Zombies vs Vampires

I’ve been thinking a lot about zombies lately, thanks to The Walking Dead (S2) and the recent zombie parade that I attended inSydney. And in the ongoing battle between vampires and zombies, particularly in the film industry, I’d like to just make two statements. Firstly, there is no doubt that Vampires have made significantly more money (my sources tell me over 10 billion dollars) compared to our flesh-eating fiends who have contributed a little over 5 billion dollars. And secondly, which also happens to the reason for the vast difference in figures is that we can hold authors like Anne Rice and Stephenie Meyers accountable for romanticizing the idea of vampires. It has come to a point where when we think of vampires, we picture sparkly, intoxicatingly charming men who happen to be sexual deviants – Mills and Boon has probably made millions out of this. But when we think of zombies, the idea isn’t quite as sexy. Because let’s face it, at the end of the day, it all comes down to sex, I suppose love as well but I’m leaning very much towards sex. And thanks to Interview with a Vampire and Bram Stokers Dracula, there is this pre-conceived notion that vampires are eloquent and charismatic. Zombies clearly lose out in this aspect. No one wants to coitus a decaying animated corpse. Well, not yet anyway. Which brings me to my next point: I am waiting with bated breath to see the rise of a zombie-craze that involves a love affair similar to that of vampires (read: Mina + Dracula/ Lestat + Queen Akasha/ Edward + Bella) All it really takes is a cheesy plot with a matching cheesier script and we’ll have a multi-billion dollar zombie franchise that may just surpass the current vampire craze.

TW picked up a book a while ago called Warm Bodies. I have yet to read it yet but I intend to this week since I’m going through my zombie phase. It basically tells the story of a zombie called R who slowly forms a tense, awkward, and strangely sweet relationship with one of his victim’s human girlfriend. Stephenie Meyers read it and referred to the lead zombie character as “the most unexpected romantic lead I have ever encountered”. Well, that’s a good start. If the queen of sparkle vamp romance thinks it’s good, we are on the right path in this popularity contest with zombies taking over vampires.

  

/Thriller onLoop.

Sweet November.

I’ve been meaning to write but with piled up work thanks to a week-long vacation, The Walking Dead & BBT marathons and trying to get some sleep, I have slacked off. In a nutshell, Sydney was nothing short of amazing for many different reasons:

• Nanasha and I finally got to travel together after our last trip to Bangkok circa 2006.
• And after years of nagging at me for not visiting, I managed to spend some time with my girl Suelynn on her turf.
• My first Jewish wedding and it was absolutely beautiful. So glad to have been a part of my friend Dalia’s big day.
• Skydiving with Fabio. 2 years in the making and at last, it happened. Adrenaline rush – CHECK
• Bourke Street Bakery. Some of you like shoes. Some of you like cars. I like baked goods. Don’t judge.

Now that I am back, I have two things on my mind. Firstly, after trying what I have decided to be the best chocolate tart on the face of this planet, I am making it my personal goal to replicate it. Wishful thinking I know but what can I say? I was raised to reach for the stars! I don’t care how many tries it’s going to take and how much chocolate and butter I’d have to consume in the process. I am willing to go through the hardship and create an amazing chocolate tart. Just you wait and see!

Secondly, planning for holidays is deliriously fun. It’s what I live for, really and now that I am back, I feel the wanderlust hitting me hard in the face. Thankfully, TW and I are looking to finally do our Barcelona trip together. We haven’t decided exactly where else we’d like to venture off to but apart from a couple of Spanish cities, we’re also thinking of either taking the train to the South of France or to Portugal. Such fun! I love planning trips. What I don’t enjoy however, is saving money for it. TW suggested that we should visit the Montserrat monastery and stay there for a couple of days scrubbing floors. Alright, she didn’t say anything about scrubbing floors but I assume that if one stays in a monastery, they’re required to wake up at the break of dawn and scrub floors and meditate. Perhaps, I’m confusing it with an ashram. Ah, potato pohtato. The conversation on visiting the monastery went a little something like this:

 TW: Can we visit the Montserrat monastery when we’re in Barcelona?

Me: Will there be cute choir boys? I see cute choir boys on the website

TW: Yes, I think so.

Me: SOLD!

TW: You worry me.

