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 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
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
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.
Found out last weekend that Sonal (from MGD) lives in San Jose. Remember we went to her house in bhilwaara?
Meeting her tonight…after 13 years!! Want to know how it feels? Reactions and photos coming up soon…
BTW, Olivia is here too. Spoke to her last night. May be meeting her on Sat. night. Da not too keen so maybe not.
Got back from New Orleans this morning after a quick weekend trip. Feeling a bit sleepy after the 5:20am flt.
Had really exciting check-in experiences both ways which ended well for a change. Had a 7:15am flight on Saturday morning and went to bed past 3:00am. As usual I was doing my last minute packing and preparation which somehow manages to take 4 times longer than expected :)
Kitts was staying out for the night and GG would have to wake up the kids; hadn’t discussed the sat. drop off with Chuck so looked at some park and ride details before going to bed and decided to take that in the morning.
As expected, had a hard time waking up in at 5:45 in the morning in spite of 2 alarms and a wake-up holler from GG. My hair was still a li’l damp even though I had blow dried it before going to bed. Danthal was sleeping next to me so cuddled with her for a couple minutes then got ready without realizing how late it was. Saw the time only past 6:00am, then said bye to GG and rushed downstairs. Poured myself a plain glass of milk…still on strict diet especially before seeing Da :P; prayed for a minute then finally managed to get my two bags (for a 2 day trip!) and glass of milk in the car.
Counting every minute while driving, decided to take the highway instead of my “scenic” route…by 6: 19 I was crossing the terminal but no signs for park and ride #2…decided to follow the directions I had seen on the web and managed to get there but no sign of even a single car or shuttle. Wondering if I should just park in daily parking and ask kitts and GG to pick up the car later…also getting very late and feeling very cold and nervous. Drove a bit further and saw some cars but turns out to be employee parking. Fortunately, I see signs for park and ride #4 so decide to take a try. Get in there but it takes an age to find a spot. It’s almost 6:30 by this time and I am dreading the possibility of Da waiting for me at the N.O. airport half of Saturday when we only have 2 days to spend together. Manage to drink the milk in about 8 seconds and rush to the shuttle terminal. Another guy arrives at the same time so I am releived. He says the shuttle probably comes every 2 minutes.
Pull out the phone to find 2 missed calls, one from Chuck and the other from Da. Ugh! If only I had called Chuck sooner or versa! Call Da…he’s at the ATL airport with a couple hours of wait left. Prepare him for the possibility of the flt getting missed. A wait of about 8 minutes before the shuttle arrives, and another 6-7 before it drops me off at the far end of terminal A. I get ready for action and say bye to Da on the phone. Quick walk to the Delta counter all the way from the baggage claim area. The girl next to me asks the code to New Orleans…we are both struggling with the self check-in saying nearly the same thing…half to ourselves and half to each other. I hear her curse and 2 seconds later see the message on my screen…Check-in can be done only upto 30 minutes before the flight. I hope that applies for self check-in only but by then I already hear the delta guy telling this other girl to get herself rebooked…st! I blindly follow her to save time, we pick up the phone one after another and almost the exact same conversation…“I just missed the 30 minute check-in for my flt, would it be possible for you to check me in over the phone?” he asks my last name, destination, then if I have bags to check in..I hear the girl protesting in the background I’ve almost given up hope but I’m still praying to turn my luck around! I tell him, “no” and he says..**Ok, ma’am, we normally don’t do this but since you don’t have bags to check-in I’m going to do a courtesy check-in for you 27 minutes before departure..** “Wow! Thank you…thanks so much!” “your boarding pass will be printed at the counter and you can pick it up from there” “Oh he’s letting you check-in?...” “yea”, with a frown and a smile!! then I see she has a huge bag to check in and I tell ehr why she’s having trouble…meanwhile it’s late and I rush to pick up my boarding pass. the guy behind the counter starts to put a tag and my bag and tells me my flt is at 9:15…What!! “No, I was told I would get the boarding pass for the 7:15 flt”. “Oh is your last name J-A-I-N?” “Uh-huh”...“Oh ok ma’am, you’re good to go” and he gives me my boarding pass…
It’s not over yet…there’s still the security line! I fly past all the counters blessing everyone who works for delta airlines and wondering whether this other girl will make it too…The security line is spilling over to the lounge but moving fast. I wait my turn patiently and amazingly we’re upstairs within 5-6 minutes. By now I only have 20 minutes for the flt and the wait upstairs is at least another 20 minutes! Even if I make it the gates will be closed! I remember KB’s experience with United (which is a day worth reading and writing about) and decide I need to act now or never. I ask the woman behind to hold my place and traverse through the snake up to the security guard. Start to tell her my story but she curtly tells me to get back in line wherever I was standing earlier. I walk back a few steps then ask a guy if I might cut in as my flt leaves in 10 minutes…no fuss, I thank him profusely and get to the 3rd part of the line where it splits into two. There’s still at least 12 people in front of me…I’ve come this far, I can’t give up now…I try my luck again, this time with two ladies, they let me go, encouraged I try again and now the people are making way for me and moving aside even before I ask. I reach a security guard and pause wndering if I should take the risk of being thrown back to the end of the line (considering the experience with the last one). Before I can make up my mind, she says “Well, don’t you want to get in the front of the line?” I give her a big smile and thanks and go straight to the checking point. Teh lady ahead is slow is nervous…by now my heart is beating so fast with excitement…will I make it before they close the doors (10 minutes before departure usually). Managing to get past the security wihout a hitch, I start wondering if my gate is going to be the longest walk from the security point as always. I’m almost ready to run when I see the numbers are starting at 18 instead of 1 and I only have to get to 16. There isn’t a soul at gate 16 except one lady behind the counter. My heart almost sinks, then I see the light at the end of the tunnel through the open door of the walkway to the plane :) I rush to the woman and show her my pass…still worried…there’s a walk in the open before I get to the plane. Climb the stairs and the flt attendant asks me how I am…“Fine, now that I’m in here!” :)
Da calls while I’m still walking to my seat…window on one side and aisle on the other :) I even get 5 minutes to chat before the call to turn off the phones…the lady on the other side of the aisle gets nervous coz I’m still talking…I say a quick bye…I’m thinking “this is just the kind of person who would block my path through the line…thank God she wasn’t there”...My heart is still racing when the plane starts to move along the runway. I say a prayer and blessing for every person who let me get ahead…the plane takes off and I ride the clouds all the way to New Orleans :)
In honor of Earth Day today, here's Boog making recycled paper! And Shoo's beautiful Earth Day poster from 2019! ...
