April 2013 was a pretty good month for me so i thought i would look back on this first weekend in May and share some of my favourite things from the month with you!
Book
I read a LOT of books in April, not just because I was lounging on the beach a fair bit, but also as the IPL (Indian Premier League - not hair removal!) started so I was, and still am, subjected to cricket games on TV every single night! My book of the month has to be The Expats by Chris Pavone. This was recommended to me by my favourite author of all time, Emily Barr. The Expats is primarily set in Luxembourg but it does hop about all over Europe, and I cannot resist a book which transports me around the globe. I won't spoil it for you, but the book is about a married american couple and the wife is an ex CIA agent, however her husband doesn't know. This book is a really good thriller that literally had me on the edge of my seat and i did shout out in a couple of parts, Sushil was rather concerned about me! Anyway if you want a good read that you will not be able to put down with a few twists that will keep you guessing, then get The Expats.
Restaurant
We eat out once or twice a week and love trying new places, but, my restaurant of the month has to be Magic Italy in Palolem, Goa. We have been there countless times and just cannot get enough of the place, i have never had Pizza so good!!! The restaurant is just off the main beach and if you ever go to Goa you MUST try it! The place is run by an italian family and is really chilled out, we sat on cushions on the floor around a low table with our friends Helen and Ziggy and had a delicious meal. I had the 4 cheese pizza with extra mushrooms and Sushil had half a lasagne and half a spinach mascarpone raviloli. We ate here the night after our wedding and it certainly removed any post wedding blues! Pizzas are huge and about £2, lovely! It is worth the 10 hour drive to Goa if you ask me!
Drink
I love my wine, especially fizz, champagne, prosecco or cava - in that order. Indian wine has a really bad rep, and to buy imported wine here you need to own a small country, a bottle of blossom chavvy hill costs almost £20 due to the laws on import tax! For our wedding I had all our UK guests organised to bring 2 bottles of prosecco over each so you can imagine my panic when I was left with only 4 guests coming from the UK, which was multiplied when 2 of said guests (parents) couldn't fit 4 bottles in their bags!!! We managed with a combination of forward thinking and begging favours so ended up with 10 bottles, but then I discovered indian champagne, Sula Brut. At 850rs a bottle its about a tenner and you know what, it isn't bad! Dry and very fizzy, the taste reminds me of my wedding(s) and is that good that I am currently planning a visit to the Sula vineyard! Cheers!
Outfit
Has to be my 1950's style wedding dress! I felt like a princess!
Recipe
As I am now a wifey I seem to have become some kind of masterchef, honestly I just cook and cook and cook! My 15 year old feminist self would be outraged! Even now I wonder, what have I become, cooking for my husband every night? But why should I feel bad? I enjoy it! Here is my mother in laws recipe for channa dhal with Ghiya, Sushils favourite dinner. I make this in advance as there is usually enough for a couple of days dinners, and we wolf it down with rotis - which I can finally make to the perfect softness and thickness but sadly still more shaped like India than a perfect circle. Ghiya is a vegetable quite common in India, I googled for the english translation and it is bottle gourd, if you cant find it dont worry, it's delicous without too!
A little hint for indian cooking is to buy the frozen ready prepared ginger and garlic cubes, if you use them they save a lot of time and for this you need one of each.
Also, the most important bit of equipment in Indian cooking as far as I am concerned, is a pressure cooker, I use mine every day!
Channa dahl with Ghiya
1 cup Channa Dahl
Half tsp mirchi (red chilli powder), haldi (turmeric) & salt
3 glass water
1/2 a ghiya
2 tbsp ghee
1 inch Ginger
6 small cloves garlic
1 onion
2 tsp jeera (cumin seeds)
1 tomato
Handful dhania (fresh coriander) washed and chopped (i just hack at it with scissors!)
1/2 tsp dhania (coriander) powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
Wash dhal and bring water to boil in pressure cooker uncovered with mirchi, haldi and salt
Put dahl in when washed
Peel Ghiya and cut in small pieces
Wash Ghiya and add to pot
Add 1 tbsp ghee
Put lid on pressure cooker and cook on medium flame, after first whistle reduce to low flame - cook for half an hour
Meanwhile, chop ginger and garlic
Chop onion
In another pan make tadka - Fry garlic in 1 tbsp ghee for 2 min then add jeera til brown on medium flame
add onion ginger - reduce to low flame
Chop tomato
Chop dhania
After 10 mins of cooking tadka add tomato
After 1-2 mins add dhania powder and garam masala powder
Stir then add fresh dhania, stir then remove flame & cover
After 30 mins open channa dhal and stir, mashing as you go
Combine with tarka
Serve !
Thats it from me then, I hope you liked this little review of my month, I'll do it again next month but I'd like to mix up the categories, maybe next time I'll talk favourite films, purchases, places etc! Happy bank holiday weekend all! X my photo of the month of April was created using Project 365, one of the best apps you'll ever come across! X
No comments:
Post a Comment