Kongunaadu cuisine - Sandhagai

Oflate, I am constantly reminded of home food, especially those simple tasty dishes that my mom makes. Having been away from home for quite a while, I have found some easy ways to recreate those time consuming dishes. Ofcourse, there's a slight tradeoff when it comes to the quality of dishes.. nevertheless it is better than having none :).

Sandhagai, also called Sevai is considered a specialty in my family. When you visit folks and on weekends, this dish is made. Its a time consuming one but a very tasty dish.

In my home, we have the bland one to which one adds sugar, ghee, banana before eating. As a kid, this was my favorite. As I grew up, the lemon savory one became my favorite.

I get the thin rice noodles from chinese/uwaj stores and soak it in hot water..sometimes add to boiling hot water. After the texture becomes soft (kinda cooked), I drain the water and keep the noodles aside. Its very important to drain all the water ..so keep the noodles in draining mode/upside down on a gauze.

On the side, take some lemon juice, turmeric and salt.. and mix it. Add this to the drained noodles, mix it well.. be careful with salt(dont add too much). Keep it aside for 5 minutes or so.

Put thadka(dry chillies, mustard seeds, urad dhal, curry leaves) in 2 teaspoons of hot oil and saute it. Add the above prepared noodles to this, and saute it. Adding shredded coconut to this finishes the dish.

This tastes well with "thadkaa-d chopped onions and green chillies added to yoghurt" or plain old "coconut chutney".

Friends are friends

Where will I be without my friends .. seriously ???.. probably 6 feet under the ground. Though it sounds like an exaggeration, more than once I have been rescued by my friends when I have fallen sick. Two days ago, I came down with bad cold while I was in office. Its amazing how quickly the virus took over me. By the time it was 5:30, I was in a very bad shape and with one more meeting to go. A friend called at my desk and hearing my voice.. came running to my floor and was shocked to see me the way I looked. I still thought I will be able to manage myself until I reached home. I was so pathetic.. started shivering and no food to eat :(. Then, she calls me to say that she will drop by with rasam and rice come what may. By then, I was having trouble breathing with my nose totally congested. Seriously, her rasam was life saving. She wanted to me to stay with her for the next couple of days until I recover. What a great gesture :).. I decided not to go especially imagine the thought of coughing and sneezing and going around with a box of kleenex and plastic bag. Quite unsightly...so decided to stay at home and relish the kind gesture :).

Beard Papa

I stopped by Korean place for a nice Kimchi stew to cure the cold I seemed to have caught. While waiting for my kimchi, I was tempted to check out the Beard Papa right next door. They serve creme puffs. I opted for Eclair..without much expectations. THe first bite took me to heaven.. literally.. I never knew creme puffs will be this tasty. How unlucky I am .. just that morning I had taken an oath to eat all healthy diet(no junk means no junk) just to be tempted by Beard Papa in less than 6 hours :(. Try Beard Papa when you are in Seattle International District.

Snowy Seattle :)

After almost two days of being locked inside the house, I found that I cannot continue one more day living only on tea. Also, with the 5inches of snow that came down today, somebody must be kidding if tomorrow is going to be driveable. Tomorrow is going to be worst day. So, decided to drive to the local Fred Meyers to pick some meds and food supplies.

Weird things I noticed today :

(1) Some folks really have no brains.. there was this guy pushing a stroller on the 148th ave side walk. I really doubt whether the road conditions are conducive for a walk.. especially with the drivers on the road having trouble using their brakes.

(2) Spice route.. You ruined the only chance you had for me to fall in love with you. Bunch of Spice route folks were standing outside the restaurant and waving that they are closed.. how sadistic. They would have been of better service if they had stayed inside and cooked some decent food.

(3) A guy tried to overtake me.. when he's about to overtake me.. I skid a bit and he gives me a stare. Dude.. to expect somebody not to skid is stupidity.. you are supposed to maintain 10 metres distance from me.

(4) Law of temperature does not hold good for nose leaks. Seriously.. my nose leak starts running when I am outside compared to inside of my apartment. Dont u think with temperature drop, liquid inside your nose should freeze or stop on tracks.

(5) Perception or truth.. I dont know. Folks in Fred Meyers stood 5yards away from me. The lady in the express checkout was scared to death when she heard my cough.. literally praying to God to save her. Poor Lady.. I wonder how she managed to get to work in this weather.. I hope she reaches home safe.

Crepes

I happened to walk by a Crepe shop with bright plastic displays of different crepe choices offered. The shop looked small, neat .. fresh is the word to describe the look of the place. I couldnt cajole the two friends who came with me to go in since they said they didnt like the smell of the place the last time they thought of checking it out.
Today it was raining and cold. I was not really dressed up for walking long in the rain. So, I cajoled one of my few gullible friends to accompany me. I really liked the idea of displaying what you can expect in an order to look like. The two chefs who were running the place so deftly made the crepes right in front of me and gave it in the form of a cone. Since it is a Japanese place, I decided to go the whole way and ordered a vegetarian okonimowa crepe. Wasnt I glad that I ordered it .. it was very good :). Each crepe comes with a free cup of coffee or chai.
The coffee/chai dispensing machine was a nice toy to try out. It pops a cup and pours chai/coffee.. and you pick it up after you hear a beep. Chai was pretty good for a dispensed one. The experience was good.. I will definitely come here when I feel like eating a crepe. I just wish they offer more spicy choices :). Definitely worth a trip.
I liked the ambience and presentation.. and how they market their product :). The crepes are not something you would die for but still decent. I decided to copy their marketing style for the restaurant I intend to open in India someday :).

