Heart Warming Stories, Soulful Food : Easy Peasy Grilled Fish And Pineapple Salsa (For lazy single girls and boys :) )

My dinner tonight was amazing and I absolutely have to share this recipe with you all. It is a simple, no nonsense gourmet delight in your kitchen within thirty minutes. Makes sense for me and a lot of single, working crazy hour’s people out there. 

I have always been wary of cooking fish however recently I have vowed to be healthy in my food habits and fish seems to the smart option for dinner. The problem is I love eating fish but I don’t like if it smells fishy. My Indian palate also craves for something tangy and full of masala. So I need to really think before I cook any kind of sea food. After spending an hour browsing the internet for some inspiration today, I came across a few recipes that I decided to combine and make this yummy pain grilled fish and salad.

Pan grilled soy fish with caramelized onions and a pineapple salsa salad

 The fish –

Make a marinate of  1 tbsp olive oil,  2 tbsp chopped onions, 2 tbsp lime juice, 2 tbsp dark soy sauce, 1 tsp garlic paste. Mix portions of fish fillets with the marinate and keep aside for 15-20 mins (I used cream dory fillets and kept the marinate in the fridge)

You can bake the fish or grill it in an Ikea grill pan if you are as lazy as me. Allow the onions to caramelize and put the remaining marinate on the fish as well

The fish was ready in 5 minutes on medium heat, I didn't use any extra oil, the olive oil in the marinate was enough.

The salad –

The soy flavor of the fish needed something sweet and tangy to break the strong soy flavor. So I decided on a pineapple salsa. The prep for this can be done while the fish marinates, but you would like to leave it in the fridge for a while as it tastes heavenly when it’s cold and the flavors have had time to blend together.

Finely chop a cup full of pineapple, some spring onions, some red onions, half a red pepper, 2-3 tbsp of coriander and one jalapeno. Mix all this with 1 tsp of honey, juice of 1 lime, salt, pepper, a pinch of paprika and a pinch of cumin powder.

The fish goes so well with the salad. And even on its own the salad is refreshing and quite awesome! The caramelized onions give a very sizzler type flavor to the fish and there is no fishy smell :- )

So much so for healthy food, I am ending my dinner with an absolutely delicious coconut macaroon from Waitrose.

well, it is the weekend and a little bit of indulgence is allowed, isn’t it? ;-) 

Happy Cooking!

Time To Throw Away The Yo Yo

Call me ignorant or lazy but sometimes I fail or simply refuse to see an issue hanging right in front of me. The issue goes up and down like a yo-yo and I simply try to look right and left, pretending it’s just not there.

I have been doing this for a while on an over powering issue hanging over my head. So, I was quite surprised when something very simple made me stop, stand back and take notice.

I was threatened, not physically, emotionally or mentally but threatened by an anger that rose out of me. In the larger scheme of things, probably the one thing that made me sit back and notice the ever swinging yo-yo was something very small and silly. But it had links that I realized led to everything that issue was made of. 

I tried to put two and two to make five, eight and ten. Acknowledgement = respect = honesty = gratitude = counting your blessings every day = happiness.

Seems simple, but to practice this is very tough. I sat down and listed each one of these attributes to see if everything fit this bill. If it did, then life couldn’t be better.

While I struggled to balance my insecurities as an artist, writer and self-confessed creative junkie with my poker faced, stiletto wearing, quiet and patient avatar, I wondered which side will tip sooner and which person inside me will take the lead, now that the truth was dawning upon me. 

If my happiness depended of gratitude and respect, I needed to do and be in every situation that fulfilled these attributes.

How many times in life, if not forever, we allow ourselves to live without the fulfillment of these attributes. We make excuses, give up and give in, only to rot inside because something always remains amiss. 

We forget that what matters in life is if our inner core is smiling, if we are actually smiling in our hearts, stomach and knees and not just on our faces.

We ignore indications and signs that tell us – something is not right, “You are not fulfilling your sole and inherent right to be happy”. We just ignore that voice deep inside us and allow ourselves to believe that we could make do with the average.

It is when this realization seeped into my soul that something inside me snapped. Something changed.

I pledged.

From today, I allow my eccentric artist to take the lead. Today, I give up on the average and empty that space in my life for the best to come and fill it. I believe that I deserve all the happiness of the universe, because I am God's blessed baby. Today, I throw away the yo-yo and look straight ahead into the future that shines so, so bright. 

