Dive In

Am late as usual for the treasure hunt. This chocolate quickie has been doing rounds quite a bit and it's not even a great find any more. (And though I got this ready a while before, now, by the time am posting it, Christmas is jus round the corner!!) But I thought I should post this for Rashmi (see below). Being a skydiver she chats up with the clouds quite often and a short trip to chocolate heaven is not a bit of blight!

Let's make the cake.

All-purpose flour (maida)-3 tbsp
Powdered sugar-3-4 tbsp
Cooking oil-3tbsp
Milk (lukewarm)-3 tbsp
Cocoa powder-2 tbsp
Choc chips-2 tsp 
Vanilla essence-1/4 tsp
Cooking soda (soda bicarb)-1/4 tsp
Salt-a pinch


In a microwave safe bowl or coffee mug or whatever, mix the maida, sugar, cocoa powder, cooking soda and salt. Add oil, vanilla essence and milk to it. Stir well for a smooth batter without lumps. Add the choc chips and stir it again once or twice. At maximum power microwave this for 2.5 mins if it's a 700 Watt. Two mins for 900 W. Mine is 800 W and I did it for a lilover 2 mins. The cake drops down once cool. It's a lil dry and it's most natural for you to reach out for some choc sauce (Hershey's or Fun Foods) or vanilla ice cream. A generous portion for two. (Adapted from here.)



I look at her and can hardly believe here's a woman who has fallen meticulously from a 10,000 ft above ground level. There's none of the swollen pride in her at being tagged such exclusiveness in the world's fastest non mechanical sport-Sky Diving. She's totally humble and uber-cool. After getting trained in Gorakhpur in 2001 for Static Jumps, she joined her husband Rajiv for a stint in Brisbane to qualify for Free Falls (where she fell at the rate of about 200 ft per sec; she has qualified 450 jumps)! She took her qualifying flying training from the U. S. and holds a civil flying licence.

She says the most exciting moment is in that split second of aircraft to air, where gravity changes and you levitate for a while. Then it's a "normal feeling"...brrrr...folks do you dare to agree???

Check out this link for a live demo! It's so cool!

Rashmi's own words about her Free Fall experience:

Rashmi, along with Rajiv, are currently discovering the new found joy of parenting Kabir. Rashmi, hope you enjoyed the chocolate cinch; and a nip of it for Kabir too!! :P

I have a hive of activities in the pipeline for Christmas and it'll be well after New Year I end up posting my next. MERRY CHRISTMAS TO YOU ALL!! Will meet you all in your blogs for the masterpiece Christmas posts!!!!! 

Thomas' Birthday Cake and Some Bachelor Boys

Am late. Thomas birthday was last month and all of it happened last month (lil over a month back) but I loved being late here. That's me.

Changing seasons, changing tastes. As much as I've developed a snicker for dark chocolate I find myself baking more of it! My heaven is made of not dark chocolate but white...hmmm yumm. However, my pantry has a generous stock of dark chocolate slabs which I "avariciously" (mind you, not greedily..) bought in the previous metro we were in. And in my new town (oh so lovely Goa; my town Vasco is so so sleepy yet I love it!) the climate is so scarily hot and humid that I found many of my masalas topped with fungus and I hate wastage.
I hate wastage of any kind; be it food, words, love, energy, time.
And I started on frantic efforts of storing my box of choc slabs in the coolest corner in my almirah along with my clothes...I realised I should do something! So it's mainly chocolate baking and desserts. Thankfully I've droves of people around to nosh on it.
I didn't taste this cake as it was baked for Thomas' colleagues. There had to be a cake-cutting ceremony right! Those who tasted it said "awesome". Now that's like at least a "very good" because the men around here are gallantinos and I always take their compliments one tier down :P It's rich and decadent, of course, and I slathered it with chocolate sauce and choc chips with a vengeance...mercilessly...I dunno, was smitten by some choc bug that one hour!

Here goes the recipe.

self-rising flour-1 2/3 cups
unsweetened cocoa powder-1/3 cup
baking powder-1/2 tsp
butter-3/4 cup, softened
superfine sugar-3/4 cup
eggs-2 large, separated
salt-1/8 tsp

(Self-rising flour is by adding 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/2 tsp salt to one cup all-purpose flour or maida.)

