I just could not let today go by without posting.

Today is International No-Diet Day; an annual celebration of body acceptance and body shape diversity. This day is also dedicated to raise awareness of the dangers in diets. Observed on May 6, its symbol is a blue ribbon.
I believe the concept began to combat the unreal expectations created by the fashion and retail industry. Especially the effect it has on young impressionable minds when underweight or just normal growing teens look in the mirror and see FAT. I’m in total accord with all this. I’m all for not being obsessed by your body size.

I KNOW that extreme or yo-yo dieting is the worst thing possible for anyone. I know that a few days into a diet, your body goes into fasting mode, in other words, the metabolism slows down and you stop losing calories at your otherwise normal pace. I know a healthy, sensible diet, eating in moderation, lots of fruit and raw veggies, interesting salads with sensible low-fat dressings are the thing to do. I’ve seen the food pyramid. I know that moderate exercise is the way to go.

But all that is theory.
I also remember clearly how I looked just 5 years ago, and I still have those jeans and skirts. No I don’t throw out things I haven’t worn in 6 months. Maybe some part of my subconscious is aiming for the ‘Secret’ way of doing things, – dream of your perfect body, ask for it firmly and then know it will come to you.
Sigh. Let’s face it, I think my mind just thinks fat. I prefer meats, I love anything that’s generally considered sinful; if its got butter or cheese or flour, or it’s deep fried, most likely it’s on my top 10 foods. And I HATE exercise. Walking is ok, but I mean, after 15 minutes or so, I have so many more interesting things I need to go and do!

But this last month or so I really have been very careful. I have a large salad with most meals. I haven’t been out for dinner. I’m trying to stop eating when I’m not hungry any more, rather than when I’m full. I try to avoid the greasy snack we order into the office at 6.30pm. And I have been walking for more than 20 minutes at least 3 mornings a week. Sure I dropped a kilo, but I can’t say its made me particularly thrilled. What makes me super-mad is that just a day of carelessness can undo a whole week’s work!

So I’m going to just going to celebrate No-Diet Day in my way. Bring on the burgers and fries!

I’ve read often, that nothing beats a hot cheesy souffle. I agree TOTALLY. But let me tell you something, few things beat a cheese souffle eaten lukewarm or cool either!

The first time I ate one was years ago. A colleague brought some for lunch, left-over from the day before. Well as you can imagine, it was far from hot and fresh out of the oven. But Yummmm! After that I’ve always wanted to make one, took the recipe from her mom, and soon after lost it. So I never got round to it. And I kind of wasn’t sure if I would be able to get that crucial light ‘rise’.

Well today, I did! Not only did it rise, it turned perfect and golden and for a few seconds there I thought it would overflow. And then, when it was done I rushed around with my camera because it looked like it was going to sink right away.
It did a bit, but for a change I got so many great pictures, you can actually smell the cheesy aromas. When finally I let everyone spoon it into their plates, not surprisingly it was far from hot, and certaily not risen very high, but I didn’t hear anyone complaining. But believe me it was still awesome; cheesy, peppery, fragrant.

I think I’ve looked up a cheese souffle about half a dozen times, but this is an adaptation from an old cutting from an ElleDecor magazine. It just fell out of something I was tidying away, and being Saturday, I had no excuses. The problem with lots of their recipe cards, that I’ve collected and never used, is that they leave too much space for guesswork – which doesn’t suit a very average cook like me, I like everything s-p-e-l-l-e-d out, and they often forget to include/use/give measures of some ingredients that they mention elsewhere in the recipe.
So here it is with a few adaptations.

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CHEESE SOUFFLE Serves 6
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This is what I read somewhere — A hot soufflé is meant to be eaten right after baking and doesn’t hold its shape and lightness for very long. It’s almost as if they can just be relied on to “hold their breath” for about 15 minutes. Their lightness and that delightful puffed up golden look depends greatly one how well the egg-white has been beaten and the speed between the beating, the baking and the serving.
The great thing about this recipe is that it can be mixed up to 3 hours ahead of time, which is really useful if you’re expecting guests.

