Memorial day "feast"

What a weekend!! The Memorial day long weekend was entirely spent just eating - yes, eating and what an awesome feast. On Saturday, my roomie's friends brought along with them loads of Indian dishes and all my favs. They just asked that I make the dessert - which is already my most fav thing in the world - and I gladly did, ofcourse with A to help. I was not sure how many people were planning to come over to my place, so I figured I'd make atleast 2-3 desserts, just in case.

I started off with an ice cream cake, which actually had to endure a lot of strain, I will tell you why in a minute. This is what I did - on Friday, I baked a simple pound cake (dense, not airy because it had to take the weight of the ice cream). I also lined my cake pan with a plastic wrap, scooped in chocolate ice cream to make a thin layer, froze the pan for 10 minutes, removed the frozen ice cream layer, wrapped it in more plastic and dumped it in the freezer; I did the same for the strawberry and vanilla ice creams (it was a good idea to buy one of those 3-in-1 flavors). I also left my vanilla frosting on the counter (as opposed to the fridge). On Saturday, I started to assemble my layers together. I brought out the pound cake, levelled it off, plopped the ice cream layers vanilla, strawberry and chocolate, and started frosting the cake with a simple vanilla frosting. As I was doing so, the plate decided to tumble off the counter and plop(!) it landed on the floor with the chocolate ice cream at the bottom. Lucky for me that I had layers, so I just discarded the entire chocolate layer and had to make do with just 3 layers. Obviously now my cake looked really ugly, so I sliced a few strwberries and stuck them on the cake sides and top and then A suggested that we drizzle chocolate over it (I think that was because he loves chocolate with everything). Anyway, I think it came out pretty decent in the end. Here's what it looked like.

I wanted to make a quick next dessert, so I decided to go with a cheese cake truffle. I bought a plain cheese cake, cut half of it, mashed it up, made tiny balls of it and left it in the refrigerator over night. The next day, I melted some white and some dark chocolate; dipped the tiny balls first in white and then in dark chocolate and sprinkled some grated dry coconut over it. Simple but delicious. For the third dessert, A decided to pitch in and make his fabulous pineapple upside-down cake, I guess because it was the popular demand. Of course you have to ask him for the recipe, but this is what it looked like and boy, was it yummm!!

For the kids that were going to come over, we made some chocolate chip cup cakes and decorated it with the only things available at home - a tube of orange icing, tiny marshmallows (leftover from A's bday party) and chocolate syrup (yes it was A's idea again - i told you he loves it!!) and the kids really loved it.

And I ended up making some banana-walnut loaf cake for tea, which I do not have pictures for. But it was surprisingly warm and delish (to put it in Rachel Ray's words) and the guests really loved it, although I should have made more of it, 'coz I hardly got a bite :( .

On Sunday, Mr and Mrs R invited us over for a barbecue party followed by a southie dinner. We hogged on corn, chicken, fish, veggies and lots of more junk, took a huge break and had some extremely yummy "mor kozhambu and parpa usli". Oh and leaving the best for the last, we had amazing carrot halwa and kesar pista ice cream. I was surprised I could even move after that.

All in all a fabulous weekend, thanks to everyone for cooking, inviting me and for just being there.

Trip to Oregon

My vacation to Oregon was one of the best I've had in the last few years. All through the weekend, the weather was perfect, albeit fluctuating between bright and sunny and cloudy and cool. We started off with a 13 hour delay due to bad weather, traffic and flight delays and being stuck in Las Vegas for a night, which further shortened our already too short trip. After landing at the PDX airport at about 2.20 pm, we set off to try and find local wines and quaint vineyards and wineries. True to our usual modus operandi, the first thing we did was get off the highway. Driving over small, country roads in Dundee Hills, we came across Maresh vineyards, one of the oldest establishment in the region. They grow their wines locally and sell them only on site and so their labels are hard to find. After tasting their wine trio, we absolutely had to get a bottle and settled on the Pinot Gris. What I loved the most was the location of the vineyard and their tasting room, which was a small cabin-like structure made of all recycled, used components like used flooring from a school and windows from an old building, situated on top of a hillock with vines growing all around. From there we ventured a little further on the road and found Erath Winery, one of the most famous wine producers of the Williamette valley. Here we got a Dry Reisling and a Pinot Noir Chocolate Raspberry Sauce, which I hope to try out very soon as a drizzle over my bundt cake. Since we started our wine tour so late in the day, two wineries were all we could fit in before closing time; we also had a long drive ahead of us (almost 4 hours) - as we had to reach our camping ground; so we bid good bye to the wine region and headed off towards the Cascade mountain range.

