Holiday! Celebrate!

I never EVER get tired of travelling. I think I'd happily do three trips a week between the city that never sleeps and the one that wakes up early. So its been 10 days there, and now I'm back to Serenity's company and yeah, I'm happy to be back. This trip back to the city that wakes up early reminded me of trips to the Dry State and stocking up the hooch for the semester. :) (Cue for yet another foray down Memory Lane!)

Serenity and I both appreciate our whiskey, but white wine is a habit that I seldom get to indulge here because of the beauty of a state owned liquor franchise that believes in catering to the masses, rather than the classes. On a recent trip to Pondy, I ran to a hooch shop on our way back to pick up a couple of bottles of wine, only to be told that the white wine was 450 bucks apiece. Deeply disappointed that my "sasta, sundar, tikao" brand of wine wasnt available, and deeply resentful of shelling out this much and getting only 2 bottles, I cribbed and whined. Until Serenity and I sampled our Pondy booty, and figured that the wine within was a sweet, pleasant white. Hmmm.... not bad.

Then I went to the city that doesnt sleep on work.... and one day I see this bottle on the racks. So, casually I asked how much it was, (fully prepared to gloat at how much less I'd paid for it in a Union Territory!!) only to be told it was 150 bucks per bottle! My jaw hit the floor! And the man who owned the store laughed his head off on being told I'd paid 450 bucks for the same. "Arre medem! you pay 450 for THIS??? 450 ke liye, you get nice wine, medem"

And on my way back here, I picked up the quota I forfeited in Pondy! :D heheheehehe.

Happiness is defeating the system!! :)

Khau Suey

And yes, that's another long silence broken by yet another recipe. This one's for a Burmese noodle dish called Khau Suey, introduced to me by my college room mate's mum (for which i'm eternally grateful!). Its basically a D.I.Y bowl of noodles and stew, and the couple of times I've eaten it in a restaurant, I've always cribbed about paying for a dish that I put together!!

(but you see, I LOVE KHAU SUEY, so the cribbing only lasts till the first bite I take of it!)

I introduced Serenity to it (rather disastrously!) in the first few months of married life. (We didn't have such a well equipped kitchen then). All went well, until it came to the "spice" part of making the stew... Serenity, my sous chef, is one who likes adding random things to our cooking! (His favourite additive is carrots... in anything that he can put carrots, he will, and if he cant, it wouldnt be for lack of trying!!) But, I must admit, a lot of his "why dont we add a bit of soy?" and "a little bit of that thai chilli sauce would be good, no?" has worked for some of our collaborative culinary efforts. So here we are, cooking khau suey, and we wanted to add in some chilli flakes (which we didnt possess at the time!). So we throw in some dry red chillies into the chopper and lo and behold! they all fly to the top of the mixie bowl! So we keep adding chillies, to try and weigh them down so we'd have atleast some flakes and finally after adding some of it (the required amount), we discovered that we have a bit left over. Now since at this stage we had no handy containers to put it in and we figured that kashmiri chillies are all bark and no bite, we tossed the rest of the flakes in as well.... Needless to say, we passed our bowl of noodles back and forth, taking turns to pick out the chilli flakes during our (extremely burn ass!) meal!!

Here now, is a GOOD khau suey recipe. A note here, the toppings are SUPREME, and khau suey is quite pointless without these little crunchy bits!

Ingredients:

- 1/2 kg boneless chicken diced small. - 3-4 onions chopped fine

- ginger paste (1.5" piece) - garlic paste (6 - 7 cloves)

- coconut milk - turmeric powder

- chilli powder - lemongrass

- salt

Toppings:

- chopped spring onions - chopped coriander leaves

- chopped green chillies - crushed roasted peanuts

- chopped up boiled egg - fried onions

- fried garlic - fried maggi noodles

- lime wedges - soya sauce

- cooked dry shrimp

Method:

- Fry the onions till they're soft. Add in the ginger and garlic pastes and saute.

- Add the chicken, turmeric and chilli powder.

- cook till the chicken is done.

- Add equal quantity of thick coconut milk and water, add salt.

- Serve sauce poured over a bed of noodles and the toppings / garnishes of your choice.

One bowl of this and you're HOOKED!! Its filling and very very flavourful.

Healthy Tofu & Veggie Quiche (another one of my own!)

So there I was again, wondering what to cook for dinner. And as is my way when I have a culinary creative block, I hit up my favourite food blog. It turns out that I had some pie-crust left over from the last time I made apple pie, so a veggie quiche was what I decided to make! The pie-crust recipe can be found here

For the calorie conscious, this crust is quite a killer (but it tastes soooooo good!!). However, for a 6" x 10" baking dish, we only used about a fist size of pie crust dough (thats all there was left!!) and we got a great thin crispy crust in the bargain! You can make the dough and freeze it till you need to use it again.
So thats the deal with the crust.

