I am that kind of girl

I sing I dance
I go ahead and take that chance
I am that kind of girl
For whom playing in the water is like a trance...

I write I paint
I find that words and pictures can never seem faint
Just like the memories together we hold
And never let a hearbreak make a taint...

I wine I dine
And yet at work I shine
I am that kind of girl
Who enjoys every moment rather than whine...

I laugh I cry
Muster the courage to always try
Something new everyday
To keep me busy,often leading to a brain fry...

I pray I party
Oh!But Im nothing like Marty
I am that kind of girl
Who enjoys to let lose & get all tarty...

I travel I meet new people
And hold the petal of my life like a sepal
As silly as it may sound
Simple things make my happiness quadruple...

I am the DJ of my life
So stop judging me and within me create a strife
I am that kind of girl
Who would love to be alive than a nagging morose wife!

French Baguette Casserole

I came across this recipe in a magazine and was waiting to try it out.It took 'lazy' me to buy all the ingredients after 4 days of contemplating.Finally on a stormy pouring night,the French Baguette Casserole came to life :)

Here is the recipe:-

Ingredients:-

• 12 oz of fresh spinach,rinse well
• 2 loaves of french bread/baguette
• olive oil for brushing the baguette and also saute
• 1 onion-thinly sliced
• 8oz sliced mushroom(can be substituted with chicken as well)
• 1and 1/2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 4 ounces grated cheese(of your choice...I used mozzarella)
• 6 eggs
• 2 cups milk
• salt and ground pepper(for taste)
• grated nutmeg(optional)

Method:-

• In a medium pot,bring water to a boil(add some salt).Add spinach and let cook for 2 mins.Drain the spinach in a colander and squeeze dry with a cloth or a bounty.Roughly chop and set aside.
• On a angle,cut the french baguette into 1/2" thick slices.Using a basting brush,lightly oil both sides of each slice with olive oil.Spray your favorite casserole dish with non-stick cooking spray and line the bottom of the dish with the bread.
• Over medium heat,warm a few tablespoons of olive oil in a large skillet.Add the onion and saute until fragrant(for about 1 min).Add the sliced mushrooms and saute & cook until they are soft and tender.Add ground cumin and spinach and stir until the cumin is coated over the veggies.
• Layer  the cooked veggies mixture over the baguette slices evenly until the bread is well coated.
• Layer the cheese over the veggies,depending on how much you would like.
• In a medium size bowl,whisk the eggs and milk and add salt & ground pepper.
• Gently and evenly pour the egg mixture over the bread and veggies.Cover the dish an leave it in the refrigerator for 30-45 mins. 
• After an hour,preheat the oven to  bake at 375 degrees and uncover the casserole.Let it bake for 35-40 mins or until the cheese turns to a golden brown.Knife inserted in the center should come out  moist but relatively clean.
• Let it cool and then serve in portions with a dash of ground pepper or nutmeg. 

Gutti Vankaya curry

It was a day of fresh veggies,a sight I got to see after a long long time and with the kind of cities I have been living in the past year...the sight of fresh indian veggies was a feast to the eyes.This was something I decided to cook for my friends Sharel & Sandeep and im glad it came out .

So here goes my recipe:-

Ingredients:-

• small purple or green brinjals(slit to a '+' and soak in salt water)
• onion(diced) - 1
• tomatoes(diced) -2 big ones
• green chillies 3-4
• peanuts(handful)/can be substituted with cashew
• red chillies -2
• a ball of tamarind soaked in lukewarm water
• mustard seeds
• curry leaves
• coriander to garnish
• salt to taste

Stuffing:-

• Roasted peanuts
• Onions
• Red chili powder
• coriander powder
• jeera powder
• roasted channa dal

