Lunch for the little one...

Been a while since I posted something on this site, lets just say life has kept me busy. Its a good thing :). In this new phase of my life, my greatest challenge is preparing lunch for my toddler, something healthy, nutritious and something that he will eat.

ps: If people thought passing out of school, landing a job and earning money was the hard part of life, wait till you get to this stage.

So in my quest for unearthing nutritional recipes that would captivate the attention of a toddler, I have stumbled upon many a good finds. One such recipe is my steamed blueberry oats appams, prepared hoping he would gobble down those much needed power packed carbs/proteins/vitamins/minerals, in my absence at daycare.

Blueberry Oats Appams:

Ingredients:

1 cup urad dal

1/4 cup green gram

1/4 cup tuvar dal

1 cup rice

1 table spoon methi seeds

2 cups oats

1 cup coconut

2 table spoons cumin seeds

Salt to taste

Sugar to taste (feel free to substitute with maple syrup, agave syrup or pani)

1 cup blueberry

1/4 cup Ragi floor

Step 1: Soak the following for 8 hrs

1 cup urad dal

1/4 cup green gram

1/4 cup tuvar dal

1 cup rice

1 table spoon methi seeds

Step 2: Grind the soaked ingredients with the following into an idli batter consistency,

2 cups oats

Salt to taste

1 cup coconut

2 table spoons cumin seeds

Sugar to taste

1 cup blueberry

1/4 cup Ragi floor

Step 3: Allow the batter to sit over night

Step 4: Pour the batter into idli or ramekin cups and steam

Here is a picture of the same recipe with banana instead of blueberries,

They turned out to be super delicious and since blueberry is his favorite berry, I'm hoping it would be a hit in the toddlers mind too. A big thanks to my friend Prinkl for the oats dosa recipe. If it wasn't for that I'd still be sticking to oats porridge. Lastly a big thanks to my husband for his banana idea that worked great on a toddler. 

Vacation Bible School

Every year they call me to accompany the kids at Vacation Bible School and teach them and I have always been pre-occupied. This year for a change I decided to make myself free and a good decision it was.

As kids we were sent to our native village for Vacation Bible School (VBS). It was supposed to be a fun time learning the virtues of a good life through the parables from the Bible and loads of fun activities. There are a few things about VBS though that come to my mind, like hot karingali water. Kottayam has a very tropical climate and during the summer temepratures would soar really high, imagine being served hot water to quench your thirst.

We were practically thinking of living in the Meenachil river and people were serving hot water here. There were loads of other fun things to remember but let me concentrate on my tryst with destiny as the VBS teacher my first time ever :), needless to say I was super excited about it.

So here is the deal you need to teach 6 year olds concepts such as Gratitude, Compassion, Forgiveness, Grace and Faithfulness. Basically walk them through parables in the Bible that emphasis on the importance of each of these characteristics and get them to talk about their real-life experiences where they have displayed these characteristics and I'm thinking, more than children its the elders who need this training class from a humanitarian aspect.

Fish curry from God's own country.

So the usual Sunday came by and I stepped into church. The service was on and Uncle came hurriedly to me, as though waiting for me to break the news. "Mr. X passed away", he said, "The whole state is mourning.." and I was like, "who is Mr. X?", of-course in my mind.

I tried feigning sympathy, but in the back of my mind things were like, "Do I know him?".. I racked through my entire brain and concluded "No!" So much for nativity, it seems like the only trace of nativity I share is with food (I know, shame on me! But if its of any assuage, I did go home and throughly read about Mr. X. I didn't know him when he was alive, at least I know of him after he passed away. May his soul rest in peace. Amen!)

Talking of food and nativity here is a dish my grandma taught me. Fish curry, yes the very same red fish curry. The first step is to clean the fish and cut it into small pieces. Then wash the fish with rock salt and water. Marinate it with a pinch of turmeric powder, chilli powder and coriander powder( Ration of 2:1). Add chopped garlic, ginger and curry leaves and enough water to cover the fish.

