Tomorrow, I will be going to Reston, VA to visit my sweet Uma Chitthi, my darling cousin Abisha and my dear Raj Anna. It's been over 5 years since I've seen all of them! I can't wait!! On Friday, I will be going to Virginia Beach to see my best buddy, Grace. She's almost done with Law School and I've been promising her a visit for 3 years now. Finally, the time has come! Gracie, we're going to have a blast!
So long Texas and bye sweetheart.....I'll really miss you.
Monday, March 15, 2010
Friday, March 12, 2010
Raise your hand if you think my husband lives like a king
I love the days when my husband works from home. It's not like we get to hang out together or anything. We both sit in the same room and do our own work. However, just knowing that he is near me makes my day. Also, we get to have lunch together...it feels like a date. :)
On the menu today: Parotta with Chicken Salna/Chalna. Parottas are buttery, pillowy, flaky morsels of bread. Chicken Salna is a curry made with chicken, onions, tomatoes, coconut and lots of spices. In Tamilnadu, these dishes are often served together. We brought the Parottas from India. They were made by Amuda Akka, a wonderful woman who works in my in-laws' home. I made the Chicken Salna using a recipe I found online.
Here is a picture of this lovely lunch. Hope you enjoy! Happy Friday. :)
Parotta with Chicken Salna....yum!
On the menu today: Parotta with Chicken Salna/Chalna. Parottas are buttery, pillowy, flaky morsels of bread. Chicken Salna is a curry made with chicken, onions, tomatoes, coconut and lots of spices. In Tamilnadu, these dishes are often served together. We brought the Parottas from India. They were made by Amuda Akka, a wonderful woman who works in my in-laws' home. I made the Chicken Salna using a recipe I found online.
Here is a picture of this lovely lunch. Hope you enjoy! Happy Friday. :)
Parotta with Chicken Salna....yum!
Saturday, March 6, 2010
Our trip to Jaipur
Finally, the long awaited post about our recent trip to India (particularly Jaipur). :) We had a fun time in India with our families. We celebrated our 3rd anniversary (on February 8th) in Jaipur. My sweetheart planned the entire trip. He is such a great planner! Also, our uncles and aunts wanted to bless us by sending us on this trip. We are incredibly grateful to them!
We stayed at The Sheraton Rajputana. It was one of the best hotels we've stayed in. The customer service was amazing. Our room was gorgeous and not to mention so comfortable! The pillows on the bed were so soft that I wanted to steal them! Don't worry though...I didn't. Our favorite part of the hotel was the breakfast buffet. It was unbelievable! They had everything you can possibly imagine! After eating Indian food for 3 weeks straight, I was more than ready to have an American breakfast. My stomach just doesn't handle spicy food very well. They also had plenty of Indian food on hand, which made my husband very happy. :)
My uncle and aunt arranged for a tour guide to take us around Jaipur. The first night we were there, we went to a place called Chokhi Dhani. Chokhi Dhani is set up like a typical Rajasthani Village. We watched a puppet shows, a couple of Rajasthani dances and went on a manually run ferris wheel (my personal favorite). A man jumped on the ferris wheel and start spinning it around by jumping from one end to the other. It was crazy! We also had a traditional Rajasthani meal. We were shocked at the amount of ghee (clarified butter) they used but the food was good.
Our beautiful hotel, Sheraton Rajputana
Rajasthani dance at Chokhi Dhani
Manual Ferris Wheel
Enjoying a traditional Rajasthani Meal. (Doesn't my sweetheart look cute??)
Elephant ride at Amber Fort
Hawa Mahal
The City Palace
We stayed at The Sheraton Rajputana. It was one of the best hotels we've stayed in. The customer service was amazing. Our room was gorgeous and not to mention so comfortable! The pillows on the bed were so soft that I wanted to steal them! Don't worry though...I didn't. Our favorite part of the hotel was the breakfast buffet. It was unbelievable! They had everything you can possibly imagine! After eating Indian food for 3 weeks straight, I was more than ready to have an American breakfast. My stomach just doesn't handle spicy food very well. They also had plenty of Indian food on hand, which made my husband very happy. :)
My uncle and aunt arranged for a tour guide to take us around Jaipur. The first night we were there, we went to a place called Chokhi Dhani. Chokhi Dhani is set up like a typical Rajasthani Village. We watched a puppet shows, a couple of Rajasthani dances and went on a manually run ferris wheel (my personal favorite). A man jumped on the ferris wheel and start spinning it around by jumping from one end to the other. It was crazy! We also had a traditional Rajasthani meal. We were shocked at the amount of ghee (clarified butter) they used but the food was good.
