And here goes November!

Didn't realise, but already it is less than one week before Miss Garg fly to India for the last time :)
Sad to leave S behind for so many days, specially when padayi pressure is peaking.
Well, I guess, it will be growing  up time for some one ;)

Not sure when will I be writing (properly) again. I hope I can squeeze in a couple of wedding posts but looks unlikely as the bride in a big fat Indian wedding :)

Looking forward to capturing these moments of a life time with friends & family :)
Here's wishing everyone a Merry Christmas & a very Happy New Year :) :) :)

Before October speeds by!

A lot & I really mean a LOT has happened over these past 4 weeks. Each week indeed deserves a post of its own. But I am quite sceptical of such indulgence in writing, given what my schedule has been! So here is a post which is 'dedicated' to these 4 weeks which have gone by.
Some day, when I will be able to extract a quiet hour, I am going to expand on these:

Week 1 S arrived in London. (Yes, he has :))
Week 2 We rented our first house!
Week 3 We got engaged (in person :D) & Karwachauth & Birthday
Week 4 Diwali festivities


:) :) :) This is blog #84!

The Read-Greed

2 books over 2 weeks - that's incredible given that I am working Saturdays!

I remember having written this down somewhere before, but I repeat - I think writing is equivalent in pleasure as reading, only it is more effort and hence less attractive.

For me reading is receiving, while writing is giving - some one else, something to read. And it takes a lot to be able to give more readily than take.

For last couple of weeks, my Internet usage has been limited to emails - no videos, no iPlayer and mostly no voice/video chats. So I have been lured back into the familiar world of books :) I have devoured on 2 fast paced novels both of which I think have been hugely popular owing to their succinct yet well narrated plots.

When I had finished the first book, I was totally up for writing something about it - not a review, but just recording my thoughts about it but the Read-Greed kicked in & I moved on to the next. 

I couldn't even wait to get to the library next morning, so I just downloaded a pdf :) It is one of very few books I have not read on paper. But at least I was reading.

I just finished the 2nd one, but a couple of days ago I had already borrowed 2 more books & again I cant wait to start on them!! But hey ho, at least I've managed to write something first - not about the books as I had thought but about my Read-Greed!!

PS: Just in case I don't manage to write about the books - I want to share the names here - The Kite Runner By KH and Room by ED

Think Food!

This is my book mark for the book I am currently reading. Focus is on putting on some weight without doing the hours in the kitchen. Any ideas?
Insant food. Appear!!
By the way, the book mark does work in some ways - at least I have thought of 4 different egg-free cup cakes and cakes recipes since I started with the book ;) I guess my next book mark will be - 'Do Food!'

A Lazy Sunday & A Book

There have not been very many of them this year so far. And I doubt there will be many ahead. It is hard (busy) work getting married!

After having borrowed a book from the library for well over 9 weeks(!!) I finally managed to finish it today. It was waiting for such a day I guess. When I was not jibing away to the computer or out in the market or attending to the Sunday socials. As if I was left out of all this so that I could just sit back and get absorbed in the book without any distractions :)

Well what can I say about the book - The Satanic Verses by Salman Rushdie, a lot has been written about it already. To be honest, I had to refer to Wikipedia to recognise the portions in it which inspired the 'fatwa' against the author. As a non-Muslim person I fail to see anything anti-religion in. In fact if at all, it does through various anecdotes establishes the presence of God and His power of 'directing' the worlds we assume we are in control of.

Being a resident in a country other than my own, makes me see some of the hatred spewed for immigrants in the book. I am glad though, if anything, situation has not worsened from what was written decades ago. (The economic crisis has sprouted some debates but then they are for entirely different reasons)
The characters in the book are named after those described in the Quran, and unless I read about them - Ayesha, Mishal, Suleman etc. I might not completely understand the links the author was trying to establish. For me, each of the character described are not separate people but facets of an average human being - jealously in Gibreel, revenge in Chamcha, insecurities in Allie, greed in Changez and so on. I must say I am yet to come across any other account of human nature/mind in such details. Impressed.

The book is definitely a heavy read and perhaps a re-read, but for sure it has the content to deserve it. It is my second Rushdie (Midnight's Children was first & liked better because of the non-cryptic text) and I have not been disappointed. (Even if for non-Quran reading folks like me will have to keep going back to Google to get the connections sorted!)

By the way, while I was reading, the clouds came & rained. Guess it is time for me to hit the high street :)

Cross

That's what I feel with all these tasks in 'Pending' list. I have always been a very 'To Do List' kind of person. Since school times I remember having a very well organised 'diary' listing all the subjects (in order of the timetable) and homework. There were even entries with 'no work' for subjects I didn't get homework for!

