The Lean Veggie - Giada's chocolate orange cookies

Nothing can beat the taste of cakes and cookies that you bake at home. I don't bake as often as I would like to, as almost every tempting recipe has eggs in it. Thats why I jumped at the opportunity to try out Giada's Italian chocolate sandwich cookies.

I did not have polenta or cornmeal, and so I just used all purpose flour. According to the reviewers, the cornmeal made the cookies too gritty, so this was definitely not an ingredient that was missed. After reading the helpful reviews, I modified the recipe and the ingredients, and the end result was amazing. The cookies are super light, with just a hint of orange, and a rich chocolatey taste. The filling is light and creamy and sweetens the not-so-sweet chocolate cookie. So here is the link to Giada's original recipe, and here is my modified recipe below -

Chocolate Cookies:

1/3 cup unsalted butter, room temperature

Sugar - pour till the 100 ml mark in a measuring cup

Cocoa powder - pour till the 50 ml mark in a measuring cup

1 cup all-purpose flour

1 teaspoon baking powder

1 pinch salt

1/4 tsp orange zest

1 tsp orange juice

Orange Filling:

2 tbsp unsalted butter

1/3 cup powdered sugar

1 tsp orange juice

1/4 tsp vanilla essence

To make the Chocolate Cookies, in a large bowl use an electric mixer to cream together the butter and sugar until light in color and fluffy. In another medium bowl stir together the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, salt, orange juice, and orange zest. Add the dry ingredients to the butter mixture. Using your hands, knead the mixture into a dough, gathering the loose powdery ingredients repeatedly till they come together. If the mixture is too dry, add another tablespoon of melted butter. Roll with your hands into a thick log, about an inch and a half in diameter. You can split the mixture into two portions and roll two logs if it is easier. Work on a clean countertop.

Wrap each log in plastic wrap and chill for 30 minutes. Then, remove from wrap. Using a sharp knife, carefully cut the log into discs, about an 1/8 inch thick. Cover a pizza pan/baking sheet with aluminum foil and spread the discs out. These cookies will not rise or spread, so you can place them fairly close together. Bake in a 350 degree oven for about 15 minutes. Remove from the oven and let cool.

Meanwhile, to make the Orange Filling, combine the butter, powdered sugar, orange zest, and vanilla essence in a medium bowl. Use an electric mixer to cream the ingredients together. Add more sugar if needed.

To assemble the cookie sandwiches, place about 1/4 teaspoon of the Orange Filling on a cookie. Spread with a butter knife. Top with another cookie and press the cookies together.

Book Review - Atonement

I kinda looked forward to watching the just released movie - Atonement. I then changed my mind because -

1) K is not big on watching epic romances, especially in the theater

2) I am trying to clean up my finances before the new year, and need to be frugal ($1 for renting the DVD in the library as opposed to $20 for movie tickets and popcorn)

3) Keira Knightly is SOOOOOOOOOOOOO effing thin. She has so crossed the line between sexy to sick skeletal skinny that she can no longer see the line. The line is a dot to her! (to quote Joey)

4) Movies are almost never as good as the novels they are adapted from

So, I just read the book by Ian Mcewan and found it disappointing despite all the rave reviews. The novel's premise is intriguing - The mistakes of a misguided child prompted by a confluence of events happening on a single day causes the destruction of two innocent adults.
The first section should be prescribed reading for any aspiring novelist. Ian describes the old english house in such detail, it almost becomes another living character in the book. He draws elaborate character sketches. Even though the writing is borderline-boring, the characters come alive in your mind.

After setting the stage so elaborately, Ian succeeds in describing the psychology behind Briony's act (a mistake around which the entire book revolves). But what follows later is a disappointment. Rather than delving into the psyche of the three main characters (Robie, Cecilia, and Briony), Ian plunges into many pages of sobering world war imagery. These chapters are written excellently, but detract from the overall effect of the novel.
You do not get a sense of the immense tragedy behind Robbie and Cecilia's forced separation. And the author does not dedicate a single paragraph to their reunion upon Robbie's return to England from France. While the 13 year old Briony's thought process has been beautifully delineated, the grown up Briony's "atonement" (by volunteering as a nurse) comes across as half baked and insincere, especially when, in a callous display of egotism, she creates a novella out of the sequence of events and submits for publishing (all this during her self imposed exile from the family). The book could have succeeded if Ian had infused Briony's character with irony, and made something like a black comedy. However, he simply glorifies her "atonement", when really, all you see is the lack of. Ian spends way too much time describing characters who play almost no part in the book (like Emily), while paying absolutely no attention to Cecilia's life during the years when she waits for Robbie.

Towards the end of the book, Ian completely loses direction. He gets carried away by his perceived power as a writer who can create worlds and lives at whim. His hubris is blatantly evident in the last page of the book. It was as though Ian was thumbing his nose at every critic and reader, by conveying the message "hey, i am the writer, i can do anything i want with the characters". My criticism may sound harsh, but, after patiently plodding through every page, I could not come to any other conclusion. This book was published (in 2001) after his Booker winning novel Amsterdam (in 1997). Big award...big ego?

Speaking of Booker awards, there are way too many similarities between Atonement, and Arundhathi Roy's "The God of small things". Roy's book won the Booker in 1997, a full 4 years BEFORE Atonement was published.

I googled the two novels to find out if other readers had caught on to this. Unfortunately, I could not find any such web articles. If you have read both the books, please let me know what you think. The core concepts are the same - one person acting on prejudices, blaming an innocent man for a crime that he did not commit, destroying a romance (that was anyway doomed by class differences), and events complicated by runaway twins and cousins. Even the writing techniques are similar - the intricately detailed description of the old house where the main events take place, and the slow but steady building up of dread in the reader's mind, leading up to the catastrophic event.

