I’m on a roll! Signing up for reading challenge # 2 for the next year – the Whitcoulls Challenge. This one runs from Nov 1, 2007 – Nov 1, 2008. I’m doing the ‘book-a-month’ challenge, starting this Nov. Here is my list of 12 books (Books in Red are crosslisted with the other reading challenge, but I’m being good by not listing more than 4 books that I’m reading for the other challenge):

1) The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

2) The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean M. Auel (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

3) The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

4) The Red Tent by Anita Diamant ( Whitcoulls List – 2006)

5) Catch-22 by Joseph Heller (Whitcoulls List – 2002)

6) The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (Whitcoulls List – 2002)

7) The Other Boleyn Girl by Phillippa Gregory (Whitcoulls List – 2002)

8 ) To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee (Whitcoulls List – 2002)

9) Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding (Whitcoulls List – 1998)

10) 1984 by George Orwell (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

11) Life of Pi by Yann Martel (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

12) Shipping News by E. Annie Proulx (Whitcoulls List – 2006)

And I’m just thrilled. I was in ‘book mode’ today and ran across this website and thought it would be neat to complete something like this. So, I’m signing up for the Decades Challenge 2008, and here is my list.

1900’s: Heart of Darkness by Joseph Conrad

1910’s: Death in Venice by Thomas Mann

1920’s: The Painted Veil by Somerset Maugham

1930’s: The Good Earth by Pearl Buck

1940’s: 1984 by George Orwell

1950’s: The Day of the Triffids by Wyndham

1960’s: Catch-22 by Joseph Heller

1970’s: If on a Winter’s Night, A Traveler by Italo Calvino

1980’s: The Clan of the Cave Bear by Jean Auel

1990’s: The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

I’m not going to commit to more than 9 books right now what with all the changes we have happening next year. But I’ll certainly add to the list if I’m making good progress. Yippee!

‘The Alchemist’ is one in a series of novels written by Paulo Coelho. It was only through reading this novel that I learned that each of his novels has an overarching theme, the one for this particular book being “wisdom”. Before I comment on that particular aspect, a quick summary of the book.

‘The Alchemist’ is about “the boy” ( we never do learn his name) from Andalusia who is living out his dream by being a shepherd and is driven by a certain recurring dream to leave his life behind to go in search of a treasure near the pyramids of Egypt. Because he has risked losing everything in attaining his “personal legend”, he is guided by a gypsy woman, a mysterious man who calls himself a king, and omens from the earth itself – everything conspires him to get to his heart’s desire.

At first, my impression of the book was that this was a fairy tale – a magical story, the kind that children are captivated by. But continue reading, and this impression gets blurred. This is because the story is set in very real places and involves a main character that couldn’t be more human. Yet, there is an abstract element to his journey: a recurring dream that tells him he should find a treasure, a man who appears from nowhere and provides him with magical tools to take on his trip, a gypsy woman who encourages him to pursue this course, a hundred-year-old alchemist who teaches him the “language of the world”, and everything from eagles, to the desert, and sun that talk to him and help him along. This melding of magic and realism has never sat very well with me; particularly in this case where some concepts are just too abstract to understand. Perhaps some will call this philosophy, but I don’t and I certainly don’t fancy it. And I’ll go so far as to elaborate on this point and explain why.

Personal Legends. The book suggests on many occasions that when one goes in search of their “personal legend” (destiny), the world conspires to help them attain it. This very idea is just beyond me. What is a personal legend? And normal people like us who are not told by repetitive dreams – where do we even begin to look for it? You may argue that I’m reading too much into this – that a personal legend is just something that one really wants to do; e.g. a passion they could pursue. OK. I’ll encourage that thought. Let’s take Engineer Joe who works a 9-5 job to make ends meet. His passion is painting but he doesn’t think there is any way to lead a comfortable life by doing just that. In this case, if painting is his personal legend, he has a choice to make…risk everything and pursue his passion or stay and play it safe. On one level, the author provokes in us this very thought by making the point of personal legends….that one can truly never be happy unless they pursue their passion and take a risk in making that decision. But this really is a far-fetched concept in today’s world – the idea of just dropping everything to take a certain path. And what of multiple passions, personal legends? Of the fact that time and tide waits for no man?? Today, it is all really an issue of choices.

