The food tag- Meme and a food ramble

To keep up with the Rambling prompt I have resorted to cheating. Cheating times two if you think about it! Eeh!
Cheating 1: This was supposed to be one rambling per day, but thanks to yours truly and her laziness I am still playing catch up on the posts. This is post four :(
Cheating 2: This ramble is going to contain a food  tag that I read from a blog that I stalk  and love.
Cooking is something I got interested in only after marriage. Oh I did know the perfunctory tea, coffee, chapathi, 2 types of side dishes and basic rice varieties like lemon rice etc but as the PC tries to tell me again and again, In theory there is no difference between theory and practice; but in practice, there is. Which we learnt the hard way, that is a story for another time :)

Lets go ahead to the meme:

1. What is the first dish that you cooked?

I had made dry aloo subzi when i was in school. I remember my Anna (elder brother) ate it with so much gusto that I decided to be his life long fan after that :) which I still am :):) 

2. What is the first dish that you cooked for your better half? (If you are not married, you can tell us what you are planning to cook for him/her)?

Well here, I played safe. I did not cook for him till we got married, though the PC kept asking me to. Now I can safely accept that it was partly because I was scared of scaring him off with my then dismally limited cooking skills. He of course, claims that nothing could scare him away , sweet man that he is! After we got married and came back from his parents house I made dal for him, which he dutifully slurped :):)

3. Which food were you reserved to try first but then liked later it since you acquired the taste?

Amaranth Leaves. I used to hate the smell of these leaves cooking, but the PC has made me learn to like (not love, mind you!) stuff made with these leaves

4. What is your comfort food?

Can think of so many dishes that can comfort me right now!

Chapathis and aloo subzi like how my mom makes, with a generous pinch of hing

Dal, rice and a simple dry subzi

Rajma chawal

5. Which dish of yours you like the best?

Jeera rice, rajma, akki rotti, pasta with white sauce

6. Which dish of yours your family likes the best?

The PC likes aloo palak, paneer matar and garlic rolls and cakes made by me!

7. What is your favorite street food?

Different strokes from different places:

Delhi: Aloo tikki, pani puri, jalebi.. yum!!

Mumbai: Pav bhaaji, sev puri

Bangalore: Nippat chat (only place that I have eaten it)

8. Tell us about any of your kitchen disaster story.

I once told the PC that he is in for a treat as I was making dhokla (gram flour savory cakes) for the evening snack. I kept the batter in the cooker but then got so busy making the chutney that I forgot to turn off the cooker. Long story short, burnt besan (gram flour) is not a sweet smell!! 

9. Any one or two food confessions ;-) ;-)

I love love love chocolates. I can probably eat an entire pack of Lindt truffles in a couple of days.
I dislike eating rice at night. Not for any diet related reasons, just dislike it. I know its considered blasphemy to hail from the south of India and not love rice, but there you go, normally contrary me!

10. Apart from basic stuff, like milk, yogurt, veggies what you have in your fridge or in pantry? (Name any 3 items)

Dosa batter, leftover cake, eggs, Jam

11. Any food related or cooking resolutions for this year?

Nothing in particular, but I realize its high time I started making healthier choices in food

12. In our custom when you goto Kasi, you need to give up one of your favorite veggie and fruit. So you cannot eat that veggie or fruit from then on. Which one you would you give up? (It should be your favorite one)

Favorite fruit is mango and favorite veggie is okra. But I do not think I would be able to give up these things for long

13. You need to prepare a 3 course meal for a party? What dishes will be there in your menu?

Pumpkin soup and cheese corn balls
Mango soda
Pasta with 3 sauces- white, red and pesto
Garlic bread
Chocolate cake with icecream

If this tag interests you and you haven’t taken it up already, please feel free to do so! 

February Ramblings- Shopping woes

Since I have taken it up to ramble this month and I am way, way behind on the number of posts for this prompt, I have to pull up my socks and get to the business now. After all, a promise is a promise is a promise, especially so when it is made only to one's own self!

