Twenty- five Seven

Personally speaking

Recent Posts

  • It’s Time for Strawberry Jam

    With CoVid still hanging around, very few of us have time to spare to make stuff like jam . After all, it’s far easier to order the jam online! All you have to do is get the delivery.

    But when strawberries the size of tomatos are sold on the pavements, I thought I should try my hand at some homemade preservative-free jam.

    The first thing I did was to find a suitable recipe. As usual Google came to the rescue and I came up with an easy three ingredient 20 minute recipe .

    According to Jamie Sanders whose recipe I relied on, all that you really need is strawberries, sugar and lime juice . And a heavy bottomed pan and twenty minutes time.

    Adding the sugar to the fruit

    I loved this recipe because it didn’t require pectin which is not available at my local baniya.

    Actually I’m not too sure about that because of late, the baniya has begun stocking up on Rice Wine Vinegar and blended Sesame Oil . Obviously during the pandemic, these two foreign ingredients have become essential for the denizens of this neighbourhood who like millions of others, have become gourmet home cooks . Who knows , he may yet surprise me with two brands of pectin to choose from .

    But, anyways, with Ms. Papaya dying to try her hand at making jam at home, we got down to making the yummiest, scrummiest home made jam

    Ingredients

    • 500g strawberries, hulled and coarsely chopped
    • 3/4 cup of sugar
    • 2 tbs lemon juice

    Instructions

    1. In a heavy bottom pot, mix together the strawberries, sugar, and the lemon juice.
    2. Stir continuously over med-low heat till all the sugar dissolves
    3. Now, Increase the heat to med-high and bring the mixture to a boil.
    4. Stir from time to time, mashing the strawberries until jam is thickened. This should take around 10 minutes and the pot should be covered with bubbles.
    5. When the jam is cool, transfer to a jar.
    6. A sealed jar can stay in the fridge for around 10 days.

    I must say, that the quantity it yielded was quite disappointing – only one jar. But it was precious all the more because the strawberries were chopped by Ms. Papaya, the lemon juice poured in by her and it was watched over carefully for the last two minutes as the jam bubbled away.

    So I would definitely recommend trying this recipe. Especially since the strawberries are getting redder and sweeter every day.

    If you do try out this recipe, do let me know in the comments how it came out.

    Ciao,

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  • Bringing in the New Year.

    With 2020 being what it was, we decided to bring in the New Year differently from the way we normally do.

    Initially we used to celebrate New Year’s at the Club. But once Hubby Dear turned teetotaler and vegetarian, it was no fun downing sodas and waiting till 1 a.m. to have some cutlets and mashed potato.

    So we celebrated with family and friends on top of a terrace flat till one year one of the husband’s died. The next year one of the couples lost the wife. By this time we were too spooked to go for the third year as we believe that misfortunes happen in threes.

    After that, New Year’s eve was spent in traffic bringing home one daughter or the other.

    Finally, for the last ten years or perhaps more, we spent it in our own beds, exhausted after the whole year’s shenanigans. We didn’t even get up at midnight to watch the ships lit up in the harbour or to hear the gun salute.

    But this year, since everything was different, we decided to break from tradition and break bread with a young couple from down the road.

    Our menu was simple with Daughter No.1 volunteering to do the mains.

    All that she requested me to do was arrange the flowers, make a roast and make a Banoffee Pie.

    I first heard about a Banoffee Pie a few years ago and if truth be told, didn’t like it the first time I had it.

    I mean, what kind of a name is Banoffee to begin with?

    Banana+Toffee= Banoffee

    This typically British dessert was first made popular in the early 1970s by Nigel Mackenzie of the Hungry Monk, an iconic restaurant in the UK. It has since then become a popular dessert and despite its exotic-sounding name, Banoffee Pie is surprisingly easy to make.

    Easy as Pie

    Now Bananas are not particularly my favourite fruit, especially they are considered the most plebian of fruit. But today’s prices of Rs. 80 per dozen are slowly inching them out of the reach of the common man.

    However, a take-away pie is even more outrageously priced, so I decided to make it myself.

    While the regular Indian Green Bananas have now become rare,  the ubiquitous yellow Cavendish Banana does just fine.

    What is important is that the banana should be ripe and firm, not soft, squishy and overripe.

    I went through the recipes I found on YouTube ( my latest recipe source) and combined the recipe by Carnation and Sally’s Baking Addiction, to come up with my own.

    The Ingredients are very simple.

    For the crust :

    • 250 g of Marie Digestive Biscuits
    • 100 g unsalted butter ( melted)
    • 75 g castor sugar

    For the caramel toffee

    • 75 g Butter
    • 75 g Demerara sugar
    • 1 tin of condensed milk

    For the topping

    • 500 ml fresh cream
    • 2 ripe bananas

    So now that you’ve got all your ingredients together you can start by making the pie crust.

    ♦ Combine the biscuits, sugar and melted butter in a food processor or blender to make a mixture that resembles bread crumbs.

    ♦ Tightly pack the biscuit mix onto a pie tin and press into place with the back of a measuring cup or spoon. Bake in a hot oven ( 180º C) for 15 minutes. This ensures that the pie crust doesn’t crumble.

    ♦ Allow the pie crust to cool completely and refrigerate for an hour or more so that it firms up.

    In the meanwhile, you can get down to making the Caramel toffee or Dulce de Leche.

    ♦Pour the contents of the condensed milk into a thick-bottomed bowl. Add the butter and sugar and allow to come to the boil, stirring all the time.

