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!:)

Chocolate Pecan Brownies

 Makes10 small piece

- prep : Always remove eggs from the refrigerator  in case they are cold and allow them to come to room temperature.

-Pre heat the oven to 350 F

-Start Mixing in a bowl:

1/4 tbs baking soda

1/2 cup cocoa (I used Hershey's)

1/2 Cooking oil

1/2 Boiling Water

Let this become a nice thick paste and then add..

1 cup All purpose flour

1/4 tbs/ 2 drops of Vanilla Extract

1/2 tbs salt

Toss in the Pecans now...you can choose the nuts you want and make sure they are small

Grease the pan well and use a parchment sheet if you have one, I made mine without it but buttered the pan well and sprinkles some cocoa powder (since its a chocolate cake ;) ) 

Pour the batter and then bake it for ideally 30 minutes, do  the toothpick test , where you poke it in and if it comes out clean...your cake is ready!!! Cool it for a while before serving.

Ref:http://www.deepsouthdish.com/2010/05/homemade-chocolate-brownies.html

TRY THIS TIP:Spread into a lined and greased 9"x13" pan. Bake at 350 for 30 minutes. Whenever I cook brownies, I lower the heat to 325 as soon as I put the brownies in oven and cook for a few extra minutes. This helps to prevent hard, crunchy edges.

Cupcakes: Basic and Chocolate

Prep:

Proportionwise I used half a cup of sugar and half a cup of butter and one and a half cup of all purpose flour.

Mix together sugar and butter till the mixture is nice and fluffy, about 4 minutes is good.

Mix in flour, half a tbsp salt(if the butter you used is unsalted), one tbsp of baking powder.

Now keep adding this flour to the butter and sugar mixture...alternating it with milk...just enough so that the batter is of pasty consistency. Also add in Vanilla extract at this point. 

-Variation: I had some cocoa powder so I added that in some part of the batter..add in some sugar coz cocoa is very bitter.

Baking: Preheat the oven to 350 F and bake the cuppies for a perfect 25 minutes on the middle rack!

Allow the cupcakes to cook a little before you take them off.

Baked samosa:

For dough:

2 cups of all purpose flour

4 tbsp oil

some salt

luke warm water to knead the dough.

Filling:

Prepare a mixture of mashed boiled potatoes, add in chaat masala, amchur, cumin powder, red chili powder, black pepper powder. Mix them all well and keep aside.

pour in oil, cumin seeds, finely chopped ginger, peas, coriander powder and turmeric powder, now add in the above mention potatoes mixture

Once it starts cooking, add in some garam masala, turn off the stove and then add some lemon juice for the tangy touch.

Fill in the filling in the dough, as you make a semicircle and fold the sides to make the traingular shaped samosas. Always use little water to seal the edges. 

Baking:

Pre heat the oven to 350 F, then turn it down to 335 F and then let the samosas bake for 20 minutes and then turn them around and let them bake for another 20 minutes.

Maybe I am a polka dot

Standing under the lamp post
I look up and sigh
Wandering inside the rolling windows
I look around and find, sometimes

Just twinkling mysteries like so many other things
I figure out that I can figure not
I almost forget them sometimes too
and then I remember to remember

In love of lost wonder visits
from terraces, from the snow
from train rides and bumpy ones too
they never seem to change

For they say everything changes
and everyone goes one day
they somehow manage to stay
far far away

Lone together they all shimmer
making pictures and constellations my friends know of
I make of them pretty flowers and angles
they are beautiful with another meaning

Probably they stare
killing time in what slow motion
We and our lives just mere dots
And may be, I am a polka dot afterall

Methi Chaman

Always fancied the dish at the restaurant..and finally with the help of the thousand blog recipes I managed to make mine like one too :) Was surprised how simple it was.

Note all the ingredients in gree.

Step 1: Blanch(Boil in hot water and then drain it) palak/spinach and methi/fenugreek leaves. Blend this in a blender and make it a fine paste.

