A beautiful life..

#5
snuggling and cuddling up on cold winter mornings...

humming and hawing

diehard optimist or the world's biggest idiot, time will tell. Till then wishing, waiting, chilling....

conversations with the little tyke..

this one is one popular request..

dad (to Cinderella) : why are you wearing that T shirt? you look like a scarecrow
JB (indignantly): No baba (father in bangla), dont call her that! she does'nt look like a scarecrow, she looks like nothing!!
peals of laughter and many repititions follow..

A beautiful life...

# 4

a nice hot oil massage for the head; a really nice movie, I mean really nice.. casablance, birdcage (dont laugh,I love it!!), pretty woman, as good as it gets, the bucket list ....; a lovely tisane; comfy seating and an anticipation of something nice.....

A beautiful life

#3

Misty mornings, nip in the air, steaming cups of second flush darjeeling tea, a good book and a warm shawl....

in conversation with a little tyke

Disclaimer: This blog is not meant to be read by anybody below 16 years of age, actually this post, the rest is Ok.

JB : mamma, who is Doctor Spock (has been reading James Herriot,apparently it was mentioned in one of his books)

Me: a well known paediatrician who wrote a book on handling young kids which mothers swear by even today. I had a copy, which I gave away after you grew up, and when baba and me decided we won't have a another little JB.

JB: Oh! so you started taking Ipills then ?

WTF.... he claims he saw an Ipill ad on the Disney channel (parents watchout!)..... jeez! how much more does he know?

tea...

20 and counting.... yeah, that is the no of tea varieties you will find in my kitchen cabinets.

I was shocked myself..... ok! ok, there are a couple of tisanes thrown into that lot too.... rivals a mean selection at a tea shop or a cha bar.

My tryst with tea started when I was barely in my teens. kadak chai with adrak and a hint of cardamon is what I started with then (can't stand it anymore!). Living that long in Kolkata, the hub of tea trade, I learnt to appreciate tea, real tea.

Dolly's tea boutique in Dakhshinapan (in Kolkata) is where I bought most of my tea from (and still do, if my sister manages to make a trip there for me). It is an interesting place, the walls of the tiny boutique are layered with tea cartons, the rich smell of tea wafting all over, done up tastefully with brightly coloured block print cushions and tablecloths and little potted plants and bric brack from indian handicraft stores. Dolly, is a tea taster herself and sources the tea from her store from tea auction houses in Kolkata. Almost all tea of that quality is exported. People like Dolly (she was one of the first), realised that there was a market of tea connoisseurs in India too, so saved some of our best to sell here in India too.

I saw another tea store in the departure lounge of the Kolkata domestic airport.. Manjushree plantations and went crazy.. the loot (a part of it he! he!) is in the picture. My favorites.. darjeeling second flush and orange pekoe from the nilgiris

Now, back to my steaming hot golden brew..vintage collection Darjeeling tea from Manjushree plantations.. their website is under construction, so no link..

A published author at home.... and JB

After the ooohs and aahs subside...

Conv I:
JB : didi, did you get paid ?
C: Yes, not much though
JB: I want 10% of that
C: for what?
JB: because I am the brother.

Conv II:
JB : It's such a headache to have a celebrity sister
C: I am not a celebrity for getting one story published, but I will hire you as my publicist when I write my book :)

Awesome Pumpkin Salad from a food show

I love watching food shows on the telly. My first memories of one of those is a Jamie Olivier show which I used to watch every Sunday at 1 pm on most days with JB (the son).

And then suddenly there were a plethora of food shows on practically every channel starting with Nigella Lawson and Kylie Kwong on TLC to khunti kodai and ranna ghor on local Bengali channels. I was spoilt for choice. My son watches the shows with me with equal enthusiasm if he is around. When I am surfing, I am usually looking for a food or a cookery show and I can sit through them all.

This recipe is a dedication to my fondness for food shows of which I am a huge fan.

Pumpkin salad

This is a Nigella Lawson recipe which I improvised slightly to suit our dietary requirements and it tastes as good as it looks..

Pumpkin : cut into bite size pieces...... 750 gms

Onions sliced and soaked in vinegar for at least 2 hours... 2 medium size

Pine nuts peeled and roasted......... about 2 tablespoons

Spice mix......1.5 tablespoon (you can use your own combination, I used salt, chilli powder, fennel powder, cajun spice mix)

Thick yoghurt.....2 tablespoons ( the original recipe uses feta)

Parsley and basil ......finely chopped, for garnish

Olive oil..... 2 tablespoon

In a bowl pour 1 tbsp of olive oil and the spice mix on the pumpkin peices and mix thoroghly. Bake the pumpkin on a baking sheet at 180 deg C for about 20-30mins.

