Pooja's diary

Lake George

2014-01-29T17:22:00.004-05:00

This is my first post on travel. And I assure you that there shall be many many more :)

LAKE GEORGE!

Just the sound of this name brings back all the wonderful memories that me and hubbs created while visiting this beautiful and serene place.

Month /Year : May / 2009 (visited on the Memorial day weekend)

Transportation : Drive

Place to stay : Grand Union Motel

Food : Few restaurants, fast food joints near Lake George. (But very limited options for vegans. So, pack some food items if you are a vegan like me)

Near by places to visit : Saratoga Springs
Albany
Corning Museum of Glass
Niagara Falls

Parking : Meter parking available (do not forget to carry 25c with you.)

Activities we did:
1 hr cruise with Minnie - ha - ha.
Fort William Henry
Pottersville (lots of trails to go hiking)
White water rafting

Hope you enjoy your virtual trip:

Beautiful Drive in and around

Cruising through the Lake

Mesmerizing Sunset

Fort William Henry

the jailer enjoying

the prison cell

jail entrance

costume making

the soldiers playing the band

the fort set-up

the guide

the guide doing his duty

demonstrating how to make the bullets from lead

Hiking

White water rafting

MAP

via

I hope the information here helps you to plan your trip. I would love to answer your questions, if any.

2014-01-28T15:55:00.002-05:00

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About me

2014-01-28T15:45:00.003-05:00

“For every minute you are angry you lose sixty seconds of happiness.” ― Ralph Waldo Emerson

Welcome to my world. I am Pooja - a wife, daughter, sister and friend. My values, thoughts and experiences have made me the person I am today. It has been an amazing journey so far. I only wish my happiness to be as contagious as possible. Hope you have found at least one reason to smile today. If not, pause and look around yourself. You will find many more. I hope you have a good time browsing through my diary. A blog with all the spices that can add a zing to your life! Enjoy some fun, food, travel, cooking and reading with me. Have a great day!

May I please request you not to copy the pictures or content of my blog without my consent? Thank you for abiding by this and hope to meet you here often. Please do not hesitate to leave your comment.

Pav

2013-09-25T15:49:00.001-04:00

Ingredients

3 c bread flour (3 c plain flour + 2 tbsp vital wheat gluten or 1.5 c wheat flour + 1.5 APF + 1 tbsp wheat gluten)
3 tbsp melted butter
1 c warm milk
1/4 c warm water
2 1/4 tsp active dry yeast
1 tsp baking soda
1 tbsp sugar
1 tsp salt

Method

Sieve and mix all dry ingredients. Add butter. Slowly add milk+water and prepare the dough.
Knead the dough well so as to make a soft bread.
Coat the dough well with oil so not to get any dry crust. Cover with plastic wrap or wet cloth. Let it rise for 1 hr or until it doubles up. Place it in the oven if the weather is cold.
Once risen, punch it 4 -5 times.
Roll out the dough in rectangular shape evenly.
Divide it into equal portions (about 12 portions)
Make it into 12 equal size balls and place it on the grease pan leaving some space in between.
Paint all of them with milk on the top.
Cover and let it rest for about 1 hr or until it doubles up. So, they will be in contact with each other.
Preheat the oven at 375 F. Remove the cover and place it in the oven for 25 mins.
Check for the crust. Let it bake for another 5 -10 mins.
Take them out and apply a thin coat of butter on the top so they glisten.
Enjoy.

Methi malai mutter

2013-09-21T15:09:00.001-04:00

I always to try to have green leaves / leafy vegetable in some form atleast once a day. So, here is another most like-able dish and very easy to prepare. Adapted from rakskitchen.

