That perfect sandwich.

4 slices of brown bread
2 slices of Britannia cheese
English mustard sauce
Tomatoes, chillies
salt, pepper, oragano (optional)

slit the chillies and de-seed. Cut tomatoes in thin slices. cut cheese slices into thin, long slices.
Lay the tomato slices, sprinkle some salt and pepper, then smear a bit of mustard on the top, sprinkle some oragano and then add the slit chillies and then thin strips of cheese. Cover this topping with a second slice of bread and delicately lay it in the grill but not before you put some butter in in.

Believe me you will have made the juiciest of sandwiches. Make a tall mug of hot, Colombian coffee. Your afternoon's is made.

In my next post- more experiments with bread.

Matkichi Usal

The way my mother cooked this usal- absolutely no masalas, no oil, no garlic/ginger onion and still the aroma of usal leaps out of the pressure cooker memories, pressure cooker because the matki had to be pressure cooked till soft. Then aai kept a bit of matki aside to be made into misal or simply mix it with lemon juice and finely chopped onions and coriander so that dad could have it with his drink.
So here goes the recipe for this usal.

Soak the matki overnight and then bundle it in a pice of cloth (preferable a pice off the pancha)
the matki has to grow sprouts that are nice and long and thick and that come out of the skin of the cloth. Thats your sign that the matki is ready to be cooked. Please cook the matki in the cooker- full on 6 or 7 whistles.
coriander- finely chopped
coconut- grated or if you have a vili then you have to use it to get grated coconut

heat oil in a pan, add jeera or mustard (as you like it)
add turmeric, chilli powder, asafoedita/ hing
add gul (jaggery)

add a bit of coconut and coriander to the phodni and then add the pressure cooked usal and let it simmer for 5 ro 6 minutes or till you see that the matki has soaked up the juices of the seasoning. Sprinkle the remaining coriander and coconut over the top and you are ready to eat it with hot phulkey and dahi.
I love having rice with curds and milk and add udal to it. Brilliant!

ALternatively you can also add finely choped onion, tomatoes and garlic to the phodni and lots of chilli powder so that the usal travel a bit to kolhapur. You can have it with pav.

Happy eating!

Really BIndass

Pratibha Patil- I weep thinking she is the President of India. But If Gyaani Zail can then why can't she

Amitabh Bachhan- Irritates me no end and i think Aishwarya made a mistake marrying Abhishek.

HImesh Reshammiya- Topi singer

Saurav Ganguli and Sachin Tendulkar- they have overstayed their welcomes! Scoot guys and vacate three berths in the team

ICL- Subhash Goel's Indian Cricket League if and when it does become chalenge worthy is the best thing to happen ti Indian cricket. The players have been having bed tea for too long. They have forgotte which way the kitchen is and they have totally forgotten what goes in making tea.

The word "Techie"- has been done to dfeath. I read a new item saying-"techie robbed" is the news here -a "techie" was robbed or was it techie was "robbed"? I didn't get it.

And tomorrow I am going to rip apart the review section of TOI.

News and rumours!

Day 1 at 10.30- The corridor outside my flat stank unbearably

at 12.30pm- I noticed that a plastic bag might be the cause of this stench and that it was still not cleared by housekeeping because the stench made it impossible for them to.

5.30pm- the garbage has been cleared from my floor and the stink is now replaced by that of phenyl, disinfectant, room freshners etc

Day 2- My Dhobi tells me that the plastic bag that was the source of stench actually contained a baby

3.30pm- I relayed this news to 3 mothers who come to pick up their children at the school bus-stop

Day3- I am paid a visit by senior citizens of my complex and asked it there was a plastic bag containing a dead body (I am surprised news travelled this slow). If there was indeed a package containg hacked body parts

Day4- I am accosted by concerned looking grannies and asked if there were 4 plastic bags containing chopped parts of a dead body.

Day 5- I am told that this whole episode made it to NDTV news

Day 6- I know know how NEWS is made!

