Quarantine pulao

Dear all, 

Hope you are all safe. It's been a challenging time for humanity in general and we need to keep our spirits up and hope for the best. During these tough times, I have tried to simplify my cooking and have received some good feedback hence thought of sharing my recipe for quarantine pulao.

Step 1

Soak one cup of basmati rice with one cup water in a microwaveable bowl for around 15 min

Step 2

In a non stick pan, add some oil with cumin seeds, ginger and garlic (either shredded fresh or paste), sliced onions, salt , along with whichever base ingredient you want to add .. either mixed vegetables or prawns or chicken or fish..feel free to mix and match.., then add key ingredient which is instant biriyani powder ( any brand)..followed by a table spoon of green and red pesto sauce. Stir fry in medium heat till about 70 percent cooked.

Step 3

Add and mix the stir fried mix to the bowl of rice + water. Now these are the key steps.. add half a cup of water , salt to the mix .. taste the salt level and correct it before placing in the microwave . Microwave for 18 min (if 800w microwave) ..lesser time if stronger microwave. Leave 2 min to rest before removing and giving it a stir. 

Happy cooking! And stay safe!

Down Memory Lane...

From Left to Right - Mammai, Arunan, Vignesh, Senthil

One picture speaks a thousand words. As I was flicking through Flickr, I stumbled upon this old picture shot in 2007. This picture captures my entire childhood and schooldays in one frame. Arun(my own brother) , Senthil and Vicky (cousins) lived and studied from my mammai's(grandmother) house in Madurai. Everyday we were spoilt with delicious meals three times a day. Evenings after school meant corridor cricket and broken tubelights which made thatha (grandfather) mad. Wednesdays meant meeting my Abedha chithi and Prathapan chithappa (senthil's parents) who took us out for dinner - usually Vasantham or Amsavalli. Sundays meant meeting my amma and appa and visiting Ayyamma's place. Summer holidays meant meeting my other cousins Pushparajan and Anusha who were based in Thoothukudi. So many beautiful memories...

As life goes on, my mammai and thatha have passed away (RIP .. they live forever in our hearts). My brother and cousins have settled in different parts of the world. What we shared was an amazing childhood for which we were incredibly lucky..

My 'mobile' gaming setup..!

Dear all,
    This is my first blog after a gap of nearly 7 years! Just thought I would share my experiences with my brand new gaming setup. My 'mobile' gaming setup includes,

MSI GS70 Stealth Laptop
Razer Deathadder mouse
Razer Street fighter anniversary mousemat
Denon ah-d1100 headphones
ASUS ROG Nomad backpack


Why a 'mobile' gaming setup?
    I tend to travel around a lot so getting a gaming desktop or a new gen console was out of the question. Once I decided to go down the gaming laptop route, there was a lot of confusion regarding which laptop to go for. It took about six months to research ( and save money!) to finally make my decision.

MSI GS70 Stealth

Simply put, It is the thinnest and lightest 17 inch gaming laptop in the world! How did I choose MSI? Well it wasnt an easy decision but here are a few points to consider.

Price - This is the biggie! I set my budget around the 1000 pound  mark. It is very difficult to resist the tempation to keep upgrading you laptop and you end up going well over budget.


Options - I restricted myself to five main options. Alienware, ASUS, MSI, XMG or a custom made laptop with a clevo barebones model.

Screen size - Depends on how mobile you want your laptop to be. I was initially looking for atleast a 15 inch screen but then settled for a 17 inch screen. - more like a desktop replacement albeit a 'lightweight' one.

Main specifications -    Intel quad core i7 4700 Haswell processor (2.4 - 3.4 GHz), Steelseries backlit keyboard, Full HD (1920x1080) anti glare matte display, 128 GB SSD + 1 TB 7200 rpm drive, 4 x USB 3.0 ports, HDMI out (supports even 4K displays!), soundblaster cinema.

