Airtel and the Need for Speed

Take me for an example.
I am in love with the Internet.
I am simultaneously carrying on four relationships. One obviously to the man I married. Yup,that is the most important relationship in my life. And that runs with lots of love and happiness and tantrums thrown and the fights and making up and looking out for each other and stuff. He knows me well and panders to my idiosyncratic behaviour,as do I,well most of the time.

And one relationship is with sweet child. That has to be special,because I am a mom.

What is the real deal, is my clandestine relationship with my smart phone and my iPad. I ensure they are fed -as in charged, or carry a power bank. I ensure my wifi router is a super fast hyper router. And that my phone and internet bills are paid on time.

Even before my grocery bills and school fees are paid.

But what will the internet do for my phone if I am not home bound?then my smartphone would be hiccuping and I would not be able to access any website.
Now you see why I need my speed.
The speed of Airtel 4G.

Imagine ,I'm out for dinner and want to post my location on my social network sites. If the internet network is not super fast 4G speed ,I'll have left before my friends know I'm at that hip and happening restaurant. Awfully tragedy resulting from a handicapped network that does not have superb connectivity like the Airtel 4G network.
Imagine the loss to society and my fellow food bloggers if I don't tweet or Facebook or blog the pictures of the dishes I order at restaurants. I sacrifice so much for putting up those pictures. With most networks,I have to endure the curse of the food blogger. By the time the pictures are taken and uploaded and tweeted and I see a few likes, the food bloggers dish will be ice cold and clammy and unappetising.
But thanks to the airtel 4G Sabse  tez,super fast network,I'll finally be able to taste my food while it's still hot. And enjoy the yummy dish a little more because of the innumerable likes  my food pictures have got.
And just because the Airtel 4G network is super fast,it doesn't meant that  I need to pay excessive Internet bills. It means that I will still be paying the same amount of money ,but will enjoy the super fast speed that Airtel 4G will give me .
So now as a blogger, a social media influencer and a friend to all those zaroori friends, I'll always be available.
And I am swanky👌.
Online.
Everytime.
And the best thing is that this Airtel 4G connection  can be ordered with just a tweet #GetAirtel4G and your new connection sim card will be home delivered to you in as soon as 4 hours.
So that's a five star rating for a mobile network that works in all corners of the country -in 296 cities  to be precise.
countrywide.
Now is this not something special ?
So go get your new Airtel 4G connection because  remember if you can find a  mobile network with Internet connectivity faster than Airtel4G , they'll pay your bills lifelong.
Isse tez aur kuch nahin 

Penang Food Trail of Authentic Char Kuay Teow and Cendol

The most interesting bit of my Malaysian Holiday was the trip to Penang. I know This was a shopping trip ,but my shopping was more of the curios kind. More of that later.

travelmalaysiaguide.com

The most authentic Malaysian meal was the one we sampled at Georgetown,Penang.

Just like our desi home style dhaba eateries, this one dished out the most fabulous stuff.

I had sampled Char Kuay Teow at KL and once before at a Malaysian Food festival in a hotel. I can safely say, this was by far the best. 

Inspiring me to try out something similar.

So now that I have been reading about it, our Tour Guide John Khor knew his stuff.

This Mom and Pop joint serves the best.

We tried the Cendol-appropriate for the summertime heat.

After sampling this the third time,I still couldn't get over the Rajma-red Kidney beans in a sweet.

All I could think of was the spiciest curry served with rice or tortillas being dunked into mince spiked Red kidney bean Chilli.

Char Kuay teow and nutmeg drink

enjoy the char kuay teow and see the size of the sprouted mung bean

Laksa,super spicy fish soup.

Rojak

So I'll pass.

Then the Char Kuay Teow.

Served in a plastic plate and banana leaf,the thing that stood out were the jumbo prawns.

Jumbo.

And juicy.

And the giant mung bean sprouts.

I have been trying to sprout my mung beans or moong dal forever. But no matter how warm or how dark my chosen spot is, my sprouts are never the Jack and the beanstalk kind-plump and juicy.