Today, I take a step into an ocean of happiness and allow myself to float away in its glory, forever.

Luzern Top 5 Things To Do (On A Budget)

My top 5 picks for the budget traveler to Luzern, Switzerland. Have a read and maybe you can add some of yours :-)

Fairytale Luzern

1) Feed the swans 

These babies are ALWAYS hungry. And look at that view!

Apart from the fact that you get surrounded by plenty of swans and it is the prettiest sight in the whole world, you get to sit and stare at people walking up and down the Chapel Bridge for free. You would in other circumstances spend quite a lot for a pint of a glass of wine to people watch at one of the busiest places in Luzern. This way you feed the hungry and can spend an evening staring at the sun setting over this fairytale town.

Information on the Chapel Bridge and the area around it can be found here http://www.myswitzerland.com/en/old-city-chapel-bridge-water-tower-lucerne.html

2) Grab a drink at Roadhouse

Roadhouse, Luzern

It’s a cute little bar close to the Bahnhof and is packed almost every night, wait in the line, it is worth it. The pizza is great and they serve beer by the bottle. Get a big Heineken for 5CFH and split it between two. Just next to it is McDonalds perfect for a cheap dinner post drinks. 

Check out Roadhouse here http://www.roadhouse.ch/RH/

3) Hog on Doner Kebabs

Yumminess!

The Doner Kebab rolls here are quite different from the ones in Turkey. These ones are juicy and minus French fries. In an expensive country they make for a really filling, yummy and cheap dinner option. 

I found this amazing kebab shop right next to my B&B check it out here http://rote-perle.ch/kontakt.htm

4) Hop on and off on a boat trip

Sunset from the lake

If it were up to me, I could do this the entire day and maybe the next day as well. Start your journey from Luzern and get off at the next tiny town, walk around and get back on to the next boat making your way to another town. This makes you see the quaintness of Switzerland. Some of the villages are so quiet you wonder if anyone even lives there. But these little insides are so pretty, I could get lost in them forever. Another option is to take a train in any direction, get off at every station and just walk around. Trust me; it will be way better than spending your day in the touristy places.

Tickets can be bought on the spot or online, check out the website for Lake Luzern here http://www.lakelucerne.ch/en.html

5) Walk around the old quarter 

Should I shop, should I stare?

Walk a bit, stop for a glass of wine and then walk a little more. The picturesque old quarter with its cobbled lanes, street side cafes and intricately painted buildings make it perfect for an afternoon stroll. There is a lot of window shopping to be done and if that doesn’t interest you just laze around a fountain and stare at the sky.  I went crazy taking photographs of the painted buildings and also posing in front of them (Now that is something no one would mind!)

For a great walking tour of the old quarter check out Frommers  http://www.frommers.com/destinations/lucerne/0162010008.html 


*Chapel bridge, old quarter and lake lucerne image - Idle Tuesday Afternoon Thoughts
*Swan image courtesy Jim. M. Goldstein  
*All other images from Google 

Thank You Airbnb!! - My review of the best travel site at the moment!

When I was planning my trip to Europe this summer two things were killing me – airfare and hotel rates. Even bed and breakfasts were so expensive. At one point I almost gave up the holiday planning and decided to book myself in a 5 star spa in Thailand for a week – trust me, it was turning out cheaper.

There must be an internet fairy or something because by mere chance I stumbled upon what I now call a travelers saving grace – www.airbnb.com

 

I had my doubts while I browsed through it. Mostly because I couldn’t believe the rates and the accommodation that came with it but apparently people were raving about it. I had the choice between expensive hotels and inexpensive couch surfing, this somewhere fit in the middle.  

I took the bold step and booked my Switzerland and Florence stay with airbnb and I couldn’t have had a better stay anywhere else than I did via the airbnb hosts. The dynamics of my entire holiday changed because of this, for starters I had more money to spend of food and then I met some amazing people!

My host in Luzern, Viki, hosts two rooms in her lovely apartment right in the city center, I loved making breakfast and looking out from her kitchen window, it seemed like I lived in Luzern forever. Viki on her own turned out to be a gem of a person and even volunteered to drop me to Zurich if I missed my train early in the morning. Now where would I find that in a hotel?

