Tomato Pasta Sauce with Anchovies and Basil

4 cloves of garlic

1 onion chopped

3 or 4 anchovies chopped

3 medium sized tomatoes chopped

1 Tbs tomato paste

2 Tbs of olive oil

half a bunch of basil leaves

few dollops of ricotta (low fat) cheese for garnishing.. 

1. Fry the garlic and then add the onions onto the olive oil till they turn golden brown.
2. Add the anchovies together with the onions.
3. Stir in the tomato paste and add the tomatoes.
4. Add some hot water(about half a cup) to get it into a thick sauce consistency..
5. Let it simmer for about 10 mins adding salt and pepper to taste.
6. Add the boiled pasta onto the sauce and let it cook in the sauce for about 2 mins.
7. Finally turn the heat off and add the choped basil leaves.
8. Garnish with a few dollops of ricotta cheese..the measurements above would be sufficient for a single batch of pasta per the recipe given in an earlier posting on 'making pasta at home'.

• Anchovies are small fish(that is similar to sprats in sri lanka, eventhough i wouldnt suggest substituting anchovies with sprats!) usually available canned and preserved in oil. the number of anchovies you would like to add to this recipe depends on how much flavour you would like in your sauce. adding a couple or 3 would not make the sauce taste extensively fishy. but it does have an impact on the overall flavour.
• You can substitue basil leaves with fresh parsely or any herb of your choice.
• If ricotta cheese in unavailble, you can use any soft cheese with a low salt content.
• I always like to cook my pasta half way in boiling water and the rest in the sauce.. so that the flavour gets into the pasta rather than merely coating it...

As an asian by origin, pasta is not our favoured choice of meal. eventhough we would have it occasionally it is not something most asians (specially the older generation) would ask for. But when you live away from your comfort zone you need to make adjustments and learn to appreciate new flavours and tastes. This recipe went very well with my 3 year old. and i ws happy because i knew what went into the sauce. The anchovies and greens especially. i used low fat ricotta so that it would be a better option for me and my husband.

no purer love...is thr?

I havent washed my hair in days... without my usual 'facial maintenance' im not even lookin my best.. No designer perfumes or even any sort of makeup..Dnt even remember the last time i held a comb or a hair brush(ok maybe it ws just a couple of days ago.. only cos i can do without one..its a hair texture thing!!!). yes in other words.. im lookin, smelling and feeling nothing like my normal usual self.. . well to those who gasp with astonishment reading this about me.. i knw somewhr down the line in your not too far away history u had a spell quite similar to mine!!!... theres not tooo many significant differences between ppl .. the only difference would be the strength and the guts it takes to fess upto it and make it public knowledge!!!!

To a stay at home mom, housebound.. with no particular reason to step out of the boundaries of her home.. this, most probably is 'oh so natural'..Eventhough it shouldnt be so, by any means.. Wen you dnt need clean hair to handle a tantrum or perfect make up to cook a meal ... it most certainly ends up becoming just that! something that u simply DONT NEED!!.. atleast on top of everything else!!!...

But through all these imperfections comes the most beautiful thing ever in the world.. Never ever second to anything else through time and time again... The simple yet absolute love to a mother from her own little child...Eventhough you may not smell like gucci or lancome, to him YOU ARE his Chanel no 5, the beautiful night sky, his centre of inspiration, the highlight of perfection..

To him it doesnt matter if you've lost patience, made demands, disciplined him a hundred times, cooked the most imperfect meal or forgotten to pack his lunch... nothing matters to him more than to see you smile, and to smile at him... This love is never replaced by anything better as time goes by or as they get older... No mother despite all her good intentions and best efforts, could ever predict what would become of their child.. No matter what the future may hold for my little boy.....for now, you have LOVED me... and by that, you have made me complete......

making pasta at home

Theres nothing like home made pasta.. i agree!!!... eventhough i had tried doin ths long long time back minus a pasta machine..  it tasted nothin lik wat i made a few days ago.. with a pasta machine.. ths time around.. (mayb the last time i didnt have a recipe .. just made sm random dough!!) nw i knw that random most often than not.. Does NOT work..

i ws lucky to find a pasta machine on specials recently .. it ws somethin i ve been wanting to have for sometime but thought that the price didnt match my inexperience in making pasta.. hence i didnt want to gamble on it.. then finally since i got it .. i read a bit about different ways and recipes of making the dough .. and settled with a basic recipe .

