Simply Sri Lanka

I’ve been taking too many photographs recently and I’m sorry about that. You know what? I’m not sorry actually. This blog was going to be a very informal blog looking at whatever caught my fancy. But then again, as the name suggests, this is thetravellingwordsmith’s blog and it should be more about the travels than pictures of flowers and insects. If you would like to view more pictures that I’ve clicked, do visit my new photoblog and enjoy the collection there. From now on, I will be using this blog to talk about my travels, music and cooking only. Damn, forgot what this post is all about. Do read on :)

Back in 2007, I had gone down south for a holiday. Really, really far down south to the little (OK, maybe not so little) Island of Sri Lanka. I spent about almost close to a week touring various places and capturing a lot of pictures which I recently discovered hiding behind many folders of my hard disk and which I thought would make up for a great story. So, together, let's explore "Sri Lanka".

Image Credit - worldxtravel.com

I remember this trip fairly well since it was a little after my graduation.I wanted a change of place and was about to voice it out when my dad brought this place up in one of our usual "Family Meetings". Knowing that it would not be an expensive trip, yet slightly far to call it an International Trip, we decided that we would go to this place and make a holiday out of it. We landed at the Bandaranaike International Airport at Colombo and immediately set out to the first of the places in our list in the order of the trip:

Colombo -> Kandy -> Sigiriya -> Polonnaruwa -> Kandalama -> Nuwara Eliya -> Colombo 

Kandy - The last capital of the Ancient Kings' era, Kandy is one of the cooler places of Sri Lanka where the daily temperature usually ranges between 20 °C - 28 °C. There are a few places of interest in Kandy which you can ask your local tourist guide to show or refer here (insert link). Kandy is also famous for its beautiful temples of Buddha. Sri Lanka is a Buddhist colony and hence you will find lots of statues, temples and figurines in and around Sri Lanka. Local sightseeing is off the hook (pardon the slang). The first place that we visited was an Elephant Orphanage / Reserve called “Pinnawela Elephant Orphanage”.

Elephants being bathed at a river nearby

This is truly a sight to see as the elephants are taken for a bath at certain times during the day. You can feed the elephants and also have an elephant ride. What’s fascinating about this is the walk to the river. You can walk / see the elephants walking to the river through a village. They move about peacefully and the locals know better to not make any funny noises or movements lest a stampede erupt. The other places that we saw in Kandy were The Sacred Temple of the Tooth and a wood carving factory. The former is a temple that has been made for the tooth of Buddha as the legend stated that a tooth of Buddha was found in this place which had a lot of powers and mystical properties attached to it. 

Temple of the Sacred Tooth

The Golden Buddha

Due to some photography restrictions in the temple, I wasn’t allowed to photograph the tooth or the area around it. I still managed to do so somehow, but due to my respect towards sacred relics, I would not be showing you that picture. The tooth is shrouded in pure gold and there’s always a huge crowd of locals and tourists flocking to see this beautiful relic and pay homage to it. The wood carving factory has a lot of interesting designs mostly representing the culture and heritage of Sri Lanka. According to one of the people working in the factory, most of the items are shipped to India which is one country that provides major business in this field.

Standing next to a 11 ton wooden elephant

Sigiriya – If you are a bit of the archaeology fan like I am, then you’ll definitely love the ruins of Sigiriya. This is my favourite so it will be a long post. Once known as a king’s palace, the beautiful fort / palace of Sigiriya was supposedly one of the most happening places a long time ago. From the outside, it looks like one of the old forts that you might have seen in the movies. The entrance to the fort is surrounded by a moat. According to the lore, the moat was filled with crocodiles and unless the invading army was brave enough to sacrifice a few men to get to the entrance which could only be opened by a drawbridge, there was no way to enter the heavily fortified palace. Moreover, the moat was 15 ft deep. But that was the lore of yesteryear, and not anymore. 