Viki's amazing home

In Florence, though it took a while to find and I almost saw half of Florence while looking for the apartment, Mario’s apartment was one of the most beautiful homes I have seen. Mario, taking a break from work was right there to pick my bags and take them up several flights to this old building and as soon as I took a breath he spread out on his dining table the map to Firenze and marked each restaurant and bar I should visit and what I should eat where. Mario and Harry left me the sweetest note and some chocolates for my journey back home. It was the sweetest end I could have had to my trip.

The view from my window at Mario's apartment

In the end I have to say I was pleasantly surprised, mostly because I was so vary about booking from the website. 

However the fact that when I was in their city, I referred to their address as ‘Home’ kind of says it all! My hosts were such nice people and made each day I spent in their home a lovely one. 

Airbnb as an organization was apt with emails, reminders and most of all the cost of my entire stay, making it so cheap!

I am back and already planning my next trip and guess where I went first – www.airbnb.com this time I am deciding a vacation spot based on a pretty vacation home for rent. 

For all you travelers out there, before you rush and book into a hotel, check out this website and you might actually live, eat and party like and with the locals! 

Until my next update from the recent trip to the updates on the next upcoming one – Happy Travels!

All images copyright - idle tuesday afternoon thoughts 

All Roads lead to Rome via a bit of Switzerland!

I recently took a trip of a lifetime (well almost.. until I take another one) This one was special because I’ve wanted to visit Rome. When I was mere eight years old, someone had gifted me a book with pictures of all these grand buildings and piazzas that looked like nothing I had ever seen in my small little town. Ever since then if there was one place I wanted to visit, it was Italy.

Then bonus of the trip happened when visa issues led me to make a stopover in Switzerland, I don’t exactly remember when I fell in love with those landscapes in my head. I hate to sound clichéd but perhaps it was when I saw DDLJ in Natraj Theater. I am now grown up and secure enough to admit the effect the movie had on me leading me to a point of getting hideous clothes stitched exactly as Kajol wore in the movie and daydream about chapels and cowbells.

It was an interesting mix of cities – Luzern, Rome and Florence. From the pristine, almost perfect quaint villages of Switzerland to the chaos of Italy. I would hate to admit that while this was supposed to be a very reflective trip the only reflection that took place in the ten days I was on it was of my own eyes in numerous glasses of wine.

The result of all that food and wine (and gelato of course) is something I am suffering now, but what I really and truly did in those ten days was indulge, with no shame.

Luzern took a little piece of my heart that now stays amid the swans and flowers. It is that place you know fairies live in. Spikey piers, wooden bridges, lakes with snow white swans and snowcapped mountains.

Pretty Luzern

Oh Perfection!

Fondue and local beer

After about three days however I was overloaded with perfection. That is my problem, I can’t handle perfection. It unnerves me to no end. I was actually looking for something wrong in God’s perfect place. How can the cows also look so perfect?! What did we do wrong to get dirty, undernourished cows?!

Thank God for Rome to get me back to reality. I was quite nervous about Italy. Hangover of The Godfather maybe and considering everyone told me to keep my passport safe, I clutched my bag close to me as soon as I landed. But what a welcome and warm stay this country gave me. I fell in love with everything Italian – no men though, threw just one coin into the Trevi fountain, leaving falling in love for the next visit!

Breathtaking

Everywhere you look, something will amaze you!

Rome is one of those places that feels like home, once you allow her to lead you, she will. She will take you to nooks and corners to surprise you with so much grandeur; she will allow you to indulge all your senses at each moment. I remember sitting and eating gelato with strawberries the best I have ever eaten looking at the Trevi fountain at a distance, hearing music somewhere in the background and breathing in crisp air. That moment, just that one, I will never forget.

D.E.L.I.C.I.O.U.S

While Rome amazes you, Florence melts your heart. There was a point late at night I stood looking at the Ponte Vecchio and for a moment I believed that perhaps masters of Renaissance were actually standing next to me. It was a very ‘midnight in Paris’ moment where I felt somehow I will be transported back through centuries to this place where all the magic started.

Don't close your eyes

Florence in one word is – magical. And how one can just feel the magic and not lay a finger on it, I cannot pin point what touched me about Florence. It simply made me feel as if I was floating in a magical land that has the best pizza place in that part of the country!

