Trek to Karnala Fort & Bird Sanctuary

Ok, so we went for a trek last Saturday, and I was supposed to write about it on Sunday, but Dexter has been keeping me busy! I cannot believe I'm rooting for the serial killer, as opposed to the honest cop!

Due to the RA and all I've restricted myself to one trek per year, which is all my dear left knee can take before giving way! Anyway, so this year's trek was to the Karnala Bird Sanctuary.

We went as part of a local adventure group that was initially affiliated with the Company, but later had to distance itself due to a serious incident that nobody is ready to tell me about!

Anyway, I've always had a good experience with them, from climbing like Spiderman at Tikona to flying fox at a waterfall in Mulshi(Yes, I did that!!!!). Some of the best and scariest moments of my life have been with them!

So, as usual, when I went to register the first thing I asked was how difficult this was gonna be. And the POC surveyed me from top to bottom and said, "You'll do it!". I really appreciated her confidence in me, something that I was doubtful about. But who was I to second guess her, she was the expert after all.

Without further ado, a few glimpses from the trek:

 

The climb, this was where I realized I didn't have to climb one step at a time, which is what I was doing at work and everywhere else with steps. Now that I didn't want to be left behind, I had to climb normally, and surprisingly (for me at least), my knee survived!

This was as high as I could get, by then I was too tired to go any further, so we stayed & rested.

In the middle of nowhere!

A Butterfly!

View from the top..

As we were climbing, none of the phones had range, but at the top, all five bars were active!!
So this was where I called Ma and told her I'd gone for a trek, they worry unnecessarily, so I've decided the best thing is to do first and tell later! :P

Some sort of flower/leaf?

Adi trying to bird watch.

Storm clouds gathering.

It was raining heavily as we descended, and it got slippery, but there were no casualties, so all went well.

A day well spent, even though we didn't get to see many birds, it was green and a good change from the monotony of every single day!

NB: This trek happened somewhere in July I think, it was lying in my drafts for a very long time, finally decided to complete it!

The times, they are a-flying!!

Ok, so another weekend passes by very quickly, and we're already in the third quarter of 2013! More and more people are moving on: getting engaged, married, having kids, new jobs!

And here I am, working at the same place & same project for more than three years, and at the same seat for just as long!!! Same flat, and same roomie since I moved here.Not much has changed for quite some time now. And I'm happy with that. I'm not a big fan of change. So, all's well that stays well!

***

Watched the movie Despicable Me 2 yesterday.

A very entertaining and fun movie. I cant remember the first movie that well, so can't say which one was better. Enjoyed the minions, and can't wait for the next minion movie, coming out sometime in the future.
Loved the minion songs (I swear & YMCA) and the way they sing in their minion language!
Also, while the credits were rolling, there were some scenes of minions auditioning for the next minion movie, one which had the minions blowing soap bubbles. The 3-D effect for these was so good, the kid in the next seat actually jumped up and put his hands out to burst the bubbles!!!

***

This was followed by lunch at the best Italian place I've been to. Ate till our stomachs ached! 

Just Another Slow Weekend..

Ok, so I've been sick since Thursday with the usual sore throat, sneezing, running nose and all that. It actually started Thursday morning when I was at work, and by noon everyone was begging me to go home lest I infect them! Really! Anyway, my throat became worse on Friday, as in I couldn't talk, so I stayed at home on Friday. Hence the long, slow weekend at home. I blame the rains. Its so wet and muddy and disgusting here at this time!

Bored at home with nothing good on TV, and tired of SATC, I decided to start watching Dexter.

Its interesting and all, but really really creepy. The opening credits only gave me chills the first time I saw it. I mean just imagine, having someone in your life who you're close to and think you know well, and then he/she turns out to be a serial killer!!! It got me thinking as to who might be the "Dexter" in my life. There is one guy at work who seems suspicious, but that could be because he's new, has crazy curly hair and keeps smiling!! But that seems kinda obvious, and my instincts are unreliable most of the time, so it could be somebody less conspicuous.


Believe it or not, other than stepping out for a Blood test on Saturday, I was in the flat the whole time, about 80 hours!!!!! I was actually happy to go to work on Monday, and that's a first!

That was my state by Sunday evening. And I survived those 80 hours mainly on Chicken Manchow Soup. Thank God for Kimling!


Anyway, I'm just relieved I can talk properly now, and fingers crossed I haven't spread the germs to anybody from whom I can get them back!  

P.S. Image courtesy: http://funny-pics.co/tags/bored-funny-pics/

FND: Ras Malai

Ok, so this weekend I decided to make something Indian. While browsing I found this recipe for Ras malai.
It looked easy enough, so I went for it.