Ingredients:
2 c coarsely chopped fresh methi leaves
1 c boiled green peas (when using frozen peas, heat it for 3 mins in a cup of water and strain)
1/2 c light cream
3/4 c milk
1 tsp cumin seeds
1/8 tsp turmeric powder
1/2 tsp sugar
1 tsp olive oil
Salt as needed

Gravy:
1 medium size sliced white onion (if you use pink color, the gravy would be slightly dark in color)
1 inch cinnamon
2 cloves
2 garlic cloves
1/2 inch ginger
2 green chillies (or as per intended spice level)
2 tsp oil
10-15 shelled almonds

Method:
For gravy

Heat oil in a pan. Add cloves and cinnamon. Once they crackle, add onions and heat until they blanch.
Then add garlic, ginger, green chillies.
Heat for 3-4 mins. Turn off the stove.
Once this mixture cools down, take it into a grinder. Add the almonds. Grind all of this into a fine paste.

For sabji

Heat oil in a pan. Add cumin seeds. Once they crackle, add the gravy paste to it.
Let it fry until the raw smell is gone. Then add the methi leaves and mix well.
Now add salt, turmeric and sugar.
Mix well. Heat for 2-3 mins.
Add milk and heat for another 3-4 mins.
Add peas and cream. Mix well.
Heat for another 3 mins.
Serve with roti and salad. Enjoy.

Delicious vada pav - low fat!!

2013-09-19T01:11:00.001-04:00

Adapted with a twist from Neelam's recipe. This recipe would give you approximately 10 vada pav.

Main ingredients :

Bread

Vada

Garlic chutney (should be spreadable)

Mint- cilantro chutney

Date-tamarind chutney

Serving:

Mint- cilantro chutney

Date-tamarind chutney

Fresh green chillies

Hot tea / buttermilk

For Bread :

3 cups unbleached all purpose flour

1.5 tsp active dry yeast

1 salt

1.5 tsp sugar

2 tbsp butter (salted, if you use unsalted butter than adjust salt accordingly)

3/4 cup milk (I used 2%)

3/4 - 1 cup water at room temperature

For Vada:

6 medium sized boiled and mashed potatoes

1.5 tsp ginger paste

1.5 tsp asafoetida

2 tsp garlic paste

1 tbsp green chilli paste (or as per the spice level required)

7-8 coarsely chopped curry leaves

1/2 tsp mustard seeds

1/2 tsp olive oil

1/2 tsp turmeric powder

1 lime juice

1/2 tsp sugar

salt to taste

For cover:

1 c besan

1 tsp red chilli powder

1/4 tsp turmeric powder

water for batter

salt to taste

METHOD:

For bread

Mix all the ingredients well to make a soft dough. The consistency should be that of roti dough.
Divide into 10-11 equal portions and let is sit in a bowl. Cover the bowl with a wet cloth.

For Vada

Heat oil in a pan. Add mustard seeds and let it crackle. Add curry leaves, hing, turmeric. Leave it for 1 minute.
Add the ginger - garlic -chilli paste. Heat for 2 minutes.
Add potato, salt, lime juice and sugar. Mix well and heat for 2 minutes. Put off the stove.
Let the mixture cool.
Divide it into equal portions with similar size as of dough. Try to divide it in the same number as the dough portions.

For Cover

Mix all the ingredients in water and have a smooth consistency. It should not be very thin or thick. Just enough to cover the vadas.

Assembly

Roll the bread in about 5 -6 inch diameter.
Spread a thin layer of garlic chutney evenly
Spread another layer of green and date-tamarind chutney (optional).
Roll the vada in the cover and place it on this layer.
Now gently gather all the sides and make a ball. You may slightly press it on the top to give it a square shape.
Place it on a greased cookie sheet / baking pan.
Once all of them are done, place the pan in preheated oven (170 F) for 10 mins.
Then, put it for 20 mins at 400 F preheated oven.
Check for the color of the crust. You can keep it for 3-4 mins for a harder crust.
Serve with hot tea, fresh green chillies and chutney.
Enjoy.

Banana Walnut Halwa

2013-08-27T17:15:00.002-04:00

Ingredients:

2 cup chopped bananas
4 tbsp ghee (clarified butter)
1 cupped shredded walnut
4 cups milk
1/2 cup sugar (or more if you like it very sweet)
1/4 tsp cardamom

Method:

In a pan, heat ghee.
Add walnut and mix well. Let it cook till it turns slightly brown.
Add bananas and mix well. Cook for 5 -7 mins.
Add milk and sugar. Cook till paste releases ghee. Add cardamom.
Mix well and cook for 2 - 3 mins.