Roy's book succeeds where Ian's fails. Her tale does not offer any redemption for the sinner(s), and there is no pretense of atonement either. With no grandiose war scene descriptions and distractions, Roy crafted a heartfelt drama, leaving every reader with an overpowering sense of loss and heartbreak.

I am now rather curious about the movie. The reviews proclaim that this is one of the best movies of the year. Maybe the director would have capitalized on the positive aspects of the book, and filled in the holes left behind by the author?

PS: After writing my review, in a moment of self doubt, I checked out Amazon's reader reviews, and clicked on the critical reviews link (which groups all the 1 and 2 star reviews). Thankfully, there are people that feel the same way. The first review is especially good. Check it out here (warning - loads of spoilers, do not read if you plan to watch the movie)

Some random thoughts when travelling...

1) In every Southwest flight I board (where seat numbers are not assigned), there is ALWAYS someone occupying the aisle seat and pretending to be asleep so that no one will occupy the middle seat next to them

2) The air hostess ALWAYS walks right past me during her trash collection rounds even though I desperately try to catch her attention and frantically wave my empty coffee cup at her. Why oh why does she not notice me?

3) There is always the one person that looks at me, takes in my laptop bag and desi looks, and triumphantly asks if I am an SAP implementation consultant. I am not sure if i should take this ethnic stereotyping as an insult, or if I should feel flattered that he considers me a brainy techie type

4) Women in California have a curiously uniform way of dressing.
San Francisco woman = knee high boots + tight jeans + chanel/gucci sunglasses + black turtleneck + tight jacket + high ponytail
Los Angeles woman = Long baby doll style blouse + gray sweater much shorter than blouse + capri style pants/jeans + fabulous boots

5) America is BIG. Really really big. I have lived here for many years, traveled quite a lot, and I can still never get over how magnificently big this wonderful country is

Its the season again...

Sometimes I just...

Love all the wonderful songs of the season and the memories they evoke..
But hate it when said songs are endlessly played in every shop, every second of the day making you long for jan 2

Love the cool deals in every store and the free pass to shamelessly self endulge...
But hate the crass commercialism

Love traditional stories about the resurgence of kindness and hope during this season...
But hate the anger and ill temper exhibited by harried shoppers

Love the sound of the word "holidays"...
But hate the fact that every magazine has self help articles on beating "holiday stress"

Love Starbucks for their heavenly gingerbread lattes and cranberry bliss cakes...
But hate Starbucks for overpricing said goodies, and introducing the holiday red cups earlier every year (whats next? frosty the snowman on labor day?)

Love the idea of baking and gifting homemade cookies...
But hate the fact that I cannot find any eggless cookie recipes or live near friends to gift cookies to

And then, there are times when I....

Hate the fact that there will be no white christmas for me this year...
But love the fact that I do not have to spend four hours on icy roads, dying of fright, trying to driving the 10 miles home from work during a snowstorm

Hate the fact that another entire year rushed past before I even realized it...
But love the fact that a long cherished personal goal of mine finally came true this year

Hate that I will not be celebrating the holidays with all my wonderful friends and family
But love the fact that I have such wonderful friends and family to cherish and miss...

Bad food and good coffee in San Francisco

Take this word of advice from me - if any restaurant has a sign saying "Under new management", DO NOT GO THERE!

We went to San Fran yesterday, to check out the Mind exhibit at the Exploratorium. It was not too bad, but I would recommend it to you, only if you plan to go with kids. K and I mustered up all the enthusiasm we could and had a pretty good time.

And then disaster struck - in the form of lunch. Guided by Yelp's reviews (or should I say misguided), we went to a place for lunch. Despite the veggie dishes in the buffet and menu, this place is most definitely not suitable for vegetarians, especially if you are the squeamish type prone to frequent "komatals"!!! With the channa nesting a little too close next to meat dishes......ewwww....i cannot type anymore...

My frustration increased when we realized that we could have gone to Ssan francisco's north beach neighbourhood for some authentic mozzarella paninis and cannolis. I've been to many Chinatowns in the US (again, not generally recommended for sequeamish vegetarians prone to frequent komatals) but never really to Little Italys. Anyway, K and I jumped off the bus when we saw five consecutive restaurants all having Italian names and hunted for some good coffee.

We lucked out by choosing Cafe Greco. We had what could easily be called the best cappuchino this side of the atlantic. Rich, dark, foamy....the creaminess lasted through even the last mouthful. I kinda killed it a little by adding too much sugar, but sitting on the sidewalk and gaping at the lean san francisco women (all dressed exactly alike), the coffee finally got the bad taste of lunch out of my mind.

Life in California..

You know you are in california when -

1) Even the office vending machine offers healthy triscuits and 100 calorie snack packs
2) You need sunglasses and high SPF lotion - in december
3) A lean bicyclist overtakes you up an incredibly steep mountain slope when even your car engine has trouble coping
4) The safety guide at your hotel includes instructions on what to do in case of an earthquake in addition to fire safety procedures
5) You see more shoppers at the (over-priced) whole foods store than the local walmart (wait....i havent seen a local walmart yet....)
6) You begin using shopping baskets instead of shopping carts because you cannot afford groceries anymore

And you know you still do not belong when -

1) You spend more and more time away from the computer to silently protest and rebel against the hyper-wired silicon valley lifestyle
2) You begin longing for some rain and clouds and curse the endless blinding sunshine
3) You wistfully read weather reports about winter alerts in the midwest and northeast
4) You fondly reminisce the days when you could (but never really did) build snowmen on your deck, settle down with a cup of hot chocolate on the couch and listen to let it snow..let it snow...