So by now, most of you who have been reading our blog know that we are obsessed with Bikes, Movies, Gaming & Good Food!!! This post is more or less a tribute to the good food part and is basis the awesomeness which has been eaten in the past 2 weeks 🙂
David & Goliath Papad Style 🙂
CupCakes
So a couple of weeks ago, Ekta & me from work went to Bhagat Tarachand where we ate some awesome Gujju style Thali. As you can see in the picture above, it was pretty damn crazy! We also ordered some masala papad and khichiya’s :-). The overall experiance was decently phenomenal!!! Another day, over the weekend we decided to go to Soul Fry Casa and ate some awesome prawns, crab, chicken & naans; this meal was the breakthrough variety as Mihir & I have been allergic to Shellfish & some other seafood, but after eating the meal here nothing happened in terms of allergies.
One fine day at home & this is post Rachita & Ritika’s shopping escapades at Crawford Market, my wife decided to make cupcakes and ice them using fondant which was like super cool! Not only did she make some awesome cupcakes but covered them with all these cool & cute designs using fondant the same was absolutely and totally exceptional :-). Another day, we decided to eat Ceaser Salad and Mushrooms on Toast; the same was accompanied by Carrot Soup with Cheese Balls! The Mushrooms on toast were made like the ones you get in Goa, sauted in butter and garlic which is totally super duper yummy. Going with the fillings on toast bit, we also made some awesome american corn in white sauce with barbecued onions and chilli sauce…
Mushrooms on Toast!!!
Crazy Tiffin!!!
Giant Puri’s
Now the part in office, where Mother in Law sent across a tiffin for lunch with a meal fit for kings. Just to give you a perspective, there was Roti, Panner veggie, Black Daal, Sliced Onion & Chilli, Papad (3 kinds, no less!) pickle! Yup! Unbelivable but true, after eating so much you just cant work! One fine day from work we (Rachita & me) went to the mall where we ate some Chole Bhatura which is basically chick peas made in a gravy and add to that 2 giant puri’s (deep fried) as you can see in the picture below. Further to the same, we revisited Soul Fry Casa with Ekta got drunk on Boondi (Self invented, our Rum Based Cocktail) & Watermelon Martini. Watched a few movies like Avengers which is hands down the bestest movie ever! Also saw The Cabin in the Woods which is one crazy-ass twisted movie. In Hindi movies, saw Jism 2 which is so seriously bad it ain’t funny; also saw Ek Tha Tiger wherein Salman Khan rocked, though the movie was only decent. Watched the entire season 4 of Fringe & started Game of Thrones which is totally unbeleivable!!! Finally, played Sleeping Dogs on the Xbox360 & did some general chilling with Vishal, Beers & Rum!!! Interesting 2 weeks if i say so myself 😉
Here is part 2 of the Avengers Crew, please note these are my least favorite heroes in the crew, I do believe it is related to them not having any super powers –
The Hero we all know as Captain America –
Really not interested in sharing details here, I would suggest you watch the movie(they have done a good job ), anyways here goes – Steve Rogers was born July 4, 1920, to poor Irish immigrant parents, Sarah and Joseph Rogers, and grew up a frail youth during the Great Depression in America. Rogers’ father died when he was a child and his mother died from pneumonia later, when he was in his late teens. Horrified by newsreel footage of Nazis ransacking Europe and atrocities in Asia that the Empire of Japan committed in China and Korea, Rogers tried to enlist in the Army, that rejected him as 4-F because of his frailty and sickness. Overhearing the boy’s earnest plea to fight for his country, General Chester Phillips, of the US Army, offered Rogers the opportunity to take part in a top-secret performance-enhancing experiment called Operation Rebirth. This give him extraordinary physical abilities, of course, what people missed was that the good Captain went on to receive extensive training before he was given his first assignment (Three months): to stop the Nazi agent called the Red Skull. To help him become a symbolic counterpart to the Red Skull, Rogers was given the red, white, and blue costume of Captain America
Decades later, his wartime comrade, the Sub-Mariner, stumbled across his still-frozen form, which was being worshiped by a far-flung Inuit tribe. Enraged, the Sub-Mariner threw the ice block into the ocean. While opposing Namor, the newly formed Avengers happened upon Rogers’ thawing body and soon revived the legendary hero. Do note I have cut pasted most of Captain’s data, I just did not have the inclination to write it.