Once done, take the pumpkin out and cool. In a mixing bowl, toss the spiced pumpkin pieces with onions, herbs and the pine nuts with the remaining oil. Pour the salad out on to a serving dish and dot the yoghurt unevenly onto the salad and serve garnished with a sprig of fresh parsley... and enjoy!

social network - movie review

.....social networks.. facebook, orkut, friendster,linked in, twitter,myspace and hundreds of lesser known ones are just that... all about connecting with people and social acceptance.
I saw Wall Street - money never sleeps as well as the first one, Wall Street, featuring the young Charlie Sheen and the much younger Michael Douglas a couple of months back. That is about money, greed, ambition and what the three put together can do to you.
Social Networks, the movie, is the story of how facebook happened, in flash back, through stories told by it's founders- Mark Zuckerberg and Eduardo Saverin and the Winklevoss twins during the depositions for two seperate lawsuits filed by Saverin and the twins. Eduardo is fighting for recognition for being acknowledged as one of the original founders of facebook and the Winklevoss twins are claiming the idea of a social networking site was originally theirs' . In real life, while Mark Zuckerberg goes from strength to strength with facebook becoming the world's youngest billionaire, Eduardo has dropped out of public life. That's all he wanted : recognition.
and what hurt him the most was Mark betraying him at the behest of Sean Parker (better known as the founder of napster, played brilliantly by Justin Timberlake). " I was your only friend'', he tells Mark during the deposition.
The film moves through the corridors and residences of the Harvard university... where a young computer programming geek or should I say genius, is dumped by his girlfriend. Hurt and angry, he hacks into the databases of various residences and creates a website called facemash.com where male students can choose, which of the two female students featured, is more attractive. As an outcome of which, Mark gets a 6 months academic probation, earns the ire of the female students on campus and is noticed by a group of seniors - the Winklevoss twins and Divya Narendra who have been toying with the idea of setting up a netwoking site for Harvard students called Harvard connections.
Mark goes on to set up facebook, intially open to Harvard students and then includes students from other campuses after he runs into his ex-girlfriend (not from Harvard) at a restaurant, who has'nt heard of his website.
The story moves from residences in Harvard to Pablo Alto in California, where Mark moves to, in summer, to look for investors and to do some more work on his website after Sean Parker convinces tell him, that that's the place to be for someone, onto something big, like him. In Pablo Alto, facebook evolves with the site hitting a million members (today it has over 500 million), VC fundings coming in and with Sean Parker's increasing involvement in the business decisions of the company, much to the chagrin of Eduardo Saverin.
The movie ends on a piognant note: a successful, rich computer genius losing the only friend he had, trying to reconnect....
brilliant performances by the leads.. Jesse Eisenberg (Mark Zuckerberg), Andrew Garfield (Eduardo Saverin), Justin Timberlake (Sean Parker). Great Screenplay and dialogues..
A must watch!

movies, JB and me..

Since summer this year, I have been re-living memories of my childhood watching old classic movies with my son. We've been through movies like Bridge on the river Kwai, Railway Children, Patton, The eagle has landed, Saving private ryan, Pearl harbour, Where eagles dare, The Caine mutiny, Guns of Navarone, many Hercule Poirot movies, with David Suchet playing Poirot.....the latest being Ben-hur. Watching it re affirmed my belief that every old classic need not necessarily, be a good watch for children. I send JB (.. the son) packing after the famous chariot scene, which by the way, even in this day and age is still breath taking.

Charlton Heston as Ben hur, and the spectacular and magnificient scenes like the chariot race or the battle in the sea, in the absence of digital special effects with real people and real sets would be my major take aways. Towards the second half, the movie goes into a biblical mode with the crucification of Christ, and the rise of Christianity etc.

The movie watching spree with my son, also got me hooked on to war movies, a genre which I have developed a fondness for, only recently.

A beautiful life..

#2

My favourite part of the day has always been the dusk/evening (5-7 p.m.) and everything associated with it. Working people coming home, those working late strolling out for a cup of tea from a road side stall; children playing around or the more stressed out ones, shuttling from one class to another; the elderly,up from their afternoon naps settling into balcony armchairs with their steaming cup of chai; cooks and homemakers organising family dinners..

