From the Editions of Green Boochi: Engaging weekend!

After 3 weeks, I got a weekend to spend for myself. To sleep more, to eat more. Our plan to go Chennai was very much spoilt when irctc decided it should never come up at the most expected time of tatkal - resulting which we couldnt get tickets, I was only more happy for the weekend to be spent like this :)

Saturday saw me waking up at 8.30 or so.. I woke up hungry! No bath, no cleaning amidst a very very dirty home and a kitchen sink full of dishes. I managed to clear the way only to reach kitchen, fish out the dosa tava. Inspite of all the mess - I was interested to prepare masala dosa chennai style with groundnut chutney - Yummy combination, that one! After a satisfying breakfast, I went back to my bed - thanks to the heavy masala dosa. After 15-20mins, I could do nothing but bring myself back to the kitchen sink - to do a million dishes(Not that I own that many, but I was stuck in the task for an hour or more!) I had put my MP4 to good use while doing the dishes - singing with my loud, shrill voice (thanks to the throat pain) ignorant of the irritation I was causing to my neighbors and more to S. Then, I began cleaning the house fully. Sweeping took a good 45 mins, leaving the dutbin with a kilo of dust and sand. I dont know from where this house gets dusted so much given the fact that we leave it open for not more than 20 mins altogether everyday. I was still feeling energetic to mop the floor as well - little knowing abt that back pain that could come. The songs playing from my player were more than enough to keep me going. Inspite of a very cool and chill climate, I was fully wet at the end of all the cleaning activity. It felt good overall and very satisfying. Though my back pain was pulling me towards the bed, my stomach dragged me to the kitchen to cook. In a shot I made Dhondakaai fry (Tendli fry) with daal spiced with tomato tadka. Had a long afternoon sleep after a sumptuous meal. Where was S, one may ask. I would have thought I was alone at home doing all this by myself while he went to office on a Saturday, if he had not been sitting right infront of me on the sofa shouting on the phone for 4 hrs delegating work to some one on the other side (office work it all meant!). He rightly joined for the breakfast and lunch, atleast! I never knew a long afternoon nap could cause me so much headache. I was feeling heavy on head, couldnt do much. We ordered pizzas from Dominos - heavy, very heavy dinner. These were the four pizzas - Soya-Tomato, Panner-Onion, Onion- Capsicum and Pineapple - Jalapeno. It was yummmmmmmm!! I had brought fever to myself by this time. S was supposed to get me a crocin, he got me a 5star crunchy along with it. :) :) What a perfect way to end the day after a lot of hard work :P

Sunday started off lazily - got up at 8.45 or so - Lazing around for an hour thinking of a good breakfast recipe. I started preparing Semiya Upma at 10. I dint have much work to do or so I thought - fogetting about the loads of clothes I had to wash :( I remembered it only while talking to amma. It was too late to act then. Did the dishes in some time and I was still feeling bored. Thats when I thought I would try preparing veg puffs in the new OTG. Got the recipe for it and started preparing - with the minimal quantities and all. Meanwhile, I was preparing the lunch which was Egg Biriyani. Had a good lunch and the I was set out to try veg puff again. I was half doubting that all the flour and butter was going to be waste. Also some details in the recipe were so confusing. Nevertheless, I wanted to try - but just the crispy outer layer of the puff with out the stuffing inside- called as puff pastry. S recalled that its called as "Bombay Salt" and he liked it so much in his childhood :) Feeling encouraged and all, I switched on the OTG. In 10 mins, the house was smelling like a bakery ( I am not exaggerating here). I was too shocked to see that I had actually prepared something better that the veg puff pastry that sells here. :) :) :) That left me so motivated that I thought of making garlic bread rolls next. This time, I could trust my skills and prepared for around 6 rolls. It was a bit complicated comparatively which left me doubtful again. The home was smelling of raw garlic and oregano. Once the rolls were made, I was only more doubtful. I thought they are going to be raw from inside. How wrong I proved to be - I kept a watch on the oven as the bread was getting ready. I had strong garlic bread rolls that were so soft and fully done - yet so healthy for I used less than 2 teaspoons for oil and 1 spoon of butter. Its the most healthiest form of garlic bread, but very tasty. S loved everything and we had so much fun.

It was almost evening and we decided to go out. Went to Big Bazaar - looked at some items (which are of no use to be purchased) for 1 hour and came out without getting anything :) As if this window shopping was not enough, we went to Park Square Mall and spent another 2 hours there. I got a Patiala Pant, duppata which I was not even sure would match any of my kurtis (which is my Christmas gift BTW) and found Happy Endings (a Chocolate Cafe). I had Tiramisu while S had Greman Choc Truffle. Its always like this - I like what S orders better than mine and thus ended up eating half of his, in addition to eating a full tiramisu. As if this wasnt enough for our dinner, we stopped at Beijing Bites on our way and had these - American Chopsuey, Singapore Noodles, Chilly Fried Babycorn and Mirinda. I was so full that, moving 10 steps seemed so hard. Came home to watch TV till midnight. Stupid me, caught up a real stupid argument at that time with S and we kept arguing till it was 1. We really dont know when our eyelids closed amidst the argument. :) I would say, It was all in all a very engaging and fun filled weekend. Some pics of some of the dishes tried out with OTG so far.