Love Eat Pray by Elizabeth Gilbert

I had picked up this book with great hopes and in the end I was sorely disappointed with it. Well, I did not even get to the end of the book. I had missed seeing the movie and was really looking forward to reading this book. Now, I am only glad I did not buy this book.

It is the story of the author herself. At 32 years old, she is well settled in her life with a home, a husband, and a successful career as a writer. However, she was unhappy in her marriage and ends up going through a bitter divorce and a short lived affair there after. To make a new beginning and refresh herself to start again she decides to travel around the world spending 4 months in Italy where she eats a lot and gains 2 stones of weight, 3 months in India where she prays and rest of the time in Indonesia where she find the balance of life.

In her Eat Pray Love, Gilbert takes us through her journey across Italy, India and Indonesia in her per suit of happiness, peace and balance of live. But seriously, after reading the book, I could not even understand what she found and what actually she was looking for. I read the first part of her journey -Italy, religiously hoping it would make sense to me in the end. But it didn't. While reading, the Indian part, I was already getting impatient with the book and roughly made through it. By the time, I got to Indonesia, I just flipped the pages and realised far too late, I can't read it any more.

Elizabeth sometimes struck me as a disillusioned woman, egotist women and her memoir did little to inspire or motivate me in any way. In plain words, I would just say I wouldn't recommend this book.

To know more about the author and her works visit http://www.elizabethgilbert.com/.

Cardamom Kulfi Recipe | How to Make Cardamom Kulfi from Scratch

Cardamom Kulfi #recipe

Cardamom Kulfi is the traditional Indian popsicle made with evaporated milk and is flavoured with cardamom. It is a painstaking process since it involves constant stirring of the milk on low flame, but it is so worth it. It is very popular in India. People indulge in kulfi to beat the heat in summer months. 

Kulfis can be made in many flavours. The one I am sharing today is cardamom flavoured. As a child, I always relished the homemade kulfi my mother made during summer months. I bought these kulfi moulds on my last trip to India and so I will be flaunting them in my future posts as I have collected some recipes of kulfi to try this summer. The first recipe of Kulfi is obviously my mother's. I have tried to stick to her process and recreate the taste and gladly I have succeeded! Yippee!

Each of the kulfi moulds I use is 80 ml in volume. I have a set of 6. So, the measurements in the recipe are accordingly. Here is the recipe:-

Cardamom Kulfi Recipe

Ingredients:

800 ml full-fat milk.
3 cardamom pod seeds finely powdered.
1 tbsp ground almonds or almond powder.
3 tbsp sugar.
1 tsp corn flour

Process:

1. Stir the cornflour in a tablespoon of milk and keep aside.

2. In a non-stick pan, heat the remaining milk. Once it comes to boil turn the heat to medium and simmer it till it reduces to about half in volume (450ml or so). It can take about 25-30 minutes.

3. Add the cardamom powder, almond powder and sugar and stir well.

4. After a minute add the cornflour mixture and stir well. Heat for another 5 minutes stirring all the time. If it gets too thick add 2 tbsp of extra milk and stir.

5. Let it cool down to room temperature and then fill it in the kulfi moulds.

6. Freeze for 6 hours or overnight.

7. Take it 5-10 minutes ahead of serving. Dip it in warm water and unmould. Ready to serve.

Notes:

1. Variety of flavours can be added. You can add Saffron and nuts like chopped pistachios, cashews etc.

2. Stirring the milk is very important. If the milk sticks to the bottom and burns it will impart a burned smell to the kulfi which is undesirable.

3. In case of not using a non-stick pan, grease the pan with ghee/clarified butter and continue with the process. Milk will not stick at the bottom.

4. If you do not have kulfi moulds, disposable glasses will work fine too.

Linking it to Lets Celebrate Sweets - Ice Cream by Rasoi. This event is the brainchild of Nivedita. Also sending it to 'Walk through the memory lane' by Gayathri

Enjoy! Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

#6 Teaser Tuesday

This week my teaser comes from Sophie Kinsella's 'The Undomestic Goddess'.

'I don't think thats's a good idea.' There's a new edge to Arnold's voice which pulls me up.
Page: 79

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!

A Salute to 'The Men in Blue!'

Words cannot define the joy and excitement the whole of India experienced on the 2nd of April 2011 when the Indian Cricket team led by MS Dhoni won the Cricket World Cup 2011.

Photo from: http://www.espncricinfo.com/

After a nerve wrecking final match with Sri Lanka, India won the cricket world cup for the second time after 28 years.

Well, I did not see the whole match and satisfied myself with the high lights. The intensity of the match get on my nerves and I get all tensed up. I just wonder how all these guys cope with the pressure and keep their mind focussed in the game. I remember hearing MS Dhoni saying this in an interview ~ 'If you feel this as a pressure job, you will feel yourself inside a pressure cooker.'

Well, I am sure it is and can't imagine how it must be to take the pressure of the expectations of a 'cricket crazy' nation. But, like every Indian I prayed and prayed for the win. Well, God would have had a tough time if he had to turn down the prayers of 1.2 billion Indians.

News channels and newspaper have been flooded with the news of the world cup win and there are celebration everywhere.

I feel so proud myself being an Indian and salute to 'The Men in Blue' for making the long cherished dream come true and for the joy and happiness they have brought to the whole of the nation.

Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan

Miss Conceived by Emma Hannigan is a story of three women ~ Angie, Serena and Ruby, all different from each other in age and personality, on their rocky road to motherhood. The story is set in Ireland. This is the author's second book, first one being Designer Genes. To know more about the author visit here.

Angie Breen, at the age of 40 is successful in her career but is still single. This is not the kind of life she thought she would be living at the age of 40 and she is worried she might end up single and childless. Her life changes when she expectantly discovers she is pregnant after a night sling with some one she barely knows. Serena Doyle is the ultimate epitome of glamour and sophistication. Married to a dynamic businessman, she wants to be a mother to complete her perfect life. But fate has planned something  else for her and she struggles to conceive. It turns her life upside down and in the quest of conceiving she discovers a startling secret about herself. Ruby White, a 16 year old girl is infatuated with her best friend's father - Damo and after a eventful night in  a pub ends up bearing his child. Her parents are worried and conjures up a plan to save her daughter's future. What will happen to Angie, Serena and Ruby? Is Angie's pregnancy a blessing in disguise? Will Serena be able to cope up with the circumstances that has marred her perfect life? What future has in store for Ruby and her baby? That's the story all about. Absolutely Chick lit.

After reading the book, I have mixed feelings for it. It took me almost 3 weeks to finish this book and I could not read more than 3-4 chapters in a go. May be the baby related drama was just too much to take at a go or may be I was also spending a lot of time watching the Cricket World Cup. The writing style is not very appealing and some times, I felt I could not to connect to the story. I liked the character of Angie as she seemed real and was kind of annoyed with Ruby at the beginning. Infatuation with your best friend's dad, thats too much to digest! She seemed to be a careless teenager but through the end of the novel, one could feel the way she matures. The novel is written in third person switching between Angie, Serena, Damo and Ruby. The characters are well developed but there is something amiss which makes the story monotonous if read at length. It was sort of one time read and I would recommend it to someone who likes full blast chick lit stuff.