Butter Biscuit Recipe

Well, I tried to make something that I always loved it when I was kid. Come home from school and then have tea/milk and butter biscuit along with it. If you have not tried this before - do it immediately. Make a hot cup of tea and dip the butter biscuit and eat it. It so yummy that until the packet got empty I would keep repeating. If you dont believe me ask my elder sis who will affirm that :)

So to make the biscuit small 30 in number. You will need
1. 2/3 cup all purpose flour or maida
2. 1/3 cup sugar (preferably powedered)
3. 1/3 cup unsalted butter
4. 2 cardomam

Steps:
1. Beat the butter and sugar in pan - till it become smooth and easy to stir
2. Add flour in small portions and keep mixing it becomes a dough.
3. Finally add the cardamom and re-knead the dough
4. Preheat oven to 350F/200C
5. Make small bolls and flatten them slightly like a thick Rs5 coin in India
6. Place these flattened balls on a baking sheet or aluminum foil with butter greased on it for 15 to 20 minutes.
7. Let it cool and enjoy the freshly baked biscuits.

New Year Resolution for 2011

My new year resolution for the year 2011 is to try 100 different new recipes that I have never made before.. The minute I decided this, many things came to my mind. Most were Indian cuisine/savory items that I bought and ate but never thought about doing it myself. So this is my challenge to myself to try each of them. Again, I couldnt resist myself and started with my countdown today itself. A little cheating - but guys whats life if not without some cheating in it....

Compact: New Year's Resolution

Compact: New Year's Resolution

Why do we feel self conscious?

Dedicated to a special friend of mine. I am writing this blog only because of his support and insistence or else I am a lazy person like him. :-)

Why do we feel self conscious?

Are we not intelligent? Are we not capable? Are we not good looking? Or do we feel that others are better than us.

Well that’s true in a way. It is very hard, almost close to not possible for each of us to become masters at everything. Also we must remember that we are definitely better than these so called others at some things like music, literature, politics etc. However, we still feel that our talents are not up to the mark. They are not worth mentioning. It maybe because others did not appreciate us enough or made us feel low. The only way to arise above a situation like this is to harpen that skill of ours and make others take a notice of that. If we do not force it, no one else will.

I used to be so self conscious that I am not good at anything. I don't how it started but in school, I started to avoid taking part in competition and stay in the background. I was full of awe of other fellow mates who took part in essay writing, oratorical and other literary competition. It was pure by chance that my name was given for a poetry recitation competition in sixth grade. Tried my level best to take my name out but was compelled to go through it for sake of my team house in school. So then I started practicing day and night. The poem was about how an Indian war hero fought for his motherland. My sisters and parents helped me practice and explained me how to show emotions in voice and action. I practiced for a whole week before the day of competition. With butterfly in my stomach, I walked up the dias when my name was called. Standing in front of the mike (my first time), I looked at the students from grade 6, 7, and 8 and my teachers. I started to smile. My teacher returned my smile and motioned me to start. Not sure, if they could see my nervousness or not, I started to smile even more and looked towards the students. My classmates cheered me. I was so happy that I started to laugh. It was almost like chain reaction, students started to laugh and then me and then the teachers. The situation is so funny now but at that time it was a commotion inside the auditorium and I could not utter a word. Finally a teacher came up and asked me to gather myself and called the next student to do the recital. I noticed them; with what ease they did their recitation. At last, I was called to give my recitation. I started to smile but thanked the teachers who gave me the second chance. Because other students just did a recital and did not use any action, I also chose not to do any of my action which I had practiced. You see I did not want anybody to laugh at me. That’s where I went wrong. I did win the third place for my recitation. But because of my nervousness, and creating a scene by laughing; and not doing the recital with action (the way I had practiced); I lost the chance to win the second or the first place. The thing, I learnt from that day is not to worry what others think of you. Even if they laugh at you today, they will forget it next day. But winning a competition is not something that happens everyday. So give it your best.

You think I stopped being self conscious from that onwards.
NO !!!

This one incident let me believe in myself for some days but after a few months I was back to feeling self conscious and low. This was sweet incident in my life and I will always cherish that. It helped in a way but not completely. The complex that I built within myself over the years, did not disappear in a day. But it eventually faded with time. I will tell how in my next blog.

Till then cheers and look out for me.

On the Night of Dandiya

Dandiya - Dancing with Sticks - Dancing ... Oh how I love this word. It lifts my spirit and fills me with joy. I love to try different styles of dancing- Indian classical, bollywood style, salsa, ballroom etc. However this year dandiya event was a series of comedy events.

On the day of dandiya, I was very tired from my day’s work and somehow had managed to wrap it by 5 to get ready for dandiya event at 6. Very excitedly, we (me and my friends) arrived at the Santa Clara Convention Center in our friends BMW. Wow!!! That was pretty cool – I thought to myself :)....... All set to start tapping my feet, I hear bollywood songs coming from inside the hall (Himesh’s songs call for mini skirts and shake your hip/booty kind of thing) and I here I was dressed in Salwaar Kameez. Well “so what?” I decide and start dancing. That’s when the song immediately changes to traditional Gujrati folk number. After a delta time of adjustment to music, we all run towards the dance teacher to learn some steps from them. All ladies start to dance in circle with Durga Mata’s photo in center. Normally the Garbha dance is done by females before the Puja and followed by Dandiya where both guys and girls dance in pairs. Basically we were not sure if the guys could participate as only females were dancing and there were no other guys in the hall. So you see I could not dance as my friends were not dancing :(........ Then we saw a group of boys and girls coming to dance floor and happily we also joined them :).........

