Top Chef !

I'm no Tarla Dalal or Sanjeev Kapoor. Mine is all practical and quick cooking. However, sometime back I purchased a vegetarian recipe book authored by Neeta Mehta. It was an impulsive decision which I never repented. I remember going through the pages of the book soon after getting home and wondering if I would ever even try atleast one of them. That was then. Now, I proudly reveal that I have tried 7-8 recipes from this book and none of them have let me down.

The other day, I came home ravenous. Paneer danced around in my thoughts. I decided to make something out of paneer. Why search for exciting recipes when Neeta Mehta is at your disposal? After a quick reference, Kadai Paneer was chosen. To my dismay, the recipe appeared to be quite elaborate. Neither did I possess the patience nor the energy to prepare this dish. But that dint deter me. 'It will be my adaptation of the recipe' was the thought that refueled me. With new found energy, I started chopping the ingredients. Where the recipe said 6 cloves of garlic and 1/2 inch of ginger, I used the ready-made ginger-garlic paste. The step which required red-chillies and dhaniya to be roasted and then ground, was replaced by a ready made masala. This way, including some, excluding some steps from the original recipe, my own adaptation was born.

And to our delight, it turned out to be quite nice. I totally relished it. Unfortunate that I could not click any pictures. Alas! if only all our energy wasn't focused solely on devouring it!

The Racquet

On our drive back home, while waiting for the signal to turn green at one of the traffic signal posts, we spotted this guy making rounds with a racquet in hand. It is a common sight at traffic signals. So common, that if you are a newbie in the city,you wonder if Hyderabad is such a sports fanatic place. Well...in a way, it is. Hyderabadis with this racquet, do play a game or two every evening - no ball/shuttlecock required! The opponent/ball/victim is the mosquito! Yes, to the uninformed, this is no ordinary tennis racquet - its a deadly weapon that electrocutes the evil mosquitoes! Now isn't that quite an innovation?

Alright, coming back to where I left - So, curiosity got the better of me and we purchased one of those bats. I could hardly wait to get home and put this masterpiece to test.
Once home, there was no time wasted - the bat was immediately unpacked and employed as a mortal combat weapon on the tiniest winged being spotted.A few hours later, as the initial fancy wore out, I realized it was time to bed. The next morning, when the maid noticed the number of flies,mosquitoes and fruit flies on the floor, she gave me a puzzled look. I returned an innocent glance and said nothing, inwardly amused at the achievement!