Catch Bipasha Basu in No Entry on TV Stir up grilled chicken with vegetable bake

Just in case you can’t defy the bandh and stay home, Metro tells you how to make the most of an idle Thursday.

Cook it up: Keep things simple but cook up a storm — one big non-vegetarian and one big vegetarian dish. Rakhi Purnima Dasgupta of Kewpies suggests Grilled Chicken — chop the chicken into four pieces and pierce them with a fork; marinate the pieces in soya sauce, garlic paste, tomato sauce, oil, salt and pepper; cover and microwave for eight minutes; put some butter on a pan and saute sliced mushrooms; add the chicken stock, leftover marinated juice and a thickening agent; pour sauce on chicken; serve with bread... and Vegetable Bake. For Vegetable Bake — half-boil vegetables; make a white sauce with butter, flour, onions and milk; put a layer of vegetables and boiled spinach in a container; pour some white sauce and repeat process; bake for 15-20 minutes and serve.

To end on a sweet note, Lovey Burman of Kookie Jar recommends a mix of fruit salad topped with orange sauce/jam, lemon juice and sugar syrup cooked into a sauce and placed on a sponge cake (or biscuits will do).

Be a couch potato: Tune in for a heady mix of Holly and Bolly — The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (HBO, 9 pm) vs Amitabh Bachchan in Deewaar (SET Max at 9 pm) or the risque laugh riot No Entry (Filmy, 8 pm). Before all that, it’s Day One of the Ashes third Test.

Stir up grilled chicken with vegetable bake

Beauty of a bandh: This is a day to pamper yourself and preen. So devote a few languid hours to wellness of body and soul. “Go for a turban therapy if your hair is dry. Exfoliate your skin with oatmeal followed by a relaxing fruit mask,” says beauty consultant Bridgette Jones.

In the fitness of things: “No junk food and cold drinks; no more than two cups of tea/coffee. Go for a family workout session with free-hand exercises,” says fitness consultant Preetom Mukherjee-Roy.