I Clicked Some Metal

I had decided from last month on that I am no longer going to be intimidated to send in entries for Click – Jugalbandi’s photography event every month. When they announced the theme as Metal for this month, I knew I would be clicking a fork. I just knew it. Even when I saw some lovely entries of exotic kitchen utensils and accessories, my mind was stuck on our humble fork. Only catch was, I still hadn’t figured out how to click one. My mind was very blurry on how to place it, if it should be stand-alone or with some food, it kept running in my head for almost three weeks.

The heat in Hyderabad had turned on since mid March and I was actually beginning to turn to thirst-quenching drinks, when summer showers hit very unexpectedly. One moment it was so hot and dehydrating, but the next moment, there were strong gusts of wind and heavy drops falling on my almost-dry laundry. The mood had suddenly changed from too-hot-to-do-anything-much to let-me-make-some-hot-pakodas-and-chai (which I did, recipe later ).

When the first round of downpoar subsided, it was almost 6 in the evening. The weather was cool and there was still a mild wind blowing. I was feeling extremely lazy. Saw my camera on the kitchen shelf (where it almost always rests) and picked it up. Saw the washed vessels pile and lazily picked up a fork. Walked to the balcony, looked at the sky, looked on dreamily for another 2 minutes, held up the fork in my left hand, the camera in my right and clicked! This is the result.

A slice of sky

There has been no editing done, except that I added a matt border. I haven’t even added the watermark of my blog name. That’s how lazy this shot was. I tried a couple more, but none turned out as good as this first one. I love the way the sky looks in the background, the natural blur of it, the 10 bucks fork that is actually bent where we hold it, but the perfection of its shape against the dark evening. Its perfect to me.

So off it goes to Click – Metal.

Sambharam / Majjige / Mor / Spiced Buttermilk

When Sig announces an event, there is no way I am going to miss it. She has been ever supportive in all my events and even otherwise, when I email her with really silly questions and doubts about blogging. March has been an incredibly eventful month for me so I was almost expecting to miss out on MBP this time. The other day I was randomly browsing through Sailu’s blog and chanced upon this wonderfully refreshing drink that fit in perfectly with the weather.

The merciless Hyderabad summer has started and temperatures can sore to upto 38 degrees centrigrade. There is no escaping it and weekends are even more horrid cuz you just don’t feel like stepping out of the house. Moreover, it differs from the Kerala summers to which I am used to. In Hyderabad, its hot, but not humid. The sun will scorch your skin and leave you completely dehydrated.

Buttermilk is known for its hydrating and refreshing properties. In Kerala, traditional Nair families used to give mildly spiced buttermilk or Sambharam to their guests. Even Christian families are known to have pacha moru (spiced salted buttermilk) or kachiya moru (buttermilk tempered with chillies and curry leaves) with their lunch. Buttermilk is known as Majjige in Telugu, Majjige Huli in Kannada, simply Mor in Tamil and Sambharam in Malayalam.

I enjoyed this refreshing drink on a hot summer afternoon, around 2pm in the afternoon. It was so refreshing that I felt like just relaxing and taking a nap after it.

Here is how I made it (adapted from Sailu’s recipe)

2 glasses of buttermilk (made from 4 parts water and 1 part curds)
1 green chilli finely chopped
½” ginger piece grated
few curry leaves
salt to taste

Mix all the above ingredients and chill. Serve cold.

This goes over to MBP – Mixed Drinks this month over at Sig’s.