“Everything is written in the Soul of the World and there it will stay forever”

Soul of the world. Language of the world. Once again, I’m stumped. Maybe you, on the other hand, get it. And get messages from the earth and birds and sands. I certainly don’t. Yes, we can communicate with animals, for example, and know how they feel even though they are not able to verbally express themselves. But the sun?! Enlighten me.

But all is not bad with the book. There are some points that strike a cord, and one can actually relate to them.

” You’ve got to find the treasure, so that everything you have learned along the way can make sense”

Sure. A lot of the times, looking back on our very own lives, we realize (or we should), that it is not where we have arrived but the journey that counts. The friends we made along the way, the lessons that heartbreaks have taught us, and the wisdom gained by just being in one situation or another. Usually, at least in my case, I never actually absorb this during a particularly happy or sad time because I am so consumed by the very emotion itself. It is only after-the-fact, that I realize how valuable the experience was, one way or another. And that is good thing to know and understand.

” If you can concentrate always on the present, you’ll be a happy man. You’ll see that there is life in the desert, and there are stars in the heavens, and that tribesmen fight because they are part of the human race. Life will be a party for you, a grand festival, because life is the moment we’re living right now.”

Now, I am not sure life will be a party but I know from the few times that I have actually practiced what I am about to preach, that living in the moment and in the present is one of the most rewarding feelings there is. Again, while there is much opportunity to do this, we live in a world that is too fast-paced. We’re either worried about what we just did or worrying about what we should do to secure the future. Stopping to smell the roses every once in a while, however, is precious and I highly recommend it. I especially remember one fine Fall day, when it felt like I had noticed the colors for the first time, when I stopped to actually stare at them and felt a kind of elated peace that seemed an alien emotion to my tired, overworked system. Such are the moments when there is only the present and nothing else.

But I digress. To summarize, while there are valuable lessons to be learned from this book, they are few. The rest of the book is beyond the limits of reasonable imagination, hard to believe and agree with, and long-winded. I wouldn’t put this one on my ‘Books you must read before you die’ list. If you still choose to go there – don’t say you weren’t warned.

We had lunch at Grandma’s house of pancakes today. It is apparently a local joint and TH had great things to say about it, so why not? Grandma seems to love the color green…..pretty much everything inside was green, from the wall, to the tablecloth to the lights. The first think that struck me when I entered was the heavy smell of cigarette smoke (and ironically, a very noticeable ‘No Smoking’ sign). They did have the smoking and non-smoking sections separated, but this really didn’t make a difference, in my opinion. This ‘problem’ stayed for the entire duration of the lunch and I didn’t care for it much – I don’t tolerate cigarette smoke very well.
Anyway, moving on….we sat on cushioned bench seats that seemed like they were from the 60’s and I haven’t seen vinyl tablecloth in forever. These elements dated the restaurant which made perfect sense…it IS Grandma’s isn’t it? The waitress was perfectly pleasant and the menu full of variety. I fancied breakfast for lunch today and ordered apricot waffles upon TH’s recommendation, with a side of hash browns (because I’m a sucker for potatoes in any form). TH ordered a combo with pancakes, french toast, bacon, sausages, eggs and juice – now that’s a hearty breakfast!! Well, I loved my waffle….first of all, it was HUGE!! and very authentic tasting (nothing like the frozen Eggo’s, I promise). This was the real deal, with a heaping of fruit on top. The hash browns were good too. TH seemed equally satisfied with his lunch, judging by his empty plate .

What do we think overall?

Ambiance: 3
Food: 4
Service: 4
Price: $

Would we go back? Definitely…when this pregnancy is over. No more smoke exposure right now.

