Moon Fascination

Here is a resultant of my recent fascination with the Moon... its the full moon on 21st Nov 2010 shot in Charlotte NC.

Equipment Used:
Canon 7d
Sigma 70-300mm f/4-5.6 DG APO Macro Telephoto Zoom Lens
Kenko 2.0X PRO 300 Teleconverter DG

Some references and websites which might help you in photographing the moon

• Moon like all galactic bodies rises from the east and sets in the west. Moon cycle is around 29.5 days. Every day the moon rise time moves forward by approximately 50 mins. Here are a couple of websites to determine the exact location of moon - Moongiant.com and dailymoonposition.com
• The moon might look bigger when its near the horizon but it is actually the same size on any given day... this is called the moon illusion.
• The orbit of moon is elliptical so on some days its closer to the earth (Perigee) and on some its farther away (Apogee). So a full moon during Perigee would actually be bigger than a normal moon. Here is a nice Lunar Perigee and Apogee Calculator.

Bhutte Ki Kis (grated sweet corn snack)

As a kid I have spent most of my summer vacations in Indore, MP. Playing marbles in the back alleys of Raj Mohalla, running around with my friends at the Ramakrishna Park, renting cheap but innovative bikes from Kabaadi and eating some really really good food both at home and from street vendors...especially the vendors at Sarafa. Sarafa is a shopping heaven for ladies ...its a maze of crowded narrow streets jutted with shops for gold ornaments, cloths, kitchen appliances and of course street vendors lined up with tangy, sweet and spicy food designed especially to pleasure women. The last part is probably the only satisfying thing for men while their pockets are getting emptied. The line up of snacks is pretty exciting Kachodi, Samosa, Dahi Vada, Patise, Gulab Jamun, Rabri, Usal Poha, Bhutte Ki Kis, Moong ka halwa and the Meetha Paan. You can find many of these at many other places but the warmth and taste of Sarafa is probably the gold standard.

Here I have the recipe of Bhutte Ki Kis which is a creamy, tangy and sweet dish made out of grated corn and milk. Let me clarify once... the Kis or Kees or Khees here means grated...so Bhutte ki Kees is made out of grated sweet corn. In Sarafa stores they sprinkle a special cumin spice mix called zeeramal... I am not sure what that mixture is so at home we use a little chaat masala to sprinkle on the top...all right so here is the recipe -

Bhutte Ki Kis

Ingredients

• 4 sweet corns

• 1 cup grated dry coconut
• 1/2 litre whole milk
• 1 tea spoon cumin seeds
• 1 tea spoon mustard seeds
• 10-15 curry leaves
• 5 chopped green chilies
• a pinch of turmeric
• 1 tablespoon of oil/ghee
• 1/2 tea spoon of salt
• 1/2 lemon
• coriander leaves for garnishing
• zeeramal/chaat masala

Preparation

1. Finely grate 4 sweet corns. Do not grate too deep into the cob of the corn... otherwise finally the taste of the dish might become a little bitter.
2. Heat up 1/2 tablespoon of oil in a deep pan, add grated corn and cook for about 2-3 minutes.
3. Pour around 1/2 liter of whole milk, mix and let it cook for a while (about 15-20 mins). Keep stirring and see that the milk doesn't stick to the bottom of the pan.
4. When the mixture becomes a little dense add 1 cup of grated coconut, a pinch of turmeric and around 1/2 tea spoon of salt. We don't put  a lot of salt in this dish... so try to keep it a little low.
5. Continue cooking to get the mixture to a semi solid consistency.
6. Now ready the tempering (tadka) - in a small frying pan heat 1/2 tablespoon of oil and add mustard seeds, cumin seeds...then add chopped green chilies and curry leaves. See that it doesn't get burnt.
7. Mix the tempering (tadka) to the cooked grated corn.
8. Thats it...Bhutte Ki Kis is ready...serve it warm and you can garnish with chat masala/zeeramal, chopped coriander, grated coconut and lemon.

My mom taught me this recipe and I have always loved it. Try it out...and let me know if you like it.

Hiking Lost Coast, Northern California

This summer we made a trip to Lost Coast in Northern California. This was my second trip with my friends from IIIT. We had thought about going to Lost Coast an year before but we ended up going to Desolation Wilderness in the Lake Tahoe region that time.

