A few recipes

I never thought I'd do this... write a post about how to cook!!! But this is one post I hope mum reads (that is, if she knew my blog existed). I feel I learned more in cooking than in studies.. hehe! But few of the cliché statements in cooking are true.. it is definitely more fun when someone is there to share the food you cook rather than you eating it all alone. I'll start with capsicum dal, simple recipe.. which apparently everyone likes (no idea why!!!) Anyways here goes..

CAPSICUM DAL

Ingredients:
1 cup tur dal
1/2 teaspoon mustard seeds (rai)
1/2 teaspoon cumin seeds (jeera)
2 green chillies
1/2 teaspoon turmeric powder
1/2 teaspoon chilli powder
3-4 teaspoon sambar masala
1/2 teaspoon tamarind concentrate
1 tablespoon garlic paste (or equivalent chopped garlic.. no mixer here :D )
1 chopped tomato (or 3-4 tablespoons diced tomatoes or puree)
1 finely chopped onion
1 capsicum, cut into medium sized cubes
3 tablespoons of oil (actually take how much ever you feel is necessary to fry dal)
Salt, to taste
Finely chopped coriander, for garnishing


Procedure:
Cook the dal in a cooker. The normal way one cooks plain dal. You can add salt, pinch of asafoetida and turmeric but these are not essential. Take oil in a fry pan, put mustard and cumin seeds, green chillies and wait till the mustard starts popping. Now add the chopped onions. If you are using chopped garlic, add it along with the chillies before the onions. If you are using the ready paste, add it after the onions to prevent getting burnt with the oil and making a mess of the gas stove (I was burnt the first time with oil spray :D and I will not mention the condition of the stove. It was lucky we cover the stove with aluminum foil).
Any ways, after the onion becomes all soft n golden, add the tomatoes. Fry it for a bit and then add all the rest of the masala. Then go the capsicum pieces. Keep doing timepass (pointless stirring) with it till the capsicum is almost cooked (or at least till the point where it stops looking raw). whew! Almost there now..
Add the cooked dal and again do some timepass (dont ask me why, the dal just seems to taste better after it). Then add water according to how thick you want the dal to be. Then the tamarind paste and 1 cube of jaggery (I guess I forgot to mention it in the ingredients... tells you always to get the complete picture before starting anything new) and salt to taste. Bring the dal to a boil. Garnish with coriander. Voila!! Its all done!!



Wow! I wrote a recipe!! Had I read this simple recipe 6 months ago, I would have been intimidated by it :D
Shows you how much life changes :)

The year that was.. 2007

The turning point of my life.. year 2007. It started with sem 8, the last semester in VESIT, unarguably the most exciting semester after sem 1. Life sure does come a full circle. It started with freshers and ended with the farewell. It was one thrilling ride, SPHURTI, UTSAV topped with the Farewell party. But everything had a tinge of sadness, of a wonderful journey coming to an end after which everyone will catch different buses to their respective destinations. MU decided to make our parting sweeter by giving a wonderful result after a long time. After all, they had screwed up so many students passing certificates for no rhyme or reason.

Everyone got ready to prepare for their next destinations.. job, IIT, IIM, MS. After lots of sleepless nights I decided to come here, the polar opposite of Mumbai, for MS. Vacation was maddness, visa interviews, inventory lists, meeting everyone, saying goodbye to everyone and finally on 6th august.. take-off! To a new world.. my next destination.. independence and a whole truckload of responsibilities.. new friends and harsher climate and offcourse.. first snow!!!! :D :D

Highlights of 2007 (in order of importance) :D
1. Longest time I have stayed away from home
2. Decided to pursue MS
3. Realized some friends are for life :)
4. Graduation
5. First time in a foreign country
6. First time I travelled by a plane
7. First snowfall I experienced
8. Learnt cooking
9. Got my own laptop
10. Maintained a diary without giving up

Many other highlights too which if I list will be too much :P

And now to ring in 2008! Wonder what it'll have in store for me??

blink and you miss

1st semester over. Before I even knew it. Time sure is relative. In the midst of the chaos that was the finals.. everything seemed to stretch till infinity, and now that I look back at it, it was all over in an instant. So many things happened but many remained the same. I learned to cook (yay!!) learned to manage finances (?) survive away from home, study and not drown in the coursework and make new friends. but I am still the same.. have not yet spouted an american accent, not embraced the pizza-soda culture, still lazy as ever (there is no mum to crack the whip) and I still take time to make new friends. Its the vacations that make you realize how much time you actually have at hand. 5 months without a TV set.. without cricket and tennis matches, without the ultra serious english news or the hindi circus, MTV and off course Animax... heck 5 months without a decent newspaper to read!! The first semester was certainly way different from anything that I had thought but I guess that's what made it so interesting. I came here vaguely aware of the winter; not knowing anything about the city, the students, how to go about living.. the courses I would eventually take up.. I still feel as if I am a prolonged guest staying here but while I'm here I intend to enjoy every bit of it :) I still have 3 more semesters for it.

Shadow of the day - Linkin Park

I close both locks below the window.
I close both blinds and turn away.
Sometimes solutions aren’t so simple.
Sometimes goodbye’s the only way.


And the sun will set for you,
And the sun will set for you.
And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in grey,
And the sun will set for you...


In cards and flowers on your window,
Your friends all plead for you to stay.
Sometimes beginnings aren’t so simple.
Sometimes goodbye’s the only way.


And the sun will set for you,
And the sun will set for you.
And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in gray,
And the sun will set for you..


And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in gray,
And the sun will set for you..


And the shadow of the day,
Will embrace the world in gray,
And the sun will set for you.

First snowfall

There are very few things you get to experience for the first time in your life.. so much so that you almost forget the feeling of wonder and excitement that comes with it.
The other day, it snowed.Not much, in fact not even enough to capture on camera. But i will remember it for a long long long time. The only place where I had seen frozen water before this was in the freezer. To see it falling from the sky was something totally new even though I had seen it countless number of times on TV.

Soft white cotton falling from the sky.. melting in your hand...white little flurries contrasted against the black snow coat... the world in black and white... my world in black and white for the next 6 months. I'll love it, if I manage to survive through it!!!