This past week has been crazy. Just when the dust settled from my move here that one of room mates is planning to leave. The past few days have gone in a haze of shopping. Now shopping is one of those things that I can take only in small doses (others include intrusive questions from people who have no reason to intrude, unsolicited advice and sugar). But ironically, for a disinterested shopper, I too tend to buy more things than I can store :)

Some times, the problem is having too many options rather than too few. Show me ten types of tops that I can buy and I will keep pondering over and over again on the pros and cons of the different types till I decide according to the what I call the "Golden rule of shopping". Here it goes, for all you uninformed shoppers out there:When in doubt, do not buy!!

This is what happened to me this past week. Everywhere we went, I saw some things I thought I wanted, but after thinking, ditched the idea of buying altogether as per the golden rule. And like I said, after a while shopping gets on my nerves. The feet start aching, eyes get confused looking at all the price tags after all, how many aisles can one person see before they all start looking the same?

I remember, two days after I landed here, the roomie took me shopping for boots as boots are as essential as clothes during the winter here. After trying on what seemed like a gazillion boots, I ended up buying a pair just when my eyes started to glaze. I do wish I had the dedication that some people I know have, to find the perfect everything, not only for themselves, but for others as well. To think about it, in things that really matter to me, I am a perfectionist. Like books,gifts for others, bags etc. but when it comes to things that are utilitarian in nature, this problem rears its ugly head.

This affliction is a boon when I realize I do not resort to shopping as therapy by default, though the few times I have tried it, it actually worked. It is the bane of my existence when I really want to buy something and get lost in the whys, whens and other questions that the little voice in my mind likes to ask me or even worse when I get lost amidst all the trials and end up buying something to just hold me up till the next time.

Enough rambling about my shopping woes, do you have any?

Till next time,
Cheers

Book review- Gone Girl - Gillian Flynn

Since I have decided to join the rambling wagon started by Shail (of Shailsnest) this month and I am I am already lagging behind on a couple of posts, I thought, why not ramble about one of the few good books I read in 2014: Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn.

I have been hearing about this book from a lot of sources: my friends, the blogs I stalk, goodreads, social networking sites, you get the picture, but somehow, though, I had this book in my Kindle, I never got around to reading it. It was only after I heard from the PC about the movie that my curiosity was finally piqued. I got to reading it and my reading being a million times faster than my writing, I finished reading it in a night. Okay, enough about me, lets get talking about the book; because after all, this is a book review!

Gone Girl is a book that starts with a interesting premise. A beautiful, intelligent, city-bred and discontent wife disappears on her fifth wedding anniversary from her small town home, in what seem like suspicious circumstances. As the book progresses, the husband is considered as the main suspect due to his seeming indifference to the wife's abduction, his inability to explain his whereabouts on the morning of the incident lots of other pieces of circumstantial evidence. In addition, the wife has devised a treasure hunt to rekindle the spark that his fizzed out of their romance. The husband Nick Dunne is clueless and evasive about their relationship. Conflicting accounts, lies and evasions of the Dunne marriage escalate the suspicion on Nick who is desperately searching for his wife.

I have read several reviews of this book (from the many sources I mentioned earlier) and so I knew the plot before hand, but once I started reading, I could not put this book down. The book is written in alternate POV, making the narration all the more interesting. The suspense, the thought process that has gone into every scene, twist, turn kept me hooked till the end. It is one of those books that make you look at the world and the people around you in a different way.

This is the first book I have read from this author, and I can not wait to devour more of her books. I would say, if you like suspense, and have not already seen the movie Gone Girl (isn't Ben Affleck so ultra cute!!) go ahead and pick this book. It does not have spies, takeovers and international politics but shows us that marriage can sometimes be the biggest power struggle.      

