Thursday, 20 February 2014
Monday, 17 February 2014
Pepper Mushroom Campanelle pasta
For a long time, I wanted to make pasta dishes at home. Though we frequented the likes of Olive Garden, Fazoli's and Carino's, I was longing for pasta with a spicy twist. So when I finally got tired of making curry or Briyani out of mushrooms, I decided to put them to good use. I just went about it with sheer confidence as I was sure a combination of butter, mushrooms and pepper could never go wrong. And it didn't. This smelled heavenly and tasted even more so!
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Ingredients:
Uncooked campanella pasta - 1/2 cup
Butter - 1/3 stick
Baby Portobella mushrooms, thin sliced - 8 oz
Garlic cloves, minced - 5
Red onion, finely chopped - 3 tbs
White flour - 2 tbs
Skimmed milk - 5 tbs
Ground black pepper - as desired
Fresh/ dry parsley - as desired
Salt - as desired
Yields:
2 servings.
Procedure:
1. Boil the pasta with plenty of water with some salt and a tbs of oil. Throw in the pasta only after the water starts to boil. Let it cook till it is al dente (firm to the bite). Then drain the water and let the pasta cool.
2. While the pasta is cooking, get started on the sauce. Heat the butter in a large skillet. Add the sliced mushrooms. After a minute, add in the garlic, onion, parsley, pepper and salt.
3.Once the mushroom changes in color and texture, stir in the flour. Let it brown and then add the milk. The mushroom immediately soaks up the milk.
4.Gently stir in the pasta. This delicious dish is now ready! Tastes best when served hot.
Grab a fork and enjoy!
Notes:
1. Choose pasta that can hold onto sauce, like Campanelle, shell pasta or bow tie pasta.
2. This is not a very creamy sauce, but if you want it that way, add more milk.
Nutrition value:
Per serving,
Calories - 380
Carbohydrates - 44. 8g
Fat - 17. 5g (Saturated - 10. 5g, Cholesterol - 45 mg)
Protein - 11. 5g
Fiber - 3. 5g
Sugar - 2g
Sodium(not including salt) - 22. 5mg, Potassium - 450 mg
Vitamin A - 12%, Vitamin C - 3%, Iron - 13%
Also a rich source of Vitamin D.
Friday, 24 January 2014
My Banana Muffin recipe
MY BANANA MUFFIN -- YUMMY & GUILT FREE
Well, who wouldn't want to purge on banana muffins? With this recipe, you can purge all you like, for breakfast, brunch or tea! These carb and potassium rich muffins are only 145 calories each! Slurp!
Ingredients:
Wet:
Ripe bananas - 4
Egg - 1
Oil - 1/4 cup
White sugar - 1/4 cup
Vanilla syrup - 1/2 tsp
Dry:
All purpose flour - 11/2 cup
Baking powder - 3/4 tbsp
Baking soda - 3/4 tbsp
Salt - 1/2 tbsp
Garnish:
Chopped almonds
Procedure:
1. Mix the dry and wet ingredients separately. Sift them together slowly.
2. Heat the oven to 375 F. Fill dough into muffin cups about half way up.
3. Sprinkle some chopped walnuts on top of each muffin.
4. Take them out after 18 - 20 minutes when they have a golden crust.
5. Let them cool down and enjoy!
Yields: 14 muffins
Notes:
You may want to reduce the amount of flour to 1 or 11/4 cups, depending on how soft or dense you want the muffins to be.
This is not a very sweet recipe, most of the sweetness comes from the bananas as I have added very little white sugar.
You can add unsalted butter instead of oil, about 1/3 cup.
Nutrition value:
Calories : 145
Carbohydrates : 21.5g
Fat : 6.6g (saturated: 0.6g, polyunsaturated: 1.8g, monounsaturated: 4.1g, trans: 0 (yay!)
Cholesterol : 15 mg
Protein : 2 g
Sodium : 119.5 mg
Potassium : 151.2 mg
Vitamin A : 1.1%, Vitamin C : 4.3%, Calcium : 0.2%, Iron : 3.5%
YUM! YUM! YUM! Enjoy!
Wednesday, 25 September 2013
My hand at poetry
These are a few poems (/ramblings) I penned during college.
IN YOU
In you i find...
A million reasons to smile everyday,
A sense of purpose every morning;
The willingness to grow weak
And the grace to endure pain.
In you i find...
The courage to shed all my masks
And reveal in stark reality, the real me...
The faith to believe in the creator
And in all the good things to come.
The beauty of life,
In all its splendid colors.
In you I find..
The very meaning of existence!
SMILE!
You smile...
Like there is nothing wrong,
Like there is no pain in my eyes,
Like it doesn't matter that i waited for so long,
Like you know better and are wise.