Breathtaking Tuscan countryside

Florence = Amazing food!

While I am not sure I will go back to Switzerland, I know Italy is a country I will visit again and again and I am quite sure every time it will show me something different, something more to love and lots more to eat. 

Until then... Ciao!

All images copyright - idle tuesday afternoon thoughts

Someone Said....

It's one of those things people say, you can't move on until you let go of the past.
Letting go is the easy part, its the moving on that's painful.
So sometimes we fight it, try and keep things the same.
Things cant stay the same though, at some point you just have to let go, move on.
Because no matter how painful it is, its the only way we grow.

- Greys Anatomy
S6/EP20

Emptiness.

One by one,
I try to pull out,
Each memory, every detail,
etched into my skin,
Inside this bubble of emptiness,
To once more become empty again.

Nothingness.

There is a certain silence in the world tonight,
occasionally disturbed by the humming of the refrigerator,
As I build a wall,
One brick at a time.

I'm Back! (Almost)

Everyone keeps asking me why I haven't written in so long. Honestly, I have sixteen unfinished blog posts on my laptop but I haven't been able to see myself in them, hence they are not here. A lot has transpired since the past four months and i am not quite sure, this post is my best work, or it can even explain what I want to say. But I hope it is a start, baby steps back to writing, something that defines me yet I just couldn't get on doing recently.

I want to write about all the transformation I have been seeing in and around me since the past four months, I hope I can though because honestly, I am still experiencing it. I am still in a state of being, and far from the chapter end this time. 

Anyhow, I have had the hardest four months, since as long as I can remember. Everyday in the past few months when I woke up I forced my mind to believe that it was going to be a good day. While most days were simply ok, others were horrible and some were quite amazing. That kind of sums up an entire life, doesn't it?

I have, since the year started stepped into territories I always said I would and then never did, only to regret and complain that my life wasn't complete. The one thing that these four months taught me was that happiness cannot be found via other people. It can only come from within. Most of my happiness has always depended on other people, and that is just the way I am, much like a sponge. I permeate everything around me, positive and negative till I am so full that I don't have the energy or the space to understand and express what I feel like. So as this year started I decided that while I could not change my core and I would always be a sponge, I could start reserving a little bit of that space for my own self. So what if no one was a part of it, it would be all mine. 

I started by dancing, bought a camera finally, started pottery classes and I jumped out of a plane. It was when I was at the edge of the plane, looking down 15000 feet at the world I inhabit (technically) that it hit me, I was with complete strangers and if by chance the parachute did not open and I did fall straight into some building, my last few moments of life would be in the company of these people.  The only person I knew in that aircraft was myself. And so, I filled myself with every memory, every moment in a matter of a few seconds. I have never felt so complete and so in sync with myself as I did for those couple of seconds before I jumped. I was after a long time, my own best friend once again.

I have, for the lack of a better word, 'struggling' to achieve a peace within me. A state of calmness that I have known before and have now lost the directions to.  Since the past few months, I have been in a state of 'want' and God knows that makes one restless. As a friend told me a while back, "you want the right things, but you want them all right NOW and that is the cause of all your heartache" I reflect and it is so true.

I am yearning for life to reveal the meaning of this transformation and restlessness to me right now. I am desperate to seek answers and solutions to my never ending quests and I am eager to change everything around me to the way I presume it should be.

I wish it were that easy.

I wish I could discard this lingering feeling of 'why, what and why not's' and just flow like a calm, silent river in the direction it was rightly supposed to flow.
It all makes sense in the end, just like a puzzle, one day all the pieces will come together. It is the path to transformation, the yearning and the eagerness that keeps us going towards the light that reveals itself in all it's glory, someday, somehow and then, life is never the same. (that is what the all say) I wish what they say is true. That all this does have a meaning in the bigger, bigger picture that one day I will rise above and look down upon. And smile.

Till then, I am this spiritual being who is just not getting the right food to fed a hungry soul that lives behind the shadows of the person I pretend to be.

You, my eternal self, I hope we meet soon.

And I am back with full gusto and so much more to write...
Until then, on this spiritual journey, stay with me readers. 

XX

On Change

 

I have often wondered if one can prepare themselves for devastation. Devastation that you know will sooner or later happen inside of you, turning everything you know, everything you believe into crumbles.