Serving Tip:

Garnish with walnut and serve hot as dessert.

Buying your 1st HOME

2013-02-11T13:11:00.002-05:00

Buying your very own first place can be quite stressful. When me and DH went hunting for our first place, we followed this list here. It not only helped us to choose but we are now so well settled in as we were meant to be here! I just hope this list would help you all. But, the pointers mentioned here are based on my preferences. So, you need to get out your pen and paper and make your own wish list. Also, you need to jot down how flexible you are with certain pointers and which are those. These steps will surely help you and your realtor in getting your HOME. Enjoy the hunting process. It is so much fun if you are clear on what you need.

Here is the list that we followed based on our priority.

Commute

Longer commute had lower price range and more square feet houses
Accessible to public transport for commuting to work place

School district

Since we don’t have kids yet, we chose the area with good primary and middle schools
Best school districts will have higher price and small homes

Realtor

Recommended by friends/family
While choosing a realtor, it is very important that the person has good bargain sense. Also, the realtor should be such that he/she understands completely our needs and doesn’t waste our time/energy. You can provide them with your wish list :)
We had 2 realtors. The 1st one we chose was directly by visiting the office and asking. Not at all a good experience. The second one was recommended by one of our neighbor. We had an amazing experience with that realtor. He understood completely what we wanted and would show us the homes accordingly. He was also a very good bargainer. Also, we were breaking our lease 8 months prior. So, he made sure we had another renter before we moved out of that apartment. Of course, the owner had no issues with us breaking the lease as long as he got the rent each month. So speak to the landlord.

Budget

You need to request for pre-approval of loan. This would give you an idea of how much MAX you can spend.
Then decide on an amount based on the monthly payments [which include the loan+ interest+ PMI (if any) + house tax (which will increase every year in most of the areas)]
Some added monthly expense would be your monthly maintenance (if any)

Down payment

You can pay anything starting from 3%. But if you pay less that 20% then you will have PMI each month for 5 years. So, you really need calculate this well. If you pay 20% down payment then you will not have any PMI. This will increase your monthly savings but decrease your current savings quite a bit.

Closing Cost

This includes the appraisal, credit report, flood certification fee, title insurance (for both buyer and seller), house survey, transfer of taxes, local govt. charges, escrow account initial deposit, lawyers fee and couple of other things.

Type of home – to be decided based on your needs and how much work can you do like snow removal, maintain yards

Townhomes /Condo (usually with monthly maintenance you don’t need to worry anything outside the 4 walls of your home including roof)
Single family house

Quality of home

Move in ready
Ready to renovate (could have added expenses apart from estimated)

How old

Newer homes – less maintenance, newer energy efficient appliances, less surprises in terms of problems

Previous owners

If you do not like pets, then make sure the homes that you look are well kept and does not smell of pets
Or better choose which did not have pets

Home Inspection

Regardless of how old the house is, you would need an experienced Inspector. This would be done after you put in an offer. IMO, this is a must for every home. Especially get it checked for moisture content, roofing, MOLDS, overall structural design. You do not want to get sick or have the unwanted cost on you later. And, if anything serious comes up you can step back from that offer or renegotiate. Your realtor/lawyer will also guide you.

Resale value

Definitely looked for something which would have a good resale value

GC/Visa

Depends on your perspective/ you can wait for GC

Builder /Community

Wanted a safe community
We have diverse population
Go for some known builders in your state (your realtor should be able to suggest and then google for their reviews)

Parking

Garage for us and extra parking spots for guests

Home Insurance

Shop around, and ask for the rates.
You can also go for your home+auto insurance to get a better deal.
There is something called Umbrella insurance which you might want to look into before finalizing.

Time frame

I would say give about any time from 1 - 6 months.
We saw 30 homes and selected 2 of them which met most of our criterias. Then we finalized based on the bargain and our monthly payment. We wanted a home which would not completely squeeze out our budget. We also had decided on how much we would like to save every month (a little flexible here).

