Ambrosia

This is a tag am going to love and hate as well…Love it because am a foodaholic and hate it because am writing this far away from home…far away from my beloved appam mutton curry……far away from the mouth watering dishes that I sinfully ate without any disdain…Any damage to the keyboard while am drooling over the dishes should be duly reimbursed by Silverine who had tagged me!!

My Mom being a working woman hardly gets time to cook the delicious delicacies that is seducing me through most other blogs...But she used to make my favorites whenever she got the time to do like all loving moms do!!!She rarely watches cookery shows and relies more on advice from my grandma or my aunt who is apparently a cuisine queen…I would infact dedicate this blog to all adorable people who have made food with love for me all these years!! Thank you Amma, Appa (really my dad cooks), Mummy (I call my grandma “mummy” and that is a different story), Daisy aunty, Amini aunty (I have many other aunties but would rather mention them for the feasts they made for me), Chechi (from chechi’s mess where I take food these days)…hundreds of cooks in various hotels who put the right amount of salt, chilly and pepper to give the aroma that made me visit em again and again!!

I wouldn’t vouch my Mom makes the best chicken curry.. But she definitely makes it the way I want...Chilly happy I want everything spicy and no one knows that better than my mom!! Neways I ll start mentioning those dishes rather than test your patience... (On a lighter note I feel like am writing a love letter)

Appam and Mutton stew

Appam soft enough that it can be used to make those soft spongy American dolls. and mutton stew with right amount of spices (imported from Kottayam (from our own parambu))...Its a gastronomic delight of heavenly propositions..
I always peek into the kitchen to get the appam when it is piping hot and when it is the softest...Infact it can be eaten without any curry..So I usually have it both ways. Soft piping hot..and then laced with coconut milk rich mutton stew…And then a burp that rings that I can’t take more…whoaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!!!!

P.S for the uniformed Appam is a pancake made of rice and coconut milk.

Semia Payasam

This pudding is a big favourite of mine. Absolutely love the aroma of it...And the best part is that, she cooks it at least once every month…There was always lot of jostling happening at the kitchen to get those precious milk maid drops. I love the smell of cashew fried in ghee and this often resulted in shortage of desired quantities of it for the Payasam... ;)

Fish Curry

The kottayam style fish curry with a decent helping of karyveyppu Ella (aroma leaves)..pulli(tamarind)…and grounded chilly…This fish curry tastes best with kappa(tapioca)..My dad makes a trip to palayam market to get the best fish in town and mom embarks on getting the spices ready… Am the official taster for fish curries at home...This blog might give an indication that I spending excessive time in the kitchen. .This is because we dint have any servants at home that time and myself with bro and dad spend a good deal in kitchen exploits...

Sugiyan

This 4 o clock kadi is something that my mom absolutely enjoys making..
This is a snack made of grams, jaggery and grated coconut. And tastes best when its semi warm..Sometimes make me wonder how amma manages to make all these sweets when she being diabetic hardly gets a chance to relish any of em...





Jackfruit and Tapioca
I couldn’t help lifting this dish from silverine’s blog..Bcoz it happens to be
my top favourite as well. My taste buds are just showing utter despair imagining those delicious dishes..


vazhakka appam
A dish that is synonymous with malayalees..This is a dish I miss a lot..Most of the time there is a severe shortage of vazhakka appams at home..This phenomena can be attributed to the paranormal consumption that happens whenever amma makes em..Banana dipped in Maida with the aroma of fried coconut oil is a gourmet delight!!!


Mango pickle/lime pickle
This is a grandma specialty..My mom always say “Mummy” makes the best pickle in the world and she would have definitely raked a moolah if she had marketed her “achaar” properly!!..Mummy still makes those tingling lemon pickles even though she is way past her prime..



Iddiappam
This soft rice cakes traditionally called idiappam or noolappam are of two kind..One without coconut icing like the one shown above and those with grated coconut toppings…The first kind is usually accompanied by some curry to add spice to the dish..But I love the second variety which is white and pure with pleasant steam rising through the wafers in between. This customized variety with lotta coconut and sugar can be infact classified as a sweet..







Fish Molly
It might be repetitious to include another fish preparation ,but I would be doing gross injustice if I missed out this one..This typical central travancore dish is cooked in coconut milk and can practically go with nything..rice..roti..bread..chappatti..u name it!!!








This tag wasn’t an easy job when you are far away from home and you have to recollect all those mind blowing dishes that folks back home are savoring. A third degree torture of sorts for my palatable senses…

I wish to pass on this torture to all my fellow bloggers who can go through the sufferings that I have battled.

Advice: Please write this blog when you are really sick to avoid any grudge or a feeling of discontentment!!


