Murder at the Vicarage marks the debut of Agatha Christie’s unflappable and much beloved female detective, Miss Jane Marple. With her gift for sniffing out the malevolent side of human nature, Miss Marple is led on her first case to a crime scene at the local vicarage. Colonel Protheroe, the magistrate whom everyone in town hates, has been shot through the head. No one heard the shot. There are no leads. Yet, everyone surrounding the vicarage seems to have a reason to want the Colonel dead. It is a race against the clock as Miss Marple sets out on the twisted trail of the mysterious killer without so much as a bit of help from the local police.
Last week, I pretty much spent the week in multiple trips to the hospital. I did mention that I my eyes had become super red and last Monday, I went to see the specialist for the first time. There I learned that what I had was something called oily eyelids or Blephartis. The area around the eyeballs was also swollen.
The opthalmologist started an aggresive treatment with as many as six eye drops at any given time and had to go back to see the doctor three times last week. The result is that I am so much better now. My hypersensitivity to light is almost gone and I feel like I am about 80% ok now. I will need a couple of weeks for the sensitivity to light and the slight blurring to completely go away.
In other news, I kept away from social media and all electronic devices last week and it was so boring. I realised at this point how much we depend on these devices for not just entertainment, but for all our daily needs also.
I now have a full load this week, what with my pending tasks from last week. Plus there is a public holiday in the middle of this week, which makes getting back to track slightly more difficult.
Happy Monday and have a wonderfully productive week!
School is out for the semester, but this doesn’t mean that BB & GG get a free pass and get to enjoy your holidays. They have to go back to school some days this week and next before they can start their holidays. Also teachers have planned on giving them homework during the holidays, so this is a working holiday for them.
We went for the parent teacher meeting on Friday and BB’s teachers had good things to say about him even though he didn’t do so well in his mid term exams. They see a lot of potential in him and hopefully BB sees what we adults see in him and works hard during the next few months leading up to the prelims in August.
BB was given the model student award again for this semester. She won it for the first time when she was in Sec 1. I was surprised she won it this time because she didn’t do very well academically, but according to her form teacher, she was given the award for her positive attitude, her can do spirit and the fact that she is such a hard working girl. I am very happy for her.
That’s all from the schools for us. Have a wonderful Sunday folks!
In a flat above a noisy north London market, translator Iona Kirkpatrick starts work on a Chinese letter: “Dearest Mu, The sun is piercing, old bastard sky. I am feeling empty and bare. Nothing is in my soul, apart from the image of you. I am writing to you from a place I cannot tell you about yet…”
In a detention centre in Dover exiled Chinese musician Jian is awaiting an unknown fate. In Beijing, his girlfriend Mu sends desperate letters to London to track him down, her last memory of them together a roaring rock concert and Jian the king on stage. Until the state police stormed in.
As Iona unravels the story of these Chinese lovers from their first flirtations at Beijing University to Jian’s march in the Jasmine Revolution, Jian and Mu seem to be travelling further and further away from each other while Iona feels more and more alive. Intoxicated by their romance, Iona sets out to bring them back together, but time seems to be running out.
Bhindi or Ladies Finger is one of my favourite vegetables. When fried right, it is crisp and super yummy. I remember my grandmother’s telling us to eat this vegetable when we were young saying that eating this vegetable will improve your brain. Though I have no idea if this is true or just an old wives tale, it did ensure that this became one of my favourite vegetables ever.
Okra is scientifically known as Abelmoschus esculentus, and it might have originated in parts of Western Africa and Asia. It has been cultivated since the 12th century BC. While researching on the benefits of Ladies Finger for this post, I realised that this unassuming vegetable actually has many benefits. Bhindi has one of the richest sources of potassium, folic acid, vitamins B and C, calcium, and fibre. Okra alleviates asthma, lowers cholesterol, protects the heart, manages diabetes, boosts your immune system, improves vision, prevents kidney diseases and is a very good addition for pregnant women to eat.
A note of warning though, this recipe does use more oil than usual, so keep that in mind while making it. If you are on a diet, this recipe is probably not for you. This version of bhindi masala is made using a modified basic Punjabi gravy.
Bhindi Masala
Ingredients:
20-25 ladies fingers, washed and completely dried
1 large and 1 medium sized onion
3 medium sized tomatoes
8-10 garlic pods
1 inch piece of ginger
6-8 pieces of cashewnuts
1 tsp cumin seeds
1-2 tsp red chilli powder
½ tsp turmeric powder
1 tsp cumin powder
1 tsp coriander powder
1 tsp dry mango powder
1 tsp garam masala powder
3-4 tbsp oil
Salt to taste
1 tbsp finely chopped coriander leaves to garnish
Method:
Make sure the ladies fingers are completely dry. Then top and tail them and cut them into one inch pieces. Keep wiping your knife with a kitchen towel to remove all the slime from the seeds of the okra. Keep aside.
Chop the large onion vertically into long thin slices and keep aside.
In a blender, blend the ginger, garlic, the medium sized onion, tomatoes and cashewnuts into a fio a fine paste. Keep aside.
Heat the oil in a pan and when it is hot, add the okra in batches along with a pinch of salt and let it cook. The okra should turn dark green and crisp. Remove from the pan and keep aside.
In the same pan, with the balance oil, add the cumin seeds and when the seeds pop, add the sliced onions. Stir and let the onions become translucent.
When the onions become translucent, add in the blended gravy and let it come to a rolling boil. Add in the spices – salt, red chilli powder, turmeric powder, cumin powder, coriander powder and raw mango powder and let it simmer for around 5-10 minutes.
Add water to thin the gravy to the consistency you want. Add in the garam masala powder and check for seasoning and add what seems to be missing.
Add in the fried ladies finger and give it a simmer and switch off the flame after garnishing with the finely chopped coriander leaves.
If you don’t have access to dry mango powder, you can substitute it with 1 tsp lemon juice. Add the lemon juice at the very end, just after you switch off the flame.
This goes very well with both Indian flatbreads and even rice.
