tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-68748004068545691012024-02-20T19:49:15.490-05:00Kookie n KreamLife is full of surprises. Live it to the fullest and enjoy the adventure everyday.Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.comBlogger23125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-54059408058412549582011-10-06T22:19:00.000-04:002011-10-06T22:21:58.518-04:00No gain without pain...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After one hell of a 'roller-coaster ride' kinda vacation in India, we got over the jet lag in a couple of days as expected. Having had lots of people around us all the time during our vacation, you surely would understand that we are missing being around people. I have to confess that I have always been very emotional about India ever since I left in 2001 but as years are passing by that feeling has been increasingly growing. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyways this time while in India I had my eyebrows done and once again put myself through that horrible pain. All it takes is 10 to 15 minutes, but it is most difficult to endure the pain, the tears and the non-stop sneezing. Each time I swear on my tears that I am never going to put myself through this misery again. I know all the men out there are not going to understand a bit of what I am saying, my suggestion consider yourself lucky you don't have to do one. Tell me, are you going to listen to the person who is plucking the life out of you? Seeing me in pain the lady decided to give me the same old tip "<i>you need to do this more often, you just cannot have it done once in a while and wish its not going to hurt</i>". I know I know lady...but how am I gonna find that time to drag myself to some 30 odd miles drive just to go through this misery every 3 weeks? Not because I enjoyed listening to my tormentor's little speech on making the eyebrow threading more regular, somehow I decided this time that I am going to make it a point to be more regular. </span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">If you think that I stuck to my decision of being more regular, you don't know me well yet. Yes the decision was forgotten as soon as the hectic life started back home. The other day I was dropping <i>Mollu</i> to the bus stop, when one of the fellow Mom, decided to start an unusual chat with me. She came right next to me and asked "<i>Did you get your eyebrows done?</i>". Huh !! I never thought that the eyebrows had made such a big impression considering the fact that my eyes are hidden behind those glasses that I wear. I was suddenly proud that I had my eyebrows done and she had definitely reminded me of the resolution that I had made in India. I told her that I had it done from India during my vacation and also gave her the short story on how I won't be able to continue doing it as the only place I know is about 30 miles drive from our place. To my surprise the eager Mom said she knows a lady who does threading and the best part, she lives near our neighborhood. She even invited me to join her in the evening to have it done together. Evenings are always hectic at home, so I decided that I'll hold on to the card of the eyebrow lady and visit her over the weekend. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Fridays evenings are the most lazy evenings in my house, the evening <i>chai </i>session usually goes on for hours with catching up on some Indian News. Like I said we are getting more and more homesick/emotional about India. The card of the eyebrow lady was lying on the side table reminding me that it has been more than 3 weeks since I had done my last threading and its time to prove that I am determined enough to have threading done regularly. The card read Sunetra Tope, a marathi I analyzed.</span></div>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Finally I decided to break through my laziness and picked up the phone to call the lady. 5 minutes of talking to her over the phone I had myself an appointment yay!! The lady lives right next to our neighborhood in a house somewhat like a mansion. I rang the door bell thinking 'why would she be threading when she lives in such a huge house'. Also I had just $20 bucks with me, which I thought was enough for a threading service before seeing the house. I was a little scared now that I was inside the house. My first question to the lady was, how much does she charge for threading? Her answer put all the missing pieces of the puzzle in place. She enjoys meeting people and does threading for the fun, and so doesn't charge anything for it. If someone wishes to pay for the service, she just donates it to the temple. Wow, I have never heard anything like this in India or here. I still cannot believe I found a very good friend that day. Yes, we had a great fun evening at <span class="Apple-style-span" style="background-color: white;">Sunetra</span>'s place and even ended up having dinner with them. No points in guessing what was our favorite topic during dinner. Yes it was India. :-)</span></div>
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Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-39333396389590747852011-08-18T01:47:00.000-04:002011-10-07T08:35:16.000-04:00My first destination - Bhilai<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on">
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Our ordeal with mosquitoes continues. We are still struggling with the jet lag…but with those precious long afternoon naps (after a sumptuous home made lunch), I do confess "I am loving it". Actually there are not many mosquitoes here inside the home but due to some odd reason those present get attracted to Rhea and me. Others at home including Jee are not even a bit bothered by these godforsaken terrible pest. Back in my college days one of my best friend used to be troubled a lot by the mosquito bites. I remember she used to say its all because she has "Royal blood" and that's why mosquitoes get attracted to her. <br />
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So I can also say that Me and Rhea have the "Royal blood" inside us too. Rhea, with lots of training tries real hard to keep herself from scratching the insect bite but at night she somehow scratches them and says "its real hard not to scratch". Back in Orlando we had picked a particular insect repellent spray which claims to be natural with an implied green bottle and also explicit notes on its effectiveness against a wide variety of insects. We have the leading Indian mosquito repellent "All-out" plugged in in every room, its effectiveness can be questioned as we still see and hear many stray mosquitoes in the room in good health enjoying their recon missions. <br />
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Last night after 2 days of struggle with the mosquitoes, we decided to give our very green Orlando bought mosquito repellent spray a try. Result: next morning Rhea was very happy and did mention that mosquitoes didn't bite her and her old boo-boos are not that itchy any more. Its also because of her trust factor for the American spray I guess. She has this strong trust on the pink calamine lotion that we usually use as anti-itch. Magically the itch goes away as soon as I apply the pink magic potion.</div>
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Anyways, after fighting another bout of scratching and itching Rhea woke up from her afternoon nap two days back saying she wants to go back to America. <i>Ammachi </i>(Jee's mom) gave her a bowl full of some home made nibbles <i>murukku </i>and <i>pakavada </i>to cheer her up. Half an hour later she was back chirping, playing happily and enjoying the evening with her cousin. </div>
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PS :- There are scary stories of <i>chicken-guniya</i> and dengue fever making rounds around this small town of Bhilai. Actually I guess the medical world here have started labeling any ailment now as a viral variant of this new evil epidemic. I hope these things doesn't affect our rest of the vacation. Fingers crossed.<br />
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Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-72332630190541657382011-08-03T22:11:00.002-04:002011-08-04T19:02:25.579-04:00Mallu going green...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Being a <i>mallu(</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Malayalee<i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">...people from the state of </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Kerala</span><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">, India</i></span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>)</i> we cannot live without fish curry. Nobody can put a price on fresh home made fish curry. In spite of living so close to the harbor we cannot see ourselves to go to the sea food wholesale shop near coast in a minivan with a humungous picnic icebox like some of our hard core <i>Mallu</i> Friends do. Our friends bring in their favorite fish in insanely huge quantities and savor it over the next few months with every meal.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Actually Jee and I would have even survived without fish curry but now our ABCD 6 year old has become an ardent fan of fish curry. Growing up I was not that big of a fish curry fan but yeah I used to be a big fan of fish fry. My all time favorite being sardine fry (<i>mathi</i> fry). The only link I could imagine with my daughter getting the fish curry liking is firstly the <i>mallu</i> genes. Secondly both</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> her Grandpas are fish-in-any-form enthusiasts. Its amazing how she would not even look at a pizza and love anything that I cook. Most of our friend's kids prefer pizza or a lasagna over regular home cooked food.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Yeah believe it or not, she would rather eat at home than go out for dinner. I am the 'bestest cook' in the world if you ask her. In fact her enthusiasm for fish curry made us reinvent our interest in it. From buying fish once in a while to every week. From cooking in a regular steel <em style="line-height: 16px;">kadhai</em><em style="font-style: normal; font-weight: bold; line-height: 16px;"> </em><em style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">(Indian wok) to using a </em><em style="line-height: 16px;">chatti</em><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> (</i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">earthen</span><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> pot). Am I going green? </i><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> </i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Our fish shopping is mostly done in Costco which has a decent collection of fresh fish with a little higher price than a Chinese store perhaps, but unbeatable quality.</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br />
</i></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Last year we asked one of our friend to bring us a </i><i style="line-height: 16px;">chatti</i><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> when they were visiting Kerala. Luckily the </i><i style="line-height: 16px;">chatti</i><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> made its trip from Kerala to Orlando safely and ever since has been a precious part of my kitchen utensils. I don't know how but the fish curry does taste better when made in a </i><i style="line-height: 16px;">chatti</i><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">. Last time we visited India we saw a clay pot being used in a bakery to store yogurt. I had immediately decided to buy a few pots to make homemade yogurt. I do make yogurt at home but I knew the yogurt will be thicker and more creamier when made in clay pot.</i></span><br />
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<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fiery fish curry.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbOa4BeLadBPBKL4Ymn-HwqKecY1RsLoe_vbEcHY3XoONSKF43LyKENNw8K_dKxevSMjNjY4x7x1WczamN9wpB7UcrmNx9c6LRIjoS3jXhppncXfHxIOLDiwwGO2FPA4mSgvv-BHLByOO/s1600/IMG_0494.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMbOa4BeLadBPBKL4Ymn-HwqKecY1RsLoe_vbEcHY3XoONSKF43LyKENNw8K_dKxevSMjNjY4x7x1WczamN9wpB7UcrmNx9c6LRIjoS3jXhppncXfHxIOLDiwwGO2FPA4mSgvv-BHLByOO/s320/IMG_0494.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Homemade creamy yogurt.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAdQOB2E81AtEi0bwV03jPDxim7FFENTms2kbYkiTDczB3v9uVQZto6Od_3WZG5TrZQYq8Ttzq55KIAD2S-otYTqHyblVwCEfVu9GtVPKWFWjlZx0iOWaVmWS5VIdPfi5soLtNU_8TwbP/s1600/IMG_0496.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgJAdQOB2E81AtEi0bwV03jPDxim7FFENTms2kbYkiTDczB3v9uVQZto6Od_3WZG5TrZQYq8Ttzq55KIAD2S-otYTqHyblVwCEfVu9GtVPKWFWjlZx0iOWaVmWS5VIdPfi5soLtNU_8TwbP/s320/IMG_0496.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Earthen pots.</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">Somehow we couldn't get those pots when it was time to come back. When we visited Atlanta and our friends took us to </i><i style="line-height: 16px;">Cherian's (A genuine Mallu super grocery store)</i><i style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">, we saw these cute small pots, that can be used to make yogurt. If you want to make </span>Mishti Doi or </span></i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>Shrikhand</i> (sweet yogurt dessert in Bengal and Gujarat respectively),</span></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> I swear you can skip the step of getting rid of the excess water when you use the yogurt made in earthen pots. </span></i></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="line-height: 16px;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;">I heard this news about Indian railways, when </span>Lalu Prasad Yadav<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> was the minister, serving </span>chai<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-style: normal;"> in </span></i>kulhads<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><i> (clay pots). </i>Just image how this will boost our indigenous cottage industries<i>. </i></span><span style="line-height: 16px;">I hope it still exists and I get to drink <i>chai</i> in <i>kulhads</i> on my Rail journey this time during my vacation</span><i style="line-height: 16px;">. BTW the vacation ticker says 7 more days to go...can't wait...</i></span><br />