Mortgage

You would also need to shop around for lower mortgage rates. If your realtor is good, he/she will refer you. But, when you are shopping for loans make sure you have a good credit score. The better your score is, the better deal you can grab. And if due to any reason your score is not very good then try to improve it. Trust me this will be a BIG help w.r.t interest rates.

Flood Zone

Make sure you know if your home is not under the flood zone.
And if it is, are you prepared to buy that?

Gas / Electric Supplier

Try to find out who the suppliers are and if they are good.

Internet/TV/Phone

Check for your options

Final Day

On the day of closing you will have to sign 100s of pages. So be prepared.
Also, you will have a final walk through before your closing. So, check and double check everything in the home as this would be your last chance.
Like for eg, all was perfect in our home but on the closing day during our final walk through one of the appliances stopped working!! So, we made a condition that we will get it repaired and bill the amount to the seller. Both the parties agreed (the lawyers do the negotiation btw). And our lawyer held back some of the amount until the seller paid for the repairs.

This information might be overwhelming at times but do not be discouraged. Doing some homework and writing down the pointers will definitely help you. Also, try to have your estimates a little on the higher end so anything less you spend will be a bonus. And you would be prepared for the expenses.

**DISCLAIMER**

This is my personal view point only. Please check and double check everything.

Khatta (sour) Dhokla

2012-09-13T10:58:00.000-04:00

This is a Gujarati specialty which can be served as a snack or side dish or as a light dinner. Once you taste this, you will never be able to forget this dish. The tagline 'no one can eat just one' aptly suits this dish. This is the favorite of my family. Also, this dish can be made with many variations. The recipe I post is what my mom has been using for ages. But I will try to post as many variations I can here. And may be keep updating as and when I get the different recipes. It varies with every household. The taste would also alter in every home.

Ingredients: For batter

1.5 cups of rice
0.5 cup of urad dal
0.5 cup of SOUR yogurt (if the yogurt is not sour, you can leave it outside for 2-3 days in a cup and let it turn sour)
2 tbs ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
0.5 cup of finely chopped cilantro
3 tsp ENO (fruit salt)
2 tbs oil
Salt to taste
Red chilli powder to sprinkle

Method

Soak the rice and daal in plenty of water separately for 6-8 hours. Once soaked, drain the water. Grind the rice and daal separately by adding water only if required to make thick paste. Then mix the two paste and add little water. Mix well. This should have a consistency similar to that of idly batter.
Add the sour yogurt and salt to this mixture. Let it ferment for 8 hours (overnight is fine too) depending on the weather conditions.
Once fermented, add the ginger-garlic-chilli paste, cilantro. Mix well.
Just before steaming, place the ENO salt (and not sprinkle) over the batter. Heat the oil and pour that over the ENO. This will create lot of bubbles. Now mix gently the batter so the ENO+oil is mixed into the batter.
Grease the dhokla thali (if you do not have it, you can also use the idly maker) with oil.
Add the batter to fill half the thali and sprinkle red chilli powder over it.
Place the thali in the cooker (without whistle) and let it steam for 10-12 minutes. If you are using the idly maker, then you might have to adjust the timing accordingly.
Once done, cut the dhoklas into diamond shape.
Serve hot with cilantro chutney and oil.

Variations

Chana dal - You can add chana dal along with urad dal. Then the ratio would be 2 cups rice + 0.5 cup of urad dal + 0.5 cup of chana dal.
Another variation using chana dal is that if you do not want to grind the chana dal, then you can leave it as it and just mix with the batter along with other ingredients.
Another variation is instead of red chilli powder, you can sprinkle black pepper.
Also, instead of mixing cilantro in the batter it can be used for garnishing. Also, you can heat oil in a pan, add mustard sees, pinch of hing, curry leaves, red dry chilli. Once they crackle, drizzle this over the dhokla and garnish with cilantro.
The ginger-garlic-paste ingredient is optional. If you do not like it you can modify (may be just ginger-chilli) or entirely exclude it.

