Merry Christmas!!!!

So, appalled at the lack of enthusiasm around our favorite festival, we tried to force some Christmas cheer into life. Took out our little Christmas tree and decorated it with ornaments. Went to Flury's and picked up a couple of plum cakes (thanks to the mother who warned there better be plum cakes in the house when she comes visiting for Christmas-New Year's!)

I think it's going to be a quiet Christmas with mum. We'll probably go out for lunch, watch a movie, have cake & hot chocolate...that kinda stuff. And I don't mind, actually.

Gasp! I'm getting old. That's what it is!

Though there is the little person inside me jumpin' 'n' dancin' around 'coz it's X-Mas. And as long as I have that enthusiasm in my heart for this time of the year, I needn't be scared about losing my love for Christmas. Or getting old for that matter!

Merry Christmas all you guys! Eat, drink, make merry, party...OR...chill at home, watch unending re-runs of 'Friends', watch your favorite Christmas movie, make love...do whatever works for you. Just make sure to have a jolly good time!

My 'Go-To' Books

I had the most wonderful day today, even though I spent it all by myself.

It's a long weekend. I woke up at 10 in the morning, dawdled over tea, had breakfast and went back to sleep at noon. Woke up at 2, showered, had lunch, went to Barista with my 'Adrian Mole', had a lovely hazelnut mocha and blueberry muffin, ran a couple of errands and am back home doing nothing.

Why can't we have more such days? :(

*******

I have a few "go-to" books and movies. These are books/movies that I turn to when I'm feeling low or have been having rough days.

My "go-to" books include the Bridget Jones Diaries (both) & Confessions of a Shopaholic.

Bridget Jones because...come on...it's Bridget Jones! Here's this girl who's constantly fretting about her weight, very much like me. She keeps landing herself in the most embarassing situations but she also has the courage to laugh at herself. She is being courted by two sex-on-toast men - one the biggest gentelman and the other possibly the biggest jerk in town - and she keeps falling for the jerk just because he is glib enough to talk his way into her heart. Now that's a situation many of us (women) are familiar with, aren't we? But in the end she goes with the nice guy. What's not to like?

Of course, the diary format also works for me. The book is fast-paced and not unnecessarily wordy. And I don't need to read it from start to finish at one go. I can read a few pages when I'm sad, put it down, pick it back up after some time and continue reading from where I left!

I also love Confessions of a Shopaholic. Becky Bloomwood is hilarious! She comes up with ingenious excuses to buy things she doesn't need. She also writes the funniest letters to her bank manager asking him to waive off her credit card bill and increase her credit limit! We could call her stupid and hate her for not having the mental strength to put an end to her shopaholism, but we don't because we know there's a little bit of Becky Bloomwood in all of us.

I've discovered two other books that could become my "go-to" books soon. One is 'Dork' by Sidin Vadukut. The book has workplace humor and it's outrageously funny. If you haven't read it yet, I'd say you MUST. You'll be rolling on your sides laughing.

The other book that I'm currently reading and finding absolutely adorable is 'The Secret Diaries of Adrian Mole Aged 13 3/4 Years'. Here's this adoloscent obsessed with the spots on his face, which he's convinced is a result of the poor diet his mom feeds him, and the size of his "thing". He's a drama-queen, a chauvinist (he expects his mom to worship the ground he walks on & he'll let his girlfriend work at a cake shop or some place like that but not to have a career), but he also cares for old people & animals and looks out for his father who's having a rough time. The humor is subtle but it's definitely there.

Then there's 'Love Actually', the movie. It's my favorite movie EVER. I think I've watched the movie more than 20 times and it makes me happy every single time. It's got so much love floating around - love between a brother & sister, between a father & his step-son, even between a musician & his manager (!). Love that transcends boundaries of social strata and race. And it's got this Christmas theme running all the way through. And we LOOOOOOOOVE Christmas over here.

Which reminds me, Christmas is right 'round the corner and I haven't bought my decorations yet! I have a little tree from last year but I need to buy the ornaments & mistletoe & streamers. And plum cake! Oh, Christmas is going to be so much fun!! :)

How I Long To Go Back Here

Picture Courtesy: www.unc.edu, http://gazette.unc.edu

Waka Waka...Bafana Bafana

So, a lot has been said about my knowledge of football - or lack thereof - after my previous post where I have shared some very valid reasons for liking football more than cricket. Accusations have been hurled at me - that I watch football only for the hotties and don't understand the game.

Well, I do understand the game alright. And it's a strange game. The World No. 1 need a game that they won by the skin of their teeth to come back and start doing the Samba again. The World No. 2, and the side built-up to be the most talented and one of the top contenders for the Cup, need to lose their opening game to a mediocre team to snap out of their complacency (hopefully...we'll find out in a couple of hours).

England, the creators of the game, are squabbling amongst themselves and protesting against the team selection and management tactics of their coach while David Beckham cools his heels on the sidelines looking more edible in his 3-piece suit than any man has ever looked.

The Germans rout their opposition 4-0 one day and lose 0-1 the next, with their star striker sent off by a red card.