The not so “Black Widow” –
Rumour has it Natasha Romanoff (Romanova) was somehow related to the last ruling Czars of Russia, but was never proven. Nazis set the building Natasha was in on fire in Stalingrad(Nazis liked doing such things), and her mother threw her out the window to a Russian soldier before dying. The soldier’s name was Ivan Petrovitch, and he watched over Natasha for her entire life, to this day remaining by her side as her chauffeur.
As Natasha grew and matured, she proved to be an amazing athlete and scholar, while gaining distinction in the USSR as a ballerina. Eventually, she married Alexi Shostakov, a distinguished Soviet test pilot.
Soviet government intelligence (KGB), poached them both and trained them, Alexi would go on to become Captain America’s counterpart in Russia, he was not called Captain Russia but went by the name the Red guardian. Eventually Natasha was told that her husband died in an experimental rocket crash, and was drafted into the KGB. She became their best operative from being trained in the infamous Red Room Academy, becoming excellent at fighting and information gathering. During this time she had some training under the Winter Soldier. It was there she was first dubbed the “Black Widow.” After a few encounters of getting shot and brainwashing she joined the Avengers, she has always had a soft spot for the next character (Hawkeye)
The strictly Bow and Arrow type Hawkeye –
Clint Barton and his brother were orphaned at a young age they made ends meet by working in a circus; Clint was trained by the original Swordsman and by Trick Shot. Like most wannabe Super Heroes Clint saw Ironman in action and wanted to emulate him, he draped a fancy outfit and decided to fight evil in the world using his bow and arrow skills.
Due to his outfit Hawkeye found himself running from cops, during this time he came in contact with the Widow, she recruited him and also became romantically involved with him. Although Hawkeye became romantically involved, he was unhappy being a criminal. When he approached the Avengers and told them of his desire to reform, Iron Man sponsored his membership on the team. There’s not much beyond this about him to write, moving on…
Nick No D&%# Fury –
The eldest of three children, Nicholas Joseph Fury grew up in Depression-era New York City with his brother Jacob and Sister Dawn. Fury’s mother died while he was very young. It wouldn’t be until Nick Fury became a solider himself overseas that he would learn of his father’s military service. Living in the tough streets of Hell’s Kitchen, Fury himself was no stranger to trouble, but more than often confined it to the boxing ring where he would bout, or in the Police Athletic League where he became one of the finest marksman.
Fury jumped from mission to mission, post the attack on Pearl Harbour he was elevated to command the “Howling Commandos,” a specially-trained band of soldiers who undertook some of the most dangerous missions of the war. As leader of the Howling Commandos, Fury struck blow after blow against the Nazis and their allies through missions that ranged from deep infiltration missions behind enemy lines to undercover work and even some home front action. It was during this time that he met Captain America, Reid Richards and confronted enemies like the Red Skull and Baron Wolfgang Von Strucker. This was also the period where Fury suffered to major injuries – both would impact him later in life: a grenade blast that began the slow deterioration of his sight in his left eye, and a landmine accident that led to Fury being inoculated with the Infinity Formula by Professor Berthold Sternberg in France.
The Infinity Formula substantially slowed his aging process, and Fury was thrust with a double edged sword: although his life was saved, the consequences of the Infinity Formula would haunt him throughout his life as he would see many friends age and die, as well as become the target of various villains seeking his secret. In the early 1960′s Fury was contacted by the Board of Directors of the newly organized international espionage organization S.H.I.E.L.D. (Supreme Headquarters International Espionage Law-enforcement Division) and offered directorship by Tony Stark. (An alternate theory adds that the Deltite LMD manipulated events so that Fury would be chosen). The rest as they say is history, Nick went on to form the Avengers to defeat Loki and Hydra. We can go on about his secret wars and all but the same would not be relevant here…
So that’s my take on the Avengers, big thank you to Marvel Wiki for a ton of information – I hope this post will add to your movie watching experience and give you some details on why the Avengers are the way they are.
Do check out the Blue-Ray Clips below for extras that feature in the movie 🙂
Today’s post is about the Avengers. The reason for posting Avengers? The DVD is out here in India and it is one of our most favourite, if not the favourite Super Hero movie ever! The post is way too long so am breaking it into 2 parts.
I have been a super hero’s fan all my life… as a child I used to love the colour green and in turn, the Hulk became my favourite character; my brother liked blue and he chose Batman. Over the years, we have pretty much owned, lost, bought most action figures, seen both real and animated movies, put up posters at home and done all the standard things that Super Hero fans do. This morning I was thinking what to put up on our blog and the Avengers hit me. Over the last few years, Marvel has done a great job introducing us to individual movies of the heroes but very little is known about their origins, at least the normal fans don’t know much; below you will find interesting reads about your favourite Avenger characters, apologies if I missed all the generations, but currently they are inconsequential.
