Life's lately been a
seesaw. Up down Up again.
What more can I say?
:)
Sunday, June 27, 2010
Friday, June 25, 2010
Kachi keri ni chatni / Raw Mango Chutney
Food restores me like nothing else. And now that my blog is being neglected quite a bit, I thought I might as well break the silence with a few recipes.
Now, I feel chutney is something that hardly needs a recipe, mango, mint and coriander are the very basic ingredients. But then, I feel cooking is not about knowing what to cook and how, it is rather a process of being inspired to cook, on as regular a basis as possible, so that on your platter you have different variations of even the basic comfort food.
The sight of good food can compel you to take efforts in your kitchen too. That's why I keep reading so many food blogs. These wonderful women — Sailu, Shilpa, Shahana, Nupur, Indira, Sangeeta, and the valuable exception Mr Ushnish Ghosh — they work up such magic, that I have to admit that if I care to cook a little more than I used to, it's because of the interest they have inspired in me. I hope this mention of a humble chutney will inspire you to try out many different tangy-hot versions yourself..
Recipe:
The photo is of the mint-mango variety.
In a mixer, grind about 50 gm of chopped mint, half a raw mango, two green chillies, teaspoon of jeera (cumin), salt and sugar with very little water. I always grind all the ingredients without water first and then slowly add 2-3 tablespoons of water while grinding for the 2nd or 3rd time.
I found that instead of mint, coriander goes better with raw mango. The same recipe, using about 50 gm coriander instead of mint tasted infinitely better and retained a wonderful raw green colour that I am so fond of.
Add 2-3 cloves of garlic to the above mix, and you get another splendid taste. However, avoid using sugar when using garlic.
Note: I am not too specific about the quantity of coriander and mango. Use up whatever is available with you, adjust spices accordingly and you will get tasty variants each time. For example, if you use red-chillie powder instead of green chillies and use roasted cumin powder with garlic, the taste is very different.
Prepared thus, and stored in a clean bowl in the fridge, the chutney can last for 3-4 days. It will thicken / dry up and if you want, you can grind it again in a mixer with a little water and salt/chillie to taste after a day or two.
Now, I feel chutney is something that hardly needs a recipe, mango, mint and coriander are the very basic ingredients. But then, I feel cooking is not about knowing what to cook and how, it is rather a process of being inspired to cook, on as regular a basis as possible, so that on your platter you have different variations of even the basic comfort food.
The sight of good food can compel you to take efforts in your kitchen too. That's why I keep reading so many food blogs. These wonderful women — Sailu, Shilpa, Shahana, Nupur, Indira, Sangeeta, and the valuable exception Mr Ushnish Ghosh — they work up such magic, that I have to admit that if I care to cook a little more than I used to, it's because of the interest they have inspired in me. I hope this mention of a humble chutney will inspire you to try out many different tangy-hot versions yourself..
Recipe:
The photo is of the mint-mango variety.
In a mixer, grind about 50 gm of chopped mint, half a raw mango, two green chillies, teaspoon of jeera (cumin), salt and sugar with very little water. I always grind all the ingredients without water first and then slowly add 2-3 tablespoons of water while grinding for the 2nd or 3rd time.
I found that instead of mint, coriander goes better with raw mango. The same recipe, using about 50 gm coriander instead of mint tasted infinitely better and retained a wonderful raw green colour that I am so fond of.
Add 2-3 cloves of garlic to the above mix, and you get another splendid taste. However, avoid using sugar when using garlic.
Note: I am not too specific about the quantity of coriander and mango. Use up whatever is available with you, adjust spices accordingly and you will get tasty variants each time. For example, if you use red-chillie powder instead of green chillies and use roasted cumin powder with garlic, the taste is very different.
Prepared thus, and stored in a clean bowl in the fridge, the chutney can last for 3-4 days. It will thicken / dry up and if you want, you can grind it again in a mixer with a little water and salt/chillie to taste after a day or two.
