Dahi vada

1. Moong daal chilke waali ya bina chilke waali ( apni apni pasand par ) ya dono half half mix karke raat ko bhigo dain.
2. Subha usko mixer main grind kar lain (dhiyan rahe ki peesne main jiyada paani nahee dalna hai varna pitthi bahut liquidi ho jaayegi )aur phir churner se churn kar lain.
3. Ab ek kadhai main oil garam karke us main pakodi bana lain tatha ek bartan main paani lekar usmain thoda namak mila lain aur pakodi utarte hee is paani main dubote jaaye.
4. jab pakodi soft ho jaayain tab chhane hue dahi main thoda sa namak daal kar paani main daali hui pakodiyon ko halke haath se sara pani nichod kar dahi main daal kar rakh dain.
5. aadhe ghante baad bhuna hua pisa zeera ,laal mirch aur meethi chatni daal kar serve karain

--Sushil

Life in Dec 07

We got moved to a new building over the weekend. After months of working in conference rooms it was quite a relief to be back in a cubicle I can call home. Since the HP laptop from office sucks and worsens my carpal tunnel, I left it at work hoping to log into it from home. Lucky for me, it went offline and I finally got a breather from work and a chance to finally write this blog.

So I was sick this weekend…generally, from the change in weather. Ended up being at home for the most part. Watched the LSU/Tennesse game after Ash called me a couple times. Got quite into it after a while. Was nice hearing the band after so long. And of course, the victory was a cheerer-upper.

Also watched Ratatouille. I must say, I am unimpressed. The story was way too complex for an animation and the events unbelievable even for the cartoon world. Didn?t really fall on love with any of the characters. My favorite animations are still Shrek, Monsters Inc and Spirit, in that order. Of course The Lion King is in a class by itself smile

Atta halwa

1 cup coarsely grounded whole wheat flour (gehun ka atta)
1 cup pure ghee
1 cupsugar
3 1/2 cupswater

Method

1.Heat ghee in a kadai and add the flour. roast, stirring continuously for eight to ten minutes or till it turns red.
2.Add water, stir and cook for five minutes or till it is a little thick. add more water if required.
3.Add sugar and mix. cook for five more minutes or till it leaves the sides of the pan.
4.Serve hot.

--Sushil

Sprouts

Sprouts mein namak daal kar usko dheemi aanch par gala lain. Phir thanda hone ke baad ismain kata hua kheera,capsicum,hari mirch, tamatar aur neebu daal kar naashte ka maza lain.

--Sushil

California Trip

Ok, so here I am back again after a long long time. Nearly two years! How time does fly?.even when you are not having fun!!!

Yes, the trip to California was amazing. I think I want to retire there eventually. This does conflict with my prior plans to retire in India and to get deeply involved with some projects that I have had my mind on. We?ll see. Maybe I can maintain two residences ?hehe?.no harm in dreaming!

Now about the California trip?.

Wish I had written things down sooner, I mean, soon after the trip. Now things are foggier. At my age, it is forgivable perhaps?

So one of the best things, of course, was the profusion of Desi food. You have choices! And SFO as a city was just so fun. I am sure if we lived there, I would love to just walk around and enjoy the city. We never did get to ride the street cars either..

And our first day, we went to the Redwoods. I think NM were not very enthu about it when we started out but once we were there, they absolutely loved it. You know how Nan gets into these kind of places. And Mitthu just totally was passionate about saving the trees and the animal life that exists in the forests. We had fun. Although the waterfall that they had promised us was QUITE a letdown. It was like a little trickle of water falling from a height of 20 feet. I mean, come on! But even so, we all enjoyed the place and we came back satisfied and happy. And then we stopped at a lookout point on the way back and they fell in love with it even more. Just the sight of the mountain ranges and the quiet?.

NM remember the Voight (Spelling?) Tower a lot. And the view of the harbor was just amazing. All that I have read about SFO and the harbor just started to make sense. Beautiful beautiful place

And the scenes along the Route 1. You could spend hours sitting there and watching the ocean. Although the birds may drive you away eventually.

And that place which was the old bathhouse. Then again, the beach at Carmel and the other one on the way (don?t even remember names anymore). The sea lions were fun to watch too.

Watched this show at the Pier 39 area. Sort of a magician, acrobat and a comic act rolled into one. Nanu and Mitthu went crazy laughing. I was amazed to see that Mitthu also has a strong sense of humor at 7!!

Santa Cruz was fun too. Although really, you can do those rides anywhere. But having them at the beach added an element to it.

Meeting Alka and Prerna was fun. Amazing how much each one has changed. Prerna seems to have lost her ?spunk?, her devil-may-care attitude. And Alka on the other hand has metamorphosed completely. I wish I had met Bela as well. Would have been interesting. And it would be even more interesting to hear what they really though after meeting me?

The China town area was fun too. Wanted to buy so many things but it would have been silly to bring stuff like that from US to Australia. Enough Chinese stuff available here, I can say.