Paneer bhurji

2012-03-11T12:03:00.002-04:00

Ingredients:

1 cup grated paneer
1 small onion finely chopped
1 small tomato finely chopped
2 green chillies finely chopped
1.5 tsp oil
1/4 tsp kasuri methi
1/2 tsp dhaniya powder
1/2 tsp garam masala
pinch of red color (optional)
Salt to taste
Cilantro for garnishing

Method:

Mix garam masala, dhaniya powder, green chillies and red color to grated paneer. Keep aside for 5 mins.
Put oil in a glass bowl and heat it for 1 min on high power.
Add onion to oil and heat it for 2 mins.
Now add tomatoes and again heat it for 2 mins. Then add kasuri methi and mix.
Now add the marinated paneer mixture and mix well.
Heat it for 1 min and mix again.
Keep for 30 seconds.
Garnish with cilantro and serve hot with rotis, dahi and pickle.

Tip:
If you are a fan of garlic, you can add 1 tsp of ginger-garlic paste before adding the tomatoes to give it a different zing.

Sheera / Halwa

2012-03-10T22:59:00.002-05:00

This is the fastest and easiest desert that you can make for those sweet cravings post a great meal.

Ingredients:

1 cup rawa (sooji)
1/4 cup ghee (clarified butter)
1 cup water
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup sugar
Sliced almonds and cardamom powder to garnish

Method:

In a bowl, mix ghee and rawa. Heat it in the micro for 2 mins.
Take out and stir. Now add water, milk and sugar. Heat it for 1-2 mins.
Garnish with sliced almonds and cardamom powder.

Tip:

Time will vary based on the make and power of the microwave.

Vegetable Momo

2011-08-21T22:48:00.000-04:00

I never knew any dish named MOMO until sometime back when my Maa suggested to me about it. I still wonder why didn't we hear about it earlier!?! Anyways, Maa tasted this on her trip to East India and China. Momos are dumplings filled with one or more ingredients such as vegetables, meat, cheese or khoya (you can fry this to make gujiya). They are usually steamed and served with tomato based dipping sauce. But, I have made some alterations to the dipping to quench my family's demands. So, here is an easy way to bring the Eastern Indian cuisine on your dinner table :) You may serve this as an appetizer/ tea time snack/ or a light dinner.

For wrap :

1 cup maida (all purpose flour)
1 cup atta (wheat flour)
1tbsp oil
Water
Salt to taste
Alternates : you may buy gyoza / wonton wrappers from your regular / Asian grocery stores.

For filling:

1 cup thinly sliced cabbage (to give it more color you may use a ratio of 1:1 for green : red cabbage)
1/4 cup shredded carrot
1/4 cup chopped scallions
1/2 cup mashed potatoes
2tbps ginger-garlic-green chilli paste
1/4 cup shredded beetroot
1tsp soy sauce
1tsp lemon juice
Salt to taste
1tbsp oil
Optional : you may add or subtract the above filler with chopped mushrooms/cilantro

Method:

Sieve the flour, add oil and salt. Knead it well by slowly adding water as required. The consistency should be medium to stiff. Knead the dough with little oil again for a smooth surface. Leave it for few minutes.
Heat oil in a pan. Saute the ginger-garlic-green chilli paste, cabbage, carrot, potato and salt lightly. Add beetroot and scallions. Put off the stove. Add lemon juice and soy sauce and mix. (I like it to little crunchy so I do not cook it completely. You may cook for more time if you like softer texture).
Now roll out the dough into very thin, almost translucent, rounds of about 4"-5"
Now add the filler material into each round and close the two ends to give it a half moon shape. You can glue the ends using water. Do make sure that the filling does not ooze out from the sealed area.
In a idli/dhokla cooker, boil some water.
Grease the dhokla plates and arrange the dumplings on the plates. Do not overlap them.
Put the plates in the stand and steam it for about 12 mins.
Serve hot with soy sauce, red chilli sauce.

Optional serving style :
Serve the dumplings garnished with chopped onions and nylon sev. Top it with green coriander chutney, red garlic chutney and date-tamarind chutney.

Doctors by Erich Segal

2011-06-25T23:21:00.000-04:00

This is one of my favorites and a must read for all those in the medical fraternity. Reading this book sent me back to my School years. The author's zestful description abouth the life of the medical professionals engross the readers.

