Living up this Summer at Lakshadweep

With 2 weeks’ vacation, I am planning to head to the exotic beaches of Lakshadweep this summer, with my best friends – Kyra and Elena. Kyra and Elena, the eternal Sunshine girls are fun-loving and the perfect pals to have around during a vacation. We have already booked our stay at the exquisite Agatti Island Resort at Lakshadweep.

Our travel plans are ready – pack a bag with the bare minimum of clothes (after all, who wants to sashay about in sari and salwar-kameez at a beach resort?) for two weeks. Make sure we have packed our Lakmé Sun Expert – no girl in her right mind would step out without the trusty Sun Expert at her side. Get our plane tickets and off we go into the tropical island paradise to have our fill of sun and fun for the next two weeks.

I can’t wait to frolic about in the white sands and turquoise waters of Lakshadweep. We are planning to cruise around the coral reefs in a glass-bottomed boat, build sand-castles (kiddish, I know, but where else can we be kids but at a beach?). During the evenings, we will relax with drinks under the swaying coconut palms while listening to the guitar music strummed by Kyra, and dance around bonfires.

Just like in the movie “Zindagi Na Milegi Dubara”, each of us have a chance at a daredevil beach sport. Mine is to go parasailing in the beautiful waters. Kyra wants to get in some water-skiing experience under her belt; while Elena has roped us all into trying out scuba diving. Yep, this summer is going to be as exciting as they come. And I have  spoken to some others who have already been to Lakshadweep, and they say that the instructors are eye candy.

Mmmmmmmmmm…..I have a feeling that this summer is going to be THE BEST summer I ever had.

 

This post was written for The Lakmé Diva Blogger Contest at Indiblogger.

 

Image Courtesy: Thinkstock

Chinese Spaghetti

Yesterday, I tried my hand at cooking spaghetti – and it turned out to be pretty good, even though I do say so myself. Here is the recipe I followed -

Ingredients:

1. Spaghetti
2. Garlic – 8-10 cloves, chopped
3. Onion – 2, chopped
4. Carrot – 1, grated
5. Beans – 8-10, chopped
6. Eggs – 2, beaten
7. Olive oil – as required
8. Spaghetti
9. Sweet and Sour Chilli Sauce – as required
10. Dark Soy sauce – 4-5 drops
11. Salt – to taste

Mode de Cuisson (a.k.a How to Make the Stuff):

The Mixture -

1. Take a non-stick pot, and heat it on a stove to get it completely dry.
2. Add olive oil, turn up the heat, and wait till the oil heats up.
3. Once the oil is hot enough, put the heat on simmer, and add the chopped garlic and onions to it.
4. Stir, so that it doesn’t burn, till the onion has turned colourless.
5. Add the beans and grated carrots to the mix, and keep stirring.
   
6. Now, make a small pit in the centre of the vegetable mix in the pot, and add the egg inside. Wait a bit for the egg to start cooking, and then start stirring just the eggs in the pit till you see egg lumps forming inside. Wait a bit more and then mix it with all the vegetables. [By waiting till the egg lumps start forming before mixing with the vegetables, we can ensure that the veggies don't go all soggy and will retain its crispness.]
7. Once the eggs have cooked well and mixed with the vegetables, add the chilli sauce. Keep stirring till this also blends in. You will start to get a wonderful aroma now.
8. Add salt to taste, and the soy sauce to the vegetables. Keep stirring to mix well.

Now you can turn off the heat, and get to work on the spaghetti.

The Spaghetti -

1. I first broke the dry pasta in half, so that the spaghetti fitted into my boiling pan. But you can also go without this step, if you half a large enough pan.
2. Take some water in a pot, and get it boiling.
3. Pour some olive oil over the water, and drop the pasta into it.
4. Now wait for about 10-12 minutes for the spaghetti to cook fully. You can test it by stirring the strands around, and trying to take a bite of it to see whether it is done. When the spaghetti is done, it will have lost its deep golden hue, it will no longer resemble a stick and will instead be limp and you can bite into it.
5. Add some salt to the pasta before straining out the water.

The Grand Finale -

 For the final act, once again turn on the heat over the pot of vegetables, and add the spaghetti to the veggies. Toss them together, till the spaghetti is well coated with the veggies and sauces.

Now enjoy with a glass of wine and some ketchup.

Mmmmmm….the aroma is quite appetizing. Let me go ahead and take my advice to enjoy it

Me.My Bag

I wonder what it is about handbags that gets me all but drooling in a bag shop. The moment one catches my fancy, I go “Wooooooooooooooowwwwwwwwwwwwwwww! I just got to have one like that.” And my husband rolls his eyes to the heavens and suddenly turns deaf.  While I stay rooted to the spot, he tries to prod me in another direction where fate cannot tempt me to empty his wallet .

The other day while shopping at Spencers, I was browsing the bed linen section, while my Husband was playing with our son in the shopping cart. Suddenly a woman slides up to me and compliments me on my bag. Wow! That was definitely a high point in my day. She wanted to know where I bought my bag from. I was trying my best to keep a silly grin from appearing on my face, while my husband hid his more discreetly behind his hand.

After thanking her and telling her where she could find such a bag, I rejoined my husband with a triumphant look. Finally! I now had living proof (literally) for my taste in handbags. When I initially bought the bag, my husband was like, “Why do you waste your money on such things?” And here was a complete stranger walking up to me to admire my taste!

And here is my beautiful bag which garnered compliments -

Egg Chutney

This is the first time I am venturing into the scary world of posting recipes – beware to all and sundry. It tastes good to my palate and hence shared on my blog.

Alright, now to get on to the business at hand – How to Make an Egg Chutney.

Take 2 onions and peel them neatly – like this:

Also, take a tomato, some green chillies and curry leaves.

Now, slice up the onions, tomatoes and green chillies.

Get some garlic and ginger and again, dice them up as well. You just need to dice them up since you will be sauteing them in oil and them will blend in with the dish.

Also, you need some spices for this preparation – about 1/2 tsp garam masala, 1/2 tsp chilli powder, 1/2 tsp coriander powder.

Pour some oil in a non-stick pan (I used coconut oil for the lovely scent) on a low-flame and add the diced onions to it.

When the onions have turned translucent, add the ginger and garlic.

After sauteing this for a while, add the green chillies.

Then add the curry leaves to the sauteed mixture.

Stir this for a minute or two, and add the diced tomatoes.

Stir this and try to blend the tomato into this mixture. Then add the powders and blend well.Tip: Adding the powders directly to the hot vessel will ensure that the spices are roasted well and helps in enhancing the flavor.

Next, add about 3/4 glass of water to the mixture.

Add some salt to taste. The dish should look something like this by now.

Now, for our main ingredient – 2 eggs.

Crack open the eggs and pour it directly into the mixture.

Blend the eggs into the dish by stirring continuously. Remember to always keep the pan on a low flame.

Stir, stir, stir. There’s nothing more you can do now. The dish is done when it looks like this -It will be a semi solid mixture which will easily come off the sides of the pan.

Serve and enjoy with chappathis or roti.

BON APPETIT!

Tired from Work

Nowadays I am so tired from work, that I hardly know when or where to start blogging. All I want to do when I get home is to sleep, sleep and sleep.

And tough luck, I am supposed to be working this weekend as well. We have a release planned for this weekend and I and a couple of colleagues are supposed to be testing it for any defects.

All I want is a very relaxed week where I can just put my legs up and do whatever I feel like – sleep, read, browse, blog – anything at all, with no interruptions by anyone.

A week in a secluded cottage with internet connectivity, plenty of food, a cool climate, and complete seclusion would be perfect bliss.