Chocolate Cream Frosting

dark chocolate (I use Mordes brand)-6 oz, coarsely chopped
butter-1/3 cup
sweetened condensed milk-1/2 cup
dark chocolate-6 oz, coarsely grated

Sift flour, cocoa and baking powder into a large bowl. Beat butter and sugar with an electric mixer at medium speed until creamy. Add the egg yolks one at a time, until just blended after each addition. With mixer at low speed, gradually beat in the dry ingredients. With mixer at medium speed, beat the egg whites and salt until stiff peaks form. Fold them into the batter. Spoon the batter into an 8-inch pan that's been buttered and floured. Springform pan is ideal. Bake for 40-45 mins, or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Cool the cake a bit; loosen and invert. Let cool completely. Dust with some cocoa powder.
Frosting: Melt the chocolate, butter and condensed milk in a double boiler over barely simmering water. Slather the cake generously all over. Loosen it with some milk if too viscous. Spoon some into a pastry bag and pipe on top of the cake in a decorative manner. Decorate the sides with grated chocolate. (I made additional butter frosting as I wanted the two different colours in the pic; I added red colour to one portion and cocoa powder to the rest.)

(Adapted from Reader's Digest Cakes 1001 Classic Recipes)

Over to the second episode of the soap! I planned a surprise on Thomas' birthday eve. I requested the bachelor boys (a VIBRANT lot of seven to eight guys) right opposite for a "designed bounce": which means whether I'd invited them or not they would've bounced; so I thought it's better to plan it! They came in at the right time with a fabulous birthday cake (pic) and Chaitanya (Chatty) had forgotten the candles I'd asked him to buy. He's passionately courting his fiancee and my request ended up like a candle in the wind in his mind ;P. You're excused Chatty. Wait till you get married and start getting "half kilo baingan, one kg onion, hundred gm garlic" smses instead of the "sweets and darls and honeys" message croon that's happening now!! That said nothing negative intended on conjugal bliss. Companionship is its best gift: the potatoes and onions are just part of the onus of responsibility that comes with a family life...You've to graduate one day or the other right? ;P

K...I digressed. The boys came in; I'd preset the birthday song (in case the boys suddenly lost their voices enmasse..muahaha); there was one shoddy candle I'd yanked out of my pantry (Chatty...chup) that thankfully glowed like someone lighted to lighten; and the table was laid with some yummy meat/veg rolls and sandwiches. Thomas was woken up and I think he went through the entire process sleeping with his eyes open...!!! because he's one man capable of stabbing you if woken up from sleep. Wow we survived, boys!! The cake was cut; the boys sang the song a second time whoa; and whacked the goodies happily gratefully.

All lived happily ever after...

Thank you Thomas for waking up and leaving me alive; thank you boys for your sweetness and promptness :)

Am Back!

Racing in Red
(photo courtesy of Anoop Negi © All Rights Reserved)

Am getting back to the coop! My break was prolonged because I was living life king size: yea…a mélange of settling in; consistent bouts of sickness; guests from native place; ladies activities in my community; some fantastic time off in avid reading; and warm socializing. I’m letting you in on my secret: I DID NOT MISS BLOGGING; there was so much good and bad happening!

I want to thank my family (especially my husband Thomas whose cool-headedness is such a turn-on for me :P) and friends for helping me in my madness; easing my palpitations; and turning the burner on my passions.

Here’s a stunner (one of my faves) from photographer and entrepreneur Anoop Negi. This is from the Champakara Boat Race, 2007, Onam Celebrations in Kerala. You can reach him at Fb, Twitter, Flickr, etc. Ogle at this beauty till am back with a delicious piece of cake and a balmier slice of life!

Chow chow!

Goodbye Summer

I rammed her photostream till it was broken for this beauty!!

She steps out of her cot way too early in the morn than anyone of us can imagine; a quick splash of water and she's in her kitchen quietly packing a solo light picnic pack. She tip toes out of her front door; locks the door ( ah she's locked her husband in!! yes yes); and bursts forth riotously into the early hues of a merciful morn. Let's follow her trail...

That's Iris Hues for you. A soon-to-be doctorate from IIT Delhi (wow; she's brains all over...and she's my friend ;P), she hearts birding, wildlife, food frames and more frames! With a mind of her own, she laps each day with a humongous appetite for anything beautiful that catches the fancy of her lens-its lights and hues...