I am usually doing one of the above depending on my schedule for the day. A and I usually go for our 3 km brisk walk, have a cup of tea in my balcony,before the mad evening rush to finish homework,organising next days' meals, evening dinner etc starts again.

Mad Men...Don Draper and co.

have been addicted to the award winning television series 'Mad Men'.. The lead, Don Draper with his mysterious past, silent,thoughtful, charismatic womaniser, the brilliant creative head of an advertising agency is particularly mesmerising. His wife Betty, is good housekeeping incarnate. The quintessential 1960s, perfect housewife,mother,hostess. More about the characters in the subsequent posts...

The series moves through the era when advertising was coming on its own and moves through various small and big changes that affected the world of advertising over the years. The advent of television, the changing social order in America in the John F. Kennedy era, the growing importance of America in the world of business,the focus shifting from the continent and so on...

I can't put my finger on what exactly I like about the series...... but I know I will be waiting for my copies of Season 5 DVDs, when it premeirs next year, along with many other Mad Men addicts around the world.

growing up....

when I am depressed,I eat a lot of chocolate... and then I walk, a lot; hoping to burn most of it off..

This one is for you sis.....

listening to this song by RIGHT SAID FRED brought back many memories... of you, me and our music in our growing up years...
Phil Collins, Rod Stewart and his women..New Kids on the Block and many more, our collection of grammy award tapes, our wall full of posters, craning our necks out of our bedroom window to hear the out of tune 'Hotel California' being played by amateur bands at the
Spring Fest wild fire nights and giggling our way through it and more....

Being Julia....the mom

I often wondered what my relationship with my son would be like when he was little. (Well, he is still little, but only for his indulgent parents! at 10, he thinks he is a big boy now)

Though I don't always watch movies more than a couple of times, Being Julia is an exception.What stayed with me were the last few scenes. Julia, a famous actress, has a complicated relationship with her son, husband and her own self. The only reality in her life is theatre.

Her son, now a handsome teenager, finds it difficult to comprehend his mother. On one hand, he misses the fact that his mother is not the regular plane jane mother, but on the other hand, also admires her deeply for the grand woman that she is. In one of the last scenes,Julia takes her revenge on a young actress, who has tried to take away her part, peace of mind and husband, on stage, probably the only place she is always 'at home' in....only bows to acknowledge the standing ovation when she see's her son stand up.

That one scene somehow sums up a lot ....

A beautiful life...

discovery # 1 : A nice warm perfumed bath, a good read before bed,a warm orange flavoured tisane and some old comfortable bed clothes... ummmm , lovely!

The Ghost Writer,movie review

Had read some terrible reviews of Ghost Writer, one of Roman Polanski's latest films released early this year.... The plot sounded interesting, giving Mr.Polanski the benefit of the doubt, decided to go ahead and watch the movie.. I am glad I did.

The lead, Ewan McGregor, plays a ghostwriter hired to write the memoirs of the British Prime Minister of Scottish descent, Adam Lang, played by Pierce Brosnan. The prime minister, along with his wife and staff is camping on an Island in the United States, with his ghostwriter who is only allowed to work on the manuscipt, left half done by his predecessor, in the confines of his designated workplace on the island.

The task of writing the memoirs is not as simple as it sounds.. as the ghostwriter starts his work, intrigued by the sudden and mysterious death of his predecessor. In the process, he discovers a sinister connection between the CIA and the Prime minister. The discovery eventually becomes a threat to his own life, as he uncovers the mystery surrounding his predecessors death. Read more here

Apart from the obivious, I am particulary fond of watching movies with a strong connect to the prevailing socio-cultural or political environment. And this one is definitely on the upper half of the list ...

I did some searches on Tony Blair, the erst while Prime Minister of the UK, who often came under heavy criticism in his own country for his support to the US admistration's various policies,especially those on Iraq. There were also some sundry blogposts and articles on his alleged links with the intelligence agencies of both the countries... and some malicious ones suggesting Cherie Blair's involvement as well. Ah! yes, there are also reports of the controversial arrest of Roman Polanski linking that too, to the making of this film. Read the report here

The political backdrop of this film is very very interesting, and there is certainly more than meets the eye. The similarity to real life events is uncanny, the shot of Pierce Brosnan at Martha's Vineyard airport, the mention of torture flights, the thinking wife who advices her husband on each step and is not just an arm candy besides of course, the various allegations of soft peddaling on US policies by Tony Blair during his tenure and so on....

