The Harry Potter Series

It is quiet easy to push away a Harry Potter book, with the excuse that it’s for children and for the immature or for the not grownups; but trust me, after you read the first book you will not know peace until you read the last paragraph of the 7th book. That’s precisely what happened to me – with nothing to do, I picked up my cousin’s copy of Harry Potter and the Philosophers Stone and in a month’s time I had read all the 7 books.

The 7 books, written by JK Rowling, follow the story of a young wizard named Harry Potter, who has a special destiny. He lives in the magical world which coexists with our world. His parents were killed by the evil Lord Voldemort who believes that Harry is the last thing standing between him and absolute dominance and immortality. Lord Voldemort is unable to kill Harry and in the process of trying looses his mortal body. Harry is brought up by his mother’s sister and family – away from the magical world. On his 11th birthday Harry is given a surprise which brings him to the lovely world of magic.

Every book, except for the last one, is about a year Harry spends at Hogwards School of Witchcraft and Wizardary. All the books, except the last one, start off with Harry heading off to attend a year at Hogwards with his friends - Ronald Weasly and Hermione Granger - and ends with Harry returning back to his foster parents home to spend the summer holidays. During the time at school, Harry learns magic and also escapes several attempts on his life from Lord Voldemort.

Every book grows more sinister and darker, which is part of Harry growing up from the innocent 11 year old to the mature 17 year old wizard. This is one series you cant put down after starting. JK Rowlings crafty spins a world of magic around the reader and takes us for a joy ride.

The reason for that smile

Simple things that make me smile, in no particular order...

A bar of chocolate

Giggles from a close friend.

A bright sunny day.

A babies face.

The first drops of rain.

A bowl of nice aromatic rice.

Secrets shared with the one I love.

A nice cup of tea anytime any day.
Contentful sleep.

Cool breeze on a nice bright day.

A new dress.

Sweet surprises.

Cuddles cuddles cuddles.

Soft romantic music.

Colorful Objects.

A big bowl of ice cream.
A tickle.
Cozy bed and a warm blanket.

A hello from a long lost friend.

Flowers.
Holidaying.
A word of comfort from mom.
A word of caution from dad.
Silly comments from siblings.

Gifts wrapped in ribbons.

Gifts anyhow any time.

Love. Hugs and Kisses.

.......

Simple things, yet so beautiful :)

What sleep means to me

Relaxation. Rejuvenation. Interest. Hobby. Restoration. Dreams. Nightmares. Refreshing. Calming. Soothing. Normal State. Happiness. Nirvana. Solace. Effortless. Random Eye Movements. Anytime. Antidepressant. Restore. Rhythmic. Automatic. Excessive. Meditation. Hypersomnia. Calmness. Happiness. Innocence. Rest. Rust. Blank. Natural. Procrastination. Unwind. Shavasana. Rewind.

Capsicum in Cashew gravy

There are many ways to cook capsicum and this is one very delicious way of making it. A family friend from Andra makes this deliciously and I wanted to try it out. It is usually made with ground nuts, but since I did not have ground nuts , I used cashew nuts.
A tasty but rich ( thanks to the cashews) gravy, ideal with rice or chapathi.

Ingredients:

Capsicum - 2 nos , diced into cubes
Onions - 1 nos, diced into cubes
Tomato - 1 nos , diced into  cubes
Cashew nuts - 1 cup roasted
Green chillies - 3 nos
Turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
Cumin seed - 1 teaspoon
Mustard seeds - 1 teaspoon
Tamarind pulp - 1 teaspoon (optional)
Garlic - 2 cloves
Dry red chillies - 3 nos
Curry leaves - 1 sprig
Jaggery / brown sugar - 1 teaspoon ( optional)
Garam masala - 1 teaspoon ( Alternatively you can use 2 cloves and 1 small stick of cinnamon)
Salt - 2 -3 teaspoons
Oil- 3 teaspoons

Method :
Grind cashew nuts, green chillies, tamarind, garlic and jaggery in a blender and make a smooth paste. Add water as required.
Add oil to a pan. Once the pan is hot add in the cumin seeds and mustard seeds. Allow it to splutter.Add red chillies and curry leaves.
Add the dices capsicum, onions and tomatoes and saute till they become soft.

Add turmeric powder and mix well.
Add the cashew nut paste made before and salt. Add more water if required .Cover and cook for 15- 20 minutes.
The gravy tastes best when it is thick, so be careful to not make it too watery.

Serve hot with rice or chapathi.

Inception - Science Fiction by Christopher Nolan

Watched the movie as soon as it was released in Australia, which was a week later than the rest of the world, so as I got into the theater I already knew that I was about to watch a brilliant movie.

During the 2.5 hrs, Christopher Nolan manages to take the audience into a world of dreams, its rules and how one can steal ideas from dreams, how to have a shared dream and finally how to plant an idea into another person using a dream – Inception.

Leonardo DiCaprio stars as Cobb Webb, who leads a group which specializes in stealing ideas and thoughts from people using a dream. They trick their subject into getting into a shared dream and using various deceptive methods to get them to part with their best kept secrets.

