Another Year

2011

Once again I am at that stage when I really don’t know what happened this year for me to write about. Has this year been significantly different to the past ones? Have I changed this year? Have I actually been striving towards my life goal- to be happy? Or am I not really striving, but pointlessly getting through life and living for the day and not for anything beyond that, but happy anyway? Yup, it’s the latter for sure. 

I will try my best not to make this depressing. I think the general mood of last year’s post was leaning towards the depressing side. The thing is, 2010 was a really good year. But I’ve noticed that even in my highest level of optimism, it is hard to completely drown out the not-so-good things with good things.

This year was a good year too.

"I know my time is coming..."

Yes, my blog has been pretty dormant. Unfortunately, due to my brilliance in procrastinating work, I am piled up way over my head with thesis work that is due in a week. I've wasted time like mad. Christmas was still fun.

One of the few benefits of this is that I find new music and new artists during my work. Today I discovered 'Quiet Company'. Grooveshark was advertising them and I really like their music.

I know the lyrics are not about me waiting for my jury. But it sort of reminded me of that. 


I tried a million times to understand it, and I thought I did. But at the bottom of this there is a panic, and I bought right in. But the problem with me and the problem with you is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming.

So let's bow our heads....for something, pray that god is on our side. But the pagan and the pious, they all sound the same, "Oh my god! Oh my god!" The problem with me and the problem with you, is that we're all just so scared to die. But I know my time is coming, I can't keep my time from coming.

Ahhhh! I know my time is coming in just over a week! :(

Sunday Lunch

I love being alone at home. When the house is empty, I have the sudden desire to do things. I think it's the excitement that takes away the usual laziness (not that I don't love having the rest of the family at home.) Sometimes I resort to frenzied house tidying or singing along to insanely loud music and sometimes I cook.


Red + Green + White = Perfect meal
If the meal has all three colours, it generally means that you've included something from each food group, i.e. carbohydrate, protein, fat, vitamins and minerals.

This is a relatively easy meal.


For the pasta- Make simple tomato sauce while the pasta is boiling- same recipe as used here. 


For the broccoli cheese- steam broccoli like I did in this recipe. For the cheese sauce- Put 2 tablespoons of butter (50g) in a hot pan and add 2 tablespoons of flour. Stir well and add 200ml of milk. Keep stirring till it thickens. Add 2 tsps of garlic salt. 
Then pour sauce over broccoli and grate cheese over the top (I used Red Leicester). Put in the oven for about ten minutes.


While that is baking, make the bruschetta. This is not the usual raw one that I do. I cooked it. Chop up 2 tomatoes into small pieces. Add to hot pan with a tablespoon of olive oil. Let the tomatoes cook well till soft. Add pinch of salt and pinch of lemon pepper. Lastly, add a tbsp of pesto- recipe here. 


NOTE: If you don't have any bought pesto and don't feel like making it from scratch, you could even add chopped up basil leaves. 


Add the tomatoes to lightly toasted bread and then chop up some mozzarella for the top.


By this time, the cheese on the broccoli will be nicely melted. Take out from the oven and rest for about 5 minutes while the sauce thickens again.


Potato Patty- This is the easiest part of the meal. Take out 1 McCain patty from freezer. Defrost and lightly brown on a pan with a smear of oil. 


Voila. And the meal is done. This was enough for 2, so my brother got to eat some for dinner. 

Ate in front of the TV while I watched 'Gone with the Wind' (Well, just a part of it. That movie is 4 hours!) 
Perfect Sunday afternoon. :)

Pesto Broccoli

I made this as an entre for my ravioli meal. 


Pesto is really easy to make. All you need are the right ingredients to blend up. We usually have a bottle of homemade pesto in the fridge. We used to follow the recipe from the book, 'Best-Ever Pasta' (Linda Fraser), but now I think my Mum just improvises.


The recipe + modifications:
3/4 cup of fresh basil leaves (not hard to find, but make sure it's not Thai basil- that has a lemon-ey flavour), 4 cloves of peeled garlic, 4 tbsps pine nuts- these are not easily available, but we use cashew-nuts. Tastes pretty good, so add about a handful and a half, 5 tbsps of olive oil, salt and pepper, 1/2 cup of grated Parmesan (the only cheese that can be a substitute is Pecorino.) 
Blend all this up till the consistency that you're happy with. I prefer slightly gritty.

