Monday, June 22, 2015

Medley of orange rice...called summer green

Tasty side dish which may sound weird to you, when you hear about it but this has odd yet perfect blend of everything. You can feel the taste of sweet orange with slightly spicy taste of green chillies along with nice aromatic taste of cilantro and mint.. yummm sounds just awesome. Actually its hard to describe different flavors you experience with one bite of this rice. The beautiful green color of rice with colorful veggies will reminds you of beautiful summer. This can be served as side dish which looks really pretty and colorful. I gave this an indian touch also with the blend of nice aromatic spices which lifts the flavor. When i first served this dish to my family i called it summer green looking at the beautiful green color. They just loved the flavor and the name of course. Let see how this is made and i hope you guys try this at home... i bet you'll love it...


cooking time: 30 min

Serves :2

Ingredients:

1 cup  Jasmine rice
1 cup  Mixed veggies (carrot,beans,broccoli,corn, bell peppers)
1 cup  Orange juice (optional if you like pulp)
1 cup  Vegetable stock/ water
1/2 cup Paneer (optional)
1/2 cup  Coriander/cilantro leaves
1/2 cup  Mint leaves
1/2 cup Spinach leaves
4-5  Green chillies
1 tsp  Coriander powder
1/2 tsp  Garam masala powder
1/2 cup  Onions
2-3  Garlic cloves
2 tbs  Butter
salt as per taste.

Method:

1. Cook rice in a pot by adding half of orange juice and other half of vegetable stock.
2. When rice is cooked set aside and now grind all the greens i.e., cilantro,mint,spinach and green chillies.
3. Now heat butter in a pot and add finely chopped garlic and onions. Saute till slightly brown.
4. Add all the veggies and paneer diced.
5. Saute for 5 minutes and add the green puree to it.
6. Now add all the dry ingredients and saute for 8-10 min.
7. Finally add rice into this mixture and mix slowly.
8. Garnish with cilantro leaves and enjoy your summer green rice.

 Note:

1. Do not grind your greens too early this may cause your puree to turn black to avoid this add a pinch of sugar.
2. You can fry your paneer before adding if you like it crunchy.
3. You can also add bits of orange to your rice if you want them in your rice.


Thursday, June 11, 2015

Murder mystery party script - Desi style


Who wants to be a murderer tonight? where murderer wont be punished after being caught? your friends will catch you instead of helping...sounds interesting? get ready to experience the craziness, fun, laughter... Murder mystery party!! yes! this is our party theme. When i first heard the concept i liked it instantly but to make it happen was not so easy required so much of planning. I immediately put on my thinking cap and started thinking like a director who writes the script and directs his movie. This party script was not less than a movie script for me. After so much hard work when the party was a hit and people loved the whole experience of the party i was on cloud nine whose was blockbuster hit. I know this does not open my doors to be a director. But still i can share my hit story with you guys, in case you havent got any script yet and have no time to write then you are at right place.
You must have got the idea of the party from my previous post. For the  people who are new and have not seen i will make a quick recap. Guests arrive at the party according to the characters assigned. Murder occurs either during the course of the dinner or before the party begins. There are specific number of characters in the story to match the size of your group with background information, costume instructions. Each guest receives a detailed character description in their invitation along with some information on the party and after the act is done, murderer is guessed by all the guests. You can add your own innovations and more detailing to characters if you want.

Here is the basic scenario of the murder mystery night: The party was blockbuster movie themed so all the people worked in the movie where guests at the party to celebrate the success of the film. All the characters are assigned to the guest with the invitations. The movie has got a huge opening and its already a hit. As the party progresses the gun is shot during the performance of the hero where lights goes off, when the lights are on hero of the movie is down on the ground dead! The party is called of and everyone at the party are now suspects to the murder of the hero.
Guests must deduce  the murderer in order to win the game, they make accusations and tell every one who committed the murder and why? investigator helps proceed with the clues and each clue lead to the murderer with the background story.


Invitations with the character description:

 Hello all! You are invited to the success party of a blockbuster movie " Ashique Awara" starring: salman khan and katrina kaif directed by karan johar produced by siddhart roy kapoor. Salman khan who as been introduced as singer with this movie will be performing tonight. You have rarest ticket to the best night of excitement.
One person will be the murderer, if you are not the murderer you can try and trick every one into believing you are. Some of the character back stories may contain clues. Piece together all clues and you may find the murderer. Each person will be allowed to guess at the end. Its meant to be for fun for all!
Note: come dressed like your character.