It is when you see the tide coming in when you realize the storm is going to hit soon and the only one standing there to welcome it will be you.

So you do what any one does who has been devastated a few times. You start to pretend that everything is ok, you build a little hut, dance around the beach, sip some coconut water. And wait.

You wait - wondering, evaluating, and slowly losing each bit and piece you once knew about yourself, each memory you built into nothingness. 

You know that devastation is the process to transformation, you know once the storm is over and everything is washed clean, there will be sunshine, there will be hope and there will emerge someone entirely different inside of you. You know it because you have seen many a storms and tides. 

But every once in a while in the wait, when the sand slips in between your fingers and there is just nothing you can do about it. The helplessness of not having control, the sinking of your feet into the sand, all of those things… you wish if you could get into a shell and turtle your way smoothly through the storm, just this one time.

And while the rain starts to fall slowly and no shell magically appears around you, you close your eyes and hope that that emerging person inside of you will somehow have the answer of how to prepare for devastation.

I Have Learned

Answers are everywhere, its about opening your eyes to actually see them.
I found this online and it made so much sense, it made so many things clear.
Read on...

I have learned (author unknown)

I’ve learned that you cannot make someone love you. All you can do is be someone who can be loved. The rest is up to them;
I’ve learned that no matter how much I care, some people just don’t care back;
I’ve learned that it takes years to build up trust, and only seconds to destroy it.
I’ve learned that it’s not what you have in your life but who you have in your life that counts;
I’ve learned that you can get by on charm, for about fifteen minutes. After that, you’d better know something;
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t compare yourself to the best others can do.
I’ve learned that you can do something in an instant that will give you heartache for life.
I’ve learned that it’s taking me a long time to become the person that I want to be.
I’ve learned that you should always leave loved ones with loving words. It may b the last time you see them.
I’ve learned that you can keep going long after you can’t.
I’ve learned that we are responsible for all we do, no matter how we feel.
I’ve learned that either you control your attitude or it controls you.
I’ve learned that no matter how hot and steamy a relationship is at first, the passion fades and there had better be something else to take it’s place.
I’ve learned that heroes are the people who do what has to be done when it needs to be done, regardless of the consequences.
I’ve learned that money is a lousy way of keeping score.
I’ve learned that my best friend and I can do anything or nothing and have the best time.
I’ve learned that sometimes the people you expect to kick you when you’re downhill are the ones to help you get back up.
I’ve learned that sometimes when I’m angry I have the right to be angry, but that doesn’t give me the right to be cruel.
I’ve learned that true friendship continues to grow, even over the longest distance. Same goes for true love.
I’ve learned that just because someone doesn’t love you the way you want them to doesn’t mean that they don’t love you with all they have.
I’ve learned that maturity had more to do with what types of experiences you’ve had and what you’ve learned from them and less to do with how many birthdays you’ve celebrated.
I’ve learned that your family won’t always be there for you. It may seem funny, but people you aren’t related to can take care of you and love you and teach you to trust people again. Families aren’t biological.
I’ve learned that no matter how good a friend is, they’re going to hurt you every once in a while and you must forgive them for that.
I’ve learned that it isn’t always enough to be forgiven by others. Sometimes you have to forgive yourself.
I’ve learned that no matter how bad your heart is broken, the world doesn’t stop for your grief.
I’ve learned that our background and circumstances may have influenced who we are, but we are responsible for who we become.
I’ve learned that just because two people argue, it doesn’t mean they don’t love each other. And just because they don’t argue, it doesn’t mean they do.
I’ve learned that we don’t have to change friends if we understand that friends change.
I’ve learned that you shouldn’t be so eager to find out a secret. It could change your life forever.
I’ve learned that two people can look at the exact same thing and see something totally different.
I’ve learned that no matter how you try to protect your children, they will eventually get hurt and you will get hurt in the process.
I’ve learned that your life can be changed in a matter of hours by people who don’t even know you.
I’ve learned that even when you think you have no more to give, when a friend cries out to you, you will find the strength to help.
I’ve learned that credentials on the wall do not make you a decent human being.
I’ve learned that the people you care about the most in life are taken from you too soon.
I’ve learned that it’s hard to determine where to draw the line between being nice and not hurting people’s feelings and standing up for what you believe.

