Mumbai, Bowling, Current Reading.

GMA's series on BIG featured Mumbai this morning. It is, so Robin tells us, the most populous city in the world with a population (14 million) rivalling the whole of Australia and increasing by one million each year. They emphasised its two halves, the rich and the poor interviewing a person from each milieu. However, the young man from the slums was not, as far as I could see, typical. There are three interesting videos click here which give you an insight into the programme plus an article here. Robin Roberts is staying at the Taj Mahal hotel which, you may recall, was bombed last November and they have a memorial to those who died in the blast. The clue given as to Robin's whereabouts yesterday was "the biggest consumer of gold" which describes India totally. As I understand it, Indians would rather put their wealth in gold than anything. Of course their gold is the purest possible and in fact, in my opinion, not very attractive as it has a brassy orange colour. Not that I would refuse any of it of course. I used to work with an Indian girl a number of years ago, incidentally a very beautiful woman; she had gold up the kazooo and periodically went to India for a visit and came back with more. Mumbai is also where the Oscar winning film Slumdog Millionaire was filmed. Bollywood was talked about which produces many more films a year than does Hollywood and is a thriving film industry. Part of me would love to visit India, but part of me wouldn't because of the crowds. Bit like Hong Kong. You can't move for people. Bowling was, I regret to say, pretty disasterous for both of us. A friend whom I call 'coach' because she has taught me a lot over the years (used to own the alley we first patronised) suggests I shouldn't worry as I am probably concerned more with my hip than I realise. Possible. That doesn't help Matt though although in his case, yesterday, he was very tired not having slept much, so we can use that as an excuse for him. We need something to cling to as a reason for bowling so poorly, LOL. Of course, its not really that important, except to us. No real competition or anything, we don't let down our team by bowling badly. If we did, we'd have been kicked off by now I suspect *g*. I am deep into my Jennifer Fallon books at the moment. I have just finished Wolfblade and am well into Warrior. At the moment it seems something from the first book seems to have been forgotten in the second, but I could be wrong. My only problem is that I read the books in the wrong order, I should have read the Hythrum Chronicles second as I, of course, know certain things don't or won't happen in this trilolgy. Having given a Thai style recipe the other day, I got an email from My Gourmet Connection this week with another Thai type recipe which I thought sounded pretty good and will certainly try out. Silly me, talking about Mumbai it should have been Indian!!! Thai-Style Pork And Pineapple Noodle Salad This Thai-inspired noodle salad is simple and light ~ a great choice for a late dinner. The dish is a blend of spicy, sweet and salty flavor elements combined with a variety of temperatures and textures: tender pork, cool lettuce and plump noodles. It's easy and quick to prepare, particularly if you use the bagged pre-washed lettuce from the supermarket. Ingredients ~ 4 ounces thin cellophane noodles (bean thread) 1/2 lb lean boneless pork loin chops, cut into thin strips 2 teaspoons fish sauce 1 teaspoon cornstarch For the chili paste ~ 3 cloves garlic 1/3 cup cilantro, stems and leaves 1 teaspoon sambal oelek For the sauce ~ 2 tablespoons fish sauce 2 tablespoons pineapple juice, or water 1 tablespoon sugar 2 tablespoons vegetable oil 1/2 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper To serve ~ 7 oz bag of butter lettuce mix, or 1 head Boston lettuce 1 medium tomato, sliced 1 cup fresh pineapple, cut into 1/2-inch chunks 1/4 cup chopped, unsalted peanuts Preparation ~ Bring a large pot of water to a boil. Remove from the heat, add the cellophane noodles and allow to stand until the noodles are softened ~ about 15 to 20 minutes, checking frequently. Drain noodles and set aside. Place the pork strips in a medium bowl and sprinkle with the fish sauce and cornstarch. Mix to coat and allow to stand for 10 minutes at room temperature. Place the garlic cloves, cilantro and sambal in a mini-chopper or food processor. Pulse until the cilantro is finely chopped. In a 1-cup measure, combine the 2 tablespoons fish sauce, pineapple juice or water and the sugar. Stir until the sugar is completely dissolved and set aside. Divide the lettuce between two plates, top with noodles and pineapple chunks and arrange the tomato slices around the edges of the plate. Heat the vegetable oil in a large skillet over medium-high heat. Add the cilantro-garlic-chili mixture and stir-fry until fragrant ~ about 1 minute. Add the pork strips and continue to stir-fry until the pork is just cooked through, about 3 minutes. Add the fish sauce-pineapple juice mixture and heat through. To serve, spoon the pork and sauce over the cellophane noodles. Top with chopped peanuts if desired. Makes 2 servings ~ can easily be doubled Recipe Notes ~ If you don't have sambal oelek, you can substitute any Asian style hot sauce or even Tabasco ~ just adjust the quantity accordingly. Also, canned pineapple chunks in juice can be used in place of fresh if necessary. If you use water in the sauce instead of the pineapple juice, you may want to increase the quantity of sugar by a teaspoon. Have a great day.