Lounge Loves: A soupy farewell, silver trumpet trees in the summer and more
Also featured, a superfood in the form of a humble chutney and rainbow coded calendars
Rainbow Calendars
I identify as an “organised life” enthusiast. To give you a sense of the extent: my calendar isn’t just colour-coded, it is colour-coded in the order of the rainbow. A few months ago, I was telling a friend about the need for a calendar aligned across apps when they casually suggested using voice commands to block time. I’ve been doing it ever since and the calendar girlie in me is thrilled with the efficiency. But it’s the unintentional comedy this exercise has brought about that amuses me more. Despite the progress made in language interpretation, voice-to-text tools still falter on Indic names. So, a “Dinner with Shaadu” invariably becomes dinner with “Shadow”. I rarely bother correcting it so when the reminder pops up later, it often takes an extra second to guess which plan it is referring to, followed by a chuckle. —Shephali Bhatt
Soupy Farewell
Plastic glasses at the end of an evening at a bar usually mean you’ve overstayed your welcome and the staff have poured your drinks into takeaway tumblers before kicking you out. At Naked & Famous, a new bar in Bengaluru, every customer gets a plastic tumbler at the end of the evening—full of warm, thick sweet and sour soup. Not a fan of soup, I looked at it dubiously but the bartender suggested I give it a try. The cocktails itself are standard fare, but the soupy farewell is a winner. It’s delicious and helps soothe and settle the stomach. I did some reading the next morning and learnt that soup is an excellent hangover cure, replenishing lost fluids, sodium and potassium. —Shalini Umachandran
Healthy and Tasty
To look at, the Senna auriculata, commonly known as Tanner’s Cassia, is a nondescript shrub that bears bright yellow flowers. But underneath its modest appearance hides a world of benefits. Research shows that it is packed with chemicals like flavonoids, polysaccharides, alkaloids and tannins, which may be useful in treating conditions like asthma, conjunctivitis, ulcerative colitis, diabetes, cancer, and liver disease. Recently I was introduced to this superfood in the form of a humble chutney, known as avarampoo thokku in Tamil, and sold by the brand, Farmer Uncle. This pasty concoction has an intensely rich umami flavour, with a mild sour hit to it, and is best enjoyed mixed with piping hot white rice. Having already made a dent in the 200g jar, I think I will have to place an order for fresh supplies sooner than I had imagined.— Somak Ghoshal
Yellow like Sunshine
Delhi likes to dress up well in March—it puts on its own spring-summer collection. There’s the semal with it’s red, and orange flowers popping up in the middle of neighbourhoods, towering behind billboards, putting on a side show on the fringes of a busy road. Bougainvillea in bright pink, light pink, white hues sprawl with abandon over walls. The jacaranda is so subtle that you can miss it unless you notice the lilac flowers on the ground. Then there are the trumpet creepers and the gossamer-like common hollyhock. But the brightest of them all is the silver trumpet tree—it’s like the sun has poured itself into those flowers. Best part, stand in front of a tree on a breezy morning and watch the flowers fall, it is like a film clip in slow motion. — Nipa Charagi
Catch all the Business News, Market News, Breaking News Events and Latest News Updates on Live Mint. Download The Mint News App to get Daily Market Updates.
Wait for it…
Oops! Looks like you have exceeded the limit to bookmark the image. Remove some to bookmark this image.