I'm listening to Istanbul (Intent, my eyes closed)

“Istanbul is beautiful and your time is very limited” – This is the first thing a Turkish woman told me when I landed at the Ataturk International Airport.

I didn’t know what she really meant till the bus that was transferring me from the airport to the hotel stopped at the Sultanahmet square and I glanced at The Hagia Sophia and The Blue Mosque for the first time. I knew I was home, I knew I was in love.

 

The Blue Mosque and The Hagia Sophia at night

Seamlessly blending modernism with a rich culture, Istanbul springs a pleasant surprise at every corner. The city transforms itself from a historical hub with lazy, winding cobbled lanes to a street party with fantastic music, food and wine within hours. It is a city that never sleeps!

In the midst of the dark night a faint tune travels across the city... a musician strumming his guitar, keeping a row of men standing on a bridge with their fishing rods in the sea entertained and amused. Fresh catch is caught every minute, a smoke; a chestnut break is taken every hour till finally dawn beckons on the horizon with a fleet of birds and the call for prayer..........

You wake up to the smell of food and to the sound of music. The whiff of freshly baked simits, Doner kebabs, baklavas and hot tea mingles with the fresh, crisp air. The street cafes switch on local music while they set tables and wait for customers in the bright sun.

Reach Sultanahmet square and you can soak in years and years of history just by standing in the middle of the road and taking a 360 degree whirl. A break from all the sightseeing deserves a nice lazy lunch at one of many street side cafes, all of which have very graphic menus and extra friendly servers. Dig into traditional Ottoman and Turkish cuisine while you watch the world go by or for an exotic romantic setting find your way to many roof top restaurants that offer some great views of the Blue Mosque and Hagia Sophia.

To digest all that food, walk and then walk some more! Stop for some tea and then walk again till you can just lose yourself in the madness of one of the Bazaars.

The chillness of early evening brings in the aroma of sheesha that will find you anywhere you are. Fancy milk or coffee flavoured sheesha? Worry not, the Turks have their quirks.

While birds prepare to go back home, the scene at the dock changes. A sudden buzz, frantic, hurried people travelling across continents. Watch the sunset from a boat and get a chance to feed seagulls that will travel with you, leaving behind a series of mosques towering the sky and enchanting houses you wish you could own.

At the final stop, jump off the boat to jump into fresh fish kebab sandwiches, all that cruising is sure to make anyone hungry!

Night falls on Istanbul and she becomes a beauty with all the lights and glitter she is adorned with. She celebrates her grace by welcoming thousands of people into one street where it doesn’t matter who you are or where you come from. You become a part of something so much bigger than yourself. You will talk to strangers, listen to a language you don’t understand and in all this you will find yourself one with her.

By lanes going off Istiklal Street are like a chocolate box, you never know what you’re going to find. And whatever you do, will be an experience of a lifetime. Drink up some Raki in a tiny pub listening to some live Turkish rock music, join the gang of locals taking over the street with their dance and back at the tiny table and stool awaits a plate of mussels and a mug of Effes to pump in some energy you sure need to match up with the turks!

.......As the crowds scatter, I walk back on that bridge watching the moon glitter the dark waters and the stars play hide and seek, somewhere close by a guitar still strums and up goes a fishing rod with lots of catch. I take a deep breath, close my eyes and try to encompass everything I have seen and felt into this one moment, a tiny part of her soul merges with mine. And I know that she loves me back.

Till next time.....

P.S - To leave you with a sweeter taste of Istanbul, a few lines from a beautiful poem by Orhan Veli Kanik titled - 'I'm listening to Istanbul' (read the full poem here)
 

  All images copyright - idle tuesday afternoon thoughts

Heart Warming Stories, Soulful Food : Desi Pizza For Single Girls (For an evening full of Gluttony)

"You better cut the pizza in four pieces because I'm not hungry enough to eat six" – Yogi Berra

On cold winter Saturday evenings which happened to be our treat day my mum would give us a choice – pizzas or burgers. Mind you, we hardly ate out and there was no Dominos or Pizza Hut during the 1980’s where I grew up.

Our treat meant that mum would pull out her Tarla Dalal cookbook start making dough and have yummy pizzas out from a battered orange coloured oven in no time.