For me, the garbha turned out to be more strenuous than any exercise I ever did; plus the fact that I did not enter the gym for more than a month, I got my ankle sprained with my heel hurting and my feet turned sore :( ....... Gloomily I moved towards the seating area and decided to eat something while I relaxed myself. With all thoughts set on having Dhokla :) ......(b’cos it was light and sure that it would be tasty as many organizers were Gujaratis and so bound to be good), we went towards refreshment center, only to find Pizza (Cheese Pizza :( ) and Starbuck Tazo Chai (Chai Tea Latte :)..... ). All Dhokla dreamz went down the hill :(..... Coming back into the hall, I thought lets do some bird watching. Unfortunately, being a straight girl, my eyes were rather following different girls (who wore such lovely outfits and would have taken long hours to groom themselves) rather guys who were in their normal jeans :( ....... So you see this was not that much of a fun.

Now to round TWO, dandiya starts and we were at the center of dance floor and not able to dance as were five in total and needed one more person so that we could be even in numbers :(...... After looking at each other and around us, we found another soulful lonely guys standing (let’s name him as A) and invited him to join us. :).... GREAT...... Now the party has begun for me and I tried to keep my steps light so that I do not strain my already sprained ankle. After about 20 minutes or so, one of friends dandiya sticks breaks. (Can you imagine Dandiya Stick breaking? Never seen in a movie !!!) Back to confusions now :(....... Can he play with a single stick? Doesnot seems so…. So should we head back home? If he could not play, then we become five and so would need another partner to play? With all this confusion we look at each other. After pondering some thoughts into it, he brilliantly suggested that he could still continue with one stick. Mystery solved :)....... We felt that’s it and nothing else could wrong with us anymore and correctly at that point, our newly dance partner A absconds. :(....

That’s it. I finally realized that it was God’s message to head back home and that what we did. So you see I am still confused if I enjoyed this year’s dandiya event or not???????

Note: This picture was taken after we returned from Dandiya event. :)

Calif nagaram urangum neram, thanimai adarndadhu !!!!

Sillinnu Oru Kadhal

This is my very first blog and that too about the much discussed movie SOK.

Well I am happy Surya and Jo got married. My hearty congratulations to them. Also being the dutifull movie buff, I watched the movie in theater inspite of reading all the not so good reviews about the movie.

I am sure that you all know the story. I liked the second half and was desperately waiting to see the New York Nagaram song. For all people who have not heared the song, it is a must. I would personally recommend the song to hindi speaking crowd too as this is one of AR. Rehman's classic one.

http://www.raaga.com/getclip.asp?id=999999032716

Thanks to the person who has written the lyrics with meanings for all people who donot understand Tamil

{
New York nagaram urangum neram, thanimai adarndadhu..
In the moment when NewYork city went to sleep, loneliness caught me..
Paniyum padarndadhu..
And snow spread all over..
Kappal erangiye kaatrum karaiyil nadandadhu..
(It was so lonely that) Even the breeze got down from the ship and started walking on shores!

Naangu kannadi chuvargalukulle naanum mezhuguvathiyum..
Inside the four glass walls, me and a candlelight
Thanimai thanimaiyo.. Kodumai kodumaiyo..
How lonely… how trecherous…

Stanza 1
Paechelaam thalaatu pola ennai uranga veikka nee illai
Oh beloved, you are not here to put me to sleep with the lullaby talk of yours
Nilavin oliyin mutham thandhu kaalai coffee kudukka nee illai
You are not here to kiss me in moonlight and give me coffee in the morning
Vizhiyil vizhum dhoosi thannai naaval edukka nee ingu illai
You are not here to blow my eyes when dirt falls into my eyes
Manadhil ezhum kuzhapam thannai theerka nee inge illai..
You are not here to clear the confusions of my heart

Naan inge neeyum ange, indha thanimaiyil nimishangal varusham aanadheno?
I’m here & you are there, In this loneliness, minutes have become years!
Vaan inge neelam ange, indha oovamaiku eruvarum vilakam aanadheno?
The sky is here & the color blue is there, Why did we become an example to that simile?!

Stanza 2
Naatkurippil nooru thadavai undhan peyarai ezhudhum en pena
My pen wrote your name 100 times in my daily planner
Ezhudhiyadhum erumbu moikka peyarum aanadhena thenaa?
Just as I wrote, ants came from all over, did your name turn into honey?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..

Jil endru bhoomi irundhum, indha tharunathil kulir kaalam kodai aanadheno?
Even in this chill weather why is this winter season like hot summer to me?

Oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh oh..

Vaa anbe neeyum vandhal senthanal kuda panikatti pole marumae..
Oh beloved, come to me.. if you are here even a burning charcoal will become a snowball !

Yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh yeh…

}

I must have heared this song more than 25 times on a single day and my mind was filled with Surya constantly yearning for his love, with some black & white background or dark colors swaying by his side, new york's snowy nights, staying by the dock side, other united lovers, moving down Time Square and he would be missing Jo . To my disappointment, this didnot happen as you can watch this video

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EjIkw0caOmw

From what I have read about this song, it looks like most people have the same opinion. It would be great if the director sir, could retake this song with appropriate settings and add it to AR. Rehman video album.

With regards to the movie, I was more impressed with Surya and Bhoomika's performances. I personally think Jo could have done much more better.

Well till then it is me waiting for my dream guy and already missing him on cold lonely nights of California. :)

Calif nagaram urangum neram, thanimai adarndadhu !!!!