How is the performance - I m not a technical expert and detailed reviews including framerate (FPS) analysis for popular games are available elsewhere online. All I can say is that, I have had this laptop now for close to a month and it is seriously awesome! The system itself is so silent (mainly due to the SSD) that sometimes i have to press my ear close to it! The only major game I have played on it so far is 'Far Cry 3' and the graphics are so smooth. For less demanding games like DOTA and LOL - the gaming experience is excellent. It does not have an inbuilt DVD/Bluray drive however I have a samsung external DVD drive. The full HD 17 inch display is great for gaming and movies.

Razer Deathadder mouse

Snapped this up on an offer in Amazon. Smooth mouse, awesome looking, very comfortable to use.

Razer Street fighter anniversary mousemat

Silky smooth, light weight, nostalgic mouse mat.. If it was larger, I could sleep on it!


Denon ah-d1100 headphones

Cool looking, lightweight and excellent sound! Goes well with the soundblaster cinema surround in built with the MSI GS70.

ASUS ROG Nomad backpack

And finally .. this 'predator' looking backpack (on the right) to carry my gaming setup safely. I also use a MSI provided laptop sleeve for additional protection. As it is more or less a desktop replacement, I dont move it around a lot but if needed this backpack is solid and reliable. ASUS said the girls were not included ..;-)

Thats all folks! Any comments / questions are welcome!!

'Sivaji' in London....

Hi all,
My 'Sivaji' experience in London was a totally unforgettable one ... even better than 'chandramukhi'. I convinced evangeline to come to the movie by lying that it has got subtitles (ennadhu thala padathukku subtitlessa ... good joke! .. avaru pesaru speedukku subtitles poda mudiyadhunga). Anyways, we met in eastham with my other friends and after a nice lunch went to cineworld in Ilford. I have been going to the same theatre complex almost every week for four years .. but to be honest, i have very rarely seen such a crowd (last time was for 'dhoom 2'). When it was started, they showed it in 2 theaters in the same multiplex but seeing the crowd, they started showing in 4 screens simultaneously!! In fact, would you believe they cancelled shows of 'spiderman 3' and 'cheeni kum' to accomodate thala's fans!
We managed to get decent seats. They started with a 'vodafone' ad .. even for that people started screaming and shouting .. and i think even the theatre owners and staff were surprised by the crowd response. Evangeline was surprised (?embarassed) as well. As there were no subtitles, my job was to interpret key dialogue to evangeline .. which was very tricky .. imagine interpreting ... 'dei..panni than da kootama varum, singam thaniya than varum'. I wanted to enjoy this movie without any expectation, the only song i listened before the movie was 'balalaika'. Normally I like ARR's songs only after hearing atleast 4=5 times, but this movie was an exception. I loved all the songs the very first time itself. It was great to see my fave artist 'mama' vivek .. always on form. Great credit to thala and shankar!
Till the end of the movie, the fans never stopped, which is unheard of in any other movie in any other language with any other star. I think it was the first time in cineworld's history, they had paper rockets hitting the screen!! We left the theatre really happy and satisfied. It is worth noting that most of the audience were repeat viewers. Few highlights we liked...
1 - thala's dresses
2 - visuals and songs were awesome
3 - comedy (its been a long time since i rolled around laughing)
Will be seeing it again sometime soon...


Ranjit

Latest Manila trip...

Hi all,
Just came back from manila after a short trip to make final wedding arrangements. I stayed in the 19th floor of a condo in makati with some great views. Here is a rough list of what happened that week....

Tried some great restaurants including Serye, Zen, North Park, Luk Yuen, Tokyo Tokyo and TGI Fridays...
Humiliated by a toddler in the arcade game - fast and the furious ... it was not fair as he had a souped up car with nitro boost and he also knew all the shortcuts!!
Booked rooms for the few lucky people coming for the wedding .. check out http://manila.dusit.com
Got my wedding suit stitched..

