Maggi Mania!

After a week long illness, I was recovering at home. I was getting all the pampering to comfort my soul. But the medicines had created a mess on my taste-buds. Everything I was eating seemed to be bland and without any taste. I just didn't want to eat.

Everyone tried everything, but I was just in a no-no state. When everybody gave up, my elder sister called me and made me sit cosily in the living room and played my all time favourite movie - The Chronicles of  Narnia. 

We have a open kitchen. So the living area and the kitchen is adjoined and everyone can see the TV. Di was doing something and we were sharing a joke about the movie. I was totally lost in the movie, when I heard the crackling sound of onions being fried. The aroma of fried onions started dancing in the air. I took a deep breath. I wondered what was she doing, but I didn't bother to ask her. 

Sound of something else going in the kadai came with more crackles and within seconds I knew it was chillies being put on the fire this time. And then there was some spices, ah I know that smell. My eyes popped out and my mind yelled inside - MAGGI MASALA. And the sound of water being added in the hot kadai just cheered me up and I looked back with a big grin towards my sis. I yelled, "Di, are you making Maggi?" She looked at my sparkling eyes, came and gave me a peck. She just said, "Yeah, tantrum queen!" We just laughed. But the aroma of the maggi being cooked did the magic of rejuvenating the dead taste buds of mine. Oh Yes, I was drooling over the smell. It took more than two minutes of course, but my sis knew how to make the food more interesting and irresistible. She served it in a GRILL&DROP ROUND CASSEROLE and grated a whole lot of cheese on top of the hot maggi and covered the lead to let the cheese melt in the heat of maggi and get blended in it. She kept the GRILL&DROP ROUND CASSEROLE with my favourite cheesy-chilli-maggi in front of me. 

I didn't bother to put in the plate. I just grabbed the Casserole and dived into the flavourful and delicious taste of the cheesy-chilli-maggi of mine. Of course, one pack is just too small, so I finished it all by myself ;)

Thank God for sisters who know the art of cooking and presenting!

Thank God for Borosil for making the food look fantabulous!

Thank God for maggi..maggi...maggi!

This post is written for Indiblogger contest, Borosil - Mybeautiful food.

Perfect street food!

Pani Puri! Phuchka! Water balls!

Call it with whatever name, it is one of the best creation of humankind. 

For me the best part of evening is, walk back home and the way to home filled with hawkers of all shapes and size with amazing pani-puri thelas. 

Bags full of perfectly shaped crunchy puris hung from the thela seems calling on me. Really. I try to avoid or try to give a day's break from eating them, but these puris' always, let me repeat, always succeed. 

I am just pulled by the aroma of the tangy imli pani. Small pieces of fresh green coriander and mixed spices and the tamarind sourness, creates a perfect blend. 

I have a fixed pani-puri-bhaiya who makes the stuffing as per my taste. Boiled potato mixed with black salt, species, small pieces of onions, some boiled kala-chana, fresh coriander and a lot of green chillies, mixed properly to make a perfect filling. 

The pani-puri-bhaiya takes those small puris, fills them with the alu-masala-filling and the dip it in tangy water, fill it totally and slowly place it in my plate. 

I just pick it up without a fraction-of-seconds delay and place it my mouth. The puri melts in the mouth leaving behind the perfect blend of chilli-tanginess-other spices. The hotness of the chillies and the tanginess of tamarind can create such magic that I generally get lost in it. I forget the people watching me eat, forget how many plates I promised myself to eat and I even forget who I am. I just keep on eating till my soul is satisfied. 

Ummmmm!

Well, I take this opportunity to thank that one person who invented this amazingly delicious food. You did magic and it still has the same magical power. Thanks, a big big thanks. 

It is a sure shot item for kids party at my home. Of course, I get the puris from the vendor, but I make the alu-stuffing and the tamarind-water at home considering health reasons for my little one and her friends. 

The best part is the way I serve it. 

The puris in the deep DEEP ROUND CASSEROLE heaped up popping their faces out and calling for the little ones. 

I make the alu-masala by adding kala-channa and medium spice and a lot of lemon juice and mixed it well in the MIXING BOWL SETS. The appealing look of the filling and fresh and lemony aroma just excites the kids to the core. 

There is, of course, the sour and spicy tamarind water which is served in the DEEP ROUND CASSEROLE and the water just dances with the spices in it along with the mood of the kids. 

To add to the fun, there is always sweetened companion - sweet-sour dahi and sweet-sour tamarind chutney served in the SET OF 3 SQUARE DISH WITH LID. The lid is indeed closed but the air become so tangy that every kid just drools over the sight of pani-puri. They just look at the food and they go woooww! 

Well, of course, after they see the pani-puri served, it is impossible to control their craving for it. All of them just jumps to the pani-puri counter and they just get lost in the magnificent flavours of the pani -puri!

Hmmm...khilane vala bhi khush....khaane vala bhi khush :) 

All smiles!

This post is written for Indiblogger contest, Borosil - Mybeautiful food.

