Five and Spice’s Mushlafel

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Baby, do you miss me
Now that I’m gone, yeah

No, no I am not gone. I am still here just took a one week break from blogging & cooking. What’s with the song then, you ask (well, even if you didn’t I will still continue to explain. You have no choice but to listen or actually you do- you could leave this page. But, don’t! please!)

This was the song I used to listen to when the first guy I was seeing broke up with me (It was a short lived relationship- you know, the celebrity love kinds- lasted a week in actuality- but at that time it meant the world to me!).

I am sure you have never heard of the song, nor would have I, had I not been in the phase where every love song sounded like it was just made for me- every single word resounding of my story, my pain, my love, my heart break and well you get the drift.

Get the DJ to play our favorite song
‘Cause it’s what keeps me holding on
Baby, do you miss me
Now that I’m gone

Ok, it’s cheesy, but to a girl with a broken heart it was music! (FYI my taste in music is not that bad, it was just a phase!)

Now that I look back on those days, and knowing how things turned out thereafter, I laugh at the things I did after the break up. I used to listen to this song hoping that the guy misses me (yes, I was a love struck newbie and a break up was something entirely new to me) Of course he never thought of me, his updates on hi5, (that was the time hi5 was the thing like how today’s Facebook is) and gtalk/yahoo/msn status proved otherwise.

I do think people had it better before the digital age arrived, especially when it came to break ups. If the person of your interest moved on there was no way to know. You could live in the imaginary world and think that you are the only person he is thinking of, dying to talk u but embarrassed to come up and say he made a mistake, that he was sorry. But, alas, this is the digital age. In today’s world, you are bombarded with pictures of the person in question with a new love in his/her arms. There goes your delusional world where you were the only girl he ever loved.

Thank god, though, that those days of heartbreak are gone. They were torture! I am sure you know the feeling, don’t you?

C’mon you went through it too, right? Crying and listening to mushy songs hoping that would ease the pain. Dreaming of the phone ringing and your ex telling you how being apart from you has made him realize how good he had it with you and how you were the only person who ever understood him. You went through all that too, right. Right? Don’t tell me I was the only loser??

You did nothing of that sorts? When it was over, it was over for you- you moved on graciously?

 Really?
 Umm…

So did I!

Ha! Got u! I just made all that up. Nope I did not listen to songs while getting over crushes. Or check out my exes photos as if I was a stalker. Nah! not me! In fact, I was the one who broke up with the guy! Really.

(shifting uncomfortably)

Um…

(embarrassed smile)

Really I was messing with you. Honest.

Anywho.

So, yes, I have been absent for the longest time ever. Well, I don’t know if you guys missed me but I missed blogging. I finally went to the doctor who told me that I had a sprain and it would take about 4-6 weeks to heal. It sucks because I just got my exercise thing set and was enjoying it and pretty soon would have seen results, but now have to take it slow. That’s one reason I couldn’t blog. I was resting my ankle. Trying not to do much work. I also got a slight stomach upset in between, and that too on the day we got a new toilet seat installed in our bathroom. (See, this is why I started the blog- to document my life in snippets so that some day I look back and read and I will come across this particular blog post and know- yes! this was the time I hurled! So bear with me because these details are important..these are the things that make my life interesting.)

So while others remember so and so day as the day they did such and such fun activity I’ll remember the past week as the time I inaugurated our newly installed toilet seat by hurling into it!

Yes I am aware that by talking about toilet seats and stalking exes on orkut/hi5/FB I don’t put on a good case for me and sound like a loser.

I still do maintain that I was joking about the snooping around hi5/FB thingy.

Seriously you don’t do it?

.

Me neither!

.

Was just messing with you again!

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CARAMELIZED ONION TARTLETS

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Happy Fool’s Day! I am not a great prankster- though I have done my share of pranks on people- some really good ones. There’s one in particular, where I pulled a prank on my friend G- though looking back at it now- it was not a good thing playing with her feelings like that. Sorry G!

Today I thought I would make a fool out of V- and it did work for a few minutes but then he realised the date and blew my cover! And that’s it- somehow my brains nor my mom’s have been able to come up with something believable to fool people. I blame it on the massage I went for in the morning (like a true capricorn girl, there’s always something I can put blame on). The massage has left me too relaxed to get those brain cells to work. What’s with the massage, you ask? Well, since I’m in Kerala- the land of ayurvedic massages- I am on a week long detoxification program- 7 days of early morning(!) hour long massages!! This is what vacations are all about!!:)

My mom is also undergoing a treatment at the same place. Of course her reasons are different. She has osteo-arthiritis and the massage center has a course where they use certain techniques that help cases like her’s. Its a 3 week long course where in the first week certain special herbs, put in a potli (a small sack), are dipped in hot oil and then rubbed all over the body. The second week they put some kind of medicinal rice in the potli and dipped in oil, they rub it on the whole body. The third week is a massage with  an ayurvedic oil. Along side,  some ayurvedic medicines are given to cleanse the internal system. An old lady does the massage and oh boy she has some strength! My mom’s massage is more gentle, considering her condition- but mine wasn’t- nonetheless it felt nice!

