Random ramblings :)

Tomato soup pulao...

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Sun, 26 Feb 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! How have you all been. My today’s recipe is very simple and easy to make plus everyone loves it. Pulao is eaten a lot and lovingly in my home and I am sure everyone enjoys it. There are many variations all the mommies come up with and I am no exception. I made this pulao using tomato soup powder and well end result was it was finished off with happy satisfied feeling in tummy.

So lets begin our pulao. Again the measurements I give here are just for indication and you can adjust it your way.

Ingredients:

1cup rice washed and soaked

½ cup tomato soup ( I use the knorr ready soup)

½ cup mix vegetables of your choice ( I have used here peas, cauliflower, carrots and potatoes)

1 onion sliced

1 dalchini/cinnamon stick cut in small pieces

2-3 cloves

1 cardamom broken

Salt to taste

1tsp garam masala powder

2tsp red chilli powder

2 tbsp ghee

1tsp jeera/cumin seeds

Water as required

Method:

Take a pan, add 1tbsp ghee. Let it heat then add jeera. Once it splutters add onions and sauté till they turn bit pink. Add dalchini, cloves and cardamom and stir them. Add mix vegetables, stir them for a min and add salt. Be careful with salt as it would be used later also. Put little water and cook them. Add other masalas and cook for a min more and it should be dry, not watery. Keep it aside.

In another pan heat the remaining ghee and add rice. Stir the rice nicely and softly for a minute. Add the tomato soup and if needed some water and add salt. Don’t put too much water or your rice would get too soggy. Cook the rice for few minutes. Once rice is done take it off the gas. Add your cooked vegetables to rice and stir it slowly till rice and vegetables are mixed. Your tomato soup pulao is ready.

Serve it hot with any raita. I have used boondi raita here.

Submitting this to:

Let's Cook # 1 ~ "Pulao"

A ghost story............ Believe it or not!!!!!!!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 20 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Boo! ! Got scared…… No its not Halloween time or trick or treat time. Its time for some ghostly talks or stories. Do you believe in ghosts? Have you experienced a ghostly feeling around you or felt any presence of any spirit. Well let me share with you my ghostly experience, and I doubt if it was imagination as there were witnesses. Hold on to your seats……………..

This incident happened years ago but still its quite fresh in my mind. My grandma had passed away some months back and that time we were staying on top floor of building and we had glass doors and windows with huge balcony outside.

It was 8pm and that time me,my brothers,my sister-in-law and sis were at home as my parents were away on holiday. It was hot summer evening and no wind of any sort. Air-condition was on and all doors and windows closed and locked.

We were all watching tv and suddenly all of us heard a weird noise. We thought maybe we just imagined it and ignored the noise. After few mins, again we heard a noise and this time something weird we saw. The handle on balcony door moved slightly, just like they show in movies. All of us were shocked and looked at handle in disbelief. We asked each other did you see that and everyone agreed, yes,the handle moved!

We waited and watched for some time then felt again it was imagination and decided to continue watching tv but after few mins door started rattling hard and handle moved again. It got so scary we huddled around each other but none of us had the guts to open the balcony and see whats making noise or who is moving the handle. There was no wind and it was too hot outside. We tried to peep through glass windows but couldn’t see anything at all. Not knowing what to do, we all just switched off tv, lights and ran away to our bedrooms and locked ourselves inside, as if the ghost or spirit needed locks to open the door..

We all thought our granny has come back as ghost and she wanted to enter the house. The next morning we all asked each other did we imagine or was there something. But all of us were dead sure we heard and saw handle moving.

It has been years now but that eerie feeling of that night is still there. Till this day none of us is sure what happened but one person may have imagined not all 5 people in the house.

I am not fond of horror movies or any ghost related stuff as I get scared and get nightmares. But this one was something weird and real.

So believe it or not that’s your choice. But did any of you ever had such experience. Would love to hear your views……………..

I have one more blog which is all about online games. feel free to check it if you want to pass your time... ONLINE GAMES

Wheat flour halwa..

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Tue, 14 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! This week I have a reason to be happy as my page rank went up to 2 and now since this is valentine day so why not make something sweet.

It is very easy to make and I am sure most of you have already tried that. Its wheat flour sheera or halwa as you may like to call. I usually make this for breakfast but it can be eaten anytime.

Ingredients:

3tbsp ghee

1cup wheat flour

1/2cup sugar

Few strands of saffron

1tpsp khus khus /poppy seeds (optional)

For garnish pieces of almonds &/or pistachios

Water 1 cup

Method:

Heat ghee in pan and add wheat flour. Keep stirring it till it becomes dark brown but be careful not to burn the flour. If its too dry add one tbsp more of ghee. Reduce heat and add water while stirring it continuously so no lumps are formed. All the water would be soaked and flour would be cooked and then add sugar. Sugar would also leave some water so keep stirring it till sugar dissolves. Add khus khus here.

Take it off heat and add saffron and garnish with almonds and pistachios..

Your sweet sheera is ready in instant.

Be careful with browning part of flour as when you add sugar then also color changes a little.

Serve hot.

P.s. I have made my own adjustments in this so try it your way with the adjustments you are ok with. Khus khus is optional but I use it for bit of crunchy feeling. I am sorry about picture quality as it seems something went wrong with my camera.

Submitting this entry to…..

Let's Cook: Sweet Somethings.

