Death Is Not The End

We attended a prayer meeting held for the dearly departed father of one of SO's friends in Delhi recently. It was at a Arya Samaj Mandir and I was generally appreciative of the no rites and a sober remembrance thing.

The Pandit (preacher) started off well by chanting Gayatri Mantra and other funereal mantras and shlokas and then, suddenly burst into a very Bollywood, "Chal ud Ja Re Panchi", which startled everyone off their wits and in my opinion woke everyone up and generally made everyone struggle hard not to burst out laughing.

Who needs entertainment, when friends and family offer themselves so readily. Right?

The Drugs Don't Work

For tennis elbow.

Here we are again
I feel the chemicals kickin' in
It's getting heavy
And I wanna run
And hide

Coming From The Heart (The Road Is Long)

The title of this post, says it all...

A Walk On The Wild Side

Just because I dont agree with you about a lot of things, doesnt mean I like you any less.

Lapses of Judgment

We met for a relaxed dinner at one of my favourite restaurant in the city. Over wine and pasta, we discussed life and got reminiscing about the good old days. What fun we had! D told me about THAT day. Turns out she had broken up with the "Lapse in Judgment". So, my "lapses in judgment" got an airing. Some, not all. Shocked poor A. Or not. Who knows? Who cares? D and I had a really good time, though.

All I feel Is Heat And Flame And All I See Are Dark Eyes

Its not as if I couldn't, it is just that I don't wish to. I could go to bed early, but it is just so difficult without you.

Sunday Night Dinner - Lal Maas

I have been somewhat underweather for the past few days and had to be subjected to a bout of antibiotics. So, today for dinner, I wanted something fiery, spicy and meaty. Normally I would just get a portion of burra kebabs from Kwalitys, but as my doctor has banned me from eating outside, decided to cook mutton at home. I also wanted a recipe in which I would not need to marinate mutton, because invariably, I make mistakes and lose patience midway.

After pouring through the collection of cookbooks that had been gathering dust, I located a recipe for lal maas (literally red meat) in Curry. The recipe did not call for complicated ingredients and I had everything I needed. The recipe itself is simple and involves first soaking the dry red chillies, then frying the garlic and onion until golden brown alongwith cloves, green and black cardamoms and bayleaves. Then adding the mutton and frying for 2-3 minutes, adding the soaked red chillies, cooking some more, then adding a yogurt and spice mixture (coriander powder, roasted cumin, red chillies powder - I used Kashmiri, salt) and cooking until the water dries up. I then detracted from the recipe and plonked it all into a pressure cooker, added stock, checked the seasoning and then pressure cooked until 6 whistles because I like my mutton dropping off the bone in curries. After the pressure had gone down, I added some chopped coriander. The original recipe called for a tadka of ghee, cloves and some more dry red chillies, but I thought it was aromatic enough and I didnt want it to be swimming in fat.

Ate it with hot phulkas (chappatis). I was very satisfied with this recipe and plan to incorporate it in my favourites. Mostly because it is easy to cook and I am very lazy, the flavouring is wonderful and it comes out looking very very inviting.

How to Amuse Yourself OR How To Prevent Doing Yourself In

This post is not what some of you may think it is about. Heh!

I largely stay alone. I left home at 17 (For college, not booted out or anything, though I feel I had tried my parents' patience enough). Since then I have been handling my own shit. Once I started drawing a substantial paycheck, there was nothing I wanted more than a roof of my own, where I could plonk in a hundred nails or paint the ceilings blue, without an irate landlord pounding on the door. So, I did that. Once the 100 nails were plonked in and the ceiling was painted blue, and the excitement of setting-up home had died down, I was at a loose end. I was bored. The hours sometimes strectched long and lonely after work. I dont like watching too much television and I dont like meeting people, as a hobby. I didnt want to call up friends and family and whine and sob to them periodically (I did do that, I am ashamed to admit).

So, I decided to do everything that amused me. I got involved in art, started travelling, started cooking stuff more complicated than dal-chawal, joined hobby clubs (Very difficult in Calcutta), started reading (this backfired, because now my home is overrun with books, but apart from a niggling annoyance now and then, dont mind it at all), started painting (also challenging wrt space), joined language classes, joined dance classes and keep doing random shit that I find amusing. I do get lonely even now, but I have a million things to do always and when one has a TO DO list that extends to over a million points, one tends to think lesser of poor old me.

The point of this post is that if you stay alone, do stuff that amuses or interests you and keep your brain occupied. Because nothing can kill you as effectively as loneliness and an idle brain can. You dont need megabucks always. So that should not be an excuse. I have seen many friends go down this path, and it saddens me.

Smoothies For Dummies

1. Forget to eat fruits for breakfast - All 4 kinds. You may not be able to make out thanks to my stellar photography, but you have watermelon, pineapple, cantaloupe and pomegranate here.
2. Worry that you will get scurvy, malaria, cancer, gall bladder stones, acne everything because you havent eaten 4-5 helpings of fruit.
3. Whip out the immersion blender.
4. Smoothie time!
5. Take 2 views of your glass, just because lack of content makes one post inanities on one's blog.