Credits:
1) A superb foodie blog with amazing pictures..Thanx indiandoc for allowing me to use photos from her blog.

http://isouthpotpourri.blogspot.com/

2) Countless forwards with those tempting snaps

Picture tubes,breaking news and midnight hot!!

“Satyam Siva Sundaram”...the classic doordarshan motto to the “We are the first to bring out the news” era CNN-IBN ...”The Heart of action AXN ” for the braver souls to “unplugged” MTV....we have seen it all!!!!

I have vague memories of television when broadcasting was still in its diapers and we were fed a staple diet of pre historic aerobics and yoga classes to news readers old enough to be kept mummified!! Those were times when I used to switch on television to watch the odd PSLV blasting off at some odd 3 in the morning or vintage Prannoy Roy’s “world this week”...otherwise it would be my favourite “giant robot” or holiday time “chutti chutti”.....DD sets were badly behind times and it became conspicuous once the private channels began airing flashy-glitzy stuff. But all was not bad...Sunit Tandon can walk into any present newsroom and read news in élan...DD has even got a good looking website with lots of color unlike the drab shades of grey that’s synonymous with them!!


And then during in 90’s the government said...

“Let there be channels and there came channels... a dozen of em”

And for the first time I began watching Star movies and “Small Wonder”. And a new found teenage curiosity resulted in fascination for the MTV’s and channel V’s...Should confess that I was awestruck by the micro clad anchors and hip-yep-rap style which was a culture shock for a small town guy like me. Cyrus Broacha looked like the coconut climber near my home...both wore shorts...and both had/were big “knives”.........So I finally began watching "NGC" and "Discovery" to improve “gyan”...But soon I felt woefully awful in the company of microbes...animals and extra sensory robots! To stand in good stead among friends I began watching new channels. But unfortunately our news readers sometimes suffer from severe back problem and a conspicuous stoop is visible while they read news in the “swivel-me-anytime” chairs. Poor guys they seem to read the news from placards kept a bit too far away...Years of watching news channels has taught me never to marry a journalist...You never know if they carry a hidden camera...Its eerie feeling that you are being watched!!

At some point in life I got curious about devotional channels...GOD was enlightening...Samskar was lightening...Trance...nirvana...bliss, words synonymous with spiritual high. But it was just some high decibel speeches and angrezi preachers! Recently my friend found out a new crop of channels...Sur sangeet being one of them. They play outdated music all the day and out of the blue they switch gears...”Over to Nagaland...”Over to Maharashtra”...”Over to Arunachal Pradesh” These are the “Over to specialized online lottery channels”...Sometime I wonder who ever watches these channels!!

If you love having a good laugh on a somber day check out “Oonkal SUN TVyil inthavaaram dub seytha puthan padangal”....... Kuntam kulukki annan kaathal panninaan (Shakespear in love)...Any dubbed English movie can be a laugh riot...Believe me I was laughing when I saw the dubbed climax of the “Titanic”. They can get ridiculously funny!!!!Old time favourite have become least sought these days. Wrestling (WWF) was craze years back and find it hard to watch it even for a few minutes nowadays. Some progs still gets me gaga. Tom n Jerry and Mr. beans any day!!

Have you noticed VJ/DJ’s brand themselves in “dial-up” shows? They wear shirts pinned up with rose flowers and then swivel back and forth about an invisible pole...Wow. They look cool!!!We have some channels selling state of the art “tummy reduction techniques” that can make you look “somalic”in 5 days and sofa-cum-bed-cum-carpet-cum-pool “ten in one” gadgets costing 20k which they courteously offer us for 3k..Very generous people isn’t!!.. Please call 1-600-5423-5555-2233 for free home delivery*...
*packaging charges 16k extra!!!


With 100’s of channels churning out every year, its is not far when we will be needing 5-6 TV sets to satisfy all couch potatoes...It has been a love hate relation with the idiot box....There are programmes that are lovely and inspiring...There are crap shows that can make you tear your hair out...there is enough gibberish and senseless talk shows. But this is a mad mad world and we have enough idiots, bigots, intellectuals, anarchists ... (the list goes on) who can hog the limelight!! And the world is not enough for em..!!!!!!!!!

And this programme is sponsored by............

This could happen to you!!!

Amol sat stunned. He never expected it to respond that way!!
All the money he spend...All the research he had done...He never expected his best friend to be that cold"
And it couldn’t have come at worse time!!
The small room was sparsely furnished. The books that he bought, but never read had gathered dust at the corner...
The winter had reached its pinnacle. Even the occasional humming of his old khaitan fan had stopped of late...
He lifted the phone...The eerie silence was too much for him..
He could hear the beats!!..Though erratic it showed some sense of life..Maybe it will this time...
All vital statistics were healthy... sharp memory, quick thinking had never let him down
Amol wanted it desperately. The agony was too much for him to bear..One last try! Like all fallen warriors say!!
Carrying all his courage up his sleeve, he went in for the penultimate hope..
Click.....
Refresh dint carry anything refreshing.....The green bar dragged gasping to finish its run...
It never showed up!!
With a stoic face..Like someone straight out from Dachau..Stared into the blinking screen..


