Recession

It's too bad I don't get to blog as often as I would have liked. My fear that I'd find the US unrecognizable after the recession turned out to be unfounded. At least, the main downtown (read: touristy) areas of Seattle, Portland, San Francisco and San Diego seem the same as always. The majority of my favorite stores and businesses are still there. True, a few have shuttered up, like La Vache in Hillcrest, San Diego (yeah I miss that one) - probably there just wasn't the clientele for $20 lunches and $35 dinners. On the other hand, it may be just normal turnover. I am so glad that Khyber Pass, another of my favorite restaurants in the same neighborhood, seems to be doing fine.

A walk around the Pearl (Portland) proved a bit more sobering. The Puma and Adidas stores have closed (yeah, I'll miss the Puma one - it was great place to buy good stuff, tax-free) - European goods seem increasingly out of reach for the American pocket. In one sense, that's not a bad thing. One does get tired of European prices and there are plenty of new American brands to satisfy a price-conscious fashionista. The Diesel store is still around and Powell's in fine fettle (well, we'll have to see how it coevolves with Kindle and the iPad), as are pretty much all the wonderful restaurants in that neighborhood. Blocks away in Chinatown, a heaped plate of salt and pepper shrimps (eaten guilt-free with Alli capsules) is still under 10 bucks, as it's been for the last ten years.

So, yeah, there have been changes and I would have felt them more keenly if I lived in America. But it's still the good old US of A, and the bottom has very much not fallen out.

Indo-Scandinavian shortcut to Saag Gosht

If you've had Saag Gosht with fenugreek and other bells and whistles, you're likely to have a heart attack as you read through this shortcut, but trust me - it's makes for a tasty, hearty dinner in about 5 minutes: Fry Swedish/Norwegian meatballs in a bit of oil. When done, pour in an envelope of Paalak Paneer (the ready-made microwaveable kind). Turn off heat and stir for a minute or two. That's it.

Catch: It may be hard to get good ready-made meatballs outside of Scandinavia. Ready-made Paalak Paneer may be hard to find in stores in smaller Scandinavian towns. Since I travel a fair amount, the ingredients aren't a problem for me - I typically bring back a lot of gastronomic exotica when I return from abroad.

14 days to go

It's a rough time of the year ... student exams to grade, papers to submit, projects to bring to a conclusion, not to mention the long dark days ... But in two weeks, the tension will melt away. I'm heading out, down south, way south as a matter of fact - for collaborative projects and a bit of vacation as well. Maybe a day or two at Hot Water Beach, in the Coromandel near Auckland, New Zealand, where I'm headed first. Then Christmas in San Diego. It's hard to believe I haven't been there in two years ... there was a time I could've been a cab driver in that town, I knew it that well. Well, San Diego must have changed, things change fast in SoCal. One of my favorite restaurants - La Vache in Hillcrest - has closed down. Others haven't - Khyber Pass, for example. Then New Year's eve in San Francisco. Anyway, we'll be driving up the coast stopping at various UC and other campuses, working on projects, meeting collaborators - life could be worse. Well, lest you think I'll be living it up, let me assure you: I'll be carrying a daunting to-do list too, but the California sunshine and the quality RnR will make it all just a tad easier.

It'll be an interesting drive up from San Francisco - I'm already dreaming about it - but that's for another day.