Name of the movie and the character names can be changed,above given names are for example. With this invitation send a character description of that person given below.

Director :
You are rich and now successful director too.. people believe you'l take bollywood cinema to new level with ur creative and classic work. you are a hard working director who left no steps unturned to be successful be it marrying a famous actress or linkups . every actor wants to work with you . you are like mentor to rajesh khanna you pair is hit on screen. bold, dominating, needs controlling everything.

Directors wife :
You are known as queen of bollywood. you are married to a rich successful director. u are now a true socialite. you are abut to launch production house . your life has always been in limelight. stylish, selfish,loves to be center of attraction

Producer:
With your wealth and smartness you have proved yourself as smart businessman. you are good friend with director. you both are like hit formulae. you are a real businessman at heart. you are looking forward to investing on more flims. confident, smooth, smart.

Supporting actor:
You are big star lead hero is  competitor to you. you both acted in few films together . you both are friends turned rivals . you now dnt like the actor.  loud, impulsive, bold.

Actress:
You are know to steal the show. new to the industry and your last 2 movies are hit. you have a large fan following. you have been in news for your linkups, movies, parties, breakups. outgoing,bold,flirtatious.

News reporter :
You have earned quite a reputation for your ability to try any under handed trick you can think of to get the latest scoop. ofcourse , your methods arent always legal .. but that only matters if you get caught, right? you have covered all the conspiracies in town for 'peoples magazine'. confident, catty, smart, active. 

Actor :
You are known as future superstar for you choice of films with the director and acting skills. You have a large female following because of your charming nature and good looks. Director is said to be your mentor. You have turned into a singer with this movie. prim and proper, can be obideint and also deceiving.

Assistant director:

You have a military background and are short tempered. You are not very social and doesnt have many friends. People are usually scared by your strong personality. You always carry gun with you.
grumpy,rough,loyal,wants nothing more than to find killer.


After all the invitations are sent out. Now get ready for the party, i was so excited about this party and wanted to be party of the mystery so i became a secret detective while hosting the party. Before the party i prepared the objectives of each character, planted the clues. When all the guest arrived every one looked curious to know what each one was playing and i was surprised to see how well dressed my friend turned in for the party. Before beginning to host the party appetizers where served with the envelope.
With so much enthusiasm and excited i started by introducing myself as a host for the evening. Later called each person on stage to describe about there character to all the guests. Give enough time for guests to read and understand there objectives to finish in the party.
Now its time for the hero of the party to perform. While the actor is performing the lights goes off and gun is shot ( host should make sure this is done on time properly). When the lights are on hero is down on ground dead. People rush to the stage and all of them are suspects. Investigator proceeds with accusing the first person found near the dead body and presents the evidences to all the guests. Meanwhile all the suspects deny the accusations. In the end every one is allowed to guess and murderer is revealed. Now i will give you the objectives of each character in the play.

News Reporter:

Objectives to finish after murder:

1. When lights goes off and gun is shot immediately run towards the stage and check if the actor is dead. Note: While doing this you have some blood on your hands.
2. You covered the full story of the actor and actress love story and their breakup.
3. When your accused of the murder tell every one, yes you had an argument with the actor at press conference recently and you threatened to destroy his career but you dint mean to kill him.
4. Tell every one you have been following actor for a story and you know he was in relationship with someone who was married thus broke with actress.
5. Accuse actress for having all the reasons to kill.
6. When producer is accused tell everyone you photographed producer getting cozy with directors wife. Later producer gave huge amount to hide the story.

Actress:

Objectives to finish after murder:

1. When accused slip your purse on the floor and make sure gun falls on ground.
2. Justify yourself saying you have gun for your protection because one of your fan have been stalking you.
3. Tell every one your not the murderer and last week at some party supporting actor was  drunk and told you he was going to stab actor in back accuse supporting actor for the murder.
4. Remember when the supporting actor tells everyone that you both dated speak up and tell every one that you were never in a relationship with actor but it was producer who asked you to act like couples for publicity. Initially hero refused to do it but later surprisingly he did not have any issues.
5. Also tell everyone you tried flirting with the hero many times but he was never interested.
6. Accuse producer for the murder.