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<blockquote class=""><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: 'Courier New', Courier, monospace;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #3f3f3f; line-height: 20px;">After introducing kulhads (earthen pots) for serving tea at railway stations, Union Railway Minister Laloo Prasad Yadav has decided to promote indigenous beverage mathakola (butter milk) among the commuters. ‘‘The railway authorities should ensure that the mathakolas are also made available at the railway stations for the commuters as an alternative to soft drinks,’’ he said on Sunday night during a brief stopover at Allahabad on his way to Delhi. (Courtesy Times of India 2004)</span><i style="line-height: 16px;"> </i></span></blockquote><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I think Indians can definitely show the westerners, who are so much dependent on paper plates, plastic spoon for easy life style, how to go green and save the planet. Frankly I feel very guilty if I waste even a small piece of paper. The creamy yogurt, and the fiery fish curry does reminds me that going green tastes good.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other day I watched the IFFA awards and Priyanka Chopra received a special award as she is involved in the NDTV's Greenathon cause. I loved what she said while receiving the award 'Consider the whole planet your home and do your bit'. Those of you who are reading this blog are more than welcome to suggest me ways to be environmentally green in routine home activities. I have added a go green poll below the post, please participate.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">* </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">Mallu<i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;"> stands for </i>Malayalee<i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">...people from the state of </i><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Kerala</span><i style="font-style: normal; line-height: 16px;">, India</i></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-81974218354495788932011-07-31T22:31:00.001-04:002011-07-31T22:37:43.165-04:00Saturday breakfast...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Usually Saturday mornings I struggle to decide what to make for breakfast. Luckily on Friday evening I had a plan and soaked some <i>kadala(kabuli chana, chickpea)</i> for making Jee's favorite breakfast <i>puttu</i> and <i>kadala</i>. </span><br />
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<blockquote><a href="http://priyaskitchen.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dscn1727.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="163" src="http://priyaskitchen.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/dscn1727.JPG" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;">Puttu is a breakfast dish that is popular in the <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/States_and_territories_of_India" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="States and territories of India">Indian states</a> of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kerala" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Kerala">Kerala</a> and <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamil_Nadu" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Tamil Nadu">Tamil Nadu</a> as well as in areas of <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sri_Lanka" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Sri Lanka">Sri Lanka</a>. It consists of firm cylinders of steamed ground rice with layers of coconut. It is served with other side dishes such as <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chickpea" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Chickpea">chickpea</a> <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curry" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Curry">curry</a> or <a href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana" style="background-attachment: initial; background-clip: initial; background-color: initial; background-image: none; background-origin: initial; background-position: initial initial; background-repeat: initial initial; color: #0645ad; text-decoration: none;" title="Banana">banana</a>. (courtesy Wiki). Kadala curry is a traditional spicy Kerala dish made with the native Indian dark peas with coconut curry. </span></span> </blockquote><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Norm is to make <i>puttu</i> with the <i>nadan kadala (native Indian pea, dark small ones) curry</i>, but Jee likes <i>kabuli</i> <i>chana</i> curry (<i>chickpea</i>) with <i>puttu</i>. As soon as I woke up Saturday morning, I came to the family room and switched on TV to check the match status. The 2nd test match between India and England is ongoing and we have it live in a cricket live channel. Before I forget I pressure cooked the <i>kadala</i> and rushed back to the comfy sofa to check the scores.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">This is the part where a regular blog will add the ingredients list and the steps to make kadala curry but not me. I hate writing the ingredient list and steps. I guess I don't see myself writing food blogs. I never follow a recipe step by step anyways...</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.sportinglife.com/07/03/330/dravid06_206296.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://images.sportinglife.com/07/03/330/dravid06_206296.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Dravid 'the wall'</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">After our morning tea, I cooked <i>kadala</i>(<i>chickpea</i>) curry as Dravid '<i>The wall</i>' kept his cool and saved India again with an amazing century. The elliptical we have in our study is squeaking. Jee is exercising while watching CNN news. I hate it when he is so punctual and manages to find time and energy for the fitness regime. I mean good for him but it reminds me that I am not doing anything about my health. On top of that he keeps nagging me about my laziness and lack of exercise. blah blah blah. I hate myself for not doing any exercise and considering that 'brisk walk break' I take at work as "exercise". Back to breakfast preparation <i>puttu</i> was ready in no time.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">By the time Jee was back from his workout I had already plated <i>puttu</i> and <i>kadala</i> in a plate for him to take a picture to add in the blog. Indian tail order is falling apart in the 1st session as usual. <i>Saale gore log</i>... Bhajji was clearly not out. Like Gabbar Singh would have said <i>bahut naainsaafi hai</i>. Clearly Indians asked for it, they didn't want the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Decision Review System (<em style="font-style: normal;">DRS</em>)</span>. From having a firm grip in the match after a great 1<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: x-small;">st</span> day looks like we are back to balance with England.</span></div><table align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie63wIQCxeicE6f5QguGuUuKL4mnCTbvQKHGy5IGyzUvR0mj9pO_QM0JPzoCJsjYteaMJq00udsuWmw-gtDRg-EZ8KrIh0Mxyvkxbki2Xq7qqA99Wh82ZgF2NykQHrV1r70mgQ5B8fV4ZA/s1600/IMG_0497.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEie63wIQCxeicE6f5QguGuUuKL4mnCTbvQKHGy5IGyzUvR0mj9pO_QM0JPzoCJsjYteaMJq00udsuWmw-gtDRg-EZ8KrIh0Mxyvkxbki2Xq7qqA99Wh82ZgF2NykQHrV1r70mgQ5B8fV4ZA/s320/IMG_0497.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Saturday Brunch</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.vizmaya.com/wp-content/my-files/puttu_kadala_banana_01.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.vizmaya.com/wp-content/my-files/puttu_kadala_banana_01.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chirrata <i>puttu</i></td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The other day we went to a friend, Helen's place and she made us <i>puttu</i> in a completely new gadget (atleast for us) from kerala, it didn't look like the conventional long cylindrical one that we have. Instead it looked like a coconut shell half aptly called <i>chirratta(coconut shell half in mallu). </i>I loved it and it is in my shopping list when we visit Kerala this time. I </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">accidentally deleted the picture that I took that day so heres one from the web. Long back we were travelling from Chicago to LA and had this long cylindrical <i>puttu</i> maker in my baggage. As it was post 9/11 time I remember we were asked a lot of questions about this funny looking gadget we had in our baggage. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://110vappliances.com/image/cache/data/products/PuttuMaker-500x500.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://110vappliances.com/image/cache/data/products/PuttuMaker-500x500.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><i>Puttu</i> maker</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The breakfast was served with a smile and decree that its a brunch so no more cooking in the afternoon. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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</div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-79424002982294428962011-07-30T12:10:00.031-04:002011-07-30T12:48:03.725-04:00Space coast<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">We live just 30 miles west of the iconic Cape Canaveral. Yes, its the same one from where NASA launches its space shuttles (not anymore though). This means believe it or not we just have to peek out into the sky from our backyard to watch the launch. So we are used to the launches and the landing accompanying "sonic boom". This one time we were returning from an outing and saw people gathered on the side of the road not far from our neighborhood to watch the shuttle launch. We decided to park our car by the curb to join the fun. The whole sky lit up as the shuttle went up roaring..</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/19696_shuttle_endeavour.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="http://images.dailytech.com/nimage/19696_shuttle_endeavour.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Talking about sonic boom, I still remember during our initial days here, the day we heard a loud explosion outside and were too scared even to peek out from our house fearing that it might be gunshots. When we came out, the street was deserted...it was late evening...no sign of anything unusual. Then suddenly we remembered the shuttle was scheduled to land at NASA that evening and what we heard was the sonic boom. </div><blockquote><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/F-18-diamondback_blast.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/77/F-18-diamondback_blast.jpg" width="162" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">A sonic boom is the sound associated with the shock waves created by the supersonic flight of an aircraft. Sonic booms generate enormous amounts of sound energy, sounding much like an explosion.(courtesy Wiki)</div></blockquote><br />
<div><a href="http://ksrikanth.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/jan05_swades_2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://ksrikanth.files.wordpress.com/2006/10/jan05_swades_2.jpg" width="173" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Last week we were still in our bed at around 6 am when we heard the boom again. Now we have become more used to this sound and we immediately knew NASA's shuttle is back safely. Though NASA's space shuttle mission ended on 21st of July, if you are crazy about space and shuttles you can still visit the Kennedy space centre to view all the launch pads.</div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">You might have seen the place even if you have never been here, in that not so hit SRK(Shahrukh Khan) movie '<i>Swadesh</i>' where the bollywood stud plays a NASA Engineer. I still don't understand how he manages to make his stupid movies hit but good ones go unnoticed. </div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Growing up I was a big fan of the show <i>'I dream of Jeanie</i>' a comedy sitcom from 60s which is a popular rerun in some channels. That show was also based on a NASA astronaut finding a Jeanie bottle during a turbulent landing. The Jeanie possesses some magical powers that she uses to make things appear/disappear just by blinking <twingg>.</div><br />
