Wednesday 6 May, 2009

The walk home...

It is a walk alone that can do it to you. In a fast paced world where you are constantly fighting the urge to switch off that ringing noise in your ears, and drown out the clutter in your brain, it does good to take yourself for a walk once a while.
When i walk in my flat shoes, specially bought with an intention to walk back home from office, I feel free. The reason is simple. The walk lets me think, think about life so far. It cheers me, makes me laugh, condemns and then condones me, makes me reflect, not without the occasional pang of regret or the silent pat on the back. Noise enters, but finds a different pattern, the same car that bothers you with its honking becomes an object of curiosity. You attach new meanings to things around and may even beget new ideas, some disruptive, some absurd and some enlightening (absurdity is not new to me, btw).
Apparently, the loo is not the only place where the bulb lights up! But surely, keep your worries at home if this has to work.
Try it. You may get smarter!

Wednesday 8 April, 2009

Chicken stew for the hungry soul...

Well all my family and friends would vouch for the fact that i can spend the rest of my life eating, talking about eating or dreaming about eating. Recently, I've taken up cooking, more so to satiate my taste buds and those of an equally foodie hubby. So here goes a recipe I felt like sharing. Well, i don't like sharing recipes (though they can most definitely NOT be classified as rare!), but i thought, well, how many read my blog anyway?

My version of Mallu Stew :

Heat coconut oil. Put in jeera (cumin seeds) and curry leaves and slit green chillies. Slice onions, put in, cook till translucent. Mix in ginger garlic paste (though whole ginger and garlic chopped are better). Then put in elaichi (cardamom), dalchini (cinnamon sticks:key ingredient), black pepper whole, cloves, 1 bay leaf, nutmeg if you have.
Make sure onions remain translucent, should not get fried too much. Pour in coconut milk generously. Chop tomatoes, quarter size and put them in. Add a pinch of haldi (turmeric). Put in salt. Gravy is ready.
Now in this, you can put steamed chicken (with a lil salt), or steamed veggies (potatoes, carrots, broccoli, babycorn etc). Simmer till the flavours enter the chicken / veggies and the stew is ready. Serve with rice or appams!
SLLLLLLLLLUUUUUUURRRRRRRP!

Wednesday 14 January, 2009

Til and Gud

Makar Sankranti, means so many things to so many people. Kite flying for some, "til gud ghya, god god bola" for others. For me, it's a new ritual of takin 'gud' with 'til', 'chuda' with 'dahi' on this auspicious day, something I married into. Sometimes you mock at rituals and meaningless paraphernalia, the umpteen customs that don't really identify with your current lifestyle. But then, there are some others...The til gud, or the early morning oil bath on auspicious days, the flower rangoli made for 'Onam' or the rakhi tied on rakshabandhan, why, even the daily lamp I light at sundown at home... All of it brings a great sense of tranquility to me. I don't do it because i'm told to, but because somewhere my soul identifies, embraces and loves it.