200

*Raises keyboard and takes a bow on completing a double century*

It has taken a while, two and half years almost (!). That's more than 6 posts a month, more than once a week, which is pretty decent I would say. This blog has seen many things, survived many a mood swings and been there................................blah blah blah! Who cares! There's a lot more to come. Moving on...

We had another dinner party at our place the other day. Very impromptu once again as it had been canceled the day before so next day everyone just showed up and demanded home cooked food. There were the usual suspects (refer Motorcycle Diaries) plus Vivek, who was supposed to do most of the cooking but ended up just making the dough and helping Kapil make the Chapatis. I had to make an entire pressure cooker-full (to the brim) of ant-free Pulao (somehow the rice packet was infested with ants and we realised it only after we saw them floating in the pan they were soaked in, another half hour of rinsing pursued, I got all of them, well most anyway), Anda Bhurji (scrambled eggs (a dozen)) and Aloo Matar under Kapil's supervision. Rochak and Sattu concocted a nice Cucumber Raita. It was a feast, everything was delicious. I just have to learn to make Chapatis now and I would be able to announce that I can cook an entire meal all by myself. Just a matter of time. Too lazy to write down the complete recipes, if you really need to know just contact me.

This time yesterday I could've said that this time next week I'll be on a plane heading home. Excited!! Probably explains why I was in a good mood most of the time yesterday (also I think I've lost a little weight!). It's going to be so wonderful to be home, been almost six months. I miss home. I remember the last time I was there, I had to go someplace and I was looking for an autorickshaw. One stopped and the person asked where I wanted to go, and I told him and we bargained over the fare and we were away. The whole conversation took place in Hindi, I didn't have to worry about having to explain to him anything in broken Kannada (shattered is more like it) or about whether I'd end up in the correct destination or not. Such a small thing, but it made me so happy! I don't even have to mention the food and the friends! Just imagine...

And driving! I'm almost scared that I've forgotten how to drive a car. Looking forward to that for sure. A drive on the Greater Noida expressway should make up for things. Nishtha hasn't been on one yet, poor girl. Next week baby! Her sister Nidhi (Bangalore wali :P) dedicated a song to the gang. It's from the movie Wake Up Sid! (talk about coincidence) and it's called Kya Karoon. Any one who's ever fun at college can relate to the video. I miss it, all of it.

Low: Workload!

High:



Points: 1 million points to Nidhi Didi. Consider this as an official thank you :)

Two more days

Yesterday was pretty uneventful. Went to work. Sat around wasting time during the first half. Had lunch, something called Chicken Istoo (they just change the names, it’s tastes the same) which didn’t really agree with me. Tried to find something for the paper I’m supposed to write and submit by the end of the week but couldn’t so gave up. Went to Rochak’s cabin and slept like a log for a good one and a half hours, pure bliss. Decided to go home earlier than usual and make dinner ourselves, instead of eating in the food court in campus. Prachi also joined us. And so we made Pao Bhaji. It’s easier than some people might think. Just boil the veggies, chop up a lot of tomatoes and onions (don’t boil them), mix and mash everything, put in the readymade Pao Bhaji Masala and salt to taste, top it with a big dollop of butter and you’re done. Needless to say it was great.


Slept earlier than usual but still woke up late. I never used to sleep so much. Today was fun. Forwarded a mail to everyone which turned into a chat session. Wasted a good three hours or so. We should keep doing that now and again. After lunch, I had this project evaluation to do. Since I had no idea about what I should mark them on, I just asked them to explain what they had done and in some cases checked the output. There hasn’t been a more generous project evaluator ever, 14 out of the 16 people got a perfect score. Wish we had evaluators like that. Some of them actually knew everything, Rochak taught them a little too well! Dozed off for an hour in the office again after writing this.

High: The nap in office.

Low: Couldn't be at Kritika's farewell party. Gonna miss you so much! :(

Points: 30 points to me for being too generous at the evaluation.

Half good Sunday

After a long time had a pretty good day. You know about the first quarter. The second quarter was pretty dormant of you know what I mean. Woke up around 3 pm, had a leftover lunch of Chowmein. There was a power cut again so we decided to venture out for a change. The weather as usual was exquisite. It was a long ride to the place called Planet X, and the view on the way was just brilliant. There is this place called Chamundi Hill on top of which is the Chamundi Temple. It was in full view from the road and it felt like we were in a hill station. The place was much better than I expected of this small city.

They have a full-fledged Karting circuit which is pretty awesome by the looks of it, but there was sort of queue and we weren't really in the mood for it. So we decided to head to Ground Zero, which is equipped with PS3s, pretty large LCD screens and bean-bags! At Rs. 50/hour, it's pretty good, considering the ambiance and the range of games they have on offer. We played NFS Carbon which quite literally sucks compared to Most Wanted. Got bored of it in 10 minutes and switched to FIFA 08. They didn't have PES or Tekken. FIFA was still better, too bad the TVs were not HD compatible. Time flies when you're having fun, and as soon as we decided to wrestle each other in Smack Down vs Raw, our time was up. I had half a mind to pay for another hour but the thought of the bike-ride with the hill-view convinced me otherwise.

