Of Reading and Book Shopping

I finally made a trip to my old haunt, Blossoms after a long long time and stocked up on some books. Not as many as I generally buy. I come home usually laden with two bagfuls of books. This time I exercised plenty of restraint and ended up with just 5 books- Flappers and Philosophers, Bring Up the Bodies, The Ladies Paradise, The Girl on the Train and The Invention of Wings.

I am done with reading The Girl on the Train and The Invention of Wings. In fact I went through Girl on the Train in a single night, rattling through it like a high speed train myself. The book is very reminiscent of Gone Girl. I ran through that book as well in a single flight and I definitely liked the book better than the movie.  So coming back to Girl on the Train, interestingly this book has had its movie rights bought as well. It definitely has excellent potential for a great screenplay. Bordering on the obsessive, it traverses the thin line between imagination and reality. It's almost like the 4:50 to Paddington in the sense that a fleeting glance from a train window leads to unraveling a  tangled and complicated mystery. No relationship is straightforward nor goes in the direction you expect. All the characters and naturally and quite annoyingly human and fallible. There are no heroes or heroines, just people dealing with their lives in their own twisted fashions.

The Invention of Wings is an inspiration. I loved this book even more than her previous book, the Secret Life of Bees. I have to thank Hollywood because the movie brought me to Sue Monk Kidd. The Invention of Wings is a moving part fic- part bio story of the Grimke sisters and their struggle for racial equality. The story has a very St. Assisi feel to it, two poor little rich girls rising above their feelings, their familial attachments and personal dilemmas to get on to a global stage in the face of rising criticism and overwhelming opposition. It's written in a he said she said style, one of my favourites and it grips you with the unique ideas and the revolutionary thought processes of these women for the times they lived in.

Weekenders

This weekend started with a trip to the movies with Yennai Arindhal. Ajith and Trisha look very good and Arun Vijay is brilliant, that's about the best thing I can say about the movie. Also the fact that the sight of some watercolors in the movie, inspired me to learn a new technique of painting yesterday. I figure that Gautam Menon has a serious case of writer's block. While I am with him on the idea of making trilogies and cop movies, I cannot presume to understand why he chooses to tell the same story in the same fashion over and over again. I can only say I am glad that I watched it at a discounted ticket price.

'Single Wife' - I finished reading this book yesterday morning. Thanks to my recent reading habits, Scribd app chose to recommend this book to me. Grace is a creative, intelligent woman who is very satisfied with her lot in life. Things change when her husband walks out of the house one day. Initially she suspects that it is like one of his usual disappearances, when he returns after a few days of being incommunicado. Each time he goes missing, based on his reaction on returning, she keeps whittling down the people she informs about his being MIA. This time, she distances herself from the occurrence and refuses to talk about it to her friends and family, still pretending like he is around. She begins secretly investigating his life, discovering things that she did not expect and does not want to know. On the other hand, she misses all the information about her husband on the media and therefore remains puzzled by certain gifts and surprises that she receives. The novel is about her choices and how she decides to proceed with her life.

Did some baking experiments over the weekend. Baked 4 cookies a batch to get a feel for my oven as they call it. Ended up with some burnt, some crisp, some perfect and some soft. I made nan khathai biscuits this Saturday.  Nan Khathais are considered an Afghani/ Iranian invention- nan obviously meaning bread like the butter naans we eat. Khathai is debatable, some people believe it stands for Cathay- meaning China. The best thing about this cookie is its unique taste and texture. Unique taste- because of the cardamom, ghee and yoghurt and texture because it is crunchy out and melty inside.

