Food and me

What do I do when m really happy?
I treat myself. It can be a yummy black forest cake, Ilish mach, Ras gulla or anything yummy.
What do I do to decrease stress level after work?
I cook and sometimes I cook and do not eat, its funny but I do that sometimes.
What do I do when I am sad :(.
I eat...anything and everything.
When do I feel happy.
a) When I eat something I really like.
b) When I cook something really yummy like the ilish mach, biryani, fried rice, ooti, iromba etc etc.
c)When I reinvent a new dish with my own additions and it turns out really yummy.

Travel plans

For the past 4 years I have been travelling like crazy. I travel almost every month and sometimes I travel to 3 different cities and very recently 6 countries in a months. I love to travel and never get tired travelling...I am travelling again next week and this time its a purely personal trip I going to Kolkata, Mumbai, Pune, Baroda and Ahmedabad, most of my frens think I am crazy travelling so much but what to do I feel m lossing out on something.....whenever I get an chance to travel I never back out...even if its a trip to Dhalai dist. or the most interior place in North Tripura my running shoes are always ready and packed...I return from one trip and plan another...that's me and I love this part of me.

Agartalanised shrewsbury biscuits

I had the first shrewbury biscuits when I was in Mumbai, a fren of mine had gone to Pune for some work and she got these biscuits, the first one just melted in my mouth and then I had the 2nd and then the 3rd.....I liked it so much that when I visited Pune I bought 2 kgs of shrewbury biscuits and gave it all my colleagues . I think who ever created the shrewbury biscuit was a genius.....just like tandoori chicken I think shrewbury biscuits another humans best invention.

Yesterday I stopped at one shopt o buy something and there I saw a very similier biscuit, when I was a kid in Imphal we used to get this biscuit which was known as "Paisa taara biscuit" the reason was for one buck we used to get 10 biscuit and we all loved it esp. with black tea. I bought the biscuit thinking it looked like the paisa taara biscuit but bingo...the biscuit tasted so much like shrewbury biscuit....I was more than happy this morning. All said and done...in Agartala its jungle mei mangal hai..lol

Giving way in the new year-2009

Lemme start the year with giving way to wild animal crossing....m sure alot of us have seen sign post saying "Give way to pedestrian" but sign post like this one m sure very few of us've seen...I've been seeing this sign post for more then one and half years...and I think its really cool...its the sign post near Sipahijala Sanctuary...unfortunately except for some monkeys I've not seen any animal crossing road in the past one and half years of my passing through the area...Sipahijala Wildlife Sanctuary is Tripura mei world famous..any dignitaries coming from outside the state is taken there... god only knws why...I mean its a nice place but nothing great...I took mum there when she was here "last year" (for some reason I am really thrilled to write 2008 as last year)...we went to the zoo there which was stinking like crazy....the only fascinating wild animal I saw was the "Royal Bengal Tiger"....winter at Sipahijali is supposed to be good.... many species of migratory bird migrate at the sanctuary, so for bird watchers I am sure it must be heaven...the forest dept. has good accommodation facility and some nice jungle lodges...maybe I shd visit and try out the accommodation there...just for kicks

Tata 2008

Last day of the year 2008 and kal se naya saal....many travel plans have come up...starting from Chennai...Delhi...Shillong..Mumbai/Pune and well Singapore visit tops my list...I hope I save enough money to afford a holiday there....my resolution for 2009...eat more or alot whatever but eat healthy and cook more healthier food...I've given a lot of not so healthy food habits...I hardly eat junk food and try and have a balance diet...so I'll continue doing but...btw once a while overeating is okay... yaar life mei kabhi kabhi accha khana chahyeh....accha=yummy+ unhealthy food...

Missed u so much...

Here m talking abt just my cooking...since the beginning of this month I've hardly cooked resulting in higher stress level for me...now m back to being myself again and whoppeee m cooking again and enjoying it thoroughly...winter is a real good season in Agartala...for all the green veggies and awesome weather...not too cold and thats what I like most...many veggies which I used to import from Imphal are available here like y'day I discovered hawai maton at the market near Tulshi batti school and in few weeks yongchak will be available...abhi phir se start hoga my cooking classes...m so excited!!!!!!!!!

Mehanga pada methi..

