Secrets and Lies - Jaishree Misra

This is chick-lit, but chick-lit of a high calibre. Four childhood friends from a Catholic school in India have created lives for themselves in London and India. However, their lives have been overshadowed by a tragic event which took place during their last year in school. One day, they find that they have been summoned to a reunion by their old principal.

As their minds return to the buildup to that tragic event, the women start to realise how their lives have been shaped, and indeed damaged, by their inability to deal with that night. Misra moves seamlessly between the past and the present to weave her story.

The major negative in this book is the anti-climatic and somewhat unsatisfying ending. Misra spent a lot of time developing the characters and their lives, and to finish on this dull note was disappointing. But overall, if you want an easy read you could do a lot worse than this tale of friendships and second chances.

9

This film springs from the wonderfully creative minds of Tim Burton (The Corpse Bride, Charlie and The Chocolate Factory and Edward Scissorhands), Timur Bekmambetov (Wanted, Nightwatch) and new kid director Shane Acker.

9 awakens in a deserted laboratory only to find himself alone in a post-apocalyptic world. When he ventures out, he finds others like him (8 others to be precise). Together, they strive to discover why the world has been destroyed and the reason for their existence.

This is technically a fantastic animated film - beautiful settings and exquisitely created characters. What a pity then that there is zero emtion or attachment to the film. Its gradual desecent in a morally-overpowering tale is lamentable. The weak story (surely I've seen this one before in Final Fantasy) and overall lack of symmety and cohesion pulls apart the tapestry woven by the animation and vocals.

Fantastic Mr. Fox

When I was about 9 years old, I was given a box set of Roald Dahl books as a present. I started reading about 8pm on Christmas Eve while waiting to go to Midnight Mass. I read non-stop, actually I couldn't stop. George's Marvellous Medicine, James and the Giant Peach, Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and of course, one of my all-time favourites, Fanstastic Mr. Fox.

The story of the clever and cunning Mr. Fox and his battle with the three greedy farmers Boggis, Bean and Bunce had me glued to my seat. I literally cheered with glee when Mr. Fox scored a victory and cowered in terror when the farmers chased him and his family. Roald Dahl had a special gift for children's stories.

Now Wes Anderson has bought the exceptionally Fantastic Mr. Fox to a bigscreen near you using fantastic, imaginative stop-motion puppetry to bring the characters to life. George Clooney is on form as the smooth, aspirational Mr. Fox while Meryl Streep acts as his supportive, tolerating wife.

The puppets dance lightly through sets stuffed full of retro quirk (it's got a real 70s feel) occasionally breaking into a dance. The juxtaposition between the wild animals and the domestic, urban life works brilliantly. While traditionalists might have baulked at the thought of the americanisation of this quintesentially British tale, rest assured, it does not detract from the magnificent, super, Fantastic Mr. Fox.

The Men Who Stare at Goats

More of this is true than you know...

First of all, a big thanks to Kate Bowe PR for giving me two tickets to attend a screening of The Men Who Stare At Goats. Adapted from the John Ronson book of the same name, this film is centred around the reporter (Ewan McGregor) who heads to Iraq when his wife leaves him. While he waits to gain access to the front lines, he meets George Clooney's character, a veteran of the U.S. Army's research into psychic warfare.

Word of warning, whenever Clooney reprises his moustache, he's clearly in comic actor mode.

What follows is meant to be a light-hearted and humourous adventure romp. The film is a welcome counterpoint to all the serious films of the Iraq war, and while it has its funny moments, it is let down by a lack of story.

Give that the book upon which the film is based is an investigation into various research carrier out by the U.S. army, the lack of cohesive story makes sense. Goats, LSD and invisibility aren't natural bedfellows, but they've been joined together in this film.

With a stellar cast (McGregor, Clooney, Kevin Spacey and Jeff Bridges), there is indeed some great acting in this film with some excellent comic timing. However, the whole point of the film eluded me.

SuperFreakonomics - Stephen D. Levitt & Stephen K. Dubner

Superfreakonomics is the inevitable follow-up to the best-selling book on microeconomics Freakonomics which took a light look at the decisions and motivations of the individual and presented it in an easy to read format. It was a novel approach at the time and bought microeconomics to the attention of the general public.

Well, why change a winning formula? Superfreakonomics continues much in the same vein and it will undoubtedly be bought by the buckload. Be prepared to see the intellectual poseurs reading this book on the morning and evening commute.

The authors do make some interesting and controversial arguments at times, especially with regard to climate change and children's carseats. I must admit that I did find their arguments quite controversial, given the general public concensus on these topics. But that's no bad thing. It would be a dull world indeed if we all agreed.

Overall though, I found no sense of cohesion in the book and I found that it reinforced my view of economists as people groping around in the dark for a lightswitch. Despite ending with a very humourous description of an experiment where Cappuchin monkeys were taught the value of money, there was no wrap-up or final conclusion to the book. I literally turned the page expecting more and was greeting by the bibliography.

Right now, we are in an era of massive change, i.e. on a macroeconomic scale, and I found the minutiae of microeconomics tedious, unoriginal and non-contemporary.

Great Value Lunch at Ananda Indian Restaurant

I think Ananda Indian Restaurant in Dundrum Town Centre is something special. It's a collaboration between the Jaipur restaurants, with executive chef Sunil Ghai and London-based and Michelin chef Atul Kochhar. The results are nothing short of amazing, all served in a beautiful, colourful dining room.

Ananda have recently introduced a special value lunch menu, served Tues - Sun, 12.30 to 15.00. For €16, you can enjoy 4 tapas (either a vegetarian or non-vegetarian selection), one main course and a tea/coffee. When we saw this amazing value outside the restaurant we rolled right in.

We got one set of the vegetarian and non-vegetarian tapas, while I chose the lamb rogan josh and he went for the curried seafood biriyani. The little tapas blew us right of the water. Served one at a time, we were treated to super little pops of flavour, where for one, the vegetarian was not overshadowed by the meat-based tapas. Featured in the photos below are a chicken supreme (tandoor cooked), a goat's cheese salad, prawn tempura served with a tomato chutney and finally a delicious curried broccoli in cheese sauce. And that was just half of our tapas.



His biriyani featured fantastically plumped grains of rice, succulent and mixed with deliciously sweet fried onions. Plump prawns and seafood was dotted throughout and came with a sweet yet spicy curry sauce.


My lamb rogan josh was not the spicy hot dish that I was expecting. Instead I got a milder, richer sauce, which featured lots of saffron. Very nice indeed. Add one tasty garlic, onion and coriander naan and we were very happy campers.


This was really high quality cooking. Just because its lunchtime doesn't mean that Ananda is comprimising on quality or taste. The best part, lunch for two people with two large bottles of sparking water and one extra naan - €40.50. Wow.

Spiced Pumpkin Cheesecake

One of my favourite blogs, CheapEats.ie, recently featured a pumpkin cheesecake recipe in the run up to Halloween. My curiosity was well and truly piqued, so off I went to purchase a pumpkin and some cream cheese.

I roasted the pumpkin in chunks in the oven and then blitzed it quickly using my handheld blender. I made the cheesecake according to the recipe, with the sole addition of a 1/2 teaspoon of natural vanilla essence. I baked it for about 1 hour until the middle had started to firm, then I turned off the oven, opened the door, and left it to sit and cool for a while.

It's an absolutely delicious cheesecake and really benefits from sitting in the fridge for at least a day. I'd use a little less cinnamon powder the next time, as I feel that it does overpower the pumpkin flavour slightly but still.... there's nothing quite like a good cheesecake.