Contemplations and Ruminations

I hate those poriyal dishes (those that contain copious amounts of coconut), just because one happens to be living in an area that nurtures coconut cultivation is no excuse to suffocate every dish with coconut, sometimes vegetables (like ladies finger, raw mango) drenched in coconut milk are considered 'a delicacy', I really don't understand that... imagine a sticky slimy vegetable like ladies finger swimming around in a cloudy liquid, don't you think that would make it even slimier, I think I hated it the first time I touched it and it sent shivers up my spine. Anyway, the whole coconut rant has no point to this post... I don't even know what brought that on, anyway since it's my blog, I guess I can rant whenever I like.  I love cutlets, I mean who doesn't... easy (though a little time consuming) to make, their real value lies in being able to freeze them so whenever you are busy or just plain tired, you can remove them (from the freezer), fry them and mak...

Before I got married, summer meant no school (I was working in a special school) and visits to the coconut farm where we would spend the time drinking tender coconut water and soaking ourselves in a small tank like pool, watching the sun rays dance on the surface of the clear underground water (used to irrigate the land). The coolness of the water gushing out of the bore well pipe and the serenity of the secluded farm made life wonderful. An Indian summer in all its glory can really wane your senses and drive you insane... so you can imagine what a blessing the farm is. Today while standing in the kitchen and cursing the Tamilian way of eating lunch (what with the rice and its numerous curries and the accompanying vegetable dishes.... either people should take it upon themselves to cook all this in a hot sultry kitchen or else learn to embrace the European culture of bread, mashed potatoes, fresh salad and a slice of grilled meat), the mosquitoes and the landscape of the world...

One of my favourite Oprah shows used to be the home make over stories, I  loved watching how they would tear down a place (which wasn't really that bad to begin with) and turn it into something stunning with gorgeous furniture and luxurious drapes. I think anything can look better if you just drape some flowy rich material somewhere near it. I remember Nate Berkus was in charge of the home makeovers on Oprah and he sure knew how to spruce up a place... I liked his blend of earthy and neutral tones, it lent a great deal of elegance and grace to the place. Wonder why they don't air Oprah these days... anyway, I just thought of giving you a glimpse into my home...  Here's the living room and I love the way sunshine floods into it... The rest of the living room...  My own little space... my bedroom (check out the framed picture, its the same as my blogger header and the other is a picture of my home town). My charming little kitchen... The poster in my kitchen...

Here's a delightfully creamy and easy Paneer recipe. I usually buy the Hatsun brand Paneer... among all the brands available here, I find they are the best. So if you like Paneer, try this out sometime... Heat a little oil and fry sliced onions with ginger and garlic paste till the onions turn translucent. Drop in some chopped tomatoes and fry for a few more minutes. Add appropriate quantity of chillie, coriander, turmeric and jeera powder. Mix it up and let it fry for a few minutes...  After the onion tomato masala mixture has cooled down, grind it with a little water to make a smooth paste. Chop your paneer into the required size and shallow fry them in a little oil, till they turn slightly brown at the edges. After frying them drop them in a little warm water, so that they remain soft and succulent.  In a vessel, add the ground masala paste along with the paneer (any other vegetable like potatoes, peas or capsicum can be added too). Mix it up well, add sa...

Starting with the catastrophic act of nature that rocked the northern coast of Japan and had the world reeling under the shock of witnessing such an unparalleled and unimaginable act of destruction. It was like something out of an apocalyptic themed hollywood movie... cars, buses, boats, houses, buildings even small planes were lifted and carried away like toys in massive 10m waves that ravaged and plundered north Japan. The 8.9 magnitude earthquake that occurred on 11th March, 2011  was one of the worst in the history of mankind... kinda makes you wonder what the creator was upto, what good reason could He possibly have to tear apart a nation that was once already in ashes after WWII. But the Japanese have proven their resilience, no one doubted that they would build up their nation and get on with their lives. What is really inspiring is their core character; they are a disciplined lot with integrity, value and compassion sewn i...

So I am a sucker for quotes, I collect them and write down the best ones in a pretty little book. In college I used to scribble them all over the desk... any empty space I see, will eventually be filled with quotes. My friend Shilpa (who used to sit near me through all the 4 years of college) even mentioned it on her blog ... I was that vandalistic in nature. Over the years, I started jotting down quotes or phrases from people around me... At my previous job I came across one of the funniest guys I know, Dinesh Padhmanabhan. He used to have us (me and another friend Manney) in splits... he was that witty and hilarious, here are a few of his one liners. If you are not doing anything with what you get, you should not ask for more. Don’t worry about things that do not have any impact on your appraisal. If time doesn’t move, how come deadlines move? When things don’t work, you shouldn't be working too…. If GOD can make so many typo’s while writing my fate, why not me? ( there was this...