The French are refusing to train as a sign of protest against the expulsion of one of their players.

Argentina are looking towards Messi to be the next Diego Maradona and win them the Cup, while someone else from their teams nets the ball the most number of times.

The Italians, the reigning World Champions, have managed 2 goals in their 2 matches so far while the Portugese ripped North Korea apart by a 7-0 win.

The loser, unsporting African team of Cote d'Ivoire who have a rockstar Captain but no footballing skills start cheating when they are outperformed by a team that's way superior to them, while a player who has not a spot on him gets red carded.

You have teams blaming the poor ball for their dismal performance (if they had their way, they'd blame the miserable weather in their country too for their rubbish performance on another continent!) while the makers of the ball say it's the altitude that's doing strange things to the ball. Like making it hop, skip and jump on its own?

And then you have the wretched Vuvuzelas!

But seriously, what's the matter with this World Cup? None of the top teams are showing what they're made of while the minions are yanking the carpet from under the giants' feet. The World Cup takes place once in 4 years and players of most big teams do not look match-fit! The most celebrated strikers such as Wayne Rooney don't have a single goal to their credit even after 2 matches. Coaches are taking bizarre decisions, like dropping Ronaldinho and retaining Robinho who doesn't seem to be able to rise above his desire to prove himself a better play-maker than Kaka. And on top of everything there's poor refereeing - denying legitimate goals to the scoring team, letting some teams get away with fouls and unfair play while punishing others, sometimes even when they aren't at fault. At this rate, I'm dreading a Slovenia vs North Korea final!!

Here's a joke for you courtesy my friend Alex:
Question: How did all the shouting screaming North Korean fans get permission to leave the country?
Answer: They didn't. Kim Jong Il hired chinese actors to play DPRK fans in the stands.

And here's some more eye candy for you...

My Mini-Vacation is Over :(

Pizza slices and lamb stew at Pali Village Cafe...

Baked Philly cheesecake, chocolate "sin" cake and white chocolate latte at Coffee Bean & Tea Leaf...

Bacon, ham, salami pizza and cheesy pasta with chicken & mushrooms at Pizzaria...

Baked Philly cheesecake and mango cheesecake from Moshe's...

Soba noodles with bacon & orange zest in a creamy sauce, pan seared chicken with porcini, caramelized onion sauce & roasted potatoes and Baked Philly cheesecake at Salt Water Cafe...

A box of yummilicious chocolate eclairs and brownie cheesecakes from Sante brought by a wonderful friend...

Two foodies, dessert lovers, shopaholics and BFF enjoying a weekend off together...

The Knife trying his best to make a disgusted face...

And my chubby face and chubby arms having made it to a celebrity food blogger's blog (isn't that just delightful!)

I had the most fun mini-vacation! More on it coming up soon...

What you did over the weekend?

Shrek...Forever & Ever & Ever & Ever....

It’s got to be said - boys are fun but girl friends are mind blowing fun!

You can discuss the world with girl friends - from shoes to bags to clothes to the current hottest lip color to your ever expanding waistline to your love life to George Clooney & Brad Pitt to the dreamboat vegetarian vampire who can make any woman of any shape & size go week in the knees to other friends' girlfriends/boyfriends to the latest gossip - without them rolling their eyes or chiding you for indulging in gossip.

You can never discuss such things with boys without feeling like swatting them with whatever you can lay your hands on because they would either be rolling their eyes faster than a yoyo or worse still, gagging, totally disrespecting your need to honor the estrogen in your body. Lots of it if you're PMSing.

Over coffee on Friday evening, one of my girl friends & I made plans to spend Saturday together doing “girly stuff” which involved shopping (surprise!), movie & dinner.

We met up after lunch on Saturday and headed out to shop. I needed to buy a pair of sunglasses, she a pair of shoes for everyday wear that she wouldn’t mind ruining in the rains.

I ended up with: 2 pairs of sunglasses (one from Idee, a Guess house brand, and another from Van Heusen that criss cross in front like an elongated 8 and is a design I’ve been in loooooooooove with for the longest time), 2 party tops, 2 casual tops, 2 nude lip glosses from L’Oreal & Maybelline (I now have 3 nude lip glosses, someone please explain to me why!), an Aqua Blue shimmer eye pencil from Chambor, a Maybelline smoky eyes eye shadow, and a whole bunch of lingerie that you don't need to know the number or price of!

Well, lingerie is an investment, right? RIGHT?

Here’s what my friend bought: A pair of stilettos she didn’t need, a handbag she didn’t need, a perfume, two casual tops and a pair of jeans she wasn’t planning on buying! Of course, she couldn't find the one thing she needed to buy. Don't you know that always happens? Don't you?

See how much fun hanging out with girlfriends can be! Never mind it usually ends up burning a hole in your pocket. We look at it as an "investment", and we're not cribbing about our boyfriends most of the time that we spend shopping, so it's good for our relationship too!!

Armed with our shopping bags, we went to watch ‘Shrek Forever After’. The security at the multiplex obviously thought it would be too much trouble going through so many shopping bags (rare breed of sensible people working at the mall, I tell ya) and didn’t bother to frisk us. Did I tell you I loved the movie? Seriously, how could critics give it such bad reviews?