For the night, we had planned to stay at a cabin in the La Pine campground near Bend. To get there, we decided to take the path through the mountain range. This road forms a part of the West Cascades Scenic byway and was truly scenic. Tall trees lined the road on either side and we could see snow clad mountains approaching closer at every turn. The drive took us to an elevation of almost 5500 ft. This proximity to nature was truly exhilarating. We spent our drive debating the finer points of identifying sentient beings and discussing alternate scenarios where trees were more highly evolved than humans. And reached La Pine at around 10 pm. We had rented a little wooden cabin with bunk beds and spent a few hours playing cards after which we had to have our rest.

Sunday dawned bright and beautiful and for once, we were ready to start our day early. We planned to visit Crater Lake (2.5 hours) but before that we had to eat. In La Pine, we found a trucker's diner called Gordy's and decided to try it out and we were glad we did. The diner serves local fare on a piled plate. It also had a brilliant collection of tiny trucks - from Walmart to Fedex and everything in between. After the yummy food, we resumed our drive towards Crater lake. The north entrance of Crater lake is closed until late-June and so we had to drive further to get to the South entrance and I am glad we had to because on the way we found some very pretty scenes. As we came to the junction that led to Crater lake on one direction, we noticed that the signpost indicated that a lake lay just 4 miles on the other, and so we decied to make a detour. We were on the banks of Agency Lake - a bright blue lake with houses right on the shore. We also found a cute dog herding sheep around! :)

After the little detour, we were back on our rad towards Crater Lake. Crater lake was formed about 7000 - 8000 years ago because a volcano collapsed Mt. Mazama and snow and rain filled up the caladera. A smaller volcano formed an island in the lake called Wizard's Island. This lake is noted for it's pure and pristine water. When we reached Crater Lake, we saw that the view points were all under about 5 ft of snow, which we had to climb to take a look and the view was UNBELIEVABLE. The only word that popped out at that time was "WOW". The snow gave us a huge advantage because now we could see the entire area without any obstacles due to the extra height. Crater Lake was amazing.

After Crater Lake, our next part of the plan was to take the Rogue-Umpqua scenic byway, which lay along the River Umpqua and explore the water falls that line the byway. Our first stop on this byway was the Clearwater falls, which (apparently) requires no hike. But, the road leading to the falls was under snow, so we could not take the car to the Falls point. This did not stop us though. We treaded through the deep snow and found our way to the 30-ft waterfall and it was worth it.

Our next stop on the byway was Watson Falls, near the Tokatee Campground. This is a 275 ft water falls that is best viewed after a 0.6 mile hike up a rocky hill. As we reached the uppermost viewing point, we were drenched with the spray from the falls. It was beautiful.

It was late evening, when we finished our hike and resumed our drive across the byway and to Portland. On the way we made a stop at a beautiful frozen lake, where we had to stop for pictures and soon it started snowing. Two minutes later its stopped (!) and we were on the road again. And this was when my friend saw a sign board that read Umpqua Hot Springs, so of course we had to find it. The search led us off the highway into an unpaved driving path through the forest. We followed the spooky path for a few miles after which we had to turn around. We stopped at a clearing and were discussing our options, when a kind Portlander stopped by to tell us that the road led to a bridge that was (can you believe it) broken! So we had to head back and unfortunately never found the springs :( But we had a wonderful time just looking for it :) After a few more stops along the road to see swift waters and grab a bite, we made it to Portland at about 12 midnight (by which time I was asleep in the back seat :D, thanks A&A for not waking me up).

