Hatching Eggs..

This is my favourite time of the year in Texas. For a month, the grocery stores are overflowing with Hatch Chillies (Bajji Molagaas for the non-USA vaasi). I live with someone who likes to put its' stomach through Chillinese torture. It went shopping and came back with a bag of said chillies, and made demands that they be used pronto.

So, Saturday began on a good note with below item for brunch. My impromptu recipe turned out pretty well, and so, I thought I'd share.

Onion Omelette with Chile-Tomato Cream sauce and roasted Veggies

For the Sauce:
4 large hatch chili peppers.
2 medium tomatoes.
A few sprigs of Coriander leaves
Sour Cream - 1/4 - 1/2 cup depending on what consistency you like.
Salt to taste.

Chop off the tops of the chillies, and make a few short slits in them to ensure even roasting inside and out. Keep the seeds in if you like a bit of bite to the dish..scrape 'em out if you're a wuss :P.

Halve the tomatoes, and de-seed..get as much of the juice out as possible. Rub the tomato halves and the chillies with vegetable oil, and pop into a broiler set to 'high' for 15 minutes. Turning the chillies and tomatoes halfway through the process is a good idea. Once the skins are a little blackened and crispy, pull out and cool. Once cooled, peel away the skins on the peppers. They should come off easily. Grind the peppers, tomatoes, coriander and sour cream into a smooth paste in a food processor. Add salt to taste. Sauce finis.

Roasted Veggies:
Roast any mixture of veggies you like. You can just do it with the broiler - the veggies take on a nice, smoky flavour. I used carrots, broccoli and mushrooms. These should take about 10 minutes under the 'high' setting. Pull them out when they are just slightly blackened around the edges. Sprinkle some salt, mix and set aside.

The Omelette:
Just your regular Joe. I fried some shallots in a non-stick pan, and used just egg whites. Halfway done, I tossed some cheese on top, and let it melt. Season with salt and pepper.

Put the Omelette on a plate cheese-side up. Top one half with the roasted veggies, and fold like you would a Masala Dosa. Top with a few spoons of sauce. Yeet it. Thassall.

Kids say the darnedest things!

Its very rare that this happens cos my sister's two kids are usually either busy playing/whining or fighting with each other that they don't have the time to say a quick hi to their aunt. So the other day when I was on the phone with my sister, I was only too thrilled to hear that my four-year-old niece wanted to ask me something. I guess by this time, my niece overheard her mom talking to me and felt too shy to say anything. Out of curiosity I asked her what it is that she wanted to ask. The exact words I heard from my sister - "Mamma, so these days is S married or has she found a husband yet?" After which there was a complete silence from my end cos I was absolutely dumb struck. I guess I learnt my lesson.

Every time from now on I really got to remind myself that when such moments of rarity occur, I need to be either mentally prepared or not be so curious in life. Even if I had no answers for her that day, this incident only made me think twice as hard about the things I thought of when I was her age and what she would think of when she is mine.

This one is for her.....
Where oh where ?
Oh where, oh where is my husband to be?
Oh where, oh where can he be
My 4 year old niece Veena, questions me
Oh Where these days is he?

Oh where, oh where is my husband to be?
Oh where, oh where can he be
With her ears so sharp and her vocab so strong
She sure knows what's right and what's wrong

Oh where, oh where is my husband to be?
Oh where, oh where can he be
If he is hiding under a chair or fighting a bear
She'll be the first to ask of him I swear!

Curious like her, I still wait to hear
The news of where he could be -
So I'll have answers for all, including her
When I finally meet the man meant for me.

Shopping for laughs

Buying groceries is generally a pretty mundane activity. But, not if you go with my Mum.

Innocent hawkers and store owners become stand-up comedians in my mother's eyes. Case in point - The agenda of the evening was to buy vegetables. We were walking by the marketplace..surveying the heaps of produce to try and spot at least one that looked like it was only two days old. My sister and I were walking ahead, and my mum behind. I asked my mother what veggies she needed to buy, and there was silence.