For the filling, I had french beans (about 100 gms), a couple of green peppers, 1 pkt of Tofu, onions and tomatoes. First, the onions and tomatoes are sauteed really well, you could add some chopped garlic to this if you like. Once the onion-tomato mixture is ready, crumble and add in the tofu. Tofu absorbs flavour really well, so you might want to add your seasonings at this point - salt, pepper and a tsp of thyme does it...give the tofu-onion-tomato mixture a few minutes on the gas. Beat 3 eggs (quiche lorraine calls for 5 eggs, but 3 did just fine!) with (technically!) half cup cream and half cup milk, but I halved those quantities. Add in some chives, salt and a generous shake of pepper.

Into the pre-baked crust, layer the tofu mixture (use half of what you have), add in the chopped beans and green peppers (and whatever other veggie you like!) and finish with another layer of tofu-onion-tomato. CAREFULLY (so the egg doesnt leak out of the crust), pour egg-milk-cream mixture and see that it spreads around among the filling.

If you want to add cheese on top you can (but that kind of kills the point of the tofu!!) but do so only after the quiche is almost done (or the cheese will burn).

Preheat your oven to about 200 degrees C and bake till a knife comes out clean. The egg mixture should set and thats what you need to look for.

I served this with a raw cabbage, carrot and corn salad tossed in vinaigrette.
Easy peasy and healthy :)

((My Own!!)) Sweet n Spicy Crispy Chicken!

Aah... see, now THIS is not for the calorie conscious! Serenity (that would be my Significant Other) is having some friends over tonight.... As of this morning, we were ordering in, but then came afternoon and boredom, so I decided to do something fun! So here is my very own Sweet n Spicy Crispy chicken... and yup, its finger lickin good! :D
How to make? easy peasy!

Ingredients for the Marinade: 2 egg whites
4 tbsp soy sauce
garlic (as much as you like!!)
salt & pepper
flour
2 tbsp vinegar (optional)
Ingredients for the Sauce: 5 tbsp Tomato sauce (I used Hot ' n' Sweet n it worked great!)
2 tbsp Soy sauce
salt to taste
1 tbsp Honey
2 tbsp Cornflour
Other Ingredients: (I used) 1 kg chicken with bone (but you can use boneless!)
Spring onions
1 large onion
1 green pepper (or other assorted veggies!)
Oil
Method:
1. Stir the marinade ingredients together and use a vessel with a lid to toss the chicken with it. See that the meat is coated with the marinade
2. Let it sit for atleast 20 minutes to absorb the flavour of the garlic and soy.
3. CAREFULLY (yes, much emphasis on that word) heat the oil in a wok and shallow fry the chicken in batches so they're evenly brown. Reduce the flame if necessary and see that the chicken is cooked through. Keep aside the fried chicken.
4. Mix the sauce ingredients together and keep aside.
5. Saute the onions, spring onions (again, you can add some garlic cut fine here!) and when the onions are brown and tender, add the other veggies and stir fry briskly. (remember that some veggies take longer to cook).
6. Add the chicken back and toss with the onions and veggies (or not!)
7. Pour the sauce over the mixture and let it cook for 10 minutes.

Note:
1. More water can be added to make this a curry to be eaten with rice. (I made mine semi-dry)
2. If you like your chicken crispy, then DO NOT pour the sauce over until ready to serve. Cook the sauce separately and reserve till serving time.
3. This sauce worked really well for me, I think it'll be great over chicken wings **I LOVE CHICKEN WINGS!!**

My Comfort Zone...

I spoke to my comfort zone today, and I've come away feeling (as always!), like she's THE most amazing person in the world. She is a bundle of goodwill, she is... I kid you not and I've never met anyone who's not TOTALLY adored her when they met her. That includes Serenity, who probably digs her about as much as I do.... nah, not possible, I dig her THE most! Actually, I have quite a few of these comfort zone people scattered around the world, and I'm incredibly lucky to be their friend and to call them mine. ... and right now, I miss them SO much.

At a time when I was feeling like the bottom of the ocean, a conversation with her has made me feel like there are a zillion things I could do to make myself feel better. (and no, NONE of those ways has ANYTHING to do with a bottle of wine!) 

This girl, has been my refuge in the city-that-never-sleeps, her home has been my home when I've needed a place to run to or a place to crash. She never ceases to amaze me with her optimism and her willingness to give EVERYONE (and I REALLY mean, EVERYONE) the benefit of the doubt. Someday, I hope to be even half the person she is, because I truly, TRULY think she rocks! I've never met another design professional who's half as socially conscious as this girl and she makes me very VERY proud to be her friend. 

Here's to a "Towel" (you wont get the pun on her name, so dont try!) who makes my world a brighter place just by being in it. Thankyou, you brightened my day. I miss you.

Squill Babies!

For the longest time, I've wanted a pet. Not with any misplaced maternal instincts, but just because I've never had one. Oh there have been numerous adopted cats along the way, Possi-billi, Poosa (because he was a pussa cat, not a pussy cat!) and a litter called Billi Idol, Billi Holiday and Billi Jalani. 