Now, the fort is manned by guards and tourist guides. Once you enter the gates, it’s still a good walk till you reach the palace. There are a lot of beautiful trees all around. I remember seeing their design of a fountain and asked the guide what it was. At first I thought it was a sewage line, but then the guide told me that this was a fountain that surprisingly, was working without anything electronic machine pumping it. Not that you would have electronic equipment at that time but the design was marvellous. The water would flow down from the mountain and due to the design laid below; the water would spurt up like a little fountain and it would never spill over. Pretty impressive right? 

The Great Rock of Sigriya

Sadly, we couldn’t witness the spectacle that was being spoken about because all the water from the mountain has dried up. So we continued walking and came to the base of the palace. The other information that the guide told us about was that the steps were made of marble and it was about 1200 steps to the top / actual entrance of the palace. This was because the king said that while on his return to his palace he could come at any point of time in the day / night and hence due to the paucity of flaming torches, nobody would be able to reach the palace should they reach in the night. So he made his workmen build the steps leading to the palace in pure marble. The marble shines even today. Such was the craftsmanship. With the moonlight illuminating the steps thanks to the marble laid before them, the king, travelling on a palanquin along with his royal escorts would make their way up to the top to the palace. Yes, the king was carried for all of the 1200 steps.

There are three entrances to the palace; The Snake Entrance, The Elephant Entrance and the Lion’s Mouth Entrance. Sigiriya in Sinhalese means Lion’s rock and this was the main entrance for the king and his subjects. The other entrances were used should the king want to have a change of scenery. All the entrances however have been shaped according to their names; the pictures say so too. Climbing up wasn’t a difficult thing though as it wasn’t 1200 steps through and through. Every 20 steps or so there would be a gap and then the steps would begin again. It made it quite easy for us to get up there without panting for breath. As we climbed up the steps, the guide kept telling us about the wonders of the palace and how the king kept pushing for innovations; one of which was to install a system (which we now refer to the pre-historic air conditioners or desert coolers to be exact) which would allow them to have cool air. 

Wild Fruits on sale - Durian

Again, the water flowing from the mountain would be used for the same procedure and cuts were made in the rock and the water would flow like a small stream all over the palace and when cool water mixes with air what do you get? Air conditioned air. There were a few other things that were of interest like the large bathing place and a huge courtyard where he told a huge fair used to be held whenever the king hosted dignitaries from the neighbouring colonies. All this beauty in one place was a little too much for us and after spending a good part of the day here; we headed to the next destination on our list – Polonnaruwa.

Maharaja's Palace at Polonnaruwa

Polonnaruwa – The second of the palaces that we visited also belonged to an ancient kingdom. The king over here was a little more stylish than the previous one though. He had a palace to hold his wives plus a hundred of his concubines. Keeping that fact aside, Polonnaruwa has huge grounds and is kept clean due to its status as a World Heritage site. Here too you will find lots of friendly guides who will show you the place around and speak about its history. It has a lot of interesting things to see like a king’s court where he used to sit and hold meetings with his ministers, a small little colosseum to stage fights and lots of Buddha statues. One thing that adorns every place you visit in Sri Lanka is the number of Buddha statues. They have the most beautiful statues placed in every nook and corner of Sri Lanka and they are truly beautiful to gaze upon. Next stop – Kandalama.

I want to dive in that icy cold water

Kandalama – I honestly don’t remember exactly what transpired in Kandalama; however I do know that the hotel that we stayed at was made out of a rock. No, it wasn’t a rock cave but more or less like a boutique hotel. The name of this hotel is Kandalama Rock. What made me more excited was to find out that the rooms were not above the hotel, but below, allowing the people to be literally one with nature. I would wake up in the morning and step out to the balcony to see the birds chirping away and a few animals grazing nearby. It was truly a beautiful spectacle to witness and the staff took good care of us. The food is awesome and they have an impressive array of dishes; local as well as continental for you to savour. Once we had a fill of this place, we kept pushing forward as we knew that our vacation was slowly coming to an end. The last stop that we had before we reached Colombo was Nuwara Eliya.