Then there were exam times with the whole printed syllabus as a huge 'to-do'. I must say it worked very well for me. I would try and allocate time to each portion (pessimistic estimates, so that I can be pleased with myself when I finish something earlier than scheduled ;)). It made me want to get another thing 'done'. Big motivation. And the pleasure of tearing off the 'completed' list. Ah!

It is not much different at work. I still try and make my things to do list every morning. But most days I get deflected into other stuff. My to-do list gets extended over a period of days. Though this is not how I would prefer it, but as long as things keep getting removed I don't really mind.

However, even after giving myself a list of things almost religiously for over a decade work-wise, I haven't been able to get this going in my personal life very efficiently. In last 3-4 months there are things which are just getting piled up, some things due to lack of attention from others and others due to my lack of attention/motivation. Irritating state of things to be least.
After almost a month of leaving the Internet connection to sort itself out, I had to jump in. Result - nothing has moved in 1 month. Status = Pending. Arrggghhh. Wish I could be more organised personally.

Then there are things which you can't do very much about other than wait. Again status = Pending. And I am crossed.

Immediate solution - switch off your brain; watch some TV.
(but there is no Internet - cross cross very cross!!)

If it was a holiday!

Perhaps I woudn't have slept all night with excitement. It's not a holiday though, and I still have not slept, but now I have a guilt. For not finishing what I was meant to and not sleeping which means I will be sleepy at work :(

Perhaps I would have got ready & dressed pretty.
Perhaps I would have even cooked a treat!

But it is not a holiday and I am awake since 4 with office docs open on the laptop, to be ignored in favour of random videos and a blog!

Happy Independence Day :)

Let's Pretend!

That's a game my 4 year old nephew loves to play & so do so many grown ups!
It is difficult to move around people who are constantly worrying about their 'image' in the social circle. I agree that one cannot live in the society without following its norms but then where is the limit?
I fail to understand such strong desires to 'create' the 'high social value' tags in adults. Don't they miss having some genuine fun? Would I not hang out with some people I used to have fun with because they couldn't keep up with my progress in life? What sort of relations are these which are based on 'should I be seen with him/her'?

Apparently, I lack these very basic social skills! I shouldn't really bother about asking how one is doing as it is more important to drop names & holiday spots than asking after people ;) Recently I got reminded of this lack of conversational skill and I couldn't help but think that what a pain it must be to keep wearing a mask all the time.

I think the adults take their game of Lets Pretend much more seriously than kids do. We all at various points in life pretend to like people to be politically correct. But to do it as second nature is I think quite harmful. I guess mostly neither the doer nor the receiver takes these things on face value but I most certainly do. I would much rather have it all out in the open. And if I genuinely cant get along with you, I just cant! Why pretend?

There is another aspect to this pretend game - pretending to be casual & not malicious when you clearly know that you are saying/doing things to an end. People around you are not foolish but just choose to be quiet. However, they do understand your intentions. So for heaven's sake stop saying stupid things which think go as wise wine - it simply stinks :D

Glad that I am as far away from this as possible. And relieved that there is a reason for me in future to stay away from it ;) :) :)

Let there be PEACE

We hadn't really enjoyed that much so as to attract the devil, then why this now?
God, can we please be through this & be at peace for a while? Pretty please!!

I know, I was not signing up for a cake walk when I decided to go ahead but this is plain scary. Challenges yes, dead ends No.

Give me oil in my lamp & Let there be Peace!

The way I should be feeling

...and I dont. Only in fleeting instances I feel the reality of it all - of the huge change that is going to alter the way I do things - big and small. The way I dress, talk, eat, sleep..everything. I am super duper happy.
This is the biggest event yet in my life yet, and still I dont feel the butterflies in my tummy, the blush in my cheeks, the bounce in my walk or the music in voice.

I hope to combine my rock solid happiness with some jittery expressions :))

75th & Special

More than just a counter, it is special :) Still pinching myself!
5/6/11

:) :) :)

Vacuum

That's where I want to be right now. That's what I want to feel right now and that's what I want my brain to be right now. 

It is such a mess - this whole thing. They say faith should be blind. But faith works right?

This too shall pass, for better things to come. 

Amen

Aloo Tikki

Cooking after ages it seems. On a lazy Saturday afternoon I was going through my fattest veg cooking book yet & it was impossible for me to resist the lure. Nothing specifically from the book but inspired by my love of potatoes (and their ease of access) I made a cross of Indian aloo tikki and English roasties.