Oh, I have to mention the bookshop we went to. What was that street called? Can?t remember. B, you know what I am talking about?

Anyway, the bookshop was just amazing. So many books on so many topics. And all very neatly organized. Bought Mitthu her first Harry Potter book from there. Unfortunately, when we landed in Melbourne she had in her hand and she kept it in the luggage cart. And then when Vivek unloaded the luggage into the car, he never noticed it and he left it there. She has been so upset?..Luckily, she borrowed it from her school library and has finished it. She is not reading Book 2!! And Nanu is on Book 5.

These kids are growing up too fast, I tell you!

Enough for now.

Another day for the trip to Seattle.

--GG

GG’s trip

Just dropped off GG and NM at the airport. Their visit was great!

Arrived at SJC on Wednesday evening. We came home, dumped the bags and went to Chaat house for dinner.

 

Thurs: We made upma and mango shake for breakfast. Da and I went to office but they managed to take off for the Redwoods. GPS didn’t work but N navigated all the way and back just with the map. In the evening, we ate mixed daal and chawal, courtesy GG. NM went to the pool with Da. GG and I went shopping. Bought lots of stuff as they closed the trial room, but had to return most.

 

Friday: Simple breakfast. GG et al went to the Rosicrucian Egyptian museum. I had a doc’s appt at 3:40 so they had to be back. No time for the computer history museum. Doc prescribed me vit. D (fatigue may be due to deficiency) and I will be taking it till Sept. then retesting. Thyroid seems normal just now with an increased dose since 3 weeks. Will be retesting in late Aug. In the evening we all went to Alka’s for dinner and also met Prerna and her sis and Mom. Good food too.

 

Saturday: Started the day with dosas. GG made coconut and peanut chutneys. I made dosa of which some got burned :( though I’m pretty good with them these days. Still managed to get out by 11. Headed to Santa Cruz assuming moscow circus was at 12. Bad traffic so took a deviation to Capitola beach. Nice beach with colorful houses. Water was a tad too dirty to touch.

 

Drive from Capitola to SC was nice with beaches a bit less crowded and admittedly a bit less breathtaking than SC area. Arrived at boardwalk around 1:20. Da got stuck looking for parking. We promptly went for the rides. GG and I stood in line for the blue roller coaster while NM patiently waited on a bench (gave them one of the 7 phones we were carrying). GG and I got front seats on the ride. Awesome twists. Not too scary. Was a sunny day so I was afraid of getting a headache but surprisingly got through both days without issues. Makes me think the problem lies elsewhere (umm, stress maybe)! Then M did sea horse, while N and I went to fright house which N wisely backed out of.

 

Next was the rock and roll which was simply fun…nothing scary but M screamed every moment of it which made the whole thing hilarious. Meanwhile Da dicovered the circus was off that day and he had a headache so decided to stay in the shade. It was about time to get out anyway, so we looked for the last ride. Settled on Crazy surf which was again kinda cute. M screamed through most of it again and had a great time. GG and kids took the skyride back to the other end. I got some pizza and met Da. Then Da and I made it just in time to use the fright house tickets. It was so not for N! Not scary for grown ups but definitely not for kids. GG missed the red roller coaster, columbus and drop zone! NM played in the water for some time…N in his nanaji pose waiting for the waves. M with her pants up and running around.

 

Pretty tired already, but walked all the way to the edge of the boardwalk where the sea lions are. Da went to get the car. One of ‘em had fallen and was trying to get back on so lots of activity and cheering. Meanwhile, I noticed I had the keys so had to walk about 2 miles to meet Da by the car. GG bought some mementos…Finally, we all met up and decided to head for Monterey and Carmel.

 

Nice scenic drives…stopped at a couple of vista points and beached on the way. The pic is from one of those. NM really enjoyed the “rock climbing” here and kept asking for more. Then played some requests on the Yahoo! Jukebox in the car. Unfortunately FM trnasmitter was left behind in the store.

 

Not much time at monterey but GG took NM to get a good view of the birds and sea lions. Meanwhile Da and I spotted an otter which ultimately NM and GG were able to catch (as in view). Almost getting dark by this time but you know Da. He still drove all the way to Carmel beach via pacifica. Lots of fog on the way. Nice scenic drive. Got to the beach just between dusk and dark. Saw a ship far far away. It was a different feeling of the beach at that hour. Reminded me of my very first visit to a beach in Managalore, in the 1st quarter of 1994 I suppose.

 

It was about 9:30pm by this time and we were all famished. NM recounted their story of recent starvation at the hands of Mama. “Mom, you don’t know, I was counting every minute…my life was at stake” (N’s own words). We stopped at Great Wall in Monterey. Good vegetarian options. We wiped the dishes clean though N ate literally just rice and a touch of soy sauce. Back home via Gilroy about 12:30. Kids slept in the car of course. GG and Da discussed Australia story.