mohit.santram

fiction.

i’ve been writing some fiction as of late. i’ve tossed around some ideas in my head for some time, i thought about writing some pieces before, but good creative fiction takes time. so i have finally written some - but i’ve been holding back from posting them. it’s not so easy to give up that, i’m sure you understand. still a friend kept encouraging me to post a few lines.

so while i’m holding back the text (yes you can complain if you like - but they’re not ready for primetime yet) here’s a small sampling:

chapter 2: dad’s been stealing chocolates again…

chapter 5: you + that damn song that you can’t stop singing is burning a hole in my eardrum.

chapter 9: dramamine does not make me sleepy.

idle sketchings

idle sketchings

more daily sketches that i forgot to post. a butterfly, a house, my cell phone, and my house phone. what does this all mean? someone must know..

one year later + i still have your fur on my clothes

one year later + i still have your fur on my clothes

we lost little zekey boy last year on the 20th. he put up a valiant effort - still trying to crawl into your lap at 15 years 8 months. i don’t think it ever gets any easier - this one’s for you little buddy.

i made spicy tom yum soup

i made spicy tom yum soup

looks good right? well i had a little help. a friend asked me for the recipe, so here it is. in most thai/asian-ethnic supermarkets, and even in most major chains, you can find the pre-made soup packets. i think i used ‘a taste of thai’ for the base.

looking at the package, it described using egg noddles. hawk and jared were over, so i had to ‘grow’ the soup. i had about a 1/4 package of spaghetti left over, which i started to boil. upon opening the package, I discovered the soup came with the noodles along with the spice mixtures. after the spaghetti and egg noddles had been drained and blanched, i followed the directions on the package. i boiled twice the amount of water, added 5 thin chicken breasts, which had been sliced in slivers. i let this mixture boil, to which i added the juice from 1.5 limes, 1.5 chopped jalapenos, 2 tomatoes, 10 sliced mushrooms, cilantro (ok i didn’t add cilantro - as i had run out. a rare occurrence in my place), 1 tablespoon of spicy thai chili sauce. and - two teaspoons of a spicy tom yum mix my aunt gave me.

hawknapping!

without the base package and the soup mix (bottled and available in most thai markets) - i would not have been able to make the soup. but what i WAS able to do was improvise. i added ingredients in my fridge and made a really spicy soup. hawk ate some, fell off the computer, and passed out.

eat well, be well.

sketching plants

woke up, fell out of bed, dragggggggged the comb across my head.

following the theme of this week of sketching - i was lost in thought staring out my window when i noticed the light on the plant leaves. this plant has probably outgrown it’s pot - yet it continues to inch higher to get light. i turn it occasionally to balance out the branches’ direction, though as older, lower hanging branches drop off - the plant adjusts every time i try to keep it honest.

sketches

Do Something Nice Week: Day 6 to Sketches

i used to love to draw and recently a friend was encouraging me to draw some more. it’s a funny form of expression. if you stop for a while, you can lose a step or two. it’s like one’s handwriting skills these days. i would venture that over the last 20 years, the quality level of most people’s handwriting skills and penmanship have seriously declined. at any rate, i decided in order to get myself in the “drawing mood”, i would make + bake. so my ‘do something nice effort’ for today is just that - making my friend a breakfast muffin. while they were baking, i got my pencils out and attempted to draw a few things on the counter. i’ve certainly got some practicing to do. and with that i introduce my next theme: sketching.

Do Something Nice Week - Day 5

over the last few days, we’ve been transitioning the new Creative Act blog to thing-a-day.com. It has been absolutely amazing to see the quality and creativity of everyone involved. so thank you everyone! seeing this blog live and grow and breathe has been a nice thing. today (and everyday so far), you all have done a Nice thing.

Do Something Nice Week - Day 4

My cousin Nidhi is going to San Francisco this weekend. It’s her first time visiting, and I know she’s super excited. If you’ve never been, SF is a great city. The cultural vibe is amazing, and although the weather is always “warm, but carry a jacket”, I love to visit. My cousin is studying Law and will graduate this spring from U of Wisconsin. She’s got a great heart and I know she wants work for a non-profit after graduating. Anyway so one of my closest friends, Sanjay, lives in SF. He grew up in the Bay Area, and has been practicing Law since 99/2000. He’s worked for a variety of firms, done some great public interest and loads of pro-bono work. In fact he’s even on the Sierra Club’s Board of Directors. Quite an achievement. I’ve wanted Nidhi to talk to Sanjay for some time, and on Wednesday I introduced them virtually - and they plan to meet this weekend. I think Sanjay and his wife are going to meet them for a drink. It’s always nice to make an introduce two like minded people when you can. That was my good deed for the day.

