Daily Prompts: Quirk of Habit

Which quirky habit annoys you the most, and what quirky habit do you love__ in yourself,or others.

 

I’m always annoyed when the sink in the kitchen is full of dirty and the master or mistress of the house deliberately leaves them for hours, or sometimes the whole night.

This was the case every single day in my charming brother-in-law’s house.  We’d get up in the morning in his house, before we could have breakfast, we had to deal with the dishes left unwashed the previous night. Having no alternative, my husband and I washed the dishes which took more than an hour daily.

I was fed up, I told my husband to buy them a dishwasher. We bought one to make our lives simple while we stayed in their house. They were either too naive to get the message or didn’t care.Nothing changed, only now the dirty dishes were in the dishwasher and in the sink.

I’m not sure if I can call it a quirky habit or an unfortunate habit.

I of course am strange when it comes to going out, I know my  family is not so happy about this habit. I’d get ready to go out, I look out I see some snow falling, I’d immediately change my mind about going out. I’d say, “I don’t feel so good, you go out without me.”

All my family members would turn against me saying, “You ruined our day, we won’t go either.”

I am good when someone asks for something, one of my neighbors wanted to have  a dessert which is famous in Bengal. At first she wanted the recipe, then she wondered if I could show her how to make it.

I asked her to get the ingredients, promised I’d go to her house and make the dessert. She called me and said she’s got the ingredients. I went over and made the dessert. The only thing that annoyed me was when her husband woke up came to the kitchen and said, “You used so much sugar?”

This is the dessert: 

Guess what he ate most of it. 🙂

 

Sunday’s feature: From Ranu’s kitchen, famous Bangladeshi dessert, Ras gulla blogging 101

Today I’m posting our famous dessert recipe and a photograph taken by me. I’m not a seasoned photographer, therefore there will be flaws for which I apologize. I have not practiced enough to make it perfect, sorry.

Recipe for Rasgulla(cheese balls in syrup):

Ingredients:

1. Whole milk- 2 litres
2. fresh lemon- 3 squeeze to get the juice , set it aside
3. plain white flour- 2 tablespoons
4. soft butter-2 tablespoon
5. Method:
6. pour the milk in a round pot with a lid(the lid will be useful later)do not cover, slowly bring the milk to a boil, when it comes to full boil, pour the juice of the three lemons, wait for a few minutes until the milk curdles and cheese is formed. Use cheesecloth to drain the water. When the water is drained completely, squeeze the cloth to make sure all of the water is drained and the cheese is lukewarm. Take the cheese  out of the cheese cloth and put it into a bowl large enough to be able to knead. Add butter and the tablespoons of flour. Mix it in the cheese and knead it. when the cheese is smooth and doesn’t crack, when you try to make into little balls, it is ready. It makes about eighteen balls.
7. Syrup ingredients:
8. Water- 6 measuring cups
9. sugar- three measuring cups
10. Use the same pot to make syrup, wash the pot thoroughly , pour the water and sugar and place it on the stove top, turn on the heat to medium, when the sugar dissolves turn up the heat to full boil, when the syrup is slightly sticky,put about nine cheese balls to avoid them from rubbing each other, otherwise the balls would break. Cover the boiling cheese balls in syrup at  high heat for five minutes. Turn the heat slightly, continue boiling for ten minutes this time, after fifteen minutes, turn down the heat to medium and leave the cheese balls for twenty minutes more in the syrup. The last  ten minutes turn the heat to simmer. While cooking you must make sure the syrup is not too thick, if it is have some plain boiled water and add it gently. Do not put too much.
11. After forty five minutes take the cheese balls out gently. At this stage they are very soft, it’s a good idea to wait about five minutes, and then take them out one at a time and place them in a serving bowl, save the  the syrup for the next batch.
12. Repeat the same method for the remaining cheese balls, when all eighteen are cooked put them in the same serving bowl and pour the remaining syrup over the cheese balls.
13. Enjoy!
14. …………………………….. 🙂

Daily Prompt: Game of Groans

Think of an object, an activity, or a cultural phenomenon you really don’t like. Now write a post(tongue in ….cheek or not…your call)about it’s the best thing ever.