Wrote this poem when I was in a pissed off frame of mind... Yearning for Zen One phone call and the words begin to crawl Heartbeat quickens and the curtain starts to fall Lost again in a wave of raging opinions and views A different perspective, here comes the blues The yin and yang in me is veering out of focus Watching this ceaseless drama turn into a circus All the fawning, preening and prancing round the glen The situation, so skewed, is wrecking my Zen The wistful notes of a song caressing the night sky still linger Tugging at the surreal confines of my being and I wonder About that first snowflake which heralds a change in season And brings into focus a dazzling heavenly lesson In Buddhism, Zen is a state of enlightenment... accomplishment of mind over body. Yin (negative) and Yang (positive) is an ancient Chinese concept, they represent  the two complementary forces that balance everything in nature, and here it means a human soul.

Been feeling a bit out of sorts lately, everything and everybody was getting to me... usually I am pretty good at shrugging off insensitive remarks or weird situations, but somehow the past week wasn't going too well and I was close to losing it when salvation came in the form of Easton Corbin . It all happened last Friday when I was home alone (its a rare treat for me to enjoy my own company) and decided to blast the house with accuradio (the online music station that I am crazy about). I was tuned into the country station and singing along with Tim McGraw, Brad Paisley and doing a little hoe down in the kitchen while cooking lunch when I heard this new song that somehow seemed to fill the entire house with a new warmth... it was a good old fashioned country song that permeated the house with its twanginess and country goodness. Easton Corbin weaves magic into his  songs, and I love how he lightened the mood and balanced the destructive forces in my world.  Another guy tha...

I've always found the idea of arranged marriage to be weird... yeah you can blame that on 'The Sound of Music' and the various Disney fairy tales I've watched growing up. I mean after watching Maria and the Captain fall in love and sing in the gazebo who would wanna settle for an arranged marriage. I remember all the drama and the turmoil leading upto my wedding, it was of course arranged and I had absolutely no idea bout the guy. The only thing that caught my interest was his name, he was named after a Shakespearean character in the Merchant of Venice - Antonio. Now, who wouldn't love that name... of course I don't like it when people go 'Oh Banderas', cause I hate Antonio Banderas, I love Antonio Vivaldi though. So I guess what I'm trying to say is God knew what would pique my interest and he sent a character named guy along, knowing that I was crazy bout books and characters. And no, we rarely spoke to each other before we got married and I had m...

I don't know if its just me or if you guys have noticed it too, but there seems to be a dearth of good tv shows out there. The only show I follow these days is The Good Wife (a legal drama), its kinda like The Practice... with a lot more power games and political drama thrown in. I think people seem to prefer different things nowadays ... like obscene crass humour as is evident in Two and a Half men, or shows that are deemed funny based on the personality of that one crazy character who livens up the show - Sheldon Cooper from the Big Bang Theory or Barney Stinson in How I Met Your Mother (take away Barney and Sheldon and both these shows will bite the dust). Then you have something like Glee, which is a huge success due to its happy song and dance routine, but hasn't got anything else worth talking about. Anyway here's a post in memory of all those good times spent with family and friends... laughing, crying and learning from all the beloved characters of some of the bes...

Everybody in my family loves this cake, its my grandmother's recipe and it can be tweaked during the holiday season to form a delicious Christmas fruit cake. The ingredients are simple to remember, you just need equal  quantities of flour, sugar and butter and the cake is guaranteed to come out great. Ingredients 400 grams maida or all purpose flour 400 grams sugar 400 grams butter 8 eggs 3 teaspoons vanilla essence 2 teaspoons baking powder 1 teaspoon baking soda dried fruits and nuts  brandy or rum (optional) I've taken 400 grams of butter, sugar and flour cause I wanted to make a large cake for Christmas. You can scale the quantities down to half and make a medium sized cake. Let's start with caramelizing the sugar, from the 400 grams of sugar that you have set aside for this cake, take bout a quarter of that (100 grams) and start heating it in a dry vessel. I usually drop in another handful (bout 50 gms) of sugar to get more of the gooey caramel when I plan on ...