I thought I'll talk about something other than food or recipes

Since I started this blog I've only posted about my love for food, cooking and recipes. So, I thought I'll also share my love for other things. Lets start with my love for books. Whenever I am not baking, you'll definitely find me reading. I've so many books right now, I don't know where to put them...that does not mean I'll lend them! I've had awful experiences with people who borrow my books. They either think they can keep it for themselves or tear chunks off my precious original beauties (them idiots!humph). I buy books whenever possible, I spend most of my money either on books or baking ingredients. The salespeople at Crossword in Indiranagar even know what kind of books I like. Whenever I am in Bangalore I make sure I go to Crossword almost every sunday morning, it's like a ritual. And I always end up buying some book or the other, mostly because I feel I just cannot leave the book behind. I feel the books speak to me (overripe imagination and all).

And for all those of you who don't know what Books are, here's the definition of books from Wikipedia:
"A book is a set of written, printed, illustrated, or blank sheets, made of ink, paper, parchment, or other materials, usually fastened together to hinge at one side. A single sheet within a book is called a leaf, and each side of a leaf is called a page."
Interesting fact, again from Wikipedia: The word Book comes from Old English "bōc" which (itself) comes from the Germanic root "*bōk-", cognate to beech.^[2] Similarly, in Slavic languages (for example, Russian, Bulgarian,Macedonian) "буква" (bukva—"letter") is cognate with "beech". In Russian and in Serbian and Macedonian, another Slavic languages, the words "букварь" (bukvar') and "буквар" (bukvar), respectively, refer specifically to a primary school textbook that helps young children master the techniques of reading and writing. It is thus conjectured that the earliestIndo-European writings may have been carved on beech wood.^[3] Similarly, the Latin word codex, meaning a book in the modern sense (bound and with separate leaves), originally meant "block of wood".

Here's a list of a few of my favorite books (I can't name all of them in one post)-

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (my all time favorite)
To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
Love Story by Eric Segal
Doctors by Eric Segal
The Godfather by Mario Puzo
Cleopatra's Daughter by Michelle Moran
Don Quixote (Don Quijote de la Mancha Completo) by Miguel de Cervantes Saavedra,
The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë
Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell
Othello by William Shakespeare
The Merchant of Venice by William Shakespeare
Black Beauty by Anna Sewell
David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest by Ken Kesey
The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde
The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Those pricey Thakur Girls by Anuja Chauhan
The Family by Mario Puzo
Prizes by Eric Segal
Princess by Jean Sasson
Mayada by Jean Sasson
Love in a torn land by Jean Sasson
The Sicilian by Mario Puzo

Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden
The Devil Wears Prada (The Devil Wears Prada #1) by Lauren Weisberger
The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
A Tale of Two Cities by Charles Dickens
The Immortals of Meluha by Amish Tripathi
Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
The Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan
The Palace of Illusions by Chitra Banerjee Divakaruni
Nefertiti by Michelle Moran
Child of the Morning by Pauline Gedge
P.S. I Love You by Cecelia Ahern
Chocolat by Joanne Harris
Rage of Angels by Sidney Sheldon
A Suitable Boy by Vikram Seth
Asura - Tale of The Vanquished by Anand Neelakantan
Asterix and Obelisk by René Goscinny

I will try and find links to the e-books for those of you who are interested in reading and post on this blog.


Until next time, Happy reading :)

The Real Coffee Cream!

This post is dedicated to the infamous Coffee Cream. I really don't know where exactly this recipe came from, but I do know it's one of the easiest and best desserts ever. My aunt taught me how to make it first. From then on it's been served at simple dinner parties, as well as weddings. And since it's so simple and inexpensive to make, you can make it in large quantities as well.

Now the explanation behind the title of the post 'The Real Coffee Cream!'. It all started with showing a few of them how to make it, and then the recipe went viral with every Tom, Dick and Harry (or the ladies version of them, coz in Coorg only the ladies cook) knew about this and as long as it was made well I didn't mind. Random people came up and said it was a wonderful dessert and I liked it that they liked it too. Then there are a few people, who feel it's beneath them to ask another person for a recipe (especially if it's me) and come up with their own recipes. Now, I don't mind or care if the end result is the same and it tastes good (after all, everyone has their own version of roast chicken or bread pudding, and the same goes for this). The trouble is when they try fiddling around with ingredients and unnecessarily complicate a simple recipe and the end product not only looks awful but tastes awful too. And finally, there are a few more people who've come up to me and said "this is Ok, another person I know makes it better" ( and that too in front of other people...bitchy much!!!). The best one has been at a recent family wedding, where I had made Coffee Cream for dessert; a nosy-good for nothing-busybody comes up, lifts the serving spoon and smells it (the horror! shoves the spoon up her big, fat nose...idiot, we all gagged at the sight) and coolly asks me what it's called (even though there is a card right in front of her with the name of the dessert, silly old cow!), and when I explain it to her very nicely she turns her nose up at me and tells another person (who we both know doesn't know how to make it, and her version makes us all puke just looking at it!) makes it so much better than me! So I've finally decided it's better to ignore such stupid fools and share my recipe.

Now after all that explanation; Coffee cream is nothing but a cheats version of Coffee Panna Cotta, we just gave it another easier name! All you need is a tin a Sweetened Condensed milk, Good quality instant coffee, gelatin ,Heavy Cream and a blitzer. See, very simple na! All you need is 4 ingredients and people mess that up too, bah!

Coffee Cream (or rather Coffee Panna Cotta)

Time: It takes no time unless you count the setting time.

Serves: As many or as few as you want.

Here's what you'll need:
Unflavored Powdered Gelatin - 1 1/2 Tablespoons
Water - 6 Tablespoons
Good quality instant Coffee granules - 3-4 Tablespoons ( use 3 tablespoons if you don't want it to be too strong, and I use Bru Gold coffee)
Sweetened Condensed milk - 400 ml ( that's 1 tin)
Heavy Cream - 400 ml ( I use Milky Mist cream, you can use Amul if you want, though Amul is light cream the amount of gelatin is enough for it to set well)
Chocolate curls to garnish (optional)

Here's How you do it:
1. Empty the tin of sweetened condensed milk into a large blitzer jar.
2. In a small saucepan, heat the water until it comes to a rolling boil. Meanwhile, place the gelatin in a cup, pour the boiling water over and stir well and make sure all the gelatin is dissolved. You can strain it to remove any residue. Add the coffee and stir until completely dissolved. Let it cool slightly (not too much, it should still be warm or else the gelatin starts to set).
3. Pour the Coffee and gelatin mixture into the blitzer jar with the sweetened condensed milk and give it a good blitz, for about a minute or two. Check to make sure everything is mixed well.
4. Pour heavy cream into the jar and blitz immediately for less than a minute (make sure the cream is fresh or else it'll curdle and instead of a dessert,you'll have a disaster on your hands!).
5. Transfer the Coffee Cream into a glass dish, or into individual glasses, cover with cling film and let it set in the refrigerator for at least 4-5 hours. Serve chilled garnished with chocolate curls if you wish.

Note* You can make the same thing with Strawberries (or any berry), all you have to do substitute 200g of the berries in place of the coffee, and blitz the berries first, add condensed milk and gelatin, blitz again and finally add the cream and blitz and then set for 4-5 hours before serving.
If you don't dissolve the gelatin well, the gelatin granules settle at the bottom of your dessert and you'll have yuck-nog for dessert, so be very careful.

Until next time, have fun and Happy Baking!