Yes I know I disappeared again

Yes, I know I disappeared again. And this time it has been longer. I was sick again and this time I was down with chicken pox. Yeah, you heard me right, of all things - chicken pox. Many would say, it is something children get. Well, yes. But, I never had it as a child. So, I guess I wasn't immune and was an easy prey to it this time.

Before you ask, let me tell you, I am far better now. Motivated enough to update this blog. The blisters were not very wide spread. So, I guess I was down with a milder one. But the symptoms were annoying - fever, sore throat, back ache, lethargy and the constant desire to itch.The blister are drying up now and hopefully in a day or two, will scab off. I have been on a very bland diet for the past 10 days and have to be so for a couple of more days (so, I have been advised). A dear friend took care of cooking things for me all these days. I can't thank her enough for all the help and concern. I am grateful to God for blessing me with such good friends.

So, you can guess there hasn't been much cooking and clicking of late. Although, I have a number of drafts for recipe posts, I don't feeling like posting them. I will however post a few, if I am not cooking anything new for a few days.

Past 10 days I have rested like I have not in years. No household chores, no TV, no cooking. Only long distance calls and unlimited sleeping and a little reading when ever I felt like. I read The Help by Kathryn Stockett, Breaking Dawn by Stephenie Meyer. So, expect the reviews for these book soon. I have 3 other books that I am reading now Lingering Tide and other stories by Latha Vishwanathan, Freakonomics by Levitt and Dubner and The Little Shadows by Marina Endicott.


Among other updates, I have been on twitter (@JyotiBabel) for sometimes now. Although, I am not much of a tweeter myself, I love to check what the world is tweeting about. Recently, I found from twitter that Instagram App for Android is out. I have seen many people sharing pictures through this app and so I signed up on Instagram instantly (as I recently got myself an Android phone). Instagram is a fun way of sharing pictures. So, if you have an iPhone or an android phone and love taking pictures, Instagram is for you. If you are already there then do check out my profile at JyotiBabel. After Pinterest(jbpages), Instagram is the thing I am hooked to.

Hopefully, this space will be active with a few book reviews for the time being. Stay tuned.

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

Mint Ginger Lemonade

I have a love and hate relationship with Irish summers. Irish summers for the good part are not sunny but rainy, and the rain is not torrential but dripping and drizzling all the time. That is the part I hate. When it sunny the crowd throngs to the parks to bask in the sun and suddenly and unexpectedly, it will rain and everyone will run for a make shift shelter or open their umbrellas. You can't do without an umbrella in your bag in this country. The month of March had been great weather wise, spring felt like real summer but April has been rather cool and rainy. But, I don't really look at the weather when I want to indulge in something cold. I can have an ice cream with a blanket around me and sip a cool drink even though the weather is not ideal for it. And that is exactly what I am doing now.

For Blog Hop Wednesdays, my partner is Vidya who blogs at kurryleaves and I chose this cool drink to try out from her blog.

 

Mint Ginger Lemonade

Ingredients 

Juice of 1 lemon, about 3-4 tbsp

15-20 mint leaves

1 inch peice of ginger

400 ml chilled water

Ice cubes as needed

1/4 cup sugar

1/4 tsp black salt

Process:

1. Add 60 ml water, mint leaves, lemon juice, sugar and salt and whiz it in a blender to a fine puree. Sieve to get the juice and discard the waste.

2. Divide the juice in2-3 glasses equally. Add ice cubes and top it up with rest of the water and stir. Serve chilled.

 

Check what other blog hoppers are up with here.

Thank you for stopping by. Cheers!

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Sometimes I feel I am on the wrong side of the line when a book that has won accolades from a huge number of readers, fails to make a significant impact on me.  The Book Thief by Markus Zusak falls in that category for me. To tell you what the book is all about, I am quoting the blurb:

It’s just a small story really, about among other things: a girl, some words, an accordionist, some fanatical Germans, a Jewish fist-fighter, and quite a lot of thievery. . . .

Set during World War II in Germany, Markus Zusak’s ground-breaking new novel is the story of Liesel Meminger, a foster girl living outside of Munich. Liesel scratches out a meagre existence for herself by stealing when she encounters something she can’t resist–books. With the help of her accordion-playing foster father, she learns to read and shares her stolen books with her neighbours during bombing raids as well as with the Jewish man hidden in her basement before he is marched to Dachau.
This is an unforgettable story about the ability of books to feed the soul.

 I have not read a lot of Holocaust fiction. In fact, I had read my first on it just last year. The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne had the kind of impact on me, a holocaust book should have. I think what worked there was the innocence of the narrator, how he was oblivious of the things happening around him. Another one on the subject, Beatrice and Virgil byYann Martel was the most bizarre book I have ever read. The author tried an innovative approach, but for me it failed completely to convey the message. The Book Thief falls in between these two books. I didn’t love it, I didn’t hate it. It was just another book that will fade from my memory as time passes.

Holocaust is one of the most horrendous periods in human history and to read about it is not a joyful experience.  Stories about it should wreck and wrench the reader’s heart (The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas by John Boyne did exactly that). This book didn’t live up in that aspect. I like the idea of Death being the narrator and the Holocaust being the busiest period for him. But, somehow the story didn’t hold together as one. It kept me engrossed till half the way through the book and then it faltered. I found it a bit monotonous and bland. Not that I expect Holocaust fiction to be spiced up, but I felt it just went on for the sake of it. Even if I skipped a few pages, it didn’t affect the flow of the story. 

It summed up to this - Even Death was sorry to see the state of Jews in the Holocaust period, how could humans (who have a heart and a soul) inflict such atrocities on their fellow beings and be oblivious to their sufferings.

Having said all this, there were some things about the book that made me kept reading. The observations of the narrator - Death on the human race were often profound and even witty. Here are some:

“I am haunted by humans.”

“Imagine smiling after a slap in the face. Then think of doing it twenty-four hours a day.”

“My heart is so tired”

“A small fact:
You are going to die....does this worry you?”

“People observe the colors of a day only at its beginnings and ends, but to me it's quite clear that a day merges through a multitude of shades and intonations with each passing moment. A single hour can consist of thousands of different colors. Waxy yellows, cloud-spot blues. Murky darkness. In my line of work, I make it a point to notice them.”

“I guess humans like to watch a little destruction. Sand castles, houses of cards, that's where they begin. Their great skills is their capacity to escalate.”

“I am constantly overestimating and underestimating the human race - that rarely do I ever simply estimate it.”

I hate writing a bad review. But, this is not one. I just can't pin point at any thing in particular, as to why I didn't enjoy reading this book as most people did, or as much I hoped I would. I would give it a generous 3/5.

Hello World!

Knock knock! Any one there?

It is unusual but this space has been silent for over a week. It was not the plan.

 But, the good news is that I am back and hopefully will be regular from now on. I was down with a sudden illness and the medicines (how I hate them) made me drowsy and tired. For a few days, I felt as if all energies have been drained off me and I felt sorely clumsy. Thankfully, I am far better now and back in action.

Hope you all had a great Easter weekend. Mine was somewhat quiet, largely because I was not feeling well and partly because the weather wasn't that great. After a nice month of March, temperature are plummeting now and it rains so often. I hope it gets better soon. It was one of the rare weekends when I didn't do much cooking (I will make up for it soon). On the reading front, I have been ever so lazy. I am still reading the book I had started two weeks back 'The Book Thief' by Markus Zusak. Hopefully, I will finish it in a day or two and post the review here. This space has been starving for book reviews for some time now.

On the personal front, a very good friend is relocating to a different country. I have silently shed a few tears and I know how I would miss her. It is only in these circumstances, I realise how we take things for granted. She is a very good cook and there has been always something to learn from her. An interested reader, I have often shared my enthusiasm about some books with her. All I can say know that I will miss here dearly. People come, people go. But some makes a place in your heart. She is one such person, I am glad to have known.

I have a good number of recipes in my draft to keep this space going. But, I don't really feel like posting one. But, I think I am going to do exactly that later. For now, I just wanted to talk.

Enough of my rants for now. I will be up with something more interesting soon. Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Chocolate Cornets

For Egg less Bakes this month Gayathri chose this Chocolate Cornet recipe. The recipe had eggs and all bakers had to try out the egg less version. The cornet is made of bread dough and is filled with chocolate custard. For the dough, I substituted eggs with a mixture of yogurt and milk and for the chocolate custard I used corn flour.

These Chocolate Cornets will be great for kids. I filled four of them with chocolate custard and rest with a savoury samosa filling. However, I am giving the measurement of custard need for 12 cornets here. Baking them was fun. though it seemed a lengthy process as I had to make the cornet's molds from scratch.

Recipe Source:  CookingWith Dog

Ingredients:

Makes 12 Cornets:

For the dough:

300gm flour +1/4 cup flour for dusting

1 tbsp milk powder

2tbsp sugar

1 tsp salt

7 gm Instant Yeast

140ml warm Water

2 tbsp yogurt

2 tbsp milk

30 gm butter

For The Chocolate Custard:

350 ml silk

¼ cup sugar

2 tbsp corn starch

3/8 cup chopped chocolate (I used a combination of dark and milk chocolate)

1 tsp vanilla extract

For The Cornet molds:

Please refer tothis video to check how to make them

For The Bread Cone:

Process:

1.  In a bowl, mix flour, salt, and milk powder. In lukewarm water add the sugar and then sprinkle yeast over it and let it sit for 5 minutes to rise.

2. Make a whole in the flour mixture and add the yeast mixture to the flour mixture. Add yogurt and milk and prepare soft dough.

3. Knead the dough for 5 minutes and then flatten it on the counter dusted with flour. Place the chopped pieces of butter in the middle and cover it with the dough.

4. The dough will be very sticky at this point, use extra flour and knead it for another 5-7minutes until the butter is well incorporated and the dough becomes soft and elastic.

5. Place the dough in a large greased bowl and cover with a plastic wrap.

6. Keep it in a warm place to rise till it is double in volume.

7. When well risen, punch the air out of it and divide it into 12 equal portions.

8. Roll each portion into a ball and keep it covered on the counter for 15 minutes.

9. Grease the cornet molds with butter

10. Flatter each ball and shape them into a long rope such that it is thin at edges and thicker in the middle.

11. Wrap it around the cornet molds. Start from the bottom to the top of the mold and then pinch the end of the rope to close it.

12. Place the prepared cornets on a greased tray and allow it to rise for 15-20minutess.

13. Preheat oven to 200C and bake the cornets for 10-12 minutes. When done place them on a wire rack to cool. Unmold the cornet and store cornets in an airtight box until needed.

Chocolate Custard: 

I prepared the custard in microwave.

Process:

1. Place the chopped chocolate in a microwave safe bowl and heat it in the microwave till it is melted. It will take 2 minutes.
2. Mix the corn starch, sugar in a large microwave safe bowl and add in the milk. Whisk to remove any lump. Microwave it for 2 minutes. Whisk again. Add the melted chocolate and vanilla essence. Whisk. Microwave it again for 3-5 minutes whisking after every 1 minute.
3. The custard is done the mixture comes thick and creamy. Time may vary from microwave to microwave. So, keep an eye on the process.

Assembling the Chocolate Cornets:

1. Fill the custard in a zip lock bag and make a small hole at one of the edges.

2. Place the tip inside the cornet and squeeze the bag to fill the cornet with the custard.

3. Repeat the same with other cornets. Serve with tea or coffee. Enjoy!

Linking it to Yeast Spotting