Contemplations and Ruminations

Christmas waves a magic wand over this world, and behold, everything is softer and more beautiful. This season is overwhelming, fills your senses... and makes everything look pretty. Just wanted to show you a few pictures of my Christmas tree... click on the pictures to enlarge them. To the earth be peace; good will henceforth from heaven to earth Begin and never cease.... The soft glow of twinkling lights... Noel tree ornament... The Christmas tree... Here's wishing all of you the joys of this wonderful season... may the peace and love of the divine child fill our hearts and our homes, Blessed Christmas everybody.

I love the BBC reproductions of classics, they transport you to a completely different era and its hard not to fall for the ruggedly leading men, who are flawed, witty, kind and intense. Here are a few stellar adaptations of some timeless English classics, I know many can't stand these period dramas... but I can never get enough of them.  Jane Eyre: I can't tell you how much I love this book and the character of Jane Eyre, I loved everything about it... the calm and morally upright Jane, the intriguingly flawed Edward Rochester, the surprise in the attic, the way Jane deals with the surprise and her beahaviour towards the wicked aunt and the heart-searingly beautiful ending. For sometime, I used to go around calling myself Jane Eyre after reading the book... anyway, I loved the movie and the TV mini series that I saw. Anything with a BBC imprint on it is bound to be good, and the 2011 movie version  with Mia Wasikowska and Michael ...

Last Sunday in church, leaflets with the following 'Christmas Ten Commandments' were handed out and the parish priest Fr. Joe Andrews discussed them with the congregation.   You shall not leave 'Christ' out of Christmas, making it 'Xmas'. Christ is the reason for the season. You shall prepare your soul for Christmas. Spend not so much on gifts that your soul is forgotten (a good confession is a nice way to prepare your hear for Christmas) You shall not let Santa Claus replace Christ, thus robbing the day of its spiritual reality. (Prepare yourself with prayer and the Word of God.) You shall not neglect your church. Its services highlight the true meaning of the season.  You shall not neglect the needy. Share they blessings with the many who will go hungry and cold unless you are generous. You shall not neglect thy family during this season. You shall not forget the elderly and those who are lonely at Christmas time. You shall not value gifts received ...

Been too caught up with work to post anything here... hope everybody's having a nice transition to the most wonderful time of the year. The advent season just started and there's a faint whiff of Christmas in the air. Wish I had time to write down real stuff, bout life... and its happenings, but this coffee place review will have to do for now.  My favourite place in Madras is the St. Teresa's Church in Nungambakkam, I love the 6:30 evening mass on Sundays... the choir is heavenly and they are the main reason the church is packed to its brim. I think this is the best choir in the city, they are a really dedicated and talented bunch. Okay getting back to point, after mass we usually drop into Barista that is situated next door and it's a nice hangout place. The ambiance is relaxed with soft lighting and the food is the usual stuff you see at cool coffee hangouts.  The counter where the food is displayed. The relaxed seating area... Seating for sm...

So this Dove campaign is going on at Indiblogger , and I thought of participating in it. The theme is 'Love your hair and it loves you back'... one can write articles or compose poems and I have penned down two poems here, Dove Therapy and Snared by your Hair . Hope you find them interesting. Dove Therapy , describes how I got introduced to Dove and the reason I still stick to it. The poem may have a slightly narcissistic tone... bear with me. The second poem, Snared by your Hair , is written from a guys point of view, I had fun imagining it. Dove Therapy Got married, left my home in a village & came to the big city, Life is different here, everybody always seems so busy. Had a pretty hard time adjusting & settling down, What made it even worse-my long black hair was slowly turning brown! I couldn't believe the damage my hair was undergoing, I started resenting everything, & troubles started brewing. Then I chanced upon a friend with silky black locks, She su...

Here's another Paneer dish that I really like... but rarely make cause when the word spinach is mentioned at home I get looks of revulsion. My mom in law brought home some beautiful spinach from the market and they were too pretty to chop up and cook into a coconut induced coma (that's what happens to most of the vegetables cooked in a south indian household... people have a thing for coconuts here). Anyway, getting back to this awesome palak paneer... my sister liked it, which says a lot cause she was the one who gave me this dirty look when I mentioned I was gonna make palak paneer for lunch. First off, wash the pretty spinach leaves. Take little water in a vessel, drop the leaves inside and let them cook for a few minutes. Spinach cooks really soon, and it gives off water too... so make sure you take little water while you cook the spinach. Here they are nicely cooked... drop only the leaves into a food processor and blend them to form a vivid green paste. Chop up your pane...

So after the evening mass on Sunday, we decided to go out for dinner and that's how we ended up at Eatalica. And boy, I'm so glad we did... the food was really really good, both in quantity and quality, and it was quite easy on the pocket too. But the most striking feature of this place is its menu card, it cracked me up. Every time we (me, my sister and Tonio) wanted to order something we would start laughing... all the items on the menu were modified names of Hollywood celebrities. Sample this... This chicken steak burger is called Tommy Lee Bones. This chicken sizzler is called Henzel Washington. This beef sizzler is called Kurt Cowbain. These deep fried prawns are called Pierce Prawnson. The garlic bread we ordered was called Bred Astaire, the chocolate milk shake we had was called Calista Chochart. It was all so hilarious... here are a few other names on the menu: Smiley Cyrus, Trihanna, Beyonce Knowles (brownie with hot chocolate sauce), Jodie Fr...

This is a really simple sandwich, and of course it's gonna taste as good as it sounds... I mean it's ham and egg and what's not to love there. Makes a nice Sunday brunch with a glass of iced tea. So getting started, saute some sliced onions... till they get that brownish caramelized tint. Then heat the ham slices, till they give off a nice smell... Here the onions are nicely browned and supple... Chop up the ham and add it to this. Now let's start layering the bread. I have used wheat bread here and no, I have no buttered it, you can if you want to though. And the onion and ham mix onto the bread. Then top it with some chopped capsicum and sliced eggs. Sprinkle a little salt and pepper... Scrape some cheddar cheese over this. I had cheese slices at home so I chopped that up and added it here above the egg and placed it in the small toaster oven. You could place it in the microwave too for a few minutes until the cheese melts. The cheese has melted, I used only half a sl...

Was in the mood to bake something yesterday and I didn't want anything sweet... so figured scones would be the best choice and they were. Ingredients All purpose Flour: 200gms Baking Powder: 2 1/2 teaspoons A pinch of salt Sugar: 4 or 5 tablespoons Cold Butter: 50 gms Milk: about a cup Dried fruits like currants, apricots or prunes. Getting started, sieve the flour, with the baking powder, salt and sugar. Now cut your cold butter into tiny cubes and drop them into the flour. Gently using your fingertips break the butter into the flour... you'll get a coarse texture. Now add your dried fruits and mix it in the flour. I had only prunes at the moment, so chopped them up and added to the flour. With a long spoon slowly stir the flour as you add in the milk. Stir till everything is combined and you'll get a messy sticky dough. Dump this sticky dough onto a floured surface and knead it using a little flour till it forms a smooth dough on the outside. Be careful to knead ve...