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<a href="http://assets.huluim.com/shows/key_art_i_dream_of_jeannie.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="124" src="http://assets.huluim.com/shows/key_art_i_dream_of_jeannie.jpg" width="320" /></a><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;">Rhea, being a Florida born loves beach and goes absolutely crazy when she is in water. We always have a hard time to get her out of the water. Hence Cocoa beach is a family favorite outing that we enjoy every spring and summer.</div><br />
<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEd0715UgB00vY2PX5tfpym8qrAVTqpCCRHVMlXY_eSBwOytE7WgVpzcyu_sqKIbNjO6upqKc14B52tp561Xpl_x63Yjhyphenhyphenui8Jj7bmpeHYcd_86I3lAryYMsvtHheTSpdHrkWsE9tPsMB/s1600/IMG_0299.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgjEd0715UgB00vY2PX5tfpym8qrAVTqpCCRHVMlXY_eSBwOytE7WgVpzcyu_sqKIbNjO6upqKc14B52tp561Xpl_x63Yjhyphenhyphenui8Jj7bmpeHYcd_86I3lAryYMsvtHheTSpdHrkWsE9tPsMB/s400/IMG_0299.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIV7wQ3OV0kpxhCQ0cFQOktbVGJDF4erxLsEzbHn2c5HkZTETFbjYqiZb9OSnsgDJe0mnDKLrOQ51l20MDs9_v7ayVCHm3tHIgpDofj3JuTmnWDGCHx3hGzM3sYcDIjNB8S2Rt9g7O4Cu2/s1600/DSC03740.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhIV7wQ3OV0kpxhCQ0cFQOktbVGJDF4erxLsEzbHn2c5HkZTETFbjYqiZb9OSnsgDJe0mnDKLrOQ51l20MDs9_v7ayVCHm3tHIgpDofj3JuTmnWDGCHx3hGzM3sYcDIjNB8S2Rt9g7O4Cu2/s400/DSC03740.JPG" width="400" /></a><br />
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</div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-18329499594644329322011-07-26T22:14:00.002-04:002011-07-27T22:54:53.180-04:00Palette and brushes<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Perks of being married to an Artist...I can always be the first one to see the latest of his creations. I also get to be his toughest critic. The best part is to watch the process...see how the image becomes more and more real right before your eyes. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Last night Jee was searching for something in the kitchen. After about a few minutes of looking he finally showed me an Ikea bowl that had a crack in the edge and said 'I am going to use this since it has a crack'. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">In 10 years I have seen many of my kitchen <i>patharams (bowls and plates)</i> disappear in thin air. Most of them previously used for painting purposes now sit in storage somewhere in garage.The Ikea bowl now sits in the dining table near the Artist. It is being used to clean the brushes. At least this time he asked and I know where my <i>patharam</i> is. It had a crack I have no say in this!!</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OUno0iFuCGPWzYdYutpclk_awpr_vaOKF1bYa1jd98wyNFqnC3CmlGqIaa9Wi_FIzvAuoYA7Fm2UGDGC6sGfpDUGzvBlC5uCRJpAeXVgmcPMpVtBXB3ahjimMafO_J6D8ZwEUYxyItys/s1600/IMG_0477.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I knew what this <i>patharam</i> is going to be used for when I saw him taking it to the living room. This is the most decorated part of my home and over the years has stayed the same, the reason being no one uses it. I mean how often do you get formal guests at home. Recently Jee has started using it as a study with all his drawing/sketching/painting equipments placed in the formal dining table. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-OUno0iFuCGPWzYdYutpclk_awpr_vaOKF1bYa1jd98wyNFqnC3CmlGqIaa9Wi_FIzvAuoYA7Fm2UGDGC6sGfpDUGzvBlC5uCRJpAeXVgmcPMpVtBXB3ahjimMafO_J6D8ZwEUYxyItys/s320/IMG_0477.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The subject</td></tr>
</tbody></table><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Anyways, I peeked into the living room to take a look at the latest creation. From a distance it looked like a the initial stage of a portrait. I am used to seeing this stage. You cannot make out what it is going to be eventually. But I saw him looking at the picture hung in the nearest wall and I knew what it is. Yes it is going to be a portrait of our daughter. </span><br />
<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">The subject being a picture I had captured on Mollu's first day at preschool.</span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"> I was in a hurry to reach work but still wanted to capture the moment so I ran behind her near the drive way to get a picture of her. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Throughout my undergrad I used to admire the rebel <i>Archis</i> (Architecture students), the </span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><i>talented lot</i></span><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">. They had these cool '<i>out of this world</i>' image that I used to look upon. The image of them carrying their T scales and the plastic cylindrical sheet storage tubes, famously called <i>puttu-kutti</i> for its resemblance to the <i>puttu</i> maker, is still fresh in my mind. We used to always count on them for any artistic requirements. They also were our alarm clocks during the exam times as most of them used to work late nights to finish their drawings.</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">I have an <i>Archi</i> in my home now and he is meticulously working on his latest project, the portrait of our daughter. After days of running behind and pushing him to finish it, finally it is complete...</span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;">Leaving you all with the images of the process of portrait making...Enjoy.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_6LxkkkvN_9xf-SAJN-fYBrUNtNvltpLtWvHZO-FOpXDpLGfGIMWd-4ywEdUJBEsYpTKmCpZOMLlrEF07gEAC-pP0vA2TBJv4qRCz5sSkAOSyb97ClxeNDXALKWCLVFsG_-C7vUdgA6N/s320/IMG_0470.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The brushstrokes..</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjA_6LxkkkvN_9xf-SAJN-fYBrUNtNvltpLtWvHZO-FOpXDpLGfGIMWd-4ywEdUJBEsYpTKmCpZOMLlrEF07gEAC-pP0vA2TBJv4qRCz5sSkAOSyb97ClxeNDXALKWCLVFsG_-C7vUdgA6N/s1600/IMG_0470.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi4TiiS8oJKC7xtyJtxsvTTmXQoI-M6MtxpSlkSEr0DhJmSepuJJlSwbsAXHXsvd4ZMQTHoIqDVShrhKxN9Xsbsnj34bYbOX-ZL_Ommj9ukX7hJ5NhpVOxp-5vXLZ2tn3tpS1Y7uTaHyAsQ/s320/IMG_0472.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">A step back to inspect. </td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEht8MfIt5eCC0n6_FIdOtN9geS7yRm0IWgNnxGd1v-p9I1sD2yQ47EyTPb-UBRdeytsEukErqX21N9sTMsFzadxa9krBaP41mACrT9DF9fifDAgvPHc5zCxMGAcVifrClUAL3aPreQRd0w-/s320/IMG_0473.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The ambidextrous Artist</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgFvHtbvykdnvtORza3BhTfPAg5kGbX4ovhW9ItskQRyFv8ummf3o5ZL1CMRbVtGXqd2WMBJndsiOzPSiTnsD7CMcvOv5PSht_BfuBh0qWKKFhsW1YmmUgL5txA7mIY_oQI5MZmtVEHFDNS/s320/IMG_0475.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Perspective.</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjNWkLtihis14a-hJreIiVvNd90kkInDPsGyKQJtRRv3M6q-1DpJNWNQiyAsoCE3mFwTKQA4MiE34UVBPW85XveyIezwhF5oF0sMWGBupTcGU9PXNzjTFzPcFZoDRXtj0l-B5hmFNUVnA/s320/IMG_0476.JPG" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;" width="320" /></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After day one...</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjFjNWkLtihis14a-hJreIiVvNd90kkInDPsGyKQJtRRv3M6q-1DpJNWNQiyAsoCE3mFwTKQA4MiE34UVBPW85XveyIezwhF5oF0sMWGBupTcGU9PXNzjTFzPcFZoDRXtj0l-B5hmFNUVnA/s1600/IMG_0476.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"></span></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Verdana, sans-serif;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GwIYIJfaFq2bLi_7Utz_ck3EcE_lR_ExENwShOFuQN1vHc1_xoVP5yQDNxt5lPK74nWteZo9Epc7fjh9dSQeuhuJiaPF0oN0iTQLlq0RUjcBiCZZiqAKNJioIrylKFx-2-kgTPzN8SFi/s1600/IMG_0479.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj-GwIYIJfaFq2bLi_7Utz_ck3EcE_lR_ExENwShOFuQN1vHc1_xoVP5yQDNxt5lPK74nWteZo9Epc7fjh9dSQeuhuJiaPF0oN0iTQLlq0RUjcBiCZZiqAKNJioIrylKFx-2-kgTPzN8SFi/s320/IMG_0479.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">After day two...</td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OdpnlvGha_n1qcafmGi7WSdz_-5ZPv5Ii1fVlvajaFBQ7KhM7yODAVrQKc_jJcOlP4eAgYQooS6QyGSkJvOY2L6a_HrTZrNAMdm0NQHcDQsjhyEjibbb1xeGM0ylCZFJXHW8cC2TemKM/s1600/IMG_0493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg3OdpnlvGha_n1qcafmGi7WSdz_-5ZPv5Ii1fVlvajaFBQ7KhM7yODAVrQKc_jJcOlP4eAgYQooS6QyGSkJvOY2L6a_HrTZrNAMdm0NQHcDQsjhyEjibbb1xeGM0ylCZFJXHW8cC2TemKM/s320/IMG_0493.jpg" width="240" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The portrait.</td></tr>
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</div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-71739346271100720582011-07-23T08:27:00.002-04:002011-07-23T08:27:55.215-04:00Do you know Computer Science...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Have you ever been in a situation where you have to make someone understand the basics of Internet which you usually take for granted as you do it every day? Last week I had been in this situation not once but twice. The Good Samaritan in me helped a friend in her 70<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">s</span> to set up her email account. She came to my house asking if I knew "Computer Science". In my first try the email account name that I picked for her was not available. So I suggested her to think of some random favourite number so that she can easily remember. She startled me by saying '<i>Kunje, social security theratte?</i>' meaning lets use her social security. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">There was no use explaining to her why not to use SS in the account id. Instead I encouraged her to think of any other number that she can easily remember. Finally she was ready with a number that she could think of...<span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><em style="font-style: normal;">no prizes</em> for <em style="font-style: normal;">guessing it was her birth date. Once the email account was ready she wanted to send an email. I hit the compose button to demonstrate and waited for her to give me the email address, instead she said 'I love you'. With extra wide eyes I blinked at her asking '</em><em>alla</em><em style="font-style: normal;"> auntie who do you want to send the email to?'. 'To Mary' came the innocent reply. Now what do I say to that!!! I smiled back and tried hard to explain that you need to find out Mary's email address to send her an email, maybe next time you talk to her you can get her email. I know now that Mary is her best friend ;-) that's the answer to her security question. oops...did I reveal too much!! Just kidding you guys don't know her id anyways...</em></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><em style="font-style: normal;"><br />
</em></span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Anyways I now know that its her birthday next month on the 5<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">th</span> and she is turning 70 that day, gathered all this information just by creating an email account for her. Jee and I have decided to surprise her with something on her birthday. I also created a google document 'quick links', with all the websites she would like to visit, so that she just have to hit the url and won't have to memorize the website urls. :-)</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/unplggd/072508_tf_pricematch.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="110" src="http://i-cdn.apartmenttherapy.com/uimages/unplggd/072508_tf_pricematch.jpg" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">Now the second incident was also kind of similar when I helped a friend Smitha move on to Gmail from Microsoft outlook. Poor lady! she was confused with so many features all in one page. I could see her perplexed face eagerly wanting to know all about google features. She was making sure she is using all the features without missing even a single corner. She wanted to expand the left pane in Gmail to see her labels clear enough to read. Now I haven't thought of doing that myself all this time since I moved to Gmail. Point is who cares, its just a mail service, use it to read and write mails. She once announced that it looks like the whole world is on facebook, where do people find time for this?? Rightly so another friend Praveen who was there that time commented...'if you are not in facebook you are considered socially inactive!!' </span></span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">I am strictly not making fun of anyone here...just a few funny observations that came along my way and made me smile. I hope it does the same for you. At least they are trying hard to keep up with the tech savvy world.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><br />
