The Accidental Kheer – Guest Post

Since the time, I sampled some of Gayathri’s ingenious Apple Kheer, I have been badgering her to share the recipe. Then on second thoughts, I thought, what better way to do it than requesting her to do a guest post on my blog. So here is Gayathri’s version of  the incredible Apple Kheer and the story behind it.

She Writes—-

Planting my Roses in the Desert

Courtesy: Padmaji, my Srilankan Cook

Restaurant Review Project 9- Take Away

Don’t be fooled. By the name. You can. Sit and eat there.

We did just that.

It might have been plain laziness or a sheer genius to name their place “Take Away”. A typical juice bar kind of set up with cafeteria kind of feel. It comes highly recommended from Amit’s colleagues. Great taste and its light on your wallet too, they told.

These guys actually come out of their restaurant, take orders from people waiting in their cars. They have a glorious juice bar. Since it’s not a fancy-shancy place, they serve only the traditional juices and mocktails. Though I am not a big fan of juices ( I prefer to eat fruit as a whole), I felt like indulging in some Avocado juice. For health benefits. They don’t call me a FF for nothing. Amit ordered a pomegranate juice. Meanwhile we placed our orders over the counter and took our places. Now Arabic cuisine isn’t for the faint hearted. The locals eat well, eat a lot and mostly it is just meat. Vegetables are thrown in here and there strictly for aesthetic purpose only. So while placing our orders, Namit did not have much to choose from.

So before I get into the thick of things, a little about what I gathered regarding Arabic Cuisine. My experience with Arabic food has been nothing but fantastic. They use spices to marinate the meat, whilst the rest of the platter is either seasoned with more but varied seasonings. Meat- read Mutton/Lamb features prominently in all their preparations. Arabic bread with zaatar ( seasoning), according to me, is the highlight of an Arabic meal. Spices only render flavour to the whole set up never taking a central role like that in Indian cuisine. But when they offer something that says spicy then they REALLY tend to turn the heat on. Lebaneh and Laban are their derivation of yogurt are refreshing.

And What a Week it was!

Last week just whizzed past me. The first half, I actually have no recollection of what I did except there was a lot of job search stress, some studying and trying to teach Mimi how to solve some board puzzles. All three of them were met with instant failures. But the tenacious ‘Kida’ in me did not give up. I tried and tried and am still trying. All of this is teaching me to be patient, tolerant , as I repeat to myself “Your time will come.” The eternal optimist in me is never going to give up.

I haven’t written about my work out sessions for quite some time. I go to the gym ‘every other day’  and try to keep up with my cardio. I am trying to undo the damage that the India trip has done. So there is a lot of work to be done. But I am happy to see that my motivation hasn’t wavered inspite of the kilos I piled on savouring those goodies in Delhi. Thats the best change of mind set I have achieved till date. This itself is a huge achievement. Earlier I used to fret and fume, felt defeated if I went on a binge and get super depressed on piling on a single kilo. Probably because I used to work very hard. These days it is more relaxed but not lax. I understand the importance of feeling good vis-a-vis looking good. I try to maintain a healthy balance but not at the cost of enjoying the finer things in life. So MODERATION is my BFF ( Best Friend Forever) and that has helped me not take myself, my life, my body and all of it, seriously.

Mimi is being prepared to join a nursery. Yes! I have realized that I need to spend enough time with her to make her learn a few basic things. I have started off with nursery rhymes and now though she doesn’t recite it, she does the action for “Twinkle Twinkle”. All the patience and drama it took to teach her!!! She would do it for me but not for anyone else. That is something that I am working on now. Since she’s become a lot shy after her visit to India ( I suspect, all that overwhelming affection had something to do with it), I feel a bit worried if this behaviour would stay. I loved it when she was so receptive to other people. She has also learnt to walk backwards which she thinks is a super accomplishment. So to entertain me , she would walk backwards and feign a fall! 🙂 Also when she feels I am not in the right mood, she would run around in circles to make me laugh. We have a bought a huge nursery rhyme book for her which she likes to flip through and pass time.