p.s. a flickr flashback from my last trip 06.2005:

creative stuff i built last week

last week we had some immense problems with the creative act blog. so, we happily moved it to thing-a-day.com. i had been working on my dailies, but i was a bit negligent on posting. so here are three things i built last week. the video screen was the one fun project, the other two were more utilitarian. still, it’s good to take a break sometimes from the ‘ole kybd + mse - and do something with your hands.

aqua	algae
black+gray

these images are courtesy of jeff gray.

this was a test

i wanted to test to see how easy or difficult it is to embed a youtube video in a wordpress blog. wow. super easy.

Do Something Nice Week - Day 3

Today I tried to do a few small things for people. I made sure to say thank you, and even brought a friend some fruit as a way to say thank you for helping me. I also worked with and old friend on something, guess that was more of my friend doing something nice with me. Sometimes it’s the little things that make the biggest difference in our lives - something small that you do for someone else often helps you more than it does them. The person may never realize that - and that’s fine by me. Hopefully these things go unnoticed and people just appreciate what you did - and thank you by doing something nice for someone else.

Do Something Nice Week - Day 2.5

I forgot to mention this. Monday night my friend Kenya messaged me asking if i could do her a small favor. She works for Metro and needed a quick interview for a post on the grammys. I missed it as I was hustling out to Brooklyn to say goodbye to Morgan + Katherine. So i missed the show, I only wanted to see the Police perform. Kenya contacted me, and asked to interview me. So i did and here I am. It’s a nice surprise to be in print.

How To Make Lasagne

Today I made fresh meat lasagne. The base sauce is not different than the one I showed you last week. In fact the meat recipe I used today is a slight variation on classic meatballs. You can add or omit most anything within this recipe. Eat well, but in moderation.

You will need the following for the sauce:
Olive Oil
8 cloves of Garlic
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Fresh Chopped Basil
1 35 ounce can of San Marzano Roma Tomatoes
1 16 ounce can of Tomato Paste

Meat Base:
1/2 pound lean ground beef (organic recommended)
1/2 pound lean ground turkey (organic recommended)
2 cloves chopped garlice
1 egg
1/4 cup olive oil
1/4 vegetable oil
1/4 milk
3/4 cup bread crumbs
Sea Salt
Fresh Ground Pepper
Crushed Red Pepper Flakes
Fresh Chopped Basil

Cheese Mix:
16 ounces of Ricotta Cheese
16 ounces of Grated Mozzarella
1/4 cup grate Parmesan Cheese
1 Egg

The pictures and directions are as follows:

Step 1: Mix Meat


Step 1: Mix Meat
Mix the 1/2 pound of Organic Lean Beef + 1/2 pound of Organic Lean Turkey. Buying Organic will cost slightly more, but buy less and eat better. Add the bread crumbs and milk, and mix all ingredients by hand. Then add the sea salt, ground black pepper, egg, olive oil and vegetable oil. You can do just the olive oil, but I wanted to try a mix of both so the meat wouldn’t burn when cooking. After you have done this, wash your hands, and prepare the cheese mixture by adding 12 ounces of the grated Mozzarella to the 16 ounces of Ricotta and 1/4 cup of grated Parmesan Cheese. Add in a raw egg to help bind the cheese together. Set this mixture aside for Step 6.

Step 2: Add The Rest


Step 2: Add the Rest
Add the chopped garlic, basil, crushed red pepper, grated parmesan cheese - and mix thoroughly.

Step 3: Simmer Tomato Sauce + Cook Meat Mix


Step 3: Simmer Tomato Sauce + Cook Meat Mix
Remember when I showed you how to make fresh Pasta Sauce?
Follow that to make the base tomato sauce while you cook the Meat Mix. Be sure to cook all the meat - though it will cook further in the sauce.

Step 4: Combine + Simmer


Step 4: Combine + Simmer
Once the Tomato Sauce is ready, and the Meat Mix has been cooked, combine the two into the larger pot and set the heat to low. Simmer the Sauce for at least an hour, stirring occasionally.

