Eating a cow, week by week

We Londoners have a strange relationship with meat, consuming it voraciously but preferring to ignore its bloody origins and turn up our noses at the rarer cuts. So, in a unique experiment, Time Out decided to buy a cow, cut it up and eat the lot; look out for our series of recipes and cooking tips

Week one: butchery
Week two: the tongue
Week three: ageing

By the time I read this much, I was grossed out enough to shut the book (Time out London) and feel helpless in this hypocrite world. And no, it wasn't because I am a vegetarian, I tested the article on my meat-eating partner and he was equally, if not more, ewwwwwwwwww.

Double standards at its selfish best when you take a picnic to a farm and play with the pink piglets and then buy beef barbecue kits from the supermarket on your way back home and then cry 'ewwwwwww' when you see an article like this or when you see a 'free range' programme on the TV showing animals being tortured for meat.

The article goes on to say....

You’ll feel a sense of satisfaction in having paid respect to the magnificent animal that provided your dinner. So go on – have (eat) a heart.

So what crossed your mind when you saw the picture and the article?

PS: Surprising that they have decided to leave the cow's brain, eyes etc untouched. The penis wasn't spared though!

TV reaches a new low

I thought TV shows hit the dumps when they started filming stuff like 'Big Brother'. It then slid down a few notches for me when it actually got popular! Duh!

I would never understand why a regular-joe would pause his life and watch not-good-enough-for-prime-time celebrities holed up in a house. Everytime I get a glimpse of this have-no-value-for-time-then-watch-this programme on TV, I couldn't help but imagine a scientist working in his lab watching mice run around mazes.

Now, I wouldn't mind watching the watch-the-mice-show when I know that at the end of it, the scientist is gonna share with me a little bit of something that will help me understand the miracle that is this world a little better. But why something like Big brother? Beats me.

If you are someone who stays up late watching Big Brother, please solve this mystery for me, and tell me what makes you do that!

It looks like there's more on the way. After Big brother, it's celebrity rehab!

He: "What's that you watching?"

She: "Celebrity rehab."

He: "Hmmm. Now what's that?"

She: "It's about forgotten television stars living in a house and fighting their demons."

He: "Why again are you watching that?"

Voice on TV: "Mooney Wiley just took a leak. Will he wash his hands?! Just out - Michelle C has lice in her you-know-what-that-rhymes-like-nanny! Find out more after this commercial break."

She: "Hear, hear! Can it BE any more worse?"

He: "This is suicide TV! A little bit of me just died."

Next stop. Wales.

The one thing you wouldn't miss in this country is a castle and an accompanying fort. They are synonymous to the toddy shops in Kerala and the temple gopurams in Tamil Nadu; you just can't ignore them!

And oh, this one is Aberystwyth castle ruins in West Wales. And in the corner of the picture frame is one of my favourite people.

Wales is also known as the 'home of red dragon'. Most of the stories and poetry connected to Wales also allude to a dragon. Apparently, dragons were first sighted in Wales during the Roman time or so the legends say! So no wonder then, this dragon got into the design of this bench in the promenade near the castle.

A sheep that seemed to say "Did you steal my wool?"!

The old and the new. Georgian architecture, an old Volkswagon and a modern sedan all live amicably in Aberaeron.

A sea of caravans. These are make shift apartments available for rent. Nope, there weren't any hippies.

Spotted in a village restaurant. They should put that on condoms and marriage certificates. What good will it do on a doorsill?

Maybe it's a piece of advice the restauranteur wanted to pass on to his customers as a thank you. Very weird. So was the tattoo of a voluptuous naked lady on his arm which he flashed proudly every time he served us.

That's me on a sugar rush.


A view from Portmerion, the Italian village.

Harlech beach. You can see the elements at play. The wind was so strong, we had to walk backwards.

Barmouth rail bridge across Mawddach river estuary. We walked across the bridge by paying a toll. The bridge was built in 1895, and now they are milking the old cow!

Seemed endless, especially with the strong winds that lashed out at us unhindered over the river. The bridge took us to the Mawddach trail in Snowdonia National Park.

................and what we left behind.


Flower after a shower.



Another pretty flower that called out to me.

More pics here.