Bananas ...

I came across this cool hip music meant for kids... http://www.pokeypup.com/807347214509.html by Doctor Noize. You can listen to them here: http://cdbaby.com/cd/doctornoize

Beyond Color and Creed

Bumping into happily-in-love mixed race couples and the scene of an american collegue playing with her thali made me think about the essential factor required for forging a life long partnership. At the end of the day, it is not culture, color, creed that is going to forge a long lasting bond.. it is Trust and Respect. Besides the basic need to be loved and to love, one would want to marry a person who can walk his/her talk. One who stands by his/her words and weather the storm that will rage in one's life every now and then. Whats the point in a woman/man marrying somebody from similar family background if he/she cannot respect the other person ?. One should choose a person with whom one will feel safe to leave his/her kids behind in case of one's unexpected untimely death...dont you think ?.

The Kid

I watched the movie "The Kid" this afternoon. I felt a connection to the movie in the sense that many a times I do wish I can go back in time and tell the younger me that.. everything will turn out great in the long run. Countless minutes/hours have been spent worrying about future, about what the future will hold, about what might happen and may not happen.. some of those could have been spent enjoying the present and being in the moment. Though anxiety does add a necessary element to our life, at times it can be paralysing and kill the joy of the moment. The only thing I would tell my kids is, dont worry everything will work out fine if you just do what you are supposed to do :).

The Business of Being Born

I stumbled on this documentary on Netflix and started watching it expecting it to be some comedy. It was one of the most informative videos about today's healthcare system and human birth. Its definitely worth the watch for folks who intend to have their babies in the US.

Some interesting takeaways:
(1) The position for giving birth in the US hospitals is not really the convenient one and makes the labor more cumbersome,
(2) Once labor goes beyond 20 hours, hospitals recommend interventions like using labor inducers like pitocin, use of vacuum and other aids to get the baby out.
(3) Once intervention starts, there's a high chance for the birth to end with a caesarean operation.
The documentary explained how giving epidurol reduces labor effort, resulting in giving pitocin to increase contractions, causing more pain for the mother, as a result additional dose of epidurol and then followed by pitocin eventually causing distress to the baby and save the day by delivering via c-section.

I dont know whether folks can avoid (1) but definitely requesting and being adamant about not using interventions is the way to go. I dozed off beyond the first 1/2hr .. so please go and watch the rest of the video for additional takeaways :).

What better than your own company :)

Last week, I received a mail from my room mate in Bangalore whom I'vent met for 8 years now :). It was so nice and refreshing to hear from her. Such contacts always triggers a journey down your memory lane :). Fresh out of college.. I always did things that I wanted to do and go to places where I wanted to go irrespective of whether I have company or not :). Back then, only place in India where you will be looked at as a weirdo if you dont have company was Brigade road...seriously :). Still, it never bothered me :). That was a common trait between me and this friend of mine :). This crossed my mind this weekend when I was trying to get hold of my usual brunch company and other friends to go with me for my favorite traditional american breakfast. Sadly, I didnt get to have the traditional american breakfast this weekend. Worse still, no company for a late lunch either. So, I did the unspeakable :P.. I went to an Indian restaurant and had my lunch alone. Was I sad.. no... I very much enjoyed my food and my own company :). Thats when I thought about how I was 8 years ago(even 3 years ago). The problem with needing company to do the things you want to do is that 75% of the time you will not get to do what you want to do and/or strike a compromise the rest of the time. Being with yourself is a great luxury.. you tend to observe a lot about yourself and your environment in the absence of a companion. When you are alone, you are more approachable and some of the most interesting encounters in my life had been when I travelled (which I always did alone :)).

Baby Peter

Unimaginable pain and torture underwent by a 17month old baby before he died.. no words to describe..http://www.therevival.co.uk/forum/general/4287.

There are so many things that bothers me :
(1) The law protects his killers by not naming them.
(2) They will get a maximum of 14 years in jail probably well fed and well rested during their stay,
(3) Mom(one of the accused) is being given the right to take care of her new born baby that followed Peter.

Ideally, Baby P's mom, her bf and the accomplice should all be tortured in the same way while being kept alive until their death.

I do think Baby P's natural father should also be punished and tortured for not noticing whats going on with his baby. How come he's going scout-free ?

As I think more and more.. what scares me is we dont have a child care/child protection program in India. I dont know how many kids are in this neglected state in India.

Babies and Toxicity

Having been around babies and people having babies for a long time, I've learned a few things over a period of time that I want to share with you all. This is the first post in that series.