Monday was the last day of our trip and we had only until 1pm. Of course, our first stop was Byways Cafe, a famous diner featured on Food Network. The hash and the Amaretto French toast were both amazing, true to their reputation. We had one more hour before heading to the airport and so we landed at the Chinese Botanical Garden. This garden is situated in the Chinatown in Portland, but once you enter the premises, it is unbelievably quiet and calm and peaceful and ... I can go on. The sound of water instantly calms you down and the flowers and shrubs are very artistically placed. We tried Chinese tea at their restaurant called The Tao of Tea. The Lotus Ancien that I had was very flavorful and woke you up in an instant. My friends had milder ones, but all of us were happy with our choices and very glad to be introduced to this kind of tea drinking culture, which is so different from the kind that we are used to. I will definitely try this again at home and I am sure my friends will too. This was our last stop and we left for the airport, taking our respective flights back to Philly and San Diego. We were sad to end our lovely trip but very glad that we did this together. I must say here that if I were to repeat this trip over or go for another, I would not ever trade my trip companions, they are the best!!
Thanks guys for an awesome trip and let's hope for lots more to come.

Party

The party last weekend was awesome and the food was a hit... phew!! I was so glad. The assembly on the final day did not take too long just about 4-5 hours and that too mostly because of the cakes, which everyone loved - especially the chocolate icing (heavy cream, dark chocolate, orange zest). It was a tricky thing to make - the cream and chocolate blended well, but totally refused to thicken - maybe i did not use enough cream/chocolate - so I had to beat in an egg at the last minute and whip it at top speed on my electric mixer, shove it in the freezer for 20 minutes and re-whip at medium speed..and there it was - a beautiful icing at the right consistency. I will post the pics soon.

Spice Market, New York

Jean-Georges' local creation Spice Market in West Village, New York was an awesome find for us. We headed there after mid-night on Saturday, famished and tired after navigating through the city traffic. Thankfully for us, they served dinner until 1am. I was amazed to find dinner guests even at that late hour but luckily we were seated within 5 minutes. The cocktails were beautifully presented, and although I was not very fond of the Ginger Margharita, my friends absolutely dug it! We started off with Lobster rolls, which were sushi-like in presentation, and tasted superb. Each bit-sized roll was cool and fresh and the accompanying sauce complimented the taste perfectly. We also tried the mushroom rolls which even I (a mushroom hater) ended up eating. They served the rolls with an Indian-type coriander chutney. For our main course, we tried Vietnamese Chicken Curry (which was very very similar to the Indian Korma and we loved it), Chilli Egg noodles and the delectable Cod. The fish was perfectly cooked, with a slightly crispy exterior on a melt-in-your-mouth interior. We finished off with a creme brulee topped with apple whip, which unfortunately disappointed us, because we have eaten much better tasting ones elsewhere. But apart from the dessert, the rest of the food was really good. The next time I am in New york, I will definitely try this place again and this time, pick a different dessert - something choclatey maybe?

A Mystical Journey

On Saturday evening, my friends and I decided to attend a Sufi musical concert in New York called A Mystical Journey. They mainly attended it because I really really wanted to go and checkout an Islamic musical concert out of sheer curiousity and because a lot of people I know recommended it. It turned out be AWESOME. I was amazed at the range of instruments and performers; I had expected it to be slow religous tunes, but some of them were as fast as head-banging rock tunes. The repertoire of artists was so diverse, that no two could be compared. They gathered from all over the Islamic world - Africa, India, Pakistan, Syria, Algeria and more - to entertain us. I really cannot pinpoint one performance that I loved because the kind of instruments they all used were so different and fascinating that all of us were totally mesmerized. Houria Aïchi from Algeria transformed a simple Islamic concept - There is no God but God - into a high energy, leg tapping chant. The Dalahoo sufi Ensemble started off with a melodious beat but soon moved onto an extremely fast paced rendition of Rumi's poems including the Reed Song. All the poems that I had loved and quoted in a number of my Philosphy classes came rushing back to me as I heard them. My friends who had no clue what Sufi music was or in fact what Sufiism was, also were totally engrossed in the performance. It was delighful to see Islam in this context - where the messages of love, unification with the divine and peace were being discussed.