Ring the bell if you've enjoyed the service

Nuwara Eliya – Getting to Nuwara Eliya isn’t easy. It’s a nice long drive up the hill and into some of the mountainous regions of Sri Lanka. On reaching however, the weather totally blew our minds away. Almost immediately dad and mum exclaimed – This feels like Shimla, because the way the town looks, functions and operates, is exactly like how a town would look in Shimla in one of those Hindi movies, that is, if you have watched any of the oldies. Keeping that remark aside, we reached our boarding where we were greeted with a pot of coffee and snacks. The small little boarding was overlooking a nice area and it was quite pleasant to sit out there and watch the sunset. I enquired of the owner to a name that sounded quite fictional - why was the town named Nuwara Eliya? 

He replied saying that this is because the weather in Nuwara Eliya is more or less like the weather in London – unpredictable. I was surprised at that remark and he clarified saying that Nuwara Eliya is Sinhalese for ‘Little England’. The weather is quite cool throughout the day and it is advisable to carry some woollies along because it can get quite cold in the nights. Over here, we saw a couple of falls and a massive tea estate which had a river flowing by. They had so many varieties of tea there that it became quite astonishing after a while as some of the rates were through the roof. Saying goodbye to the tea and the little cosy town of Nuwara Eliya, we headed for the last destination on our itinerary, Colombo and as promised by our ever friendly guide cum driver; shopping.

Ramboda Falls

Colombo – For more obvious reasons, Colombo is a shopper’s delight. I was quite surprised to see items made in India and Bangladesh on sale in Colombo and was wondering why we couldn’t get any of these designs back home. They weren’t factory rejects or anything. They were good items in almost every department and the four of us had sore eyes after a few hectic hours of shopping. I did get out of that place buying a whole lot of items which was quite fun and when we checked how much we had spent on buying stuff, it turned out to be way cheaper than what we would have actually spent back home. Still, I don’t regret buying anything from that place because I still wear a pair of cargos that I picked up from there with as much élan as the day I bought it.

Me and the small one always monkeying around

Being the capital of Sri Lanka, there are a lot of things to see, but since our plan from the beginning was to use the capital as a shopping hub, we did not have time to see the other delights that it offered us. With that, bags were packed, flight was taken and we were back in India. This was in 2007. I’m writing about it in 2012. Funny how time flies yet your memories can be instantly brought back with just a simple viewing of your photographs.

With our fantastic guide

For those of you who would like to take a trip to Sri Lanka, I found a site which offers you a nice itinerary package. For more pictures on Sri Lanka, do click here and witness all that thetravellingwordsmith clicked.

Random Pink Flowers

Saw this on the road, just had to click a photo. Apparently, they come in various colors as well. :)

Just stopped to say Hi!

White Extravaganza

Don't Worry, Be(e) Happy!

Dear Sir, 

What are you doing near my subject?

Red Alert

Nature's Symmetry

Pink Beauty

Look at my sting!

Green Canopy

Getting soulful

Hohner Blues Band C Major Diatonic Harmonica

When I first picked up the harmonica in my hand at the tender age of 10, little did I realize how much this instrument was going to help me. Then, I lost it. Not so long ago, I had the sudden yearning to play a mouth organ again and I picked up a Hohner's Diatonic C maj "Blues Band" harmonica. This little fireball is amazing and can literally light up an evening. You can accompany it with a guitar and the dual effect is truly spectacular.

Slowly and steadily, I started referencing sites such as Harmonica Country and Harmonica Tunes which helped me hone my skills. To tell you the truth, it does require lots of practice which is the same for any instrument if you look at it. Frankly, for me, this is a beautiful hobby and whenever I get the chance, I play a few simple tunes which the family loves to hear. 

