The Cuzzies  headed yet again to PVR for yet another later night show. This time it was for Transformers This time we also made it on time for the movie! While we were waiting for the show to begin we bumped into a friend of Ruth’s who runs a chocolate boutique there called Maya. While we were drooling over the chocolates and deciding what to gorge on, Shishir heated 2 heavenly brownies for us – on the house We ended up buying chocolate spoons that were really yummy.

I’m not going to review this movie, I’ll just redirect you here or here

All in all I enjoyed the movie just as much as the IMAX experience of the Transformer movie last year.  Looking forward to the next one

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After butting into the line at the booking counter (my sis denies that she smiled at that man and he let her in!) and tearing down the hall ways of the theater, we reached in time for the opening strains of the movie.

The movie follows the exploits of 2 cons of international repute and their sidekick in a plot where you are never so sure who exactly is conning who! Writer – Director Rian Johnson brings you a star studded cast of  Rachel Weisz (Penelope), whose commanding presence on screen and the explosive chemistry with Adrian Brody ( Bloom) steals the show, and Mark Ruffalo (Stephen).

I loved the movie. Definitely a must see in my books

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Plenty happened over the  last month, so let me fill you in.

I took the last of the management entrance exams the CET on the 15th Feb. Had to trudge all the way to Malad to the Atharva College of Engineering. Met up with a chatty girl in the bus to the venue and was thoroughly entertained all the way The paper was good but the environment really noisy! Met up with Malcolm after the paper and over coffee, pav bhajji and onion uttappa, discussed the merits of poets.

Ryan was in town for his birthday after 4 years and so he got treated to 2 birthday parties! Priyanka asked me to make the cake, which suited me just fine as it saved me the hassle of thinking what to get him. I made a chocolate cake with a topping of white chocolate cream. It was yummy even by my standards:)

Now the question was how to transport the cake in rush hour traffic while carrying a costume to the party!? I guess these facts were the only reason I got into the new BRTS (Birhanmumbai Rapid Transport System) bus that transported me all the way to Sion in sheer comfort. Had fun at the party – sang to my heart’s content. We wished Ryan at 12 and sat up half the night chatting away. Had breakfast with them and headed to Andheri and Ajay

I’ve been wanting to visit the Mumbai Time Cafe (which is located on the fifth floor of Crystal Shoppers Paradise, diagonally opposite KFC in the same lane)  for some time since hearing raving reviews of the place. Ajay treated me to dinner there 20th night.

I loved the ‘By the Sea” ambience with the sand floor, little yellow canoe and deck chairs (which can be tad uncomfortable for dinner and conversation). We ordered the Seafood Pulao – a combination of rice, clams, prawns and squid lying in a bed of chappati. The prices were pretty steep, the service cheerful and the quantity plenty for two people.

Next came Ruth’s 21st Birthday celebration although she celebrated her birthday on the 10th, we finally got down to having the party on the 21st! We had the family and close friends over for dinner. I did up the place in fairy lights – must say it looked very pretty and warm Had a blast dancing with my 6 year old cousin, Craig. Come to think of it I had a merry time with the little fellows Dad when I was that old Here are some pictures.

While I enjoy war themed movies, Valkyrie was not one I particularly wanted to see in the sense that the end was predictable. Anyway the company was worth the time spent. You can read a review of the movie here.

Dinner at Dynasty seems to be a common phenomenon with Ajay and me. We seems to end up there more often than not. I think they should start us on a frequent visitor program! Anyway as usual, the food was lovely and the service good.

I’ve decided to pay some attention to the people who have been badgering me to go commercial with my craft.  I’ve decided to launch a  new venture – this will consist of me making and marketing handmade cards, bookmarks and gift tags as of now. I hope to progress to fancy art and craft work once the venture kicks off. Wish me all the best. Will keep you updated on that front.

Much against my wishes, I was taken along to watch the Pink Panther 2 movie. Boy, I’m so glad I went along, I was in splits through out the movie.

Here’s the review from the man who made sure I came along.

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It rained all Saturday threatening to wash away our plans for the evening, however there was a break in the downpour and we braved the buses and trains to reach Bandra.  We had plans to go for the Indiana Jones movie. Ajay and I bought tickets and grabbed some milkshake and juice while we waited for the rest of the gang to come. Delilah ditched us for the movie, but Bhakti came so the ticket did not go to waste.