Last week I was invited to attend a graduation party hosted by the parents of the graduate in a  church basement in the city. The hostess went all out, she cooked everything she thought would be appreciated by her guests.

There were three different dishes of chicken, there was beef and salmon fish. Rice was also served with it. We call  pulao or pilaf the English version.

The dessert was Gulab Jamun, our Canadian friends love it. We love it too and I have a recipe in my blog.

At first I was hesitant about going to the party, certain people who were  invited  are seasoned gossippers, I don’t care much about it.

The party went well, I was happy I decided to go. Sometimes I need to see people who speak the same language as me, I don’t mind speaking English ,but I do not want to lose touch with my mother tongue, which my father worked so hard to remind us we must know our own language first, then the ones we learned in school,and  in the neighborhood.

Regardless of where fate puts us it’s always a good thing to remember our roots.

And yes I had a good time speaking my mother tongue with a whole bunch of people. I enjoyed being there and realized I need to keep in touch with some of these people.

 

………………………………………. 🙂

365 Writing Prompts: Moment of Kindness

Describe a moment of kindness, between you and someone else–loved one or complete stranger.

My friend Asha was interested to learn how to make our famous dessert of Bangladesh. It is called in Bengali, “Rasho Golla”, the English translation is Cheese balls in Syrup.

She lived close to my house, she told me before she cannot figure out recipes, if I’d be willing to go to her house and show her exactly how it’s made.

I asked her to get the ingredients I needed, she bought them and called me. I went to her house showed her how to make them from beginning to end.She was pleased. Her husband came into the kitchen with “Dopey Eyes”, looked at the dessert and said to me , ” you have used so much sugar to make this?”

Well my kindness was unrewarded!

………………………….:)

365 Writing Prompt: Ripped into the headline

Write about something that happened over the weekend as though it’s the top story on your local paper.

Over the weekend we had a guest for supper. I was the cook, I did not leave any stone unturned to make it a very successful venture.

The menu was fried beef, chicken curry, garbanzo beans cooked with potatoes, matar pilaf and a salad.

For dessert I made Gulab Jamun and served it with sweet yogurt, then the herbal tea.

The beef,chicken, garbanzo beans, rice pilaf with peas and the salad were all winners.

The dessert took the second spot because I forgot one ingredient and ended up making it again. The remake was okay but could have been better. Sometimes I fail to understand why there has to be one dish which has failure written all over it.

We had a grand time, our guest was a  nice person , he enjoyed the food and we were delighted.

This was my weekend and I wouldn’t doubt it was good enough to make the headline on our local paper!

………………………………:)

365 Writing Prompts: Red pill, blue pill

If you could get all the nutrition you needed in a day with a pill –no worrying about what to eat, no food preparation–would you do it?

No I do not like the idea of substituting a pill for real food. There is a satisfaction of knowing, I know what ingredients I’m using to cook my food. Preparing food is not a chore for me I enjoy cooking , buying groceries, visiting a number of stores to get what I want. It is sheer pleasure for me.

As regards the pill I have my reservations, it was not that long ago a lot of people were excited with the idea of using a sugar substitute, now with research they’ve discovered it’s not that good after all,it’s a risk for cancer.

My belief is sugar is the real thing, if too much consumption of it can lead to diabetes or heart trouble, tooth decay, it’s better to give it up altogether rather than using a substitute.

I remember one of my classmates used a substitute for sugar in her tea, but had huge serving of dessert. I pointed out to her she wasn’t helping her body but exposing it too much sugar anyway and also by taking a sugar substitute she is taking a risk.

I do not believe in any pill to reduce my work. I’m in favor of real food.

……………………………..:)

Daily Prompt: It’s My Party

You’re throwing a party —for you ! tell us about the food, drink,events, and party favours you’ll have for your event of a lifetime.Use any theme you like— It’s *your* party!