I boiled and grated 2 big potatoes, diced some onion and put in some chilli flakes and salt and mixed it all together. This was my mix to make the tikkies (cakes). For the batter -
plain flour, vinegar, mint sauce, ketchup(!), salt, chat masala, chilli flakes and ajwain seeds. It was a lovely pale pink in colour.

Heated oil in a frying pan and dipped the cakes into the batter and shallow fried 2 at a time. In the end I had some batter left so I dipped pieces of bread in the same and shallow fried. Made for brilliant tea time savoury snack :) Here are the pictures (Please excuse poor image quality) -

Gods!

I guess it was man's insecurity that he created Gods for each of his basic needs. Someone who could look after his necessities endlessly and ensure that man always had everything. Rain God, Air God, Water God, Sun God, Food Goddess, Power Goddess and the list goes on.

Internet has rightfully become one of the basic needs for most people today. Isn't it time to have an Internet God to keep away interruptions in connectivity?

An Italian Meal

The night of India's world cup win, I cooked an Italian meal to celebrate :) The food turned out to be quite good & I shall now on records - be able to produce a 3 course Italian dinner with confidence in future :)
Here is a quick recap of my recipes and pictures of the food. I took pictures of food during various stages of preparation as well, but I guess that would make the post too long!

Starters - Garlic Butter Bruschetta with Salsa and Mint


Ingredients -
1 stick of bread
50gm butter
1 tea spoon garlic paste
Sprinkle of dried herbs
Optional - cheese
For Salsa:
1 Fresh tomato
1/2 Red Onion
2 table spoons Sweet Corn
1 table spoon vinegar
1 table spoon chopped mint (fresh or dried)
Salt and Pepper to taste

Recipe -

1.Slice the bread diagonally into 1 inch thick slices
2. Soften the butter in microwave, mix the garlic paste and dried herbs into the butter until well combined
3. Spread a layer of the garlic butter on the slices, keep aside
4. Chop Onion and Tomato, add sweet corn, vinegar, chopped mint, salt and pepper
5. 15 min before due to serve, put the sliced bread in oven at 180 for approx 15 min (until golden and edges are crispy)
6. Cover slices with the salsa (top with some cheese for variation)

Mains - Roasted Veggie Lasagna


Ingredients -
For the pasta:
6-9 Lasagna sheets
5 Closed Cup Mushrooms
1-2 Courgettes
1 Pepper
1/2 White Onion
2-3 table spoons Sweet Corn
For the White Sauce:
75gm Butter
75gm Plain Flour
500ml Milk
Salt & Pepper
For the Tomato Sauce (It is readily available in super markets, you might want to save yourself the trouble)
1 can of Chopped Tomatoes
2 White onions - diced
2-3 cloves of Garlic - crushed
1 table spoon dried mix herbs (Thyme/Oregano/Basil)
2-3 tea spoons Vegetable Oil (go for Olive if you have!)

Recipe -
(Note: The sauces can be made well in advance and stored in the fridge)

White Sauce -
1. Melt the butter in a sauce pan, as the butter starts bubbling, add the flour
2. Stir continuously till the flour and butter comes together and leaves the sides of the pan
3. Add the milk, a little at a time and keep whisking, gradually the milk and flour will come together to make a paste, add more milk if needed
4. Keep whisking till the mixture is smooth and the consistency of ketch up and the milk has boiled, add salt and pepper
5. Keep aside to cool

Tomato sauce -
1. In a heated pan, add oil, garlic and onion, cook until golden and soft
2. Add the chopped tomatoes and cook until the mixture starts to bubble (15-20 minutes on low heat)
3. Add salt and pepper (you could also add some vinegar & sugar at this point to make it slightly sweet and sour)
4. Let the mixture cool, then whiz it in a blender (not needed if you have an ill equipped kitchen like mine or to put a posh label - would prefer rustic chunky sauce ;))
5. Mix in the dried herbs, taste, add more salt/pepper if needed.
6. Keep aside

Roasted Veggies -
1. Thinly slice the courgette, mushrooms and onion
2. Cut the peppers into cubes
3. Put all the veggies (including sweet corn) in a baking tin with 2 table spoons of vegetable oil, salt, pepper and sprinkle of paprika powder
4. Give everything a good mix (with your hand - it feels great! Sorry for the diversion, but when I see all the TV chefs going gaga over getting your hands into the food I used to wonder what kind of pleasure are they hinting at ;) but really, it is soothing)
5. Put in the oven for 25 min at 180-200

