Spicy Fried Tilapia

Time for another recipe and this time its a non-vegetarian recipe - Tilapia ! One weekend, we had a dinner party at home, so as usual I called my Personal Chef ;) - My MOM ...and believe it or not...it was a simple recipe to make and it turned out be awesome !!!

The best part in preparing this dish is that there is no hard and fast rules on the amount of ingredients you use. It is totally dependant on personal taste and choice. So let’s start off with the ingredients:

8 - 10 Large Slices of Tilapia
5 Tbsp Red Chilli Powder
3 Tbsp Corriander Powder
1 Tsp Turmeric Powder
2 Tbsp Lime Juice
Salt to taste
3 - 4 Tbsp of Water to make a fine paste (add more if needed)
Oil to Fry

Mix together the spices and salt. Add the lime juice and water and make a thick paste. Coat the fish slices in this paste and let it marinate for about two hours.
Make sure that the paste is not too watery, as this would not coat the fish slices well.

After about two hours, its time to fry ! Heat sufficient oil in a frying pan, and fry the fish slices till they are cooked completely. Turn the slices occasionally so that both sides of the fish are well cooked. Remove from pan and spicccyy tilapia is ready to eat...uhhhhh...yum yum !

Trust me when I say that this simple recipe was the star at the dinner party...easy to prepare..simple to make...and can be altered for everyone's taste..and yet tastes amazing.

So remember...don’t be too tough with the ingredients...for those who would not want it to be very spicy..feel free to reduce the amount of chili powder...for that extra tangy flavor..add more lime ! This dish is so versatile….that there can be innumerable combinations.

Happy Frying!!! :)

Labor Day Weekend Roadtrip

Make hay while the sun shines..Take road trips when you get a holiday!!!

It was Labor Day on the 7th of September and hence an extended weekend. Finally…a holiday..yaaay! Time for a road trip and the plan was to visit San Antonio (SA) and Sonora.

So we started at around 10:30 on Saturday morning. The weather was pleasant. It was overcast, but thankfully no rains. And finally, the 100+ days of hot Texas summer was soon gonna end. In fact Labor Day which is celebrated on the first Monday of September signified the official end of summer.

SA is only an hour and a half’s drive from Austin. En route to SA, we planned to visit a ‘drive through’ safari. I had been to one in New Jersey last summer and so I was expecting this one to be as fun filled as the one in Jersey.

The safari – Natural Bridge Wildlife Safari, is adjacent to the natural Bridge Caverns. On one of my earlier trips to SA, I had actually been to the cavern and it was great fun. However, the safari turned out to be an ‘OK’ show. There were not many wild animals…there were zebras, wilder beasts, ostriches, emus and deers of different kinds. I only hoped that there were some wild beasts, like tigers and lions roaming around (wink wink). But the highlight of the safari was I got to feed the Zebras…and yes..you bet I loved it :) and I must say the Zebras were a hungry lot! I had to try hard from keeping them from entering the car..lol…

Once we were done with the safari, we continued on our way to SA. On reaching SA, we checked into our hotel. The hotel was awesome. Our room was on the eleventh floor and the view of downtown SA was fantastic. We also got a view of SA’s popular attraction – The River Walk!

After a little nap (aren’t vacations supposed to give u rest!!!), it was time to explore SA. Our hotel was so ideally located, that we could travel on foot to see the places around. So we started, with visiting ‘The Alamo’. The Alamo is one of the historical places to see in SA. Originally, intended to serve as a home to missionaries, the Alamo today is also recognized for its role in the Texan Revolution of the 1800s.

The next stop was at ‘Ripleys Haunted Adventure’. Ok..so I am not the ghost hunters kind..so I was a little nervous going to this place. But I tried to put up a brave face as I entered the haunted house. To be on the safer side, I was right in the center..one family in front of me and another right behind me…hehe…that was a BIG comfort. There were two kids in the group as well. I was thinking I probably would be the only person screaming..but thankfully there were kids for company..lol. I had great fun here and though it was a little scary and was pitch dark at times, I managed to get out in one piece..glad that I was still alive after having seen dead bodies..blood and lunatics running all around !