    ♦Lower the heat and keep on heat till the mixture thickens.

    ♦Take off heat and allow to cool.

    ♦When completely cool, pour over pie crust.

    If you plan on making the pie ahead of time, you can stop at this stage. Else, go ahead with the last stage.

    ♦To finish, whip the cream and sugar till it forms stiff peaks. Take care not to curdle the cream.

    ♦Place banana slices cut into roundels on the toffee layer. Top off with whipped cream.

    ♦Drizzle Hershey’s chocolate syrup or sprinkle chocolate shavings for decoration.

    Refrigerate for at least an hour before serving.

    Tip : This pie tastes even better when made two days in advance!

    So now isn’t it easy? If you try out this recipe do let me know how it turns out.

    Ciao

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    P.S I must admit that this pie was a flop because I didn’t use FRESH cream. Somehow the UHT whippable cream didn’t measure up and instead of the stiff peaks I got a huge gooey mess .

    So the pie didn’t cut into wedges and I had to scoop it out as a pudding instead .

    If you have a recipe or foodie anecdote to share, do ping me so that I can visit your post!

  • The year that zoomed away

    Today is the last Tuesday of the year . It also is the last Tuesday of the decade .

    Actually this post should have been up yesterday because the last Monday of the decade sounds so much better than the last Tuesday of the decade . But then Monday zoomed by so fast that I had no option but to post this on Tuesday.

    Indeed, it was not only the day that zoomed by, but the entire year . At the risk of sounding cliched, every year goes by in a flash; each year seemingly faster than the last. But this year it literally zoomed away. And what was surprising that this was the year when everything supposedly slowed down with Work from Home becoming the norm, lockdowns a way of life, and self-reliance a reality.

    2020 was a life altering year for everyone. ‘New normal’ became the defining word and every one accepted that life wouldn’t be the same as it was before 2020.

    The decade that was

    But was life in 2019 the same as it was in 2009?

    It definitely wasn’t for me.

    From 2010 to 2020 my life changed dramatically.

    • my daughters stepped into the world as full fledged professionals,
    • got married and made me a grandmother.
    • my parents got older with my mom getting ARMD and two cataract surgeries
    • my dad got a heart attack
    • my husband suffered a TIA
    • I fell off a ladder and had a rotator cuff surgery

    This was the decade that saw

    • me publish a cookbook,
    • get into Blogging in a big way and
    • make three solo trips across continents ( without boarding the wrong plane or walking off with someone else’s luggage)
    • go for my first and possibly last destination wedding
    • get involved with St.Judes

    But 2020 rounded off the decade by literally zooming past.

    When virtuality becomes reality

    Zoom working

    With everyone working from home, Zoom meetings and zoom working became the ‘new normal’ . People learnt how to make their drab homes into glamorous beaches by changing the background.

    With washing becoming a major concern for me with no help and a healing arm, I began to assess all events a clothesworthy or not.

    Zoom schooling

    To begin with school was zoomed into our home. With an iffy wifi and with Hubby Dear zooming with his office in one room and Daughter No1 zooming into hers, poor Ms Papaya had to zoom wherever the signal was good enough . We also had to make sure that the zoom calls didn’t clash. This was because everyone had to talk louder than their indoor voices in order they be heard over the Internet.

    Zoom yoga

    I did Zoom yoga three mornings a week. I didn’t know what the instructor could see of me and my poses because very often all that I saw of her was her finger adjusting the zoom.

    Eventually I stopped getting into my yoga pants and actually did my stretches and bends in my regular kaftan. It saved on washing and drying two extra garments during the pandemic.

    Zoom wedding

    I attended a Zoom wedding which was a morning wedding in the US. Unfortunately it was late night for us and my kaftan wasn’t fancy enough for a wedding . My friend Jo who had attended 4 Zoom weddings told me that protocol demanded I dress for the occasion make up and all even though the function was virtual.

    Once again I wanted to save on the washing, so I draped a dressy dupatta to look like I’d worn a sari, put on my pearls and watched. I soon realised that no one could see me so I pulled off the dupatta and watched the ceremony in my kaftan .

    Zoom funeral

    When it came to attending a Zoom memorial service , I was confused. Does one dress up or dress down ? After all it was a sad occasion . Not dressing would seem disrespectful while dressing would seem disrespectful too. Finally I stayed on in my regular clothes ( to save on washing another set )

    Zoom hen parties

    I had zoom meetings with my friends. It was great to see everyone in different stages of neglect. Each one of us was cheery and happy to meet online but as the hair grew longer ( in some cases whiter ) you could make out that Zoom calling was a poor substitute for a real meeting .

    Zoom birthdays

    Similarly, a Zoom birthday party was better than no birthday party and we had several zoom birthdays this year. Apart from singing happy birthday virtually and exchanging pleasantries, it was a fun way to get together.

    Zoom treasure hunts

    Some enthusiastic parents even organised Zoom play dates and Zoom treasure hunts which were fun in the beginning. But after a few of these innovative interactions, Zoom parties lost their appeal.

    Zoom events

    Now this was something I found rather strange. Attending a zoom event of a talk such as a TED talk.

    But now at the end of the year I’m quite adept at highlighting speakers, muting and unmuting, raising my hand to chat and all other Zoom etiquette.

    Finally, when Ms. Papaya got off the dining table once and asked us all to “PAUSE”, I realised that our reality has become a virtuality and ZOOM is here to stay.

    Happy 2021 all ye Readers and hope to see you more regularly on this virtual space.

    Ciao

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