FIFA 2010 - Week 2

Standard disclaimer: This is based on the matches that I have seen and not all matches.

One of the more innovative world cup calendars can be found  here

I feel sorry for North Korea, they did reasonably well last week against Brazil, but the 7-0 KO by Portugal meant that their morale must have definitely suffered and ultimately they went out without a win.

England's stuttering campaign was resurrected with a win in their last match and there were many who expected a Phoenix like performance against Germany, alas it was not to be. Done in by the referee they surely were, however more so by their own lack of self-belief (imho). Germany shrugged off the scare before half-time and had asserted themselves well and truly by the time the second half was mid-way through. The 4-1 scoreline ultimately was a fair reflection on the approach of both teams to the match.

Brazil have been playing well and have taken their appointed spot (pre-quarterfinals today), however they were disappointing in their match against Portugal. First half was very contentious and if I am right, about 7-8 yellow cards were handed out. I guess the coaches talked sense into the players at the break and the second half was very boring, with a 0-0 result a fair reflection of the state of the match,

I haven't watched much of Argentina, apart from their opening match, however they seem to be going along nicely. Their match against Germany will be one of the more anticipated quarter-finals for this week, the same holds for the Spain - Portugal clash (however that is in the round of 16). It looks like the quarter-finals will be fought by 4 teams from Latin America, 3 from Europe and 1 from Africa (unless Japan manage an upset).

All in all, a good build-up towards the business end of the tournament, lets hope that this week gives us more competitive football than the previous two weeks.

French Toast and Pancakes (with recipes!)

I had developed a taste for Pancakes and French Toast a few years ago, mostly due to eating breakfast in hotels during my frequent travel. Based out of Mumbai and now Pune, there was no easy way to get access to either of these ; going out to eat for breakfast in the morning is not my idea of an ideal start to the day. So, I decided to take matters (or batter if you so prefer!) in my own hands and experiment with making my own. Pancakes are virtually unknown in India (of the sweet kind, though savoury ones are available in many variations - the South Indian utthapa being one of the leading contenders). French toast in India is usually made only with eggs and bread and hence quite different in taste (again usually savoury and not sweet) from the traditional french toast made elsewhere.

To cut a long story short, I first started with pancakes and in the beginning took the easy way out by buying pancake mix (usually to be found in the more upmarket supermarkets in metro cities). The going was good till the neighbourhood supermarket ran out of stock and it was too much of a chore to go specifically hunting for pancake mixes (in Pune the Food Bazaar at Pune Central - the Boat Club Road one usually stocks it and also the usual suspects such as Dorabjee's in Camp). Now there was no alternative but to either do without or make my own batter.

French toast was a much easier proposition and very easy to make on one's own. Given below are my usual methods - you may have your variations and preferences.

Usually one or the other are typical Sunday morning breakfast staples and much looked forward to by all of us. Today being Sunday we had French Toast for breakfast and thought of blogging about it!

French Toast - usually makes 8 slices

Ingredients - Bread (brown or white, nowadays with food political correctness being what it is, I can't remember the last time I ate white sliced bread!) - 8 slices, Butter, 3 eggs, Milk (preferably not skim but need not have cream in it) - about 100-150 ml, Vanilla essence (3-6 drops), Sugar (powdered - 'pithi sakhar' in Marathi) - about 3-4 tablespoons

Method - Beat eggs, milk and sugar together in a bowl. Add vanilla essence. Take a flat dish which can hold one slice of bread and pour some of the mix in it. Heat a non-stick pan over medium heat (turn it down if it gets too hot) and pour a teaspoon of butter on it. Spread the butter with a spatula (use a wooden one), taking care that the butter does not brown (if it browns, the heat is too much and you need to turn it down). Take a slice of bread and dip it in the mix in the dish. Turn it over quickly (don't leave it in for more than 3-4 seconds) and dip the other side. Now quickly lift it and place gently on the pan. Depending on the size of the pan, you can usually do two slices at a time. As it begins to cook, put a teaspoon of butter on the sides and ensure that the bread does not stick to the pan. Check the underside after about 10-15 seconds to ensure that it does not blacken and once it browns turn the bread over. Repeat the butter greasing process. The french toast should be done in about 30-45 seconds (definitely not more than a minute). Lift and place on a serving dish and drizzle with maple syrup (or honey if you so prefer).

Tips: Make sure you get good vanilla essence and not the flavouring usually sold in stores. To avoid sogginess, toast the bread slices just before dipping in the mix. It is rare to get real maple syrup in India, the closest is the 2% maple syrup (nowhere close to the real thing, unless you have obliging friends who can bring some from abroad).