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</span></span></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-39925765673058842422011-07-21T23:12:00.002-04:002011-07-21T23:26:27.677-04:00A decade of togetherness...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">It began as any other work day for me. Last night when I called home my parents reminded me that it was my 10th engagement anniversary. We had thought about this milestone some time back. But, as usual when the day came we both completely forget, at least that's what I thought.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After lunch is the worst time at work for me and all of my colleagues. We work 9-6 and after lunch its 5 more hours before we can go home. Those 5 hours is the hardest part of the work week. </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMbdJNvAgxo_6q8U7sonry0J-nxwOcbHyDU1UR2DlDrgRtTv3he7MN9Tthvb7HVFfA-GY-12jl5KTIy8u92M9AAELiF4MYU1nsGAb4Iv4bLPvpro0lYlyqgrfTN-nraoRNV_JT5F3JJvO/s1600/IMG_0455.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsMbdJNvAgxo_6q8U7sonry0J-nxwOcbHyDU1UR2DlDrgRtTv3he7MN9Tthvb7HVFfA-GY-12jl5KTIy8u92M9AAELiF4MYU1nsGAb4Iv4bLPvpro0lYlyqgrfTN-nraoRNV_JT5F3JJvO/s320/IMG_0455.jpg" width="240" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">So as usual we were all busy working at our station when Michelle, one of our colleague from other room came to our room and pointed out at us. Four eyes were on her looking for answers..whats up?? Suddenly a lady appeared from behind with a huge <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 15px;">Bouquet</span> of red roses, nicely arranged. She moved forward to my desk and presented the lovely bouquet to me saying "Happy anniversary ma'am". I could see all the guys saying smiling at me. "Its her birthday or maybe anniversary"... some one said, "wow... nice" someone else said and they all started clapping. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Jc4iyeM9oJV5ACOeo0AIrPzmLOmxJWie2Npk3FrS3jwHPmfeWLKkbiM7SJuodk1KG-qrhDFbF93_VvKc-jPehWln3kfXyYrxjvH-DtvyBrIqVFRetYmiL2j1B5AKkKcVMNzKR2PcahEk/s1600/IMG_0469.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3Jc4iyeM9oJV5ACOeo0AIrPzmLOmxJWie2Npk3FrS3jwHPmfeWLKkbiM7SJuodk1KG-qrhDFbF93_VvKc-jPehWln3kfXyYrxjvH-DtvyBrIqVFRetYmiL2j1B5AKkKcVMNzKR2PcahEk/s200/IMG_0469.JPG" width="200" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I was so flushed, I have seen this happening in movies and TV but never thought it will actually happen to me. Anyways, I thoroughly enjoyed all the attention and let everyone know that it was my 10th engagement anniversary. Proudly, I placed the flowers next to my desk, there was a card attached in the bouquet which read " 10 wonderful years of life together...Re :-) Jee". Many happy thoughts, and moments from past floated in my mind at that instant. I was so elated that I stared at the beautiful bouquet without blinking and answering to all the queries of my very curious colleagues at the same time. Luis, the most curious among them reminded me to call Jee. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Oh yeah...I need to call him... :-) </span><br />
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<a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUnq4jGc3lvXGrMgX9AYNsl6jNDd82WhEjREm3AddXu0hXlopPH8-N3cZ-W4adPAAYncluJ1E0nzam7jm5pBxVD6VACsv19nDxGc2oTnI-4PkulEtpDmgOTEVJK1wjTWeThl2uVZrUQn-/s1600/IMG_0456.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhSUnq4jGc3lvXGrMgX9AYNsl6jNDd82WhEjREm3AddXu0hXlopPH8-N3cZ-W4adPAAYncluJ1E0nzam7jm5pBxVD6VACsv19nDxGc2oTnI-4PkulEtpDmgOTEVJK1wjTWeThl2uVZrUQn-/s200/IMG_0456.jpg" width="150" /></a><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">For the rest of the day anyone and everyone passing by our room would pause upon seeing the lovely flowers.. "Hey, what's the occasion??". I could read the surprise in every ones eyes when I told them that ours was an arranged marriage, a concept that the folks here find hard to believe. All the discussions revolved around how one usually proposed to their spouses. It was interesting to know that it was always the guys who proposed to their better halves only after getting a hint from them. "Its either propose or get the hell out of here" said the experience of a man married for 34 years, who wandered in to our room when he saw the flowers. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I had the company of those wonderful looking and great smelling flowers for the rest of the day and those 5 hours passed more easily than it usually does...</span><br />
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</span></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-41354782302634433722011-07-16T12:44:00.005-04:002011-07-21T19:30:33.909-04:00Impromptu Pav Bhaji dinner...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Thursday afternoon I decided to go to the nearest gujju(Gujarati) grocery store to do some grocery shopping. Ashish, my colleague also wanted to go with me to buy some food for lunch. Once inside the store I quickly picked the things I needed for home. I was thinking of making <i>pav bhaji</i> over the weekend so had to pick a <i>pav bhaji</i> masala mix. Browsing through the <i>masala</i> isle, I was looking for my current favourite <i>Shaan pav bhaji masala, </i>a brand of spice that is available here. Seeing me hold the packet in my hand Ashish said sarcastically "You know I don't buy any of these Shaan spices as they are ....". I said I know but I don't care where it is made as long as it makes my <i>pav bhaji</i> <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;">savory and mouth watering.</span></span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last time I made it was some 2 years back when the local <i>mallu</i> (Malayali) church group were visiting my home for Christmas carol. Its a tradition to offer the carol group food/snacks and donations to show gratitude for visiting the house and singing those carol songs. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Both Jee and I have this north Indian connection as we were born and bought up in Bhilai, so we are used to both south and north indian style food. We can have a <i>poha</i> for breakfast, <i>meen</i> curry(fish curry) with rice for lunch and then <i>roti(</i>Indian flat bread made of wheat<i>)</i> and <i>sabji(</i>mixed vegetable curry<i>)</i> for dinner.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Anyways back to the carol thing, so considering the north Indian link I usually make <i>pakoras</i> and <i>chai</i> as they usually visit us during tea time. For a change 2 years back I decided to make <i>pav bhaji</i>. Oh yeah usually the caroling starts here during the lent time and so the food/snack should be strictly vegetarian. I was skeptical about its reception when I was making it but in the end it was all over and hard core <i>mallus</i> were raving about its taste even though they didn't know what it was.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">When I reached home after work and we were storing all the grocery items in our little pantry, we thought of making <i>pav bhaji</i> for dinner. Jee rushed to the nearest grocery store to buy some hot dog buns to be used as pav for our pav bhaji. I added all the veggies(potatoes, cauliflower, bell pepper, peas, carrot, or any other of your choice) in a cooker with half cup of water, meanwhile I heated a pan and added a dollop of smart balance(butter substitute) and tossed in some diced onions, ginger and garlic. When the onions are golden brown, in goes two diced tomatoes and 3 tablespoons of Shaan masala. You can also add more according to your taste. </span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQU6el6X8-pHzhFFfAMb1o1ODdmeLiZ1bKJFK_aNHq1w7wX3R1DlW06R6_hFtOKfks9Dk2gMfDnwIaEp1sgy1NUbuvUAVd6DwBOOW9ErV3M2UKjg3syFeu4p63wF0NSccz3fFII_ZQPT6r/s1600/IMG_0308.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhQU6el6X8-pHzhFFfAMb1o1ODdmeLiZ1bKJFK_aNHq1w7wX3R1DlW06R6_hFtOKfks9Dk2gMfDnwIaEp1sgy1NUbuvUAVd6DwBOOW9ErV3M2UKjg3syFeu4p63wF0NSccz3fFII_ZQPT6r/s320/IMG_0308.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Bhaji</span></td></tr>
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next I added those cooked veggies into the mix and mash the whole mix with a potato masher to get the desired consistency. </span><br />
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<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">I also toasted the <i>pavs</i> after I applied some liberal amount of smart balance on them. <i>Voilà</i> <i>pav bhaji</i> ready....</span><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDFsXlu9L_s3FO6Urzn7Dox5RmTcrPtIv49pGw0zJjZWmQHWe0iIf8gP-U5-zZXAtxr43y8xMHwUXACWaB7FUWKZx4bA1k7fevefdv8-eUdJgwXr02yrQnfuUOCBula0mmqzB_lJk4xL5C/s1600/IMG_0307.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjDFsXlu9L_s3FO6Urzn7Dox5RmTcrPtIv49pGw0zJjZWmQHWe0iIf8gP-U5-zZXAtxr43y8xMHwUXACWaB7FUWKZx4bA1k7fevefdv8-eUdJgwXr02yrQnfuUOCBula0mmqzB_lJk4xL5C/s320/IMG_0307.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Pav</span></td></tr>
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg564b0stFEbLAf-t_K5i2unXtxaMBpYgtqA6u4hn-0kaLn9nSK40riDZ4aY_EOuJ71-Y1aqTmBRdyNe3gT9oZgPiNCiaCT3e_aHSLptYBxLHjtjXXdtRhQ61KDZXF3_yvNNnSuasRwCNnW/s1600/IMG_0309.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg564b0stFEbLAf-t_K5i2unXtxaMBpYgtqA6u4hn-0kaLn9nSK40riDZ4aY_EOuJ71-Y1aqTmBRdyNe3gT9oZgPiNCiaCT3e_aHSLptYBxLHjtjXXdtRhQ61KDZXF3_yvNNnSuasRwCNnW/s320/IMG_0309.JPG" width="320" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Just 'coz Jee wanted to show off his paintings...can you spot them?</span></td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlSieJPvSR8shiEoJVJ4tkcRwSIJkAwHhiZVzSecZmvBGEOsgS408snBsxhEOS0Vx8KPwu1zCpVCJKSsJgn7BAQ0ZRycuJ6GmOCyBql4fAfZAohFXzXe-Flknggu3lrSGsqfnUESt8BY9a/s1600/IMG_0311.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjlSieJPvSR8shiEoJVJ4tkcRwSIJkAwHhiZVzSecZmvBGEOsgS408snBsxhEOS0Vx8KPwu1zCpVCJKSsJgn7BAQ0ZRycuJ6GmOCyBql4fAfZAohFXzXe-Flknggu3lrSGsqfnUESt8BY9a/s320/IMG_0311.jpg" width="239" /></span></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif; font-size: small;">Dinner ready</span></td></tr>
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</div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-19307251207760151772011-07-15T20:19:00.001-04:002011-07-15T20:24:59.134-04:00Reviving TKM bond<div style="text-align: justify;">A few months back I was trying to manage my Facebook account by moving all relatives to a "Relative group" and all friends from my Grad School, TKM to another "TKM gang group". I was quite happy with the organization and was thinking now I can post selectively. Some of the newer generation kids I know use this new feature in Facebook to post which they don't want their relatives to see. I have to admit I was not aware of this feature till someone added me in a relatives group few months back. Anyways, I didn't know how Facebook groups worked and started adding friends from TKM one by one to that group not knowing what was happening behind the scene. All my friends were getting Facebook update behind my back saying I am adding them to a group called TKM Gang. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">After a few days I started getting all these Facebook messages/wall posts from TKM friends saying thanks for adding them to the group. This is when I came to know about my accidental fame. I accidentally revived the TKM group and gave them a platform to communicate easily. For the next few days I enjoyed the fame and was the sole admin not knowing that there were loads of people waiting to join the group waiting for the sole dumb admin to approve and let them in. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Next day I noticed the "gang" members screaming their lungs out in the newly created Facebook group to add those friends of ours who are waiting to enter. This is when I realized my blunder and quickly made some of the more vocal and more social friends admin and gave them access to allowing more friends to walk in.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyho, apart from those funny blunders, which still makes me smile when I think about it, I definitely revived some life to my TKM gang. Now I have something fun to read about every morning when I have some breather time at work. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-29578259227443444662011-07-15T19:34:00.001-04:002011-07-15T20:25:29.635-04:00Honey Lemon Tea<div style="text-align: justify;">Its been more than 2 years since we started drinking honey-lemon tea instead of the regular Indian <i>kadak</i> <i>chai </i>with milk. I was not a fan of drinking tea or coffee from the beginning. Jee who is an ardent tea lover encouraged me to start drinking tea only because he wanted his 2 cups of tea, every morning and evening. So I started drinking tea and got addicted to the 2 cups a day instantly.<br />
<br />