These are some of my favorite Sufi poems, oft quoted and oft used.

You've no idea how hard I've looked for a gift to bring You.
Nothing seemed right.
What's the point of bringing gold to the gold mine, or water to the Ocean.
Everything I came up with was like taking spices to the Orient.
It's no good giving my heart and my soul because you already have these.
So- I've brought you a mirror.
Look at yourself and remember me.
- Jalaluddin Rumi

Thy Spirit is mingled in my spirit
even as wine is mingled with pure water.
When anything touches Thee,
it touches me.
Lo, in every case Thou art I!"
- Mansur-al-Hallaj, The Mystics of Islam.

The Wild Flower

My friend described to me his morning commute today, I was really impressed and decided to pen it down. That is how "The Wild Flower" came into being. My commute to and from work is almost always as pretty, especially in the Fall and Spring. Now that Spring is almost here, I can see traces of cherry flowers in blossom and the wild yellow ones that I do not know the name of, but that is for a different poem. Today is all about the little flower that grows somewhere in La Jolla right next to the road.

The Wild Flower
- Narmeen

On the way to work today
I was stalled at a traffic light
I looked towards the bay
And saw a flower, purple and bright.

She raised her head to the sun,
And whispered a sweet, shy greeting.
The sun pausing his run,
Sent her warmth without the heating.

Ready to start her morning,
She drank some dew and then some more;
And then without any warning
She was visited by her butterfly beau.

The sea played a melody
The soft breeze sang a tune for them
The butterfly asked the bee
To watch over their peaceful realm.

The traffic light then turned red
But this morning I did not zoom
"Congrats", I turned and said
To the wildflower and her new groom.

Party time

Hosting a party is probably my second most favorite thing to do, the first being reading. I enjoy the planning phase much more than the actual party itself, as anyone who knows me can tell. Well, the same is true of traveling, but parties give me a totally different high - especially 'coz I can change the theme/kind every time and because I can host them much more often. It all started at 40 where we always had a lot of people at home - sometimes 15-20 and we used to cook for every one in huge quantities and different dishes for every meal - this exercise gave me the basics I needed to be able to cook in quantity, the rest just followed from seeing a lot of Top Chef and Food Network and ofcourse, seeing that brilliant joy in the faces of my friends when I served them new flavors each time - as they say compliments can get addictive! Now as with all other things, I have to constantly up my level and try to beat the standards I set myself, which is a lot more difficult to do than pleasing all my "oh-so-easy-to-please" friends :) (a toast to them).
Anyway, the occasion is here and I just began my planning last week. I have one more week to go and I think I am on schedule. The difficulty this time was the type of food I have envisioned in my mind. Making a fusion of different culinary styles is not always easy but with some planning and experimenting, it can be done right and can taste very different too and I might just be able to satisfy my guests.
The most difficult part is the ingredients. Heralding from an Indian background, I had to make sure each dish has a characteristic Indian touch to it and that took hours of swapping one ingredient for the other to make a complex yet coherent dish that encompasses the American/European style and Indian flavor. I do not want to say more as that will steal the surprise element, but I will put up my recipes once the party is done. It suffices to say that I will start and end my party with Jello shots - once they are in, I am sure my guests will be ready to try anything!!
So good luck to me and I will keep you posted...

Fibs

One of my most favorite poet blogs , recently (or maybe not too recently) spoke about Fibs http://gottabook.blogspot.com/2006/04/fib.html. These are poems that work based on the famous Fibonacci series. The lines of the poem follow the 1/1/2/3/5/8... syllable rule. I was so impressed by this form, I had to give it a shot and what better topic to explore than math itself. So here goes nothing...

Math!
Bored?
Confused?
Not amused?
What have you to say?
Fibonacci is here to stay!

Another one.

X
Y
And Z.
Algebra
Is not so hazy
Mix the letters, toss them around
What you get, will not be safe and nor will it be sound.

