Pizza

It is about 1230 pm. I am kind of hungry. What should I have for lunch?
Hmmm..

Shall I go to Preet's? I go there pretty much every weekend. Also, it is kind of expensive. So Mr. Sumod, what is your plan B?

Subway... no. It is too usual... you used to eat there pretty much everyday. For how long will you eat veggie delight?

Chipotle is very far; also it has the same usualness like Subway.

Shall I order a pizza. Again, it is very expensive. I don't want to pay money and get fat.

You complain too much.

Hey why not make your own pizza? Anyway you have to go for groceries. Secondly you wanted to make pizza for quite some time. Make it while watching your stupid and funny Hindi movie.
Done.

After 3 hours,

One large Boboli pizza crust = 4 dollars
One Boboli pizza sauce = 70 cents
Four Toppings Tomatoes, Bell Papers, Onions, Pineapple chunks = 3 dollars
Asiago Pressato Italian cheese = 3 dollars
Having the fun of baking your own pizza and eating it too = Priceless!!

Here are the pics of the pre-release version, just before going into the oven and the pic of my first pizza , Pizza v. 1.0

So much to read

Whenever I go to Border's or Barnes and Nobel's, I get an inferiority complex. I mean look at the books they have in each section. Those shelves are like towers with multiple tomes packed with unknown words and unfathomable phrases and unbearable weight. Just looking at them gives me only one feeling, "Boy, when am going to read all this?". And I am not even thinking about philosophy, history, world politics or economics. I am only concerned about books that I generally understand, like business and technology.

Take for example, today's case. I decided to take a stroll and went to Border's. First I picked a book in the business and management section. Then I thought, this is not what I want. I need to read more about programming. So I started going to that section. On my way, I saw "The tipping point". I have heard so much about the book that I picked that up. In the Computers and Technology section, I saw literally one entire shelf full of books on C++. I was also on the lookout for a good C book. One major reason I look for these books is I want to know what book is the one that covers it all. For C, I can surely say that K and R is the best. It is like reading SAP documentation. Slightly unclear initially. But then you are bound to appreciate the beauty of it.

I got a very good book on C. It is " The C Puzzle Book". I did solve some questions in the store itself with the help of "Maple Chocolate Mocha".

But what attracted me most was bunch of books on Ruby. Now this is not a new language and you can find many Web 2.0 applications created using it. But today, I saw many books on Ruby than before. So I have decided to learn it and see how far I go with it.

गणेशचतुर्थीनिमित्त एक कविता

गणेशचतुर्थीनिमित्त एक कविता


सरला श्रावण बघता बघता वाट भाद्रपद मासाची
अाली जन्मचतुर्थी देवा तुझीच अामूच्या राजाची

वसलो अाम्ही दूर जरी दाटूनी येती भाव मनी
अारती, प्रसाद, मोदकांच्या किती गोड त्या अाठवणी

तव अाशिषे सर्व मिळाले मजला अाता काय हवे
तुझाच सेवक जन्मांतरी मी, हेच ऋण मम सदैव द्यावे

त्याच भावे तुला पुजितो गौरीनंदना अाद्यस्थळी
अशीच सेवा घडो हातुनी हीच प्रार्थना चरणतळी

- सुमोद ०९/११/२००७

Typhoon..

Sometimes it helps to take decisions on the fly, or rather while on a drive. Tonight I was going to eat outside but was less than certain of the place. So while at the intersection of 160th avenue NE and Redmond Way, I decided to make a left turn at 161st NE and go to Typhoon.

Typhoon is a Thai restaurant in Redmond that I intended to visit for some time. I like to eat different kinds of cuisine and Thai is among my favourites. So Typhoon it was supposed to be.

At the entrance, to the left, was the welcome desk with some candys. To the right was the statue of a Buddhist monk. The couch and chair were giving an impression of "Bamboo" style furniture.

The restaurant itself was nicely dim lit. I prefer light in a restaurant to the absence of it. But you do not want so much of light that will not let you enjoy your meal in the privacy you deserve. The tables and chairs were brown and square.

I was given three menus. One for the meal, one for tea and one for wines. It was interesting to see so many varieties of tea. I learnt that some exotic types of tea can cost as much as $3000 a pound. I had veg. Panang Curry with white rice. One thing that kind of struck me was that they would not give rice with the curry. This is the first time I had to order rice separately. Interesting practice as it might seem, they do include rice at lunch but not for dinner. I chose veg. food because generally at a new place I tend to eat veg. food for the first time at least. The water jar was of peculiar shape which I cannot describe and the glass was just perfect. Not too thick or broad and would hold enough water for one thirst.

The food was pretty good and the service was quick. It cost little more than what I used to pay in restaurants around DC. But the quantity was more and quality was better. So I do not feel like I wasted any money.

There was a separate section for Bar and outdoor sitting was also provided. All in all, it seemed like a cozy place where one can indulge oneself with his companions or alone once in a while.

My assessment: Cost: $$, Quality: **