Explore My Mind

Aloo Paratha is one of my favorites. I love spicy food, especially something that contains less of gravy.

Sometimes when my dad serves me, he pours a bucket full of gravy into my plate.. and I hate it alot. In the end, my plate looks more or less like a swimming pool!

Ok! Now back to the topic..

I never knew that Aloo Paratha even existed until dad ordered it one weekend, for breakfast, from a nearby Pakistani restaurant. I loved it alot. Ever since then, I make sure that my dad orders Aloo Paratha for breakfast every weekend.

Strangely, I was hit by a brainwave yesterday morning. I wanted to try out the recipe at home..

I went to kitchen... My first task was to find a bakra(goat)..err.. I mean a suitable potato (aloo) for my experimental recipe.

Then I found this....



A highly disfigured 'aloo'. I, Dr. IMM, had to perform a minor surgery on my poor patient. Simply scrapping and carving was not enough. I had to dig out those 'yucky' growths from my aloo's 'gol badan' with a scapel...hehehe..I mean knife.

The operation was successful. The next step was to place the aloo in a vessel contain hot boiling water.

The came the dough.. I added brown flour in a plate. I added water.. more water.. more water.. more water... till it didn't look like a dough any more.

I knew there was something seriously wrong with my dough. So I added salt, more water, more flour, more flour, more water, more salt, more flour...till finally I felt it was eligible to be called a dough.
I kneeded and kneeded.. made balls..

The boiling 'aloo' was now soft enough to be mashed mercilessly... buahahhahahahahha!

To the mashed 'aloo', of course, I added red chilly powder, chopped green chillies, coriander powder, salt, cumin powder, garam masala and all other powders I could lay my hands on. (Talcum powder not included)

The mixture was then filled into the dough balls and flattened using a rolling pin.

Next and final step was frying my aloo paratha. To my horror of all horrors, I was shocked to see that my aloo paratha ended up looking like aloo poori. I guess I used the flour which is usually utilised in making pooris. My first try was a complete flop.

When my parents came back from work, I served them the end product of my 'experimental recipe'. Mom liked it... but Dad had a weird look on his face.


NOTE TO SELF :

1. Don't cook. Concentrate on studies.
2. Never make Aloo Paratha unless you know the difference between the flours used for Parathas and Pooris.


NOTE TO FUTURE HUSBAND:

1. I am a deadly cook.
2. Do not ever ask me to make Aloo Paratha.
3. I agree.. your mom cooks better than me ..
4. No quarreling with me on cooking issues.
5. Last but not the least.. accept my style of cooking if you really love me.

Alliance invited from well to do and settled tom cats for a homely, beautiful, moderately slim cat. Milk white complexion with black patches here and there. Born and brought up with lots of love and care. Youngest daughter in the family. Single and no issues. Purely non-veg and loves fishes (...mackerels and canned tuna, to be more precise) Age and Caste no bar. Girl is prepared for the mating season. Early and decent marriage, please. Old grandpas, neutered, divorcees and stray cats need not apply. Contact insidemamind@you-know-where.com

I had already began thinking that this weekend would be a disaster. No new bollywood movies at the cinema as Dhoom 2 is still running. No better places to visit.. and no good serials on TV.

But dad had something else in mind all the way. On thursday, around 10pm, dad took me and mom by surprise when he decided we would go out to E.C, a famous theme park. I was sceptical when I heard about it. In the past weeks, a lot of bad things have been taking place. Due to the building tension at home, I was in no mood for such an outing.

But it was fun! Poor Sanya couldn't come along with us.. she was locked up at home.

E.C is a 40 mins drive away from home. Strangely, the route to the theme park was deserted. I was under the impression that we were the only one going to E.C yesterday

We reached there at 11:30am and began enjoying ourselves to the core.

We went on to the African Safari (boat ride) first.. which was probably the best. The sound effects and recreated jungle looked fabulous.