Friday, June 11, 2010
Tuesday, May 11, 2010
If I were
If I were a month, I’d be September !
If I were a day of the week, I’d be Saturday !
If I were a time of day, I’d be Dawn!
If I were a season, I’d be Summer !
If I were a planet, I’d be Mercury !
If I were an animal, I’d (like) to be a Woman (again)!
If I were a direction, I’d be West !
If I were a piece of furniture, I’d be a Bench under a tree !
If I were a liquid, I’d be Nimbu pani!
If I were a tree, I’d be a Neem Tree !
If I were a tool, I’d be Long-nosed Plier !
If I were an element, I’d be Gold!
If I were a gemstone, I’d be Ruby!
If I were a musical instrument, I’d be Sanza!
If I were a color, I’d be Light green !
If I were an emotion, I’d be Hope !
If I were a fruit, I’d be an Orange !
If I were a sound, I’d be the sound of birds !
If I were a car, I’d be ...?? !
If I were food, I’d be Khichdi Kadhi !
If I were a taste, I’d be Sweet and Sour !
If I were a scent, I’d be Anais Anais !
If I were a pair of shoes, uggh!
If I were a bird, I’d be a Lovebird !
If I were a Fast bowler, I’d be kicked out of the team!
& If I were a Batsman, I’d be kicked out of the team!
Saw this done by Dhiren and immediately got at it...Swaram, Anu and G you might like doing this..
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
My sorrow is not for sale
My sorrow is not for sale,
Nor for exhibition.
Yet I end up auctioning my tears
The devil bids the highest.
GG. April 13.
Tuesday, March 23, 2010
Remembering Bhagat-Sukhdev-Rajguru, Ram Manohar Lohia, Kanu Sanyal and Tagore's Tota Kaahini
March 23, 2010 is the 79th death anniversary of Sukhdev Thapar, Shivaram Rajguru and Bhagat Singh and 100th birth anniversary of Ram Manohar Lohia. Today morning, Kanu Sanyal, a leading figure of the Naxalbari movement and the Communist Party of India (Marxist-Leninist), was found dead in his house. Initial reports suggest that the 78-year-old communist hanged himself. I would not have known about Sanyal, or remembered the martyr trio and R M Lohia, but for Vinod Dua's 9.30 news slot on NDTV India.
Seems unnerving that these Indian intellectuals, who remained staunch in their varied beliefs till the end, should be united in their life and death by this trivial, albeit uncanny coincidence.
On March 23, 1931
Three youths died
shouting slogans till their last breath
to keep the revolution alive.
More than six decades of sleep later,
they perhaps still scream in their graves:
Wake up.
Sadly for someone like me, a person born in a free, lethargic nation disillusioned with politics and corruption, the driving force of legends like Bhagat Singh that propelled them to defy leadership with such unflinching confidence can only generate awe, surprise and disbelief.
I feel alarmed and disgusted with the way Maoist cadres and socialist parties are behaving in recent times. My brush with die-hard communists has been limited to invisible and continuous waves of masses of thousands of people rushing towards Esplanade on foot or on trucks that make their presence felt by choking the traffic of even the city's most far-flung corners and its every single arterial road. They speak the same tune, argue the same logic and could be just as loyal to their cause as thousands of young men and women may have been during the freedom struggle more than six decades ago.
Any movement seems just when it takes birth. Slowly, the movement becomes the organ itself, the mission gets sidelined and finally buried under layers of big, hollow talk. Perhaps Rabindranath Tagore had envisioned the way the Communist movement (or any other governing mechanism as such) would end up as long back and had tried to warn the masses with his harmless-looking short story called Tota Kaahini or The Parrot's Tale.
To me, this story has wise metaphors. The foolish parrot is the uneducated, ignored mass of faceless people. The expensive gold cage, sham education, revelry and rigmarole is the all-powerful state machinery that tactfully misleads the masses from their objective. The fault-finder is a person who still has the ability to see and speak the truth - and so is a nuisance.