Meanwhile soak some tamarind in water, the one you get in Kerala, that looks like khokum. Fish tastes best when cooked in an earthen vessel and with coconut oil. Cook the fish in its marinade until it boils on a low flame. Then add the soaked tamarind(khokum) and let it cook for a few minutes.

In another khadai, pour some coconut oil and add fenugreek seeds, mustard seeds and jeera when the oil becomes hot. Once the mustard seeds start splattering add finely chopped onions, ginger and garlic and sauté until golden. Then add a few curry leaves and let them cook. Pour this seasoning into the fish once the fish is cooked. Let the fish cook for a few minutes with the seasoning, add salt as required and turn off the stove.

Delicious red fish curry is ready to be savored. After a few hours you can removed the tamarind(khokum) so as to retain the right proportion of its taste. Fish curry back home is had with cooked tappioca or with rice. The spicier the fish the richer the taste, of-course there is threshold to the amount of spice I can have though! In any case here is to the fish curry that is so unique in taste.

As the debate rolls....

So the big debate during this economic crisis is about whom to sack and whom not, whom to protect and whom not ? A year or two ago, everyone seemed to be very proud of the fact that the world was becoming a smaller place and there seemed to be loads of scope for outsourcing and hiring cheap labor and hence devoting more funds into research and development and maybe big fat paychecks for people higher above.

Today things seem to be rather different, its the debate of whether a Native is losing his job to the Foreigner ? So while the big shots fight it out on how to please the native workers and save on money with cheap yet efficient and skilled labor in this hour of economic crisis, there seem to be quite a few like me, wondering where things are heading ?

Nevertheless I am enjoying the political debate about the iron curtain due to a protectionist attitude and wondering maybe the middle east seems a good place, Iran just went one step ahead in the Space race with its latest homegrown satellite launch, atleast someone has reason to rejoice.

Well maybe I should just confine myself to local chakli fights and devouring Indian sweets or maybe I should just analyze the economic crisis in detail, would make a good phd topic I think...sigh!!! Our local FC ENTS team has a game today and my support and solidarity is with the team... Go FCENTS Go...you can beat them....

Snowfall and the recession...

So Londons hit by the worst snowfall in 18 years and the timing couldn't have been more perfect. With recession looming around, London doesn't have the money/equipment to take care of this sudden downpour of snow and the welcome snow for the kid down-the-block has caused a huge economic loss for London, with flights being canceled at Heathrow one of the busiest airports in the world and work being affected.

So who is to blame? Is it Lady lucks fault or is it the Mayors fault ? The Mayor had a valid point, for a place like London where snowfall is very rare it doesn't seem viable to invest on equipment to tackle the snow and as a result the whole public transportation has come to a grinding halt...hmmm interesting...a holiday just when you needed it...or one just when u didn't need it ??

As for me...am still deciding...who's fault lady luck or mine ?? Well there are loads of Indian goodies that came my way and instead of relishing it am back to my fruit diet. But you got to do, what you have to do, when you need to...(shrugging shoulders).... :).

Paneer Butter Masala

Indian food or any food for that matter is quite emotionally comforting is what I have discovered. Especially in the current environment, when bankruptcy looms about you, when recession seems to be the buzz word and when your jobs hanging precariously on a few strands, there nothing like a good home made meal to lift your spirits.

So here is how I cooked up a comfort meal for my friends at Natgeo.

Ingredients –

Paneer (Cottage cheese) - 1 Slab
Onions - 4
Tomato puree – ½ a can
Cashew nut paste – 2 tablespoons
Coriander powder – 2 tablespoons
Red chilli powder – 1 tablespoon
Turmeric power – ¼ tablespoon
Cumin powder – ¼ tablespoon
Salt to taste
Ginger garlic paste – 2 table spoons
Garam Masala – 1 tablespoon
Butter – 2 tablespoons
Oil as per required
Cream – ¼ cup


Dice the paneer into small cubes and fry them in oil until they are golden brown. Keep the fried paneer aside. Now blend the onions into a fine paste and keep this ready.

