Monthly Archives: December 2017

2017 Week 48 Update

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Another interesting week in terms of interviews. I interviewed for the position I mentioned last week and in the middle of the week, got another offer to interview. The second position is better than the first one, which may turn out to be a part-time one after all. During the second interview, the interviewer was selling the company and position to me, which I understand is something positive.

We also went out quite a bit this week as S was on leave and that was something we rarely do as a family, what with school and work getting in the way.

The year is winding down and I am now starting to work on what I want to achieve in 2018. This is something I try to do regularly and want to continue next year also.

What are your plans for the rest of 2017 and in 2018?

In My Hands Today…

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A Student of Living Things – Susan Richards Shreve

1234661Even in the confusion and dread of the post-9/11 world, the tightly knit Frayn family is fairly well insulated from the snipers, bomb threats, and natural disasters that plague Washington, D.C., a few years into the future.

Then, in the moment it takes Claire Frayn to dig for her umbrella while her brother Steven waits next to her on the library steps of their university, he is shot and killed. Shattered, the family scatters to whatever havens they can find. Steven’s father moves into the airplane hangar behind the house, his mother moves into the glass factory where she works, and Claire, a biology student, adapts.

Galvanized by an impassioned stranger who claims to be her brother’s friend, she sheds her measured academic persona and sets out to avenge her brother’s death. Expecting to uncover a political conspiracy aimed at her outspoken brother, Claire finds instead her family’s own darkest secrets and her true love.

Recipes: Ginger Coconut Chutney

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This Chutney came about completely serendipitously! I started off making something else, felt it was not going to be enough, added some coconut and the end result was this yummy Chutney.

Ginger Coconut Chutney

Ingredients:

  • 1 cup coconut, grated
  • 2 inch piece of ginger, peeled and chopped
  • 1 onion, chopped
  • A small lime-sized ball of tamarind
  • 3-4 dried red chillies
  • 1/2 tsp mustard seeds
  • 1/2 tsp cumin seeds
  • 1/2 tsp fennel seeds
  • 1 tsp coriander seeds
  • 1 tbsp oil
  • Salt to taste

Method:

  • In a pan, heat the oil and add the mustard seeds. When they pop, add the cumin seeds, coriander seeds, fennel seeds, red chillies, ginger and tamarind and stir for a few minutes.
  • Now add the onions and sauté till the onions turn translucent.
  • Switch off the flame and let this cool down.
  • Once cool, blend it together with the coconut, adding water as necessary and make it into a fine paste.
  • Season with salt and serve with any Indian bread like dosas, idlis, rotis. It even goes well with breads.

In My Hands Today…

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Murder on the Champ de Mars – Cara Black

22548137Paris, February 1998: Aimée Leduc has her work cut out for her—running her detective agency and fighting off sleep-deprivation as she tries to be a good single mother to her new bébé. The last thing she has time for now, is to take on a personal investigation for a poor manouche (French Gypsy) boy. But he insists his dying mother has an important secret she needs to tell Aimée, something to do with Aimée’s father’s unsolved murder a decade ago. How can she say no?

The dying woman’s secret is even more dangerous than her son realized. When Aimée arrives at the hospital, the boy’s mother has disappeared. She was far too sick to leave on her own—she must have been abducted. What does she know that is so important it is worth killing for? And will Aimée be able to find her before it is too late and the medication keeping her alive runs out?

Set in the seventh arrondissement, the quartier of the Parisian elite, Murder on the Champ de Mars takes us from the highest seats of power in the Ministries and embassies through the city’s private gardens and the homes of France’s oldest aristocratic families. Aimée discovers more connections than she thought possible between the clandestine “Gypsy” world and the moneyed ancien régime, ultimately leading her to the truth behind her father’s death…After all, for Aimée, murder is never far from home.