Desi BBQ

This country down under is very famous for Barbecues (also called Barbie or BBQ) any time of the year and more so in the summer. Immigrants not wanting to be left behind have their own BBQs with their own set of people and I belong to the elite Indian BBQ Club! As the whole world knows India has a lot of flavours and varieties in food and extending this to the outdoor meal is another speciality.

So, come any long weekend and off we go with our mobile burners or if someone has a compact BBQ, then even better. The Ozzies normally only carry the bread and sausages, which they can cook on any BBQ in any park. But we being fussy vegetarians have to be very careful about where we cook our food, so I guess that explains the burners, but that’s not all, our packing includes a variety of vegetables – pickled and raw, sauces, cheeses, drinks and chips. Even thinking about it makes me feel full!

The munching starts once we have decided our BBQ location, starting with chips and drinks. The guys (BBQs are mainly intended for men to cook to give their wives a break from their routine, but in this generation I have hardly seen a man not share this daily chore, anyway nobody complains when the men volunteer to cook ;-) set up the burners / BBQs / stoves and mysteriously creeps in mouth watering Paneer Tikka. By the time it is grilled there is a long queue surrounding the chief chef waiting for a chance to taste the cheese cubes. It gets over in a jiffy and time comes for the Patties (We only like the Bird’s Eye – Bubble ‘n Squeak Veggie Patties, only because we have no other option) to get grilled.

Simultaneously the buns get toasted with some butter and are ready for the patties. Once the patties are cooked, we have mothers making a burger each for their children. The process of making a burger depends on individual’s taste. I usually like to taste a bit of everything, so let me explain mine. I first take the bottom side of the bun and put a lettuce leaf over it followed by some fried onions and fresh cut tomatoes. Then comes the yummy patty (which is good to eat by itself) and a slice of cheese. And then some canned veggies such as olives, jalapeños, roast capsicum. The burger is probably already overflowing. So, I take the other side of the bun and put some sauces – usually tomato and mayonnaise and unite the 2 sides before feeding my drooling mouth! Hmmm, needless to say, any effort (minimal really) that went into the preparation of the burger is well worth it for that glorious moment J

Fast Fast

Today I successfully completed my Lemon Detox Diet after 5 days of lemon juice and herbal syrup. My initial plan was to do it for 7 – 10 days, but somewhere in between I had to fight with my rogue mind to even prolong it as far as 5 days. I used to wonder how people did fasting for 40 days during Ramzan or other Indian festivals, now I sort of have an idea, but I don’t think I would be able to do it again in the near future.

I have realised so much about myself in the past week. I have realised how important food is for my tongue and not for my body. The bloody 2.5 inch thing demands much more than what it deserves. Sometimes I wish that I had lost my tastebuds, at least that way I could control the amount I would eat! The concept put into our heads of not eating solid food would make us weak or unhealthy is so wrong. Today is my sixth day without any solid food and I feel just as strong as and in fact healthier than ever. The diet promised glowing skin and hair, which I didn’t notice on myself maybe because there was no more to glow than the oil on my face ;-)

A week of no worries as to what groceries to buy, what to cook and how it tasted... That gave us so much time to do other stuff that it was unbelievable to even think of the amount of time we would otherwise spend on a plateful of food. And, the aftermath of cleaning up the place as though nothing had ever happened in the kitchen. Phew, so much for the tiny little tongue and the fistful of stomach.

The diet must be ended with 2 days of natural food, so today is going to be all fresh fruit juices and tomorrow raw / boiled vegetables. To a normal me, that would sound ridiculous, but after the fasting anything other than the syrup sounds heavenly to me. I have had cravings of all sorts of food in the past few days. The diet claimed that after doing it, people normally develop an aversion towards fast food and other junk, but I don’t seem to have had any such effect. In fact, I was even wondering if there would be something like a Pizza Detox Diet, I would be the first one to try that!!!

For those brave ones, who would like to cleanse their inner self and take a control over their tongue, this is the link to the path of well being - http://www.lemondetox.com/