A sour journey to my Paneer Butter Masala !

While shopping for weekly groceries ( Never thought it would come to this day), I decided to be adventurous this saturday night and make a Paneer dish at last after trying dry sabzi's only for quite some time owing to my fear to use pressure cooker that it might blast itself to pieces, I really need to get over that. So I quickly had to check in recipe that whether it required pressure cooker. It did not and off we go. ! Of course if I would have been more vigilant, I would have learnt that dish required various pastes and purees which required arsenal that I could not comprehend with my modest kitchen capabilities.

So once I was about to start on it, I was missing a hand blender first of all and then cashew nuts and then cream. But somehow I was determined, undeterred that tonight this needed to be done. Enough with Aloo* sabzis, I had test my hand at this. Went to Walmart, out 24 hour open supercenter and got the food processor and cashews and cream for the dish. As I started working my way on puree, and it was time to blend the tomatoes, my new food processor betrayed (or I thought) and decided not to start. The exchange center generally closes early so I had to wait till morning to get it replaced. Yes, 30 day return/exchange policy on everything everywhere. Bizzare when I first came to know about this !

Sunday Noon, I decided not to give up and decided to dedicate this day to a successful dish, so I went back to walmart and exchanged that for a new one. But as a typical Indian, I decided to test that at walmart itself so that I do not have to get another round in if something does not work. I opened it up and decided to plug the base in one of the sockets and Woh ! it would not start as well. I took it to exchange lady again and she wanted to give it a try so she also tried her permutations and combinations, but to no effect and success. While waiting 5 minutes someone in the line suggested these things don't work if you do not fix the cover and plug in bowl correctly. I knew my foolishness then, asked that let me try this at home again and I will bring it back if it does not work. By the time, the exchange lady also had the motor started. I wrapped it all up.

That's something about me. Each day, I find new ways to embarrass myself. It just comes so naturally to me. Other day at the San Diego airport, I got in line to get a Muffin, there was a nice poster in front of glass where they were kept which said "Freshly Baked Muffins" and when it was my turn, the counter girl asked my what kind of Muffin I wanted, I replied Freshly basked ones and she gave me a look that said that "of course they are fresh by default you idiot".

Back home with new blender  (old one was also functional if I had read the manual, sometime applying just goes out of the window), I decided to make the pastes. Cashew paste took me 4 times to get right in the end. I added water and cashews together 3 times in different proportions and each time I got a soggy semi solid thing was no closer to paste. Finally got it right. Tried mixing it all up got a dish though a tinge of sourness in my final result. Maybe I added less sugar or added a little but more onions but edible in the end. And of course not to forget the colossal mess that I created in kitchen today. ! Of course had to clean it all up too !

   

San Diego !

Work taking places. ! And probably San Diego is prettiest of the lot. Loved it so far out here. Serene Beaches , Amazing sunsets. Each day after work at 7, I have been going to Torrey pines beach and standing on the beach witnessing scintillating views offered by sunsets on the beach. Flowing Wind , Gushing waves and a retreating Sun. Enough to take away a day’s tiredness. People have no job taking 9-5’s each day in this place. Qualcomm have probably played a masterstroke in retaining employees. The place has so much to offer that people won’t feel like leaving. The only place in US (of little that I have been to) where you I have felt European touch is probably in La Jolla coves, the artistic arches for the old buildings giving a renaissance type aspect to the place.

Did some sightseeing as usual and went some places. It’s such a great destination with so many touristy places , theme parks etc. Missed on sea world with whale watching, but maybe for next time. I want to get out of work early on Friday if possible and want to visit the Midway carrier if possible. It’s just a history thing with how jets actually can get launched from such a short take off length.

Definitely want to visit again at a future point of time, but not alone ! 

Finally !

It took me 7 weeks. 7 full weeks to finally sit down and write. It's been some crazy times and hard too. A change of place, a change of culture, a change of lifestyle. lifestyle is the one killing me. "Roti , Kapda aur Makaan" Nah, just exaggerating but very close to not too.  April 14th, I made a move to US to take up a position with Mentor in Austin and it has been "this or that" on both sides of the date ever since.

Of all my previous sojourns in past 3 years (can happily say about the company paid world tour accumulating to 1 year or so), I have always looked from the other side. Posh hotels, rental cars, Taxis , arrays of restaurants on offer to eat and experience the culture of the cities and above all everything expensed. Lifestyle is a different matter.

Since the relocation, it took me 3 weekends at Ikea(a place everyone recommends for newbies like me) to collect all the "furniture". When I say furniture, I am actually referring to cardboard boxes who come with components of different shapes and a manual that if you do everything right might ultimately look like something that you looked at at the store. No free deliveries and no free assemblies. One might thing, that what a laze ass I am that can't I get this much done, but thought process arises from those "carpenter dihadis" where you can pay someone some money in India and get all things done. Ultimately, I did it myself with a lot help from Aditya and Naveen, my colleagues and friends.

Though I had been to Austin before, I had not actually been to South Austin, where I have taken up place. So initially, it was all hunky dory with new restaurants to explore, new cuisines to savor but soon the realization started creeping in, that its not going to be expensed, so its a fine time to pull out those utencils and crockery that you paid extra dollars to the airlines for all those extra baggage pounds. Pulling them out and placing them in the cabinets is one thing but what to do with them is completely another. Again, my though process comes from the cooks which were so freely available before that you never had to do even go and buy some haldi or sabzi. As appalling and shameful as it may sound, I could not even bake eggs properly. Here thanks to my dear mom and my dearest friend Suruchi a.k.a tillz to help compile a list of all the list complete buffoons and amateurs like to me need to get started. Being in California, Tillz helped a lot with all those recipes and step and step by process to make aloo pyaaz for a start. But the aloos remained hard till the very end. I took them for lunch hoping that another microwave round might soften them up. My admin came near microwave at the wrong moment that day when I was heating them up, so I had to offer here some as courtesy. She looked at them and said that "her husband and me had been conspiring to kill her" of course jokingly but they did not taste as bad as they looked.

Its been a few weeks but I am getting there. Now I can make Baingan Bharata, Aloo Gobhi, Aloo Pyaaz that are edible to some degree and I have been experimenting out of my laziness to finish the last night dinner without making anything else with maggi + baingan bharata, nachos + aloo gobhi. I am pathetic.

But the apartment is almost set, I am still looking for a Sofa that I do not have to assemble. But I am getting there. Slowly slotting into a daily schedule to cook,eat,work. I won't go to cleaning and washing as you already know where I am going to get at, but they also arrive with bandwagons once every weeks :) . This all is not going away so lazies like me who are not good at anything also have to fall in line. Do get my started on closets. They do not have almirahs. !

All has not been that bad too, but I will keep that for another day !