Milk

I watched SATC2 on a flight and the copious Bailey's I was swigging made the movie watchable. The one thing that stuck with me was the Indian valet putting cinnamon in the milk he was heating for Samantha. I thought that was a weird combination, because Milk in my mind went with cardamom (elaichi) and I didnt like it. I do love cinnamon in my baked goods though, so I thought I'd try that out. Its simple. Just crush up a stick of cinnamon and plonk it in the milk you're heating. Strain and drink. I loved it. Its the perfect spice for milk. Absolutely perfect. Its like drinking cake batter. A lot of you may go "ewwww..", but I'm the licking the batter kind of baker. So, if you like cinnamon and you like milk, try it. May be old hat to a lot of you, but to me this is a novelty.

More Surprised Than Anything Else

Few days ago, someone left a really really rude comment, which of course I deleted. Comment moderation, I love you. Anyhow, the funny thing is, I sorta agreed with the commenter, though I doubt he would have seen it that way. The comment was on one of my posts about how Indian men should shape up. I do go on the offensive very often mostly because the Indian men I meet make it just very very easy and my relationships with them are tenuous to say the least. What can I say? I like bad men and not the nice, submissive, mamma's boys kinds. This guy was an american guy of Indian origin and commented that Indian women too were pathetic. Of course, the comment was really rude. BUT, thing is that these days the sheer numbers of pathetic Indian women and men do bring on the bile. Also, I also feel that many Indian women who adopt western influences, embrace all the wrong ones. Me, I'm all about the feminism and equality. Most of my Indian sisters are about the dressing like a slut. Anyway, rude commenter, in a very very weird way, there was a grain of truth in your bilious rant.

Delegation 101

Yesterday was a work event. An important work event. I was feeling unusually confident about the abilities of my co-workers. So, I delegated cutesy photo taking to an underling. These are the spectacular results. Not one, not five, but SEVENTY THREE examples of stellar photography. Well played underling, well played!

Delegation 101 - DON'T.

Leaps And Bounds

In 2009, I started getting plants into my 6 year old house. I wanted to put in roots? I wanted desperately to have a garden. Growing up in a bungalow with a half acre garden, makes one desperately want green. I started out by getting 5 plants and a gardener, who after laughing long and hard at my 5 pots, started gifting me all unwanted rejects from the massive gardens he tended to. I also started adding a plant here and a plant there. Now, I have over 40 plants. And, my aloe vera is thriving in not one but 2 pots.
This was my aloe vera plant when I got it in 2009.
This is my Aloe Vera now. It is thriving and actually sprouting babies. From one straggly Aloe Vera baby, I now have over 10 Aloe Vera plants. The big fat one that is tied to the stick is the original plant.
Another pic.

A lot of you accomplished gardeners may laugh at my foolhardy attempts. But, when I return from work and see my plants, I know I'm home.

Books Etc Giveaway

I have a big pile of stuff I no longer want. Throwing in the trash seems heartless and I would rather someone who really wants to read/ use, gets to read the books/ use stuff. the books/ stuff are all in good condition with minimal wear and tear. Most books are paperbacks. I will be snipping off the page on which I normally scrawl my name for obvious reasons. Other than that they are in very good condition. The reason I am abandoning these books is that I am running out of space at home and I dont wish to keep them for eternity.
I will be crossing out the stuff as soon as it gets booked. All you need to do is email me your mailing address on plumpernickel at gmail dot com. The books will be sent by speedpost. My real life friends and family obv get first preference, but there is a good chance you will. If you have booked a book and it has been previously booked and I have not struck it off the list, I will email you back and inform you. Please understand that I will post the books/ stuff only anywhere in India. Please also do not ask for more than 10.
Anywhere this is the list: The ones struck off have already been booked.

LIST OF GIVEAWAY STUFF

1. Shopaholic & Sister - Sophie Kinsella
2. Shopaholic Takes Manhattan - Sophie Kinsella
3. Can you keep a secret - Sophie Kinsella
4. the Boy next door - Meggin cabot
5. My Sainted Aunts - Bulbul Sharma
6. Shopaholic & Baby - Sophie Kinsella
7. Five Quarters of the orange - Joanne Harris
8. Big Bangs - Beverley Macdonald
9. Written in Blood - Beverley Macdonald
10. Sex and the City - Candace Bushnell
11. Made in America - Sam Walton
12. After the banquet - Yukio Mishima
13. Passenger to frankfurt - Agatha Christie
14. Lark Rise - Flora Thompson
15. The Sea - John Banville
16. Wild Swans - Jung Chang
17. Caravans - James A. Michener
18. The Woman & the Ape - Peter Hoeg
19. The way to paradise - Mario Vargas Llosa
20. Vernon God Little - D B C Pierre
21. The line of beauty - Alan Hollinghurst
22. Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
23. The opposite of fate - Amy Tan
24. Amrita - Banana Yoshimoto
25. The year of yes - Maria Headley
26. Everything happens for a reason - Kavita Daswani
27. Bright Lights Big Ass - Jen Lancaster
28. Virtual Realities - Neelam Saran Gour
29. Chasing Cezanne - Peter Mayle
30. Lipstick Jungle - Candace Bushnell
31. The Girl who loved Tom Gordon - Stephen king
32. Rose madder - Stephen king
33. Rude Food - Vir Sanghvi
34. The Bad Mother's Handbook - Kate Long
35. Jigs & Reels - Joanne harris
36. Cause celeb - Helen Fielding
37. My Latest Grievance - Elinor lipman
38. Texas - James A. Michener
39. The Devil wears Prada - Lauren Weisberger
40. The Hippopotamus - Stephen Fry
41. Moonlight Becomes You - Mary Higgins Clark
42. 4 Blondes - Candace Bushnell
43. whale Done - the power of positive relationships - Ken Blanchard
44. Pop - truth and power at the Coca Cola Company - Constance L. Hays
45. Memories of my melancholy whores - Gabriel Garcia Marquez
46. The Wonderspot - Melissa Bank
47. The Sovereignity of Good - Iris Murdoch
48. Everyone worth knowing - Lauren Weisberger
49. The rough guide to Paris
50. Still Life - A. S. Byatt
51. Saving Fish from Drowning - Amy Tan

