Thank God, Its Friday ! ! !

Hooray !!!! Its just Freaking Perfect ....... It was not until this morning that I realised that its finally the Weekend again. The feeling is fantastic when you are still in the same working-hard and you suddenly realise that the Weekend has arrived and its time to get ready for all the relaxation and extra hours of sleep.

Weekdays life is monotonous. The daily grind of hard work gets a person polished and until and unless you drench yourself, you would not be able to meet the schedules and demands of this routine life.


But this week had been fairly quiet . I like somewhat laid back weeks. I had no work pressures. Just spent the whole week doing whatever I wanted. But I have been quite satisfied with the way my week has passed. I had significant progress in all my works. I did not have to run around with my routine. Just did it very leisurely and have been delighted as I kept completing them one by one. 


This morning, as I reflect on the events of the past  week, I am in awe. I thought of sharing the story with you all about this. I just dont know why, but I have been so energetic all week. I was in the mood of cleaning & arranging everything. I cleaned all that I laid my eyes on. I cleaned my closet, I cleaned my kitchen - the cupboards,the shelves etc. Then I cleaned my refrigerator, I also cleaned the living room  and my bedroom and then the wash rooms and the store room. When in office, I cleaned my files closets, my office desk, my PC and even my email's inbox. Now wherever I set my eyes on, I find it all spic & span. Gives me a contented feeling about my self.

My week just did not revolve around cleaning and other works. I had my share of leisure as well. This time it was Fiction that occupied my spare time. I finished one of the novels I had downloaded. The story was very heart warming. There are more books lined to be read.

I have also been harvesting some plans for a new recipe try. Will do something about it very soon. I will be right back with more in store. Till then have fun......

Will return with more posts again.

Green Chilli Chicken

INGREDIENTS:

Chicken                       - 1 Full
Onions                        - 2 big
Green Chillies              - 10 
Coriander Leaves        - 3/4th Bunch
Mint Leaves                - 30 leaves
Ginger & Garlic paste  - 1 full tablespoon
Red Chilli powder       -  1/2 teaspoon
Garam Masala powder  -  1/4 teaspoon
Turmeric powder            - 1/4 teaspoon
Chicken Masala powder  - 1/2 teaspoon
Coriander powder           - 1 teaspoon
Yogurt                             - 1/2 cup
Tomatoes                       -  1 chopped
Lemon Juice                   -  1/2 teaspoon
Salt                                -  to taste
Oil                                 -  1/4 cup


HOW TO MAKE:

1)  Chop the Chicken into medium sized pieces

2)  Slice the onions. Take half of the sliced onions and blend into a fine paste along with the coriander leaves, green chillies, Mint leaves, all the spice powders, salt and ginger-garlic paste.

3)  Heat Oil in a pan, add the sliced onions and fry. Add the Chicken and fry till a bit dry. Then add the green paste and fry till half done.


4) Add yogurt, tomatoes and cook till done. Check for salt. Add lemon juice in the end.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  To get thick gravy, you can add more onions and curds and cook till gravy is thick as per requirement.

Chocolate Burfee

This is a simple chocolate recipe for all the Chocolate lovers. Very easy to make with a little effort and whenever you crave for chocolate, you know how easy it can be.

INGREDIENTS:

Condensed Milk - 1 Tin;
Chopped Nuts - 100 gms;
Cocoa Powder - 1/2 Cup;
Butter - 50 gms;
Sugar - 3/4 Cup;


HOW TO MAKE:

1)   Pour the Condensed Milk into a thick bottomed pan.

2)   Add Sugar, Butter, Cocoa powder & nuts into the pan.

3)   Stir on gentle heat till the mixture leaves the sides of the pan.

4)   Pour evenly into a buttered tray. Allow to cool & set. Cut into squares.



RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  To get hard chocolate, cook till the chocolate starts leaving the sides of the pan completely.
** To get soft Chocolate, need not cook till the chocolate leaves the sides of the pan completely. Soft chocolate can also be used for decorations on cakes, cookies etc.