Hohner Silver Star D Major Diatonic Harmonica

Here's one of them which I had my interest on from the beginning. It's simple, it's well known and it goes by the name of 'Kum Ba Yah'. Plus, it's one of my mom's favourites, so:



These are the tabs (music literature) for the hymn and other songs which you can also get here. The basic things you need to know about a harmonica is that it has 10 holes, numbered 1 to 10. These numbers are marked just above the holes. The first number denotes a positive (+) sign which means Blow (in simpler terms, exhaling air). Where there is a negative (-) sign next to the number, it means Draw (in simpler terms, inhaling air). You may also find some tabs with the letters B and D which mean Blow and Draw. This is all you need to know when you start out.

4   5  6    6   6   -6  -6  6
Kum ba yah, My Lord, Kum ba yah,

4   5  6    6   6   -5   5 -4
Kum ba yah, My Lord, Kum ba yah,

4   5  6    6   6   -6  -6  6
Kum ba yah, My Lord, Kum ba yah,

-5  5  4   -4  -4  4
O  Lo-rd,  Kum ba yah.

For those who are looking at learning some easy, interesting techniques on how to play the harmonica, visit this site and sign up for daily videos and techniques on how to perfect your playing.

Cheers,

P.S - The editing of the file is done by my SoundMech Paul. You can get in touch with Paul on his Twitter and Facebook profiles.

Where are they going?

Kuwait - The Enchantment of the Gulf

Kuwait Towers

Kuwait - a land of many delights and enchantments. Its borders, Iraq at the north and Saudi Arabia at the south have Kuwait snugged in quite beautifully like a cocoon of dreams. The place is big and I mean huge, literally. The entire area of Kuwait is just about 6880 sq. miles and has a population of 3.5 million. Well, that's just the basic facts.

Here are the fun facts:

1. Kuwait is the eleventh richest country in the world in terms of per capita income apart from having the world's sixth largest proven oil reserves.
2. Petrol and petroleum products make up around 95 percent of export revenues, and 80 percent of government income.
3. Kuwait has the highest valued currency in the world. 

Now, that we have covered the facts, let’s start with the trip. 
 

I love traveling and sometimes, I hate it. I love it when I can just pick up my bike and hit the open road with nothing but the world behind me and the road before me. Sadly, I can’t do that if I have to travel to Kuwait. It would take me a really long time by road. And that’s where I hate it. So, I had to catch a flight. Now, you have many flights that are operating from India to Kuwait such as Kuwait Airways, Emirates Airlines, Gulf Air and one of my least favorite, Air India Express. Seriously, I’m an Indian by birth, blood and all other relations that I can think of, but flying the national airline Air India was much better before they brought in Air India Express promoting the low cost, no frills way of traveling. 

Bakery outside Marina Mall

It took us 4 hours to travel to Kuwait from Mangalore. Being a direct flight, I was quite relieved when it landed at 8 PM local time in Kuwait. The time difference is GMT + 3.00 hours, so the time in India would have been 10.30 PM. Kuwait is a big place and I didn’t really know that until I had stepped out of the airport and seen the world that lay before me. Dad came to pick us up (mum, sister and I) and we were to start a nice, long, one month vacation free from school, work and headaches. Total enjoyment was the only thing on our agenda and boy did it start right away.

Open Eatery in Souk Al Mubarakia, Kuwait City

The first thing that we had to do was get some dinner since our lovely flight crew could only offer us a very basic meal – seriously low frill and we were all starving. During the month of May, it is supposed to be quite humid in the Middle East region, but Kuwait, due to its dry weather, cuts out most of the humidity from the air leaving with you with very cool evenings. Temperatures during this time can be from anything between 30°C to 40°C. That’s why most of the cars are fitted with air conditioning so that people don’t get hospitalized because of the heat. You can get the average temperature during the months in Kuwait here. 