The biggest sorrow is that with time, people with strong, honest ideals (and not blind transfer of faith into a glorious-looking mass-movement) are becoming a rarity. The country is producing generations of self-engrossed young men and women (including me) each more below-average than the previous.
A dear teacher once confided in a casual, sad remark — "Since the past few years, all the new batches seem worse than the previous ones." Another teacher had also pointed out the same degeneration. "My old students would make my palms sweat with their string of questions. You people just eat up my words without arguing," he had sighed. Have we become a race that is too lazy and/or meek to ask and argue?
I hope that at least for the time we remember people like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, our sleeping conscience urges us to be as truthful and courageous as we can be in our daily affairs.
I end with an edited excerpt from Bhagat Singh's prison diary. Courtesy Wikipedia.
"The aim of life is ... not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life..."
Seems unnerving that these Indian intellectuals, who remained staunch in their varied beliefs till the end, should be united in their life and death by this trivial, albeit uncanny coincidence.
On March 23, 1931
Three youths died
shouting slogans till their last breath
to keep the revolution alive.
More than six decades of sleep later,
they perhaps still scream in their graves:
Wake up.
Sadly for someone like me, a person born in a free, lethargic nation disillusioned with politics and corruption, the driving force of legends like Bhagat Singh that propelled them to defy leadership with such unflinching confidence can only generate awe, surprise and disbelief.
I feel alarmed and disgusted with the way Maoist cadres and socialist parties are behaving in recent times. My brush with die-hard communists has been limited to invisible and continuous waves of masses of thousands of people rushing towards Esplanade on foot or on trucks that make their presence felt by choking the traffic of even the city's most far-flung corners and its every single arterial road. They speak the same tune, argue the same logic and could be just as loyal to their cause as thousands of young men and women may have been during the freedom struggle more than six decades ago.
Any movement seems just when it takes birth. Slowly, the movement becomes the organ itself, the mission gets sidelined and finally buried under layers of big, hollow talk. Perhaps Rabindranath Tagore had envisioned the way the Communist movement (or any other governing mechanism as such) would end up as long back and had tried to warn the masses with his harmless-looking short story called Tota Kaahini or The Parrot's Tale.
To me, this story has wise metaphors. The foolish parrot is the uneducated, ignored mass of faceless people. The expensive gold cage, sham education, revelry and rigmarole is the all-powerful state machinery that tactfully misleads the masses from their objective. The fault-finder is a person who still has the ability to see and speak the truth - and so is a nuisance.
The biggest sorrow is that with time, people with strong, honest ideals (and not blind transfer of faith into a glorious-looking mass-movement) are becoming a rarity. The country is producing generations of self-engrossed young men and women (including me) each more below-average than the previous.
A dear teacher once confided in a casual, sad remark — "Since the past few years, all the new batches seem worse than the previous ones." Another teacher had also pointed out the same degeneration. "My old students would make my palms sweat with their string of questions. You people just eat up my words without arguing," he had sighed. Have we become a race that is too lazy and/or meek to ask and argue?
I hope that at least for the time we remember people like Bhagat Singh, Rajguru and Sukhdev, our sleeping conscience urges us to be as truthful and courageous as we can be in our daily affairs.
I end with an edited excerpt from Bhagat Singh's prison diary. Courtesy Wikipedia.
"The aim of life is ... not to realise truth, beauty and good only in contemplation, but also in the actual experience of daily life..."
Wednesday, March 10, 2010
Discovering Gabriel Garcia Marquez
I introduced myself to Gabriel Garcia Marquez during my visit to Crossword in December 2009. I got Love in the Time of Cholera and One Hundred Years of Solitude to begin with.
Have read Love in... and must say that overall, I liked the book. More than the story, which I thought is marred by incidents of passion used as a stop-gap arrangement, I loved reading Garcia's description of places and people.
The chapters on the Paramaribo parrot and Fermina's varied pets are entertaining. That the parrot got excited seeing the pretty maids amused me no end. Dr. Juvenal Urbino's patient lessons to teach the bird Latin and French were also impressive, given my personal indulgence with all things animal. Marquez writes in a splendid style, extremely detailed and full of the darker sides of human character.