They either didn't understand the movie (I swear that's possible. A friend of mine thought the movie was about Shrek day dreaming!) or aren't Shrek fans to begin with!

The story goes something like this: Shrek is bored of the whole feeding-burping-the-baby-and-nappy-changing routine his life has become and yearns for the time when he was a “real” ogre that could scare villagers and that people were afraid of. Rumplestiltskin, the evil guy who wants to seize the kingdom of Far Far Away, tricks him into believing that he can give Shrek one such day again and makes him sign a contract. Shrek falls for the trick, only to realize that Rumple has sent him into a world where ogres are hunted, none of his real-life friends like Donkey & Puss-In-Boots know him, and where Fiona is not his wife but a warrior princess leading the rebellion of the ogres against Rumple. Shrek's only way out is to make Fiona fall in love with him and share a “true love's kiss” with him. And he has one night to do it! Unfortunately for him, she is completely focussed on her mission and does not entertain any distractions.

Isn’t this a cute story? It kept me engrossed and rooting for Shrek throughout.

The 3D factor doesn’t really add much to the movie experience but 'Shrek Forever After' is just as cute as the previous installments, has plenty of ‘awwwwww’ moments and is totally watchable, if only for the fact that this is the last of the adorable Shrek movies. And I'm a HUGE Shrek Fan (not in size, only in degree :)

Sunday was spent at home sifting through my previous day’s shopping, passing out repeatedly looking at the bills, undergoing a massive guilt trip for splurging on totally unnecessary things, watching ‘Love Actually’ for like the 100th time to get me over the depression resulting from the guilt, watching ‘Twilight’ on Star Movies just 'coz it's an overly gooey, trashy, chick flick that's sure to get your hormones in overdrive, devouring cheese & pepperoni pizza, and reading a thriller that I’m currently reading.

The highlight of my Sunday: I got the pizza absolutely free! Here’s how my conversation with the pizza guy went when I called them after an hour of ordering:

Time of calling: 10.30pm

Me: You guys are supposed to deliver in 30 mins right? It’s been 1 hour and my pizza is still not here. And your shop is 5 minutes from my house!
Pizza Guy: M'am, the delivery boy must have got caught in the traffic.
Me: At 10.30 in the night? In a residential area?
Pizza Guy: Uh…erm…m'am, it’s election day today!
Me: Please tell me which part of town people are voting in, at this time? You’re giving me the pizza for free.
Pizza Guy: No m'am, I can't.
Me: Excuse me? Your policy is 30 mins or free! Is it not? IS IT NOT?
Pizza Guy: Uh....okay m'am, we’ll settle it between the two of us.
Me: Oh, I’m not settling anything mister. It’s free or I complain to your headquarters.

And that’s how I got my free pizza!

And no, I don’t feel the least bit guilty about it because these are the same guys who had refused to deliver to my place once when I had called them 5 mins after the time of their last order, saying they won’t deliver because I’m not their regular customer!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

So much for customer service.

What about you? Did you like 'Shrek'? And how was your weekend?

A Place Where I Can Spend My Entire Life...

A few days ago The Knife put up a post on his blog asking people about their idea of a coffee shop. I wrote in a lengthy response. Of course. I always have a lot to say :)

This post has been inspired by The Knife.

Coffee shops are one of my favorite places to hang out at. Much like book shops. Whether it is to meet a friend or read a book over a cup of piping hot coffee, I can spend hours at a coffee shop. I have.

Some of my fondest memories are tied to coffee shops. Grabbing a breakfast of bagel, cream cheese & coffee with a shot of Irish Cream/Hazelnut flavor before heading to class…killing time before classes at The Daily Grind / Bulls Head Bookshop…spending hours studying for my exams or hanging out with friends at Caribou Coffee…trudging to Starbucks at 6.30am (yes, they open that early, they're not in India!!) for a final round of revision before my 8 ‘o’ clock exam!

These coffee shops were friendly and kind. They let you hang out for hours as long as you kept ordering something every couple of hours. And wouldn’t hustle you out or ask if they can get your bill as soon as you’ve drained your first cup, a phenomenon that Indian coffee shop regulars would be only too familiar with.

Indian coffee shops are abominable. They make me want to grind and French Press the heads of the owner as well as the waiters and dump it in the can! Not to mention the coffee they serve is atrocious.

Here’s my list of what I want in a coffee shop, if you care to read…

1. CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY CONSISTENCY. A mocha should taste the same every time I order it. It shouldn’t be ODing on chocolate one time and bitter with coffee another time. A latte should have the same amount of milk every time.
   
   
2. The music should be played at a level that lets people make conversation or read their book or work on their laptop, things that people go to a coffee shop for in the first place!! No one goes to a coffee shop to listen to music. No one wants to have to yell to be heard by someone sitting across the table, either. For that we would go to a club.
   
   
3. No Bollywood music please. And definitely not Bollywood music from the 80s!! Most Bollywood music is trashy and we get to hear enough & more of it on radio and the numerous TV channels that have a habit of playing songs on loop. Give us some international music…retro, pop, hip hop, reggae, Spanish, Latin American, Cuban…the possibilities are endless.
   