Parboil/steam chopped broccoli. What I did was put the broccoli into a bowl of water and microwave for about 5 minutes. In a pan with about 2 tbsp of oil, add onions (1/2 finely chopped) and garlic (2 cloves, grated) (essentials in everything I cook!). Then add about 4 or 5 tbsps of pesto and the broccoli. Cook till broccoli is tender. I like a bite on the veggies. Shouldn't be too soft. 

Tortellini Funghi Pomodoro

And my love for pasta grows further. My Mum suggested I go to Northern Italy and work in a tiny ristorante, oh and maybe work with an architect as well.

When I am bored and more bored than lazy, I usually end up cooking. This time, greatly influenced by the delicate intricate cooking I've been watching on Masterchef, I decided to take pasta-making one step further and try ravioli and tortellini.

Funghi- mushrooms. It's funny how most people associate fungus with something disgusting. I made the filling for the pasta with fungus. 

Take about 2 cups of finely chopped mushrooms. Add them to a pan of hot olive oil and 4 cloves of grated garlic. Stir together. Add 1 tsp of salt, 1tsp of dried sage, 1/4 tsp of pepper and 1 tsp of cinnamon. Once all the water has come out of the mushrooms and evaporated. Add about 50ml of thick cream. This will combine all the ingredients together to form a nice creamy, slightly sticky filling.

To make the pasta- pretty simple. 2 cups of flour + 3 eggs and a pinch of salt. This time, instead of mixing it out on the counter like I did for the Mushroom Lasagne, I did it in a bowl. Far less mess. If the dough is sticky, dust more flour on the surface while kneading. If you don't have a pasta maker, it will take time rolling it out into thin sheets. I don't think I would have taken the effort to do that. Wrap in clingfilm and rest the dough for a while before rolling. Roll them out into quite thin sheets, because when you make the ravioli/tortellini it becomes a double layer.


Note: Keep dusting it lightly with flour. If it's not dry enough, it would roll out easily. Also, keep the dough in the clingfilm so it doesn't dry out.

The fish on the land ain't happy.

"...The fish on the land ain't happy
They sad 'cause they in their bowl
But fish in the bowl is lucky
They in for a worser fate
One day when the boss get hungry
Guess who's gon' be on the plate... Oh no!" ('Under the Sea'- The Little Mermaid)


I am a vegetarian. But I am also a big big foodie. I could watch the food shows on TLC or read recipe books all day. The thing is, I am left out of quite a big chunk of the food experience because I am a vegetarian. I can't even relate to the things they say.


I've tasted meat many times- chicken and fish. Mutton and beef once, but not much more than that. Oh, once I tasted quail and guinea fowl too. But the food that puzzled me the most was seafood. I don't mean ordinary fish, but the squid and oysters and lobsters and octopus and all those slimy, squirmy, tentacle-y things that still look that they are going to move on the plate. I could never imagine that one could enjoy the texture of them, let alone the taste. I totally agreed with Dave Barry who said, "The only kind of seafood I trust is the fish stick, a totally featureless fish that doesn't have eyeballs or fins." 


But, after countless recipes with seafood and friends raving about their delicate flavours did I decide that one day, someday I will try it.

Written in Stone

It's been quite a while since my last blog post. Sigh. Apparently I've been busy, but I can't exactly list out many positive results of being busy.

Oh well, aside from working on Transparence, thesis work *cough cough* and Brownie Points, I helped plan out and attended a five day camp for our church youth to the YMCA camp at Nilshi, Lonavala.

It was quite an experience, from seemingly endless train journeys, tents, campfires, mosquitoes and rock climbing, to singing, prayer, kayaking, snakes, swimming, and lots of fun and craziness in general. To top it off, the location was absolutely spectacular. The site was a peninsula into the Andhra Lake, which is definitely the cleanest, clearest, most beautiful lake I've seen in India, which had the backdrop of lush green rolling hills. Very picturesque surroundings with not even a trace of human civilization aside from the campsite. You know those pictures where you can't tell the difference between actual landscape and the refection in the water- this was one of those locations.

