Bits & Pieces

Dolphin show and sore foot

2009-04-13T09:13:00.000-07:00

Belated Easter wishes everyone!

My allergy got worse over the last week so i was kinda feeling down. Went to see Dr.B again on thursday and he kinda gave me the Did my diagnosis went wrong look and came back with a lady doc- Dr E to examine .They started discussing standing infront of me, which totally freaked me out and i was on the verge of fainting. Seeing this they stepped out and after couple of minutes , they returned back saying that they need to take a biopsy and wanted to do it right away .Good that DH was also there with me. Hearing the B word ,the worst things gushed through my mind , anyway there was not much time to think ,so asked them to proceed .After signing the consent form, Dr B made my hand numb , before cutting a small portion of skin from palm .The pain was not bad as i expected , but the sad part is that it's gonna leave a scar in my palm forever. Poor DH, he got really scared seeing all this and he made every effort to console me, which he was successful up to certain extent.

DH had already booked non-refundable tickets for dolphin show in Baltimore national aquarium , so we decided to head to the show anyway on Saturday .Our journey started at 9 in the morning and reached Baltimore after 3.5 hour drive in the rain .The package included a trip to the aquarium ,the dolphin show and a 4D movie .The aquarium was spreaded out in several floors , so we went around clicking pictures for the first 45 minutes with different fishes:-) before heading to the dolphin show . The show was really awesome and was interesting to watch how intelligent dolphins were ! You can see a small video of the show here and the best part was the movie in immersion theater. It was a 4D movie and they called it movie of the future.The only difference that i found from a regualr 3D movie is it's special effects from the programmed chairs.Theater was jam packed and junta were giggling the whole time because of getting water sprayed in the face, our chairs were shaking , wires that were attached under the chair were bristling our feet , bubbles were floating in the air and we could even feel the wind at times.At one time when a water snake moved in the screen, something poked from the behind our chairs - which was totally freaky. In total it was an awesome show.We bought a small sovenier of 2 dolphins holding a shot glass from the gift store for 5.99 . Apart from the rain and my sore leg, it was a fun filled day.

On Sunday we went to ganesha temple along with some friends and it was really nice to watch the abhishekam . While coming back the tunnel traffic was really bad ,so it took 1.5 hours to reach home instead of 30 minutes. We got an easter egg decorating kit for kiddo and he was so looking forward to paint them. Finally the shubha muhurtham was at 9pm last night and we sat down painted all the hard boiled eggs and kiddo was extremely delighted and took them today for his friends.

I have noticed couple of visitors in my blog, but no comments. Not really sure whether it's good or bad. Thanks for dropping by :-)

Scent of Jasmine!

2009-04-03T13:15:00.000-07:00

Mmmh... the heavenly scent of jasmine flowers!...will words be ever enough to describe that?...A trailer of nostalgic memories gushes through my mind whenever i think of them .I was born and brought up in a urban area, whereas my paternal grandparents lived in a village. During vacation we used to go to grandma's place, whom we fondly call as chakkara ammomma and stay there for at least a week or two , which at times extended to a month. I was the first grandchild at my fathers side, so when i started calling her by that name , the entire clan of cousins took the liberty of following the lead .Just like the name, she's really a sweet and cuddly person.

So coming to the story of jasmine flowers, there were 2 jasmine plants at her place. Now when i think about them it's kinda strange - We get both mullamottu(jasmine buds) and mullapoovu(jasmine flowers) ,but not from the same plant. There is this huge tamarind tree towards the side of house , infront of the barn and close to the parijatham tree. Jasmine plant , being a climber is some where over the top most portion of the tree , that we could barely see some white spots(for flowers) amidst the green leaves.The option of shaking the huge tamarind tree and getting those beautiful flowers were not an option, so the only alternative for us kids(then!) was to wait for the cool morning breeze to shed those beautiful flowers. we used to collect those flowers in murams(it's square in shape and generally used for removing husk from rice) and make huge garlands with them.We were more interested in waiting for the shower of flowers in early mornings, than making garlands:-)

The other jasmine plant was more closer to the barn .So plucking mullamottu(jasmine buds), was totally differentexperience . Those who have been near a barn will agree with me here, that it's just not the best scent. This climber was on a short tree, with lotta thorns and sad part is 70% of branches of that tree is outside the compound wall, and there is this canal that goes just outside the compound wall . We used to collect the mulla mottu in mugs and in the evenings my aunt will make big garlands with them. It's a shame that i never tried to master the art of tying flowers and still regretting about it..