INGREDIENTS
2 heaped tablespoons flour, sifted
2 heaped tablespoons dry potato flakes (the recipe gives the option of an equivalent amount of cornmeal)
2 cups milk
4 eggs
1 cup full of grated cheddar cheese
1/2 teaspoon crushed basil
1/2 teaspoon crushed oregano
1/2 teaspoon pepper
1 tablespoon butter
Salt to taste. I used salted butter and the cheese is salty enough for me so I used less than 1/2 a tsp more (more…)

Just a coincidence but this morning I saw a write-up in the paper about this company that sells healthy, natural fruit juices. Apart from the fact that I was interested in knowing more, the name – Nutrotop Health, and more than that, the packaging caught my eye because it was familiar.

About a year back my neighbor had locked up and gone out of town for almost a fortnight, and though they’d stopped the newspapers and the milk, these little green and white packets were being left outside the door everyday. After watching them pile up from afar for 3 days I went to see what it was, and was pleasantly surprised because I didn’t know you could have fresh fruit or vegetable juice deposited at your doorstep. One clear instruction on the packets was “use within 7 hours”, so I threw the packets out. I did take down the telephone number to contact them though, hoping to know more, and maybe be good and neighborly and stop the delivery for a few days. As it happens, the number didn’t exist! and so the packets kept being dropped off, earlier than I wake up obviously.
I was sorely tempted to taste one – if I recall right it was carrot juice, but resisted.

Well here they are again. I see these things like signs – I’m SUPPOSED to try them! And at Rs.7 for a 100ml packet it doesn’t seem to extravagant. Probably cheaper to do at home, but well, I never do. Do you?
They offer, according to their site, * Wheatgrass * Carrot * Bottlegourd/Louki/Dudhi Bhopla * Bitter Gourd (Karella) * Tulsi * Beetroot * Aonla * Neem * Ginger Lime * Wheatgrass-Bittergourd Mix and fruits – * Pineapple * Mango * Grapes * Green Mango * Strawberry * Guava * Kokum * Papaya * Apple Milk shake * Chiku Milk Shake.

Must call them! More info when I do…..

Hadn’t had breakfast because my stomach had been acting up a bit last night. But by 10am I was ravenous, and just happened to find myself outside the newly opened Juice Lounge on Dhole Patil Road. I stopped in to look at their menu and finally ordered a orange-strawberry smoothie – ‘California Fun’. The menu said “All smoothies are blended in low fat yogurt” – sounded good to me.

9/10 marks to the smoothie, the only minus being perhaps that it took just too long. Though I’d ordered the regular serving, possibly because I was there alone that early and was carrying it away with me, I got a larger amount than I expected, very substantial though perhaps 69 bucks is a bit steep. On the other hand fruit is getting really expensive these days.
Must remember to try them out more often at home. I used to regularly before, and I’ve got some super recipes here, but lately, just gotten out of the habit.

We had Chef Venky offering to make us a lunch treat at work again last week. When he suggested the ubiquitous Anda Bhurji I can’t say I was very thrilled – I’m not a huge egg fan anyway, but everyone seemed to be quite pleased so Anda Bhurji it was. And then it was served up with hot buttered pav, and I must point out absolutely sizzling in oil, and very spicy because that’s they way most of us in this office like our food, but mmmmmmmmmm! it was awesome. And of course sinful. But then naturally.
Look out for the step-by-step photos.
This is incidentally a great last minute dish to rustle up when you run out of food in the fridge (give or take some oil, butter and chilies). Venky took about 25 minutes from chopping to serving, cooking for 10 of us.
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ANDA BHURJI ( MASALA SCRAMBLED EGGS ) Serves 6
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INGREDIENTS
6 eggs
4 onions chopped fine
2 tomatoes chopped fine
2 green chillies sliced into 4-5 pieces
1 teaspoon red chili powder
1 teaspoon turmeric
1/2 teaspoon coriander powder
1 teaspoon garam masala
1/2 cup fresh coriander leaves, chopped
1/2 cup oil (that was Venky’s amount. If I did it it would be 1/3 of that at most!)
1 tablespoon butter (!)
Salt to taste

PREPARATION
Fry the onions in all the oil till golden brown.

Add the chilies, fry some more.

Add the tomatoes and cook till tender.

Meanwhile beat up the eggs thoroughly. Add when the rest is fried through, along with the turmeric and chili powder, and salt to taste. Stir constantly.

Add the garam masala and coriander leaves.

When the egg sets to the consistency you like, – shouldn’t be more than 3-4 minutes, add the butter and coriander leaves just before you take off the stove, stir and take off the heat.

Serve steaming with hot. We had it with pav that was also roasted on a skillet with dabs of butter!