Inception: A Real Dream or a Dreamy reality

The Beach, Blood Diamond, Catch Me If you Can and now Inception. Who knew 12 years ago when Titanic released that this sweet looking lad (just 24 back then) would star in such great, cult movies. I was totally floored when I first saw Matrix; Neo has been a personal favourite for years. But after watching Inception last night, it is safe to say that this one totally kicks Matrix’s ass. It took me about 15 minutes in the beginning of the film to get in tune with what was going on and then I was almost pissed off at the ten minute interval; hell with cheese flavoured popcorn!

Planting an idea in someone else’s head; in their subconscious! At the top of my head, I can think of a million ways in which people can abuse this skill. Controlling other people’s thoughts, dreams and subconscious thinking! This to me sounds rather familiar. Taking a spiritual lesson from the movie, I really started pondering on this phenomenon – a dream within a dream; each time you go deeper you need a thud, a kick, and a nudge to bring you back into reality. Or who knows; perceived reality?

“Once upon a time, I, Chuang Tzu, dreamt I was a butterfly, fluttering hither and thither, to all intents and purposes a butterfly. I was conscious only of following my fancies as a butterfly, and was unconscious of my individuality as a man. Suddenly I awaked, and there I lay, myself again. Now I do not know whether I was then a man dreaming I was a butterfly, or whether I am now a butterfly dreaming I am a man. Between a man and a butterfly there is necessarily a barrier. The transition is called metempsychosis.”

While we are in the dream it seems real. Everything about it feels real. Just like in “real” life, every stress seems worthwhile, necessary to get us through the day, week, month, year, etc. Paying the bills, putting up with idiots, liking what we do or doing what we like; would this all be so damn serious if it was just a layer of our dreamy reality? Knowing we could be getting up any moment remembering just a blurry sequence of events we dreamt about, which probably gets ingrained in our memory. Memory; oh memory! How to summarize this metamorphic, colossal, pain in the ass word? At the end of the day or our journey (sorry for sounding too philosophical) are we just a collection of all these projections, thoughts, dreams and memories? Does that draw a pretty picture from the end of the tunnel?

Planting a thought or an idea in someone else’s head and succeeding in fertilizing it will give any human being a deluded power. I guess we have all tried doing it at some point, consciously or unconsciously or subconsciously, while we are on the subject of dreams. We all probably have a master script tucked away in some part of our head, which has all the dialogues of all the characters in our life. That’s why we want to decide for everyone around us – how they should behave, with us or in general, how they should dress, talk, what they should do with their life or more importantly how what they are doing is so wrong. And the minute things don’t function according to our master script we can’t let go. If someone’s dialogues don’t match to the ones in our master script we deem them culpable, mean and deceitful.

Time to wake up; who are we kidding here? Controlling our own wandering mind can take a lifetime or several lifetimes. And taking the responsibility to reign over everyone else’s mind, thoughts or projections is only the beginning of all the hell breaking loose; probably just in our head, where we anyway choose to live most of the time.

Baked Cheesecake

Ingredients:

1. One packet of digestive biscuits
2. 75 grams of melted butter
3. 200 grams of cream cheese
4. Three tablespoon fresh curd
5. Three tablespoon sugar
6. Two tablespoon condensed milk
7. Two large eggs
8. One teaspoon vanilla essence

Cooking Steps:

1. Preheat the oven at 150 degrees
2. Put the biscuits in a plastic bag and crumble them with a rolling pin till they form a breadcrumbs like consistency
3. Empty the biscuit crumbs in a bowl and add the melted butter and mix it with a spatula till the butter evenly coats the biscuits
4. Use a nine inch cake tin or any oven proof square or round bowl and add the biscuit and butter mixture to it
5. Using the back of a spoon evenly divide the mixture in the tin
6. Refrigerate this mixture for about 10 minutes
7. In a large bowl take sugar and cream cheese and mix it with a wooden spoon.
8. Next add the curd and vanilla essence and continue mixing.
9. Add one egg at a time and continue mixing. Do not beat the mixture, just mix it efficiently.
10. Next add the condensed milk and mix some more
11. Pour this mixture on your biscuit base and bake it in the oven for about 45 minutes. Keep checking as every oven is different. The cake should set nicely but still have a slightly wobbly consistency.
12. Remove the tin from the oven and let it cool completely.
13. Refrigerate it for a minimum of four hours or even overnight for best results.
14. Serve!

