Contemplations and Ruminations

So the parents had gone on a Holy Land Trip to Jordan, Israel where they visited Jerusalem, Bethlehem, Nazareth and Cairo. They were pretty excited and I was excited cause I would get to be home alone, which let me tell you is a rare occurrence. I always seem to be surrounded by people... not that I am complaining. Growing up in a small town, people would drop by often and there would always be extra food on the table. After getting married and coming to the city, things haven't changed much... I am still surrounded by family and relatives. So the prospect of an empty house does seem beckoning, it's like a day off from school, no schedules or elders to adhere to. I connect the speakers to the country music channel, I cook only when I am hungry, no elders to chastise with horrors of ulcers or importance of eating on time. I hardly cooked this time though because of the oppressive heat, all I could manage to do was whip up some buttermilk and keep sipping at it throughout the d...

So Facebook, where to start... you were rather entertaining and interesting at first, but now it has become more of a chore using you. Friends are good, but the over sharing of information is not. I mean, seeing their birthday or vacation pictures once in a while was good, a neat way to say hi and other pleasantries. But when they tend to go overboard by uploading pictures every alternate week, raking up enthusiasm for them can be draining. By friends I really mean acquaintances, those people you wouldn't even be in touch with if it weren't for Facebook. The real friends (who help me stay sane) are no problem... they are pretty cool and like minded, they know the value of privacy. We too upload pictures from time to time, but every album has a privacy setting, that enables only family, cousins and really close friends to access the pictures. Isn't that how it should be, instead of unleashing a torrent of pictures onto every Tom, Dick and Harry's wall. And then you ar...

So poori and potato, I am not a big fan of the deep fried poori , how healthy can anything deep fried be? But I love the potatoes, I love the way my mom makes them, not liquidly but a mashed potato kinda masala that can be folded within a poori and eaten. Makes for a great packed lunch too, neither messy nor fussy, just convenient and pretty good.  First, cut the potatoes and boil them in water till they are cooked. Finely chop a green chillie and an inch of ginger, and saute them in a little oil. Finely slice a couple of onions and add them to the pan. Now the onions have to be sautéed till they caramelise, and turn golden brown. This is the defining moment, this is what gives the simple potato its awesome quality, that sweetness of the brown tinted caramelized onions along with the wholesome goodness of the potato is as good as any breakfast could get. Nicely caramelized... this takes bout 10 to 15 minutes, while you stir conti...

So while checking stuff on Pinterest, I came across this beautiful poem and I had to save it (click on the images for a larger view). I was that enamoured by the simple beauty interwoven in the phrases 'landscape of my pillow' , 'hillside of yours' and 'curtains of your eyes'. He sure can weave magic with words, so I checked him out online and apparently he has these whole typewriter series of poems   that are wistfully beautiful. They tug at your heart and take you off into another world. Here is another one... That made me smile... 'Saturated in your silhouette', who comes up with stuff like that...  Needless to say, I'm beginning to think I may have the slightest bit of crush on him. 

Sunday’s reading in church was about the Good Shepherd and how He always protects His flock. How no power on earth can snatch us away from the flock and how safe we, the sheep, are in His fold. And all the while I was holding back tears thinking of the five year old girl, who was brutally raped and violated, a few days back in the country’s capital. Similar stories keep surfacing and the evil perpetrators don’t seem to fear anything, in fact gruesome child rapes seem to be on the rise and it is mind-numbingly baffling. How can one torture and traumatise a child in an unnatural and inhuman way, how depraved does one have to be to force his perverted carnal desires on a little child’s body. Isn't she the littlest of lambs, the smallest in His fold… a tiny playful little lamb. Who snatched her away, where was the Shepherd? How does one go about life, knowing such things are not a rare occurrence? What can be done to weed out the scum in society and make the world more humane? How d...

Some time back, a few guests were coming over for lunch and most of the food was already cooked and ready, when we remembered that one of the guests was a vegetarian. There was some paneer in the fridge,  to save time on the cooking I decided to throw all the ingredients I had into a pan and bake it. I really had no idea, it would come out this good.  Take a couple of onions and cube them, (cut them into cube like chunks). Do the same with a capsicum, I used a rather large capsicum here. Then cube some tomatoes and drop them into the dish. In another dish, add a generous quantity of thick yogurt. Drop in some garam masala powder... Add a little turmeric... Then Chillie powder... Then a generous quantity of coriander powder... Next add a little Jeera powder... Then drop in some ginger garlic paste... And enough quantity of salt... Mix this whole thing up with a spoon... Drop in the cubed vegetables...  And mix it...

Visited a book fair today and it was wonderful poking through second hand worn out books. They belonged to some library, so there were quite a lot of romance novels; the Mills & Boons and Silhouette types to Barbara Cartland and Nora Roberts. Then there were the usual Danielle Steel and Jude Deveraux books that usually span centuries. The staple teenage fodder was there too: The Hardy Boys ( I used to love the Hardy Boys, had a huge crush on Frank Hardy, growing up), Nancy Drew, Sweet Valley High and R.L. Stine. Saw some Archie comics lying around... the others were just the usual Tom Clancy, Robert Ludlum, Harold Robbins and James Hardley Chase. Surprisingly I didn't see any John Grisham or Crichton or Cook. There were a few Maeve Binchy's, Patricia Cornwell and Jeffrey Deavere's too. I saw an A.J. Cronin book and my heart skipped a beat, I've been in love with him since I read his autobiography. Then picked up a Maeve Binchy and a few other random books because...

So Jeffrey Archer was in town recently and I went to see him at one of the Landmark outlets. I am not that into him, I've read only two of his books: 'Kane and Abel' and 'Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less' and both of them were lent by friends. While I remember thinking Kane and Abel was nice, I loved Not a Penny More, Not a Penny Less... only a very brilliant mind could have weaved such an enticing and hilarious story. I've never read any of his other books, I guess it was because most of his characters seem to resemble their creator, in the sense that it is not hard to imagine Archer being convicted of whatever he was convicted of, because his characters are unscrupulous like that. Jeffrey Archer is in the midst of penning down his Clifton Chronicles, and as he admitted at the meet, these series are more or less autobiographical in nature. I think he was here to launch the third book in the Clifton Chronicles, and the crowd seemed to love him. He enthrall...

I had a little Bailey's lying around, so decide to make some Irish cream brownies. These were really good, not too dense like brownies not too light like cake, it was in between, and I loved them. Ingredients 1/4 cup butter 1/3 cup bittersweet or dark chocolate chips 1 cup all purpose flour 1/4 teaspoon baking soda A pinch of salt 1/2 cup unsweetened cocoa powder 2 eggs 1 cup powdered sugar 1/3 cup Bailey's Irish cream 1 teaspoon vanilla extract Getting started heat the butter in a saucepan and while it starts melting... Drop in the beautiful chocolate chips... And stir them around till they dissolve... this is paradise in a saucepan.  Remove from heat and keep it aside to cool down a bit. Now, sieve the all purpose flour (which is basically maida and baking powder) and baking soda into a container. Add the salt too. Drop in the cocoa powder... Now add the coffee powder... Close the container, and give the whole th...