've been warned. ENJOY!!

Now to get ready before the bambino awakens.

It's crazy season in politics per Barak Obama... so here's JibJab with another gem:

http://www.peteyandpetunia.com/VoteHere/VoteHere.htm

Enjoy!!