Good old days

I have many great memories associated with this song...The male actor truly represents my dad and the female actress my mum. No wonder all of my dad's friends came back watching this movie back in 1993 and told us "This is your family story". I cannot imagine a couple to be so understanding in this day and age. Touch wood, My folks were!!! Imagine a man having to be a Househusband owing to bad circumstances and the lady taking up his share of responsibility as well as making sure we all were well fed and lived in a tidy home. My mum still has the diary which had all the details of our family's monthly income and expenses. She, the elegant Leo, was good at managing a happy home with just 1000 rupees each month. My dad who is now 56 years old (i guess this age was in 2011, he never ages lol) does not know much about cooking other than managing to make coffee, tea and Omelette. Both me and my brother were below 10 years of age and unlike this super fast generation never had much high demands nor understood the complexities that such difficult times brought. I can never remember seeing my parents having a fight in my 20 years of life that I lived with them. Not only was my dad an easy-going person (but again no one is perfect in this world), but my mum is a very understanding and forgiving person. No matter how much I adore my dad the adult me now realizes that he should have pitched in to make my mum's life easy a bit. But I am sure my Gemini dad always made my mum's mental life easier using his great sense of humor. Also, they never had any difference of opinion even in the case of my dad's parents.

Thanks to Sandeep Gadila

For helping me explore the world of fusion...These two stand out from the rest in my opinion

Note: Ear/Head-phones Highly Recommended

Hil reh dekho dabbe....Lol

Almost Ladakh

Easter long Weekend getaway - Spent 5 hours behind the wheel driving to Gwynedd...The snow-capped mountains made me disregard the SatNav's instructions quite a lot of times but eventually I made it back home safe and sound...

p.s. Do not try this while driving (Taking pictures the way I did)

Resisting temptation

I have developed a very bad habit of reading the movie plots prior to watching them. This habit certainly saved me from watching some creepy movies like "Case 39" and "When a stranger Calls". I have been maintaining a track record of successfully staying away from horror movies for almost five years, all Thanks to Wiki.

But, I really did a huge mistake by reading the entire plot of this must-watch film named "EXAM". My god!!! British brains are freakishly good. You can go ahead and watch this one as it's not a horror movie but DO NOT!!!! DO NOT!!!! DO NOT!!!! read the plot before you watch it, as this movie is best served thrilled.....

First lesson of cooking

This is my all time favourite curry, so it is quite obvious that I chose to learn this first. The person who taught me this curry made sure I remembered every detail of it's preparation by testing my memory with sudden oral tests. It was not until I cooked the curry all on my own without any guidance that this person, who happens to be my mum, got convinced that I had finally mastered her recipe.

Don't worry I won't be pestering you all with tests after you finish reading this post. But you can use this as a helpful recipe if you share the same love for this curry as me.

The below picture would give away the name of the curry which is actually pretty famous in South India.

Now for the ingredients, you will need,

1. Small brinjals - 1 Kg
2. Peanuts - A handful of them or slightly more
3. Coriander seeds - 2 tablespoons (In the absence of whole seeds, use a table spoon of ground coriander powder)
4. Sesame Seeds - 2 tablespoons
5. Poppy Seeds - 1 tablespoon
6. Whole spices - 2 or 3 cloves, 1 Star Anise
7. Dessicated coconut powder - 2 tablespoons
8. Onion - Half (Diced into 4-6 chunks)
9. Butter - One tablespoon (Optional)
10. Turmeric - Quarter teaspoon
11. Salt - 3/4 teaspoon (Adjust quantity as per taste)
12. Red Chilli Powder - 3/4 teaspoon (Adjust quantity as per taste)
13. Cooking oil - 4 table spoons (Adjust quantity as per preference, this can be substituted with water)
14. Coriander - For garnishing

Preparation

1. Dry roast the peanuts, Coriander seeds, Sesame seeds, Poppy seeds and the whole spices. I was taught to roast them one after the other, preferably, in the order listed
2. Cool the seeds in preparation for grinding



3. Start by grinding the roasted ingredients first. No need to add water.



4. To the ground powder, add the diced onion chunks and butter. Grind to a paste by adding water if required. Limit the usage of water to 2 tablespoons
5. Once the paste is ready, get it out of the grinder jar (Add little water to any paste remaining in the jar, this water can be used for the curry preparation) . Add turmeric, salt and Chilli powder. Mix well and set aside
6. Slit each brinjal twice, to make a cross-cut as shown in the picture below. The slit brinjals need to be dropped into water to prevent them from changing colour. 



7. Stuff the slit brinjals with the paste prepared in Step 5. The picture below was taken particularly to show the snow outside



8. Once all the brinjals are stuffed, heat a wok and add Oil
9. Cook the stuffed brinjals on medium flame. Mix in regular intervals. Add water or oil if the curry tends to stick to the wok's base. Cover the wok with a lid for ensure proper cooking of the brinjals
10. Add any paste left over (After stuffing all the brinjals) to the wok half way through the cooking
11. Continue cooking until the brinjals turn soft and tender and the oil starts oozing out at the corners of the wok
12. Finish off by garnishing with coriander. This is optional unless you love coriander like me

5th of July

From the makers of Udaan and Dev D comes another audio-visual treat.....