I have one more blog which is all about online games. feel free to check it if you want to pass your time... ONLINE GAMES

5 best online contact form builder

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Fri, 10 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello! Since I started blogging and over the months I have learnt a lot of things and one of them is to have Contact Me option. My friend Vinod at itechcolumn has explained in details how to make contact form. That set me thinking this is easy so why not comply a list of some online sites where we can make contact forms. I have tried the first , second and fifth option here.

1. http://www.emailmeform.com/

You can create a variety of online forms using their easy form builder. Design and build surveys, contact forms, and lead generation forms. Seamlessly integrate their HTML contact forms on your website.Full details on how to do it is given here.

2. http://www.jotform.com/

JotForm is a free web form builder. For basic usage, upto 100 submissions/month, you can use JotForm fully. No crippleware. No ads. Just what you need.

3. http://www.mycontactform.com/index.php

It is an online e-mail form creation and processing service that allows you to easily add sophisticated contact forms to your web site. The arduous task of creating contact forms, e-mail forms, feedback forms, questionnaires, surveys, order forms, polls, or any other type of web form is a thing of the past!

4. http://www.formlogix.com/CreateWebForms.aspx

Creating basic web forms without having to deal with their design.
Adding dependencies to create a compound flow in the form

5. http://www.foxyform.com/

The contact form for your website with integrated anti-spam protection!
I have used this form now on my blog.

I am sure there are many sites but these I found easy ones.

I have one more blog which is all about online games. feel free to check it if you want to pass your time... ONLINE GAMES

Kofta in spinach gravy

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 06 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello! Welcome to my space again. Today's recipe koftas in spinach gravy was told to me by my sister-in-law. My son never liked spinach and I had to coax him many times telling him you would become just like Popeye the sailor man and he would still refuse to eat spinach.

Since then I tried mix and match version and this recipe is result of those experiments.

But before I begin, since I use quantity as I see fit so the measurements I give below may not be accurate. You are free to adjust them as you see it fit.

Ingredients:

For gravy:

2 bunch of spinach washed and boiled (spinach reduces after boil)

1 onion cut in small pieces
1tbsp ginger garlic paste

2 green chillies cut in small pieces

1tomato cut in small pieces.

Salt to taste

1tsp garam masala powder

1tsp amchur powder

1tbsp oil or ghee

Method:

Boil spinach in vessel, drain out water and make a puree of it. Keep it aside. In another pan put ghee or oil to heat. Put ginger garlic paste to sauté for a min, and then add onions, sauté it again till raw smell of onion goes. Add green chillies and tomato. Stir it for a min and add little water for tomatoes to cook. Bring to boil and then add salt, garam masala powder and amchur powder. Switch off the gas and put all this mixture of onion tomatoes in mixer and make puree of it. Mix this with spinach puree and keep it aside.

Koftas:

Ingredients:

4-5 potatoes boiled and peeled

½ cup bread crumbs or 4-5 bread pieces soaked in water and squeezed.

Salt to taste

1/2tsp amchur powder

1/2tsp coriander& cumin powder

1tsp red chili powder

1tsp garam masala powder

1/4cup coriander leaves cut

( you can add vegetables of your choice but here I kept plain)

Oil to deep fry

Method:

Mash potatoes and add all the items mentioned for kofta above. Make small lemon sized balls of it and deep fry them. Take them out of pan and keep on kitchen paper to soak extra oil

Before serving heat the spinach gravy for some time. On a plate or bowl put spinach gravy first and add koftas. If u add koftas before they would break.

For garnish I used a spoonful of butter.

End result came out as the picture below and my son happily ate his spinach.

I hope I was clear with instructions above and as a home maker I use quantity as per my guesswork. So I am sure all you cooks would be able to make this as per your need.

Enjoy making this kofta dish and let me know how it turned out for you.

Submitting this dish to:
Sizzling Tastebuds

Srav's Culinary concepts

Hema's Vantagadi

I have one more blog which is all about online games. feel free to check it if you want to pass your time... ONLINE GAMES

Places to visit near Mumbai

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Thu, 02 Feb 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello all. This week is my finale part about Mumbai. Today I would list out some of the places to visit near Mumbai. Some are religious places, some hill stations and some beach destinations.

I have been to some of the places which I would describe as I mention names. These places by road are aprox 4-6 hrs travel time.

Hill stations:
Matheran: One of the few places in the world where all vehicles are banned which makes this place unique. To go to Matheran you have to take a toy train from Neral station.

Mahableshwar: beautiful hill station in Satara district of Maharashtra. It has many beautiful points to enjoy and the venna lake is one of the major tourist attraction.

VIEW FROM ABOVE

ONE TREE AT MAHABLESHWAR

Lonavala/Khandala: just about 3hrs away from Mumbai by road and you enter this lovely hill station. Its famous for Lonavala chikki and Bhushi dam. Khandala is joined to Lonavala. The famous Amby Valley is in Lonavala.


LONAVALA

VIEW OF LONAVALA

I have been to above places some years back its like taking a very relaxing break after hectic life in Mumbai. There are few more places which I have not visited like, Amboli, Jawahar, Saputara, Panhala.

Lavasa is a new hill station which is near Pune city.

Beaches:

Though Mumbai has its own beaches but if you want a beach holiday away from Mumbai then you can try these places.

Alibaug: I had written about this in one of my earlier blog post here.

Daman, Dahanu, Ganpatipule, Kashid. Murud are some of the other beach destinations.

