The Chef in Me

After a month long planning and lot of discussions, finally my thoughts were put into execution and CHAPATHIs were made for the first time in my house on Jan-28, 08.

Every day at the dinner table me and my roommates used to discuss how bad the frozen parothas were and how costly they were. We use to come to a conclusion that we making chapathis ourselves will be a good idea. Though we use to come to a conclusion but its implementation was a difficult job. Making chapathis firstly require us to prepare the dough, then the Rolling of the dough and finally the cooking. Making the dough according to us was an ok job. But Rolling of it was the most difficult job that we thought. In every discussion we used to come long way till this point and then conclude that frozen parothas even though costly and not that good but were suitable for lazy guys like us.

But on Jan-27 I finally decided to give a shot, went to Indian grocery shop and bought wheat flour. For my luck there was no 1-2KG wheat flour bag so I ended up buying 5KG bag. As I entered the room my roommates were surprised to see wheat bag and they burst into laugh saying that I will be wasting a huge lot of flour.

That evening after gathering a lot of courage went and prepared the dough. For my luck it came properly. The rolling was also good. Even though the chapathis were not round I was able to depict various country maps in them. The taste of chapathis was really good and I got a lot of kudos from my roomies. Now from that day onwards every night we make chapathis. Wow my first planned project is a success…………..

This is me Now. A year back I didn’t know what happens in a kitchen. Never ever lighted a gas stove. My mom is an awesome cook and never allowed me to enter kitchen and while I was in Bangalore we had a cook who used to make good food. But after coming to US I had to cook and initial two months were really hell. But thanks to my roomies I learned the art of cooking. And also thanks to them who tasted my worst cooking and kept on encouraging me. Atlast the Chef in me has started to grow :)

Champions at the receiving end

What a month January has been for sporting activities. Australian open tennis and India tour of Australia cricket. Both the events were feast to watch.

To start with let’s begin with Australian open tennis. I have been a tennis fan since I was a kid. After coming to US the enthusiasm has increased as now I have even started to play the game. I am a diehard fan of Agassi and Nadal.

This year Australian open was quiet important for Nadal as he had to prove his point on hard court. It was also important for Federer as he was defending the championship and was playing to win the championship three times in a row. But both these great players lost in Semifinals. Federer lost to Novak Djokovic in straight sets. The last time when Federer lost in straight sets was way back in 2002. Nadal lost to Tsonga in straight sets.
What this year Aus open proved is that even Masters of the game are vulnerable. If pressure is applied at the right time they too make mistakes. Its always the masters of the game are the one who are in pressure as they are considered to be the favorites. The underdogs are the one who have nothing to lose. Djokovic played superb tennis for which even Federer has to bow.

The next big event of the month was India tour of Australia. The two best test team in the world. It’s always difficult to defeat Australians in their home. And after losing the first test Indian team looked vulnerable. But Indians came back fighting hard in Sydney, but unfortunately they lost that test too. Going for the third test Australians were playing to set a world record of 17 consecutive wins. But Indians fought hard and defeated the Australians in third test at Perth where only few thought that Indian could survive. One should really appreciate the way the Indians have played as they were down under and were also involved in lot of controversies.

The young bowlers did the trick for Indians. Australian middle order batting line up was never in pressure in the past 3 years as their openers would give them a solid start. But in third test the openers failed which tested the middle order. For Australians Attack was the best weapon, but in third test the attack from batsmen back fired them as they lost quick wickets for bad shots. Even here too the Masters were at receiving end. Indians proved that if you play good sensible game you can defeat the toughest opponent too.