Jyoti's Pages on 'Scene of the Blog' and other Books update

Have you ever wondered about the work space area of bloggers around the world?

Ever wondered how their creative corners look like, where they sit and churn out beautiful posts..

Cathy of Kittling Books was intrigued by this question which led her to start a meme -Scene of the Blog where every Wednesday, she features a blogger from any part of the world to share their scene of blog.

This Wednesday, my space is being featured in Cathy's Scene of the Blog series. Wondering how my creative space looks like, go check this out.

Coming back to the books update, about two months back I had made a list of books I wished to read before my India visit in September. Well, in a line I can say that was an ambitious list, These are the books from the list that I have read:

My Friend Jesus Christ by Lars Husum
1Q84 Book 1 & 2 by Haruki Murakami
A Dangerous Inheritance by Alison Weir
Prince of Ayodhya by Ashok K. Banker
Ninepins by Rosy Thornton
Freakonomics by Steven D. Levitt & Stephen J. Dubner

Apart from this I also read Skid Marks of Logic by Divya Diana Dias and 1Q84 Book 3 by Haruki Murakami

I will read the rest of the books from the list after coming back from my India visit. To tell you the truth, I don't really feel like reading a book now. Give it to my excitement of visiting my home country and meeting family and friends or to the numerous chores I have to do before that, I am unable to concentrate on reading anything. So, I am giving my books a rest while I deal with other things in life.

By the way any books you would like to suggest to pick up in India. Suggestions welcome.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

How To Make Butter At Home From Cream

There are certain things we can learn from our mistakes. That holds good for life in general. But, here I am talking about learning from cooking disasters. Most stories of kitchen disasters doesn't see the light of the day. Dishes than doesn't turn out as expected often finds it way to the dustbin and the memories of an unpleasant experience is shoved to the back of our mind. But, sometimes we learn certain things by mistake.

Here I am talking about churning butter from cream.

Quite a while back, one of my friends had asked to give her a hand in baking and decorating a cake. That was the time, I was a new bee in cooking and had found my new love for baking. I agreed and we set out to bake a nice, gorgeous cake. But that was not the case to be. Something went wrong! Still, we did manage to salvage our cake and produce something presentable.

The thing that had gone wrong was with the cream icing. While whipping the cream, we realized that it had curdled a bit. Now I know that it was over whipped and the butter and the whey had started to separate. But, back then I wasn't sure. Recently, DH said he felt like having fresh homemade white butter on cream cracker biscuits. It had been ages since he had those and I was wondering what brought them to his memory. 

The thought of making butter at home was constantly there in my mind for a while. I have seen my mom make ghee. For that she collects thick cream from the top of homemade yogurt patiently, over a number of days and when she has a good amount of it, she churns butter out of it which is then used for making ghee. All these made me think of my icing disaster and I googled about 'making butter from cream' and landed on this WikiHow page. Confidently I decided to try it on my own and you can see what I got.

 

Ingredients:

250 ml heavy cream

A hand whisk or an electrical one. I used electrical one as one has to whisk a lot.

A few ice cubes

Process:

1. In a cold container pour the cream and start whisking. The cream will go change texture as you continue whipping. Don't stop even when you get the soft peak consistency and continue whipping. At some point in next 5 minutes the cream will start curdling and chunks of butter will start floating in whey and soon your mixture will look something like this.

 

2. Separate the butter from the whey. Add ice cubes to the whey so that any remaining butter solidifies. Once you have collected all the butter, make sure there is no buttermilk left in it. Wash it with cold water as stated here until you get clear water. Save all the butter and shape it. Store it in an airtight container.

I got about 120 gm butter from 250 ml of double cream. Enjoy homemade butter on toast, on cream cracker biscuits, in soups etc. I also made Makhanya Lassi with it. I will share it next here.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami (Book 1, 2 & 3)

It has been a while since I read this book, but some how couldn't put my thoughts together to write a review. 1Q84 by Haruki Murakami is a huge book, it is the first book by the author that I have read.

It was first published in three volumes in Japan in 2009–10. The novel quickly became a sensation, with its first printing selling out the day it was released, and reaching sales of one million within a month. The English language edition of all three volumes, with the first two volumes translated by Jay Rubin and the third by Philip Gabriel, was released in North America and the United Kingdom on October 25, 2011. (Source-Wikipedia)

It can be categorized as a thriller and a fantasy love story. To be able to appreciate this novel fully, the reader has to believe in what the author is trying to convey. That becomes a challenge in the later part of the novel.

The story is set in year 1984 and spans over the year. Book One starts with the female protagonist of the novel, Aomame (a name which literally means green peas in Japanese) in a taxi on a Tokyo highway. There is a huge traffic congestion and vehicles are moving slowly. To be able to reach for her scheduled appointment Aomame, on the advice of the taxi driver takes a short cut. That seems to work fine but after a while, she discovers seriously puzzling discrepancies in the world around her. She realizes that on taking the short cut route, she has entered a parallel existence which she calls 1Q84,Q for question mark. This world has two moons in the sky(that is evident from the cover). There are a lot of questions in this world that Aomame has to find answers to and time is not on here side.

Meanwhile, an aspiring writer named Tengo Kawana takes on a suspect ghostwriting project. He becomes so wrapped up with the work and its unusual author, Fuka Eri that, soon, his previously placid life begins to come unraveled. The novel Air Chrysalis makes it to the top of the chart, only to complicate things for every one involved in the projects. From one thing to another, the author conjures up a complicated plot that successfully keeps the readers hooked.

The pace created in Book One carries well into the Book Two. Murakami is an author with huge creativity and vivid and fantastic imagination. One would not be able to predict what turn the story is going to take. At the close of Book Two, both Aomame and Tengo finds themselves in precarious situation, threatened and confused. There are many loose ends in Book Two which I was hoping would be addressed in Book Three and hence I promptly borrowed the Book Three from the library.
 

In Book Three, Aomame and Tengo are pursued by people and forces that seem to be from some other world. They try to decipher the strange world around them and soon realize their destinies converging. What they cannot surmise is if they would be able to find each other before they are themselves found. What actually happens is the thing to find in the book.

Book Three did not live up to my expectation. Fantasy is fine but loose ends are what leaves me unsatisfied. The author didn't even try to convince as to why things were happening the way they were. It actually left me squirming in uneasiness and for a while I couldn't decide if it was a good thing or bad. Finally, I felt that I must be able to picture things in the novel to understand them fully, like I have no idea who these little people, what they want, from where they come. May be the author wanted to keep it to the imagination of the readers, but it didn't work for me. The whole plot seemed to concentrated on making Aomame and Tengo meet, but why take them to a different world to make that possible. I enjoyed the first two books, they kept me dangling by a thread. But, Book Three disappointed me. Certainly, I don't understand the hype around the book. I would give it a balanced 3/5 overall rating.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers 

Veg Chow mein Noodles ~ A Popular Indo-Chinese Dish

Indo Chinese Food is very popular in India. It is basically a fusion cuisine. Veg Chow mein is perhaps one of the most popular Indo Chinese dishes. From road side carts to posh restaurants, this humble noodles finds a place in many menus.

When ever, I prepare this dish, the first person who comes to my mind is my little sister, she loves this dish. DH likes it too. When I am not in a mood for elaborate cooking, I resort to making it. It is easy, yummy and filling too. Only task that can be cumbersome about making this dish is the way the veggies are sliced. It can take a lot of time if you are cooking for a lot of people, but for the two of us, it is not much work. Lets hop of to the recipe now-

Veg Chow mein Noodles

150 gm Chow mein Noodles
1 tbsp soya sauce
2 tbsp chilli sauce( add more if you like it spicier).
1 tbsp vinegar
Salt and black pepper to taste
1" inch ginger grated
2 cloves garlic chopped

Julienne cut vegetables (Amount may vary, I generally add about 1/4 cup of each)
Onions
Bell peppers (I used red, green and yellow)
Carrots
Cabbage
Beans
Thinly sliced baby corn
Peas

Spring Onions for garnish (That you had grown on your window sill)

Process:

1. Cook the noodles as per the instructions given on the box. Make sure you cook it upto 80%. When it is sautéed with veggies, it will cook further.
2. Heat oil in a pan. When heated add the sliced onions. Fry them till they are slightly translucent. Add the ginger and garlic and sauté it for 30 seconds. Now add the carrots, beans and baby corn. Add salt and stir. Cover it and cook for 2-3 minutes, so that the carrots, beans and baby corn are tender. Now add the cabbage, bell peppers and peas. Stir and add some more salt and pepper.
3. Now add the cooked noodles and give it a nice stir. Add the soya sauce, chilli sauce, vinegar. Give it a good stir. Check seasoning. Add more salt and pepper if needed. Cook for another 3-4 minutes and take it off gas.
4. Serve it hot with Sweet chili sauce or ketchup or both! Enjoy!

We had it with Chilled Sweet Lime Soda..

Note: You can also add tofu or paneer pieces.

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!

Powerscourt Gardens Pictures ~ For Saturday Snapshot

This week for Saturday Snapshot I am sharing a few pictures from our visit to Powerscourt Gardens last week. I will elaborate about the trip later, for now enjoy the pictures. I had shared a few pictures of Roses from the Rose Garden there for Wordless Wednesday. Do check them as well!

Saturday Snapshot is hosted by Alyce of At Home With Books. It’s easy to participate – just post a picture that was taken by you, a friend, or a family member and add your link on Alyce’s site.

 On the way..

 Lake at the Italian Garden..

 Dolphin pond..

 Lovely Lotus!

Italian Garden

Thank you for stopping by! Cheers!