Aubergine Roulade

Ingredients:

1. One medium size aubergine sliced into thin circular slices
2. One teaspoon ginger garlic paste
3. One tablespoon olive oil
4. One small onion, finely chopped
5. Three large tomatoes, pureed
6. One tablespoon tomato ketchup
7. One teaspoon sugar
8. Oregano, chili flakes, Tobasco – all to taste
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. Two tablespoon black olives
11. Half cup shredded English cheddar

Cooking Steps:

1. Salt the aubergine slices generously and leave them  in a plate to release moisture for about 15 minutes
2. In the meantime start working on your pasta sauce. Heat the olive oil in a wok.
3. Once the oil is hot, add the ginger garlic paste and give it about 30 seconds.
4. Next, add the onions and mix well till the onions become slightly translucent.
5. Next, add the tomato puree, sugar, ketchup and seasonings – salt, pepper, Tobasco, chili flakes and oregano.
6. Let it come to a boil and reduce the flame and cover it for 15 minutes and let it cook.
7. Do a taste test and add any more seasonings if required. Turn the flame off.
8. Next with the help of kitchen towel take each aubergine slice and wipe it to make it dry and get rid of all the moisture. You can even press it lightly so that it can release all the water.
9. If you have a grill, you can grill each slice without using any oil. Second option is to use little oil and roast the aubergine slices on a pan and make them crispy on both sides.
10. Preheat the oven.
11. Take an oven-proof dish and coat the base with some slightly cooled pasta sauce.
12. Next, place the aubergine slices next to each other in the dish in a way that they cover the entire plate.
13. Next, layer the entire sheet of slices generously with pasta sauce.
14. Top it with black olives and shredded English cheddar.
15. Bake it for about 10 minutes. Keep a check, as every oven is different and you don’t want it to burn.
16. Serve. Goes best with a fresh salad and some garlic toasts.

Sex and the Shitty 2!

I went for it! Despite the half star rating, the trashy reviews in the papers and the verdict on E!, I went for it anyway. I am a HUGE fan of the series. Of course, it will never be as dear as FRIENDS, but still I absolutely love all the six seasons. The clever puns, the zesty episodes, the messages hidden in every episode, and most of all, the women! Independent, smart, out there and not afraid of being themselves, on some level everyone could relate to each one of them.

A continuation of the first movie (where Carrie and Big finally tie the knot in City Hall), the sequel left me really baffled. Considering the bad reviews, my expectations weren’t too high to begin with, but still I was kind of disappointed. It begins with a gay wedding; Stanford and Anthony who hated each other decide to exchange vows in the gayest wedding in American history. When the wedding gets over, the movie depicts exactly what’s going on in the girls’ lives. Carrie and Big have absolutely no chemistry. The spark, which was kept alive despite their on again off again relationship in the series for six years is completely missing. Miranda is frazzled about her new boss from hell who hates her. Charlotte is in the process of realizing that motherhood is no joyride after all. Her younger one is giving them sleepless nights and the braless nanny from Ireland is doing all she can to stop the Goldenblatts from exploding. Samantha, at 52, despite her ravishing personality, fails to work her charm. Obsessed with battling menopause and hot flashes, it’s no surprise sex and getting laid are the only things on her mind, yes even after 14 years!

Miranda quits her job; yes the career shark, cynical, more upfront than anyone lady decides she deserves better treatment at work. Carrie oh Carrie! Her biggest complaint is that she has to eat takeout dinner more than two nights a week. Oh and she hates the fact that Big won’t dress up and go to a party with her on a Monday night. She can’t take the emotional upheaval of his behaviour. How could he not get off the couch, only be interested in watching movies on weeknights after work? She needs some sparkle! Yes, after all they are not planning on having kids, and suddenly it dawns on her just the two of them with a bedroom LCD and takeout dinner? She realizes she didn’t sign up for this.

Courtesy of Samantha, Charlotte begins to get apprehensive about her Nanny, Aaron who seems to be the favourite of the girls and Harry. But imagining her life without this full-time help is like having a closet full of haute couture in size 2, when you are a size 8! Samantha catches up with old flame Smith (who looks smoking hot) at his movie premiere. She also meets a Sheikh from Abu Dhabi at the party who is interested in doing business with her! The poor souls, bogged down by their worldly responsibilities take up Samantha’s offer to go to the Middle East for a lavish, all expense paid week at the Sheikh’s hotel.

Just before Carrie’s holiday, Big decides to bounce off an unconventional idea! He wants two days a week away from Carrie, so that they can both have their space to do their own thing. In Charlotte’s words they make marriage sound like a job, where the employees need a break from work on the weekend before they get back to the grind on Monday! Carrie herself is contemplating the idea; as on some level she realizes getting the man she wanted throughout the series and living with him night after night for the rest of her life, isn’t as exciting as it looked!