My mum's been anti-pet (I dont blame her, a third floor apartment isnt really the best place to accommodate animals!) and so I spent my childhood feeding stray cats. One notable mention:

When I was in kindergarten (and just after a serious academic accomplishment), someone gave me a couple of Quality Street chocolates. Now these are those famous "Gulf" chocolates with different coloured cellophane wrappers for the different flavours. As a child, it was fascinating to hold these up to the light and see the world turn a different hue. (I think thats where I got my rose tinted vision from!!) So anyway, I was fooling around with these, and I thawt I thaw a puthy kat... HE was just sitting there and chilling. Was I to know that this was a particularly mean tempered tomcat? No way. I was just keen to have my animal friend experience the wonder of coloured vision. So I placed the cellophane over its eyes. Suffice to say, the cat didnt take too kindly to having the light taken out of his bright sunshiny world. (are cats colourblind?) And all I had to show for my troubles were a set of bleeding tracks which the cat (ungrateful b@#$&!d!) gave me for my pains. My mother was confronted by a howling child with bleeding furrows in her forearm. She didnt know whether to laugh or be concerned about the reason for my battle scars!! ....sighhhh.... 

Anyway, apart from the background information, I have Squill babies!! (thats squirrel, you unimaginative goof!) I dont know how many there are yet. Serenity has forbidden me from poking the nest though I'm DYING of curiosity. I've always wanted a squirrel for a pet (meaning for as long as they'll stay. I like them better jumping on the trees - yeah, I LOVE squirrels.) This liking came about since Squishy. (Cue for another tangential deviation down memory lane)......

One (daft) woman in hostel (many moons ago) found a baby squirrel that had dropped out of his nest. Obviously the little critter was oohed and aahed over by the inmates of the hostel. (Women, remember? love little furry cuddly things)...so anyway, this guy was soooo little that you held him in a fist with his head poking out of the top... and as he was passed around among coos, one (slightly deranged but good intentioned) woman said "oooh I could just SQUISH him!!"..... and the name stuck. Unfortunate nomenclature - as you will soon see.

The original owner and her roommate grew really attached to the little guy and he had his own lil shoebox residence that they toted with them to the studios, mess and canteen... (they have to be fed really often through the day).... they also slept with the shoebox between them on the double bed and the (hitherto) unathletic little guy one night got out of the box between two slumbering humans. 

The End. Fin. Finis. Khatam. Squishy got squished. 

Months!!

Q: What is a classic example of procrastination? 

A: This post!.... Considering I began writing it on Friday evening and today is Wednesday morning... hmmmm... and so this would be what I wrote on Friday.....

OMG! Its been MONTHS since I spewed on this.... no be my fault,peebles, no be my fault. 

Imagine if you attended TEN weddings over the span of 2 months!! And that's 10 weddings spread over the whole of South India, I kid you not!Okay so since November, I've been to:

Coorg 

Kerala

(Then the husband came back from espana...)

Madras

Kerala

Madras

Bangalore

Kerala

....and yes, ALL weddings !

blah blah blah.... like you would be interested in my social life! (who am I kidding?!!!)

Whatever you give a woman, she will give you back in greater measure. 
If you give her sperm, she'll give you a baby. 
If you give her a house, she'll give you a home. 
If you give her groceries, she'll give you a meal. 
If you give her a smile, she'll give you her heart. 
She multiplies and enlarges what is given to her. (Don't get funny ideas) 
So, if you give her any crap, be ready to receive a ton of the same.

Somebody sent that to me.... actually, my English teacher from school did. 

Okay enough randomness... the work scene is finally looking up, one is oh-so-happy about that!

There's enough work coming in to keep me busy, and leaves time for whatever else I might want to do... started a painting a few days ago, continued it today... F#$@ed it up BAD - also today....

baked (also today).... now off to meet people.... 

wooohooo! the weekend is here! 

Long Live the Weekend!!

Yeah, my least favourite day of the week:

1) Sunday Night

2) Monday Morning

Sunday Night because you suddenly hear the whooooosh! as the weekend flies past... and yes, you have accomplished little of what you could have or should have....if you're away someplace on a weekend trip, this is the time that you head back and the 

and Monday Morning because you can see the whole week just streeeetching ahead of you.. and Friday seems soooo far away! 

(not so far now that we're mid week!! yippeee! the weekend approaches!)

I actually live for weekends, its the only time Serenity and I get together during the week and better part of Saturday is reserved for errands we need to run, groceries we need to buy, (i cant believe how domesticated this wild child has become!) people we need to meet, the weekly visit to the family... and then whatever plans might happen along the way. I missed a play last weekend that I feel quite bad about... looked forward to watching the Madras Players (I've heard they're damn good) but that plan never materialized.... wonder what to do this weekend... aah yes, a visit to the insurance office would be a great idea (more examples of my procrastination!!)

And now, we shall continue this some other time! (Grin!)