The point of this post is to actually try and describe to you the architecture of the place. 
Nestled in the midst of this natural abode, any man-made built form would seem a disruption. But in my opinion, Christopher Charles Benninger brought out a living space to co-habitate with the trees and the mountains, and I'm not talking about tree houses and dens made of sticks, leaves and mud. Unlike the usual rustic campsite, this was one of architectural significance.

Over the 3 days at the campsite, I'd keep discovering little bits of the design. It wasn't something that spoke to you loud and clear at one glance.You sort of had to become part of it. For example, I got lost during the first round treasure hunt and it wasn't easy to find my way by just looking ahead of me. The pathways and buildings were so well camouflaged that I needed to walk bit by bit through the foliage with sudden glimpses of the lake along contoured pathways to really figure out the route. 

So, in order to fully absorb every bit of it, I skipped group pictures on the last day and went on my own architectural walk. Let me take you through it. Enough of the long written explanations. The pictures should do the talking.

Poached Eggs

Was going to call this post 'Eggs Benedict' but read that it includes an English muffin, fried bacon and Hollandaise sauce. Mine was with brown bread and mayonnaise. 


Ever since season 2 of Masterchef, Australia where they had the poached eggs challenge, I've wanted to try it out. They are also mentioned in the movies, Julie and Julia and Runaway Bride.


The traditional way of poaching the egg is to mix about a tablespoon of vinegar with the water before adding the egg. This is supposed to help keep the albumen and the yoke together instead of spreading all over the water. Then you're supposed to use a spoon to gently fold it together. This is how Gordon Ramsay makes it- click to watch.

September 17, 1986-2011

I wasn't going to post this. But changed my mind.


My parents celebrated 25 years of their marriage. They didn't want a big celebration so just the four of us celebrated it. This is what I wrote for them.


Click here.

Burgers and Fry-ups

Friday night + Mum in bed with fever + slight laziness to cook anything fancy = Burgers* and Fry-up.

*burgers were bought not homemade. 

Anyway, so here goes-

The Beatitudes: Improved

To be honest, I read the Bible much much less than I should be. But of all the versions that I've come across, I love the Message the best. The Message was paraphrased by Eugene Peterson, who wrote in such a way that every verse is so simple and straightforward. Not just the absence of 'Thee's' and 'Thou's' and every other word ending with'-eth' but an entirely new format/style that makes everything so much clearer. Last Saturday in church, I read the Beatitudes in this version and it was so beautiful that I'd like to share it here.

You're blessed when you're at the end of your rope. With less of you there is more of God and his rule.

You're blessed when you feel you've lost what is most dear to you. Only then can you be embraced by the One most dear to you.

You're blessed when you're content with just who you are—no more, no less. That's the moment you find yourselves proud owners of everything that can't be bought.

You're blessed when you've worked up a good appetite for God. He's food and drink in the best meal you'll ever eat.

You're blessed when you care. At the moment of being 'care-full,' you find yourselves cared for.

You're blessed when you get your inside world—your mind and heart—put right. Then you can see God in the outside world.

You're blessed when you can show people how to cooperate instead of compete or fight. That's when you discover who you really are, and your place in God's family.

You're blessed when your commitment to God provokes persecution. The persecution drives you even deeper into God's kingdom.

Not only that—count yourselves blessed every time people put you down or throw you out or speak lies about you to discredit me. What it means is that the truth is too close for comfort and they are uncomfortable. You can be glad when that happens—give a cheer, even!—for though they don't like it, I do! And all heaven applauds. And know that you are in good company. My prophets and witnesses have always gotten into this kind of trouble.

(found in Matthew 5:3-12 msg)

Compare it with the more familiar version of this in the King James version and you'll understand what I mean- read here. The KJV is the version that many children, including myself were/are taught to memorize  But its the Message version that actually changes my understanding to something less superficial.

If you're one of those who needs a version that speaks deeper, this is the one for you- The Message.

Avarakkai Poduthuval

I spent a lot of time finding the correct terms for what I was cooking. Thanks to Google and a lot of South Indian food blogs, I finally got this:


Long beans- Avarakkai, Payaru
Fried with coconut- Poduthuval/Thoran (Malayalam), Poriyal (Tamil)

So, this is basically a simply fry of green beans and coconut. Usually eaten with rice and dhal/sambhar.