The kitchen in my childhood home (a stable from the British times converted into a home) was out in the veranda and my memories of those Saturday evenings still stick to the smell of slightly burnt cheese and tomato which travelled through the veranda. We would sit on a swing and look out to the garden waiting for the pizzas to get ready, with half filled transparent glasses from the weekly quota of one Thumbs up bottle split in careful measure between my brother and me.

 We grew up of course and the homemade dough turned into readymade pizza bread from the local bakery. What didn’t change was mum’s secret recipe for the sauce that gave the pizza such a desi flavour and trust me though pizza happens to be one of my comfort junk food nothing has ever come close to what we used to make at home.

A few days ago a sudden urge for those pizzas came over me and off I went BBMing mum to remind me of the recipe!

Because I love olives and can have a full jar in one sitting I used olives in my version of the pizza my mum used to make, I also used readymade bread and tomato puree because seriously, who has the time?

With so many shortcuts, it is perhaps the easiest and fastest vegetarian meal to make when you get back from work at 9pm, skip the gym, dont mind a dinner full of cheese & bread and have just an hour before you eat and crash.

So here goes my recipe for the Sethi’s version of pizza twisted especially for single working girls (and boys too) :-)

What you need –

• 4 pizza bases (I used the frozen ones at Carrefour and tasted great)
• 1 can of tomato puree (I love Pomi’s)
• 4-5 pods of garlic chopped finely
• 1 teaspoon Ajwain (Bishops weed/Carom seeds)
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• ½ teaspoon freshly crushed peppercons
• 1 table spoon oil
• 1 Chopped onion for the sauce
• 1 onion cut into small pieces or chopped (however you prefer it, I use chopped onions, because I buy a pack from Carrefour and save my time and tears)
• 1 medium capsicum chopped or cut into rings
• Olives – Green or Black cut into half
• Mozzarella cheese (we grew up with grated Amul cheese on the pizza, so whatever you get your hands on)
• Salt to taste

What you need to do –

• Preheat the oven to around 170 degrees (gas mark between 6-7)
• Heat the oil in a non stick pan, add garlic and chopped onions
• When the onions become translucent add the tomato puree, add a little water to the can and scoop out everything from in it.
• Reduce the heat, add salt, sugar, ajwain, pepper and allow it to thicken
• Taste the sauce; you might want to alter the levels of sugar and salt to get that perfect tangy sweet and salty sauce. Turn off the heat when the sauce is little thick.
• Prepare the pizza - A nice thick layer of sauce and top it with onions, capsicum, olives and cheese
• Dump it in the oven till the base gets brown and crisp (I like my base extra crisp and always leave it a little longer)
• Cut into 4 or 6 pieces and hog away!*

*Eaten and served best with a can of bud**

**Guarantees sound sleep and a fresh you the next morning!

Happy Gluttony!

Heartwarming Stories, Soulful Food : Gooey Banana Walnut Cake

My interest in cooking is very recent. For starters the NEED to cook led me to get on with the pots and pans. Secondly my love for food left me with no choice but to simply just make what I felt like eating. Thirdly Masterchef Australia happens to be my favourite show on television.

Put the three together and you have me every day at 6.30 pm browsing for recipes to get home and try.

For someone who hated the kitchen, it is quite a three sixty degree change. 

As I started to cook, I realised how something inside me started to change. Cooking for me has become therapeutic and also saves me a lot of money in eating out!

I have been meaning to put down some of my recipes (actually, my versions of recipes I pick up here and there) with a story that leads to each one and honestly I was never confident. 

But something strange happened yesterday. I picked up a new baking tin from the supermarket and while I was putting down the shopping bags on the kitchen counter I noticed that two bananas were over ripe and had to be consumed immediately. 

So instead of throwing them or eating them, an idea of a banana cake popped into my head. Now, for a really really amateur cook like me, who keeps referring to recipes while cooking, something that came up by instinct was a breakthrough. 

I could feel the flavour of the cake, how I wanted it to taste like a banana muffin I had eaten before, but I wanted to be much gooier. That’s when I knew, if this turned out well, I will write about my cooking adventures because my palette for cooking has obviously started to develop as much as my palette for eating it.....Walk with me while I learn, experiment and start to love the world of cooking! 