A recommended watch...

blogging..

I have been blogging for exactly 5 years now. My first post on this blog appeared in Aug 05.

.. the tangine

bubbling away in my emile henry clay pot....

Chicken Tangine with Fennel for dinner tonight...

S,my foodie friend (and I don't mean that only in keeping with Jones way.. she is a real foodie) told me about tangines.. moroccan stews of various kinds,cooked in a dish of the same name, a shallow clay pot with a tall conical lid (see picture above), a few weeks back. I have attempted make them a few times after that, with moderate success..

After picking up fennel bulbs from a new, well appointed, gourmet store in the neighbourhood, aptly called, The Providore, I decided to make a Chicken Tangine much to the delight of my family.

It is a simple recipe with onions, garlic, ginger, saffron threads, salt, tumeric and a moroccan spice mix (ras el hanout, is what they use, I had to make do with a pared down version) with parsley sprigs or corainder leaves as bouquet garni; dunked into the pot with the chicken and fennel..and cooked for a couple of hours on a slow flame.

Served the stew with some couscous to my oohing and aahing family :)

Baking at last...

Bread making was always a disaster...mine always looked great, but were either too hard or too soft or just unevenly baked or textured, ever since college days. How did I still earn my hotel management degree.. well bakery and confectionary was only 1 of the 17 subjects we did at school, and yes, there were ways to get by :) ...

which was sad, because I love bread.. all kinds from the scrumptious croissants and baguettes in Paris boulangeries to the maska bread with a hard crust, from a local 50 year old Parsi bakery..

I figured my problem was with the quintessential eukaryotic micro-organism called 'yeast'. I am yet to learn how to work well with yeast.

So I gave up baking all together for many years. And then, I discovered quick breads.

Quick breads are breads made without yeast but with a chemical raising agent like baking powder, baking soda etc. They can be either savory or sweet.

So here I am, baking a batch of scones, at midnight, when the rest of the household is asleep, so that I can grieve for my baking disaster in private, if need be, i.e.

Well, it was'nt so bad this time. My scones are unevenly shaped and a little darker than I expected them to be, but boy!, they are delicious. My midnight feast tonight was a lovely warm scone, fresh from the oven, with a low fat version of clotted cream and jam. .. which I made !!!!

touche!

Harshada

I have seen Harshada grow into a smart, confident, young girl almost in her teens from a sickly looking 5 year old taking unsure steps into my house, holding onto her mother's sari pallu, over the last few years. Ah! the things education and general exposure to life can do to a young fertile mind of a child.
Mangal, her mother has been working for our family for the last 7 odd years. Though Mangal has her many faults, prefering to spend her evenings after work romancing her various boyfriends, she does'nt want her daughter to have the life she has and does everything she can to make sure she does'nt have to. Her husband, many years older, turns a blind eye towards her infidelity but dotes on his daughter.
Harshada goes to school. Till last year she went to a municipal school, this year she moved to a bigger school which, I believe, is not free anymore. She also asked her mother for a computer. Her mother barely literate came and asked me how much a PC would cost.
I was a little taken aback and decided to speak to Harshada myself. I met her after a long time..corporate life had been taking a toll on me for the last few years and I had little time for anything else.
She had grown up.. a little woman, poised, confident, spoke hindi fluently, strangely perceptive and mature for her age. She looks after herself most days at home after school.
I convinced her to do some basic computer courses before making her parents buy her a computer they could ill afford. She happily agreed.
So I took her to Aptech to register her for a level one Vidya course, her delighted parents in tow, as soon as her summer vacations started . One got her a cell phone and the other showed her the bus routes and got her a pass.
Harshada completed her course, she comes home to practise on one of our laptops on Sundays sometimes. She wants to complete the level II in her next vacations and learn to speak english, she writes and understands the language fluently though.
She bought JB a book to learn marathi for his birthday, on hearing about us struggling with the marathi lessons for school, from her mother.
I have asked her if she will teach JB marathi..She will be paid for the lessons, her first little job; and we will also teach her english in return.
Looks like she will have a different life than her mother after all.

50 books at Twist n Tales..