200g plain flour

2 eggs lightly beaten

1 tsp salt

2 tsp olive oil

water as needed ...but be very careful when adding it..

• mix the salt with the flour and mount it up in a flat surface that would allow you to knead it later on
• at the top of the peak make a hole as in a volcano...
• add the oil and eggs and slowly mix the flour from around it..
• once the flour is completely mixed if hard to knead add very little water..
• knead for about 10 mins.. till the dough turns rather pliable..(ths process is very important wen makin bread/rotis etc)
• wrap it up with cling film and let it rest for half hour.. and then let the pasta machine do the talkin..
• before boilin the pasta you need let the cut pasta dry for at least 10 mins..
• once dried, boil the pasta in salted water with a few drops of olive oil..

The taste and texture of this pasta is soooo very different from what you buy from the shops.. eventhough most of us keep lookin for quick fixes due to the lack of time to spend in the kitchen.. i bet you will find a way of making this ahead of time or even as a special treat on and off.. if you dont have a pasta machine.. you could always do it the old fashion way by rolling it out very very thin and then cutting it into strips..

check out my recipe for the sauce that goes sooo very well with ths pasta. which i made for the first time for my first batch of home made pasta.....

The very reason i really wanted to learn making my own pasta was because i wanted to learn how to vary it by making it with wholmeal flour or even add greens like parsley or spinach into the dough.. which would make it soooo much more healthier and also at the same time would ensure that my son gets all the greens in ..  i would write more about it the coming weeks as and when i make them...

bathurst...my home.. for now...!

Comin to Bathurst for the first time .. i had heard a few different stories and read another million more.. some would say that its in the 'bush' ..that in other words is a 'remote country town'...to me the most memorable part of gettin here ws the drive!.. yes...the number of road kills of kangaroos that i saw on the way!..kangaroos are such an iconic symbol of Australia.. and uve always had a picture of kangaroos being happy bouncy little things with little joeys peeping out of their pouches!.. i never expected my first encounter with a kangaroo to be such .. or in the least never thought that they were that much at plenty to actually be seen along highways.. ths i may add is very very rare in the city...so driving away from the city in itself ws an experience i ll never forget.....

Whenever i come back to bathurst from the city, i get the same feeling each and everytime.. a feeling that life is soooo much slower, the air is sooo much fresher.., ppl are soo much more friendlier... bathurst is a SMALL country town.... whenever im in town shopping, its soo easy to walk around and visit ALL the shops within a matter of hours.. since the 3 malls (barely make it as malls!!!).. are all connected to each other,, seperated only by narrow roads between them...the gud part is that we have some popular store chains here... makin it a shoppers reclusive....(including my sister...)

A small town means u bump onto the same ppl over and over again .. i ve made a couple of friends here and thr by meeting them by chance at some odd place lik the park and then after a couple of bump ins at the mall or elsewhere.. we already knw each other!... no need to exchange phone numbers, email or home addresses... just be seen in town and chances are u ll bump onto them all over again...(want to or NOT)..

the nicest part of bathurst as a community is how we acknowledge and greet each other .. on the streets .. passing by houses... a simple chin up and hello.... (not seen in the city whr everyone is rushing to catch some train on time)... ths is one thing  i had to get used to !.wenever im walkin on the road.. and wen someone is approaching me .. i remind myself..'chin up ..smile... hello...chin down'...i ve come a long way since..'chin up...chin down...smile... no hello'..yes if u figured it out .. it ws 'smile' lookin down !!!...

