Shocks and Shoes

Weekly Goals Update – 15 January 2012

6:12:00 pm

My first book review of the year!! Also, this is the perfect book for this time of the year, considering everyone’s just about made their New Year resolutions and are now wondering how to execute them. And no surprises for guessing the topper on everyone’s lists :-).

This review is part of blogadda’s book review program and the book being reviewed today is ‘Thinner Dinner’ by Shubhra Krishan.

Title: Thinner Dinner

Author: Shubhra Krishan

Plot: Shubhra Krishan, a formerly hearty diner from the heartlands of Haryana, explains (very convincingly) how ‘thinning’ down your PM meal can be the best decision you take on your journey to a slimmer and fitter you.

This isn’t just a cookbook, with the author presenting her personal experiences, peppered with fun cartoons, interesting anecdotes and of course, lots of information about how and what to have for dinner.

Shubhra Krishan talks about her journey, the incident that gets her thinking about her diet and how she began tweaking her dinner to make it healthier and yummier.

Quite a variety of cuisines are covered, which is very useful considering the sheer number of options the urban Indian has today for his/her dinner. As a result, we have dals, parathas, rice dishes, pasta, vegetables, non vegetarian dishes, sizzlers, pizza and more.

Review: The first thing that stands out in the book is its non preachy, fun, conversational style which is a pleasure to read. The author is no nutritionist or diet expert and neither does she claim to be one. However, she does come across as a passionate foodie and her love for food is quite contagious!!

So, the dals come to life, you feel the fluffiness of the rotis, you can smell the fragrant rice dishes. The best part is that these basics of Indian cuisine are given due importance and considering that they form the average Indian’s comfort food, this book scores major points here.

Ms. Krishan doesn’t claim all the recipes as her own and gives credit where it is due. It is quite refreshing to read someone who doesn’t claim to be the know-all of cooking and yet provides enough facts and content to keep you interested throughout. Most of the recipes are simple, with basic ingredients and easy to follow instructions – hardly anything requires any special cooking expertise.

The humor is another vital component of this interesting little book. The author herself gives amusing comparisons and analogies to put her point across. “[The difference between a haath-ki-roti and a roti rolled out using a chakla belan] is really the difference between a waif-like model and a full figured woman.” is one such gem.

Even foods considered diet villains – aloo parathas, pulaos, pizzas – are given a quick makeover and converted into heroes. The author stresses on maintaining the wholesomeness of all dishes and also emphasizes the importance of eating with all your senses.

One minor glitch (if it can be called that) is that eating in front of the TV seems to be encouraged a lot. This was probably done keeping a single person in mind, but it does kind of feel odd after being repeated a few times. Also, families having fussy kids or toddlers might not take too kindly to eating dal with a teaspoon of rice in it. However, this is but nit-picking; the rest of the dishes are more than family friendly :-)!!

Do try out this book, you will definitely not regret it. It’ll bring a smile to your face, especially if you’ve been among the trying-to-cut-down-my-portions/carbs crowd. It’ll also provide you many simple dishes from ultimate comfort food to slightly more advanced sizzlers. Bon Appetit!!

This review is a part of the Book Reviews Program at BlogAdda.com. Participate now to get free books!

Food

Recipe for the Week – Basic Pancakes

2:16:00 pm

Fashion

First Sale of the Year – Mini Haul Post

4:46:00 pm

So the first week of the year is officially over!! I guess everyone was just beginning to get more or less settled in their daily lives when, BAM! The sale season hits us!! If you’re new here and don’t know anything about me or what the word ‘SALE’ does to me, I’d suggest you read this.

Anyway, we went shopping for the first time this year, though it was mainly for the stuff on Cub’s list, and so my haul is more or less a mini haul.

Couple of Tshirts for lounging around in.

I’ve been eyeing this necklace at Westside for a while now, and when I saw it marked down by 40%, I ran for it!! I love the vintage-y metal and the dangling stuff. This is the one thing I got that was not on the shopping list. (Yes, I am serious about ‘The List’).

Bunch of pastel colored scrunchies to mix and match with my outfits. I’ll be needing them a lot, come summer.

A set of these cute coffee cups. Aren’t they adorable? Drinking coffee is soo much more fun now :-).

I also got an Anti-Breakage shampoo from Herbal Essences; even that was on discount!

The stuff below is part of what my Mom got me when she came back from her holiday in Singapore:

Navy blue beaded bracelet. This is my favorite and I can’t wait to wear it!!

Hearts bracelet. Very dainty and girly. And pink. Say no more.

Cub looked at these and yelled ‘Mamma, fork!!’. Umm, ok, it does kinda look like that. Hubby was like, don’t they look a bit dangerous? Dangerous?? Cmon!!! Anyway I can’t help but think of recycling whenever I look at that triangle :-).

Cub got a whole lot of stuff – new bag, new toys, new PJs and since he’s a lot into trains right now, a Thomas themed T shirt, bath towel and a tiny little toy engine. Those blasted Thomas things are so expensive, I mean, look at the size of them:

See? That’s why I took the pic with it on my palm, so you know how small it actually is. Honestly, their only aim is to exploit little train-lovers' parents' wallets.

I still have some stuff left on my sale shopping list, and might hit the stores again some time later (without Cub this time). Have you guys started shopping? What did you get so far?

Personal

Weekly Goals Update – 8 January 2012

10:11:00 pm

Food

Recipe for the Week - Microwaveable Nutella Mini-Cake

11:05:00 am

Ha! My first recipe of the year!! Ok, before I start: this is a high calorie dessert, and before you remind me of my resolutions; this was made for my son. This is actually a very slightly modified version of the famous Nutella Mug Cake from here. I used a bowl instead of a mug, and cut down the sweetness a bit. I also had to cook it for longer.

Remember those days when you just want a piece of chocolate cake, like, now, and can’t go through the whole circus of sieving/whisking/baking/cleaning up?? Well, this is the answer to those days :-).

What you’ll need:

4 tbsp flour
¼ tsp baking powder
a tiny pinch of salt
2.5 tbsp caster sugar
2.5 tbsp cocoa powder
2 tbsp Nutella
3 tbsp milk
3 tbsp vegetable oil
1 egg

What you’re going to do:

Put all the ingredients into a medium sized microwaveable bowl. Ensure that the bowl is more than just large enough to hold all the ingredients together.
Whisk everything together with a hand whisk. (No need for the electrical contraption, manual will do)
Microwave for 2 – 3 minutes, depending on the wattage of the microwave. (Mine required 3).
Scoop out from the bowl and serve or upturn on a plate as I did, for a more cake-y style :-).

Eat as is or with ice cream as Cub has done. (Yup, he's still with ice cream)

(Sorry for the crappy pics, I made it towards evening and the sun was beginning to set)

Can you honestly find a cake recipe easier than this? This is supposed to be a single serving as per the original recipe, but realistically speaking, it is way more than that. I’d say that at least 4 people can have a comfortably sized slice from this entire cake. You can, of course, customize it to your liking – whipped cream, nuts, chocolate sauce, strawberries and so on and so forth.

I loved the moist sponginess of the resulting cake. Do try it out; I’m sure you won’t be disappointed :-)

This recipe is a participant for the ‘Dish Name starts with N’ event at Akila’s blog, ‘Learning to Cook’.

Newer Posts

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My First Blog Award Ever!

Weekly Goals Update – 15 January 2012

Book Review - Thinner Dinner

Recipe for the Week – Basic Pancakes

First Sale of the Year – Mini Haul Post

Weekly Goals Update – 8 January 2012

Recipe for the Week - Microwaveable Nutella Mini-Cake

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