In about 4 table spoons of vegetable oil, add 2 tsps of mustard seeds. Once they start sputtering, add 6 curry leaves and then add 1tsp grated garlic and 1tsp grated ginger. Stir well and add 1 finely chopped medium sized onion. Next add the masalas- 1 tsp of haldi, 1 tsp of chili powder and 1 1/2 tsp of salt.

Once this is fried well, add about 200g of chopped up green beans. Cover the pan and stir every 2 minutes or so (keep the fire low to avoid burning). After roughly 10 minutes, when the beans are almost fully cooked, add 1 cup of grated coconut. Keep the lid off and stir continuously till fully dry and cooked. And it's done!

Note: I didn't add green chili because my brother has an aversion to food with chili/pepper: But that's only if he sees it. I could have actually added it, it would have camouflaged well.
Most recipes have urad dhal in the fry. Add about 2 tsps to the oil along with the mustard seeds.

07.09.11 (little later on in the day) 
Note: After all that research, I am quite upset to learn, from a reader who put it really politely that I got the terms wrong. :( Avarakkai is a tamil name given to broad beans which is kind of flat and finger sized and not the beans I've used here. Utter fail! Let me know if you know the right word for the beans I've used. 

Thesis, Holidays and Kannada class!

So, my long holidays finally came to an end and I prepared myself for the mundane routine of traffic madness, looooooong sleep-inducing lectures and jobless strolls around the campus. 


I couldn't ask for a more perfect holiday- the perfect blend of everything- productive and wasteful days. My food blog plans took off well, as you may have noticed. ;) 


As expected the above three things I prepared myself for came true beyond measure. Traffic has reached its pinnacle of terror. I really cannot imagine it being any worse. One such day, it took me and my bugged self one whole hour to reach college as my equally irritated auto-driver struggled to maneuver through choc-a-block vehicle/pedestrian/animal bhelpuri. The rains and muddy potholes only made things more crazy. I listened to Jack Johnson's album, 'On and On'. It sort of gave a nice contrast soundtrack to my journey to college.

About the classes- all fall into the category of sleep-inducing. Some at higher levels that others. In fact, the very thought of the class initiates a yawn. Thankfully, my thesis project seems to be going on fine, except for the rude managers/HR people/whoever-it-is who cuts me off the line, after a cold heartless, "I'm sorry, we can't help you!" for the case studies that I've tried to do. 


Oh and how can I forget?- We have another of those irritating compulsory classes this semester. We've had communicative skills, economics and sociology, constitutional law. But this semester is the worst (for me at least)- Kannada. Those who know me, know that I do not fall into the category of bi-lingual, let alone multi-lingual. The French I learnt for years will not help me communicate with any Frenchman older than 3. "Bonjour. Comment allez-vous? Quel age as-tu? Comment tu t'appelles? J'mappelle Tanisha." The rest is quite a blur sadly. I speak fluent p-language, but unfortunately that doesn't get me very far. Yet, I still manage to get around Bangalore. Thanks to living in a cosmopolitan/metropolitan city, even the auto drivers and bus conductors can understand English. My Kannada is limited to writing my name and "reading" bus destination. I use my skills from the game 'Memory' and can just about recognise the term 'Shivajinagar', 'Kempe Gowda' and 'K. R. Market'. This semester I worry that this class will be a bigger headache than my actual thesis. My classmates, on the other hand, and quite looking forward to making fun of me. Sigh.


As for jobless strolls in college- they are the only thing to look forward to in college. The most intensive thing we do, is plan where to have lunch and then we actually move to get there. Other than that we also enjoy sitting on the steps and in the cad lab, where we no longer pretend to be doing something useful. Once upon a time, we took off our shoes before entering the lab, and wouldn't dare do anything there besides work. 'Eating in lab?', 'Opening Facebook'- totally unheard of! :)


As far as messed up semesters go, this one isn't too bad actually. Especially since I've been off for the past 5 days and will continue to be off for another 5 days thanks to religious festivals, junior orientation and the general lack of classes. Perhaps this blog will still thrive this semester. :)

Egg-less Chocolate Cake

One more cake post! There may be a break from cakes after this one. No more birthdays for a while and I don't think any other reasons for cake-baking will come up soon.