Pasta and the assembly -
1. In a broad pan heat water with a pinch of salt
2. Place one sheet of lasagna at a time and cook until the pasta is soft and semi cooked - usually 4-5 min a sheet (You can place more than 1 sheet at a time but they shouldn't overlap - otherwise they just stick to each other and difficult to get them apart without tearing)
3. Oil the lasagna dish (any oven proof square dish)
4. Spoon in the roasted veggies, top up with a generous layer of tomato sauce
5. Cover completely with a layer of pasta sheets (can overlap now)
6. Spread a layer of white sauce (don't be stingy, I was!)
7. Repeat the layers of veggies, sauces and pasta until you finish (remember the pasta has to be topped with white sauce in the end)
8. Cover the top layer of pasta with white sauce
9. Sprinkle with your choice of cheese (opportunity to be creative)
10. Bake at 200 for 45 min until the cheese is bubbly and coloured

Dessert - Mixed Fruit Flan


This was a last minute change from a more Italian coffee based dessert, as I felt I had enough to do already! Some day I will post the recipe for my original choice too.
(I cheated here - didn't bake my own flan base, but if you have the time at hand and appropriate baking equipment, and don't mind using raw eggs, please do :P)


Ingredients -
2 bananas
1 Melon
100gm grapes
100gm cherries
1 Mango
1 Flan case
300ml Whipping cream
1 tea spoon Vanilla essence
5 tea spoons Sugar

Recipe -
1. Prepare all your fruits by cutting them into equal size cubes (or get a bag of frozen fruits ;))
2. Add vanilla essence and sugar to cream and whisk until fluffy and doesn't drop from an upside down spoon (took me half an hour by hand!)
3. Spread a thin layer of cream on the flan case, sprinkle the fruits over
4. Spread over another layer of cream in the centre and top it up with some decorative fruits
5. Cool until to be served!

1 satisfied cook, 2 satisfied guests, 3 satisfying courses :) :) :)

India United!

Team India lifted the Cricket World Cup after almost 3 decades. The entire nation has not stopped celebrating since the last shot of MS Dhoni. 1.2 bn people are united in a joy that in only coloured by team spirit. Strangers on the street are dancing and exchanging sweets. Neighbours in cosmos who had never spoken beyond a Hello are hugging each other. These scenes of an ecstatic crowd brings tears to my eyes.
The sounds of Vande Matram playing in the stadium, the common man idol worship of Sachin Tendulkar by his team mates, the flow of emotions on the ground - makes me believe that sports can still do it. Thanks to the Greeks who thought of community gaming events :)

Nothing can be 'overdone' while celebrating this dream come true for India. But one thing which struck me was an announcement by BCCI of giving away 1cr each to the 15 player squad and 50L each to a 12 member support staff, and this is just a beginning. Monetary rewards by the government would continue to come in I am sure. By the way of commercialisation Cricket is one game in India where players are financially strong and stable. Perhaps we could have used this money in a better way, for a better cause.

I wish Indian soldiers and their families didn't have to spend years doing the paper work to get their meagre sums of rewards. But I wont let this thought dampen my high spirits!!

So well done team India - We are super proud of you!

PS: Special mention to Gautam Gambhir for dedicating the win to Indian forces. He was very correct in pointing out - a cricketing win makes an ordinary man as well as a soldier very happy :)

I have been a busy cook this month

Ended last month with -



A week in advance of the pan cakes days - pancakes served with shredded dark chocolate and clementine syrup!

March started with profiteroles -

Choux pastry buns baked & filled with whipped cream and dipped in chocolate sauce - yummy!!
(without eggs)

Then came St. Patrick's Day - the patron saint of Ireland.

So I baked some Irish Soda Bread, and I am happy that it was pretty popular at work :)

It is Holi time now :) Though I wanted to make some gujiyas but settled for something less elaborate - namkeen mathri & shakkar pare.

The best complement I have got for my cooking in recent times - "I have come to cook like my badimum" :) :) :)

It is spring time, cheers to everyone!

Helter-Skelter!

Helter-skelter is the word which describes this month so far for me. I opened the 'new post' tab a couple of times, and once even started typing a post but couldn't go beyond a couple of lines. Throughout this week though, I had the awareness that this would be my last weekend to get an entry for February! So here I am, trying to recap what all happened this frantic Feb.

It started with a topsy turvy weekend. Saturday made me feel rubbish & crap. The feeling was strong enough to make come to this place but the day rushed into another one and the context was lost. In fact I am glad that I didn't get the time to put everything I felt/thought down because it would have made me that tiny bit more bitter while writing it (unconsciously reliving the incidents) and many times more by reading the entry. This has made me realise that forgetting voids forgive, so - 'Forget' alone works really well :)
Sunday was a complete contrast - I had a lovely day out. There is nothing like being let loose in London! It was great fun - met some good people, went to interesting places (Harrods!), had hearty meals and laughed quite a bit :) It was a first of its kind day for me. I often go to these spots; sometimes alone, at other times in company of all sorts of people. I think being in company of short stay people who want to take as much of London as they can back with them suddenly made me wake up to the London craze once again :) Inspiring!