Jee, the Internet research guru, did some research some odd 2 years back and found that when we add milk to tea, it looses its anti-oxidant qualities (BTW I need to confirm this myself). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyways, he kind of convinced me, the hard way, to change our tea with milk to more healthy honey-lemon tea. I revolted initially and used to hate drinking the honey-lemon tea. Mornings were fine but evening is when I missed the Indian <i>kadak</i> <i>chai </i>the most, especially after spending some 8 odd hours keeping myself awake at work. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">It took almost 2-3 months for me to stop missing the Indian <i>kadak chai </i>and get used to the more fancy and healthy (it seems) honey-lemon tea. Here's how we brew our honey lemon tea...</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Boil water in a pan and add the desired amount of tea leaves to suit your taste. We use Tetley brand loose tea and are quite happy with the flavor. In the tea cups add some honey and lemon juice according to your taste. Strain the hot tea in the cups to make your steaming cuppa tea.<br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftzrjaU6KwRQ7bivHuw9Kqo2A7Scnedv_hq1bDZj4QSmLkQib_H0enokQ_wS3L8AtyjU8dD8cy6cjxCcixG-EBBRmK2HiReQ7AK2Tv80iiT-XAkSBJlMr6ius3C53jDgvdSbDrzetAZXb/s1600/IMG_0305.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhftzrjaU6KwRQ7bivHuw9Kqo2A7Scnedv_hq1bDZj4QSmLkQib_H0enokQ_wS3L8AtyjU8dD8cy6cjxCcixG-EBBRmK2HiReQ7AK2Tv80iiT-XAkSBJlMr6ius3C53jDgvdSbDrzetAZXb/s320/IMG_0305.jpg" width="239" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey and lemon</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1d3QOGmwHUBSc-akEbRjr4q7wl5wwFa2stSnFKtEmHcqRcb68GohMiu_bJT-cvS2Fv0KPHaG7YAJOyaeYZbWElQzPrkOn0REI6_9cTRBRDYXDde7NwwP1az2VyU7OVAN7LtimlSkNctpN/s1600/IMG_0306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1d3QOGmwHUBSc-akEbRjr4q7wl5wwFa2stSnFKtEmHcqRcb68GohMiu_bJT-cvS2Fv0KPHaG7YAJOyaeYZbWElQzPrkOn0REI6_9cTRBRDYXDde7NwwP1az2VyU7OVAN7LtimlSkNctpN/s320/IMG_0306.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Black tea</td></tr>
</tbody></table><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">There are some rainy days when we crave for the regular Indian <i>kadak</i> <i>chai </i>to go with <i>pakoras </i>but we are still very loyal to our newly found love for <i>'the honey-lemon tea'.</i><br />
<i><br />
</i><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL2Tt4fEZDV5ofseBJ1XalEgToNNhSc6qYD4etwYOAdW2MrntVfAXUy7ryCzLY7aZgi4mLCt9U9diOXxPha61VxcyCuqon4-G1SaeHlvZ9Q9A0OKHQmqzGW1uyXOczkEmu0f38ol2QZAc/s1600/IMG_0312.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="239" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEggL2Tt4fEZDV5ofseBJ1XalEgToNNhSc6qYD4etwYOAdW2MrntVfAXUy7ryCzLY7aZgi4mLCt9U9diOXxPha61VxcyCuqon4-G1SaeHlvZ9Q9A0OKHQmqzGW1uyXOczkEmu0f38ol2QZAc/s320/IMG_0312.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Honey-Lemon Tea</td></tr>
</tbody></table><i><br />
</i></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-67041613655875658732011-07-10T10:14:00.000-04:002011-07-10T10:14:01.792-04:00Aloo Paratha mission: Jee to the recue..<div style="text-align: justify;">My cooking expedition started yesterday evening when Jee expressed the desire to eat some aloo paratha while we were discussing our dinner plans at tea time. We usually have regular roti/paratha for dinner. In past I had tried different kinds of parathas (spinach, beetroot, cauliflower) but aloo paratha remained one domain that I never tried. Actually all the kind of parathas I make are the ones where you can just add the ingredients right into your wheat floor, knead it and go forward. This is the easy style of making paratha if you ask me. Aloo paratha/cauliflower paratha are different, as one needs to make balls of the filling and roll it inside the chapathi dough and make flat round parathas (note: map shapes not allowed, if you want to make the authentic kind).</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was determined this time to make authentic aloo parathas and so after tea I started googling on how to make aloo paratha. These days I have started having more faith in young guns (newly married girls who google just like me to find recipes) venturing out cooking and writing blogs on the whole experience, in past when I used to google for any recipe I used to strictly trust ladies whose names sounded like <i>ammachis/amoomas (Grandma in mallu) </i>like a Mariamma or Thresiamma. Somehow it showed the years or experience and credibility. Anyways, I found this interesting blog site <a href="http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.com/">http://mykitchenantics.blogspot.com/</a> written by a mallu girl from London. The highlight of this post about aloo paratha was that she had even taken pictures of each step and the instructions were pretty easy at least when I read it. The aloo parathas stacked with a dollop of butter on top in the blog looked damn yummy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">After reading the blog I became more confident that I could nail this aloo paratha adventure this time. Jee was also super happy and came to inspect the progress every now and then. When I see him roaming near kitchen I know he is hungry and looking for food...reminds me of that song from an old show I used to watch..."<i>pet mein chuhe kood rahen hai, cho cho chi chi bol rahein hain...</i>". Means there are squeaky mouses playing around in my tummy. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Back in kitchen I was busy collecting all the ingredients. Since I could sense the urgency in both Jee and Rhea, I hurried through the process and instead of dicing onions myself I decided to put it in the small chopper I have. The onion chopped fine but was a bit watery which I knew is going to create problems but then there was no time to fix the problem, I had two hungry people breathing down my neck !! </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Anyways I mixed all the filling ingredients and instantly knew there is something wrong as it looked like it had a loose consistency than the pictures in the blog. My worst fear came true when I started rolling the paratha with the filling ball inside, it started to break. It might be also because of the kind of potato that we were using. There so many varieties of potatoes available at the grocery store that I get confused all the time. It was so late for dinner and I was getting no where near the target. I was so pissed off with this that I started mumbling "see this is why I don't try these things here...hmm he wants aloo paratha for dinner..." etc etc.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Jee, who is much calmer than a 'jumpy me', came rushing to help. He suggested I knead the filling with some wheat floor and make the regular parathas like I am used to making. So I started kneeding the filling with some floor and also ranting about why I shouldn't have started making these wretched things. In about 5 minutes I had a gooey but somewhat okay dough. The authentic style aloo paratha was out of question now. I started rolling those gooey dough balls in to map shaped parathas as it was too sticky to roll. My expedition was falling apart, Rhea was getting impatient for dinner too. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">After making 2-3 of those map shaped parathas we gave our little daughter her dinner. Even though the parathas were shaped funny, they turned out to be very good taste wise. The disaster recovery Jee planned turned out to be good and we managed to finish off most of the parathas with some yogurt and chili pickle. Yum...maybe it was also 'coz we were so hungry by the time it was done that it tasted like heaven. Overall it turned out great as the same was served for breakfast and devoured out fast enough.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeWaY4hI7BfKBJD4RL6R2fzkOjTJhf58Jm4TF1urpe0R3TsJLdRmU1wwk_gncHn2s5471zOcTr3EuRTreKgKeEGy7yfeCwbpxypvNX__vPIDrftAoyrxwaDHqLw0ybgzOhWajgvgWxLxP/s1600/IMG_0450.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFeWaY4hI7BfKBJD4RL6R2fzkOjTJhf58Jm4TF1urpe0R3TsJLdRmU1wwk_gncHn2s5471zOcTr3EuRTreKgKeEGy7yfeCwbpxypvNX__vPIDrftAoyrxwaDHqLw0ybgzOhWajgvgWxLxP/s320/IMG_0450.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Map shaped aloo paratha..</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">My brother who lives in Hyderabad tells me that his wife makes amazing aloo parathas. This time when I am visiting them I'll ask her to show me how to make those authentic kinds. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-71441561758390619422011-07-09T12:30:00.001-04:002011-07-09T18:24:02.383-04:00Blood Vs Munchkins<div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Last week Jee was picking up Rhea from the summer camp in YMCA, when he saw the Red Cross blood donation bus parked outside. I don't know what came to his mind but he decided to donate blood and stepped inside the Van. A nurse greeted the little girl and asked her, "Wow, you want to donate the blood, sweetie?". "No, my Dad wants to?", said the scared little girl.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">After about 15 minutes of <span class="Apple-style-span" style="line-height: 16px;"><em style="font-style: normal;">Blood Donor</em> History <em style="font-style: normal;">Questionnaire</em></span>, including the questions on whether he recently visited any European countries or any countries in the developing world and a plenty on health history, she was ready to draw blood. The little girl was also given a background about blood donation. The Nurse explained, the wide eyed little girl who was pretty amazed by her father's decision to donate blood, that his blood will save three lives who are in need for blood. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilSMvSKR_6WU-umbd2i79aHyy6TPzuo7-u57hS98Sow61kXtna3fJU461E-hW4M8l5mpgO5G9-E-1X8RATOyyPBp0HDjiOfsuq4_asZgoqeF1XdMHUUst0b0Pdv6Po05xYtRwqmRKykKJq/s1600/sticker.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="195" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEilSMvSKR_6WU-umbd2i79aHyy6TPzuo7-u57hS98Sow61kXtna3fJU461E-hW4M8l5mpgO5G9-E-1X8RATOyyPBp0HDjiOfsuq4_asZgoqeF1XdMHUUst0b0Pdv6Po05xYtRwqmRKykKJq/s200/sticker.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">The sticker</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">On their way out the Nurse gave a doctor's coat to the little girl, who proudly wore it and with twinkling eyes declared "I am going to be a Doctor when I grow up". Nurse also offered some snacks to the blood donor hero and the proud daughter. The proud <i>desi</i> father declined with a shy smile and the ABCD (American born confident <i>desi</i>) daughter with no inhibitions accepted the offer and picked up some cookies and juice box for herself. They were almost going to step out of the van when the Nurse said "Wait Mr Jacob, I almost forgot one thing.". She reached for the small wooden caddy full of stickers and picked one, handed it to the donor with a smile. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Their ride back home was filled with one-sided conversations like "Appa you are so brave!!", "I am so proud of you; your blood is going to save three lives". "I think you should rest for the evening as you might be tired". "We will ask Mommy to take good care of you". etc etc</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">The first thing when Amma reaches home from work hears is "Mommy, Mommy, guess what, Appa donated blood today and he saved three lives.". She was jumping up and down with excitement and proudly displayed her new doctor's coat and also showed Appa's sticker. Amma was also given instruction on how to take care of Appa as he has donated blood. I could notice in my little girl's eyes, that she was really proud of her Appa and he has become her hero. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3Hyn48VTymL16o7PHuy9JDK0i_1MTzQkYPcd45PIn9vX5d4RU&t=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="149" src="http://t3.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS3Hyn48VTymL16o7PHuy9JDK0i_1MTzQkYPcd45PIn9vX5d4RU&t=1" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">Next morning, I couldn't prepare lunch box for my daughter's summer camp and decided to stop at Dunkin' Donuts to get some lunch for the little girl. Rhea is a loves donut and was secretly wishing her Amma would buy one for her. While we were waiting for our turn in the queue, she kept reminding me "Mommy, I love these donuts.". "These small round ones, Mommy are also good. hmmm yummy!!". "<i>Mollu</i>, we are here to pick lunch for you. So no donuts, okay!", I knew she might skip her lunch if she gets donut. "Mommy, Marianna was eating those little round ones the other day, I wish I could have one of those for snacks, please please...pretty please". Somehow I changed my mind when it was our turn and bought her a lunch and some munchkins. Four is the minimum they sell, said the busy lady at the counter. </span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;">With two bags, one each of lunch and snack in her hands, the little girl was extra happy and announced "Mommy you are so nice. I love you". I smiled back at her, thinking four munchkins later I am the new hero of my girl. The pint of blood that Appa had donated yesterday has taken back seat now. Step back Appa, its Mommy in the drivers seat now. ;-)</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: Georgia, 'Times New Roman', serif;"><br />