I have been to Dahanu too and its quiet place away from fast paced life of city and famous for its chikoos.


DAHANU BEACH

SUNSET AT DAHANU BEACH

Religious Places:

Nasik, Shirdi Trimbakeshwar are some of the places to visit

Apart from these there are numerous getaways like Silvassa, Bhandardara.Igatpuri and Aurangabad where world heritage sites of Ajanta and Ellora caves are located. I had been there years ago so I don’t have any pictures of the caves.

There are many more places but if I list them all my post would get real long. And with this concludes my series on Mumbai.

Also read Part 1-- WELCOME TO MUMBAI

Part 2-- STREET FOOD OF MUMBAI

The above pics were taken by old camera and I had visited some of the above places long back. Now there would be some changes.

I have one more blog which is all about online games. feel free to check it if you want to pass your time... ONLINE GAMES

On the go...Street food in Mumbai.....

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Fri, 27 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Hope you enjoyed the first part WELCOME TO MUMBAI.

Continuing my story about Mumbai I would tell you about street food which is very famous here.

While eating in Mumbai one can have all delicacies in top end hotels or restaurants but if you want to taste the real tasty stuff come to the streets. There are some very good places where the food is hygenic.

Khaoo galli - literally means food street and it has food stalls lined up on both sides of the lane serving variety of food items. Its near Churchgate station and it has mainly vegetarian food.

Juhu beach or Chowpatty beach - There are many stalls right on the beach serving numerous snack items.

Mohammed Ali road - down at South Mumbai area it serves mainly non vegetarian delicacies.

Elco restaurant at Bandra west has best street food available and my personal favorite is Dahi papdi chaat.
Kailash Parbat Hindu hotel at Colaba and Andheri and in many malls across the city have very good snack items.

So what exactly is street food here. They are mainly vada pav, pav bhaji, bhelpuri, pani puri, ragda pattis, sandwiches, variety of dosas and idlis. Street food in India is very cheap but tasty however do consider about the hygiene part before you have these delicacies.

VADA PAV

Pav Bhaji

ragda patties

pics courtesy: google and original uploader.

For Pav Bhaji recipe.. check my blog entry here

Enjoy the delicious items when you visit Mumbai.

Mumbai city.... a brief description

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Welcome to Mumbai…. The city that never sleeps.. as the people say. Hello everyone and today I take you around Mumbai city and hope you all would enjoy this ride with me. I would write this in three parts so stay tuned for next part.

Mumbai, capital of Maharashtra and financial capital of India, home to Bollywood film industry and home to people from all over the country.

The local language spoken here is Marathi but English and Hindi are also spoken fluently. So a new visitor will not have much trouble. Temperature varies throughout the year. March- June is summer months with temperature reaching almost 40degree .June- October monsoon season with rain in full force. November to February is mainly winter months but being a coastal city the winters are mild here and pleasant weather.

Places to see: colonial architecture from the Victorian times ….mainly around South Mumbai area. Famous monuments to be seen in this area are the Gateway of India, the Chhatrapati Shivaji Terminus (Victoria Terminus) building, the Municipal Corporation and Police Headquarters and the Chhatrapati Shivaji Vastu Sanghralaya (formerly, the Prince Of Wales museum). The famous Taj Mahal hotel is located just opposite the Gateway of India. The Mumbai University buildings and the High Court are also excellent examples of colonial architecture in the city.

Nehru science center and Nehru planetarium are very good place to visit as they have museum and planetary views shown at both centers

Mumbai has a few beaches, at Juhu, Chowpatty, Marve. They are a great place to see how the locals spend their Sunday evenings, with various food and game stalls.

The life line of Mumbai.. the local trains run extensive network daily on three lines…. Western line, central line and harbor line.

Mumbai is famous for its street food description of which I would give in my next post. Modern Mumbai has huge malls and multiplex to cater to everyone’s needs with branded names.

If I continue it would turn out a big essay, so come to Mumbai and enjoy your stay while you explore the city and feast on various delicacies which are offered.


GATEWAY OF INDIA


CHHATRAPTI SHIVAJI TERMINUS

PRINCE OF WALES MUSEUM

JUHU BEACH

pics credit: Google

Carrot Halwa.... gaajar ka halwa

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Wed, 18 Jan 2012 06:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Time to have something sweet… today's recipe is well known in Hindi films and I am sure everyone loves it. Gajar ka halwa….. ha its seasons of carrots so got this recipe soon after my earlier one with carrots. Plus it was my son’s birthday few days back so thought why not make this dish.

Lets begin cooking…

Ingredients:

½ kg big carrots grated. (Preferably the red pink ones)

4 tbsp ghee

Half cup sugar

Half cup milk

2tbsp poppy seeds (khus khus –optional)

Few almonds cut

Little saffron strands

1tsp cardamom powder or 1 cardamom whole

( now these are all adjustable to your needs and your style of cooking)

Method:

Grate the carrots and keep them aside. In a deep pan put ghee, let it heat then put carrots and stir them for few mins till carrot sweet smell comes.

Next put milk and stir the carrots and let them cook for few mins. Here some people use mawa or khoya but I have never tried with it and used milk with equal results. I like carrots soft here so I have put more milk but if you want bit dry then reduce the quantity of milk.

Let the milk dry up leaving the carrots soft. Reduce flame and put sugar. Stir and as sugar also leaves some water so keep stirring till sugar dissolves. Take the halwa out of gas. Sprinkle saffron strands, cardamom powder, poppy seeds and almonds on top. Stir and serve hot or cold as you prefer.

