The English Breakfast Birthday

When you know your husband loves sausage and bacon you pretty much jump on this idea!
So I decided to surprise Rakesh with this breakfast.
http://www.partycity.com/ was a great one stop shop for all the decorations!
While I am yet to won my ivory crockery...I could do with this for now.
Thanks to this guy on youtube, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zXxmeHWWpfU I put together the hot tum yum breakfast! It's an ensemble in a way where everything gets done at the same time by the end of it..the beans, the mushrooms, the bread, eggs, grilled tomatoes, sausage and bacon- all HOT!
Verdict- hubby loved it.
Short of being a Non-vegetarian..the one who only eats certain looking type of chicken, I wish I could cook up the meat myself:) but he appreciated this!

My looooong Happy Diwali Message to you!

I am still biologically clocked to wake up early on Diwali ?
Back home I remember to waking up to those pungent burnt cracker smell, littered red bits of papers and a sense of urgency. The urgency always fought with resistance. Mummy Papa always wanted you to bathe quickly and get Diwali chores started even though it was your precious holiday. I don't think I could sleep through the buzz and excitement anyways. In a way the tasks are all divided..and by the end of it the Toran would be hung on the wall, the house was smacking clean(the Diwali cleaning fare! = All of Dussera Holidays :-O, go figure!), Rangoli made..and then till evening all you did was roam in dressy clothes, wish wish and wish! First it used to be the landline fight where with just one phone and 4 people in the house..the excitement when the phone buzzed with three long rings(remember the STD calls)..and then we just ate, ate all the snacks Mummy made. I miss them now. And then we would hop around houses with plates loaded with snacks and peep into our neighbours houses and come back with a even more loaded plate of snacks, and eat some more.:D. Making the special Moong Dal ka Halwa for like 4 to 5 hours was so worth it..if you are old enough and mom can manage to get hold of you..then you are stuck in the kitchen with an aching arm scraping off the Kadhai, but it was so worth it! No quick tricks, no hurry, no fretting...just making it like its made every single time only this time of the year at our home.
 I cannot forget to mention the long stretches of hot afternoons me and brother spent on the terrace bursting the red tiny bijli bombs, man! were they a bang for your buck or what! Rs. 18 I think for 100  bombs and time pass for 2 to 3 hours between begging to let me burst and trying to burst the phus phus ones! Papa got them for us till we were kids..and you would know the usual platter of Phuljhari, Anar, Chakli..and then only my Brother, Bhaiya and Papa would burst the green nasty Atom Bombs..I cannot remember which Diwali I graduated to Lakhmi Bombs though. And then they got costlier and fancier, now the crackers were sold outside every galli, so every hour we would bug our parents to let us something or the other! I though there was something funny about the Onion Bombs, you know the ones that are shaped liked an Onions and you hit them on the floor and they burst. It also takes me back to the kindergarten days of started crackers with those pistols..with strips of dots of gunpowder? No clue. And those smokeyyyyyy snakess with the most horrible smell! And then you move on once you have a Phuljari...with more power in your hands. It used to be fun to get together with cousins and burst crackers literally through the night..I can remember most of them being chilly. By later in the 1990s the skies got prettier and more sparkling by the year with the fancy rockets and you would twist and turn your neck in every angle not to miss a single one! But the best rockets were those stick ones, which you had to station in a bottle and then set off! So many times the bottle fell off:-O, rockets burst in the bottle and we tried to be so creative with them. We used to try to set them off from a heap of mud, direct it somewhere it shouldn't go :P, just stand there till you could see the last strand of the string you lit was still burning and what not. Now the crackers were over and all the other fun began. Heaping the kachra and making a mini campfire and all those phus phus bombs burning off animating the whole fire! By two to three days after Diwali the noise calms, the smells are gone and the streets are cleaned off this extra kachra.
As soon as it was evening..(It is evening there right now :) ) we started with getting ready for the Lakshmi Pooja, the prasad..and before you knew it..Diwali was over! Sitting in the smokey house, uncomfortable in the crispy new clothes..waiting for the Envelopes from Papa was the best part of Diwali somehow. There is something about these long tedious things we used to do back then ...which leaves spaces and blanks in the days now because I din't sit and spend hours making that Moong Dal ka Halwa but all those hours just thinking about it..thinking about how desperately you wait for the house to start smelling till the rawness of the dal was gone...and you would be off duty! Lighting the diyas in already lit up warm balconies was very different from these diyas I line in my patio where they try to illuminate my balcony but no more. And all those times I fret about the noisey crackers and the 1000 ka ladis...I got my peace of mind here I guess where I don't even hear a loud 'Happy Diwali'.
My dal must have soaked alright, so I will go and make the Vadas for breakfast, will use the rice flour to make rangoli, light a few tea lights and do a small Pooja.
I don't just want to wish you a Happy Diwali. I want to tell you to cherish all the memories you have if you are away from home, go and meet people who might have yummy snacks at home :P, call home..do something you can that you did back home. I wish that this Diwali you get the strength to do what you have been postponing, fight your fears and do something good if you can. Get ladoos and sweets for all people who help you everyday I guess..well now some of them demand Bakshish...but so what, we were not nice enough to give it to them in the first place I guess. Show some love to the watchman ka family, his kids stand there all day hoping someone will hand out a Phuljari to them! I wish you those sparkling smiles and all the warmth of your family. Remember all those who lit your world...who are not with you today..call them I guess..and pray to those you cannot(I miss you Papa!).

