Is there anyone who doesn't like tacos?

Yeah, I didn't think so. Everyone likes tacos. Even desis, who swear by a decent chicken roll - have been known to appreciate a good taco. Trust the smart cooks down south who took meats and fish and stuffed them inside a roti. This is the newest taco joint in town. Yeah, yeah, I know.. a taco hut in San Antonio? What's next - a barbecue pit in Austin? Heavens! The tacos here are cheap and tasty. Also, you are being watched by these critters while you eat.

 

Jenga!

What are we doing here? Playing giant Jenga is what. This was inside the ER Bar, which is a little hole in the wall joint on Wurzbach, near the Medical Centre. This place is also home to Wayne's Wings, where the wait is totally worth it. So we found ourselves there on Saturday evening - and ended up playing giant Jenga. Fun day.

That one week when I decided to let the internet tell me how to cook

Blue Apron packages its stuff very nicely indeed. If you cannot go to the store and get your supplies yourself, or if you like following instructions while cooking, then it might be right for you. For a freewheeler like me, not so much.

I mean, the idea is great, but I pride myself on being a scrounger-cook ... meaning I can stroll into your kitchen and with a handful of spices, whip up a dinner which will not just sustain you, but actually make you happy. And I  can improvise. I will put in toothpaste if I need mint leaves and I cannot get any (ok, j/k - but you get the picture). So this business of pre-packaged stuff doesn't work for me. But I do applaud their innovative business model. And of course, the ingredients appear to be of pretty good quality.

Typo

When the "L" is removed from "Ali", this restaurant went from the name of a famous character in an Arabian tale to a Bengali exclamation of surprise.

How to make a photographer

1. Convince your subject that he/she needs to purchase a nice camera. Show them your own albums. Point out that sensors improve rapidly, but optics - much slower.
2. Hold their hand through the purchase process. Do not let them succumb to "paralysis by analysis".
3. The new camera has arrived. Yeah! Take them out for a photo-day.
4. Work them through the tech. Modern SLRs have just a few controls that need to be used. Keep them away from things like Scene modes. Emphasize the fact that for amateurs, a photo should be taken at location and taken just right. You should not spend hours processing a RAW image at home.
5. Take pictures yourself. Keep them simple. Ask them to replicate these via THEIR camera. A fruitful afternoon will end with the photography bug firmly planted in the minds of the new enthusiasts. La victorie!

A few vignettes from the American Museum of Natural History

The missus and yours truly happened to be there during our recent trip up to the coast. The big spherical theatre shows a brief "History of the 'Verse" presentation which is narrated by none other than Liam Neeson.

 The spiraling walkway exiting the theatre has a timeline of the Universe presentation along the walls.

 Yeah, hoorah for Multicellular Life Forms. Except for reality TV stars.

 They had it for far longer than we have.

 The lunar surface is modeled on Om Puri's face. Or maybe it is the other way around.

 Sky iron. Bears in the frozen North are known to make their armour from this.

The things we eat

From the Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy:

'The History of every major Galactic Civilization tends to pass through three distinct and recognizable phases, those of Survival, Inquiry and Sophistication, otherwise known as the How, Why and Where phases.
"For instance, the first phase is characterized by the question How can we eat? the second by the question Why do we eat? and the third by the question Where shall we have lunch?"'

Now as important as eating happens to be, and as much pleasure as it gives us – there is something that cannot be forgotten. Adaptability, and indeed survivability frequently depends on the ability to obtain nourishment from whatever is at hand. This is as true in terms of biochemical pathways as it is in a psychological and social sense. It is as true for individuals as it is for entire societies. Hedonism is not a disgustingly flawed ethical theory – it is the rumblings of some idiot's intestine wrapped up in fancy words.

Having said all of the above, I will now take you through a short tour of things I ate during my recent trip to the East. The first contestant is a 1.5$ slice of pizza from a Bangladeshi's store near the PABT. Eaten standing up against the wall. Random homeless people, confused out-of-towners crowding up behind you. Hot pizza usually goes down without complaint. Being a Deshi store, they should have put some Garam Masala on it.