Carrots after cooking reduce a lot so adjust your quantity accordingly.

Hope you enjoy this delicious yummy gajar ka halwa……

What type of person you are.... find out

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Thu, 12 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Hello! Today’s post is to describe the types of people we meet in our daily lives. It’s a humor post so have fun.

Impatient person: always in hurry type and won’t think twice before talking and wants things done first and fast. In this category also come people who see the shopowner is still opening the shop and yet say I want this or that.

Interfering person: he or she won’t see if the person is busy talking to someone or doing something and straight away butt in trying to make the other person notice him.

Stupid person: there are shops here who have big telephone booths for Local, national or international calls and yet this person would barge in and ask DO YOU HAVE TELEPHONE BOOTH! Uff they somehow miss the six footer booth standing outside the door.

Annoying type: every few mins he would ask questions related to the work he is doing. If you don’t know then why are you sitting here?

Silent type: who won’t say a word what they want and just use hand sign to tell his message or whatever he wants to tell.

Forgetful type: these people tend to forget their own things like wallet diary or cellphone and even forget to pay to shopkeeper and straight buzz off without backward glance but they do remember at times that they forgot their personal belongings.

Accusing type: the blame game begins. Mistake is of this person yet doesn’t stop him from accusing the shop owner or the other person. These people also fall in the category of abusive people with flair knowledge of slang words.

The know-it-all type: ever ready to say they know everything and would try to fix things without waiting for approval and won’t listen to a no.

These are sort of negative people and there may be more too.

Helpful person: he would stick around and help out on his own without any acknowledgment

Cheerful person: always says hi hello how are you with a nice smile.

Generous person: he would walk away intentionally or unintentionally paying more than he is charged for.

Straightforward person: they come, they do their work and they leave without any argument or anything.

The honest person: he would give out things he sees or pays even the bills the shop owner forgets to collect.

Well this is my list. Feel free to add more if you know and yes……. Which type of person are you from the above…. Remember I would wait for your answers so do answer generously and honestly……. And if you are one of the negative ones….. change yourself to positive one….

Have a nice day everyone.

New year.. new dish using carrots

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Fri, 06 Jan 2012 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Wishing you all a very happy new year. I know it has been some days since the 1^st of January happened. Better late than never eh….

Today I bring for you one of my very simple dish and easy to make. Good for those who prefer less oil, less chilli, less sugar even…

Serves 2 people and increase quantities according to your need.

Ingredients:

2 large thick carrots. (Preferably the red pink one not the bright orange.) cut into 1 inch long pieces (ALMOST THE SIZE OF FRENCH FRIES)

1green chilli slit length wise

1/4tsp rai or mustard seeds

1/2tbsp oil

1tbsp besan or gram flour (optional)

1tbsp sugar ( optional)

Salt to taste

1/4tsp haldi powder or turmeric powder

Method:

In a pan heat oil, then put mustard seeds,stir till it splutters, add green chilli, stir once more, add carrots. Stir them, add salt and turmeric powder and mix well.

Here I add a little 4tbsp water for carrots to soften and quickly cook. Cover and cook on slow heat for 2 mins. Check if carrots have softened and increase heat and stir again. Again here I add besan but if you don’t want you can skip this part. Besan would stick to carrots and soak out extra water. Add sugar if you wish and any case carrots have their own sweetness. Stir and take out of the heat.

Serve hot with roti or puri and for garnish use cut coriander leaves.

I have kept it mild and you are free to improvise on this by increasing chilli and leaving out sugar and besan.

The above is my method of cooking but there is another way. Do not add water. cover the vessel and cook carrots on low heat. Keep checking in between to see if its cooked then add besan and sugar if you wish and this would be bit of dry method.

Tip: always put little quantity of any masala and taste before serving. Once you add more salt then it gets difficult to reduce it in some cases.

Enjoy and do let me know by your comments if you cooked it.

Submitted to
MurariAnniversary-Giveaway-2012 @ Hema's Blog.

Memories of 2011.....

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Sat, 31 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! So final date of year 2011 has come and soon it would be new year 2012 or as I write maybe the new year has already set in some parts of the world. Year 2011 saw many ups and downs in whole world but here I would like to talk on personal level.

My first half of the year went in normal way with me watching tv programmes talking endlessly about them and basically wasting time while socializing and other things. But second half did some changes to my life. I did something which I never thought I would. People make resolutions for new year but here I want to share past six months of my life and even though thanksgiving is gone I still want to thank a lot of people.

June 2011 encouraged by a very dear friend of mine Bhaskar, I started this blog. I was totally clueless on how things work and what should I be writing but constant support and mild scoldings and lot of encouragement I was finally a blogger. So here is big big thanks to you buddy to put me on this platform letting me express myself and being a chatterbox giving me an outlet to express my thoughts and feelings. Here is wishing you a very super duper birthday today.

Starting blog was ok but then I was panicking again. What title should I give to my blog, what url should I make which would reflect me. Along came to rescue another dear friend Vistaa who helped me with title and url. A big thanks to you dear Vistaa for helping me on this and also supporting me and my write-ups. Still do miss your comments buddy so please show your valuable presence here.

Nandini though invisible still was another one who supported and loved what I wrote and I had to make faces when she disappeared in middle but came back again with a bang.