Boat Yard outside Marina Mall

Kuwait city is lively and the people love to have fun. You can see people of all faiths, castes and ethnicity, all enjoying under one roof. There’s no room for any self airs over here. One thing that I noticed over here is that, they love the social life. Now, Kuwait has a strict policy of No Alcohol being served or distributed throughout the country and so people have to rely on using their spare time to devote themselves to other activities – Shopping. Shopping is one of the main activities for many locals or Kuwaitis as they are called as and you will see that throughout the week, they are often seen visiting the various malls and shops around the city. The city has a very vibrant nightlife with many of the restaurants open till even 1 AM.

Marina Mall

360° Mall

Avenues Mall

Personally, I’m not a fan of shopping; however my mother and sister are, and so, I was pushed into the various malls to shop. Two things that I had on me at all times were my camera and my harmonica. Like a little shutterbug, I kept clicking away whatever caught my fancy and when I was bored, I sat at one of the hot spots that people used to walk past, dish out my harmonica and play a few songs. Unfortunately, my sessions hardly lasted for five minutes so I couldn’t gather a large following, but I still played for the fun of it. Our main agenda during the day would be to sleep till 11 AM, wake up, finish breakfast by 1 PM and lunch by 4 PM. Dad would be home by 5.30 PM and then some tea, and we’d head out by 7 PM to see the sights of the city – more shopping.

Fish displayed at Sharq market

One day, Dad decides that we have had enough of shopping and so, we go to a place called the Sharq Market which is basically a fish market. I must say, fish markets are generally filthy and smelly. Not this one. This one was enclosed and the air conditioners were on full swing. Not a sign of stench in the air and the fish on display was just too much for the eyes and the stomach. I had never seen such gigantic sized fishes in my life ever. Some of them were weighing close to 25 – 30 kilos. They also have fish auctions which attract a huge crowd; the only downfall being is that if you do win the auction, you get to take home a lot more than what you can actually eat because over here, size does matter. We came to Sharq Market only twice but ended up buying fish which lasted for the whole month. Yes, some of it was quite expensive, but being the foodies that we are, we took home a nice variety for our meals.

A Date seller in Souq Al Mubarakia

The next weekend after a few more mall hangouts, we went to the Marina which is not far from Kuwait City. There is a lovely corniche out here and it runs along the road to the city. A lot of people come here to jog, walk or even fish. Yes, they even have a members’ only area designated for the people who love fishing. It’s an awesome pastime for all the old-timers who come there with a beach chair and a flask of tea to sit and wait for hours together for the fish to catch the bait while they read a book or two. The weather during these times is very lovely and warm, perfect to couple it with a nice hot cup of tea. 

Vegetables and Fruits on display at a market

Is that an Ostrich egg? Yes, it is.

A Mosque in Ahmadi

The fourth weekend in
Kuwait, we decided to see some of the places which were far off from where we stayed; places like Ahmadi and Fahaheel. These and others like them are like little townships and have almost everything over there that the residents don’t need to go anywhere far. They have gardens, churches, mosques, supermarkets, companies, schools and even a movie theater. Most of our fourth weekend was spent in traveling on road so it was a very scenic time for us. The last destination on our plan for the fourth weekend was a zoo in Ahmadi. It wasn’t a large zoo by any standards but it was more of a picnic spot where families could have a nice outing. There were people having a lovely barbeque and watching the animals graze inside their cages. 

Ahmadi Zoo

The next and last weekend for us was covered in a severe sandstorm that rocked most of the countries in the Middle East. Visibility was quite poor in most places. My dad himself got lost and ended up somewhere else completely but he managed to track his way back. Still, we had one more day to go in the weekend, so we decided to finish up some last minute shopping and head out to one of the classier malls in the city which is called The 360° Mall. This mall has the classiest of outlets and big brands adorn the place. This is one of the most frequented malls in the city and the crowd usually peaks up during the weekends. There is a large amusement place in this mall which is off the chart. It has Middle East’s first very own digital amusement park called Infunity.

