Tuesday, February 9, 2010

Receipe of the Day

Pasta Indiano.
I came up with this name because even though pasta is an italian dish this one has been indianised . I learnt this receipe from my dear friend Anu.

Ingredients: pasta( 500 gms), Oil 2 tablespoon, Chopped cauliflower, carrots, mushrooms, french beans, sugar snaps,brocolli, bell peppers, one medium sized onion finley chopped, chopped garlic(5-6 cloves), one tin of tomato puree (alternately use four medium sized tomatoes chopped very finely), grated parmesan or mozarella cheese, oregano, red chilli flakes, red chilli powder, crushed pepper and salt to taste.

Note: Julian cut the vegetables. i.e. cut them lengthwise into thin long strips.

Method: Boil the pasta in a large pan with water enough to completely cover the pasta. Add salt and 1 teaspoon of oil. Cook until the pasta is almost done,Drain and set aside.
Heat oil in a cooking pan and saute the garlic, add chopped onions and saute until transparent. Now add the tomato puree, all the chopped veggies, red chilli powder, salt and continue cooking on medium flame until the veggies are half done. Donot over cook the vegetables as they become lumpy and donot taste very good. Now, add a little water arnd 1/4th cup . Add the pasta and see to it that you get a thick tomato gravy and it doesnot dry up. Now add the oregano, Crushed pepper, red chilli flakes and stir. Add parmesan cheese and cook until the cheese melts. Serve hot. Pasta Indiano is ready to eat.

How did I come up with the idea of creating Blog?

Life's been like a Roller Coaster ride since July 2008. After finishing my Engineering in Mumbai I was not able to clearly decide if I wanted a career in any of the Engineering related fields. It offered me careers ranging from being a software developer, tester or hardcore hardware networking. Knowing my aptitude I knew it wasnt my cup of tea. Management was something I always wanted to pursue. One fine day a friend of mine told me about Master's in UK and it did sound quite appealing to me. In less than a month I was through with my paperwork and visas and was flying to London in September.

Mid September and there I was in London. I started my course in International Business management in Brunel University. My experience in London was quite enriching and at the same time very fulfilling. In India where I was used to all the spoon feeding London took it all away from me. After nearly three months of settling down in London I finally thought of taking up a job to keep myself occupied. I fine morning I went upto the high street and dropped my CV's at all the local shops there. The next day I gotta call from Subway and was asked to join the very next day. With no work experience what so ever and only very very high degrees my first part time job in Subway was as a Sandwich Artist.Boy, Sounds fancy but only a few know the hardcore reality behind it. Right from serving Customers, to making Sandwiches, cleaning, Preps( Cutting Veggies) I did it all,and Washing ( You'd say WTF....!!!!) Yes washing,the most horrible task of them all. 8 hours of wasing in one single shift and you get paid 5.8 pounds an hour for all of dat. Paise ke liye kya kya karna padta hai...Goddd...I realised the importance of money that day.Right from the day I joined Subway I knew I would not work here for more than a month.Since Subway was my first job I do respect it and what I did get from it.Every experience in life has something to offer and Subway is one of them. Long shift hours, coursework and exams all came together and it was true testing time. Amongst this mess I found some really cool friends at my Uni. Ashwini and Anu today are like an integral part of my life. The fun we guys hav had is exceptional. We were just a trio but even then we had a lotta fun and they have given me the memories of a life time.
Finally on 28th of November I joined Marks and Spencers and my days of suffering at Subway came to an end. Meanwhile sometime in December me and my aunt having finished our dinner in the evening were browsing the internet. Some how she came up with the idea of visiting shaadi.com to find prospective grooms for me. Seriously we were doing it for time pass, actual time pass and I came across the profile of this guy called Jatin Patel. I told here, "Hey I knw him, He's Vitalee's cousin" and Vitalee being my cousin. I went through his profile and damn I was impressed. Jatin, now my hubby had awesome writing skills and is very knowledgeable and I was flattered just by reviewing his profile. My aunt put across the word to my Dad and after months of chatting over the internet, ultra long hours of phone calls, N number of emails we finally decided 2 meet up in May and the marraige was fixed. Mean while in September 2009 I finally finished my course. Lol....u must be wondering I never mentioned anything related to dat b4...!!

October 2009 I flew back to Mumbai and my wedding preparations started in full swing. 21st December 2009, and I turned from being Ms Jignasha Solanki to being Mrs. Jignasha Patel. Life has changed ever since then and couldnot have been more beautiful. With the most loving and adorable hubby in the world I moved to Philadelphia, USA.

Life here is so calm and composed. Having lived in London I had a general idea of how it would be living in a foreign land. From hustle bustle, fun and chaotic Mumbai I was here in place where sometimes my Hubby was the only human being I saw in the entire day. Now after having settled down, I wanted to do something new, share my experinces with people and reconnect with my old friends, and keep in touch with my existing buddies. I thought creating a blog would be an awesome idea wherein we could discuss topics, write articles, share receipes and hereby understand eachother better diminishing the effect of geographical distances.

Sorry guys, If I did bore you with such a long story but this was required as many people do ask me that where was I after engineering and how did I land in Philly. Do gimme ur feedbacks, do write comments, post articles and hope we keep in touch.

Love u all,
Jignasha.