We stopped by a place called Lemon Tree to grab a Shawarma, but they aren't even close to as good as Al Bake in NFC back home. A welcome snack nonetheless. Another visit to the departmental store to pick up an air-tight container for biscuits and stuff that get damp or become ant-food when kept out for even a day. The fact that we also picked up a load of ice-cream just compliments the way departmental stores are built. They want you to buy stuff and they make you do it eventually.

Back home and instead of making Chowmein again, I decided to go for the easier and the more non-healthier alternative, Chopsuey with Schezwan. Just heat some oil and deep fry the hell out of the boiled noodles until they turn a golden red. The Schezwan is again packaged powder stuff, it's just more tomatoey than the Manchurian. Rochak chopped up the vegetables this time (cabbage, carrot, capsicum and onion) and added green peas. Saute the vegetables, add water and the Schezwan mixture. Heat to boil, pour over the Chopsuey and enjoy:


The only thing left to do today is iron clothes for tomorrow morning, spend (waste) some time on facebook and then try to go to sleep early. Bye for now.

High: The bike ride :)
Plus I'm happy about blogging again.

Low: Surprisingly none. Oh yeah, have to wake up early tomorrow. Counts today.

Points: 1000 points to Jim for making a wonderful hill in the middle of this boring city.

One-liner: I'm a little overweight because my favorite dish is called seconds :P

How to make Chowmein

I slept late last night, wasting time on facebook like everyone. So woke up pretty late, around noon. Kapil had already left to get his new bike serviced, and hasn't returned yet. That left me and Rochak, and as we pondered over what to eat for a late brunch we realised that we had bought a pack of noodles about two weeks ago and it was time to use it.

A quick check of the fridge and a phone call home later, we decided to go shopping for all the ingredients. Half an hour later, armed with everything that was needed and much more, we (mostly me) set about our first attempt at making Chowmein. Here's a step by step guide for novices like us, rather like we used to be:

1. Put the noodles in a large pot and boil them. Be careful, you don't want to overcook them or they'll get too sticky to handle. Drain the remaining water and leave them out to cool. There was some problem with the kind of utensils we had, mostly because of their size. So after another phone call to mom, I thoroughly cleaned the slab of the kitchen and laid out the boiled noodles as shown.

Be ready to use your hands because this can't be done any other way. Take some oil and rub some on all of the spread out noodles so that they don't form lumps and are easier to cook.

2. The vegetable. I used half a cabbage, one onion, one carrot and one capsicum.

Before

After half an hour of tedious chopping and slicing, we are ready to start cooking (Rochak helped, perfectly peeled the carrot).

After

3. Heat some oil in the large pan which you plan to use. Put all the vegetables and saute till the onions look like they're done.

The other pan contains Manchurian, regular packaged stuff easily available in the market (mostly done by Rochak). Just put the powder in the packet in some water and boil till ready. I prefer heating a little water and then mixing the powder while stirring in a small bowl. Then transfer this into the pan with the rest of the water. This way you don't get any lumps.

4. Pick up the noodles and put them in too. I used only about half of what was laid out ob the slab. Use your hands again and try to untangle them as you put them instead of dumping it all at once. Mix it up.

5. The other ingredients required are soya sauce, chilli sauce, white vinegar and salt. Yep, that's about it.

Put 2-3 spoons of soya sauce, chilli sauce and salt according to taste (sprinkle the salt with your hands as the stuff in the pan is dry and won't mix properly if you just put it all with a spoon). Stir and mix until the color of the noodles changes to the brown you know it is. Put in 2 spoons of vinegar and stir. It's a pretty tiring job because it is so dry and stirring isn't as easy.

6. Voila! It's done.

Served hot with a gracious amount of Manchurian on top.

Needless to say it was delicious. Coupled with a glass of mix-fruit juice on the rocks, it was heavenly (especially after working so hard).

Testimonials:
Rochak - "Kya baaaaat hai! Maza aa gaya aaj to. Well done Ginny."

P.S. - If anyone decides to follow these instructions and finds them useful, please drop a comment. I'd just like to know :)
Thinking about posting the recipe for my slowly-becoming-famous Vegetable Pulao too.

High: But obvious.

Low: We thought there was a power cut since morning. Turns out we had a short circuit. Just got fixed.

Points: 200 points to me for a successful first attempt at making Chowmein.
100 points to mom for helpful instructions and letting me hang around in the kitchen when she used to make this stuff at home and I just couldn't wait to get my hands on it.
100 points to the guy who fixed the power.