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Thursday, March 31, 2011

Homecoming and some ramblings


I know I have been quite inactive as far as updating my blog, but we are slowly settling down here.No, we are familiar with the surroundings and people here but when you loose the habit of living in one place, it takes times to adjust.Well I guess that’s nature’s rule give some time to adjust before it starts reaping benefit for you.
In this post little bit of my ramblings as so many things are happening right now.Hope you people don’t mind.World cup fever and then the nerve-wrecking matches makes Kolkata cricket frenzy.But then we Bengalis are like that always charged up with dollop of emotions and all sorts of sweet madness.
Meanwhile I find it extremely overwhelming when we can indulge ourself again with the food we have been missing in London.




When we landed here, we were greeted by home-made notun gurer roshugullar payesh by my ma-in-law and we immediately knew what we were missing there.And no I am not buttering my ma-in-law in appreciating the effort she took in the kitchen in this hot weather here,it was just spontaneous!!
We do get fresh fish here, which is a bonus when you want to add the perks of living in your homeland.Few days ago we had Hilsa fish, oh! Dear ,I should sound out Ilish not Hilsa as a puritan and I must tell you at this point of time the quality is not what we used to get in London.May be all the good quality fish gets exported to abroad.That left me little amused.




Prices are soaring high here,Inflation is soon going to hit our rooftops and our pockets are burning due to overly priced grocery here.A common man cannot afford Hilsa or arhar dal anymore here.May be we should invest in purchasing Arhar ki dal in place of purchasing golds or diamonds or investing in equity market.Better stock it up or put in lockers , at least this way we can show our future generations what a common man in early 21st century used to eat.
Well I will try to be more frequent here provided my broadband providers speed co-operates with me.
And on a touching note, I once again felt the hussle-bustle and warmth of Kolkata city.There is something in the air of Kolkata, a little whiff of it makes you high.



We went to City Centre-2. And that’s another up-coming hub here.A huge wide screen TV with whole lot of a crowd gathered to watch India –Australia cricket match.And in Kolkata football and cricket is second to religion.Every ball was discussed and every run was cheered up.Wish I had my camera to capture some moments. I have lost the habit of taking my camera with every outings here but will try to take pictures whenever possible in near future.
Last night was another big day here.India claiming a thundering win against arch-rivals Pakistan was another big day here.I mean after 4 o clock in the evening streets were deserted.Hubby dear went to office with very few people turning up there and came back home very early.And with every wickets falling, loud fire-crackers were burnt.People celebrated the win with fireworks late till midnight.Hope cricket evens out the differences between two nations.We share same culture but why we keep fighting is something beyond my imagination.
And in these two years things have changed a lot here, when I say a lot I mean it.High rise buildings and blackberry is common now.From our maid to our neighbourhood vegetable vendor , to our fish supplier everybody has a sleek mobile and may be soon a FB account in coming years to promote their bussiness or webpages.So, watch out if you receive friend’s request from your neighbourhood fish supplier or Mishtir Dukaan wala or may be your dhobi.




This recipe was saved in my draft, well we didn’t have idli stand in London but we were in a habit of making idlis with possibly anything which should shape them up nicely . So , made these huge idli in M/W safe bowl steamed in pressure cooker.They had turn out very soft.This was big enough for a single person to eat so we just cut the huge idli cake into portions.Now no excuses if you don’t have idli stand to make idlis.
Generally I prefer to use up the left-over dosa batter to make idlis.For the constitency of the batter Click here.

Fill up the pressure coker with some water.
Now fill up a M/W safe bowl with the batter and transfer this to the pressure cooker.
Cover the pressure cooker without weight or whistle.
Cook at low for 20-25 mints.Switch off the flame and let it cool.
Take out the idli cake and enjoy with some chutney and sambhar.

Are you set to watch the world cup finals ?
What are the things you like to make for the D-day?

10 comments:

  1. "...at least this way we can show our future generations what a common man in early 21st century used to eat."
    Great thinking Jaya :-)
    I wish we had a presswala here with a paypal account!

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  2. When did you move back?? Doesn't time just flies by???

    Sandesh ta dekhe mone hochilo screen theke tule niye khai..

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  3. Joyeeta,
    yeah that would have been really a bonus point living in abroad then :-)..

    Sumana,
    yes time flies so fast...eyita sandesh noye idli ..are you talking about some old post?

    thanks for stoping by
    hugs and smiles

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  4. Dear Jaya
    How are you? I am just back. Seeing the 1st photo on your blog I was wondering what the Curry patta was doing over a nolen Gurher Rasogolla !! ha ha
    You are right , you really dont get the good tasty Ilsish that you get abroad..
    I enjoyed reading the Calcutta affair.I spent 18 years in Calcutta, I still miss the city. I will be in Calcutta for few days in April and just gearing up.
    Bhalo theko
    Ushnish da

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  5. Good to know that you are back to home domain but yes, it does take some time to settle in!You are so right about the Hilsa Jaya - its a pity that people back home have to hem and haw to afford good quality Hilsa while people across oceans have all the luck!Seems unfair to me at times...

    Nevertheless,lovely observations and lovelier way of putting them across...your honest ramblings were really amusing:)

    Do drop by sometime..have been missing you,specially now that you are on top of my commenator list;)

    Cheers!
    Wit,wok&wisdom

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  6. Ushnish Da,
    kemon achen?
    and would you believe it's crazy here ..people are going nuts about world cup final here but then thats just eccentric about Kolkata.And I am no different
    :-D...regards

    W3,
    Thanks for liking the ramblings :)..hugs

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  7. enjoy India,..-)
    glad to see ur post after such a long time

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  8. hope you are settling down to the new schedule. Age janle ami tomar sathe kolkata-e dekha kortam... next time.

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  9. Priyanka,
    Good to see you :-)..

    Mandira,
    Nischoyi next time hobe :-)..

    hugs and smiles

    ReplyDelete
  10. The tale of notun gurer sondesh and a curry patta picture :)
    Now i know you came back recently , loved reading all your posts i missed ... bhalo theko :)

    ReplyDelete

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