So here goes my recipe for a Gooey Banana Walnut Cake: 

What you need -

• 170 gms self raising flour
•  170 gms castor sugar
• 170 gms I know, its butter but it makes it so much yummier. I used desi Amul butter which is salted, next time I will go for unsalted butter or margarine though
• 3 eggs
• 5-6 drops of vanilla essence
• 2 mashed bananas
• A handful of chopped walnuts
• Baking tin – grease it with some butter and then throw in some flour (an old trick my mum taught me)

 What you do –

• Pre-heat the oven to around 120 degrees (I use the gas mark which is somewhere between 2and 3)
• Just dump all the ingredients (except the walnuts) into a bowl and either use a food processor or a hand blender to blend it into a smooth mixture
• When the mixture is smooth add the walnuts and mix it well in the mixture
• Pour into the greased tin and dump it in the oven for around 50 minutes
• You will know when the sweet aroma of butter and bananas start to fill your home that the banana walnut cake is done!

What I will (and you could perhaps) do next time –

• Sprinkle some cinnamon on the cake
• Adding some cooking chocolate, perhaps try this with muffins

This is the kind of cake you just can’t have one piece of. Enjoy it as a snack on the go or with a steaming cup of tea. 

Happy eating :) 

Our Own Little Revolution (to say- Mera Neta Chor Hai!)

Without warning or notice this man has become the centre of my life right now. I read about him, he’s on the TV, I speak to people about him. If nothing more Mr. Anna Hazare, you have certainly marked your place in history.

I am not very sure I agree to everything Anna’s version of the Lok Pal Bill says, but to see my country raise a voice against something so deep rooted in endearing. Yet what I fear is like most things our enthusiasm will go down soon enough (we are used to loving our cricket team one day and thrashing them the next day). I also fear that the truth behind Anna’s cause might get completely diluted by the interference of the opposition who is obviously fuelling this to gain seats in the next election which will lead to another cycle of scams and breeding of corrupt leaders.

The bill in question is another matter – its anti democratic nature, the use of force of implementation by Anna’s team (we all know basic civics and the time taken for a million amendments and passing of a bill), its pros, its cons etc etc....

What I wonder however sitting quite far away from my country is that if I were back home would I be on the streets, flag in hand, Gandhi topi on and screaming ‘mera neta chor hai?’

Have I been victim to and given into corruption – YES. I have given ‘chai pani’ to the security guard to let me get ahead in the line to submit my college form, I have bought many tickets in black at Gaiety Galaxy theatre and even laughed about it later, I did get my licence without giving a driving test . I did all this but it enraged me when a police man asked me for a bribe, when it meant to give money to get into a college, when my income, the taxpayers money was looted by the likes a Mr. Kalmadi for example.

The answer to everything however for me and my peers would be, ‘chalta hai’, ‘hamare desh mein chalta hai’.

Because we are a race accustomed to adjustment. And we are so proud of it. It’s not just about adjusting to five people sitting on a seat meant for 3 people in a Bombay local train; it is imbedded in our core, our genes. We devalue ourselves and we don’t demand. Take a simple example of how in front of foreign tourists we treat our own people, go to France and expect a local French person to treat you better than he treats his own countrymen, you will be disappointed. So we go to France and become timid creatures in white sneakers and overstuffed travel pouches.

So coming back to if I would join the enraged crowd to demand for a corrupt free society. The absolutely right thing would be to say YES! But I am not quite sure. From Shakuni Mama to Suresh Kalmadi we are inherently corrupt people. I am not sure that the Jan Lok Pal bill will miraculously cure corruption hidden in deep crevices like unknown villages without electricity where Reliance Telecom has reached but to charge their mobiles villagers have to pay a hefty sum to the local grocer in a nearby village privileged to have power.

Maybe I am a cynic but I wonder how long the flame that has been lit by Anna will last before it is easily blown away.

What we can do is strengthen local bodies, strengthen and implement the RTI act powerfully, educate, feed, empower. We need to start somewhere but we need to start sensibly. Perhaps start by not giving ‘Chai Pani’, waiting in a line and not requesting the aunts, cousin’s friend in the railways for a ticket confirmation.

Someone rightfully posted a status on FB that, to clean a home you have to be in it hence to clean the country you need to be in the system.

As we all are a miniscule part of the system either we start a change in our own little way or stop saying – mera neta chor hai (kyon ki vote to tumhi ne diya hai)

*The ideas expressed are solely my own and readers are welcome to their own views :)

*Image courtsey - roarmag.org