Ipsita Banerjee's Blog, page 6

Thoughts from a vagina.

What I took away from a rendition of The Vagina Monologues staged in Kolkata last night.
Momspresso Check out this blog post "Thoughts from a vagina." by Ipsita Banerjee. Read Here: https://www.momspresso.com/parenting/...

Eating the worm.

The early bird eats the worm. That's nourishment, and opportunity. The fish eats the worm on a hook and is captured. That means death, being served on someone's plate for their nourishment. The tequila drinker who eats the worm: he is wasted, there is no nourishment there.  Then there's that children's rhyme that goes "Nobody loves me, everybody hates me, I think I'll go eat worms…" that’s not really born of a fear of not belonging, of desperation, of loneliness despite what you think; it is typical to the sort of delightfully disgusting  things that children get pleasure out of. Yes, those eensy, weensy, squeensy, wriggly, squirmy worms: nourishment for the child in you. And while you're at it, do spare a thought for the poor worm, so low in the pecking order: the early worm always gets eaten!
My poems are like that. They are happy and sad, born of joy and protest, written with care and thoughtlessness: some may provide your  soul with nourishment and some may make you squirm....


To order, please go to any of the following links.( Or you could just search "Ipsita Banerjee Eating the worm" in the amazon link closest to you!)  
In India, the link is: https://www.amazon.in/Eating-Worm-Poems-Ipsita-Banerjee/dp/1979921369/ref=sr_1_4_twi_pap_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1511936697&sr=8-4&keywords=Ipsita+Banerjee
In UK, go to https://www.amazon.co.uk/Eating-Worm-poems-Ipsita-Banerjee/dp/1979921369/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1511873711&sr=8-2&keywords=ipsita+banerjee
And in the the US, https://www.amazon.com/Eating-Worm-poems-Ipsita-Banerjee/dp/1979921369/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1511936638&sr=8-2&keywords=Ipsita+Banerjee
Come, let's eat the worm!

AtoZReflections #AtoZChallenge

I survived. yes, this was my fourth year and I survived!
Oh, I was very close to giving up on a few occasions. I was doing two blogs simultaneously (see this site)  and sometimes thought I had certainly bitten off more than I could chew.
This year I also hadn't had the chance to schedule any posts so everything went harum scarum once in a while!
Yet, it all fell in place. Ultimately.
And I met some new people and faces and found other blogs to follow and interesting words to read.

While I was hammering away at the PC in April this year, a few times the thought crossed my mind that I will not be doing the challenge again!

But, you know what, I've go a pretty interesting theme rattling in my head.
Who knows?
Maybe we'll meet again next April.
Ciao. 

Z: Zucchini Spice cake #AtoZChallenge

Ah, Z already. I think I have put on a few calories with all the desserts I have been talking about simply by thinking of them! Z was a bit of a problem... till google threw up the Zucchini Spice Cake at me.You see, when we were young, I had never heard of a zucchini, much less seen or eaten one. Now with all the fancy vegetables coming in and all the fancy restaurants serving exotic vegetables,  our culinary experiments have become more adventurous and we are more likely to try something new. I actually love my vegetables. Not all of them and not all at once but I do. I like some vegetables on the side and fresh salads. Zucchini is pretty interesting in stir fries and salads and even more interesting as a side dish baked with tomatoes. But the husband and the girls don't eat their vegetables so happily... So why not try the cake and sneak in some? So here is the recipe, thanks to Martha Stewart. I'm going to bookmark this for future use. Will you? 
Zucchini cupcakes   

Y: Yogurt AKA Mishti Doi #AtoZChallenge

No post on desserts is complete without yogurts. Fruity, flavourful yogurts. Raspberry and mango and what not. But the best yogurt is (ask anyone who has had it) the Mishti doi!!! Mishti (sweet) doi (yogurt) is the traditional Bengali yoghurt that has been sweetened with 'gur' or mollasses/black treacle. So it is not sweet as sugary sweet but has the flavour of gur. Hence, it is a beige colour (although I must admit my favourite one is white and comes from a shop called Mithai in Calcutta) and can also be made at home if you are adventurous enough. Nowadays they also make it in mango flavour in the mango season but I think I will stick to the traditional one. Mishti doi comes with a thick natural layer of fat on the top. That is the cream as it solidifies. Many Bengalis like the "matha" (head) as we call it and many don not. Me? I can have a whole bowl of just the head! And after teasing your palate with a full-on meal of shukto, bhaja, daal, fish fry, bhaat, maach, chingri, mangsho and chutney, mishti doi is definitely the perfect ending to any Bengali meal!