Polite Conversation

It isnt the done thing to ask ladies how old they are. So, in India people ask you the year you graduated. Doc, did the same. I said, "2000". He said very sadly, "1989." Then he drank 2 glasses of wine very, very quickly.

In Memory Of Meals Gone By

And what a meal it was!

Muffin Is Not Cake

Whenever I return from the US, the only thing I miss are the muffins and the bagels and the..., well, lets not get into that, but a good muffin is not easily available in Calcutta. By a good muffin I mean a muffin and not a cupcake, which passes off as muffin at most establishments. The places that do good muffins seem to use too much butter. I want my muffin to be cinnamony, have a crumb and be a little dense but not too much and give an indication of what went into it. So, desperate in need of a good muffin, I decided to bake them on my own.
I checked my recipe books, scoured on the Internet and ahem, chose the easiest one. It is as easy as making a pack of ramen. Seriously.
I tweaked the recipe I found a little to get me the exact muffin taste I wanted. Here is the recipe, just in case...
Ingredients
1 cup Quaker Oats (the 3 min cooking ones)
1 cup milk
3/4 cup all purpose flour (maida)
1/4 cup whole wheat flour (atta)
2 tsps baking powder
1/4 cup sugar (I added 2 tsps more to the 1/4 cup)
1 heaped tsp cinnamon powder
1/2 tsp salt
1/4 cup raisins
1/4 cup flaked almonds
1 egg
1/4 cup oil (I used saffola - did fine)

Method
Pre-heat oven to 180 deg C. Grease muffin tins. Mix the oats and milk and let it soak for 15 mins. Best the egg and oil. Combine the rest of the ingredients except the raisins and nuts to ensure they are homogenized. After the egg and oil have combined, add the oats-milk mixture and mix well. Add the flour-sugar-baking powder-cinnamon mixture bit by bit and keep mixing to ensure no lumps are formed. Add the raisins and almonds (I plan to add cranberries and walnuts next time) and mix well. Pour into the muffin tins/ cups uotil the surface. This is important or you wont get a muffin shape. Bake at 180 deg C for 20-25 minutes until done. Insert a toothpick and if it comes out clean, it is done.
Once out just knock out of tin and stuff in your face, like I did. I blame it to the smell. OH the smell of baking wafting is enough to make your brain say "muffin! muffin! muffin!"

A close up. This looked much better than the pic.
This is after knocking it out of the cup. Shape held well even after cooling. So, Yay!

Just look at that crumb! Seeing the success of my first baking experiment, I will be baking A LOT now.

How Does Your Garden Grow?

I purchased 2 paintings today. The artist is a young, struggling artist Sujit Karmakar, who is also showing at Studio 21. These two are called very simply "Childhood".

Opinions solicited.

Tandoori Chicken - Dinner Tonight

One of my culinary ambitions is to be able to make a good Tandoori Chicken at home. Why? I spent few years in Delhi and grew to love the rustic simplicity of TC. Sure, decent TC is available everywhere, but cooking and eating at home, ensures I actually know what went into my food.
So, I am on a perfecting TC mission. Yesterday, I marinated a whole skinned chicken with ginger-garlic paste, yoghurt, chilli powder, salt, a wee bit of rock salt, some garam masala and some lime juice. I'm not happy with the marinade. Somethings missing, I think I need to up the yoghurt and use fresh ginger-garlic. Well, I marinated the chicken overnight and then put it in the griller at 190 deg C for about 1 hour and turned it around 3 times. It was cooked perfectly. The right amount of char and soft and very well-cooked inside. So, I got the timing correct atleast.
This is the best picture - somewhat obscene looking Tandoori Chicken!

Dining

The suit was pinstriped. Ferragamo it was rumored. The dinner was a carnivore's delight. The conversation was a battle of egos, and after a while the name dropping got intense and fierce. They said Per Se, he said Lugers. And then they knew, they would be incompatible.