Gauri who without fail comments on each and every post of mine first and is always there to give me ideas. Psst.. sms post idea was hers. Thanks for being there Gauri.

Along the way came Sangeeta Vimi, Madhu, Prashasti ,Jolie,Mukta and others who supported me in their own way. I still miss presence of lots of people but lives do get busy. Hope they do come around soon.

Next came big bunch of friends from bloggers.com and top of the list is vinod (itechcolumn) who I have bugged so much to get answers I am sure he must be banging his head everytime I ask him questions. I have learnt a lot from his site and implemented some of his ideas and tutorials here. Puru, Suresh, Hema and others thanks for being there and visiting my blog.

My post is getting really long now but I guess I am in mood to talk. The past six months have been a revelation for me and making me utilize my time and learn new things and making new friends.

Finally comes my family, my husband and my kids who would at times proof read to see if I have written correct grammar. I tend to forget my punctuations at times but people close to me know where my fullstop is and where my comma is. Ha ha..

I haven’t made any resolutions but I just wanted to thank everyone for being there and hoping I would see all of you along with those who are missing to be there again in new year.

There is one advert which comes on tv which says har ek friend zaroori hota hai ( each friend is necessary) so here is big wish for everyone.

celebrate new year but dont drink and drive.

Computer maintenance..... small tips

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 26 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello!. Some weeks back I had showed you how to format your windows xp system. Today I would show you how to remove unwanted temporary files from the computer and keep disk space free. I never used to do before but my technician advised and showed me how to do it.

Temporary files and cookies take up lots of disk space and tend to slow down the computer.

On Windows XP Go to Start > run.> type in command “prefetch” ( without quotation marks) in the box which opens and click ok . A new window opens . select all files and delete them. Those which don’t get deleted leave them.

Next again go to Start> run> type in the little box %temp% and click ok. A new window opens and again delete all files you see there. Those that don’t delete leave them.

Install free Ccleaner software and run it at regular intervals or keep it in auto mode to run when windows start.

This would remove a lot of clutter on the pc but at times there are still some files left. So go to My Computer right click on C: / drive and click properties. Press disk clean up button and the window pops up. Wait for few mins till windows detects the file then Select all the things you see and click ok

This would clear up any remaining files on the computer. Do this at least weekly to clear up the clutter on your system and remove unwanted programmes which you don’t use on your machine.

Always keep your antivirus updated and regularly scan the disk drives including pendrive as it is bound to carry viruses or malware when you use it anywhere.

Hope following the above steps would help you in keeping your computer running smoothly. Any errors please contact your computer technician.

The great spice route------------

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 19 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone! Today's topic is giving quick easy pictorial guide to some basic spices,seeds and lentils or dals which I am sure many would find useful as they cook and can differentiate one from other. Specially bachelors would find this useful, I hope.

I am listing the basic ones which are used in daily cooking. Please use 1/4 or 1/2tsp of these seeds depending on quantity of your dish.

Methi dhana or fenugreek seeds. Good for digestion but bitter in taste.

Jeera seed or cumin seed.

mustard seeds or sarson or rai

coriander seeds or dhaniya seeds

The above items are used in tadka. Not all use dhaniya seeds but some do like that.

Basic spices or masalas to be used in cooking.

Turmeric powder or haldi powder.

Red chilli powder

Amchur powder or dry mango powder .

Dhaniya powder or coriander powder

Above are the basic spices used in any dish and of course salt is important. Some people also use garam masala powder which is mixture of many spices like clove, cinnamon, ginger, cardamom.

Dals or lentils.

Tur dal or arhar dal

Chana dal or bengal gram dal

Whole moong.. It can also be used sprouted.

Moong dal

There are many more but I have listed just the basic everyday used lentils or spices so its easily recognisable. Have fun cooking.

Destination...........Mount Abu

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 12 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

This week I'm going to take you up to the mountains with me to Mount Abu.

Few years back I travelled with my family to this beautiful place in Rajasthan. Situated in the Aravali range, Mount Abu is an oasis in the desert sands of Rajasthan, it accedes the honour of being the only hill-station in Rajasthan as well as the whole of North-West India. Mount Abu is home to the world famous tourist destination: the ancient Dilwara Jain temples. It has a very cool and soothing climate.

We had gone in month of November and it was freezing cold compared to Mumbai climate. After 12hours of journey by train from Mumbai we landed at Abu road station. From there we took shared taxi up the winding road towards the hill station with travel time of approximately 45mins. The first day we rested and later went to nearby sunset point. Spectacular view of setting sun atop the mountain.

Day 2... We went to explore market which was about 10mins from our hotel. We hired a taxi to show us the long distance places like Dilwara jain temple, Adhar devi temple. Photography is prohibited in Dilwara jain temple and we had to deposit our camera and cell phones at security. Adhar devi temple is at great height and I didn't go up but my husband and son went up to see the spectacular view of the valley below.

Day 3....We found the best way to travel around Mount Abu by rented Motorbikes and scooters, the latest medium to enjoy beautiful Mount Abu to its fullest.Please note you require a valid driving licence for this service.You can hire the bike for whole day and roam around at your own convenience and we found this very useful and cost is very reasonable too. We went around more places and roamed market lake and far off places.

Day 4... Me and my husband roamed around market to buy some stuff while my kids took the bike to explore some more regions including the museum.