   
4. Waiters that aren't retards, can understand the customer’s order, get it right the first time and can answer questions about the coffee that they serve. I also can’t fathom why coffee shop waiters insist on speaking to you in English when they can’t understand it or speak a single sentence correctly! It baffles me. I mean, come on, I’m Indian, you’re Indian. I can speak Hindi (or whatever local language) and so can you. So talk to me in a language that you understand because it makes me very very angry when you mess up my order because you don’t fucking understand or speak English!!
   
   
5. HOT COFFEE SHOULD BE SERVED HOT, NOT LUKEWARM. Contrary to what you may tell me about cappuccinos having originated in Europe where they prefer it lukewarm, there’s nothing more putting off than lukewarm coffee. This too makes me very very angry. And for God’s sake, your waiters don’t even know the difference between a Latte & a Mocha, like they would really know how Europeans like their cappuccino! (I kid you not, I once asked a waiter the difference between two types of coffees mentioned on their menu, and his answer was “Mam, this is coffee and that is also coffee”!!!!!)
   
   
6. Black coffee should taste bitter & strong, not like tasteless hot water. For that, I'll drink boiled Pepsi. Neither should a cappucino or a latte taste like milk. I'd drink milk for free at home if that's what I wanted. Don't skimp on the coffee!!
   
   
7. Coffee shops shouldn't hustle customers to order more or get the hell out as soon as they're done with their coffees. Don’t start clearing away their table or asking them if you can get their bill as soon as they’re done. Give them some time.
   
   
   

I like my coffee shops to have a quaint feel to them, to have soothing yellow lighting, not too bright, comfortable seating, and to play Christmas carols around Christmas time. But then that might be asking too much of Indian coffee shops when they seem to be centuries away from getting their basics right.

Image Courtesy: http://www.islandbiz.info/wp-content/uploads/2007/02/shop.jpg, http://www.dlp.info/News/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/Starbucks-inside-01.jpg, http://www.homehardwarelloydminster.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/gsnaps.jpg, http://www.heritagetowns.com/images/kinsalelarge3.jpg

PC's Custom Ferragamos

Priyanka Chopra had these sandals custom-made for her by Salvatore Ferragamo, as part of their 'Shoes for A Star' project. She's the first Bollywood actress and the second Indian woman (after Indira Devi, the Maharani of Cooch Behar) to have her own customized pair.

I'm quite on the fence about them - hated them when I first saw them, mainly b/c of the material and it's too blingy for my liking. But then, they're supposed to be diva sandals and I've warmed up to them a little bit since I first saw them.

How do you feel about them - do you love them, don't care much or are you on the fence about them?

Homemade Chicken Curry & Steaming Vegetable Soup

Chicken curry has always been my comfort food. Though my favorite cuisines are Chinese followed by Italian, homemade chicken curry is what I crave when I need nurturing. It’s the kind of food I want when I need a hug from mom but mom is in a land far away.

Chicken curry also reminds me of Sundays while I was growing up. Sundays used to be chicken/mutton/fish curry days! My family called itself non-vegetarian but our idea of non-vegetarianism was having chicken/mutton/fish one day of the week. That was the world I grew up in. It wasn’t a money issue; it was the fact that non-vegetarian food was essentially considered unhealthy thanks to the more-than-you-can-count-on-the-fingers-of-your-hands number of doctors in my family!

My mom’s chicken curry used to be lavish. She used to take as much onion as chicken - almost a kg of onion for 1 kg chicken - and she would cook them together till the onions melted and their flavor inflused into the chicken. She used to finish the dish off with a generous helping of ghee. Do I need to mention how divine it tasted?

The chicken curry I make isn’t my mom’s recipe. It’s a recipe I’ve picked up along the way. The best part is that it’s light as it doesn’t need too much oil, so you won't have any ghee stubbornly applying for permanent residency on your hips/butt/tummy. And it’s a happy bright yellow color!

I would like to dedicate this recipe to The Knife. He has inspired a person like me who hated cooking to start experimenting with it. I cook often on weekends now. So it’s only fair I dedicate my favorite recipe to him!

The ingredients for this Chicken Curry are:

Chicken - 800 gms
Olive oil - 4-5 tbsp (you can use regular vegetable oil too)
Cloves - 2-3
Cardamoms (whole) - 2
Cinnamon stick - 1
Bayleaf - 2
Onions, sliced - 100 gms
Ginger garlic paste - 3 tbsp
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder - ½ tsp
Turmeric powder - ¼ tsp
Coriander powder - 1 tsp
Cumin powder - 1 tsp
Garam masala powder - ¼ tsp
Yogurt - 4-5 tbsp
2 large tomatoes, chopped
Green coriander for garnishing

Heat oil in a pan. Add the whole masala and once it starts cracking, add the chopped onions. Fry till the onions are golden brown. Add ginger-garlic paste along with all the powder masala. Sauté for sometime, then add the chicken pieces & salt. Sauté for sometime. Add yogurt & tomato and sauté. Add water and cook till done. Serve with rice or chapattis.