It was my first Indiana Jones movie, so had no expectations. I enjoyed the film which had its share of good guys and bad guys (the hottest villain there was a woman) and incredulous stunts involving jumping through vehicals on to bikes, saber and machine gun fights, and also a Tarzan like sequence. It provided  tonnes of laughs and some senti scenes too. All in all a fun movie.  

Went to Hilda’s place to pick up Deliah. After much ado aboutt where to have dinner, we landed at 5Spice at 11:00pm. Had a rib tickling night over yummy starters, drinks, main course and sinful dessert. It was too late to go home, so crashed at Hildas place where we played cards, got a tour guide through Sanket’s pile  of pictures and heard some stories about Sean’s love life!

Ruth and I woke up in time to grab breakfast and quick showers before heading  to Sacred Heart church for mass and this time there was a baptism!

Came home and took a walk in the pouring rain (I try to do this ritually for sheer enjoyment once during the season) to the library and bazaar. Had plans to meet Ajay in the evening, but the rain played spoilsport and ruined his last Sunday in the city.

Had a good lunch, curled up with a book and promptly fell asleep.  Ummmmm the joys of an afternoon siesta! Spent a quite evening at home.

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Since Ruth’s exams were over we decided to get in some movies over the weekend. We headed to Sterling for an afternoon show of Enchanted.

The movie had the flakiest  princess and her ‘prince charming’ ever. Enjoyed the popcorn and came home!

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August Rush was a movie I had been looking forward to seeing for a long time. After a series of awful movies, this proved to be respite!

We decided to watch it at Sterling. Michelle and I went out and out from work and Chetna and Ruth joined us there.

The movie is about a child -Evan Tayor alias August Rush (Freddie Highmore) who is given up for adoption and who grows into an unusually gifted child who hears music all around him. He can turn the rustling of wind through a wheat field into a beautiful symphony with himself at its center, the composer and conductor. He holds an unwavering belief that his parents are alive and want him as much as he wants them.

The music leads him to New York where he is introduced to the soul-stirring power of music and given a platform none less than the Juilliard  - to showcase his talent, but more importantly holds firm to his belief that his parents – Lyla Novacek ( Keri Russell) and Louis Connelly ( Jonathan Rhys-Meyers) can hear his music and will find him. Unknown to him they have already begun that journey.

Its a must see movie for those who love music and happy endings.

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A very special young man (who has been kinda starved since he’s been living in Pune) came over for lunch this afternoon and this is what I rustled up for him

Lunch was

9 Treasure Chicken

For the Marinade:

2 tablespoons garlic (chopped)
A sliver of ginger (chopped)
Juice of two lemons
2 tablespoons pepper
10 green chillies (chopped)
1 tablespoon coriander (chopped)
A few sprigs of mint (torn)
salt to taste

To Fry:

500 gms boneless chicken (marinaded overnight)
Oil
Garlic sliced
Oregano

To Garnish:

Sauted Green Peppers (sliced)
Coriander and mint (chopped roughly)

Here’s how to do it: Put together the marinade ingredients in a glass bowl and toss the chicken in. Cover with cling wrap and refrigerate till ready to fry. Heat the oil in a pan and put in the marinaded chicken. When it is nearly done sprinkle the sliced garlic and oregano. Transfer the fried chicken to a plate and in the same pan saute the green peppers. Serve the chicken with a few peppers on the side, garnished with coriander.

Chicken and Cheese Bake

Here’s what you will need:

150 gms shredded chicken

150 gms chicken salami (slightly fried)

2 boiled potatoes

2 tablespoons corn

1/2 a green pepper

1 egg

25 gms cheese (you could add more if you like it)

3 tablespoons of mayonnaise

1 green chilly finely cut

1/2 tsp salt

2 tsps pepper

1 tsp oregano

1 tsp chilly powder

Here’s how you do it:

Mix all the ingredients in a shallow bake dish. Sprinkle breadcrumbs over the top and pop it into the oven to bake at 180 degrees for about 20 minutes or until done.