Lost Coast is really a coastal region lost in itself. It is located remotely in Northern California sublimely away from human civilization but having an amazing closeness to the Pacific and a landscape which seems to have both a mellow and a tough attitude, I guess thats the result of living in solitude of such rough wilderness.

This is not a normal hike....when you decide to go to Lost Coast you need to plan a little in advance. This is mainly because of 2 factors - the shuttle and the high tides. Shuttle comes into picture because the start and the end point for this hike are not the same. Most folks start at Mattole and hike for around 25 miles over 2-3 days to end at Shelter Cove. So people generally park their cars at Shelter Cove and take the 2 hr shuttle to Mattole. We took the shuttle operated by Sherri - here is her website http://www.lostcoastshuttle.com/. We were 6 guys who settled into the big van...it cost us $50 each but gave 4 extra hours, kind of worth it.

High tide comes into picture because there are certain sections in the 25 mile stretch which become impassable during the high tide. So you need to consider the tide chart for Shelter Cove

region before you start making any plans, as this will decide how many miles you would be able to cover each day and where you can camp. Somethings good to know about the tides..there are 2 low tides and 2 high tides every 24 hrs, so there is a difference of approximately 12 hours between the high tides. Water gradually rises during the high tide until the time listed on the tide chart and then gradually ebbs...so you would not be able to cross the impassable section for approximately 2 hrs before and after the time listed. Also note that the tide times shift forward by around 50 mins each day, so if there is a high tide at 2:30 PM today...you can expect a high tide at around 3:20 PM tomorrow.

Day 1: San Francisco -> Shelter Cove -> Mattole -> Punta Gorda -> Cooskie Creek

We started from San Francisco at around 4 AM for Shelter Cove which is around 5 hours drive. Stopped for breakfast at The Maple Restaurant in Ukiah. There we were able to catch the Germany Vs Argentina quarterfinal of the FIFA world cup..Germany was astonishing and it thwarted Argentina to win 4-0. Imagine the start of a trek with such an high energy game. It's a beautiful drive on the Redwood Highway to Shelter Cove with red woods on both sides of the road and a lot of twists and turns. We reached Shelter Cove at around 11 AM where we parked both our cars and took the 2hr shuttle to Mattole.

We started the hike at around 1:30 PM from Mattole. The first thing you will notice, as soon as you start is the sand. It is tiring to walk on the sand, it really made me think about the camels and their hoofs. The wind was blowing strong but it was cool...and it was so cool along the Pacific Ocean that it just took away all the tiredness from the journey. It was really nice and since it was blowing from North to South it was helping us in our stride...just that it was also blowing the sand to our bare legs...making it feel like needles.

After walking for little over 2 hours we reached Punta Gorda Lighthouse. We took our lunch break there. Its an abandoned light house but it would have been really courageous to have lived in the building and maintained it in the early 19th century.

After Punta Gorda we were in the high tide time zone and we had to cross the impassable section in order to move forward. We entered the impassable section and it became really tough to climb up and down the rocks beside the ocean...but somehow we managed to reach the Cooskie Creek around 7 PM and decided to camp there. We were tired after walking for around 6 miles on the sand and climbing those rocks...with all the wind blowing it was tough to setup the tents but the boys finally managed it...then it was time to eat, sit next to the bonfire, talk a little and sip some cognac.

Day 2: Cooskie Creek -> Big Flat (Rattlesnake Ridge Trail)

We had to cover 10 miles on Day 2. We got up late in the morning, had a relaxed breakfast and were ready for the long hike by 11 AM.
First few miles were again in the rocky section but then we got on to a trail with firm ground...believe me it felt so good after those long walks on sand, rocks and pebbles. It was like walking in a grassland, with higher up on your left are the small hills of red wood trees and on the right you have the vast blue Pacific. It was a long walk, which occasionally trailed in the sand but always came back to the firm ground.

We took a few breaks at the creeks, it was heavenly to take off your hiking shoes and soak your feet in the running cold water. After walking for around 7 hours we reached the Rattlesnake Ridge Trail...there is a big private farm house...it seemed exotic.