The following day, our tour guide took us to the City Palace. Along the way, we stopped at Hawa Mahal, which forms part of the City Palace. Hawa Mahal is a palace in Jaipur which was built in 1799. It was built so that royal ladies could observe everyday life in the streets without being seen in public. Once inside the City Palace, we went on a fun, elephant ride. Our rider was trying to overtake the other elephants! Some things in India never change! ;) The City Palace includes the Chandra Mahal and many other palaces and buildings. The architecture of all the palaces were striking. The rich, colorful tones of the palaces were breathtaking.
I could go over all the different palaces but I don't think I can do it justice. If you'd like to know more information, please check out this link http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/
Below are some pictures of our trip. If you want to know more about this beautiful city, feel free to e-mail me. Enjoy the pictures!
Our beautiful hotel, Sheraton Rajputana
Rajasthani dance at Chokhi Dhani
Manual Ferris Wheel
Enjoying a traditional Rajasthani Meal. (Doesn't my sweetheart look cute??)
Elephant ride at Amber Fort
Hawa Mahal
The City Palace
Saturday, February 27, 2010
I've been a very bad girl
This is my apology post. I haven't blogged in quite some time. No excuses....just didn't blog. The good news is though, I have SO much to blog about! We just got back from our trip to India and I can't wait to tell you all about it. Particularly our trip to Jaipur. I have lots of beautiful pictures to show you. Pictures which were taken with the Canon Rebel T1i that my sweet honey got for my birthday. :) Is he the greatest or what? I've been using this camera for 3 months and LOVE it!! Anyways, stay tuned for an update. Happy Saturday!
Saturday, November 21, 2009
Happy Birthday Cat!
Happy birthday Cat! I pray that you have a super duper day and an even more super fabulous year! You are such a thoughtful, kind, caring, generous, loyal and dependable friend. I am so grateful to God for our friendship. Even though we live hundreds of miles apart, you are still close to my heart (ooh, that rhymed!). I adore you to pieces!
I'm sorry I can't be with you today but I'll see you real soon next week! I love you with all my heart! Muah!
I'm sorry I can't be with you today but I'll see you real soon next week! I love you with all my heart! Muah!
Thursday, November 19, 2009
Stuffed Chilli Bhajjis
I can't believe it has been 3 weeks since I last posted! I am so sorry. November rolls around and we get crazy busy every year. So much has happened these past 3 weeks. We celebrated 2 birthdays (my mom's and mine), while I finished physical therapy (yay!), and today, my sweet sister-in-law Deepa, is coming for a visit. I am so excited!
I have so much to tell you I can't contain it! Wait until you hear about the lovely present I got for my birthday from my sweet husband! I can't stop looking at it, talking about it, talking to it and using it. First things first though.
A few weeks ago, I promised to post about the banana peppers from the Farmer's Market. Please forgive me for the delay. Here's what I made....Stuffed Bhajjis! Bhajjis are Indian snacks. They're basically vegetables which are deep fried in a spicy batter. I deseeded the peppers and stuffed them with a spicy potato and onion mixture. I completely underestimated the spiciness of these suckers! I couldn't get to the seeds with a knife so I used my hands...and my hands were on fire for a whole stinkin' day!
They were definitely worth it though. One of my Indian friends (ah-hem, Joseph), had one bite and couldn't handle it. He kept saying that his tongue was on fire. I admit, these things had a ton of heat! The funny thing is though, our dear Minnesotan friend Jake, whose idea of spicy is garlic powder, ate a whole pepper! Without flinching!
