A Long.. Leave

Hello dear blog visitors,

I regret to say that I will not be updating the blog until I am relieved of the stress at work. I have all these photos and recipes that I want to post, but I just cannot find time to do it the way I want to. I bought these lovely capsicum (lilac, chocolate and lemon varieties and the red and green are the more commonly available) the other day -but just ended up making regular upma with them and nothing fancy :( Anyway, thank you all for the wonderful support. I hope to get back soon :)

Roses

"A rose is a rose is a rose." - Gertrude Stein

Couple photos of the rose plants in my garden. I planted the Jackson and Perkins bare root roses and the first bloom is up!. The plants are struggling with the pests - aphids and some sort of green caterpillars :( . After intensive research on google, I sprayed some soap water and seems like 50% of aphids died. I am looking for other options. If you have any good solution to get rid of aphids - please share.

Entry for Click

This was not exactly what I had in mind for the picture - but since the time is up - the better one in the lot goes to the CLICK metal event hosted by Jai and Bee at Jugalbandi. I didnt use any software for getting the color variation on the fork. I heated the fork and allowed it to cool to get that bluish tinge. Though I like the yellow background of the second picture- it isnt as sharp as the first one.

Sweet Pototo and Coconut Soup

No blabbering this time around - just enjoy the delicious soup - hot or cold. The recipe goes to the "ODE TO POTATO" event hosted by Sia at monsoonspice.com

Ingredients
2 tbsp olive oil
2 cups onion slices(chopped)
6 cups sweet potato cubes/slices
4-5 garlic minced
1 cup coconut milk
5 cups vegetable broth or water
3 bay leaves (optional)
1-2 tbsp of red pepper flakes for heat
salt and pepper to taste

Heat the oil in a saucepot. Add bay leaves, red pepper flakes and saute for 10 seconds. Add the onion and garlic and saute until the onion is tender. Add the vegetable broth or water, potatoes and black pepper. Heat to a boil and cover for 15 minutes until the pototoes are tender. Discard the bay leaves and add the coconut milk and bring to a boil. Puree the broth mixture using a hand blender. The soup is done.

In the picture, the soup is served with some pecans and microgreens/baby leaves of arugula and cabbage.

More pictures of the soup

Fish Scramble with peas - Sora Pittu

Dishes made with sora or shark meat are a delicacy. Even in coastal city like visakhaptnam, the shark meat is rare to find. Certain fish taste good only when cooked in a particular way. Ammamma always made fish fry with "vanjaram" and Pittu(or Puttu) with sora. I was told by my aunt Catfish closely resembles vanjaram. However, I am yet to do my analysis on the types of fish. I made pulusu with salmon once - was not bad but not as great as koramenu pulusu. So coming back to pittu, I happen to find shark meat at the market place - the last two pounds. I knew the recipe was easy, but called ammamma for confirmation.

Variation: A fish and rice casserole can be prepared by mixing sora pittu with rice, shredded carrots and cheese of your liking (I like mozarella) and baking in the oven for about 10 minutes at 300F until the cheese melts.

Chocolate Bruschetta and Jodha-Akbar

Wow! A post finally after two weeks. So me and my hero went to the matinee show of “Jodha Akbar” today. I am a bit disappointed with the director! I mean Gowariker could have made a terrific movie with gorgeous actors like ash and hrithik and heart warming love story. What could be more intriguing than a hindu princess being married to a mughal king and the love story happening after marriage. Truly, I expected a lot more sparks of love and development of trust between the lead pair but they gave into love too early just after clearing a simple misunderstanding. However on the other hand, V thought the movie was boring to death and there is no story at all! I don’t quite agree with him and we had an hour long discussion munching over the roasted peanuts, chocolate bruschetta and the hot herbal Chamomile tea.

Chocolate Bruschetta:
Slice day old French baguette and place them on a baking sheet. Apply some butter to the bread or use a non-stick spray and place hershely chocolate kisses on the slices. They can be placed in microwave for 2 minutes on low power or in the oven for 6-8 minutes at 250F or until the chocolate has melted. Spread the chocolate and top it with berries and or nuts. The Chamomile tea goes perfectly in sync with these delights.

The main thing for the food lovers, the movie has an elaborate food sequence where Jodha serves Rajput khana to Akbar - and she names 5 dishes! I wish I could have paid more attention to the names of those dishes. Of the 5, only words I remember is Panchmali sabzi - I am assuming its a 5 veggie dish. Correct me if I am wrong. If you are gonna watch the movie after reading this post, can you leave a comment with the names of the other dishes.

So getting back to the discussion on how love develops in an arranged marriage considering a case like jodha and akbar - Its universal, be it either an arranged or love marriage “TRUST and RESPECT” are the basis for love to develop. The story doesn’t show that. Akbar tries to woo jodha because she is beautiful. Akbar doesn’t trust Jodha and vice versa. The director had many scenes that showed Akbar/jodha do respect their spouses. But does having respect mean trusting someone as well? Well it’s too much for a discussion – so lets leave it here.

Ash’s performance is OK! She was artificial (as usual) in the introduction scene. There is a brilliant scene where is she supposed to say her husband’s name – aah! it was such a disappointment – she totally blew that scene:( But her dresses and especially the long hair extension was amazing! Hrithik was excellent in that particular scene (Oh! I didn’t know Akbar was illiterate until I saw this scene). Other scenes where hrithik excelled:
1. The first time he looks at his wife - the expression was – “Oh my god! My wife is damn beautiful” – he got it perfect.
2. The last scene where akbar pardons his brother in law.

Scenes where hrithik was in his krish or kaho na pyaar hai mode (click on the links to watch the video)
1. Pleading his wife to return to Agra – he missed the boat – he couldn’t maintain the Aura of a king in that scene. The gestures and everything were like Raj of kaho naa pyaar hai. Ash was better in this scene.
2. The disguise scene where in he says – “fateh karne mai aur raaj karne mai faraq hota hai” - its so hrithik being himself!
3. The dialog “Mallika-e-Hinudstan” Yeh mat bhuliye ki hum aapke Suhaag hai” - I love him in this scene but he is in the “raaj (KNPH)” mode

And the much hyped war scenes were so pathetic! I love the songs, the top being “Kehneko Jashn-e-Bahaar” – wonderful lyrics and melodious. Jewelry, costumes and the film sets were amazing – one can easily say that lots of effort went into that department.

If you admire and adore hrithik roshan, go watch it in a theater – it’s quite a treat for women audience and inspiration for the men – hahaha. Otherwise one can watch it at leisure once the DVD is out.

Getting back with Garlic-Pea Soup

Hello folks, I am back after 10 days of hectic work schedule. I took pictures of what I cooked these 10 days. Most of them were "clean up the refrigerator" salad/soup type recipes. The frozen peas were hanging in the freezer, I dont know for how long! Made this quick healthy soup. I missed many events - I have to catch up with the food blog world. Oh and by the way, the boule (bread) in the picture was baked by me :) from scratch :).