Talking about the storyline as such, I did not like Florentino Ariza's character, especially with the consequences of his last fling. It's a book you must read once, though not quite one that you can read again and again.*
I have really liked the novella Of Love and Other Demons. It makes for a quick reading with about 150 pages of power-packed writing. The preface, in which Marquez has explained how a reporting assignment in 1949 sowed the seed of this story, is extremely intriguing. Another fast read is a collection of stories titled Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, about 160 pages. I liked reading Innocent Erendira (the theme is presented as a short paragraph in One Hundred Years of Solitude) but somehow, Gabriel Garcia Marquez seems to end on a note of emotional cruelty each time.
The winner is Memories of My Melancholy Whores, one of the Nobel winner's most recent works. In one line, the story begins with a 90-year-old requisiting the services of a virgin. This adventure introduces him to something like love.
For the benefit of my readers, I quote some lines I found extremely poetic from this novel.
"Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future."
"Sex is the consolation you have when you can't have love."
...Morality, too, is a question of time, she would say with a malevolent smile...
"Whenever someone asks I always answer the truth: whores left me no time to be married."
*Edited to add: I am reading much more of Marquez now, and admit that my mind goes back to Love in the Time of Cholera. Definitely something I would read again. April 12, 2010.
***
So then, which are the new good books you have discovered?
Have read Love in... and must say that overall, I liked the book. More than the story, which I thought is marred by incidents of passion used as a stop-gap arrangement, I loved reading Garcia's description of places and people.
The chapters on the Paramaribo parrot and Fermina's varied pets are entertaining. That the parrot got excited seeing the pretty maids amused me no end. Dr. Juvenal Urbino's patient lessons to teach the bird Latin and French were also impressive, given my personal indulgence with all things animal. Marquez writes in a splendid style, extremely detailed and full of the darker sides of human character.
Talking about the storyline as such, I did not like Florentino Ariza's character, especially with the consequences of his last fling. It's a book you must read once, though not quite one that you can read again and again.*
I have really liked the novella Of Love and Other Demons. It makes for a quick reading with about 150 pages of power-packed writing. The preface, in which Marquez has explained how a reporting assignment in 1949 sowed the seed of this story, is extremely intriguing. Another fast read is a collection of stories titled Innocent Erendira and Other Stories, about 160 pages. I liked reading Innocent Erendira (the theme is presented as a short paragraph in One Hundred Years of Solitude) but somehow, Gabriel Garcia Marquez seems to end on a note of emotional cruelty each time.
The winner is Memories of My Melancholy Whores, one of the Nobel winner's most recent works. In one line, the story begins with a 90-year-old requisiting the services of a virgin. This adventure introduces him to something like love.
For the benefit of my readers, I quote some lines I found extremely poetic from this novel.
"Make no mistake: peaceful madmen are ahead of the future."
"Sex is the consolation you have when you can't have love."
...Morality, too, is a question of time, she would say with a malevolent smile...
"Whenever someone asks I always answer the truth: whores left me no time to be married."
*Edited to add: I am reading much more of Marquez now, and admit that my mind goes back to Love in the Time of Cholera. Definitely something I would read again. April 12, 2010.
***
So then, which are the new good books you have discovered?
Monday, March 01, 2010
Life rules, and how...
My blog is my salve. It's been some time now that it is keeping me company like a soulmate in those unearthly hours long after midnight and much before dawn .
There's this aversion to write analytically about current, disturbing issues. Similar to wanting to see a fun, masti movie instead of one with moral highgrounds once in a while.
For example, barely a few days after Shiv Sena blasted SRK for speaking up for a one-off comment in favour of Pakistani cricketers, my aaji pointed out that the party was mum when the Pakistani hockey team was playing India. Good blog-worthy point, I thought. Are controversies raised only when big finances (read SRK and cricket) are involved. Are controversies raked up only when big businesses can be held at ransom?