This one's for all the vegans/lacto-vegetarians and all those who still love chocolate cake regardless of whether or not it has egg.


I have friends who miss out on my baking because of the above reason, and this recipe cures all that. It's the easiest recipe on the planet, and I'm not just saying that only for those who like baking.


It's taken from the cookbook, 'An Apple a Day'


First sift 1 1/3 cups of flour, 1/4 cup cocoa, 1 tsp of baking soda and pinch of salt (enhances chocolate flavour) In a bowl, beat together 1 cup of sugar, 1/2 cup of oil, 1 tsp of vanilla and 1 tbsp of lemon juice. Add dry ingredients to wet. Mix in 1 cup of cold water and mix till its nice and smooth.


Bake in a buttered and floured tin for half an hour to forty minutes in a 180 degree oven. I suggest frosting it. There's never too much chocolate.

Note: I was told that the cake lacked sweetness. So, either add more sugar, or use Demerara sugar instead, or put a really really thick layer of icing. :)

The 'Leftovers' Fried Rice

"Frying gives cooks numerous ways of concealing what appeared the day before and in a pinch facilitates sudden demands" ~ Jean-Anthelme Brillat-Savarin 

A weird recipe to share, but it's quite popular in my house. Ever since my Mum joined her book club, she is away one Wednesday a month and my Dad usually makes this for dinner. The key ingredients are leftover plain rice, leftover dhal and leftover vegetable fry. Those things are never that great to eat by themselves, but in this rice, it's quite grand. :) 


First fry together 1/2 chopped onion, 1 tsp grated ginger, 1 tsp grated garlic, 1/2 tsp jeera, 1/2 tsp haldi, 1/2 tsp corriander powder, 1 tsp of salt in about 3 tbsp of oil. Then break in 2 eggs and scramble them. Once the eggs are cooked add 1 chopped tomato. Then put in about 6 table spoons of the dhal. If you put more, it'll be very mushy rice- not necessarily a bad thing. Then put in the vegetable fry. This time, I found a bit of fried brinjal and used that, but anything will do. Lastly, once nicely fried together, add the rice. We had enough for about 3 people.

Note: I also added about 1/2 cup of frozen corn. Feel free to add other things as well- whatever you can find in your fridge/freezer. Great thing to cook when you're lazy and there are plenty of leftovers to use up.

Orange Cake and More Candles

Guess what? Another birthday and yet another cake.

My cousin Anjali is here by herself for a two week holiday and celebrated her 11th birthday the second day of her holiday.


I actually can't take credit for the beautiful cake we made, she did 90% of it. 

Now is our time.

When I saw this for the first time, I was awed. Such beautiful words, so simply said, and then it ended with Levis, and I was like, 'Huh?' 


I read this to learn more about the campaign and this being one of them. Quite an step for a clothing brand.


But it's the poem by Charles Bukowski, 'The Laughing Heart' which made me stop and think. Like seriously. 


Your life is your life
don’t let it be clubbed into dank submission.
Be on the watch.
There are ways out.
There is a light somewhere.
It may not be much light but
it beats the darkness.
Be on the watch.
(The) God(s) will offer you chances.
Know them.
Take them.
You can’t beat death but
you can beat death in life, sometimes.
And the more often you learn to do it,
the more light there will be.
Your life is your life.
Know it while you have it.
You are marvelous
(the) God(s) wait to delight
in you.

Mocha Sponge Cake

Birthday time again. For the past 5+ years, I haven't given birthday gifts to any of my immediate family, but I've baked the cake. Likewise again this year, I baked the cake for my Dad's birthday.

"This is the sort of cake that people label "very rich" but then go on to have three slices with languorous ease" 

I read this in Nigella Lawson's recipe of butterscotch layer cake, and I was so sure this was the one to make. Then I remembered that there'd be about 15+ people that day and 3 slices each would be a lot of cake to bake!

Cousins

Out of all the crazy pictures we took yesterday, these were my favourite. 
I found this perfectly apt poem by Beth Rogers.