I'd made a miscalculation while doing unit conversion (!), ending up with much less Milk powder than was actually required, and so, had to postpone the preparation till Saturday.
So, the next day I went grocery shopping with my roomie, who also needed some stuff. It was a nice walk, and I got the milk powder I needed, but also got some ice-cream, as backup in case this did not turn out well. You can hardly blame me with my track record!

I used 200g of Milk powder and mixed with the egg, but that became too dry, so added some milk to it, and it became ok.

 The condensed milk tin: I tried it plain, and it was so tasty, I took a spoon and had whatever was remaining straight from the tin!

 The final product: It was good, but tasted more like Kalakand! And the colour wasn't the light yellow that it usually is (I didn't add any kesar). But a solid effort nevertheless, if I may say so myself!  :P

P.S.: Yeah, I know you're not supposed to use eggs in making this sweet dish, I've heard it now from about 50000 different people!

FND: Basundi

Ok, so time for the weekly recipe. I've decided to go slow and do something easy. I mean can you blame after last week's disaster!!?
So I couldn't do anything on Friday due to the best match of this year, so saturday morning it was!! At least the best one that I've seen this year. All the best for the Finals Rafa!!!

Anyway, I'd picked up the GITS mix for Basundi when at D.-Marts the other day, so decided to use it today. Now, I'd never ever even heard of this dish, but it looked simple enough, which was what I wanted.

Just heated some milk (I used a packet and a quarter of the 500ml Katraj milk), added the mix, and brought it to a boil. But, I guess I added a little too much milk since it was not very thick, one pack would have been sufficient. I don't know how the real thing actually is, but I think a little thicker would have been better. It tasted yummy though. Added some chopped almonds for garnishing, and voila!

Bon Apetit!

FND: Disaster Friday! (Chocolate Fudge Cake)

Ok, so I've decided I'm going to cook something new every friday after work, a dessert mostly. Something easy and preferably containing chocolate! And this is the first attempt.

So, while looking for an easy no-bake, I found this Chocolate Fudge Cake recipe. It looked really easy to make and really yummy!!

After work, I went to the neighbouring stores and got all the necessary supplies.
After that came the preparation. This recipe required crushed biscuits, which I thought would be easy to do i.e. to crush the biscuits. Alas! It took me the over an hour to crush them all into powder. Now that I think about it, I guess I could have broken them with some heavy object, instead of breaking each biscuit with my hands!
Anyway, after that I peeled and chopped the almonds and broke the chocolate bars into pieces, which was the easiest part of the whole recipe,

After that, I had to mix the chocolate and butter in a utensil. Till this step everything was going well.

The next step involved mixing in the powdered biscuits and almonds. I guess I should have stopped after pouring in only half of the powder, but like a fool I went and poured all of it! This is what it looked like after mixing.

When actually it should have looked like this:

Well, there was nothing I could do at that time since I was out of chocolate, and more importantly butter! Anyway, I kept the mix in the fridge and the next day got the extra butter and chocolate, melted it and and put maybe a quarter of the whole mix into it, It looked very much like the mixture above, although not that dark since I used mostly milk chocolate, with a little bit of dark chocolate.

In the fridge it went for the rest of the night. When I checked the next day it had gotten harder, although there was a fine yellow layer of butter at the top. I guess I used too much butter.

Anyway, I removed the layer and tasted it. All I can say is it didnt taste as bad as it looked! The butter had given it a slightly salty taste, not unlike Reeses Peanut Butter cups! I mean I could have done a lot worse I guess!

This is the last bit that is remaining, and I'm gonna finish it after this post.

I'm gonna try this recipe again, since it still looks really attractive, hopefully with better luck!

Bon Appetit!

Freaky Friday!

Ok, so I never used to understand how some people could come to work on Fridays in Formals!! I mean its like the most awaited day of the week. How could you forget about it??? HOW??

Today I went to work in Formals... and I still don't understand how, but i really just forgot!

Hot! Hot! Hot!

Ok, so its really really hot here. I wake up every morning soaked in my own sweat, and its not a pretty sight (disgusting actually!!) Makes me grateful for the AC in office; but the walk from the office building to the cafeteria, in the hot hot sun, is just unbearable!! I feel like somebody's lit a fire just above me, and the wind is blowing the flames towards by neck! And I have to take that walk at least thrice a day, and this is probably gonna last the whole of May!!!! Sigh!

On the brighter side, its Friday so I have two days to rest my hot and weary self! On the other hand, there's no AC at home! Almost makes me miss office. But then, I can always go for a drink at the neighborhood restaurant! So that's settled, weekend wins! As always!!! Cheers!