They are fun and easy :)

Vacation in the Mountains

This picture has been my desktop wallpaper for quite some time now. Every time I look at it, I am instantly transported to a serene place surrounded by mountains. This feeling is so overpowering that I had to pen it down. So here goes...

Vacation in the Mountains
- Narmeen

The clouds hug the mountain top
Flying low over the snow;
And the mist shrounds the growing crop
Beside the clear lake below.

The plain stretches across the land
As far as the eyes can see
And there the white windmills stand
As tall as they can be.

By the mountain runs a babbling brook
Teasing the giant oak trees
And there in a cool shady nook
Whistling, comes the breeze.

A pretty little house stands beside the lake,
Facing the rising sun.
The aroma spreads as I bake
Cinnamon cake and a sweet bun.

Faraway from the madding crowd
Solitary as the fabled Reaper,
I sing my song not so loud
And dive into my thoughts deeper.

Samhain's Tale

Samhain means the 'end of summer' and marks the third and final harvest after which starts the dark winter half of the year. It is generally celebrated on October 31st or November 1st. This 'Feast of the Dead' is celebrated by leaving food offerings for the spirits of loved ones and other naughty and good sprites that enter the world through the Veil, which is the thinnest on the night of Samhain. In today's world, Samhain also coincides with Halloween's eve. The symbols of Samhain include Jack-o-lanterns, mint, black stones, sage, mulled wines.

Samhain's Tale
- Narmeen

Darkness spreads her wings at night
Amidst mugwort, sage and mandrake.
Disturbed by the Jack-o-lanterns light,
She heads towards the lonely lake.

Carrying the scents of nutmeg and mint,
She glides toward the village fire
And then without a clue or hint
She descends upon the folks of shire.

With besoms and nightshade and cats all black
She calls her sprites through the Veil;
They catch the unsuspecting in a sack
And tell them Samhain's tale.

Majestic Fall

Fall - the festival of colors evokes powerful emotions in most people. The fading light of the sun and the crisp scented air lightens the heart and spirit. Autumn is celebrated by most cultures as a time when Mother Earth gets ready for her annual sleep before rebirth. Wiccans celebrate the aging of the Goddess as she passes from Mother to Crone and await the winding down of the year at Samhain. The Druids call the autumnal equinox feast as Mea'n Fo'mhair and honor the God of the forest - the Green Man by offering libations to trees. It is a time to finish old businesses and get ready for a period of rest, relaxation and rejuvenation with warm pumpkin pies, hot cider and lots of reading.

Majestic Fall
- Narmeen

Red and orange leaves drift by the window,
Leaving a blazing trail around the wall.
My face is lit up in a fireless glow
As I witness the arrival of Fall.

A hazy smoke lies over the harvested field
Like a curtain blocking the winter's call,
And gathering the bounty of this year's yield
I walk under the red light of Fall.

With scent of fallen apples and the dust of threshed grain
Lingering over turned earth in the far away knoll,
I wander alone on the meandering lane
In the sharp gentle chill of Fall.

Around the grapes' sweet odors, the yellow butterfly
Crowns the Autumn maple in the seasonal ball,
And under the fair September sun I lie
Basking in the glory of the majestic Fall.

As the Harvest moon rises over the crispy night
And black robbins sing out in a silky drawl,
I sit by the hay in the fading light
And offer a toast to the Green Man of Fall.

- Narmeen

300 Spartans

“Our army is great,” the Persian says, “and because of the number of our arrows you will not see the sky!”
Then a Spartan answers: “In the shade, therefore, we will fight!”

The Spartans were among the bravest men history has ever come across, most renowned for their battle of Thermopylae, where 300 spartans were said to have met thousands of the Persian army in a battle to invade Greece. It is no wonder then that multitudes of poems have been written on this topic, hailing the victorious dead and recalling the fame and glory of these brave warriors.