Bacon and Onion Pasta

You will need:

300 gms assorted pasta (boiled)

200gms bacon cut into small pieces

1 large onions finely chopped

6 cloves of garlic finely chopped (you could add more if like me, you are a garlic fan)

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil (you could use normal cooking oil also)

2 cups tomato sauce (recipe will follow)

Here’s how you do it:

Saute the onions in the olive oil till they go translucent. Add in the garlic and bacon fat and saute for a minute. Add in the bacon and cook for around 7 minutes or until the bacon is done. Then toss in the tomato sauce and cook for 2 minutes on a low flame. Spoon the bacon and onion sauce over the pre boiled pasta.

For the Tomato Sauce you will need:

1 tablespoon extra virgin olive oil

2 large onions finely chopped

1/2 packet mushrooms (optional)

1 green pepper chopped finely

6 tomatoes

salt to taste

1 tsp sugar

1 tsp herbs – Oregano (you could also add rosemary and thyme!)

1 tsp chilly powder

Here’s how you do it:

Blanch the tomatoes, taking out the skin and roughly smash them keeping a few pieces whole. Heat the oil in a pan, add the garlic, onions and saute till the onions get translucent. Add in the mushrooms, peppers and tomatoes and let it cook for about 10 minutes on a medium flame. Add in the seasonings, let it cook for a minute and set aside.

Sausage and Potato Salad

You will need:

200 gms cocktail sausages (power boiled and cut into round pieces)

2 medium sized potatoes (boiled and diced)

1 green pepper (finely chopped)

1 green chilly (finely chopped

2 tablespoons mayonnaise

1 tsp pepper

salt to taste

Here’s how you do it:

Combine all the ingredients in a bowl, toss and serve

And for dessert we had

Caramel Custard

You will need:

1/2 Litre milk

3 tablespoons sugar (or more if you have a sweet tooth)

2 eggs

For the Caramel:

1 tablespoon sugar2 tablespoons water

Here’s how you do it:

Heat the milk and let it cool completely. In the meanwhile put the caramel ingredients in a dish you are going to make the custard in (this needs to fit into the cooker or the apparatus you are going to make the custard in) and place on a slow heat till the sugar caramelizes. Beat the eggs well in a bowl. Add the eggs and sugar to the milk and whisk till it is well combined. Gently pour the milk mixture into the dish with the caramel. If you are using a pressure cooker (like I used) you need to leave it on the fire for 30 minutes after the first whistle.

You can serve the custard warm /cold.

After the satisfying lunch, the 3 of us headed to town to catch a movie at Sterling. We reached nearly an hour early (no thanx to the BT for the wrong listing) for a Stardust show, so we killed some time at Cafe Coffee Day (yup where we ate again). The movie was really nice. A kind of fairly tale with all the romance and action. Loved every minute of it.

–

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Landed at Eros to find a mighty crowd and decided that we probably would not get tickets. So the boy very sweetly agreed to walk to Sterling where there were no tickets (though the black market ones seemed to be in abundance!) and the Hindi version was running at New Empire. We decided to try Regal anyway although chances seemed slim.

However to our good luck we did get tickets – in the 3rd row in front of the screen. While I was comfortable the tall one was uncomfortable for sure. But I enjoyed the movie, inspite of the fact that I’m not getting no engagement ring any time soon

The movie was definitely much better than part 2 of the movie.

We caught a bite at Mac Donald’s and took a bus ride home.

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The movie got over by around 9.15 p.m. and then we headed to a place Ruth nicknamed the “Cheap Chinese Place” which is at Colaba Causeway. I’m sure the eatery has a name but neither of us have bothered to find out what it is! Ajay was concerned about whether he would fall ill or not (this was before he saw the prices at the place, once he saw that they were not chinese cart prices he felt much better) We ordered the triple Schezwan Rice, Chinese Chopsuey and Chicken Wings in Chilly Garlic Sauce along with some fizzies.

It was getting late so we took a cab to C.S.T. (this time the driver said he drove so fast that the fare was cheaper than usual!) and Ajay had his first experience traveling by Central Railway trains. Thankfully the train was relatively empty or I might not have heard the end of it. Came home and crashed. Day one of the holidays was over

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