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</div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-6861356404852738342011-07-04T09:35:00.006-04:002011-07-09T15:12:33.084-04:00Change of plan...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Pakistani_Food_Beef_Kabobs.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/0/0c/Pakistani_Food_Beef_Kabobs.jpg" width="200" /></a></div><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Last Friday at work we were all casually discussing about our long weekend plans. I told my colleagues about my plans to do some Indian style BBQ / seekh kabab at home. My colleague Smith asked "You mean shish kabab right?". I really don't know the difference, I guess one is made with minced meat and another with meat cubes arranged alternatively with vegetables. Anyways I was planning to make the one with the minced meat.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://rasamalaysia.com/images/chicken-kebab/kebab1.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://rasamalaysia.com/images/chicken-kebab/kebab1.jpg" width="133" /></a></div>After listening to the description, Smith asked me if I have ever had meat loaf. We have been in America for last 8-9 years and I have never had meat loaf. Smith said he makes meat loaf often at home and its quiet easy and is part of home cooking. You will find dishes like meat loaf or a pot roast in mostly diners and places where they serve home style dishes.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I have had seekh kabab in the past so I thought why not change the July 4<span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-size: xx-small;">th</span> BBQ plan to bake my first meat loaf. At home we are all fan of Indian style recipes. So my search for a meat loaf recipe was '<i>Indian style meat loaf recipe</i>'. I was not sure it a thing like that even existed, but to my surprise it does and even sounds better, when I saw the recipe. The recipe I used was from <a href="http://showmethecurry.com/">Show me the curry</a>, managed by two ladies and business partners. I liked the recipe, so I printed it out but did some personalization of my own to suit the taste of my family ( I will post the recipe in my next blog)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTIlEu0SlqVBGtgBVfqS9gQ3RZ4piUFGO8-orkc_jLKdkGJiKYxyrO836RxLFOsi7TDLsXlAvyN0UhyXCpGF_8jKXtyvg8cdg1O_hZCR-YBDdXbhfW3W4EF41Iq6nuW6bES25lJpAR5C9/s1600/IMG_0430.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEijTIlEu0SlqVBGtgBVfqS9gQ3RZ4piUFGO8-orkc_jLKdkGJiKYxyrO836RxLFOsi7TDLsXlAvyN0UhyXCpGF_8jKXtyvg8cdg1O_hZCR-YBDdXbhfW3W4EF41Iq6nuW6bES25lJpAR5C9/s200/IMG_0430.jpg" width="150" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Summer Salad</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">So the menu was decided. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><ul><li style="text-align: justify;">Summer salad - assorted greens with raspberry, cocoa roast almonds, raspberry merlot vinaigrette dressing.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Meat loaf with some ready made dinner rolls.</li>
<li style="text-align: justify;">Liver fry - recipe and idea courtesy Elizabeth Jacob.</li>
</ul><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The salad was an instant hit among us. Though Jee was excited about eating chicken Liver Fry, as he has seen his best buddy and namesake eating it more than once during the Skype sessions, he 'chicken'ed out at the last moment when the appetizer was ready citing google research on how liver is very high in cholesterol. Rhea ate a few bites but said she doesn't like it afterwards. Meanwhile Meat Loaf was baking away in the owen testing our patience.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kCjbdCrt8Omq3dpl7Dmo18PfiM1nF7l2QtsqG2QOYAOHOyncgOZo68W-nHtzhh2iR130U4iCtaIHm0VA1iF38cYOvzKUU3jx5lf58A8eFJZuts9UngVTf1XePh1sRlDv2nVOh6xqnpbT/s1600/IMG_0431.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi0kCjbdCrt8Omq3dpl7Dmo18PfiM1nF7l2QtsqG2QOYAOHOyncgOZo68W-nHtzhh2iR130U4iCtaIHm0VA1iF38cYOvzKUU3jx5lf58A8eFJZuts9UngVTf1XePh1sRlDv2nVOh6xqnpbT/s200/IMG_0431.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Liver Fry</td></tr>
</tbody></table></div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTM-XlK_2JFlPN6X65PHYr0MA5e9vHP0-1dq8U0GxPFglJ6Iq7LyA98_-CEDhsaOBi3-STHeAO0KGSBVlqwLQD5uWg0RVG-xBDkw9Fnd6yyOpXtd5CgdeGHLrxNT_uglsD76dol8QKcSi9/s1600/IMG_0433.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiTM-XlK_2JFlPN6X65PHYr0MA5e9vHP0-1dq8U0GxPFglJ6Iq7LyA98_-CEDhsaOBi3-STHeAO0KGSBVlqwLQD5uWg0RVG-xBDkw9Fnd6yyOpXtd5CgdeGHLrxNT_uglsD76dol8QKcSi9/s200/IMG_0433.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Meat Loaf</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">The star item came out very good, better than our expectations. The spices were just right and the taste, something we were looking for. Its like saying '<i>Anything you can do I can do better</i>.' Definitely better than Smith's preference of meat loaf with minimal spices. </div><div><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-30570538390794641422011-07-03T10:41:00.008-04:002011-07-03T18:11:40.104-04:00Gharonda<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlSDrVw2upFTHqWf1ek4AKYLjIcKOrsH1VqaGii7NnTo97eAssfczWZhcVldiCqwi5YHs90wRjkOw3oNxl3Bq1PMHg62C0e0wwVLltiL-1nYltRP7EcJ2a2F8Ax1RFaE6DmBuPaPhrBWn/s1600/IMG_0428.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjjlSDrVw2upFTHqWf1ek4AKYLjIcKOrsH1VqaGii7NnTo97eAssfczWZhcVldiCqwi5YHs90wRjkOw3oNxl3Bq1PMHg62C0e0wwVLltiL-1nYltRP7EcJ2a2F8Ax1RFaE6DmBuPaPhrBWn/s200/IMG_0428.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">View of nest from our bed room.</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Another summer morning, I was busy preparing lunch box for my daughter's summer camp. This morning I had decided to make cutlets. Last weekend we made some tuna cutlets and freezed it as it is one of Rhea's favorite and it is easy to prepare in the morning. We have a gas <i>chulha,</i> just like the ones we have in India, in our patio, where we usually cook things that can be too smelly for the home, like fish or any meat preparations.<br />
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So I thawed a few cutlets and walked out to the patio to fry them. While waiting for the oil to preheat, I decided to peek outside in the backyard to see if the white flowering crepe myrtle tree in our backyard has bloomed. This tree is a late bloomer and it hasn't bloomed yet, but I noticed there was a small bird's nest nicely weaved and placed in between a few branches. When I went closer I even saw a bird probably warming her eggs and waiting for them to hatch. I am not an expert in bird kinds but it looked like a sparrow.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We woke up Rhea and opened the bed room window blinds to show her the nest and take some pictures. <span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: underline;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="-webkit-text-decorations-in-effect: none; color: black;">The bird warms the egg during night and early mornings and leaves the nest during daytime to find food. Saturday evening we decided to visit the '<i>Gharonda</i>' (nest) again to take some up-close pictures and to see if it actually had any eggs or a baby bird. Safely placed in the middle of this nest was a solitary greenish egg. Jee managed to take some up close pictures of the nest and the egg and the view of our bedroom window from the back yard. </span></span><br />
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Rhea and I have tried very hard in the past to have some frequent bird visitors in our backyard. We have had a bird feeder to attract birds before without any luck. Finally we have a bird who is living in our backyard and it really feels good. <br />
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The baby bird will have a little cute home when the tree blooms with white blossoms in a few weeks....</div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyfs78hMHottCQ4UtpM-1Il4D55HDoZX6Dz8GaAlqzo0rymHkDQFo-IfUoCv9U4jg-l7wzFr8nfPtvglbhdJkYmB2CvHrjQO2RhdOqz-t4PUId6ndfzFMcrOvOSo-E8oifUT88Wc-Ks7m/s1600/DSC04305.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjuyfs78hMHottCQ4UtpM-1Il4D55HDoZX6Dz8GaAlqzo0rymHkDQFo-IfUoCv9U4jg-l7wzFr8nfPtvglbhdJkYmB2CvHrjQO2RhdOqz-t4PUId6ndfzFMcrOvOSo-E8oifUT88Wc-Ks7m/s320/DSC04305.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br />
<div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja__GyxCGLDumtulHWYIS1vywqUmlYk4hs9IJ6uYvWNivNUKn8WdcGr0mfBhwleU3jUgMjrUJHLXD3YmNo_C04AW-SVvhjPg1GigRmMqCiee5rGRm85rUm_gft3YNv7PUPGeJOgifhp3qC/s1600/DSC04306.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEja__GyxCGLDumtulHWYIS1vywqUmlYk4hs9IJ6uYvWNivNUKn8WdcGr0mfBhwleU3jUgMjrUJHLXD3YmNo_C04AW-SVvhjPg1GigRmMqCiee5rGRm85rUm_gft3YNv7PUPGeJOgifhp3qC/s320/DSC04306.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLS0YOwRWMqniyGHYnsehb8Mm_vbat12RTUq5ju0BtHYGegpiYQZt4W4nx8E3NWOPZJhrfKnXBELkGQCq6U98Ti8bLKHmdZHV7luZJmw22uTR1YjKehr836CXe82TbC_oVcSrkPzdmS3y/s1600/DSC04301.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRLS0YOwRWMqniyGHYnsehb8Mm_vbat12RTUq5ju0BtHYGegpiYQZt4W4nx8E3NWOPZJhrfKnXBELkGQCq6U98Ti8bLKHmdZHV7luZJmw22uTR1YjKehr836CXe82TbC_oVcSrkPzdmS3y/s320/DSC04301.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QkbLjRdaWcfUG6gjhq826TW_alrRX8RYkhX4IWugNGbO_yM57Wt69FDWVN7zVcBiYIESY02dGFIIRM7oJiA0tXhlOk4yMbr7dKO-qi1rh82MAhGf85_TV-VvIX4kjKKmw9SYGdIaWSsJ/s1600/DSC04304.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh7QkbLjRdaWcfUG6gjhq826TW_alrRX8RYkhX4IWugNGbO_yM57Wt69FDWVN7zVcBiYIESY02dGFIIRM7oJiA0tXhlOk4yMbr7dKO-qi1rh82MAhGf85_TV-VvIX4kjKKmw9SYGdIaWSsJ/s320/DSC04304.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br />
</div></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com6tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-76397201414722327192011-07-01T23:28:00.007-04:002011-07-02T08:00:24.150-04:00D.K. Bose<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/11/jun/delhi-belly-bhag-dk-bose-song.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://www.glamsham.com/movies/scoops/11/jun/delhi-belly-bhag-dk-bose-song.jpg" width="200" /></a>About a month or so ago, this new promo song started airing on MTV, a funky rock song from an upcoming bollywood movie, Delhi Belly starring 2 new faces and actor Aamir Khan's nephew, Imran Khan. The music was catchy and guys were doing a good job acting as rock stars. From the moment I heard and watched, there was something weird in those lyrics, especially the repeat lines in the song...DK Bose. It sounded like they are warning some DK Bose guy to run for his life as a storm is heading his way.</div><br />
<div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Being an ardent Aamir Khan fan, I closely follow all his movie projects and read most of the news articles about him. So I was instantly interested when I saw this news article about the song in question in google news after a few days. It said that the film has suddenly become very popular for some wrong reasons and especially because of the "DL Bose" song. It seems there was all this hoopla around this song as it had some explicits in its lyrics. hmmm.... that made me even more curious about the song. For the next few minutes I madly searched the web for the lyrics of this song.</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Once I found the lyrics, I might have read it 3-4 times and to my shock I found the lyrics very normal and there were no explicits that I know of in this song. I kept wondering for the next few days, what I might have missed in the song as it was all over the news about how explicits were used in this song and it is going to be released as an Adult certificate by the censor board. Another movie releasing on the same day is Amitabh Bachchan's '<i>Buddha hoga tera baap</i>'. I even heard Big B saying how he will never use explicits in a movie, as he would not feel comfortable.</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;">Finally I gave up and asked Jee, yaar what is wrong with this song, it seems they have used explicits in it and I cannot find even a single word!! To this he said, honey just switch the words DK Bose or chant DK Bose a few times and you'll get it!!! ;-) I leave you all with the song to ponder on if you haven't figured it out yet... </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><iframe allowfullscreen='allowfullscreen' webkitallowfullscreen='webkitallowfullscreen' mozallowfullscreen='mozallowfullscreen' width='320' height='266' src='https://www.youtube.com/embed/8OVGbdOG7dA?feature=player_embedded' frameborder='0'></iframe></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-82555505823247765102011-07-01T13:18:00.006-04:002011-07-02T18:55:07.659-04:00July 4th plans...<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;">Busy work week kept me going just 'coz I could see some light at the end of the week. Yes! its a long weekend in America this week. America celebrates its independence day on 4th of July. For me its just another long weekend in summer that we look forward to relax. The other day at work Ashish was asking a very stupid question, "Do Europeans have 4th of July?". Before I could open my mouth and say something Smith, the only American among us said yes they do and agreed that most of the people in America will say no to this question.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://0.tqn.com/d/goflorida/1/0/k/I/orlando_lakeeola.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="http://0.tqn.com/d/goflorida/1/0/k/I/orlando_lakeeola.