At times I dream that I am this perfect chef making yummy things and enjoying the same with family or friends. Most of the times in an effort to make it all perfect, the dish turns out to be quite bad. One such disaster today was 'Thayir Bread' on the lines of Thayir(Curd) Vada.
If not for the bit of extra salt, extra spice and a tad(really! :p) bit too less curd the dish would have been purrfect. Sigh! There goes my dream, like the Concorde never to take off again.
Saturday, 31 July 2010
Thursday, 20 May 2010
Every other day(ok almost) I religiously log into blogger with the hope of writing something interesting, but have not been able to. I wonder how some bloggers manage to write religiously, I'm in awe especially of some of the cooking blogs where nice photographs are put up, extensive descriptions are given on how to make a dish taste better, and the blogs have been existant for years! What keeps them going? Is it a regular fan following, faithful readership, loads of comments? Maybe its what they enjoy doing day in and day out. Would it wither away with time? For some its a few days maybe in these cases it would take years, but probably it would some day or maybe not.
I hate the times when my mind thinks too much like now about unnecessary things. There is a lingering why for everything around me, like why am I even writing this post, so I shalt hit the publish button even before I decide to delete this post like many others :p
I hate the times when my mind thinks too much like now about unnecessary things. There is a lingering why for everything around me, like why am I even writing this post, so I shalt hit the publish button even before I decide to delete this post like many others :p
Friday, 26 February 2010
sunshine
What I love about this part of the world is getting to experience the changes in weather. Of course there is the summer to winter change back home, however the spring, autumn, snowy winters were left to imaginations and confined to geography textbooks :)
Spring is back again here with little yellow and purple flowers on the meadows, sunshine glistening through tinted windows, chirping of birds, joy, laughter, tiny bits of greenery on the trees, colours all around, smiling faces, everything and everyone seems to be doing their own happy 'welcome spring' dance :) I'm loving it! :)
Spring is back again here with little yellow and purple flowers on the meadows, sunshine glistening through tinted windows, chirping of birds, joy, laughter, tiny bits of greenery on the trees, colours all around, smiling faces, everything and everyone seems to be doing their own happy 'welcome spring' dance :) I'm loving it! :)
Wednesday, 10 February 2010
Swimming: Part 02
It has been a while updating the swim section due to several factors :) However, completed 5 classes now and yeah I can claim I can swim without any swimming aids now! :) Here is swim lesson 2. 3, 4 and 5 will soon follow.
Before you begin this class, make sure to repeat class one sections quickly, especially the kicking and breathing. Apart from the drills in class one; there was only one new drill this class. We graduated to float boards swimming aids from woggles. Here are the steps.
Step 1: Hold the float board at the farther end from you with both your palms. Now extend your hands above your head, hands by the sides of the respective ears. The same position while lying down in water and you are parallel to the bottom of the pool.
Step 2: The float board keeps you on the surface. So now start kicking your legs. Concentrate on the kick, it should originate from your hips, and your knee and ankles are kept loose as you kick.
Step 3: When you have to breathe, lift you head above the water and grasp a breath through your mouth. Breathe out inside the water from your mouth by blowing bubbles.
Step 4: When you do step 3, you will notice that you lose your balance. This is quite natural. This is the reason you should NOT lift your head while swimming the complete stroke. So for now this imbalance is fine.
Step 5: You need to balance in water, engage your core abdomen muscles but sucking in your tummy. This helps a lot in maintaining balance. Don’t forget to kick and breathe.
Step 6: Put all the above steps together and practice, practice practice :)
Before you begin this class, make sure to repeat class one sections quickly, especially the kicking and breathing. Apart from the drills in class one; there was only one new drill this class. We graduated to float boards swimming aids from woggles. Here are the steps.
Step 1: Hold the float board at the farther end from you with both your palms. Now extend your hands above your head, hands by the sides of the respective ears. The same position while lying down in water and you are parallel to the bottom of the pool.
Step 2: The float board keeps you on the surface. So now start kicking your legs. Concentrate on the kick, it should originate from your hips, and your knee and ankles are kept loose as you kick.
Step 3: When you have to breathe, lift you head above the water and grasp a breath through your mouth. Breathe out inside the water from your mouth by blowing bubbles.
Step 4: When you do step 3, you will notice that you lose your balance. This is quite natural. This is the reason you should NOT lift your head while swimming the complete stroke. So for now this imbalance is fine.