Everything Old is New again

So I enter another new week, a new day. That means new work and new plans. Not to forget, New Office timings and hence new routes to office to beat the traffic. And again a new time to wake up. That's the most exciting thing in all. Extra few minutes to sleep and I like that. Even though I miss my old life as I had just got adjusted to it.

I had an unusual weekend. I did not accomplish anything. Spent my whole time nursing a bad stomach caused by an infection and ended up eating bland food with zero spice in it and drinking lots of fluids. But now I feel much better and am back to work.

But there was one thing for me to cheer for. I had managed to lay my hands on 2 novels. So spent my time reading it. Nothing can cheer you more than fiction. Its helps you shut your mind from all your woes and pulls you into a wonderland and as long as you are into it, you feel the best.

Here are some pictures of a French Hypermarket called Carrefour I visited last week.

The Entrance

The First Floor

The Food Court

Top View

Some of the Retail Shops

Around the Mall

Coffee Shops around the Food court

New recipes are lined up for this week. I will be back with them for you all.

Baked Potato & Corn Rolls

I managed to find this on a recipe Website.  So I thought of sharing it with you all. These are Rolls made up of Corn, Potato and Bread & we bake them. They  turned out quite good. Very Simple and easy to make. They can be served as snacks/starters and breakfast also. They can be made and stored in the refrigerator and baked when needed.

INGREDIENTS:

Boiled Sweet Corn / Frozen Sweet Corn   - 1/2 Cup
Bread                                                                - 12 Slices
Onion (Chopped)                                           -  1 large
Potato (Boiled and Mashed)                      - 1 Large
Green Chillies (Chopped)                            -  2
Corainder Leaves (Chopped)                    - 1/4 Cup
Ginger Paste                                                - 1 teaspoon
Lemon Juice                                                -  1 teaspoon
Oil                                                                 - 2 tablespoons
Salt                                                              - To taste

HOW TO MAKE:

1)Coarsely crush boiled sweetcorn in a blender. Transfer into a bowl.

2)Add potato, green chillies, ginger paste, coriander leaves, lemon juice and salt and mix well.

3)Heat oil in a pan and sauté onion till light brown.

4)Add this to the corn mixture. Mix well, divide into twelve equal parts and shape them into oval rolls and set aside.

5)Remove the crusty sides of bread slices and soak them in water for ten seconds. Squeeze out excess water by gently pressing between your palms.

6)Place the potato corn roll on one end of a slice and roll the rest over to cover the stuffing firmly. Similarly make rest of the rolls. Place all the rolls on a baking tray.

7)Preheat oven to 180 ºC. Bake in the preheated oven for approximately twelve minutes or till the rolls turn light brown in colour. Serve hot with tomato ketchup or green chutney.

RATING NOTES:

              DIFFICULTY LEVEL    :   EASY
              RATING  POINTS         :    8/10**

**  Do not oversoak the bread slices as the roll would not be shaped well.
** Mash the potatoes smoothly for uniformity of the mixture and the roll.

A for Actuality , A for Ayesha

I have been waiting for Inspiration. I have toyed with quite a few ideas about what this blog should be. I would like to make this page a more versatile tool for you all. I just went through my blogposts and feel that I can still do better. I realise that I have hardly spoken about myself. So I thought of adding this post so that you can know me better. Know little things about me. This can help you enjoy and understand my posts in a much better manner and develop what I call as a virtual bond between us.


So here is some Actual stuff about myself:
 
1) Even though I have a very common name, I dislike the sound of another person stating that they have the same name as mine.

2) I just cannot get how electrons,protons, molecules can peform their functions so perfectly when they are not living beings like us.

 3)  I love staring at maps. I always love seeing which place is located where and makes me feel so certain. like I-know-where-everything-is.

4) Reading has always been my long time passion and I enjoy reading anything and everything which interests me.

5) English has been my best and most comfortable language always and I still have trouble in the fluency of my mother tongue and the other languages I learnt and know.

4) I enjoy reading the dictionary (English) and learning new words in English especially the contemporary version. Thesaurus, Idioms, Phrases, Synonyms, adjectives and other grammer related stuff has always interested me. However, I love numbers more than words. I find it very easy to solve a mathematical puzzle than a word puzzle.

