Baingan ka baaaarta?

A lazy Friday full of anticipation for a lazy weekend. The only remaining cooks in the commune (one German and one Indian, makes for multi-cultural cuisine..), now that the pirates have departed for the Caribbean, decide to stir up some brinjal. Since we all love baingan ka bharta, and our trusty cook book had a recipe, we decide to be adventurous.

Stage 1: Ignore the recipe book’s directions J! The whole roasting bit seemed complicated, so let’s reverse the order and first get all the rest of the ingredients ready. Onions, tomatoes and the rest.. all chopped and ready… Now the ‘complicated’ bit could start!

Roast the brinjals till the skin is charred… so said the book. Sounds easier than it turns out though. These things take ages to roast! The Germans of course find this use of a gas stove hilarious. And they don’t seem very confident of the outcome either! Stefan takes one look at ‘dinner’ and decides to head for the hills with his sidekick Somo!

Truth be told, the Indian had his doubts too! And yes, it might not be recognizable, but that is a brinjal!

This is getting messy!

Well, the charring bit is over, things now get more conventional… smells good, and looks more edible too!

In between of course, there’s some time for jumping around. Chris is looking forward to having the commune to herself for the weekend!

Its finally ready…. And the German approves! So that’s the commune’s first home-made baingan baaaaaarta, German accent and all!

Reunion, version 1.1

It has been a cold and windy day in Amsterdam, perfect for the 'Commune, version 1.1' to be used as the venue for a nice long evening of Indian food, spicy gossip and Indian whisky as the two founding members of the Commune (Original, version 1.0 from Bangalore!) got together after months.

But Stefan had no idea what he was really invited for :-)

Request number 1.
"Ummm, would you mind showing me how this ancient kind of fireplace is used? I'm afraid I will blow it up (and probably kill myself too!) if I try it on my own."



So he gallantly goes down on one knee to 'do the needful'.








Request number 2.

"Hey, since you're tall enough to reach it, could you please fix my curtain - one of the hooks has been loose for a while!"

And so he willingly climbs onto the sofa and stretches to reach it.







Request number 3.

"Hey, Stefan! Let's call up Girl Child - she's been feeling a bit lonely lately, I bet she'd be happy to hear from us both."

So he willingly spends the next fifteen minutes entertaining our Girl Child.



Request number 4.

"We need to post pictures of you visiting my place! Please pose nicely with me."

So he waits patiently while I fiddle with my new camera, grinning at it again and again and again till I finally get a picture I am happy with!



Request number 5.

"Now please learn how to post to the blog... you did a hopeless job last time!"

So he's willingly sitting next to me as I do this, hopefully memorizing all the details. We'll know whether or not he learnt well, only if he blogs from Bangalore soon. Meanwhile, the water stays hot for the whisky... on the cheerfully crackling fireplace. Ooops... that twanging doesn't sound too good!

PS - Coming up next week - Reunion, version 1.2!!