Kitchen work and cooking have many processes to follow.
These could confuse a beginner.
No amount of teaching gets the desired results unless one is constantly practicing.
Carelessness could spoil dishes at times but that is the only way to learn!
For us who have been at it for many decades now, these tasks are second nature.
When milk is boiled in large quantities, a portion is cooled in a separate container until it is just warm enough. A teaspoon of curds is then added to set it. Until milk turns into curds it should not be refrigerated.
Another portion of milk is kept aside for the noon's tea and this has to be absolutely cool before it is refrigerated for later use. If this is not done, the milk could curdle in the humid temperature of Chennai and render it useless for tea.
My husband who lends a helping hand at the kitchen is never able to understand why I don't follow the same rule for everything! I would insist that all dishes have to be covered with a lid and kept near the cooking counter to retain heat.
But when I am making chutneys, the shallow fried ingredients have to be kept open and under the fan to cool before passing them through the blender! When I think it is ready to be ground, I find the fan switched off and the dish covered, still hot!!
There are times when items to be covered are kept open and those that need to be cooled are neatly covered! Holy confusion arises and precious time is lost. These are funny situations!
There can be a mismatch when work is shared by two or more people unless processes are understood and each complements the other, otherwise it could turn out to be 'Laurel and Hardy' early in the morning.
Mahalakshmi.
Wednesday, December 14, 2011
Thursday, December 8, 2011
Goodbye To Arun
Arun has been a keen follower of this blog site from early days.
Sad to learn today from a colleague that he is no more.
He died of a heart attack this morning at Pondicherry where he was the General Manager of the GRT Sunway Hotel. He was too young to die. He leaves behind his parents, wife and 2 kids.
It's all so sudden, it will perhaps take some time for this sad news to sink in.
He dropped in at the Chennai office a couple of months back to say hi to us.
I shall miss his comments to my write-ups.
May his soul rest in peace.
Mahalakshmi.
Sad to learn today from a colleague that he is no more.
He died of a heart attack this morning at Pondicherry where he was the General Manager of the GRT Sunway Hotel. He was too young to die. He leaves behind his parents, wife and 2 kids.
It's all so sudden, it will perhaps take some time for this sad news to sink in.
He dropped in at the Chennai office a couple of months back to say hi to us.
I shall miss his comments to my write-ups.
May his soul rest in peace.
Mahalakshmi.
Thursday, November 10, 2011
The Deer And Stag of IIT, Madras
I travel past the IIT, Madras on my way to office.
When the auto races past the IIT compound walls, I strain myself to see whether there are any deer peeping through the grilled iron fencing. Invariably I find two or three of them. At times I can see only a snout or two pairs of upright ears or a pair of those majestic horns as the lower half is a concrete wall and the upper half is a grilled iron fence.
It was sometime later I realized that there were people on this side of the road, feeding them with fruits and bread pieces. No wonder they come out of their safe habitat at the same time each day expecting food from regulars.
They are so trusting of humans. Sigh!
It is such a pleasure to see them.
Mahalakshmi.
Picture coutesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Technology_Madras
When the auto races past the IIT compound walls, I strain myself to see whether there are any deer peeping through the grilled iron fencing. Invariably I find two or three of them. At times I can see only a snout or two pairs of upright ears or a pair of those majestic horns as the lower half is a concrete wall and the upper half is a grilled iron fence.
It was sometime later I realized that there were people on this side of the road, feeding them with fruits and bread pieces. No wonder they come out of their safe habitat at the same time each day expecting food from regulars.
They are so trusting of humans. Sigh!
It is such a pleasure to see them.
Mahalakshmi.
Picture coutesy: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Indian_Institute_of_Technology_Madras
Wednesday, November 9, 2011
To Marry or Not To... Part 3
I had to go back in search of a blog I had written long time back on marrying the person you love.
I had written about 'To Marry Or Not To.. 2' on the 24th October, 2010.
Its about the same girl who remains unmarried to-date, whereas the boy got married and lives happily with his wife just next door.
I have been home for a couple of days getting a break from office. These two days were stressful as I could hear such outbursts from this depressed girl. She was fighting with her mother, father, her brother and his wife. The words she used were downright crass for all her close ones - the reason - they have all stopped her from getting married to her choice of man because he din't belong to their caste. I thought someone might call in the police to avoid any untoward incident as a result of all this free-for-all with so much banging of doors.