"In rome u may do wat the romans do" .. but being smart, is to knw wen to stop being roman in alaska......!!gud luck to me with that!!!.

smile ...

you re walkin into a room for the first time into a group of ppl gettin along havin a gud time.. and then there you are standing amidst the stares.. not only cs u look and dress lik cathy freeman runnin for gold at the olympics..(for those who dont knw, i wud suggest for you to google it cs thats wat i look lik most of the time)!!!... but also cs u are, to say in the simplest of terms....different...

you look different , you speak different, you come from a place not too many ppl know even exists.. or even if they do .. wudnt have the slightest clue as to where in the world it is......

and then u start to smile.... aha!! ....a smile.. the easiest to do .. and probably the only thing you would ever get to put on your face that is free.... something that u cannot buy from the store..somethin that u wud never ever get on specials... something that no one can ever take away from you .. (except for a heavy dose of botox!!! now thats another very sad story !)

amidst all the smiles that u give out .. spot the one thats most earnest coming bak to u .. because chances are..., you will find a single person out of the crowd at the least, that will at the end of the day make you feel welcome....make you feel that all the differences that were sooo obvious before, are afterall only skin deep .... and then with no effort at all, it turns into a friendship thats worth keeping......forever......

poor paul

so paul has made yet another prediction... yes im talkin abt the since of late, world renowned paul the 'psychic' octupus.. since his new found fame in suprisingly making the right predictions on who wins which match, ths mighty yet gentle giant like octupus has had air time, web space and discussions that any hollywood (why not even bollywood)publicity seeking celebrity wud be left at awe.....

its amazing how ppl passionate about their sport has shown overwhelming emotions towards paul... some with sooo much love that they want him to be released into the wild ..a little note to PETA: 'i love ur cause and i feel thats a very good humane idea . but sometimes the wilderness is not too kind to any animal or human that is worthy of being protected!as a person whos born and bred amidst civilisations you probably wouldnt catch me dead in the wilderness of amazon!!!.. '... and the others who hate poor paul go onto say that he is only worthy of being tossed into a pan!!,,,

given half the talent of paul ..im sure theres many who wudve gone out to make millions!but i guess theres nothing much a poor old octopus could do .. held in captivity .. in a lonely fish tank all his life...its such a pity that he (it) couldnt predict his own life story..

atleast at ths ripe old age of two and half years(for an octopus) he has achieved what millions of humans would spend almost their entire lifetimes trying so hard ........to simply......be heard......

so this is the part where i go .. did i really write a blog about an octopus? ... its amazing to see how anything we read or hear affects us in some form or way.. even if we dont consciously make an effort to ......

starting off

so here i am starting off with a new venture .. just to keep my mind and life bz.. not that it isnt bz otherwise but .. as a stay at home mom.... it gives such a pleasure to be able to wonder off into a place thats my own .. peaceful my own...
as i write ths post .. here i go thinking.. ok now do i need to write it in proper words? adhere to the laws of grammer? ultimately make sense? ..whos to judge? ...ths is all abt me havin rightful (and well deserved) MY TIME and just letting my thoughts flow..... i hope......
just the other day on my long drive back from sydney ..... i ws thinkin about a million things.. and suddenly it came to me .. how each and every human being think and think and think .. and it never seems to stop!.. any given lonely moment.. somethings always in our heads! .we never ever seem to be able to shake our thoughts away.... it starts off wondering from ths to that and then from that to this.. and then suddenly we go .. now wat did i start off doin???
so mayb we shud all from ths point onwards put a leash on our thoughts.. keep them with us and the thing that we are meant to be solely concentrating on :D.. or even better yet start trainin for it with a little bit of meditation.... focus on concentration for a change!..
theres no crime in having a little bit of mind chatter once in a way.. but wen u suddenly find urself stoppin to "think about wat u were thinkin"..... well mayb its time for change! maybe its time to start bloggin .. :o)