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Lake Eola</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">We have celebrated or enjoyed 4th of July in the past by meeting friends and organizing BBQ party and light up some fireworks at night. Every year on this day there is a huge gathering in Orlando's iconic destination, Lake Eola in the heart of Downtown. Once we went there to witness the fireworks but Rhea, who was just 2 at that time was scared of the fireworks sound, forced us to move far away from the Lake Eola park to the nearest neighborhood.</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2011/05/25/bambambam..jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://media.cmgdigital.com/shared/img/photos/2011/05/25/bambambam..jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Fireworks at Lake Eola</td><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">We might light up some fireworks this year too and I am planning to make some<i> sekh kababs,</i> for an Indian style BBQ<i>,</i> during the weekend. Thinking about July 4th weekend makes me wonder...what happens if it falls in the middle of the week? Is it still going to be a long weekend? Smith says sometimes the July 4th festivities are moved to the weekend depending on the region.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4TSrp9pzpRl5J2TCLSWFzqHw9-EGDIHgLZ_TMHWEZn2udY4Nh&t=1" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="183" src="http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcQ4TSrp9pzpRl5J2TCLSWFzqHw9-EGDIHgLZ_TMHWEZn2udY4Nh&t=1" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its a typical Florida summer afternoon here with cloudy sky and chances of storm lurking in. Perfect weather to make some spicy <i>pakoras with </i>a cup of <i>chai.</i> Put on some nice old bollywood music and relax watching the rain; but here I am sitting in front of my workstation, tired and sleepy. My craving for <i>pakoras </i>will have to wait till I reach home. Just few hours to go for the long weekend to embark....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-54622725147175095482011-06-29T16:17:00.001-04:002015-02-13T22:10:05.003-05:00Ooh that smile<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><a href="http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/denzelwashington/denzel_washington1_300_400.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://img2.timeinc.net/people/i/2006/celebdatabase/denzelwashington/denzel_washington1_300_400.jpg" width="150" /></a>Last night we watched a movie at home thanks to good old Netflix. We both love watching movies. Last night we saw Déjà vu, a sifi thriller. The movie is about a terror attack and how an ATF agent, Denzel Washington travels back in time to save a woman and prevent a terrorist bombing disaster. The movie a quite interesting and keeps you guessing till the end plus you get to see Denzel for some 2 hours ;-). I am a big fan of his style and smile. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;"></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-63947700570084127512011-06-25T11:10:00.003-04:002011-07-03T18:33:09.526-04:00Woodlands experience<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkSbURp9avTMHiJ4UmrwHavT-kq4P4Duj9MRxnaWSEBJfvX5bfYzjwNRP37XK5SoUZhYEhbMn8wXJBwp_ITSH0UlfoeiLiK-ovBBskVEfCMW8BlbUdAC_b95ZaCXEQMf7UIq5Ot8rc04/s1600/DSC_1411.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="133" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgMkSbURp9avTMHiJ4UmrwHavT-kq4P4Duj9MRxnaWSEBJfvX5bfYzjwNRP37XK5SoUZhYEhbMn8wXJBwp_ITSH0UlfoeiLiK-ovBBskVEfCMW8BlbUdAC_b95ZaCXEQMf7UIq5Ot8rc04/s200/DSC_1411.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Sada Dosa</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Woodlands is our favorite restaurant in Orlando...every single person working there know us very well now. As soon as they see us walking in they know of at least one item that we are definitely going to order. My American born 6 year old daughter loves '<i>sada dosa + vada</i>' and orders it every time we go there.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">The highlights of the '<i><a href="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/">Woodlands experience</a></i>' as one of my colleague puts it, is their fresh home made style food. Simple authentic south Indian food is their recipe to success. I have never been a fan of dosa and sambhar but woodlands really made me a fan of sambhar so much that I can just drink 4-5 bowls of sambhar in a sitting... </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Dishes like '<i>upma</i>' which I thought I'll never have in my favorite list are now in because of woodlands buffet experience. This special '<i>upma</i>' is cooked in coconut milk and has small pieces of coconut and literally melts in your mouth and proves how simple taste and flavors can blow you off completely....</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Its is small restaurant which will definitely remind you of any south Indian restaurant in India. Nothing about its interiors is fancy to even give it a score of 5/10 in ambiance. Yet each time we go there, we see people of all race/background enjoying south Indian vegetarian food. Of course they don't know what goes with what, for example I have seen people eating dessert '<i>payasam</i>' with '<i>paratha</i>' etc, but they seem to enjoy the food and the '<i><a href="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/">Woodlands experience</a></i>'. Hardcore non-vegetarians won't agree with me but vegetarians I am sure will agree with the '<i><a href="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/">Woodlands experiance</a></i>' in reasonable $$.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: left; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/images/chana_bhatura.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/images/chana_bhatura.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Chana Bhatura</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Some of the items that are listed in their specials are really good as they advertise i.e. '<i>chana bhatura</i>'. We both have found our favorites in the restaurant and usually order things that we like. Jee usually orders '<i>chana bhatura</i>' and is always 100% satisfied with it and I usually go for '<i>matar paneer</i>' or '<i>malai kofta</i>' and am equally satisfied every time. The gujju waiter even sums up our order as one '<i>matar paneer </i><i>pi</i>cy' meaning spicy, one of the perks of being a regular ;-). </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">If you are planning to visit Orlando for the '<i>Disney/Universal/Sea world/Other Theme parks experience'</i> you might enjoy the '<i><a href="http://www.woodlandsusa.com/">Woodlands Experience</a></i>' .... highly recommended by the Jacob family. </div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-51252645554988994742011-06-22T14:11:00.002-04:002011-07-02T19:00:30.851-04:00Birthday Update<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: right;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_F1X04dE3MEpAn97sJ_2dx1y3PyDEOddo-ILqDGmYueDnQ42yuwlX1OLL2hA1PpkNoieg9pp51IuP6ctMvT2-yIx0lC2CLi4LOt6KN01mWhEHgWLeH1zWn4RozQjdc5ry30Cp56_iCWXw/s1600/IMG_0405.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj_F1X04dE3MEpAn97sJ_2dx1y3PyDEOddo-ILqDGmYueDnQ42yuwlX1OLL2hA1PpkNoieg9pp51IuP6ctMvT2-yIx0lC2CLi4LOt6KN01mWhEHgWLeH1zWn4RozQjdc5ry30Cp56_iCWXw/s200/IMG_0405.JPG" width="200" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was thinking about writing an update on the b'day details but it got delayed due to my busy deployment madness at work, but boy am I glad I waited 3 days before writing this. The most pleasant surprise came y'day in the shape of a gift basket. Yeah I knew there is something of this sort planned before itself, when Jacob(Sweety) asked me for our home address and said it is not for the vacation houseboat booking. I knew '<i>daal mein kuch kala hai</i>'. My doubt was confirmed when he asked again last weekend if the address I gave him was right.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: left;"></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXKt3g3x_QXkWcLlEIDNSjmWkFp2mbVH60UW-lxiAj66DzK96vElcpJb8hyi9wOqd0rbwdkCrQ6gtRBlF8Fdmcg5Kr3I8DuJQUwgmtmAMkcfu9ps712y7Y7UTbP0dMEIDukG2KapiS4In/s1600/IMG_0418.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjzXKt3g3x_QXkWcLlEIDNSjmWkFp2mbVH60UW-lxiAj66DzK96vElcpJb8hyi9wOqd0rbwdkCrQ6gtRBlF8Fdmcg5Kr3I8DuJQUwgmtmAMkcfu9ps712y7Y7UTbP0dMEIDukG2KapiS4In/s200/IMG_0418.JPG" width="200" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">Jee called me y'day from work saying that there is a gift basket waiting for us at home and it is sent by Tara, Kevin and Yohan. So I am really glad that I am writing the update today as I can add the most important event of all. A wonderful gift basket for the birthday boy. This post wouldn't have been complete without a picture of it. It really felt nice to receive it and thank you guys for the lovely gift.</div><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBo_c5emALDjyA6fM1eYK8NfBABGnaw6BahYTYgHymH_Fk8CTcMdKRndklWiFD3xKsDEb3dgLswf5vTw4Ur5TjQe7sBrznGFfeDSULQjLlkWCQMfIktK6qQfSnWYMC-1DeLFHS7ovf9aae/s1600/IMG_0421.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="150" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBo_c5emALDjyA6fM1eYK8NfBABGnaw6BahYTYgHymH_Fk8CTcMdKRndklWiFD3xKsDEb3dgLswf5vTw4Ur5TjQe7sBrznGFfeDSULQjLlkWCQMfIktK6qQfSnWYMC-1DeLFHS7ovf9aae/s200/IMG_0421.JPG" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;"><br />
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</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">We spent most of the day in a mall, lunch at California pizza kitchen and finally got our brand new prescription sunglasses before heading home. Ride back home wearing the sunglasses and smiling proudly 'coz we can finally wear sunglasses and can also see clearly.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">Back home<i> 'Ada Prathaman' </i>didn't come out well as expected on my first attempt following the <a href="http://www.mariasmenu.com/">Maria's Menu </a>website instructions. I didn't give up and tried making it the second time and this time it was better, although there is room for improvement. <i>Koi baat nahi</i> there is always a next time !!!!!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EXaN5PTkv4dIQ5tmwRcGsqHYGEZc931RrCeebJISz4B7VBcG3sS0yjkORtRULao9fKUUs9oOFo5OBj0hLF04FnEz2pyvWUeTB6fgqWUgntvNqUd8ZcQNOlPv74U8-6DqETXNxJQpmfDd/s1600/IMG_0416.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj4EXaN5PTkv4dIQ5tmwRcGsqHYGEZc931RrCeebJISz4B7VBcG3sS0yjkORtRULao9fKUUs9oOFo5OBj0hLF04FnEz2pyvWUeTB6fgqWUgntvNqUd8ZcQNOlPv74U8-6DqETXNxJQpmfDd/s200/IMG_0416.jpg" width="150" /></a></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-10971705759036174702011-06-20T12:58:00.001-04:002011-07-02T18:56:59.353-04:00I miss you IMac<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><a href="http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u69/BSOD_Main.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; float: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: 1em; text-align: justify;"><img border="0" height="140" src="http://www.maximumpc.com/files/u69/BSOD_Main.png" width="200" /></a><br />
<div style="text-align: justify;">It's been just 6+ months since I left my cool work station IMac, and I am MISSING working in it a lot. There has been huge difference in the working style and also lots of new experiences like I didn't know about the "blue screen of death" before I joined this work. Working in Microsoft c#.net technology I have to put up with Windows and the sweet "blue screen of death" is part and parcel of this package. One of my first client webex (web conference) meeting went down the drain when my computer suffered this "blue screen of death" syndrome with me and my colleague, Andrew staring at a limp blue screen. We promptly apologized to the client for the technical failure and promised to be back in the meeting in 15 minutes. Luckily, everything went on fine from there and we used Andrew's computer to finish the meeting.</div><br />
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</div><div style="text-align: justify;">I was given a another computer as soon as I reported the blue screen problem. After almost 6 months I am here again in the conference room ready for another client side deployment and my colleague, Susanna who works from New Jersey pinged me in the chat saying her computer did the "blue screen of death" thing on her. We somehow finished the first part when the client side deployment contact, Gary announced that there is some virus in his computer and he needs to restart his computer. All is well the blame is on Windows again...I can move on to my lunch break cursing windows with Gary.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span" style="color: #575757; font-family: Georgia, Utopia, 'Palatino Linotype', Palatino, serif; font-size: x-small; line-height: 18px;"><i>****Some of the incidents and characters mentioned are pure works of imagination. Readers may sometimes find associating themselves or their acquaintances to a couple of situations. In those cases I hope they would enjoy the journey through...</i></span></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-84234615894430368392011-06-19T08:02:00.002-04:002011-07-21T22:30:48.553-04:00Dilemma<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">Six months after our daughter was born, Father's day coincided with my hubby's birthday and that was very special to him. Six years down the lane, Father's day is again on his birthday. As usual I wanted to surprise him with something nice as it is a milestone b'day for him this year.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span"><br />