Cobb’s team consists of Arthur (Joseph Gordon-Levitt) who researches the subject so that the team knows what to expect from the subconscious of the subject. Adriadin (Ellen Page) is the architect of the dreams – the one who makes the subject believe that the dream is just like real world. Eams (Tom Hardy) who is a forger and acts as a clone in the dreams – taking up anyone’s form. Yusuf (Dileep Rao) is the source of the serum, which is used to get into the state of deep sleep. During most of Cobbs mission he meets the mental projection of his deceased wife Mal (Marion Cotillard) who wrecks havoc to his plans.

The team is given an assignment from a businessman Saito (Ken Watanabe) who needs them to plant an idea in the minds of the son of his main competitor, to prevent his competitor from taking a monopolistic grip over the industry. Saito also promises Cobb that if the Inception goes as plan, Cobb will be able to lead a clean life – away from being labeled a murderer – and return back to his family. The rest of the story tells us how the team creates the plan and whether they are successful in the Inception.

Like “The Dark Knight”, “Prestige” and “Memento”, Christopher Nolan manages to create a masterpiece out of it. He manages to take this new idea – dream espionage – to a new level. Great visual effects, some credible performance by the cast and the music by Hans Zimmer makes this movie a must watch.

I liked the concept of Kicks – the push that awakens you from the dream. There have been numerous times when I have dreamt that I am falling and I woke up with a shudder. Been wondering about all the kinds of dreams I’ve had after watching the movie – B&W, Color, where I have a free fall, where I am killed – and knew that Nolan had researched the subject too well.

Inception – the best movie I have seen this year, so far.

Floating around in a Snow Globe

For those who are wondering what a snow globe is, Snow globes are attractive see through transparent ornaments with floating glitters and some small figurines or models.

Being a dreamy person, snow globes always capture my attention. I love things that float about, like a balloon in the air or a leaf in the river. I lose my thoughts in them and just stare at them till they float away from my sight. I am very attracted to aimless drifting, maybe because, that exactly describes my personality.
Maybe it is this fondness of staring at floating things that has got me intressted in snow globes.
There is something very magical about snow globes.
I have a few snowglobes and I find myself spending a lot of time just shake them to loosen all the glitter or snow and stare at them after placing them down watching the glitter  slowly float and settle down. I let my thoughts wander about, getting lost in the glitters that float along a random path to finally settle down at the bottom of the globe, where it always belonged. It feels like a perfect dreamy world in the snow globe.
We have started buying snow globes as souvenirs of places we have been to. That explains the penguin snow globe from Phillip island and the clown 'Nemo' fish one from cairns :) We also got one for valentines day which has floating hearts.
There are snowglobes of varous sizes and varying shapes now. No matter what the size and shape, they are always magical.
Now a days, i have also found snow globes with pictures. It would be a great idea to make a globe with pictures of family members and keep them. That would make a wornderful snowglobe family tree. ( Now that has got me thinking! Maybe I will try it out :) )

Taking care of these snow globes are very difficult. Snow globes contain water or other liquids for the 'snow' to float on. Over long periods of time the water gets dirty and can have alge growth.  It is easy to clean if the snow globe comes with a detach button on the bottom which can be used to detach the globe. In that case all you need to do is carefully remove the water and replace it . Easy to clean. In some cases the globe is not detachable.  For the non detachable ones, placing the globes in non direct sunlight will help get rid of the algae.
Snow globes are also perfect gift items and a classy ornamental addtion to any home.

For me it is a perfect magical world in the globe filled with perfect magical emotions.

Microwave Grapes Cake

My husband loves grapes. It was his birthday a couple of days ago and I had got an idea to bake a grapes cake for him. A cake with something he loves so much. Since I had only a microwave oven with me, I was not sure how the grapes cake will turn out in the microwave. To my surprise, the cake came out fine. Though the cake by itself was dry, when dressed with some frosting and fresh grapes, it tasted wonderful.

Ingredients:
Grapes - a bunch , seedless
Self raising flour - 1 cup
Sugar - 3/4 cup
Eggs - 4 nos
Extra virgin Olive oil - 1/4 cup
Milk - 1/3 cup
Vanilla essence  - 1/2 teaspoon
Cocoa powder - 1 teaspoon (optional)
chocolate chips - a handful (optional)

Method:
Mix the flour and sugar well to form a uniform mixture.
Now break the eggs and add them to it. Add milk and olive oil and mix well. Do not mix with a brisk motion as it can make the cake hard by removing all the air in it. Fold in the mixture making sure that there are no lumps.
I made a marble cake base. You can omit the below steps if you are going to make a plain cake.
Keep aside a couple of tablespoons of the batter and pour the remaining on to a cake tin.
To the batter that is kept aside, add the cocoa powder and mix in evenly.
Pour the cocoa mixed batter on top of the vanilla batter in the cake tin. Use a knife or a spatula to draw out lines of the cocoa batter through the cake.
Slice a handful of grapes into small discs and place them on top of the cake. Also add in the desired amount of chocolate chips.

Microwave at high power for 4 - 5 minutes depending upon the power settings of your microwave.
The Grapes cake is ready.
For decoration, I cut the cake along its height into two pieces.  Added some frosting and grape slices and placed the other half on top.

I also covered the whole cake with frosting and decorated the whole cake with grapes. It was a yummy and homely cake, perfect for a quite and personal birthday celebration!