2012- The best so far.

2012

I've started writing this so many times, but it’s just not coming out right. So instead of my long detailed usual write up, I’ll try a list.

The Year:

1.   The nightmare start- Thesis submissions. The last of all Christmases and New Year’s spent alone at home in front my laptop. Craziest of all deadlines. The final one.

2.   The month of good sleep and celebrations- We went to watch MI4 the day of my viva. I slept the entire movie and was only woken up to see Tom Cruise jump out of the Burj.

3.   Slight anguish with the problems concerning my internship were quickly dispelled with the start of my internship with Cadence Architects. God always has the best plans for me. Just need to be patient.

4.   Four months of work. Probably learnt more there than I did at college. Long commutes, long hours, but got to work with great people on some great projects.

5.   Squeezed in so much into my schedule. It was all worth the lack of sleep. Everything from singing practices, swimming, string quartet practices, play practices with the kids, RATS play meetings and sets design and of course Brownie Points baking through the night.

6.   Hard work pays off well. The kids did a super job. The RATS play was brilliant too. Brownie Points got a front page feature in Time Out. A year and a half ago, when Time Out first featured us, I was browsing the internet and saw that Australia’s top pastry chef, Adriano Zumbo made it on the cover of the Sydney Time Out. I concluded that we were definitely not good enough to make the cover! We are in no place to start comparing with such a genius, but still, we are mighty proud of ourselves. :D

7.   And then the final of all final college jury’s. The internship months went by so fast and I was back in the line at college waiting for my turn to present my work to the jury. Such a different feeling to waiting in line before the thesis viva!

8.   I spent the next 2 weeks in bed. Probably the worst illness ever. Never felt so helpless, listless or so much in pain. Months later, my Mum told me that during that time, she prayed and told God that if I had to go, she was ready. I never realised that it was that bad. Thank God for the healing and my doctors aka parents who took care of me and of course the prayers and many messages.

9.   The BIG holiday was the highlight of the year. Just a few days after pulling out IV tubes from my hands and I’m on the plane off to London for 2 months. Ate so much good food with the intention of putting on all the weight I had lost. Definitely wasn’t a hard task. Apart from spending a super time with family, I got to do lots of ‘bucket list’ kind of things. Here are some of them:

·      Went to Wimbledon- Watched current women’s world no.1 Azerenka play and also former world no.1 Roddick play.

·      Saw Europe’s tallest building- The Shard.

·      Watched the Olympic Torch run one leg of its journey.

·      Saw the work of 5 Pritsker winners- Renzo Piano, Norman Foster, Herzog and deMeuron, Zaha Hadid and Richard Rogers.

·      Watched the stage production of the ‘most successful piece of entertainment of all time’- The Phantom of the Opera.

·      Watched the stage production of Chicago in its final month of performance.

·      Ate in a Michelin-nominated restaurant, Vanilla Black and also in the café of the two Michelin star restaurant, Sketch (which also had the weirdest bathroom I’d ever been to)

·      Saw work by the best artists in the world including Monet, Michelangelo Rembrandt, da Vinci and Van Gogh at the National Gallery and work by Worhol at the Portrait Gallery.

·      Bought a chocolate-chip cookie at Europe’s biggest departmental store, Harrods.

·      Saw some of the most expensive cars in the world including a Bugatti Veyron, a Maybach, a Mclaren F1, some Lamborghinis and Ferraris and may be some others that I didn't recognise. Also went for a ride in a Porsche Carrera.

10. Spent 10 days in the beautiful country Sri Lanka with cousins and did many more awesome things. Will definitely go back.

11. Came back home to Bangalore and planned to spend the next months doing everything but work. Pushed my job hunting to Jan 2013.

12. Graduated with a degree in Architecture. Batch of 2007- you guys are awesome!

13. Got to be part of many church activities including the concert by the Praise and Worship team and also organised a complete programme by the children.

14. Had the busiest month ever with Brownie Points after the biggest Soul Sante sale we’ve ever done and a feature in Bangalore’s biggest newspaper, The Deccan Herald.

15. Went for a basic scuba class. If only I knew this could have been a career option 5 years ago. I also got my drivers licence, which has been on my 'to do' list for 4 years.

16. December will always be my favourite month of the year and this December was certainly the best. Apart from the crazy Brownie Points orders, I joined the carol singers every single night and sang till I had a sore throat. Was part of 4 Christmas parties to 2 orphanages, an old age home and the church for the blind. Went Christmas shopping after 6 years and got to spend a great time with family.

17. All in all, this year was definitely the best year I’ve had so far. The time at home has helped me plan what I want to do next. It’s given me time to figure out how I want to use my degree and now I think I’m quite clear with my priorities.

18. If the next year means moving out of home, I’m grateful for the time I got to spend at home with family and with friends in Bangalore.

Here’s to 2013. I have absolutely no clue what you have in store for me. Totally excited! :D

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!