Day 5... We had checked out of hotel and since we had enough time to catch our train we spend time at nakki lake in afternoon and visited some shops. After lunch we got sharing taxi which took us down the winding road back to Abu Road station from where we took our train back to Mumbai thus bidding good bye to a beautiful hill retreat.

Though Mount Abu can be visited throughout the year I preferred winters as it was all around pleasant with chill in the air in the evenings. While travelling Mount Abu you must feast on the Maharashtrian, Gujarati, Rajasthani, south Indian, Punjabi, Chinese or Continental dishes. The variety offered is so vast that you may try new dishes in every meal. Even the smaller eating joints in Mount Abu are shining clean. Amongst the many delicious dishes you must try out the pav bhaji and the Rajasthani thali. My personal favorite was sev tomato sabzi.

Sight seeing.

Dilwara Jain Temple: These beautifully carved temples built between 11th and 13th century A.D. are sheer elegance in marble, dedicated to the jain Tirthankaras. The Vimal Vasahi temple is the oldest of these dedicated to the first Tirthankara. Built in 1031 A.D. (by Vimal Shah-a merchant and representative of then Gujarat ruler), it is a superb example of temple architecture.
Adhar Devi Temple: The temple is chiselled out of a huge rock reached by a flight of 360 stairs. A favourite tourist spot.
Sunset Point: Spectacular sight of the setting sun when the hills are covered in the golden glow can be viewed from here.
Honeymoon Point: Also known as Andra Point, it offers an enchanting view of the verdant plains and valleys. The place looks most beautiful during the dusk hours.
Gardens and Parks: Beautifully laid parks and gardens are interspersed throughout the hilly paradise. Ashok Vatika,Gandhi park, Municipal Park,Shaitan Singh Park and Terrace Garden are some of the noteworthy gardens.
Museum and Art Gallery: Located at the Raj Bhawan, it was a collection of archaeological excavations dating back to 8th-12th century A.D. It also has Jain bronze carvings,brassworks etc. for viewing.

Nakki Lake - Situated within walking distance from the main market and almost 80% of Hotel's and restaurant's of Mount Abu, Nakki lake posses the crown of being the heart of Mount Abu. The hub of evening activity and boating - Nakki Lake is the perfect place to spent your evening with your partner, friends and family.The picture perfect location of the lake surrounded with mountains, gardens and rock formations also make it a very good location for photography. In the evening the setting sun makes the canvas

How To Reach Mount Abu

To reach Mount Abu by Rail: Abu Road is the nearest railway station just 28 KM from the main city, Which is very well connected by rail routes to New Delhi, Ahmedabad, Jaipur, and Mumbai. From Abu Road you can opt for state transport service (usually every hour) or Taxis on both sharing and private basis.
To reach Mount Abu by Air: The nearest airport is Udaipur at a distance of 185 km, But Ahmedabad is having better connectivity and daily flights with other parts of the country and is just 221 KM from Mount Abu, from Ahmedabad or Udaipur.

To reach Mount Abu by Road: Mount Abu is well connected by road with major cities of the country, nearest national highway no. 14 is just 24 KM's.

There are many budget hotels in Mount Abu and very centrally located near the lake and market. We had however stayed in Hotel Sunset Inn. Reasonably priced, good food and good ambience with very helpful staff. It is also very near to sunset point.

A trip of 4nights is enough to enjoy the beauty of this hill station I would like to share with you all some of the wonderful pictures which I took on my trip.

SUNSET

VIEW FROM SUNSET POINT

FROM TOP OF MOUNTAIN

FOUNTAIN AT NAKKI LAKE

Adhar devi temple

MUSEUM

Also featured in Mahindra homestays

Discover Coorg in Karnataka

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Fri, 09 Dec 2011 14:04:00 +0000

Nestled in south-west Karnataka lies Coorg, a small hillstation that’s often called ‘The Scotland of the East’. This beautiful hill station is an ideal base for trekking, rafting or just relaxing in beautiful surroundings.

Things to see and do

Spectacular sights and viewpoints: In Mercara or Madikeri, explore the proud Madikeri Fort, which was built in 17th century. Here, the Raja’s Seat overlooks a deep valley and from here you can enjoy spectacular views of the sunrise and sunset. At the Abbey Falls water cascades to a depth of 70 feet into a rocky valley offering an unforgettable sight to visitors.

Trekking: From easy to arduous treks, Coorg has varying trails for all kinds of adventure seeker. The best season to plan treks in Coorg is December to May. The three main mountain peaks in Coorg for trekking are Brahmagiri, Pushpagiri and Tadiandamol.

On the river: Located on the banks of the river Cauvery is the Valnoor Fishing Camp where avid fishing enthusiasts can indulge in the luxury of angling for the huge game fish mahseer. During the monsoon season between the months of July and October visitors can experience the rush of adrenaline from a Coorg white water rafting adventure. Outside of the monsoon there are still opportunities to try out still water rafting but to experience the river at it’s best the white water rafting experience is highly recommended.

Sample the local cuisine: The Kodavas pride themselves on being foodies and the local cuisine is a highlight of any Coorg trip. It is famous for unique non-vegetarians dishes particularly based on game meats, pork (pandhi), chicken (koli) and lamb (yarchi).

Visit a coffee plantation: When you are in Coorg visiting a coffee plantation is essential, but instead of a quick tour why not spend some time with the coffee pickers! Joining them for half a day is an interesting experience and will help you appreciate your piping hot coffee made with fresh beans!

