Finally, rains have started receding in Pune and we have not witnessed any brief or long spell of showers for almost a week now. Like summers, monsoons too have lingered around exceeding their timelines by few weeks now.
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South Indian filter coffee- A quest for Holy Grail
My first rendezvous with filter coffee, if my memory does not play the betrayal games on me, was when I was a kid whose mother would find herself in the company of her acquiescent son wherever she would go.
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Beaten Instant Coffee
Right at the onset, let me make this revelation here. This recipe of coffee is not for everyone. Does it bothers your taste-buds when someone sneaks in a different brand of coffee in your kitchen cupboard and your coffee suddenly does not taste same anymore? Does it bothers you when you place an order for your coffee and you get a watered down version of your expectations? Does even the slightest change in temperature of coffee leaves you impassioned?
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Masala Chai- (Spiced Tea)
The mornings have become nippy and days have become shorter. The month of November has gone by gradually and indolence has seeped in all around. No one gets spared by this sluggish air, even the effervescent Sun seems to be too lazy to rise in the mornings and eager to pull down its curtain in the evenings. If a celestial body like Sun falls into temptation of snuggling behind the blanket of fog spread by nature, how can the lesser mortals like us be spared?
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Lauki ka katra/Pakora (Bottle gourd fritters)
Cuisine is a testament to our evolution. It has gone through a continuous churning process wherein a new dish becomes part of a culture, an alteration has been made to some traditional recipes and some old recipes fade away from our memories. This fundamental point also applies to cuisines in India. If you must have observed, I have referred to “cuisines in India” and not “Indian cuisine”. Cuisine in India is a perfect example of the basic fabric that describes our country “unity in diversity”.
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Paneer Pakoda (Cottage Cheese Fritters)
Saturday mornings are when I prefer snuggling in the bed a little longer. However, last Saturday, my thin quilt could not keep me warmer and the overwhelming breeze from the ceiling fan moving at highest RPM meant that the room became too cold and I had to get up to switch off the fan. It is then, I realized that the coolness was due to the overcast condition that the morning sky had. I walked into the balcony, stood by the railing, gazing at the sky and admiring the gathering of dark clouds which indicated the imminent showers.
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Jhinga Pakoda- Prawns Fritters
I love Cricket World cups. But wait.. Before you judge me as another cricket fanatic in Cricket crazy nation of ours, a disclaimer here is necessary to clarify that I am not an ardent fan. My liking for cricket are because of not so obvious reasons of love for sports, but because of sheer energy and fervor associated with it that tends to bring together our nation!! This is the time when entire family comes together to celebrate this carnival of sports!
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