Anyways, here are some pictures of these wonderful peppers.
Cleaned Peppers
Potato Stuffing
Ay Caramba! These look hot!
They WERE hot!!
Oh, but they were so good!
Pepto, anyone?
I have so much to tell you I can't contain it! Wait until you hear about the lovely present I got for my birthday from my sweet husband! I can't stop looking at it, talking about it, talking to it and using it. First things first though.
A few weeks ago, I promised to post about the banana peppers from the Farmer's Market. Please forgive me for the delay. Here's what I made....Stuffed Bhajjis! Bhajjis are Indian snacks. They're basically vegetables which are deep fried in a spicy batter. I deseeded the peppers and stuffed them with a spicy potato and onion mixture. I completely underestimated the spiciness of these suckers! I couldn't get to the seeds with a knife so I used my hands...and my hands were on fire for a whole stinkin' day!
They were definitely worth it though. One of my Indian friends (ah-hem, Joseph), had one bite and couldn't handle it. He kept saying that his tongue was on fire. I admit, these things had a ton of heat! The funny thing is though, our dear Minnesotan friend Jake, whose idea of spicy is garlic powder, ate a whole pepper! Without flinching!
Anyways, here are some pictures of these wonderful peppers.
Cleaned Peppers
Potato Stuffing
Ay Caramba! These look hot!
They WERE hot!!
Oh, but they were so good!
Pepto, anyone?
Wednesday, October 28, 2009
Cactus Poriyal
As you know, I bought some Cactus (or is it Cacti?) from the farmer's market on Saturday. I was amused by the prickly little thing and decided....hey, why not try cooking it? Needless to say, I got quite a few thorns stuck on my fingers. I had no idea how to clean or cut it. Thankfully, I had the Internet to show me how! Thanks Internet!
Growing up, I never understood why my mom and aunts would "Indianize" everything. Let me explain. For Thanksgiving, they would make 'masala turkey'..enough said. Well, it looks like I'm following in their footsteps because I Indianized the cactus. ;) I made Cactus Poriyal. For those of you not familiar with this, poriyal is a South Indian vegetable side dish. We cook veggies using mustard seeds, onion, cumin, coconut, turmeric powder, red chili, etc.
So, here it is people...Cactus Poriyal. :)
Thorny Cactus
The Cactus after it was cleaned..it looks like it was cleaned by a 5 year old. I had to wear gloves and use a paring knife.
Cut cactus
Cooking the cactus
Tada!!
The Cactus was quite slimy, like Okra. The more it cooked, the less slimy it became. I was surprised by the taste. It tasted sour and lemony, which I happen to like. My husband on the other hand, didn't care for it too much. He doesn't fancy sour things too much.
Will I make this again? Probably not. Only because my husband didn't care for it and I'd rather save all this work for making something he loved. I am happy to try something new, fun and different though. :)
p.s. Later on this week, I will show you what I made with the Banana Peppers from the farmer's market.
Growing up, I never understood why my mom and aunts would "Indianize" everything. Let me explain. For Thanksgiving, they would make 'masala turkey'..enough said. Well, it looks like I'm following in their footsteps because I Indianized the cactus. ;) I made Cactus Poriyal. For those of you not familiar with this, poriyal is a South Indian vegetable side dish. We cook veggies using mustard seeds, onion, cumin, coconut, turmeric powder, red chili, etc.
So, here it is people...Cactus Poriyal. :)
Thorny Cactus
The Cactus after it was cleaned..it looks like it was cleaned by a 5 year old. I had to wear gloves and use a paring knife.
Cut cactus
Cooking the cactus
Tada!!
The Cactus was quite slimy, like Okra. The more it cooked, the less slimy it became. I was surprised by the taste. It tasted sour and lemony, which I happen to like. My husband on the other hand, didn't care for it too much. He doesn't fancy sour things too much.
Will I make this again? Probably not. Only because my husband didn't care for it and I'd rather save all this work for making something he loved. I am happy to try something new, fun and different though. :)
p.s. Later on this week, I will show you what I made with the Banana Peppers from the farmer's market.
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