Mistry family site – Page 3 – Our family website, blog, photos

Seville Orange 🍊 marmalade

Jan 31, 2020Feb 5, 2020

So, D remembered that this was the short time window of the year when Seville oranges were potentially available. I had wanted to make marmalade for years, but either remembered at the wrong time or could not find places that sold the oranges

So I scoured the Internet to find out where I could find Seville oranges, checking old blogs and comments and articles, and eventually found people pointing to a company called Specialty produce near the airport. We went there and found an amazing warehouse with lots of electronics and screens and amazing selection of vegetables cheese is spices and fruits. I don’t think I’ve ever seen anything like it, including a vegetable museum. Had to sign a waiver to go in, And they also do tours. So I bought 10 Seville oranges and a couple of Meyer lemons

I decided to make the first batch with four oranges, Half a lemon from a local tree, and half of Meyer lemon cut into small triangles. Cut and used all the oranges, which were suitably sour, added juice of lemons. Cut the rind into little strips. All the pit and seeds were wrapped in a Muslin cloth that boiled away with the juice and 2 cups of water. After the rinds became soft ~25mins, let it cool until the muslin could be handled, then wring it and scrape off the pectin that seeps out. Decant into a container to see how much fluid there is, and measure about 7/8 volume of sugar

Boil away with the sugar and juice until it starts thickening up and begins to change color. Per the directions, I picked the set point when the drips on a plate formed ‘wrinkles’ when pushed gently… Then let it cool and spoon into jars! Truly delicious!!

Events

She’s back…!❤️

Jan 26, 2020Jan 29, 2020

So, after our longest time apart ever, dear D has returned from the UK looking after my dear mother, who I’m glad to say is doing well, and managed to navigate the craziness of LAX and bypass Fri eve LA traffic by taking the train part way to where I picked her up so she was able to sleep till we got back to the apartment.

We had a lovely hike the next morning to Black‘s Beach, despite the unusual cloudy weather, followed by a great dim sum at Jasmine restaurant with the dragon dancers for Chinese New Year of the Rat  !

We dropped by Pure Project anniversary bash but it was too busy for us non-hipsters, and came back to the apartment, where Nathaniel and Jane came to visit and gives us some pure project beer in exchange for chicken biryani!

Off to Black‘s Beach again The next day, via the glider port, where the golf caused traffic delays. The beach was fantastic as always, even though cloudy, with lovely bird activity. Then back to The apartment via Beerfish (where I found a couple of beers i had been keen to try) and then to a talk on finding alien civilizations by the skeptical society, where D started nodding off….so we escaped!

Then off to the Gregorian chant at the church in North Park, which was reasonably interesting for first 15 minutes, but not like the hit record!

Hikes & Walks

Mission beach & sunset

Jan 22, 2020Jan 23, 2020

Decided to check out Mission Beach today and walk along the beach. The surfers were all out and the waves looked pretty good. The giant rocks along the walkway stretched out into the ocean, and walking along them was fun.

There were some clouds, which made the scene look pretty. Walked along the beach and then back down past the big impressive looking beach houses, and caught the sunset which looked very pretty with a double layer of clouds on the horizon. Also got some nice pictures of a guy silhouetted against the setting sun.

Sunset guy – do you see him? Check out the pics…

The sky after sunset was not as impressive, But still pretty, silhouetted against the palm trees

Then checked out the California native plant society talk at El Prado where they talked about the replantation of the mission beach area and ongoing ecological work.

A quick visit to the basic bar to see the “no batteries needed” exhibition was filled with some nerds doing finger skateboard tricks!

Uncategorized

Oh dear…

Jan 21, 2020Jan 29, 2020

More than 8 cop cars, ambulance, fire engine on 9th last night, for a couple of hours.

Apparently a homicide in the penthouse suites, guy in his 40s not been seen for a week, lots of police downstairs in the lobby, senior guys huddling with building management, TV crews outside… Still limited information.

The victims spot in the garage is taped off. I expect will find out more shortly.