I could have read up and written, but I was not inclined to. I choose to focus on many other issues — extremely trivial but very personal...
Many more poems have filled up the little diary. My phone is busier than usual. My pets demand attention. I have discovered that I love gardening. We are coming closer, bonding better. It surprises me how life can take the turns you want. It surprises me even more how easy it is to let go and how difficult to hold on — or vice versa.
Some friends from the blogosphere have abandoned their blogs. It is an unfortunate loss to readers like me who take strength from their random, magical lives. Some new writers are coming to notice.
Life rules, and how? :)
There's this aversion to write analytically about current, disturbing issues. Similar to wanting to see a fun, masti movie instead of one with moral highgrounds once in a while.
For example, barely a few days after Shiv Sena blasted SRK for speaking up for a one-off comment in favour of Pakistani cricketers, my aaji pointed out that the party was mum when the Pakistani hockey team was playing India. Good blog-worthy point, I thought. Are controversies raised only when big finances (read SRK and cricket) are involved. Are controversies raked up only when big businesses can be held at ransom?
I could have read up and written, but I was not inclined to. I choose to focus on many other issues — extremely trivial but very personal...
Many more poems have filled up the little diary. My phone is busier than usual. My pets demand attention. I have discovered that I love gardening. We are coming closer, bonding better. It surprises me how life can take the turns you want. It surprises me even more how easy it is to let go and how difficult to hold on — or vice versa.
Some friends from the blogosphere have abandoned their blogs. It is an unfortunate loss to readers like me who take strength from their random, magical lives. Some new writers are coming to notice.
Life rules, and how? :)
Sunday, February 28, 2010
Monday, February 22, 2010
Somewhere
Somewhere alone, lonely
sleeps a weary soul.
Somewhere silent, sobbing
dreams a defeated soul.
Somewhere far away
lies are being woven,
truth being distorted.
Sleep. But how?
GG, Feb 21, Sunday
sleeps a weary soul.
Somewhere silent, sobbing
dreams a defeated soul.
Somewhere far away
lies are being woven,
truth being distorted.
Sleep. But how?
GG, Feb 21, Sunday
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Pros and Cons of Selective Blogging
And I have been selfish. How many of you, who are into professions even remotely related to the communications or media have known this selfish phase?
It happened some months ago that I began using the security of pen and paper instead of the instant online gratification of blogging. I began doing this after many great sentences and ideas vanished with the fumes of traffic for not having something to jot them down on.
With time, I had a huge collection of items 150-200 words each. These pieces, which I consider some of my best thoughts, now smell in the yellowing pages of a small little diary. Nothing wrong, some of you may say, the old-fashioned diary/letters is far more romantic. But I thought I am being selfish when I said, 'No, this is not for the blog, preserve this for better times.'
There are big minus points of saving your words like a squirrel who stores nuts for the winter. She can hope to relax like a queen in the future, but the present is incessant legwork, no?
A diary is alright when it comes to prose. But it is much more difficult to keep poems locked in bound pages. Most of the poems I have here on my blog are impromptu inspirations, thought and penned from start to the end on the blog itself — Why Do We, for example. With such fluid dialogue possible on the blog, accumulating my thoughts on paper and imposing an incommunicado on them is like having a stomachache due to a deep dark secret you have been burdened with.
I remember having written a post on why I blog. Apart from getting the pleasure to write and improve my skill, the biggest reason was having a readership that is open to a dialogue, is receptive of my ideas. When I wrote that post, I didn't even have half the readers I have now.
Today, some readers can gauge even the slightest of discomfort in my words. There are people who say beautiful deep words of promise without knowing that they lift me up. From my blog, I have known the joy of associating with frank, like-minded people who are not afraid to disagree.
So, being selective with my writing on this space, my blog that has nurtured and humbled me for more than four years now and with people who take time out for me, makes me wonder if I am being selfish.
Tell me, have you ever indulged in selective blogging?
