Chatpata OFFICE Chaaaat!!! :O

 Ok, so we had a bazaar day at office, where we could set up stalls of different kinds like food and games and stuff. It would be completely run by employees and for employees.

We registered immediately and deliberated over what to sell for around two weeks! Finally after long tiresome discussions, we came to the conclusion that Bhel would be the easiest and tastiest thing to sell.

The day before the actual Bazaar, we had a trial session, where the office pantry was turned into a chaat stall with my manager and some other team members experimenting with various chaat types.

I had a lot of work (and am not the cooking kind, though this kinda got me started on the Friday Night Delights!!), so was unable to contribute anything other than my expert criticism!

Anyway, the next day turned out to be a huge success. Initially things were slow ,but they soon picked up pace and we were actually getting a lot of customers!

Towards the end all our supplies were over, but people were still coming in, some for seconds. Some of them were even ready to eat the samples, but we already had our eye on them (Ok, I had my eye on the sample plates), so they had to be regretfully sent away empty-handed. Some pictures:

Preparation:



The First Plate:

The "Bohni": First earnings of the day. From our very own team-member, who very happily paid up and ran with the plate to catch his bus.

The Stall Poster: A last minute creation. If we'd though about this earlier, we would have got computer print-outs!

The Bhel samples: A brilliant idea from PK, to keep samples that the customers could choose from. Else we would have wasted a lot of time explaining what was what.

All the customers: There was a point when there were so many people at our stall, we were completely overwhelmed, and there was no chance of taking any pictures then.This one is of a quieter time.

 The full money box: Money was actually overflowing from it at one point, this pic was taken after we had counted and kept it in order.

We didn't really make much of a profit, just about 10%, but we did have a lot of fun. Next time we're gonna stick to some game stall, easy money and absolutely no investment!!

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!

Go Goa Gone

 
Ok, so I go this movie on the recommendation of someone I thought was a good judge of movies, alas, I was wrong! I was thoroughly disappointed by this piece of crap posing as a movie!
Maybe I wasnt in that great a mood, so didnt fine the movie funny. I mean, i found this movie funny, and GGG was along similar lines!

I cannot blame only her for the misleading review, since I also thought it would be a good movie, and just needed someone to validate my thoughts I guess! Anyway, I'm just happy I didn't take Adi to watch it in the theater cos I never would've heard the end of it!

The start of the movie gave a bit of a Delhi Belly feel, but that movie was in a different class altogether.

The movie trailers shown on TV had a couple of good, funny scenes, one with the dumb charades in the jungle, and another where the three start doubting the Russian Saif, and he turns around and says, "Bhenchod, Delhi se hun mein!!" Or something like that.
Little did I know that these were the only two scenes that were really funny in the whole movie. More was expected from Saif, though not from the others, who delivered as per expectations. Its another story that the expectations were really low. Sigh. All in all, a waste.


The movie posters looked good though. See below:

Goa Trip: 1-3 June 2013

Ok, so I was in Goa for a really really short trip. Some glimpses:

Bored in the bus: With nothing to do except listen to music or sleep, I took to photography!

View from the bus as I reached Panjim: It was raining heavily which would have been a welcome change from Pune, if I'd not been wearing cloth shoes!

Reached home, and after a quick shower, re-arranged the book shelves: I take books I buy home, once I'm done reading them. Filled one of the shelves, and so had to make space in the other.

  

Inaugurated the new wine glasses: Homemade Red wine with lunch and dinner, in the most beautiful glasses ever!

Yummy lunch: Rice with Prawn Curry, Shengo (Drumsticks), Tisreo (Clams), simple and tasty.

Followed by the best chocolates ever!!

The next day: Had a sari modelling session with Ma.

  

Another modelling session, with a cousin: History repeating itself? I used to play dress up with Ma's saris all the time when I was a kid.

MaPa's Wedding Anniversary Party (The main reason for the trip): 28 years together!

All the cakes:

The next day: Bully!!!!

Bully & Zac: Brothers!

 

View from the same bridge, in the opposite direction though.

Spider on my wall: Yes, we get spiders, snakes, centipedes and all sorts of creepy crawlers in the house.

~ The End ~

The Great Gatsby - The Book

Ok, so I just finished reading the book. Finally! It wasn't a long or tiresome read, but somehow I just couldn't seem to finish it for a really long time. Anyway, I'm done now.

I liked the book, but believe it or not, I liked the movie better. Just a little. Since I'd seen the movie first, I was constantly visualizing the characters as the movie actors. Like when Gatsby was in a scene, I would imagine Leonardo DiCaprio in it, similarly whenever there was some scene with Daisy, Carey Mulligan was there. And naturally it follows that I was Tobey Maguire! Seriously! I was Spider Man!! Ok, just kidding.

Anyway, I was a little bit happier after reading the book, since the ending was not quite as depressing as the movie. I mean the movie ends with Gatsby's death with only Carraway at the funeral.
The book, on the other hand had Gatsby's father come after his death and for the funeral, and also the guy from the party, who was at the library.
Although, the movie had earned a point since Gatsby hears the phone ring as he is shot, and thinks it is Daisy.
False hope, I know, but hope nevertheless.

Also the whole part about Carraway being in some sort of a institution due to some addiction, and writing this story as a form of therapy was just to add a bit of drama I guess. In reality, he is just disillusioned by Daisy's self-involved or selfish behavior, which he realises is a characteristic of people in the East or have moved East, and moves back to the West (or was is Mid-West?). And the movie could have focused more on Carraway's relationship with Jordan.

Anyway, I liked the story overall, though the ending was very depressing, with Daisy leaving and Gatsby dying and all. As Adi said, and I quote "All Daisy wanted was huge houses and big parties!" Wilson also got a raw deal, but he was a side character and so his fate doesn't really matter much as much!

For the uninitiated, its quite a simple, yet complicated story.

Poor boy meets rich girl. He goes away to war, and does not come back even after it, since he wants to get rich in order to be worthy of her. Meanwhile, she gets married to some rich guy who cheats on her often. Poor boy gets rich by crook, rather than hook, and buys a house across the lake(?) from the girl's house. He throws parties every weekend in the hope that she will wonder across one day seeing all the lights and stuff!!!??!! Anyway, they meet and get together, thanks to the narrator, who is the girl's cousin and the boy's neighbor.
When pushed to leave her husband, the girl realizes that she loves her husband also. Then there is an accident in which the girl's car hits her husband's mistress and kills her. Girl tells her husband all, and they quickly get away. Boy who doesn't yet know that girl has let him, is killed by the mistress's husband, who then shoots himself. He was present in the car which caused the accident, and the girl's husband is mis-directed to Boy, who he thinks his wife was having an affair with, and who killed her to get rid of her or something! End of story, Phew!

Moral of the story, hope kills!

P.S. Next up, the 1974 movie version!