Supporting Actor:

Objectives to finish after murder:

1.You are having a gun when accused tell everyone you have interest in gun and you carry it because you think its cool to have a gun.
2. Tell every one you and actor used to be best friends earlier and you are the one who was first considered as main lead but actor ratted you out to the director for drinking on the job.
3. You where removed from the role because of the actor so you had a grudge on him.
4. Confess, yes! one night at drunken state you told the actress you will stab but you told when drunk and it meant nothing in real.
5. Convince every one you are not the murderer
6. Accuse the producer that he wanted to replace the actor because he was demanding more money and he was cooking for a way to get rid of him.
7. Also tell every one that actress was never in  relationship with the hero because you both are couple and have been dating from long time.

Producer:

Objectives to finish after murder: 

1. When the supporting actor is accused by the actress tell every one you saw the gun in actors pocket during the show.
2. You are not the murderer so  try to convince and justify everyone.
3. When you are accused and questioned tell everyone that you are good friends with director. So director's wife and you share a good relation nothing more than that.
4. And yes, you thought he was getting old and boring. He was also demanding money so you where looking for new hero but never wanted to kill.
5. When assistant director enters with gun. Accuse him for murder and tell everyone that he never liked actor. Because actor always kept insulting him. He is short tempered and is good with shooting and guns.
6. When directors wife points that is your gun tell everyone, it is your gun but you lost it last week on the sets. He was searching for it and was about to complaint.
7. Accuse director for the murder. And tell every one director had relationship with the hero and you knew about this. You blackmailed the actor many times due to this reason.

Director:

Objective to finish after murder:

1. When accused tell every one you are the director and also like mentor to the hero you signed for 2 more films. You give him career advice and always watch his performance closely.
2. Your marriage with your wife has always been tough because of her starry attitude and you have unreasonable problems due to this you decided to divorce her soon.
3. Confess during last one year you and hero had an affair but broke up because you found a new girl who made you realize this was wrong.
4. Hero was threatening to expose there love affair and also tell he got to knew something about the producer and was not afraid of him either.
5. Convince everyone that your not the murderer some one is trying to frame you.

Director's wife:

Objectives to finish after murder:

1.You are the murderer( let no one know)
2. When you are accused tell everyone that you dint like him as an actor and the kind of influence he had on your husband.
3. You went to meet in actors room because he called you to clear the differences you had a casual disagreement not fight. You have no idea why he looked worried.
4. Point the producer stating this gun is his and you saw director using this gun many times. Accuse producer and director.
                                       x------------------------------------------x
You don't have to tell people these next secrets but you cant contradict on them. You had a troubled marriage. Your husband cheated on you many times and you knew about your husbands affair with the actor and also actor was blackmailing him. You found the check and a slip in your husbands pocket. Actor some how came to know about your secret relationship with the producer and he called you to blackmail. You had an argument with the actor meanwhile you took producers gun and shot the actor during the performance. Then you sneak away into crowd and join the confusion.

Assistant director:

Objectives to finish after murder:

1. When producer is accused and he starts justifying himself you must enter the scene with a gun in your hand.
2. Tell every one you went to washroom during the performance and your found this gun in the corridor while returning. Your not the murderer, convince.
3. Also tell the actor always kept insulting him by making loose comments on him. you dint like being insulted all the time so dint like actor much.
4. You are not the murderer.
5. Tell every one that you remember seeing directors wife on the sets last week and talking to actor. You found it strange because directors wife never liked the actor. Accuse her for the murder.

Motto of the murder:

(remember this is to be read by the murderer loud)
I had a troubled marriage. My husband cheated on me many times because he was never in love with me. I knew about my husbands affair with the actor but couldnt do anything so i decided to remain quite until one day when i found the check and a slip in my husbands pocket and knew he was trying to blackmail him. When i spoke to actor, he some how came to know about my secret relationship with the producer and he called me to blackmail. I had an argument with the actor  and decided to kill him meanwhile i took producers gun and shot the actor during the performance. Then i slowly joined the crowd .
                                          -----------------------------------------------------

The host of the party have to manage and see to it every thing goes according to the script and hide all the necessary props i.e., guns as per the script. If the host is interested in being part of the act then he/she can be the host of the party like commentator who is actually a detective. Ask questions to all the suspects and deduce the case in the end. Finally after each one takes a guess murder is revealed and motto of the murder is revealed by the killer. Remember this is after all for fun.. give away lovely gifts to the guest and the person who guessed the murderer. Hope you guys love this script filled with loads of drama, revenge and love.