Preparation before conceiving: You would have heard about eating healthy, maintaining optimal weight, taking multivitamins with atleast 400mg folic acid , no smoking/no drinking etc. I've one more to add to the list : Detox yourself two months before you become pregnant. There's nothing like conceiving and growing the baby in a healthy body compared to feeding the baby healthy after it is born. Try to keep your stress level to a minimum by exercising/meditating, eating right and going to bed at the same time everyday.

Vaccinations: Oflate there's a lot of controversy about vaccines with thimerosal.. see the article http://www.associatedcontent.com/article/2510/autism_and_vaccines_evidence_of_a_connection.html?cat=5. Remember, the following: (1) ask for thimerosal free vaccine when you give your baby shots, (2) it is perfectly acceptable and ok to give your baby shots on a delayed schedule.. do not pack on two shots at a time.

This is going to be the last post for a while...

I've been idling a lot in the last couple of weeks. I am going to work on it starting now. Agenda going forward: dont catch yourself idling/wasting time. I'll update you how it went after a while. Until then, goodbye :).

Same sex marriage

I don't know whats all this hallelujah about same-sex marriage. If gay/lesbian couples want to get married, let them get married. It is as simple as letting two people in love get into a dignified relationship. If the problem is calling their union as "marriage" is bothering folks, give the "civil union" countrywide sanction. The biggest problem I see is, "civil union" is not allowed in all states and hence not valid across all states. The rights that come with being a spouse is not completely available to "civil union" couples. Many folks have problem with gay marriage because they feel the concept of marriage is tied to Religion. Marriage is an independent concept and it shouldn't be mixed with religion. Come on.. Even atheists get married. To grant the rights that come with marriage to another person who's not legally married will cost several thousands of dollars, whereas marriage license costs only some 100 dollars.

Given two issues, extra marital affairs and gay marriages, I find the first one a bigger problem. Extra-marital affairs are a bigger threat to the institution of marriage than gay couples getting into the institution. People who are calling themselves protectors of the marriage institution should work to bring in legal penalties to folks indulging in extra-marital affairs.

What do you say ?

Illusions about marriage

Oflate, I've been closely observing lot of couples. One thing I am impressed with, is the single minded commitment and trust they have in their partner. They understand their partner's weaknesses and vulnerabilities, and patiently work with them to overcome or circumvent those weaknesses. They love unto death the whole package of their spouse, all their positives and negatives.. what they see is the person(soul and heart behind the facade of flesh). As somebody once told me, its in your hands to make or break a person especially if they are your spouse. So, handle with care :). People endure through bad and hard times. Anyways, this is what I learnt today.
I can very well see myself becoming one of those persons who think their way is the right way when it starts working for them :).

Past one week.. one year

When I first heard about Obama and listening to his debates... reading about him more and more .. I am so full of admiration for this man. A Man in the true sense... dignified, respectable, follows his dreams, protective of his loved ones, competitive, disciplined, good hearted, compassionate... what not. Its so refreshing to see such a person being given the role where he can make a difference. It makes me believe in the goodness of the world and its fairness. Here comes my selfish part... I so wish I can meet a guy who has all these qualities with atleast 1/4th of the intensity he has. This week, I started feeling that there's nothing wrong in having such expectations. I've been lowering my expectations in my search and ofcourse, I've been disappointed with the people I've come across.. and rightfully so. For once, I'm starting to think you should definitely sought for the best and rightfully so :). To be frank, My expectations are not that much. All I am looking for is an honest/straighforward, responsible and compassionate guy.

Fitness

Often we give all kinds of excuse like hectic work etc and not spend enough time taking care of our health and not spend enough time with our family. We really have an inspiration in our new president elect. During his long arduous campaign, he spared 45 minutes every day to work out in the gym and so did Michelle Obama by having frequent 90min workouts. Check out here

I'm so proud of you, America :)

This is the third US election I witnessed as a resident of United States. Last election campaign was so painful to watch.. I was wondering why United States( a land of the capables) couldnt come up with better solid candidates. This election answered and addressed with some great candidates. My admiration is not just for Obama getting elected, but by the way the whole election went and how everybody conducted themselves. McCain's conceding speech was awesome to watch.. it was so touching and admirable ..exhuding dignity... the right kind of guiding words you would expect from a great leader. I admire the endurance Obama and his campaign displayed by working on and on till the end.. the thorough job they did for the past two years.. not neglecting any voter and their execution of strategy. It just made me think he's definitely the best of the lot and can be trusted to do the best. The work that is going to land on his lap is unimaginably big, but I wouldnt trust it with anybody than a man who has proved himself with his life so far and with his calm & composure throughout the whole campaign when every one of his opponents were losing his/her cool every now and then. The real work of getting America back on track is just about to begin and will be long arduous journey.. but with the right leader who seems promising enough to keep all the sheep trotting in the right direction. Kudos to America for having done the best given the circumstances and this election showcased some of the best qualities of americans.
I love you America :)

Upcoming events in Seattle

(1) Meditation - heard about a two-day workshop coming up soon.
(2) Dine for $30 has started. Its a great opportunity to try different high end restaurants without emptying your wallet.. http://www.dinearoundseattle.org/index.php

Judging people...