Moving on. The Shake Shack burger joint near Times Square. Line was about 40 people long when we joined it. For a burger. The thing about burgers is that (with all due apologies to Dean Winchester) – they are not a particularly sophisticated and delectable food. Asking “what is the greatest burger that money can buy” is akin to asking “what is the best Corolla that money can buy”. Of course, you can dress it up – with sesame bread, pickles or nice polished alloy wheels. You can even pile on extras, like well cooked cheese fries, or a completely redundant spoiler. But at the end of the day it is a piece of reconstituted meat. Or a Corolla. Take your pick. 

 

More to follow:

Spotted in town - a 1953 Cadillac Coupe DeVille

Seen in Brooklyn, May 2015. Not a particularly great design year, but you could see the beginnings of what would turn into the be-finned 1959 Coupe DeVille. And that would of course become famous as Immortan Joe's GigaHorse in Mad Max: Fury Road.

The Bengali "Paada" in Brooklyn

When you exit the metro station at Church, the stairs deliver you up into a strange world. People outside are all talking in Bangla - both the East and West versions of it. They are also smoking outdoors, congregated near the leetil "Chai-er dokaan" at the street corner. Yes, there is a wee tea shop at the street corner. Yes, all the "Kakus" of the Paada hang out there, maro-ing adda all evening. This is the tiny Bengali enclave in Brooklyn, NY. It is where my friends live, it is where I have visited too many times to count, it is that tiny fragment of the East Coast where I feel most at home.

Here be spices

 

The Grand Central Market. Home to various expensive stores and some surprisingly affordable ones.Has more confectioneries than Sealdah or Howrah. I think I still prefer Sealdah.

When you have a living room, plus a bonus rant about the demise of wagons

'twas a time when wagons roamed the Earth. Spacious American iron was in every driveway, like the Oldsmobile Vista Cruiser, which "That 70's Show" very informatively let us know could be used to 'cruise the vistas'. Or the Buick Roadmaster, which our friend, the regular car guy has recently spoken about. Anyway, here is the problem: I rented a Hyundai Sonata and drove it from Newark to Bloomsburg. The Sonata is a perfectly acceptable rental car. Not particularly exciting, but decent ride quality, moderate noise levels, reasonable sounding music system and even with the N/A 2.0 litre engine, enough torque to take the I80 into the Pennsylvania hills without concern. In other words, a perfectly acceptable daily driver, if ever there was one.

And then, of course, I had to move a box. Specifically, a large box, built to hold a futon. And there was no way in heck this would fit inside a Sonata. And that brings me to my question - why have Americans abandoned the practicality of having a liftgate on their vehicles? Is the mental anguish of driving a vehicle you associate with your elderly parents too much to bear? Someone please explain the sad demise of wagons in the US. Sure, you might point out that the wagon has just decided to wear platform shoes and now calls itself the crossover, but a crossover is not really a wagon. A decent wagon is supposed to ride on the same suspension as the sedan - and hence have the same driving dynamics of a sedan. I, for one- do not particularly like the way SUVs drive and especially, behave in turns. And I strongly dislike that carmakers are jacking up their sedans to just create extra ride height and ... nothing else. A proper SUV is supposed to be a ladder-frame truck chassis. Oh, and all crossovers also have a sloping roofline. Why, you fu**faced auto designers, why? When you do provide a liftgate, do you have to render it mostly useless by drooping the roof until all you can squeeze into the back are grocery bags? What if I have a sofa to move? Are you trying to build a Kammback on a bloody grocery-getter?

All my unhappiness would have disappeared if I had access to this (looks like a gorgeous piece of art and can haul stuff. What more can you ask for?):

Anyway, much deep anger aside, I simply solved the problem by picking up a rolled-up mattress which inflates when the plastic sheath is ripped off. This is a perfectly good place to drop down in the living room. When paired with the very bare-bones coffee and end tables that I assembled, the room looks quite acceptable. I believe people with culture would call this minimalistic.