Truly Scrumptious

The name of the post is after one of the characters from 'Chitty, Chitty, Bang, Bang!' and also perfectly describes this dessert.

I have this problem whipping cream. I mean, I blame the cream I use, but I don't think many other people have the same problem. I've tried everything, but the Amul carton cream just does not whip. It took years for me to actually give up, but now I really have. I settled for non-dairy frozen cream as an alternative. Worked perfectly, but didn't taste as nice.

Then, one fine day tried out another company of fresh cream and it whipped! Unfortunately, the times I actually needed the cream, I could never find it. So now, whenever I do see, I just buy and then think of what to make with it later

Anyway, back to this truly scrumptious dessert. I was generally blog hopping and stumbled across this blog- The Pioneer Woman. Really wonderful site. She lives on a farm with 4 kids and a basset hound and cooks great food and writes well too. This recipe is just soooo easy. Didn't realise mousse could be this simple to make.

I adapted it a bit. This is my version. Click here for her version.

Take 1 & 1/2 C of dark chocolate chips and 1/2 C of caramel chocolate chips. Put in blender. Squeeze out one orange into the blender and whiz away. I don't want to sound like Nigella Lawson, but the sound of those crumbling chocolate chips along with the citrus was quite exciting.

Then add 3 large eggs, a tiny pinch of salt into the blender & whiz some more. Then add 1 cup of very very hot coffee (I used 2 Tbsp of decaf coffee and 1 tsp of sugar- add more sugar if you're one of those people who likes things sickeningly sweet) Slowly pour in with the rest of the mixture. The hot coffee will partially cook the eggs. Blend for another 30 seconds. This gets all the air into the mousse.

Then pour into cups/jars/glasses. The jars she uses are pretty cool. I only had these fluted glasses. I'm sure it would have tasted better in her jars. Oh well. Pour, so that there is enough space for whipped cream on the top. Refrigerate until set. It took about 2 hours. Whip up the cream with a bit of powdered sugar. I also added some orange essence in mine. Dollop into the glasses. Dust some cocoa powder and sprinkle with orange rind and now say 'Hello' to Truly Scrumptious.

Mmmm. 

I shall make this again at Christmas. Somehow the combination of orange, chocolate and coffee seem like a christmassy thing.

Asparagus Souffle

I've been spending a LOT of time in the kitchen. Brownie Points has had a very busy last few weeks with Soul Sante, a feature in the Deccan Herald- read here and plenty of Diwali orders. Apart from that, my parents were out of town for a few weeks, so I did plenty of cooking. But, it's not much fun when I have to cook as appose to when I just cook for fun.

Anyway, there was a bunch of asparagus in the fridge and felt like trying something different for dinner. 

This was the first recipe I found on the net when I searched for 'Asparagus Souffle' Brilliant pictures and pretty straightforward recipe.

Read HERE.

Few pointers:
1. Make sure the asparagus is nice and tender. Break off hard stems.
2. The becahmel sauce is supposed to be super thick. Looked liked mashed potatoes to me.
3. Carefully fold in the egg whites. If you over mix, it won't rise well in the oven.
4. If your oven is like mine, you'll need more than 20 minutes in the oven. I didn't even have to turn the heat down. But. don't leave it in there too long. It'll dry out.

Note: In the pictures, it's fallen a bit because I didn't take the pictures as soon as it was out of the oven. Once I started eating, I realised that I should blog about it beacuse it tasted SO yum!

A little bit of Zaha!

One of my classmates in college nicknamed me 'Zaha' from my fondness of angles and assymetry and oddities, synonymous with the famed architect, Zaha Hadid. My designs are quite far from her work, and thankfully that name never stuck!

No doubt, she's pretty awesome. The only female holder of the prestigious Pritsker award with projects dotted all over the world and has lectured in some of the biggest architectural institutions.

I was lucky enough to be in London during the two week London Festival of Architecture 2012. As part of the festival, was the opening of the Zaha Hadid Exhibition. It was definitely something I looked forward to, but unfortunately forgot to carry my camera and had to rely on my phone.

The exhibition was the basement and ground floor of a building with her studios on the floors above. If only she wasn't on one of her world travel, I could have met the woman herself. sigh. 

There were about 8 or 10 sculptures on display. Most of them were her furniture or landscape design. You can see them here. I particularly liked her Floating staircase design and the Aqua Table. Such smooth lines and seamless surfaces make up her wacky designs.