Just beside Ripley’s Haunted Adventure was the Guinness World Record Museum…and whose picture did I see – A Guinness world record holder from India – Mr. Thyagi , and guess for what …the longest ear hair… ;)

Once we explored the places around the hotel, it was time to get back to the River Walk…the most beautiful and well…romanticccc place in SA ;)…This space would not suffice to describe the river walk, so I would rite another post on that.

Dinner that night was along the river-walk – burgers, potato crusted salmon, vegetable quesadilla (pronounced kesa-di-ya)..yum yum !After a good night’s sleep, we started on the drive to Sonora Caves, one of the most beautiful caves I have visited. Will keep you all posted on my adventures at Sonora in the following days…so keep reading :)

Beautiful Bryce !!!

The ‘Travel’ channel is one my favorite channels on TV. True to it’s name, most of their programs are geared towards travel explorations to different places. One of the programs ‘The Secrets of Zion and Bryce Canyon’ is the inspiration for this blog. Actually…it reminded me that a post on Bryce Canyon was long pending!! So here’s my attempt to capture the beauty of another natural wonder – BRYCE CANYON NATIONAL PARK!!!

Bryce is located in the same state as Zion National Park, on which I had written a post last month, the state of the NBA Team ‘Jazz’..you guessed it right – “UTAH”!!!

The drive from Zion to Bryce was about two hours, but to me it seemed like just about a few minutes coz I felt I just didn’t have enough time to taken in the beauty that lay all around me. Towering mountains, large pine trees and stunning, peaceful meadows…well…I just ran out of words to describe how beautiful the scenery was. It was like staring at a beautiful painting!!

I was expecting Bryce to be similar to Zion, but I was in for a Big Big surprise…the two parks could not be more different. While water was the reason behind the formations of the Zion and Bryce Canyons, it took different forms in creating these two national parks. The Zion canyon was the eroding effect of the Virgin River, while Bryce canyon was formed by the eroding effect of water in the form of rain, ice and snow.

Bryce Canyon presented a magnificent picture of awesome rock formations. Huge peaks, beautifully carved by rain, snow and ice stood towering. As I looked around, I wondered how these towering narrow formations kept from falling apart. The formations were tall, they were narrow and yet were held together by some invisible force. The towering formations are called hoodoos, grottos, walls or arches, depending on the shape they took. As I stood at ‘Sunrise Point’ (one of the popular points to view sunrise) overlooking the canyon, it was hard to believe how something as simple as water could carve out such beautiful structures. Well…nature has its ways!

One of the popular trails at Bryce is the ‘Navajo’ trail. Starting at the Sunset Point, Navajo, pronounced ‘Nava-ho’, is a trail that takes you through the heart of bryce and through the towering hoodos. It’s about a 1.3 mile round trip that takes you down into the canyon and loops around as you make your way back up to Sunset point. While on the trail you get to see Two-Bridges, Thors Hammer and Wall Street. These names seem weird, but they are just names given to the different rock formations. As you get to the bottom of the trail, you enter a garden of pine and oak trees. At places, this trail gets steep, and one has to be careful so as to avoid a steep fall, especially so during the rains. But I visited this place in May and the timing was perfect. Like all other trails, going downhill on the Navajo trail was not difficult. As I kept going down and down, I realized how miniscule I felt near the towering hoodoos that stood guard all around. It was an amazing journey that showed the power of water! Once I got to the bottom of the trail, it was time to climb back up to where we started. This was a loop and hence we did not have to climb back up the same we came down. I have to confess, that climbing up was more strenuous, however I was complimented by a fellow traveler to be the only person he saw with a smile climbing up!!! But I guess that was at the beginning of the climb up…if only he had seen me half way up the trail…the comment would have been quite different ! lol…..

I do not know if I can ever put in words my experiences at bryce and zion, but I am glad that I was fortunate to visit these beautiful places in my lifetime and I sure wish I could go visit them again and a special thanks to the person who planned it all…thank you! :)