#5 Teaser Tuesdays

After a break  last week, I am back with a teaser this tuesday. This comes from the book, The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks.

'Blaze studied the table top, toying with the pile of salt. When Ronnie didn't answer Marcus rose from the table and headed for the door without turning back' 
Page: 77

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page

BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! Share the title & author, too, so that others can add the book to their TBR Lists!

Holi Wishes and little chit chat!

I know my wishes are coming a day late, but still its never late to convey best wishes on festive occasions. Hope you all had a happy, safe and colourful 'Holi'.

Holi is the Indian festival of colours. It marks the victory of good over evil and to celebrate it people play with colours. It stands for reaffirmation of hope and goodwill. To know more about it read this.

We had a holi celebration event here this weekend. There were a host of cultural performances followed by circus plays. Then, we played with colors and danced to holi songs and the recent bollywood dance numbers. It was great fun!

Holi is also a time for good and festive food. We also had our share as I prepared some festive dishes!

It was a fun week overall but it was a lazy week in reading. I am still to finish Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan. Hopefully, I will finish it this week. Most of the time, I was cooking or watching cricket. A big match awaits India on Thursday when they play the Aussies. Fingers Crossed!

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga

The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga is the tale of two 'Indias'. One is downtrodden, poor, illiterate and neck deep into slavery and darkness and the other one - effluent, educated, modern and rich. The story in the novel revolves round the life of  Balram Halwai akka Munna akka 'The White Tiger' who tells his story in a series of seven letters which he writes to Mr. Premier, The President of China who is making a visit to India to understand the secret behind the success of Indian entreprenuers. In these letters he tells his rags-to-riches story, how he fred himself from the clutches of poverty and slavery and set himself up as an entreprenuer in Bangalore, the silicon valley of India.

Born in a village in the dark heart of India, Balram is the son of a rickraw puller. Despite the fact, that he is intelligent, can read and write, Balram is taken out of school to work in a teashop to earn a few bucks for his family. As he crushes coal and wipes table, Balram nutures a dream of geting away from the Darkness and make it big in life. His first chance comes when he gets a job of a driver to a rich family and finally when he makes a move to New Delhi with his master. It is then, in the capital of the country, his re-education begins. He learns that success often involves corruption, cruelty and any successful man must trod and trample the lesser men to make his way to the top.

The story is about how circumstances compel an innnocent and loyal person to be filled with hatred and wickedness and even if he knows it is all wrong and immoral, he goes at length justifying his acts by citing, 'Any successful man must spill a little blood on his way top'.

The author has dwelled on the widespread corruption that is prevalent in Indian politics, the ever widening gulf between the rich and the poor and how this contrast in the standard of living of the Indian people is making a mockery of 'The Great Indian Democracy' and shaping the future of the country. The novel provides a dark satarical view of modern day life in India.

What impressed me most about the novel is not the story but the way the author has narrated it.  Every Indian has come across this dark side of the country at some point of time in their life. It is a stark truth about India however hurtful it may be. Even if the politician may brag about the success of Indian democracy, its nuclear power, unity in diversity ,the truth is even today a sizeable population of the country is living below poverty line and cannot even earn their daily bread. Through the character of Balram Halwai, the author has expressed the angst of the down trodden Indians and he has done a great job at it.

The book is thought provoking and engaging. I will definately recommend reading it.

It is the debut novel of Aravind Adiga and has won the Man Booker Award in 2008.

Wordless Wednesday - Cliffs 2

Eggless Chocolate Brownies

My first memories of having  brownies dates back to my college days. There was (in fact its still there) a restaurant in Guwahati named JBz which served sizzling 'Brownie with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce'. Oh Boy! Having that dessert all for myself was sheer indulgence! I used to savour each bite and even today when I think of it, it sets my mouth water!! But, in those times, I had never once thought of finding out how to make it, cooking was never my cup of tea! But neccesity is the mother of invention and now that I have developed a liking for baking, I keep trying new recipes.

This recipes comes from Nita Mehta's book which I borrowed from my elder sister on my last India visit. I had made it once for our girl's get together. But, that time I had baked it in an about less than 7" square cake tin and it puffed up and was more like a cake. Never the less it was tasty. Last week, I was in a mood of baking and tried these brownie again. This time in a 9'' square cake tin and they came out well. Moist and fudgy and it was great when combined with vanilla ice cream and chocolate sauce.

Here comes the recipe:

Eggless Chocolate Brownies:
(Click here for the printable version)


Serves 12.
1¼ cups low fat milk
1 tbsp white vinegar.(Original recipe had 2 tbsp. See Notes)
1½ cups AP Flour.
¼ cup cocoa.
1 tsp soda- bi-carb.
1¼ cups sugar. (Original recipe had 1½ cup+2tbsp).
½ cup oil.
1 tsp vanilla essence.
2 tbsp crushed walnuts and chocolate sauce for decoration.

9 ” Square tin.

Process:

1. Grease the tin and dust it with flour. Preheat the oven at 160 C.
2. Boil milk and add vinegar. When the milk starts to curdle, keep it on fire for 30 seconds and take it off gas. Let it cool down completely.
3. Sift all the dry ingredients and keep the mixture in a mixing bowl.
4. To it add the paneer with whey and oil. Add essence and milk well with a wooden spoon till well combined.
5. Pour the batter in the prepared tin and sprinkle walnuts over it.

6. Bake at 160 C for 40 minutes. When done remove from oven and let it cool completely. Remove the brownie from the tin. Sprinkle powdered sugar over it. Cut into peices.

Warm it in microwave for 20 seconds and serve with ice cream, topped with chocolate sauce.

Notes:

1. A few days back, I was seeing Barefoot Contessa. Ina Garten was baking a Brownie and shared a tip. She asked to give a nice tap to the cake tin on the rack after baking it for 30 mins. It helps in releasing any air that might be formed because of the leavener and makes the brownie more fudgy. I will try this technique next time, I bake a brownie.

2. I have tried this recipe with both 1 tbsp and 2 tbsp Vinegar. First time when I had baked it, I used 2 tbsp of vinegar. On adding 1 tbsp vinegar to boiled milk, it curdled instantly.  But since the recipe called for another tbsp, I added it. Vinegar helps in leavening which makes it more cake like.So, next time I tried it with 1 tbsp only and got better results. I was more fudgy and moist. I will recommend using 1 tbsp vinegar only.

3. I reduced the sugar by 1/2 cup from what was given in the original recipe and it was perfect for me. Adjust sugar to your own liking and taste.

Enjoy!

Linking it to Champa's Bake Off , ToReview's Food Palette Series Brown and Divya's Brownie Event.