I was feeling lousy yesterday after being mean to a close friend of mine. After a day of brooding for having become the mean person I have become, I remembered what a friend of mine said a while ago. "Do not judge people including you in their worst times, you will only be a hypocrite amd it serves no good purpose". So very true.. I never used to like the instances when somebody or the other criticizes somebody else especially when they are going through some tough time. Recollecting the recent past, I've commited two counts of such offence myself. Another instance of hypocrisy.. I've often told myself I shouldn't fight with my loved ones and they deserve the longest leash but often we give the longest leash to strangers and we hold our loved ones to a very high bar. It is only human to falter in tough times.. so forgive and forget.

When you are hurting...

I know these are tough times for many people. Economy, career, personal life.. multiple reasons. Fear is the biggest factor.. fear of the unknown, fear of the future. Our first move will be to try to take refuge with the known.. the known comfort zone. Learning to manage one's fear is critical for long term happiness. Stay grounded.. do not make any drastic moves without much thought. If a change is essential, just embrace it. Fear hampers your rational thought process and can negatively affect your decisions. So, take a step back, take a deep breath and see what you can do the best under these circumstances. And just do it. All situations are transient. As one of my friends well put, "Life is like a test cricket. You have to do what it takes to stay in the game when things are not going well for you.. so that you will be there and ready to hit when the right ball comes.. until then just "doku" like Sunil Gavaskar used to" :). Ofcourse, my favorite was Sanath Jayasuriya.. ok.. I am digressing from the topic here.

I remember the day before flying out to Seattle from North Carolina. I did not know anybody in Seattle. When I was looking at where my office was located, I found it was in downtown and they dont provide "Free Parking". I couldnt imagine joining a company that doesnt have a parking lot.. and all my other fears started coming down on me. I called my parents and cried my heart out. They recollected their own experience of moving from a small town "Udumalpet" to "Coimbatore". When they moved, they were moving slightly away from my mom's parents(who were breathing down their neck all the time in a nice way.. always there to help them out) and to a big city. They were wary of the higher cost of living and starting from scratch in a way. What motivated them to move was the possibility of sending us to good schools. My parents gave me the encouragement that I will find the move refreshing, will meet new people and make new friends.. and many a times.. the path to a better life is taking a walk into the unknown. Everything lies in the perception.

What is that I like about Amazon.com ?

Aside from the fact Amazon is my employer, there are a lot of things that I love and learnt about Amazon.

Great customer service. Amazon is so customer experience focused and focuses on fairness.

Great Management. Jeff Bezos is very hands on and always focused on the long term growth of the company. He comes across as a very grounded person, irrespective of how Wall Street perceives the company, he's always investing for future growth of the company.

Frugality. As an employee, it does bug me me how frugal the company is. We dont have a well stocked pantry.. not the latest laptop.. some companies pay for the use of your personal phone for office use etc. I am not a frugal person in my personal life .. so you can see why this bugs me. So, why do I still like frugality of Amazon ?. Amazon builds home grown products.. hires the smartest engineers and builds its own products. It will be a tough sell to ask Amazon to buy another company. If you go with such a proposal, they will ask you to build the product yourself. That doesnt mean Amazon does not buy other companies. Amazon does buys but many a times, doesnt totally integrate under Amazon flagship. Those companies run fairly independently. Amazon hardly shells out money for marketing. Marketing is in the form of free shipping for orders >25$ and prime program .. highly targetted spending that will promote customer experience and brand loyalty.

Time to market. This is not meant to bash any major company. One thing that bothered me about Microsoft.. they had this Microsoft surface technology in their hands long before Apple. They were so focused on making the product complete and thought too highly about the product that they kept postponing its release. Microsoft has business in all markets like Mobile, music player, what not. How much time will it take to promote the use of a new technology across all areas?. Not many in the market has seen the MS Surface as a product yet. They could have made 10 times more money with this technology as Apple made with the Iphones. The difference is where the focus is. Microsoft is more developer centric... Apple is more sales centric.

Execution and follow through. Best examples are EC2, S3 and other webservices. I thought Amazon is trying an area which was cool but not really a lucrative area when they started it. Now, I see the difference between other companies that tried this before Amazon and Amazon. The difference lies in the execution. Amazon is very result oriented.. less talk and more work and focus on customer experience.

It is easy to move around the company and learn a lot. You can talk to people across the company and learn a lot about whats going on. Company all hands meetings are great eye openers. You get to know a lot about the stuff that is being built in the company.

No wonder, I've seen many ex-Amazonians turn into entrepreneurs. Amazon itself has lots of entrepreneurs turned into employees.. such people have better strategic vision and tend to keep the big picture in mind while working on their part.

Las Vegas

Had been out on vacation after a long time. This time with 3 other single girls and it was fun :).

Some takeaways from the trip :

(1) Seatac car parking - go to Extracar.. the cheapest $7.29 a day They have 24 hour free shuttle. I parked my car at E-Z airport parking for $8.95 a day and they were good.