The story mainly revolves around the two characters Barney and Laura. The two grew up next to each other and aspired to be doctors. They both eventually land up in the same med school. The books provides a lot of insight about the ongoings in a med school. The author has done a good research. This book provides a lot of medical knowledge and interesting as well as exciting hospital scenes. Also, the emotional plot of the story is highly captivating.

I rate this book as 5 on 5. The book is a wonderful read and I highly recommend it. You wouldn't want to put it down once you start reading.

A Beautiful Mind

2011-06-25T22:55:00.000-04:00

A beautifully crafted movie.

It is loosely based on the life of Professor John Nash, a Nobel Laurette in Economics and inspired by a book 'A Beautiful Mind by Sylvia Nasar'. Prof. Nash is an American Mathematician whose work is used in the complex systems of daily life such as market economics, computing, artificial intelligence, accounting, evolutionary biology, politics and military theory. He serves as a Senior Research Mathematician in Princeton University.

Though this film is surrounded with many controversies for portraying inaccurate incidences and and diverging from actual events, it is a must watch. Russell Crowe as John Nash has given highly appreciative performance. This film inspires one to conquer the impossible and achieve higher goals.

Veg Frankie

2011-06-18T12:29:00.000-04:00

I love this dish mainly because it uses up my leftovers :) I am sure each of you will feel the same contentment when the leftovers are used up deliciously. Though this is a good recipe for left over roti/chapatis and any sabji, it is equally good to make from scratch. So either way, enjoy this for the meal tonight.

For wrap:

1 cup maida (all purpose flour)
1 cup atta (wheat flour)
1tbsp oil
Salt to taste
Water

For filling:

4 medium sized potatoes, boiled and mashed
1 cup onion finely chopped
Grated cheese (I prefer mozzarella 2% or low fat)
Salt to taste
1/2 tsp amchur powder or lemon juice
1.5 tsp garam masala
2 green chillies finely chopped (or substitute with red chilli powder as per taste)
Butter

Method:

Sieve the flour, add oil and salt. Knead it well by slowly adding water as required. The consistency should be medium. Knead the dough with little oil again for a smooth surface. Leave it for few minutes.
Boil the potatoes, peel and mash them in a bowl. Once they have cooled down, add garam masala, amchur powder, salt, amchur powder (and red chilli powder, if you are using it). Mix well.
Now, divide the dough into 8 parts. Roll each piece into a ball.
Heat a skillet over medium heat until hot, and grease lightly. On a lightly floured surface, use a floured rolling pin to roll out the balls of dough until very thin like a tortilla. When the pan starts smoking, put a chapati on it. Cook until the underside has brown spots, about 30 seconds, then flip and cook on the other side. Continue with remaining balls. Keep these wraps aside and cover them with a cloth/tissue so as keep them soft.

For Serving:

Heat a skillet on medium heat. Grease it well with butter.
Take each roti and put the stuffing in the center. Layer it with chopped green chillies (if you are using it instead of chilli powder), chopped onions and then add a layer of grated cheese.
Fold the either sides of the roti in an overlapping manner. Also, fold one of the open ends to make it a cone. Hold it in this position and apply butter over it. You can also use a toothpick to keep it sealed.
Now place this folded wrap on the skillet/tawa so that the folded side is towards the heated pan. Keep it on medium heat for 5 mins. Apply butter on the top surface and then turn it over and heat it again for another 3 mins. You will get a crisp surface on both sides.
Serve it hot with tomato ketchup.

Tip:
You can substitute or add veggies like green peas, carrot, capsicum, grated paneer, cabbage and let me know your creation!

P.S. My hubby loved it, so I am sure you all will enjoy it :) Have fun eating.

Why blogging?

2011-06-11T22:07:00.000-04:00

Hi all,
I am glad to say that finally I have started blogging. All this while, I was a silent reader. My thoughts have never been penned before. But, today's fast paced technology has given me a chance to reach out to all those whose ideas meet mine.
I shall try to update my blog regularly and let my thoughts flow!
-Pooja.