</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><span class="Apple-style-span">At work, I asked my colleagues if they had any good ideas on what I should gift him. Smith who is the oldest among us said a tablet will be a good gift. My response was, he already has it and I cannot think of a single gadget that I can gift him as he is very tech savvy and will immediately buy it for himself or pretend that he is buying it for family or our little girl if he wants something. So gifting him any gadgets is out of question. To this Ashish, an Indian who sits across from my table said "anyways the rule is please don't buy any gadgets for a man as he would love to do the shopping himself ". Luis, a Columbian who sits across from my table peeked out from behind his work station saying a vacation to a nice place might be a good idea. Since we have already planned a vacation in August, I ruled it out. </span>Ashish <span class="Apple-style-span">who was now deep in some thought finally made a suggestion with a naughty wink "buy him a Glenlivet, single malt whiskey or a blue label". This was a good suggestion but I knew my husband usually re-fills his bar section himself and I wouldn't know where to go and what to buy.</span></div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div style="text-align: justify;">In our 10 years of marriage, we have never formally gifted each other anything as such. When we go out shopping, he might pick something for me and say "this will be good for you" and I might do the same for him and eventually buy it. So it is really hard for either one of us to pick something for each other when the other half is not around. All these years, I usually used to cook something special for him on his b'day and he used to be very happy.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mariasmenu.com/wp-content/uploads/ada-pradhamann.JPG" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="214" src="http://www.mariasmenu.com/wp-content/uploads/ada-pradhamann.JPG" width="320" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Ada Prathaman</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">One of his favorite dessert is '<i>Ada Prathaman</i>', an authentic from kerala cuisine. Jee's mother is an expert in making this dish. Seeing me smile Smith asked me on msn chat (we use msn chat extensively at work to communicate with each other), Riji, I am sure you thought of something that you want to gift your husband as I can see you smiling. I know it is weird but sometimes we use chat to talk to each other so that we don't disturb others. In reply I wrote, yeah Smith I have actually found something that I can gift and I am pretty sure he'll enjoy it with a smiley. I am planning to make his most favorite dessert.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://www.mahalaxmiexim.com/full-images/jaggery-blocks-830493.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="132" src="http://www.mahalaxmiexim.com/full-images/jaggery-blocks-830493.jpg" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jaggery Blocks</td></tr>
</tbody></table><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="http://thanima.co.uk/images/classicriceada.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="http://thanima.co.uk/images/classicriceada.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Rice flakes (Ada)</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Usually work has been very hectic for me since I joined this new job, but that day I was in standby as the application was in testing phase. So as there was nothing much for me to do at work I was passing my time by reading the blogs that I follow and news. Now that I had finalized the gift I needed to start planning. I knew that we had the ingredients as we bought '<i>sharkara</i>' (jaggery) and '<i>ada</i>'(rice wafers) from a famous Mallu store in Atlanta called Cherian's, with Jee saying. I remembered with a smile that Jee had said '<i>Chal yaar bana ke khilana</i>' when I was picking it. After browsing for an hour or so I found this site, which interestingly has most of the Mallu recipes and with very simple steps, <b><a href="http://www.mariasmenu.com/">Marias Menu</a></b>. First thing I noticed as soon as I saw this site is a lot of my friends are ardently following this site and even adding comments. That made me confident and I decided to follow Maria's recipe for making '<i>Ada Prathaman</i>'.</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"></div><div style="text-align: justify;">Spending most of the Saturday afternoon styling and designing my blog to give it a more pleasing look, I am all set to make the dessert. This reminds me of a promise I made to a very dear friend, a very talented Bengali girl, Shomdatta. I had once suggested her to write blogs after she showed me some of her poems and short stories, that I'll help her design her blog site some 2 years back. Shom, I have learned about how to design the blog site now so am all set to help you anytime! ;-)</div><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div><table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; text-align: justify;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jbnWfWYfnp4AmljaBtlJ51O1TO0eye8fwIRNVTIQnboWfPPXefTrAJ7rxbf9TBWt8ElUAXoWB9DdLh-bacmI8BcBNujrIaM6fcAdRbIqw9jaqeD1vcUzt1xtNWKIVAUsmz3eMbXtRJs6/s1600/IMG_0286.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="clear: right; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj1jbnWfWYfnp4AmljaBtlJ51O1TO0eye8fwIRNVTIQnboWfPPXefTrAJ7rxbf9TBWt8ElUAXoWB9DdLh-bacmI8BcBNujrIaM6fcAdRbIqw9jaqeD1vcUzt1xtNWKIVAUsmz3eMbXtRJs6/s200/IMG_0286.jpg" width="149" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Jee's B'day, 2006</td></tr>
</tbody></table><div style="text-align: justify;">Coming back to the B'day topic, of course our US born little six year old won't understand the authenticity of preparing a delicious 'nadan' meal for Daddy's day and B'day, so I'll have to sneak out of home to buy a small cake for a family b'day party. </div><span style="font-size: small;"></span><br />
<span style="font-size: small;"> </span><br />
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<div style="text-align: justify;"><span style="font-size: small;"><i>****Some of the incidents and characters mentioned are pure works of imagination. Readers may sometimes find associating themselves or their acquaintances to a couple of situations. In those cases I hope they would enjoy the journey through...</i></span></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6874800406854569101.post-986057873653487032011-06-14T15:04:00.002-04:002011-07-03T18:33:32.367-04:00The much anticipated vacation to India in August 2011.<div dir="ltr" style="text-align: left;" trbidi="on"><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Living in America, we have come to accept the fact that we won't be able to take vacations as often as NRIs residing in Singapore or Gulf. It was so convenient when we were in Singapore. Although not as convenient as anyone whose flight ends in one of the Metros or other big cities. Being a small town family, we need another one hour flight to Raipur and an hour drive from Raipur to Bhilai, our hometown.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: justify;">As both our parents are settled in Bhilai, most of our vacation time has been in Bhilai itself all this time. Back in 2007, we went to Bhilai for a month and it was the most amazing and relaxing vacation of all. It was also Jee's first after we moved to America. Our daily routine included, roaming around Bhilai and shopping. Our 3 year daughter enjoyed this trip more than us as she didn't even complain once when we went on our trips down memory lane without her. She enjoyed so much playing as well as fighting with Jee's nephew, Sebin. Its amazing how she remembers the minute details from that vacation even now.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">This coming vacation is really special for me as we have decided to visit my Brother who lives in Hyderabad. This will be our first visit to the <span class="Apple-style-span" style="font-family: sans-serif; font-size: 13px; line-height: 19px;"><i>City of Pearls. </i></span>I have heard so much about Hyderabad since my brother joined Osmania University for his MCA. A second cousin of ours als</div></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618816167444242498" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjr2pVmu5qUtbBq5hxH1LrV6duO4BkjAEAvHFIN2YU0nCkSvlU-KrbNzPUa2EdQZBENS9RkalTmHbqd4cG9M99ifYY01LMNMs4E6L48a_XgJAF1d3O1ZedNVJMDOipdobOUuKvW6aBk1uMX/s200/shinu-family.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 133px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 200px;" />o moved to Hyderabad for a job and so lots of folks from my Mom's side have visited Hyderabad from time to time. The common thing I have heard about this place from all of them is of-course, the Hyderabadi Biriyani and Haleeem.<br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Having the best biriyani and haleem in the city will be one of my first things that I want to do when I am there. My brother also welcomed a new addition to his family in Feb this year. Sweet little Jiya, we have seen her a couple of times in Skype but I bet holding her in my arms when I see her will be a special feeling. Looking forward to that.....</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">Our 3rd stop is Kerala, <i>God's Own Country</i>. It will be my visit to Kerala after 11 long years. Although we have a lots of things to do while we are there, canceled some of them just to meet our friends. We'll be angering a lot of relatives but I am sure we'll have great fun with our friends. We'll come back to Kerala again to butter(maska) our relatives and make up for the visits we owed them this time. The highlight of the Kerala trip will be the house boat ride we are planning with Jee's best friend and namesake, who is also vacationing around the same time with his family.</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">I am also looking forward to the long train ride from Kerala to Mumbai in Konkan railways with Sweety and family. I know Rhea will love that train ride, her idea for</div></div><img alt="" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618185803452184674" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEh3b7SBNGd5WNQ1nD4CEyc9yhbhfmHwORjtoFf2UA2YUvjfrWU3AH2-jPvO85VdR7bj84jbPC_7-FdlxQ7E62lMMdu9rb15gxF9FpA8OKD8KU1xx1qTWpGVUGchyn4hN4Xhs3ajFJKPFV5d/s200/Sweety.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: right; height: 133px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 10px; margin-right: 0px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 200px;" /><br />
<div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">train is the little red train that she gets to ride when we visit the malls. It will also be a walk down memory lane for us, reviving all those train journeys we used to go on before. </div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">In all our skype sessions Jee and Sweety(Jacob) have been planning all those things we are going to do when we meet. Mumbai has been set aside for all the fun and get-togethers. Since this is the last destination of our trip we are spending some time for shopping also. I am relying heavily on Sweety's knowledge of Mumbai's best places to shop. There is another half baked plan of meeting close friends of mine from TKM in Mumbai, Pavana and Prema. Girls get ready to party...</div></div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5NX9BqLtCTiY-qk890FFb9ppxTazcISVTnYslyRgj_VaxWDT8VM8DdAXWzMOAIbwSaXiI_1Y13x_cCqi8Cfrn0_LfXH05A7PvIg-ja8JenC3YH-GXOGBsM06K8jvt5tm7EpITzeGqgNS/s1600/pavana.jpg" onblur="try {parent.deselectBloggerImageGracefully();} catch(e) {}"><img alt="Pavana" border="0" id="BLOGGER_PHOTO_ID_5618175262876655250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhy5NX9BqLtCTiY-qk890FFb9ppxTazcISVTnYslyRgj_VaxWDT8VM8DdAXWzMOAIbwSaXiI_1Y13x_cCqi8Cfrn0_LfXH05A7PvIg-ja8JenC3YH-GXOGBsM06K8jvt5tm7EpITzeGqgNS/s200/pavana.jpg" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 50px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 50px;" /></a><br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><img alt="Prema" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgn55Sso0xoxjK7r3PaQ2W9p_tyLASbA58rhDTHxpFJlLO-Bx7MRhOaSo-iqZ1KTBMp4Slic0cEZ-mO_8UVd_qKZ2tDGugP6f-c51z62eEkEwZC06v0WFyBHdaM0yuKfSU-8rhHK5249Vx4/s200/prema.png" style="cursor: pointer; float: left; height: 50px; margin-bottom: 10px; margin-left: 0px; margin-right: 10px; margin-top: 0px; text-align: justify; width: 50px;" /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
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</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;">All in all a fun filled vacation that we all are looking forward to. :-)</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div style="text-align: justify;"><br />
</div></div></div>Rijihttp://www.blogger.com/profile/08665189398050070400noreply@blogger.com2