(2) Hotels.com and third party sites are no longer the good ones. Oflate, I've noticed that airlines websites and specific hotel websites offer cheaper prices than the third party sites like Hotels.com. For example, lot of websites carry discount codes for hotels and you can go to the specific hotel pages, use the discount and get a lot cheaper rates.

(3) Grand Canyon - a helicopter ride will be worth the visit. White water rafting in Grand Canyon will be a once-in-a-lifetime experience. Should do it someday.

(4) Dont drop your camera especially after your friend has warned about it. I dropped my camera while getting out of the cab and it has stopped working..its not even switching on.

(5) While playing roulette, have a pen and paper. Bet with a larger amount to start with and improve your odds by betting on multiple things at a time.

(6) Shows : Book it from the show company site and check the seat location in the map before you sign up.

Colors, North Carolina and Washington

My dress sense has changed a lot after my move to Washington from NC. I thought it has got to do with the weather. I never dared to wear bright colors in NC whereas in Washington ... nothing is too bright. Reading the following news makes me wonder whether its got to do more with the local culture than the weather..

Raleigh, N.C. — A bright pink limo parked at the Cary Towne Center has caused some complaints in the city that is known for its neutral color palette. Read more.. http://www.wral.com/news/local/story/3795934/

Have you ever wondered how much is a billion ?

See the yellow section in this page
http://www.blackhillsportal.com/npps/story.cfm?ID=2781

Also, check out http://www.crunchweb.net/87billion/

Man is no different from animals

Recently, a friend of mine forwarded this link about training animals and humans. And if you try out what is mentioned in this, please share your observations and inferences.. I would like to hear it :).

http://www.nytimes.com/2006/06/25/fashion/25love.html?ei=5090&en=f3a9c33e07612db0&ex=1308888000

Light bulb and Human mouth :)

Ho.. this is hilarious.. a must read but not to be experimented with :).

http://www.skyfly.cz/zajimavo_e/zarovka_e.htm

Sensible conversations

How would you define a sensible conversation ?.

Music

I had been thinking seriously about taking to some music or dance form for a while. Recently, it was so much fun to have some of my friends sing some songs(not movie songs) in a friend's baby shower. I toyed with the idea of learning dance but I am not really sure about how consistent I will be in pursuing it. Music.. definitely I can do it since I love listening to music and have always fancied learning some carnatic devotional songs. Golu invitation from a friend reminded me of learning some devotional song in carnatic music. Last year, I was considering singing tirupaavai on every day of the month of Margazhi.. did not get to it but managed to get the Tirupaavai CD sung by Sudha Raghunathan. Once a paati living in our neighborhood told that Singing is the only art form that doesnt need any instrument and you can entertain yourself wherever you are. It can also serve as a great stress reliever. Seeing the amount of satisfaction and happiness, people are getting out of focusing on something other than work, shopping, gymming and sports, I have decided to learn music by Kelvignanam :).

As one saint mentioned, love need no discipline. Heart knows no law. Rules are meant for the head. To sustain love, one needs to inculcate discipline. What I mean by this is, it is going to be easy for me to start on this but I've to have some discipline to become and stay skilled :). Lets see how it goes.

Have you heard this song "Kurai ondrum illai marai moorthy kanna" sung by MS Subbulakshmi?. Oh my God... it is so beautiful especially you can really sense her feelings listening to her songs. For me, a beautiful song is a well sung song in which you can very acutely feel the mood and understand what the character is going through when you hear the song. Do you know whats the term for this aspect of music ?. Thats what I love about SPB. He's a topic for another day :).

Attitude

I am amazed at some people. They have this great attitude.. down to earth, funny and you feel so much at home with them. When you are with them, life doesnt seem complicated when you see them skillfully maneuver through some of the toughest situations with ease. They are there for people, so much aware of their surroundings, take things for what they are worth, not much drama, very lighthearted view of life, sweet and soft spoken. They take their time to enjoy their life. I just wish I could be like them. They do indeed inspire you to be like them :).

Havent I ...

Been blogging too much about food.. oflate ?. I promise that my next 10 postings will not be about food at all. I happened to see in my "Tickets" email folder, tickets for Burning Man on sale. Have you heard about Burning Man ?.
People from different parts of the United States (probably outside the US also) go and stay in the middle of the desert in Nevada for a week.. usually the week before the Labor day weekend. Its a life of self sufficiency and self expression.
Though one portion of the Burning Man is scandalous with nude men and women, the other interesting and most relevant aspect to our interests(?) is the creative expression. Some of the pictures from the Burning Man are really a feast to our eyes and our mind.

Pootha rekulu

My collegue came to Seattle on an official visit. He brought these wafer thin white sweet(which is folded neatly with powdered sugar layered inside). It was very sweet.. neverthless quite yummy and unique. I never had the likes of it before. I was trying to find out the name of the sweet on google for quite a while and finally found it after 3 days of search. The title of this post is its name :).

You can see the making of the sweet at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OXFaylxK5E0 The thin sheets are wafer sheets made out of rice porridge.