Home-made Food!

It was 2 'o' clock afternoon and I knew my parents would be sleeping at that time. I rang the bell with a BIG smile. It was an unexpected, unscheduled and a complete surprise visit back home. I was waiting to see my parents brightened face on seeing me right there without any notice. 

Ah, there someone was opening the door. 

I yelled seeing my mom, "Surprise! Surprise!" and threw myself in her arms. My mom, as expected, hugged me tight and started smiling-crying. Well, that's how moms are. Then I gave a big hug to my dad and everyone else. 

After all this milna-milana, I looked at my mom and told her, "Maa, I am very very very hungry. Please make something nice. Till then I'll freshen-up." 

I went to freshen-up and when I came back to the main hall, it was full of aroma of home-made food. Ahhhh! Mom's handmade food. After months of eating out at various restaurants/tapri/maid-hand-made-food, you can imagine what that smell of homemade food can do. My all time favourite home food is mom's-hand-made daal-chawal. 

On the table there was steaming hot basmati rice kept in stylish and classy Borosil dishes. The rice was covered but the aroma was not! It filled every corner of the room with its sweet smell. Along with it, there was hot daal with an aroma of amazing tadka of ghee, jeera, hing and a red chilli. Ummmmmm! To compliment the food there was homemade mango pickle which added the tanginess in the air and in my mouth ;).  I knew I was back home!

The food not only smelled charismatic, it was served in a magnificent Borosil glass dishes through which I could see long grains of basmati rice perfectly cooked and in a ready to eat state. I could see the red-chilli dancing the bright yellow daal with little fried jeera here and there. The small raw mango pieces were completely blended with the oil and masala and served in the small glass katories and it just made me drool over it. 

Well, I on purpose went ahead for mouth-watering lunch, without uttering a word ;). Haha!

Bon appetite!

Tummy full, soul at peace. Hmmmm...it's always good to be back home! :) Isn't it!

This post is written for Indiblogger contest, Borosil - My beautiful food. 

http://www.myborosil.com/

My Superhero!

I am writing about #MyRoleModel as a part of the activity by Gillette India in association with BlogAdda.com.

The Sangeet and the Cricket!

I belong to the - NON-CC Club, means Non-cricket-crazy club. But my husband is a loyal member or may be one of he crucial position holders of that group. Seeing his craze for cricket and urge to be updated for every ball/every run/out/not out/score......this and that, makes me feel sometimes that if he will not see/comment/read/listen/talk/think about cricket, the game wouldn't be played. 

But that's about it, I don't think I can do anything about it. But he does a lot of things for his crazy love for cricket.

It was sangeet of my own sister-in-law. My husband's own sister. 

The dances were prepared and the stage was set. The spirit was unmatched and it was a 'all smiles' time. Everyone was super-duper excited, aroma of food and flowers were adding to the ecstasy. Laughter, music and jokes were filling the ears. Kids were playing, ladies were not going off the mirror and gents, I really didn't care at that point where they were. 

Anyways, the grand show started, one after the other relatives were grooving to the music. So was I. When suddenly I realized that I have not seen my hubby dear for a very long time. We practiced well, none of us are stage-shy, then where is he? My mind had an answer, maybe he went to pick up someone or get something. But he should be back by now. Hmmm it was time for some inquiry. 

I called him from some distance, but still I could barely hear. He said, "He is about to reach....went to pick someone." As expected. 

I was getting to worried. We practiced soo much. We had to perform in some time. All our practice would go in vain. I was getting impatient and so I walked out of the door to check if he reached yet. The moment I stepped out, there he was sitting quietly with his earphones on, glued to his mobile device on the most obvious site -  StarSports.com. I went and stood behind him quietly. He was juggling between the scorecard and the zip-clips. Of course, on the StarSports.com. He raised his hand and jumped in pleasure shouting, "Yeyeye we wooo...Oh! Yaaaa, I ..aaaa...OOoo yaaaa Hey....you look soooo pretty lady!" He sat on his knees and continued, "You always manage to make me fall...you know! In your love. Will you marry me again!" 

My damn anger left me the moment I needed it the most. Here I was trying to hold my smile! AAGGRRRHHH! He got up on his feet and held my hand and continued, "You stunning lady, let's go dance! It's our song." 

I forgot everything. The match. The cricket-crazy husband. The anger, anxiety and absolute hatred for the game. We danced. On our song and on every other song which came after. It was a some night.

But I found out a certain thing, he knows what can make me smile in extreme conditions too! Haaa! Cricket can teach you a lot of things! Well, thanks StarSports.com ;)

This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

CCC - Cricket Crazy Club!!

India - the country of cricket-crazy people!

Leaving a few.

A few like me!

A complete no-cricket-talks-please person. Throughout my life, I have run from people who get desperate to watch-talk-listen-eat-sleep-smell this game and their mood are on a high and a low based on the game. Throughout my life, the closets people have been from the - CCC (cricket-crazy-club), my sister, brother, friends and my husband. 