I have uploaded a few photos onto flickr ... check out http://www.flickr.com/photos/drranjit78/

Bye for now

Ranjit

My manila guide... Part-2

Hi all,
Now that the most important bit (food) has already been discussed, i thought i will briefly go through other stuff.
About places to stay, the first time i went, i stayed in a hotel .. and the next time, i stayed in a condo apartment. I have to tell you that staying in the condo apartment was definitely better. It gave me a feeling that i was a high flying investment banker in canary wharf or something similar!!
Shopping ... I think the filipinos are craaazy about shopping. So many malls and shops compared to the size of the city. When i went to makati, it felt like one HUGE shopping mall with some roads!! The shopping malls in makati include greenbelt 1,2,3 and then they also have 'the mall of asia' (apparently the 2nd largest mall in asia!) .. and so many other malls which i havent seen.
Travel ... i think the local traffic in manila is horrendous .. but hey, i am from madurai .. so thats fine as long as i am in a A/C car!! They have these jeepneys (modified jeeps) ... which operate on a similar concept to share auto. I havent been on the metro yet .. ( I have been pampered so far!).
Cost ... The cost of living is similar to India in my opinion. Of course if you go into posh places, u need the pay the price, but overall, i found it good value for money.
Lets hear ur opinion, after June!

Ranjit

My manila guide...Part-1 ... Food

I know i have invited so many people for the wedding .. (how many of you actually come is a different matter!) .. for the benefit of the lucky few who are coming to manila, i thought of composing this unofficial manual...

Manila is a crowded city .. but that would definitely not surprise or shock sendhamil selvars like ourselves who have roamed through every nook and corner of madurai in search of the 'perfect barotta'! The weather is similar to madurai / madras ... hot and humid (not as hot as madras in may though). Most of the people speak english (most english literate country in asia) .. so communication is not a problem.

Makati city is the central, financial and commercial district of metro manila. It is in this urban jungle that most of us will be staying. There are loads of shopping malls and restaurants catering to all tastes. I know that food is the most important thing in the agenda .. so i ll concentrate on food now..

Filipino cuisine might be a bit daunting to the traditional indians (like amma, appa!) .. even for culinary daredevils like us it is quite a challenge. I have listed my favourites here .. Beef tapa (shredded beef + rice + bulls eye egg) is an excellent breakfast dish (yes .. breakfast). Bangus belly is another dish (bangus - a fish, basically a deep fried fish dish ) you can try. Chicken lovers (like me) would really love Chicken Bacolod (a local preparation of grilled chicken on a bamboo stick!) and Max fried chicken (both have retail outlets in Makati). Almost all dishes come with a serving of rice (try getting garlic rice instead of plain rice). Almost all outlets serve fresh iced tea as a healthier alternative to coke / pepsi. As for the desert you have to try halohalo (which is a bit like jigirdhanda from madurai) and buko pandaan special in max's restaurant (definitely jigirdhanda with ice cream!). There are several more dishes which i tasted like bicol express (no.. it is not a train! ), etc ... which are for the more adventurous! Another fun fact ... puttu in tamil is also puttu in filipino!!

Restaurants which i definitely recommend are ...
Kashmir - Amazing but damn expensive indian restaurant.
Jollibee - excellent food .. local chain like mcdonalds/kfc
Zbarro - great pizza
Dad's restaurant - Buffet lunch .. only if you are reallly hungry
Chicken Bacolod , Max's chicken - absolute must

If you are in Manila, Japanese food is worth a try as well. Some of you who know and have tried japanese food can skip this...
The restaurants i tried include RaiRaiKen (a chain) and sakae sushi (in mall of asia). Japanese food is reallly complicated so i have simplified it for my convenience.
Sushi - rice rolls containing fish
Sashimi - just fish
Ramen - noodles in soup

How to eat sushi?
Simple ... focus on the chopsticks, pick up the sushi, dip it in a mixture of soya sauce + wasabi (pungent green radioactive sludge), close your eyes, chew and swallow.
Its an amazing experience the first time around and then you will get hooked!

Enough of all this food talk ... its gotten me hungry now!
Catch you later with more..

Ranjit