Somasi and acchhu murukku

One of my friends brought "Somasi" from India. I vaguely remember this sweet from my childhood days(1st grade or so). Its been a long while since I have seen or tasted it. I vaguely remember the presence of a green color plastic mould at my place, to make somasis. Dont know how many of these kind of sweets are becoming extinct with the popularity of "mysorepa", "jilebi", bengali sweets and other pistha/cashew/almond based sweets.

After coming to the US, I found "acchu murukku" in a chinese store under the name " Rose cookies". Tasted exactly the same as those we get in India.


**Sigh**

Rose is a Rose is a Rose

Usual interpretation of the above line is in the similar vein to Shakespeare's 'a rose by any other name would smell as sweet'. Was it meant to be interpreted in that sense ???.

The line is from Gertrude Stein's poem Sacred Emily, written in 1913 and published in 1922, in Geography and Plays. The verbatim line is actually, 'Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose':

Rose is a rose is a rose is a rose
Loveliness extreme.
Extra gaiters,
Loveliness extreme.
Sweetest ice-cream.
Pages ages page ages page ages.

When asked what she meant by the line, Stein said that in the time of Homer, or of Chaucer, "the poet could use the name of the thing and the thing was really there."

The above is taken from "http://www.phrases.org.uk/meanings/15900.html".

The above is meant to be the preface to the topic of discussion "naming of kids". Oflate, people are naming their kids with so called cool names, which often are meaningless and simplified to an extreme. I always found people with names like Sanjana, Arjun, etc sexy and charming. A name should artificially attribute some good qualities or traits to the kid; add a touch to their personality.

These days, I've seen people to have gone to ridiculous extent to make it easy for people to pronounce the name. It looks like in no time, you are going to have "aaaa", "bbbb" etc.

Then, there's this another category of folks who just name their kid with whatever they wish, naming them after glamor actresses, some revolutionary leader or emperor or scientist.

What triggered this post is the story of a kid who changed her name with the help of a Judge. http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/07/24/odd.names/index.html

As it is, kids will have a lot to deal with while growing up. The least a parent could do is name them with an un-"embarassing" name.

Parents should make their kids be proud of their name. It should sound nice, meaningful and reasonably unique. Just count the number of "Ria"s you know of. They should put some thought in to the "factor" that is going to be his/her identity for the rest of his/her life. Don't you think ???

Shampoo

I took Sauve coconut natural shampoo to the shower thinking it is a conditioner. Result.. I ended up with Dove Shampoo n conditioner (2 in 1) and Sauve shampoo to choose from. Decided to check out the difference between the two and whether anything explains the price difference. I tried the sauve resulting in extremely oil stripped hair feeling after rinsing. Took few drops of oil and smoothed down the shaft to combat the dryness and retain moisture in the hair.

Coming back to the topic, Sauve is not all natural as it claims to be. The key difference between Sauve and Dove is : Sauve has Ammonium Lauryl sulphate and Ammonium Laureth Sulphate, Ammonium Chloride whereas Dove has Sodium Laureth Sulphate, Sodium chloride.

Little bit of googling resulted in:

how gentle your shampoo is according to the surfactant used:

Ammonium Lauryl Sulfate - very, very, harsh

Ammonium Laureth Sulfate- very harsh but better than the above

Sodium Lauryl Sulfate- better than the above, but still a little harsh

Sodium Laureth Sulfate-gentle, great pick!

TEA lauryl Sulfate-good pick

TEA Laureth Sulfate-good pick

None of the shampoo sites list the ingredients. Btw, all the above are considered carcinogenic. Difference between Lauryl and Laureth is that the latter is ethyloxated(which reduces the carcinogenic effect). Frequently, Laureth can be contaminated with 1,4-dioxane(carcinogenic).

So, the hunt is for a shampoo that has non carcinogenic ingredients.. what better place to look at than Johnson and Johnson.

http://answers.google.com/answers/threadview?id=137974

The above link pointed out that all other ingredients do have "surfactant" properties without being harmful.

Check out ... http://www.jason-natural.com/products/everyday_hair_care.php

The least you could do is take care to thoroughly rinse your hair especially your scalp. The next time you hit the grocery store, take time to find the shampoo with the least harmful ingredients.

I wonder whether we should go back to time tested practice of using shikakai and arappu or grounded soaked methi seeds.

Yam and Drumstick Curry

I was in a mood to cook but not the usual stuff. I wanted to try something totally different. I stumbled upon the following recipe:http://blog.sigsiv.com/2007/03/erissery-butternut-squash-curry.html and it looked very yummy. I couldnt find fresh yam in Uwajimaya nor in Indian grocery store. I ended up buying frozen drumstick and yam. I followed the recipe to the T except that I skipped adding the creamy part at the end. The part of coconut milk added was itself was creamy, so I had to mix water. One thing, I noticed was the spice level in the above dish was lower than it looked in the picture and the spices(red chilli powder and pepper) cannot be added at the end but in the beginning and fried till oil separates. Overall, it was a great dish :).