The King with half the East at heel is marched from land of morning;
Their fighters drink the rivers up, their shafts benight the air,
And he that stands will die for nought, and home there's no returning.
The Spartans on the sea-wet rock sat down and combed their hair.
- A.E. Housman, The Oracles

"The greatest form of flattery is Imitation". This being said, the numerous works inspired by the Spartans and their adventures themselves cry out for eternity the immortality of these men and also of the contemporary poets who wrote about them. Many great speeches quote the words of bravery spoken by or of this warrior nation that changed the face of the Greek empire and thwarted all plans of establishment of the Persians in Europe.

"When boyhood's fire was in my blood
I read of ancient free men
In Greece and in Rome where bravely stood
300 men and three men "
- Thomas Osborne Davis, A Nation Once again

Spartans were the stalwarts in bringing together the smaller nations and preparing and leading them to battle to guard their lands. It must be pointed out though that the spartans were never an Empire, they were a League, born to fight!

"When You Go Home,
Tell Them Of Us And Say,
For Their Tomorrow,
We Gave Our Today"
- Commonwealth cemetery war memorial (inspired by the spartan works)

Perhaps their most famous line, uttered when they were asked to surrender their arms to the Persians in the famous battle, says it all, depicting their attitude and philosophy in absolute...

Μολὼν Λαβέ
"COME AND TAKE THEM!"

Cruel Dolls

As a kid, I loved dolls; I had dolls of all kinds except for barbies (for some reason I never really liked them). I used to have doll houses with little doll furniture and utensils, little showers and curtains, little combs and clips and pots and pans. I used to imagine being a part of their family, playing with them, teaching them, mothering them and even creating magic with them as I took off on one adventure after other, to the hills and distant sea shores, searching for toadstool rings and fairy shoes. During all of these escapades, I always felt like I was my doll's best friend, it never occured to me that my dolls might ever find me annoying or if they would prefer to do something other than what I wanted them to do ... Recently, as I was wandering through poetry land, I came across 'The Dolls' by WB Yeats, one of the greatest poets of the 20th century and that's when these thoughts entered my head, I am so glad I did not read this poem as a kid, and I hope no little girl ever reads it.

The Dolls
- WB Yeats

A doll in the doll-maker's house
Looks at the cradle and bawls:
"That is an insult to us."
But the oldest of all the dolls,
Who had seen, being kept for show,
Generations of his sort,
Out-screams the whole shelf: "Although
There's not a man can report
Evil of this place,
The man and the woman bring
Hither, to our disgrace,
A noisy and filthy thing."
Hearing him groan and stretch
The doll-maker's wife is aware
Her husband has heard the wretch,
And crouched by the arm of his chair,
She murmurs into his ear,
Head upon shoulder leant:
"My dear, my dear, O dear,
It was an accident."

Bilbo Baggins, Alexandria, VA

Eating out during trips is considered a hassle by most, with a lot of people sticking with the popular food chains. I personally love trying out tiny shacks and small cozy looking places whenever I am out of town. Recently, I visited Alexandria, VA, which is right next to Washington, DC. Walking through the quaint old town, we came across a yellow-painted restaurant called Bilbo Baggins (http://www.bilbobaggins.net/). Being a die hard Tolkien fan, I had to try it out. The interiors of the place reminded me very strongly of Bag's End, with pots and pans and baskets lined all around the walls, mounds of raisin bread for all guests and an atmosphere where food is the only thing that remains in your head the minute you walk in. The afore mentioned raisin bread is really worth commending, I could have just that for breakfast, especially when lined with a thick layer of whipped butter. The American breakfast and Frodo's French toast were the two things we tried, and both turned out to be a delight, especially the latter one. A mound of sweet bread served with strawberries and caramelized apple, it is wonderful. The service is pretty quick and friendly, and don't miss the orange juice, it is freshly squeezed and comes with real oranges... Yum, yum!

Eating out.. yumm!