X: Xtras #AtoZChallenge

Let' face it. There are no desserts with X. Unless I go Chinese (they have a lot of food beginning with X, yes, almonds, watermelon and what-not) and copy paste from the internet. But that is not not this blog is about and I am not giving up on the challenge at this stage.
So... X is for the (e)xtras. The ladoos, the gulab-jamuns, the rabri, the jalebis, sohan halwa and all those other yummylicious Indian desserts that I have missed on this journey of desserts from A to Z.

I love laddos, Specially the Motichur ones. I can pop one after the other and not think twice about the fact that I am not a sweet person. Same goes for fresh, hot jalebis. Okay gulab-jamuns are never my dessert of choice but I will occasionally indulge. And anyone reading this and living in Delhi, know that the next time you visit, get me some sohan halwa. Yes, I will be your slave forever: never mind the diet or the ghee or whatever!

For anyone thinking I'm talking in Greek or Latin, try to google up some of these delicious Indian sweets. Or better still, visit India, if only to sample its desserts! India is huge and made up of people whose cultures and cuisines are at once different and diverse. Each region has it's own specialty, from the rava kesari of the south to the til patti of the East to the Chakhao kheer of the North East to the rewri of the North to the Balushahi of the West... we have something for every sweet tooth, whether its dairy or vegan or whatever! And you will find shops selling cupcakes and Black Forest Gateau alongside shops selling simai and phirni next to shops selling  sandesh and rasgolla and pedas. THIS is what I love about my country, the richness, the diversity, the co-existence of several cultures and creeds.

Unfortunately, recent political and social trends have tried to break this thread. Increasingly, as in the rest of the world, there is a tendency to try to make our worlds smaller. To incite people in the names of caste, of race, of religion. It makes me sad and I know this may not be the place to say it but that is not the India I grew up in. That is not the India I love or call my own.

Let us hope that good sense prevails... Till then, keep calm and feast on!  

W: Watermelon Sorbet #AtoZChallenge

During my college days I 'discovered' watermelon juice. There were these juice bars all over the city and watermelon juice was an all time favourite. On a hot summer evening  in the dry heat of Pune, a watermelon juice was good for the soul. WE had this favourite juice bar area in Camp, where we had our pick of tiny  juice vendors. We would park our bikes after sundown and spend hours sipping on the sweet cold liquid. At home, as a child and later, watermelons were seeded and eaten as a fruit. My grandmother used to sprinkle a bit of sugar on the top and freeze it. That was how I enjoyed the fruit, or so I thought. But the fact is, that the secret is all in the sugar. That is what I discovered when I developed my love for fruit sorbets. And watermelon makes a brilliant sorbet. Try it. Read about it here 
P.S. if you do not have a ice-cream maker, (I don't) just use a good mixer/grinder and repeat it a few times. :)

V: Vanilla Icecream #AtoZChallenge

As far as I am concerned, vanilla ice-cream is about the best thing ever. Just add a bit to any dessert and instantly your sweet-something has reached a new level.
Just the other day while I was at work some of my daughter's friends came over and brightly decided to while away the time by baking some cup-cakes. I must laud their efforts because the cup cakes were texture perfect with the right amount of springiness. However, they had lessened the sugar quantity given in the recipe and the cupcake was not really sweet. So what do you do?Simple. Add some Vanilla Ice-cream and some chocolate sauce or caramel viola.... you have a dessert fit for a king!
Likewise, I can add vanilla ice-cream to almost anything, even hot gulab jamuns and jalebis. Vanilla ice-cream is a fantastic addition in milkshakes and cold coffees, specially when the girls have been fussing over their milk. Serve vanilla ice-cream with fruits... mangoes and litchis... you have an awesome dessert. unexpected guests at the dining table? Serve some vanilla ice-cream with a splash of chocolate sauce or strawberry crush.Add nuts, cornflakes, ever muesli to give it that extra crunch! Or just a bit of Drambuie or Kahlua ... yummy.
Is it any wonder then, that come summer, we usually almost always have vanilla ice-cream at home!?