Even today my grandma lives there, but the barn is empty and everyone is busy with their own lives and no one is there to pick those flowers. I wish i could go back to those worry free days - at least for a day!

Sri Rama Navami

2009-04-02T12:28:00.000-07:00

Today is Sriramanavami. I have never celebrated Ramanavami before, not because i don't like/believe in Rama. It's just that while growing up all i know about Rama was from the good-old-ramayanam serial, that was telecasted in TV. So i always thought of him as a star rather than god figure. Since Ram is one among the eight incarnations of lord krishna , technically am a devotee. This year i had given it a try and did the pooja in the morning after doing my fair share of googling and collecting all the related slokams .I'm posting it here - just in case someone else is interested.

Reading sundarakandam on Ramanavami is supposed to be very good. Reading the whole sundarakandam needs some time, So one can just read the 9 verses on ramanavami day- which is also equally good.{I have a hard time in understanding the meaning of slokams . I found a document where it provides the meaning and background message in detail for each verse - which i found very helpful.Unfortunately i didn't find any option to upload docs here. If anyone is interested , do drop a line i'll be glad to send it over.}

Also, it's auspicious to keep the Ram Parivar snap at home.Parippu payasam / panakam can be offered to lord as Nivedyam.

Below is set of simple sri rama slokams

1 - Aapadaam apaharthaaram daathaaram sarvasampadaam
Lokaabhiraamam s(h)ri ramam bhooyo bhooyo namaamyaham

Meaning: We bow to Rama who removes dangers & problems for the individual & the family; one who bestows all forms of wealth again & again

2 - Aarthaanaam aarthihanthaaram bheethaanaam bheethi naas(h)anam
dvishadaam kaala dandam tham raamachandram namaamyaham

Meaning : He will destroy all distresses of the distressed

3 - Sannaddha kavachee khadgee chaapa baana dharo uvaa
Gachchan mamaagratho nithyam raamah paathu salakshmanah

Meaning - - Rama, you should always be fully dressed ( & ready with bow & arrow) and prepared - go in front of me ( to ward off danger before I am attacked !)

4 - Namah kothanda hasthaaya sandhee kr(u)tha s(h)araaya cha
khandithaakhila daithyaaya raamaayaapan nivaaranae

5 - Raamaaya raamabadraaya raamachandraaya vaedhasae
Ragunaathaaya naathaaya seethaayaah pathayae namah

6 - agrathah pr(u)shtathaschaiva paars(h)vathascha mahaabalow
Aakarnapoornadhanvaanow rakshaethaam raama lakshanow

Image Courtesy: Sanadan Hindu centre
Slokam Courtesy : Chithra Vishwanathan

Google's Fool's Day Prank

2009-04-01T14:27:00.000-07:00

Did you guys notice the auto pilot feature from Google yesterday?Apparently they pulled a prank stating that the auto pilot can scan each one of the incoming messages and automatically send the perfect reply. Well, it's very likely for that prank to materialize in the near future.

Humpty Dumpty Egglings

2009-04-01T11:50:00.000-07:00

Egglings are nothing but, cute little plants that you can hatch from clay/ceramic eggshell pots.Apparently they are pretty big in Japan and are available in three type of herbs (basil, mint and thyme) and flowers(chrysanthemum, phlox, petunia). They even got a kid version called Nyokki.Nyokki's have cute animal like faces and small feet stuck out of the shells which grows grassy hair ,that can be trimmed. There are also versions called "tater pots" and "petite coco"and both of them grow edible herbs in cute containers. You can get single egglings from brooklyn5and10 or windowbox

It's a good gift for kids.

Panick attack and a necklace!

2009-04-01T09:44:00.000-07:00

March-31st might be just a regular day for rest of the world, but not for me.It was more or less an anxiety attack day ! As y'all know , that economy is still going down the hill and job losses getting reported are increasing day by day. To add to the fire, there was an informal internal chopoff interview in the company , which was going on over the past couple of weeks and i had this intuition that something bad is on the way. So Wednesday night, i could hardly get any sleep and nothing happened like i expected yesterday. Unfortunately, today came to know that they did remove chopoff some people and it was soo depressing . Thankfully am still hanging in here .

My sis is getting married and i told her that i'll bring a white stone set to match her saree. So i have been looking for 'the' white set for past couple of weeks .I wanted to finish off my shopping early , so y'day afternoon i went and got this beautiful necklace set ..Soon after reaching home , i took the pictures of the set and sent them over and guess what ? she loveddd it!!! I already got the approval from my kiddo - in kiddo's words " amma you look like a princess now" . It'll be either this one or "Are you going for circus";-)...So i think it's ok.I don't wear such goddy bandha jewels, somehow i feel it doesn't suit me.