For my party I’ll make sure to  invite all my good friends. There is Dilruba in Montreal, Evelyn in Whitby, Valerie in St.John’s, and a few others.

The foods will be my favorite and fortunately my friends like them too. I’ll do the cooking to make sure they taste good. I know all about the catering service we have here in my neck of the woods, they are not I’d call tasty.

There will be a variety of foods on the menu:

Rice pilaf, Chicken korma, spicy beef, lamb sheesh kebab.

Then I’ll prepare mixed vegetables, cauliflower with cheese, and bagharay baingan it’s an eggplant dish.

Salad : yoghurt salad, mixed vegetable salad with tomatoes, cucumber and lettuce, sprinkled with lime juice.

Drinks: plain water or coke and pepsi for those who prefer them.

Dessert : Pineapple upside down cake.

Beverage: tea  and coffee.

Dinner time : 6.30  pm.

After dinner the guest will be entertained with some videos of popular singers.

Each guest will receive a small gift of a variety of chocolates .

I wanted to write the recipes of the foods but it will take too much time, since I’m the only one who’ll have to write it.

Wikipedia image of chicken korma and kabab

This is my plan, I hope you’ll enjoy reading it!

……………………………………… 🙂

365 writing prompt: Evasive action

What’s the most significant secret you’ve ever kept? Did the truth ever come out?

As far as I know, I do not keep secrets, and there was no incidence of me keeping a secret significant or otherwise. Therefore the possibility of coming out does not exist.

My husband always told me I must never give my recipes to anyone, that way they can only taste my food when they visit me.

I remember one of my neighbors from India wanted my recipe for a very famous dessert we have in Bangladesh. I went to her house prepared the dessert for her while she was watching. She could not make it the way I did,this is what she told me.

I know for a fact it does not matter if I give my so called secret recipes, they are unable to duplicate it , this is true with everyone not just me. There is some kind of magic in our hands we all have, even with the same recipe, ingredients and what have you, it does not taste the same.

The question is, does theirs taste better? No, it doesn’t even taste the same. This is what they tell me.

………………………………… 🙂

DP Daily Prompts: Linger

Tell us about times in which you linger–when you don’t want an event,or a day to end. What is it you love about these times? Why do you wish you could linger forever?

There have been times when I wanted Time to Standstill. These are occasions when we invite our friends to dinner. It is a very enjoyable time.

It begins by me writing a list of things I’d like to cook for the guests, which dish of mine my friends like, what goes with it e.g, vegetables, rice, salad.

Once I make up my list I go to the supermarket to buy the ingredients. Then it’s preparing the dishes. Some take longer than others. I enjoy preparing it for the friends.

I always ask my guests to come at 6 pm, so they can have fresh cooked food, I don’t have to wait after I’m done cooking, the food loses its taste if I have to keep warming it up.

The arrival of guests is the best part, we are in a jovial mood we catch up with what is new with them.Food good friends are a joy for me, it brings out the best in my friends, we talk about children, food, our recent travels. We leave out work it’s not always pleasant.

After dinner I serve coffee or tea with dessert, I’m always happy to see my friends, they end up staying longer, who would want the evening to end, I like it a lot when it lingers.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/23/dp-daily-prompts-linger/

365 Writing Prompt: Comfort zone

What are you more comfortable with — routine and planning, or laissez-faire spontaneity?

Normally I am comfortable with both, routine and planning is necessary when I invite people for dinner. I have to decide how many people I can accommodate in my living-dining rooms combined.

Accordingly I invite the friends. I have to plan the menu, meat, chicken or fish which one or ones my guests like. Next is salad and cooked vegetables.

Dessert is something I try to keep simple, I spend a lot of time preparing the main course, for beverage I serve water, I avoid pop, there are times I feel some of my guests prefer pop.

Tea and coffee I serve with dessert.

When I don’t have guests I keep it simple, some days I’m happy with left overs, if I do not have it, I cook chicken or fish and serve this with a plain vegetable dish and boiled rice.

https://sabethville.wordpress.com/2015/03/15/365-writing-pr…t-comfort-zone