If the girl had married her man, despite whatever the family would have gone through, she may have been settled in her life.
The family ensured she din't go out un-escorted and the girl also din't have enough courage to walk out of her home to be with her man.
She is not allowed to go out much less work at a job. She is not allowed to walk around our complex. All this has made her life so miserable. She watches TV all day long. eats, sleeps and fights when she is upset about her life. Wonder whose victory is this and over whom?
How will they ever solve this perpetual problem. For now, they have packed her off with a relative for a few days but how long can this highly distressed girl remain in others' houses? One day she will come back home to the same story.
Its upsetting and truly disturbing. We are, yet we are not, part of it all.
Mahalakshmi.
I had written about 'To Marry Or Not To.. 2' on the 24th October, 2010.
Its about the same girl who remains unmarried to-date, whereas the boy got married and lives happily with his wife just next door.
I have been home for a couple of days getting a break from office. These two days were stressful as I could hear such outbursts from this depressed girl. She was fighting with her mother, father, her brother and his wife. The words she used were downright crass for all her close ones - the reason - they have all stopped her from getting married to her choice of man because he din't belong to their caste. I thought someone might call in the police to avoid any untoward incident as a result of all this free-for-all with so much banging of doors.
If the girl had married her man, despite whatever the family would have gone through, she may have been settled in her life.
The family ensured she din't go out un-escorted and the girl also din't have enough courage to walk out of her home to be with her man.
She is not allowed to go out much less work at a job. She is not allowed to walk around our complex. All this has made her life so miserable. She watches TV all day long. eats, sleeps and fights when she is upset about her life. Wonder whose victory is this and over whom?
How will they ever solve this perpetual problem. For now, they have packed her off with a relative for a few days but how long can this highly distressed girl remain in others' houses? One day she will come back home to the same story.
Its upsetting and truly disturbing. We are, yet we are not, part of it all.
Mahalakshmi.
Sunday, November 6, 2011
The Satsang
Last Sunday my husband and I were invited to attend a satsang which means a public gathering where people to share their knowledge through spiritual discourses, have young and upcoming artistes with a chance to perform, some mantra chanting, etc.
There was a keyboard player who played popular raga based film songs, besides two speakers that day. One talked about Karma and quoted the Bhagawat Gita extensively and the other spoke on the Siddhars of Thiruvannamalai - the famed hill where Ramana Maharshi spent most of his life.
This was largely attended by retired Tambrams short for tam(il)-brahm(ins). There were about 70 of them hearing it all out for a good 3 hours from 5pm to 8pm. Nice way to spend time, share one's knowledge with an interactive audience. But will I be able to sit through each month's last Sunday, I truly wonder. Once in a while this seems OK. And 30th Oct. 2011 was their 6th anniversary of holding such satsangs without a single break. That's no mean achievement.
Cheers for their sheer perseverance for sharing knowledge with others.
Mahalakshmi
There was a keyboard player who played popular raga based film songs, besides two speakers that day. One talked about Karma and quoted the Bhagawat Gita extensively and the other spoke on the Siddhars of Thiruvannamalai - the famed hill where Ramana Maharshi spent most of his life.
This was largely attended by retired Tambrams short for tam(il)-brahm(ins). There were about 70 of them hearing it all out for a good 3 hours from 5pm to 8pm. Nice way to spend time, share one's knowledge with an interactive audience. But will I be able to sit through each month's last Sunday, I truly wonder. Once in a while this seems OK. And 30th Oct. 2011 was their 6th anniversary of holding such satsangs without a single break. That's no mean achievement.
Cheers for their sheer perseverance for sharing knowledge with others.
Mahalakshmi
Sunday, October 30, 2011
Bus Journey
Boarded the Deluxe bus No. 47A to get to T.Nagar to work on a rainy day.
Buses are better on rainy days as all roads are flooded with dirty water. Moreover we don't get drenched with the other passing vehicles splashing dirty water on our office wear.
Deluxe service tickets are priced higher so the buses are not crowded and the seats are comfortable too.
Was disappointed to notice so much trash obviously lying uncleared since many days (highlighted in red under the seaters in front) even though it was 10.15am. I thought buses are swept clean at the bus depot itself before starting on the first trip of the day.