Creams for everything- for fair skin, big boobs, small butts etc

Check this out-
Host- “Before we sign off for today, I have a lovely present for a lovely lady” (the guest on the show).
Guest lady coos and says- “ohhh thank you, I love presents” (as if we throw them out of the window)
Soon after this brain-dead program, I was treated to another thriller and I mean every word. This time it was a promotional advertisement for a bust enhancing cream. The anchor a slim lady with a fair bust line looked into my eyes and shared her deepest, gravest, sad & secret burden.
“Have you ever felt lonely and alone at parties or at college functions”?
“Have you felt ignored by others, especially at work by colleagues (note “especially at work”) where you felt someone else was drawing all the attention”?
“Now sisters suffer no more, we bring you a boob enhancer which when rubbed on the right spot, will win you instant RECOGNITION and ATTENTION”.
With such an eyeball grabbing prelude (she definitely had my attention) she says- “Now with the new me, I know what girls need and what the boys want (this with a sly, all-knowing look)”. Dear god, why did my parents invest so much money and effort in educating me? They should have simply bought 25 years worth of supply of this super sizing lotion!
Then the anchor of the program ends with this winner- “I now no longer feel lonely and alone” (obviously with your new-found twin sets to keep you company). Wait it doesn’t end here.We switch to another maternal looking lady who says- “Before marriage I didn’t pay attention to myself, but after marriage I realized that I have ignored my beauty for long and now my husband who was my boy friend earlier, is actually ignoring me, but I am happy to tell you that this bust enhancing cream has been my best friend, not only have I re-won my old husband, but I now know the importance keeping oneself ship-shape”. Thanks you for spreading the message.
Apologies if I haven't written a word about fairness creams. but between boob enhancers and skin whiteners, the former wins hands down.
I have to end this blog with a dream I had. I the dream I had actually bought that lotion and USED IT and gone to work! But for some reason, something forced my eyes to close!

Interesting names of towns

We drove to Goa in the first week of July and I thought villages/ towns we passed had some interesting names. By the way here are some names of towns we passed and also happen to be last names of many Kannadigas- Hoskote, Nilekani, Gokarna, Kumta, Bhatkal, Ullal and many others that I forget.
From Bangalore we went to
Hubli
Kadanakoppa
Dastikoppa
Kirvathi
Hittinbail
Gehlapur- has a "Dawood Cloth Stores", thank god its not in Mumbai!
Arbail Ghat
Gullapur
Ramanguli
aAgasur
Aversa (has that beautiful spot which gives you your first glimpse of the Karvar coast)
Todur
Post Chendia
Sankrubaug
karvar
Sadashivgad
Chittakula- Nagfod-Gangeri-Dandebag-and so on to Goa.

How to have more time to yourself.

Girls, you are no superwomen. Raising children, working, possibly living together with parent in laws, its a tough life at the end of which you have no time at all. What a life, financially independent and then what? Do you have time to catch a movie, read a book in bed, watch some TV, maybe even catch up with friends for a couple of hours once a month, write your blog, or just do nothing.
Frankly I am surprised our mothers brought up up without any second line of support. I can even do with a third or fourth. They were by themselves and husbands then (our fathers) were not great help around raising children. They were around as mythological figures, providers, bread winers, people who punished and rewarded and occassionally asked the progress of the young ones they helped to get into this world.
My point is (and tough it may be frowned upon by many worthy individuals) delegate your domestic chores and this means getting hired help. It is dificult as all good things in life are, but once you have it, then you can literally reach for the sky. You will be amazed at how this little step can free up your time and effort. Once you have talked to your potential nanny and found out that she is able (possibly even more than you) it is time to negotiate her salary. Please do not be niggardly as she can be her weight in gold. The ideal nanny can cook, look after your baby, shop for kitchen supplies and be a super help when you have guests coming over for a meal. She is interested in trying out new recipes, will respond in baby talk to your little one, can speak English, answer the phone and take messages.
You thought this existed only as a dream sequence of a bad Hindi movie? Of course it is!