Recipe for firni

MILK AND CREAM-OF-RICE PUDDING WITH ROSE WATER AND NUTS

To serve 10 to 12

2 quarts milk
3 tablespoons rose water
2 tablespoons ghee
1/4 cup unsalted sliced, blanched almonds
1/4 cup unsalted pistachios
6 tablespoons Cream of Rice cereal
1 cup sugar

In a heavy 5- to 6-quart saucepan, bring the milk to a boil over high heat, stirring constantly to prevent a skin from forming on the surface. Reduce the heat to moderate and, stirring occasionally, cook for 30 minutes. Stir in the Cream of Rice gradually, and still stirring, add the sugar. Stir over moderate heat for 10 minutes longer, or until the pudding is thick enough to coat a spoon heavily. Remove the pan from the heat, stir in the rose water, and pour the pudding into a shallow 7-by-14-inch baking dish. With a rubber spatula, spread it evenly and smooth the top.

Heat the ghee in a 7- to 8-inch skillet until a drop of water flicked into it splutters instantly. Stirring constantly, fry the almonds over moderate heat for 2 or 3 minutes, until they are a delicate gold color. With a slotted spoon, transfer them to paper towels to drain. Add the pistachios to the ghee remaining in the skillet and stir them for 2 or 3 minutes, or until they brown lightly. Then drain them on paper towels, and sprinkle both the almonds and pistachios over the top of the pudding. Refrigerate the firni for at least 4 hours, or until it is thoroughly chilled and somewhat firm to the touch.

C&O Canal: Day 2

This post refers to events that occurred on Saturday, July 27, 2019.

Yesterday, just before leaving Little Orleans, I had turned on the GPS on my Gaia app. This is a free app that is suitable for hiking, biking, and other outdoor activities. Yesterday's route, according to the official maps provided by the towpath was approximately 41 miles. With some of the meandering we did and the ride into town my Gaia app stated we had done 44.4 miles.

Although the Red Roof Inn itself didn't have much going for it (except for the fact that they recommended that the bikes be taken into our room and that they were used to cleaning all the mud and other dirt falling off bikes in the room), but the coffee in the lobby was just outstanding. I got myself a cup, pulled my chair out of the room and sat outside to watch a beautiful day dawning.

Dawn from just outside our room.

Another nice (co-incidental) thing about the hotel was that there was a Waffle House just next door. We got ready and had an excellent breakfast there. Pulled the bikes out and loaded them to be off for another ride.

On the day that Kedu and Rohit arrived at my place, we had reached out to our friend Vanita -- who is an outdoorsy person -- and asked her if she wanted to join in. She was very excited about the whole thing. Only thing: I didn't have any more bikes to share, so she had to get/rent her own. After some research we concluded that the best way to do this was to have her meet us in Sheperdstown, WV which is on the way today and has a bike shop where she could gear up. She had called the bike shop ahead and found out about it all. We decided to meet her at about 1:00 pm. Today's ride was going to be another 40+ miles and Sheperdstown was about 28 miles from Williamsport. With an average speed of about 7 minutes to a mile, it would take us about 3.25 hours of riding to get there. 

We rode back to the towpath, but reached the detour from yesterday. The detour required us to carry our bikes up and down a wooden bridge. The National Park Service that owns and maintains the towpath had done a good job of having a rail on the right hand side of the stairs where the bike could actually ride. After descending the bridge we started off on the towpath at approximately 9:00 am. The first few miles south of Williamsport is perhaps the most beautiful part of the towpath. The canopy of trees that surrounds the towpath is really thick in this region making for a gorgeous tunnel of green.

Just south of Williamsport MD. Both friends are in the distance.

At approx. mile marker 93, we started seeing a bunch of RVs parked under permanent canopies on the RHS. This is all a part of a private members-only club: The Potomac Fish and Game Club. In addition to real-estate that is made available to the club members to park their RVs, the club also has a massive pavilion with picnic benches, refrigerators, kitchen, barbecue pit, etc. We decided to take a quick rest stop here.

Taking advantage of club bench and tree, pavilion in the background.

View from that club bench.

No sooner had we alighted, an old man on a golf cart who was passing by decided to stop and say hello to us. He had such a broad grin and a friendly face, we got talking to him. He told us all about the history of the club and a little about his life (as a trucker). Apparently, during the last two years the river had completely flooded the area where we were seating. 

He also told us that in about half a mile we would reach the midpoint of the C&O Canal Towpath and there's a marker there -- a must photo opportunity.

As we proceeded southward, the boating, tubing, kayaking, fishing, etc., activities on the river kept increasing:

A little before 1:00 pm we reached the outskirts of Sheperdstown. The towpath gets really rocky here. Unfortunately, we didn't maneuver the rocky parts right: Kedu had a fall and had a small cut on his knee. Our $15 medical kit came really handy here. We were able to clean and sterilize the wound and off we went. To reach Sheperdstown, one has to cross the river on a bridge. 