Step 5: You need to balance in water, engage your core abdomen muscles but sucking in your tummy. This helps a lot in maintaining balance. Don’t forget to kick and breathe.
Step 6: Put all the above steps together and practice, practice practice :)
Tuesday, 2 February 2010
Amazed, Shocked, wtf !!
The title of this post is exactly how I feel about myself at the moment. Why? Because I have a long list of to-do things from the past one week(some of it for more than that) and I haven't done even one of it till now! No I'm not procrastinating, because every time I think I will do it 'now' and when that 'now' time arrives I would have forgotten about it only to be reminded of it again at a later point of time. And at that precise later point of time the time would not be suitable and the saga continues. I thought of all the things I had to do when I left office today evening and in fact almost resolved to do it, and was supposed to do it the moment I got home, but no, me being me I forgot for the nth time again.
Chandra give yourself a break! Atleast for this blog's sake move your *** and do it!
Chandra give yourself a break! Atleast for this blog's sake move your *** and do it!
Friday, 29 January 2010
Coffee!!
No hold on, before you conclude this as another recipe post wait! Relax it isnt :) I'm not a die hard coffee lover as well, so what is it about coffee that makes me write a blog on it?
During my early childhood days(yeah I still don't accept the fact that my childhood days are over :)) coffee was all about "by-two coffee kodi" at the darshinis in Bengaluru after a yummy breakfast of steaming udipi idlis or mysore masala dosas, which I used to share with the person accompanying me on early morning breakfast trips. Strong filtered on non-filtered coffee, its my favourite still.
My first stint with the coffee day hype was during my late high school days, I remember taking dad to coffee day in malleshwaram. I had to take him along because he was the one going to pay for it! :) Tropical iceberg with two scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce! Gosh, I was feeling full for the next 2 days. After that the number of coffee day visits over the years were endless, it had become a favourite hang out place to meet friends, gossip and basically do nothing useful! :) The number of birthday treats, farewell treats, treat-for-no-reason treat are countless. Late night bike rides to the 24x7 coffee day located on bangalore-mysore highway is still a favourite amongst many. Its not just coffee, but these places hold fond memories, celebrations, good byes and yeah a lot of money spent but the money never mattered much. Over the past two years going to coffee day died out eventually, but the memories are priceless :)
Once in a while I visit the coffee places here, just to sit and dreamily watch the world go by or read a book, or chit chat gossip with friends. Cafe gusto was the favourite choice coz it was not only located in the heart of the city but also because of a special 50% discount if Claudia was at the counter with her big cheerful smile always :) Looks like we were her favourite customers and we love her as well. However Claudia no longer works there and eventually Cafe Gusto trips are almost zilch.
Another favourite of mine is the Ginger bread latte which is a Starbucks Christmas speciality. I had it almost everyday in December and it was a perfect combo to the magical snow effect all around. Ginger bread latte with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg. Bliss :) The other day I was quite disappointed that the nice lady who makes my coffee usually at office Starbucks kiosk was off and that day I grabbed one from the vending machine without any second thoughts! So its still not only about coffee that makes one visit a coffee place I guess! :)
As you can see, the last incident got me thinking about coffee and coffee places, there certainly is a lot more than just the coffee it serves. And oh yeah, this post was also written over several coffee breaks :)
During my early childhood days(yeah I still don't accept the fact that my childhood days are over :)) coffee was all about "by-two coffee kodi" at the darshinis in Bengaluru after a yummy breakfast of steaming udipi idlis or mysore masala dosas, which I used to share with the person accompanying me on early morning breakfast trips. Strong filtered on non-filtered coffee, its my favourite still.
My first stint with the coffee day hype was during my late high school days, I remember taking dad to coffee day in malleshwaram. I had to take him along because he was the one going to pay for it! :) Tropical iceberg with two scoops of ice cream, whipped cream and chocolate sauce! Gosh, I was feeling full for the next 2 days. After that the number of coffee day visits over the years were endless, it had become a favourite hang out place to meet friends, gossip and basically do nothing useful! :) The number of birthday treats, farewell treats, treat-for-no-reason treat are countless. Late night bike rides to the 24x7 coffee day located on bangalore-mysore highway is still a favourite amongst many. Its not just coffee, but these places hold fond memories, celebrations, good byes and yeah a lot of money spent but the money never mattered much. Over the past two years going to coffee day died out eventually, but the memories are priceless :)
Once in a while I visit the coffee places here, just to sit and dreamily watch the world go by or read a book, or chit chat gossip with friends. Cafe gusto was the favourite choice coz it was not only located in the heart of the city but also because of a special 50% discount if Claudia was at the counter with her big cheerful smile always :) Looks like we were her favourite customers and we love her as well. However Claudia no longer works there and eventually Cafe Gusto trips are almost zilch.
