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November 23 2011

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Gatte ki Sabzi- homemade a couple of days ago

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IKEA Round Rock TX

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rockyourmind, foods, 2010-2020.

So Long, and Thanks for All the Fish.
Reposted fromRockYourMind RockYourMind
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Nutella choco mint cake balls: Chocolate cake made from scratch, mixed with Nutella, and coated with Andes chocolate mints & Nestle semi sweets chocolate mints. Topped off with coconut flakes :)

November 22 2011

HERSHEY'S | HERSHEY'S "PERFECTLY CHOCOLATE" Chocolate Cake

Using this recipe as a base for my chocolate cake. I used Nestle’s cocoa powder, since I don’t like Hershey’s cocoa taste. Also, used 1 1/2 cups of sugar instead of 2, since I’ll be using this cake to make cake balls! :)

Someday, somewhere - anywhere, unfailingly, you’ll find yourself, and that, and only that, can be the happiest or bitterest hour of your life.

Pablo Neruda (via eles-dizem)

One of my favorite quotes. Ever.

November 21 2011

Vegetarian au Gratin (in White Sauce)

My mom’s recipe, modified a bit (she doesn’t use potatoes or bread crumbs- still comes out great!)

Ingredients:

2 1/3 cups milk (I used unsweetened almond milk)

1/4 cup corn flour or all purpose flour

salt to taste

pepper to taste

About 1 1/2 cups of mixed veggies (choose whatever you like- I used the mixed veggies frozen bag that had carrots, corn, beans)

1 potato, boiled and sliced into small pieces (optional)- No need to add potatoes if you don’t have any. Just increase the quantity of mixed veggies by 1/2 cup.

Cheese (any type you like)- Shredded or slices

2 pieces of Bread slices 

Method:

1. Pre-heat oven at 350F

2. In a pan, heat milk. Once it starts boiling, add salt, pepper, flour & bread crumbs. Once the paste thickens a bit, add it to your casserole.

3. Next, in the casserole, add your mixed veggies and potatoes. 

4. Sprinkle shredded cheese on top of veggies and the white sauce as per your liking. You can even use cheese slices. Just cut them into halves and place on top. 

5. Bake the casserole at 350F for about 30 minutes.

Enjoy! :)

Mint Chocolate Cake Balls

Makes approximately 50 (1” diameter) balls

Ingredients:
  • 1 box chocolate cake mix, plus ingredients to make the cake per box directions
  • 3/4-1 cup of peppermint scnapps
  • ~15 mint oreos, crumbled
  • 2 12-ounce bags milk chocolate chocolate chips or other melting chocolate
  • 1 box Andes Candies Creme de Menthe candies, crumbled or 1 bag Andes Candies baking chips*
Directions:
1. Make the cake according to the directions on the box, then let it cool to room temperature.

2. Carefully crumble up the cake in a bowl. (I cut it into about ten pieces in order to get it into the bowl easily, then crumbled with a fork.) 

3. Add crumbled Oreos and mix well. 

4. Add alcohol a small amount at a time until you have a moist, thick batter. 

5. Cover bowl and refrigerate for an hour or two until it’s very cold. 

6. Form the batter into small balls and place on a wax-paper lined baking sheet. Place baking sheets in freezer and freeze for a few hours until they’re fairly solid.

8. Melt chocolate chips in the microwave or in a double-boiler according to directions on the bag. At the end, stir in all but a few of the crumbled Andes candies or Andes chips and stir until they’re just melted but there are still green swirls visible. Reserve a few for decorating the tops of the balls later.

9. Dip cake balls into the chocolate, then place back on wax-paper lined baking sheet. Before chocolate sets, sprinkle the top of each ball with crushed Andes candies.

10. Let cool until they’re totally set. If you’re not going to eat them right away, store in the refrigerator. They’re great cold, but you can also serve them at room temperature.

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(via Chocolate Banana Cake — Duncan Hines®)

Spent my Monday morning baking this. Incidentally, this is the first time I’ve ever baked a cake :)

Khatti Arbi Ka Salan Recipe - Hyderabadi Recipe

A great friend of mine from Hyderabad introduced me to Arbi. I followed this recipe (more or less), but also added some fenugreek seeds during sauté. 

November 20 2011

Gatte ki Subzi

Traditional Rajasthani dish made by mom at home. Gathered the courage to cook it for the first time. It came out REALLY well!