Starting off with The “Incredible” Hulk –
Few of us know that Doctor Banner’s full name is Robert Bruce Banner. The doctor was present in the instrumentation bunker at the test site for the first underground test detonation of the Gamma Bomb. Observing that a civilian had breached security and entered the restricted test area, Banner told his colleague Igor Starsky to delay the countdown while he tried to get the civilian to safety. Starsky, secretly a Soviet agent, did nothing, confident that Banner would die in the explosion, bringing the project to a halt. Reaching the civilian, a teenager named Rick Jones, Banner threw him into a protective trench. Before Banner could get himself to safety, the Gamma Bomb detonated, and intense waves of radiation reached the surface. Banner was irradiated with highly charged radioactive particles. Due to an unknown genetic factor in his body, Banner was not killed by the radiation, which instead caused him to frequently transform into the vastly powerful, humanoid monster named “the Hulk”. There are various theories on how and why Banner changes into the Hulk, the most popular being, he gets “MAD”. Hulk joining the Avengers was more accidental then planned; he became a pawn of Loki who tricked Hulk into battling his half-brother, Thor. This plot was foiled, leading to Hulk, Thor, Iron Man, Ant-Man and the Wasp joining forces to form the Avengers and defeat Loki.
The insanely flamboyant Iron Man is next –
For all the retards who have no idea, Tony Stark’s full name is Anthony Stark; he is the son of industrialist and inventor, Howard Stark, is an undergraduate electrical engineer from Massachusetts Institute of Technology, with Double majors in Physics. Contrary to popular belief, Starks did not become Iron Man after the Vietnam incident; he was injured in Vietnam and worked with Ho Yinsen to design and built an electrically powered suit of armour equipped with heavy offensive weaponry. The armour also contained a pacemaker-like device that enabled Stark’s heart to keep beating after the shrapnel entered it. He used this to escape; this is not how he became Iron Man – these experiences made him realize that the suit was too dangerous to be made available to the public. Eventually once he returned home, he was forced to use the suit to thwart a terrorist bombing attempt. Wishing to retain some degree of anonymity, Stark established the fiction that Iron Man was his paid bodyguard wearing a suit of armour that he had invented. Only his most trusted aides learned that Stark and Iron Man were one and the same.
There is only one God and his name is Thor –
Thor is the blood-son of Odin, All-Father of the Asgardians, and Jord, who was also known as Gaea, the elder goddess of the Earth. Odin sought to father a son whose power would derive from Earth as well as Asgard, and hence he sought to mate with Jord. Odin created a cave in Norway where Jord gave birth to Thor. Months after the infant Thor was weaned, Odin brought him to Asgard to be raised. Odin’s wife, the goddess Frigga, acted as Thor’s mother from that time onward. Thor became Asgard’s greatest warrior before he was twenty.
In addition to being the God of Thunder, Thor is also the Norse God of Strength; as such he is physically the strongest of the Norse gods and one of the most powerful beings in the Universe. His strength has been called unlimited. People don’t realise but he always restrains and holds back his vast strength against mortals, he has been capable of stalemating an enraged Hulk in strength (despite the fact that the Hulk was constantly increasing in strength every moment) for hours without tiring at all and while restraining himself as always, and knocking out the Hulk eventually. Loki was the reason Thor joined the Avengers – his manipulations forced several of earth’s mightiest heroes to band together to stop the Hulk, Thor was amongst them and became a founding member of the team of superhuman champions.