When I was in Delhi last month I saw these big hoardings...written "mahengi pade congress" it was the election campaign of the opposition party, meaning electing congress the previous term has cost the public alot...that line was quit catchy whoever coined it...coming to my methi story...I like methi, its a good substitute to "hawai maton" and my fren "A" taught me this really good methi leaves and mattar kangsoi dish... which is yummy and truly heathly....I had learned this another methi leaves, garlic,groundnut and green chillies maharastrain dish...one maharashtrian dish I could never forget...its a dry subzi and one of the most yummiest dish I've ever had in life....I liked it so much that I sat with one village women in her kitchen )when I was in Tuljapur) and learned it...that was one dish I had very often when methi was not a luxury....here in Agartala its a luxury...I bought methi leaves worth 40 bucks to make this dish and viola....I still can make the yummiest methi-groundnut subzi...I was damnn happy with myself and yeah my memory for remembering the method...sabash..

Chef ?????ban sakti thi...ya hun abhi bhi

My love for cooking is not very old compared to my undying love for having good food...I discovered I love to cook and cook well when I was in college...5 yrs of hostel life taught me quite many tricks and ways to make food taste better...like how to make a simple do minute maggi taste like...waooooo....how to make real yummy fried rice out of the hostel rice...fish curry from the fried fish served once a week. I discovered my talent best when I was in charge of food committee at "Mosiac" our annual Northeast festival at TISS....during my post-grads ....yaar khana bahut sahi banaya tha, my fren "A" who is a hardcore cook and me took full control of DH kitchen and what yummy dishes we cooked...kobi singju....nga toina thongba...hei (fruit) thongba, mairen champhut etc etc aur bahut kuch banaya tha abhi yaad nahi hai.
Kabhi kabhi lagta hai mujhe chef banna chahyeh tha...well I had the option of becoming a chef...after +2 I got through the hotel managment school ....but delhi and MH seemed more hype & cooler during that time...not that I regret joining MH ...I loved every moment of it....wat fun we had...chef toh mei abhi bhi ban sakti hun.....lekin ghar mei...lol

Some more good pics.

Pics. of Orchid @ My home in Imphal

When dad was posted in hill dist. he used to get different species of orchid this is one of the ordhid he got from I guess Mao Maram. The leaves are very very tick and it blooms through the year. I have not seen this orchid else where, its a creeper attached with our mango tree in our sumang, one of my attempt to some good photography. I want to learn some basic tips on photography and buy myself a good camera. My best birthday gift to myself.

The Ahmedabad days

I learned making really good fried rice when I was in Ahmedabad,I learned out of desperation and my love for good food I guess.....making fried rice! .....is no big deal m very sure anyone can make it from a road side dhaba to big hotels..but to make it interesting sure requires some bit of

patience....chopping 6 different types of veggies, boiling chicken, shredding the chicken requires patience I must say......alot of it and when it comes to cooking I do have patience alot if it....

Ahmedabad was so damn vegetarian....we won't even get egg at any shop...and being a non-veg was very difficult....so we had no option but to cook non-veg at home......Amrita and I had a gala time....cooking non-veg at a Jain colony....its another thing our neighbours never got to know or else they sure would have cried murder or thorwn us out of the apartment.....but thankfully that never happened in 2 yrs of my stay there....I enjoyed my stay in ahmedabad it sure made me aware abt the value of having non-veg food...hahaha but I did enjoyed the variety of veg snacks..

Pic. of sauteing veggies for the fried rice.

Living alone and loving it

One of the most coolest thing abt living alone is getting to cook/eat watever I want. Whatever I cook I cook depending on my mood...I can have breakfast items at dinner time or vice-versa... I can simply have just soup and some salad for dinner if m in no mood to cook...or have chicken curry for breakfast...koi hai nahi bolne ko...and thats wat I like best abt living alone.

Some of my frens think I'll sure get insane if I continue living alone but unko kaun batayeh ke akele rehne mei jo baat hai woh sayad kahen aur nahi...I don't intend to live alone always once...m hoping next year I'll get to live with my loved ones...cook for them...and make life a lil more sweet with their love and care...till them I continue to enjoy my living alone...cheers

Foie gras

In my quest to learn some new way of cooking and some new easy to cook and good to taste recipe's I came across this really "amazing" is the word I think...dish..its called Foie Gras (pronounced /fwaːˈgraː/ in English; French for "fat liver")....thanx to the Anthony Bourdain show..the holiday special show...I like chicken liver and that's the only liver I've tasted....when I was in Ahmedabad...this colleague of mine used to cook this really simple chicken liver with tomato sauce and potato's...that was one dish I still love...and then I saw the Foei gras...easy to cook and m sure great to taste...duck liver dish...I checked wikipedia and read up on foei gras...thoda sa controversial item hai because of the way the livers are fattened by force feeding...but then every non-veg dish is debatable....but like all non-vegetarians who cares...abt the controversies...we all enjoy the good food and the yummy liver...