U: Upside-down Cake #AtoZChallenge

Soon after my marriage my in-laws discovered I enjoyed baking. And baking meant cakes, right? Wrong. For me, baking meant roasts and au gratin and lamb chops and fish Florentine and moussaka. However, my in-laws did not know this. One day when we were visiting them in their house at Salt Lake, much to my surprise I found that they too had invested in an oven. It was a small OTG , nothing like the big one they had presented me but there it was staring at me. My father-in-law had also got a can of pineapples and was ready to rush out and get me whatever else I may need. I got the hint all right: a pineapple cake. Or in any case, some baked dessert with pineapple in it. Sigh. Those were the days before the internet, my trusty Betty Crocker Cookbook was still a distant dream and I was a novice at baking cakes. I searched my head a remembered this pineapple upside down cake my Mom used to make. I called her and jotted down the recipe, the best she remembered it. And then I made it. It was a disaster. I’m sure there was nothing wrong with the recipe but the whole thing fell flat, the upside down part was a complete fail and the thing looked like someone’s bad dream. Later I learnt that heat and humidity turns a cake flat if let out of the heat too soon. I learnt too many eggs are not always nice and there is a reason why you are supposed to sift the flour and add the ingredients one by one. Oh, my in-laws were very sporting about it. They all helped themselves to the collapsed pudding-like goo and declared it was wonderful. Only I still cringe at the thought of that upside down cake. And no, I have never tried it since. Maybe I should!Here’s this recipe I found online.Yes, thanks to BettyCrocker! I’m saving it to try another day.
 Easy Pineapple Upside down Cake
And you? Have you had any memorable baking disasters yet? 

T: Trifle Pudding #AtoZChallenge

Both my mother and her sister (my favourite aunt ever) made excellent trifle puddings. maybe some of it has rubbed off on me because, even tough I say it myself, the trifle pudding in our home is pretty delicious too. And our guests rarely refuse that second helping!

I do not make trifle puddings except in winter and that too only when I have had the time t plan ahead. It's a good sure-shot dessert and most of it can be prepared in advance for that party so that is one item out of the way.
Here's how I make my trifle for parties, 2 bowls:

Ingredients:

Sponge cake 8" diameter about 3" thickshould do, depending on the size of the bowl that you will make the trifle in. You can make it yourself but a store bought one works well too. Orange juice : 1 cupRum or Brandy (optional) 2 tbspJelly; I packet, orange is preferredFresh oranges; 2 whole, the segments peeled and deseeded.Kiwis: 2, peeled and cut in chunks, some thin slices for garnish. Strawberries: 1 cup, hulled and cut in chunks, some thin slices for garnish. Cherries: 1 tin, deseeded. With all the fresh fruits it's redundant but I keep it for the nostalgia factor, when we were kids we did not get kiwis or fresh strawberries. Custard powder, sugar, milk (as per the directions in the packet for setting custard)Icing sugar: to tasteFresh cream: 2 cupsMethod: Slice the cake so that you have two round cakes about 1& 1/2 inches thick. Place in two deep serving bowls, preferably transparent ones as a well made trifle is a thing of beauty to be admired. Pour orange juice over the cake so as to soak the cake in the juice. Dampen it, do not pour all the juice. Add rum/brandy, one tbsp into each. Omit it if you have kids coming, or just put some in the one you will ear mark for the adults. Make the jelly as per the directions on the packet. Pour over the soaked cake and add the oranges and some of the other fruits and the cherries. Reserve some fruits for garnishing. If you are making it a day ahead (like me) use fresh fruits for garnish. Leave to set, keep it in the fridge. When the jelly is completely set and firm, make the custard. When it is slightly cool, pour over the jelly and leave it to set. If you wish to make it fruitier you can add some more fruits over the custard after it has set. You can also add nuts or caramel if you wish. On the day of the party, ( I do this in the early evening or late afternoon) whip the cream with sugar to taste (I do not like the cream to be too sweet) till soft peaks form. Pour a layer over the custard and spread thick. Any leftover cream is gobbled up by my girls. Pop it back in the fridge to set. Garnish with sliced kiwis and/or strawberries or with sprinkles. Serve chilled. remember to slice deeply from the bottom of the bowl for each serving. Yup, its good. Enjoy the trifle as well as the compliments that follow!  Here are some pictures of the food from the last party we had. 
the meats

the salads

the trifle!