In a frying pan add the butter and oil as per required. Once the butter has melted add the onion paste and the ginger garlic paste, sauté this mixture until it turns light brown. Make a paste with all the powders and add this paste to the sautéed onion mixture, let this fry for about two minutes until the masala is cooked. Now add the tomato puree and the cashew nut paste and slightly toss it, add water as required so as to form a smooth sauce. Now add salt to taste and let this sauce boil. Once it starts boiling add the fried paneer to it and let it simmer on a low flame for a few minutes.

I made a variation of this by adding pre boiled potatoes and peas along with the paneer.

Add cream to this and stir gently. Delicious paneer butter masala is now ready.

Maryland Madness..

Maryland is one of the schools you got to experience at least for the sporting activities. Tonight was Maryland Madness, the day they introduce the Mens basket ball team and the Womens basket ball team for the year.

A day when the gymkhana troupe, the competition cheer group and the spirit group perform and what performances, mind blowing something I am so happy I got to experience.

They have some stupendous performances, great displays of flexible bodies being tossed in the air, with absolute synchronization and co-ordination that is truly worth a standing ovation.

A grand entry of the respective teams and their coaches. It spreads an aura of pride and sense of respect and a feeling of admiration for such a great school and such a great sports facility.

So for all of you considering a school, I would definitely vote for Maryland, we Terps rock anyday!

Letz go Maryland! Letz go.... letz go...

The gymkhana teams performance -

Part 2



Competitive Cheer Team



Spirit Squad

Ash's kitchen

Headed out up North for this weekend to meet Srill's friends and other than Kitty, they were all new to me. This was an invitation I couldn't resist, always wanted to be there and when given a chance I just couldn't turn it down.

So here I go, absolutely shamelessly, I know, to Ash's house. Maybe its the being far away from home thingie, where you kind of get used to welcoming yourself to hardly known peoples houses, like you knew them from ages.

Pretty used to that now, its like any one from you country, north/south, are all part of your big family. Love that feeling actually!

The trip was short and sweet a time for Srill to catch up on her good old DSC days, that took me to mine too, just that its been way too long since I caught up with anyone.

A time where we got to know that gates at Atlanta airport changed by the minute and so does your probability of missing your flight.

A taste of the Hilton, am so guilty of this, still am, I dont know why, maybe because my hands are tied. I dont know who to help and how to help especially when I know they have time unlike a few other unlucky souls.

A time when Ash's kitchen never ceased to produce all the homely food I could ever get in the US of A. I was so glad Ash made curd rice. Its been a long time since I had curd rice the proper one with tadka.

I love curd rice, the one with pomegranate and grapes in it and creamy creamy curd and mustard seeds.

For the tadka, you need to heat a little oil and to it add a little bit of mustard, chana and urad dal seeds. Let it splutter then add the red chillies, a little bit of chopped onions, green chillies, garlic and ginger. Lightly saute the onions till they turn golden brown.

Mix the boiled rice with curd and little milk and add the pomegranate and grapes to it. Once you have mixed it add the tadka, a little bit of salt and mix well, then garnish it with chopped coriander and voila you have yummy curd rice ready.

This reminds me of picnics, when ever we went on family picnics we always had curd rice without fail. Those were the days....

A tribute to working Moms :)...

I wonder whether MBA case studies include stories of house management. I think one of the best places to learn the tricks of management is at home something that our Moms have been mastering day in and day out especially if they are working Moms.

There are different forms of management displayed at home, the simplest being managing your own house and the most difficult being managing a house where you are actually sharing the roof with different individuals.

If you are a house wife then that is the simplest form of house management, the house is run at your own wish and command and you are your own boss and you are the person you need to manage, with maybe a little help from your spouse and kids and maybe your in-laws and so on.

But with the nuclear family scenario being the new fad, its mostly you, and your little nuclear family.

The next is being a working Mom, I really wonder how working Moms manage their house. Its so much simpler here as most of the things are pre processed and buying, stocking, cleaning etc are really easy tasks.