Step 2: Finely chop onions and garlic and green chilies

Method: 

In a pan heat oil on mid-high flame, and put in Bayleaves, cloves, Cinnamon stick, black cardamom. Then put in cumin seeds, once they start crackling in put in the chopped green chilies and garlic, then when they turn slightly golden, put in the chopped onions, wait for them to become translucent. Now add in turmeric, coriander powder, salt(keep in mind that with spinach it's better to use than usual amount of salt) Once the masalas roast, add in the spinach and fenugreek paste. Now let this cook till the oil separates. Now add in a little water depending on the consistency you want for the gravy of this dish. Now let this gravy boil, and then toss in the Cottage Cheese. You can roast the cheese if you are using frozen cottage cheese, in case you have fresh cottage cheese then you can use fresh cottage cheese itself. Let it cook till the cottage cheese is soft on low flame and then the dish is done!

Dry Chicken Snack- Indian

Being a Chicken eating newbie I am just about exploring my comfort zone with it...and I must say we are getting along quite well. So here I am with all the time in the world to do things I have wanted to :) Cooking fares well on the list...and I will keep adding the recipes of the ones which have turned out pretty decent so far :) even my Hubby says so :D (nopes not at gun point :P ) I have taken help from friends, family and looked online for all the recipes...and eventually it turns out to be a dish with a little twist I might feel makes the dish tastier or sometimes practically ( read ingredients missing :P ) and also a matter of convenience ( Hubby will be home early :-o).

So this is my first Chicken Snack that I tried over a web chat with my friend Mithun...who discovered  his fancy for cooking after he left for Australia....it turned out to be a cracker and could go well with the drinks, oh yea ;). So here it goes.

You would need:(all ingredients are in green...and sorry am not that good at proportions as yet)

Frozen Chicken Breast( Yup I am a starter alright ) - Microwave them for about 3 minutes or use the Auto defrost setting to break the ice! Cut them into nice cubes which would make sumptuous bites. 

For the Tadka:

Take Oil, add finely chopped green chilies, garlic and ginger...after that cooks a little...add on Curry leaves (be generous with these as it brings out a nice flavor), add salt to taste, pinch of turmeric, chopped Onions( the onions need to be bigger dices and not finely chopped).

Once the onions also go golden brown, toss in the Chicken pieces ,,,and cook it on a mid-high flame so as to let it cook good and also have a little charring(be careful not to go over the top, or you would have burnt Chicken :D) . In the end, turn off the stove, sprinkle veryyy little Chicken Tikka Masala(one of those readymade powders you get at any Indian grocery store) and put the lid and let it hold on for 5 minutes.

Tadan! Your Dry Chicken Snack is now ready....it's so simple...even I could make it :D.

Oooops: The first time I made this, I ended up sauteing the garlic for a tad bit too long...and I had to call this dish 'Burnt Garlic Dry Chicken' :D. So that could actually be another version too.

Cheers! :)

If I ever forget, I hope I am reminded how I feel right now

I see how I am about to get more entangled in the wordly affairs of my affairs and worlds which are more than intertwined than ever...

I know of bank balances

I know of unworthy expenses

I know of things that I want to afford

I know of things I can afford

I know of things I cannot afford

Too much coiny noise as these thoughts fall in my head, one by one, coin by coin, almost giving me a headache.

It will never be enough.

If I am done with my list, it will be only for the moment.

All the worries in the world will always be there...let's see how we can make the most of the in betweens.

I want to make the worries seem petty

I want to make the worries worth it

I want to make the happiness worth it

Yours naively Optimist

Talking conversation- Beauty

And I asked myself, how do people make beatuiful things.

And I told myself, may be beutiful people make things which turn out beatuiful because they are made by beautiful thoughts?

ANd then I thought, people just make things, and they could be beautiful to me or you.

And there would be things that people wanting to be beautiful, and hence the thought, the will nurtures it into something beautiful.

I asked myself, why do I want to create something something?

No answer for a long while...

Who would you want(really) for it to look beautiful to ? ( could be a grammatical error there)

Hesitating to answer....

Ok! What if you have created something beautiful ?

I would feel happy I guess.

How would you know it's beautiful?

ummm...When others tell me that it's beautiful, i guess...ummm

Sometimes, I love what I make...and it's beautiful to me..

Is it enough that I see the beauty and no one else does?

Ummm...depends, sometimes I don't even want to share with anyone what I have made.

But ya, it's nice when people like it too...it's like sharing something nice with everyone..and anyone , it kind of connects you with the people who might have something common with you....since you seem to have the similar liking to start with...

What is 'beauty'?