It happened some months ago that I began using the security of pen and paper instead of the instant online gratification of blogging. I began doing this after many great sentences and ideas vanished with the fumes of traffic for not having something to jot them down on.
With time, I had a huge collection of items 150-200 words each. These pieces, which I consider some of my best thoughts, now smell in the yellowing pages of a small little diary. Nothing wrong, some of you may say, the old-fashioned diary/letters is far more romantic. But I thought I am being selfish when I said, 'No, this is not for the blog, preserve this for better times.'
There are big minus points of saving your words like a squirrel who stores nuts for the winter. She can hope to relax like a queen in the future, but the present is incessant legwork, no?
A diary is alright when it comes to prose. But it is much more difficult to keep poems locked in bound pages. Most of the poems I have here on my blog are impromptu inspirations, thought and penned from start to the end on the blog itself — Why Do We, for example. With such fluid dialogue possible on the blog, accumulating my thoughts on paper and imposing an incommunicado on them is like having a stomachache due to a deep dark secret you have been burdened with.
I remember having written a post on why I blog. Apart from getting the pleasure to write and improve my skill, the biggest reason was having a readership that is open to a dialogue, is receptive of my ideas. When I wrote that post, I didn't even have half the readers I have now.
Today, some readers can gauge even the slightest of discomfort in my words. There are people who say beautiful deep words of promise without knowing that they lift me up. From my blog, I have known the joy of associating with frank, like-minded people who are not afraid to disagree.
So, being selective with my writing on this space, my blog that has nurtured and humbled me for more than four years now and with people who take time out for me, makes me wonder if I am being selfish.
Tell me, have you ever indulged in selective blogging?
Monday, February 08, 2010
Hello...
For each one person who doesn't cooperate, you will find five who do. This is God's grace. Or if you are an atheist, this is your goodwill and efficiency that has earned you this support.
But I am not an atheist. My faith is unshakable. Even in my worst times, I have blamed and cursed him, but never broken my communication with him. So it be.
I might go on a break, I might flood this space with posts like never before. Keep in touch till then... :)
But I am not an atheist. My faith is unshakable. Even in my worst times, I have blamed and cursed him, but never broken my communication with him. So it be.
I might go on a break, I might flood this space with posts like never before. Keep in touch till then... :)
Saturday, January 16, 2010
And another day begins
And another day begins
Sunrise so fresh
after the stench of night
that was unbearable, uncouth.
And another day begins
Birds sing as if no one died.
-Gauri Gharpure
Kolkata, Jan 16.
Sunrise so fresh
after the stench of night
that was unbearable, uncouth.
And another day begins
Birds sing as if no one died.
-Gauri Gharpure
Kolkata, Jan 16.
Thursday, January 14, 2010
Uttarayan 2010
I keep reading Ahmedabad newspapers often and today being Uttarayan, I had to see the paper, with all those photos of families gathered on terraces, colourful kites, the talks of bor, sherdi and undhiyu...
I have come across an excellent article in the TOI's issue dated January 12, 2010. It's about an 86-year-old Ahmedabad-resident Homi Pestonji Ghadiyali who has flown kites every day, for most of his lifetime... The story has been written by Yogesh Chawda and the e-paper dated Jan 12 also has a very endearing photo of the octagenarian.
Read this story here.
Tuesday, January 05, 2010
How are you?
Even the light of the computer screen sparks a headache. The slightest sound, that of the rustling of a polythene bag, can trigger a ferocious fury. This, barely two days into the new year, seems unfair and jinxed.
Still here I am, writing for strangers and friends alike, writing for myself. For writing is the best medicine for me. Medicines, often as costly as the doctor thinks you can afford, have also been prescribed. Books ease up the tension that silence brings and radio gives the illusion of company. Strange working hours can make your system go upside down, inside out and yet, at the end of it, you love the liberty of daytime that the job offers. I am raring to go again to the incessant clicking of keyboards and the frequent references to the style book.