 5) My favourite past time is reading a fiction - Novels which describe home, family sagas, tranquility, Romance, passion, Marriage, Sceneries and glamorous International settings are the ones which I crave the most. In short, stories which cover ranches, bungalows, farms, doctors-nurse stuff, rich powerful heroes, chivalrous knights, rugged cowboys,roggish rakes and heartwarming romances. I hate stories with sad endings.

6) I like to live according to routines and schedules. Often I keep lists and make plans. Everyday is planned in advance for me by myself. When I dont plan, my activities are in a chaos and I hate such situations.

 7) I thoroughly dislike watching or reading action/horror stuff. Violence disrupts my mood in a flash.

8) I usually like situations where the rules are well defined and where traditions are to be upheld. When it comes to traditional values, I am conservative .

 9) I am not a partying freak. I hardly get excited at the thought of a party. Parties dont interest me much until and unless I have the desired company. People generally perceive me as distant and reserved, and I do not usually reach out to others even though I have a few close friends and I am in touch with them.

10) I always have liked sleeping early at night. I hate late nights.

11) I am not an adventurous person in any way. I jus dont like taking up risks of any sort.

12) I am scared of darkness especially when I am alone. I lack guts in many ways.

13) Color has always appealed to me in many ways. I am always attracted to a colorful page, a colorful dish, colorful clothes etc. Bright and light colors like yellow,pink light green,light blue are more adored by me than dark colors.

 14) My culinary picks generally have been the english and american cuisines rather than conventional Indian dishes. Bakes, Semi cooked stuff, salads, soups,wraps and rolls, sandwiches, starters, grilled and fried stuff, foods cooked in a jiffy are the ones that captivate me the most.

 15) I cannot stop myself from looking at images of colorful salads. They catch my eye in an instant.

 16) I always wish I was born as a bird/animal in the Artic region. I dont know why I wish that way.

 17) Pastas, Noodles, salads, Chinese dishes and dry - fried/grilled meat/chicken/fish , steaks,wraps n rolls, sandwiches always feature in my favourite list of cuisine.

 18) I hate politics. I hardly bother to read political stuff.

19) I am a pessimist sometimes. Generally I am moderately confident in achieving the goals I set for myself.

 20) I love writing my own stuff - making my own notes on anything I wish. That is why I started this blog. I am happy to state that I actually enjoy blogging.

21) I have never maintained a diary on myself. I always wish I had one as it could give me an insight of my past and help me transfer and paste my thoughts into it.

 22) I find shopping for clothes,footwear or jewellery a very irksome task. Handbags, electronic gadgets, decors, watches, crockery stuff are more enjoyable to shop for.

23) Shopping for Vegetables and fruits is the most boring form of grocery shopping for me. On the contrary, I love shopping for diary products and baking items and more colourful stuff.

 24) Sitting by the window and silently watching the traffic on the road is my best way to soothe my mind and release out my stress.

 25) Europe,Newzealand and Canada are my favourite countries and I enjoy watching their pictures, reading about them etc.

 26) I hate hot weather. Just cannot adjust to it even though I live in one such place.

27) Television has never been an interesting gadget for me. The Internet has always been like my close friend,appeals to me in many ways and makes my day very bright.

28) I like crowds but sometimes feel overwhelmed by them. I feel the need of some privacy and time for myself more important. I am an active group participant but usually prefer to let someone else be the group leader. I lead a moderately paced life. I like some energetic activities, but also like to relax and take it easy. I get overwhelmed by too much noise and commotion. When I mention loneliness, I do not mean so much of being lonely but rather being alone. Sometimes my struggle with this is that I choose to be alone at times.

29) I quickly experience panic, confusion, and helplessness when under pressure or stress. I hate risky situations and thrill seeking activities. 

30) I am not very interested in the arts and do not display aesthetic sensitivity. I do admire beautiful stuff, but I would never care to try it out myself. This is because I am not an accurate person. Measurements, Precison etc have never featured in my dictionary.

 Overall, I am a

• Moderately expressed introvert
• Distinctively expressed intuitive personality
• Slightly expressed thinking personality
• Moderately expressed judging personality