My constant companion on my travels

Kuwait does have an interesting set of things to do and see and if you are really interested in knowing more about this place, you should check out the Weekenders Guide 2007 which has a comprehensive list of the things to do in Kuwait. It may be a little outdated being five years old, but my sister and I found it quite handy as it showed us almost everything we wanted to find out  about what to do in Kuwait at one shot.

And so, with that, we packed our bags, said
our tearful goodbyes’ to dad and came back with a lot of pictures, a lot of memories and a whole bag of goodies. Kuwait is, was and will always be a very enchanting city for me.

Cheers 

A few thank you's that are needed to be said,

Fun Facts - Wikipedia (without you, what would we do)
Pictures and Locations Courtesy - The Wonderful People and The Beautiful City of Kuwait (Thank you, for a lovely trip)
 

L-O-V-E (Original by Nat King Cole)

I see so many people making self – help videos these days that it made me want to do one myself. No, this is not something which shows you how to do it but it’s kind of a small performance from me showcasing a very limited level of mastery over the guitar chords. It’s a very popular song which I’m sure you’ve heard of before. If you haven’t, then here’s the link for it -

Here’s my interpretation of the song -

Paul

And these are the chords for the song which I procured from the website here. Depending on the chord you want to play it on, you can change the transpose setting of the song on the link as shown in the screenshot below and the chords will be updated accordingly.

Hope you enjoy this small performance.

Cheers

P.S - Mr P and Mrs S - Happy Wedding Anniversary. This is for you'll. ;)

The Dilemma of a Constant Traveler

We travelers fly a lot. Flying is one of the most primary things that a traveler has to depend on, mainly if we're on an international schedule. Sometimes, the pain of a connecting flight can be really stressful especially if you miss a sector or it gets cancelled without a backup flight to bail you out.

Right now, I'm going through the same thing. I have to catch a flight back home and I'm unsure if it's going to leave at all until the very last moment. With all the flight cancellations that have been happening helter skelter, one can only wait, watch and wonder.

So, I guess, I'll have to pack my bags, get to the airport, stare aimlessly at the schedule above as it switches through the schedule and wonder if I'm ever going to fly at all today. Tough luck I say.

I think I should just grab my bike the next time and hit the road.

Chai to the rescue

I try to kick back at times with a nice cup of tea because tea helps me to relax those nerves that have been stretched the whole day typing random somethings'.

The picture shown above is of a cup of "Lime Tea", also known as "Sulaimani Tea".

Happy Weekend!

Oh Frabble

Scrabble is a game essentially played by 2 - 4 people involving the use of words that most of us use everyday. This game has quite a widespread following and is one of the most popular games played in the world today. 

At my place, we decided one night that we would play Scrabble. Dad and I went and purchased a new Scrabble board since the old one was missing quite a few letters. 

And so, on game night, Dad, my sister and I decided to pool our heads together and play the game knowing very well that that it's been ages since either of us played the game. A good question to raise at this point would be about the rules. They went for a toss.

Well, we tried and the result is here for you to see. We got Scrabbled!

Rice-o-Mania

At our house, the cooking never stops. And truly, that's a remarkable thing because I wouldn't have been able to get you all these quick recipes. Well, some of them maybe aren't that quick to prepare, but they are tasty so I thought I'd still write about it. This one's called "Jeera Rice / Cumin Rice"

Jeera / Cumin Rice

Ingredients:

• 2 cups Rice
• 5 cups Water
• 2 tsp Jeera / Cumin
• 2 tsp Oil
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Salt as required
• 1 tsp Turmeric / Haldi powder
• 1 Maggi Chicken / Vegetable cube

Cooking Time: 45 minutes

Steps:

1. Wash the rice. 
2. Heat oil in a vessel / kadai, add the jeera / cumin seeds and allow it to fry for 2 - 3 minutes.
3. Add the washed rice, lemon juice and the maggi cube. 
4. Add the water to the vessel. Note - For every cup of rice, you take 3 cups of water.
5. Mix well and check if salt is required since the cube contains a certain amount of salt.
6. Add Turmeric / Haldi.
7. Allow it to boil. Once it starts boiling, bring the flame to sim for 10 minutes.
8. Switch off the gas, place a lid over the vessel and allow it to set for 30 minutes. Note - Do not open the lid until the 30 minutes is completed.
9. Once the 30 minutes are over, stir the contents well and serve immediately.