Method:-

• Make a coarse paste of the stuffing ingredients and stuff the brinjals by splitting it gently so as not to break them to pieces.
• In a pressure cooker(or pan),put little oil and saute the mustard seeds until they start to splutter.Add jeera,red chillies,channa dal and curry leaves and saute for some more time.
• Add turmeric powder,chilli powder,coriander powder and sesame seed powder(optional).
• When the powders are well roasted,add onions and fry till they turn translucent,then add 1tsp ginger-garlic paste,green chillies and fry till the oil separates.To this mixture,add the diced tomatoes,salt and tamarind paste(enough to make the paste tangy) and cook for 10 mins with a covered lid.
• When the tomatoes look well cooked,add peanuts and fry for 5 mins.Once done,turn the heat off and let the mixture cool before it goes into the blender.
• Make a fine paste of the above and set aside.
• In the cooker used,add 2 tsp oil and add some curry leaves and roasted peanut powder if you have any.
• When the oil is hot enough,add the paste and let it cook for sometime.Add water if necessary to dilute.
• To this paste,add the stuffed brinjals one by one and make sure you don't break them in the process.
• Pressure cook this until 1 whistle(the brinjals should have cooked and become soft).Check for the tanginess and also the salt,else add more tamarind water and salt and let it cook over a low flame.
• Garnish with coriander and serve wit ghee rice or hot rotis. 

Note:- If cooking in a pan,make sure u tie the stuffed brinjal with a thread and boil them in salted hot water until they become soft before adding to the paste.

On a lazy sunday afternoon...

Its raining  ...correction...its pouring and it being a Sunday,I wasn't really in the mood for the traditional desi khana.Wanted to tease my palate with some unheard recipe and thus,was born the 'Awai in spicy red wine and garlic sauce'.

I wasnt sure of how it would taste since I never heard of a fish called Awai in my life but being from a coastal place,I couldn't resist the temptation to try this particular variety.Oh!I follow ...'Variety is the spice of life' ;)

But,thankfully it tasted very very good and I gave a pat to myself.So here is the recipe(fairly easy,takes about 15-20mins)

AWAI IN SPICY RED WINE AND GARLIC SAUCE:-

Ingredients :-(Serves 1)

Awai - 1 fillet

Onion medium(chopped) - 1/2

Cinnamon - 1/2 stick

Cloves - 2

Garlic(finely chopped) - 1

Red Wine(depends on which 1 you like) - White Zinfandel (1/2 cup)

Butter - 1 tbsp

Powdered Black Pepper - 1tbsp

Garlic salt - 1 tbsp

Method:-

1. Thaw the fish and marinate it with garlic salt and black pepper and keep it aside for 15 mins.(You can also use powdered garlic,regular salt and black pepper)
2. Take a shallow pan,let the butter melt...then add the cinnamon(split it to smaller pieces) and cloves(crush them roughly).When the aroma of the spices fills the air,add the chopped onions.
3. When the onions turn translucent,add the finely chopped garlic and saute for 5 mins.
4. The onion and garlic begin to turn to a slight brownish color,to this add the red wine and cover it with a lid and let the wine boil in medium flame.
5. Once the wine starts boiling,add the fish fillet(I cut the fillet into 2 pieces) and let them cook in the sauce on a low flame for atleast 10 mins.
6. Use a spatula to turn the fish and let the other side cook for sometime until you see the fish turn to a golden color.
7. Add more wine if necessary,not to worry..you wont add like a drunkard after that ;)
8. The wine would evaporate and the onions and fish will begin to fry with sauce completely soaked into them.
9. Once you are satisfied with the color,remove them to a clean plate and while hot,garnish it with freshly chopped cilantro and its ready to be devoured.

Race,Caste,Culture & Society

We call ourselves educated and sophisticated but there are many such issues where we are ignorant or rather choose to be so and CASTE is one of them.

There have been many such incidents in the past both in my personal life as well as that of my friend's where friendship and love had to be shunned,all in the name of caste.And the majority of them that spoke like this are the ones who have traveled across the globe and did their masters.So,the question is,why is it that we...who consider ourselves much more forward in our thinking when compared to our older generations fall short when it comes to caste & culture?This has been one topic I had always been wanting to pen out but it took a note from a friend on FB to pour out in writing.