The display said it all..

The beautiful game

Football is the beautiful game... World Cup is the cup of Joy... Samba is the official ballet...Words that echo in our ears every four years......Am mesmerized by the adulations that follow Beckham everywhere he goes(lucky guy he can stand for the prime ministership of Japan and still win)..My eyes pop out when Roberto Carlos takes free kicks...thighs that can put wild bison’s to shame... and who said Brazilians are malnourished...Paparazzi’s have found that Carlos is responsible for diminishing number of black bucks in Amazonian rainforest... (Guys please don’t check Wiki to check whether black bucks are found in South America)...

Ballack lacks footballer looks and would rather fit the role in a Hugh Grant movie dating Julia Roberts la Kal Ho Na ho style!!! Close in the heels comes Klose who can easily get into WWF if he can work on his theatrics, A player who uses his “head” (in the true physical sense) more often and come up with fabulous goals...

Ask me about coaches, none looked better than Ricardo Lavolpe the Mexican coach who could easily pass in for a king pin in Desperado!!!For all those England fans I have no respect for Sven Erickson who seems to be deep into research in molecular biology..Cmon dude its football and aint any sin to motivate your team!!!

Ronaldinho...I don’t know what happened to him. Seems liked someone asked him to smile for a photo op and somehow he forgot to close his mouth...And he still keeps smiling even after the indomitable Brazilians are packing bags home!!...What happens is that he gets fouled and smiles in front of the referee and get red-carded..And still keep smiling in front of his coach!!!!

Talking about fans, Brazilian fans are vocal, colorful and in woeful shortage of clothes...Search the google for the largest selling garment in brazil...Search over in .23 sec ..

Result: Kerchiefs!!! High utlility clothing!!

British fans are always in a state of trance considering the amount of whisky they gulp.
Someone said Thames has more whisky than water. So while they booze they usually miss out the match and while back to their senses they start vandalizing all over the place...And to finish it all they say. Hail the Queen...Amen!!!
Ask me I would love the company of Dutch fans...Maybe I will some day meet a beautiful Dutch lady and settle in a villa in Amsterdam...Oranges gives me the blues...

Have you wondered why Riquelme looks as if he was made the scapegoat in a big conspiracy ...He should have made that wondered looks when Pekerman called him back to bench in the quarterfinals..Pekerman "Messied" up big time.....

The story wont be complete without mentioning Ronaldo who is a key cardmaker...er playmaker...In a post match interview he attributed his winking during the England match to presence of giant flies in the stadium which were causing nuisance...Neways the MANU fans are organizing a memorable welcome back home...It would be unfair if I don’t mention Rooney who deserves praise for keeping cool under trying conditions. Hospitals across the globe are vouching for his anger management classes which were found to be highly productive or er counter productive. By the way a break...

MTV Chito Chat

Rooney’s favourite cartoon show??

mm

mm

RONALD DUCK!!!!!
(Animated guy buzzing past the screen)

Started getting bored of the ads and I switched to NDTV and the headlines said...

“BUSH DECLARES WAR ON GHANA "

Apparently BUSH is furious after the american soccer team lost to Ghana..
Later on I came to know that the GHANAN prez...Abu Aku Rakama has signed a soccer for food programme with UN...

Back to the old story...

We have lot of magazines coming up with handsome footballer list..Beckham..Cannavaro..Owen..Ballack...How come they missed out Oliver Kahn...Dint he look great in the German bench...!!!I hope Klinsman brings him for the 2010 cup as well. He is a footballer who looks great in the bench!!!!!


Iran football team has been issued a fatwa for wasting government money every four years. Public prosecutors have already started recovering the flight costs from the team...
I got this info from the net ..Rest of the story is shrouded in mystery.

And finally I catch up with a few desi headlines......

TIMES OF INDIA
25/06/06
Indian sports minister announces ambitions plans to win the world cup by 3060 A.D...

OTHER PAPERS
26/06/06
LEFT parties seek reservations for the position of LEFT WINGERS...
FORWARD BLOC demands one of the FORWARD positions...
INDIAN FOOTBALL coach in SEX Scandal...Check chamtakar.com for hidden camera shots..
PLANING COMISSION announces 43 years feasibility study
LATHICHARGE in MALAPPURAM-POLICE MISUNDERSTOOD FOOTBALL MATCH FOR TERRRORIST ATTACK.