Step 5: Prepare Pasta


Step 5: Prepare Pasta
I prefer to use fresh pasta, but if you’re like me, you don’t always have the time. Last week I discovered Barilla makes Lasagne in these sheets. Who knew? Anyway cook the pasta according to directions, or use your own or ready-made from your local Italian Pasta Shop.

Step 6: Layer Pan + Bake


Step 6: Layer Pan + Bake
Once you have cooked the Pasta Sauce for at least an hour, and cooked the Lasagne Pasta al dente, you’re ready to prepare the pan. Set your oven to 375 degrees, spray a baking pan with non-stick spray. Add some sauce to the bottom, enough to cover lightly cover the pan. Then layer the pan with pasta (making sure to overlay Lasagne sheets. Add a layer of the Cheese Mixture, be sure to add 1/2 of this mix. Add a layer of Meat Sauce, and repeat these three layers. This picture shows a pseudo exposed top section of the lasagne. Add the final layer of Pasta (three layers of Pasta in all) and top it with the remaining 1/4 cup of Mozzarella Cheese, season top to taste. Cover in tin foil and bake for 30 minutes. Remove Foil and bake for an additional 10 minutes. Broil for a few to lightly brown the cheese.

Step 7: Remove + Cool


Step 7: Remove + Cool
There was a lot to do in Step 6, make sure to read it all before starting your own. Once your Lasange has baked for about 45 minutes, remove from the oven and let it cool for at least 10-15 minutes.

Step 8: Plate + Eat!


Step 8: Plate + Eat!
Be sure to make good cuts within the pasta to separate the layers of pasta, you don’t want to spill it. Use a good spatula to carefully remove a slice and place on a warm plate. Garnish the the top and sides with chopped basil flakes.
Originally uploaded by mojo!.

That’s it. Eat well. Be Well.

-m

Do Something Nice Week - Day 2

Today I was at the supermarket to pick up a couple of quick things for dinner. I was in the dairy/juice aisle and I walked past someone trying to get a pack of orange juice-boxes from the top shelf. The person was a little vertically challenged, so I stopped, asked if I could help, and pulled down an oj juice-box pack for the person. Nothing major - but it sure put a smile on the person’s face when they saw me have a momentary bit of difficulty getting the juice box down too.

Do Something Nice Week

This week - I’m going to do a random act of kindness for a complete stranger. It only takes a minute to hold a door open for someone with their hands full, help someone out with directions, or smile at someone in a bad mood. Nothing much - but a simple act of kindness. Want to change the world? Want to fight global warming? Start with your own back yard and do something nice.

I don’t think you need to do something nice to get attention - I don’t like to call attention to this - but if someone did something nice for you and you didn’t even know them - wouldn’t you feel better?

Tonight I held a bus for an elderly woman by waiting in line outside the bus. I passed her and saw she was trying to get to the bus before it left. I waited, she got to the bus, I stepped out of line and wished her a good night, and went on my way.

I was inspired tonight when running to The Home Despot for some wall anchors - the guard would not let me in. Yes they were closing, yes I was asking him for a favor to let me in - but I needed just a few, I was paying in cash, there were no other hardware stores open past 7 in NYC, except Home Front which rocks (mental note: remind ppl to go there). I asked a few times, pleading with his side of reason to let m e run in and out. I knew where they were hanging! I had cash! I almost lost my temper and said something snarky before storming out. but instead, I kept my voice even, and asked him to please help me and ask the manager.

Luckily Julie, the store manager, came to my rescue and gave me one minute. I ran downstairs, grabbed the anchors, and ran back to the register. Thanking Julie, the store manager, I was in an out of the store within two and a half minutes. Felling good, I walked past an old woman who was twenty yards away from the bus - trying to make it there before it left. I said something nice as I walked past her, and stood in line.

She got to the bus a minute or so later. I told her I hated missing buses too, she smiled, and I said good night, and went on my way. Pretty painless.

found things…

i used found footage + found music to make this.

A-Rock IRAQ

day one i was hungry. so i cooked.

day two i was having a headache. so i borrowed some music and recorded some noise.

day three i decided to make a call.

day four was sunday and they weren’t grinding. so i watched some tv, made some loops and came up with this.

film comes tomorrow. using found footage is great! hint hint.

Revenge is never too late

Revenge is never too late

Originally uploaded by kuan huang.

hawk caught me napping - and sought flickr revenge. but let the flickr record show that’s he’s still down 4 to 1.

pick up.

pick it up. somebody please pick. it. up.. please?