                          

Five Sentence Fiction- Bedtime

As she cowered in the corner of her room, she knew that locked doors served no protection against the actual terrors of the night.She had not had a full night's sleep in five years, not since the summer she turned seven and her ecstatic mother introduced her to her new 'father'.
Every day after bedtime, her 'father' paid her a visit, muffling her screams with grimy hands, killing her innocence bit by bit. But when those beady eyes started focusing on her six-year old sister, she knew she had to slay the monster living in their midst. Today, the shivering hands hidden behind the cowering body held the biggest knife from the kitchen, ready to vanquish the monster of her nightmares, for once and for all.

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What it’s all about: Five Sentence Fiction is about packing a powerful punch in a tiny fist. Lillie McFerrin (http://lilliemcferrin.com/) posts a word prompt every week for inspiration  and anyone wishing to participate may write a five sentence story based on the prompt word.

This week's prompt is Bedtime.

The first post of 2015- Missing most things

Well, 2014 passed off in a breeze. I can not believe that it already a month past in the new year. 2014 brought a huge change in my life, I moved from India to the US in mid- December. Perhaps the excitement of the move, coupled with the fact that I was going to travel alone can excuse the scarce number of posts since September...Perhaps not. :) The fact of the matter is that I began so many posts in my mind while completing my chores, while travelling, at work and so on, but as soon as I opened the laptop to write something, poof! all those  thoughts disappeared like fog on a sunny day! Hello, blogger's block :)


So now it has been nearly one and half month in the US, and since the initial chaos of relocation is wearing off, I have started missing most things from my life back in Bangalore.  I miss so many things from back home already- my family, friends, the weather, the street food, my team, the list just goes on.Back in Bangalore, me and the PC used to stay alone in an apartment near by to our offices, the in-laws stay at the other end of the city and my parents stay in my native town. So, some times it used be a couple of weeks between visits to the in-laws and in the case of my parents, it used to be months, But still, here I feel like I have not seen them since forever.I am already missing my parents' visits to Bangalore, when I used to be treated like a princess. :(
I miss my gang of friends from office, the numerous tea breaks, walks after lunch, frequent trips to the malls and so many more things. Here, the weather is currently too cold to allow many excursions outside and so its just home to office and back for me... I am staying with two wonderful roommates- R1 and R2. R1 is planning to return to India soon, so most of the weekends have been spent in shopping, window shopping and basically just having fun. I have realized that living with someone will make you very close to them, I did not know R1 or R2 before coming here, but within 5 odd weeks, we have become bosom buddies :):). Being a vegetarian, my options to eat at office are severely limited here, so we cook everyday, together, chat, tell each other secrets, giggle like teenagers, watch movies and shows on Netflix and call it a night.

 A major change in my life is that the PC is still in India. It is the first time that we have not been together to bring in the New Year since we got married. So New Year's was a a subdued affair for both of us. Here is to hoping me and my Prince Charming (PC) spend all the coming new years together :):)

So this is normally contrary me, blogging again after a hibernation of sorts, alone in a new country in a new year, rambling about everything and anything around me. I am a huge and mostly silent fan of Shail's Nest (http://shailsnest.com/) and thanks to her new tag, I have finally written (more like scribbled)  a complete post after realizing I have done zilch writing for this year! I do not know if this qualifies for Shail ji's tag, but sure hope it does :) First post in 2015, yay!!!

Verses and prose

Here is a list of all the poetry published on this blog:

• Solitary Quest
• Soulmates
• When you come back
• Lost Love

Five sentence fiction more to your taste? Read on,

• Bedtime

Solitary Quest

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There she goes, towards the intangible horizon

walking with steps measured  and sure

Creating ripples as she crosses the rivers of pain

Shielding eyes from ever-present censure

Stepping over shards of dreams slain

There she goes, towards the intangible horizon

On her solitary quest for the elusive shore

Her determination her only armor

Forged by fire,she emerged, stronger than before

And in the eye of the storm,

She stands smiling, her incongruous thoughts calmer.

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For this poem, I have not followed any form (no surprise there!). I came across this prompt ad have tried to do justice to Magpie's picture.
Linking this poem to Magpie Tales: Mag 238. Image source: The same prompt.