I don't think I ever bought so many books in a single purchase at Twist n Tales, the neighbourhood bookstore, as the owner and my dear friend of many years likes to call it.
Sumi told me about TnT and it's warm and thoughful owner J when the place opened many years back in 2002 and so began my journey with a little bookstore in my neighbourhood (it is not 'my neighbourhood' anymore, we moved). I still don't know what I cherish more, my evolving friendship with J, TnT or the things it did to me. TnT is for book lovers and serious readers. You don't see stuff like CDs, toys, magazine or any such trash, that can distract you from focusing on the wonderful, neatly categorized selection of books, carefully handpicked for the store, by it's owner. If I am not mistaken, bulk of the revenues (apart from what they make from supplying to schools and other institutions) come from the loyal customers of TnT who are now slowly and unwittingly becoming a neighbourhood community. Fond of stereotyping (as M accused me many years back) as I am, there is such a thing as a twist n tales type of person now : besides being an avid reader: thinking, value driven, socially conscious of the environment around and above all liberated in mind and spirit. One of the perks of J's jobs is also making friends out of potential TnT people she meets browsing around in her store or even otherwise..If is means anythings and adds on to her credibility, J is very well networked with the NGO crowd (a TISS hangover perhaps :) ) and has started promoting local authors, launching them (she comes up with some great ideas for thematic book launches), organising book readings and helping them with other knick knacks such as finding illustrators for their book covers, shooting the wind with them to explore ideas etc. ( A backward integration is also on the cards, yes)
There is also such a thing as a TnT young person too: a kid who has grown up on the books from her store, has had free career counselling from J and has probably done a summer job or internship there and while working at TnT has picked up some fantastic work ethics and office skils.
Over the years, I have also found answers to my various problems there.. books to augment my knowledge base when I moved to HR (being an Ex-HR professional and a successful one while she was there, J connected and understood quickly what I was looking for, her recommendations hold me in good stead even today!), an internship for Cinderella to learn some critical life skills and yes she is a TnT young person today, meaningful gifts and presents and after many years connecting to books (other than work related stuff). JB, all of ten years today, is a voracious reader and has a mini library of his own, most of which came from TnT. He is waiting eagerly to be old enough to be able to do a summer job there (the tyke does'nt realize working at a bookstore is a lot of work and not just endless supply of books to read all day long!)
So... spend an afternoon selecting books for return gifts for the big birthday party coming up this weekend and chatting with J about parenting, books and her exciting business expansion plans over the planned lunch and unplanned coffee. Have offered to volunteer when her work with school kids and libraries takes off, and give in to my other interests.. kids, books and reading. Touche

meal at the basus..

tonight's dinner is Vietnamese style spring rolls with a dipping sauce and my mom's version of chicken kedgeree.. comfort food on rainy days! recipes and pictures to follow...

Inception...

what stayed an hour later was... brilliant story...Christopher Nolan.. Leonardo DiCaprio..dreams,layers, the sub conscious, extraction, inception, the spinning brass top..Michael Caine, good production, gripping (we even skipped the trip to the ladies and the coffee counter), Elean Page, great visuals. Can't get over the movie. Though I had heard and read a lot of good things about the movie, it still exceeded expectations. A definite contender for the awards this year..

hoping...

for a miracle.......at least that's what it seems now.

steam chicken breast with citrus and coriander

Came across the wonderful recipe by Phil's cooking academy on you tube. Interested cooking method.. Steam cooking in foil.
check it out here
Instant hit with the family... and very very healthy

Aloo methi with a twist..

No, you don't need to buy the fresh methi (fenugreek) leaves, have the maid clean it the day before, chop, cut blah blah..

You can use Kasoori methi out of a packet or if you have enough help in the kitchen or are enthusiastic enough .. make your own kasoori methi. So the recipe, here goes...

Potatoes: 5-6 medium size

Dried methi or kasoori methi: 2-3 tablespoons

For tempering

Methi seeds: 1 teaspoon

Whole cumin seeds: 2 teaspoons

Green chillies: 2-3 nos

Garlic cloves: 5-6 nos.

Boil potatoes in the pressure cooker till done. While the potatoes are boiling, soak kasoori methi in a cup of water.

One the potatoes are done, peel and chop into small peices.

Crush the garlic cloves and green chillies with a mortar and pestle or the back of a large knife together.

Heat oil in a kadai or frying pan and temper with whole cumin seeds, methi seeds and a pinch of hing (asofetedia).

When the seeds start spluttering, put in the crushed green chillies and garlic cloves. saute for a couple of minutes.

