Easy to make pasta

Although the weekend had been tough, I tried to do something interesting on Sunday evening. I managed to pick-up a pack of easy to make pasta from the local shop and came home all very excited to try another attempt in the kitchen. Ya ya, it was a ready-made pasta pack - So what's the big deal. But hey it's the thrill of doing something fun in the kitchen, which gets me in there. So here it is.

It's pretty simple you see. Just open up the pack and follow the instructions carefully. You gotta keep a good watch so that the pasta does not get over-cooked making a mash out of the whole thingie. So be around when it's happening, although it does take a while for them to boil.

I think the accompanying paste is kind of bland so here is my recommendation to make it more interesting. Add some good amount of red pepper, oregano, a few jalapenos if you would like and garnish it with grated cheese. If you really want to make it look exciting sprinkle some parsley.

Next on my ToDo list: Mozzarella Fritters.

Tags: Pasta , Cooking , Cook , Italian Food

Spicy Vermicilli

Cooking has always been a subject of great interest for me. Not much, but whatever little free time I get, I like to once in a while try to experiment in the kitchen. Of course this is yet under the expert guidance of my Super "COOK" Mom.



Today was one such occasion where I decided to step in and cook up some interesting snack earlier this evening. We made spicy vermicilli (read: Indian noodles). It was pretty simple and although I am no expert to give a recipe I'll give you a small guide.



Spicy Vermicilli

Ingredients
Some Verimiciili (Depends how much you want to eat. Remember they get blown when boiled)
little cooking oil
Mustard Seed
Asofotedia
Finely chopped Carrots, Tomatoes, Potatoes, Chilies.
Salt & lime to taste.

Hit it
First you gotta boil the vermicilli with the carrots & potatoes. Then strain out all the water and keep aside. Meanwhile on a slow gas get some oil, mustard seeds, chilies and asofotedia to cook mildly. When the seeds start making the cringing noise, add the strained vermicilli mix and cook for a while. Shake lightly as to not mash up the dish. Add salt & lime and you should have something tasty ready.

Let me know if you experiment. Would love to have your comments.

Happy Birthday Mom

happy birthday mom
Originally uploaded by kapsi.

This year has been special. I cut 5 cakes, Mom cuts 2 this year. Both have been fruit cakes - Mom's favourites. The left one came loaded with kiwi, apples, cherries, some kind of jellybeans. Well decorated and packaged.

The right one is from Gaylord = A little hard but sweet and splashed with pineapple slices. It was interesting to lick of the cream from it's sides and make little windows into the cake.

Happy Birthday MOM!

What makes coffee even more interesting?

coffee design
Originally uploaded by kapsi.

How a good cup of coffee can get even more interesting? Make a design from the cream.

This one is from Cafe Coffee Day. I remember seeing a snippet on MTV or some other channel where they showed how this little design was done. Looked so bloody simple with a simple tooth-pick he used to do the whole thing. But I am sure if I got my hands wet it would be a total mess.

Will post my progress if I ever get to doing it. First let's learn to make a good cup of coffee at least.

Holiday is for eating

Oh I love mid-week holidays. They excite me more than a Sunday. It's a great way to do something which is not so SUNDAY like for a change you could just sit home and not bother about catching a movie or dining out. Wednesday was one such "chutti". I didn't do anything much which gave me a lot of time to sit home and enjoy some good stuff.

Mom bought me a packet of the Nestle Lassi. I would have liked it to be a little more chilled, but it was not bad. Could have been a little more sweeter but then I guess my sugar barometer is always higher than the average taste bud. The weather kind of became hot by lunch time, so the cold lassi pack was a good relief.

When at home, how could mom miss the opportunity to cook up an evening snack. "Aloo Chaat" it was for the evening. Very easy and quick (so it seemed). Boiled Potatoes, Butter, Onion, pinch of garlic, some cheese cubes and I guess salt & pepper to taste. If you make a bowl full, beware tends to get heavy on the stomach - you know what too much of potatoes can do to you?

5 cakes in 24 hours

I just celebrated my birthday last weekend. And this birthday was special not only because of the lovely celebrations but also because I ended up cutting almost 5 cakes in less than 24 hours. That was something indeed. But hey no one seemed to complaint or bother about the calories and everyone enjoyed it. A snapshot of what was on my plate.

• (Starting from LEFT): The chocolate cake was from Le Chocolat -The Chocolate Lounge, Bandra. Creamy nice and yes delicious. Chocolate Lounge had a special menu of desserts, coffees and more specially created for my little party.
• Then there was a Photo cake from Desserts 'R' Us which was special because it had a photo of me and good friend Pankaj from my 7th Birthday celebrations. I didn't really get to taste this pineapple cake but the cream was yummy because that's the only thing I got to lick of it.
• The team @ office got another chocolate cake from Birdy's by Taj which was just a little hard but tasted nice.
• Little Sister also got me a chocolate cake from Theoberma, Colaba to end the birthday celebrations.
  

Overall I think cakes have only gotten better over the years and there is a lot of variety available these days. But my preference would always remain a Rich Creamy Chocolate Cake.