This is a dish to be had by itself or you can even combine it with yoghurt. The combination's fantastic is what I've heard.

The Purple Delight

Salads are some of the easiest whip-ups that you can make in the kitchen. It requires a good mix of veggies, salt and pepper and involves just that little bit of creativity to mix up all the ingredients together.This is the first of many such small whip-ups that I'm going to share with you. I call this "The Purple Delight"

Purple Delight

Ingredients:

• 1 Cucumber
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Green Capsicum
• 1 Tomato
• A small piece of celery
• 4 – 5 Iceberg Lettuce / Romaine leaves
• Half a Purple Cabbage
• Feta Cheese

For Dressing:

• 3 tsp olive oil
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Salt and pepper as required

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves : 2 – 3 people

Steps:

1. First, we need to prepare the dressing for the salad.
2. Mix the dressing ingredients in a bowl and keep aside.
3. Next, chop all the vegetables into cubes except the lettuce and cabbage.
4. Cut the lettuce and cabbage into strips. Note - Rinse the cabbage well in water and drain.
5. Take a big bowl, preferably a salad bowl and add the cut vegetables and the dressing (except the tomato) and mix well.
6. Add the Tomato and top it up with cubes of Feta cheese and serve immediately.

The variations are many and you can also crank it up by tossing in a few olives as well. Whatever the meal may be, a salad can work wonders when combined with the main course.

Indo - China Fried Rice (because it's made with an Indian Twist)

Presenting to you another of our short eats is the Fried Rice. Not hard to make and definitely tasty when done right.

Ingredients:

• 2 cups rice
• 3 tbsp oil
• 8 - 10 beans finely chopped
• 1 carrot finely chopped
• 1 red onion sliced
• 1/2 cabbage finely chopped
• 2-3 green chillies
• 1/2 inch ginger piece finely chopped
• 2 cloves of garlic finely chopped
• 4 tbsp soya sauce
• 4 tbsp green chilli sauce
• Salt and Pepper as required

Cooking Time: 40 minutes (including 20 minutes of preparation of the ingredients)

Steps:

1. Wash and soak the rice for 10 - 15 minutes and then drain.
2. Boil 2 cups of water, add salt and then the rice.
3. Allow the rice to cook until tender. Note - See that the rice does not overcook.
4. Drain the rice and run it under cold water and transfer it to a big colander.
5. Heat oil in a pan / vessel and add all the chopped vegetables.
6. Cook for 5 - 10 minutes. Note - Do not overcook the vegetables. They should be crisp.
7. Add salt and pepper.
8. Add the rice and mix well.
9. Add soya and green chilli sauce.
10. Cook the fried rice for another 5 - 10 minutes and serve hot. Note - More soya and green chilli sauce should be added as required.

Macaroni Delights Part 2

Easy to make and tasty as ever, a salad is a must with every meal as it can give you all the nutrients that you might not necessarily have with the main course. So, I present to you, our version of the 'Macaroni Salad'.

