Wordless Wednesday - 32

When Chef's @ Home

It was a long weekend this week. 

Friday saw us partying with our friends. And we hit the bed after 2 am!

As a resultant to that, woke up at 8 am with a start, the next day, as it suddenly dawned that it was the Parent Teacher Meet at the kid’s school.

Got ready in a jiffy and then woke the kid and pestered him to get ready too. In the meanwhile, lined up the work for the maids and a glass of milk for the kid and by 8.45 am, the kid and I were out of the home.

Fortunately we were very early at the school, so could meet the teacher and discuss/share all the queries and progress at length.

After finishing the meeting at school, as soon as I sat in the car in peace, my tummy gave a big loud growl. It was its way of telling that I had not even had my ‘bed’ tea and was starving!

Immediately, I called up hubby who was enjoying the highlights of some very old cricket match at home and told him to prepare something to eat for us. Now, these are the perks of having a partner who is passionate about cooking, who can create magic in the kitchen at a moment’s notice, any time. Of course, you need to excuse the mess that’s created along with the magic!

When we reached home, the first sight that hit my eyes was the beautifully laid plates for us on the dining table.

It’s the Double Decker 3C Sandwich Pakora! 

It’s innovated by hubby! 

And here’s the secret recipe for that...

Ingredients:

For Batter
· Gram Flour (Besan) : 1 cup
· Aniseed (Ajwain) : 1/2 tsp
· Cumin Seeds (Jeera) : 1/2 tsp
· Fennel Seeds (Saunf) : 1/2 tsp
· Turmeric Powder : 1/4th tsp
· Red Chilli Powder to taste
· Salt to taste
· Water

For Filling

· Cheese Spread : 3 Tbsp
· Chive (onion) : 1 finely chopped
· Chilli (green) : 2 finely chopped.

Other Ingredients

· Bread : 6 slices cut into triangles
· Oil for frying

Preparations

1. Mix all the ingredients of the batter to form a batter of thick consistency.
2. Whisk all the 3 Cs of the filling too.
3. Apply a layer of the filling in between the 2 bread slices.
4.   Heat oil in a pan.
5. Dip bread sandwich in the batter and fry till crisp on medium flame.
6. Serve the Double Decker 3C Sandwich Pakora hot with green chutney or tomato sauce.

No points for guessing, the Double Decker 3C Sandwich Pakora tasted YUM which we gobbled up in minutes!

A Real Cool Reading Challenge…

Came to know about this wonderful Reading Challenge on Smitha’s blog, which simply floored me. So, immediately signed up for it! But a busy bee that I have been, got the time to post about it, TODAY!

Well, this is the South Asian Challenge 2011… it’s a challenge to read books about South Asia and by South Asian authors during the calendar year of 2011!
I have read quite a few South Asian authors this year, and hope to read more of them in 2011 too.

It’s S Krishna’s endeavour to encourage people to read South Asian books. To know more about the South Asian Challenge or to sign up, please do hop here.

Are you joining this challenge??

Wordless Wednesday - 31

Wordless Wednesday - 30

The Extortionists!

Extortionists, as you know are the people who charge excessively or exorbitantly or use their position illegally!

And I had the misfortune of meeting and dealing with not just one Extortionist but a whole brigade of them, during the recent shifting of our base from Jammu to Jaipur.
This whole thing of packing and then unpacking and settling is one long process. And during this process you meet the various categories of Extortionists.


1. The Sophisticated Suckers: These are the guys who install the ACs, LCD TV with Home Theatre System, Aquaguard, Tata Sky, Geysers etc in your home. And I prefer to use the services of authorised company service centres for installing the various gadgets. Reasons… they are professional and also you have Annual Maintenance Contracts for the products.

Though their charges are fixed as per the company policy still they’d find ways and means of charging a bit extra. How? They have this unique trait of finding faults in the existing wires, plugs, cables, faucets etc and readily ‘assist’ you in making the decision by taking out the said new part from their workbags. Since, these fixtures/spare parts are not from the company and they had purchased the same from the local Electric/Hardware store, so they ‘inform’ you of the price which is always more than the MRP. And since you are…

• amidst a sea of cartons and a mass of organised mess
  
• a zillion things away from a settled home
  
• also you are in a hurry to get everything fixed
  
• and you don't have the time and energy to go to the local store and get the said part yourself.

Hence, you ask them to use the ‘needed’ part and pay for whatever they ask! These are the Sophisticated Extortionists.

2. The Soft Stealers: The maids, dhobhis, drivers and car cleaners are the Soft Extortionists. You ask them their charges and it’s always more than the current going rate. Since you have already checked with the neighbours while chatting with them in the lift, you tell these fellows the current rate and they readily agree to work on that price without a word. But if you are not well informed, you are susceptible to their claims and demands.