Like there is no tint of guilt,
In every cautious move you make.
Like you particularly savor,
The blank stare of pain on my face.
Yet you smile,
When you ask me how i have been.
Knowing only too well that i have lost all meaning of being.
That my soul is bent and hurt beyond repair
That the misery is too much to bear,
That i can never recover the life i lost in you,
The moments, the memories, those sweet nothings.
How could you? I choose not to ask.
Because knowing will not help.
It will not end my insomnic darkness.
It will not ease the pain
It will not erase your portrait
From the tablet of my heart.
I am not willing to let go,
Yet i am unable to hold on.
A smile is such a beautiful thing,
But why does yours only sting?
But i promise you this,
When i erase that last etch of your memory,
Maybe i could show you some courtesy,
And return that smile, that you so seem to flaunt.
HATE IT OR LOVE IT, WINTER'S HERE
I sat there looking out the window,
Looking at flakes of snow, at their finest, falling,
At the wicked wind howling and parading,
At the rage of the Gods vehemently descending.
At the naked trees, at the empty streets.
Hate it or love it, winter's here..
And with it, the soul saddening fear
Of the flails and the falls,
Of the brooding within four walls.
Of the grey mornings, of the blue moods.
But its a beauty to behold, the tiny snow flake,
The white carpet and the frozen lake.
And what is winter but a season of holidays,
A season of hope, of joy and endurance.
So, hate it or love it, winter's here,
Whatever you make of it, make the best out of it.
HURT YOU!
I will not hurt you,
I know you have suffered at innumerable hands,
You have faced neglect and disrespect,
You have been scorned at and spurned,
You have had to run wild at the sight of those motored monstrosities,
You were blamed every time someone lost their kitten..
I will not hurt you,
My four legged friend,
If not for my fear of your long sharp canines
That give me these wobbly legs,
And the fear to overcome my courageous resolve,
I will not have to pick that lone piece of stone,
And, I will not have to hurt you.
IN YOU
In you i find...
A million reasons to smile everyday,
A sense of purpose every morning;
The willingness to grow weak
And the grace to endure pain.
In you i find...
The courage to shed all my masks
And reveal in stark reality, the real me...
The faith to believe in the creator
And in all the good things to come.
The beauty of life,
In all its splendid colors.
In you I find..
The very meaning of existence!
SMILE!
You smile...
Like there is nothing wrong,
Like there is no pain in my eyes,
Like it doesn't matter that i waited for so long,
Like you know better and are wise.
Like there is no tint of guilt,
In every cautious move you make.
Like you particularly savor,
The blank stare of pain on my face.
Yet you smile,
When you ask me how i have been.
Knowing only too well that i have lost all meaning of being.
That my soul is bent and hurt beyond repair
That the misery is too much to bear,
That i can never recover the life i lost in you,
The moments, the memories, those sweet nothings.
How could you? I choose not to ask.
Because knowing will not help.
It will not end my insomnic darkness.
It will not ease the pain
It will not erase your portrait
From the tablet of my heart.
I am not willing to let go,
Yet i am unable to hold on.
A smile is such a beautiful thing,
But why does yours only sting?
But i promise you this,
When i erase that last etch of your memory,
Maybe i could show you some courtesy,
And return that smile, that you so seem to flaunt.
HATE IT OR LOVE IT, WINTER'S HERE
I sat there looking out the window,
Looking at flakes of snow, at their finest, falling,
At the wicked wind howling and parading,
At the rage of the Gods vehemently descending.
At the naked trees, at the empty streets.
Hate it or love it, winter's here..
And with it, the soul saddening fear
Of the flails and the falls,
Of the brooding within four walls.
Of the grey mornings, of the blue moods.
But its a beauty to behold, the tiny snow flake,
The white carpet and the frozen lake.
And what is winter but a season of holidays,
A season of hope, of joy and endurance.
So, hate it or love it, winter's here,
Whatever you make of it, make the best out of it.
HURT YOU!
I will not hurt you,
I know you have suffered at innumerable hands,
You have faced neglect and disrespect,
You have been scorned at and spurned,
You have had to run wild at the sight of those motored monstrosities,
You were blamed every time someone lost their kitten..
I will not hurt you,
My four legged friend,
If not for my fear of your long sharp canines
That give me these wobbly legs,
And the fear to overcome my courageous resolve,
I will not have to pick that lone piece of stone,
And, I will not have to hurt you.
Wednesday, 3 November 2010
Saturday, 9 January 2010
Mr.G aka God and me
The ulterior motive of mankind to keep going about its vicious mundane life cycle is undoubtedly the propagation of its species. As simple as it may sound, it is practically impossible for any one of us to keep going at it without ever having been tempted to give up at least once. The means we resort to, to help us live our materialistic existence has ironically nothing materialistic about it; at least not in its literal sense. I am talking about God. By God i mean the superior omnipotent presence that purportedly has a hold on our lives.