As I grew up, just one source of watching cricket was TV. It was not very hard to find out as to what was going on in mind of brother, sister, friends. If they are super excited and happy, India won. If they are doing 'chidchid', means India lost. 

But today, the era of high-tech, online and all the gadgets, watching cricket is not restricted to a place, time or tv. You can watch it on phone anytime, anywhere on StarSports.com. 

I would like to take this opportunity to thank StarSports.com, for utterly complicating my life! AAAHHH!!

Round the year there are matches, IPL, world cup, 20-20 and I don't know what not goes on and on. My husband a loyal member of CCC, takes this responsibility to never miss any game. But if at all, he does due to his office/tours or other reasons, its not something to bother, like before. Jeb mein StarSports.com hai na....tho ab cricket kahi bhi aur kabhi bhi.

I remember one incident when there was some final match of some tournament and obviously India was playing in the finals. Fortunately for me and unfortunately for my hubby dear, we had to travel to Mumbai for some important work. I was thrilled. He was tensed, sad, irritated, angry and was behaving unreasonably stupid. Well, I was enjoying a lot. I was sure that I will just talk talk and talk and will not let him take out his phone also. Hahahaha. I was probably on highest cloud possible.
Jumping, dancing, singing, plotting. Hahahahaahah

We decided to travel by Volvo-bus. Hubby by my side and pune-mumbai highway, it really didn't bother me how we go. We reached the bus stand. My hubby dear excused himself to get something to eat. I was standing near the bus. All smiles. Broad one.

10 minutes passed.
15 minutes passed and the bus was about to leave and he was no where to be seen.
I was getting tensed. Both of us knew that our travel was inevitable and if we miss this bus, next would be in two hours or so. Oh God, where is he!

Aah...there he was!

He gave me a smile. STRANGE!
He had no food/chips/cold-drink in his hand. Hmm STRANGE!
He was looking fine, happy. STRANGE!
Why? Why? My mind was filled with many questions. I was not sure and then I thought may be he must have checked the scores so he is happy. Anyhow, we boarded the bus and were looking for the seats.

The conductor showed us our seats.

One at one front window seat and other right at the back, aisle seat. 

I saw my husband in surprise. He looked at me. His eyes were dancing and laughing. But man, he was trying hard to cover it.

He spoke to the conductor, "Bhaiya, hum sath hai."
Conductor spoke, "Arre Ladies seat mein ek khali hai and dusra ek dum piche. Lena hai tho bolo. Nahi tho waiting passanger bahut hai!"

I knew so well who had put these words in that conductors mouth. Now I knew why he was smiling and relieved.

I looked at my hubby dear and just said few words, "WELL PLANNED DEAR!"

Well, to my dismay, he didn't even try to explain or reason out. He watched the entire match on StarSports.com. Again, big thanks to you StarSports.com for making my hubby's trip worth while!!!!!!!! For me, I still hate him for that bad bad day but at least he arranged a window seat for me. At least!!!!


This post is a part of Cricket just got better! Activity by starsports.com in association with BlogAdda.com.

Split-ends no More!

Do you remember those fairy tales with a beautiful, pleasant and dreamy ends which bring tears along with a broad smile?

The stories which started with a once upon a time and finished at - "they lived happily ever after!"

Since I don't know when but split ends have bothered me. I waited for the part when the prince would come and rescue the princess or somehow the lost would reach safely to the destination. I grew up with that in mind, that somehow and anyhow the end would be beautiful, else the end is yet to reach. 

But is real life like a fairy tale? Are split ends not a part of life? 

Broken hearts, tearful ends, anger, depression, resentment, hatred, bitterness or pain - all negatives. And guess what all these negatives have never made anything positive. I wonder if there is any cure for these split ends.

Wishful thinking that these stories are yet to complete and at the end, all the split ends will meet to make a stronger and healthier life and these people will live happily ever after. The typical "happy endings!" 

Hmmm well when split ends are in human beings, there is still a way out to sort it by talking, understanding and love. Have you imagined what must happen if these split ends are present in every strand of your hair!!

This is an era of extreme pollution, adulterated food, pesticides-infested vegetables and fruits and mind-boggling-hectic-balance-less life schedule are all responsible for these split-ends.  

But this leaves no place for talking/communicating or love.  The one and only way out was cut-cut-cut. Short hair or weak hair. Length or strength. It's all the calculations which I have done, after I found out various styles of split ends in my hair. 

Well, at least till now I was with no solution except for cut. But like I said, wishful thinking that these split ends will meet to make a stronger and healthier hair. There is a solution now. There is a way out to treat these split ends with a lot of love and little care. There is a way which can cure at least 96% of the split-ends. There is a way to have a beautiful long hair and no split ends.

And the way is....

Thanks for the wonder product TRESemme. At least we have a sure shot solution for this kind of split ends! Now its time for ....split-ends no more! Hail TRESemme!

This post is a part of the TRESemme. in association with indiblogger.com