To make these Indian Shortbreads as Jamie Oliver calls them you will need:
1/2 cup ghee or 1/2 cup soft butter- I used ghee
3/4 cup  powdered sugar
1.5 cups maida
1/4 cup gram flour
1/4 tsp cardamom powder & 1/4 tsp nutmeg powder or 1/2 tsp cardamom powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
2 tbsp of yoghurt
1-2 tsp of milk/water
chopped pista nuts (optional)

The method:
Cream together the sugar and ghee to a smooth paste.
Once it is mixed thoroughly and the sugar has dissolved, add maida, gram flour, cardamom powder and baking soda and knead together.
Add the yoghurt to bring together.
Add water/milk only if the dough appears too dry.
Refrigerate for a couple of hours to make rolling easy.
Roll medium sized balls of dough between your palms
Arrange at a decent distance from each other on an ungreased baking tray. Decent distance because we will press them down and they will expand when baked. Ungreased because we don't want it to burn from the bottom.
Press down criss cross patterns with a fork and slightly flatten the balls.
Top with some chopped pista nuts.
Bake in a pre heated oven at 190 degrees celsius for abt 10-15 minutes. They shouldn't brown on top. Just allow them to brown along the edges. I had to watch these like a hawk.
When you take them out of the oven, they will be soft. Leave them to cool on the tray for a couple of minutes before transferring them to the rack.
They will eventually cool and harden completely.

I spent the first part of Sunday lazing in Om Made Cafe eating their yummy brunch- I really liked their spaghetti and their roasted corn spread. Actually, all the tapenades and bruschettas were really tasty and refreshing as was my blueberry lemonade. They allow you to lounge there from 12 pm -4 pm. It's a good spread and a relaxing place to hang out. The latter part of the day was  used for my watercolor and charcoal experiments mentioned in the first paragraph. I finally figured how to use my watercolors instead of going over them with a heavy hand, I never knew that you had to do a coat of plain water before putting in the colors until yesterday.

Here are some of the results:

Odds and Ends

This is a brain clean up exercise, there are a lot of half page or one paragraph blog entries in my head that do not justify a whole post to themselves. It's also a blog clean up exercise, to get rid of some of the headers that will haunt me some day later because I would be unable to recollect what I wished to write about them. This happens to me very often especially with short stories, where I forget the story that I meant to write and write a whole new one altogether.

On my bookshelf this week, my obsession with food related books continues. This week has seen me reading three novels all of which have a strong vein of food and food related activities associated with them. The other recurring vein in all of them is that of loss. Probably, these two are so interwoven as we associate food with comfort, it is a source of consolation that people turn to in times of depression, sadness, separation and any other form of trauma. It is quite interesting also that there are specific traditions relating food to death, in cultures all over the world. From the way the cooking is done, to the dishes that can and cannot be served and feeding one's ancestors souls, food and death have a quirky association, albeit a tad melancholic.

The Kitchen Daughter starts off in a funeral. The heroine might or might not have Asperger's syndrome. She exhibits poor social skills and has a dysfunctional relationship with her sister. Her parents' sudden death in an accident and the subsequent disagreements with her sister about the disposal of their assets, sends her to the safe refuge of her kitchen. There she cooks her Nonna's favourite Ribolita ( Bread soup) which in the wake of its enticing flavoursome smell, conjures up Nonna as well. The rest of the book is about the new people she meets, how she associates with them as well as the shadowy remains of people she summons from their recipes. This book seriously debates the question of whether the label of syndrome associated with mental challenges limits a person and prevents them from achieving their potential or aids them in getting timely help. A well structured book that is enjoyable to read.

Aftertaste- One of the heroines I was able to relate to the most. She is a chef and has her own Italian restaurant and a newborn. Little does she know that one bout of anger and a fight with her husband's paramour will lead to her world collapsing around her ears. This is a story of losing everything and then attempting to build everything up from scratch. It's quite interesting how she goes about it and the realizations she has along the way.

Bread Alone- This was an average book according to me. I did not like Wynter at all. I found her a very indecisive wishy washy heroine. It was supposed to be a story about finding oneself. I felt that she was the same one dimensional character she was when the book began. All of the heroes were lackadaisical. No one person really sticks in your mind except maybe for Linda, the bread maker. She is so rude and angry, but at least she's something, so you remember her. Bread Alone felt like a poor man's chick flick. 

Interesting products I discovered thanks to the wonders of advertising:

Zip SIP brought to you by Aditya Birla My Universe. This is a GUI aided dummy's guide to investment. You answer a bunch of questions, assess your risk profile and then it offers you a portfolio of funds (ABG among others) to invest in.

