Tushar C Shah

Eating Out In Goa

2013-05-07T15:05:00.000+05:30

Last sunday happened to be one of those nights we thought it would be a good idea to visit an old time haunt, Florentine, at Saligao for their chicken cafreal. Ever since i turned vegetarian more than a decade and a half ago, i knew there would be a limited variety of food for me to choose from the menu. However, it was one of those 3 against 1 situations and i didn't have much of a say besides

A Sleeping Pup & I

2012-06-13T18:43:00.000+05:30

Sleeping pup & ISince the past few months, I sometimes find myself waking up quite earlier than normal. One such morning was today.When I woke up, I realized it was still quite dark and so I tried to go back to sleep but sleep, simply eluded me. About an hour or so later, I decided it would be best to drop this pursuit and sit up in dhyan, instead.The weather was comfortable and the hour was

Epicurean reflections

2012-06-07T17:56:00.000+05:30

It has indeed been my good fortune to have experienced myriad epicurean delights, right from the home based to French, Greek, Thai, Chinese, Italian, Tibetan - served from the humble to the multi "starred" establishments. Needless to say the experiences have ranged from satiating to fair enough, to unsatisfactory and on the odd occasion pretty much worthless and a waste of time and money. I

Arrival of the rains

2012-06-05T10:17:00.002+05:30

Intermittent light showers through the night and continuing are indeed a two fold blessing for me. Along with the hope that for temperatures to come down, i am also thankful for the light showers since they seem to be perfect for my newly sown backyard vegetable beds that are not even a week old now. Indeed a good omen :)

The Heart

2012-06-04T13:56:00.000+05:30

In Sanskrit, the heart means 'hrdayam'. It consists of two syllables, 'hrt' and 'ayam', (centre - this). I wonder if the English term 'heart', originated in the Sanskrit 'hrt', (centre), since we do tend to say "the heart of the matter is.....", if we mean to convey the 'crux' or 'essence' of something? Hmm.....

Back again with a new veg patch

2012-06-03T17:26:00.000+05:30

Been a while now since my last post. I think social sites like 'Facebook' et al are virtually eating into the time people may want to spend with writing as well as reading blogs. Maybe it's the attention span that seems to be getting shorter with everyone around the world and in turn harbouring in, a 'quick fix' syndrome. But if that were to be the case then it would surely mean an end for

Organic Pesticide

2011-07-11T15:05:00.001+05:30

A guide to making your own all purpose organic pesticide from vegetables, at home.I have copy/pasted the same from the original post by iPodGuy Veg/Organic PesticideMonday, July 11, 20112:16 PM iThis instructable will show how I made a cheap, all-purpose organic pesticide for my herb & vegetable garden. It can be used on a variety of insects that live in the dirt or on the plants

First Steps Towards Self Sustainance

2011-07-04T15:22:00.002+05:30

The rains are here and it's the best time for doing whatever it was that one wanted to do by way of gardening. I've been waiting for these days to come ever since September last in order to give a good head start to the vegetable patch that i have been meaning to put in our back garden. Needless to say, sky rocketing rates of inflation along with the thought of "God only knows what kind of

Kokum

2011-05-21T13:25:00.000+05:30

Kokum, or Sol in Konkani, is largely found in the west coast regions of India and i wonder if one may call it as being a variant of Imli or Tamarind. It's summer time once again and every morning the backyard is strewn with a bunch of these kokum berries fallen on the ground. Picture 1 shows a fresh lot whereas Pic 2 shows a previous lot being sun dried for storage. This kokum is used to

Getting down to composting

2011-05-08T19:01:00.000+05:30

Kitchen waste strewn over an earlier layer of waste, leaves, saw dust. At the very bottom of the pit there is a layer of laterite stone rubble, pieces found all over the property. This layer is similar in effect of drainage to what one normally puts in a pot while placing plants. The waste is covered with dry leaves that are strewn around our backyard - one may also collect and store

Drumsticks

2011-02-26T19:13:00.000+05:30

Drumstick - MORINGA OLEIFERA I guess just a couple of more days and these should be ready to go in to make some of the following dishes: South Indian Sambar, Drumstick Soup, Drumstick Sabzi with Gram Flour. Hmmmm... enjoy.

Honoring Dave Brubeck with his sons Jaz quintet

2011-02-23T20:55:00.000+05:30

Trigger Finger - pretty disturbing.

2011-02-21T20:58:00.000+05:30

It's very frustrating and at times a real downer when one experiences a situation that threatens the progress of a new found activity which promises a sense of satisfaction and joy. In this particular case i refer to what may turn out to be a major setback to my hands on involvement in gardening. It's been more than a month now that i noticed an affliction to the "pinky" fingers on both my hands.

Tulasi a.k.a. Holy Basil

2011-02-18T15:05:00.000+05:30

Each morning as i reach the Tulasi plant in order to water it as well as pluck a bunch of it's tender leaves to eat the same, i am reminded to take a picture of the plant so that i may post it out here. Unfortunately by the time i complete my rounds of tending to the garden the thought has slipped my mind until the next morning when i once again reach the Tulasi for my morning fix. However there

A Real Start!

2011-02-15T19:21:00.000+05:30

This guy gave me a real start yesterday morning. I must have been some 10 inches away from him and looking down at the base of the mangosteen plant as i stood watering the same. when i happened to just look up and to the right, there he was, doing this bizaare "cobra" stance. and what with the wing like pair of leaves, he really did startle me for a second! but isn't it amazing how nature has

The previous week

2011-02-13T20:15:00.001+05:30

The previous week was a bit of a letdown as far as my new found hobby of toodling around with gardening is concerned.First, over the last week end and then some, the phone lines in our village went dead due to someone from the local Public Works Dept, merrily went and penetrated a major telephone cable while drilling into a nearby road.That took care of

Knee high into Weeds!!

2011-02-09T15:01:00.000+05:30

Okay, I don't think i should wait any longer for Krishna's stand - in to come and address the weed situation. It's been a month now and there's been no sign / news from the man. As you can see if i wait any longer the weeds will start flowering and that will cause another lot of seeds to be sprayed all over the lawn. As it is the weeds are like mid way to me knees. Any longer and i may just

The Broken Papaya & The Barren Patch of Lawn

2011-02-03T13:17:00.000+05:30

The papaya (from Carib via Spanish), papaw or pawpaw is the fruit of the plant Carica papaya, in the genus Carica. It is native to the tropics of the Americas, and was first cultivated in Mexico several centuries before the emergence of the Mesoamerican classic cultures. One had this accidental growth all by itself near the well and right through the iron bars of the gate as seen in the

A 2 in 1 ?

2011-02-01T21:11:00.000+05:30

I have these 2 plants growing together. I know that the one on the right is a Mangosteen