This particular snap is one of my faves in her stream; as summer fades in the dance of Thor here...Hues of Summer for you by Iris Hues.

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I'm taking a two-month break from blogging; maybe not from blog-hopping. Reason: Lock stock barrel movement to a new city-one of its kind!!

Till then ciao...love you folks!

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Mr Stink Anonymous aka Mr Rough Riders

Meet a cartoon character. Mr Stink Anonymous Mr Rough Riders. To get a first-hand feel of this hero read through the comments he's been loyally posting to me of late.

Anonymous said...

WOAH!! Another POOP LOOK ALIKE dish!! MAN, you are so good in shitty presentation BITCH! After so long you're back to track BIACH!!!! I thought u were dead???? Fuck you bitch!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (this comment has unfortunately deleted during recent maintenance period by Blogger)

WOAH! The sauce looks soooo shitty!!! *pukes*

Fuck off bitch! Ur blog looks like shit.

Oh yea you guessed right. He's a psycho. Very naturally. So Mr SA aka RR, if you think I'm so good at royal shit presentations I'm equally good at promoting exceptional talent. Yea and I notice you've oodles of perverse talent.

So you're a psycho first and then a coward and then well well....

My only regret about you is that you're from my beautiful state of Kerala in India. I'm a proud malayalee proud of my roots but I strongly deplore the male chauvinism in the community here which is its biggest curse. One of my friends (an educated wise person) recently said women are better off everywhere else in the country compared to Kerala. I could only sigh inwardly becuse it's so true. And it's precisely men like you who should be wiped out completely to make the plight of women in my state better.

I notice you've been doing your stealth rounds under a cowardish "Anonymous" in quite a number of blogs. We're all confident women capable of carrying ourselves well. And by God's grace married to good (malayalee or otherwise) men who are extremely supportive. Because only a happy mind can produce creative spaces like this.

I realise there's no point in communicating sensibly to such degraded cartoons like you but pl take notice that your comments do not ruffle one single feather in me. I, like my peers, am a confident skilled and sophisticated woman privileged to be part of a Community that is the cream of the country. So you can continue your abusive remarks like a rabid dog till whenever...I'm too suave for a puny worm like you. I only pity the family that houses a pervert like you :(

So here's to Mr Stink Anonymous Mr Rough Riders....long life punctured with tell tales of insanity and wantonness....hehehehe.

Are you with me gurlzzzzzzzzzz???

Bachelor Boy Series #3

Pan-fried Chicken

Easter is here. Like every other celebration everything else takes a backfoot except feasting. Most of us have this refrain running in our life: "Ever since i was a child and as far as i can remember i had this and this or that and that in my paternal/maternal house." And it's really sad when you don have your family around you and you're alone...coz your friends generally end up bonding with their families on these occasions. Sigh...the Bachelors. With a lump in your throat you look back on the memory of that rich spread on your table, drooling way too indecently for a decent chap :P But as we go by the idea of making the most of your state i have a fairly appetising chow before you which is super easy and so really tasty that my platter passed the Mom's Test :)

Post script: This was my humble Easter post. Easter's come and gone and all the mirth would've become beautiful frames now and the palaver penned into well-written memoirs....And here am I entering the scene unpardonably late...jus goes to show what responsibilities do to you...the kind which settle on you loud and stubborn...



Pan-fried Chicken

chicken-6 medium pieces (boneless or otherwise)

curd-3 tsp

soya sauce-1 tsp

ginger-garlic paste-2 or 21/2 tsp OR

fresh ginger-1/2" piece

fresh garlic- 8 small pods (vary as per the size)

pepper powder-1 tsp

coriander powder-1/2 tsp

salt-1/2 tsp

red wine-2 tbsp (optional)

water-1/2 cup

oil-1 tbsp

Wash the chicken. make a marinade of all the ingredients above except water and oil and allow the chicken to stand in marinade for a minimum of ten mins. An hour is desirable. transfer to a heavy bottomed pan and add the 1/2 cup water and turn on the flame high leaving it with the lid on. after ten mins take off the lid and let the chicken cook on medium flame. do not add more water as the chicken is sure to leave quite a bit. stir occasionally. as the water reduces (takes about twenty mins) keep a closer look to avoid the pieces sticking to the pan. take another frying pan and add the oil and heat. add the chicken pieces. turn them in and out for as little as three-four mins on medium flame. serve hot and enjoy!