Bridge over the Potomac to Sheperdstown

There is a series of small switchbacks that take one to the top of the bridge. After crossing the bridge you reach Sheperd University. Despite being a college professor, I had never heard of this university. But the campus and the town were pretty. We were able to locate Vanita quickly. We had lunch at a Thai restaurant, then grabbed Vanita's rental bike and after a quick photo, off we went!

Vanita outside the bike rental shop with her "new" bike.

From Sheperdstown to Harper's Ferry is about 12 miles on the trail. Leaving aside the WMRT, this may be the easiest part of the trail as a lot of it is "raised" on a bed of gravel with a smooth surface (not as smooth as paved, but almost). The bike shop attendant had told us that as you get closer to Harper's Ferry, the river gets closer to the towpath and we would see more and more people tubing, kayaking, etc. How right he was!

Harper's Ferry itself is situated at a confluence of two rivers: the Potomac and the Shenandoah. It has a lot of historical significance for the Civil War and for commerce. The landscape changes a bit as one approaches the town with tall cliffs rising on all the sides of the rivers. The effect is majestic...hard to describe in words.  It's a tiny little town and has a quaint and distinct feel to it. By road, it's only a little over an hour away from DC, but the vibe and the topography of the town might as well make it a few days away from DC.

On a summer Saturday evening we were barely able to get reservations at a local hotel. We rode up to the Quality Inn that is situated on Union Street. The rooms were all deliciously cold with the A/C on full blast. Showered, and took the hotel shuttle to the downtown area where we were lucky to find outside seating with a view:

Harper's Ferry, WV: HQ for the Appalachian Trail

Dinner at The Rabbit Hole

Had some outstanding beers and a lovely dinner, caught the shuttle back to the hotel and off to sleep! My Gaia GPS informed me that we had ridden our bikes 46 miles today. Two-day total: 90+ miles.

C&O Canal: Day 1

This post is about Friday, July 26, 2019. The day when we take off for the bike trip has finally arrived. The weather forecast for Little Orleans, MD where we will start our trip is a high of 89F, no rain, but humidity in the 50-60% range. We get up at around 7:00 am, hang out with tea/coffee and I make a run for bagels. Bela makes us पोहा for breakfast -- I swear to you, this is the best friggin' पोहा I've ever had in my life. After a filling breakfast and showers, we load our panniers with our stuff. We distribute the common items among ourselves so that the load is balanced, and check tire pressures on the bikes, load the bikes onto the bike carrier, dump our panniers in my RAV4 and off we go! Kedu, Rohit and myself off on our bike adventure. It's about 10:25 am when we finally head off.

The plan is to drive to Little Orleans, MD and park at a C&O Canal Trailhead there, unload our bikes and ride for about 40 miles until we reach Williamsport MD. There we will stay at the local Red Roof Inn for the night. On the way there, Rohit made reservations for two rooms at the hotel for one night. We stop outside Hagerstown MD at a Subway for lunch at around 12:45 pm. By the time we arrive at the trailhead it's approximately 2:05 pm and the sun is scorching hot. The parking lot is completely exposed and by the time we unload the bikes and install the panniers, we are already hot and sweaty.

Based on the way the shadow of the trees is falling, I mentally come to a conclusion on which way is south. I see a biker on the towpath and yell out to him, "Hey, which way is south?!"  He points in exactly the opposite direction to which I was going to head. 😂

Off we go!

Initially, we stopped quickly a couple of times just to make some minor adjustments, but soon enough we were riding at a rate of about 7 minutes to a mile -- which is roughly the average we maintained throughout the trip. After about four miles of riding we came to a spot where there was a boat launch and a small canoe and kayak rental place -- very primitive. But there were kayakers/tubing enthusiasts emerging from the river. They took one look at us and pointed out the fact that we could switch to the Western Maryland Rail Trail (WMRT) which is parallel to the towpath and is paved. The WMRT runs parallel to the towpath for about 25 miles (as of this writing -- it is continually being extended) to the towpath and is much easier to ride. It was about 50 ft. to the east of the towpath and there was a small connecting path that led us to it. Voila!

We had decided to start the first day in Little Orleans because I thought that 40 miles to Williamsport MD would be a reasonable ride for the first day. I think we should've aimed for a bit less on a hot and sultry day like it turned out to be. About 15 miles into the ride, we reached the pretty little town of Hancock MD. We took a short stop there. I checked out the C&O bike shop there: it's a small place but it could be helpful under the right circumstances.