It's not just headaches and feeling low. There are things worth looking up to. I have been included in the Mysore Blog Park fraternity. The page rank, that had dropped to 3 some days back, is now again back at 4. Two-three more people now follow my blog. I will be well, soon. In the meanwhile, tell me how have you been...
Still here I am, writing for strangers and friends alike, writing for myself. For writing is the best medicine for me. Medicines, often as costly as the doctor thinks you can afford, have also been prescribed. Books ease up the tension that silence brings and radio gives the illusion of company. Strange working hours can make your system go upside down, inside out and yet, at the end of it, you love the liberty of daytime that the job offers. I am raring to go again to the incessant clicking of keyboards and the frequent references to the style book.
It's not just headaches and feeling low. There are things worth looking up to. I have been included in the Mysore Blog Park fraternity. The page rank, that had dropped to 3 some days back, is now again back at 4. Two-three more people now follow my blog. I will be well, soon. In the meanwhile, tell me how have you been...
Friday, December 18, 2009
Blogging by Mail Part 2 :)
Stephanie has just received the gift pack I put together for her.
Go, have a look at the Happy Sorceress' blog to see what I made for her ...
Go, have a look at the Happy Sorceress' blog to see what I made for her ...
Monday, December 14, 2009
Blogging by Mail....
How does it feel to get a parcel all the way from US full of lovely, carefully-chosen gifts? And that too, when the only thing that connects you with the sender is a blog. .. Exquisite, I must say. New media indeed connect, and how!
I signed up for Stephanie's Blogging by Mail initiative and have received a wonderful gift pack from Amelia barely few minutes back and am really excited...
She has included some very lovely gifts: two big slabs of dark chocolate, soft, adorable pair of socks in a pretty shade of light green, a scrub, a set of lovely hand creams in some delicious flavours like Cherry blossom, Vanilla Orchid, Wild Jasmine and a scented candle..
Amelia, I can't thank you enough..
I signed up for Stephanie's Blogging by Mail initiative and have received a wonderful gift pack from Amelia barely few minutes back and am really excited...
She has included some very lovely gifts: two big slabs of dark chocolate, soft, adorable pair of socks in a pretty shade of light green, a scrub, a set of lovely hand creams in some delicious flavours like Cherry blossom, Vanilla Orchid, Wild Jasmine and a scented candle..
Amelia, I can't thank you enough..
Friday, December 11, 2009
Technical hitches and a poem
Google reader is behaving erratically. My new posts are not being updated and am quite worried as I don't know how to set this right.
Bloggers with a gifted techie side, please help...
Other than that, there's a small poem I would like you to read.
A government hospital is written on my poem blog, Short and Sweet. Feedback, discussions most welcome on that site.
I wrote this the same day I posted the matar sandwich recipe.. Now you know why the quick fix. i had visited a filthy hospital ward that day and my spirit had drooped low, very low...
Bloggers with a gifted techie side, please help...
Other than that, there's a small poem I would like you to read.
A government hospital is written on my poem blog, Short and Sweet. Feedback, discussions most welcome on that site.
I wrote this the same day I posted the matar sandwich recipe.. Now you know why the quick fix. i had visited a filthy hospital ward that day and my spirit had drooped low, very low...
Tuesday, December 01, 2009
Quick fix
What do you do when you are feeling extremely nervous?
I for one, eat, sleep or write.
Here's a quick post, more to keep my mind away from certain things, than for the sake of updating the space here.
This is a sandwich recipe, extremely simple and delicious.
Made it for breakfast some days back.
Peas sandwich
Ingredients
Two cups of fresh / frozen peas
4-5 cloves of garlic
One inch piece of ginger
Half a green chilli (adjust according to taste)
Salt
Heat frozen peas in water for 5-6 minutes, till soft. Discard the water, wash and dry.
In a chutney jar, grind the peas, garlic, ginger, salt and chillie to form a course paste. Do not add water or mash it too fine.
In a pan, heat a small spoonful of oil and fry the peas paste for 3-4 minutes.
