Black Kite

Binomial name: Milvus migrans
Subspecies: Milvus migrans govinda

When duck face was cute…

Joys of motherhood

A mother understands what a child does not say,
To a child's ear, 'mother' is magic in any language.

Common Jezebel butterfly

The Common Jezebel (Delias eucharis) butterfly is found all over India, except in the desert area.

It has bright coloration to indicate the fact that it is unpalatable due to toxins accumulated by the larvae from the host-plants.

The above pictures were shot at the Lalbagh Botanical gardens, Bangalore.

Seasonal fun

My first rainbow sighting of the season lasted less than a minute...

I managed to click just two pictures as it started raining quite heavily...

Why is the bird angry?

Because he doesn't like being photographed!

The lovely Cilantro

Coriander (Coriandrum sativum), also known as Cilantro, Chinese parsley or Dhania, is an annual herb...

The fruits have a diameter of 1.5–3 mm...

The dry fruits are known as coriander seeds. Coriander seed is a spice in garam masala and Indian curries...

The leaves are variously referred to as coriander leaves, fresh coriander, Chinese parsley, or cilantro. They are used as a garnish...

Medicinal uses

• Coriander, like many spices, contains antioxidants, which can delay or prevent the spoilage of food seasoned with this spice. 
• Chemicals derived from coriander leaves were found to have antibacterial activity against Salmonella choleraesuis.
• Coriander has been used as a folk medicine for the relief of anxiety and insomnia in Iran.
•  Coriander seeds are used in traditional Indian medicine as a diuretic by boiling equal amounts of coriander seeds and cumin seeds, then cooling and consuming the resulting liquid.
•  In holistic and traditional medicine, it is used as a carminative and as a digestive aid. 
• Coriander has been documented as a traditional treatment for type 2 diabetes. A study on mice found coriander extract had both insulin-releasing and insulin-like activity. 
• Coriander seeds were found in a study on rats to have a significant hypolipidaemic effect, resulting in lowering of levels of total cholesteroland triglycerides, and increasing levels of high-density lipoprotein. This effect appeared to be caused by increasing synthesis of bile by the liver and increasing the breakdown of cholesterol into other compounds. 
• The essential oil produced from Coriandrum sativum has been shown to exhibit antimicrobial effects.

Visit the wikipedia page to know more.

Family Fun

This is a picture from 2007, when my boy was just an year old. He looks really annoyed by the paparazzi...

[Update] With Shilpa Sharma's pertinent Hindi caption...

Droplets on a Dragonfly

The monsoon rain gifted some droplets of magic to this dragonfly...

Black Pepper

Black pepper is a flowering vine, cultivated for its fruit, which is usually dried and used as a spice and seasoning. Black pepper is native to south India, and is extensively cultivated there and elsewhere in tropical regions...

Black pepper is produced from the still-green unripe drupes of the pepper plant. The drupes are cooked briefly in hot water, both to clean them and to prepare them for drying. 

The drupes are dried in the sun or by machine for several days, during which the pepper around the seed shrinks and darkens into a thin, wrinkled black layer...

A riddle authored by Saint Aldhelm, a 7th-century Bishop of Sherborne, sheds some light on black pepper's role in England at that time:

I am black on the outside, clad in a wrinkled cover,
    Yet within I bear a burning marrow.
    I season delicacies, the banquets of kings, and the luxuries of the table,
    Both the sauces and the tenderized meats of the kitchen.
    But you will find in me no quality of any worth,
    Unless your bowels have been rattled by my gleaming marrow.

Like many eastern spices, pepper was historically both a seasoning and a medicine. It is believed to cure illness such as constipation, diarrhea, earache, gangrene, heart disease, hernia, hoarseness, indigestion, insect bites, insomnia, joint pain, liver problems, lung disease, oral abscesses, sunburn, tooth decay, and toothaches. It is also used as a home remedy for relief from sore throat, throat congestion, cough etc.

Visit the wikipedia page to know more.

Surrounded

Four Seasons Merlot Red Wine

I received a bottle of Four Seasons Merlot red wine to review.

Merlot (pronounced mare-low) is named after a variety of thin-skinned grape that the wine is made from. The Merlot grapes are grown around the Four Seasons winery near Baramati, about 65 kms from Pune.

I found Merlot to be very mild and smooth. It has a kind of Plum flavor to it and is so easy to drink with Indian food.

Compared to other Indian wines, Four Seasons Merlot red wine is priced well and reasonable at around $10.

Here are some more info from their website:

Four Seasons Merlot

Type: Still Red Wine
Grapes: Merlot
Origin: Baramati, Maharashtra, India
Style: Dry

Tasting notes:
Color: Ruby red with a hint of garnet
Aroma: Delicious aromas of ripe black fruits, especially plums.
Palate: Medium bodied with soft tannins and a pleasant lasting finish.

Serving suggestion: Enjoyed best at 16 - 18 degree C with medium spiced Indian dishes as well as roast lamb with all the trimmings. 

For more information on Four Seasons visit: www.fourseasonsvineyards.com 

Follow Four Seasons on Facebook at https://www.facebook.com/FourSeasonsWines

My earlier blog posts on wine tasting events: 

A rendezvous with wine

and

Food, Wine and Smiles

African Caper White (Belenois aurota)

My garden had a new visitor today! A male African Caper White butterfly...

He was only interested in the Bachelor's Button flowers. He didn't even land on any other flower...

Also known as Pioneer White, these butterflies have a wet-season form and a dry-season form. The two forms are quite distinct phenotypes (What an organism looks like as a consequence of the interaction of its genotype and the environment).  This is the wet-season form...

The alternative phenotypes represent responses to the differences in behavior, environment and nature of predation. The wet season forms show prominent marginal patterns and colors which function in the deflection of attacks by vertebrate predators. In contrast, the dry season forms show very small or no spots and are wholly cryptic.

Binomial name: Belenois aurota  

Family: Pieridae

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