Some new food

Thanks to the tv tuner card....I am finally getting to watch alot of my fav. shows esp. Anthony Bourdain show, Planet food and other programmes, I was watching this special programme on southern Spanish food (Planet Food)and saw the generous use of olive oil, olive orchard and few interesting food items like this thing called "Paella" which is like the Indian Biryani(something I cook quite well), the Spanish omelet and another dish vegetable stew like thing, the look of all the food was so beautiful that I couldn't stop admiring and geting "J". The spanish food is amazing....I personally would love to learn how to cook spanish food and feel more happier abt learning a new style of cooking....some bit of google searching in required matsss...

Fav. food and the places-At Imphal

Imphal:

1.One of most and all time fav. is "manitombi's " Sinju (a type of Manipuri veggies.salad mixed with till, roasted besan, salt and sometimes with Nagari) and aloo saag (boiled potato's cooked with very little masala's)....whenever I go home I make sure I have sinju and aloo saag everyday from Manitombi's stall.

2. The second in list is Sinjamei suppermarket ke "Pakora thongba"...the first time I had pakora thongba was when my elder sister got it....da amit gave it to her I think.

3.Now who doesn't like Nikhil's (Awang BOC) yummy...steamed Momo...I prefer the chicken one.

4.Nagamapal's Kaylee chana- The real nagamapal kaylee chana is the best of all the other chana vendors who've come. They have added a lot many things ... like paknam,nung hawai aphutpat and singju also I think...the good combination with daru.

Mera naya fridge..LG hai lekin thik hai

Thats the new fridge I bought few days back...my mum complains that every new place I live I buy all household items and dump it at the end...but kya karun..ghar ka saaman toh chahyeh nah...and Tripura is hot and also humid unlike Ahmedabad and other cities I've lived earlier...this is a gift to myself. I don't knw how I survived without one for so long but finally I bought one and m sure  its going to be a life saver.

Ghar ka khana

I think m becoming a good cook...living alone and my love for cooking has helped in this..I sure can cook different kinds of  dishes Manipuri..bengali...punjabi and I cook some dish really very well...Chicken biryani is one of the item I cook very well ...hawal mangal Oti (A manipuri dish n my fav) is another...Chicken marinated with ginger garlic paste and fried with tomato's  (My elder sis really loves)...and I can cook yummy Chilly chicken and fried rice...but then simple items can also taste real yummy like whatever mumma cooks...whether it's eromba, kangsoi or even a simple thing like dal...m really happy mumma is with me these days and hopes she stay for some more time for me to gain some more weight...hehehe

A good bargain

I bought a refrigerator yesterday a simple, small and functional LG Refrigerator. It was a very good bargain, the fridge had a small dent and they reduced abt 2k for that...was I happy...hell yeahhh. I don't knw how I managed without one all these days...but finally I will be able to cook things I like, which was difficult without a fridge in this heat and humid weather. I can think of buying butter and cheese now...m thinking of making cheese Omlette..yummy m feeling hungry now.

When idli and sambhar becomes a luxury

Idli with yummy sambhar

I had never thought that simple things will become luxury in life.....some things as common as Idli and Sambhar has become luxury in my life...I had to make Idli and Sambhar myself from those pre-mix food packets, sadly non of the restaurants sell Idli's in the city...Dosa and sambhar is available but the sambhar tastes yucks. I am looking fwd to my next trip out of the city when I will get to have Sambhar to my hearts content :)

About Manipur

I was born and brought up in Imphal (Manipur)....having lived there for most part of my life I have wonderful memories associated with it and the places I travelled with my dad and  frens. One of my most memorable trips in Manipur was with my dad, one village in Ukhrul dist. I do not rem. the name of the village I stayed with dad for abt a Month during my summer vacation. We did tracking...visited manys villages ...for the first time in my life I saw a real apple tree...beautiful churches with lovely rose garden (I still rem. the velvet like petals)....and fog in the month of May/June....I also visited Nungbi, the village in ukhral with the famous black pottery...recently I saw a range of products at Dilli Haat from Nungbi village, coffee mugs, paper weight, plates,soup bowls, tea-cup set and a lot more items, I think an NGO is facilitating the production and marketing.

Wherever I live I still miss Imphal alot...no matter how bad the situation are...its home...sweet home.