"That there's some good in this world, Mr. Frodo... and it's worth fighting for" is what Sam Gamgee says in LOTR: The Two Towers. Maybe I can't compare because right now, the fate of mankind (or even hobbits) doesn't rest on my ability to carry a ring to the top of a mountain, but still life is bloody hard work, with "all the headaches and heartaches", but that is also what makes life interesting.
In life, you find things to fight for, things that you want and things that you can't live without. And it's these things that makes you cherish all the things that make you smile. We all go through different sorts of troubles and I know that it is those things that make you stronger. I know that I would be a very different person if I hadn't gone through what I have in life. And funny thing is, I don't think I regret anything that has happened. Yes, somethings still make me sad, but I don't think I would want to go back and change them.
Yes, I sound very cryptic and ambiguous up there... and I will take a simple example to explain the hard stuff; my friends who live in Maldives and the relationship I have with them.
Long distance friendship is bloody hard. It takes effort, timing, misunderstandings and late nights on both sides to keep in touch and maintain the friendships. It also means, that when one of your best friends is getting married, you may not be able to be there, "to make her laugh and to tease her". Or you can't celebrate your birthday with that friend who makes you laugh and has the same birthday as you, however much you want to hang out with him on that day. You have to deal with that, and it sucks so bad.
But however hard it is, I don't intend on giving up on this fabulous bunch of people. They've been the people who know me inside out, and remained friends even after the messiest of mistakes. They've thrown me surprise BBQ's and farewell parties, even though they see me only once a year or less. It has been made easier for me, because of my friends responsiveness despite the distance and also thanks to Facebook, MSN etc. And it may take sacrifices and compromises on my part (and theirs), to be a part of their life, but I know that that is something I want to do.
The point I am trying to make is, things that are worth a damn, may be (and probably will be) hard work. Taking the easy road down and walking away is not the answer. Take risks in love and life... and have a ball while doing it!!
This blog is dedicated to the Gang, Sabadi and everyone else in my life, who makes me smile (you know who you are) ...
PS: Just to acknowledge what my friends have said, everything in quotation marks are direct quotes by them.
Midhu's Blog
Simple pleasures in life...
- Waking up after a rainy night and smelling the eucalyptus trees
- Cutting into a watermelon and smelling the freshness and summer
- Getting postcards from India, Uk, Maldives etc.
- Waking up to a text messages.
- The smell of freshly mowed lawns.
- Having Kurumba (coconut juice) at 12am because of massive cravings.
- Having lunch at one of your best friends house...just because you can.
- Standing on top of a hill and seeing the Sydney Center Point Tower.
- Having a warm shower on a winter night right before bed.
- Grandma's hedhika (short-eats).
- Smell of coriander.
- Eating watermelon.
- Listening to that really old school song you've always loved.
-Photo albums.
- Feeling the ocean spray on your face
- Cutting into a watermelon and smelling the freshness and summer
- Getting postcards from India, Uk, Maldives etc.
- Waking up to a text messages.
- The smell of freshly mowed lawns.
- Having Kurumba (coconut juice) at 12am because of massive cravings.
- Having lunch at one of your best friends house...just because you can.
- Standing on top of a hill and seeing the Sydney Center Point Tower.
- Having a warm shower on a winter night right before bed.
- Grandma's hedhika (short-eats).
- Smell of coriander.
- Eating watermelon.
- Listening to that really old school song you've always loved.
-Photo albums.
- Feeling the ocean spray on your face
1:48 PM | Filed Under | 6 Comments
Boiling Potatoes and Eggs
I thought I would try a homemade potato salad for dinner. We didn't have any potato salad dressing so I just mixed up some mayonnaise and lemon juice for the dressing. That's what Taste.com.au told me to do. Technically, this is an easy salad to whip up. I just had minor problems with the boiled egg I was adding to the salad.
I was supposed to boil the potatoes and add the dressing onto the potato while it was still warm. That way the potato absorbs the flavor in. But when my potato was cooked, my eggs were still not done. Who knew it took more than five minutes to boil an egg? I had managed to crack one of them when putting them in the pan and when I checked it, it was still a bit soft. I had to again put some water to boil and boil the eggs for another five minutes to harden them.
I knew there were a lot of theories around boiling eggs. I remember listening to a conversation on the radio or TV, where they were having a quite passionate discussion about how to boil an egg. And it is not as simple as it sounds. I had thought it took only about three minutes, and had left it for five minutes just to make sure. But after looking up on how to boil an egg on a few websites, I see that I had done quite a few things wrong.