Eating out can be considered as the world's most popular past time, especially if you are thousands of miles away from home and pocketing an income of your own (no matter the size!). Some of us can walk into a restaurant with an unheard of name and still come out with our hungers satisfied, for those who cannot or who prefer tried and tested names, the Web is the answer. After dinner last evening, giving suggestions of a good eat-out to some friends, it struck me to try and do some good to the society by attempting to jot down my weekly "taste tests". My friends and I constantly try out new stuff with an ongoing competition as to who has tasted food from the most number of cuisines, I am still on the losing side mainly because of my reluctance to try sushi, but between us we have taken on about 15-18 cuisines, trying them at places fit for a pauper and those that may be overboard for even a prince!! Alright, I was exaggerating a bit, but anyway I hope I can list some interesting places. If you try a place after reading this and do not like it, please don't mail me a curse or a howler, however, if you do like it... post me a comment :)!!

For starters (and as a safe bet), one of the most interesting places I have been to in New Brunswick is Makeda (http://www.makedas.com). An Ethiopian restaurant with a very well done, partly ethnic, partly modern ambience, this place is definitely a 'keep-returning' restaurant. The food is very tasty and caters to vegetarian as well as non-vegetarian palates. My personal fav is the 'wot' - it comes in veg, chicken and fish kinds. If you are a wine lover, try the Van Loveren Pink Lady Muscadel (Rosé) 2003, a blush wine that goes very well with the food served there. Being brought up as a non-vegetable eater, I was reluctant to try out their egg plant appetizer, but one bite made me a fan. The desserts are equally good, the chocolate madness being true to its name (its makes you crazy). If you are the more experimental type, try the pecan-bourbon tart with vanilla gelato - its mind-blowing!!

More later... till then Ciao!!

Rings of Power

One of my favorite verses from Lord of the Rings...

Rings of Power
- JRR Tolkien

Three Rings for the Elven-kings under the sky,
Seven for the Dwarf-lords in their halls of stone,
Nine for Mortal Men doomed to die,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne,

In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Ring to rule them all, One Ring to find them,
One Ring to bring them all and in the darkness bind them
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Bilbo's Last Song (At the Grey Havens)

Tolkien rocks...

Bilbo's Last Song (At the Grey Havens)
- JRR Tolkien

Day is ended, dim my eyes,
but journey long before me lies.
Farewell, friends! I hear the call.
The ship's beside the stony wall.
Foam is white and waves are grey;
beyond the sunset leads my way.
Foam is salt, the wind is free;
I hear the rising of the Sea.

Farewell, friends! The sails are set,
the wind is east, the moorings fret.
Shadows long before me lie,
beneath the ever-bending sky,
but islands lie behind the Sunthat
I shall raise ere all is done;
lands there are to west of West,
where night is quiet and sleep is rest.

Guided by the Lonely Star,
beyond the utmost harbour-bar,
I'll find the heavens fair and free,
and beaches of the Starlit Sea.
Ship, my ship! I seek the West,
and fields and mountains ever blest.
Farewell to Middle-earth at last.
I see the Star above my mast!

More LOTR

" All that is gold does not glitter
not all those who wander are lost.
The old that is strong does not wither,
deep roots are not reached by the frost.
From the ashes a fire shall be woken,
a light from the shadows shall spring.
Renewed shall be blade that was broken,
the crownless again shall be king. "

- J R R Tolkien

The Road Goes Ever On

"Why, if only the Fellowship had had the aid of an online trip planner, they'd never have gotten trapped in Moria!" - Scott Rosenberg

'The Road Goes Ever On'
-- J R R Tolkien

Roads go ever ever on,
Over rock and under tree,
By caves where never sun has shone,
By streams that never find the sea;
Over snow by winter sown,
And through the merry flowers of June,
Over grass and over stone,
And under mountains of the moon.

Roads go ever ever on
Under cloud and under star,
Yet feet that wandering have gone
Turn at last to home afar.
Eyes that fire and sword have seen
And horror in the halls of stone
Look at last on meadows green
And trees and hills they long have known.

The Road goes ever on and on
Down from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
And I must follow, if I can,
Pursuing it with eager feet,
Until it joins some larger way
Where many paths and errands meet.
And whither then? I cannot say.

The Road goes ever on and on
Out from the door where it began.
Now far ahead the Road has gone,
Let others follow it who can!
Let them a journey new begin,
But I at last with weary feet
Will turn towards the lighted inn,
My evening-rest and sleep to meet.