Hotstar live- Star content hosted on the web, happy to see a netflix like site in India, limited content right now, but hopefully it will ultimately become an option for binge watching

Italian Hot Chocolate is my favorite hot chocolate in the whole world. The first time I had it was at a small railway cafe in Italy. It was on a cold evening while waiting for a train. Italian Hot Chocolate is pretty much melted chocolate. It literally coats your insides as you consume it and fills you with warmth and happiness.

Recipe goes as follows:

4 ounces bittersweet chocolate 70% or higher

1 1/2 cups whole milk

2 tablespoons sugar

2 teaspoons corn starch

Vanilla Essence- 1 tsp 

Place a small quantity of milk along with chopped chocolate/ chocolate chips on really low heat in a heavy bottomed saucepan.

Allow to start melting, once the chocolate has melted completely, add milk, sugar and vanilla essence. Whisk corn starch into it.

Another experiment this week was butterscotch ice-cream. It was simpler than I thought reducing down condensed milk along with milk powder and sugar. The powdered butterscotch was then added after taking it off the heat and allowing it to cook in the residual heat. It's then frozen and blended until creamy and then frozen again before consumption.
The measure of ingredients:

- 2 1/2 cups or 500 ml of full fat milk.
- 1/2 cup condensed milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk powder
- 3 heaped tsp butterscotch (or 1/2 tsp butterscotch essence)
- Yellow food colour (optional) - See more at: http://www.loveisinmytummy.com/2013/03/butterscotch-ice-cream.html#sthash.bMbrNygp.dpuf

2.5 cups milk
0.5 cup condensed milk
0.25 cup sugar
0.25 cup milk powder
3 heaped Tbsp Butterscotch chips (powdered)

- 2 1/2 cups or 500 ml of full fat milk.
- 1/2 cup condensed milk
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 1/4 cup milk powder
- 3 heaped tsp butterscotch (or 1/2 tsp butterscotch essence)
- Yellow food colour (optional) - See more at: http://www.loveisinmytummy.com/2013/03/butterscotch-ice-cream.html#sthash.bMbrNygp.dpuf

Food Rhapsodies- All things food this week

2015 Reading Challenge: I'd Sooner Starve

I enjoy books about food, restaurants and the cooking experience. In fact one of the books I have written about at length on this blog is As Always Julia- a series of letters written by Julia Child to Avis de Voto. I read Julie and Julia at a stretch like it was an un-putdown-able mystery novel. I am not the biggest fan of Madhur Jaffrey's anglicized Indian recipes, but I love her book ' Climbing the Mango Trees'. As it promises, it conjures up those memories of childhood memories in India, of the endless summers, the long vacations and stolen fruit. But most important of all the great homemade meals that cooks, aunts, grandmothers and mothers rustled up to feed the huge hoards in the joint families of those days.

Anyway, I'm more of a personal memoir reader rather than a restaurant experience reader. Case in point, it took me some effort to get through Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain and this other book Cooking Dirty: a story of life, sex, love and death in the kitchen. They are both written in a wry dry fashion which is generally my style. But when it comes to cooking memoirs I would always pick a fat round jolly chef than a cynical one. :)  So anyway, the book that I read now was neither here nor there.

I'd Sooner Starve is a book written by a man who owns a restaurant after years of working in a PR firm. He also doubles up as one of the chefs and a "floorwalker". This is a rollicking read of all the experiences he has with his stubborn diners and crazy deli customers. He encounters people who want to get broken olive oil bottles replaced for free, pensioners who think free Wifi is a biscuit and who frustrate him with their attempts to get into fully booked restaurants with the promise of buying a lot of wine.

It is a hilarious book filled with funny incidents with the author admitting his own culpability in several of them. There are some which are downright disgusting, filled with patronizing cliches from the customer. The chronicles of the food wasters, the single coffee orders and the annoyances of scaling up your business and ending up with disillusionment finally. The book is probably a great guide as to how not to behave in a restaurant, it ends on a sober note but is chock a block with laugh out loud cases.