Here is the Home video announcement, for the lucky few who dont live in America the DVD and Blue Ray are already available 🙂
Lately, everyone has just been talking about the Avengers. The movie has broken all records in recent times and made over a billion dollars in earnings. People all over the world seem to have their very own Avenger story – favourite character and all; the bandwagon is moving at a crazy pace and gathering unprecedented momentum. As fans of The Avengers, and super heroes in general, I thought we should also share our Avengers’ story. Also a lot of folks have been asking us about spoilers on the movie, so below is one article which talks about both:
Spoilers first: There are 2 scenes – the first is during the credits; note, this one a lot of people just did not get. After The Avengers have defeated the Chitauri army by sending a nuke into their mother ship, we see their leader talking to a mysterious figure. The Chitauri leader says that the humans are not to be underestimated and to face them would be “to court Death itself.” And then the mysterious figure turns his head and we see Thanos, The Mad Titan, smiling. Now, for people who don’t know who Thanos, the mad Titan, is – originally a member of the race of Eternals “Growing in power and infamy as he travelled the universe, Thanos once met Death itself, as it appeared to him embodied in a female form. Thanos was infatuated with the being, and endeavoured to make himself worthy in order to earn her love in return. With an army under his command, he nearly destroyed his former home of Titan, declaring himself its ruler. He then sought out the powerful Cosmic Cube [known as the “Tesseract” in the movies], and a number of Earth’s heroes assembled to confront him.” We know from Tom Hiddleston’s interviews in promoting The Avengers, that Loki and Thor return to Asgard in the Thorsequel and there’s a greater villain at play which just may force the (not by blood) brothers to work together. It’s likely that Thanos will be coming to get the Infinity Gauntlet (synonymous with him) found in Odin’s Vault (Image below). This was shown in the first Thor Film. Also recently, information was leaked that little known actor Damion Poitier will be playing Thanos in upcoming Marvel Movies.
By now non comic book geeks are trying to figure what is the Gauntlet -The Infinity Gems. There are six of these gems – each has a distinct color and power. The green soul gem grants the power over the soul, orange is time, purple is space, blue is mind, yellow is reality and red is power. Each gem, in and of themselves, has a vast amount of power and grants the user with the power to control and manipulate each one of these things. When collected and mounted in a gauntlet, the combined gems become a weapon of unimaginable power, and grant the user control over every aspect of the gems. The wearer can warp reality to their fitting, manipulate time and so on. Not even the combined powers of the cosmic gods are enough to defeat such a weapon.
Moving on. Now, if you still stayed on after all the credits got over, you will see a scene where all the Avengers are sitting down at a wrecked shawarma restaurant – probably at Tony Stark’s insistence – if you remember, he mentions the same once the Hulk saves him from his near death fall. The after-credits scene is them eating shawarma in silence with Mark Ruffalo trying to keep a straight face. I am sure most of you are now cursing yourself, friends and family because they hurried you out of the theatre. Check the image in case you missed it.
Our Story starts where the movie ends. On the mention of the word shawarma, we all (Ashay, Milind, Yooti and Rachita) had a sudden craving for the same. On finishing the movie, we were all debating about where to eat. The debate lasted exactly 1 minute. The winner? Shawarma place at phoenix. We got on to our bike, the ladies decided to drive and we got to phoenix in about 20 minutes. To our disappointment, Maroosh – the local shawarma place was closed. The manager mentioned they would take about half an hour to open – so we decided to hang around, do some window shopping and come back. The window shopping happened at Hamley’s toy store where we went on an Avengers action figure spree, but not much was available. You think when a big movie releases merchandise should be easily available…..anyways. After what seemed to be forever, we went back to Maroosh and ordered shawarmas; note we ordered the non veg variety: Chicken, Green Garlic Chicken, Chicken Hummus Salad and Lamb. After multiple rounds, finally the craving was laid to rest. If you have an interesting story that you would like to share basis the Avengers do add it to the comments below – if you like Shawarmas but really don’t know how where to get them below is a quick recipe for this Middle Eastern delicacy. Enjoy!
Our Shawarma Recipe
2 tablespoons finely chopped fresh parsley
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/2 teaspoon crushed red pepper
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/8 teaspoon ground coriander
5 tablespoons plain low-fat Greek-style yogurt, divided
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice, divided
3 garlic cloves, minced and divided
1 pound skinless, boneless chicken breast halves, thinly sliced
2 tablespoons extra-virgin olive oil
1 tablespoon tahini
4 (6-inch) pitas, halved
1/2 cup chopped cucumber
1/2 cup chopped plum tomato
1/4 cup prechopped red onion
1. Combine first 6 ingredients in a large bowl; stir in 1 tablespoon yogurt, 1 tablespoon juice, and 2 garlic cloves. Add chicken; toss to coat. Heat oil in a large nonstick skillet over medium-high heat. Add chicken mixture to pan; sauté 6 minutes or until browned and done, stirring frequently.
2. While chicken cooks, combine remaining 1/4 cup yogurt, remaining 1 tablespoon lemon juice, remaining 1 garlic clove, and tahini, stirring well. Spread 1 1/2 teaspoons tahini mixture inside each pita half; divide chicken evenly among pita halves. Fill each pita half with 1 tablespoon cucumber, 1 tablespoon tomato, and 1 1/2 teaspoons onion. That it, keep expirementing with different fillings, I am sure you will crack your very own shawarma recipe.
Badbikegang 