Having been born and brought up in a relatively liberal (there is a lot of relativity associated with this liberty, if you know what i mean) Hindu family, i always took it for granted that i had a greater power to back me up, someone who could help me find my lost drawer key, someone who could miraculously save me from flunking a class test, someone who could incredibly make my brother take responsibility for some mischief i had done. Whatever. I was stupid and naive. I was young. All this family-induced-religiosity put aside, there is the more interesting schooling-influenced-sainthood.
I don't know how it came to be, but every major street has a school and unmistakably every nine out of ten are Christian. At least in the city where i grew up. I honestly have nothing against evangelists, at least not then. no, i didn't. You tend to be open to all kinds of theological ideas when you are young, especially when your family is 'relatively liberal'. I could go on to vividly describe the happenings in such schools but it would only end up to look like extensive mockery. Though i wouldn't launch into it, i really have to mention a few details. I used to have classes on moral science that were no different from sunday school that christian kids had in their churches. And we would be sermoned at length about Christ and his disciples and anecdotes that no one ever seemed to run out of. As i said,i was young and naive and 'open minded'. I came to renounce my own religion and firmly believe that christ was my personal saviour and that i wouldn't end up in hell if i held on to him. I have some choice words for anyone who has the effrontery to tell that to me now. I spent most of my teenage years happily believing this. My level of stupidity then amazes me now.(this is not to offend any of the believers - you have the right to your faith).
All those christ-glorifying-years passed by. and then the change came. I am not sure what triggered it. Maybe it was the versatile environment i was exposed to or the the innumerable faiths i came across. I just stopped believing that there was someone who was judging me and rewarding me and punishing me just because he/she (LOL) gave me the sixth sense and put me in this 'wonderful world' they had created. It just couldn't be true. And i was so damn proud of my sudden renouncement of faith. Not proud enough to flaunt it of course. Our society is one that would look upon atheism the same way it would scorn at homosexuality. (Not that i think homosexuality deserves to be labelled a perversion. Thats not my point here).It is with abundant convenience that they presume an atheist is bound to be devoid of moral fiber.They naturally confuse spiritual soundness with religious indulgence.
This newly found faith (or the lack of it) kept me going for two full years. I was so glad i had finally 'grown up'. Well, life, evidently isn't exactly the bed of roses you want it to be. You go through a series of distasteful experiences, exasperating defeats and lose a loved one, you are back to ground zero, questioning all your theories that have evolved over time. I had long ago decided that it was impossible to discern if some supernatural power existed and had reverted to being agnostic. And again, i was proud of my self derived faith (or again, the lack of it). But once stripped naked of comfort and hope and all that is left is despair, we only frantically grope about in darkness trying to find that life line back to normalcy or somewhere near it. Even then,it didn't occur to me that god might be a way out. It was during one of those long nights that stretch and spawn and thrive over insomnia did i inadvertently discover the solution to my miserable life. And it was, surprisingly enough, prayer.
The irony is i didn't even believe there was someone up above but still praying to him comforted me (did i just categorize god as being male? lol). I was stumped. I could not get over the fact that i had only 'rediscovered' for myself something mankind had been clinging on to for years. And unmistakably i was heading toward prayer exclusive of god or religion or any of those conventional tags. I haven't had any encounters with prayer since that night (and that was months ago), but the self realization has not evaporated. Man did not create god just so he could revel in comfort that he had back up. Since it is scary to assume that we are all by ourselves in this wild world, it would not hurt to believe we have something to fall back on, that someone is watching over us to lend a helping hand when we need it. And that is what we created, some extensive sense of order. This truth became distorted over the many centuries just like many other figments of reality. Add up religion, rituals and polytheism, we derive something that has lost all of its original purpose and meaning. By sense of order maybe i am arriving at karma unawarely. But karma, again, is a flexible term. We decide it exists when things happen and complain over its non existence then things do not.
Now, call it anything, a mythical creature or a fantasy figure or even an imaginary friend (this version fits best), but its existence or rather, our belief of its existence can only push us closer toward achieving peace of mind. and that, my friend, is our ultimate goal in our frivolous existence. I am no theologist. Maybe this whole blog reeks of hypocrisy and contradiction. But, honestly, i don't care. It does not hurt to be hypocritical when there is no liability involved. I still think there isn't the least probability to find out if Mr.G exists but i also know that it would not hurt me to believe he does. So, i am flexibly alternating between agnosticism and religion-less-god-whose-very-existence-is-dubious. Since this whole piece is by an unconventional non-believer, i am aware how offensive those in faith would find it. But, just the way you do, i also, am entitled to my non-belief.