[L : A Giraffe , R: African women cooking ]


Elephants

We soon hopped on to the World Tour ride where we were given to ride toy cars. I saw Taj Mahal, Leaning tower of Pisa, Big Ben and so many other miniatures during the ride. The funny part was that mom kept telling me... "J drive slowly.. drive slowly..You are driving too fast. We might skid off the track"

LOL!

Then came.. the toy train ride. We had a nice trip all over the theme park.

I was dying to try out the carousel For a minute, I really thought I was a kid... and I wanted to feel like that forever. Then came the best part.. Mom bought me a pink Cotton Candy like as if she heard my hidden voices. I love it all! This time when I was in India, I'd gone to this carnival in Goa. I saw this guy making cotton candies and before I could even ask my mom to buy that for me.. she told me not to think about it because maybe it's unhygenically made.

I ate cotton candy till I couldn't ask for more.

We then went on the Space Needle, which takes you up to a height from where you get a clear bird's view of the entire E.C landscape.




In the evening, there was an open air stage show... and the first song played was dedicated to Indians. Then there were a few local numbers..and then a small musical chair session.

The only things I missed out was the Roller Coaster, Tornado, Lightning, Wild Raft, Grand Prix and something else (can't remember the name). Condor was under construction. I wasn't ready to go on to these rides alone. I needed someone with me. Mom thought she would die mid-air, so she declined to accompany me. Dad was ready to come along.. but I wasn't sure whether those rides were good for him since he suffers from chest pains and all that stuff.

This was the time, I really wished Devilish Angel was there with me. I am sure we would have had a blast on those scary rides especially Lightning and Tornado, where you are no more than a mass-less particle in air.

About the roller coaster.. I have been on it twice. The first time was with "Sumo". I still can't erase his screams from my memory. He was screaming on top of his voice and I didn't even utter a squeak. The second time was with Mily or DA.. I can't remember who I sat with..

I still regret not inviting DA. But everything was planned at the last minute by dad...that I didn't get a chance to ask her out.

Anyway, here are some more photos to please your eyes.


[L: Tornado, R: Roller coaster]


Beautifully lit traditional boat

Three months ago when I'd seen the Dhoom 2 previews during the screening of Kabhie Alvida Na Kehna, I knew this was a movie worth watching.

Dhoom 2 was released this wednesday. My dad had purchased tickets online for the Friday evening show (yesterday) in a cineplex. Luckily, we were the first ones to book the seats... We won a free ticket for the next movie.

It was surprising to find the theatre packed with a huge number of local citizens. It was difficult to find Asian expatriates in there. I guess the stars of Dhoom 2 are quite popular with the local people. The language was not a problem as the movie was accompanied with Arabic subtitles.

Mixed reviews of Dhoom 2 can be found every where on the Internet. But the one I would recommend reading is the movie review found at Indiafm.com




Dhoom 2 is definitely far better than its predecessor. It has raised the standards of Indian movies with a well executed story, jaw-dropping stunts, good music and excellent choreography by Shamiak Davar and Vaibhavi Merchant. It's a package with loads of entertainment guaranteed. The bike stunts and chasing scenes are done well. There are a few scenes that defy the law of gravity but then that's OK... after all it's a Bollywood movie yaar!

Dhoom 2 is Hritik's movie throughout. Hritik Roshan steals the limelight even with screen titans like Abhishek Bachhan and Ashwariya Rai around. He is the star of course! Next in the line is Ashwariya Rai with a wonderful performance as the beautiful Sunheri. Abhishek Bachhan fails to create an impact as inspector Jai. Uday Chopra is good again and makes you smile with his funny dreams. Bipasha is wooden.

I was afraid that most of the songs would be cut from the movie as it featured skimpy clothed women. But I was proved wrong. All the songs were left untouched. The Hritik-Ash kissing scenes was censored though...Damn! I wanted to see what it was all about...

Dhoom Machale (Male version) is my favorite. Hritik's dance steps in Dhoom Machale is simply breath-taking. It would take me centuries to even get those steps right.

Aaaah..that's all about the movie. I am eagerly waiting to watch Kabul Express, Bhagam Bhag and I See You next. Guru and Babul are no where on my list.