Starting Salads:

Armed with a packet of cherry tomatoes, that were finally stocked at the hypermart near my house, and a strong new year resolution to go on a diet and eat healthier, I started inventing and eating salads this week. I have discovered a whole new appreciation for my taste tolerance. I have managed to incorporate fruits, seeds, sour, sweet and spicy, raw and cooked all in the same salad and still end up eating it.

So my first invention went something like this:

1. 3/4 of a green apple chopped up

2. 7-8 halved cherry tomatoes sauted in olive oil and italian dried herbs

3. 2 slices of chopped bread- also sauted with 2 if u wish

4. 3-4 pieces of roast garlic

5. Fistful of sunflower seeds

6. A drizzle of olive oil 

7. Salt and pepper ground onto the mixture

8. 1/2 tbsp of apple cider vinegar

Second one involved store bought ingredients:

1. A fistful of shelled pista nuts

2. A fistful of cranberries

3. 2 Tbsp of Italian Dressing

4. A drizzle of olive oil

5. 5-6 halved cherry tomatoes 

6. one boiled egg chopped up

Tomorrow, I am thinking chickpeas. I never thought my interest in cooking would turn into mad scientististry with me grabbing random things from the refrigerator. But let us see how long this fad of mine lasts. Probably until my salads get too crazy and start tasting weird.

The 2015 Book Challenge- My Year with Eleanor

The Good-reads beginning of the year book challenge is my perpetually broken new year resolution. Every year I start with an ambitious number of books that I want to read. Inevitably I start and never finish on time. My book reading habit falls along the side when I watch random series and don't take up any books. Months go by before I read a book. This year hopefully, Scribd will keep me on the straight and narrow with a book on my phone, anywhere anytime. But I decided just like many others taking up this challenge this year, that I would not challenge myself to read a large number of books, but just 75 books from which I am able to at least take away one thing, which makes me laugh, cry or inspires me. I am not going to aim to read a large number of pages like some have chosen to do- say with War and Peace or Crime and Punishment. One of the most intriguing books of all times is Antoine De Expury's Little Prince which is not longer than fifty odd pages if I am right.

So I guess, if I have 75 "Aha" moments in some way, those 75 books will make the list and I will meet my goal. I found my first 'interesting idea' book . It's a book called 'My Year with Eleanor '. The author embarks on a journey of fighting her fears inspired by a quote from Eleanor Roosevelt. She goes on to read about Eleanor Roosevelt and agree and disagree with her, be inspired by her. Most of what she does is confront her anxieties and worries and discovers ways to combat them. She chooses to do this on her year transitioning from 29-30. The reading does get a bit whiny at bits, but she draws you in, makes you relate to her and you almost wish you were skydiving with her or climbing Mount Kilimanjaro. It was a good beginning to the year, helped me resolve to breathe and relax when I find myself worrying about anything. It reminded me to challenge myself to do something I have never done before, each and every day of my life.

# BookChallenge- The Top 10 books that have stayed with you

This was my list for the so called Book Bucket Challenge on Facebook.  I don't know if the challenge will get people to think if they have been reading or not and bring them back to the fold. All I know is that it makes for a very good starting point when you are stuck thinking what you should read next, you can go look at all your friends' lists . My list did tend to be a very female oriented list, either female protagonists who are very strong or written by women.

I have never cried over a book. But this book had me thinking otherwise. It is a story of many layers. There are many gray areas too in this book. It is a coming of age story of a young girl, the survival instincts of a mother, the protective older brother and the man they are all fear and respect- the head of the household. At first glance, it is the story of suffering and the triumph of spirit. It tugs at your heart strings. It scares you with the monsters that lurk behind the seemingly innocent facades and respectable personalities of everyday men. But it also tells the story of support and love from unlikely sources and that you are capable of surviving much more than you expect.

Anne of Green Gables is an inspiration and a companion to many girls growing up. I liked Anne because she was not too much of a goody two shoes like Pollyanna. She was an adaptable child who made the best of situations she was thrown into using her imagination. Her practical streak however does come through as she grows older. It is a journey typically taken by all of us moving from childhood to adolescence. Anne's story is bittersweet- rejoicing over tiny triumphs, fussing over tiny schoolroom disagreements and coming to terms with the greater losses in life. She learns important life lessons and grows up to be a fine young woman. So there's hope for all of us. No matter how falliable we are.

