Blogging

It just occurred to me that Blogging really is a good way to allow people a peek into your life (you choose what they see which leaves you in control) and to make new contacts. So far, I have mainly been a "consumer" of blogs and I have really come to rely on the blogs of certain people close to my heart to know what's happening in their life.

Actually, coming to think of it: I only look at this blog and my sister's blog on a regular basis :) You can check out her two blogs here and here in case you're interested. Sidsel is not a very good email-writer, so I get most of my information on what's going on in Denmark from her blogs.

Funny in a way that something as impersonal as a blog (impersonal in the sense that you don't write it for a specific purpose but for a general audience) can allow personal relationships to survive.

I quickly read the Wikipedia entry on blogs and learned a couple of new facts about blogging I hadn't heard or thought of before: the history of blogging, the different types of blogging, but also people getting fired or threatened because of a blog. Let's hope that doesn't happen to any of us!

Looks like Friday is good for philosophical thoughts...

Rain

It is the first warm spring day we have had in Sydney in weeks. I walked out of the office and there was a storm brewing and for the first time here, I could smell the rain! If I had to pick my favourite smell, it would have to be the smell of the first monsoon shower in India.

I don't know if its the fact that all my friends are now all over the world and its been ages since we have had a chance to hang out together and have fun, but I would give anything for a humid June afternoon in Indore right now.

The beautiful smell would hit us before the actual shower and we would know that it was raining somewhere close. At that point, everyone ran out of their houses to get ready to get wet. What I miss most is rolling up our pants and going to the school sports field to splash around in the mud :D And then, after a few hours, we came back home to warm showers, clean clothes and piping hot bhajiya and chai.

Here is a picture, not of a June afternoon, but an early morning, at the bypass road in Indore. Gaurav gets the credit of introducing us to the its-beautiful-weather-lets-got-to-bypass concept. Here is a picture that all of us claim was the best time of our lives. Gaurav is the photographer and so not present in the actual picture. To this day, when we write to each other or when any of us are in Indore, a trip here is a customary, followed by an email to say it just isn't the same if everyone isn't around :)

Fabindia (and other Indian experiences)

Menno just got back from his trip to India (Gaurav and Gunjan's hometown of Indore to be more specific) and he brought back some really nice shirts for the whole family - all from Fabindia. They also make great beadspreads, table cloths, and a lot more you can imagine in beautiful vibrant colours and prints. We also got a beautiful Shiva sculpture as a present (I'll try and post a picture here soon, promise) and it looks great next to our Ganesha (a wedding gift from Menno's brother and his girlfriend). It looks like our household is becoming more and more "indianised" :)

an excellent upbringing

We were talking about Colwin at dinner last night (as we often do) and radhika mentioned tanja's post. We (gunjan and I) strongly commend tanja and menno (not necessarily in that order) for the excellent upbringing of Colwin. He's a smart kid, happy to be around people, who enjoys his games, sports, and his stories, and communicates clearly of what he needs. i reckon tanja and menno should write a manual for parents :-)

and yes, Colwin is growing up wayyy too fast. seems like yesterday that I saw him in the department corridor; sleeping in the pram when he was 3 month old and later met him at the christmas 2005 party and he was 5 months...... and now he teaches me something every thursday - how to sing/ why not to eat the ping pong ball/ where to tickle gunjan/ and how to kick a ball......

Musings on time

Somehow you don't realize how quickly time passes until you have a child. I mean - just look at Colwin in this picture. Doesn't he look all grown up? And he's only/already 2! (Well, 2 and a bit by now :)



Well, maybe it's just mums who have the feeling that the days and weeks rush by and all of a sudden you look around and you see a much older version of your child than what you last remembered.

