Build a robot cupcake

Look at these fab robot cupcakes!

He is the reason

There are three truths about God that one must know.

He does not have a reason for being; he is the reason of our being. He has always been there.

He is never born and he never dies; he is eternal. It is only for the welfare of his devotees that he takes part in the process of birth.

He is the supreme master of the world. He takes care of everybody and every being. He's responsible for our nurturing.

He who learns these three truths is cleared of all his sins.

One hundred years of solitude

Author: Gabriel Garcia Marquez

The first page of the novel has a family tree and probably when you look at it, your first thought would be - "Huh? Why would I ever need this?!?!". Believe me, you would need to refer it every now and then. For the simple reason that the names of all the characters are made of every possible combination of: Jose, Arcadio, Aureliano, Ursula, Amaranta and so on!!!

Mid-way through the novel I was completely clueless as to which generation we're talking about. There are about 4-5 generations(I told you I don't know!).

Coming to the story: it's about generations of a family spanning, you guessed it, a hundred years. Right from how the first person in the family founded a town to how the last person saw the degradation of the town. How members of the family fell into and out of love; how they spread prosperity and destruction of the town; so on and so forth. The title is very apt: almost every member of the family lives in solitude for most part of his life despite being surrounded by all of his/her family members. Some of the members live so long that you feel gross reading about their condition. The first third of the story is interesting. Maybe I like the first third (yeah I can't say first half!) because it's very positive and constructive. Then the ending is also very interesting. You might as well skip all the pages in between and you wouldn't feel any loss.

Bottomline: An okay read.

And the break continues...

Everyday I think that today might be the day when I could squeeze some time out to write the numerous things that I want to but looks like that's not going to happen for a few more days :(. So hang in there!

Paneer Makhani

I've been really silent on the recipe section, so here I come! Once again a recipe by Sanjeev Kapoor and once again a delicious one! If you love paneer dishes, you must try this. This recipe is slightly modified from the original one depending on the availability of ingredients and fat concerns. Implying that I reduced the amount of butter/oil/cream being used and omitted certain ingredients if I didn't have them. I'll list the recipe just as I made it and hence I'm doing away with the list of ingredients because you would agree with me that when you cook you add a little bit of this and a little bit of that. Rarely do you exactly measure the quantities, most of the time it's approximation and what looks good to you. Most importantly, make it a day ahead of when you want to serve it. That gives the spices sufficient time to get absorbed in the curry. At the least prepare it in the morning if you want it in the evening, it's not a rule but you won't be disappointed.

1. I made paneer from 1 liter milk. That should be approx 250 gms paneer I think. Cut it into cubes.
2. Heat 1 tblsp butter in a pan on a medium-low flame.
3. Add 2 bay leafs, 2 cut green cardamoms, pinch of cinnamon powder, sprinkle some black pepper powder and 1 chopped green chilli and stir. The original recipe called for cinnamon sticks and black peppercorns so you can use that if you've that. Stir-fry for 1-2 mins.
4. Add 1 tblsp of ginger garlic paste. Fry well so that the raw smell of garlic goes away. This is very important otherwise your curry will taste "garlick-y" when cooked.
5. Add 1/2 a can (or around 1 cup) of tomato puree and add some water too. Again around a cup of water.
6. Add 1 tsp chilli powder, 1-2 tsp crushed kasuri methi, 1 tsp kitchen king (or use Garam Masala) and half a tsp of sugar.
7. Add salt to taste.
8. Add paneer and cook for 10 mins.
9. Add and half a cup of cream.
10. Cook for 5 minutes.

The original recipe called for 1/4 cup butter in the first step and 1 cup cream in the last step. Also, I used the "tomato sauce" instead of puree. It's not the ketchup; it comes in a can and has a nice texture and color. Hence the nice red color of my curry!

Sarcastic one liners...

I came across this hilarious site which offers sarcastic one liners, funny one liners and what not. Thought I would share it here: tensionnot.com