Room was a book that either people loved or hated. I read more Emma Donaghue after this, but nothing affected me the way this book did. It was a scary, scary book. A less likely scenario than Purple Hibiscus but very relevant to the ever present dangers of abduction and harassment that women face everyday. I think it was a beautifully written book, just because it handled this issue very sensitively and treaded the fine line between turning away readers in fear and disgust and instead evoking their empathy and sympathy. It is the story of a boy and his mother trapped in a nightmare of a stranger's perversion all through the eyes of the five year old.

Daddy Long Legs is a delightful episolatory novel. I am a big big fan of this style. I am a nut for letters. I can never write those perfect balanced letters- with news and funny tid bits and holding the  reader's interest until the very last P.P.S. But I do love the fact that people can write such letters. Daddy Long Legs doesn't have too much drama, just some misunderstandings and a whole lot of long newsy letters from an orphan to her benefactor. It is a great feel good book. I like the sequel to this book as well- Dear Enemy has a lot more verve to it because of the main character, but I will stay true to my first love.

Jane Austen's very last novel, but my absolute favorite. Every time I read it, I grow to like it more. Pride and Prejudice, I love as my very first Jane Austen. But Persuasion is a book that really stayed with me. Most of Jane's heroines had failings. They were immature, dramatic, prejudiced and so on. What would you think of a heroine whose failing was maturity and understanding? I thought it was an interesting proposition- a heroine who lost her chance at happiness because she considered too much, analyzed too much and tried to do what would benefit everyone the most. It is a very mature work from Austen and strikes closer to reality than any of her other books. There is doubt and there is love and it all depends on how Anne Elliot makes it work.

 Story of runaways who accidentally or not so accidentally stumble onto  a secret history. Unlikely pair of white child and the slave who helps her, aside from a story of the search for identity and happiness, there is a huge political background and all the attendant consequences in this story. It is a very situational story and difficult to relate to, but it is also a story which is difficult to forget. Most importantly, it reminds us that sometimes the truth is best left untold.

Rebecca- Most chilling thrilling novel ever. Daphne Du Maurier had me hooked and on the edge of my seat with this book. Even though I know the story and the ending, I have my heart in my mouth every single time I read this book. I didn't like the heroine at all- she's one dimensional. But I realize that it is sort of the point to make Rebecca all the more a contrast. Mrs. Danvers is so totally the character for Halloween dress up. She's creepy and concerned and nursing secret plans of revenge all at the same time. Manderley Estate is pretty much a character in this book as well, leading to many turning points in the story.

Julie & Julia gave me the kickstart into reading about food. It is one of the first books of the genre I read. I do realize that a lot of is fiction posing as non fiction and people were offended that Julie had misrepresented her life.But really which of us doesn't exaggerate when we tell a story or make our life look prettier than it is. This book led to a fascination with Julia Child. I went on to read - "My Life in France" by Julia Child and "As always Julia"- the letters between Julia and Avis de Voto. It was fun to go look at Julia's kitchen at the FOOD exhibition in the Smithsonian American History Museum after reading all about it in her books.

Finally, a book, that is actually funny and a light read in my book list. Not a mindless book, with limited drama and cutting humour, it is an interesting contemporary series. Written in a very tongue in cheek fashion, it can chase all your blues away. Right from the little boy who lives down the hall, the neighbourhood dog, eccentric middle aged people and the clueless heroine, all of these are people who we would meet everday and that makes these books all the more enduring.

Gone Girl- Best Bestseller I have read in recent times. I tend to veer away from Booker Prize winners and Recommended Best Sellers in general. Booker Winners are not my style, I feel they are too highbrow for me and I really don't understand them. Recommended Best Sellers occur at the other end of the spectrum, they are generally over hyped. But this was a super cool puzzle, a twisted treasure hunt of sorts. Extreme Justice served cold. Must read novel of the previous year.