The dream vacation can be described in four letters – BLAH! The prime service, plush cars, state-of-the-art hotel, and Samantha without her hormones! You do the math! Charlotte wants to stay in touch with Harry all the time to make sure he isn’t cheating. Miranda, the only sane character, is out to have a good time and explore fun facts about Abu Dhabi. Samantha is bickering and bickering throughout the holiday, until she meets this Dutch guy who revs up her sex drive. Carrie bumps into Aidan at a local market and decides to have dinner with him. Bumping into him in Abu Dhabi after all these years must mean something right?

The dinner with Aidan, strictly against Charlotte’s advice is something Carrie highly regrets. They talk about their marriages and Aidan shows her the pics of his three little boys. Carrie, starved for attention and flirtation, is initially very happy with her decision of meeting him. They end up kissing while saying good bye and Carrie, flees off to the hotel to meet her girls. Meanwhile Miranda and Charlotte open their hearts out about motherhood and life after family. Miss. Bradshaw and her dilemmas never cease to amaze her friends. After a big discussion of whether or not to tell Big, Carrie calls him anyway and lets him know! After all, she has had a rough day; given the Aidan accident and the New Yorker she read that bashed her new book on marriages and vows.

The holiday comes to an abysmal and abrupt end. The girls are forced to leave the hotel unceremoniously after Samantha is caught by the police for making out on the beach with the Dutch man. Back home, Carrie apologises to Big and he forgives her; can’t really get mad for kissing another man; after all he did leave her at the altar in the last movie! Carrie realizes her mistake and takes new vows; she finally gives in; watching old movies on the couch and eating takeout is not that bad after all. Miranda finds a new job and Charlotte gets busy with her family.

My main confusion is – do you think Aidan kissed Carrie only to get back at Big on some level? So here’s it in a nutshell. She met Aidan, a good guy after Big broke her heart for the second time. She cheated on Aidan with Big, while Big was married to Natasha, and then she begged Aidan to take her back and dumped him because he put a ring on her. She finally got back with Big after he went all the way to Paris to bring her back. In the first movie, they decided to get married and Big panicked and ditched. In the end, however, they did get married and in two years Carrie got bored enough to kiss Aidan. Phew!

Miranda’s and Charlotte’s characters have matured into poised ladies taking their life and responsibilities seriously, and still managing to have some fun. Samantha, oh Samantha, we all know you love sex and can pull off the same outfit as Miley Cyrus who isn’t even 20! But are you f***ing capable of talking or thinking about anything else?

Michael Patrick King! Time to hang up your boots and move on to another project! This is a serious case of overkill. You aren’t going to grow more wealth with this. The only thing growing are the girls’ Botox bills! I swear on Chanel and Manolo Blahnik!

Kadhai Paneer

Ingredients:

1. Two tablespoon vegetable oil
2. Half teaspoon cumin seeds
3. One teaspoon ginger garlic paste
4. Three whole cloves
5. One cinnamon stick
6. One cup cottage cheese cubed
7. One medium size bay leaf
8. One large onion finely chopped
9. Half cup frozen green peas
10. Two large tomatoes pureed
11. One capsicum cut into medium size pieces
12. Salt and pepper to taste
13. Red chilli powder to taste
14. One green chilli, finely chopped
15. Cumin Powder to taste
16. Turmeric powder to taste
17. Freshly chopped coriander for garnishing

Cooking Steps:

1. Heat the oil in a medium size wok or kadhai
2. Add the cumin seeds and ginger garlic paste and give it about 30 seconds.
3. Next add the cloves, cinnamon stick and bay leaf.
4. Next add the onions and green chilli and mix it well
5. Once the onions turn slightly golden brown, add the peas and paneer (you may add little more oil at this point for the peas and paneer to fry properly). You can even fry the paneer separately, if you don’t mind the extra oil.
6. Once the peas soften a little and the paneer turns slightly golden brown, add the tomato puree. At this point, depending on the consistency you can add a little water.
7. Next add the capsicum and mix well.
8. Now add all the dry ingredients – salt, pepper, cumin powder, turmeric powder and red chilli powder.
9. Cover the wok and let it simmer for about five to seven minutes.
10. If you think, the dish is too watery, add a paste of one teaspoon wheat flower mixed in one tablespoon water to the dish. This will make it nice and thick.
11. Make sure to taste the mixture before turning the stove off. You don’t want to taste uncooked spices in your dish.
12. Serve. Garnish with freshly chopped coriander leaves and some grated paneer.