But back home things are not this simple, so its really a challenge to manage your house, take care of your kids, manage your work environment and handle your family life in general. Its really marvelous how they manage it.

Kudos to you guys for having been through all that trouble and for having done such a wonderful job of getting where you are today despite the troubles and hurdles life poses. A special thanks to my Mom and what better day could I have chosen.

The third is the scenario I am in right now, living away from home. After having been pampered at home, after having played the kiddo role at home, with Mom/Dad being there to do everything, I am standing in this place far away from home, where I have to do all these mundane routine house management tasks alone.

The challenge is in getting the groove going when you are actually sharing the place with different individuals. Each person has their own way of doing things, each person has a different upbringing, each person has their own priorities and each person has a different way of managing things at home.

It is especially difficult when people are new to the 'do it your self' life style. For some reason unkown to me, back home every household has a servant so every child is so used to having the servant take care of most of these day to day chores that it is very difficul for them to adapt to the 'do it your self' life style.

So well how do you actually work on the 'keep the house you stay in tidy' moto when your dealing with people who have hardly done all this back home. Challenging isnt it? Pretty much a scenario where you are in charge of a team and the people under you are reluctant to work.

Now you dont want to boss around anyone and break anyone's heart and at the same time it doesnt seem fair that you do all the work, does it? So how do you get people to do the work they are supposed to do? That is what managing people is all about isnt it ?

So well there you go, I proved my point that one of the best places for learning how to manage people is right here at home :).

Smorgasbord

Apparently a new word I learnt from non other than Ms. Penelope, whatever you say people she's gotta rocking vocab amidst all the 'towny lingo' ;).

Now this was with regards to our Dinner with Gulab Jamoons, Ice Cream, Daal Makhani, Aloo Jeera fry, Jeera Rice and Aloo tikki. Yummmmm. I know, sorry Harshu, cant find another word to substitute yum.

I made the jamoons, which was no big deal actually, with the mix we got from Patels. We decided we'd finally get down to making jamoons.

So just knead the dough with a little bit of oil and hot water. Roll it into small dumplings and deep fry the dumplings until golden brown. Have some sugar syrup made with water and sugar and a little bit of 'elachi' or cardamom for flavouring.

Let the dumplings soak in the sugar syrup for sometime and voila you'll have yummy gulab jamoons ready to be feasted on. Try eating hot jamoons with cold vanilla ice-cream mouthwatering aint the word. :)

Cup Noodles..

Dinner was cup noodles, actually had a fish sandwich for lunch it was far too heavy so wanted something light and decided to try out the shrimp noodles, with real shrimp in it. Not all that great but manageable.

Reminds me of those days release time, late nights, hosur road at night, cool wind blowing through my hair :) wondering when all this was going to end. The big tower across M2, BOSCH that seems so far away. A nearly empty bus, scantilly filled with people.

A melancholy feeling, something was missing...

Downtown Bangalore

I was reading this article titled 'India's Fast Lane' by Don Belt in the October 2008 edition of National Geographic and stumbled on the "downtown Bangalore" phrase and I couldnt help laughing, thought of "downtown Mumbai" and "towny lingo" and "Miss Penelope" of course.

Part of the perks guys :) life is a give and take relationship and so I've learnt, you want something you should be ready to lose something in return, hard truth. Never seems so to the guy across the street I know.

So for all you photographers, there is a National Geographic Photo contest more details at http://www.ngphotocontest.com/ the 3 categories are -

• People
• Places
• Nature

I know you guys have a good collection so send them in. I saw this picture of a shooting of some movie at bollywood framed at their office. Some oldie goldie Bollywood movie, a wedding scene, looked lovely.

If you havent already visited NG, please do so someday, its awesome, to just walk by the potraits and read through their descriptions.

Fire drill...

Its official, I finally do not have to bother my supervisor for a visitor pass, I have my entry to the Society. I finally feel like I have achieved something in life! Always wanted to be different and do something that I really wanted to do and here I am, living my dream to the fullest, the feeling is so enriching...

