I was reminded of this well known Robert Frost poem as ML and I went for a stroll through the Muir woods this Christmas eve, and the photograph above captured the moment perfectly.

Whose woods these are I think I know.
His house is in the village though;
He will not see me stopping here
To watch his woods fill up with snow.

My little horse must think it queer
To stop without a farmhouse near
Between the woods and frozen lake
The darkest evening of the year.

He gives his harness bells a shake
To ask if there is some mistake.
The only other sound’s the sweep
Of easy wind and downy flake.

The woods are lovely, dark and deep.
But I have promises to keep,
And miles to go before I sleep,
And miles to go before I sleep.

– Robert Frost, 1922

ML and I took a spontaneous trip to Twin Peaks to check out the views of the city it has to offer. Fortunate enough to get there just as dusk set in, the views are indeed are spellbinding as you see the neon lights turn on and the fog start to creep in from the west engulfing the city.

Beautiful picturesque landscapes, amazing wine, great food and fantastic vineyards. Hard to go wrong here…

As we all scamper around for last minute costume ideas, here’s one that I think is pretty timely (and yes, dorky).

Gotta love working from home…

Sent via an elaborate network of smoke signals

You’re not in Kansas any more – Google’s new name and logo.

xkcd – Not so much a joke as an awesome gimmick that caters well to its core readers

Google Translate For Animals – We can all be Dr. Dolittles now! (Great video in here)

MapThatPad Telepathic Helmets - MapThatPad introduces finding apartments without typing a key or moving a mouse!

YouTube - Watch any YouTube video in an ASCII rendition (TextP) and save Google $1/second in bandwidth costs.

I’ve been on a bit of an Indian cooking spree lately (partly to prove to ML that I can indeed cook indian food). Here is another well known north indian dish that you usually see in restaurants served with paneer. I’ve tried this before with extra-firm tofu, but its even better with chicken (and a little light cream).

Serves 2 (Time: 30 minutes):

To cook the chicken first, take a small skillet and add about half a tablespoon of olive oil and place on medium high heat. Generously season 1/3-1/2 lb of chicken breast (boneless & skinless) with Adobo and garam masala. Once the pan is hot, toss the chicken breast in and brown on both sides (about 2-3 minutes per side). Remove from heat – don’t worry if its not completely cooked – and chop up into 1″ pieces and place aside.

To cook the spinach, start by pouring about a tablespoon of olive oil in a large skillet and place on a medium-high heat. Mince a couple cloves of garlic and ginger enough to yield about a tablespoon each and toss into the skillet once the oil has heated. As the garlic starts to brown, bring the heat down to medium and add about 2 tablespoons of garam masala and a tablespoon of red chili powder (more or less depending on your spice preference). Mix in the skillet for a few seconds and then add 3/4 lbs of spinach leaves (chopped before hand into roughly 1″ chunks). Constantly stir the spinach as it starts to wilt. Once the spinach has wilted, add in about 1 cup of plain yogurt along with 1/2 cup of light cream. Add a pinch of salt and let the contents of the skillet continue to cook as the water from the spinach evaporates. After a couple minutes, add in the chicken (with any juices that its collected) and let the entire dish cook for another few minutes until most of the water from the spinach has evaporated and your left with a creamy spinach puree. Adjust seasoning to your preference and serve with rice or naan.

Here’s another great clean-out-the-fridge recipe that’s both nutritious and comforting. Having a lot of various vegetables left over from a recent BBQ, I thought of throwing them all together in a one-pot chicken and rice dish. So without further adieu, here’s the recipe:

Serves 4:

Heat up a tablespoon of vegetable oil in a dutch oven on high heat. While the pot heats, take about 1 lb of boneless and skinless chicken breasts and season them with salt and pepper. Once the pot starts to smoke, toss the chicken breasts in and let cook for about 4-5 minutes on each side. While the chicken cooks, chop up about half of a large red onion, a few cloves of garlic (to taste), a handful of baby portabella mushrooms and some ginger (approx a tablespoon’s worth).

Once the chicken is seared on both sides, remove it from the pot and place on a plate to the side. On a low-medium heat, add another tablespoon of vegetable oil and toss in the chopped aromatics, mushrooms and half a teaspoon of salt. Once the onions become translucent (approx 8-10 minutes) add in a cup and a half of long-grain rice. Also add a tablespoon of cumin and half a teaspoon of ground red pepper to give the dish additional depth. Mix the rice well with the pot and let it absorb the flavor for about 3 minutes. Pour 3 cups of chicken broth  into the pot and bring to a simmer. Cover and let the rice cook for about 10-12 minutes on low heat.

Add the chicken back into the pot, along with a can of chickpeas (rinsed), a cup of chopped tomatoes and 2-3 tablespoons of chopped cilantro. Let everything cook for another 5-7 minutes while stirring periodically. Add salt and pepper to taste and serve hot.

I also love the new CalDAV support which now lets you add multiple calendars (from Google, Yahoo etc) on your iPhone. To enable this,

1. Go to your settings and under “Mail, Contacts and Calendar”, tap on “Add Account”.
2. Select Other and under calendars tap on “Add CalDAV Account”.
3. Enter google.com as your server and your login information and voila!

Your google calendar now shows up on your iPhone. Another great reason to try out  MyCal, as it makes adding events to your iPhone a piece of cake.