The following couple of weeks just whirled by. Weekdays were busy/crazy at work. I do not quite qualify to be a workaholic yet, but I do enjoy being busy at work. It drives me mad when I have to fiddle away time at work because I am waiting on someone before I can make a start. This delay & my own indecision made days at work insufferable. I felt guilty and angry with myself all through. I think my negative energy comes out more evidently than my positive energy. This can make things so sour with colleagues :( I am still a rookie at keeping poise. Miles to go before my 'Miss Congeniality' crown!!
Weekends were practically spent at BR with (many)delicious meals, lovely desserts and gossip along with party preps. Really rushed days yet enjoyable (mostly!).

Then came the week I had been waiting for. I got my 'promoted' at work with a not so gratifying raise. But this wasn't the highlight. The reason to celebrate was dampened by a not-welcome news. (This is exactly what I meant by having to feel the emotions again & since this isn't forgotten - it hurts) So I am not going to elaborate. Just that life moves on - fingers crossed - for bigger, better things.

I was at home today mostly talking to so many people :) I spoke to more than a dozen of relatives & friends. My sweetest little brother so innocently asked me to come over for a longer holiday - it just brought tears to my eyes. I mean he just wants me to come for me - not why my parents want - to get me married, not why my sister wants - to get me a job in India but just because he wants to spend time with me. Love you kiddo :') Thank you so much for being my brother - you are the best! God bless you. In the evening, I got some great news from one of my friends which gave me such a pleasant feeling that I cant simply call it happiness. (touch wood - yeah I am a bit finicky about these!)

There is still a Monday to go in the month about which I am pretty apprehensive, given that how it has gone so far! But Insha Allah - end will be well :)

A new recipe

I started out with 2 cans of chick peas and then decided to rustle up a recipe with complety different ingredients :)

Today I cooked black lentils (sabut masoor) with red kidney beans in an adaptation of dal makhni. First, I diced the onions (I wish I had a food processor to have made it even finer) and stir fried it in a couple of table spoons of oil with cumin seeds.
I had to let it cook on gas mark 4 slowly for about 20 minutes until all of it was evenly golden-translucent.

Then added canned chopped tomatoes in juice and half a cup of tomatoes and left it to simmer for another 15-20 minutes (or until the water evaporated and the gravy thickened).

In the mean while I pressure cooked the kindey beans and lentils so that they are soft and mushy.

Next, in a separate pan I heated another couple of table spoons of oil. Then put in cloves, bay leaves, cumin, turmeric, chilli powder, coriander powder and some cinnamon sticks. Once the spices were fried/roasted I added the cooked lentils and beans and mixed in with the gravy prepared earlier.

At this stage one could add yogurt or creame to make it 'makhni' but I chose not to.
Again I left the whole thing to cook for another 20 minutes (while I did the dishes!!)

Once the heat was off I added some garam masala and lime juice before pouring it in the container.

Yummy!

The Sunday ritual - An ode to Tesco

In last year or so I have come to realise, there is only 1 constant to my weekends - a trip to the market. Luckily I got some time to read this Sunday and when I came across the following passage, I couldn't help but share it as it reflects so much of my own thought process.

Here is an excerpt from Salmon fishing in the Yemen by Paul Torday -

"We have moved on from religion.
Instead of going to the church, which would never occur to us, Mary and I go to Tesco together on Sundays. At least, that is what we did when she still lived in London. We never have time to shop during the week and Saturdays are too busy. But on Sunday our local Tesco is just quiet enough to get around without being hit in the ankles all the time by other people's shopping carts
We take our time wheeling the shiopping card around the vast cavern, goggling at the flatscreen TVs we cannot afford, occassionaly tossing in a luxury into the trolley that we can afford but not justify.
I suppose shopping in Tesco on Sunday morning is in itself a sort of meditative experience: in some way a shared moment with hundreds of other shippers all wheeling their shopping carts, and a shared moment with Mary, come to that. Most people I see shopping on Sunday morning have that peaceful, dreamy expression on their faces that I know is on ours. That is our Sunday ritual."

Apart from the fact that I am on my own when in Tesco's I think I really identify the dreamy, peaceful part of a pushing a trolley down an aisle of canned vegetables and frozen foods :)