There’s also a vegetable soup that I made yesterday for the first time. Completely original recipe. I won’t tie you down with proportions since I’m not an expert cook. Most of you who know cooking will have a much better idea of proportions, but for people who’re as culinary challenged as me, the quantity of each ingredient I used is as follows (Serves 2):

Peas - 100 gms
1 medium sized carrot, thinly sliced
5-6 florets of cauliflower
1 large tomato, chopped
1 small onion, chopped
1 inch piece of ginger, grated
4-5 cloves of garlic, chopped
1 green chilly, chopped
Salt to taste
A pinch of turmeric
Crushed black pepper
Maggi soup masala cube (This is just to spice up the soup a little bit. You can use any other soup seasoning as well or skip this completely if you’d rather have a blander tasting soup).

Dump the peas, carrots & cauliflower in a pressure cooker & cover with water (enough only to submerge the vegetables). Add a pinch of salt & turmeric powder. Fix the lid & pressure cook till done (they should be done in 3-4 whistles). Dump the contents of the pressure cooker in a blender along with the water you boiled it in. This is because they say that if you boil vegetables, most of their nutrients seep out into the water. This is simply a way of retaining the goodness of vegetables and you won’t need to add additional water into the blender.

(You can alternatively steam the vegetables but in this case you’d need to add some water into the blender while blending the vegetables.)

Add the chopped tomato, onion, ginger, garlic & green chilly into the blender & blend. Caution : do remember to fix the lid of the blender properly or you’ll soon have green colored walls!

Once the vegetables are blended, pour the liquid back into a vessel. Add some more salt (to taste), crushed black pepper (as desired), Maggi soup masala cube and bring to a boil. Simmer for 4-5 mins. Serve hot.

I’m not going to dedicate this recipe to The Knife. I do want to live to write another post, afterall. So…I’ll dedicate it to my mother!
See mommy, I’m eating my vegetables!

There's Always a First Time!

Confession time, people. I was a Mainland China virgin until the past weekend.

For the uninitiated, there’s always been the Indian Chinese served at most Chinese restaurants in India, and the Chinese served at Mainland China. I had never been to the restaurant because numerous people had told me that the Chinese they serve is rather bland, authentic Chinese so to say. And we all know that Indians love Indian Chinese. We have Chinese dishes that even the Chinese aren’t aware of! The most popular example being Chicken Manchurian, I think.

But I got convinced by a colleague to try the lunch buffet at Mainland China, and after the experience I’ve been wondering why I hadn’t been to the restaurant before!

Mainland China has two restaurants in Calcutta - one (the original) at Gurusaday Road & a new one at South City Mall, Calcutta’s newest hip destination. Both restaurants are HUGE. They also have a private dining facility at Silver Arcade on EM Bypass. I went to the one at South City. The ambience is serene, with just the right amount of lighting for a fine dining experience. The décor consists mainly of beige walls & ceiling, and cut-out wood.

And the food? It’s classy stuff. It retains the authenticity of Chinese cuisine, yet is spicy enough to tingle the Indian palate. The buffet spread consisted of a soup, LOVELY dim sums (I was going to make an entire meal of dim sums until I realized I didn't want to end up paying almost 500 bucs for dim sums alone!), chicken wings in Hunan sauce, chicken noodles, ginger fried rice (white with a hint of ginger, not the typical fried rice but very nice), a chicken entrée, one lamb and 3 types of fish (prawns, crabs & regular fish).

I didn’t check what was on offer for vegetarians, so excuse me s'il vous plaît!

My only grouse with the buffet spread was that they had so many fish dishes on offer and only one chicken & one lamb. But then, I live in Calcutta so I should’ve been prepared for the fish onslaught. Just that it seems a little unfair :(

The desserts….were awesome too! Strawberry mousse, Strawberry ice-cream, Vanilla ice-cream with darsaan (an ass-kicking combo), and tiny little white jelly-like cubes (kind of like the petit fours of Candies) that had something to do with almonds & were drizzled with orange sauce!!

I was truly in Chinese food paradise as we stretched our lunch to approximately 2 hours.

For those who might be interested, Mainland China serves lunch from 12.45PM - 3.30 PM & dinner from 7.30PM - 11.30PM. The lunch buffet costs Rs 325 (or Rs 350, I'm not sure) + taxes on weekdays & Rs 425 (or Rs 435) + taxes on weekends (in Calcutta that is. Prices in other cities may vary).

They do serve alcohol & accept credit cards. They have their own website, so you can check out their menu online. Their telephone nos. are 64578361/ 2422 5330/31/32/33 (South City Mall) & 22837964/65/66 / 32511257 (Gurusaday Road).

Mainland China is a classy place and it doesn't end at the food. They have superior service - efficient, prompt, attentive & helpful. That’s very different from most restaurants in Calcutta where one often finds waiters who are clueless about their own dishes, rude & act like they're doing you the biggest favor on earth by serving you!