Coconut Burfi Recipe

Made this for Diwali and it came out amazing! 

November 05 2011

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October 30 2011

Play fullscreen

Hare Krishna Video-1967 (San Francisco). I want to live in this era so badly.

October 21 2011

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subtlenights:

This is my first foray into tilt shift photography and I like it!

I took this picture during our trip to Las Vegas from the New York, New York casino building. I turned it into a tilt shift photo using this website. You should check it out.

Great picture! I took a picture from the pavement under the bridge, almost exactly same spot, in 2009. 

On eBooks and my latest readings

I read my first eBook, The Last Man in Tower, using the Kindle app for iPad, a couple of weeks ago. Husband and I were about to fly out to New Mexico for a short vacation. Since the book was pretty lengthy (650+ pages), I thought it would be convenient to get the Kindle version and download it on my iPad. Admittedly, ever since, I’ve been HOOKED to eBooks. Let me tell you that I strongly disapproved this form of reading a couple of years back when Kindle was making a big splash in the tech world. How can eBooks replace physical, awesome smelling feeling of holding a book, while you comfortably tuck yourself in bed? Well, after reading four books on my iPad over the course of last 3-4 weeks, I think they very well can. 

My main argument towards switching to eBooks:

  • So easy to carry comics, graphic novels (was using Stanza and Cloud Readers to read comics on my iPad already) and full length novels in something called an iPad that can also be used to browse the net, check emails etc. This is especially important if you are going on a trip.
  • Easy access to the in-built dictionary, by clicking on any word you don’t know  (yet). I don’t remember the last time I sat with a dictionary while reading a paper based novel. I have gotten into a great habit of looking up each word I’m not familiar with in the in-built dictionary of the Kindle/iBooks app. Who doesn’t like to learn new words?
  • I’m been slowly going green over the course of this year. I feel happier that I’ve saved at least a part of the tree by not reading a paper-based novel. (There are some paper-based books that I’ll still buy though).
  • Instant gratification. No need to drive to your public library. No need to drive to Barnes & Noble or Borders (Well it’s bankrupt now, but we used to drive to Borders to buy books). No need to wait for that shipment from Amazon. :-) (I must admit that I love Half Priced Books and will still buy used books from there. They are cheap and the store smells so awesome).
  • Other important features that might be useful to others: Changing the background color, increase/decrease size of text, making notes etc.
  • I’ve used the “Highlight” (for highlighting great lines) and “Search” function extensively. Though you can highlight lines in physical books, I have hardly ever done that because I don’t like spoiling my copies. And you can’t really “search” in paper-based books, except with your own eyes and a solid memory. ;)
  • I’m reading more than I ever did in the past couple of years. I think that’s because I can easily carry my iPad to work and read during lunch time, carry it while running an errand and carry it to bed.

So, inspite of so many great reasons to switch to eBooks, I don’t think I could take this up 100% of the time. Like I mentioned before, there are some books that I will always want to own physically. For example, some valuable graphic novels, an autographed copy of The God of Small Things by Arundhati Roy, my Harry Potter collection to name a few. 

Now, what don’t I like?

I understand that companies have made a lot of investment in producing the digital format of books, but I still can’t get mind around the fact that the eBooks cost almost as much as the hardcovers, when a book has been newly published. Why why why? Even after a couple of months, eBooks are NOT that cheap. I understand that we’ve got to pay some premium for the added comfort of carrying our entire collection wherever we go, but the current pricing structure is pretty stupid. Even more stupid if you’ve bought an actual Kindle, in which case you’re probably out of at least $80 even before buying a single copy. And factoring that $80 along with the added price of buying each digital copy brings you right where you were before you made the switch. So, you’ve got to assess if paying almost the same price (and perhaps more after you factor in the cost of your device) is really worth it for you. I didn’t go out and buy a Kindle. We’ve always had an iPad and I just use that to read my books. But my husband just pre-ordered me a Kindle Fire and I don’t know if I want it. Have read all about how it ties into the Amazon eco-system and nothing else and I’m pretty apprehensive about throwing my money on another device at this point. So, I might return it (and ask hubby to use the money to get me the iPhone 4s as soon as I’m eligible for the upgrade next Jan 2012) 

This turned out to be a pretty long post. I’m pretty sure all of you are already set in your ways and another post in the cyber world regarding an issue that has been beater to death will hardly make any difference. But I HAD to get my thoughts out there. Also, in case you’re curious, the three other books that I read in the past few weeks are:

  • The Sunset Park by Paul Auster- Great great read. Probably not Auster’s best work, but is a worthy read.
  • Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie- Ahh. I’m at a loss of words. This book is an epic and will be remembered as a modern day classic for ages to come. Always wanted to read it and I’m glad that I finally did. The only problem is, now I’m addicted to Rushdie. I follow him on Twitter. I watch his Youtube videos. I Google Rushdie- themed articles online. And I’m pretty sure I’ll be reading Satanic Verses and all other books by him pretty soon.
  • The Sense of an Ending by Julian Barnes- What a worthy book to have won the Booker Prize 2011.  First time reading Barnes and this book has set a tall tall order for his other works. In short, it is a philosophical book mainly based on life. How we live our lives, how we pray to make it normal, uneventful and as nondramatic as we can. There are lots of great thoughts regarding our memories and the games that our mind plays. How we interpret the same action in a different way at different points in our lives, how we conveniently lie to ourselves and make ourselves believe in something, believe in something the way it was not supposed to be. The main characters are pretty intense. While I’m not very convinced about their reactions to certain emotions and incidents, the book and the story line works on a broader basis. Definitely worth a read. 

Homemade Mouthwash Recipe

Mix 2 ounces of Water, 1/4 Teaspoon of baking soda or Sea Salt, 1 drop of Pure Peppermint Oil, and 1 drop of Tea Tree oil. This Homemade mouthwash recipe leaves a great refreshing minty taste in your mouth and helps prevent bad breathe.

Source: Ultimate Cosmetics
Just made a batch for me and my husband and I’m really amazed by how awesome this tastes. It’s really strong- So I would recommend that you use only about 1 tsp per use. Most importantly, it’s 100% natural and has no preservatives, no alcohol, no parabens, no SLS etc. I used to buy Tom’s of Maine Mint Mouthwash and used to easily use between 1-2 large bottles a month. Well, I can strike off one item from my shopping list. :-)

October 10 2011

He wonders if it is worth hoping for a future when there is no future, and from now on, he tells himself, he will stop hoping for anything and live only for now, this moment, this passing moment, the now that is here and then not here, the now that is gone forever
— Sunset Park, Paul Auster
Even if man has changed the world around him, man himself has not changed. The facts of life are constant. You live and then you die.
— Sunset Park, Paul Auster

October 08 2011

The Last Man in Tower- Aravind Adiga

Having loved The White Tiger, I really wanted to find lots of reasons to love Adiga’s latest book, The Last Man in Tower, but somehow, I felt that the book falls short of the tall expectations that are set when the author is a Booker Prize winner. The book does a great job explaining the typical middle class man’s views and struggles in the ever burgeoning city of Bombay and how perfectly “nice” people are capable of carrying out unpleasant actions and deeds, when faced with making a decision on matters that will alter the courses of their pitiful lives. Beyond this, the book fails to rouse the reader who is already accustomed to the intricacies of India and her people. There are lots of instances where the main plot drags on, with Adiga adding little to the overall storyline. The main protagonist’s (Masterji) character seems half baked, unrealistic  and most of us wouldn’t subscribe to his belief system in light of the idealistic stand that he takes against the builder, Mr. Shah. For example, at one point, Masterji is still thinking of turning down Mr. Shah’s generous offer, but before the reader even gets a chance to address the appropriate reasonings, Masterji launches an entire crusade against the builder. 

The build up to the climax is too long and repetitive in nature. The climax itself is unbelievable and is filled with logical loopholes.

There are some great one liners in the book which I would love to share, but I really don’t want to spoil the book for anyone who wants to read it. 

The Last Man in Tower is still a worthy read, as long as you lower your expectations and don’t compare it to The White Tiger. I think it is time for Indian born authors to stop relying on Bombay and the dreams of middle class people in India to wind up a story.

September 24 2011

hope springs eternal: Mausam

cora-crawley:

  • This poster is actually a super accurate representation of the way this film plays out…
  • In that at least half the running time is spent with Shahid either standing in front of a plane (Look, he’s a pilot! Do you see! ARE YOU SURE YOU GOT IT?!) or brooding off into the distance.
  • Not that…

Watched it last night and absolutely HATED it. But Shahid did look very handsome <3 I was getting SO frustrated seeing them being apart- I don’t know how the calamity torn lovers handled it. Bleh. Never again. 4/10. 

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