First day and a fire drill, I was for a change trying to work and there goes the buzzer... I get a chance to see the behind the scenes brains :)...

As I walk through the streets of D.C, I see this poster outside the Society,

A young mother putting her baby to sleep, I guess its shot in Somalia, a fragile little thing his head resting on a piece of cloth and the barren parched earth beneath, all cracked and not a drop of water in sight to even bind it together.He seemed to be enjoying his nap, despite the fact that he has no shelter what so ever to protect him from the blazing sun.

Some of us are so lucky in life...

there are so many people world over who do not have a place to live, a roof to shelter them from the sun or the rain or for whom a days meal may just be what we threw away. Wish there was some way I could direct all that food to the millions in dire need of it...

Kudos to the guys who bring out the truth as it is...

Newspaper

So I have to take the train to D.C early in the morning and this is going to be a regular routine for the next few weeks. The good thing about doing that is you get your hands on a newspaper. Its been a while since I have spent time with my morning paper.


Back home it used to be a routine, grab hold of the paper and read through the articles. The gossip in and around, the political fiascos, the letters to the editor and so on. My mornings always began with my newspaper.


But I've never been able to do that here as we dont have newspapers dropped to your doorstep, had to go online to check the news and trust me it felt so good to hold that paper in my hand and glance through the happenings and to hear the paper ruffle in your hands...


Well, Lehman Brothers filed for bankruptcy, Merrill Lynch was sold for $50 billion to Bank of America, 5900 P.G.County employees asked to go on a furlough and the University budget is going to be cut again... doesnt look good does it.... :(

Sabudana Vada & Palak paneer...

So the second week of school goes by, I blinked my eyes and mondays back here. What a tumultuous week phew...

A GBM that went of fine, amidst the running around I did like a chipmuck, being tossed from building to building, hounding people for approvals a jamming session that I missed due to lack of energy, my first live soccer match at UMD, a NASA open house a chance to walk through the clean rooms of where the Mars mission began...and the second sunday school class this time with 1st graders too one hell of a week.

Rock on that takes you back to those good old days, I miss the mavericks too.. and I realize I miss many more people and maybe someday i'll walk into them....

But the farewells have begun and we've been inviting ourselves to Sabudana Vada and Palak paneer parties, kudos to the chefs Nao & Harshu and its wonderful to have you put up with us. I enjoyed every bit of it and I'm gonna miss all of you guys....

Vada..

More bad news, apparently the unemployment rate has jumped from 5.7% in July to 6.1% in August, the trend doesn’t look very pleasing.

So well I was trying my best to teach Sunday school to these 2nd graders, what a challenge that is, sweet little things with attention that wanders over 5 times around the world every second. I can hardly keep them captivated to what I say for like 2 minutes. Need to figure a way to beat the wandering mind of a 6 year old and race up far ahead of it.

Thanks to Aunty, my roomies and me had a good feast of vada today. The occasion was Roshi’s birthday, belated happy b’day to you Roshi, so aunty made these lovely vadas. Idli-Vada is a typical South Indian breakfast and I love hogging steaming hot idlis and vadas with sambhar and coconut chutney in the local darshinis, especially Adiga’s.

Adiga’s, a chain of fast food joints in Bangalore brings back memories of undergrad days. The good old days, when we were so naïve and life was so much more simpler. I like the concept of darshinis something very unique to Bangalore, sometime I’ll go over it in detail.

So here is how you make urad vada, the ingredients being urad dal, pepper corns, green chilies, onions, ginger, salt and oil to fry the vadas. So you let urad dal soak for about 4 hours, then grind it to a paste with onions, green chillies, ginger and pepper corns. Add enough salt to taste and then deep fry the vadas in the hot oil in that typical vada shape (doughnut shaped). Then serve the hot vadas with coconut chutney or sambhar.