These were.

the right way to use chopsticks

And according to John Khor,our tour guide ,these were OK, I should see the giant ones.

If the place had been crowded ,I would have fallen off the plastic chair.

And to cut the spicy heat ,nutmeg drink. This is a syrup that is made of boiling the outer soft nutmeg fruit and sugar almost 8 hours.

It was sweet ,fizzy and nice. I checked up,remember ,I am DIY mad.

jumbo prawns and fried tofu-boring

And this was rojak.
Fried and served with a sweet shrimp sauce and crushed peanuts.

But I went back to the Char Kuay Teow.

she knows whos the boss!

The little lady who made this had a surprising amount of energy ,considering her wrinkle lined face. And the poor husband in the blue Tshirt was just being bossed around. At least that's what it sounded like. They were speaking the Hokkien dialect of Chinese here.

Similar stuff was up for grabs at the Perisian Gurney Food drive,Penang.

Only,by the time we reached they were cleaning up. So we had to just make do with the 7/11 store.

More coming up on what you must eat while in Malaysia.

So what are you baking today???

Del Monte Oceans Apart Pasta -From Italy to Malaysia Char Kuay TeowStyle Farfalle Pasta

                                                                     "Pass"ta aao na...

Literally jumping seven seas.

Pasta with an oriental flavour.

I am not obsessed,but ever since I returned from my Malaysian Holiday, I am being really daring with my food. 

Those of you who follow Baketitude regularly,would know about my love for sea food. 

However,as my boys -hubby dear and sweet child are mildly allergic to fish,I have to settle for desi Indian chicken ,mutton etc. 

This trip to KL and Penang was a liberation in more ways than one.

Since I was alone,I could eat all the sea food I wanted without cribs about smell and upturned noses facing me.

So I tried the juiciest prawns and crab and mussels and oyster and scallops. But ,it had to end there when I came back to Amchi Mumbai.

 I saw frozen prawns in my neighbourhood store, I picked up one packet to try out some flavours at home, and what I ended up googling was the Malaysian Char Kuay Teow.

No sign of cockles or ginormous mung bean sprouts here though. So close and no cigar.

There was this world famous Char Kuay Teow stall in Georgetown,Penang where we had lunch. And our Tour guide effortlessly warfing down the super spicy dish with his plastic chopsticks. I have never been able to sprout my moong beans to get such fat sprouts, and he very nonchalantly said that these were small.

😶😶😶

This hot dish was handled by a tiny lady using fresh flat noodles, duck eggs and bloody cockles with the huge prawns. All alone while conducting an angry diatribe directed to her blue t shirted husband.

This was served on banana leaf topped plastic plates and with pink forks with a nutmeg drink special to Penang to cool us off.

I am a Punjaban . I like my music loud and my food super spicy. 

So I was ok with the prawns.

I still can't get over the prawns. Soft and sweet and crunchy and juicy.

Not dry and rubbery like you get here.

I tried sprouting the mound dal or mung beans, but my sprouts were nowhere near what we had in Georgetown,so I decided to skip them altogether.  And bloody cockles were nowhere to be seen in the frozen section.

So it was just me and my prawns.

And when the Del Monte contest appeared on Indiblogger ,I knew without doubt what I had to make.

For the 

Del Monte Oceans Apart Pasta -From Italy to Malaysia Char Kuay Style Farfalle Pasta

You need

125 gms Prawns-I found medium,but jumbo prawns would taste best

100 gms Farfalle pasta - or any other Del Monte Pasta

2 tsp chopped garlic

2 tsp chopped celery 

1 tbsp vegetable oil- I used saffola 

1 egg 

2 tbsp red chilli paste ( made by blending dry Kashmiri red chillies soaked in hot water. Check out how to, here.)

1 tsp ready mix manchurian powder-I used Chings Manchurian Mix

3 spring onions- bulbs sliced and soaked in water to flower and spring onion greens cut 2 inches long

1/2 tsp white vinegar

Salt to taste

I used frozen prawns and while thawing them I placed them in a bowl of water with a spoonful of sugar. That's the secret that our tour guide told us...it's hardly a secret now.