First of all, I love the name. For a color, it’s one of the catchiest names out there. This and Saffron – which is way too common. But I digress. We did a little research online before deciding that this was probably the kind of place that needed a reservation and so we made one. And boy! was the placed packed or what. Inspite of being full (perhaps even to capacity), we waited about 1 minute before being escorted to our cute little table at the far end of the restaurant. Indigo lives up to it’s name on first impression. The walls are a deep blue (or indigo) color. Other than the vibrant color, there was little else on the walls – just a huge painting where we sat, which faced the main entrance. The tables were covered with clean white linen, the silverware was adorable and so shiny and the chairs a light pine wood color with indigo fabric. All very charming. TH loved the little sea-urchin like lamp on our table too. We liked it instantly. It felt posh and just nice – like we could expect to have a nice evening. The only thing about the indigo is that after a while, it tends to feel a little dark. But hey, we didn’t mind. It would be nice to check the place out during the day time, though.

Our waitress was prompt in attending to us and service overall was just great – we didn’t have to wait too long for food and were served with a smile. And the menu was just so exotic – unlike anything we have become accustomed to in Indiana. Exotic ingredients, and a fusion of cuisines and flavors stared back at us. It was seriously hard to choose. Ofcourse, since this was a special outing for us and we’re probably not going to be this extravagant very often, we decided to go all out sampling the food. (The weak of wallet be warned: your bank balance will take a hit on this one BUT it will be well worth it).

We both chose a starter plate each – I had the herbed goat cheese with garlic crostini. The herbed goat cheese had an unexpected element – it was coated with tomato and was simply delicious. TH had coconut crusted shrimp with an Asian influenced raspberry sauce and he loved it. So, it was a great start. We each then had a bowl of roasted tomato basil soup, which reminded me of one Caesar’s restaurant in Kuwait. The soup was a little too thick for TH’s taste, but I loved the texture and the very ‘Indian’ flavor to the soup. Yum! For the main course, I chose the only vegetarian option – a pasta dish with sweet corn, sundried tomatoes, scallions and bleu cheese. I dislike bleu cheese and requested that it be left out of the dish, although in retrospect it would have probably completed the entree nicely. The first bite was a surprise and maybe even a shock to the palate. I haven’t had sweet corn and sundried tomatoes (with such contrasting flavors) in the same dish before, but grew to enjoy the flavor.  TH was feeling adventurous today and decided to go with the very exotic sounding grilled duck with mango rum sauce. His entree came with a side of vegetables and Asian black rice. The black rice was very interesting – nutty tasting, and with pistachios too! TH enjoyed his dish – he’d not had duck on too many occasions before, but would have liked the mango rum glaze to have been more fresh tasting. We were stuffed after the wonderful food but how could we pass up on dessert??? So, we decided to share and ordered the toasted banana bread with passion fruit curd. This one was a real treat! I haven’t tasted anything like it. The banana bread was perfect – warm sweet and toasted and literally melted in the mouth. The passion fruit curd was a nice contrast…it was cool and slightly tart tasting and the two married so well together <sigh>. I could have a lot more of that.

The one great thing about Indigo on 17 (a little tidbit from our waitress) is that there are constant additions or modifications to the menu. It is the reason that their menu is printed on paper! Kudos to that!! All the more reason to go again and again.

What do we think overall?? (all ratings out of 5)

Ambiance: 4
Food: 4.5
Service: 4.5
Price: $$$

Would we go back? Hell Yeah!

Check Indigo out for yourself!

Sounds spicy, a name like that. Well, our experience (by our, I refer to myself and the husband) was not as exotic. The menu was as expected – Tex Mex and the atmosphere, homey. Not a whole lot of choice for vegetarians (but this was expected), so I decided that the waffle fries made nacho-style with toppings and the baguette pizza with marinara sauce sounded good. The husband (known henceforth as TH) fancied a bowl of chili.

Fries were good, but too cheesy for my taste and the baguette pizza just too sweet. Who likes their pizza sweet??? Not me – and the sauce was the culprit. And if you think you couldn’t have anything but an excellent bowl of chilli, think again. Too much Cajun spice apparently.

All this was made significantly worse by the most glum waitress we have ever met. She took our order with little interest and then brought it to us with none (her sullen mood made worse, I am sure, by the fact that I had her go check with the kitchen twice about how ‘vegetarian’ certain dishes were). Generous TH still tipped her…er..well…generously. He’s just too nice. But ask the pregnant lady – we wouldn’t go back there again. Nuh-uh.