Books / Thoughts

Read it: The Happiness Hypothesis (Jonathan Haidt)

Jan 20, 2020Jan 20, 2020

So…in trying to understand more about what “happiness” is, I listened to “The Happiness Hypothesis” – by Jonathan Haidt, social psychologist and professor at NYU, and was very impressed by his consolidation of old and new, science and belief. Some of the below is from this link

The Happiness Hypothesis Summary

He uses a metaphor of the two key parts of our brain: The Rider (neocortex: rational thinking) who tries to control the wild Elephant (limbic system: basic instincts, eg. sleep, food and sex).

The rider represents / is your thoughts. The wild elephant doesn’t. Unhappiness comes from the rider and the elephant disagreeing, and happiness can come from closing the gap

50% of happiness is genetic

40% is in your head

10% is due to your circumstances.

Reciprocity is the principle on which we interact, which is why you feel guilty if you don’t return a favor . We feel so strongly about it, that we’d prefer to get nothing, rather than receiving an unfair share.

Next to your relationships, your work is one of the few factors that matters a lot to your happiness.

The adaptation principle shows that whatever lucky event or adversity we face, we get used to it. A study showing that people who won the lottery and people who became paralyzed both returned to their baseline happiness levels after one year.

However, what you spend your time working on is one of those external circumstances that has a big impact, thanks to the progress principle. It says that we draw much more happiness from working towards a goal, rather than reaching it.

So try to find meaningful work you’re good at – as Confucius says: “Choose a job you love, and you will never have to work a day in your life.”

Your most important relationship in your life will likely be the one with your partner or spouse. But on your quest for love, don’t just rely on passion. No matter how much “in love” you are at the beginning of the relationship, it naturally fades – and that’s okay.

Haidt says we must seek to develop companionate love, which is what best friends, brothers, sisters and family members share. Having someone at your side through the ups and downs of life, sharing your joy and sadness and exploring and learning together creates a much stronger bond, which can last you a lifetime, but it takes time to develop.

So don’t give up a relationship once passion fades, but give your companionate love time to develop.

The rider and the elephant might also disagree about who you are. For example your rider can try to preserve your image of being an efficient, career-driven manager who works out and is on a good diet, while your elephant just wants to goof off, go hang out with his buddies and binge on junk food.

It often takes a crisis for us to see these differences, which is why adversity can make us happier. This is especially true for people in their teens and twenties, who spend a lot of time thinking and looking for meaning in their lives. A crisis gives you the chance to see what the elephant really wants and help the rider adjust your self-image to match your true desires.

Lastly, we need to feel connected to something greater than ourselves, which is why religion has a place in our lives. Even if you’re an atheist, you probably believe in karma, destiny or fortune. That’s a good thing! Belief gives us a sense of awe, because it makes us realize that we’re a small part of something much greater.

To sum up:

Surround yourself with the people you love the most and live in accordance with reciprocity
Do work that matters to you
Find a partner who will stand by your side through sunshine and rain
Allow yourself to be part of something greater

Try it – leave me comments!

Hikes & Walks

Del Dios Highands

Jan 19, 2020Jan 20, 2020

Up early, and on the road to this hike near Escondido. Chilly in the morning, and 30 minutes later set off with fleece and jacket on, up the hill. Looking back the view with low mist on lake Hodges was amazing. Several other walkers, went pretty fast up the hill that got Steeper and Steeper. Spoke to D and her family on a particularly steep part, then took pictures from the beautiful view up top.

Continued along the hike down rocky path, turning right and going down, and around the hill. Long zigzagging Walk down and then back up the hill, with a lovely overlook at the top. Then down again towards the reservoir where there was a monument and beautiful overlook. Now at 6 miles, continued plodding along, happy I took the big bottle of water, panettone, and nuts.

More people on the path, as I headed back to the top of the hill. Many mountain bikers coming up the very steep hill looking very tired! As I walk down, I realized just how steep the path was! Eventually made it down to the car with my battery nearly dead. Met a couple of other hikers, Nathaniel and Jane who struck up a conversation, and lived in Golden Hill. We suggested coordinating on future hikes, and turns out they were heading to the lost Abbey brewery, which was also on my list!

Stopped by Felicita park which was very pretty but cost money to park. Then drove on to the lost Abbey which was a very hipster place. Turns out they were going to have some foxes come along! Eventually both a new guinea singing dog, and three foxes were brought in! Very nice and soft fur on the foxes. They were apparently part of the Russian breeding experiment that made them much tamer than regular foxes. The new guinea singing dog was quite cute, but sounded just like a dog howling!