H for ....H4!

Hello,

I am H4.

That's not so much as a statement anymore than definition of me in this country. 

That's not just my status anymore, it pretty much defines what I can and cannot do.

That's not just a stamp on my visa, it's pretty much my identity.

Some experienced brushed by the Texan air for a long time commented, "Oh hi, you are on dependent...that must suck". Oh no I thought..what would they know..I have all the time in the world to do everything I always wanted.

A long vacation is what I call/called it. My mood as on now would say ..umm., called.

Each day, the H4 status sinks me in more and more in different ways.

I cannot work, I cannot earn, I have a 3 years Bachelors-so I cannot really study.. but life is good otherwise.

I try to apply for volunteering work..maybe they never call me back because they don't know how to pronounce my name? I don't know, I try to call some of the non-profit organizations confidently encompassing my work experience of 6 years-but it's complicated for them or I am not good enough..Apart from that life's good.

Each day starts with a hope to do something productive, each day ends with a reality check..Apart from that life's good.

I can cook and cook, oh ya discover baking, post pictures, rediscover the joy in editing my images, doing all kinds of crafts..it's fun. It's fun for a while. Library is great, you have access to amazing books, you can dwell for a while. Call me too impatient. Call me too distracted. I need to be productive. I want to be a productive.

But for some reason I cannot. I do not understand why. Keep reading numerous posts, forums, optimistic thoughts, cynical issues, pessimistic.. hopeless...rantings. 

Yesss I am optimistic most of the times but so many doors keep shutting off one by one, it would rue off and shoo off anyone. If you never one, you would become a couch potato. 

I miss my bike. I cannot drive as yet, yes totally my fault. But even if I could...I don't really have anywhere to go..ya ya..the malls and the shopping don't feel any good either after a point of time.

Anyways, my point is.

Don't blame me for ranting, yes I know I could have planned better. But heck, I want to 'document' this. One day, when I drive in the right lane, swiping my i.d card, getting my coffee breaks...I want to remember this.

You are do &&^(^%%(ing with me dreamland!!!

Said Not

How the sun shines out,

everyday,

making the days yellow and blue too,

bringing closer you to you.

Humming surreal what it is to you,

Drifting so real,

the unrealized, the unfelt, 

we would never know.

The unsaid to be said,

the untried, he failures, the unhoped,

the hope to follow,

the undone to be done.

Live once in thought, 

in any moment,

if it was yours, 

if it soaked you in,

drenched I might be,

not cold but wet.

Carrying abundance,

of what?

We wither, we shed, we shred,

too much to put together, but there is.

Just to be,

in the here and now,

at desk, on table mats, on paved paths,

midst of colourful wires and neon lights,

while sipping cups, while staring at rust,

break into my daytimes, few of those.

Feelings for felt craft

It was the first time I felt for Felt Craft when I was zipping around on the streets of Goa. The colourful shop wouldnt just let me get by! So took a U-turn and got in there...It was a nice warm mushy fabric bringing comfort in so many different shapes and colours. That's what I love about craft. The ability to make your imaginations come true. And this form was just beautiful. I buttoned up a colourful flower on my straw hat, and bought a pretty Ladybug purse for myself. I did pay a humongous amount at that time...but I had never seen it elsewhere in Hyd...The shopkeeper mentioned that he got these products from Himachal Pradesh. I never found this fabric in Hyd. But here in the US, it's easily available. I bought a few sheets to start my experiments and express some love! Here is how it's starting to blossom. Thanks to so many of those who post their tutorials....I will do it someday too if I get good at it that is :)

Cupped Tortilla

Prep- Pre heat the Oven to 400 F

For the dough:

Use 1 1/2 cup of whole wheat, 1/2 cup of all purpose flour, pinch of salt, pinch of baking powder.

For the filling:

I used corn, chopped onions, tomatoes,green chillies,corriander. Season it with black rock salt, black pepper, salt and some Italian Dressing and lemon juice.

Bake the tortilla cups for 14-16 minutes

Let them cool and then fill the filling and serve!:)

My Oooops Moments :-O

- Some of the Tortilla cups got too thick, so make sure yours are as thin as possible.

- While filling in the fill..make sure you do not pour in the liquid(from the lemon especially) or it starts dripping when people bite into the cups.

Baked Gobhi

Prep: Pre heat the oven to 400F

Cut the florets into even sizes since it they all will roast even that way.

Wash the florets thoroughly and pat dry 

In a bowl pour in just enough olive oil that will wrap around the florets(you dont want it dripping around), add in some salt, season with chaat masala, rock salt, turmeric and chilli powder. Now mix this well with the oil and then toss the Cauliflower florets in this mix. Once its nicely wrapped, they are ready for roasting.

Spread across the florets on the try and let them bake for 20 minutes, then toss them around and bake for another 15-18 minutes.

Serve with some ketchup or green chutney!:)