Bangalore traffic can outshout a rocket being launched..so I repeated myself. Again, silence. I turned around to see if we had walked too far ahead of her, or worse, if she had been struck down by the deadly recklessauto infestation. What do I see? My esteemed mother, about ten feet behind us, teetering towards the street - the cause being not an auto, but laughter. Completely perplexed, and also a little embarassed because she could be heard over the din of traffic..we walked up to her. It took 10 minutes before she could give us an explanation.

Since she had laughed herself to the point of physical pain, all she could do was helplessly point at this chap who was hawking some underwear. At first, my sister and I couldn't make out what he was saying..as we walked closer..we heard 'Ondondybandy..Ondondybandy..Ondondybandy...Ondondybandy' without even a pause for breath. I looked at my mother to confirm what we were hearing to see her fervently chanting after him. I don't think I've ever laughed that hard. We could barely get in an auto and make it back home. In case you're wondering..he was saying 120 panty, and yes, we forgot the vegetables.

All that week, everytime we asked my mum anything...her first response would be 'Ondondybandy..Ondondybandy..Ondondybandy...Ondondybandy'.

Love

Thanks to the really slow days at work, reading blogs has almost become an every day habit. Blog hopping about a recent movie Love Aaj Kal (Love in today's world) from fluffandfaff to that mammamiameamamma reminded me of this poem I had written long back.

Love makes the world go around.
Love makes you “go around”.
Love makes the world go around.
Love makes your world go around.
Love makes you go around the world.
But sometimes love also makes the world you love go...
Maybe sometimes, Love just ain't enough.

I know this poem is a little confusing but isn't it the case? Interested to know what your thoughts are.

Hair Hair Everywhere!

Rosie cheeks
Dimple chin
Eyes so blue
Teeth within
Curly hair
Everywhere
For Haute Couture
The pain we women bear!

The Mask

I think I probably spend half of my paycheck on visits to the salon. Unfortunately, I have a hard time telling the difference between my arm and the husband's a month after any visit. Both qualify for 'hirsute'. And he doesn't help either.."Time to make a salon appointment, no?" is music to my ears.

Anyway, that's neither hair nor there. I went to a salon in Bangalore, and was greeted by one of the staff with a cordial "Hi! Ma'am", followed by

S: Esscuse Ma'am whether you are having cough, cold, fevers yenything?
Me: Erm..no
S: Wokay, just for checking whether you have hiney.
Me: Hiney?? (Thinking WTF!?...is she calling me a sickass? while contemplating whether to turn around and see where my hiney had gone)

S: Ess Ma'am..Swine Flu.

It then dawned on me that she meant H1N1. Before I could react suitably..her friend walked up and said "Ey gimme mask ya..my client is having cough, cold, fevers". Very forward of the salon to be informed, and even more forward of them to conserve masks by sharing one between 5 people.

The change we need!

Another place, another time
For now... gonna be stuck here for a while
Days go by and nights roll in
Change is something that we need to cope with

Two is a crowd.

Ever wondered why when you try your hardest to avoid something..that something does its hardest not to avoid you? Double-booking situations have become the bane of my existence. This is especially true when I've planned a trip someplace. Some relative has to choose to visit on the same weekend, or a work deadline gets moved up so I end up working on the trip, or some other such miiiiinor inconvenience.

My mum likes to think I am not destined to make that trip..and that by canceling my tickets and choosing to accommodate the 'other' plan, I have managed to avoid some sort of cataclysmic tragedy. If this is what a silver lining is..that's precious. The thing is, I usually have no problem with the 'other' plan..but why not some 'other' time?

I wonder how, I wonder why?

Thoughts in my head, I can't digress
In circles, they do wonder
Why am I here? Where are my peers?
Those many questions I do ponder!

I caved.

After vowing never to blog, mainly because I refused to subject the world to the meanderings of mind...I've finally caved. This is what happens when your working hours match that of people on the other side of the world.