Sunset Beach

Author: Mary Kay Andrews

I had so much fun reading this book! For a while, book after book I'd been reading non-fiction. This was a good change and sort of a murder mystery at that. The story is set in Florida and is about a girl who was almost good-for-nothing and then slowly builds up her life. For sure it's a feel-good story and I guess that's why it felt good to read it :)

Drue Campell, not too long back had a knee injury and can no longer do kiteboarding - which was her life. And now she lost her mom too. For better or for worse, her father who hasn't seen her for years offers her a job at her firm in another city and gives her keys to her grandparents beach-front cottage which she inherited after her mom. The fact that she had nothing going for her where she was and the thought of living in her grandparents' home where she had beautiful childhood memories, makes her accept the offer.

Moving to a new city also helps her start her life anew. The cottage needs a lot of TLC which she's happy to give. The work while not what she was looking for pays her bills and helps her meet new friends. Although Wendy - the thorn at work - her dad's new wife does make life at work a little hard at times. Then one day she comes across a case that was handled by her dad's firm and is closed. However, the client feels cheated. Drue is intrigued by the case and starts investigating. One thing leads to another and she's deep into the investigation. She has two mysteries at hand.

It's a fun read!

Lots of candles, plenty of cake

Author: Anna Quindlen

The author writes about her journey as a woman. How things changed for her with every decade, how she changed with every decade. It was a very interesting read and there were so many things that I could relate to and so many things that she said about life that I felt were spot on. There are bits and pieces from the book that have harbored a place in my mind. She says that how when you are older younger women will come to you and ask for advice. They feel there's a formula. That you do A, B and C and that will give you D. But there isn't. Also, what you want changes as you grow and as your circumstances change. And looking back so many times you feel that what happened is what you wanted even if at that time you didn't think so.
I loved loved reading the book and it's hard to give just one reason for it. It feels as if the author is right in front of you narrating, has a good mix of humor and life philosophy and feels very relatable. One of the reasons I wanted to read this book is to see her thoughts on when she's older; to understand what are the different perspectives/feelings one goes through as they age.
Bottomline: Loved it!

Tres Leches cake

I saw this cake on KAF and was tempted to try it out. While earlier I would try more of chocolate cakes, now I’m also venturing into non-chocolate cakes. The cake was so delicious! It turned out really good; a nice dessert cake (due to the sweetness).

The other thing I liked about the cake was that it used both the egg whites and the yellows equally. I don’t like recipes which use one more than the other because then there’s potential for wastage. Also, it consumes the whole box of whipping cream - saving me from another thing going waste. 

This was my first time baking a sponge cake so I was a little worried about beating the egg whites right. Also my first time whipping heavy cream. In both cases, my advice to newbies is to just have patience. The initial consistency is so different from the final consistency that it worries you if you are ever going to get there; but you do. It only takes time :)

CAKE

• 6 large eggs, separated
• 1/4 teaspoon lemon juice
• 1 1/2 cups sugar
• 1/3 cup cold water
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
• 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1 1/2 cups King Arthur Unbleached All-Purpose Flour

TOPPING

• 1/2 cup heavy or whipping cream
• 1 can (14 ounces) sweetened condensed milk
• 1 can (12 ounces) evaporated milk; or substitute 1 1/2 cups half & half
• 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

FROSTING

• 1 1/2 cups heavy or whipping cream
• 1/4 cup sugar

INSTRUCTIONS

1. Preheat the oven to 350°F. Lightly grease a 9" x 13" x 2" pan; line it with parchment and grease the parchment, if you plan on turning the cake out onto a serving platter. Note: Your pan must be at least 2" deep; this is a high-rising cake.
2. To make the cake: Combine the egg whites and cream of tarter in a large bowl, and beat the whites until soft peaks form. Set them aside.
3. In another large bowl, beat the egg yolks until well combined. Add the sugar, and beat until the mixture comes together and thickens. When you stop beating, the mixture should fall from the beater(s) in ribbons as you lift them out of the bowl.
4. Add the water and vanilla and almond extracts to the egg yolk mixture, beating to combine.
5. Stir in the baking powder, salt, and flour, beating just to combine.
6. Gently and thoroughly fold in the beaten egg whites, stirring until no streaks of white show.
7. Scoop the batter into the prepared pan, gently smoothing the top.
8. Bake the cake for 28 to 30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean. Remove it from the oven, and set it on a rack. Loosen the edges with a spatula or table knife.
9. After 20 minutes, gently turn the cake out onto a serving platter, turning it upright, if desired. You can also leave it face-down if you like; you'll be topping it with whipped cream, so any imperfections on the bottom crust will be hidden. You may also choose to serve the cake right from the pan; in which case, leave it where it is.
10. Allow the cake to cool to room temperature.
11. To make the topping: Combine the 1/2 cup cream, condensed milk, evaporated milk, and vanilla or liquor, stirring thoroughly.
12. Poke the cake all over with a fork. Pour the milk mixture over the cake slowly, stopping occasionally to allow it to soak in. This seems like a lot of liquid for the cake to absorb; but don't worry, it will.
13. Cover the cake and refrigerate it for several hours before serving. 
14. Just before serving, make the frosting: Whip 1 1/2 cups heavy cream with 1/4 cup sugar until the cream is stiff enough to spread. Spread the cream over the top of the cake, swirling it with your spatula. Dust with ground cinnamon, if desired. Serve with diced mango, pineapple, or other tropical fruits; or simply as is, in all its sweet glory.
15. Refrigerate any leftover cake for up to several days.