 

Oh I joke I joke. Choir boys are not on my list of priorities. Now if you will excuse me, I’m going to sit around fantasizing about picking olives and grapes in Spain, learning to make bread with an old Spanish lady who doesn’t speak a word of English and taking a siesta right after quenching my thirst with jug of Sangria made from fruits that were picked off a fruit plantation in a bed & breakfast inn somewhere in the heart of Catalonia.

Sydney Crave!

I’m very pleased with myself for having come up with a decent itinerary for Nanasha’s and my Sydney trip late next week. She’s already been to Sydney and I on the other hand have never quite been interested in going until much recently.

After diligently looking through my Eye Witness and Lonely Planet guides to Sydney, (Thanks Lilykins for the presents!) It appears Sydney has all the ingredients to a perfect holiday – Beaches, award-winning restaurants, a great nightlife that I’m hoping comes hand in hand with insanely good-looking faces, quirky cafes, bookstores, the Opera house (Hello!) and ferryboats – What’s not to love?

My only regrets are that we’re going to miss most of the Crave Sydney Food Festival that looks highly promising and secondly, David Sedaris is scheduled to be in Sydney in January, just two months after our trip so I’m a little bitter that our trip couldn’t coincide with his. But that aside, my excitement levels for the Sydney trip has been slowly accelerating!

I won’t lie though. Apart from spending time with Nanasha, seeing Sue who’s kindly hosting us, attending my very first Jewish wedding, making a fool out of myself at the zombie parade with Fabian and Maria and possibly skydiving, I’m really just looking forward to stuffing my face. I’ve already done ample research on where we should be stuffing our faces so that we don’t waste our calories on crappy food.

But with Deepavalli coming up, I have a bazillion things to do like spring-cleaning and making muruku because that’s what good Indian girls do. So I have absolutely NO time to sit around and fantasize about sinking my teeth into a freshly baked butter croissant or a bitter chocolate tart while sitting by a café window in the morning, sipping my latte, watching Sydneysiders rush to work and with a snarky smile on my face, I’d lean back into my seat, pretending not to be a tourist.

Okay, maybe I have spent a bit of time thinking this through. But I blame Bourke Street Bakery, which is irrefutably the best bakery in Sydney, according to every travel guide, food guide and even the Australians I’ve met. People get in line and queue up every morning for their freshly baked breads (sourdough being the crowd pleaser) before work. That is some serious dedication to breakfast and I’m sold!  I mean really. It doesn’t get any better than the smell of coffee and bread in the morning. I understand this and I’m happy to hop on board. Sydney, we come for thee. Open thy arms and welcome us as we eat, drink and soak all of you in.

The C Word.

 I must have been sending out major Martha Stewart vibes this year because I can’t think of any other explanation as to why I have received 5 cookbooks for my birthday. I say this with gratitude though cos’ recipe books excite me beyond words. They always have (from the first time I opened up my sister’s home economics textbook when I was 7) and they always will. You know that feeling you get when you walk into a candy store and you look around and all you see are rows and shelves of colourful tasty treats waiting to be caressed and consumed? That’s the exact feeling I get when I open up a recipe book for the first time. I mean sure, I get really excited when I walk into a candy store too but that’s beside the point. The point is I am always overwhelmed by the lavish visual array of tantalizing cupcakes, pastries, pies whatever they may be so carefully interspersed, enhancing the already smart copywriting which ends up filling you with the innate desire to whip out your glass bowl and kitchen mixer. It gives me immense pleasure to flip through the pages of cookbooks, adding sticky notes to the recipes that call out to the domestic goddess within me. I love experimenting in the kitchen. I wouldn’t even go so far as to call it a passion because let’s face it. I’m no Master chef. My experiments are not always successful which I suppose is half the fun. But there is just something about coming home after a stressful day, walking to your bookshelf filled with cookbooks, and picking out the first book that catches your eye, flipping to a random page and making it, whether it’s a sweet pie or a savoury quiche or some honey roasted chicken thigh. I have a pretty decent selection of cookbooks. Nothing by Nigella because that bitch doesn’t really know how to cook or bake in my books. I would however like to add something from Jaime into my collection. His 30 minute meals are very impressive and very doable. And two other books I really want are Ready for Dessert by David Lebovitz whom I have a major crush on; I won’t even try to lie about it as well as They Draw and Cook: 107 Recipes Illustrated by Artists from Around the World by Nate Padavick and Salli Swindell which was just published this month. What started out as a brother and sister (a design and illustration team) just fiddling around with recipe illustrations on vacation while sitting around in their kitchen progressed into a desire to create a nifty little recipe book for friends and family. They began asking some of their artist friends to contribute and created a blog to showcase these delightfully illustrated pieces. And today, they have a published cookbook filled with colourful, enticing illustrations that make you want to doodle, cook and colour all at the same time. The quality of the recipes itself doesn’t look that fantastic, rather basic in actual fact BUT looking at the doodles, colours and every methodically produced drawing that uses a variety of drawing tools, from ballpoint pen to crayon to ink and watercolor is absolutely fascinating. It would make an excellent gift so I’ve decided to gift it to myself this year. Why, thank you, me!