Oh, tell me, please tell me, is there a trick
to get cousins to sit still, even real quick?
One giggles, one wiggles, one tugs on another.
One crawls, one tickles, then they pile on each other.
At the end of the day, when all is said and done,
taking pictures with cousins, is way too much fun!

Birthday Cake

"Let's face it, a nice creamy chocolate cake does a lot for a lot of people; it does for me." 
~Audrey Hepburn


Shraddha's birthday surprise calls for a homemade cake, especially since she asked for one. :)


It was after 12 in the middle of the night, when I finally decided to start the cake. Me and my procrastination. *sigh. Then, to my horror, there was only ONE egg in the fridge! Way too late for any shop to be open or for me to be wandering the streets looking for open shops and way too late to be knocking on neighbours doors. Then I found 2 more eggs that were part of my Brownie Points ingredients. Relief. 


I chose a pretty simple recipe of Nigella Lawson- Chocolate Fudge Cake (found in her book, 'Nigella Bites') The recipe called for 3 eggs. What a save! But then I decided to make half a recipe. So all that was unnecessary hullabaloo.


I adapted the recipe here and there, for lack of ingredients and laziness to measure accurately. This is the original recipe.


My adapted recipe: Beat vigorously together 90g of melted butter and 3/4 cup sugar. Add 60ml of oil and 150ml of cold water. Sift 2 cups flour, 5 tablespoons cocoa powder, 1 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp baking soda and half a pinch of salt. Add the dry ingredients to the wet ingredients beating at a slow speed. In another bowl, whisk together 2 eggs, 1tsp of vanilla and 75ml of curd. Add egg mixture to cake batter and mix together gently.

Cinnamon Cookies

So, Brownie Points is adding a new item to our products soon. As part of research I made cinnamon biscuits today. Browsed through recipes for hours. There are so many online! Too many. Makes it really hard to decide.


I opted for the simplest one, with the best reviews. VERY easy to make. Tasty, but I think I prefer chunky chewy cookies better.


Oh cinnamon- my favouritest spice.


Recipe- read here. I am too lazy to type it out again. Or I could copy and paste it, but I am too lazy to do that as well. 


Ok fine- Here it is (I copied&pasted)

Ingredients

• 1 cup butter, softened
• 1 1/2 cups white sugar
• 1 egg
• 1 1/2 tablespoons molasses
• 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
• 1 1/8 teaspoons baking soda
• 1 tablespoon ground cinnamon
• 
  

Directions

1. Preheat oven to 350 degrees F (180 degrees C).
2. Cream together butter and sugar.
3. Mix in egg and molasses, blending well.
4. Mix flour, baking soda and cinnamon; add to creamed mixture, mixing well.
5. Drop by teaspoonfuls onto ungreased cookie sheet.
6. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.

Quote of the day. So apt to my life!


"I like to write when I feel spiteful. It is like having a good sneeze."
~David Herbert Lawrence 

LCTP

Lemon Cake Top Pudding- For as long as I can remember, we've called it LCTP. My Mum said its one of the easiest and most rewarding dessert recipes. She said years ago, just after she got married, she made trays upon trays of this for over 100 people. 

Small Joys

A few years ago, I uploaded some of my poems (I think it was my Dad who told me about such sites) onto a few sites for writers and poets. Just a few of them, that I thought stood out slightly out of all my poems. I posted three that I wrote when I was in 11th and 12th- they're here on the blog too.

Today I was trying to remember which sites I had posted them onto, having not opened them since I posted the poems. I opened up my profile on PoemHunter and had comments that I never saw. Aren't these kind of sites supposed to send me emails when I get comments? 

Then I opened up my profile on VoicesNet- more comments and rates and lots of views over the past few years. 3 people even shared it on Facebook. Where? When?

Then I found something even better. The month I uploaded 'Reason for Writing', it was given 2nd place in the July 2009 Monthly VoicesNet.com Writers Contest- Read here. Yay! I am so excited, even though it's been two years since I posted it and 5 years since I wrote it.

I can't remember if I've put poems on any other site. But this is enough excitement for now. 

:) I think I am inspired to write poems again.