Best Friends

I think it is the weather, the Hurricane Hanna effects that we experiencing in CP or whatever is in the air now, I decided to write about Best Friends in general. I remember Vikas, one of my best friends, with a heart that was so pure, wherever you are Vikas I hope you read this sometime, (I never let my hopes drop down).


I have these fond memories, of having lunch with you, I loved the chappathi's and allu sabbjji that you used to get and it took me days maybe even weeks to realize that you would never come back to occupy the first place in that line for Class 1C, but there are still times when I remember you, and wonder how the world would be if you were here, maybe you would be a doctor like Munni, or maybe you would be like me or maybe you would have taken a different path, but this is just to reach out to you.


I still remember that day during assembly when your sister was wailing and Bhatia Ma'am was consoling her and I didnt have the faintest idea why you would never be there to play with me again. But when I think of that today my eyes well and I really wish you would be there here by my side!


I have many best friends, all along the way, every new stop I make in life I end up having atleast one best friend but as life rolls on we kind off lose touch with our best friends, not our fault not theirs, its just destiny's little crime, maybe an excuse may be not even. We lose some of them to time and some of them to ego but life still goes on.


We still remember them in those moments of reminiscence and we know that no matter what, we still have that special place reserved for them, but trust me it makes a world of a difference if you pick up the phone now and speak to one of those many best friends, time would have flown by, too much water would have flown over the bridge but still the warmth that it brings is far too valuable to be weighed with anything.


One of my friends', friends' recently asked me to watch out for her, I do not know if it is the fear of straying on the wrong path or if it is because she senses that my friend seems to be lost and needs someone but I found that so touching, we maybe at our points of highs or lows but still our best friends are always there to care for us, miles away, minutes away, sometimes even eons away. The feeling is in itself truly refreshing, so here is to Best Friends and in particular to Vikas, I know you will be there high above in heaven smiling down at me right now.

Jobless and eating chutney podi..

Read this article on Job Market recession and the trend right now, scary! The only consolation being it isnt as bad at 2001's recession or the 1990-1991 recession, but they say that is attributed to the fact that not many jobs were added to be cut down as compared to those periods hmm. Anyways when it hits you it hits you hard.

All this because I was cribbing about not having money to enjoy, which is the truth, not just for me but for anyone in my plight. The statistical figures relating to disposable income and joblessness is really interesting, read on at

http://online.wsj.com/article/SB122057362716301721.html?mod=todays_us_nonsub_money_and_investing

When times are bad they really are, its like one of those Murphy's laws.

On the cooking front, I feasted on rice and chutney podi yesterday, my mouth was so watering while I was taking the chutney podi dabbas out to eat with the hot rice. I still dont know how to make chutney podi, but apparently I discovered that there are a thousand varieties of chutney podi. People at home will be like, I cant believe your eating chutney podi with rice, but well you need to experience the 'away from home' feeling to determine the true worth of chutney podi.

Selling a concept - The Brew HaHa way..

Now this is a games bar located in good old garden city. Met up with my dearest pals there and had a ball of a time when I was in India last. Basically they'll loan you games like pictionary, scrabble and so on, along with the food. So you can order food and you can like play something while waiting/dining. There is an hourly rate for the game boards and the charges for the food is separate. Eventually you will be engrossed in the game and kind off pull it, you end up having more food or something to drink and they do good business. Well the concept sells well, the fact that it is strategically placed behind JNC gives business a run for itself. Nice nah!

It reminds me of Dave&Busters, just that its a bar and a restaurant in addition to a games parlor, http://www.daveandbusters.com/. You get to play snooker and games of that sort here.

Selling a concept - the Melting Pot way

This is something I am yet to experience, heard that there is this restaurant called The Melting Pot, http://www.meltingpot.com/ that sells by its fondue experience. Pretty neat huh! Imagine going through picking your meal and letting it cook before you, while you enjoy some small talk with maybe (not necessarily) your better half. I knid of like the concept but people who are averse to cooking wouldnt think too great of it. Be sure to read through the history at their site, cant believe its something thats been there for the past 30 years, ding dong, why doesnt something like that flash through my brain once in a while ?