Pancakes - usually makes about 8 medium sized pancakes

Ingredients: Self raising flour (maida) - about 3 cups - 200 gms, Wheat flour (atta) - about 1 cup, Eggs - 2, Baking powder - 1 teaspoon, yogurt (dahi) - about 50 gms, butter, vanilla essence, bananas (ripe) - 2, Sugar (powdered - 'pithi sakhar' in Marathi) - about 5-6 tablespoons

Method: Whisk the yogurt with some water to make buttermilk. In a mixing bowl, combine the self raising flour and wheat flour with the sugar and baking powder. Mix well. Add the buttermilk ensuring that the mixture does not become too thin (at this time, it should be more of the consistency of cake batter). Beat the eggs and add to the mix. Take about 10-15 gms of butter (liquefy by microwaving for about 10-15 seconds) and add to the mix along with the vanilla essence. The mix should now hold together but still be liquid enough to spread on a pan. Add a little water if it seems too thick. Heat a non-stick pan and grease it with butter. Put it on medium heat and turn it down if the butter starts to brown. Ladle out the batter on the pan to make a 4 inch diameter circle. The batter should spread by itself and not be runny. Put a teaspoon of butter on the sides to grease it. Check the underside after about a minute and if golden brown, flip it. About a minute after flipping the pancake should be done. If the first pancake turns out well, put about 2 ladles of batter next time to make about a 7 inch diameter pancake (making it larger makes it unwieldy). Slide it onto a plate and serve it along with maple syrup. Americans tend to add a lot of toppings to pancakes, like cream, preserves, etc. but I prefer them just with the maple syrup. If you like bananas for a topping, the slice a ripe banana (don't slice them too thick) and put about 5-6 slices on the pancake immediately after putting the batter on the pan. The slices should sink into the batter will embed themselves into the pancake. If some parts of the slices are remain uncovered with batter, ladle a spoon or two of batter on top.

Tips: You may need to add 5-10 ml of water occasionally to the batter (in case you are taking too long to cook the pancakes) as the batter tends to absorb water and turn thicker over time. The wheat flour is not strictly necessary but makes the pancake slightly more healthy instead of using only self raising flour (maida).

As you can probably make out, I am more of a 'by instinct' cook and not too much for accurate measurements. My motto is to get a feel for what you are making and then go by your gut. You may need a couple of attempts to get it right, but I guarantee that it will be worth it!

If you make any of the above and like it, do let me know! Happy cooking!

A week's worth of watching World Cup football

Its been about a week since the start of the 2010 World Cup and after many years I have been following most of the matches on TV. In India, ESPN has done an excellent job of the live telecast. Let me get one thing out of the way first - yes, the vuvuzela sound is annoying, irritating and distracting (Vuvuzela on Wikipedia).

I have also been rediscovering the pleasure of watching live sports without annoying commercial breaks. The sheer luxury of watching the entire 45 minutes of a half without even one interruption is something for which one has to thank ESPN (whether it is deliberate or lack of advertisers, I can't say, but more power to whatever has caused it). As a digression, advertisement breaks have killed the pleasure of watching cricket on TV (whether it be of the Test, 50 over or T20 format). At least in India, the last ball of the over has barely been bowled and more often than not, not even fielded, before we go to a commercial break. The commentators have become resigned to it and break off mid-sentence the moment they realize they are off the air. Newbie commentators are notable for not knowing when the break starts.

Back to the matches - this is based on the matches I have seen and not in general on all matches to date. I was impressed with Argentina (even in their 1-0 win against Nigeria). They seem to be playing to their potential, as opposed to France and Spain. The England - USA match was a disaster for England, the almost self goal by Green is now legend, but they hardly looked like a good attacking unit. Their draw yesterday with Algeria means that they have a must win game against Slovenia (who surprisingly are leading the group!). Greece played very well against Nigeria (who seem a little lost on the field).

I watched the Brazil game against North Korea and I must say that I was surprised and impressed by North Korea. Brazil though played with reasonable fluency (Kaka disappointed, but the team does not really depend completely on him) and though North Korea tried hard, ultimately the better team won. The Portugal - North Korea game would be very interesting to determine the group standings and who goes through to the next round.

On to the second week!

Movie Review - Rajneeti (2010) - Hindi

Unfortunately, the movie did not quite rise to my expectations and I came away with a view that it could have been so much better. The movie attempts to show the 'realities' of Politics (Rajneeti is the Hindi word for Politics) in India and the single minded pursuit of power that drives politicians (and in particular dynastic politics). In that premise, it succeeds well, however a patchy script and some flawed casting/acting do much to reduce the overall impact.

Ever since I saw the promos of the movie (Rajneeti), I was intrigued and thought that I must watch it and see what it is about for myself. Nowadays, it is quite impossible to go to a movie without any preconceived notions since the carpet bombing of publicity about the movie starts weeks before the actual release. Thus, I went into the theatre expecting a good story, ensemble casting and good acting.



For the overall cast and story, you can go to Rajneet on imdb

The story starts off from the Mahabharat, however at some point it schizophrenically shifts into Godfather mode. Thus there are important episodes from both which are included and end up burdening the overall narrative and script. With the need to be a big budget blockbuster, the established actors have relatively less screen time than the 'stars'. Of all the actors, Ajay Devgn strikes the right notes, Manoj Bajpai gives the most laboured performance (he is good in the early stages but in the latter stages is reduced to a caricature), Nana Patekar is dependable without being exceptional, Ranbir Kapoor gets the maximum screen time, however his motivation is never clear (though his scheming is very transparent). Katrina Kaif is ok, too much has been made of her transformation at the end as the widow assuming the mantle of leading the party, etc.


The script which is mostly tight, is inexcusably shoddy in some situations (the dialogue between Sooraj and his mother is unintentionally hilarious - when it is supposed to be the primary denouement of the story) - did I imagine it or was Nana Patekar cringing in the background when the dialogue was being delivered ! One other sore point, Ranbir Kapoor's American girlfriend seems to have been introduced solely so that the Godfather episode of the blowing up of the car could be included in the movie.


Overall then it is just about worth your time and money when it could have so easily resulted in being one of the movies of the year.