ALL PAPERS
27/06/06
Ambitious plans dropped amidst widespread protest.



Hey all is not lost. It would sound bad If I dint bring some good news..

Indian Cricket team beat Bolivia by 3 runs!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!And we have a nation going gaga over it!!!!!!!!!

bloopers unlimited

I can taak inglis, I can vaak inglis...becaas inglis ij a bhery phunny language! ...
This famous dialogue reminds me of the funny incidents where deficiency or lack of prowess in the local language has given me enough reasons to laugh.........

Incident 1

There was this friend of mine Sonny (name not changed to maintain authenticity) who thinks that he is a master of languages...We being a gang of malayalee’s had this supreme air of over confidence and misgauged how well Sonny was good at linguistics...
It happened during a trip to blore while we were fresh blokes in college...We were seated in a restaurant and Sonny being the self proclaimed boss of the gang volunteered to get the food ordered...With panache he called up one of the waiter’s standing near by. Sensing an opportunity to impress his mates he blurted out something in Hindi...The waiter was left dumbstruck and a few turned shoulders in the hotel...

Minutes later we came to know what he actually said and the entire group of us had a bloody hell of a laugh..

“Khaaney keliya kaun kaun hein”...

Little did he know that it wasn’t....

“Which are the dishes you are serving?”

Apparently he did a word to word translation of the same question in Malayalam to Hindi which resulted in this blunder........

Incident 2

It happened at a hair saloon in Pune...This friend of mine was having a haircut and the feeling of being away from hadn’t quite set in yet for him...Few minutes into the haircut he asked the Barber.. “Cheep ondo??”... (Have u got a comb??).
This incident reaffirmed that he is not in Kerala anymore when the barber replied..

“kaafi cheap hein naa...bhaisaheb...Isse aur cheap kahan milega!!!”

We just couldn’t help laughing at the bewildered face of this friend!!!

Incident 3

I came to know about this from a blog friend of mine. This guy on a trip to Delhi, went shopping at Paalika Bazaar - asked the price of some stuff and the shopkeeper replied - "Pachhees Rupaye” ... Trying to impress his parents with his Hindi n Bargaining skills.. To the pleasant surprise of the shopkeeper this friend retorts back "Bahut Zyaada .. Chalees Rupaye"!!! His confusion between 25 and its double still continues!! :)

Incident 4

This is a funny a sign board which I saw while traveling from Mysore to Wayanad...The inter state buses usually stop at this non descript tea shop for a quick refreshment...
But the best part of the shop is not the food they serve...but the plank of plywood placed outside the cafe...Painted on it boldly... “URIN PROHIBITED”!!!Hey cmon...How can that be.................?

Am still wondering how they got the spelling right for “prohibited”.........





Little mistakes. Little blunders...but a sea change in ideas...........

Moral of the story: Always be carefree with words!!!!!!!!..oops...careful!!!!!!!!!!

Picturesque tag!!!!!

Getting tagged gives this eerie feeling of being watched and the good part is that its so funny yet so plain revealing ….And the online world gives the pleasure of being true to yourself without any inhibitions!!!! Thanx silverine for tagging me up!!

1. Most desired celebrity

Konkona Sen

Comment: I fell in admiration for this woman after Mr. and Mrs. Iyer!!! There is a rumour running that men like the company of woman with brains but when it comes to marriage they look for just dumb beauties!!!!!! ..Pretty debatable….But how can someone beat this lady of beauty and brains. She is a cocktail to hard to resist!!!


2. Want to do this some day

Safari in a land rover: Infact lot of places to choose from…So I would put it around the world National Geographic ishtyle!!

Comment: Lofty wish…But then dreams don’t have limits!!!!!!
P.S...I don’t want a bunch load of people in this kind of trip...

2. Want to visit this place

Aurora Borealis (Northern Lights) near Fairbanks, Alaska, Fairbanks.

Alaskan Freeze: Very fascinating place…Best place next to moon maybe….Exquisite natures work’s at display! And the best part is hardly few humans out there! Hehehe!!

Comment: I don’t know if it’s possible to visit this place this lifetime...Research says hardly any software firm have base in the ice shelf’s of Alaska. .So practically I can’t go onsite to Alaska!!!!

4. Random Favorite

Princess Diana

Comment: We are always fed with a daily dose of Superheroes…Spiritual Gurus. Political big shots…Sporting Geniuses…and the list goes on…But Diana is some one who stands out from the rolling listing of celebrities. Even today her charisma gives me a sense of awe unparalled…….Why wonder when she is the most photographed face on earth!!!

5. I was tagged by Silverine

Comment: Post the picture of the place where you were tagged, and if you picked up the tag yourself then the picture of the place you picked it from.

I tag Rose , DewDrops ,Anand to carry forward this tag.