When you go to Mainland China - or the next time you go to Mainland China - order the darsaan with Vanilla ice-cream for dessert. Vanilla has always been the real McCoy of ice-creams, and the darsaan is sweet & it’ll stick to your teeth and make you feel like a kid again :)

Pyaar Impossible

Pyaar Impossible is the kind of movie where the protagonists talk in terms of “Yeah whatever”, “Like, you know?”, “Shut up, really?”, “You know, what?” etc. and the director has paid more attention to the accent with which Priyanka Chopra speaks English (Indian-meets-American) rather than the story or the script.

Like, really!!

To give you a synopsis, the movie is about a geek - played by Uday Chopra who really doesn’t need thick glasses & braces to look ugly - who continues to nurture secret feelings for college beauty Priyanka Chopra (guys, you can really go ahead & call her a sex bomb) even 7 years after they have graduated. PC on the other hand isn’t even aware of his existence (though he once saved her life!!) and has moved on to get married, have a kid, get divorced & work at a Singapore technology firm as their PR & Marketing head!!

The geek lands up in Singapore chasing a suave fraud (an appropriately cast Dino Morea) who has stolen his software and is about to sell it to the same company that PC works at, for a record amount. Geek boy follows PC to her house and agrees to become a nanny to her precocious daughter.

For one, it’s a story Hollywood has shown us many times before. Divorced woman, mother to a child falls in love with her child’s (male) nanny / housekeeper or her co-worker. So the movie has nothing new to offer in terms of story.

There are too many loopholes in the script, many WTF moments. For instance, no one - in any corner of the world - goes to work wearing beach/resort/party wear, where the skirt is barely long enough to cover the butt and the top buttons of the shirt are always popped open to reveal push-up bra induced cleavage. Not even in the US of A, leave alone Singapore.

Secondly, Priyanka Chopra’s character comes across more as an airhead rather than a smart, independent young woman who is a single working mother, drawn out on all strings trying to manage a demanding career, a home & a super brat of a child. She has spent her entire life seeking only attractive men and wonders how people can be so shallow so as not to look beyond a person’s looks / appearance. She leaves her 6 year old daughter in the care of a male she doesn’t even know after meeting him for two minutes! She works at a technology company but doesn’t know how to operate a computer. The list goes on.

Why did I go to watch this movie, you ask? It has Uday Chopra in it, so I was suitably warned after all.

Well, I thought it would be a breezy romance given the candy-floss feel of its posters & previews. Little did I know that there would be an OD of Uday Chopra (there’s just Uday Chopra & more of Uday Chopra on screen!!) Couldn’t we have had some more of Priyanka Chopra?? Coz, you know, she’s been getting to wear the most awesome clothes since Dostana, and with her mind-blowing body and her chic short hair she totally works the screen.

Pyaar Impossible is the kind of movie which ends with the girl saying “I’m just a girl but with you I feel like a princess”, and where people say “Shut the front door” rather than “Shut the fuck up”. It’s too superficial and hollow to tackle the subject of how people give so much importance to looks and the concept of Prince Charming. It hardly shows a romance growing between the beauty and the beast (who insists on calling himself a “geek”) to warrant an ending where she falls for him. You wait for the film to mature at some point but it doesn’t.

Overall, Pyaar Impossible isn’t unwatchable…I never felt bored in the movie as I did during Avatar…but I’d suggest watching it when they show it on TV on a Friday night when you have no other plans, rather than watching it in the theater. The only good thing about the movie is Priyanka Chopra. She’s confident, stylish, sassy and super hot.

To conclude, I’d like to say two things to Yash Raj : 1. No one wants to watch Uday Chopra on screen (and that too so much of him!). I mean, it’s not his fault that he looks the way he does, but it IS his fault that he thinks he still should be an actor in spite of his looks and repeated audience rejection (No, the Dhoom franchise is not a hit b/c of him), and 2. No matter how many movies you make for him, he’s just not going to cut it as an actor. Impossible hai yaar!

I Need a New Winter Wardrobe

Let me explain why.

Once upon a time I lived in a land far away where winters meant sub-zero temperatures, wind that was so chilly it would turn the tip of your nose red, snow, turtle neck tops, sweaters, jackets, woolen socks, caps & gloves!

Then I moved to a land much nearer home (a.k.a. Mumbai) where 20 degrees Celsius (approx. 70 F) was considered the thick of winter! The turtle necks, sweaters, jackets and the likes I had so lovingly bought in the land far away were permanently relegated to the dark recesses of the cupboard, only to be brought out for an airing once every November in the hope that temperatures would dip to a level that would justify putting them on without getting certified a freak of nature, and would promptly be sent back to the recesses they were pulled out of after the airing. To be brought out again next November.

Now I’m in a place where I can wear at least one of them at a time – turtle necks OR sweaters OR jackets. When I took them out for airing this past November, it struck me that they have suffered the ravages of time. They have faded & started looking really old. Not to mention most of them cannot accommodate a permanently expanding body anymore!

So, I went shopping for winter clothes with The Boy.