Woman in the window

Author: A. J Finn

This novel reminded me of "The girl on the train". Honestly till I'd realized that, I was very happy with it! I'd been looking for some book that would be hard for me to put down. It didn't fail there. There was more than one day when life came in between the book and me! Of course, life always wins.

The book is about a woman who has agoraphobia - fear of open spaces. So she's bound to her home and rarely ever goes out. With all the time she has on her hand, she spends it generously between drinking, watching thrillers and keeping tab on her neighbors. More than a tab actually. She uses her camera to zoom into her neighbors windows. One such day she saw a woman bleeding with some kind of silvery thing stabbed into her. She called the 911. However, since the para medics were taking time she decided to go help the woman. This was tough for her as she could hardly step outside - let alone walk all the way to her neighbors house. As a result, she collapsed midway. She woke up in a hospital only to find out she was being questioned about her mental state. Nobody believed what she had to say. The police did not find anything that would support her theory. She doesn't loose heart and continues to dig evidence for her story. For every evidence she unearths there is an explanation of how she conjured it up. Eventually she accepts that it was always a figment of her imagination. Given how much she was drinking and how alcohol does not mix well with her medications and all the thrillers she'd been watching, she had imagined it all up. Until one day when she found evidence that could not be refuted. That day changed her life.

Loved reading the book! It always kept me on the edge :)

Quiet: The power of introverts in a world that can’t stop talking

Author: Susan Cain

When I read the title of the book, I thought that this is going to tell me ways of how introverts can exert their power. In some sense it does but it is not predominantly about that. It talks about everything related to introverts and exercising your power is probably just another chapter. This is where I was a little disappointed because I was coming with different expectations. What I did like is that after reading the book I realize that being an introvert is normal. That you don’t have to feel guilty if you don’t want to be amidst a group of people (read party). That sometimes you prefer to sit in a corner and read your book.

I learnt quite a few things from this book. It talks about how a long time ago the culture in US was the Culture of Character. What people appreciated most was your character and hence that is what you focused on. Then in the 1900s it changed to the Culture of Personality. What people looked for was how outgoing you were. How comfortable and confident you were talking to people around you. This is what led to the promotion of extroversion. Kids in school are encouraged to participate in group exercises, public speaking and so on. The more you speak up, the more you are heard. Be it in college or in work place. Extroversion is more or less correlated with leadership in everybody’s eyes. People have ignored that not everybody is born alike and not everybody appreciates these extrovert activities. Because extroversion is valued, everybody strives towards it whether they like it or not.

The author also talks about how different races have different degrees of extroversion. Asians as a race are quite introverts (of course this doesn’t mean that all of them are but more people are introverts than extroverts) while Americans by virtue of their origin are not. Most Americans were immigrants – they came from far away lands. This fact implies they have to willing to be travel to new places with new people. Asian culture on the other hand promotes introversion. Kids who talk less and read more are admired more. This is why Asian students take some time to adjust in American universities where they are expected to speak up and in a group setting.

Further, introversion is not just related to people. Just as they shy away from new people, introverts also shy away from new things. They like to take baby steps.

That said it doesn’t mean you will never find an introvert doing anything extrovert. If they have a passion or love of something that requires them to go out of their boundaries then they will do that. They will find it a little taxing though because it will take them a lot of effort and energy to do that; and for that they will have ways to recover their energy back.

My takeaway from this book is – we should identify introverts around us and accept them for who they are. More so with the kids. If there is an introvert kid don’t push them towards extrovert activities. Expose them slowly to new things and people. See what they like. One would wonder why wouldn’t the same advice go for extroverts. Well it does except that people are more accepting towards extroverts than introverts in today’s culture. It is easier to see why someone would want to go to a party vs why one wouldn’t. It’s easier to accept that doing things in a group is fun vs doing it alone. How many times have you seen a lone traveler and wondered to yourself why did they come alone? What fun is that? That is the reason we need to be more accepting of introverts.