Spread this on bread. You may toast it too... I feel this sandwich goes better with coriander/pudina chutney but ketchup works just as well...
Friday, November 27, 2009
Another tag comes my way pretty soon. I loved doing this one. Thanks G for tagging me...
Here it goes:
1.Where is your cell phone?
Near the keyboard
2.Your hair?
Oiled and tied
3.Your mother?
great cook, very giving
4.Your father?
unworldly
5.Your favorite food?
daal bhat pickle @ home, sizzlers outside
6. Your dream last night?
can’t remember.. was something about ahmedabad
7. Your favorite drink?
Sprite, Screwdriver, chhas
8. Your dream / goal?
to write well, earn more than enough
9. What room are you in?
office
10.Your hobby?
making jewellery, reading
11.Your fear?
losing people
12.Where do you want to be in 6 years?
better pay, house, baby shud be fine
13.Where were you last night?
office
14.Something that you aren’t?
….?
15.Muffins?
gladly
16.Wish list item?
Graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, Big Sur, Dharma Bums, Broken April
17.Where did you grow up?
Ahmedabad
18.Last thing you did?
saved some copies
19.What are you wearing?
jeans, top camouflaged in sweater and shawl
20.Your TV?
not sure which brand
21.Your pets?
three lovebirds, including a very silly baby
22.Friends?
Yes!!
23.Your life?
more than good
24.Your mood?
happy
25.Missing someone?
not at this moment
26.Vehicle?
not now, ahmedabad days, I had a Honda activa bike.. now it lies unused in Kolkata
27.Something you’re not wearing?
a cap
28.Your favorite store?
shops at Gariahat, New Market, spencers
Your favorite color?
light green of the fields, pink/red to wear
29.When was the last time you laughed?
some minutes back
30.Last time you cried?
5-6 days ago
31.Your best friend?
Reni, my sis
32.One place that you go to over and over?
City Centre Salt Lake … if I could, Ahmedabad, Himachal/Uttaranchal
33.One person who emails me regularly?
my father
34.Favorite place to eat?
Peter Cat
I tag Solilo, Dhiren, Doremi and Shweta
Here it goes:
1.Where is your cell phone?
Near the keyboard
2.Your hair?
Oiled and tied
3.Your mother?
great cook, very giving
4.Your father?
unworldly
5.Your favorite food?
daal bhat pickle @ home, sizzlers outside
6. Your dream last night?
can’t remember.. was something about ahmedabad
7. Your favorite drink?
Sprite, Screwdriver, chhas
8. Your dream / goal?
to write well, earn more than enough
9. What room are you in?
office
10.Your hobby?
making jewellery, reading
11.Your fear?
losing people
12.Where do you want to be in 6 years?
better pay, house, baby shud be fine
13.Where were you last night?
office
14.Something that you aren’t?
….?
15.Muffins?
gladly
16.Wish list item?
Graphic novels by Marjane Satrapi, Big Sur, Dharma Bums, Broken April
17.Where did you grow up?
Ahmedabad
18.Last thing you did?
saved some copies
19.What are you wearing?
jeans, top camouflaged in sweater and shawl
20.Your TV?
not sure which brand
21.Your pets?
three lovebirds, including a very silly baby
22.Friends?
Yes!!
23.Your life?
more than good
24.Your mood?
happy
25.Missing someone?
not at this moment
26.Vehicle?
not now, ahmedabad days, I had a Honda activa bike.. now it lies unused in Kolkata
27.Something you’re not wearing?
a cap
28.Your favorite store?
shops at Gariahat, New Market, spencers
Your favorite color?
light green of the fields, pink/red to wear
29.When was the last time you laughed?
some minutes back
30.Last time you cried?
5-6 days ago
31.Your best friend?
Reni, my sis
32.One place that you go to over and over?
City Centre Salt Lake … if I could, Ahmedabad, Himachal/Uttaranchal
33.One person who emails me regularly?
my father
34.Favorite place to eat?
Peter Cat
I tag Solilo, Dhiren, Doremi and Shweta
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