And with Deepavalli coming up next week, I’ve been tasked with baking an assortment of cookies for our guests. My mother, the kitchen nazi has very kindly given me the freewill to make whatever I wish to make. Really, I think this is because she doesn’t want to share her cookie recipes with me. Nevertheless, I’ve been putting a lot of thought into what to make.  So while I was waiting for Nick to have lunch at PS Café on Friday afternoon, I whipped out my Sharpies and attempted to doodle a cookie recipe. In 15 minutes, this is what I came up with. No pencils. No corrections. You’re going to laugh I know but that’s okay. This skin is thick.

It became apparent to me that I have no future as an artist but what can you do? Life goes on. I’m sure there is some saying that goes something along the lines of those who can’t draw recipes, cook so that is the path I have chosen. I tried my hand at the recipe I doodled for chocolate chip cookies with cornflakes. However, because I’m terrible at following instructions, I decided to make some changes to the recipe to make it my own signature treat. I ended up making caramel chocolate chip cookies with hazelnuts and cornflakes. They tasted pretty delish but my only regret is that I wish I had used pecans instead of hazelnuts. This is what happens when you try to be a cheapskate. Lesson learned.

Salted Caramel Chocolate Chip Cookies

 440g all purpose flour

1 tbsp baking soda

1 tsp salt

230g softened salted butter

220g soft brown sugar

199g granulated sugar/ equal portion of salted caramel

1 large egg

1 tbsp vanilla extract

240ml vegetable oil

1 1/2 cups regular unsweetened cornflakes, lightly crushed after measuring

1 1/2 cups quick cooking (not instant) oatmeal

80g toasted chopped nuts (pecans, walnuts or hazelnuts)

336g good quality semi-sweet chocolate chips

 Instructions

1. Mix flour, baking soda, and salt. Set aside

2. In a large bowl, cream butter and sugar, then beat in egg, caramel and vanilla. Stir in oil.

3. Fold in flour mixture then stir in the corn flakes, oatmeal, nuts and chocolate chips. Continue stirring until flour is fully incorporated. 

4. Chill dough in the fridge for at least an hour. Preheat oven to 175degrees.

5. When ready to bake, scoop up with a spoon and form into golf ball size mounds if you’d like large cookies OR form smaller sized mounds if you’d like smaller cookies. I prefer bite sized cookies so I made tiny mounds. Space 3 inches apart on ungreased cookie sheet. Bake for 13-15 minutes. Set aside to cool. Then nom nom away!

Next on the list is alfajores and a chocolate based salted caramel cupcake that Nanasha requested for kindly. /does the funky spatula dance.

Sudo Make Me a Sandwich.

My mornings are never complete without a wholemeal peanut butter toast – A generous heap of creamy peanut butter delicately slathered on two thick slices of brown bread toasted accompanied by a glass of ice cold milk to wash it down. A breakfast marriage made in heaven.  It doesn’t get any better than this, really. And since I’ve started making more conscious food decisions, I’ve been putting a lot of effort into creating sandwiches better than Subway’s. This isn’t much of a feat really. All it requires are good breads and quality ingredients. Open faced, closed, crusts-on. crusts-off. White bread. Brown bread. Anything goes. The truth is, it doesn’t take much to satisfy me. Some olives – kalamata of pitted green, semi-dried tomatoes, a little light cheese, some deli meats, grilled peppers and I’m all set! In the office refrigerator, I keep a variety of spices that include paprika (sweet + spicy, to suit my mood) coarse black pepper, garlic powder, wholegrain mustard, Mexican hot sauce and chicken all-spice. If I’m feeling lazy, a simple cucumber, egg and cheese sammich does the trick as well. Pair it with a piece of fruit and some yoghurt and voila, a complete meal.