Hmm, or maybe I'm just getting old?! No, please don't answer that one :)

started writing my thesis

yay !!! i started writing my thesis and i'm loving it (not writing but the fact that i have already written quite a lot and now i just need to organize most of it). you'd be amazed how efficient can continuous thesis writing can be - if you don't have experiments to do/ papers to read/ just feeling lazy, just write a page or two for your thesis (review/ experimental results/ introduction, etc) and it's going to make life a lot easier for you when it comes to wrap up time :-)

palak paneer (spinach with cottage cheese)

hey!

a lot of people (ok, a few people ....... fine, one person, one time) asked me how i got into cooking - it was when my mom had a boutique and sometimes me and my sister cooked for her. i was confined to chopping and cutting and laying out the plates - an apprentice you might say. i used to cook maggi noodles sometimes with veggies. I still remember the first dish i cooked from A-Z was for my parents - malai kofta and that is one of the best feelings I've ever had. it is considered to be a rather complex dish, especially for a beginner like me. i used to have 2/3 signature dishes in the beginning - rajma (red kidney beans) recipe of mankad aunty, alu and gobhi parathe (potato and cauliflower stuffed naans) and the recipe over here - palak paneer. i was watching khaana khazana (cookery show) one afternoon after i came from college and the chef - sanjeev kapoor was making this amazingly tempting, simple and foolproof dish, and i thought i might have a go at it.

I didn't know how to make everyday food till quite late, it was only when I went to Bangkok for 3 months to be with my Dad in 2004 that I started cooking healthy everyday food. anyways, here's one of my early specialties - palak paneer

ingredients (for 4 average people) -

1. spinach - leaves weight 400gms
2. paneer - 300 gms
3. onion - 200 gms
4. tomato - 100 gms (1 big tomato)
5. cumin - 1 teaspoon
6. crushed ginger - 1 tablespoon
7. crushed garlic - 1 tablespoon
8. bay leaves - 2 big leaves
9. cinnamon - 1 stick
10. star aniseed - 2 whole
11. milk - 125 ml
12. chilli powder - 1 teaspoon
13. coriander powder - 3 teaspoon
14. turmeric powder - 1 teaspoon
15. canola/ vegetable/ sunflower/ groundnut oil - 50 ml
16. thickened cream as a topping - optional

********* (for all future indian recipes, generally chilli-coriander-turmeric - in alphabetical order goes in the ratio 1:3:1)
remove stems from spinach, boil water, put the spinach leaves in and leave for 2-3 mins - turn the heat off and let the leaves stay there for 5 mins.

take the leaves out immediately and leave them in COLD water for a couple of mins (helps to retain the shiny greeen color)- put them in a blender with 50 ml milk (if needed) and blend. empty into a bowl. throw in the another 50 ml milk and run the blender again - it is going to rescue the spinach stuck to walls of the blender and you won't waste spinach (I really hate when i have to wash the blender with spinach remaining on the sides). put this in the bowl as well - and mix together.

dice tomatoes and onions fine.

heat oil in a deep pan and when hot, add cumin seeds, cinnamon stick and bay leaves.

after half a minute, throw in onion, crushed ginger and garlic - (it's important to let the dry spices release flavours for about 30 secs because once you put the onion, ginger and garlic, the oil cools down and then the cumin flavor is not spread which is a waste of spice). stir occasionally and cook o medium high until onions and brown - but not burnt.

mix chilli, coriander and turmeric powders in a small bowl with about the remaining 25 ml milk and mix well - add to the onions and cook for 20 secs. then add the diced tomato and cook for 2 mins. you don't want the tomato to become mushy and soggy buy just become soft. add the spinach and milk paste and salt - turn down heat to 4 o'clock position (refer to lamb curry recipe to find out what that is) and cook for a about 5 mins - stirring occasionally.

while it is being cooked - get the diced paneer, heat a frying pan at medium high and spray oil in it. also spray oil on the paneer cubes. put the paneer on the heated pan and fry for 2 minutes tossing and turning in between. the idea is to get a nice light brown color to the paneer.

add this paneer to the spinach-onion-tomato mix that has been cooked for 5 mins now (heat is still at 4:00) and cook for another 3 mins. empty in a serving dish. whisk 2-3 tablespoons of thickened cream in a small bowl and swirl around on top of the dish. serve with rice/ naan/ roti/ bread.

p.s. it's a good dish to have on the table with a second meat based dish. complements the other dish (like lamb curry) nicely. bon appetite! peace.