Weekend Brunches

Have been following this weekend brunch ritual with a couple of girl friends. I love pancakes with strawberry and whipped cream topping with a side of egg sunny side up .. and a cup of freshly brewed coffee.. nothing like it :)). Last weekend.. I was suddenly reminded of bagels. After coming to Seattle, I never tried bagels. I once complained to a colleague of mine that I don't find "Breugger's Bagels" here, he mentioned that Noah's New York Bagels are comparable... never bothered to try them out until this weekend. I headed to the nearby Noah's Bagels at Kirkland Parkplace and had freshly toasted sundried tomato bagel with jalapeno pepper smear. It was just amazing. Nothing like a fresh bagel. My next plan is to check out the Mikie's Brooklyn Bagels which has rave reviews on the internet.. too bad they are closed on sundays. This shop is next to Mysore Masala. BTW, I've become an addict of Mysore Masala's Butter Masala dosa. The best part is the coconut chutney that goes with it. It is fresh and tasty.
Also, I intend to check out the Blazing bagels shop in the near future. Coming weekend, it is going to be Marie Callender's at http://gonw.about.com/gi/dynamic/offsite.htm?zi=1/XJ&sdn=gonw&cdn=travel&tm=7&f=00&su=p284.9.336.ip_p531.50.336.ip_&tt=3&bt=0&bts=1&zu=http%3A//www.mcpies.com/
since it is close to the airport.

Why you shouldnt marry a blogger ?

I came across the following on a blog.. true and hilarious at the same time :).
http://sunshinenjoy.blogspot.com/2008/06/18-reasons-why.html

Charlie

I watched this nice movie "Charlie and me" on Hallmark channel. I googled for charlie and me ... found this video "Charlie bit me". Very funny and cute .. this video has a large number of fans. Check out for yourself :).

To all siblings out there :)...http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_OBlgSz8sSM

Facebook Relationship Status

According to me, this is the most hilarious feature causing interesting commotion on facebook. Two of my friends got on face book slightly at different times and a month later, one of them declared to be married to the other one. It goes "XXX and YYY are now married". If you havent set your relationship status and set it to single, the mini feed says "ZZZ is now single" and if you revert to hiding your status,it shows in the mini feed as "ZZZ is no longer single". Funny, isn't it?

Creative writing

One of my friends is attending creative writing classes and is writing stories on her blog. I am getting totally addicted to hers :).

http://singleandsingular.blogspot.com/

My niece is going to visit me for 10 days :))

Wow.. I am really excited and at the same time apprehensive. I really want to show her a lot of things in Seattle. Goal: At the end of the trip.. she should feel that it was too short a trip :)). So.. got to start planning from now onwards :). So, suggestions welcome :).

Something about her : 7 year old, loves reading books, discovery channel, fun loving.

Here are the list of things I intend to do :

(1) Duck ride in Seattle.
(2) Laser show
(3) IMAX Movie
(4) Planetarium
(5) Tropical butterfly house
(6) Wild waves theme park
(7) seattle monorail ride
(8) children's child museum - http://www.thechildrensmuseum.org/info-hours.asp
(9) Toy shops
(10) Watch a movie in theatre
(11) Pancake house, coldstone creamery,
(12) Seattle aquarium,
(13) pike place market,
(14) sculpture park,
(15) woodland park zoo,
(16) bus ride to seattle :P
(17) Ballard locks
(18) Make boats and put them in the lake,
(19) fly toy plane,
(20) bake cake, brownies, pie.
(21) Play wii,
(22) Camping
(23) kite flying (harini's suggestion).
(24) doll museum,
(25) Emerald downs (watch horse racing)
(26) Point defiance zoo
(27)Museum of glass
(28) watch a game in the stadium

Suggestions pleaaaasssssseeee :))))

Juno is a fairy tale

I watched the movie "Juno" yesterday and day before yesterday. I liked the script, Ellen page's acting and all other characters. You know why I call it a fairy tale...it is a feel-good movie about "Unexpected teenage pregnancy". There are so many things that dont go right in a normal life and in this story, everything goes right in the worst possible circumstance. Ellen finds total moral support/acceptance from her parents, her friend, boy friend etc. I havent seen a teenager so self assured even under circumstances less stressful than this. On top of it, how often will you find a boy who doesnt flake out on a girl even under less unfavorable circumstances than this ?. Anyways, who cares ? :)... I had fun watching this "feel good" movie :))

Sugi Sivam

Last week, one of my friends forwarded the speech of this famous tamil orator. It was not one of the usual crap but very refreshing and practical talk.

http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=-5453604395494982568

Found another one but not as interesting as the first one... anyways I will let you make the call :).
http://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=6587726120608940761

Cheenikum

I watched this movie this afternoon. The theme song and Jaanae dona was very endearing.. music taken from a couple of the 80s Illayaraja songs. I still favor the old ones :). I've always been a great fan of Tabu, especially for her poise and elegance. She has done amazingly well in this movie.

I loved the picturization of Janae do na. See for yourself :).

For the interested,
the theme music taken from "Mandram vandha thendralukku"
Janae dona from "Vizhiyilae un vizhiyilae"
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLHB031Zom0 from http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F2dmndpcGMk

Chandamama

One of my friends is collecting Tinkle and Amarchitrakatha. He gains one suitcase worth of these comics with each India visit.