3. The Ludicrous Looters : These are the electricians, plumbers, carpenters (for polishing the furniture which gets a bit damaged in transit and drilling work for hanging the various things). And these are guys who charge exorbitantly as compared to the labour they put in. One fellow took the entire day’s pay (Rs. 300 as per daily wages) for just an hour of work. While the drilling guy took Rs. 1200 for 3 hours of work!! It was so shocking and there is no arguing with them.

And before they start the work, they ask for the money to buy the raw material. So you give them whatever amount they ask and also ask them to get the bill for the same. It’s a rule, they’d get the bill for the entire amount and will never ever return even a rupee from that. Also it’s always a temporary bill!!

4 The Creepy Corrupts: Here, I had the mostest baddest luck to meet 2 guys. One was the delivery guy who had come to deliver a new piece of furniture that we bought from a show room. The show room guy told me pay him the delivery charges. I asked him the amount and he told me that the delivery man will tell me the same. After asking the delivery man and not getting any amount from him, I gave Rs. 100 to him (The furniture had come from half a kilometre distance from our home) and it was so shocking that he threw the money down with contempt and started hurling abuses. I was rooted to the spot for a few seconds and when the initial shock subsided, gave him Rs. 100 more and just asked him to GET LOST in the most nastiest voice I could muster! GOD! I can never forget this! Such a creep he was!

And the second one was the Sweeper. Once we had organised everything, all cartons discarded, all installations and fixtures done, it was time to clean the house thoroughly. We asked a maid to do the same, she agreed but never turned up on the given time. All efforts to find another one were falling flat and then somebody suggested that we ask the building sweeper to clean the home. He came and I asked him about his charge for doing the sweeping and mopping the floor. He coolly says Rs. 200. I reasoned with him that a maid takes Rs. 500 for the entire month (which works out to Rs. 17 per day) and he should be taking a max of Rs. 50 for the job. And he turned back to wear his shoes!! I tried next for Rs. 100 and he didn't even say a word. And since, the cleaning had to be done that day, so I agreed to give him Rs. 200 for just sweeping and mopping the floor and that too in a very unclean way!

Have moved so many times and I have always got these jobs done myself but this time the ulcers, the stress and the amount spend was way too much!

What’s your take on this, “Frown or crib” or simply say, ““Heck, what's a little extortion among ‘friends’?”!!

Thursday Challenge - Construction

Gosh! Jaipur is really keeping me busy! Despite a promise to write more (and spend more time in our Blog World), I guess, I have time just to post Pics!  So, here’s one more picture post before I actively do a post with Words!

It’s Construction (Houses, Streets, Commercial, Equipment, Vehicles,…)” on Thursday Challenge today!This is that part of the Tiksey Monastery at Leh which takes you to the rooftop for a breathtaking view of Leh!

Wordless Wednesday - 29

Hello! I am Back!!

In fact, I could have been back into this wonderful Blog World a lil’ sooner! But, I was a bit indecisive. I knew I had a list of tasks in front of me but was confused about prioritising them.

The other day, I looked at my blog and its archive after a long time and the first thought, “Gosh, this looks like a photo blog!” And this didn’t made me smile. I pledged to change this look of my beloved baby and opened my Windows Live Writer to let my fingers dance on the keyboard and the various experiences and imagination come live on screen… But lo, the next moment, everything froze as another thought started taking a shape and form.

The thought was, “Shouldn't I be first responding to all the comments/feedbacks on the blog before I post anything new?”

Before I rant further, I’d like to thank all YOU readers who took care of this baby blog while I was busy packing and unpacking!! Thank YOU! :)

And then I had no time to delve further on the second thought, as a new thought sprang up, “I guess, I should first read !” Read the posts from all the wonderful writers who kept the numbers on my Reader galloping. But seeing the mere number of Unread Posts kind of numbed me!

Then KG got a new handset for me a few days ago (5 days to be precise!)… It’s The BlackBerry!! And no, points for guessing, I am hooked onto it! Exploring it’s various features, chatting with friends, checking my emails on it (despite sitting with the laptop and the mailbox open on it!!)  I know, I know, I sound like a crazy woman! And the best part is SMSing. Yes, we are back to the civilised world where one can SMS. You know, the SMS service is banned in J&K since the last 5 months. So, am enjoying the fun and joy of exchanging SMSs! Uma, I have not forgotten!

So the net result is, no new post (now this will get posted, so it’s a beginning), no response to the blog comments and the numbers in the Reader continue to increase.

But, knowing me, all this will change soon, very soon and all will be settled and sorted out ASAP.

And as I type this, I get a happy feeling!

Cheers for happiness!
Cheers to YOU! :)

Thursday Challenge - Brown

It’s Brown today at Thursday Challenge and brown is this piece of antique furniture that we bought from Jodhpur few years ago!
Can you guess, what’s unique about this show rack!? Or originally what was this before it was transformed into a showcase !??

Wordless Wednesday - 28