Skip to main content

Can You Keep A Secret

Have you ever had the urge to start blabbering to the person sitting next to you on a plane, knowing you will never meet them again and can say what you want. That's what Emma did, our heroine of Can You Keep A Secret, the book club's pick for the month. Only her blabbering came to haunt her the next day when the possessor of all her secrets turned out to be her big-shot boss.

From this opening, the book quickly goes on to become another romance but is funny enough to keep you reading. Sophie Kinsella is my favorite among the authors of the chic-lit genre that came into being a few years ago. Though not as well written as her Undomestic Goddess or as addictive as her Shopoholic series, Can You Keep A Secret is a great read for a lazy sunday.

Foodwise, this month's book had thin pickings for the members of "This Book Makes Me Cook". But I got my inspiration early on when Emma goes for her "perfect" date with the guy in the plane. And our hero makes champagne magically appear, not knowing that Emma had her heart set on a pink cocktail.





Emma says later on, when she does get to drink her pink cocktail, that it tasted of watermelon. And a watermelon daiquiri or margarita it should have been. But I had my heart set on a pina colada. And so, I made a pink pina colada instead.

All you do is blend 5-6 frozen strawberries with 50 ml coconut milk and 100 ml pineapple juice. Although I didn't, you could throw in 30 ml white rum if you wanted. And some sugar syrup, which I didn't because my juice was sweetened.

Wondering what the rest of the book club came up with.
Aparna made a 5 minute chocolate cake.
Bhagyashri made Shortbread Triangles.
Sweatha made Cheddar Cheese Crisps.
PJ, our new member, made Suralichi Wadi.
Jayasri, another new member this month, made Mango Smoothie.

Next month, we are reading the story of our favorite chef and our favorite blogger. If you would like to read "Julie & Julia" with us, please leave a comment here and I will get back to you with details.

Comments

CurryLeaf said…
Its the best thing Simran,late but never the least and PERFECT for summer.Love the pink pina colada Its in the list of drinks that I had bookmarked for summer.
And I had 6 starwberries left in the fridge, but this post wasn't up. So I made a milkshake with them and some ice-cream.

Perfect for our prevailing summer temperatures.
notyet100 said…
this looks so refreshing,..
Hi Simran, I have not got to reading the book yet. Just going past flu in the family. Will read and post a little late. I hope that is ok. The strawberry shake looks good.
Myvegfare said…
Love the pina colada, perfect for Indian summer, dad said it is shooting up!!, I wanted to make strawberry daiquiris!!, then my daughter said you can't make it mum it has alcohol in it!!, we can't drink it!!, bless her, so I made Mango smoothie :), thanks simran for this lovely opportunity

Popular posts from this blog

I've found my perfect cookie

It's a bite sized cookie, with flavors of a pie, shape of a croissant and a pretty, pretty name. It's Rugelach. I first heard of this cookie when it became the baking pick for Tuesdays with Dorrie a couple of months back. The looks, the concept - everything was fascinating. And I've dreamed of making this cookie ever since. I ditched hundreds of recipes floating around and went straight to the master. It's Dorie Greenspan's recipe that I used, and ain't I glad I got it so perfect the very first time. So what's rugelach? It's cream-cheese pastry dough, rolled then cut into wedges, spread with jam and sugar and fillings of choice, rolled into crescents and baked. First the dough. Dorie did it in her processor, but I just went and did it by hand. Put 100 gms cream cheese and 100 gms butter out of the fridge until they were soft but still cold. Added both to a cup of plain flour (I omitted the salt because I use salted butter). Rubbed the flour and but

Aloo Paranthas

In all these years of blogging, I've somehow never managed to talk about aloo paranthas, the potato stuffed flatbread that's a standard breakfast in North India. Possibly because they are such a staple in our home, I found there wouldn't be enough interest in the recipe. But I've also realised over time that my mom's recipe is unique, using a combination of flavours and spices that make these paranthas delicious. But that's not the only reason for this post. I also wanted to tell you about a super cool party and some ways we found to make aloo paranthas even better and believe it or not, healthier. The party in question was hosted by Rushina at her cooking studio a few months back. For a while now, Rushina has been talking about the merits of cling film, parchment and something called cooking foil made by Asahi Kasei. Because we won't believe that you can really cook without oil but using science, she invited a bunch of us over for a potluck lunch.

Mystery Fruit

This only happened a few times every year, just when the rainy season kicked in. A street hawker will come by, straw basket on head. He will yell "kaul chapni" and I will run out to buy a bundle of these. Stuck together like flowers, they looked like a bouquet. Every hole contains a little fruit. You break out the package, peel the tiny fruit that pops out and eat it. Done slowly, it can take you an hour to eat an head. Or did, when I was about 12 years old. That was the last time I saw this fruit. I've never seen it again, didn't even know what it was called or where it came from. Three weeks back, Vikram Doctor wrote about a store in Khar that sells Sindhi foods. He described this fruit and I knew it came from my vivid childhood memories. And finally, I knew we were talking about lotus fruit. Now talk about coincidences. Last weekend, I was passing by a lane in Bandra and for the first time in many, many years I saw the straw basket filled with my mytery fru