The sugar ensures sweetness and perfect caramelising and the ice cold water keeps them fresh.

2 of the spring onion bulbs I shredded and used while one I to plate.

Mix the manchurian mix with a tablespoon of water and the vinegar and set aside.

  

Place a pot of salted water to boil and dunk in the pasta when the water comes to a rolling boil. Allow the pasta to cook to Al dente. Almost done. Not like mushy rice.

I time my pasta boiling.

I use my desi wok ,not a non stick pan to make my Chinese food.

It's all about the wok. An iron wok that has been seasoned well and can take the heat. 

Make sure all your ingredients are cut and lined up...we need to work fast.

The chilli paste is nothing but whole red Kashmiri chillies soaked in hot water and blended in the blender. I use the chilli paste in my schezwan chutney that my boys love. Since I was about to make another batch the red chilli paste was handy. Check out how to here.

Keeping an eye on the pasta, add the oil to the wok. 

In quick succession add first the garlic and the celery.

One hand on cell phone camera and one on the spatula.

I prefer to use a steel spatula , it cleans and lifts food easily off the base of the wok.

Prawns drained,now into the wok or Kadak.

No salt yet.

Once the prawns curl and pink up, add the chilli paste and stir. This is why that lady wore a face mask.she must be inhaling tones of chilli fumes a day.

So that's why chilli paste and not dry red chillies.

Ok stir.

And drain the pasta.

Pop in the pasta and stir to coat-pop in a handful of the spring onion greens and stir.

Now one handed again. Crack open the egg onto the wok, after clearing space. Don't drop the egg on the pasta, else you,lol have raw egg pasta. If you can't crack an egg open with one hand , first crack it into a bowl and then into the wok.

Stir to break the yolk and then mix into the pasta.

Add in the manchurian mix and vinegar and coat. Add in the shredded onion bulbs. Stir a few more more times and taste.

Plate.

Quickly plate.

My green tea was ready and I sprinkled the spring onion greens and placed my onion bulb flower on my platter.

Ready for my solitary meal. 

And the pictures.

Ah, the curse of the food blogger.

Hot food=pretty pictures.

Cold food=eat.

That's why green tea.

To keep tasting my sweet prawns. I never liked sweetness in meat. Meat is supposed to be spicy and salty.

Not this time. 

My platter had less salt. The pasta was salted from boiling in salted water. And whatever salt was in the manchurian mix was in my dish. That's all.

I never needed to add any more salt.

Even the Kashmiri red chillies paste was a smoky ,sweet ,spicy ,fragrant flavour.

The prawns juicy and bursting with taste. As though the crust had sealed in the taste of the sea.

It's so easy to bring people and places close. Take the best of what they have to offer  and put it on a plate. 

If only this was the solution to world peace!

Italian pasta and Malaysian flavours creating a great bonhomie on my platter with Del Monte Oceans Apart Pasta -From Italy to Malaysia Char Kuay Teow Style Farfalle Pasta.

For much more ,Like Del Monte Facebook and bring the world closer.

"Pass"ta aao na...

This post was acknowledged.💞💞💞💞💞

So what are you frying today ???

It's not FAST it's SUPER FAST-Airtel 4G

All us smart phone junkies and Internet addicts know what gets our blood boiling.
Connectivity.
If it's super charged , there's nothing better. And we still believe that there is nothing better than 3G.
A little status update , a quick phone call , a funny sign that must be tweeted...
Only this generation can understand that pressing need to have connectivity Right Now.
The smiles stay till the towers stay.
And when those towers begin to fade and disappear...all the curses one can think of come sliding down ones tongue.
But hey ,the next time your GPS begins to look like a beeping blue dot and you are stuck in the middle of nowhere,remember ,help is at hand.
Help in the form of those two beautiful letters...4G.
You've graduated from 2G to 3G taking for granted the better speed and the fast downloads. Always wishing for that extra edge.
There's nothing wrong with your phone baby ,don't shake it like Shakira.
3G can only allow you so many bits and bytes per second.
What you really should be doing is switching over to 4G. After lustfully coveting the SUPERFAST download speed on your super smartphone,it's time to earn your 4G.
There's no need to worry about your prepaid balance or the data charges of your post paid mobile phone.
Airtel now offers 4G speed and you'll be surprised that you are billed at 3G rates only.
So no added expense.
You can still have that Macchiato and shop till you drop,knowing that your Airtel 4G data pack is cheap.
You have the support of India's most trusted mobile network that works even in the remotest of places- believe me ,I know how far and remote airtel reaches. That's why I choose Airtel,every time.
Just like this time. My phone is powered with a 4G SIM and it's so fast that I can't make out if it's really on a mobile network data pack.
And even after exiting the mobile connectivity,I'm relaxing.... Because my pre paid balance is still intact.
That calls for a happy dance.