Vegetarian Thai Noodles

Ingredients:

1. Thai rice noodles (little more than a handful)
2. Three cups warm water
3. Cottage cheese (cubed)
4. One cup Bell pepper (use different colours – red, yellow, green)
5. One cup bean sprouts
6. One teaspoon ginger garlic paste
7. Pepper sauce
8. Chilli sauce to taste
9. Salt and pepper to taste
10. Two tablespoon oil

Cooking Steps:
1. Rice noodles cook pretty fast. The ones I have used don’t need to be boiled and just need to rest in hot boiling water for about 10-15 minutes. The idea is to cook them just right so that they don’t overcook and become mushy.
2. Once the noodles are cooked, drain the water and wash them with cold water to make sure they don’t stick to each other.
3. Use a medium size wok to heat up the oil and add the ginger garlic paste to it. Give it about 30 seconds.
4. Next add the cottage cheese and let it fry and mix it well with the ginger garlic paste.
5. After the cottage cheese has turned slightly golden from the sides, add the bell pepper and bean sprouts. They don’t need to be boiled separately, as you just need to stir fry them.
6. Next, add the salt, pepper, pepper sauce (optional), chilli sauce. Make sure you use salt carefully as the sauces also have salt in them. Also, remember we haven’t salted the noodles at all.
7. Add the noodles and let all the ingredients mix well on high heat.
8. Serve hot! You can garnish it with basil leaves.

You can also use any other veggies of your choice. Thai food is generally on the spicy side. But keeping your taste buds in mind, you can use as much or as little chilli sauce as you like.

Penne Pesto

Ingredients:

1. Two teaspoon olive oil
2. Barilla Penne Pasta (little more than a handful)
3. Five cloves of garlic (you can even use garlic paste)
4. Black olives
5. Two cups of fresh basil leaves
6. Parmesan cheese
7. Oregano, Tobasco and chilli flakes
8. Salt and pepper to taste
9. A dash of milk

Cooking Steps:

1. Boil the pasta in a large bowl. Add salt to taste and some drops of olive oil to it. For cooking time, read instructions on the pasta box.

2. Put the garlic cloves and basil leaves in a blender along with few drops of olive oil and blend it till it forms a paste. Make sure the paste has some texture and is not fully smooth.

3. Now heat about one teaspoon olive oil in a wok and once it’s heated, add the basil paste to it.

4. Now add a dash of milk to it and mix it well.

5. Next, add your salt, pepper, oregano and chilli flakes all to taste. Remember pesto is never spicy, it’s creamy, so go very easy on the flakes and Tobasco. You can even skip it, depending on your taste buds.

6. Next add the parmesan cheese. Make sure the quantity is not too little or too much.

7. Let the mixture form a good consistency.

8. Once your pasta is boiled, drain out the water and rinse it with cold water, so that they don’t stick to each other.

9. Now add the pasta to the mixture and mix well.

10. Next add the black olives and mix it well.

11. Serve. You can even add some grated parmesan on top of the pasta for that extra flavour.

12. Add some olive oil on top (optional).

You can also add any roasted nuts (like walnuts or peanuts) in your pesto if you like. Also, you can use a mix of fresh basil leaves and ready pesto paste to add some extra zing to your recipe. Either ways it will taste great! Enjoy!!

A Whole New World

Ok! So here it is. I never thought I’ll become a writer or for that matter, someone who enjoys cooking. But here I am; a professional writer and copy editor with five years of experience and someone who is extremely passionate about cooking; since a few months.

Like all kids, I also had dreams of becoming a doctor, teacher, actress, etc. After finishing school with flying colours, I decided to take up commerce, which was never a subject of my interest. In senior college I started pursuing French and successfully acquired my diploma along with my Bachelor of Commerce in Management Studies degree. Needles to say, I am neither using my French or commerce in my personal or professional life as of today.

After dabbling in varied felids, such as becoming a teacher’s assistant for French in my college (failed miserably), giving private tuitions (didn’t really enjoy it), interning at a huge travel agency (photocopied and filed documents and went to consulates to get other people’s visas pretending to be their relative – YUCK), I started working for a travel content provider as a French translator. Alas, the French assignments got over sooner than expected and my editor told me to give writing and proof reading a shot! Ha! Me? Scared? In a nutshell, I started loving it and it’s been five years. I am also working on my first fiction title and intend to finish it soon.

Now let’s talk about cooking. Cooking was always seen as a mundane, boring chore of mixing some ingredients together to make a decent meal. Sorry Gordon Ramsey and Jamie Oliver I love you both, no offence! An ardent foodie, eating is something I really enjoyed and still do. So I started making some of my favourite recipes and to my surprise, the end results were fairly good. Though I am still learning each day with a new recipe and trying to understand and implement the presentation bit, cooking as of today has become like meditation. It is a sacred activity I immensely enjoy and I wish to take this passion to a new level someday.

This is a small attempt to share my writing and my recipes with people. Hope you enjoy it!

Love,

Kinjal

Hello world!

Welcome to WordPress.com. This is your first post. Edit or delete it and start blogging!