Put in the potatoes and give them a good stir in the kadai or frying pan.

Now, squeeze out the methi from the water and sprinkle it on the potatoes and mix well.

Saute for a 4-5 mins more and then remove from heat and serve hot with chapattis and hot yellow dal.

Comfort food.. yummm!!!

Homemade kasoori methi in a jiffy..

Wash a bunch of methi leaves well so that all the mud etc is cleaned out well.

Pluck the leaves off the stem and place them on a dry kitchen towel to wipe off the water as far as possible.

Flatten the leaves on a plate in a single layer and put it in the microwave for a minute.take the plate out, stir the leaves and put it back for another minute or so till the leaves are completely dried out.

Store the dried leaves in a airtight glass bottle and use as and when required.

childhood memories.. ajwain wali arvi

I lived on a diet of bread, milk and fruits as a child. My mom's skills at serving lightly cooked vegetables full of colour,flavour and nutrition were wasted on me. I took to cooking a little late in life and have been making up for the lost time ever since....

Ajwain wali Arvi is a typical north indian vegetarian side dish and is usually a hit if balanced well with spices..

Ingredients

Arvi (about 750gms) also called collocasia stems

green chillies

dry masalas (red chilli powder, roasted cumin powder, corainder powder, dry mango powder, tumeric)

salt to taste

green chillies

ajwain (caraway seed)

Method

Boil the arvi, after washing it well, in a pressure cooker. Peel the brown skin off and cut the stems into 2-3 peices.

Heat some mustard oil in the kadai and put a teaspoon and a half of ajwain and green chillies.

Add arvi peices when the tempering starts spluttering.

Add the dry masalas and saute well till the masalas are nicely roasted.

Serve hot with chapattis and enjoy!

beet and gajor chechki.. an colorful bengali side dish

This is recipe nor the next one are originals. They have appeared on my blog because I tried them out and they were a hit with friends and family. The photos are original though!

I usually use 3 beetroots and 2 medium sized carrots.

Some green chillies: slit

kalo jeera (nigella seeds)

salt: to taste

tumeric and chilli powder - to taste

Cut the beetroots and the carrots into matchstick size pieces.

Heat about 1 teaspoon of oil in a kadai or pan. Once the oil is smoking, put the green chillies and kalo jeers (about1.5 teasp) till they start spluttering.

Put the carrot and beetroot in the kadai, stir well, cover and let it cook for a while

Once the veggies are cooked slightly, add the salt, tumeric and chilli powder and stir. Cover and cook till well done.

Really, it is that simple.

les temoins..

I have been watching a lot of foreign films (as in foreign language by foreign directors,non english or american or british films ) since I have been off work. It's like being in a different country among different people for two hours. If the film is well made, you also get a glimpse of the socio-cultural environment of the land.

One such film I recently saw was a french film called 'witnesses' which was also the entry from France for the Toronto film festival.

A young gay french guy, Manu, from the provinces, arrives in Paris and gatecrashes into his sister's apartment. He soon befriends a middle aged doctor,Eros, who introduces him to the sights and sounds of Paris and also some of his friends. The film is set in the 1980s when the AIDS epidemic broke out. It has a wonderful potrayal of how the lives of the friends, manu and eros and the couple they are friends with : Mehdi and Sarah are affected with the outbreak. That, the French are known for their ability to respect individual choices when it comes to sexual preference, love,marriage,relationships etc is obvious in the way the complex relationships of these friends has been depicted in the films. "I don't care who he sleeps with so long I win in the end'' says Sarah to her friend, about her boyfriend Mehdi, when she finds out about his amorous relationship with a man. The films deals with the outbreak of AIDS affecting one and all on the streets in a manner which I have never seen before. It is all very subtle and matter of fact but very real and focussed.

A powerful film which leaves you wanting for more..highly recommended.

kumror, chana chechki

Kumro and chana, with apologies to minakshi dasgupta

I started out to make a chechki which is defined as a stir fry of vegetables cut into small peices with a tempering of panchphoron or kalo jerey or whole mustard seeds. We like our veggies like cut big and chunky so I decided to do a variation, which was somewhere between a ghonto and a chechki.

so here goes..