Tried a couple of the lost Abbey and Hopster pot beers, but was not impressed by any of them. Then drove back, parked and raced to the library for the Dave Bergo jazz quartet, which was OK. Headed back to the apartment and into the hot tub for a good soak

Hikes & Walks

Songs I liked 2019…

Jan 18, 2020Jan 20, 2020

So… for the 2 or 3 people who actually find *and* read this, here’s my playlist of “Songs I Have Liked”… (I’m sure many will make me scratch my head when I listen to them in the future, but thats ok…)

Like everything else here, I’d ask braver visitors to ‘like’ the songs, or leave (nice) comments and their own suggestions on what they have liked.. Enjoy!

Songs Kamal has Liked!

Hikes & Walks

Santee Lakes…

Jan 18, 2020Jan 20, 2020

Up again early, and after plucking on the guitar, decided to head to Santee Lakes for a quick walk. Beautiful scene driving down the 52 with early morning mist in the valleys burning off. Drove back round to try and catch it again. Santee Lakes was beautiful – thousands of birds everywhere, fisherman, ducks, pick up trucks and RVs. The tree in the lake was packed with birds, and the bright green grass around it was wet with dew.

Quick walk, then picked up my north face jacket, and went to the Friends of SD Architecture talk ‘Adventures in Planning’ by Angeles Leira at the New School by , which was an interesting examination of the challenges of shaping SD county and its communities –

The Culinary Historians of San Diego talk ‘Is American Chinese Food Authentic’ by Dr. Yong Chen at the central library was great. The Cornell alum who had written the book was informative and funny. Then a group went up to 99 Ranch in Claremont and had a guided tour of the store, ending with a quick lunch where I had hand ripped noodles with spicy cumin lamb

Running super low on gas, I cruised to the nearest Costco (filled 13.7G), and picked up a new giant tin of coffee…

Hobbies

Ceramics class…

Jan 15, 2020Jan 20, 2020

In September, we also signed up for the Introductory Ceramics Class at the SDCE Educational Cultural Complex (ECC) near National City, led by the very capable Pamela Kosminska for the past 25 years…

There were lots of older students who had been attending the class for years, and lots of great pottery going on… The class itself was a bit unstructured, and our ‘Wednesday PM’ or WPM group ended up missing some of the formal lessons due to illnesses, closures and other mishaps…

I typically used the class ‘recycled’ clay, and focused on the wheel and throwing… Progress has been slow, and I’m glad I had the classes in NY back in 2016/7… Lots of failed attempts, and at least one instance where the clay I used was not ‘Cone 10’ and all my pieces ended up melting in the kiln – fortunately not damaging others work…

The class allows / encourages donations of work to the ECC, which is eventually sold in November and funds raised for ongoing activity… I was happy to donate and give away most of my pieces, and helped with the sale (boxing / moving / setting up) as well as kiln loading / unloading / cleaning and some teaching…

Check out the pics here:

Hobbies

Advanced Bakeshop Class..!

Jan 15, 2020Jan 20, 2020

In September 2019 we signed up for ‘Advanced Bakeshop’ class with SD Continuing Education… Not really sure what to expect, but hoping we’d learn some baking theory and good technique… The class was packed, and I suggested D sit at the table with the more ‘experienced’ looking students…( who already had their gear, and clothing)… and we were split into 6 groups, so our team-mates for the next 16 weeks were to be: Adi, Jesus, Rachelle and Walter, with one other person dropping out. Adriana was the teacher, and once we got used to understanding her, and figuring out when to call her in for questions, it was reasonably straightforward.

The course was fun, with plenty of cake making, and probably more cake decorating and less ‘explanation’ of theory than I wanted, but it was interesting to see the range of creativity across the class as we learned how to make icing, pipe flowers and patterns, mix colors, make ganaches, buttercream, halloween cakes, dias de la muerta cakes, fruit cakes etc etc

Our team was a nice group, with Jesus as the lead joker – in addition to the creaming and folding methods, we pioneered the “Oops” method where we added the right stuff at the wrong time, or left stuff out, or dropped stuff etc… All fun… Walter was the creative expert, and Rachelle the perfectionist…

Check out the pictures: