Pinku-Enchanted Life

The past saturday found us excitedly heading towards Jawahar Lal Nehru Stadium to attend the Street food festival being organised there by NASVI . Last year I had heard a lot of good things about this festival and also read up a two page write up in Brunch by Vir Sanghvi which left me salivating for these treats from the streets. So off we went, the hubby, kid and me to check out the fare at the JLN Stadium grounds. Post working out the parking format (essentially about getting your car to climb the pavement and sitting there) we walked up to the gate, paid the entry fee of Rs. 50/- per head and were all set to explore. We decided to take a quick round of the place before choosing the stuff we would like to eat. Bihar, Jharkhand, Assam we looked at before settling for a Chicken 65 at the Karnataka stall.  A big chicken leg wrapped in a spicy batter and deep fried till the outer layer is crisp, the inner layer is cooked and yet the juices have been left intact is what we got on our ...

Christmas for me is incomplete without some serious plum cake eating. Since for the past year or so I have been baking with a vengeance I thought this year the Plum cake too should be home baked.  Research on the hows, do's and dont's took me through various books, blog posts and videos and I finally figured out a recipe that I was reasonably sure would work for me and was close to the taste and texture I had in mind. To me a good plum cake is a dark, well baked almost over baked, moist, filled with dry fruits kind of cake which is rich in spices and has a distinct aroma. Sharing herewith the recipe. Do give it a try and let me know how it goes: Ingredients: To Soak the Fruits ( do this atleast 4 weeks before you expect to bake. Remember to stir it atleast twice every week) 2 cups - chopped dry fruits - include all that you like. and then some. Add lemon and orange peels if you can, they add a lovely fragrance 1 1/2 - cups liquor - I used dark Rum, you can choose to use red wi...

Banoffee Pie seems to be quite the favorite of my office team mates going by the main dessert order at any office get together. Since I do bake a colleague asked if I could make one and bring it to office. Now I never eat bananas and therefore have never ever tasted the pie and had no inclination to make one either especially since even the partner didnt seem to think much of this particular dish though his sweet tooth is legendary. But since the colleague asked I thought why not give it a try. I checked on a few sites for the recipe and figured that its a pretty simple one actually. A few ingredients, no baking and almost child's play in terms of putting together. Though I didn't eat it, it got polished off in office and people have demanded repeats so am feeling emboldened enough to post it here. Ingredients: 400 gms digestive biscuits - I used Britannia Nutrichoice, crushed. If using a mixer remember not to make it too fine 200 gms butter - I used unsalted butter 2 tins cond...

We shifted from one flat to another the past weekend. While we are just a stones throw away from the previous flat yet shifting meant digging out things from all nooks and crannies and turning all parts of the home upside down quite literally. It is an exhausting task in most households and in ours more so with the husband’s ability at hoarding all sorts of paper memorabilia, our combined love of books, music and films and the fact that we both do not have a parental home where some of our childhood stuff could be kept. Instead lots of things from both homes are kept with us as they have too many sentiments attached and I find it very difficult to throw them away. So after four days of sorting through piles and piles of stuff, continuously sneezing thanks to the dust and body ache I wanted to eat something different and feel a little sane. Since it was also a work day and time was of the essence I decided fried rice with lots of veggies and thick chicken gravy would have to suffice. A ...

“My philosophy, in essence, is the concept of man as a heroic being, with his own happiness as the moral purpose of his life, with productive achievement as his noblest activity, and reason as his only absolute.”  — Ayn Rand I have long been an ardent fan of Ayn Rand and admired her novels and thought. The partner who prides himself on his socialism traits has always found my Ayn Rand love to be in continuation of my love for shopping and by extension unabashed consumerism. I thought of clarifying my standpoint to him and then decided it might be exciting to hear what you guys have to say about my views as well, so here goes. My  favorite  amongst Rand’s novels is of course Atlas Shrugged . I am totally in love with the character of Dagny Taggart – as a teenager when I first read Atlas Shrugged my only grouse with Dagny was the ease with which she slipped into bed with the various men in her life (then I was a believer in the one life one love theory)....

I love reading Rhea's blog . Its a simple food lovers blog and her recipes are no fuss, delicious, DIY even for kitchen novices kind of recipes. Its been a while since I read her post on sponge cakes and remembered the cakes my mom used to bake for us kids. Those days a home baked cake was a HUGE treat and especially so for me since I never did like the cream soaked versions that bakeries sold. The whole delight of waking up in a house smelling of baked goodies was just too good. Mom mostly baked when we kids were sleeping as we used to otherwise bother her too much. :) Now my daughter is the same - though guess I am smarter as I put her to work whisking which keeps her involved. So since reading her posts I had been meaning to bake a sponge cake but since its considered too basic a cake I didnt dare to bake it for the Cook-off at the Anandomela so it had to wait. Then some dearly loved friends announced that they are in town and the perfect opportunity for the Sponge cakes presen...

Growing up in Faridabad an industrial township adjacent to Delhi what kept us rooted to our traditions and our culture while living far away from Bengal was the occassion of Dugga Pujo. Studying in a convent saying Hail Mary and knowing Our Father all faded in the background when those special five days of the year came by. Suddenly we were as bengali as our cousins in Kolkata (all Probashis have family in Kolkata). Pujo those days started on Sashti evening with Anandomela - where all the bengali aunties came with basket loads of delicious, home cooked delicacies and we children drove ourselves into a frenzy running from one stall to another and pestering our parents for more money to buy yet another plate of the fast disappearing goodies. All of these memories came flashing back yesterday as a colleague from work and I alongwith hubby set up our stall at our local Deepanwita Durga Pujo in Dwarka.  Rushing from work where a last minute meeting cancelled our plans of sneaking out e...