It is sad that even today we believe that one's identity is determined by the caste he belongs to and not to the individual capacity a person has.It might be surprising to a few to learn that there people out there,even today to whom their caste is more important than the person itself.Its such a pity!But most of them are like this because of the so-called society and the rules & restrictions that it imposes.The same society which is willing to rub shoulders with anyone for the sake of money would never agree if someone broke their so-called rules.And I say "so-called" coz there are no rules....its just an imaginary protocol that people have been following for generations and are accustomed to doing so that they cannot imagine beyond it.Are we really that naive or plain stupid to think that caste and race give us an identity?

This is a small blog dedicated to all my friends and the brave others who have broken barriers to prove their point in this hypocritical society.Kudos to you guys and you have earned my immense respect.

The way I see it...

Always give urself a chance to grow,

Make mistakes coz that's how you know...

What is right and what is wrong,

If not anything just how to be strong...

Such is life,its a bitch,

no matter how right it seems,there's always a snitch...

It makes a difference on how you think,

As for me,I make decisions on the brink...

Which is y I am always in a mess,

And end up being the subject for peoples jest...

What hurts the most is the people I was with,

They seem like a part of some fascinating myth...

The myriad of characters iv come across,

In them a few ,who were all about the money,income and the gross...

Some just using you for reasons unknown,

While some others treat you as their own...

So all im trying to say is,its never too late,

To start life afresh and treat everyday like a new date...

My strength comes from a few people close to my heart,

The kind who I know would be there for me no matter what...

A big THANK YOU to the few who have always been there,

For without you,life would have been difficult to bear!

Wisdom from the ages....

This was an article published in THE PLAIN DEALER,Cleveland,OH written by a 90 yr old woman named Regina Brett.

"To celebrate growing older,I once wrote the 45 lessons that life taught me.It is the most requested column I have ever written.My odometer rolled over to 90 in August,so here is the column once again".

1. Life isn't fair,but its still good.
2. When in doubt,just take the next small step.
3. Life is too short to waste time hating anyone
4. Your job wont take care of you when you are sick.Your friends and parents will.So stay in touch
5. Pay off your credit cards every month
6. You don't have to win every argument,Agree to disagree
7. Cry with someone.Its more healing than crying alone
8. Its OK to get angry with God.He can take it
9. Save for retirement starting with your first paycheck
10. When it comes to chocolate,resistance is futile
11. Make peace with your past so it wont screw your present
12. Its OK to let your children see you cry
13. Don't compare your life to others.You have no idea what their journey was like
14. If a relationship has to be a secret,you shouldn't be in it
15. Everything can change in the blink of an eye.But don't worry;God never blinks
16. Take a deep breath,it calms the mind
17. Get rid of anything that isn't useful,beautiful or joyful
18. Whatever doesn't kill you really does make you stronger
19. Its never too late to have a happy childhood.But the second one is up to you and no one else
20. When it comes to going after what you love in life,don't take no for an answer
21. Burn the candles,use the nice sheets,and wear the sexy lingerie.Don't save it for a special occasion.Today is special
22. Over-prepare,then go with the flow
23. Be eccentric now.Don't wait for old age to wear purple
24. The most important sex organ is the brain
25. No one is in charge of your happiness but you
26. Frame every so - called disaster with these words "In five years,will this matter?"
27. Always choose life
28. Forgive everyone and everything
29. What other people think of you is none of your business
30. Time heals almost everything.Give time time
31. However good or bad a situation is,it will change
32. Don't take yourself so seriously.No one else does
33. Believe in miracles
34. God loves you because of who God is,not because of anything you did or didn't do
35. Don't audit life.Show up and make the most of it now
36. Growing old beats the alternative - dying young
37. Your children get only one childhood
38. All that truly matters in the end is that you loved
39. Get outside every day.Miracles are waiting to happen
40. If we all threw our problems in a pile and saw everyone else's,we'd grab ours back
41. Envy is a waste of time.You already have all you need
42. The best is yet to come...
43. No matter how you feel,get up,dress up and show up
44. Yield once in a while...makes life easy
45. Life isn't tied with a bow,but it's still a gift

Certain things she had to say,I agree with but some Im not sure(Maybe I will,when I am 90 as well :) ).

Jokes apart,how can one determine the course of life.Some leave it to fate and destiny while some others define theirs.