Lead me not into...

...Temptation Wines.

Church Street is probably the most hedonistic place in bangalore. Unapt (it can't be inapt, can it?) nomenclature aside, greed and gluttony are worshipped and I'm sure in the recesses of the dark night you could add maybe lust and a couple more. And they call it Church street.

There was a plan, maybe a year ago to make it the upmarket "food street" like Ibrahim Sahib or that unnamed road of joy in the middle of VV Puram. And perhaps it can still be that. Some twenty odd restaurants dotting the 20 foot-wide asphalt serving everything from insipid samosas to appam and pandi curry, throw in some good biryani and a smattering of sushi and there you have it.

So a bunch of us where there last night under the awning of the very aptly named Temptation Wines. Sitting on the steps 6 feet from the road belting Bacardi and beer and making the worst jokes possible. For the record the link to silly puns was a hit with at least one person. I'm happy. As a certain commenter so succinctly put it, the rest of you can sod off if you don't like it. After much consumption of legal alcohol and discussions on the more illicit paakits which depending on the ISI (indian standards institute) mark on them may or may not turn you blind, we proceeded to the high temple of non -vegetarianism, videlicet, Empire. Now the normal grilled chicken/chicken kabab, ghee rice is an all time favourite but the management at Empire (who apparently have up to 60 Lakhs worth of outstanding Chicken credit with various sources of poultry in and around Bangalore) have opened an Arabian joint on the roof top. And to save time the menu (sans the prices) is printed on the door of the lift so one can decide what one's poison is on the way up. There are of course signs imploring one to use the stairs since it is perhaps a healthier way to ascend.

Standard issue pita breads and humus and sheekhs exist but the thing to consume is the Kabsa mutton. Which is a huge chunk of meat served on a bed of rice. We've done meat before but this chunk was simply incredible. Tender to a fault and when held up, meat slides off the bone under the influence of gravity. Gravity! No fork, hand, pulling, biting. Just slides off. Incredible. The chicken version isn't such a big deal, in fact it pales in comparison to the red meat.

Satisfaction guaranteed.

Orkut has decided to become user friendly and there's a new thing on the line which is innovatively titled "Gazzag". Cool palindromes apart will review it when I can.

Hot!

It's unlike me to post so soon after a post but a man's gotta do what a man's gotta do unless it involves many things that could just be a post of their own.
Did a sinful thing today. Women and children this where you don't need to run away it has little to do with carnal crimes though I was accused of looking like an RCSO (Repeated Child Sex Offender)... Note I was accused of looking like one not being one. That's another post again. Well realised early in life that there was little I could do with my looks outside of orthodontics and plastic surgery so took the cheaper option. In this country it's still braces. And on an aside I have a friend who epitomises the term permanent braces - she's had them for six years. Think it's time she paid the dentist. Money, not a visit.
But as always, I digress. The sinful thing's details follow. I was making myself a chicken sandwich for lunch a la Subway except it had regular slices of bread and cost about a tenth when I discovered that jalapenos can be used not just as sandwich garnish but if soaked in vodka long enough they can make Absolut Peppar taste like peach schnapps. So in my infinite wisdom and goodwill dropped a couple of slices in a glass of vodka and left it in the 'fridge to soak. And in my aforementioned infinite wisdom and goodwill informed dad (funny story coming up) that the concoction would be ready by the time he got home. The Provider in HIS infinite wisdom searched the freezer and found little besides frozen peas (duh!). So here I am a peg of jalapeno vodka down, buzzing like a bee on steroids and the insides feeling like Mount Doom - blogging. Colleen McCollough once said that pain brings out the best in us all... those of you who've read till here would agree - balls.
So here's the funny story, will have to give the Provider credit for coming up with the idea of adding chilli/tabasco and other such noxious substances to vodka in order to get to the bee on steroids state. That's not the funny story. The Man walks in one day with a new bottle of hooch pours himself a glass and sips it and says, "Hey, this tastes nothing like what I make. It's actually sweet. Why's it called Hot Fling?" "Dad, it's peach flavoured" "Peach? where does it say peach?" Innocent, quietly amused point at the fine print. Reading glasses later, "This is horrible stuff..."
There's now a near full bottle of Hot Fling untouched for the past couple of weeks and a draft of a letter to the consumer court for misleading nomenclature.
Materazzi while walking alongside Zidane said, "Zizou bhaiya, aapse ek baat poochni thi... log Chlormint kyun khate hain..."

Vodka Watermelon...

Take a decent sized watermelon, cut a small window. Take a bottle of decent vodka (anyone will do depending on your taxation slab - skyy, absolut, finlandia, grey goose; then smirnoff, fling, fuel [my current personal favourite], romanov, mgm, yada yada). Empty the bottle into the melon. Freeze for 4 to 6 hours. Cut the fruit open and well... eat!
The hangover cure comes tomorrow.

Just laid hands on a John Mayer Trio album called 'Try!' Not sure if its a confession or a request. Take on that comes tomorrow too.

Euphoria, yes our very own hind-rockband, played at the indiranagar club of bangalore. some 200 buck entry with unlimited alcohol... or so I heard. Going 'damn! I missed that' in the head but then again the realisation dawns that I've heard them thrice and its been the same list of songs... just confirmed that too... apart from the eternally euphoric dhoom, dhoom again, maaeri etc etc there's the standard issue it's my life, we will rock you, o humdum(from saathiya the remake of the mani ratnam gem [!]), et al. But one neat thing that they do do is a nice rocky version of mast qalandar and follow that up with ke ghungroo toot gaye very very nice. And well doing the same old songs apart the man has a great voice and its good music at least half the time.

Irony of my life happened. Due to some inexplicable screw up by the powers that be wasn't and havent been paid for a few months now. But in a moment of weakness gave my little car for its second year service. That, be warned for those of you on the way for your own, is a major overhaul... They change every thing that can be changed and then some and charge you a bomb. But that isnt the whole story. To be honest the car moves like a new machine after the service. The irony comes now, its a bloody expensive service. So thanks to the powers and the weakness I, for a while had a car that was such a pleasure to drive and was too broke to fill fuel...

Life...