Ingredients

Pumpkin, approx 300gms, cut into large chunks

2 medium size potatoes

Kabuli chana, soaked overnight and boiled: 1 1/4 cup
Parval or broad beans : about 150 gms
1 onion- grated
3-4 dried red chillies
a green veg - one can use potol or sheem (english names pointed gourd and broadbeans)
masalas
salt
Red chilli powder
tumeric
corainder and cumin powder
garam masala powder

tempering
panch phoron
Pour a little mustard oil in a kadai. once the oil is hot, put in the dry red chillies and about a 1.5 teaspoons of panchphoron. After they start crackling a little bit, add the grated onion and saute for a while. Add the vegetable one by one in the order they cook.. potatoes, punpkin and then the beans or potol. Cover and let is cook for a while. Mix all the masalas in a little water and then pour it into the kadai, mix well. Add a little hot water at this point if you want a little gravy. Add the chana and mix well. Cover and let is cook till done.

Serve with steam rice.

Ready to eat...

minakshi dasgupta... thank u v much

His angioplasty hit me hard, the uncertainity of life came closer home. It is hard enough to keep a marriage going and a marriage with baggages??? A lived to eat, I did'nt want that to change for him, at least. So everything else took a back seat.. I have been experimenting with oil free/low fat, vegetarian versions of almost everything he liked to eat.
The most popular dishes out of a bengali kitchen are primarily non vegetarian.. macher jhols of various kinds, kasha mangsho, chingri malai curries and the like. The vegetarian part of the bengali cuisine has potential too.. One day, when there are enough recipes for a seperate blog, I will move all this to a food blog, till then read on....

musings from the corporate world

.. ogilvy noor!!??? A whole vertical dedicated to marketing to the muslims, courtesy O&M... ''world's first bespoke Islamic branding practice'' ..Still can't get over it. I have heard of marketing campaigns targetings various demographic segments earlier; the blacks, the hispanics, the NRIs... whatever, so ideally should'nt be reacting to this one, right? What is this going to do? differentiate or assimilate sensibilities ? Are we going to end up highlighting differences which we did'nt notice, which just went into the melting pot of all cultures that make India? Would I feel the same way if HTA came up with something called HTA-Shubh, marketing to the hindus or something of that sort ?

A and me

I figured I don't mind A's patronising anymore!!! being much older and very aware of it, he advices (most of it unsolicited) me on even simple household chores. Realised it has stopped getting my goat anymore!!! what's next? looking like him? they say people start looking like each other when they grow old together....

a summer to remember...

The met department said that the monsoons are likely to hit the city in a couple of days. Summer is finally over, school opens, the dusty foilage will soon wear a fresh green look. I have taken a few months off work and spend the summer at home,no holidays, no travelling, no cousins visiting, just plenty of family time..
JB... he did so much.. learnt french, practiced piano every single day, developed a taste in old classic movies with me, spend hours in the pool, had friends over off and on, and when we would let him, tried cooking. I did all of that with him..I have almost started missing him when he's in school.. an obsessed mom: you bet! I am so proud of him. We were always close, but now we are closer.
A: Illness has brought us closer than we were. Food kept us together, now eating right and cycling has.
Me: watched lots and lots of movies.. developed a taste for award winning films in foreign languages, period films and war movies. Cooked, cooked and cooked... JB says I make the best pasta in the world :) :) well he likes my rissotos and roasts too. Brought my vegetarian bengali cooking as close to perfection as I cooked. Finally started finishing a book in a week. Honed my parental skills,lost a little weight (still a drop in the ocean), finally started cycling and so much more. My to do list still had a few things to complete before I get back to work..
If not for anything else, for being able to bond with my son, for ruffling his hair or giving him a big hug as soon as he gets back home from school, for watching A grin in pleasure when I produce another zero oil delicacy from the kitchen, for finally noticing the beautiful gulmohar trees flowering in all their glory in summers, for growing up a little... this is one of the best summers I have had in a long long time

mumbai meri jaan ?....no way!

after a long long time, a trip to mumbai and got to do stuff I always wanted to:

1. Lunch at Britannia, one of Mumbai's most famous Parsi restaurants in Ballard estates.Famous for it's berry pulao and many other mouthwatering parsi dishes...dhansak with brown rice, sali boti etc. not to forget cool drinks like ice cream soda from parsi run factories.

Also encountered Mr. Boman Kohinoor Irani (picture), one of the partners of Britannia, who insists on taking every order himself despite his frail demenour, failing eyesight, memory etc but an unbetable spirit neverthless..