Try it for yourself.
Log on to Airtel.in/4G and use your 4G ready device to experience the SUPERFAST speed internet access with your 3G pack. Place a request on the website and your nex 4G ready SIM will be home delivered -free of charge.

Check out the new TVC and accept the challenge.
If your network is faster, Airtel will pay your mobile bills for life.





So what are you waiting for???

Smart and Sassy Dining, Penang Food Trail

Smart and Sassy and modern dining ,Spoon Cafe, Ghotel,Kelawai , Penang.
The next step in my Malaysian holiday.
The first evening in

To start with desserts.
I mean, you never know which meal might be your last.                                                                                                                      So before I indulge in any cholesterol rich, meal at a buffet- this spectacular buffet at the G hotel,Kelawai, I needed to try the desserts.
And what a spread it was.
Spoilt for choice.
Totally.

I quite loved the flavor of the pandan leaf. In rice and in the sponge cake too. Cream ,every where is dairy free , so I skip that ,but the cake was good.
So was the Kuih with the pandan and some kind of jelly.

What I really loved was the visual appeal of these tiny rainbow cake bites. However, I love homemade. So I passed. But the gelato was to die for . Twice. Strawberry. Coffee. Repeat.
And then there were the Kuih Bahulu , Bread and Butter And Raisin Pudding with a vanilla sauce and Marshmallows and the candy and fruit skewers and the ubiquitous chocolate fountain.
And jello shots.
And some lemon meringue tarts ,which were good and tart.
I loved the granite platters too...

The frozen or super fresh fish was up for the offing at the Atmosphere 360 in Kuala Lumpur too ,but I never had the guts to try them there.  Its was now or never... if you have been keeping track ,I cant eat fish with my boys as they are allergic to most shell fish. So I tried the mussels and the prawns and also the oyester, however, I prefer the cooked version.
A little wasabi and lemon juice goes a long way , but this is certainly an acquired taste.
The salads were awesome and the bread spread was vast too.

These were what were interesting.  The local Penang /Nyonya cuisine . Presented in cute casserole dishes. u cant believe that I passed over a Le Creuset casserole on 50%discount at the Mitsui Brand Outlet, Kuala Lumpur for a Guess Tote.
Vanity.
Anyway, squid, crab ,prawn and fish curry.
My only difficulty was that the prawns were not shelled. We are spoilt in India. Jumbo prawns are shelled here. So I had a major problem...
The curries was fabulous. Not all had coconut and they were tangy and spicy and Yum.
I joted down the names... but cant seem to find them.

Nasi Putih Pandan was the carrier for my curries. I loved the flavor of Pandan in the rice.

The nyonya sour and spicy fish curry Gulai Tumis Ikan was the best. 

And they had an assortment of tapas , spicy ,fried, crisp and yumm. The glutinous rice  cooked in banana leaves has been making regular appearances and was nice. 

What was really cool was the effort made for our vegetarian companions by the chef. A wonderful platter of dal, rice pickle and papad ,to ensure that they didn't feel left out. 

Yup, the pic of that platter is somewhere in this miasma...

Overall, the stay at the G HOTEL, Kelawai ,Penang was comfortable and the food superb. 

I would love to go back again.

Planning to attack unshelled prawns next time...

So what are you waiting for???