Dry Veggie manchurian

I love indo-chinese food and especially all kinds of manchurians! It’s just so yummy! Another friend of mine also likes manchurian so I thought why not make some and then all of us can savor it! I found this recipe by Tarla Dalal (she’s my trusted source for most Indian recipes – except south Indian recipes). I wouldn’t say I followed the exact proportions, just went with ballpark measurements.

Ingredients

For The Manchurian Balls
2 cups finely chopped cabbage
1/4 cup finely chopped spring onions whites and greens (I didn’t have these so skipped them)
1 cup grated carrot
1/4 cup cornflour
1/4 cup plain flour (maida)
2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
1 tsp finely chopped ginger (adrak)
2 tsp finely chopped garlic (lehsun) (skipped this as well since wasn’t sure if DH would like the taste of raw garlic)
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper (kalimirch) to taste
oil for deep-frying

For The Dry Sauce
2 tsp cornflour
2 tbsp oil
2 tsp finely chopped green chillies
1 tsp finely chopped ginger (adrak)
1 1/2 tsp finely chopped garlic (lehsun)
1/2 cup finely chopped spring onions whites and greens
1 1/2 tsp soy sauce
1 tsp vinegar
1 1/2 tbsp tomato ketchup
1 tsp red chilli sauce
salt to taste
freshly ground black pepper (kalimirch) to taste
1 tbsp finely chopped spring onion greens

Method:

1. I chopped the cabbage and carrot using a food processor.
2. Combine all the ingredients along with 2 tbsp of water in a deep bowl and mix very well.
3. Divide the mixture into 14 equal portions and shape each portion into a ball (if you find it difficult to form balls, sprinkle a little water).
4. Heat the oil in a deep non-stick pan and deep-fry the balls, a few at a time, on a medium flame till they turn golden brown in colour from all the sides. Drain on an absorbent paper and keep aside.

For the sauce

1. Combine the cornflour and ¼ cup of water in a bowl, mix well and keep aside.
2. Heat the oil in a broad non-stick pan, add the green chillies, ginger, garlic and spring onion whites and greens and sauté on a high flame for a few seconds.
3. Add the soy sauce, vinegar, tomato ketchup, red chilli sauce, cornflour-water mixture, salt and pepper, mix well and cook on a high flame for 1 minute.
4. When you are ready to serve (do not do this ahead of time):
1. If there was a gap between when you made the sauce to when you are ready to serve, the sauce would have thickened. That is how cornflour is. So add some water and heat it. Bring it to the original consistency.
2. Add the manchurian balls to the dry sauce, toss gently and cook on a high flame for 1 minute.
3. Switch off the flame, add the spring onion greens.
4. Serve immediately.

Animal Farm

Author: George Orwell

I was looking for books to read when I remembered that I’d been wanting to read Animal Farm for a long time. I had heard a lot about this book so when it finally came up in my library queue, I was so excited! This book did not disappoint me – it was so interesting! The edition that I had, had a preface about George Orwell – what his political inclinations were, how he came about to write this book, his writing style etc. That was the icing on the cake! Fun fact – George Orwell was born in India (to his british parents). It turns out this story is a satire on Soviet Union. To me it felt like this is how most of the world works.

George Orwell’s writing style is very easy going while at same time it’s not as casual as having a conversation. It felt like just right to me. Left to myself, would have loved to finish this book in a few hours but you know how life goes! The story is about a farm where there are a bunch of animals. They have a human owner and his human employees. The humans are detested by the animals for they do not treat them well. No surprises so far. Some animals sow the idea of a rebellion amongst all the other animals and while the animals feel that they would never be able to do such a thing, one day they drove the humans out of the farm and became the owners of the farm. Since the animals don’t like humans and the other farms are run by humans – they do not interact with the other farms. They would like to spread their word to other animals on these farms that they can also take over their farms. However, that doesn’t happen. At this point, it was a true democracy – for the people, by the people and of the people. All the animals are very happy because they are all equals. Everybody (mostly) works equally hard, they get bumper harvests, are well fed and very happy. Slowly and gradually, as time goes by, without anybody realizing some animals get more power and better status than other animals. They now have a leader amongst them who dictates who does what and how the farm should be. This change in dynamics is so interesting to read and love how the author has shown the progression. I will leave the rest for you to read.

While reading the book, I was thinking isn’t this how real world is? Which is what made it all the more engrossing. Highly recommend reading this book!