Chocolate Weekend

I am currently flipping through this wonderful chocolate cookbook called, brace yourselves for it: "Chocolate!". And I must say that it is exquisite. This book depicts chocolate in its very best aspects; sensual with the silken chocolate cheesecake, warm with some chocolate drinks and sometimes, even vulgar with the very decadent brownie pudding cake. But that`s the thing with chocolate, it reaches us at every level of our moods with its decadence or sophistication. My sister lent me this book this weekend, which she got from her boyfriend, in a somewhat unconcealed attempt to lure me into baking something for them. But really, I don`t need much pressuring for baking, especially when it comes to chocolate...

Fusion...

Call me harsh but I despise it when restaurants decide to go for several cuisines in a single menu. In Mauritius that seems to be the case for many restaurants. They would propose "Thai" food, followed by "Italian" food and then some "Mauritian" recipes and guess what? None of the recipes have any authentic taste. It`s neither Thai, nor Italian and sometimes not even Mauritian. The food is just some wild interpretation of those cuisines made by someone who, I am guessing, has not even had a proper taste of authentic Thai or Italian or any other foreign cuisine. And they call that fusion food. Ooh! I shiver thinking about fusion food.

Now you see, fusion food is not a bad concept in itself. I don`t know if you`ll agree with me, but we do that all the time at home. I sometimes add curry leaves to my spaghettis or soy sauce to an oriental recipe. Examples like that are varied and they depend from person to person. People have got their own interpretation of classic recipes and no one is judging them, except when they decide to make money out of it. Then, I`m the first one to be judging them harshly.

The thing is, if fusion food is really well done, it is comparable to a fantastic culinary voyage into novel and peculiar tastes and flavours. And if it is badly done, then, to put it plainly, it is crappy. And I don`t want to pay for crappy food. I don`t want anyone else for that matter to pay for  crappy food and to be misled into thinking that Thai or Italian or Indian food is crappy just because they tried it at the wrong place.

Criticism

You know how everyone tells you that you should accept criticisms and work on them... And you know how deep down, perhaps reluctantly, you nevertheless accept it and work on it, to improve, to be a better person. To be a person who listens to others and who is committed to self-improvement.

Well, there are certain days when I`ve totally off. When all I think about is myself. When I hear people`s advice, opinions and suggestions and just think "Screw them!". Those moments are totally blissful but I guess they are not recommended often when you are in HR...

Kindle me up

So the story goes thus: I got the Amazon Kindle some weeks back, I can`t remember exactly and ever since I got it I`ve been reading. Cause that`s what you`re supposed to be doing with a Kindle I suppose. I was so caught up with my reading that I did not give a damn about writing a blog post to tell you guys about how cool the Kindle is. So yesterday my boyfriend, a guy named Jevin told me to write something up and here it is.

Well the Kindle is cool if you`re a bookworm, if not, then you would certainly look down on it as a useless tool. I am a bookworm and ever since I got the Kindle it seems that it is accompanying me everywhere, except, of course, to the loo. Even if I was taking it to the loo I wouldn`t be telling you about it, right?

Yeah, so, well the Kindle is accompanying me everywhere. Even today as I was having lunch all alone `cause my colleague and partner in crime was out for a conference, I was reading the Kindle, a wonderful novel my Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, if you want to know. I wouldn`t tell you where I got the books though.

Anyway, anyway, all those blabbering to let you know that the Kindle is awesome, that I took a day off the day I got it to be able to read all day long, that its cheap and that the battery life is a miracle. 

If you happen to have one, you`re a lucky bastard. If you want one, go for it. 

Oh and by the way I got the orange cover. Cool, ain`t it?

2 damned hours!

It`s amazing how leaving work 2 hours earlier than usual can be revitalizing. I mean I don`t ever accomplish anything groundbreaking during the last 2 hours of my day so I might as well call it a day and leave early. Usually the last 2 hours of the day are spent chatting with colleagues, pondering on upcoming HR policies which we all know won`t ever be applied and most importantly, having tea. 

Granted today was a special circumstance. Something pressing. One of those events when people insist that you go home 2 hours earlier. But that kind of circumstance won`t be repeated in the near future. But I`m just saying, I`m more productive when I leave home 2 hours earlier...