The trail head of the Rattlesnake Ridge Trail marks the start of Big Flat...which is quite famous for surfing...we didn't see any surfers, never the less we decided to strip down and dive into the Pacific. The huge waves struck us hard and they were sheer cold and salty...believe me now I understood that 10 mins in this ocean without a body suite would really kill you.We camped at the Big Flat...it was so windy that we were not able put up our small tent...so we all got into the big one. We were tired and wanted to sleep...at night two raccoons attacked our camp and we could hear them scratching our backpacks outside our tent...thankfully we had kept all our food at some distance in bear canisters and they didn't cause much damage. Day 2 ended with an eventful night, no one slept properly and we had another long day ahead of us.

Day 3: Big Flat -> Black Sands Beach -> Shelter Cove -> San Francisco

We woke up to see a dense foggy morning and were ready to go after a quick breakfast, anxious to get over with the hiking and get back to San Fran.

We started at around 9 AM on a trail with firm ground, which soon became scattered with rocks and pebbles and later on turned into the Black Sands beach. It was again a slow long walk along the ocean...the fog in the trees above you gave a very dreamy and lost effect to the entire surrounding...very surreal. The cool weather made it better and we made quite a headway.

In between we left our backpacks and decided to take a side trail up a hill filled with green trees, bushes and flowers. We took some long breaks and spent time admiring some interesting shaped driftwood, ship wreckage and carcasses of sea lions we found on our way...finally reaching the Black Sands beach near Shelter Cove.

It is one of most beautiful, pristine and untouched beach I have ever seen. As the name says, it has black sand which if you look closely is like the perfect replica of grain sized beautiful, shiny pebbles. As if the Pacific has been crushing these pebbles into fine grains... very serene and beautiful. Well the hike ended when we reached Shelter Cove at around 4 PM. We rested a while, took our cars and then left for San Francisco. In between we stopped at Ukiah Brewing Company for dinner, which was a fitting end to this long trek.

Lost Coast is certainly not a pleasurable and relaxed hike but it has an experience of its own...it is a long weary walk, probably the best way to build a closeness to the Pacific and experience the lost landscapes around it. I can still hear the sound of the waves crashing against the coast. While I was there, I could feel that my mind was wide awake but still lost in witnessing the vividness of the Pacific and the landscape of the lost coast. It was a nice trip.

Summary & References

Hiking the Lost Coast in Northern California

Dates: 3 July 2010 - 5 July 2010 (3 days)

Start: Mattole -> End: Shelter Cove (24.8 miles)

Team of six: Abhay Sukumaran, Ajay Joshi, Ashok Kumar Meena, Nishant Joshi, Ritvik Mayank and Sumit Saluja

Map of Lost Coast -> This is probably the best map of King Range that I could find on the web

King Range Website -> This website has host of information about the trails, maps, weather, tide charts, etc.

Fall Colors - Charlotte, NC - Year 2010

I had heard about fall colors in North Carolina a lot and have made a couple of trips to Grandfather Mountain and the Smokies in the past but only this time I witnessed the beauty and vividness of its colors.

Charlotte is a beautiful city with a lot of green cover and need less to say a great weather. In the months of September - October, fall season sets in and the green cover of the trees starts to turn into a mixture of bright yellow, orange and rusty red. Its wonderful to gaze at the beauty and the color of just one leaf or a tree but its absolutely breathtaking to see an entire mountain range painted in these colors.

Its important to go at the right time, if you go too early (Aug-Sep) you will find it all green or if you go too late, like I did last time in November, when it was worse as most of the leaves had fallen off or had turned brown by then. The best time to go is in mid October I suppose.

I am not a big fan of Grandfather Mountain, which is probably just a destination...the real fun is to drive on the Blue Ridge Parkway... which I believe is the most beautiful road in America during the fall season. This is the right time for that convertible or even better to roar on those curvy roads in a Harley.

Jack of the Wood

Asheville is a small and beautiful town on the base of Smokies and every time I go there I am tempted by the music, the alcohol and the atmosphere of this wonderful place called Jack of the Wood.
I am delighted to have discovered this place... it is always vibrant with the music and the hustle & bustle of a lively pub. Sometimes its difficult to find a table so it might be wise to make a reservation especially on one of their live music performance night. They have some excellent ales brewed locally at the Green Man Brewery. So if you would like to spend an amazing evening at Asheville chatting with friends, enjoying live music and sipping some cold beer then don't miss out on the Jack while you are there.

Here is a live recording of a band playing Irish music. I am sure you would be seduced.