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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I’ve always loved the sloks they chant and was really pleased when I heard them singing it. Chetna’s mum sure gave us a spread for dinner. It was really yummy and what added to the charm was that we had to eat on banana leaves.

We chatted for some time after dinner and then I headed home as it was back to work the next day. Yaaawwn!

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I’ve always got super excited about my birthday and this year was no different!

It started with a bunch of us sitting down and making birthday wish lists. That added to the excitement (did I mention I love getting presents) and diluted my resolve not to have a party. Boy! I’m so glad I did

Since I didn’t really have the time to make invitation cards I decided to send virtual ones instead.

Here’s a sample of the invite:

A lot of people promised to be there but I didn’t dare get my hopes too high because I have been badly disappointed in the past. But anyway arrangements had to be made and so the family sat down and put plans to paper. Ruth and Mum agreed to handle the games and Dad and Nani decided to look after the kitchen. I was left with the co-ordination, cake, logistics and decorations. (I think I should consider event management as a career option)

I decided to bake the cake on the 14th since it would be fresh and had this elaborate plan to ice in like the witch’s house in the fairytale “Hansel and Gretel”

The 15th came really quickly and the hours before it was a mad flurry of activity! I picked up my clothes from the tailors. Then Dad and I set up the hall and the verandah to fit in all the people and I still had the cake to bake, which I began only at around 10pm and by the time I put it into the oven it was 11pm!

I usually switch my phone off at 11:30 on the 14th night so that my family gets their night’s sleep but had no such luck this time. My nightly conversations with the techie resulted in my talking on the phone till the wee hours of the morning. Well since he was not going to be there on the 15th I thought might as well talk while I could;)

Ruth gave my the customary midnight present:) Thanx darling, the earrings were beautiful. Managed to get to bed by 2 a.m.

I had to go for 8:30 a.m. mass so was up by 7. The youth group was also having a cafetaria after each mass to raise funds for their activities so had to go help out a bit there too. Managed to do both. It’s a nice feeling to know that people remember my birthday and make it a point to wish me.

Lunch was an interrupted affair with the phone ringing off the hook. Thought I’d take a short nap but there was no hope of that as the cake still had to be iced.

Somewhere at around 3 p.m. I got the bestest present ever! (though I must say I did get an inkling of it when his roomies called earlier in the day with inconsistent stories …… these guys must pay more attention to the amount we speak on the phone) Ajay decided to surprise me by coming down from Pune. While I was hoping he would be able to make it, I decided not to get my hopes up. I think I was in a state of semi shock for quite a while (apparent in my inability to string words together into coherent sentences!) But he was here!!!!!!!! and I must add was an immense help ….. I’m sure if he was going to be in Mumbai for longer he would have helped clear up after the party (u know do the dishes and stuff!) (what say? )

Folk started streaming in by 6.30, with the Jesuits being very punctual. By the time it was 8 we were a house full:) I’ve never seen so many people in my house at one point in time! But like the saying goes, “The more the merrier.”

Th games were super fun and my sister and Mum did a funtastic job. Thank You.

This is what we had:

• A round of introductions with one good and one not so good quality about each one

• A miscellaneous Quiz

• Baby I love you, will you smile for me? ( to which the person approached had to reply “Baby I love you but I just can’t smile for you” without smiling)

• Queen of Sheba (with a wide variety of demands like a yoga aasan, a quiz, etc)

• Belly dancing (On this count I must say that Christopher, Crispin & Rixon caused a real riot ….. I hope their girlfriends didn’t mind or ended up seeing some of their fantasies being acted out:P)

  
  

• A Tag dance

  
  

We could not have too much of dancing because of space constraints but I managed to dance one jive number.

Dinner which followed was yummy. We ordered the biriyani from out but the rest of dinner was home cooked. Here is the menu:

Vegetable Biriyani

Pepper Pork

Cold chicken and potato salad

Corn Salad

Ice cream (for dessert)

It was post twelve by the time everyone left. It sure was a day of fun and I’d do it all again anytime any place! For those who could not make it …… u’ll missed an awesome party

Here are some pics from the party and a link to the rest

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Once you’ve left college the celebrations someone don’t seem quite the same. I still have the loyalty to the college  but I’ve felt like an outsider after I graduated in 2005

Anyway this year I decided to visit an old friend who resides in the college. Unfortunately I met half the world except the person I set out to meet

I used the time I was there to walk down most of the corridors in Xavier’s. I had some fantstic times there. Most of the memories were happy but there were the occasionaly unhappy ones too.But all in all I enjoyed the 5 years I spent in Xavier’s and wouldn’t exchange them for anything.

You can read more about the founder of the Society of Jesus.

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