2. Buying crockery from good earth.. a well appointed lifestyle store epitomising the chic indian look. The largest collection of aesthetically put together designs of crockery and furnishing, difficult to make up your mind.. each peice on display is a collector's item in it's self. I was taken aback at the space they have at their disposal bang in the middle of the now upmarket lower parel area.Also had tea at the tasting room with my two elderly aunts and sister in law. The stylish tea service is done in the beautiful good earth crockey... an experience and fragrance (the store has scented with their own mix of essential oils.. I am told a mix of bergmont, lavender and lemon) to remmember and look forward to in the next visit.

3.A visit to Red Blue and Yellow: A much talked about store when it opened.. though I thoroghly enjoyed my visit, I found the ware disappointing or may be I expected much more.

4. Lunch at the Indigo Cafe: BIL, SIL and me stuffed ourselves at the cafe in Andheri (W). A truly satisfying European meal. Spotted Manish Malhotra lunching with what looked like a young intern at the next table..

on the whole a satisfying trip..

Next trip.. drive on Queen's necklace and lunch at olive or goa portuguesa

waiting, waiting and waiting... sigh!

this and that

Day 1 : down with cramps, bad bout of food poisoning, high fever, in bed the whole evening

Day 2 : cycling in the hills in the evening, cooking, giving the kiddo a nice scrub

what the hell am I trying to prove to myself???

amazing science

Watching JB struggle with names of summer and winter fruits and vegetables got me thinking.. there aren't any summer fruits and winter fruits and vegetables at all.. everything is available round the year now. Most of them are just grown in simulated conditions when the weather is not conducive.
it got me thinking... nothing will remain the same anymore. I wonder what I will teach my grand kids. You may not need acres and acres of farmland to grow tonnes of grain anymore, you may not even need soil to grow plants anymore, plant reproduction will happen in labs and trial farms, cereals will also be sources vitamins and minerals, mothers won't scream at their kids to eat their veggies any more, every law of nature is being challenged, the world as we know it is changing at a much faster pace than one can fanthom.. my brush with food revolution slowly sweeping the world has left me humbled ...

Confused soul

The one thing I can do endlessly is.. watch movies on the home theatre in our bedroom cooled by an oversized airconditioner (A and I had a lot of arguements when we first bought it, but now the sturdy oversized AC is the only thing that manages to cool a room filled with a large LCD and a home theatre system, a PC and 2-3 laptops)

bridge on the river kwai and more...

JB and I have been watching a lot of old movies this summer.. we started with The eagle has landed, Guns of navarone and just finished watching The bridge on the river Kwai, The movie still doesn't fail to mesmerise, even in the world of blu rays and 3 D televisions.Alec Guinness potrayal of the spirited and dignified Col Nicholson is captivating and leaves one asking for more. Needless to say JB loved the film.

afternoons and coffeespoons

A quiet afternoon at home, sigh!, wish there were more of these

smiling thru summer

Things I am doing this summer:
1. Finally getting on to a bike.
2. Swimming almost everyday for a couple of weeks
3.Watched JB learn taking baby steps mastering french
4. learning to appreciate a whole new genre of movie - old war movies, period films.
5. Spending more time with A than I ever have since we got married.
6. Finally reading a new Amy Tan
7. Cooking cooking and cooking and loving it all the way. Rediscovering Jamie olivier and bangla ranna
8. Having friends over to spend the day
...... and more. God where did my life go all these years. A welcome break from work after a long long time.

Duplicity Starring Julia Roberts, Clive Owen

Dear Ms. Roberts,

Will you please please not have the saaa...mmm....e expression throughout the whole god dammed film. I liked duplicity though, for its anti-climax and slickness. A good watch.

Your fan since pretty woman
Bubble

Of Mr.Khan and Mr. Khan

Dear Mr. Aamir Khan,
I have been a great admirer of your work for many many years. I have watched all your fims from QSQT to 3idiots in the first week of their release. I even tried joining a fan club till I realized the founder was cuckoo.
I think you are one of the most versatile actors in the industry today.
But I am disappointed with you.. you shunned awards in India on the grounds that they were biased and there was too much politicking and lobbying happening around them and yet you did the same thing for Lagaan at the Oscars!!! Isnt there enough lobbying and politicking happening there too! then why the double standards?

Dear Mr. Sharukh Khan,

Way to go!!! Kudos to you for taking on the fanatic bunch of hooligans who call themselves a political party.

cheers...