Time is a callous fellow. It cares for none. Does not bother whether one wants it to just halt for a while or just pace down a wee bit. It waits for none. It is also a deceitful character. You may feel you have it under your control but it stealthily manages to slips away. And by the time you realise this, it has swiftly moved on!
It loves its exalted status and demands respect; has every reason to do so since it is the master of all it surveys. It is tireless, invincible, enigmatic and also happens to be a great healer. It has its constant pace which it is determined to continue with and never seems to tire. It does not have a rewind mode. No one knows how long this grand old guy has been around and for long he will go on. So many secrets of past, present and future lie concealed in its bosom.
I share a love hate relationship with time. There are moments when I blame it for all that goes wrong. There are moments when I love it like none other, thanking it for making my life such a beautiful experience. But most of the time I love it and it loves me back. It has given me awesome moments to experience and savour all flavours of life besides bringing some wonderful people across in my life.
I wish I could blame this guy for the delay in uploading this post. It has been nearly a fortnight since I uploaded a new post. Well, I can’t entirely blame time crunch since it has partly been poor time management on my part. The weather is pleasant here, thanks to the monsoon, but it has to some extent induced into me a sense of inertia. I just want to sit by the window and soak up the beauty of monsoon. Don’t feel like lifting a finger or even venturing anywhere near by my laptop. And that reminds me I am long due for a holiday.
I have been hearing complaints from my daughter that I have not been cooking ‘good’ stuff these days. No escape there! So I pulled myself out of the lethargy and decided to start with a salad. The bright colours of the salad not just helped pep up my enthusiasm but also got me back into action. Hoping my next post won’t be so delayed...fingers crossed!
The amount of veggies is totally an individual choice. I just threw in all vegetables that I could lay my hands on. Next time I would love to add baby potatoes and asparagus. Same goes for the pesto dressing. The amount of ingredients is a blend of flavours the way I like them. Feel free to increase or decrease or even eliminate what you wish to. I added yogurt since I don’t like too much parmesan in the pesto. The yoghurt added a nice creamy texture to the pesto...also the reason for the milder green coloured pesto.
I used,
For salad:5-6 florets cauliflower5-6 florets broccoli1 small carrot (peeled and cut diagonally)7-8 beans (stringed)1 small red capsicum (sliced)1 small yellow capsicum (sliced)8-10 baby corns
For dressing;1 cup basil leavesA handful of walnuts (¼ cup approx, +/-)2 cloves garlic2 green chillies1½ tbsp parmesan1 tbsp yogurt 4-5 sun dried tomato slices (available at Fab India)3-4 tbsp olive oil (+/- the amount to achieve desired consistency)Salt to taste
For the salad, keep a bowl of ice cold water ready. Bring a large pot of water to a boil and add 1 tsp salt. Boil each vegetable individually since each has a different cooking point. Cook just enough so that each veggie retains some crunch. Immediately plunge into the cold water. Remove from the cold water and drain. Place the veggies on a towel to remove excess water.
For the dressing, put all the ingredients together in a food processor or a grinder. Blend well and adjust the seasoning and flavours.
Pour the dressing over the veggies and serve.
Note: Next time I intend to soak the tomatoes in hot water for a while since it was a bit hard to blitz them in their dried state.
Serves – 2IT IS ALWAYS ENCOURAGING TO HEAR FROM FRIENDS AND READERS. I CAN ALSO BE REACHED AT: [email protected]