Hancock MD, 7/26/2019, 4:15 pm

The WMRT continues after Hancock for another 10 miles. Right before it ends, there's a sign that says "You might want to turn right here and make your way to the towpath, because otherwise you'll have to take Rt. 56 and that's not easy."  Well, we ignored the sign and continued to the end of the WMRT and took Rt. 56 to the towpath. This was possibly the hardest riding of the day as Rt. 56 had ups and downs and the road was totally exposed. Which isn't fun in 89F heat.

At around 6:30 pm a few miles before our destination for the day we were somewhat wasted. We had to stop to take a water and gel break. On a 10-mile hike a few years ago, I hit the wall at mile 8. The leader of the group had these energy gels in his pack and he shared one with me. I was a new man! The gel contains maltodextrin and a bunch of salts. Taken with water, it really provides a shot of energy and salts to a body that feels it can't physically go on. All three of us had a gel each and some water. Personally, I'm sure it provided us with the energy to go on.

Water and gel break, 6:30 pm.

After about 30 minutes, we arrived at a gorgeous fall in the river. This was our last break of the day.

A little after mile marker 100 on the towpath, we had to take detour into Williamsport. It's a tiny little town with just one hotel: The Red Roof Inn. We checked in and they were able to give us rooms next to each other on the first floor. We stacked the bikes in Kedu's room.

Showered, then off to the pizzeria across the street (which had a beer store right next door) for a cold beer and delicious pizza. Good night!

Tomorrow, I will bike some parts of the C&O Canal Trail. I've been thinking about this for at least the past two years and maybe even longer. I immigrated to the US in 1984. Prior to that, I used to engage in a fair number of outdoorsy activities in India (not long-distance biking though). Anyway, the years have just gone by what with pursuing graduate school (Master's and Ph.d.), getting a job, getting married, having kids, etc., etc. However, in August 2018 my second and last child made his way to college. Being an empty nester opens up some time for yourself that you never knew existed. One of the main things I wanted to do was to engage in more outdoorsy activities. Finally, everything has come together for this trip to become a reality.

Originally, the plan was to be self-sufficient, i.e., pack food, a tent, sleeping bag, stove, etc., so that we (I and two friends) need not have to rely on reaching a town where we could lodge ourselves in a motel every night. However, that plan fell through because we felt we weren't prepared enough to implement it. Now, it's just biking and crashing in hotels/motels.

To prepare for this hike I had to pull together the following:

1. Three hybrid bikes that are serviced, cleaned, and tuned.
2. Three bike racks, for:
3. Three panniers.
4. Water bottles with filters. There are water pumps at very reasonable intervals on the trail, but there are some rumors that some of the pumps don't work. Well, if we have bottles with filters, we can draw water from the canal and safely drink it.
5. Energy gels
6. A pair of inner tubes for each bike
7. Bike chamois
8. Small set of essential bike tools
9. Some trail snacks
10. Change of clothes, underwear, socks, nightwear
11. Flip flops
12. Toothbrush, paste
13. Basic medical kit and any prescription medication
14. Cash, credit card/s
15. Shoes
16. Air pump for bike

This is my first post on this trip. I will add more posts with pictures as I progress through the bike tour.

Premal's Steel Margarita

Until about a year ago, I was mostly a beer drinker. Recently, I've been attracted to the revival of classic cocktails. I have two "go to" cocktails: the Manhattan and the Margarita. The weather in Southeastern Pennsylvania can be described as six months of mostly cold (Nov through Mar) and another six months of mostly hot (rest of the year). That's a gross over-simplification of course, but for this blog it suffices. I consume Manhattans during the cold months and Margaritas during the hot months. But not exclusively. I might throw in other cocktails that I'm experimenting with once in a while.

Anyway, for a little while I've felt that there was something more I needed in my Margarita. A tad bit of a smoky and spicy flavor with a little bit of a "steely" edge. The smoky and spicy is easy for most people to relate to as those terms are used frequently to describe food. But the steely edge is probably a mystery to most. But maybe my recipe for my Steel Margarita will convey what I mean.

1.5 oz. fresh lime juice
2 oz. mezcal
0.75 oz. Cointreau (or any good quality triple sec)
0.25 oz. Beefeater London dry gin
ice

Add ice to about 3/4ths of a mixing glass. Add all the ingredients and stir it all carefully until the temperature of the drink drops to that of ice. Strain it into a margarita or a cocktail glass and add 2-4 cubes of ice from the mixing glass to the margarita/cocktail glass. The mezcal provides the spicy and smoky flavor (mezcal is like tequila -- made from agave -- but made in small batches with the agave roasted over open firepits) and the gin adds the steely edge. Enjoy!

