A Cooper's Hawk preying on a mourning dove

In between meetings I glanced outside, and suddenly saw, 

in the 3 inch gap between the door inside and the tree outside

A Cooper's Hawk had just caught it's prey ...

a Mourning Dove

The Hawk was looking all around to make sure it wasn't threatened

And as much as I was disappointed for the dove,

I wasn't going to interfere with mother nature and her ways ...

The photographs would have been clearer had I stepped outside, 

(these photos are taken through 2 layers of glass windows, so they are not clear)

but sometimes, nature needs to be left alone,

away from mankind and photography

As the cold winter breeze blew the fallen leaves and tiny feathers, 

Not a bird or a squirrel stirred, in the otherwise bustling backyard

While the Hawk silently satisfied itself

I got back to my meeting, and 30 minutes later ...

It was all over.

Now all that's left, 

Are the lovely feathers of a Mourning Dove

The road from Inuvik to Tuktoyaktuk

Now this is what I call North!

Someday I hope to drive to Tuktoyaktuk on the Arctic coast, from Mississauga, Ontario.

Today, the Inuvik Tuktoyaktuk highway is not open yet. 

It will open on the 15th of November

Also Google Maps does not have a route map to show as of today.

More info on the Mackenzie Valley Highway

I wonder what car or Jeep I'll end up driving for this road trip

Replacing the battery in the Audi A3

Diagnosing and replacing a car battery is no big deal, 

but I learnt a very valuable lesson that I want to share with other car owners.

And that is ...

Don't be fooled by technology 

(Sensors, ECU fault codes displayed on your dashboard, car diagnostic scanners etc)

 and don't let someone use technology to fool you.

Yesterday after driving for 20 minutes, I parked the car and waited for about 15 minutes,

and when it was time to leave, the car wouldn't start.

When I turned the ignition on, the ECU showed me several faults

With 8 years experience owning 2 Audis I knew it was impossible to have so many faults

I did a scan using my gadget and app

No fault codes, even though the display on the dashboard shows me there are faults

I suspected a dying battery, as the headlights would come on, 

flicker and go off in a few seconds.

The horn worked, so did many other electrical components.

But this is where many get fooled, and get their cars towed to a service center.

I ignored the towing suggestions of others, and asked for the battery to checked first.

Got the car jump started.

The ECU still showed me faults, but fewer faults like 

electronic stabilization control, brake fault, steering malfunction etc.

All of these would scare anyone into towing their car to the service center 

☺

But I wanted to know the source of the problem

Got a detailed battery report for FREE

Clearly, the battery was dying, and not powerful enough to start the car

Confirmed that the charging system was good

Got a new battery

No faults on the dashboard

Common sense stuff I learnt:

1) The faults that the ECU displays on your dashboard can mislead the owner 

to take their car to a service center 

and you could end up repairing or replacing parts that have actually NOT failed.

This can be time consuming and very expensive!

2) The more technologically advanced a car is, the more sensors it will have. 

And several components like the throttle pedal, 

use sensors that are highly sensitive to tiny voltage fluctuations.

So a dying battery could trigger a malfunction in any voltage-sensitive sensor, 

the sensor will send signals to the ECU saying there is a malfunction in that component, 

the ECU will send signals to the dashboard to you and me, 

saying something terrible is wrong with your car.

Once again, don't be fooled by technology, 

and don't let someone like a technician with a computer, 

use technology to fool you

☺

I have 2 suggestions for car manufacturers:

1) Instead of the Owners manual that is provided in a book form, 
provide a tablet with diagnostics software. 
This will be more useful and it will also occupy less pace in the so called "glove" compartment.

2) On the dashboard, provide a digital battery indicator that shows battery usage, 
just like what we all have on our phones

Happy and safe winter driving!

See all my Audi related posts here

Listening to Gordon Lightfoot live in concert

Never imagined that I'd actually get to watch Gordon Lightfoot live in concert. 

Well, after waiting for 40 years, it finally happened on this winter night with her!  

Guess what, today also happens to be the 42nd anniversary 

of the sinking of the SS Edmund Fitzgerald.

Photography was allowed, so took a few photos

at the Living Arts Center in Mississauga.

Here's Mr. Lightfoot showing us how one of his guitars fell at a previous concert, 

and got damaged

So one thing struck off my bucket list! Seeing Gordon Lightfoot.

Have you seen my Gordon Lightfoot painting?

Cooking Fish with Coconut, Cumin and Tamarind

This is a dish I used to watch my grandmother make around 50 years ago. 

My mom still makes it, usually with much smaller fish, in a clay pot, 

but I'm cooking it my way with some really fresh sea bass!

I prefer to cut the fish myself, 'cos the folks in the store don't do it properly. They chop it. 

Small fish should never be chopped, but cut

I'm actually cooking two different dishes, 

that's why you see two different types of ginger and onions in the photos below.

For this dish, I'll be using the red onions, small ginger, some garlic, 

mustard seeds & Thai red chillies (quite hot).

Other ingredients - coconut oil, grated coconut, turmeric, cumin powder and a particular kind of Tamarind which our friends brought us from Kerala, India. 

The tamarind is put in a cup of warm water for the flavour to effuse into the water. 

See the photos below

For those who don't know, Kerala is known as the Spice Garden of India, and they traded spices with ancient Egyptians and Assyrians 3000 years before Christ. 

Also Kerala is where Saint Thomas, one of the disciples of Jesus of Nazareth, 

took Christianity to India in 52 AD (long before America was even discovered!)

Back to the fish ...

Heat a little coconut oil, add mustard seeds, 

fry the mixture of finely chopped onions, garlic, ginger and chillies,

add turmeric, cumin powder, and a little salt,

then add the grated coconut and fry,

add the tamarind liquid along with the tamarind

add the fish, and cover it with the coconut mixture

Cook on low heat till the fish is cooked

Here's an interesting article on the origin of the Christian fish symbol