Hard to define.....think it could be relative sometimes....so when you think something is beautiful...it could mean I have never seen anything like this before. Beauty could be the best possible imaginable way that the creator has put out...something which you could not think about or beyond. Beauty could be an interpretation of a thought that never occurred to me. But I guess a flower can be beautiful inspite of the fact that there is nothing new about it. Beauty to me could be sheer appreciation or actualization or coming into being what something is potential of...It's a like a paper and a pencil...when a beautiful sketch is made...its realization of the fact...that something is created out of mediums which would be independently be redundant in a way...so it could be appreciation of the actualization of the numerous possibilities. Beauty has to be in my mind, for me to realize something is beautiful...Beauty is I think inside me...I think...but that way, it means that everything to me should look beautiful? But if I do not have beauty inside...how will see it? and obviously Beauty is subjective, but that is a characteristic more than answering what beauty is. Beauty is also in a way a calling? to show you the path to realize something that you enjoy....to help connect oneself....the very fact that we find something beautiful, according to me comes because you connect to something. Beauty could be a mere reflection of my thoughts...

Hmmm sometimes, beauty is something I feel that I cannot create, as in, something that I feel I am not capable of creating...

Okay, may be try to twist the question, Why do i like what I like?

Longggg pause, partly because i cannot concentrate for too long :-/ and party because I am trying to get rid of my habit to pluck split ends in my hair, and the more i try, the more i remember it, the more i do, the more i try to stop...and it turns into a vicious little distraction.

..>Still trying to break the thought process...

A cone in a cone

Flying in shapes that form to begin
Softening edges drying beyond
Sharpening a vision
Caressing the noises
Hushing the screaming stories
Often touched by featured softness
Often fallen, broken, torn
Stitching and clinging
Leaving and living
Far and stretched
Hazed and sound
Furry and delight
Like Ice cream in fright
I feel it all together
For all it smells is sweet
How matter integrates to disintegrate..
and form to deform
We make stories all along
melting again and beyond
An Ice cream to be
thoughts frozen somewhere
relish and yumm
would be ...should be...

Quilling spree

Well after a long time got crafting, not that I had anything so pretty earlier. A colleague introduced me to this almost miniature paper craft factory!!

About to scatter

A feeling like the glass would feel
before it would sliver into pieces beyond
a count of thousand miles
away from itself when it would all fall apart

A shiver in the eyes
of the evil mind
before it commits the hideous crime
for all you know that is only in his mind

A loud shouting call
before you are about
to rust in that mark
that you would be shameful about

About to break
you try to piece them together
but pieces they are
already fragmented
all ready broken
is the thought
is the heart

To find
you have lose yourself
to figure our
you have to define
words fly all across
and thoughts are crawling
hidden and playing
folly and teasing

I in I

enough of times of tying around
enough it is to mellow down
hanging out loud and out
wanting and not wanting to be figured out.

Knock each nut
crush each thought
to remain in seclusion
to remain in remains

no windows
no clouds
around me
and me around

Asking myself
Have I found
Asking them
Have I been found


Tossing in an orbit
of constant doubt
knowing unkowing
Hoping to tread out

To choose the way
looking for direction
To know the answer
looking for questions

How the loud silence erodes
bit by bit
pie by pie
uff, where is the I in I.


I is almost i.e
That, that is
and that, that is not.

I miss you, full stop not comma

I hate to miss you

and then you keep coming by

in those fonts

and in those colours

You must have been a magician

playing your disappearing acts

loving applauds of sweet kinds

but what about the sweeter kinds?

I count on the moving buses

looking for faces that almost look like you

I search and sigh

I know I wouldnt find you

Inching thoughts of your day

I wonder why you are so far away

I design and structure my thoughts

to fit in some logical answer

How I would sulk

how I wouldn't even mind

I juggle moods in a second

As soon as I see you

No pinks no purples

I like when you are not around

They all fade a shade

that's when I know

I do, I miss you

Not caressed, not seen

those moods fly in my time

die a sweet death

when you make me smile

Times when you are here

but only in thoughts

there is a spot so vacant

waiting to be occupied

Waiting dot

Waiting commas

Waiting rests in my letters

Waiting rests in my eyes

Told and untold

but it's always there

Too used to

Too love in to

I would declare a war one day

Not wave or smile

if you came my way

but imagine of the misery

If i miss even when you are to stay

How much i would miss if you were gone away....

--

Divya

Begin doing what you want to do now. We are not living in eternity.

We have only this moment, sparkling like a star in our hand-and melting

like a snowflake...” ~ Francis Bacon Sr.