Having been born and brought up in a relatively liberal (there is a lot of relativity associated with this liberty, if you know what i mean) Hindu family, i always took it for granted that i had a greater power to back me up, someone who could help me find my lost drawer key, someone who could miraculously save me from flunking a class test, someone who could incredibly make my brother take responsibility for some mischief i had done. Whatever. I was stupid and naive. I was young. All this family-induced-religiosity put aside, there is the more interesting schooling-influenced-sainthood.
I don't know how it came to be, but every major street has a school and unmistakably every nine out of ten are Christian. At least in the city where i grew up. I honestly have nothing against evangelists, at least not then. no, i didn't. You tend to be open to all kinds of theological ideas when you are young, especially when your family is 'relatively liberal'. I could go on to vividly describe the happenings in such schools but it would only end up to look like extensive mockery. Though i wouldn't launch into it, i really have to mention a few details. I used to have classes on moral science that were no different from sunday school that christian kids had in their churches. And we would be sermoned at length about Christ and his disciples and anecdotes that no one ever seemed to run out of. As i said,i was young and naive and 'open minded'. I came to renounce my own religion and firmly believe that christ was my personal saviour and that i wouldn't end up in hell if i held on to him. I have some choice words for anyone who has the effrontery to tell that to me now. I spent most of my teenage years happily believing this. My level of stupidity then amazes me now.(this is not to offend any of the believers - you have the right to your faith).
All those christ-glorifying-years passed by. and then the change came. I am not sure what triggered it. Maybe it was the versatile environment i was exposed to or the the innumerable faiths i came across. I just stopped believing that there was someone who was judging me and rewarding me and punishing me just because he/she (LOL) gave me the sixth sense and put me in this 'wonderful world' they had created. It just couldn't be true. And i was so damn proud of my sudden renouncement of faith. Not proud enough to flaunt it of course. Our society is one that would look upon atheism the same way it would scorn at homosexuality. (Not that i think homosexuality deserves to be labelled a perversion. Thats not my point here).It is with abundant convenience that they presume an atheist is bound to be devoid of moral fiber.They naturally confuse spiritual soundness with religious indulgence.
This newly found faith (or the lack of it) kept me going for two full years. I was so glad i had finally 'grown up'. Well, life, evidently isn't exactly the bed of roses you want it to be. You go through a series of distasteful experiences, exasperating defeats and lose a loved one, you are back to ground zero, questioning all your theories that have evolved over time. I had long ago decided that it was impossible to discern if some supernatural power existed and had reverted to being agnostic. And again, i was proud of my self derived faith (or again, the lack of it). But once stripped naked of comfort and hope and all that is left is despair, we only frantically grope about in darkness trying to find that life line back to normalcy or somewhere near it. Even then,it didn't occur to me that god might be a way out. It was during one of those long nights that stretch and spawn and thrive over insomnia did i inadvertently discover the solution to my miserable life. And it was, surprisingly enough, prayer.
The irony is i didn't even believe there was someone up above but still praying to him comforted me (did i just categorize god as being male? lol). I was stumped. I could not get over the fact that i had only 'rediscovered' for myself something mankind had been clinging on to for years. And unmistakably i was heading toward prayer exclusive of god or religion or any of those conventional tags. I haven't had any encounters with prayer since that night (and that was months ago), but the self realization has not evaporated. Man did not create god just so he could revel in comfort that he had back up. Since it is scary to assume that we are all by ourselves in this wild world, it would not hurt to believe we have something to fall back on, that someone is watching over us to lend a helping hand when we need it. And that is what we created, some extensive sense of order. This truth became distorted over the many centuries just like many other figments of reality. Add up religion, rituals and polytheism, we derive something that has lost all of its original purpose and meaning. By sense of order maybe i am arriving at karma unawarely. But karma, again, is a flexible term. We decide it exists when things happen and complain over its non existence then things do not.
Now, call it anything, a mythical creature or a fantasy figure or even an imaginary friend (this version fits best), but its existence or rather, our belief of its existence can only push us closer toward achieving peace of mind. and that, my friend, is our ultimate goal in our frivolous existence. I am no theologist. Maybe this whole blog reeks of hypocrisy and contradiction. But, honestly, i don't care. It does not hurt to be hypocritical when there is no liability involved. I still think there isn't the least probability to find out if Mr.G exists but i also know that it would not hurt me to believe he does. So, i am flexibly alternating between agnosticism and religion-less-god-whose-very-existence-is-dubious. Since this whole piece is by an unconventional non-believer, i am aware how offensive those in faith would find it. But, just the way you do, i also, am entitled to my non-belief.
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