I did get to some baking yesterday. My mom had some friends of hers coming home for tea in the evening and thought it would be the perfect time to make something. So I baked a lemon pound cake, some mocha chocolate chip cookies and these caramelized onion tartlets.

The tartlet shells are such a breeze to make and they are made with just one ingredient- well make that two if you count the 1 tablespoon butter. No! it’s not an april fool day’s joke- its actually true. The tart shells are made of rolled out bread slices. Add any filling to it and you have a great snack on your hand to serve for your guests or well, to eat it on your own!

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GRILLED CORIANDER CHICKEN LEGS

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I have been enjoying Delhi food after a long time! Today, I went to Moet’s (a restaurant in Defence Colony, Delhi) and shared a chicken sizzler and roomali roti-kakori kebab combo with my mom-in-law. Kakori kebabs are these extra delicate lamb kebabs that are generally marinated with raw papaya and wrapped around skewers and grilled. Their name comes from a village by the same name near Lucknow, Uttar Pradesh (a state in northern India). The Nawab (ruler) of Kakori village developed these kebabs to address the complaints of the British (who were ruling India at that time) that the meat was very tough. Well, besides railways and introducing us to the English language, I think this is another thing I am grateful to the British for! Thanks to them and their complaints, we get to eat melt in your mouth delicious kebabs!

On Sunday, I went to this Italian restaurant, Tonino’s that is on Mehrauli-Gurgaon road, and had amazing chicken chops with al dente spaghetti. My mom-in-law ordered a grilled fish which was very nicely cooked and flavored. For dessert we had a chocolate lasagna (I know!)- layered chocolate cake with hot chocolate sauce spread in between each layer and served with vanilla ice cream. Not only was the food good, so was the ambience. The restaurant is like a Tuscany styled villa with a verandah, outdoor seating, and trees all around. At night they put candles everywhere and make it a really romantic place to take your loved one! Alas, I went with my in-laws, which wasn’t bad either but the romantic setting could not be tested!

I remember when I was in Moscow for two years and visited Delhi on a month’s break I had made a list of places/things I wanted to visit/eat. On the list were Khan chacha’s rolls (at Khan market), Nizam’s rolls (at Connought Place), Choor choor naan that you get outside LSR (my under-grad college) and chicken momos either from Sarojini/Dilli Haat, and the oily, greasy chowmein that is popularly known as Indian-chinese! I have already ticked off IIFT dhaba’s paranthas and The Big Chill. The list would be incomplete without mentioning Dal makhani, butter chicken and butter naan.  (Well, butter chicken can also be ticked off since I had it at Saket the other day with my friends) And I also would like to have gol gappas and a better version of aloo-tikki chaat (I had the latter at a wedding but wasn’t too impressed). Yes, I am on a mission!

Anyway, coming back to what I have been cooking. Well, practically nothing! I make tea regularly (if you would consider that cooking! and I know some of us actually do!) but besides the chicken biryani and what I cooked for the party at my parents place- I have not been cooking in India.

So, the other day when my mom-in-law got some chicken legs from Khan market, I thought of making some grilled chicken legs as an accompaniment to a glass of chilled beer. Instead of making plain tandoori chicken I thought of giving the chicken a coriander flavor. Now, I have been experimenting with my in-laws microwave and today gave their grill a try. It took longer than I expected to cook- but once cooked, the chicken was soft and delicious. We were out of lemon, but I’m sure some lemon juice on top would have made an excellent appetizer. And the glass of chilled beer- well it was the icing on the cake!

I had made these yesterday evening and could not take any pictures since the lighting in the house is all yellow and it was not flattering to the dish. I saved two pieces thinking I would make them as an afternoon snack but we were out the whole day. The moment we came back and since there was still some daylight I quickly went to bake/grill the kitchen. But by the time they were ready it was dark outside. Man, the trouble I go through to get a good click. So anyways, I was stuck with another yellow click. A little photoshop helped reduce the yellow but still doesn’t do justice to the dish! Well, when I make it the next time, hopefully I’ll get a good shot!

P.S: This post was written more than a week back, but due to no internet connection for the past few days and the fact that I had been travelling I have not been able to post it till today. Not that anybody cares, or do they???Hmmmm……

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