Wikipedia gives the run down of the theories behind boiling eggs. Some say you put the egg in cold water and then put it to heat, while others say that you boil the water first and then put the eggs in. All the other websites I checked was consistent in asking us to do the former. I had done the latter.
It was also important that we make sure that the eggs are in room temperature. I had just taken mine out of the refrigerator.
A Sydney chef, Brahimi reckons that the eggs should be covered with water when they boil. Half of the water had evaporated in my pan and they were only half covered. I did, however, run cold water on the eggs to make the peeling of eggs a bit easier, as he had recommended. I did not burn my fingertips at the process.
Mr. Breakfast said that we are supposed to let the eggs simmer in for about 12 minutes! I had no patient to let that happen for I had already struggled with boiling the egg for about 10 minutes. You can apparently just leave the eggs in hot water for about 10 minutes as well. I think that's where Mr. Breakfast is coming from.
After all this, it is pretty straight froward. Peeling the egg is the fun part. As long as you have not over cooked the egg, the shell comes off easily. A little tip: make sure you stir the egg when it is boiling in the pan, this helps the egg yolk to be in the center when it boils (I had forgotten to do this as well that day).
As for the potato salad dressing, I tasted it after I mixed in all my ingredients. At first it tasted a bit weird, maybe it was too much lemon juice or the dried basil I put in (I think it was either Maggie Beer or Nigella Lawson, or both, who always insists on fresh herbs and now I do know why). But I after I left the salad to rest, the taste was good and we had none leftover.
And for anyone who is curious about boiling an egg, here are the websites I looked into:
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ask.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_egg
http://www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/crack-the-formula-on-boiling-eggs/2006/03/28/1143441128413.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12504/how+to+boil+an+egg
I was supposed to boil the potatoes and add the dressing onto the potato while it was still warm. That way the potato absorbs the flavor in. But when my potato was cooked, my eggs were still not done. Who knew it took more than five minutes to boil an egg? I had managed to crack one of them when putting them in the pan and when I checked it, it was still a bit soft. I had to again put some water to boil and boil the eggs for another five minutes to harden them.
I knew there were a lot of theories around boiling eggs. I remember listening to a conversation on the radio or TV, where they were having a quite passionate discussion about how to boil an egg. And it is not as simple as it sounds. I had thought it took only about three minutes, and had left it for five minutes just to make sure. But after looking up on how to boil an egg on a few websites, I see that I had done quite a few things wrong.
Wikipedia gives the run down of the theories behind boiling eggs. Some say you put the egg in cold water and then put it to heat, while others say that you boil the water first and then put the eggs in. All the other websites I checked was consistent in asking us to do the former. I had done the latter.
It was also important that we make sure that the eggs are in room temperature. I had just taken mine out of the refrigerator.
A Sydney chef, Brahimi reckons that the eggs should be covered with water when they boil. Half of the water had evaporated in my pan and they were only half covered. I did, however, run cold water on the eggs to make the peeling of eggs a bit easier, as he had recommended. I did not burn my fingertips at the process.
Mr. Breakfast said that we are supposed to let the eggs simmer in for about 12 minutes! I had no patient to let that happen for I had already struggled with boiling the egg for about 10 minutes. You can apparently just leave the eggs in hot water for about 10 minutes as well. I think that's where Mr. Breakfast is coming from.
After all this, it is pretty straight froward. Peeling the egg is the fun part. As long as you have not over cooked the egg, the shell comes off easily. A little tip: make sure you stir the egg when it is boiling in the pan, this helps the egg yolk to be in the center when it boils (I had forgotten to do this as well that day).
As for the potato salad dressing, I tasted it after I mixed in all my ingredients. At first it tasted a bit weird, maybe it was too much lemon juice or the dried basil I put in (I think it was either Maggie Beer or Nigella Lawson, or both, who always insists on fresh herbs and now I do know why). But I after I left the salad to rest, the taste was good and we had none leftover.
And for anyone who is curious about boiling an egg, here are the websites I looked into:
http://www.mrbreakfast.com/ask.asp
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boiled_egg
http://www.smh.com.au/news/good-living/crack-the-formula-on-boiling-eggs/2006/03/28/1143441128413.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap2
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/12504/how+to+boil+an+egg
10:52 PM | Filed Under cooking | 2 Comments
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