Mere yaar ki shaadi hai!

The Skinny Chef has just tied the knot with Lady Riteswipe.

I, the Lazy Author; one of his bestestest friends, have taken the mantle of running this blog (basically writing recipes on my own blog for him) that may be confined to the dark corners of the web – given that The Skinny Chef’s attention is rightfully diverted now.

Back in 2012, The Skinny Chef was really skinny. He swam 100 lengths of the swimming pool and did Insanity workouts. 

The upside of all of this wasn’t just health for him. It was good metabolism. This combined with his love for cooking allowed me to handover the kitchen to him all the while that I was there. 

This was in the city of Birmingham, UK. I would take up a serviced apartment and The Skinny Chef would crash at my place over the weekends cooking this or that, or the number of things that exist on his blog. However, this was over the weekends. Over the weekdays, it was a different story. As my name suggests, I was too lazy to clean the dishes and The Skinny Chef would come over, drop everything and start washing up. It was heartwarming.

Over the next couple of weeks, he was curious as to what it was I was making. I promised I’d save up my stuff for him and it so happened that I ended up cooking my special sambhar rice for this guy over one of those weekends. Yes, those exact weekends when he was supposed to do the cooking.

Thanks, Skinny Boy.

To make the sambhar rice here’s what you need to do:

1.      Boil rice (Duh!). (1 cup)

2.      Boil chana daal with hing. (1 cup)

3.      Boil veggies, in water and use the stock – don’t throw it.

a.       You would typically need aubergines (small ones - 4)

b.       Drumsticks (1/ 2)

c.       Potatoes (optional - 3)

d.       Kaddoo (1/4 kg)

e.       Tomatoes (2 of ‘em)

f.        Onions (2)

g.       Beans (optional)

4.      Pour oil in a wok and let it heat.

5.      Drop poppy seeds into it and wait for them to pop.

6.      Put the finely chopped onions and let them braise till golden brown and add sambhar powder (sakthi masala is a good fit).

7.      Pour in the boiled Veggie stock and the veggies 

8.      Let the concoction boil for a proper 15 minutes – go watch a YouTube video.

9.      I repeat, it’s important that you don’t hang around for it, go watch a video.

10.    Sambhar's ready; pour over your rice and enjoy – don’t forget to add ghee.

The image is for representational purposes only, actual sambhar looks, cooks and tastes different

Battered

Right, time to dissect TDKR, - In Gotham, Wayne's told Bane escaped the pit and has problem breathing coz of a fight with inmates (way too much like Vader). In the pit he's told Bane escaped as a child. So the child couldn't be the same as the guy with the breathing problem - elementary deduction that escaped the ding bat - "The Pit" looks suspiciously like a Rajasthani town, hardly "hell on earth" - actually it's very pretty and hospitable... - Gotham too looks suspiciously quite like manhattan...Although a geographically adept individual pointed it out that it was, in fact Chicago - Only an IIPM alumni could come up with flooding a nuclear reactor to stop a meltdown and an imminent nuclear explosion. Didn't Nolan know what happened in Fukushima?? - The *US* govt sits pretty for 3 months! Or was it weeks - and does nothing??! Id believe that if it was MMS and the Gandhis but Uncle Sam? No way!  Heck- they've bombed countries to kingdom come for only a whiff of WMDs and terrorist groups. Read: Afghanistan, Iraq, Pakistan... - why do 3000 officers charge at heavily armoured terrorists like they were muscular barbarians from the mood 300, you've plenty of buildings downtown, snipers and vantage points. Bloody Drama Nolan - keep it real mate! - Bane's way too intellectual for a crony to a beautiful and (apparently) deadly offspring of an obscure clan leader, of which, Wayne was, once, a part - WHAT?!  - Are you kidding me with that rasping voice as if you are in desperate need of a lozenge - 10 bucks and physics says that chopper can't do what it does... - They're heat seeking missiles for gods sake, some respect - some RESPECT - not your Pandu on a bullet that going around a few blocks gets rid of them - if you think that, you're. Batty... Feel free to add more, thank you with a flourish!

Ti.

Vanat khalkhalnarya jharnya sarkhi
Pahilya pavsayacha sugandha sarkhi, Ti

Khol andharat Eka kirne sarkhi
Thanditlya swacha unha sarkhi, Ti

Bhirbhirtya vaaryasarkhi
Duprachya chichiwtya chimnisarkhi, Ti

Dewachya samor diwyasarkhi
Mate chya shendurasarkhi, Ti.

Majhya premachi paribhasha - Ti.

The playground of the Gods

This green expanse
With a blue splash in the background

Tiny insects make themselves busy
Scurrying around on the green carpet

A Crow chases another through the skies
Playgrounds of the gods

A clear blue accentuates the stillness 
Punctuated by the stirrings of a sparrow

An enthusiastic moon stares unblinking, surprised
As the sun makes it's way to the horizon

Only, another hour of the day
That you and I just missed

The Prey

It was a silent dark and a stormy night. The lamps had long been put out by the wind. It howled through the trees moaning about the bad weather. The trees rustled in agreement to the winds rants. The moon too was covered in clouds and it was pitch dark. It had rained incessantly through the night and the blackness after sundown only added to the gloom. An owl hooted in the far distance. The light of the church could have afforded some visibility, but that too was broken when a branch of a nearby tree snapped and smashed into it. The earth was strewn with leaves, gnarled branches of tress, grass; and snakes. They had crawled out of their flooded holes into the open. An untrained eye would not last for more than a minute in this quagmire.

It was a challenging task for even Jacob to see. Gifted with a keen vision, his mates had joked that he could have spotted an ant crawling on sand, a mile off. He and his mates had decided to set out on this risky mission tonight. The weather would have provided excellent cover, and an attack under the cover of darkness would not have raised too much concern, since, no one would have been about, to witness the gory sight. The wind moaned louder as if premeditating what was to happen.

"It’s fate; somebody has to die here, tonight; So that my family may live.” Jacob steeled his heart with the thought.

Pushing images of a hungry Dora, Kim and Ian looking up to him to provide, he tried to focus his attention to the task at hand. The rain had tapered off into a slight drizzle and the moon broke thorough the clouds as if a curtain had risen. The wind died down and waited with bated breath. The drama was soon to begin. Jacob drew in a long breath and tried to bring about focus. He knew that the hour of action had drawn close. Years of hunting in the wilderness had attuned his senses to his surroundings. He had developed, what some had called, a sixth sense.

“The game is afoot!” his keen senses were telling Jacob.

The moon afforded some light that filtered through the thick tree cover and lent a deathly grey pallor to the earth below. The flints of broken jagged glass glinted dully on the wet earth. One of the glints was blotted out for a second and reappeared again.

Jacobs keen eyes immediately picked up movement to the south. His heightened senses knew that it was his target.

He gave a low hoot to signal to his mates.

They were far off but they would have known the unmistakable hunting signal.

"You are mine tonight..." Thought Jacob as he swung away from his perch high up on the tree branch.

His target heard the rustling and darted in mortal fear.  In one graceful glide all was over.

The mouse never stood a chance!