Mistake 1. Never go shopping with a boy when you’re having “weight management issues”. The clothes he will pick out for you will be incredibly sexy but you will not fit into any of them. They will make the tyres on your stomach look like the safety tube you wear around your waist when you’re leaning how to swim!! Not only will you end up miserable because you didn’t fit into any of the nice clothes around, the boy will never let you hear the end of it. He will poke and grab and pull every tyre around your waist till you are feeling positively shitty about yourself.

Mistake 2 – Don’t pretend you will fit into any sexy outfit the boy picks out for you and attempt to try it on in his presence. You will only end up embarrassed and imploring Mother Earth to open up and swallow you whole right then, given that The Boy’s girth is half that of yours and he fits into, AND looks amazing, in anything HE tries on!

The most intelligent course of action in such a scenario would be to pretend you don’t like the sexy clothes he's picked out for you, and that your taste in clothes is much more evolved and sophisticated than THAT. And then suggest you go eat something instead since all that hunting around for clothes has left you famished. Boys are sensible creatures you know…they will never stop you from eating (within limits, of course) as long as you promise them you’ll take yourself to the nearest gym and pledge a lifetime of emptying out your wallet and Swiss bank accounts to get yourself tortured.

Whether you end up dragging yourself to the gym later won't matter. Sensible boys can also be distracted easily ;-)

*****

Cashmere Boyfriend Sweater - Gap, $98

Cashmere Shawl Popover - J. Crew, $129.99

Cowl Neck Sweater Dress - Banana Republic, $98

Puffed Vest - Gap, $49.99

Cropped Trenchcoat - Gap, $79.50

Mid-length Trench Coat - Gap, $88

Wool Trenchcoat - Banana Republic, $230

The Story of an Apple Cake

I’ve recently fallen in love with the Blueberry Muffin & the Apple Cake at Barista. They’re soft, moist, have just the right amount of sweetness & best of all, they’re free of the calories of chocolate pastries you get at coffee shops. I’m sure they’re laden with butter but let’s just let them be, shall we?

I’ve been craving a Blueberry Muffin or an Apple Cake almost every day for the past couple of weeks, so I decided to make an apple cake at home yesterday evening. Headed straight to Lake Market after work to pick up apples & ground cinnamon. The rest of the ingredients were at home.

I spent more than an hour mixing the ingredients & beating the batter before popping it in the microwave, yet the apple cake came out dry & harder than a cookie!! I know what mistakes I made but I was heartbroken nonetheless, not to mention that my craving got intensified.

For those who care, here’s the recipe for an apple cake:

Apples – Peeled, cored & chopped
All purpose flour (maida) – 3 cups
Butter or vegetable oil (You can use either but butter will obviously enhance the taste) – 2 cups
Eggs - 3
White sugar – 1 ½ cups
Ground cinnamon – 1 tsp
Baking soda – 1 tsp
Vanilla Essence – 2 tsp
Walnuts – chopped (optional)

Sift all purpose flour, baking soda & ground cinnamon together. Beat the eggs, add sugar till it dissolves. Gradually stir in the flour while beating continuously. Pour in the butter, keep beating. Add baking vanilla essence, apples & walnuts. Pour into a pan (that you can pop into the micro) smeared with butter. Bake!

You will get this...


(Photo courtesy: The Home Executive)

I promise yours will turn out better than mine, just don’t skimp on the butter, or OD on the flour or baking soda!!


P.S.: I used to think Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin were really crazy for having named their daughter 'Apple'. While I still wonder what they were thinking when they named her that, I think 'Apple' is a pretty cute name for a kid. Though I'm not sure I would've felt the same way if I were named that, or she will when she grows up!!

More Validation for Women Who Luuuuurrrve Dark Chocolate

According to a research carried out at the European Dermatology Clinic at Harley Street (whichever Alpine corner of Europe that is in), eating dark chocolates every day can reduce the risk of skin cancer & help the skin tolerate wrinkle-causing UV rays better, as it is high in flavanols, the antioxidants that occur naturally in cocoa beans.

Which means that dark chocolate is anti-ageing! Hurray!!

Now you know why women are so obsessed with dark chocolate!!

Sunday Lunch

Spaghetti Carbonara – cheesy, subtly flavored & with crispy bits of ham - followed by coffee and blueberry muffin, and rounded off with Belgian chocolate ice-cream. Now, that's a Sunday lunch worth having!!

How was your Diwali?

Happy Diwali

Be safe, be happy, light some diyas...and have a wonderful Diwali.

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Hmmm…Where do I begin? Irrespective of how good or bad the Potter movies are, I have to watch them simply because I’m a Potter-maniac.

To be fair to the movies, none of them have been bad on absolute terms but I think this one was relatively better than the other ones, in terms of doing justice to the book it is adapted from and its execution - probably because this movie didn’t require special effects at the same scale as the earlier movies, focusing instead on the budding romance between Harry & Ginny, and Hermione pining for Ron.

A good director can get the emotional bit right but when you're trying to aggrandize a movie in terms of its scale, there is a good chance you might lose the plot.

I didn’t think this movie was spectacular in terms of scale, the sets, visual effects etc. – because it wasn’t. The earlier movies had those on a much grander scale. But I enjoyed this movie. It was dark, funny, and the actors seem to have really come into their own.