The Reign of Methi leaves !

2009-03-30T09:19:00.000-07:00

I was totally drained out by friday evening and needed some boosting to get the weekend going , so decided to treat myself with a facial and head massage :-) I went for it and it was soo relaxing,i wished it continued for another hour. Then on the way home i got some greens from patel's .For saturday's lunch i made aloo methi along with chicken fry , sambar and butter milk. I don't know whether y'all have tried sambar-curd rice combo...am telling ya, it's just lip smacking. My mom-in -law introduced me to this wonderful combo and ever since am in love with it.
In the evening we went out for dinner with some frens to a mexican place and had fun and ended up eating lots of cheesy stuff. Sunday, we were relaxing at home with the usual chores of laundry , making of dosa batter, vaccuming all those boring stuff.Being the wonderful person, DH volunteered to help me with the chores and i gladly accepted. I went and made his favourite methi chicken for lunch in return. It came out pretty well and we ended up having the same for lunch and dinner y'day. Kiddo taught me how to play chess last night and it was fun learning things from him.

Aloo Methi Recipe

Potato - 2 (Medium sized ones -cubed to small pieces)
Jeera-1/2 tsp
Olive oil- 2/3 table spoon
Garlic - 3 pieces
Methi leaves - half a bunch(cut in to medium pieces)
Chilli powder-1/2 spoon

1.To the heated pan , pour oil and then add jeera to it.
2.Stir it for half a minute and then add crushed garlic pieces(this goes for another minute or so(till the fresh smell of garlic is gone)
3.Then add potato slices to the pan and keep on stirring it every now and then until it gets cooked 3/4th. Towards the end add methi leaves and chilli powder and keep it in low flame for another couple of minutes( till it's ready to serve)

Lemee know how it goes

Channa daal and a dinner

2009-03-27T07:24:00.000-07:00

Last night DH had a sudden craving for daal . I thought will make moong daal .Since i haven't been to the indian grocery store in a while and i was running out on few indian groceries and the-beloved-moong-daal belonged to the same i had to come up with something and subside his daal-craving. Then i saw a huge packet of chaana daal that i got sometime over the past three months for making boli/puran poli{making of boli -itself is another post} sitting on the bottom corner shelf and smiling at me. So i washed some chaana daal and started cooking it. then i came across a recipe of channa dal with snake gaurd here .so added some snake guard as well. channa-snake gaurd combo was something totally new for us. We usually use snake guard only for sambar and avial. It came out really well and we had it for dinner and i sent the same for kiddo's tiffin today. If you know of any interesting recipes using channa dal, please do share with me

Have a great weekend everyone!

Am i getting addicted to Coffee?

2009-03-26T11:17:00.000-07:00

I am feeling slightly better today. I could walk without saying ouch every sec. Had black beans and rice wrap for lunch from susie's and a large coffee . I think i am getting addicted to coffee these days. Apart from drinking one big mug of java at home first thing in the morning, i just drink coffee every now and then these days. DH firmly believes that shop keeper is mixing some kind of drugs in mine, for me to keep going back. that doesn't make sense … cocaine is much more expensive and how can they afford to mix it in my dollar coffee J.

Cappuccino Image Courtesy

What am i allergic to?

2009-03-25T10:36:00.000-07:00

Wednesday! I have heard that Wednesday is auspicious for starting new ventures;-)...so here i am jotting down my musings , craziness...the real me!

#Got up around 7.30am morning, didn't cook anything . heated some chicken nuggets for kiddo for lunch, then packed his bag and snacks.... I had this pain in feet from past 2 days. It started as a rash around 4 months back under foot and i promptly took appointment and saw a dermatologist ,and went through the regular allergy test and all that c***. Finally , he came to the conclusion that am not allergic to anything(lucky me!!!) but he couldn't say for sure the real cause(growl) . He said it's kinda like an asmatic condition of the skin and it could be due to stress.
so he prescribed some ointment .I spent good 50 bucks on a small tube of medicine.well, obviously the next question will be Did that pay off? Nope . so i started appling some coconut oil on the rashes and viola, it improved in couple of places and in some areas it had become sore...i have been konnifying to work for past 2 days .Today the pain is slightly better and hope it goes off...i miss-my-nonrashy-feet-back:-(

#Oopsies...i absent mindedly sent email to a group , rather than to a person @ work ...silly me!