I got a book on Indian mythology which had abbreviated tales of Vikram and Bethal. I was reminded of Chandamama when I read those tales. Chandamama has a website and they have archives of books published since 1955. Can you believe that ?.

Check it out for yourself at
http://www.chandamama.com/story/story.php?sId=1&cId=4

Moved..

As my birthday was approaching, I was becoming increasingly introspective and self critical. I didnt want to celebrate it. On the eve of my birthday, my friends turned up at my place and made it really special. It wasnt a grand one with lots of people.. just right enough to feel their reaching out to me with love. What can I say.. I am very touched. I love you all. Without you, what would be left of me :). Thank you very much for making me feel special :).

Peanut Butter Jelly Sandwich

I've heard a lot about this from americans and kids in general, how peanut butter is their love. I never thought highly about peanut butter, especially after tasting Butterfingers and Reeses. Well, yesterday I stumbled upon a veggie sandwich that had some jam on it. I was so damned amazed about how yummy it was. Between two slices of wheat bread, peanut butter, cranberry sauce, sliced bananas and apple was served. Oh, it was so very tasty. Finally, I am able to see eye-to-eye with those peanut butter jelly sandwich lovers :).

Spinach, onion and moong dhal

Hmm.. I thought I copied the recipe from indosungod(linked off my blog as Authentic Kongunadu recipes). Now, when I went back and looked, it wasnt exactly what I did. Anyways, the dish was very tasty and I liked it.

I soaked 3/4 cup of moong dhal for 20 minutes. Chopped 1/2 red onion and a bunch of spinach leaves. Grinded 2 small dry red chillies, with 2 tsp of coconut and 1/2 tsp of cumin seeds. Splattered mustard and urad dhal in heated oil, sauted cut onion with a pinch of turmeric till it turned slightly brown. Added the soaked moong dhal(after draining the water) and the ground paste. Sauted for 2 minutes with a bit of salt. Added the spinach to it, heating at medium high with closed lid. Checked for salt after 5 minutes, and cooked with lid open till the water drained.

The advantage of soaking moong dhal was, it need not be cooked separately and doesnt turn mushy in above dish. Onions and spinach taste awesome together and with moong dhal, it goes up one step higher, also making for a healthy meal.

Being a TOTAL person should be your everlasting goal

Maintaining stress within control is the key to good long term health. As per webmd.com, "To improve your stress level, focus on being a "total person." That phrase is an acronym for:
Time Out To Assess Lifestyle -- focusing on Physical health, Emotional health, Recreational status, Spiritual and social health, and Organizational and Nutritional health. " - so very true.

Random ramblings

Visited Malabar restaurant in University district this weekend with my friends. Heard about it from a collegue of mine that they serve south indian food.. dosas with non-veg stuffings. Myself and my friends are vegetarians. The menu looked different from usual Indian restaurants... food was tastefully well presented. We ordered spinach naan, vegetable stuffed dosa, karela aam gravy and sesame soy ghost with vegetables along with tea. The dishes were tasty but not hot.. oily as most Indian restaurants. Definitely worth checking out.

Another Indian restaurant that I recently visited is Mysore Masala in Redmond. Favorite dishes are Channa Palak with chappathis and pongal. The first set of dishes are not at all oily.

Food from both the places taste fresh :).

Men, Women and IQ

I came across this article this morning http://www.newsweek.com/id/101079/page/1 . Contrary to certain conclusions stated in the article, I've heard people think their mothers smarter than their dads in many cases if they are reasonably educated. I've heard many of my friends mention that their moms would have had a great career had they been educated like their dads. I've also heard parents say their daughters are smarter than their sons. I am not being a feminist.. just mentioning my observations. I do agree on the fact that women lack a lot in the self-esteem department in general compared to men. Just compare your own performance at times of low self-esteem and high self-esteem.. isnt there a huge difference ?.

Mystery spot

Hmm... lot of things are vanishing from my house or in my house. Latest .. my keybunch. Credit cards, earrings, bus pass.. I remember bringing them home but havent seen them after that. I am now coming to believe there's a black hole inside my house somewhere or somebody from parallel universe is taking it away. I literally turned my house upside down looking for my keys and earrings.. havent seen any trace of them :(.

Obama vs Clinton

Sudden twist in the new election(atleast from my perspective :)). All these days I had been thinking its going to be Hillary, the next President of United States. Its refreshing to see a tough battle ensuing for the post with Obama in the picture. Last election was so frustrating to watch with a lame Democratic candidate and lousy democratic campaign ending up in Bush getting a second term. Obama has one hell of a wife :). Even if Hillary wins the next Democrat Presidential candidate post, its not going to be without a tough fight :).

India

Quite an eventful trip for two weeks. Two weeks was just not sufficient.. visiting all relatives and friends. Man.. I love India for so many reasons: (1) SUN, (2) home cooked food, (3) being surrounded by loved ones, (4) vibrance and energy and so many more. Talking to friends and relatives showed the abundance of opportunities in India. I want to go back as soon as possible.