So this sparked a little interest in finding out which joker decided to slap slices of bread together, stuffed with things and call it a sandwich. Funnily enough, it was a Jewish man! The first recorded sandwich was by the famous rabbi, Hillel the Elder during the 1st century B.C. He started the Passover custom of sandwiching a mixture of chopped nuts, apples, spices, and wine between two matzohs (unleavened bread) to eat with bitter herbs. Following that, from the 6th to the 16th century or the Middle Ages, meats and breads as well as meats and cheese were paired. But it was only in the 1700s that it was officially recorded by an English chap as a “Sandwich”. Not all that exciting a history but I did find an entertaining youtube video of some of the famous movie sandwiches. I wish they included the scene from Closer where Natalie Portman’s character finds Jude Law’s tuna sandwich with the crusts removed or even the scene from Nick and Norah’s Infinite playlist with the Turkey sandwich. Hilarious. Regardless, these famous movie sammiches made me very hungreh! Enjoy!

HappyThankYouMorePlease.

And so it begins, yet again. New blog. New aspirations. A New me, or rather a better version of Me. 2010 was a tumultuous year for me for many reasons, reasons I’d rather not dwell on or go into. What’s important is that it’s the third quarter of 2011 and I feel different. I feel good. Jan reminded me of my old icingontop blog platform and it sort of sparked something in me. I rummaged through some of my old writings from various different blog platforms that I skitter-scattered through over several years, trying to figure out why I wrote the things I did and tried to feel what I felt during that very period of time. It’s just interesting to observe how our identities are constantly evolving whether or not we’re consciously aware of the people, events and experiences that shape us. 

So moving forward, in the name of evolution – celebrating life and its adventures and misadventures alike, I created Saffron Dreaming. Coming up with an appropriate name was a mighty challenge. I was telling TW that I wanted to come up with something that somewhat defines me right now and what I am is Happy (*looks up* Thank you, more please!), while offering a little idea of what this writing platform will showcase; which essentially is my love for food, globetrotting and my pursuit for all things that make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside.

During my brainstorming session for my blog title conquest, I tried to think of all the things I wanted to include (Hinting that I’m Indian and that I love food – eating & experimenting – and that I am essentially a dreamer like everyone else) without being too over the top or clichéd. I made it a point to use alliterations (Thank you, Roald Dahl) because they are considered ubercool in my books.

The first few options were more of a teaser:

• Spatula & Spice (Stereotyping us Indian women is what I do best)
• Squeeze my Lemons (On hindsight, this probably had more to do with my sexual appetite these days)
• Paprika and Prose (TW and I really liked this but a website already exists similar to this which made me sad)
• A Dash of Spice (BORING)
•  Saffron Threads (My first choice but the username was taken. Bastards. But I still win.)

So TW and I were bouncing ideas of each other and I came up with a bunch of names which included Saffron Threading (TW said it sounds like an eyebrow threading service) and Saffron Dreaming. TW decided like the smartarse that she is that my alliterations were worth being mocked. So she threw suggestions like Sambar Symphony, Tamarind Dreams (which we both decided had a bit of a ring to it!), Rasam Revelations and Cumin mumblings.

After the mocking convention was over, we finally, or rather I finally decided on Saffron Dreaming. I don’t think I have very special reasons for deciding on it apart from the fact that it’s the most precious spice in the world. With just three stigmas in each flower, the threads are hand-plucked delicately and used for its intense colour, flavour, aroma and therapeutic properties. It’s my second favourite spice after vanilla which also happens to be equally labour intensive and pricey to produce. I used the word “Dreaming” in its continuous tense with Oscar Wilde inmindwho famously said that dreamers can only find their way through moonlight and their punishment is that they see dawn before the rest of the world. And we all have dreams don’t we?  So I’ma keep dreamin’.