Getting to Coorg

The closest airports are in Bangalore (260 km) and Mangalore (135 km). The nearest railway station is 146 kms away, in Mysore.

This article was written by Mahindra Homestays . For further information about Coorg they have a Coorg guide on their website and a collection of Coorg homestays.

Own Nothing........... a poem

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Today I present you a poem by my dear friend Jolie.

Own Nothing

I own nothing,

There was a time,

When I have desires,

When I have feelings,

When I have expectations,

There was a time,

When I had dreams,

There was a time,

When I had expectations to win the world,'

There was a time,

When I had believe that "I have someone, who loves me"

There was a time,

When I had believe that "He will be with me"

There was a time,

When I was firm that "he will trust me if I stand against the world"

..Now I own nothing,

That One is gone,

I own nothing because he left me for world,

I own nothing because he trust world not me,

I own nothing because he was never with me,

I own nothing because he never loved me,

I own nothing because that one left me,

Is it the reason that I own nothing?

I own nothing because I trusted someone else,

Not in me,.

I own nothing because I expected other to stand for me,

Not for my self,

I own nothing because I deserved nothing, that nothing

Now I realize

I own nothing,

Not even fear to loose,

Not even fear to fall back,

Not even fear to be wrong,

Because now I own nothing,

Not even A Dictator, A controller of my life

I own nothing but my self.

INSTANT BREAD UPMA

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 28 Nov 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello! Today I would show you one very simple easy to cook dish. It’s a breakfast item and it cooks in jiffy.

INGREDIENTS:

3-4 bread slices ( you can use old ones if it has not gone bad or you can use fresh ones too)

1 onion finely chopped

2 tomatoes finely chopped

¼ tsp mustard seeds

Few leaves of curry patta

1tbsp oil

1 green chilli cut in small pieces

Salt to taste

¼ tsp turmeric powder

¼ tsp coriander powder

¼ tsp red chilli powder

For garnishing some cut coriander leaves

METHOD:

In a pan put oil, let it heat then add mustard seeds and curry patta and green chilli. Stir for a min till mustard seeds splutter. Put chopped onion pieces and let them turn bit pink. Then put cut tomato pieces and stir again for a min. Next put 1cup of water, stir and add salt and other spices. Let it cook for few minutes till tomatoes soften. While its still watery break bread pieces by hand and put in the pan. Stir it and bread would take up all the water making it soft. Stir some more till it comes to required thick consistency.

Switch off gas and put bread upma in plate. Put coriander leaves to garnish and serve hot.

Optional: you can add ginger garlic paste with onion and add some more vegetables if you prefer.

I have kept it mild but you can increase the chilli if you want it more hot. This above recipe serves one. Increase quantities if you want to make more.

There is a dry upma method too and in that no tomatoes or water is used but its too dry so I prefer the one with gravy.

Enjoy!

INSTANT BREAD UPMA

I have sent this to Blog Event Announcement - Lets Cook With LeftOvers

Fun tips for secret messages on paper........

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Tue, 22 Nov 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello everyone!

Strange title, right! Today let me tell you what we used to do when we were kids but before I begin, a word of caution... this post and its contents are just meant to be fun type and not to be taken seriously.

As kids we used to send messages in codes across the school desks without teacher knowing or at times just would send a cryptic message across which no one else would know except the receiver. Here I would show you some tricks I know.

Did you know that orange juice or lemon juice acts as invisible ink? Take a piece of paper and write something in normal ink while leaving space after each sentence. Then dip your pen in orange or lemon juice and write in that blank space secret message which only your friend would know how to figure out. If anyone does see the paper they would see the other message and smell of orange or lemon. Once the paper is with friend he or she can just give a little heat not direct though. Hold the paper a bit away from flame so only heat reaches the paper and slowly the invisible orange or lemon writing would appear. That's the way to decipher coded message. Recently something like this was used in one of the TV programmes I saw and it works.

Second coded trick is to swap the alphabets, means A=Z , B=Y and so on. Pre decide which would be the decoder or you can substitute alphabets for numbers. eg A=1 or change it to A=26, Z=1 and so on.. and send the message across as series of numbers. By far this is easiest and can be decoded.

I am sure everyone knows about Morse code which is I believe still being used. Not easy one but still a good one.

Finally a cryptic one I had used when I was in school. How many of you have played Tic Tac Toe. Trick here is make 3x3 grid like tic tac toe and make three of them. Assign one alphabet to each box in grid. Say first grid would have alphabets like this.,

A B C

D E F

G H I

same way in next grid would go remaining alphabets.

J K L

M N O

P Q R

and final grid would have : S T U

V W X

Y Z

Notice the positions they are in. Alphabets in second and third grid are in same position as the first one. So here is how you make the code. top left has shape of right angle facing left and middle top is facing upward and top right has right angle facing right. middle row is left facing left middle is closed square and right facing right. The last row is same like the first one but angle is bit different. Hope you got the idea.

First set of 9 alphabets is simple, you just put the angle they are in. eg the word BEAD. notice where they are set. so use those angles. middle upper,middle square, top left, middle left. just use the shapes they are in.

But the next grid has same angles so what you do is use those angles but put one dot in the inner side for second grid and for third grid put two dots. Below is the pictorial guide which I hope would be easy to understand and I have given example of how the word BEAD would look in this code and how the word KINGS would look in this cryptic code.Notice for S in KINGS I have put two dots as that belongs in third grid.