Another bus I traveled was so over-crowded with young boys hanging on the window railings with one foot on the foot board at the entrance and another left dangling freely. These boys perform all kinds of stunts in running buses to impress the ladies and girls who have a view as the ladies' seats are allocated the left side in all buses! Some have had falls quite serious and at times fatal. When will they learn that their lives are precious to their parents and not at all worth these silly antics to impress all and sundry on the heavily traffic ridden bumpy Chennai roads.
May they get enlightened enough not to risk their dear lives for any reason or person.
Mahalakshmi.
Buses are better on rainy days as all roads are flooded with dirty water. Moreover we don't get drenched with the other passing vehicles splashing dirty water on our office wear.
Deluxe service tickets are priced higher so the buses are not crowded and the seats are comfortable too.
Was disappointed to notice so much trash obviously lying uncleared since many days (highlighted in red under the seaters in front) even though it was 10.15am. I thought buses are swept clean at the bus depot itself before starting on the first trip of the day.
Another bus I traveled was so over-crowded with young boys hanging on the window railings with one foot on the foot board at the entrance and another left dangling freely. These boys perform all kinds of stunts in running buses to impress the ladies and girls who have a view as the ladies' seats are allocated the left side in all buses! Some have had falls quite serious and at times fatal. When will they learn that their lives are precious to their parents and not at all worth these silly antics to impress all and sundry on the heavily traffic ridden bumpy Chennai roads.
May they get enlightened enough not to risk their dear lives for any reason or person.
Mahalakshmi.
Wednesday, October 26, 2011
The Making of Badam Halwa
Badam = Almonds. Halwa = Gooey Sweet. Diwali is a special time for us in our family. My dear mom was born on Diwali day in the year 1927.
I could not take her out on her birthday as there was office work to attend to. But I did manage to make the badam halwa day before yesterday. Well the process was the same. Only I wanted the sugar to be light so instead of 1:1:2 of Paste-of-Soaked-Almond-Ground-with-Milk:Ghee:Sugar I made it with the same ingredients but in 1:1:1 ratios.
It turned out to the right gooey consistency so I offered the first spoon to God and the same one to my mom for tasting. She pronounced the result which made my smile turn to a sour expression :( It was not sweet enough. I had no time to redo it as I was rushing off to office.
Yesterday before going to office I wanted to rectify the sweet, so added 1 more measure of sugar and had the whole thing going on fire again. The best thing with halwa is that you can put it back on fire and stir until you get it right even if you made a mistake the first time around!
This time it passed my mom's taste test. I was glad my mom did not want to compromise with lesser sweet in our traditional sweets like the badam halwa.
The wheat halwa is one of my all-time favorites. Its called the Tirunelveli halwa too. This has to be made with 1:1:3 of Milk-of-Wheat:Ghee:Sugar! This one is such an addictive sweet that you tend to have spoon after spoon of wheat halwa before you even realize you have had too much of it. Your teeth ache from it more so if one has cavities yet you want to go on eating it. The taste of sugar, wheat and clarified butter make it taste so very divine.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
I could not take her out on her birthday as there was office work to attend to. But I did manage to make the badam halwa day before yesterday. Well the process was the same. Only I wanted the sugar to be light so instead of 1:1:2 of Paste-of-Soaked-Almond-Ground-with-Milk:Ghee:Sugar I made it with the same ingredients but in 1:1:1 ratios.
It turned out to the right gooey consistency so I offered the first spoon to God and the same one to my mom for tasting. She pronounced the result which made my smile turn to a sour expression :( It was not sweet enough. I had no time to redo it as I was rushing off to office.
Yesterday before going to office I wanted to rectify the sweet, so added 1 more measure of sugar and had the whole thing going on fire again. The best thing with halwa is that you can put it back on fire and stir until you get it right even if you made a mistake the first time around!
This time it passed my mom's taste test. I was glad my mom did not want to compromise with lesser sweet in our traditional sweets like the badam halwa.
The wheat halwa is one of my all-time favorites. Its called the Tirunelveli halwa too. This has to be made with 1:1:3 of Milk-of-Wheat:Ghee:Sugar! This one is such an addictive sweet that you tend to have spoon after spoon of wheat halwa before you even realize you have had too much of it. Your teeth ache from it more so if one has cavities yet you want to go on eating it. The taste of sugar, wheat and clarified butter make it taste so very divine.
Cheers.
Mahalakshmi.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