Another favourite of mine is the Ginger bread latte which is a Starbucks Christmas speciality. I had it almost everyday in December and it was a perfect combo to the magical snow effect all around. Ginger bread latte with whipped cream and a dash of nutmeg. Bliss :) The other day I was quite disappointed that the nice lady who makes my coffee usually at office Starbucks kiosk was off and that day I grabbed one from the vending machine without any second thoughts! So its still not only about coffee that makes one visit a coffee place I guess! :)
As you can see, the last incident got me thinking about coffee and coffee places, there certainly is a lot more than just the coffee it serves. And oh yeah, this post was also written over several coffee breaks :)
Sunday, 10 January 2010
Chai, Masala chai!
The word 'Chai' holds a special meaning amongst all other words and when heard anywhere any time my heart does a teeny weeny dance :) Apart from that Chai is an Indian version of Tea and tastes heavenly as you slurp it on a cold evening, better still when had round the table with friends and a good conversation any time :)
Till a few days back, our lazy weekend evenings would be spent by having some chai made by Aniket. But now that he has gone back to Mumbai for good, I have to make it myself which I initially thought is a very bad idea because I do not know how to make good tea! After quite a few trial and errors, here is a version of chai that I finally like. Try it out, I'm sure you will like it! :)
Ingredients for one cup of tea:
Water- 1/4th cup
Milk-3/4th cup *Whole, skimmed or semi skimmed according to your preference. I use semi-skimmed milk
Tea leaves - 1 and a half Tsp (Assam tea or any of the Indian tea leaves available)
Crushed Ginger- half an inch.
Sugar- to taste *I use a little more than 1 tablespoon
For the chai-masala(coarsely crush all the below ingredients, best to crush it each time you make tea for the freshness of whole spices)
5-6 whole black pepper
3-4 whole green cardamom
about half an inch of Cinnamon stick
4-5 whole cloves
Method:
1. Take water in a pan and as the water warms add chai masala and crushed ginger. Leave for about half a minute and then add tea leaves. Leave this until water beings to boil and for about 2-3 minutes after.
2. Now add milk and wait for a couple of minutes. Before the milk begins to boil add sugar.
3. As the milk boils and raises, take the pan off the heat and allow the milk to settle and once done put the pan back on heat and allow the milk to raise. Repeat this for 2-3 times as desired.
4. Strain your tea into your favourite cup/mug
Enjoy your cuppa chai! slurppppppp! :)
I have enjoyed and still love going to many tea-hangouts like Infinitea in Bangalore, Boston tea party, and papaji's but the best tea is the home made one :)
Till a few days back, our lazy weekend evenings would be spent by having some chai made by Aniket. But now that he has gone back to Mumbai for good, I have to make it myself which I initially thought is a very bad idea because I do not know how to make good tea! After quite a few trial and errors, here is a version of chai that I finally like. Try it out, I'm sure you will like it! :)
Ingredients for one cup of tea:
Water- 1/4th cup
Milk-3/4th cup *Whole, skimmed or semi skimmed according to your preference. I use semi-skimmed milk
Tea leaves - 1 and a half Tsp (Assam tea or any of the Indian tea leaves available)
Crushed Ginger- half an inch.
Sugar- to taste *I use a little more than 1 tablespoon
For the chai-masala(coarsely crush all the below ingredients, best to crush it each time you make tea for the freshness of whole spices)
5-6 whole black pepper
3-4 whole green cardamom
about half an inch of Cinnamon stick
4-5 whole cloves
Method:
1. Take water in a pan and as the water warms add chai masala and crushed ginger. Leave for about half a minute and then add tea leaves. Leave this until water beings to boil and for about 2-3 minutes after.
2. Now add milk and wait for a couple of minutes. Before the milk begins to boil add sugar.
3. As the milk boils and raises, take the pan off the heat and allow the milk to settle and once done put the pan back on heat and allow the milk to raise. Repeat this for 2-3 times as desired.
4. Strain your tea into your favourite cup/mug
Enjoy your cuppa chai! slurppppppp! :)
I have enjoyed and still love going to many tea-hangouts like Infinitea in Bangalore, Boston tea party, and papaji's but the best tea is the home made one :)
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