So this is the fun way to send messages across and again I repeat this is just for fun purpose and being a kid again but not to be serious. Just enjoy!

Down the memory lane.............

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello all!

So yesterday I was getting bored and logged in to write something but my mind went blank. While watching TV my eyes caught the antics of small children. I went back in my memory and recalled how I was as a child.

Childhood is most carefree period of our lives. I have some faint memories of that period. I recall I spent part of my childhood in a small village in Gujarat, India where we had small garden in front with rose and jasmine flowers in full bloom along with drumstick and papaya trees. Tall almond trees which we used to climb and then fall also. We had cows tied in backyard where milkman or gwala would come to milk the cows and we as small kids would sit in line where he would pour milk direct from cow in our mouths. It was so much fun when my brother used to take me double seat on bicycle around the village area. All my cousins and I use to run around the backyard while moms did housework My grandmother would then call everyone inside to have food. It was a typical village type house with roof on one room only rest all open area and we would lie down and count stars.

There was one amazing incident I had witnessed. Once one cow was in labour and was having a calf. A crowd had gathered around and one man helped the cow to deliver her calf. It was most wonderful experience I had then.

Do you recall the games you played when you were small? I remember KHO KHO
& KABBADI

I hardly see these games being played now. I have not gone back to the village again but I wish I could live that life again.

Then there was game of musical chairs, hide n seek and hopscotch, though latter one I still see being played.

Those days it was sort of norm for girls to learn cooking,stitching, embroidery and the housework along with usual studies while boys were taught how to run business. Now a days things have changed a lot. Technology is new, times are different and career choices are made.

November 14th is birthday of India's first Prime Minister Jawaharlal Nehru and its also observed as Children's Day in India. On this day I couldn't help but go back in my memories of my childhood. The sweetest and most carefree time of my life.

Wishing everyone a very happy Children's Day. There is a child in each one of us so lets enjoy..

Pav bhaji................. the way I make :)

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Hello all! Yesterday I made pav bhaji and as my kids like it so much I decided to make a post on how I make pav bhaji. I am sure everyone knows about this dish as its very famous throughout northern India. From streets to hotels everywhere you would get variety of tastes of this wonderful dish.

There are variations in the way everyone makes but here I would show you how I make. I always make a bit more so we can have it next day as well. Quantity can be increased or decreased as per individual choice.

Serves 4-5

5 Big potatoes washed, peeled and cut into cubes

1 cup mix vegetables (cauliflower, small brinjal, capsicum, and carrots, cut in small pieces )

2 onions chopped into very fine pieces

2tsp ginger garlic paste

5 tomatoes cut into small pieces

1/2cup peas boiled and kept separate

2tsp ghee and butter
2 green chillies cut in small pieces

2 tsp pav bhaji masala (available in stores)

salt according to taste

1tsp each amchur powder (dry mango powder), coriander powder, red chilli powder, haldi powder (turmeric powder)

12 Pav buns

In big pressure cooker heat ghee & butter, add one cup of cut onion pieces and cook till onion turns translucent, add ginger garlic paste and cook a bit more.

Add tomatoes and cook till tomatoes are bit soft. Add all the dry masalas (amchur powder etc) and fry one min more till all masalas are mixed.

Add the vegetables and potatoes and add salt according to your taste and mix well. Add one cup water and close the lid on pressure cooker and put the whistle on. Bring it to boil with one whistle. Let the cooker cool.

Remove the lid and mash all the vegetables in it. Here I prefer to add the peas after the vegetables are mashed as at times if I put peas before the are just not visible in the gravy.

Boil the gravy a bit more till you get required consistency which should not be too thick or too watery and take it off the heat.

Slit the pav buns horizontally and fry them in butter on a tawa or a pan.

In a plate serve the buttered buns along with bhaji or the gravy we made. Garnish the gravy with coriander leaves and some of the remaining pieces of onion.

For variations garnish the gravy with grated cheese.
To make bhaji more spicy increase the quantity of red chilli powder.

Normally people boil all the vegetables before and then fry onions garlic ginger and put mashed vegetables in it. But I prefer this way as all are boiled and cooked right in the pressure cooker specially when we have to make large quantity.

P.S. sorry pic quality is not good but hope you would still enjoy.

Enjoy!

When A Photograph Is Not Just A Photograph ...

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Sun, 30 Oct 2011 09:19:00 +0000

Hi I got this in mail few days back. So sharing with everyone. Enjoy!

alt+ctrl+del (computer humor)

noreply@blogger.com (Meena) — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 07:00:00 +0000

Alt Ctrl Del

IF ONLY LIFE COULD BE LIKE A COMPUTER!

If you messed up your life, you could press "Alt, Ctrl, Delete" and start all over!

To get your daily exercise, just click on "run"!

If you needed a break from life, click on "suspend".

Hit "any key" to continue life when ready.

To get even with the neighbors, turn up the sound blaster.

To "add/remove" someone in your life, click settings and control panel.

To improve your appearance, just adjust the display settings.

If life gets too noisy, turn off the speakers.

When you lose your car keys, click on "find".

"Help" with the chores is just a click away.

You wouldn't need auto insurance. You'd use your diskette to recover from a crash.

We could click on "send" and the kids would go to bed immediately.

To feel like a new person, click on "refresh".

Click on "close" to shut up the kids and spouse.

To undo a mistake, click on "back".

Is your wardrobe getting old? Click "update".

You don't like cleaning the litter box, click on "delete".