(This is my first blog post on cocktails. I intend to write more on this topic)

My Ellis-Island-type story

I'm about two-thirds of the way through Tyler Anbinder's excellent book City of Dreams: The 400-Year Epic History of Emigrant New York.  Most of the stories about individuals and families are engaging and easy for me to relate to as an immigrant. So far, however,  the part that I really identified with is how immigrants landed in NY City and were processed at Ellis Island. I just finished this part of the book, so I'm inspired to write my own very simple story:

I graduated from college in April 1983. Upon graduation, I immediately joined my father's commodities trading firm. My father, Pranjivandas V. Vora, was a sharp and talented agricultural commodities trader who made a decent fortune for himself in the business. In the late 1970s and early 1980s he lived in Hong Kong working for the Dubai-based Al-Futaim group. Al-Futaim wanted to set up a trading outpost in the Far-East. They set up two: one in Singapore (managed by my father's friend Ashok Divecha) and the other in Hong Kong which was run by my father. Unfortunately, both trading posts were largely unsuccessful, so my father and his friend returned home in 1982/83.

This new commodities business was not going too well for us. We had just signed an agreement with a Gujarat-government-affiliated entity called Grofed. Grofed moved at the goverment's snail's pace while the commodities market moves ultra-fast. This disconnect led to many missed opportunities, frustrations, and conflicts. We were losing money.  It's no fun working for an enterprise that is losing money.  Somehow in the din, my father gave me a chance to pursue further education in the US and I jumped at the chance!

I applied to several universities. I was rejected by some good ones (Wharton, Michigan) but accepted by some decent ones (San Diego State, George Washington, Virginia Tech, and others that were below these three). Based on the tuition and reputation of the schools, I decided upon Virginia Tech.

After receiving the I-20 form that allows one to apply for a US student visa, I gathered up everything that I thought I needed and made my way to the US Consulate in Bombay which was located at Breach Candy in those days. Virginia Tech was on a quarter system in those days and I was starting there in the Spring Quarter 1984 which commenced around the second week of March. Since I was out of synch in timing with other students, there was hardly a line outside the US Consulate. At the interview window, I was met by a stern-looking young woman who asked me a couple of questions. I mumbled the answers the best I could. She said that I needed to provide more documents on my income to support my claim that after completing education I would return to India to my wonderful rich life. I returned after two days with my income-tax returns. She wasn't convinced and rejected my visa application.

That was very devastating!  I was so looking forward to coming to America!  My father, ever the resourceful person, remembered a friend of his who had studied at U. Michigan and called him for advice. That friend suggested that we make an affidavit -- a sworn statement before a judge -- that said that I have substantial assets in India and I swear that I will return once I completed my studies (I had no such intention). We made our way to the small-claims court near St. Xavier's College and upon entering the premises were literally surrounded by unemployed lawyers wanting our business. We randomly selected one who typed up on stamp paper all that I was swearing to. We were then led to a judge's chambers where I solemnly swore to everything that was written in that affidavit. The judge affixed his seal and his signature and the document was ready to be presented to the US Consulate again.

The Consulate has a rule that if an applicant's visa application is rejected and if they re-apply, a new consular officer hears the case. This officer was the kindest, gentlest person I have met. Imagine a Woodstock era farmer from upstate NY with a smiling and bearded face. He patiently listened to everything I said and took my affivadit, then asked me to return at 4:00 pm that day (it was 10:00 am). When I returned, I discovered that I had been granted a visa but my sworn affidavit was sealed in an envelope and stapled to my passport. On it was typed, "To be opened by immigration officer in the US." Apparently, the final decision whether to let someone into the country or not is to be made by the immigration officer in the US!

For various reasons, I flew from Bombay to Hong Kong, then onto Tokyo and San Francisco. When I landed in San Francisco and approached the immigration counter, I was really nervous. What if this officer rejects me?  What will become of me?  To be sent back to India like an idiot!

When I handed my passport to the officer, he saw the stapled envelope. From his drawer, he fetched a staple remover, removed the envelope carefully so as not to tear it or the contents, then took the envelope and threw it in his trash can. With a beaming smile and a firm handshake he said, "Welcome to America!"

A Walk in the Woods: Rediscovering America on the Appalachian Trail by Bill Bryson
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Bill and his friend Stephen Katz (a pseudonym) set out to hike the whole Appalachian Trail.  A humorous recounting of their many mis-adventures. Very easy to read. What is remarkable is not what happened on the trail but Bill Bryson's very thorough and well-researched approach to writing. In this book, I found leads to many other books that I will now read.

I was a bit disappointed that they didn't really traverse the whole trail. In the last chapter he tallies all that he has hiked and it comes to about 870 miles or almost 40% of the trail. They hardly did any of New Jersey and New York -- the part of the trail I'm most familiar with. Anyway, I would still recommend this book to anyone who is inspired by a desire to...walk in the woods.



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