Dining at Mynt

Bangalore is host to many food events. One such one is the Citybank Restaurant week. 10+ different restaurants come up with a fixed menu at a great deal for Citybank users. 

Being a part of the 'Bangalore Foodies' group on Facebook, my Mum and I were able to go to one of these restaurants for an even better deal. The menus went up and the just as quickly, the best ones got booked. We were able to choose to dine at Mynt, at the Taj Westend while other foodies ate at the others on the same night.

We were seated at a lovely table on the porch. Even though the other foodies who also chose this restaurant decided to eat by themselves, we got to spend a lovely dinner together.

The chef, Bharat Kapoor took us through each course. The amuse bouche was a refreshing combination of feta, watermelon, tepenade and caramalised tomatoes. Just the right balance of sweet and salty.

Opera, Food Fairs and Chainsaw Jugglers

Of all the areas in London, Covent Garden has got to be my favourite. The life and culture cannot compare to any other part. If at all, I had nothing else to do, I'd spend the whole day in Covent Garden.

The piazza and French style housing was designed by Inigo Jones in the mid 17th century and the landmark neoclassical market building in the centre of the piazza by Charles Fowler 200 years later. The area speaks of centuries of history but has always been synonymous with entertainment. 

Cobblestone streets flanked with tiny boutiques and quaint cafes spilling out onto pavements leading up to the piazza bursting with activity- from street dancers, magicians, acrobats, opera singers, orchestras, and more. People crowding around, sitting on pavements and eating hot jacket potatoes, more little boutiques with tiny doorways and spiral staircases, many more cafe's with live cooking and tables with white umbrellas dotted around the plaza. Souvenir markets with London city, Queen's Jubilee and Olympic paraphernalia and tourists and locals trying to breathe in as much as possible.

Ode to Pillow fights

This is where I am now--- working at job applications and reminiscing about college days. Slightly depressing and slightly exciting to summarise the emotions. More on the depressing side, though. 

I'm also enjoying this state of unemployment. It means- more cooking, more writing, more wandering and more music.

Been listening to a lot of Indie Folk this week. Here's my new band discovery- Paper kites. 

Last Saturday night I was part of a pillow fight. Girls against boys- 4 kids below 12 and 3 adults. Crazy fun! Ah, the days of dressing up, walks in the woods and pillow fights!

Wimbledon!

June 26- WIMBLEDON

One of things that got me most excited about visiting London in the summer was that my trip was coinciding with Wimbledon 2012.

I did my usual research about tickets, etc. The starting cost of the men's final was 2000 pounds that went up by 20% a day in the final week of Wimbledon! (I think they went up to about 12,000 pounds!!!!!!)

I guess the best way to experience Wimbledon and getting cheaper tickets was by waiting in queues and getting tickets on the day.

Schedule of play comes out the day before and unfortunately, we missed having a chance to see Federer because we decided to go on day 2.

Excess Baggage! Excess Flirting!

"The scientific theory I like best is that the rings of Saturn are composed entirely of lost airline luggage."
~Mark Russell

Ayubowan! (the only Sinhalese I picked up was on the plane)

In celebration of completing 5 long years of Architecture, I left Bangalore for my long long vacation! 

Home - Colombo - London - ( Watford - London ) x 15 - Colombo - Passikudah - Baticaloa - Colombo - Galle - Colombo - Home

I did much more than was on my list in 54 days (and my lists are pretty long), ticked off many things off my bucket list (many of which were added to my bucket list just before I did them. :P), ate as much food as I wanted to (put back all the weight I lost with Typhoid), filled up my suitcase with more souvenirs than I needed, and came back with 3000+ pictures as memories of my trip.

Work, Graduation and Typhoid

Hello faithful blog readers,


My sincere apologies for making false promises for cooking posts every Sunday (I only managed 4 in 4 months) and book reviews and other 'interesting articles' that were in my head and never got typed out.


Oh well, here is an update of the last 4 months.


1. Work- My 4 month internship was an amazing experience. I got to work on some very cool projects, enjoyed the office, met great people, made great friends, and learnt a whole lot more than I did in the 4 and a half years of college.

Sari day at the office- Posing on the terrace!

Sundays in the Kitchen #4

Sigh.


I am starting this post with a long sigh. A sigh for the many Sunday's out of the kitchen. A sigh for the love and attention that my blog needs.