Dish 2: Macaroni Salad

Ingredients:

Macaroni Salad

• 1 Cucumber
• 1 Carrot
• 1 Green Capsicum
• ½ white onion
• A small piece of celery
• 4 – 5 Iceberg Lettuce leaves
• 1 cup of Macaroni
• Feta Cheese

For Dressing:

• 3 tsps olive oil
• 2 garlic cloves
• 1 green chilli
• Juice of 1 Lime
• Salt and pepper as required

Cooking Time: 15 minutes

Serves: 2 – 3 people

Steps: 

1. First, we need to prepare the dressing for the salad.
2. Mash the garlic and remove the skin.
3. Cut the chill in half.
4. In a bowl, add the garlic, chilli, salt, pepper, olive oil and the lime juice. Mash the chilli and garlic well. Keep aside.
5. Next, chop all the vegetables into cubes except the lettuce.
6. Cut the lettuce into strips.
7. Take a big bowl, preferably a salad bowl and add the cut vegetables and the dressing and mix well. Before mixing remove the chilli from the dressing.
8. Top it up with cubes of Feta cheese and serve after some time.

This is a dish best served cold. Unlike revenge, this tastes way better.

Cheers,

Macaroni Delights Part 1

One can find many variations of the Macaroni recipe on the internet. It’s not a dish that people haven’t heard of. It’s a good, cheap and easy to cook meal that almost anybody can concoct and the best part about it is that; there’s no one way to cook it. You can do almost anything with a plate of macaroni. Below is something what my sister cooked up in her style. I was very surprised and very satisfied by the end of the meal. So, bringing to a screen near you, the famous ‘Macaroni’

Dish 1: Macaroni with Chicken Meatballs and Sausages

Macaroni with Meatballs and Sausages

Ingredients:

• 1 Red Onion (chopped)
• Cooking Oil
• Spicy Tomato Sauce (180 grams)
• Chilli flakes
• Freshly ground pepper
• Salt (as required)
• 4 Chicken Sausages
• 4 Chicken Meatballs
• 3 cups of Macaroni

Cooking Time: 30 minutes

Serves: 2 – 3 people

Steps:

1. Boil the Macaroni in water with a little bit of oil and salt added in the mixture. For every cup of macaroni, add 4 cups of water. This needs to be boiled for 10 minutes.
2. Once done, drain the water away and rinse the macaroni with cold water so that the macaroni doesn’t stick to each other.
3. Deep fry the meatballs and keep aside.
4. Heat oil in a non stick vessel and fry the chopped onions till it changes colour.
5. Cut the sausages in small round slices, add it with the onions and fry till the sausages have a brownish tinge to it.
6. Cut the meatballs in halves. Add it to the mixture and fry for 3 minutes.
7. Add the tomato sauce and a little bit of water to make it thinner. (Note – If you prefer the meal with a thick sauce, do not add water).
8. Add the chilli flakes, salt and pepper as required.
9. Bring the flame to sim to allow the sauce to boil.
10. Add the macaroni and mix well.
11. Check the seasoning and add more if required.
12. Allow the ingredients to cook for 10 minutes and serve immediately.

~ End of Part 1 ~

When the Cat is away, the Mice are at play

One day, my mother decided to take a flight over the ocean to attend her sister's 50th Wedding Anniversary and so, dad, sister and I were left to fend for ourselves for the next few days before she headed back home.

Jeera / Cumin Rice

Well, we had to eat right? So, dad and I, clueless without the main woman in our lives were wondering what we'd have for dinner. My mother sensing the questioning glances told my sister to make some Jeera Rice (Cumin Rice), some salad and get the Pork Offal from the fridge. She knew this would suffice for the night. 

Purple Delight

I was doubtful of my sister's skills in the kitchen and hence voiced my apprehensions immediately. One glare from my sister told me that if I spoke anymore, there would be no food for me. Well, I had to give in.We reached back and my sister got to work immediately. I was quite surprised at the way she managed the work at home.

I could see my mother's work clearly visible and I was quite happy that my little sister had finally grown up. She made dinner, dyed my dad's hair, did the dishes (I helped here) and put the family to sleep. All in the space of two hours.

Well, I guess some things do change, don't they? I call it - The Circle of Life.

Cheers