I just wish Rowling hadn’t killed Dumbledore in the book. Did she really have to?

Go Watch It!

If you haven’t already that is.

I’m talking about ‘The Hangover’ – the low profile, low budget (?) movie that has taken theatres the world over by storm based mainly on word-of-mouth publicity, much like ‘My Big Fat Greek Wedding’ did 7 years ago!

If I have ever seen a funny movie, 'The Hangover' has gotta be it. The movie is crazily hilarious! It’s about four guys - one of whom is getting married - who spend a crazy night in Vegas to celebrate a bachelor’s party. When they wake up the next morning, they have no recollection of anything that happened last night. They wake up to a room wrecked beyond recognition, a tiger in their bathroom & a baby in their cupboard! And they have lost their friend who is about to get married in a few hours!

They need to find their friend ASAP but with no recollection of what happened the night before, that is just a little bit difficult. They are left with no choice but to retrace their steps. Their journey back into time includes bizarre revelations about each of them, strippers, drug dealers, the Chinese mafia, the works!

The movie is insane. There are a few loopholes – things that are left unexplained – but you don’t question them b/c your sides are aching laughing. It’s a movie you can see over & over again and laugh just as hard every time. It’s Hollywood at its low-brow best but when they do it, they do it so much better than we do!

And oh, may I add that Bradley Cooper is H-O-T. In a very blue-eyed-white-American-boy way but he is smokin’ hot. And Zack Galifianakis (Alan in the movie) – he is fatal.

Have You Eaten Enough Today?

I had an awesomely fun weekend! Never mind that I ate at a really cheesy restaurant or watched a bad movie. It was just the kind of weekend I want most of my weekends to be - out & about doing stuff rather than languishing at home.

The weekend started with lunch at this relatively new restaurant called ‘Machan’. It’s a theme restaurant with ‘jungle’ as their theme. It was a place we hadn’t tried before so we decided to go. The inside of the restaurant was completely dark except for white lights on top of every table!

Now does it require an Einstein to know that white light at restaurants is a total put-off? It’s one thing to try & do something different but there is a very thin line between being able to pull off something different & going completely wrong! And to miss something as basic as this…well, if you’re getting into a business - any business - you better get the basics right!

What put us off even further were the plastic tigers, elephants & giraffes that were part of the décor. I mean, couldn’t they have had animals made out of stone or something?

The food wasn’t bad but it wasn’t spectacular either. We ordered a Karachi-style mutton kebab for starters. I’ve had melt-in-your-mouth varieties of this kebab elsewhere, and though the kebab we had yesterday wasn’t bad, it wasn’t a patch on the stuff I’ve had at other restaurants. For the main course we ordered a mutton dish (named Rifle Mutton in line with the jungle theme), which was reasonably decent, along with rice. And we wrapped up our meal with gulab jamuns & rosogullas doused in rabri!!

Needless to say, we couldn’t walk around after the meal. So we decided to do the next best thing (next only to sleeping) in such a scenario – we decided to watch a movie & ‘New York’ was it! I’ve already put a separate post on the movie but let me just reiterate that the mind is known not to make very smart & sound decisions when it’s in a state of half slumber. The movie was so pathetic I had to watch another movie – 'Death of a Funeral' – that night to detoxify my mind. It is a hilarious movie. Please do watch it when you have the time.

On Sunday I met a friend for lunch. After gorging an entire plateful of pasta, we wanted to go to a coffee & dessert place. The place we chose, a deli, offered a hell lot more than coffee & dessert…such as pancakes, waffles & crepes!

We happily ordered an apple pie with ice cream along with coffee. While we were contemplating leaving the place, it started raining! Now, what would you have chosen if you were in our position - getting wet in the rain or staying within the dry, warm confines of a coffee shop?

We, like any sensible two people on this planet, chose the latter and ended up ordering a waffle with whipped cream & apples in cinnamon sauce. But as destiny would have it (yes, yes it was destiny at play...otherwise why would two sane people who are stuffed up to their neck with food order more food?) we ended up ordering a plateful of pancakes. With maple syrup & whipped cream of course. Trust me, the smell of pancakes being freshly made in butter is hard to resist!

The weekend was about food & movies. And while I hope I don't make it a habit to stuff myself like that every weekend, it IS good to forget about all your worries and drown yourself in the comforts of food every once in a while. And of course, a better choice of movies might help :)

They're Here!!!

Rains!!!!! They are back!!!!!

We've been getting steamed like momos for the past month & a half or so. There was a thunderstorm the weekend before last, that I wrote about here. Since then the temperature soared once again, hovering around the 41-42 Celsuis mark. Until yesterday evening.

There was lashing rain accompanied by thunder & lightning. I got soaked to the bone. There's a thrill in getting drenched in the rain which is unparalleled. It makes you jump, sing, smile, laugh, happy!!

It's been raining again since morning. The American Embassy right behind my office has a very well tended to lawn (obviously) with lots of trees. Everything is so lush green, having absorbed all the rain.

I love the rain. Only I wish it rained when I'm ensconced inside my home and not when I have to negotiate puddles of rain water on my way to/back from work.